Goodbye February

When I was a child, saying goodbye to February was always a happy occasion.  Yep, it's my birthday today.  No, I wasn't a Leap Year kiddo who had to have a fake bday today.  I'm the real February 28th deal.  I missed the first 3 days of work this week because of illness so today was my first day back.  My BFF, Donna, always does something nice for me on my bday and today was no exception.  How can you not smile when you get a beautiful and super delicious cake?

Not only did she bring a smile to my face, she made the whole surgery department happy!  OR people love to eat.  Thanks so much Donna!  (I also love the beautiful bowls you gave me!)  Some other goodies I received:

Flowers from my Sweetie!  Plus a gift card to my hair salon...a win win! Thanks Babe!  All the happy wishes, cards, and other gifts from my kids...movie from Jordan, gift card from Jackie and then my son Phil gave me a fun and interesting gift:

This box was full of this:

Candy that was popular in 1953...and many of it still is!  I told his girls to give some a try and they enjoyed sampling candy from my childhood.

This little booklet was interesting to read and see how prices, salaries and what was popular back when I was born has changed over the years.  A fun and creative gift! A phone call from Craig out west with the news that they are coming to visit this summer made me smile even brighter.  Yes, I'm blessed with a loving family, and good friends.  Mom called today too and I'm happy I still have her with us and can share this day with her.  She did all work to get me here after all!  My older brother, Phil,  sent me a sweet message reminding me that now I'm the 3rd of us to get to retirement age...66. That's something that my Dad didn't get and Jack's folks both passed at 66.  So he said we need to do what they didn't get to do...retire and enjoy our life.  I'm making my plans and hopefully will do just that at the end of this year.  It's hard to think about leaving something I've done since I was 18.  Working now is different because of the big hospital that bought us out. Corporate medicine has changed the face of our hospital in terms of how we work.  We have to work with less but do more.  What hasn't changed however is who we work for...our patients.  What hasn't changed is why we do what we do each day.  Today was a perfect example of the Ying and Yang of surgery life.  First case this morning a baby was born by c-section.  When a baby is born the family presses a button and a lullaby is heard throughout the hospital. I thought, "how fun to have a baby born on my birthday!"  A lucky family with a healthy baby.   A few hours later I stood by another patient who was having a miscarriage and facing the loss of her baby.  We held her hand, wiped her tears, wrapped the tiny little boy in a towel so she could hold him and say good-bye.  We took extra time with that case.  Made arrangements so Dad could see his little boy too and say his goodbyes.  Not everyone can experience the first breath of a new life or the last one.  Those experiences and many, many others I've had over the years are what keeps me doing my job for now.  The pressures of a fast pace, changing technology, and big corporate regulations that speak more of money than compassion are what's motivating me to know when to go.  But today isn't that day.  I'll put the emotions and work stress by for now and say thanks to all my family and friends for helping me celebrate and slide into another year.  Dad, and Mom and Dad Starkey...I'm dedicating the rest of this year to you guys... let's make it a great one!

Weird Week..And It's Only Tuesday

I've been home sick with the crud that has been flying all over work and church.  I was a little under the weather a few weeks ago but it passed quickly and I didn't miss work.  This past weekend found me feeling poorly again.  I'm usually a fairly healthy person. Jack and I both feel blessed to be that way.  That's why I get pretty bummed when it actually takes me out of my usual schedule!  I'm feeling a little more normal today but decided I would stay home anyway just to feel more rested.  Sometimes pushing yourself isn't the smartest move.  I just have to get over feeling guilty or like I'm letting my coworkers down.  We're very short staffed because that's how the corporation likes it, but when sickness happens then we...the worker bees...suffer.  Anyway, I'm hoping for a better end to the week!  The other strange thing was the wind storm over the weekend.  Sunday started out 60de and sunny but by 10am it was blowing and the temps dropped and snow flurries hit the air.  The snow didn't amount to anything but there were power outages, downed trees, and wind damage around town.  We were lucky to have kept the power and I always worry about the pine trees falling.  Pine trees don't have super deep roots.  Ours have helped block the wind many times.  Our only testament to strong wind was the little pergola that fell over in the garden:

Jack says he'll fix it and I know he will.  He's threatening to put re-bar about 12 feet deep in the bottom! Ha!  Some other folks weren't as lucky as us.

This tree fell on a chimney that then went through the roof.  Ouch!  Also the pine tree that the University always uses for it's Christmas tree lighting ceremony was uprooted.  Another tragedy, that wasn't because of the wind storm, was our favorite orchard where we get our apples from lost it's barn to a fire.

Thankfully it happened before the wind storm or I'm sure the orchards would have been damaged too. Hopefully it will be rebuilt and ready for the owners by Fall harvest.  On another note I didn't say how our Arnie's surgery went last week.  He came through it much better than the first time he had surgery last year.  We switched Vets and are very happy with them.  The fatty tumor will probably come back again because it's pretty deep in the muscle and trying to get it all out could damage the nerves in his front leg. So we'll see how it goes but he's doing well although he's on a diet.  He's a little overweight so we're working on getting him back in shape for swimsuit season!

If he just didn't beg so dang cute we might have a better chance at slimming him down!  The only nice thing so far this week was seeing some sunshine yesterday.

It's pretty cold out but I'll take cold with no snow and lots of sun.  Even if it's just seeing it for the time it takes to get the dog out for a potty break....dang flu.  Hope your week is going better.

It's Keen To Be Seventeen

Does anyone even say "Keen" any more?  I know I don't use that word very often but it rhymed with seventeen. The only other word I could think of to rhyme was "spleen"....and that's not too keen.  Anyway, today is Anthony's birthday.  My Grandson is 17 and this YaYa can hardly believe it.  He's a wonderful young man....kind of quiet...kind of funny...kind of a keen kiddo!  He's been doing great in basketball at the high school this year and he's always had great grades.  As we all gathered together tonight I had to think that we're a bit of an unconventional family.  My son Jack...Anthony's Dad...is divorced but everyone gets along and we all celebrate life's moments together.  Even Jack's wife Evelyn and his ex, Stephanie, get along.  It's so much better to be friends and family and all the kids are happy.  So we went to Stephanie's home and she made a lovely dinner and we had cake and icecream and sang the birthday song and all is good with our world.  Happy Birthday Anthony....we love you!

Not too embarrassed to wear a silly birthday hat. Well, maybe just a little!

His other Grandmother made his cake.

He made his wish...you should never be too old to wish.  His lovely girlfriend was there tonight too.  Yep, he's getting older! Here are a few of the other players tonight:

His Dad and Summer's dog, Happy.

His sister Driana who's in nursing school and doing great!

His sister Summer and her long time boyfriend, Brett.  Summer is going to Paris, France next week! She's a senior at Ashland University and will graduate in May with a Bachelor's in fashion merchandising.  Paris is a dream come true for her and we wish her a fun, fun trip!

Little brother Cameron.  It was a fun evening and I'm so glad to have all of these kids together to share in happy moments.   We have many family members with February birthdays.   My Dad's birthday was Monday.  He would have been 99 this year!  Since he died young, 56, it's hard to imagine him old.  Here's a  pic of him not too long before he passed away. 

He's with his dog Rebel.  Reb and Dad were best friends and Mom struggled with Rebel afterwards.  Reb died about 3 yrs after Dad.   It's a cliche' I know, but life is very short and unpredictable.  We should celebrate those moments in time and be thankful for the happy ones.  This short month is coming to an end....enjoy the final weekend of it and do something fun!

Do You Celebrate VD?

Ok, I'm sure you all know that by VD I mean:  VALENTINE'S DAY!  People have strong opinions about this holiday. Many blame it on Hallmark and feel it's just an excuse for buying their cards. I don't really like to call it an actual "holiday".  You don't get the day off or any over-time pay for working it.  Those are the main criteria for me when describing a holiday.  When I was a little nugget in grade school we made the Valentine's day boxes to collect all those love notes from our classmates.  I didn't really like making those boxes. I'm not super creative.   I  REALLY didn't enjoy it when my kids were in school because you were suppose to do something creative and no matter how hard we tried there was always that overachiever parent who made a box that looked like the Vatican or something.  We all knew the kid didn't even get to glue on a single scrap of craft paper to the project! (Not that I'm bitter or anything)  Well, I do enjoy giving out Valentines.  Any reason to celebrate something in the middle of a dreary Winter is OK by me.  I found this old picture of my parents on a Valentine's Day. I remember that day because, of course, I snapped the pic and I made the dinner and gave them gifts.  Looks like they enjoyed them!

Can you tell it's a late 60's, early 70's kitchen?  Anyway, they look happy!   I usually do something for Jack on this day.  This year it's a card, some food stuff he loves, and I threw in a gift card...hey, he deserves it! 

He wondered if I was trying to give him  a message about shooting him with my bow and arrow!  He gave me some beautiful flowers because he knows how much I love fresh flowers.

Thanks Babe!  We have another tradition that I just made up.  We have to eat burgers on Valentine's Day.  It started 3 years ago and this year was no exception.

As I've said many times, I'm a burger kind of gal!  That pretty much sums up our day except we had a surprise visit from my brother Jim and my sister's son,  Bill.  They were on their way home from a job in Pennsylvania and stopped by to spend the night before heading out early this morning. They work together for my sister's company....Corporate Communications.  We got to sit and chat for a while and it was fun to catch up with them.  So glad they stopped by.  I just wish I had taken a picture of them.  They are probably glad I didn't!   Now on to the weekend.  Today after work I took Arnie for some grooming:

He's going to have surgery on Monday and I thought it would be good to get his hair clipped. His little tumor under his right leg grew back. He had it removed last summer shortly after we adopted him.  We took him to another vet for a second opinion and decided to get it done again since it's affecting his walking. Oh, he has to lose weight too....sorry buddy, no more snitching food from us! I don't care how cute you look begging!  I think I mentioned in a previous post we were getting the front porch redone.  Here it is:

It will look better after it's painted some time this summer, and all our green plants come back this Spring.  At least it won't collapse on anyone!

 I hope everyone had a nice Valentines Day.  We can always use a bit more love in this world!

Peaceful Sunday

Today was a very quiet and peaceful day. Nothing traumatic, nothing hugely even blog worthy.  I just felt I should blog anyway. Illness seems to be spreading around these parts rapidly. At work this week we had a few "call offs".  I had a bit of a cold that lasted a week or so but nothing that kept me down for long.  At Church today none of my 7&8 year old kiddos showed up for class and it was a sparse number in the congregation.  I thought maybe it was because I was a speaker today.  The first 2 speakers ahead of me didn't take very long and left me a lot of time. I looked at Jack with a little bit of "great, I have to fill this in for 25 minutes" angst.  Always having my back and knowing I can talk up a storm he just said: "Pretend you're talking to your sister." (We do tend to chat a bit long) He's so funny.  Anyway, it all went well and I'm probably off the hook for speaking for another year! I was suppose to give this talk last month but God saved me by sending a blizzard.  No such luck today! In fact, we've had pretty nice weather the past few days.  All that snow melted with warm temps.

Car thermometers don't lie.  What this lovely raise in temps did was melt and flood everywhere. Then we had tons of rain to go with it. Never a dull weather moment here.  Although the snow had melted the temps hit bottom again and we had a very cold weekend.

I don't know if you can tell from this pic but Jordan came over with his truck on Friday to go get wood with Jack. After unloading he took off thinking the ground should be fairly frozen still...NOT! It took them over an hour to get out of this mess.  Saturday morning I took this pic and all the water had frozen.  I think this is a prime example of  "No good deed goes unpunished" as his truck, inside and out, was mud covered and they were both pretty frozen themselves.   I was ready for a nice, quiet Sunday.  I made a roast with a new recipe using...drumrolllllll....pickles! It was really yummy!

I threw the pickles in this just for the picture.

Mashed potatoes and a fresh salad were all this needed for comfort food today.

I made drop scones Saturday that Jack took for his early morning meeting at Church today. They turned out good too.  A great way to spend a cold weekend...baking, cooking and sharing it all.

The snow gently fell this afternoon and we're going to get about 3 inches before it's over. Tomorrow there's an Amish man coming to redo our front porch. We'll see if that happens! Anyway, I hope everyone has had a nice weekend and now on to Monday.

Last night's sunset...Still looking peaceful.

It's The Short Month

Yesterday was the first day of the short month. As a child I always loved February and it didn't seem like the short month then.  It seemed like that month would never end. Probably because my birthday was/is the last day of February.  Now it seems like the month is long because the weather is usually the worst of Winter.  Today and the next few days will make me a liar on that score.  It was sunny and 46de according to my car thermometer.  We're expecting 50's tomorrow and the next. After the bone chilling and snowy week we had it is a welcome change.  I don't know what the silly groundhog had to say about the next 6 weeks of Winter but I spied a sure sign that Spring could actually be in the near future.

Hello Mr. Robin...or maybe it's Mrs. Robin.  I know that some don't migrate but seeing Robins will always be a sign of Spring for me.  Yesterday I had the day off and the weather was not so sweet.

Even though I had the day off I still had to attend a 6:30am staff meeting.  This was the road on my way home.  We got about 3in of snow overnight.  Just enough to make it a bit slick. 

Almost home! I enjoyed the rest of the day by keeping warm and making bread.

It turned out pretty good! It tasted pretty good too! My Granddaughter stopped by today and she was the recipient of a loaf.  Hope she enjoys it!

Bread making is fun but a bit messy.  That's OK, the results are worth it. After this I went outdoors and burned a few calories by shoveling some snow.

Arnie wasn't much help but he did enjoy the fresh air.  I spied my Robin friend in the crabapple tree and snapped a few pics.

I think this tiny morsel was the reason.

Go for it!

Got it!

Yum!

A diet might be in order....don't worry my Robin friend, I hear there's 6 more weeks of Winter before you need to be in shape for Spring!