Where did all the bloggers go?

Am I being old fashioned for hanging in there with my blog site? Seems all the family that was blogging a few years ago have stopped, and I sure miss it. Must be that Twitter or FB thing that is easier with all the portable devices. But I enjoyed reading the stories and thoughtful incites that were left for all the world to see. I know I go for dry spells and don't have much to say then sometimes I have to much to say and can't find the words to put it down. A blog site can be a place to record your thoughts, aspirations, hurts, and dreams. But sometimes they seem to personal to be sharing.

Of course you notice that so many people don't "talk" to each other any more. Its words on text messages. Everywhere you see people walking with their heads down working that little phone. I thought a phone was to talk on. Gee now you can do everything but scramble eggs on it. And it seems that we all need to be available all the time. What is wrong with leaving a message or answering your message later. Saw a couple at a resturant the other day and both were sitting there typing away on their phones. Wonder if they were texting to each other?

Thought for the day: I knew exactly where it was, I just couldn't find it.

A dilly of a dream

I have mentioned before that I have wild dreams. I have already started to forget alot of the one I had last night, but I remember I was holding a baby in my lap and it was my daughter, then it changed and there was a young boy that I know who is a son of a friend. The boy had this puzzle in his hand and somehow someway my daughter had be changed into that puzzle and when he picked it up the puzzle pieces all fell apart on the floor. In the dream I knew it meant that my daughter was somehow lost in these scattered pieces and I woke up with this feeling of devastation that was hard to shake.

Thought for the day: Just because you'r paranoid doesn't mean everbody still isn't out to get you.

Its that time

Would I want to be 20? Maybe if I could and still know what I know now. But to be 20 in todays world and not have the insight of years of experience I sort of think not. Now maybe 40 would be good. I know I don't have enough years to read all the books I want to read. I would still like to take some college classes. Probably they won't charge me for them now. Have to check into that.

Have started another "I Am" list. If I can I will link to the one I did a few years ago here. Can't figure out how to copy it, computer won't let me, but if anyone is interested it is in my archives, Aug of 2005. Can find it on the right side here.

Thought for the day: Good judgement comes from experience, and alot of experience comes from bad judgement.

Hello Dr. Atkins, my old friend

OK summer is gone, wonderful fall is here at least for awhile. Time to get in gear and get rid of a few pounds (again). I have had success with Atkins in the past and decided I would give it another try. My problem is staying in the maintenance zone when I have lost. Anyway each of us has our "rock bottom" with excess weight. Mine is when I am 20 lbs over my normal. So that is my goal. Right now I am doing the strick 14 day induction of severely restricted carbs, then I will start adding some good whole grains back. So I stocked up on cheese, shaved turkey and ham, cream cheese, eggs, and celery and lots of lettuce. Eating out is no problem, I just order a bunless burger. Last night at pizza nite, had lots of salad and only ate the top off of 3 slices of pizza. Didn't realize there was so little topping on a slice! About a tablespoonful was all. When I lost 20 lbs doing this before, I remember it being the easiest weight I ever lost. Have done the calorie count, fat count, and I know my body, I am a carb addict!! When I get real restricted on carbs I feel so good. So thats my song and dance for today.

Had a suprise BD party for my sister Sunday.Her daughters did most of the work. Sort of a surprise, she knew there would be a party but just not where and all. Rented a building here in town and over 25 came. We did chili and potato soup with a couple breads, and of course cake and ice cream.

Oh, and she told me that she had a brain scan Mon. and they didn't find anything. (Here's Your Sign!)

Thought for the day: Life may not be the party we hoped for but while we are here we might as well dance.

When your forgetter runs faster than your rememberer

Each month we say "Boy this month went by fast" Well of course it has, after a certain age it is all down hill and of course time must run faster, right?

Tue we were having our weekly pizza and salad bar and commented on how good the beets were. Then I said they were better that the ones the other day that we had. We both sat there for at least 20 minutes trying to remember where that was and it was just on Saturday!! Finally it clicked and "I" remembered. One point for me!

Getting ready for a big birthday party for my "big" sister tomorrow. Going all out and rented a building and her daughters are decorating and proving the cake and the rest of us are bringing crock pots of soups and such. Making my elk chili. I was asked to host it at my home as I have the most room but I decided I didn't want 30 people in my home. Just funny that way.

Book store is up and running but running very slow. Economy? Seems the ones buying books look like the ones that can least likely afford to be spending money on books.

I am the only used book store in the county now as the one in the town where I live, the co. seat, has closed down. Another business on the square closed. Eventually it will just be all senior apartments. The court house brings in the traffic but the small businesses are struggling. Maybe it is time to do some advertizing again soon.

Thought for the day: Some days the only good things on T.V.are the lamp and clock

Hello! Anyone there!

Always wonder if any one reads these blogs or are we just talking in the wind, (better than spitting) IF you are there leave me a comment. :-)

The Running of the Chipmunk

We sounded like it was the running of the bulls yesterday. Hubby hollered to me that a chipmunk had just run thru the living room and up the 4 steps to the bedroom area. We armed ourselves with brooms and headed out. Where was the rawhide music here??

Got him cornered in the master bedroom so closed off the hall door. After loosing him we checked the bathroom and he was behind the dryer. Oh Ha! Shut the bathroom door. That narrows things down. After shaking the dryer and scarring the poor thing out (twice) hubby accidental swept him back under the dryer in his zeal to get him. End results we got him and he won't be sneaking back in.

Now the mystery of how he got in. Hubby had seen him last week in the flowerpot on the front porch, so we think that one morning while I was carrying stuff out to the car and left the front door open he was in the pot and hopped out and headed inside. Silly chipmunk!

Thought for the day: Sometimes I make up my mind, other times my mind wanders, and every so often I lose track of it entirely.

Natalie MacMaster fiddles in reel time | Video on TED.com

Natalie MacMaster fiddles in reel time Video on TED.com


Words to the song: Blue is a River
Blue remembers
Blue like a planet to a spaceman
Blue river of my tears

Like the heather on the hillside
As they drove us from the highlands
Like the iceflow from the Artic
Where we landed in Newfoundland
There's a colour to my sorrow
There's a name for all this sadness
Like the ocean in between us,
I am blue.

Blue is a river
Blue remembers
Blue water running clear
Blue like a planet to a spaceman
Blue river of my tears

So I came here to the city
Where the dream burns like a furness
And I dazzled in these dark streets
Like a diamond in a coalface
Till the cold wind from the islands
Blew a storm cloud across the new moon
Like the gunsmoke above the houses
In my home.

Blue is a river
Blue remembers
Blue water running clear
Blue like a planet to a spaceman
Blue river of my tears
Blue river of my tears.

The history about this song of the Scottish Highland is that during the potato famines of the late 18th and 19th centuries, out of the goodness of their hearts, many English landowners offered their Scottish peasant tenants free passage to the New World on hired cargo ships. No mention of course was made of the fact that this "offer" was commonly delivered by pressgangs, and that the real purpose behind the clearances was to convert the lands into fine sporting estates where the land owners and their London friends might shoot grouse and fish for trout.

Copied from the post by Chris Anderson

Rest in Peace

This is the view from the final resting place of hubby's mother's ashes. We made a trip to her birth place in Saratoga Wyoming then went up the mountain (Medicine Bow Mt.) the top of it seen here. This was her wish and so we finally made the trip while my SIL is in good enough health to make the drive. She said that is where she wants to be also. Her husbands ashes were scattered here at the same time. Hubby says it would be fine for him also. Good thing we know where this is located as there are good landmarks.

Visited with hubby's cousin and learned some of the family history of his grandparents coming to Saratoga from Iowa in a covered wagon and settling in Saratoga, building a hotel and butcher shop. Hubby's mother grew up in the hotel and had to work as a maid till she ran off with her husband when she was 19 and never looked back. It was a very hard life back then.

Thought for the day: Humor is a reminder that no matter how high the throne one sits on, one sits on one's bottom.

Back on line

A view from a corner of my book store. Love my little store!! Had 2 nice write ups in the local papers and got a call to do a stint on a talk radio station the end of the mo. Whoopy I am a star!

Broke down and got Internet service at the store. So 3 days a week I can play as long as I want on line again. I have my old e-mail address back from when I was on line here before. Seems funny. Got to do some work on the computer so I can find stuff again. Feel a little rusty. Happy Labor Day to all. Has cooled down some now, got alot of rain last week, well almost a flood. Over 6 inches in one day then another 1/2 inch the next day. Everything was getting crispy. Well short and sweet here. Be back soon.

HOT in the midwest!

Opened the book store alot sooner that I thought I would. Only open 3 days a week. Hey I am retired! Doing some advertising, been sooooo hot that folks aren't getting out much. But have had several old customers come by or call. Love my little store. Even getting some weaving done again now that I have room.

Good news, SIL sold her house, closed last week, and same day we got an offer on ours and we accepted (not much choice) and will close the end of Sept. Yea, glad to have that all behind us and to move on. I love love love my home. I feel very fortunate to be where I am.

Now if it would just cool off some please. Planning a few days in Sept to take SIL to Wyoming for a few days. Should be nice and cool fall weather by then, especially where we will be going.

Thought for the day: Guess no thoughts, too hot for that today

Wow there is life after the Internet!

We are getting settled into the new house, a very busy time. Movers unloaded us one week ago. Most of our boxes are at least empty, still finding where things should go.

But it is true there is a life without the computer. I decided that for me I will just take my laptop to the library once a week for an hour or so and catch up, look up, and what ever.

It is good to be back in the Midwest. We really are small town people and hubby missed all his chat friends, (his chat room is the doughnut shop, the bank, or anywhere he meets up with folks he had known for years) I am glad for him. Living in a bigger city and not knowing anyone it really takes a long time to feel at home. We should have just stayed put 18 months ago!

Well gotta go and check out some blog sites I have missed out on.

Thought for the day: Its always darkest before I open my eyes.

On the move again. I think I just like to pack!

Can't believe its been so long since I posted anything. Guess when so much is going on you sort of don't know where to start. I have quit my job. I drug it out as long as I could. Gave them 4 wk notice with an understanding that if they hired my replacement I would be glad to work a few days to help train. Well they have dilly dallied around and have not hired anyone. I think what is happening is that they are merging 2 parts of the company into one and trying to reorganize the current employees to make things work without hiring new staff. So that's OK. No more calls in the middle of the night. But I will miss the residents.

I think I have mentioned that we are moving back to the Midwest, actually just a few blocks from where we lived last. Have bought a house as a joint ownership with hubby's sister. She is 85 and time that she didn't live alone anymore and it is too much for hubby to manage 2 houses so we came up with the brilliant idea of getting a house together and splitting everything. So we went house hunting in April and found a nice home with a full finished basement that has a front door that opens onto a porch and sidewalk to its own driveway. There is a nice kitchen, Dining Room, large living room, bedroom, 2 baths and utility room, plus a huge family room! Great for her and all her stuff to spread out. The upper level is 3 bedroom with family room and a huge deck. The family room and kitchen area are all as one Great room with gas fireplace. That will be where we spend all our time. It is on 1 acre so we are back to using a riding mower. Going back next week and I will stay 2 or 3 weeks to do some more cleaning and a little painting. Will be fun to spend some quiet time before we move, probably in late June.

We have our homes here in the west for sale, some lookers but no offer yet. But I just feel sure that something will happen soon. Mainly because we lowered our price a little and they will be a good deal for any new homeowner. What we lose on our home here we will more than make up for on the new home, more space and privacy. Not to wild about this close living in a subdivision like we are. Guess we like a little elbow room. I will post a picture looking of our front porch of the home we bought in the Midwest and you will see why we love the place.

So there, I have done an update. Will share new address with friends and family later.

Thought for the day: "The past is really almost as much a work of the imagination as the future."

Gee, I miss my bunny slippers!

I think I mentioned that I sort of gave my notice at work, actually the resignation was left with date to be determined. But I have an understanding that the 16th is "sorta" the last day. I will need to be gone a couple weeks and I have offered to help train the new person, but they really haven't started doing any interviews yet, Not sure what the hold up is. The LPN that runs the day to day stuff is frustrated as she needs help to get the new DON started. (even though she wasn't much help orienting me) Oh well they had a month's notice.

What is the shame, is that now that I am on 3 days a week and no more evenings (started that last week) I actually am really liking my job. I wish I had gotten into the Assisted Living management years ago. It is so rewarding to be a part of these folks lives. I have always found older folks very interesting. We have one lady who has climbed mountains all over the world, another who worked in Washington DC under J Edgar Hoover, and another who married a sheep rancher in Utah, her sister married his brother and they all lived together and raised their kids together, and they even lived together in the Assisted Living Home till the other sister died a couple years ago. Some of the families are so wonderful and some are bickering idiots, always trying to one up the other with who has the most power of attorney.

Can't figure out why sometimes this won't let me seperate my post into paragraphs. I have tried 3 times to edit it to create spacing, and all I get is one huge paragraph. Probably no one will read it anyway!

Thought for the day: We all have our stories to tell, will anyone listen? (this is my thought, not borrowed)

My fork in the road

Been away tooooo long. Alot going on. Seems like the busier I get and the more thinks to write about, the less time I have to sit down and write.

I have been notifying friends and family about us selling out again and moving back to the midwest. I joked that it was getting spring and time to clean house. Guess there is more fact than fiction there. Lots of reasons and will get into that another time. Just wanted to get a note in here.

Work is busy, trying to figure out when to actually quit. Might as well work as long as I can. Don't know if they are going to replace my boss. Makes me wonder if she really quit or was told to quit. Am finding out she was not well liked by the residents families. She was quick to find fault and slow to praise any good that was done.

Maybe spring is coming, just got back from the midwest last Wed. and looked at houses in snow on the first day of spring then drove over the mountains in the snow.

Thought for the day: On every journey you take, you are met with options. At every fork in the road, you make a choice. These are the decisions that shape your life.

Here Come Da'Judge!

GUILTY!

That was the verdict! Had jury duty Fri and got picked to sit on the jury for a fast trial. This gal had been charged with resisting arrest when the officers came to pick up up on an arrest warrant. Of course we were not allowed to know what she was being arrested for. Quite interesting. We felt the witnesses were poor and the prosecution was poor but the fact was.
1. she slammed the door in the officers face
2. she ran the length of her trailer while the officer told her to stop
3. she refused to let him put cuffs

Duh! Why did it come to trial, and over 2 years from the date.

Thought for the day: God must love stupid people: He made so many.

Boss??

Went into work today for their quarterly managers meeting. My boss, the director of the facility has turned in her resignation! What a shock, I foresee a lot of reorganisation coming about. They have had trouble keeping a director, I think its been 3 in the last 6 years. Tough job. Just like my job. They last about 6 months and they quit.

I was getting pretty depressed about my job, wondering what the heck I got myself into. I have posted before about what my hours are and the expectations and POOR orientation. I called up out at the prison where I worked for awhile thru the staffing agency last summer and they about peed their pants!! She tried to get me to come out immediately for another interview and start next week! I said Whoa! I was just checking things out in case I wanted to make the change.

But for now I will hang in there and hopefully do some better scheduling of my time so I can feel some job satisfaction. Its not always about the money.


Thought for the day: Birds of a feather flock together and crap on your car.

Still Reading

What is the Book Lady reading this winter? I still think of myself as the book lady, just can't help it.

I have kept a little notebook and listed all the books as I read them. Last year I read 43 books. So far this year 10. I find that I tend to find an author that I like and I read several by that author. I read the complete series of 7 of Diane Gabaldon's Outlander books. I read 3 of Ken Follett's books, Pillars of the Earth, World Without End, and A Dangerous Fortune. All 3 had historical setting in England, and big thick books that last awhile. For fun I read the Twilight series by Stephanie Myers. I am on my 4th Janet Evanovich's Stephanie Plum detective books. What a hoot. My sister kept trying to get me to read her but I kept saying I don't really like detective books. I finally read the first one and got hooked. This young gal is a bounty hunter by default cause she needs to pay her rent and her uncle Vinnie runs a bond agency. I won't doubt my sister again! Then I like to read my old standby Dean Koontz when I want to just kick back and read something weird.

So there you have it. I still prefer to read to watch TV. I like to read for about an hour before I go to sleep. Helps relax me and sort of takes me away. Maybe thats why I have such vivid dreams.

Thought for the day:: Everyone seems normal till you get to know them!

Stay or Go?

After being awakened a little after midnight, (On Call) I lay awake and think I solved all my problems. Somewhere around 2 AM I decided I am going to have to make my boss spend just a few minutes with me,(a rarity) so that I can lay out a plan to better utilize my time at work. I am supposed to be the Director of Nursing but only work one Day a week and 3 evenings, each 6 hrs long. I think my orientation has been poor at best. I have had to seek out the info myself, there was no training plan, just what ever I could learn on my own was to be enough. On the evenings the idea was to save money and have me manage the first floor to do med pass Yes, this looked good on paper, no caregiver to staff on those 3 evenings for first floor. But there is so much more to it than passing a few pills. I end up being house supervisor and taking care of all sorts of problems and never actually working in my office doing "management" stuff.

So my plan is to offer to actually cut back to 2 eight hour Days, no pm's. I think I can manage more in those 2 days than what I am doing now and they can save money on me and staff the floor with regular caregivers as before. I hate being on call, but can't avoid that, but will offer to take it every other week instead of 4 to 5 days every week. At least I would get a break.

So that's my plan, and if she isn't open to changes, I am seriously thinking of giving her my resignation effective the first of April. That would give her lots of time to replace me. I think I see why the last 2 DON left after only a few months each. Should have seen that red flag.

If I do quit, I will just go back to work with the staffing agency and pick up a few days at the prison like I was doing before. Actually the gal at Curves is after me to manage the place for her but it would be way toooooooo many hours for me. Gee I miss my little book store. But thats just between you and me. Shhhhhhhhh.

Thought for the day: Blessed are the flexible, for they can tie themselves in knots.

Just dreaming

Every once in awhile I think I will write my dreams down as soon as I wake up. I have very vivid dreams, always have. Some times they are so real I have trouble going back to sleep, sometimes I wake up crying and sometimes they are really funny. I was going thru a notebook to find something to write on today and found a page dated 3/14/08 Dream. I thought for fun I would write it down word for word as I remembered it that morning.

Boarded a big plane. I knew the guy in charge but can't remember who he was. Lots of kids. It was a special flight for kids going to somewhere in Spain. Crowded, lots of bags in the seats. To entertain the kids this guy has a special heavy plastic ceiling that could be lowered down so the kids could write and use crayons on the ceiling. Landed once in Egypt and runway was like a regular road. Then landed in Spain and runway was worse and we taxed for miles right thru poor community streets and wings didn't touch anyone. But then no one could speak the kind of Spanish and there was anger and then we were flying and being shot at and everyone was on the floor, then my mother was there complaining about wanting some aspirin and coffee and not worried about being shot at at all. I had to get in her face to make her see we were in danger.

Not sure what all that means but this is a typical dream for me. Sometimes when I am dreaming it feels like the real world. Do you think maybe we slip into a different time/space and do live lives in another world when we dream?

Thought for the day: Never put both feet in your mouth at the same time, because then you won't have a leg to stand on.