Three or More Tuesday

It has been a loooonnnnnggg time since I did a Three or More post.

So here I am again finally.

Last month we had Nursing Home Week at work.

Each day of the week we are supposed to dress in some theme.

I managed to follow through with dressing the part each day and got pictures on four of the five days.

I decided I am brave enough to post these crazy pictures of the items I wore to work each day.

Here goes. Laugh with me!

Monday of that week was Pajama Day.

I have my pajamas on with my lab coat over them.

I also brought with me my bear with the hearing aids that I had

won from Suzie over at Suzie Button Creations.

The bear(I have not named it yet) is helping me to demonstrate

exercise to the patients in our rehab department.

Tuesday was Sports Day.

Did not get a picture of that day.

This crazy picture is me on Wednesday.

It was Mismatch Day.

Think I am mismatched enough?

To top it off, the letters on the fridge are stating the wrong day!

Thursday was Hawaiian Day.

It was interesting trying to work in this getup.

But I survived the day.

We also had food served to go with the day.

I was too busy with work to enjoy the treats on that Thursday.

Finally it was Western Day.

I did get to enjoy the food on that day.

I made my shirt years ago. I entered it in the local fair that year

and won Best of Division in Pieced Clothing with it.

I also made the neck scarf I am wearing.

It was a fun week.

Winners in each category were supposed to be announced.

Never happened.

I reminded our Adminstrator of that so I hope we hear soon who won.

I was hoping I won in at least one of the categories.

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That is my crazy Three or More post.

Thank you to Tam over at The Gypsy's Corner for hosting so faithfully!

I will try to visit some of the others who are posting.

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A side note: I just noticed today a change in uploading pictures.

I have to make too many clicks to get to the pictures I want.

I don't think I like these changes, unless I am doing it wrong.

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~Linnea~

Blue Monday #26

It is Blue Monday again. Thank you to Sally over at Smiling Sally for hosting Blue Monday for us every week. Be sure you go over there and see who else is posting for Blue Monday.
I stayed home on Sunday after working a long day both on Friday and Saturday.
This gave me a chance to get some of my Easter stuff out finally.
This lamb in an egg has some pretty blue on it.
This was a gift I think, but can't remember who gave it to me.

Here is a stand up bunny that is mostly blue.
It was a gift from a secret pal a few years ago.

I think I am hosting on Easter Sunday.
So to get ready I started playing with my table stuff and deciding what I may do for the table settings. This set of dishes we got as wedding gifts.
It is called Good Times by Noritake.
But before pulling out the dishes I was trying out the tablecloth.
This one was crochet by someone in hubby's family.
One of his grandmother's, but I am not sure which one.
It has stains on it. I may try the cleaning technique suggested by
Cindy at My Romantic Home.
I decided I needed color. I was measuring the table to see what size cloth I would need when I decide to try this one. It is an oval shaped tablecloth, but it worked just fine
under the crocheted tablecloth.

Here is a place setting minus the bowl. I don't have any chargers, but wouldn't yellow ones work nice to pick up the yellow in the design and add contrast to the table setting?
Maybe I can make round yellow placemats to look like chargers.
Hmmm....

And now the place setting with the bowl.
I am still playing around with this idea.
Happy Blue Monday!!

Update on car issues: There is more damage than expected because the timing belt broke.
Because of that more parts are damaged. Ugh!!
It is expected to cost between $1500-$2000.
Yikes!
No wonder I am all tense in the neck and shoulders.
The tension is creating pain and making me feel yucky.
We turn in the rental car tomorrow(Monday) and hubby is taking some vacation time off.
He will take me to and from work for the next three days.
If the car is still not ready, my parents have a car I can use after that.
Good thing I have been working extra hours.
Doesn't look like I can buy any chargers or fabric to make look alike
chargers anytime soon. Oh well......
~Linnea~

Finally More Christmas Decorations!

I never did get around to posting the rest of the pictures I took of the decorations in my home. I don't have a lot this year. But I did do more than I did the last two years. Being involved in the Land of Blog does that to you I guess. And another thing is getting more used to having only the two of us at home for Christmas. After so many years with the kids around, it is still hard adjusting to not having the kids around for Christmas. This is the top of my pie safe which is in the family room. We bought this pie safe unfinished before we had our daughter. It has served us well over the years. Right now it holds cookbooks and boxed food items.
This is a close up at the left end of the pie safe. I am using the upside down wine glass idea again. I find that works very well when trying to add height and variation in the display. I got the little boy on a sled and the cup in 1980 the year of our son's first Christmas. The ornament on the glass says 1984, my daughter's first Christmas. And there is a little bitty Teddy Bear book. That was also a gift.
A lady at our church had these bear ornaments. She knew I collected teddy bears and so she passed them on to me. The bear on the left is a trinket box. It splits around the bears tummy into a top and a bottom of the little box. It was a gift from a previous secret pal at church. The white bears on the right was a gift also. I forget where the bear in the back came from.

This is at the right end of the pie safe. There is another little bitty book. The block ornaments have always charmed me. I think they were gifts when I was working for the school district. The Santa once held See's Candies chocolate balls. That was also a gift. The box on the right once had a truffle in it. I loved the box so I saved it. The ornament on top was from a student when I was working in special Education. So that is pie safe. It has been a fun place to decorate and every year it is different. I seem to never do the same thing twice.

This mosaic is the top of a dresser we have in the living room. The wall hanging was hand woven on a loom by my godmother. The same loom you saw in my Crafts blog if you have followed that one. We got it the first Christmas we were married. Then the following year when I made the crocheted snowflakes while I was pregnant I added one to the top of the tree on this banner. This display is mostly swedish things. The apple tree on the left is from Sweden. My parents gave that to us one year. In front of that is the gnome we bought in Lindsborg. The same artist who did one of the nativity sets I posted earlier. Then I have the red Swedish candle holders. I also have the Swedish Angel chimes. I needed candles for that and was able to find some at our local Scandanavian shop. The little tree on the right I usually use for minature easter ornaments. This year I put the red and white swedish ornaments and the square plastic canvas ornaments my mother made one year.

The top of my linen press has a snowman theme. The taller two are coffee cans wrapped in batting. A teacher I worked with had them and decorated the classroom with them. She no longer wanted them and asked if I wanted them. Sure, I'll take them. That was in 1991. I have had them out nearly every year since then. The one in the middle I believe was a gift. The ones on the left and the right are from Hallmark. The one on the right was a gift from a secret pal a couple of years ago. I went and got the one on the left this year when I realized I needed it to balance out the display. I don't know if you can see it to well, but on the shelf are three Avon bottles I have kept since I emptied them of Sweet Honesty. And the two wooden dolls are from Finland. They used to belong to my godmother who was Finnish. The little stocking are made from felt. I bought them at a Christmas Bazaar when my kids were still in elementary school. They had candy canes in them originally. Now I like to hang them somewhere. This year on this shelf works well.

There you have it, the rest of my Christmas things for this year. Not everything is out and no big tree for my ornaments. Maybe next year. I have to work today, hopefully only 4 hours. But we have suddenly had a big jump in admissions. The hospitals are probably trying to move anybody they can before the holidays into rehab facilities, so we have been swamped all of a sudden. I am worried whether they have kept me to 4 hours today. But a couple of other therapists of volunteered to work tomorrow so I get tomorrow off. I was originally going to work 4 hours tomorrow too. A surprise gift, getting the day off. Medicare does not take a holiday, therapy goes on, especially for those who just recently got admitted. However, I will have to work an 8 hour day on Friday when I am normally a 6.5 hour per day person. Busy, busy!

Tonight we will go to Christmas Eve service at church. And then in the last few years we have been driving around to look at lights on our way home. So we will probably do that again tonight. A new tradition we have is to be on the phone with our daughter as we open each other's gifts. But hers to us have not gotten here yet. But ours to her has. Also we open our stocking gifts while we are on the phone. This year she works at the hotel tonight and then she works again tomorrow. So the hotel is providing her with a room, so she does not have to go back home and then turn around again to come back to work. The plan is for her to call and wake us up when she gets off work,( there is a 2 hour time difference). Then we will open gifts together, she will bring hers with her to work, then she will hit the sack for some sleep before going back on the job later on Christmas Day. Doing this is the closest we can do to being together without actually being together. Maybe by next year we will have a webcam and can actually see each other open gifts. Now that would be fun! Plus if our son gets one, then we can watch our granddaughter open gifts too. Wouldn't that be cool!?!

I wish all of my new and wonderful blog friends a very Merry Christmas with your loved ones. Or has merry as you can get. I know for some of our blog friends, getting through the holidays is difficult every year and especially difficult this year. My thoughts and prayers are with those having a difficult time. I pray that those friends will be comforted knowing we are thinking of them. I am especially thinking of Sweetie who recently lost her beloved Pap and also of Stacey of A Lamb in the Field who last I heard was with her mother. One more I am thinking about is Susan of Sweetpea Sue's Cottage. I hope to hear from Susan soon too.

Thank you so much to all my followers and all the others who leave sweet comments. You all have enriched my life so much. I always wake up in the morning eager to see what every one is up to. And eager after work to check in again. You have brought tears as I cry with you and smiles as I laugh with you. Thank you again. And now I really need to go and get on with my Christmas Eve day. Merry Christmas everyone!!

Our Thanksgiving

Decided to play around with the photoscape program again. This is what I came up with using the pictures I took yesterday. We had a good day. There were seven of us. I still wore myself out getting ready and doing the meal prep. I could barely move by the end of the day. But after a good rest I can move this morning. Which is a good thing since I have to go to work. No Black Friday shopping for me. Then we have a memorial service to go. At least I hope I can get off work on time to go to it. I was asked to play the organ for this service, but couldn't commit since I had to work. Fortunately another organist was able to fill in for this one.
Anyway, on to yesterday. In the above pictures are the decorations I added for the day. The top three is my center piece for the table. I found the turkeys at Hancock fabrics for 60% off I think. The faux gourds I got there too. They are sitting on doilies that also have in my hutch. Forgot to get a picture of them on the shelves. In the bottom two pictures is a goose that I made I don't know how many years ago. I made him from a panel of printed fabric. All you had to do was sew him together and stuff. I have him sitting on a bed of fall garland. I have decided I am going to try and use the goose in more of my decor.

This is a glimpse of our meal. The top left is the turkey and the Festive Onions. Then we have the stuffing and my green bean casserole. Not the same green bean casserole a lot of other people make. The bottom left shows the stuffing again, the squash casserole my mother made, the gravy and the cranberry sauce. Yes we use the jelled cranberry sauce. It is what we are used to in our family. The bottom right is another view of that end of the buffet area. The fabric is a table runner that I made many years ago. I also used napkins I made out of the same fabric.

Hope everyone had a happy and yummy Thanksgiving!

Three or More Thursday #3

Three or more Thursday is still a new thing going here. Thank you to Tam at The Gypsy's Corner for hosting this. I am doing this as a scheduled post this time. I need to head to SF to attend a Continuing Ed course that I need to renew my license. The license needs to be renewed so I can continue to do my job. In case you are wondering, SF means San Francisco.
I decided to choose pictures I have in my files since I didn't have time to create new ones. These are 3 pots I used this past summer and arranged them in an interesting group of three with different heights. I liked the way the before picture turned out. Turned into an interesting composition with the mixture of colors there.

I planted impatiens in the pots. This is an early picture after then had been growing for awhile. My impatiens got much bigger than that by the end of the summer. I really enjoyed this viginette over the summer. I am hoping to add to it some next summer. I am not sure what I will do yet.

Have a Happy Three or More Thursday while I am busy cramming my brain with more education for my job.

My Car Got Washed!

This might sound a strange thing to get excited about, but yesterday for Employee Appreciation Day we got our cars washed. I don't know if yesterday was really Employee Appreciation Day or not, but the Adminstrator and his Adminstrator in Training along with the help of one of the guys from maintenance washed the employees cars. Those who wanted their cars washed anyway. So I gave them my keys so they could move the car to where they were going to do the washing. They did it near the lawn area so the grass got watered from the sprays of water bouncing off the cars. I had a very dusty, dirty car. We had not gotten around to washing it, so I was very happy to have them do it. When I got off I retrieved my keys from the pile on the receptionist's desk and found my car parked in a different place than where I left it. There was this cute card on the front seat that said "Thank You for all your hard work!" I thought that was a neat way to show appreciation. A lot of hard work on their part to wash all those cars. Not everyone had their cars washed. But they did a lot. I kept checking when ever I could when ever I was in a room where I could see out there.

No Time to Post

Nikki at Blah Blah Blah Blog was complaining about not having time to post on her own, because she used up all her time checking out everyone else's blogs. Which I have to say are fun to read. There are so many interesting bloggers now it is hard to limit my time reading them all. My list that I follow keeps growing. But I do so enjoy it. I love seeing how others decorate their homes and get ideas from their posted pictures. I also enjoy reading what others do with their days, besides work. A sneak peak into other parts of the United States since you are all from everywhere.

Now I need to get going and pull my stuff together to take to work. We are going to do another cooking group today. We are going to try to do that as a regular thing. This will be the third week we have done this so far. Today will be Stuffed Soup, hand squeezed juice and fruit salad. Plenty of things for people to do to prepare this snack meal. Should be fun. Tiring too for me, but fun for the patients. That is what counts.

Happy Friday!! Yay! It is Friday.

Miscommunication Fumble/Rehab Week

Ever have one of those days where miscommunication just totally messes you up? That is the kind of day I had. But in this case it is misreading the info. I thought that today was the day of the Rehab potluck lunch at the home of one of the other therapists. I stopped at the store on my way in to work to get the bagged salad to make a cesaer salad and also got precooked sliced chicken to add to it. I brought my ice chest to keep it cold. I had my salad bowl, tongs, a cutting board and knife with me as well. Just being safe since they recently moved in.

So I pick up my schedule and start seeing patients. Since we had a inservice scheduled in the afternoon I was trying to overlap the treatment sessions so I would not find myself working late into the day. Lunch was supposed to be at 12. No one appeared to be getting ready to leave. Especially the one who was the host. And it was getting closer to 12.

Finally I asked, "Are we having the lunch today?"

Someone else told me "No, it is tomorrow"

"WHAT?!?"

So I checked the posted note. Sure enough it said the 24th. Not the 23rd. Darn!

"Oh great, I did not bring a lunch of course."

Someone else told I me I would just have to eat out. Oh well. Then to top it off, I also did not bring my book like I usually do, since I figured I was going to be too busy to read during lunch. Well, I will tomorrow. I played games on my Sidekick II while eating lunch.

It just really bummed me that I messed up. Because I did not bring my lunch, I also did not have my waterbottle with me that I usually sip from on the drive home. I keep them in the freezer, that way it acts as an ice pack keeping my lunch cold. Then it is just perfect to drink from it on the way home. Not having it with me seemed to make me extra thirsty.

On the plus side the inservice went well. This week is National Rehabilitaion Week. And we did the inservice to educate other staff on sensitivities. My portion of the presentation was on "How to improve communication with someone who is hearing impaired". As a hearing impaired person since birth, I can give some qualified tips on that. The sun was coming in the window and one person was sitting in front of that window. I pointed out how we could not see his face which would then make lip reading impossible. That was a good opener, besides explaining why I knew what I was talking about. I got compliments on my portion of the presentation, so I guess it went well.

There were two other stations. One was about understanding how to position people who have troubles swallowing with a chance to taste thickened liquids and pureed food. The second was attempting to do lower body dressing with adaptive equipment because you had a total hip replacement with 3 pairs of gloves on and sunglasses with vaseline smeared on them. The purpose of this was to help them realize how hard it is for people who are losing their eyesight due to glaucoma, macular degeneration, and other reasons, to do every day tasks. Also with the gloves, especially with 3 pairs, you can get a sense of how it feels when people are losing their sense of touch due to neuropathy. The focus of the inservice was to help the staff aware of how hard it is for our patients who arrive for therapy or to live there long term and to be more sensitive to their needs.

The day ended on a good note, until I realized I did not have my water bottle for the drive home.

My Friday

Today the sun never came out to say hello. And it started raining too. At work anyway. We have started to do a Cooking Group on Fridays and today was the second week. Other employees come wandering down wondering what is smelling so good. Last week it was waffles with fruit salad and fresh squeezed orange juice. Today was grilled sandwiches. The OTR and I do the group together. Makes for fun times. I am going to try and design a notebook to hold the successful recipes we do to make it easy to choose what to do each week. Also we can allow the patients to help us decide what we are going to make during our cooking group by browsing through the notebook/cookbook. I will probably use scrapbook paper to make a cover sheet to slide in the front of the binder.

Today the Activities people planned a Classic Car show with a picnic for the residents and their family members who come. The car show was still held, but I guess not many people went out there to check them out in the rain. I did take one patient out there before it started raining too much. I also managed to get a few pictures of the cars. But the picnic was moved indoors.

On the way home I decided to stop at Walgreen's after reading about things other bloggers were finding there for their fall decor. I did find a few things I wanted to get. Here is a picture of what I got. What fun! Now I need to get going on the decorating.

Joys for today...

-Seeing 2 deer grazing in the field on my way to work.

-Success with the cooking group.

-Making it to a gas station before running out of gas on the way home.

-Seeing deer again grazing in a field on the way home. This time there were 3 of them.

-Making it home safely. First day of rain is always makes for slippery roads around here.

What are your joys today?

So Far So Good

Everytime I say that phrase I'm using as a title, I think of a patient we had at work that would say that nearly everytime we did therapy with her. I think of her frequently now. But I can't remember her name. Oh well. But anyway, I'm hanging in there pain wise. The shoulder area has been doing fine with very little pain. However, today as I was pushing a wheelchair with a heavy patient in it, I could feel it starting to tight up and kind of burn. So the rest of the way I was careful how I positioned myself behind the wheelchair for the least amount of stress in the shoulder area and went slow. Right now I feel kind of tight there. I am hoping I don't have another painful muscle spasm like I did last week. My MRI is now scheduled for next Friday. Not looking forward to it. But on the other hand it will be good to see if there is a problem or not. Of course I hope it is the "or not" option. But then I probably would not know why the pain happened in the first place.

Yesterday I went to my weekly strength training I do every Thursday. Except last week I had to skip it do to the extreme pain. Well, it was extreme to me. Plus I was at the doctor during the time I normally do the workout. Because of the doctor's orders to not lift more than 10 pounds, we did not do any arm things. The focus was legs, abs and neck and a light workout for the lower back. Lower back doing much better today. Hooray!! It would be nice if this keeps up. I went to my Physical Therapy today. Currently I have 4 more sessions to go. It would be good if my back is doing well enough to not need any more therapy after that. In the meantime I have been taught several stretching and strengthening exercises to do that should help my back in the long run. If I want to be able to keep doing my job, I need to get my back healthy again. I can now sympathize with sports stars who complain of muscle spasms, definitely not a fun thing.

Weather wise we had a couple of cool days, but now it is warmer again. In the upper 80's, low 90's. I am noticing the days getting shorter. Around here the sun sets before 8 pm now. I am looking forward to the cooler weather. I am not comfortable in hot weather. And with the onset of hot flashes, the hot weather is even more uncomfortable. Yucko!

Have a Good Weekend. TGIF!

Wish the Pain Away

I had another episode of intense pain on Thursday. I had to text my husband (I'm hearing impaired and don't talk on the phone) to call the doctor, let work know I was not coming in and to cancel my strength training workout. The pain was in my upper left back and traveling down my arm and around my rib cage to the front. The pain was strong in enough I was crying while texting. Edward came home from work to take me to the doctor. The doctor decided it is a pinched nerve and prescribed medication for pain as needed. It makes me so sleepy, I'm not going to take it unless I really need too. I will also have an MRI. Don't know when yet though. Also he gave me a note to take to work to inform that I am not to lift more than 10 pounds for 2 weeks. Kind of makes things difficult at work to not lift more than 10 pounds.

Yesterday I went to work, I really wanted to be there for the baby shower. Also I had very little pain compared to Thursday. Boy! What a difference! But all day I was careful what I did with that arm. On Thursday I could not put my arm up to comb and style my hair. It was agony just to pull it back into a pony tail. Today it was a lot easier to do a pony tail. But my lower back was sore most of the day. I did go to my Physical Therapy appointment before I went to work. I will have at least 6 more sessions of that, because my doctor has okayed orders for 6 more. I have a series of stretching and strengthening exercises I do now for my lower back. It is helping a lot, but I still have my bad days, just like I do with my upper back. The two pain areas are unrelated according to the doctor.

Today is okay so far. I can feel the upper back pain, but not as bad at Thursday. Lower back is okay at the moment. At this point, I just take it one day at a time. That is all I can do for right now, one day at a time. I am hoping I can manage to do a few things around the house that need doing. Have good Saturday!

Back is Better

My back is slowly getting better, finally! I was beginning to wonder if it ever would. I had been having lots of pain on a daily basis and would end up feeling pretty miserable most days after work. Now that I have had 3 sessions of Physical Therapy I am noticing some improvement. Not nearly as much pain. It comes and goes during my work day. There are stretching exercises I am supposed to do. I do them but not as often as I should. But them some is better than none. I am able to continue with my strength training I do once a week on Thursdays. I have definitely improved my strength since I started that in March of this year. This strength training program helps to reverse aging by turning your flab into muscle. I can tell that I am gaining muscle by how much I am able to do at my workouts. Go Me!!

Today I had my work physical along with the TB test we always have to do once a year. Working in a medical facility, this is especially important. I currently have this little black circle on my arm so they can see where the TB test was done when it is checked again on Friday. Oh, and I passed the physical. Even with the back problems. So on to another year. As long as I stay healthy I will be fine with the job. Oh, and in case you don't know what it is I do, I am a Certified Occupational Therapy Assistant. I have doing this for almost 6 years now. It was a midlife career change for me. Prior to that I was an Instructional Aide in a Special Education classroom for 12 years. I worked mostly with severly handicapped children. I worked with a wide variety of handicapped children over the years. Now I am in a geriatric setting. Quite different from working with children. I frequently learn interesting things from my patients because they have experiences that are different from mine.

Getting There and Random Thoughts

I am starting to get the hang of how to work this blog. Sort of obvious by the things I have added to it so far. Kind of figuring out how to make it reflect us. But at the moment it is reflecting more of me rather than B-Daddy. The picture above is one I took when our roses were in full bloom. Right now there are no flowers on our rose bushes. But they are looking fairly healthy based on how nice the new leaves look at this time. 2008 has been our gardening year. We are in the process of making our little piece of lot in this park look pleasing to the eye. So far it is coming along nicely and we have ideas to add to it as we are able. We planning to continue to tinker with the yard even through the winter so the weeds don't overwhelm us like they did this year. We figure poking through the yard and keeping the weeds pulled will help to maintain what we have done so far.

We approaching another season soon. And that means leaves, leaves and more leaves. We tend to have lots to rake up because of the trees that are around us. We still plan to meander through the local thrift shops and see if we can find pots or other interesting containers that will work as planters in the yard or on the steps. My hope is to have even more color next summer. I can dream anyway.

Gardening was something I was never really interested in or knew much about. But this year I have discovered the pleasure of making things grow and seeing them turn into a thing of beauty. Probably a result of needing to develop new things as we get used to being empty nesters. A feeling that still takes getting used to. Yesterday our area supervisor bought lunch for the rehab team to welcome our new Director or Rehab. The conversation turned to what people did on the weekend. There was talk of what people did with their kids. At that point I had nothing to add to the conversation. It was strange to not be talking about what I did with my children over the weekend. But I am not the only one. Two therapists are not married, one has college age kids, one guy is a father to be and then me with grown up kids. I believe I am the oldest therapist with the oldest kids in that group. Kind of a strange feeling I must tell you. I suddenly felt quite old compared to everyone else. Yep definitely strange. But I am happy to say I am basically young at heart with a young attitude most of the time. Gotta do something to keep people thinking I am younger than I really am.