Necessities

I did not grow up in a metropolitan or city area. The fact is that my parents lived on a dirt road, they still live on a dirt road. There is no cable access which also means slow internet. We never had the internet when I was growing up, my parents just seriously got internet access this year So when I look back over my childhood I can definitly see how I have been molded. I like the convenience of living in the suburbs, having neighbors, going shopping. Here are some things I would not be able to live without, feel free to add yours as comments:

• Taco Bell (preferrably 24-hour)
• Starbucks
• Easton or an equivalent shopping area
• Cable internet
• NHL games
• Broadway shows
• Dairy Queen or an equivalent soft ice cream place
• Healthcare choices (many hospitals and docs to choose from)
• A major airport

So that is my list for now, shorter than I thought it would be. Maybe I am not as high maintenance as I thought.

Spring

Today was outside spring cleaning day, talk about exhausting. We managed to get all of our projects done even after 2 extra trips to the Strader's Garden Center. We got the deck all washed and sparkley. The chairs and table is clean and we ate dinner outside tonight. The Sun Shield awning is uncovered and ready to shade the deck. We planted 5 Forsythia bushes at the back of our lot for a little color, those are mulched. We mulched all 9 trees on the lot and added topsoil to 3 of the trees. We planted a new vine bush by the light in the yard that will be real pretty when it blooms. The front flower area got new topsoil and all new mulch. We spread a total of 20 bags of topsoil and 12 bags of mulch. The wheelbarrow worked overtime. It was all worth it when we were done and I will be boring you with pictures.

I am so glad spring is here. The sun felt so good today and the smell in the air was perfumed with blossoms. Our three pear trees have never been prettier and the tulips are beautiful, especially since I didn't think they would bloom again. Even the cats were on the back deck enjoying some fresh air, until the neighbor let his dog outside. It was a great day to be outside and busy, not too hot but just warm enough. These are the days that make winter almost worth it.

Nothing

I have been trying all day to think about what I should say. It is very rare that I don't have something to say so I am a little worried. Today was a beautiful day. I went rollerblading and did not fall down. Pretty tricky skating though with sticks on the path, one almost got me but I held everything together. I only wear wrist braces so I have to be careful. Knee pads are just uncool and I am cool so I can't wear them. I had my iPod going and was just in heaven, for the first lap then I was not in heaven anymore. I found this great park with a paved circle and soccer fields in the middle. I used to go jogging there but since my body can't keep up with me I can't jog anymore.

I started some spring cleaning today too. I washed all the windows on the first floor of the house and I vacuumed. I have now vacuumed twice in one month, that is huge. I cleaned out the cat's chair and made it all pretty again. It was such a productive day for me.

I have a sparkle light that sits on my desk and I turn it on at night. It is so cool and mesmerizing. I will have to put it on the webcam some night so everyone can see how mesmerizing it is. Almost hypnotic....maybe that is why I have been so productive lately, I have been hypnotized.

Weather

When I was a child I had a strange fixation with weather. I would read encyclopedias about weather and all the different types of severe weather. I would study the warning signs and how to protect yourself. In hind sight this was probably the beginning of my control issues. I still don't know why I was so fixated, all I managed to do is completely freak myself out for the rest of my life. We rarely saw severe weather in upstate NY, the occasional severe thunderstorm was all. Our severe weather always came in the winter and usually produced a foot or more of snow. I was especially afraid of tornados and lightening. When a tornado watch was issued I would sit in the basement for the duration of the watch time frame. I would never watch TV or talk on the phone during a thunderstorm. I was even afraid of going to the bathroom for fear the lightening would strike be through the vent. To this day I have to go to the bathroom when I hear thunder, no I am not afraid of using the bathroom anymore.

When we left NY and moved to the coast of NC I was introduced to hurricanes. I was scared for my first hurricane, then I just got bored and realized they were really no big deal. It really is a downer once the power goes out and you can't make frozen margaritas anymore. We made it through 2 major and 2 minor hurricanes while we lived in NC and really they are more inconvenient than anything (we never had anything higher than a category 3). Its not like you could leave town anyhow with the traffic being so congested you would end up in your car riding out the hurricane. So I quickly got over my fear of hurricanes.

Now we live in the Midwest with a whole new set of worries...tornados. I have never been in a tornado or even seen one so of course they worry me. The big problem is the lack of warning time, I would have just enough time to grab the cats and head for the basement. Pete of course says he would grab the TV first so I hope I am home if one hits so I can grab the cats and see him struggle with the TV. I have seen Twister enough times to know that I just need to tie myself to a huge pipe in the middle of a field and everything will be okay. I don't think the cats would enjoy being tied to a pipe though.

So we are entering spring with all it's severe weather promises and I just hope and pray that all the really bad storms go around us, not that I wish bad things on other people.

Lighter topic

Okay, enough serious thinking. My head hurt from so much seriousness. This weekend is my first weekend off in quite a few weeks. I have a bachelorette party to go to Saturday and into Sunday but the rest of the time is mine. I hope to get out in the yard and get some work done on my flowerbeds. I know it is a little early but I just can't wait any longer. I want to take out the mulch that is down now and build the beds up with some topsoil, then lay nice fresh mulch. Our builder put the landscaping in and they did a good job but the topsoil is about 3 inches deep and the mulch is 6 inches deep. I need to fix that. My tulips are up about 5 inches now, they will probably start to bloom within a week.

The Forsythia is blooming everywhere now. I love that plant, it is so cheerful after a long winter. This year we are going to put some bushes and flowers around the deck, maybe some Forsythia. It has been so windy this last week. Even if the temperature outside is warm, the wind keeps things cool.

2 more nights of work then 4 wonderful nights off. I can't wait.

Friends part deux

I have already posted about how awesome my friends are in a previous entry. This time I am going to talk about Friends (note the capital F). There is a difference between friends and Friends. Developing a relationship with your friends is easy, maintaining it to a Friendship is more involved. The most important attributes of a friend to me are; loyalty, honesty, loyalty, kindness, loyalty. Did I stress loyalty enough? If I am in a fight I want to know beyond a shadow of a doubt that my Friend is there right beside me, even if I am wrong. Afterwards they can tell me I'm wrong (the honesty part). A Friend is always a phone call away no matter what the situation is or what you mood is. They laugh, cry and get angry with you...possibly in the same conversation.

So the hard thing about Friendship is the break-up. It is a lot like a dating or marriage relationship and takes a lot of the same steps. I am notorious for saying, "I don't care and why should I?" Much harder to actually believe when the statement involves a Friend (still easy to say). So if you have a friend that you have decided to "break-up" with it involves the same grieving process and grieving period as any relationship. You can't just get over it and move on, you have to take baby steps towards trusting and rebuilding. Of course the longer the Friendship has been, the harder the rebuilding is.

At what point do you sever the relationship? After a betrayal, after multiple failed attempts at communication...it could be anything or nothing. How about the friend who only calls when there is a crisis? How many times is a Friend expected to take on someone else's crisis without any retribution?

So basically a failed Friendship takes a grieving process just like any failed relationship. Maybe you just grew apart, maybe you moved away, maybe the reason is complex and too difficult to discuss. The point is you can't just move on, you need to remember and cherish those memories you have, after a while you can move on; and it is okay to moarn the loss, even cry a little.

I am blessed with the few Friends I have now, maybe one less but still an awesome bunch.

Obesity and hospitals

There was a story on the CNN homepage about hospitals having to change for obese patients. This does not include patients that need to lose a few pounds, this is specific to 350+ lbs. The movement was started by a 700 lb woman who had to feed her newborn infant from the bed because she couldn't fit into the rocking chair. The article touched on the importance of larger beds, larger wheelchairs, larger doorways, larger bathrooms and so on. Remember, it isn't these patient's fault they are obese.

The article stated that hospitals were buying lift equipment for these larger patients as a way to cut down on nurse, radiology tech and nursing assistant injuries. Now, I have experience with this after 2 back injuries in my short career. Just this past weekend I took care of a patient who was about 200lbs heavier than me. I tried to get a rotation bed for this patient to reduce the risk of injury to myself and my co-workers. I was told insurance wouldn't pay for a rotation bed unless the patient was developing skin breakdown. I guess we still don't practice prevention. So basically as long as we go and turn the patient every 2 hours to prevent skin breakdown we don't get any help. If we don't turn the patient and they start to breakdown their skin we get help; rewards for not doing your job.

This is very frustrating to me, maybe the hospital should forget insurance coverage and pick up the tab to help it's staff. Sorry, I am in my dream world again.

http://www.cnn.com/2006/HEALTH/03/31/hospital.obesity.ap/index.html