Low Carb Appliance

I have found the best way to follow a low carb diet. Buy a new refrigerator that has limited freezer space! When I remodeled my kitchen, I purchased new appliances and decided to buy a refrigerator with the water and ice maker in the front door. I always wanted one. I was a bit limited in my choice as I had to make sure it would fit height wise under my cabinets. I bought a beautiful stainless steel one and when it arrived I could not wait to fill it up. That is when I realized that by having the water and ice maker option, I had fewer shelves. I had to prioritize the importance of the food that I was freezing. The carbs held least importance (as they do in life) so I only freeze a small amount of breads. This is forcing me to eat a healthier breakfast of fresh fruit and yogurt. This is also forcing my husband to forgo an extra piece of bread at dinnertime. He has lost a few pounds and I think I might have also. I never weigh myself, but I feel better. Forget about the gyms....just buy a small fridge.

Mo Sno

I got up this morning and saw "mo sno" (more snow). I walked Shelby and then checked the internet weather. The site said that my area was getting less than one inch of accumulation. I am putting my faith in their expertise so I hope they are correct. I am not going to work this morning. I am going to "play" so I do not have to drive far. I hope the next 6 weeks are better weather.

Adapting

It is human nature to adapt to a new situation. Some of us do it easier and some struggle. It is also a dog's nature to adapt. The snowstorm has filled my backyard two feet high. Normally Shelby is walked on a leash through the backyard. He likes to walk the perimeter a few times before he goes. Back and forth, back and forth. After the snow it was impossible to clear the yard so the best we could do was make a "runway" that was 2 feet by 10 feet,  20 square feet as opposed to 1800 square feet of walking space. Since yesterday he walks out and does what he needs to in two minutes within the 20 feet. He knows he has no choice and has adapted.

New Eye x 2

I am just about to leave my house to go to the hospital with my husband. He is having a second cataract surgery. He calls it a "Cadillac". He thinks that is funny. I hate to say it but I envy him. If I had cataract surgery I would no longer need my contact lenses. Luckily the snow storm is over and the streets are clear. Soon his other eye will also be clear.

Snow Day

I woke up this morning to see the ending of the Blizzard of 2015. I think that about 24" fell but I am not sure yet. I do not mind the snow but I do not like the fact that my family has to go to work, no matter what. Since they are first responders and hospital workers, there are no excuses. My husband drove home last night in white out conditions. He got on the road just before they closed down all parkways. He could not see a foot ahead of him. He barely navigated his way off of the parkway. He then parked the car a block away in a parking lot and walked home. My block is the last to be plowed so if he is planning on going to work this evening he needed to have access to the streets. By tomorrow we will all be back to our usual schedules and comparing snow stories.

Waiting Out The Storm

A blizzard is coming. Since Hurricane Sandy, East Coasters take a storm warning very seriously. The storm is supposed to start this afternoon and last until Tuesday evening. Everyone is preparing for it. The supermarket shelves are emptying out and the cars are lining up for gas. No one wants to be unprepared like they were two years ago. I hope that the storm is not as bad as they are predicting but only time will tell.

Late Entry

It just dawned on me. I did not write my blog this morning. Am I getting old and forgetful or was my routine off this morning? I chose the latter. I am usually up by 7:30 am on the weekend and have time to write, but this morning I stayed in bed until after 8am.This is unusually late for me. I got up and did my Sunday routine but never wrote my blog entry. That never really happens. I was making dinner when the thought popped into my head. I ran downstairs to the computer and wrote this entry.

Oxymoron

In Nassau County, it is the time of year to grieve your taxes. Grieving taxes means that you file papers to have the town lower your taxes. Years ago, only companies did this. Now, with the internet, anyone can do this. It takes a few minutes and it is as easy as can be. This is the only scenario when grieving makes you smile.

Frozen

I babysat my grandson two times yesterday. Once in the late afternoon and once in the evening. When I went to see him in the afternoon, he kept saying "fro,fro" and I had to ask my son what he wanted. My son said that he wanted to watch the movie Frozen that was on their DVR. I put it on, sat the baby on my lap and watched the movie. It was so entertaining. By the time my daughter in law came home, the movie was almost over but I needed to go home. When I returned at 5:30 pm to babysit again, I couldn't wait to play the end of the movie. We snuggled up again and saw the ending. I now know why everyone loves Frozen. I could watch it 10 more times.

Almost There

One of my husband's coworkers had a terrible car accident a few days ago. She was on her way to work and was one block away, when a woman who was on drugs hit her car. The woman had been driving with three children in the car, at a high speed and had already hit three other cars. The police were in pursuit. She crossed the roadway but there was no time to avoid being hit. The coworker's car was totaled and she had to be removed by the jaws of life. She was driving a brand new SUV and the only reason she survived is because her SUV was so big. She came away from the accident with a broken foot and is lucky that she will make a full recovery. She was so close to work. She was almost there.

No Show

Months ago, my office scheduled a guest speaker for our Tuesday meeting. She was to present a program yesterday. The speaker was one of our interns in 2008 and her sister is one of our doctors. Monday afternoon I called in a catering order for a luncheon after her presentation. Yesterday morning another of my doctors was opening his email, which he usually never does before work and saw an email from the guest speaker. She said that her son was coming down with something and she would not be able to come. Normally no one on my staff opens email in the morning. They do it midday. I called my boss and related the message about the "no show" and informed her that the catering order was probably started and it would be wrong to cancel it an hour before. The restaurant opens at 11am and the order was to be delivered at noon. We decided to have the luncheon anyway. I told my boss that when the speaker does reschedule, there will be no food served. The speaker never followed up her email with a phone call. Has social etiquette disappeared?

My Name

Throughout our lives there are many accomplishments. Some are big and some are small. My granddaughter reached a big one this week. She knows her name. She can now identify herself. She has become an individual who is different from the rest. She says it in baby words and it may not be clear to others, but to her family it is as clear as a bell. Before long she will say it clearly to other people. She seemed so proud to answer the question, "What is your name?". My son sent me the video and I have played it dozens of times. She crossed the line from a baby to a toddler with three words.

Back to Work

This morning I am returning to work after being away for 12 days. I know that nothing earth shattering happened when I was away because I spoke to my office a few times. The mail has not been opened since I have been away and no patient calls have been made. Nobody filed Medicare claims. These are responsibilities that only I have. My lead receptionist is out today so I will have quiet time for a few hours until someone else shows up. By the end of the day, I will have things cleared up.

Back Home

I arrived home early yesterday after a smooth flight. As soon as the plane touched down, I was back into the cold reality of life. Gone were the shorts and sneakers and on was the jacket and boots. Working New York and retired Florida are on such opposite ends of the spectrum. I woke up every day in a setting that looked like paradise. Palm trees and tropical plants lined the streets. Pelicans joined me on my morning walk. Houses line the canals or golf courses. No one knows what day it is, and I am beginning to believe that it is a good thing. The clubhouses are like camps with so many activities that it is hard to choose. The way the world is now, makes me want to run away and join this paradise.

Too Many Pillows

Years ago when I went to a motel there were two pillows on the bed. Then the management put three and everyone was excited. Then they upped the ante and gave eight, four per bed. At my last motel visit, there were ten pillows. Five per bed. I still couldn't find one that felt right. One was too flat. Two made me sink in. Three made my neck bend. Four and five made me feel like I was sitting up. Slowly but surely, one by one, each one was tossed off the bed. Next time, there might be all pillows and no bed.

Missing Stewardess

One of my patients missed an appointment the other day. We called her cell and her home and there was no answer. When she finally called us back a few days later, she explained that her flight from Europe was delayed a day. We asked why. She said that the stewardess never showed up and there was no one to replace her, so Air France cancelled the flight. I have never heard of something like that. No one was able to run into work and help out?

Remote

Years ago we all watched television live. Now most of us DVR the shows to view later on. The only problem is that I forgot I DVR'd it and still sit through the commercials. Instead of seeing 20 minutes of show, I am watching 40 more minutes of advertising. I guess that is how we are programmed. No pun intended.

Back and Front

If you talk about someone behind their back, have the courage to say it in front of their face. I have seen this many times in work. People talk about other people and then someone passes the conversation along. This scenario usually involves two of the same people. They never learn. Either stop talking about each other or admit to it when you are confronted.

Tin Foil

I know what I want as a gift, if someone would ever ask. I want tin foil. It has gotten so expensive that I shutter every time I have to purchase it. I remember paying $3.00 many years ago and somehow the price now hovers around $9.00. That just isn't right. So from now on, tin foil is the way to go, for all occasions.

Just Quiet

I received a call from a potential patient a few days ago. I asked my normal intake questions and got to the one that asks why they are coming here. The man said that people think he is depressed. I asked if he thought he was depressed and he said no. Then I asked why other people would think that. He said that he is a quiet type of person and would rather sit and take in a situation than talk a lot. His friends are seeing this as depression. He is seeing it as just being quiet. He said he is a happy guy who loves life, but just doesn't say a lot. In the end he never booked an appointment because after our conversation he realized that there was nothing really wrong with him in the first place. 

cAP sIZED

I know this title looks weird, but this has happened to all of us. We press the cap lock key instead of the shift key and do not look up as we type. After a few minutes when we are proofreading our letter, we see the mess. Everything has to be deleted and rewritten. One day I am just going to leave it that way and see the reaction of the recipient.

Florida

I am up with the birds. Probably before them. I booked a very early flight to Florida because the price was so low. I will be there before my parents wake up. I hardly slept last night worrying that I would not get up at 3am to leave for the airport at 4am. The fight is at 6am. It is cold and dark out, but I know that in a few hours I will be in the warmth and sunshine of Florida.

Little Boss

I babysat my grandson yesterday and as usual he was a lot of fun. He is slowly changing from an infant to a toddler. He has a daily routine and he knows it well. When he woke up he pointed to his changing table and said, "Diaper". He then went downstairs and said, "Kitchen". I served him his breakfast and as I put each spoonful into his mouth he said, "More'. Then he said, "Patient". He eats fast, so when we feed him we say, "You need to be patient". He played and watched TV and at 12 pm on the dot, he ran to the refrigerator and said, "Eat". Then he pointed to the microwave and said, "Hot", to let me know his food needed to be heated. Then he went to the silverware drawer and said,"Fork". All I could do was laugh.

Deep Freeze

It is cold out. So cold that Shellby did not even want to take his morning walk. So cold that my hands froze after being out for 3 minutes. The weather has been as erratic as the world. Last week it was 60 degrees and today it is 9. I wish it would make up its mind.

Learn Manners

I receive a lot of solicitor calls at work. I try to never be nasty because the callers are only people trying to make a living. I wish they would have the same respect for me. The two calls I got yesterday ended the same way. They asked if I used their product and I said, "I am sorry, we do not use that product". I said it in the nicest way. As soon as I said the first 4 words, the phone was slammed down. Who trains these people?

Who's That?

Yesterday my daughter in law sent me 2 pictures of my granddaughter. They were side by side in different outfits. One was a little grainy. She looked pretty in both. I responded that I loved the pictures. The reply made me laugh. Those were not two pictures of my granddaughter. They were of my daughter in law at 2 years old next to my granddaughter at 2 years old. They were almost twins. For the first two years she had been a clone of her father. Now she is a clone of her mother. It is funny how genetics work. She truly resembles both of them.

What Did I Hear

Last night I thought I heard rain. When I got out of bed this morning I still thought I heard raindrops on my window. I went downstairs to walk Shelby and started to dress him for his walk. I put on his fleece raincoat and made sure that the collar was high to protect his neck from the water. I then got out my raincoat and got dressed. I opened the back door and the deck was dry. No rain. Here we were, the two of us, dressed for a tornado.

Another Goodbye

Today is the funeral of Officer Wenjian Liu, the second NYPD officer that was assassinated. It is sad to see that the mayor of New York still has not changed his views on police officers. All of the words that he says at their funerals mean nothing because they do not come from his heart. They come from his speech writer. If he really cared, he would have tried to come to a meeting of the minds last week when he sat down with top police officials.

Punctuality

Punctuality is consideration. In all phases of life. If you have to be somewhere on time, it is your responsibility to be there. You should never make anyone wait. Whether it is family, friends or employers. Some people have no idea how to gauge their time. If they have to be somewhere that is a half hour away, leave forty minutes early. Not twenty minutes. You can't fool yourself thinking that you will make up time along the way.

Day at the Spa

What could be nicer than a day at the spa? A warm bath. Nails done. Hair styled. Sounds great, doesn't it? Well, someone in my family had a spa day today. Shelby did. What a lucky puppy!

2015

Today is 2015. Where did the years fly? When my older son was born in 1981, the hospital gave a gift bag of various items and coupons. There were Desitin ointment coupons and the expiration date was 1986. I saw the date and laughed. I remember it vividly. 1986 was so far away. My son would be five years old. That seemed like light years away. I held onto the coupons in my coupon folder and slowly but surely 1986 arrived. That was 29 years ago. Like the old saying goes, days go slow but years go fast.