The Real Deal

 Last Sunday when Pamela left and headed back to school it hit me. Pamela wasn't just going back to school. She was going Home to start her new job as an RN. Oh CRAP! As I gave her a hug goodbye before she climbed in the car I started crying like a baby. I realized that she has grown up and was starting as we've been laughly calling it her Big Girl Job and Life.  Oh I know she'll be back often for those free dinners or outings with the family but it's feels different so how. I know I'm a big Whimp.

Pamela's RN license arrived so she's got the paper to prove she made it. She survived her first week on her new job. I think she likes it. LOL. The week was all about orientation. We’ve all been there, lots of info, paperwork and some of it can be very boring.  She got her badge with her name and in big red letters "RN" and keys to whatever. She called home each day to report the happenings and you could tell in her voice just how excited she was to be there.  In fact here's her post on Facebook the night before she started.

 ³    Have to share her post on her first day: “First day at CSMC tomorrow as an RN! How many
              people can actually say that they are excited to go to work? It feels good to honestly say that I am so
             excited to start tomorrow! I'll be toting my new bag and badge reel from Amber Bell and Mike Bell!
             Thank you again to all my friends and family for all the love and support, especially Carla Kennedy and David
             Kennedy!!”

She’s right about not many folks really getting all that excited about work. And how do you like that she acknowledges us the parents. We did something right. See Lane if you’re reading eventually we the parents are smart again and get acknowledged. Oh trust me she still gets that look on her face like “Mom you didn’t just say that or you just don’t understand ugh.”

Next week she gets to go out on the floor in the post partum unit. She’ll be shadowing the Nurse she precepted under before she graduated. She’s excited about that.

During the summers I work 4 ten hour days so I can have a 3 day weekend. Well this year the entire district is working 4 ten’s. The past 6 years it has been optional but not this one. Some folks weren’t happy with that but I’m sure they enjoy the 3 days they're off. So far for the month of June I have a doctors appt every Friday. Sucks big time but at least I don't have to take time off from work and make it up when we're working a normal 40 hour week in 5 days.   

Pamela and I used my first Friday off before she left to go to my doctors appointment and then we found a store that sold scrubs so she could get some to start work in.  We were getting really hungry (imagine that) so we stopped at Panera’s for a bite of lunch. Yummy. The best place we headed to was our massage. Awwwww. Waiting to Exhale Day Spa atmosphere is calming and relaxing. If you click on the name it will take you to their website to see all the services they offer and the location. After changing into a robe you go sit in a waiting area to wait for your massage therapist in this very comfy and soothing room where the lights are low and soft music is playing. They usually have a

pitcher of water with orange or lemon slices in it and a simple snack like pretzels or chex mix for your pleasure while waiting. Of course the wait is really short. It’s just about time to get a sip of water and a couple pretzels swallowed. The picture to the right is from the Waiting to Exhale website.

When your hour is up You can relax on the table until you're ready to move or you can grab your robe and head to the dressing room. A massage salon my daughter worked during the summer one year felt like it was a clinic. No atmosphere.  The one thing that urked both of us was the receptionist this time when we entered and left. She didn't great us, she didn't communicate much at all. Thank goodness we had been to Waiting to Exhale many times before and knew this was not typical. I'm in the process of writing a letter to the owner to let her know what happened which I won't bore you with the details. If we could have bypassed the receptionist it would have been perfect.

Last year a friend of mine became an advocate for having a colonoscopy after 50. They found something and she had to have some treatments but all is well now. When you hit 50 all kinds of new experiences, aches, pains or pains in the butt so to speak start happening. I have been avoiding such a procedure but finally gave in and scheduled one on my third Friday off. Great way to spend a day off don't you think. NOT!  The prep Thursday was the worst part. At least I was able to add a Crystal Lite flavor pack. So I was drinking a 1/2 gallon mixture that tasted like waterd down salty lemonade. So refreshing. Yeah right. Me and needles do not work well together.  They had to poke me 4 different times before the IV would stay and not blow out. My hands are now bruised. Lucky me. The procedure itself I don't remember a thing. I got a clean bill of health from my doctor so I'm good for 10 years. Preventative health care is better than waiting to find out it's too late or you have to have major treatments of any kind. So my advice is if you're over 50 and haven't had a colonoscopy go do it now. Get it over with and be worry free.

Last nite for dinner we met up with our friends the Harpers at The Cisco Salsa Company in Tomball. Mmmm maybe it was an off day for the bartender but the Margarita was terrible. David had to send it back. That's a first. Our food was only so so. Actually it was very bland. The cheese dip was rather tasteless and over cooked. Now the salsa and chips were Yum. After dinner we went out and sat on the patio for a beer and wine while listening to the music. The guy sang several Marty Robins, Johnny Cash and other songs. He wasn't bad at all. But right now I'm not sure the chips, salsa and the music are enough to get me back. Maybe on a cooler evening I might go back to listen to the live music and have a drink or two. Sorry Harpers we didn't steer you in the right direction for food but hey the company was good. But now we know.

Wasn't in a picture taking mode this past week so you got more words than pictures. I'll try to make up for it on my next post.

So until next post....A good friend is a connection to life - a tie to the past, a road to the future, the key to sanity in a totally insane world. ~Lois Wyse~

I’m so Happy I Can’t Stop Smiling

I posted on Facebook this morning that It’s Official!!! Pamela passed the NCLEX. She is now officially and RN!! She’ll start work on Monday the 18^th. She’s so excited. When she got her degree from Texas A&M we thought she was done but she wanted more and returned to school to get a nursing a degree. She loved it. We’d never seen her so excited about school and what she was learning. Well she succeeded and is entering a new phase of her life and we the parents couldn’t be prouder! It’s real now.

Oh and remember how I told you my husband was itching to landscape….well he’s started.   No it's not rain it's the sprinkler but you can see the small bed his created on the side of the garage. We'll be adding to it as we go. Barbara B. if you're reading guess what he planted there..... 2 or 3 vitech bushes. Figured you'd like that.

David just couldn’t wait to get something in the ground. He had our other house finally landscaped to where he was finding it hard to find a reason to yank anything out by the roots. He was always changing something so it got to be a joke among our family and friends as to what David yanked out by the roots in the landscaping. My friend Judy was a benefactor of about 4 trees and some other plants during his yanking out period. LOL. I guess someone asked how long these plants would last before David changed things up and started yanking them out.


 In back of the garage he has a small bed for bushes to create a hedge next to the trailer pad to kinda hide the trailer when it's parked.   

He's got a Crepe Myrtle planted off the point of the patio with roses surrounding it, same around our bedroom window, and along the west side of the house. He also planted some plumbago and esparanza's. In time those crepes should shield the windows on that side from the west sun.  

 He started on the front by removing most  of the plants that came with the house and then added an esparanza in front of each window. We'll He'll fill in the bare areas later.

 Next round of planting he'll have the sago palm moved more to the center of the window and he thinks he'll plant another one in the center of the windows to the left of the door.

The left side of the house is bare but it won't take him long to figure something out.

And get this as we sat on the patio last Sunday David goes “You know, it don’t look bad” What did I hear right? He actually likes his landscaping so far. Wow! I think it looks great but hey what do I know. David is my Yard Crasher.

I took these pictures last Wednesday when it teased us with possible rain. Hence the angry looking clouds.

And this is what I came home to yesterday evening after work. What the ????  The chairs were blown over and around. The grill was about 2" from falling off the patio. It's normally 8' to the left.

And the 4 rocking chairs that normally sit in a row looking out at the lake were all in a big heap.

Apparently we had some pretty high wind. The rain didn’t show up until around 8pm Crazy.

David finished painting, hanging a new light fixture and hanging a mirror in our ½ bath, changed out the toilet paper and towel holder and attempted to install our new faucet. Notice the soap dispenser has stars. The trash can matches. We love our stars.

 










The faucet was not cooperating. It took the plumber 2 times to get it installed correctly so it wouldn’t leak. I knew something was wrong if David couldn’t do it.
While Pam and I were out I picked up some new plain brown towels and I embellished the first one with some cowboy boot fabric I had. Not sure what I'll add to the others and how yet What’cha think?   Well don't look too close you might might my oops.

Now I need to get something on the walls. Grrrr I hate that part because I’m not good at it.

Okay all that is on my mind is that in 4 days my daughter will be working in a hospital and her room here will be empty. Catch 22. Happy her dreams are coming true but sad because I’ll miss her but I’m still smiling. Yes I know she’ll be home for visits and I can run up to see her but….. ya know it's not the same.

This weekend is Father’s Day and for us it will be quality time together before Pamela takes off and try to keep dad from doing projects so he'll relax. We have some places we want to go on Saturday and then Chill on Sunday. David said he would chill. I’ll let you know if that happens. David’s not very good at the relaxing part.

Well 2 posts back to back is a record for me. Whew….

Well until next blog…. Have a Happy Father’s Day!

When I was a boy of fourteen, my father was so ignorant I could hardly stand to have the old man around.  But when I got to be twenty-one, I was astonished at how much he had learned in seven years.  ~Mark Twain ~
Sound familar....LOL

Life is good... I think. But the Waiting .....

Memorial Day weekend. Pamela was getting fairly discouraged because she’d been filling our applications for nursing jobs but she hadn’t gotten any interview calls. I told her to give it time, she did  just graduate and it will happen. She finally got two interviews but no offers after 4 days. A little communication would be nice. A thank you but we can’t offer a job now or better yet “when can you start”…..but nothing. I had asked a prayer group that I belong to, to please send a prayer up for Pamela. It’s always hard to watch your child when they feel discouraged or down or struggling with life big or small. Well the prayers must have worked because when I got home that Friday I found Pamela sitting on the couch talking with her Dad with the biggest smile. I was tired and happy to be home to start a 3 day weekend so I wasn’t thinking about jobs. She just kept smiling. Finally she jumped up saying “I have a job offer.” Oh hallelujah. Since it was Memorial Day weekend they told her to think it over and let them know on Tuesday. Well that worked for Pamela because she was hoping to hear back from the other interview. Well come Tuesday morning still no call from the 2^nd interview. Bummer but she had to call the other hospital and give them her decision whether she would take the internship for 3 months and then hopefully a full time position. Oh the decisions….. Pamela still hadn’t heard  from the 2^nd interview. Lo and behold by mid morning Pamela had her 2^nd job offer. Yahoo options! Now she had to make a decision.  She went for the 2^nd offer in the post partum dept. She did her preceptor ship at this hospital and in this department. In our neck of the woods most graduate nurses don’t always get to go straight into a specific department.  She called the 1^st offer to decline but let them know it was a hard decision and she appreciated the offer. THEN happiness she has a job! But she’ll be staying in College Station. Oh well that’s okay because she has a job! Did I mention that already? We’re so excited for her to start this new phase of her life. Now to pass the Board which she took just yesterday. We have to wait 48 hours for the results.  

We’re sitting on Pins and Needles waiting for the official notice of whether

she passed or failed..

Here’s a couple of pictures of Pamela and my mom from lunch at our favorite tea room in Tomball, The Whistle Stop. You don’t go away hungry. Some tea rooms we’ve been too only give bird size servings but not here.  Everything is always so yummy.  

Not that Pamela was thrilled but of course I had my camera so I convinced her to let me take some pictures of her and her Mimi. She’ll appreciate them one day.

You know if I’d get caught up I’d be able to post at least once a week when I have  current news or things to share but I’m always behind the Eight Ball.

Last Wednesday when some areas were getting heavy rains all we got was rain and thunder and lots of wind. You could see and smell the rain about a mile away but it never reached our house. So instead I played and finally caught a lightning strike.  We did finally get rain the next day. Hard heavy rain. Total rain last Thursday was 1 1/4. Not bad but it didn't keep us at home.

We, meaning David, Pamela an I met at Don Julio’s Mexican Restaurant on DJ’s Upper Desk to listen to Davin James. David and I have gone to Pufferbelly’s to  see Davin on Wednesday night’s before but this venue is closer to home. So while listening to Davin we had good food and margarita’s. Pamela decided it was time to get even and snapped a picture of David and I and posted it on

facebook. It was a very enjoyable evening. Come to find out DJ’s Upper Deck has music every Thursday evening. There was no cover charge for Davin so I’m guessing there’s not one for any other Thursday night. Works for me. You know what’s even better I didn’t have to go to work the next day. For the months of June and July I work four – 10 hr days and get Fridays off. Yahoo. But the days do get long. Of course the hubby has no sympathy since he works 10-12 hours 95% of the time.  

Well that covers the happenings of last week can’t wait to see what this week will bring. Oh I know something Pamela and I did we drove up to College Station/Bryan and she signed a lease on a new apartment.

 Do you think she's happy? It's her first place. I love this face of happiness.

The apartment has never been lived in and for the first time in 7 years of school she get's a whole pantry and not just a shelf, she won't have to wait on some else to do their laundry, she'll have a whole freezer and if something is dirty, messy or the trash needs taking out it's all her doing. LOL

Hopefully I’ll be sharing more good news soon.

After posting my blog on the 9th I read Amber's post about baby Harrison. He was having some complications and gave his Mom and Dad quite a scare but with the great team of doctors Harrison is showing improvement  as of the end of today.

So until next blog...............say a prayer for the quadruplets progress and Pamela as she starts the new phase of her life. I'll be sending prayers out to my friends and blogger friends who are battling cancer, and other life altering and threatening diseases. 

Celebrations and other Rantings

So here's some of the latest happenings.

Went to my book club meeting to discuss our book choice .. The Shack by William P. Young. People either love this book or hate. It all depends on your perception. Our group really liked it. Now there were some things in the book that a few had problems with or some thought it was an interesting twist on our relationships with people and God. The book was not meant to be Biblical but I did find it rather thought provoking. The key point in this book we thought was "RELATIONSHIPS".

Back on the May 19th we went to our good friends the Harpers to celebrate the graduation of their oldest son JR from the University of Houston. He's the first of their 5 boys to graduate. Obviously the family was very excited. Can't tell by the smiles can you?
I know just how they feel. Since we just watched Pam finish nursing school.

Sheryl snapped this picture as soon as Pamela and I arrived.

Then I snapped a picture of Pamela and her Godfather Tim. The afternoon was full of food, laughter, congratulations for JR and maybe an adult beverage or two.  

We took a picture of all us who went to U of H with the new grad.  Those of us pictured here are actually fraternity brothers and sisters. Phi Mu and Lamda Chi Alpha. Lots of fun times and memories with these folks. David finally decided to leave work and join us.

David was tired after working all day so after eating and chillin for a while he finally have to give up and go home. Pam and I stuck around a while longer hanging out.                                    Some one else gave up too... LOL.  We wore out the proud Dad of the Graduate.       Sweet Dreams Ross.  He can sleep even better now because I saw a post on facebook that Jr got a job. 

Here's a picture of my Circular Block I created in EQ via a tutorial from Marlene Oddie. Each month My EQ Bee works thru a tutorial of some kind to create new blocks and quilts. We learn and use different techniques and sometimes we repeat the same techniques the next month to get a better graspon how to use EQ. I hope one day to post more quilting stuff but I'm slow. Next post I should have at least one or two things to show off.  Do you EQ? Do you know what EQ is?  EQ lets you design a quilt by creating blocks and coloring them with solid or virtual fabric. You can draw your own block or use one from the library. Your computer becomes your design wall. You can add borders and quilting. The software will calculate the yardage needed so no more guesswork math work.

Nothing much more to write just at this moment. I'm off to sew so that maybe I can have something to share. I hope by the next post to share several pieces of news.

I will share this ..... Our family friends Mike and Amber had their Quadruplets on May 31st. One day short of 30 weeks. All babies are doing well. The girls are off their CPAPs as of today and Harrison the boy is catching up. The smallest one Logan was 2.6 pounds and she was the first to breath on her own. She must have got that determination from her momma.  Mike and Amber and the rest of their family are on cloud nine. Amber has shared pictures on her blog of the tiny little beings and look so precious. Can't wait until they come home so I can go visit them. Sending hugs and prayers to this family.

I saw this quote on BJ's Sweet Nothings blog and it made me LOL.

"It is not economical to go to bed early to save the candles if the result is twins." In this case Quads. LOL
~Chinese Proverb~

So until next Blog...

May your bobbin always be full.