Back from Disney

I'm sorry to have taken so long to post here. I returned Monday afternoon and had a great time. I've not felt up to par - very tired and with a sinus problem coupled with a sore throat so I've been laying low. I go back to work today for two days and then off for my weekend.

Mom had a great time. We both ate and ate and had a great time at the Magic Kingdom. We had lunch with Winnie the Pooh, Tigger, Eyore and Piglet at the Crystal Palace. We had tea at the Grand Floridian. There was no diet there! I was able to borrow a wheelchair from the resort, otherwise Mom just wouldn't have been able to survive a day at the park. She was very tired and her feet hurt just from the little walking we did the first day.

We stayed at Port Orleans Riverside (used to be called Dixie Landings) and had a room in the Alligator Bayou section. The room was cute with bed posts and head board that looked like the were cut down trees. The room was immaculate and the usual Disney quality and I was able to get a room close to the food court so that the travel for Mom was not too bad. The place brought back so many memories because this was our favorite resort when Alan was alive and Mike was young. As I walked to breakfast one morning, I could picture Alan and Mike at the waters edge feeding the ducks. It brought tears to my eyes. I hadn't been back there since we had last gone as a family.

As promised, I've put some pictures here for you to see. I may put up more later.


Our room at Alligator Bayou.


Scenery on the way to breakfast.


Having lunch with a friend.

The weather there couldn't have been lovelier. It lightly raining as we got there but by the time we got to the resort it had stopped and we had sunshine the rest of the time with a nice breeze and great temps. It started to turn cold the last night we were there and as in fact been in the low 40's at night since we got home.

Well, I'm going to close and go do some visits as well as get some things done before work. Back to the regular world!

Until later.

Mickey, here I come!

I'm on vacation! What a wonderful feeling! I thought I'd take a few moments and post here before I start my day. I've got a few errands to run and of course, my packing and then an early night to bed and tomorrow Disney! Mom is very excited as well.

Today it's raining and in fact rained most of the night. There was a love breeze outside and so I slept with the window open and I could hear the rain softly falling whenever I woke up. I love to listen to the rain when I'm in bed. According to the weather report at the Disney area, there is a change of scattered storms tomorrow but just partly cloudy on Sunday at the park. That should make the temps very nice. The rain is bringing a cold front and I saw that lows on Tuesday could be in the 40's.

Our facility manager brought more fall decorations yesterday evening. The one thing about the hospice house is that they work very hard to give it a feel of a "home" rather than a facility. Patient rooms don't have numbers on them "because your bedroom at home wouldn't have a number on it" and our common area is a very nice "living room' complete with fireplace and big screen TV. We have fall pumpkins and autumn leave garlands all over the place and it looks very pretty. I really love the fall colors anyway and it makes it a very pretty environment. I can't wait to see it decorated for Christmas!

I had intended to give Doc a bath before he went to his "Aunt Sarah's" today but with the rain, I think I'll not do that. I hope he does okay there. I'm so protective of the little guy - you'd think he was my child and in many ways, he is, I guess. I think he's long ago forgotten that he's a dog.

Well, I guess I'd better get going. I'll post some pictures of our adventure when I return. Hope you all have a wonderful weekend!

Vacation's getting closer!

It's getting closer and closer to vacation this weekend and I'm excited. The weather looks like it will cooperate with only a small chance of showers the day we arrive and sunny the day we go to the Magic Kingdom. Friday I will do laundry, pack and take Doc to my SIL's for his "vacation" and then take off the next day.

We've had some lovely cool temps at night and in the mornings. I just love it. Every winter I pray for some snow flurries (some of the people I know think I'm nuts!) but one year I do remember seeing some in the air and you could even see bits of them on the car. It's the closest I'll get to snow here in this part of Florida. My desires are simple. I want to see it in the air and on the ground but I don't want to shovel it or drive in it.

Hope you all are having a wonderful week. I'll check in one more time before I leave for Disney. Take care.

A chilly morning!

I woke up to chilly weather and it felt so good. Finally, it feels like autumn here! My "weather bug" says 57.

I took Mom to get her hair done on Friday. It's a bit shorter than she would have liked but I warned her it might be so since it needed to be evened up (she has been cutting it herself). She really looks good with the new style. I told her it took 10 years off her face, which she appreciated. Yesterday I went out shopping to get another outfit for myself for the trip. I intended to go to K-Mart at our local mall but they had next to nothing I wanted. So I decided to try Belks which is a nice department-type store for clothing. Usually their clothes are out of the price range I want to pay. It turned out they were having a wonderful sale and the short version of the story is I walked out with 2 pair of capris and a top for $6.50! I was totally amazed!

I downgraded my Disney resort reservations this weekend. Instead of Wilderness Lodge, we'll be staying at Port Orleans - French Quarter. It is fashioned after New Orleans and is a bit more moderately priced. Still a Disney resort but I was able to save a bunch of money. I love the Wilderness Lodge but it will be fun to stay at a place different this time. Mom is very excited to go as well.

Not a lot going on here. Our facility is still full and my RN supervisor is on vacation this week. I always depend on her to straighten out messes that come up so I don't know how things will go this week but I'm sure we'll all survive. There are two pool nurses that are regularly sent to replace her when she is off and that helps continuity.

Well, I guess I'll do some visiting and then some things around the house I need to get done before work this afternoon. Hope you all are having a lovely weekend!

Happy birthday to my first born!

The little birthday girl is in honor of my first born who turns 39 today. He's up in Vermont and I talked to him this morning. He says the fall colors have hit their peek and now are starting to drop. Anyway - happy birthday to Jim!

I threw some laundry in this morning because I happened to remember that I didn't have a clean pair of scrubs for work today. I'm glad I remembered then. I have 5 pair that usually get me through my work week but last week I had to retire one pair of scrub pants to the garbage and now I'm short one set. I really should go out and buy some new ones but I was wanting to lose some more weight first. The company is thinking of ordering some polo shirts with their logo on it that we could wear with pants. So we'll see.

Now much else going on. I'm taking Mom to get her hair cut and do some last minute shopping this Friday. I didn't want to wait until next Friday and have to rush around the day before we go to Disney. I have to take Doc to my SIL's house that day, pack etc etc so I thought this Friday sounded better. I'm really looking forward to taking her and she's very excited herself.

The final candidate debate is on tonight and I'm glad this will all be over soon. I certainly am thankful that I live in a country that has a democratic process to elect our leader but I'm really tired of all the campaigning and speeches. It sees between Barak Obama and Hillary Clinton and then Barak Obama and John McCain that this whole thing has gone on forever.

I guess I'll close for now and see if the laundry is ready to go into the dryer. Hope all are having a great day. Until next time.

Just checking in.

The start of another week. We have a nice breeze out there this morning but by the end of the week, it is supposed to be in the upper 80's again during the day. I'm really hoping for some nice cool weather for Disney. We have two tropical systems out in the Atlantic; Nana, a tropical storm that they expect will dissipate with some upper level wind sheer and another system that is expected to be upgraded to a depression today. It is closer to land but spaghetti models show it staying away from land. So much for the tropical update.

Our hospice facility is still full. One was death imminent last evening and I don't expect him to be there today when I go but sometimes they surprise you. Both of my regular CNAs were back - one from being sick and the other took some time off when her mother died. We should be an intact staff until Thursday when the RN supervisor goes on vacation. When she comes back, I go. Also on Thursday, my other regular CNA has to take an extra day off because her husband is having a surgical procedure done. We are a smooth working team when we're together but the last two weeks have been strange with people from the pool coming in as substitutes. I'll be glad when things are back to normal.

This Friday is pay day and I plan on doing a bit of shopping for our vacation on the 25th. Friday, the 24th, I have an appointment for Mom to have her hair cut and make sure she has her last minute items. I expect this will be a relaxing, laid back vacation since I've been a bit slow with a fibro flare up and Mom is pretty slow herself. We're only taking in one park and just going to sit and relax and enjoy the surroundings.

I think I mentioned in an earlier post that Disney is offering free admission to a park on your birthday beginning in 2009. If you think you'll be there on your birthday, you can go to Disney Parks.com and register. Then you just bring the print out they supply you with and proof of your birthday to the park and you're in. It has to be on the actual day of your birthday and it can only be for one park. I did register Mom and me. My 60th birthday falls next year so that will be a nice celebration. I'm hoping my daughter can visit from Oklahoma and go with me. That's our tentative plan anyway.

Not much else to write about. I'm going to do some visiting and then a few things around here before I go to work. Take care and have a lovely day.

Computer's running better!

As you can see by my little mood girl that I'm planning a lazy 2 days off. It's been 5 very busy days at work and I'm tired and ready to wind down. I do also plan to do some organizing of my files and paper work though if I get in the mood.

I had some computer issues yesterday and ended up having to download and install an new anti virus and spam guard software. I think I had some kind of trojan virus hiding out according to the new software and that was why my computer was running so slowly. Anyway I guess that was the problem because things seem to be back to normal.

We had a break in at work this last week. One of our CNAs had her car broken into right outside our facility sometime after midnight one night. They smashed her window and took her purse. Why she left her purse in the car I don't know. She said that it was covered well with something but evidently, it was still visible. The police apparently said the deed was accomplished in probably about 30 seconds. Another facility ( a nursing home ) was also hit early in the evening as well. Don't know if the two are related. The good outcome of this is that some security issues that we all have been concerned about have been rectified. It's made for a frustrating time for the CNA though - since she lost all her credit cards, her debit care, license etc etc as well as about $300 in cash. Again, I question why all that was left in her car but ....not my business.

I'm trying not to be a worry wart but until hurricane season is over with at the end of November, I still check in with the National Hurricane Center for anything going on. I see there is an area of "disturbance" out in the Atlantic that has gone from "yellow" (very little potential to develop) to "orange" (moderate potential). Of course, I have our Disney trip in mind in 2 weeks. Someone please tell me to get a life!

Anyway, that's about all there is to report for now around here. I've done the visiting this morning I intended to do before my computer gave me trouble yesterday so I guess I'll get started with some organizing as I intended. Or maybe some TV!

Have a great day, everyone! Until later.

Internet issues

I've been having Internet issues the last couple of days. I have to turn my DSL box off and then on again to get the Internet to connect. This is happening more frequently lately and I'm very close to switching to high speed Internet with my cable company. I've wanted to get digital cable with a DVR anyway so maybe I should just do it. As it is right now my connection is only a little faster than dial up.

One of the CNA's I work with got very ill the other night at work. She has the flu and staffing sent another LPN instead of another aide to replace her last evening. I've working with Pam, this nurse before and she is such fun to work with. It was a good night and I'm hoping staffing sends her tonight again if my aide is still sick which I suspect she probably is.

I'm having some issues with the property management group I rent my house from. My new lease was to begin the beginning of this month and I have yet to receive it to sign. I called last week to say that I had not received it yet. The lady acted very surprised that I hadn't. (Weren't they even keeping track that it was October 1st and it was yet unsigned?) She said that she would put "another one" out in the mail. Friday, I stopped by to ask if she had sent it out and she assured me she had. It is now Thursday and still no lease. Strange! I've also reported that my fridge is making some very odd sounds that are happening more frequently. Since it is the same vintage as my stove (old!), she said she would contact the owner and see about getting a new one. So, I guess, if my fridge needs replacing, there is little hope for a new stove as well. Every year I say this, but I think this may be the last year I renew my lease here. (That is if I ever get it!!)

Well, I guess I'll do some visiting and see how you all are doing. Hope everyone is having a good day. Weekend is almost here! Take care.

Just checking in.

I really don't have much to report here but since I had just done some visiting, I thought I'd put something here.

We got some rain yesterday and some more is expected the next couple of days. Warmer temps are returning but I hope it's only very temporary. I'm really praying for cooler temps when we go to Disney.

Our hospice facility is full now and with a couple of very challenging patients. After a few shifts like the last two, it makes me question just how long I can do this. But, with no other options in sight, my choices are few. I keep telling myself I have only three years until I can retire - but sometimes that sounds like an eternity! But, all in all, I'm so thankful with the economy right now that I have a good paying job. So I'll stop complaining.

I am planning an "at home" weekend to try to straighten out and reorganize some things. I really want to weed out some of the junk I've accumulated and maybe have a yard sale. Or that sounds too ambitious - maybe just give it away.

I do have to report that my shopping went well over the weekend. I found a couple of Capri outfits on sale and some p.j.s as well as a couple of books. I also found a stuffed flamingo wearing a red Santa hat that I might go back and get as a Christmas decoration.

As I warned earlier - not much to say here. Hope you all are having a great week. I'll check in here again in a couple of days.

More pics of the "kids"

Doc's favorite place is to snuggle up on the back of the couch when I'm sitting there watching TV. Sometimes, he puts his head on my shoulder. Last evening when I got up he was snuggled in the back cushions and he looked so funny as he looked up at me. I quickly went to get the camera thinking he'd get up when I did (his usual habit) but he didn't so I was able to capture his cuteness on film.


Some of you have been asking about Thelma, my cat. She's not always very photogenic and sometimes come off looking cross. But this morning I tried to get one and it captures some of her sweetness. Darylynn asked if she was a manx since she doesn't have a tail. I'm actually not sure. I don't know if that is a "breed" that comes without a tail naturally. Thelma was part of a large litter and of all only she and her sister were without tails. I guess she's just unique.

Yesterday I went to my SIL's with Doc. I tried to let her know what a high-maintenance doc he really is and she's still willing to take him on for the 3 days - so it's a go. He spent the entire time smelling around her home so I think he'll recognize the place when he goes again! I think he sees the whole world through his nose!

Today I have to get my groceries and a few other things. I burned some eggs in my smallest sauce pan to where now it's good for nothing but burning other eggs - so I have to get another one of those. I thought I'd also see if I could find any comfortable, capri outfits on sale that I could wear to Disney. I don't think that it will be chilly enough to wear just long pants and I don't want to wear shorts. So we'll see. I'll probably try K-mart although it's not my favorite place. I choose to stay away from Wal-Mart on Saturdays because everyone in the county goes there on Saturdays and then stands in the middle of the aisles and visits!

In the "current affairs" department, I have to say that I was delighted to read this morning that O.J. was found guilty on 12 counts of kidnapping and armed robbery. I'm not going to comment if I think he really was guilty of the murder of his wife or Ron Goldman but let's just say that I'm very glad that he's realized that he's not above the law!

I guess I'd better do some quick visits and then get my errands done. My days off seem to go by so quickly! Hope you all are having a lovely weekend.

Fall Photos

I'm finally getting to getting the photos up of my meager fall decorating. I've been unmotivated, it seems but here they are.

My table arrangement.


Front door wreath


My outside table arrangement.

I may do more decorating closer to Thanksgiving but we'll see. This is the first year I have decorated for fall. It's fun and the scare crow on the bale of hay always makes me smile.

I was interrupted at the beginning of this post with a phone call. I periodically get bill collectors calling for different people. It usually is the same 2 or 3 names and I'll get a rash of calls for that person and then none for awhile. Since I've had this phone number for 3 years, it seems strange that creditors are still calling this number. I usually will return the calls simply to get off my number off their list. I also get telemarketer calls as well despite the fact that my number is on the "do not call" list - usually to come clean my carpets or trim my trees. I used to get calls to buy cemetery plots but I haven't gotten any like that for quite some time. I know, this is probably not of much interest to you all - but I have to talk to someone!

It was cool when I stepped outside this morning. I had on a sleeveless top and was actually chilly! I'm really hoping for some nice, crisp weather when we go to Disney in 3 weeks. I wasn't planning any pool activity while we were there so it can get as cool as it wants!

Not a lot more to talk about. I'm looking forward to this weekend - if for nothing else than just to not have to work! I plan on having a visit with my SIL tomorrow along with Doc to make sure that everyone is compatible since she has offered to watch him while I'm at Disney. I have groceries to get and that is about it.

Hope you all are having a wonderful day. I'm off to do some visiting. Take care.