A Week in the Life Day #5

You might be wondering what happened to Day #4. I am just accepting that I don't have much of a life that anyone wants to talk about on the days I work. Don't get me wrong - some days it is almost a spiritual experience and I am reminded of what faith really is and I see God's hand in everything. Other days, we are just running. I might need to call this project #5daysoflifein7. Fortunately, Ali (who is the author of this project), is very laid back. I had the pleasure of meeting her a couple of years ago and she reminded us constantly to just go with the flow. Hobbies, like scrapbooking and photography should be fun...not stressful. So, I am a little behind and my week may not be complete and that is okay.

Friday started out a little strange.

Yep, that squirrel is on the wrong side of the screen. Somehow, he made it into our screened in porch. I think he discovered the big rubbermaid container of bird seed. When I went out on to the porch, he completely freaked out - and I should have changed my settings on my camera to shutter speed priority. Okay - lesson learned. He was doing triple axles in the air when he saw me.

I thought I was going to have these beautiful photos from the balloon festival but I didn't make it there. The weather wasn't great and Melissa's move had taken a bad turn. So, the balloon festival will have to be next year. No biggie - I have found so many opportunities to take photos - much to my family's chagrin.

Melissa moved from Yardley to Newtown - only a couple of miles away. The movers, Lenora's Moving Company from Philadelphia, was supposed to be at her house at 1 PM on Thursday to load the truck. She was packed and ready to go and started waiting until they finally showed up around 7 PM. (This can't be a legal document - I am only reporting what I was told about Thursday so my time may be a little off - it may have been later!) When they arrived in her new Newtown neighborhood a little after 10 PM, some of her new neighbors were less than pleased. Melissa decided to have her belongs (just about everything she owns in the world) delivered the next day. And that is when the waiting really started.

We had a little picnic in the master bedroom - Stephen, Melissa, Jenny, and me - watching the only TV in the house.
Fortunately, Stephen can be stay entertained by the computer or my ipad for hours and hours.

Jen hates my camera and she is excellent at hiding. I have many pictures of her looking very much like this:

I don't know why she hides - she is so pretty!

Melissa just gives in to me...

Now, was that so hard? She looks beautiful.

We are all trying to make the best of a difficult day. Many phones calls were made to the movers (Lenora's Moving Company in Philadelphia) and we listened to excuse after excuse. We even heard, "the shipment is on the truck." and we knew we were in big trouble. The stairs were really our only place to sit other than the floor. We finally gave in and ordered dinner.

Chloe was trying to adjust to the hardwood floors.

The waiting got harder and harder.

Finally, after two phone calls to the police, the movers finally appeared a little after 10 PM. They pulled the old "bait and switch" and wanted twice the money she agreed to pay. This company will be meeting my daughter in her attorney role - I can't wait for her to sweep the floor with them. We blocked their truck in the driveway with our cars so they couldn't leave and after the police threatened to lock them up for theft, they finally unloaded the truck. I am sure Michael moved more stuff than all of the movers put together. Jen moved a lot of stuff, too. There is a lot of damage and the ordeal isn't really over. But, Melissa and Stephen are moved in and life will begin in their new house.

Jeff was disappointed that he missed supporting all of us. He was still working hard in Tennessee with the ASP group. Here they are - they are all so wonderful and generous and hardworking. I remain so proud of all of them.

I am looking forward to sharing Saturday with you. Michael and I had a great day! I will post again, soon!

A Week in the Life Day #3

I am happy that I could keep up with my commitment to blog my Week in the Life everyday - even though there wasn't much today to blog about. When you work 12 hour shifts, there isn't much day left. This is especially true when you are a little high maintenance and the morning and bedtime beauty routines take so long. I warned a couple of my coworkers that I was bringing my camera to work today. So, I have this picture:

Two of my colleagues collaborating and planning the day. I am not sure if they really didn't see me or if they are hoping that ignoring me will make me go away.
I have this picture:

Two more colleagues - both looking pretty surprised that I am standing there with a camera. If you are wondering about the little garland of leaves to the right of the door, I put them there to hide the identity of the patient in the room. I also hid the names on the computer. I blew them up and you really could tell what they said. So, that just shows how my photography skills have improved!

That was all the photography I had time for during work. That is the life of a nurse - not too much time for anything. I am not complaining. I do feel like I did a little good for some people today and that is what it is all about.

Every day I work, I walk through a hallway that connects two buildings. It is mostly huge windows. Usually, on the way in, there is a beautiful sunrise to my left. Then, on the way home, there is a beautiful sunset to my left. Tonight, when I needed one pretty picture, this was the sunset:

Tonight, the sunset was not such a great photo opportunity.
I took these two architectural photos - one in the lobby of the ceiling and one in the garage. I guess they are intersting...

And, I am getting ready to do it again tomorrow. Right now, I am home and no one wants or needs anything from me. I can just put my feet up.

Except Guinness - he always wants something.

Then, because there is so much beauty everywhere and I didn't share much of it tonight, I thought I would share this picture.

Obviously, I didn't take this today. I took this photo a week ago at the Garden of Sculptures in Hamilton, New Jersey. I just wanted to leave you with something beautiful. Tomorrow may be equally boring but Saturday's photos should be great!

See you tomorrow!

A Week in the Life Day #2

I really appreciate the comments on yesterday's post and on facebook. It was so nice to have such positive feedback. Thank you!!

I am happy to report that the little bird is doing great! He had already flown out of his cage. The people at Aark said he probably just flew into the building and stunned himself. They plan to let him go in the next day or two.

I like to wake up to the perfect cup of coffee- don't you? I was given a Tassimo machine about three years ago for Mothers' Day from Melissa. I could brew Starbucks bold blends in the Tassimo and it made me so happy. Now, Tassimo and Starbucks are no longer a team and I am in search of the perfect cup of coffee from my Tassimo. It just might not be possible to find a bold enough blend. Anyone have anything??

What do you think he wants??

This morning, first thing, I sat in my chair with the laptop and wrote an article for the newsletter at church. It is just a little summary of what our church council is doing - I do like to try and keep people informed. After that, I read a little and relaxed.


The afternoon was very trying. I had one of those afternoons that test your faith. Michael came home a little early from work to help me and well, we will just keep trudging along, trusting that God knows what is best - being certain of what I can't see.

After dinner, I spent a little time with our pack in the backyard. The dogs always put a sile on my face. I love our yard. It is peaceful and I love the glow of the setting sun. It makes everything look so pretty. So, I feel a little better and a little more at peace.

Then, off to church for Rejoice! rehearsal. We had a low turnout for rehearsal but it was a good rehearsal anyway. The words to some of the songs we sang tonight had special meaning to me - words that deepen my faith and my love for the Lord. That's why I love that group so much - they mean so much more than they will ever know.

Well, the next two days I spend at the Bing (that's hospital talk for Abington hospital) and a term of endearment for work. I am taking my camera but I don't know how much I will be able to blog. So, I hope I can keep up with the spirit of "A Week in the Life" and that I will see you tomorrow.

A Week in the Life

July 26, 2011

Once again, I am inspired by Ali Edwards and I am using her project, A Week in the Life as a springboard to restart blogging. Okay, I know, we will see how long this lasts. http://aliedwards.com/2010/01/week-in-the-life.html

This is a seven day recording of my life - the little moments that seem like nothing at the time but these are the moments that we all treasure. Right now, there are many stressors in my life. Sometimes there are more, sometimes there are less. At this moment, they are big. This is my way of appreciating what I have - my family and all the love that is here in our home. It is a way of recording my life - something for my children to look at in later years and hopefully, I will spark a few memories and they will remember how much they were loved.

So here I am on day #1 (July 25, 2011)

It is a self portrait - I would like to have at least one each day.

I ran into Margie at Starbucks. I am going to call her and set up some time together.
Then, on to meet Melissa and the Verizon guy. Melissa was at her new house and she and the Verizon guy were waiting for coffee. Melissa will move in this week. Her new house is so pretty and it will be perfect for her and my grandson.

and she will be a little closer...the closer the better for me!

I relaxed a little in the afternoon. Jen brought me more Starbucks - what a nice surprise! No, no palpitations - I am used to it.

Then, I decided I NEEDED to hear from Jeff. He is with a group from our church on a mission trip to Tennessee. Here is our text:

(excuse my punctuation mistake - after all this time with an iPhone, I still can't type on it!) That was all I needed - just to know Jeff was okay. Now, we could relax and watch a little TV.

And then it was raining so hard that it was coming through the screen and we couldn't hear the TV. We had just settled in when we heard from Jenny.

She wanted to know if I was bored. No, I wasn't bored. Well, she wanted to know if I would come and get a little bird she found outside of her work. He couldn't fly and she wanted us to rescue him. If you know me, you know what my answer was.

See how the other traffic has the green light? Michael was stopped at a red light when I took this photo. The sky was beautiful after the storm. The clouds were so low and the colors were beautiful.

So, Jen and her big heart were standing there waiting with the little bird. Michael said it was a barn swallow.

And, off we went to give the bird to people who know what to do with injured wildlife.

We will call tomorrow and see how the little bird does. That's it for day #1. See you tomorrow.