Update

Well, they have sent my grandpa to my mom's home on hospice. They are bringing in a hospital bed today; mom is busy scurrying to get the spare bedroom cleaned out of her belongings. My supervisor has given me the ok to work half a day to go help mom with the cleaning up (and entertaining grandpa). His hospice MD is someone very competent, honest, and straight forward - Anna Beck! For those of you who might remember, she was the oncologist who took care of me while I was in Utah and communicated with my MD's in California.

On a more positive note, Stephanie and I have been making a couple of lap quilts - the same fabric, but differences will be apparent. We found the same batting at the devil's market place (ie Walmart) as JoAnns has, but for about half the price per yard! We will probably be finishing both of them (minus the finishing with the binding) on Wednesday before the new year begins! They are super cute. Stephanie's mom, I think\if I'm remembering correctly, is going to let us use her brand new machine, the series 8 by Bernina, to do the quilting part. If not, I'm sure that she will do that part for us.

Speaking of which, I need to remember to get invisible thread. I might be stopping by JoAnns in Draper to get some this evening. Speaking of JoAnns again, please boycott the store in Brickyard. The new manager there is not being ethical towards the employees - unreasonable schedules, not letting them transfer to other stores, and firing people for no good reason. For another fabric store close by, there is Hancocks on 3900 South and 700 East - better costumer service and, in general, better deals and fabric quality.

If you have time, drop me an email and give me an update as to how your year is finishing out; I'd love to hear from you.
HUGS!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

Thank you!

I want to thank my paternal grandparents and my Dad & Stepmom, Jody, for gifting me with the ability to acquire a little laptop for working on my collaboration book with Lilli DeCair. It's also going to be handy for keeping in touch when I travel.

It's going to be great to be able to type instead of writing things down - I can type much faster than I can write - I think the book will come along much faster now.
Thank you!!!!!!!!
HUGS!!!!!!!!!!

Happy Holidaze!

Sorry I haven't written sooner - I've been insanely busy.

I had a very nice Christmas; got to see my dad & stepmom and their sides of the family. My mom's youngest brother came into town, and we spent time at grandpa's place. In terms of gifts, if anyone wants to see my favorite TV show of all time - Ghost Hunters - I have all seasons available now on DVD! I have to make a Table of Contents for the discs, and then if you want to see some really great evidence for life after death, I've now got some for you to see! I received plenty of fudge and chocolate - YIPPEEEE!!!! As well as other wonderful things. Thank you to all for your consideration and thoughtfulness.

Debi & Todd - I have that dragon put together. It was a fun game to play. Mike is still working on the owl - that's tons of little pieces and we have needed glue to keep it together. We have absolutely loved them!

It snowed big time and hard last night. I am hoping to get some snow tires really soon - going to Big-O after work today or tomorrow - depends on the weather and such. It's snowing again right now. *sigh* Maybe I'll get to go snowshoeing this weekend. Who knows.

I'm at work and have to get moving.
HUGS!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

OUCHIE!!!

Well, I finally did it - my 1st, and hopefully only, fall of the snowy season. I slipped and fell in my apartment parking lot; I was even in my good snow boots! Good or bad news depending on how you look at it is that it wasn't my work parking lot. My right wrist feels ok, but my right hip and back hurt. At least I've not been in a car accident like a coworker, Darren. Unfortunately he's out for today, and probably the rest of the week with a back injury from the MVA. Please send prayers as he & his wife are already struggling.

Well, we underestimated how much stuff was left to get out of Lilli's. Thank you to Dave Jr for helping last night by bringing his truck and being Mr. Strong man - along with others who have been there the last few days helping. You've all been a great blessing. Shaun was also in his apartment gathering cooking and other belongings not damaged by water and smoke. His desk appears ok, but he says it's not salvageable. *sigh* All of these things that are needed for work and school that are just ruined. At this point, I think there's at least one, maybe 2 truck loads left of stuff - furniture was the big things yesterday, and there's still some left.

It's almost the end of the week and we're almost done, but there's much left to do and think about. I have acquired a storage unit, but Lilli is still looking for a place to live - she's been calling like crazy looking for places - thank you to all who have responded with offers of places to stay and places for rent!

It's just been a crazy busy week, and tomorrow here at work doesn't look any better. I hope you all have had a good week, and maybe I'll post again on the weekend. and no, I haven't uploaded pictures to my computer yet - as I'm sure you've noticed and understand.
HUGS!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

Crazy Days

Well, I'm not going to start off on a good note - my dear friends Lilli and Shawn had an apartment fire on Friday night - for those of you in Utah, yes it is the one on 1044 E 400 S - at this point they have nothing - the hope is that they will be able to go in tomorrow and gather belongings. Please send prayers. If any of you know of a nice large 1 bedroom apartment for $500 or less a month, PLEASE let me know. Lilli cannot afford more and at this time is looking for a new place to live. Shawn has some friends who are most kind - they have been fixing up a basement apartment and are allowing him to move in there. If you would like to help out with financial contributions, you can send them to me. just shoot me an email and I can tell you the address.

On a good note, Tiger is doing so much better - he's using the litter box, not making weird meows, and is being cuddly again! Yea!

Also, we had a nice big snow storm yesterday - good for me, bad for the burned out apartments. It looks fantastic! I'll have to take some pictures and post them. I've not been good about getting them on my computer; sorry.

We had the Cancer Wellness House Christmas party at the House last night. The major snow probably kept many people away. It was a nice small gathering, though. This afternoon we have Slice of the Good Life Christmas party. It's a gathering of our close knit group from CWH from years back. It should be nice. I'll do my best to take pictures and post those, too.

I am finally finished with my Christmas shopping as of this morning! Yes, there were 2 people that I had not clue as to what to get them - got a hint from my mom, and in my shopping for that found the other one! I'm very excited for Christmas and for people to open their presents.

Secret Santa at work has been interesting. The first week, I think I told you, I got some nice scrapbooking paper. this last week I got a chocolate fudge cake mix, chocolate frosting, a spatula (red with white snowflakes - very cute), some cup cake wrappers with snowmen, and adhesive for scrapbooking. There's 2 weeks left, and I am interested to see what else will come my way. My person has asked for anything Scottish - I don't recall if I told you this - but this person didn't mention a clan! So I had a little bit a of a rough time finding generic things, but found them none the less. I hope she is liking them.

Ok, I've got to get ready for the party today. Hope you've enjoyed your weekend!
HUGS!

Hooray!!!

I cannot thank the world enough for Fridays - and donuts! Yumm.....

It's a very busy day for a Friday. I'm just trying to breathe and keep moving. I am so tired, I wish I could have stayed home in bed today and slept the day away. It's turned our to be a very long day, too. At least the sun is shining and the patients are not crabby. Hey, at this job I actually get to see the sun shine on a regular basis - when it's out. That's a nice change.

Speaking of the weather, it's supposed to snow again this weekend - YIPPEE! I might get to go snowshoeing this time. I'm sure Stephanie will go with me - Mike's been super busy with playing Santa and he's fighting off a cold, so I'm not sure if he's up to it right now.

There's lots to do this weekend, mostly before C-mas - my scrapbooking of Tarot cards, making C-mas cards for the doctors here at work, sewing things, reading things...I know that Stephanie and I will be having fun tonight and all day tomorrow. I think I'm going to talk to her later and see what she wants to work on.

Hope you all have had a great week. See some of you tomorrow and Sunday.
HUGS!

YEA!

The vet says Tiger just has urinary crystals - known to humans as kidney stones. He gave Tiger some dexamethasone (a steroid), to help with pain, swelling, eating, drinking, and healing (he has blood in his urine). I'm also needing to force fluids - just using a syringe and squirting some in his mouth for him to swallow.

I had to leave him at home while I'm now at work. Just thought I'd share the update and let you all know he's ok.
HUGS!

Good Laugh...

or maybe you had to be here. We had a patient whose central line wasn't working - we put alteplase in it (clot buster). We waited to try and draw blood, and when we did the patient yelled "Bleed you bastard!" lol - I'm still chuckling over this one and had to share.
HUGS!

Tomorrow, Tomorrow...

Stephanie arrives in town tomorrow! YEA!!!! I just have to survive 3 more days of work before I can play with Stephanie, and as the little train that could said, "I think I can, I think I can..." We have plenty of sewing to do this holiday break - well, she gets the holiday break, I don't. That's new for me - I'm used to being able to come into town and have 7 days off from work - now I have to work C-mas eve, the day after C-mas, New Years eve, and the day after New Years. Granted I only have to work a half day on the eve's, but that's still more than I'm used to around this time of year.

My poor kitty, Tiger is having problems, and it's really got me upset. He's not eating well, throwing up food, and has blood in his urine. I just got a call from the vet saying he wants to see Tiger tomorrow when he's in the office. I have talked with my supervisor, and she's okayed my time off to take Tiger to the vet. The big thing will be will Tiger loose urinary control when I go to put him in his carrier. I think I'm going to wrap him up in a white towel so that if he does, and I think he will because he has the last 2 times I've taken him to the vet in November, then I'll have something to show the vet. I gave Tiger Maalox last night and I didn't wake up to any throwing up in the middle of the night or this morning to any piles on the floor. It's making it a little hard to focus on work today. I'm sitting here typing away - not looking at the keyboard and waiting for a chart to drop so that I can try and focus on something other than Tiger. I wish I were at home right now, not that there's anything I can do at home - Tiger won't even cuddle with me right now - and that definitely tells me that there's something wrong.

On the typing note, I have noticed that I am doing better at the typing things when I'm not looking at the computer screen or looking at the keyboard. I'm getting fast at my typing, too. maybe I'll take a typing test online to see how well I'm doing.

I have a busy weekend coming up - Stephanie is in town, I have a C-mas party on Saturday for the Cancer Wellness House, another C-mas party on Sunday for Slice of the Good Life friends (who feel more like family than anything), and in all of that I have things I want and need to do. *sigh* if I only had my 4 days off instead of 2.

Hope you all have a good one.
HUGS!

4 MORE DAYS!

Count down to seeing Stephanie is almost over! Hopefully her life is getting a little bit easier. I know she's super busy because she hasn't posted anything new on her blog.

Mike had a great first day as Santa at the Children's Museum here in Salt Lake City. It was for the YWCA. He told me about this little one that came up and asked if it cost anything to get his picture taken because if it did, he couldn't do it. tear! Everything that day was no cost to all of the children and women. How I love this man!

Well, my dad is stumped by the laptop that was his during my bone marrow transplant - it has a virus on there, and he doesn't know where it came from. He isn't able to clean it with the other machines for fear of infecting them. He said he has to unplug all of the computers in the house and scan the laptop from the internet! Yea, this must be a really bad virus - could also be a worm or trojan horse. Won't know until after work today.

My mac is still running great! YIPPEE!

I have been spending time doing CME (continuing medical education) credits today. It's been a nice day here at work.

I almost forgot - IT'S SNOWING!!!!!!!!!!!!! It's beginning to look a lot like Christmas! :) I can hardly wait to go home and play! Have to go to Michaels to get white\clear lights for my C-mas tree, too. It's all so exciting!

Hope you all have a great Monday.
HUGS!

Thank you Stephanie!

Stephanie told me about this window shrink wrap plastic for energy conservation - let me tell you it's a life saver - and toes, too. I did it in my bed room on the north facing window and there temperature came up immediately and noticeably enough to actually FEEL the difference. Mike has also helped me take a few other measures to conserve heat in my apartment and cut down on energy costs this winter. YIPPEE!!!! Let's say I'm nice and toasty warm without having the be tucked snuggly under my covers.

I hope you all have had a great weekend.
HUGS!

Into the Unknown

Well, I have been having unknown problems with my mac. I went to the Simply Mac store last night, and they said I must have a corrupt file. So I had backed up my files and then reinstalled Leopard. So far things are running great. It's not been without being a pain in the tukus, though. I'm having to copy things from my external hard drive back into my computer. The good news is that I have those things to put back. Hopefully the corrupt file isn't in one of my needed files.

That's all for today.
HUGS!

SURPRISE!

I am completely surprised - I just got my first ever Christmas bonus! You would thinkI would have had one at my last job as it is a bigger facility, but I didn't. I'm so excited - now I can pay my bills! lol No, it's going straight to savings for a rainy day. I was just so excited I had to share this with you all.
HUGS!

TGIF!!!!!!!!!!!

After a long week it's finally FRIDAY!!! After a nice 4 day weekend, this working 5 days a week thing gets even harder.

At work we're doing a Secret Santa thing with coworkers. I got some really cute scrapbooking paper from my Secret Santa. It's got snowmen on it - really cute. I can hardly wait to play all weekend long, sleep in, and of course, there are always some chores to do, but that's all good.

There's no snow in the valley as of yet, and there's nothing coming until maybe 2 Sundays from now. Bummer. I could go hiking, but it will be really muddy. Sunday I might go up the canyon to see some snow and maybe go snowshoeing. I am sure that Mike & I will be decorating the tree in front of our friend, Dave's, house on Saturday - it's something that you need lots of daylight to do.

I hope you all have a great Friday.
HUGS!

1 WEEK!

I just looked at my calendar and realized that my best friend, Stephanie, is coming into town next week - 7 days! I can hardly wait to have another sewing buddy as well as snow shoeing and other fun things.

Tonight I am going to Each 1 Reach 1 - a group of students taught by the famous Lilli DeCair. It's at Cafe Alchemy - yummy stuff there - on 1700 S and 400 E in beautiful SLC, Utah. I will be sharing my tarot card studies and learning more about what other students are up to. Should be lots of fun.

I am planning on decorating work with some snowflakes tomorrow - the windows could use some sprucing up. I don't know how much else I will be able to do - that will depend on what my supervisor decides. Unfortunately she's in Atlanta for training. It's ok, though, Christmas is still 3 weeks away.

Speaking of work, things are moving along nicely today. Kind of busy but we have plenty of staff - yea! Hopefully it will fly by.

Hope you all have a great day - hopefully it will snow!
HUGS!

PLAY!

All work and not play makes Sandra a dull camper.

I am missing my 4 days off in a week - that and all of the goodies that would be comiong in right now at my former job. I might be going to C.K. Cummings after work today - or maybe I'll make it a treat to myself for surviving the whole work week. As you can tell my sweet tooth, or rather teeth, are kicking in gear.

I've been looking ahead at the schedule around the Holidays - it looks really nice and that I might be able to have more time off than I anticipated. I'll know closer to the actual days whether or not I'll have time off.

My ribs feel really good today. I'm going to look for ballet classes tonight and maybe do a pilates class weekly starting next week. YEA!

Have a good one!
HUGS!

Another Day, another ?

Once again I have survived a rough day at work. Doug went home early morning sick; Darren left at noon for a meeting; and I had to leave by 1:40 to get to a dentist appointment. Good news is that Dave came in. Yes, these are a few of my nursing coworkers. The others being Tyre (with whom I do not get along with that great but you always run into someone), Jenifer, Connie, and Mary Lynn (our lead\charge RN). We also have MA's at our office. Julie and Nora ROCK! I cannot say much for the others...let's just say that I can tell you the one I don't get along with is Michelle. She just has a really harsh personality and it's not a good match with mine. Sad thing is she knows it and doesn't do anything to change it, or at least that's what I'm told.

Enough about work, onto fun things. I went out for burgers with Lilli DeCair - great friend, teacher, mentor, cancer survivor, and psychic - and that's only naming a few of her wonderful qualities! She & I are collaborating on a new Tarot card book. I'm doing the studying, writing, and creation of new cards (YEA CRICUT!) and she's doing the teaching. Once again I have a great friend and publisher\helper Shannon Evans! I have not forgotten about my photography books - I hope to complete one soon.

My cats are doing much better - they have even been chasing my plate of ham around the desk while I've been writing. Now that it's gone, they have left me to my typing. I think they have forgiven me for the teeth cleaning as they slept on my bed last night.

I have a gmail account, and they have this new feature where you can pick your background picture. I chose a tree; they asked me for my mailing zip code or city, which I couldn't remember why. Well it turns out that the weather for your area gets put in the sky! It's really cool because it's raining right now, and there's rain in my email!

My ribs are feeling much better today. I have had some real muscle spasms and pain over the last couple of days. I have essential oils and healing music that I have been using. They have really helped (when I use them of course).

OH! If you haven't seen the movie "The Darwin Awards" it is a MUST SEE! It's absolutely hilarious! I actually purchased it - the only copy at FYE. I know, I know, Christmas is coming and I should have waited, but I couldn't wait to see it again. Other movies that Mike & I have seen recently, thanks to a Blockbuster 5 for $20 day after Thanksgiving sale, are "The Golden Compass" (if you liked Harry Potter & Lord of the Rings, you'll like this. I must say that it is a bit on the violent side, more than I was prepared for. I don't think it's worse than Lord of the Rings in that department, though), "The Bee Movie" (which was cute, funny, and educational), and "The Water Horse Legend of the Deep" (which was good, a tear jerker, but good). We have 2 left - "National Treasure 2" and "Hannibal Rising". Mike also bought "Borat" and is insisting that I watch it. Let's just say I'm not looking forward to it. I haven't seen this many movies in a long time. I still have yet to be to the movie theater - last time was "Over the Hedge" in May 2006. Other movies that we want to see are "The Spiderwick Chronicles" ......and my brain just stopped.

Speaking of not doing something for a long time - I haven't had a coca-cola or coke slurpee since Jan. 23, 2008! I have to admit that they are sounding really yummy right now. I just remembered that I am now living back in Utah where they carry caffeine FREE coke! I may just stop at the store on my way to work tomorrow to get some. mmmmmm......

Well, I hope you've had a great day.
HUGS!!!

OUCH!

Well, I survived the day from HE double hockey sticks - it was a nice fast pace and I can hardly believe the day is basically over! It has just been non stop mayhem. I cannot wait to get back home and play with my cricut some more. I don't have much else to say at this time but to have yourself a great rest of the day!
HUGS!