Wednesday, February 29, 2012

R.I.P. Davy Jones


I was young.  I was in love.  

He was one of a handful of cute faces decorating my wall that I'd reach up to kiss each night before going to bed (thanks to Tiger Beat Magazine's crystal clear glossy centerfold posters).  

When I see his face today... my mind wanders
back to a simpler time. 

 Where an innocence lived that even now... 

 46 years later...

I crave. 


R.I.P. Davy Jones
You will always be a Superstar in my book... 

I wanna be free,
Like the bluebirds flying by me,
Like the waves out on the blue sea,
If your love has to tie me,
Don't try me, say good-bye.
I wanna be free,
Don't say you love me, say you like me
But when I need you beside me,
Stay close enough to guide me,
Confide in me, whoa-oh-oh.
I wanna hold your hand, 
Walk along the sand,
Laughing in the sun,
Always having fun.
Doing all those things 
Without any strings to tie me down.
I wanna be free,
Like the warm September wind, babe,
Say you'll always be my friend, babe,
We can make it to the end babe,
Again, babe, I've gotta say...
I wanna be free,
I wanna be free,
I wanna be free.

And now you are free....

Davy Jones ~ Dec. 30, 1945 - Feb. 29, 2012






Sunday, February 26, 2012

Hibernation

In hearing aids, January and February usually
 prove to be poor sales months.  

We were ready for the lull in business.  

*yawn*
  
After all, it's winter.  Time for hibernation... right?

Well, January was business as usual.  
Things slowed down some, but not a whole lot.  

When do we get to rest?

Then along came February.  
This has been our best month since we opened in July!!  

We are busy, busy, busy!


As for the hibernation thing...

Gracie says she'll take care of that for us.

Saturday, February 25, 2012

I'm Tired

The Western Maryland Health System.  A beautiful place.  It looks more like a hotel than a hospital.  They even have valet parking!  But you don't want to come here if you have an...


 EMERGENCY!!


I brought Lindsey here on Thursday, after she'd spent several days hemorrhaging - the side effects of the pill the doctor put her on after the baby was born.


4:30 PM.  The waiting room was empty.  I took care of the baby and Lindsey was called back to a room.  This shouldn't take long.  We were the only ones there.

   Soon the waiting room was becoming full, so I gathered up the baby and her stuff and went back to Lindsey's room with her.  She was weak and in a lot of pain.  They took blood from her arm and it bled like crazy, even after they bandaged it.  They took a urine sample, then told her they'd be taking her back for a sonogram.  We waited.

And Waited.



And waited.  

Not a person came back to say, are you doing okay?  Do you need anything?  

Nothing.  They acted like we were not there.

There was not even a chair in the room for me to sit on.

The baby started getting fussy and needed a new bottle.  I walked out to the nurses station.  The half a dozen nurses looked at me like I was from another planet when I asked,  "I was wondering if someone could please rinse the baby's bottle out and fill it with clean water so I can mix her formula?"  

"There's a sink over there..." one nurse said.  Yes, there was a sink in the hall.  Where the doctors washed their hands after taking care of patients.  I was reluctant - this seemed unsanitary to me.  But the baby was hungry.  (am I being too particular?)  So I fed the baby, and we waited some more.

  The nurse comes in to take Lindsey back for her sonogram... afterwards, they forgot about her being there. 

  Finally back in the room.  Waiting.  

Finally, Summer is asleep.


It's after 9 PM and there are doctors scurrying about up and down the hall...  

lots of laughter...

chit chat...  


I go out to the nurses station once again.  The doc is sitting, looking at a computer.  My back hurts.  

"Could you give me an idea of how long it will be before Lindsey sees the doctor?"  I was nice.

"She is next." he says, but with no idea of how long it would be.  I explained to him that I had a baby back there and wondered if I should take the baby home and come back for Lindsey.

"If you leave, your wait will be that much longer..."  He says  arrogantly.  

He must not have understood what I said.  I just shrugged my shoulders and returned to Lindsey's room.


Soon I'd had enough.  I went to the nurses station.  "I've been waiting since 4:30...  it is now 9:30."  

Nurse:  We are waiting on sonogram results.  She gets on the computer.  Lindsey's was lost.  She thought she was someone else.  Mistaken identity.  blah, blah, blah.  

Lindsey asked the nurse why her urine sample was still sitting in the room.  She was given 2 different stories.  Either one was true and one was false or they were both false -who knows.

Finally, the doctor.  He and I had a small conversation. It went something like this:

Me.  Sorry, I guess you misunderstood earlier when I said I may take the baby home and come back for Lindsey.  The baby is not the patient... Lindsey is.

Doc.  BLANK STARE.  I guess he didn't remember the conversation from 45 minutes earlier.

Me.  (I point to the baby in her car seat on the floor)  This is the baby.  The patient, Lindsey, is in the bathroom right now.  She will be right back.

Doc.  Yea, I don't know why they separate the mothers from the babies like that.  They should let them be in the same room.

Me.  blank stare.   

Meanwhile...  back at home ...  Pop pop and Marissa played school.  And Marissa decorated the entire house in sticky notes.




  Lindsey is doing better today...  *Yawn* and I'm going to bed soon.  I'm tired.


Sunday, February 19, 2012

I Have To Put Up with Her...


Dear Diary,

When the newest little person arrived...  several things happened.

1.  I lost my place on Dad's lap.


2.  I lost my place on mom's lap.



3.  The other little people aka Cupcake began getting bored because the world no longer revolved around her (welcome to my world  Cupcake) and she began to avert her attention to other things like messing with my toys...


No wonder my angry bird is angry!


What could the older peeps be thinking - cluttering up my floor with things I'm not allowed to breath on, step on, or chew on?


I know it's only a matter of time though... till short stuff will be tossing Oreo cookies at me.  Makes me hungry just thinking about it...


In the meantime, I have to put up with her...  and she's so needy.   Gracie.  


Wednesday, February 15, 2012

Excuse the Profanity

Our sales rep for Siemens invited us to attend a continuing education class in Pittsburgh, Pa. today.


This meant we could collect some CEU's for our license renewal next year.  Plus, Brian wanted to take us out for lunch.


We passed on a trip to Vegas last week,  since we'd be going to Pittsburgh this week.   Our friends in business attended and told us that the Elton John show was part of the itinerary.  

Darn!!  


Pittsburgh is a town with tons of character! 
 I was pleasantly surprised.


Beautiful buildings!


And much bigger than I had ever imagined.


A bit of advice:  You never want to get lost in Pittsburgh.  


Gary's blood pressure must've been off the charts.  
This town is confusing!


When we finally found the parking garage, it was just as perplexed as the town. 

 One way. Do not enter.  No parking.  Reserved.  

  We drove up three floors before we decided it was time to turn around and go home.  


We were trying to find our way out of town when Brian texted us.  'Where are you guys?'  

'Couldn't find parking.  Heading home.'

'What??!  the reason I came to this meeting was to take you 2 out for lunch.  Siemens has already paid for your parking.''  

'That's all well and good...  if we could just find the parking they paid for.  Sorry, Brian.' 

The following video is for your entertainment...  Please excuse the profanity...  He couldn't help himself. 




Today while lost,  I faced my fears of claustrophobia.  

"Oh no!  Not the tunnel again!"  "Didn't we just do the tunnel?"  "Isn't this the same tunnel we went through a few minutes ago?"  "Again?!"  

I faced my fear 7 times.  


All was not lost...


Shake off the feel of defeat...


"Eenie, meenie, minie moe....  
catch a lobster by the... claw.



Then some shopping at Babies R Us.  


Decisions - decisions.  California... or home?


At this point, everyone needed chocolate...



 Then home to our dog who had taken out her frustrations on her alligator Wally while watching the house.  


Dear Diary,  It was home alone again for me.  And there is talk of me being depressed.  Wonder why?  Gracie.

Tuesday, February 14, 2012

2.14.12




Dear Diary,  


Mom has a valentine.  His name is Gary aka Dad.  I wish I had a valentine.  Gracie.


Friday, February 10, 2012

Pip's blog and Q & A

I got these questions from Pip's blog...
  I so much enjoyed reading about him and his assistant that I thought I'd consider myself tagged and go with it... 
I love Pip!  He's a lil' darling!
Okay.  Here goes.
1. Describe yourself in seven words?
Gracie:  Mistreated. abused. unloved. starved. disrespected.playful. sleepy.


The Mom:  Thankful. Clumsy. Unorganized. Confused. Sad. Happy. Amused.


2. What keeps you up at night?
Gracie:  Mom's feet


The Mom:  Thinking about what I could have done differently, dry eyes, and indigestion.
3.  Who would you like to be?
Gracie:  One of those dogs that get a walk every single night.
The Mom:  A me that wears a size 6
4. What are you wearing right now?
Gracie:  Just my white coat, silly.
The Mom:  Green sweater, black sweat pants, white slippers.


5. What scares me?
Gracie:  When the pantry doors are left open and I walk gently over and take a peek to see what's in there and mom says, "WHAT ARE YOU DOING GRACIE?"  It scares the bajeebies out of me!!

The Mom:  hospitals, doctors, blood, medication, heights, deep water, sickness for me, my family, or my friends. 


6. The best and worst of blogging?
Gracie:  I love to look at photos of my love, Samson.  He's beautiful!
The worse~When mom shares my secret thoughts aka diary.
The Mom:  The best - all the wonderful friends - the diverse lifestyles.  I think people are so interesting.  The worse - that my hands have severe arthritis in them and typing sometimes becomes hard...  and also when someone just disappears :-(


7. The last website I visited?
Gracie:  Three Dog Bakery.  I am so hungry now.
The Mom:  1,000 ways to Die on wikipedia...  researching fact or fiction?  There's no way some of these deaths can be fact.
8. What is the one thing I would change about myself?
Gracie:  I would have bit the vet that tried to fix me.  How can they call being barren FIXED?
The Mom:  Thinking things through more before speaking or acting on... 



9. Slankets yes or no? 
Gracie:  Thinking not.  I have 1,562 blankets. I do not need a Slanket.  What's a slanket, anyway?
The Mom:  Uh uh.
10. Tell us something about the person that tagged you.
Gracie:  Let's just say it was Pip who tagged us.  haha.  Love that Pipster.  He's little and cute and really funny!
Mom:  Okay.  We'll say it's Pip.  He is a cutie pie!!
Anyone who wants to be tagged, feel free.  
I'd love to know about about you!!!  
Hope you're all having a terrific weekend so far!

Thursday, February 9, 2012

HAPPY ENDINGS...

To appreciate what I'm about to tell you, you should first  read my post of  Oct. '10 about 


And now for the rest of the story....

Jimmy called me about a month ago wanting to know our address.  

JIM:  "I'll be sending you and Gary the money I owe you..."  

ME:  "What money?"  

JIM:  "The money I borrowed when my car broke down and I had to get another one."  

ME:  "That was five years ago!  Forget it Jim.  I did."

But Jimmy didn't forget.  

Then he told me the rest of the story. 

 He was months behind on his rent, overdrawn on his checking account, and down on his luck once again... about as low as he could get.  

He was expecting that he might be living 
out of his car once again.  

He called his bank to see just how much he was overdrawn only to find that there was a very large amount of money in his bank account.  

"WHAT?!  ARE YOU KIDDING ME?"  he asked.  

No Jimmy...  they were not kidding you.  It is for real!

Several months ago he filed for disability from the service, not thinking that he would get 100% disability.  But he did, and he received a settlement of back pay from years ago.

And he is now going back 20-30 years and repaying debt that had long been forgotten.

Past landlords, credit unions, friends and relatives, banks...  anyone to whom he has been indebted, 
he is trying to make it right.  

Jimmy will be getting a very nice monthly income now from his disability and I don't expect that he'll ever have to worry about living out of his car again.  

Oh how I love happy endings...

Monday, February 6, 2012

Gracie's Puppy


Rissi:  "Gracie, I'm a doggie too.  Woof, woof!"


Gracie:  "No way!  You're allowed to have chocolate.  
You're not a dog."


Rissi:  "I am Gracie!  I'm your puppy!"


Gracie:  "I was fixed, so  I have no puppies.  
You must be mistaken, Cupcake."


 Rissi:  "Gracie, I'm glad I'm your puppy."


Gracie:  "Kid, you don't belong to me. 
 Now go find your real mommy!"


Rissi:   "I know that you love me Gracie."


Gracie:  "Whatever, Kid..."


Rissi:  " and I love you Gracie."


Gracie:  Uh oh!  This scene looks all too familiar.  
School must be in session.  


And I'm torn.  Shall I run for cover 
or stick around for the lunch bell.