~I DID IT~

OH HOW LOVELY WAS THE MORNING!
O.R. #1, NO MISTAKES!!! I ANTICIPATED EVERY MOVE AND HAD EVERYTHING READY AND IN IT'S PLACE. 1. BAM, 2. MASTOPEXY, AND 3. ABDOMINOPLASTY! SMOOTH SAILING ALL THE WAY THROUGH!!! I COULDN'T BE MORE PROUD THANK YOU VERY MUCH. IT FEELS SO GOOD TO COME HOME FOR ONCE AND NOT BE DEPRESSED ABOUT THE DAY. YEA!!! I'M NOT SAYING THAT TOMORROW WON'T BE BACK TO MESS UPS BUT, HOORAY, HOORAY, HOORAY FOR TODAY!!!

I SHOULD ALSO MENTION...I WAS WORKING WITH A VERY NICE DOCTOR!

~WIND~

The wind blew
bringing with it sudden change
not really sure what it all means
can't honestly say that I care

The wind blew
things are no longer where they were
can't really see why it matters
don't really care anyway.

The wind blew
that was yesterday
today we are putting things
back the way they were

See I told you it didn't matter.

(Sometimes my mood is disturbing...).

~LIFE IN THE OR~

Okay, I haven't posted a "Life in the OR" for awhile. There is a reason for that, I have been too close to tears for the last 5 months to really be able to talk about my job let alone really write about it. I can say that it is getting better but, I still don't like it very much and would really like to be able to say that I do so, obviously it hasn't gotten that much better. I have started to anticipate better but, the reading the mind part of the job hasn't kicked in yet. It gets me in trouble almost everyday. Man, I wish that would start working!

I am always on pins and needles when I have to be in OR #1. It is the major plastic's room. In fact I don't know if there has ever been any other surgery done in that room other than "plastic surgery". My good friend is one of the doctors that frequents that OR on a regular basis...twice a week. Good friendships go out the window in OR#1. In fact, your lucky if your called by your name! Things are expected to run like clockwork and nothing, NOTHING should ever go wrong! My doctor friend is very particular ( what surgeon isn't) when it comes to what I lovingly refer to as his "potions". Now, all of the surgeons have medications that they use before, during and after surgery but, my friend takes it to an all time O.C.D. high. All of his medications that he injects and uses are drawn up and pre-measured before the surgery begins. The other surgeons medications are basically the same, easy to mix and simple to have ready. Not my friend... His is a process that makes me VERY nervous but, I am getting used to it and more comfortable all the time with his "Monk" tendencies. This is how I begin my day in OR #1. Usually, the fingernails are history before the surgery begins.

Today I was asked to go to his locker ( in the men's room ) and bring him some suture that he had brought with him and left in there. As a circulator, I am not scrubbed in or sterile so it is up to me to get whatever is needed for the doctor who is but, come on, the men's room! Yup, off I go, I knock on the "men's" locker room door and finding no one there, I quickly ran in, grabbed the suture out of his locker (the one with the red tag hanging "neatly from the lock) and ran back out without "seeing" anything. Hehe. I took it into the OR and opened the suture that I had taken directly from "THE BOX"...WRONG suture. Of course, it is my fault because I should have known that what was "IN" the box was not what it said it was "ON" the box right? I then get the lecture about NEVER handing a doctor anything that you haven't looked at...I looked at it, It said it was the right stuff on the box! I even showed it to the doctor before opening it and got the "nod". Why would I ever think that Dr. O.C.D. AKA MONK would mix two different types of suture in the same box...Now, I ask you, put yourself in my Crocks and tell me how you would handle that. Oh, I left out the part about answering his personal phone calls that come into the OR every 10 min. or so on a phone that I can't figure out. Calling to make appts. for him while trying to do my job on a phone I can't figure out. Making sure that his "Talk Radio" station is doing just the right amount of Bama Bashing on a phone I can't figure out... All the while hoping that not one machine goes down or nothing hits the floor, all medications are ready to give, everything is in the room that he will ask for, his stool is where he can reach it, until the case is finished! This can sometimes take HOURS! I just smiled with my eyes cuz I have a mask on... and said, "Your right, I should have noticed that it was the wrong suture...you see I have found that it is hard for the doctor to be mad at you when you are nice!

Things I did wrong today:

1. There wasn't a tourniquet... ( Wasn't on the order but, that's the mind reading part that I haven't quite got a handle on yet...)

2. I walked out of the room at the wrong time...It was to find a pathology report for him but, that did NOT matter...

3. I stacked the implants improperly... Sideways instead of up and down (Monkism).

4. I missed a call... Stupid phone.

5. I didn't put a sticker on his paper work...It was his own "personal" paper work, should I really be going through that stuff??? It says how much stuff costs etc...

6. I handed him the wrong suture...Yea, we already went over that one...

Did you know that it takes 100 sincere and genuine "positive" comments to make up for 1 negative one? Doctors don't...They feel that it is their divine right to say and do things that no one else would ever think kind or proper but...comes with the territory I suppose. The unspoken right to every now and again be a jerk and get away with it!

The reasons I like this job...Sometimes I am home by 2:00 or 3:00 in the afternoon. I LOVE that. I know that I go in early and that I am still putting in 10 hours or more but, it really seems like I am getting off early! I still have time to actually DO stuff! Once in awhile I get to work with doctors that are very pleasant and fun. Yes, there really are some of those out there and it is with great pleasure that I point out to our young and impressionable medical students just who they are, and why they should emulate them.

~10 THINGS THAT I AM GRATEFUL FOR THAT ARE FREE~

1. THE TEMPLE. I love how it makes me feel to be able to go there and just do the work.

2. A GOOD BOOK. I can spend hours and hours just reading. Give me a warm fire, a quiet corner and and a good book I'll be entertained all weekend!

3. WARM SOCKS. My feet are always COLD. I am always grateful for a comfy pair of old warm socks.

4. MUSIC! I would rather listen to music than watch T.V. I think that I was supposed to be a great musician...what happened?

5. SNOW! I LOVE IT! I am a winter sports enthusiast. I look forward to the first snowflakes of winter and I am sad to see the last ones fall in the spring...

6.SUNSETS! We are so lucky to have such
beautiful sunsets all year round.

7. BIKE RIDES! Although they are a little harder to do in the winter, I love to ride my bike. It doesn't cost a thing and you get healthier the more you do it!

8. SMILES! Ever noticed how contagious they are? I love smiles.

9. FAMILY! Absolutely the best thing in my life.

10. TIME! I am so grateful for every minute that I get to spend doing the things I love!


If you read this you have been tagged! Your turn to think about 10 things and write them down...Actually, it's quite fun!

~GIRLS WEEKEND~

We spent the weekend at the cabin doing pretty much whatever we wanted to. Gotta love weekends like that! Stephanie brought her card making supplies with her and we scrap booked and made cards until we were creatively drained. We all love to make cards but without Stephanie there we are like babies learning to take our first steps...She has to hold our hands and show us everything. Lucky for us she is sort of patient! Lucky for us she has all of the "stuff" that is needed to make everything and when I say everything, I mean "EVERYTHING"! We turned out card after card each one getting just a little better than the one before. By the time weekend was over we had all become what I now refer to as "Cardatiers" ie one who makes cards.

THANKS Stephanie for your talent and your patience with all of us.


It was fun to have Ali there with us for the weekend. She thinks that at "6" she is now a teenager. She wants her mom to talk to her like she is a teenager and treat her like she is "big". None of this little girl stuff...Until she needs the little girl stuff to work for her that is...Then it is okay to be "6" again. She LOVED playing with the dogs. Thor is so much bigger than her. Well, Thor is pretty much bigger than all of us but, Ali is not one to be intimidated. She just used her big "teenager" voice and pretty much ruled that dog.

Stephanie had a project that she was doing for Valentines Day for her kids. Making Owls...We are all now very skilled at making google eye Owls! They are so cute! Yes, along with everything else that she does, she also makes the kids Valentines. These when they are done will say: "Who loves you". Where did I get her and why didn't I get some of that artsy-fartsy stuff that runs through her veins?



We played in the snow with the dogs. We read our books. We watched movies. We played scrabble. We put together puzzles and even slept in! What a great weekend. Let's do it again soon!

~HAPPY BIRTHDAY ABIGAIL~

Abbie turned "2" ! It is so hard to believe that she is two years old all ready. It seems to me that Clark was just calling us on the phone to tell us that they had just HAD her...Time, where does it go?

We went to Farmington last night for Abbie's birthday party. She was so cute. She really doesn't get what all of the hoopla is about but, she does like the audience. You put a tutu on this girl and a pair of dancing shoes and start up any kind of music and she is dancing. I don't mean a little wiggle here and a little wiggle there this girl can DANCE! She full out kicks and shakes and swings and jumps and slides and twists and ... ends it all with a curtsy! Pretty dang awesome if you ask either one of her grandmas! Well, if we can stop laughing long enough to answer you that is. She is hilarious . We are still wondering where she learned to move like that. Certainly didn't get it from her Grandpa Steve. Maybe it came from her Grandpa Dan...

I wish now that I had video on my camera so that I could show you how extremely talented she is but alas, only still shots and I am not so good at those yet with my camera. She is pretty patient with me flashing pictures in her face constantly however. She has pretty much had to get used to it with her mom and dad! They like to take pictures just about as much as I do!

Abbie had a "beary" cute cake for her birthday. She was more than happy to blow out the candles and eat ice cream. I asked her what she liked better ice cream or cake and she told me without any hesitation at all "ice cream"!

She loved the balloons and before you knew it they were all on the ceiling. THE VAULTED CEILING...CLARK!

She had the cutest umbrella that she was twirling around. She said it was for the rain. I thought it was for really darling pictures!

Her new form of travel this year is the tricycle that she got. She is learning to peddle. Once she gets that down I am afraid that Cami and Clark will be out looking for her throughout the neighborhood everyday!

I love Abbie's dance attire! I can hear the PA system at the grocery store now:

( We have a lost little girl at check out stand #3. She is wearing a yellow tutu with bunny slippers and a pair of pink pants. She also has on a off white turtle neck top with 3/4 length sleeves. The Burger King Crown has fallen from her head but can be picked up from the clerk at the check stand along with her magic wand and angle wings. Thank you).

In the end, it's all about the SHOES! Gotta love a girl that at TWO already loves SHOES!

~COLE TURNS 4~

Steve and I were not able to be at Cole's birthday party because of something else we had to do that night but, we went over the night before so he got to open presents all week long! Christmas just kept happening for this little guy! Who said it wasn't fun to have a birthday so close to Christmas...Loreli has become a cake making extraordinaire! She can really whip up a birthday cake. It takes her days to do it but what a wonderful creation she comes up with for each of the children. Cole could not have been more excited for this one. He loves his trucks...especially JOHN DEERE!

You can't be around this little guy and not smile. He is just a GREAT kid! Cole, Maddie and Bella are the little ones that live the closest to us so we get to see them whenever we want to pretty much. Cole will call grandpa and see if he wants to "hangout". He was more than a little disappointed when he came to our house last Sunday and the Christmas train was put away. I almost caved in and got it out again. Sometimes I just can't take those big sad brown eyes, they MELT me! Mom and dad came quickly to my rescue. His eyes, well, they don't seem to have the same effect on them...

It is so fun to see the little ones grow and develop into their own little persons. I think that they are all just about perfect!

Happy Birthday COLELO!

~TWO ALL BEEF PATTIES, LETTUCE, CHEESE, SPECIAL SAUCE, PICKLES, ONIONS on a SEASME SEED BUN...okay for me, a diet coke~

I have been working on my lesson for R.S. in my spare time all week and today my cute hubby decided that I needed a break. He got up this morning and called Cole and Maddie to see if they could play. Now how could they possibly resist an offer like that? John and Loreli got them ready in no time at all and off we went to the "slide" place, AKA McDonalds...they LOVE it there. They played hide and seek in the tubes all morning while I tried to practice with my camera. I even caught Maddie looking at me a couple of times. You don't know how hard that is! These two little ones are so much fun. They keep us on our toes. I really don't know how we EVER kept up with 5 little ones. We are good for about 2 hours and then we're done. So glad we can take them home where mom and dad can take over and exhausted grandpa and grandma can go home and take a nap!

I only wish the other three grand kids were a little closer so that we could include them every Saturday also. Boy, grandpa and I would really be worn out then. Bella is going to want to tag along very soon too. She is getting so big. I had to post a picture of her big blue eyes. They just seem to be getting brighter and brighter every month. What a sweetheart she is. We can hardly wait for the next little one to make an appearance. Cambria and Sky should find out this week if they have a little boy or a little girl Robertson. I will keep you posted...!