New Years Eve Sunday December 31st 2023

No Stars In My Eyes · Dec 31, 2023

It is sunny and 52 degrees. The thermostat was on 72 overnight, but I woke up shivering under my down blanket, so I bumped it up to 74 to get the edge off the chill. I finally got OOB so I could come down to the den and get Nannie up. I am still in my bathrobe, as I plan on taking a shower once she has had her yogurt and meds. If she nods off into a nap afterwards, all the better; I would like to go back up to my rooms (sounds like I have a suite, eh?) and paw through the mess to try to get things ready for moving my desk. I have to 'walk' the tall filing cabinet out of the way so I can move the desk. Hoping to get the desk contents straightened out; I figure if I start out being organized in the 'new' room in the New Year, it will be better all the way around. So...on to Nannie....and then the shower....

Later, yez'all---

Editorial Team / Admin · Dec 31, 2023

Hello and Happy New Year's Eve!

We have no plans for tonight, we are still recovering from this flu. I thought I could lie flat and sleep, and last night discovered I was wrong. SOME of the time I can lie flat, but I still have a productive, active cough. So, the pillows got arranged to support being upright -- again. Didn't sleep well. Hopefully tonight will be better.

Toby is better, at least! When I am on the computer, he climbs onto the chair, by my neck, and drapes himself, and purrs, and nudges me (especially if I have a cheese stick which he would LOVE to share). He also gets on the bed a couple times a night -- and is this done quietly? Oh, NO! He must climb up and announce himself, over and over, until he gets a response, then he curls up right by my face and likes to fall asleep, face to face. Silly boy.

Joe, I found a short video that tickled me some time ago, about operas. I was not raised hearing opera singing, and only some classical music. I thought they were all very high-brow, and it was THE cultured thing to see/do. This video was hilarious. Apologies if you are offended by it, my uncouth sense of humor liked it!

No Stars, hope this is a good day for you, and you are able to do what you "plan" to do, in your suite!

That's all for now, enjoy your day!

No Stars In My Eyes · Dec 31, 2023

Nannie is fighting her nap, but I believe she will go deeper in a short while.

I have showered, dried my hair, and dressed, so I am presentable, but since prolly no one will see me it doesn't really matter. Anyway, I did it for me!

Running out of space to put things so I can move things....it's sort of like moving Checkers on the board, or maybe more like Chess? It is rather a P.I.A. but I keep my eye on what the end results will be, and keep plugging away a little at a time. Sometime this next week MAYBE my BiL and SiL and niece and nephew ( a BIG feller, 6'4"!) will be able to move the bed and mattress in so I actually go to can sleep in there.

Have been trying to decide how to attack moving the desk on my own. I do have to empty it of the 4 drawers first....but I'll have to make my bed first/first so I have somewhere to put the desk drawers. We'll see how it pans out for me. I promise I won't do anything difficult that will call forth the gypsies!

.....And she's off to Star's Suites!

No Stars In My Eyes · Dec 31, 2023

NRSKaren---

I can't respond to your PM with a PM of my own, because I refuse to ditch the Ad Remover I have on my laptop. So, I will thank you here for your kind message:

THANKS! ?

Ado Annie, ASN, RN · Dec 31, 2023

I laughed at the explanation of opera. I feel so educated now.

Happy New Years Eve! Twin A will leave for work shortly and return late (11-11:30). Meanwhile, Twin B leaves for work around 10:30. But we will have our spread of rich, fatty, salty foods. I bought a bottle of Asti so we can toast at midnight. I plan to change the sheets today so we can start the new year with clean sheets, at least. And that's about as much ambition as I have. Hubs is puttering in the garage. Twin A and I shelled eggs for the deviled eggs he and his brother like to make.

I haven't heard from anyone needing me to work med/surg at the hospital. We've had some resignations and are pretty short-handed. Hoping no news is good news.

nursej22, MSN, RN · Dec 31, 2023

I enjoyed the opera explanation, too. Mr. Rogers used to say that opera was just telling a story with songs, but how does one follow the story if you don't speak the language? Broadway musicals are about as opera-y as I can tolerate, maybe because I can understand the lyrics? It cracks me up when the opera principals are supposed to be sweet young things, when they are obviously middle-aged and rotund.

It's sunny today, but has cooled off. I rode my bike to breakfast, and was glad I bundled up! I baked dh's birthday cake a day late. I was going to do it yesterday, but we took the grandsons to see Wonka (we all really liked it!) and then stopped for Thai food. I had yummy panang curry with tofu. Youngest grand son had a vegetable medley but only 1/3. I brought leftovers home, and just reheated with peanut sauce for lunch. Delish.

I think we are going to a fundraiser/party tonight. I think we'll head home shortly after MN. Youngest ds and I are going to do a Polar Bear Plunge on Monday, and then dh and I are going to a local movie theatre that is showing the UW/Texas football game.

I am thinking about signing for a couple of bird ID classes.

No Stars In My Eyes · Dec 31, 2023

j22. Pardon me for saying so, but you are out of your mind! A Polar Bear Plunge? BRRRR! Actually, I can't really say anything about that because the beach we went to when I was a kid, every Sunday during the Summer, had THE coldest water. Here's what you had to do if you weren't brave enough to get into the water quickly: Stand ankle deep, and wait for your feet to lose their feeling. Then in further, up to your knees, until they got numb. Then walk until the water is just below your groin. Then when your thighs were numb, you took a deep breath and PLUNGED, and then you came up GASPING from the shock of cold water on your belly and chest. I think the Atlantic ocean temp on the beach was something ridiculous, like 45 degrees Probably much colder the further out you went. Needless to say, the actual swimming was fairly brief, because you had to get back to your towel in order to thaw! When the sun made you too hot again, you went for another DUNK and beat it back to the towel again.

So, it is 2 hours since my last post. I found a cork bulletin board that hubby bought for Nannie's wall...oh, about 6 years ago...and never put up on her wall because she didn't like it, it was "ugly" and it "didn't match" any of her colors. I figured I could hang it on the wall behind the door of my new room. WELL! It was a real beyotch because you had to put the hanging hardware about 6 inches down each side (for vertical hanging) I measured and measured and measured, screwed the hardware onto the back of the frame. Then I had to measure the wall horizontally so it would be hanging evenly, hammered the nails into the wall, and hung the dern thing....thank goodness it wasn't crooked! It took me about 45 minutes to do, as the teeny tiny little screws were kinda small for my fingers to hold onto. I thought about using some hacks I remembered, about how to hold a nail or a screw with something, to make it easier, but at that point I was determined to get it done or quit!

I also walked the file cabinet out of the way so I could move my desk out. I dusted it a little, took all the drawers out and set them on the bed. By the time I got that into place, I didn't feel much like organizing the contents of the drawers, so I just put them back in the desk. I walked the file cabinet back to the wall in the 'old' room, but further over than it had been sitting so it will be out of the way when it comes time to move the bed.

Now that I think about it, I have a bunch of boxes UNDER the bed, so the next thing to do will be to drag those boxes out and pile them up on each other in the space where the file cabinet was, until they can take their place under the bed again. In the 'old' room you could not stand back far enough to see the boxes. But, I'll have to find a bed-skirt thingy ( sans frills and the like) to hide the boxes from view after they are back in place under the bed. Most of the boxes contents are my writings; Many, many notebooks and stacks of pages and PAGES and PAGES! I had an Art teacher who used to tell us to NOT throw away what we considered poorly done, because it would help us see where to change the next try at the drawing, painting, or sketches. So I have saved all the unfinished or changed versions of each poem....and I think I need to set them aside in another box (or three) and have the finished versions separately boxed so they will be a little less frustrating to find! I shudder to think of how many POUNDS of paper is contained in all those boxes!

Now I am sitting on the sofa again. Nannie is sort of coming to, so in a short while I can wake her up the rest of the way and prepare her supper. We'll then watch the news. Not sure what's coming in prime time (8pm) but we will most likely watch Forensic Files or one of the shows on HGTV.

You know, it's kind of funny....Nannie always remarks about the mixed race couples, (I tell her she just hasn't been out in the world much, so she doesn't know it is a common thing now. But she never says a word when the same-sex couples talk about when they got married and now are buying a house together. She also hardly says a word when we watch the show about Lottery-Winners looking at expensive and large houses....the guy who is the host (David) who shows the homes, is tattoo'd all over more than any place else, is VERY gay, wears a lot of very colorful clothes, bling, and such. All that concerns Nannie is "What are those things on his neck?" (tats of tigers on each side) and also, she says, "His arms look dirty." ...because they are also heavily tattoo'd.

It is time to do the supper thingy, so I'll be on my way up to the kitchen----

No Stars In My Eyes · Jan 1, 2024

Not watchin' any celebrations tonight. Not humbug, just don't care a heck of a lot about the singers and performers that will be playing.

Now, permit me to say to one and all:

HOPPY GNU EARS!!! ?

Editorial Team / Admin · Jan 1, 2024

Happy New Year to you all!

Post-lunch, I lay down and tried to sleep, but only rested about 20 min then got up to go to the grocery store (wore a mask). And when I got home, after groceries were put away, I made a one-pot pasta for supper. It smells good! I feel more tired than usual, and still cough and wheeze some. So, this "thing" isn't done with me yet. But it WILL be!!

Have a safe evening!

Tweety, BSN, RN · Jan 1, 2024

G'day. Was too tired to read your posts last night.

I think I'm over the worst of my schedule that had me working every other day. A coworker was complaining she was working 4 12-hour shifts in a row. Our scheduler needs to do better and realize we are human beings doing this, not numbers you just punch into a schedule.

Anyway it wasn't a bad day. I had 6:1 and was busy but got out on time. Patients were relatively decent, just a lot of pain medications and/or antibiodics. They pulled one of our techs because we got an ER patient that was a suicide watch...and she has covid, so she will be impossible to place until whatever isolation time the psych facilities have passes. I don't feel like our floor should be punished for a mandatory suicide watch, that the hospital should supply the sitters. But who listens to me?

As a music geek I don't like opera mostly because it's not in English and on those occasions where it is, I don't understand what they are singing. But those singers certainly can sing. Why are they mostly overweight?

There seems to be some evidence coming out that ice and cold plunges have some health benefits. I see social media influencers doing it often. They even make tubs you can buy that chills the water and lets you dip it.

There's a tradition among the African American churches here that you go to church on New Year's Eve and at midnight you are on your knees in prayer.

I knew I wasn't going to make it to mid night. Once some fireworks went off as I was drifting off to sleep and I thought someone was banging on the door and it scared me to death.

Happy New Year!