Better Safe Than Sorry

Spending the day and night in the hospital was not what I had in mind for Saturday. I was supposed to decorate my home, do some shopping, cook dinner and cruise the internet as usual. 

But......my body had other plans. I worked six hours on Friday and ate a late lunch/early dinner around 4:30; taking food home to mr. kenju. I spent the evening in my recliner; napping and waking sporadically, to make comments and read others posts about the news of the day. 

I was very upset about the events in Connecticut. This latest episode of mass killings hit me especially hard, probably because there were so many very young, innocent children mowed down. What senseless acts. 

After several hours of reading posts on Facebook and making comments, I made my way upstairs to go to bed. At that point, my chest began to hurt; with heavy pressure, a feeling of fullness and bloating, nausea and a few other symptoms of speedy onset. Lying horizontal proved too uncomfortable, so I took some Pepto and returned to my recliner, where I proceeded to read for two hours.  At one fleeting moment, the thought "heart attack" crossed my mind, but I dismissed it  (as many women do.)

At 4:00 am, I shut out the light, determined to get some sleep before the morning arrived. I woke at 8:15 am, feeling a bit shaky. A phone call from daughter # two led to my calling the doc on weekend duty at our medical practice, and he advised me to go to the ER without delay. 

Daughter # One (the RN) was working, but she came asap to take me to the nearest ER. After preliminary testing, they decided to admit me to the main hospital for observation and further tests. I've never been in an ambulance before - and that was an interesting experience. I hope I never have to repeat it. 

I am pleased to say that all the tests came out negative (save one that hasn't been read yet), but the cardiologist agreed to release me today, with the promise that I will return early in the week for a stress test. You can bet I will call them first thing in the morning.

Mr. kenju was catered to overnight by daughter # Two, so I didn't have to worry about him being alone, which was good. Outside of a raging headache, I am now fine, I think. Please do not feel that you have to leave a comment. For those who already knew about this and said prayers, I thank you!  I will give an update as soon as I have one. 

A Tragedy in Our Midst

Just think how many hundreds of people the tragedy in Connecticut has and will continue to affect. Each child who was spared, all the parents, families, teachers, their families and all of us who have heard about it will be deeply affected for years to come. The survivors will be deeply affected psychologically and we cannot predict what this tragedy may have wrought in their lives - effects which may take decades to show up. 

I wonder how long it will take a friend or relation of the shooter to say "I thought there was something odd about him." or "We knew he might be capable of violence." Something HAS to be done about the ready availability of guns in this country. And I hope that no member of the NRA or other gun afficionado tells me that Guns don't kill people - people kill people. That guy in Connecticut today murdered many innocent people with two guns. Had he not be able to get two guns, many of them would still be alive and eating dinner right now. 

This has to stop. I know that gun control will not be a perfect solution to the violence in this country or any other - but we have to start somewhere. People who want the right to keep and carry guns say if we enact gun control that only criminals will have guns. At this point, I don't care. Common criminals are not walking into schools and shooting babies, or killing their brothers and parents and teachers.

Random Musings

Time is passing faster and faster these days. Are you noticing?  I seem to be counting the weeks from Tuesday to Tuesday; the night I have to take out the trash for Wednesday morning pick-up. I don't know why that stays with me, except that I note the weeks are getting shorter and shorter in-between Tuesdays. Isn't it depressing that that is how I am measuring time?  It is to me.....lol

Sammy,  the vagabond visitor cat came to see us early this morning. It had been raining overnight, and his feet were wet and so cold as to feel almost frozen. He didn't protest a bit when I picked him up and wrapped him in my plush robe for warmth. He was hungry, but he let me hold him for almost 5 minutes before he jumped down and ran to the food bowl. After filling his belly, he got on my chair in the kitchen and slept all day, barely rousing (according to mr. kenju)  until I came home from work at 4pm. Molly, our grand-dog will be here for another extended visit tomorrow, so Sammy will find nothing to welcome him but a snarling dog. Molly doesn't suffer cats well at all  (any more than I suffer fools.)

Christmas is nearly upon us and I don't have any decorations up yet. I say it every year, and it is still true:  with as much Christmas decor as I do at work, I've little interest in doing it at home. We are not having our family celebration here at our home this year, so I could get away with not decorating at all - if it weren't for Mr. kenju - who is more like a child than a child at Christmas. He wants our home decorated as thoroughly as all the other places I do - and it ain't gonna happen.....lol  BUT.....I will give in and do it in a few days...I always do, and then lament the fact that there will be no one here to see it except us. 

I worked from 9:45 to nearly 3pm today and then went to the grocery store on the way home. I sat down in my chair to check email and play my word games, and my eyes got very heavy, so I shut down the computer and took a nap from 4:30 to 6:10pm. I made dinner (tacos) and got back in my chair with dessert and coffee, again picking up the computer. My eyes shut again, so I took another nap from 7:15 pm to about 9:45, waking briefly to catch the last few minutes of General Hospital on SoapNet. I tried to stay awake, but I fell asleep again and didn't wake up until after 11:30pm.  I decided I'd probably be up for the night, unable to sleep after all those naps, but now I'm getting droopy-lidded again. Maybe I can hope for a semi-full night of sleep after all. 

Friends of ours who live in a neighboring county buy sausage every December that is made  nearby from freshly dressed hogs. Do you like sausage?  You haven't lived until you have had really fresh sausage, made with no fillers and no preservatives. This stuff is great!! They give us some for Christmas every year and I portion it out and freeze it so that it will last all year long. Yesterday, I fried some and we had it for dinner, then I had it for bed-time snack, breakfast, lunch and another bed-time snack. I think I could eat it at every meal for weeks and not get tired of it! I was looking forward to making sausage dressing for  the Christmas dinner turkey, but we are not doing dinner here this year, the family is going out to eat. I think that stuffing will have to accompany some other meal this season, no matter when it is. I can't wait. 

My family makes fun of me for staying on the computer so much, but just this morning I saw some videos that made me laugh (and also learn something) and I thought to myself..."I LOVE this computer!!"  It brings laughter, joy, learning, friendship and so much more and I cannot imagine my life without it ever again. There, I've said it. Pffffffft to those who tease me (or call me an addict). 

No Anonymous Comments

I have decided not to allow anonymous comments on my blog any more. I have spent the better part of the last 3-4 months reading and deleting spam comments, and I hope that not allowing anonymous comments any longer will help thin those out a bit.

I also re-instituted word verification, and I hope to be able to remove that before long, unless the spammers get wind of it.

I just awoke from an odd dream. That'll teach me to nap in my chair when I'm trying to watch the  HGTV show about Christmas decorating at The White House. 

I was with a man and 3 children - my family in the dream, but not the ones in real life - and we got "home" (or so we thought.) The house looked nothing like it ought to inside, and when we looked out the windows, the neighborhood had different houses than we expected to see.  It was weird. 

We couldn't decide what to do, so we went through the house looking for something familiar. Nothing there belonged to us. Finally deciding that we had to leave and walk around until we found our "real" house, I told them to look through all the dresser drawers to see if we could find warm socks and blankets, since we would need them if we went back outside. 

Whomever lived there didn't have socks of any kind! Who doesn't own socks, except maybe people in the desert? Darned if I know. We looked and looked, but we found nothing we could use and nothing that was familiar to us. 

I remember thinking, after looking out the window and seeing the rear neighbor's brick wall had crumbled, that it was "tearing down our property values." Just then I awoke, and one of those real estate shows was on HGTV.....and someone on that show said those words.....LOL   

NC Governor's Mansion Christmas Decor 2012

Library wreaths  (Pam Hartigan)

Grand Staircase  (18 bows - Judy Carrino)

Foyer right - Judy Carrino

Sun Room  Children's Tree - volunteers - all ornaments made by NC school children

The penguin family resides under the staircase this year. 

Library Mantel  -  Mel Day  - Education Theme. Decor includes mortar boards and diplomas.

Gentlemen's Parlor - volunteers  (Sandra Day)

Detail from the dining room table - Mel Day

Foyer left - Judy Carrino

Porch steps - red bows - Judy and Pam
(about 60 of them altogether)

The Victorian Mansion with 2 of its 6' wreaths

Porch Decor   -Mel and Billy Day

Ladies Parlor desk - Pam Hartigan

Foyer right, at the base of the console table - Judy Carrino

Foyer left, console table - Judy Carrino

Gentlemen's Parlor Mantel - Mel Day

Gentlemen's Parlor Corner Table - Judy Carrino

Dining room table detail - Mel Day

Ladies Parlor - Judy Carrino

Hall Doors - Pam Hartigan

Hall China Cabinet - Pam Hartigan

Ladies Parlor Mantel - Mel Day

Ladies Parlor Tree - volunteers

Stair newel posts, one of a pair - Pam Hartigan

Dining Room Tablescape - Mel Day

Foyer rear, one of a pair - Judy Carrino

Library book cases (one of 3) - Pam Hartigan


I missed taking photos of the mantels that Mel did in the Grand Ballroom, and I will get those when I go there next week for a party. 

It's Over.....for the Moment

Now that we are finished with corporate and government decorating for Christmas, I can get a moment to breathe and perhaps find time to blog a bit more often. We decorated a hotel  (six trees), two city clubs, a restaurant, the Governor's Mansion and the NC State Capitol. We used to do a  country club as well, but we gave that job up because it required us to go up and down stairs so many times to get the decor out of the attic. Our crew (Mel Day's Dogwood Tree Floral Design) is all over the age of 59 - and we simply didn't want to do all those stairs, especially since it meant carrying heavy boxes too. 

Mel hired a young guy to help us on two jobs. After we finished one city club (a big job, with two floors and lots of large decor up high, requiring the use of a "cherry picker"), he sat down for a minute and sighed and said he was going home and collapsing in his chair for the next five hours. I said "You are 17 years old and you need five hours to recover from 9 hours of work?  How do you think I feel?"  He laughed and replied "You have a point."  (He wasn't told how old I am, but he knew I was the oldest one in the crew.)

I want to say how gratified I am that I am healthy enough to be able to work like we do this time of year. I love doing it, love the people I am with and the places we go. I am hoping and praying that my body stays in good shape and I will be able to do it again next year. We have done all these places for so long that I think we could do it in our sleep - and it is still fun. 

It is more fun when the budgets allow for the purchase of new ribbons and enough ornaments to replace those that broke in the previous year. But this year, nearly every business either cut the budget or kept it the same as last year. It isn't always easy to make old merchandise look as good as it did when it was new, especially when it isn't always removed and packed away with the greatest of care, as you would do at home. 

I have posted nearly all my photos on Facebook, but I will post some here soon, for those who are not on FB. I need a few days of rest before I contemplate Christmas decor of any kind - especially what must be done in my home!  lol