Corny

Doesn't the journaling on this page say it all?

A new scrapbook page

When I was little, I wanted to be a cowgirl. REALLY wanted to be a cowgirl! Now that I'm all grown up, I finally got the chance to look the part. At the Taylor Swift concert in Cheyenne WY, DH bought me a hat. I love it! Someday I will buy myself the boots to go with. But for now, the hat has made me deliriously happy. Here's my scrapbook page, made from a kit designed by QueenBratDesigns. Love it!

It worked!

The spots on my hands went away completely after doing the liquid nitrogen treatments! It totally works. How cool is that?!!!

Don't try this at home...

Ok, so here's the scoop. I went to the dermatologist today for the first time. Being in my last year of my 30's has me a little freaked out about all the age related things that seem to be happening all of a sudden to my body. I know that most of them have been building up for my entire lifetime, but it's like I look in the mirror and all of a sudden I see things that I haven't noticed before. For the last month, it's been sun discolorations on my face and hands. Now, I'm not talking age spots here, mind you. Those are for little old ladies. Yeah, right.

Anyway, I made an appointment with the derm to see what could be done to them. I was thinking laser treatments, chemical peels etc. And guess what he told me? That I can have them frozen off with liquid nitrogen. Yep. The same stuff we use at work all the time to freeze people's plantar warts. He told me that was the most effective treatment I could use. I declined to have it done at their office since it would be free at my work. And I promptly called my doctor friend at work to see if he would do it. Not a chance. He wouldn't even consider it. Chicken!

What's an ingenous girl to do? Why go to the other office our company operates across town and bum a cup of liquid nitrogen! And I had a do-it-myself "burn off the spots" party at home. I should look really grand when all of these spots heal up and scab over. Thank goodness I don't have to work again for a week. I did every spot I could find on my body! I took off keratoses, sun discolorations, moles (this doesn't ususally work, but what the heck), and a few freckles. At the moment, everything itches. Really itches! Since this little incident is self-inflicted, I won't complain. Especially since I expect to look like I'm in my 20's by this time next week. LOL

Can it really take 10 years off my face? I'm hoping it does! Now if I could just use the liquid nitrogen to take 10 pounds off my hips.....

Ya' gotta' kiss a lotta' frogs...

What do you do when your daughter wants to take a picture of her parents kissing? Pucker up and pretend that you like it, of course!!! I look more enthusiastic than he does. Even in our own backyard, he would rather not. By the way, I'm not the frog!!! LOL

How to lower gas prices in your area

Around here, we are still paying over $4.07 for gas. In Idaho!!!!

Well, here's MY solution for all the local stations that will not drop the price to the national average: Make more than 1 credit card transaction at the pump when you fill up.

Sounds silly? Any merchant will tell you that they pay a PER TRANSACTION fee and percentage fee to the company that processes credit cards for them. If you make 5 different transactions at the pump for 10 gallons of gas total, the station will be paying 5
TRANSACTION FEES for your purchase! Those fees can be anywhere from 25 cents to 75 cents for each transaction. That should get their attention.

When the media reports that gas is going up, the stations hike the prices within hours. They didn't fill THEIR tanks at the higher price!!! And when gas goes lower nationwide, they say that they bought at the higher price and can't possibly sell lower until the current supply is sold. HOOEY!

If we could get a lot of people to do my little multiple transaction trick, I'll bet some local stations would drop their prices in a hurry!

And those that do quickly should be rewarded with a purchase in their convenience stores. They make much better profit on candy and soda anyway.

That's my 2 cents worth!

Cat gets into a fix

Yes, this is really our cat. He jumped up here of his own free will this afternoon. What a spaz! And his name is, get this, Smoky! Lucky for him, the grill was off when he decided to jump up and stretch out.

Today is the 21st anniversary of the first date Hubby and I ever went on. Hard to believe it's been that long! I still love him. Now, more than ever.

Surgery today for the Boy Scout

BEFORE...

AFTER...

Yep. Today DH went under anesthesia for the very first time. Had to have a scope of his stomach done. News wasn't very encouraging as they did biopsies, but we'll wait for the results before we panic. He doesn't know yet what I do about the prelim results, but there isn't any sense in worrying him until we get the final word from pathology. Sometimes it drives me crazy working in medicine. Seems like I know just enough to panic, but not enough to have all the answers that I really need.

As he came out of sedation, he was pretty interesting. He looked so bewildered when he first went from OR into recovery that I asked him if he knew who I was. He said, "Of course, but don't tell my wife" with a very concerned look on his face. Just about turned and walked out right then and there. But I'll just hold it against him later. I mumbled something about telling his girlfriend that I would call and tell her he was fine. Then he rambled on about a girl in a REALLY short, tight skirt that we had seen walk past at the fireworks last week. Sheesh. He even remembered what color her skirt was. He can't even tell me what I had on this morning! Guess my legs aren't long enough or bare enough for him. Maybe I just have too much junk in my trunk. LOL

Picked pie cherries from our little orchard this afternoon. Got a big bowl full ready to pit and make into pie. Doesn't fresh cherry pie sound divine? Have to wait for it to cool down a bit before I'm into turning on the oven to bake it. Love cherry pie!

Yeah! Sunday!

I love Sundays. It's such a blessing to have a day to put the things of the world aside and just rest. And the first Sunday of each month is extra special. As a member of the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-Day Saints (the "Mormons") we fast from food and drink for 2 meals and then donate the money we would have spent on food to the church to feed the poor. Most of the money goes to people who live in our immediate area. Any left-overs (I know, it's a bad food pun.) are collected and sent world-wide to those in need. I like it because I can sacrifice for someone else even if I don't have any extra money. By donating what I would have spent anyway, it is a true sacrifice because I don't eat.

And I've always felt that fasting is a cleansing for body and spirit. Our main church meeting on Sundays is Sacrament Meeting. We gather as saints and sing and pray, partake of the Lord's sacrament and renew our covenents that we made at baptism. We believe that when we truly repent of what we do wrong, our Heavenly Father will forgive us. This is made possible by the atonement of the Savior, Jesus Christ. When I take the sacrament, I try to think of the things that I am repenting of and ask for forgiveness and strength to do better in the coming week. Making myself a better person with Christ's help has brought me a lot of peace in my life, and a lot of strength.

So, why are we sometimes called "Mormons"? Mormon was an ancient prophet who taught his people about Christ and how they could grow closer to Him and our Heavenly Father. The record of his teachings and the teachings of other ancient prophets are combined in a book called the Book of Mormon: Another Testament of Jesus Christ. We use it along with the Bible as our scriptures. Because of this, some people years back started calling us Mormons. We are Christians because we follow Christ, but Mormon isn't a bad thing either since the prophet Mormon was a great man who taught his people to follow Christ too. The correct way to refer to us as a collective people though is Latter-Day Saints. Sometimes people get confused and think we worship Mormon or Joseph Smith. Though both are great prophets, we don't worship either of them. We worship only our Heavenly Father and Jesus Christ, His son.

So Sunday is here again and I'm happy to rest. I did a lot yesterday. Cleaned out the fridge and boy was it gross!!! I also weeded out in the garden in the morning and evening when it had cooled down some. Weeded out the front flowerbed, washed a load of dishes and 2 loads of laundry. Washed the dog since she decided to roll in something gross. Ewww!!! I went into town and stopped at several different places to do some shopping etc. After I got home about 9:30, we did some family fireworks. Then off to bed! No wonder I love Sundays! Time to rest from all that work! LOL

It's off to church here in a few hours and then I'm headed for a nap this afternoon. Yippee!!!

It's soooo hot!

Wow! It's really hot here. As I've been sitting here working on some scrapbooking layouts (of course) the temperature keeps climbing outside. According to weatherbug, it's 94 in the next large town. And that means it's usually a couple of degrees hotter out here. People just laugh and say it's a dry heat, but I say heat is heat!

I worked out in the garden this morning before it got too warm. By 9:30, I was plenty ready to come inside. The peas are looking fantastic and so are the beans, spuds, raspberries, onions, lettuce, carrots, corn and tomatoes. Even the peppers, cucumbers, and zucchini look wonderful. The garden is doing so well this year. I feel really pleased with it. It's taken a lot of work, but I feel so much better health wise this year that getting out there isn't the burden it has been in years past.

I find I actually like weeding sometimes. Especially when it's cool and quiet outside. Kind of like my own quiet time to think and meditate on the weightier things of the universe. Haven't solved any great problems yet, but I'm learing a lot about myself.

I'm so glad tomorrow is a holiday. It will be nice to have everyone home together. We are going to celebrate Grandpa and Grandma's anniversary with a picnic. Hopefully we will have lots of ice! LOL Supposed to be windy, so maybe the fireworks will be postponed. I hope not. There's something really neat about knowing that people all over the country are celebrating at the same time.

Very Sore Feet

Today I worked at the orthopaedic office. We saw 67 patients! Isn't that crazy? The Dr. that I work for is very kind. He doesn't have a nurse, per se, so the poor x-ray tech (that's me) has to do it all. I don't really mind, and it is a lot of fun. I get to bring all the patients back, take any needed x-rays, remove staples, sutures, casts. And I get to clean up after every single patient and procedure. Needless to say, I'm pooped! My poor feet are killing me tonight.

Tomorrow I'm back at the urgent care clinic where I normally work. Looking forward to 12 hours there like ususal. I feel so blessed to work with the doctors that I do. They are both so kind and really nice men. Working with them is just like spending 12 hours with a friend. We laugh and joke a lot in our clinic and take good care of each other along with our patients. Not sure who my nurse will be tomorrow, but there isn't a one that I would dread working with. That's so wonderful!

I'm off to soak my feet and watch some tv. :)

Dark Chocolate Layout

I finally finished the page I've been working on. This one is very simple, but I really like it all the same. The paper and alpha are from Vicki http://vicki20.blogspot.com/ . Her stuff for digital scrapbooking is amazing. Just love her color combinations. So much prettier than the "dusty prairie" look that some of the designers seem to be hooked on.

Anyway, this is me, enjoying the Dove Dark.

Adding to the list

Since the last post of the "you know you work in medicine..." items, I've added a couple more to the list. Just edited it, so if you want to see more, go down the list and have a look. Very funny stuff.

Today I'm playing around with a couple of pics of me that hubby took. He had to be coached, of course. If I didn't ask to have my picture taken once in a while, I wouldn't exist in the family photo albums or scrapbook pages. I don't think I'm a camera hog, but maybe I am. Maybe I'm homelier than a mud fence and no one really wants me in the family album. Who knows. But I digress.

The theme for the pics is "make mine dark", as in dark chocolate. For some reason, I really, and I mean really like dark chocolate. But the Hershey's Dark stuff isn't good anymore. Not even the m&m's. I'm kind of partial to the Dove Dark. And the Lindor Truffles in the Dark are divine. I can't get enough of those. When I find a sale on them, I get not one, but two bags. Delish! When I'm finished with the project, it will be a scrapbook page of me eating chocolate. I already edited the pics and made them black and white. Funny how pretty my complexion can be when I get done with all the computer touchups. Black and white gets rid of my freckles. Gotta love that!

Too hot here to do much today, and the fact that it's Sunday makes it certain that I won't be doing anything at all. I may go out to the garden and cut a bit of lettuce to stick in the fridge. I found that if you soak it in bowl of distilled water and put it in the fridge overnight it keeps it crispy and takes all the bitterness out of it. Who would have thunk it. I got the idea for the fridge from an obscure internet reference, but the idea for the distilled water making it crispy is from a friend.

Went fishing yesterday, but didn't catch anything. DS whined and complained the whole time that we were trolling, because we were trolling and because he is 14. Imagine that. DD tried to jump out of the boat into the water, but chickened out and just held onto the side. She sure is brave. She had her lifejacket on, so wasn't in any danger. The water was so deep that the anchor wouldn't even touch bottom with a 30 foot rope. But it was clear and green, with no moss to speak of. I only lost my gear once when my line got cut by the prop on the motor. Dang it. I hate losing pop gear! Before you get all jealous, bear in mind that our boat is a fishing dighy that was made in 1973. There is absolutely nothing fancy about it. But it gets us on the water and off the dock, so it's perfect.

Loving this summer weather so we can finally get outside. 2 weeks ago, we had snow! Today it is closer to 85. Yippee summer!

For those who work in medicine...

Ok. These are so dang funny that I just had to share them. Any of you who work in medicine will identify with these readily. Here goes:

You know you work in a medical profession when...

1. the front of your scrubs reads "Nurses...here to save your ass, not kiss it!"

2. you occasionally park in the space with the "physicians only " sign... and knock it over.

3. you believe some patients are alive only because it's illegal to kill them.

4. you recognize that you can't cure stupid.

5. you own at least three pens with the names of prescription medications on them.

6. you believe there's a special place in hell for the inventor of the call light.

7. you believe that saying " it can't get any worse" causes it to get worse just to show you it can.

8. you wash your hands BEFORE you go to the bathroom.

9. you believe that any job where you can drive to work in your pajamas is a cool one.

10. you consider a tongue depressor an eating utensil.

11. eating microwave popcorn out of a clean bedpan is perfectly natural.

12. you've been exposed to so many x-rays that you consider it a form of birth control.

13. you've every heard a patient with a nose ring, a brow ring and twelve earrings say, "I'm afraid of shots>"

14. if you've ever placed a bet on someone's blood alcohol level.

15. you've told a confused patient that your name is that of a coworker and to call if they need help.

16. your bladder can expand to the size of a Winnebago's water tank.

17. you have seen more male genetalia than any prostitute could dream of.

18. you believe that not all patients are annoying...some are unconscious.

19. your family and friends refuse to watch medical sitcoms with you because you spend the whole time correcting everyone and pointing out upside down x-rays.

20. you don't get excited about blood, unless it's your own.

21. you've sworn to have "do not recuscitate" tattooed on your chest. Soon

22. discussing dismemberment over a gourmet meal is perfectly normal to you.

23. your idea of fine dining is anywhere you can sit down to eat.

24. your idea of a good time is a cardiac arrest at shift change.

25. you believe in the aerial spraying of Prozac.

26. you believe that "shallow gene pool" should be a recognized diagnosis.

27. you belive that the government should require permits to reproduce.

28. you belive that unspeakable evils will befall anyone who utters the phrase, "Wow, it's really quiet, isn't it?"

29. you have ever wanted to write a book entitled "Suicide, getting it right the first time."

30. you have ever had a patient look you straight in the eye and say, "I have no idea how that got stuck in there."

31. you've had to leave a patient's room before you begin to laugh uncontrollably.

32. you've ever set the autovoice on the ct scanner to a foreign language just to confuse a drunk patient.

33. you haven't had a hot meal at work since the day you put the stethoscope around your neck.

34. you'll do anything to avoid working a shift that occurs on a day/night with a full moon.

35. you have to explain that the cup you handed the patient was for urine and not to get a drink of water out of.