Bags

They are taking away our bags. The government has decided that plastic bags are no longer good for us. I do agree that curtailing plastic bags is good, but living without them will feel odd. Now instead of using free bags for my garbage, I will have to buy my own plastic bags. I will still be using the same amount only I will be footing the bill. My mindset must change, as now when I walk into a store, I must be prepared. This morning I put two plastic bags into a baggie and placed it into my pocketbook. I am 100% sure that I will forget the reusable bags when I shop, at least until it becomes second nature. I will have my fallback safety net bags until then.

Girl Scout

I used to be a Girl Scout. I still have that mentality. A Girl Scout is always prepared. The other da a man came to my office to measure for new flooring. He walked in, I gave him a tour of the offices that needed to be measured and went back to work. One minute later, I saw him at the doorway. He looked a bit embarrassed. He said he rushed to come to the appointment and forgot his tape measure. How did he expect to measure 16 different shaped offices? The Girl Scout was here to save the day. I got my car keys and went to the parking lot. In my glove compartment was a tape measure. Doesn't everyone carry a tape measure? He measured the floor and will email an estimate. Maybe he should have a tape measure in his car, since he is the one that really needs it.

God's Train

I know two people that are currently in the hospital. One is a friend and the other is a father of a friend. Last night in my dream, they must have been on my mind. At one point, someone said that we are all on God's train. We had no choice when we got on and will have no choice when we get off. Some rides are longer than others, but we just need to take the ride and trust the trip.

Decisions

Some decisions in life are easy. Some are gut wrenching. My coworker has to make a gut wrenching one. Her mother is in rehab and she needs to respect her requests but at what point does she deviate? It is easy to comply with DNR and DNI, but when it comes to feeding the decision is a tough one. At first she said she would not have a tube to feed her mother but now she is second guessing the decision. She has decided that not feeding her means starving her and she would not be able to live with herself. Her mother has Alzheimers but still knows who her daughter is. Can you look into someone’s eyes and know you will have a hand in their death? The worst part is that her mother is a Holocaust survivor, so withholding food has a deeper meaning. A feeding tube will be placed into her in a day or so. I believe it is the right thing to do.

Doing the Time

Yesterday a famous movie producer was found guilty on multiple charges of sexual assault. He was an aggressive man who pushed himself on women in order for them to further their careers. When he was caught, he decided to make himself look like a pathetic old man, hunched over a walked, shuffling his feet. Now that he is sentenced, he is looking even worse. It is an Academy Award winning performance. Today's headline says that he has high blood pressure and palpitations, knowing that he will be going to prison. Who wouldn't have them? He is just like any other person who committed a crime and will now be punished. I have no sympathy for him.

Missing

I saw an overhead lighted sign on the parkway yesterday as I was driving my father home. It said "Missing Adult" and gave a description of the car the adult drives. Were they missing or were they free? We always think that missing is bad thing. Maybe we don't know the back story of the sign.

The Bread Line

In the Great Depression there were bread lines. People waited for hours to receive a morsel of bread for their families. It was a shame to be so poor that you had to wait on line for bread. It was by need and not by choice. Last night my husband waited on a cake line. He wanted to have a cannoli for dessert and drove 3 miles to his favorite bakery. He took a number at the door. His number was 83 and they were only up to 50. He waited so long that he needed to come back to the car for a 5 minute break to rest his leg. He then got back on the line. In total, he waited 35 minutes. I would have walked out when I saw number 83. I hope he enjoyed his cake.

One of a Kind

My fingers have become unglued and I have created a masterpiece. I like one of a kind jewelry and no one else will have my bee pendent. It took two tries and three days but it is almost ready to wear. Last night I had my family over to dinner and they approved it. I made an impromptu dinner since my father was with me. It was one of best times ever. We laughed and talked and my grandchildren were so well behaved. It was also a one of a kind day.

Stuck

I am stuck. My fingers have become a mass of glue. The other day my receptionist bought me the most beautiful gift. She bought me a pair of crystal and enamel bee earrings. Since I have a very delicate "ecosystem" and can only wear 14k in my ears, I wanted to make the bees into a pendant. They are so special to me that I need to wear them, just in another form. Last night I designed a resin pendant and left it to cure overnight. This morning it did not look perfect so I "saved the bee" and cut it out of the resin before it was too hard. The bee is now free but my fingers are stuck to each other. I soaked them in cold water and used nail polish remover and they are slowly coming apart. Thankfully I only type with two fingers. I redid the pendant and it looks great. Now it just needs 72 hours to set.

Familiar Faces

I went to visit a friend in the hospital yesterday. He is in the CCU unit and will be fine. As I was walking into the unit, I saw a woman and her daughter. They looked so familiar. I knew that I knew them but could not figure out from where. I see a lot of patients over the years so maybe they had come to my office. I did not make eye contact because if they were patients, we never acknowledge them. It is the HIPAA law. After I visited, I noticed them again and then it dawned on me. I knew them from television. They had a reality series for a few weeks this winter. On television they were not real. In the hallway of the hospital, they were. Someone close to them was in the cardiac ICU. I hope whoever it is, heals quickly as they seemed like a nice family.

Secret Numbers

Yesterday I needed to get medical records for a patient. It used to be so easy. I would look up the telephone number for the hospital and get the medical records department. Now that hospitals are all merging, their medical records departments are running differently. They only want faxed requests. I went online to get the new telephone number for the department and could not find a contact number. I searched and searched. When I got deeper into the system, I realized that the hospitals now want a do it yourself type of record keeping. It is called a portal. When I hear that word I think of Twilight Zone episodes. Since the patient who needed the records is elderly, her doctor will set up the portal so she can retrieve what she needs. The portal is putting us into a new dimension of healthcare.

Three Bears of Emotion

I categorize emotions in three ways. There are the people who are too nice, the people who are even keel and the people who are mean.  When I meet someone who is too nice, I do not trust them. I am always waiting for their true colors to emerge. When I meet someone that is mean, I wonder what problems in life made them that way. The even keel people are no work at all. They are people with regular ups and downs. Like the three bears, there is too big, too small and just right. I have known one of our patients for quite a few years and I always said she was too nice. Too much effort was being put into trying to be liked. Last week I saw her true colors. She turned vicious all of a sudden, over nothing. I knew she had a nasty streak in her. Now it was confirmed.

President's Week

This week is President's week. It is one more week of school vacation. The traffic will be less but that is all it is doing for me. I will still be getting up early and going to work. There are no built in vacations for the regular working world. We are not guaranteed 12 weeks off a year. Some of us only get one and have to work at their job for 20 years to get five. The "12 weekers" need to pipe down about being overworked.

Shorts

I went out to dinner last night and the weather was freezing cold. I dressed in layers with a fleece top, a fleece jacket and then my down coat. I was stilled chilled as I got into and out of the car. As we were parking, I noticed a man coming out of a store. He looked to be in his late sixties, early seventies. He was dressed in a tee shirt, shorts and boots. He was walking slowly to his car as if the brutally cold weather did not affect him. Was he crazy or did he have no nerve endings?

Being

Yesterday as usual on a Friday, my father came to my house. We had lunch and he ate more than I did. After lunch we walked into my living room where he likes to read the newspaper. As we were walking, he said it wasn't easy being old. I said it wasn't easy being young. Then I realized that sometimes, it just isn't easy "being".

Honking Horn

Twice a day, Monday through Friday, I hear a honking horn from the street behind my house. It is the horn of a mini bus waiting for the mother to bring out the child in the morning and retrieve the child in the afternoon. The bus is always on time to the minute. Why can't the mother be waiting at the door for it? Sometimes the bus waits for at least five minutes. If I am annoyed, the bus driver must be more annoyed. How can someone be so inconsiderate?

Loose Ends

I hate loose ends. I like things tied up in a neat braid. I have two loose ends since yesterday and I want them fixed. The solutions are in the hands of other people and I am sure they will get done soon but I hate to wait. If I could commandeer the people's computers, the problems would have been fixed yesterday.

Control

After many years, I have learned a new skill. It is called portion control. As my body ages, my once young system is becoming finicky. I have to use new methods on it to have a good outcome. I now monitor meal sizes. I eat portions half the size as I used to. It is not because I want to control my weight but rather because I want to control the sick feeling I get when I am too full. So far it is working.

Soft Landing

My husband had a great idea last night. I am amazed that no one ever thought of it. His favorite show is "Air Disasters". It is about plane crashes. He said he came up with a solution for hard landings. If a space capsule lands with a parachute attached to it, why doesn't a plane have a parachute? If every plane was built with four parachutes, one in front, one in back, and one on each wing, in case of a disaster, it would have a soft landing. The momentum would be less and the plane could glide. It seems like such a simple concept. How come an engineer never thought about it?

Double Duty

I will go to my office today and take care of my work. Then I will go to my husband's union and take care of theirs. I hate it when I have to do someone else's job because they goofed up. All I wanted was a reimbursement that is due to us. I did not think I had to work for it.

Old Fashioned Way

I should learn my lesson and only do things the old fashioned way. Last month I sent a form away online.
I had always done it via the mail. It got denied and I got a rejection. Now it is out of the loop. I have to go to the union office and sit down with a representative to redo the mess. They promised "quick and easy" filing but it turned out not to be like that. I hate to redo something that should have gone through easy the first time.

A Minute

I have a meditation app on my phone. It is set to go off randomly to let me know it is time to take a minute and relax. It sets a timer and a bell rings. After one minute another bell rings to stop the timer. The first time I did it, the minute seemed forever. I sat and sat and my mind was all over the place. After a few weeks, I am getting the hang of it. A minute flies by. I just sit there and quietly breath. One minute makes a difference.

Unsubscribe

This morning I decided to unsubscribe from emails that I do not want coming to me. The funny thing is, that I do not remember subscribing to them. That means that when I join the companies I do want, they forward my name to companies I don't want. Then they forward and the next people forward, until my inbox is filled with unwanted mail. I will continue to do a daily unsubscribe until no one wants my business.

Integrity

Yesterday I was talking to my boss about my plan for the future. Things are still being formulated in my mind but becoming more concrete. We talked about the future of her practice and how my leaving would affect her. We discussed many options and decided that the conversation would continue during the next few months. As I was leaving her office, she said something that has stuck in my mind. She said that I have integrity. The word integrity means a lot. To me it means more than beauty or intelligence. It means honesty and moral principle. That was one of the best compliments I have ever received.

Hatred

Last night I watched the State of the Union address. This blog will not be about the politics of the nation but rather how hatred can show a person's real personality. The nation is split on liking the President. His policies are sound, but he is an abrasive person. His speech was strong with many good policies. The Speaker of the House, Nancy Pelosi, sat behind him, grimacing and biting her lip. It looked like she was both uncomfortable and seething. She, like everyone else, is entitled to her opinion. Then she crossed the line. Her hatred got the better of her and she stood up and shredded the President’s speech. Along with his words, she ripped up the names of the people that were heros and sacrificed their lives for us. That was the ultimate disgrace and slap in the face. How dare she. Does her hatred live so strongly in her that she would disrespect the good people of our nation? Shame on her. She showed her true colors and that will be a mark upon her forever.

The Sound of Silence

Every morning I wake up and go about my routine in silence. I get dressed and leave for work facing the world without a sound. This morning my husband got up the same time I did. He put on two televisions and one radio. Each room had noise blasting from it. It sounded like there was a convention in my house. After about two minutes, I screamed for him to shut down the circus. I could not stand it for another minute. I like to slowly wean into my day, not be thrust into it like I am being shot out of a cannon.

Groundhogs Day

I forgot about the groundhog. I guess I was so busy yesterday that I never checked to see his prediction. He said that spring will be here soon. It feels like winter never really arrived. I hope it stays that way.

Accomplished

I took my own advice and completed a goal. I have wanted to write a book for the longest time and always said I would do it "one day". I was reading through my lectures and asked myself why I was not practicing what I preach. That is when I sat down and started to turn my dream into a reality. After months of hard work, I have completed it. It is now for sale on Amazon. I accomplished something that I thought I could not and showed myself that if you set your mind to something, you will be unstoppable. Go to Amazon, keyword my name and see what can be accomplished when you do not give up. .

Editing

I am currently editing a writing project and getting frustrated. Every time I make one correction, it causes another. I never thought that formatting a paper could be so annoying. I had to stop doing it last night because I sat for hours. This morning I am at it again.