What's the key to your heart?

I've often said that I married my husband because he can ALWAYS make me laugh! Regardless of my mood or the situation.

But that's only the reason I married him because it wasn't till much later that I found out how GREAT a cook he is!!!

While I love chocolate, and roses.......

there's just not much that says "I love you" like a homemade pecan pie....with homemade whipped cream to top it.....

Unless, of course it's handmade bread, still warm from the oven....and covered in butter....

I'm REALLY not looking forward to him being off his feet for 2 months when he has his knee replaced in March!

Then again, it might help my weight loss a bit........

I AM Ninja Nurse!!

Oh, yes I am!!

Read it and believe.......


Hey! Honey!!!

I told ya so
I told ya so
I told ya so
I told ya so!!!!


hee hee hee heeeeeee.....

for the record...never argue with a nurse! :-)

popcorn snow and dishpan hands

So last night I'm sitting in my alcove pretending to chart and suddenly the hall smells like popcorn.

for the record, I don't like popcorn. unless it's covered in caramel or toffee.

and I really don't like the SMELL of popcorn.

But it reminded me of my first nursing job at Texas Scottish Rite Hospital for Children. I love that place.

They were given an enormous donation in order to build a new building by a single person years ago. I mean enormous in the range of millions of dollars (I've forgotten the exact figure) However, the money came with a stipulation. The hospital absolutely could NOT look, sound, feel or SMELL like a hospital. No exceptions. In order to accomodate this stipulation and get the funds several things were done in the building of the non-hospital.

2 floors are below ground level and 3 above so that the building doesn't look institutional. Each area of the hospital is themed, not given medical names. For example. The physicians are full time employees of the hospital and their only "office" is in the clinics on the first floor. They rotate through the various clinic areas throughout the week. So that, as an example Dr Dodge who works with the Spina Bifida population (and was one of my favs) would see patients in the Red clinic Mondays, the Green clinic Wednesdays and the Rainbow clinic Fridays.

The radiology area was labeled and decorated something to do with fish...I've forgotten the exact name now. But families would be told "you're going to Fish land (or whatever) for an xray today...you can find it by following the trail of fish on the floor (true--no signs saying radiology with an arrow...instead trails on the floor)"

So you get the idea right?, now, how to keep a hospital from SMELLING like a hospital? In the center of the sprawling building is a large area that is open to all 3 floors. you get across this open area by large bridges or catwalks on the upper floors. it's all open air. and for the record, I worked on the 3rd floor and am scared of heights but crossed this daily without a care cuz it's just THAT well done. Suspended from the ceiling of this 3 story open space is the coolest perpetual motion sculpture I've ever seen. For stress relief I would stand on the 3rd floor catwalk/bridge and just watch this thing....always something new to find. On the first floor is an enormous fountain and play area (remember it couldn't SOUND like a hospital either and the water and laughter would echo around the whole hospital during peak times) Just inside this open area during all daytime hours you could find a volunteer (they have more volunteers than employees....HONEST) sitting at a movie theater popcorn machine popping corn. nickel for a small bag quarter for a large one. If the bags started getting stale they'd pile a cart and hand them out to whoever they ran into. Because it wasn't the SALE of the popcorn that was important....it was the SMELL of fresh popping popcorn that ~~due to the very intentional design of the building~~ wafted into all areas of the hospital.



As I left work this morning it was snowing. almost horizontally which was cool. what I'd call a "light dusting" and what folks further north wouldn't even register as snowing. But for us, it was way cool. 33 degrees in fact....which is WAY COOL!....made me rethink the whole relocate to Alaska thing....South Dakota maybe???


So, a few days ago hubby asks me to look at his hand. Seems one of his fingers had a crack right at the edge of the fingernail that was really bothering him. He wanted to know what to put on it. Knowing that he eschews the dishwasher whenever possible I told him he was developing dishpan hands and should put lotion on daily and see if that helped.

I wish I had a picture of the look he gave me.

trust me. that WASN'T the diagnosis he had in mind.

A week's worth of baby lotion later......no more cracks.

Advent Calendar scripture for today

HAPPY BIRTHDAY SUBVET!!!!



y'all go on over and wish him well!

Subvet's Famous!!

Can you guess which comment is his???

Who You Gonna Call???

OK, this is another I've Got a Question, You've Got an Answer post. So get ready to weigh in folks.


Who do you call or what do you do when the following things happen in your home??

A) The oven element breaks into several small pieces

B) The air conditioner suddenly stops keeping you comfortably cool

C) The cat chews through the plug wire on the clippers you use to cut hair (or any other wire, including speaker wires)

D) The dishwasher starts making a scary sound and quits cleaning your dishes

E) You start getting nasty looking grains of "stuff" out of the shower head (it isn't helped by taking off the shower head and cleaning it out, that just reveals big chunks of "stuff" in the pipe)

F) The center leg on your inherited Duncan V dining room table wobbles and is in danger of falling off.

G) The burner on your stovetop stops heating up

H) The blower on the heater/AC stops blowing and starts making a grinding/rattling noise

I) The bathtub faucet drips and the knob no longer turns it on or off

J) All of a sudden the dryer takes 4 times as long to dry each load

K) It's time to change the oil in your minivan

L) There's water in the cupboard under your sink, revealing a pipe that has become disconnected

M) There's a stopped up drain that plunger and drain-o can't help

Let me know how you handle these situations....and I'll tell you what I do.

I call my husband. He has, by himself, fixed every one of these problems and many more that I can't remember right now.

A and G he ordered replacement parts and installed them, B he checked the refrigerant levels in the AC, added more refrigerant and cleaned the condensing coils (both inside and outside), C he splices wires with apparent ease, D he disassembled and reassembled our old dishwasher about every 6 weeks for a few months before we replaced it, E he drained the hot water heater and replaced the heating rods which had corroded (it was this corrosion that was traveling through the pipes), F he put a dry wall mount in the hole where the leg screwed on so the screw would hold, H he disassembled the fan motor, repacked the ball bearings and reassembled it...I think if memory serves he ultimately replaced the entire motor as it was shot, I he replaced the tub faucets, J he snaked out the drain line to the dryer...then hooked his wetvac up to the garden hose and sucked out a bunch of water that had gotten in the line. K he always changes our oil, L he replaced the pipe and M snaked out the drain.

He thinks that these things are "no big deal" I disagree.



He is "da man"!

I am very lucky to have him in my life. A great husband, a great Dad, a great friend, a great cook.

I love you very much Subvet, thanks for sticking around this crazy lady.