Friday, June 27, 2008

Welcome to the World, Cooper!

Just a quick note to congratulate my best friend Ann on the birth of her 4th grandchild, her 2nd grandson, Cooper who arrived today at 9lbs! She texted me the cutest pictures! Mother and baby are both doing well. The 2 big sisters are excited and curious. CONGRATULATIONS Nana Ann!

Monday, June 16, 2008

California adventures!

I was all excited to go adventuring this weekend. Last week was beautiful, sunny, cool days everyday, even warmed up to 70. But Saturday morning I woke up to fog and colder, damper temperatures. So I went to the scrapbook store here in town instead. It was nice, but not as cool as my favorite stores Scrappersaurus and ScrapbookBarn. There was lots of scrapbook stuff there thats for sure. But, for me its more than just the stuff. Its about the people. I'm spoiled by my friends at my favorite stores. They make scrapbooking more about community than about stuff (though they don't hesitate to sell me stuff, lol).

In the evening, the weather cleared nicely and I decided to go ride up the coast and watch the sunset. I got my sweats on because it was chilly and windy. Grabbed my camera and headed north. Right into the fog again! It was rolling back in just in time for sunset. I wasn't sure what I wanted to do. It's a challenge for me to go on these adventures by myself. This is really the first travel assignment I've had where I'm really out on my own. I have friends here in CA, and I will get to see each of them once, but for the most part I am on my own. So if I want to do something I have to do it by myself.


One of the hardest things for me to do by myself, is to eat out. I have friends that love eating out alone. My dad eats out alone several nights a week. But for all of these people, they frequent the same places, people know them, they can have conversations with the waitstaff, etc. But I'm new here. I've been researching places to go and I have a good list. But I really have to challenge myself to actually go sit in a restaurant by myself. People I know have suggested bringing a book. And thats fine I guess if I'm going to Dennys. But to go to a fine dining establishment and pull out a book, not something I feel ok about doing.


Saturday as I was headed into the fog, I decided to check out a place that was on the beach for dinner and sunset. I figured I'd rather be inside than in the fog. Plus I wanted to fine someplace with good food here. So I had dinner at the Moonstone Grill at Moonstone Beach. It was a medium sized place, with a nice crowd and awesome views of the beach and of the sunset. The menu was nice with several surf and turf selections. I had the Lobster Bisque which was tasty and I had a Florentine Sole rolled and stuffed with crabmeat which was very good. I passed on desert as there were no sugar free selections. It was a nice meal and I had a nice waitress. And I got to watch the sun drop down into the Pacific.


I spent Sunday cooking for this week. I made tuna salad, pork chops on my George Foreman Grill, chicken with balsamic goat cheese, and I have a meat loaf in the oven as I am typing. I also made Spinach and Artichoke dip for a vegee, its a great way to get spinach into my diet! I will heat up a can of green beans later in the week for another vegee. I also bring bell peppers and celery with salad dressing for vegees at work.


Tonight we are having a cookout here where I live. There are 4 of us, all travelers. The other 3 are nurses that work a few blocks from here. I'm the odd man out, an OT that works down in Fortuna. I was elected to bring watermelon, which was easy, and I was thankful to be elected to bring such an easy thing. Maybe next time I will make hamburgers or something if I have some more notice.


I know I need to upload some of my pictures here from my cross country trip and from my adventures so far here. One day I will, one day . . .

In closing I want to let my friend Dee know I am thinking about her and praying for her :)

Thursday, June 5, 2008

Just for Fun!

One of the blogs I read had this cool quiz posted today. I thought it was interesting and checked it out just for fun. I edited out the HTML and only posted a part of the results. I think it describes me pretty well! I know of several others and maybe I will check them out occasionally for you to try yourself! Have a great weekend!


Your results:
You are Superman

You are mild-mannered, good,
strong and you love to help others.



Click here to take the "Which Superhero am I?" quiz...

Tuesday, June 3, 2008

Holy @&%# Batman!! Gas is $4.59 a gallon!!!

OMG! I almost wrecked my car driving home just now. I caught a glimpse of the price of gas out the corner of my eye and whipped my head around to check it because I was sure I was seeing things. $4.59 a gallon!!! It was $4.45 when I left for work this morning. That's a 14cents hike in 8 hours! I'm just floored.

Work today was good. I had a cute little lady ask me how to start her wheelchair. She said she always drove a Chevy and this was a Ford and she couldn't figure out how to get it started! I just wanted to hug her because she made me smile, although she was completely serious. So instead I showed her how to use her hands and feet to mobilize her w/c. I love my job. I absolutely love being an OT. It is truly my calling in life. And I'm so happy to be back doing what I am called to do everyday again.

I cooked all day on Saturday. I made 2 separate chicken dishes and a meatloaf and hamburgers as well as 2 vegetables. I've been packing my lunch this week and its going well. My new friend Margaret, from Jacksonville (by way of Poland) gave me this fabulous lunch bag that you put in the freezer at night and it freezes the sides then it really keeps food cold all day and even cools the water and tea I add in from the trunk of the car before I head out in the morning. I love my new lunch bag. Though, it does look like I have a suitcase with me every morning! LOL

I'm trying to start eating healthier again. Now that I eliminated sugar and carbonation from my diet, its time to get back to working on whittling down my weight. I'm going to be here, in CA, for 13 more weeks (minus 1 week back home in NOLA in July). My goal is to lose 25# before I leave. I'm already more active between climbing the stairs to get inside my apartment everyday and walking around the nursing home working with patients. Plus, I've gone back to exercising with my patients. I give them a 3# dowel, I use a 5 or 6# dowel. I give them red theraband, I use black theraband. I figure every little bit helps. I'd like to start doing some intentional exercise, but I haven't yet figured out what that will look like here.

My friend Dee really hurt her back and is going to daily PT trying to get it better. I admire her hard work and courage dealing with her pain. I am keeping her in my prayers.

I'm gonna go heat up some supper. Blog again soonly :)

Sunday, June 1, 2008

Live In (Not) Sunny California!

So I've been living in California for a week now. My first week of work is over. I've learned the 'shortcut' to work. Ann flew back home on Thursday, and I've been on my own since then. The people I'm working with are very nice. They are a pretty stable team and I'm covering for a maternity leave.

I'm not actually working in Eureka, I'm working in a little town 20 miles south, Fortuna, CA. Actually its 21.6miles door to door, about 32 minutes. And the price of gas here is $4.45 a gallon. Yes, you read that correctly: $4.45 per gallon. The cost of living here is unbelievable.

The weather here is interesting. Fog every morning, with lows in the 40s and highs in the 50s-60s. It's often overcast. But I have seen sun a couple of afternoons on the way home. Most days a light jacket is useful.

I'm still unpacking, a little at a time. I'm living in a 4-plex. The landlord is a feisty 80 year old. She rents exclusively to travelers, though usually to nurses. I've met one of my neighbors, they are all 3 nurses who work the night shift. We have a coin operated laundry (1 wash, 1 dry) in the garage type building in the yard and we all have covered parking. I live at the end of a nice quiet street in an older Eureka neighborhood.

I'm heading down to L. A. next weekend to see my friend Karen. She's been working as a traveler in the LA area and her assignment will be ending in 3 weeks. So I'm going down to visit her before she moves on to her next assignment.

I can't believe it's already June. This year is passing very fast. I'm hoping to really enjoy my 3 months here in CA. Hope you all have a great weekend!