Party of One

Last night I went to dinner at Jake's Wayback. I have gone there a few times because I use a restaurant.com coupon. My sister ordered her food first at the counter and sat down to wait for it. She paid the coupon price. I then ordered my food and gave in the coupon, but the little counter girl said I could not use it. I asked why and she said only one person per "party" could use it. I said I am an independent diner who is paying for myself, so I am considered a party of one. She said that when people sit together they are a party of two. I said this is a fast food place so I will sit one table away and then I am a party of one. She began to read my the restaurant.com rules and I told her that I walked in alone, paid separately and would sit alone at a table. I can use the coupon. The manager finally walked over and silently put in the coupon, as the girl was still reviewing the rules and regulations. The burger gave me a stomachache, so I will not be going back there again anyway.

Farewell

Over the weekend, one of our doctors gave notice that she was leaving. While everyone was surprised, I was not. She was very unhappy with her career choice and cried to me every few weeks. She is a free spirit and found it stressful to listen to people's problems every day. Three weeks ago, I sat down with her and asked her what her plan was. She had none. I asked her what her boyfriend thought and she said he was just as unhappy with his career choice as she was with hers. He is a lawyer. I told her that at 34 years old, she was young enough to just chalk this up to experience and go do what will make her happy. She said she would think about it. She must have, because she sold her condo and quit her job. So did her boyfriend. They are heading down south to her family to create a new life where they will finally be happy.

New Week

Yesterday was a wonderful day. My grandson's party was fantastic. The food was delicious and everyone had fun. He had no idea it was a party for him, but he laughed and smiled anyway. It was a busy weekend and now it is back to work. I will now count the weeks until my husband is back on his own two feet. We are into week one so far.

Party Day

Today is my grandson's first birthday party. His parents have decided to have it in a local restaurant. They have put a lot of thought into this party and we are all looking forward to it. The year has flown by. I have watched my grandson reach many milestones. He has gone from a 3lb preemie to an 18 pound child. He is crawling and almost sitting up. He is smart and has a wonderfully cheery temperament. He is developmentally considered a 10 month old, as he was born 9 weeks early, so he is right on target for his adjusted age. By two years old he will be right where he needs to be. He will reach his goals at his own speed, on his own time. There is no right or wrong when it comes to a child. They are all individuals that have been created to be different from each other. That's they way G-d intended it.

Two

This afternoon is my great niece's birthday party. She is 2 years old. It seems like yesterday that I was at her mother's two year birthday party. There will be a bunch of tiny people at the gym, running, jumping and laughing. The parents will have lunch also. Even though it is a children's party, I will be going because my grandson is invited. He is my admission ticket. He now crawls, so he will be able to partake in some of the activities. If I squint my eyes, my little niece looks just like her mother. I can pretend I am back in 1983.

Forms

I now live in the world of forms. Forms for pre authorization. Forms for disability. Forms for Family Leave Act. Forms for prescriptions. Forms, forms, forms. First I have to fill them out. Then I have to send them in. Next I have to verify that they were received. After, that I have to make sure they are handled in the proper way. I am used to doing this as an office manager, but I am not a big fan of doing it for myself. I actually had to code my own pre authorization yesterday, when the insurance company was not sure what code to use. Who does that? Me, I guess. I taught an insurance company employee how to code a claim. Does life get stranger?

Different View

The good news is that my husband will not have surgery. The bad news is that I am now seeing life through the eyes of the handicapped. Things that used to be simple, no longer are. I understand the "regular" world not being as handicapped accessible as it needs to be, but I do not understand the "handicapped" world being equally unaccessible. The orthopedist's office has a very heavy door that is impossible to open if you are on crutches or in a wheelchair. My office building has a button to press that will automatically open the doors for handicapped patients. How could an orthopedist, who has built a million dollar office, not have included that in his plans? I found the same problem with the medical equipment store. Again, a heavy door on a poor incline. What were they thinking?

No Answers

We still have no answer as to what needs to be done for my husband's foot. The specialist we went to said that we needed another specialist, so today we have an appointment for someone else. I now know that there are "heel men" that only operate on heels. If I knew that, I would not have wasted my time yesterday. I just want to get to the right doctor so the healing can begin.

Decision Day

Today is the day that we go to the orthopedist for my husband's broken foot to see what the plan of action will be. There should be two choices. The first is to put on a cast and let the foot heal itself naturally. The second is to have surgery to align the heel bones. If that is the case, the clock gets set back to zero and the six to eight weeks in a cast starts then. I am praying for the first choice, but I have no say in it.

Back to Work

Today I am going back to work after a long weekend of being a caretaker. At this point I am not sure which is really work. Staying home and running up and down stairs to "fetch" things for my husband, or going to my job and doing my regular routine. I have to set up guidelines. My husband needs to know that when I do things for him, they will be done my way, not his way. I will not redo any task to make it exactly to his liking. If he wanted things his way, he should have never climbed that tree.

Spring Cleaning

Today is Easter and although I do not celebrate it, I feel like today is a time to start anew. The tree in my yard is gone and the yard looks so much bigger. I have made my house safe for my husband to roam around on his crutches. We have devised a pulley type system for him to carry things from room to room when I am at work. We have created a temporary new normal and things are looking brighter. Sometimes all it takes is a few days to settle in and a good plan to get things back on track.

Timber

This morning my tree will be cut down. For 32 years this tree held wonderful memories. People gathered under it for shade at every backyard barbecue. I have a beautiful picture of my sons when they were 6 and 8 years old, arm in arm, standing under it. Last year they struck the same pose, but this time they were each holding their children in their arms. It was the tree that I looked at first thing each morning to see the temperature, as we had a thermometer hanging from it. Until Wednesday, it had been a good friend. Through no fault of its own, it will be gone forever. My backyard will be safer, but now an era has come to an end.

Adapting

Human beings are programmed to adapt. If they didn't they would be extinct by now. Every family has its time when adaption is necessary. My family's time is now. After a bad fall, my husband has one leg bandaged up to his hip. We will find out Tuesday if surgery will be necessary. I hope not, as then the healing period will begin again. We are all used to using two arms and two legs. When the use of one is taken away, our survival instincts kick in. Life as we knew it, is gone. For some people it is for weeks, for others it is for a lifetime. As I am finding out, you need a plan of adaption. A way to do things easiest. You need to become an efficiency expert. I was up all night thinking of easy ways for my husband to navigate the steps in our house. I am strategically placing stools and chairs in key places, so that he will have rest and transfer stations. If this plan does not work out, I will try another, until I get it right. Our family motto is, "The S's are survivors". Now is the time that we will put our motto to the test.

Bad Equation

Equation of the day:
1 stubborn husband plus one tree = 17 foot fall and many broken bones.
I told him so!!!!

Pick One

As I previously wrote, my office is being repainted. The choice of color was already set for each room. When the painter arrived to paint, as he went through the 10 offices, he noticed that one did not have a color assigned to it. Since my boss is out of the country, I had to make that decision. I called the doctor whose office it is, but he was not available. I had to choose between dark red, dark blue and dark teal. I asked my office staff what they would choose. We gathered in his office and looked at his paintings and decided that the red would blend in perfectly.  We told the painter we were going with the red. He painted the accent wall and it looked great. The next day, the doctor came in and we told him to go look at his new office color. He is an easy going guy so we knew he would love anything. He went to his office and came back out and said he loved the color. Then he said that the dark grey blended in nicely. Dark grey? We told the painter red. Then the doctor laughed and informed us that he is color blind.

Versatility

For the next week, I need to think outside the box. Specifically, the matzo box. I usually buy my lunch at work. One day Chinese food, the next day Italian food and one day from the coffee shop across the street. I have that routine down to a science. I split each lunch with my receptionist. Half the food, half the price. It works perfectly. This week I will be taking my lunch. Matzo, eight ways. Each morning I will have to think of what will pair up with my matzo. By the time Passover is over, I will need to have a year's break.

Happy Passover

Tonight is the first night of Passover. I started preparing food yesterday, as I will not come home from work until 3pm. I am having my family for dinner. There will be one new person at the table this year. My grandson will be joining us. Last year at this time we had no idea that he would be arriving in 4 days, nine weeks early. It has been a wonderful year, watching him grow. He is happy and healthy and brings so much joy to us. This will be a very special Passover dinner.

Spring Cleaning

It all started when I was looking for a serving dish. I remembered that I had it stored in my wall unit, behind lots of miscellaneous junk. I started to take out the vases, papers, pictures and other bric a brac and found what I was looking for. As I began to put everything back, I asked myself why? I had no need for these things and they had been there for years. I got a black garbage bag and just started to toss things into it. I never looked closely at what was going in the bag. If I looked, I would have put it back in the wall unit. If I had not used these items in 20 years, there was a good chance I never would. I went from cabinet to cabinet and filled four large bags. I feel so good .

Stop The Presses

For the past year, I have been writing articles for a local magazine. It was a free one that was mailed to various parts of my neighborhood. It was an offshoot of the yellow pages with articles and advertisements. Last week I received an email from the editor. He said that he was just informed, five minutes prior, that the magazine was closing as of that day. There had been no warning. The entire nationwide division was ending. The email he was using would be discontinued immediately. He wrote to thank all of his writers and said that it was a shame that this had to happen. I felt so bad for this young man and his staff. They woke up employed and went home unemployed. That was the real shame.

My backyard

I was in my den writing emails the other day. I heard a strange loud noise coming from outside. It sounded like pellets of hail hitting the window but it was a sunny day. The sound stopped for a minute and then resumed. It kept getting louder. I stood up and looked out of the window and saw what the noise was. It was a squirrel attached to my window. That was not the funny part though. This squirrel had a bagel in its mouth. I stared at him and he stared right back. He ran off with the bagel still firmly planted in his teeth. Only in New York could a squirrel eat a bagel.

On The Loose

When I came home yesterday, Shelby greeted me at the door. I was a little alarmed as Shelby is never allowed to roam the house. He is confined to the kitchen and den. Two rooms to play in are enough for him, considering he does not pay rent. My husband was sleeping all day since he worked an overnight shift. Shelby must have sneaked past him, out of the kitchen, in the morning. My husband was unaware that there was a puppy on the loose for seven hours. I checked all of the rooms to see if any damage had been done and every room was perfect. I have no idea where Shelby was all day, and as much as we grill him, he isn't talking.

Approval

My office is being redecorated. Well, kind of redecorated. We are moving around furniture and changing pictures. We are also painting the rooms. My boss had a decorator come in to pick out the colors. She chose a putrid light grey for three out of the four walls of each office. She then picked out three accent colors to put onto the remaining wall. The colors were dark blood red, navy blue and dark teal. I was assigned the task of asking each doctor if they liked their color. I asked each person and was told no. Everyone thought the colors were too dark and depressing. They each chose a color two shades lighter than the original option. I went to my boss with the changes and she insisted that the original colors would be great. I said the doctors hated them. She said they needed to trust her decorator's eye. So much for democracy.

Rotten Core

There is a new educational concept called Common Core. It is the educational equivalent of Obamacare. The government interfered with a well proven method and turned it upside down. It complicated things to the point where no one knows what is going on. Years ago you were taught math in a common sense way. Line up the numbers and either add, subtract, multiply or divide. I call it the "gozinta" method. Two gozinta four two times. If I need to know what time a train from California will pass a train from Tennessee, I will look at a schedule. The common core is making it difficult for the students that opt for the GED. If they are being forced to use common core, they might as well have stayed in high school for as long as it takes. For many, the GED was a path for them to show that they value education even though they could not finish the traditional way.

Resilient

This week a virus was going around. It hit every state and was a bad one. Half of my staff was out for the week. They could not even lift their heads off of their pillows. I felt bad for them but the person who had the virus that most concerned me, was my mother. It hit her like a ton of bricks. She felt so bad, she was tempted to call an ambulance. I called her new doctor and explained how sick she was and he said she should come in immediately. Her vitals were all fine. She just had to ride the virus wave. After four days of not eating and not taking her medications, she rallied. She got up, went out and had pizza. Even at 90 years old, your body has a wonderful way of healing itself.

Genius

I am a genius...in my sleep. Every night, when I am sleeping, I think profound thoughts. They all make such sense to me. I lie in bed and tell myself that in the morning, I will remember every word of what I am thinking. There is no need to sit up and write the thoughts down, as I think I am clearly capable of remembering something 5 hours later. I am always wrong. Last night, I had an idea for a very interesting blog. This morning, as much as I think and think, I have no idea what it was.

Next Generation

Every generation is smarter than the previous one. I see it in my children. I now go to them for advice, answers and their skills. Is it technology or is it just the person? My younger son is a critical thinker. He has the ability to evaluate a situation and access the correct outcome. I would like to go inside his brain so I could see his brain cells sparking. He also has skills that no one else in my family has ever had. He can build a house and take apart a car with ease. He did not learn this from us. I can only hope that my grandson will go even further than his father.

Long Lost

I am not a fan of Facebook. I think that it does nothing for us. It brings us into other people's lives, when we have no reason being in them. Long lost friends and relatives pop up after years of being absent. If we really wanted you there in the first place, we would have never been estranged. This happened in my family the other day. A relative of my mother in law, that has not been in touch with the family for years, contacted my son. My son was 11 years old when they last saw each other. I have no idea what the purpose was in asking to be my son's friend. When this relative cut off all family ties, it should have been for good. If you did not care enough to be part of my son's life while he was growing up, you have no right to see his son grow up. If you weren't my friend then, do not try to be my friend now.

Morning Song

Every morning at about 6:30am my sister calls me. My cell phone rings a happy, upbeat song. I wait for that song each day. I know at the other end of the line will be my best friend. We will review what happened the previous day and go over what we will do this day. The Verizon ring tone that I have my phone programmed to is called Lullaby. It is such a catchy tune. I associate it with all good things.

Charisma

Charisma is something you either have or don't have. My boss has it. She can sway just about anyone to do what she asks. Yesterday, she had 2 chairs delivered from a department store. She gave me instructions to tell the delivery men that they had to stay at the office until she arrived to inspect the chairs. When they arrived, I told them this and they said that they had other deliveries to make. Luckily, within 5 minutes she arrived. They opened the boxes and placed the chairs where she said she wanted them. Then she stood back. She did not like how the other furniture looked with the new chairs. She told the men that they needed to move things around for her. They looked at each other as if to say, " Is she for real?". Then they looked at her and agreed. They moved furniture from office to office. The pieces being moved were extremely large. She made them stay for over a half hour as she redecorated. When they left, they still looked stunned.

Facebook Happy

I was talking with a coworker the other day. He was saying that his friend was having marriage problems. I asked if they were happy. He said they were "Facebook Happy". They take wonderful pictures and post them online. They write about where they go and what they do. In reality, they are miserable. The face they show to the outer world is imaginary. How many people are living Facebook happy lives?