KeysDan’s Neighborhood

This time last year...

This time last year -- in fact, it was exactly Christmas day -- Damian took this photo of Francie on the trail. She had just spotted that dog in the background coming her way, and -- super obedient and submissive girl that she was -- immediately dropped to the ground in a nonthreatening posture.

Francie

I now have this photo beautifully framed in my home. I think of her and love her every day.

grave stone

"As Seen on TV"

Katiebell
9 hours ago
5 comments

I had a fairly nice Holiday.

Actually that is a complete lie. I did not enjoy my Christmas Day at all. I had patients who were literally Psychotic. Carolers came, at the typical worst moment. I was unable to eat my lunch until it was very very cold, and I put waaay too much butter in my potato casserole. Who knew one could have too much butter? I had an argument with a Physician who is a jerk, and also sort of had some issues with the Charge RN who is not exactly a princess either.

THe day after Christmas I had a Migraine, and ended up at the Urgent care with intractable vomiting. Yuck. The Urgent care though, did make me feel much better with Imitrex . Thank goodness I dont get the bad headaches all that often.

Now back to my Nice holiday. The whole holiday season was alright. I enjoyed the Music on the radio and all the hustle and bustle. I received some gifts this year that were definitely from Info-mercials. Now, I never order anything off an infomercial or even off of QVC etc. I have been tempted on occasion, so I was keen to try both of these items.

The first one I received was from my Secret Santa at work. It was a "counter Cook" Kitchen chopper. A very very small, food processor. I looked it up on the Internet and couldn't find the brand name.....

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This is from Black and Decker but very similar to the chopper I received. I had seen this sort of thing advertised on television and I really wanted to try it because it looked great. So....How does it work? Well. I think the small size is great, but it is very very difficult to use. All of the pieces lock in tight so that there is no risk of chopping off fingers. I appreciate this safety feature, but I would appreciate not having to be the hulk to snap and unsnap the pieces! But, how does it chop?

Well, I've used it for onions. It does chop ok, but it tends to not just dice up the veggies, it tends to pulverize them.

I'm going to keep using it, but I am glad I got it as a gift. If looking for a small ktichen counter chopper...I'd go for something a little more high end, still very reasonably priced....

this one.

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It is Cuisinart, It holds a little more with 4 cups, and has the two settings, chop and grind. It's about 39.00 via the internet.

So, as far as being as perfect as the TV commercials led me to believe, this was a huge let down! But still a useful item.

The Second "As Seen on TV" Item I received was from my Mom. It is a "fur glove"

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We see this on television as a great grooming aid for furry animals. It usually shows a large amount of fur coming off the dog or even a long haired cat. Since Teulu is not exactly a fan of being groomed, and he does have a fair bit of hair...I was intrigued.

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1 comment

Does it do the trick? Alas No, I found he really enjoyed being petted with or without the glove, but the glove seemed to pick up about 6 hairs, mostly it seems due to static electricity.

Instead of the glove, I recommend a regular steel toothed comb. On the up side, Teulu really rather loves to play with the glove as a toy!

So as far as "As seen on TV" I'm not really a total fan. So far the products I got don't really live up to the full promises... but....they were gifts. I find after this I'm rather less tempted by the Infomercials!!!!!

maybe creativity skips a generation

One sewing project...

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...and one very patient cat...

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...and one very creative little girl.

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Plus, one phone call to AAA, lunch with one friend, and one birthday cake to be made for tomorrow.

Hope your day was as lovely as mine!

Not enough hours in the day

My head is absolutely buzzing with ideas and planning, goals, projects and lists. I should be a professional project creator. I have come to the conclusion that there are simply not enough hours in the day. What should one do? Sleep less? Hardly! But managing my time more effectively would probably go a long way towards helping me accomplish every harebrained scheme I think up.

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What a delightful weekend we just spent. Sherlock Holmes was interestingly done and well worth a watch. I remember my mum reading Sherlock Holmes to me and my sisters at bedtime. The story of the speckled band scared the proverbial crap out of me. I remember reading the story to Jesse and Libby when they were still quite young (we were living in Hawaii at the time) and they were completely unruffled by it.

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I wanted to go to the zoo today (yes, in December) but the snow was coming down thick and fast.

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Todd didn't fancy negociating icy roads all the way to Indianapolis so we stayed close to home.

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Ice skating wasn't the same without our English cousins but we're planning to get them stateside next winter.

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Green Christmas

drip

1 comment

Father Christmas brought everyone what they wanted, but Mother Nature didn't bring us any snow.

Happy Holidays!

Team Vox
5 days ago
9 comments

6acardVOX

5 comments

Happy Holidays to you, your family, friends and neighbors from all of us at Vox.
See you in 2010!

Santa's on his way!

Hannahbanana
5 days ago
1 comment

baking :: more painting :: bowling (I won! Okay, one game) :: board games ("Chrononauts" is more complicated than I remembered) :: simple and delicious steak dinner :: Nigella's baby cakes :: Christmas Eve present and pyjama opening :: one too many episodes of The Simpsons :: one too many glasses of wine :: cinnamon rolls for Santa, sleeping pills for the kids.

Happy holidays, one and all!

just in

bowled away

christmas eve tradition

It's officially Christmas Eve...

...as Libby pointed out when it turned midnight and we had just finished dinner. Let me tell you, our sleep patterns are shot.

Somebody (mentioning no names, you understand) had the bright idea that a few days before Christmas would be the perfect time to take care of some overdue jobs around house. We've been madly painting, painting, painting (Jesse's bedroom, the dining room and living room skirting boards and trim, the basement stairs...), Todd has replaced (and then painted) three full door frames and a window sill in the kitchen*....a big wooden blanket chest downstairs is now sporting a new colour and a coat of varnish, the list goes on. Although I do somewhat begrudge giving up my precious free time to these tasks, I am really pleased with what we've accomplished.

*Which, to me, is very impressive indeed.

Speaking of somebody, I found some shoes online that I knew were Todd's idea of perfect shoes. It's as if a designer at The North Face has been reading Todd's thoughts. If Todd was going to create a pair of shoes, these would be the shoes he would design. (And 50% off at REI too!) I ordered them for Christmas but made the mistake of giving them to him early. He has hardly worn another pair of shoes since but the mistake I made is that I haven't really bought him much of anything else. His presents under the tree are few and far between. Fortunately I married someone who couldn't care less about such things... but still.

Speaking of presents, I just finished wrapping the last half dozen*. If I had my way, not a single gift under the tree would match. I am all about as many different kinds of paper as possible. No coordination here, no sir.

mismatched

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*I also, following Todd's lead, filled the stockings to make sure everything would fit. We've had some years where we were cramming and stuffing, breaking the seams practically. Come to think of it, those were always years when Esther was visiting. Is there a connection here? I think so,

And speaking of chicken and dumplings, which...we weren't. I came across this recipe the other week and seriously? SERIOUSLY it really is the best comfort food ever. I cannot stop thinking about making this dish again. I think I could eat it every day and still not get sick of it. This is a theory I am willing to put to the test.

Pre-CHristmas Update.

Katiebell
7 days ago
7 comments

Nothing overly Earth Shattering.

I start my new job on January 25th. I am not very excited. I am trying to be. At least 5 day shift nurses are leaving the Hospital I am leaving. The Director really has not spoken to me about this, but he does have to do an exit interview. I do hear he has to somehow answer for why everyone is leaving the department, while thats nice to know, it doesn't help my situation!

I *AM* excited to be leaving East. It has been a great place to make friend and work, but over time, they have allowed the mix of experienced nurses to new nurses to become lopsided, and for some reason they have decided to promote some of the newest nurses to "managing" roles. No one really knows why. Well, someone knows why, but they aren't really telling.

I'm not really excited about going to a unknown length of time for night shift.

Nn4

2 comments

Looking at the bright side: I get a huge differential for working nights, so I will be making quite a bit more money. I will be in a new environment, which hopefully will be a little more logical. On occasion, doing the night thing has led to huge weight loss. I've gained a few unintended pounds and have found it hard to work them off....so who knows.

and the brightest thing, I do have a job.

My tendon, ankle thingy. I just finished a prednisone pack on Monday. My ankle is not completely healed up,but it does feel better. I am able to tolerate walking for somewhat longer without major pain. I'm encouraged by this. I'm doing a lot of swimming (40-45 min daily) and am hoping that maybe by February I can start jogging a little. I plan to actually use the Couch to 5K plan as a way to get back into it. It's a great plan for non runners to start running. And by that time I'll be a true non runner!

Couch

Not being able to run has been very unusual. I admit it has given me more time to socialize and indulge in my photography, and also to clean my home.

Last weekend, I put up a small sign in the employee bathroom about dinner, then I put up an invite on Facebook, and wildly, 17 people showed up. I had expected about 4. It was really fun.

But I admit, I still rather miss running, so I am hopeful the ankle keeps improving. It would also be nice to be able to walk for an hour with the dog without pain.

The Dog is doing great.

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He seems to have received more CHristmas gifts than I did!

Here he is pictured with the peppermint scented Holiday "Lightbulb" from LLBeans. He loves it.

He has continued to become a better behaved dog over the past few weeks. Maybe he knows about Santa. Or maybe he is getting enough exercise. I'm not sure.

I hope he will adjust to me being gone at night. I have a feeling he won't care a bit either way, as long as he gets fed and walked periodically.

Family news: I finally convinced my Mom to agree to come to Florida for a Vacation! I'm taking her to do some birding and photographing. She is more talented than I am and can teach me some cool stuff!

Most importantly, I will get to spend some quality time with her doing something we both enjoy. She isn't that old, but then again, she isn't that young either. I'm trying to convince her to go to the Everglades, but she seems set on some smaller locations. At any rate, I am really looking forward it! We'll be going the week before I start my new job!