Happy Fathers' Day

"My father gave me the greatest gift anyone could give another person, he believed in me." - - Jim Valvano

It comes the same weekend every year, but never gets as much interest. That holiday is Fathers' Day.

Since I volunteered to take a father's place at church this weekend, my own celebration was broken up. (My husband agreed to it). I got up early and made Dahey and Bubba a breakfast casserole. The route to a man's heart may be through his stomach, but for these two, there had better be meat and cheese on the way, too. (Sorry vegetarians! I try all the time and sometimes I'm successful!)

I took care of my church volunteer obligation, then came home. We ate leftovers for lunch, and we went out for dinner at a swanky steakhouse nearby. Bubba wasn't thrilled that there were few kids there but he got used to it, and enjoyed the food.

We left and got dessert at home since the two wanted to watch the NBA finals. Dahey's father would have enjoyed that--he loved basketball. My father would have just taken the pie and gone on his merry way. Bubba was happy to see Cleveland win.

For all of you nurses out there, who are dads and are working, I hope your organization treats you right. Some do make things better when working these holidays. If you are working and can't see your father, I hope you can soon.

For the rest of us, who wish our fathers were here today, I wish you peace. I feel your pain everyday. I am so glad I have lots of happy memories with my dad, who loved us, pies (and just about any sweets) and being a dad. I'll never forget him.

More later.

No planes, no trains, just automobiles

It's snowy in RehabLand and now Dahey's decided to get a new car (used really). The old Swedish monster has too many problems to solve, so we may as well look for something else.  Most of the searching has been given to me. He just likes to veto what I find.

We thought we found an old VW in good shape. On his test drive, one of the indicator sticks broke. The salesman was pressuring us to buy it. It was snowing like mad. My husband wanted more maintenance information from their repair staff. The salesmen wouldn't call them or look it up online.I finally told the salesman the only way we'd buy right that second was if it would be if it would fit on the credit card limit in my purse. ( I had one with a 5k limit).

He and (the ever present) manager were offended and refused (since it was a lowball, but in the ballpark offer). I felt relieved because all I wanted to do was get dinner.

The restaurant was one we've always wanted to try. So did nearly half of the nearby town, too. It was packed. You wouldn't have guessed there was a snow storm raging outside. We finally got in after 45 minutes waiting near the door where the cold air kept blowing in and stupid coeds kept opening it. Lots of food, so plenty of leftovers and good prices.

After our lovely dinner, we got on the road to drive 20 miles home. The roads were snow covered and in some parts, pretty icy. It took nearly an hour to get home and the most harrowing part was within five miles of our house.

Just when you think you've gotten away from the crazy drivers, another would appear. I was thrilled to get home. The local snow plow brigade started on our street just as I was going to bed.

Alas, the scrape of the plow was my lullaby, but that sure beats icy roads any day!

Now for Monday and the crazy specialist I get to deal with.  Time for a prophylactic Tums.

Stay tuned...

Ah, paradise

Just when I thought the Hotel had some of the most delusional folks in the world, I came upon Amy from Amy's Baking Company (thanks to HuffPost).

Thanking my lucky stars that she doesn't work with me.

We could use  a hospital version of Gordon, though.

Stay tuned...

Field trip!

Bubba had the time of his life with the kids from school. They went to the tallest skyscraper in Major Metro City, had lunch at a restaurant (arranged by the PTO) and rode the bus a LONG way.

It's all he talked about for an hour when he got home. You'd have thought he met a bunch of celebrities in the elevator.

My day was busy troubleshooting. So glad the weekend is coming!

Stay tuned.

International affairs

I have always said I have an international stomach. There isn't much food I don't like, so lots of my nursing school friends (from many countries of origin) used to drag me to go out with them to some of the ethnic restaurants close to Private U.


Ethiopian? Check. Pakistani? Check. Nepalese? Check. Vietnamese? Check. I've been just about everywhere.

In an effort to broaden Bubba's horizons, we took him to a Vietnamese restaurant, since he really likes Chinese food. He enjoyed it immensely, especially twirling noodles in his soup with chopsticks. He's been to a Chinatown nearby and loved it, so we guessed correctly that Vietnamese might work.

On the way out the door, we saw a sign for a lunar new year concert. Bubba remembered what that was from social studies class and chimed in, "Mom, I'm going to get some money, right?"

The perils of raising a kid who likes social studies...

Drugs, bugs and shop talk

Things I heard at dinner recently with a few nursing friends and a pharmacist.

"I love JCAHO visits!" (from the quality nurse who has withstood many in her day). She's hoping to take the experience further in a new venture.

"Nursing is a lot about poop." One nurse who's a nursing instructor. "Some people don't last long if they can't handle poop."

"Needless to say, I'm learning a lot about illicit drug use." Another nurse who deals with an interesting group of folks.

"Get me outta here. I'm not picking up any more germs!"  Quote from the pharmacist who was hospitalized recently following an out-of-control staph infection. Said Rx got the doc to get the wish granted. Thankfully, a family member was an MD and made it so.

Thankfully, no people were near us!