BEHOLD.. the CRYSTAL CLEAR pool water. :)

This pic is actually from last year, but the water is just as clear now. PERFECTLY CLEAR!

Be damned you wascally gopher! Okay... so it was just cloudy pool water... but after enduring this almost 2 month cloudy warter debacle...resistent to all my interventions.... I really was getting Bill Murray Caddyshack frustrated with this constantly cloudy pool water that defied all treatments and draining and refilling the water.... MULTIPLE TIMES!!

Mr SeaSpray... out of the goodness of his heart... no make that self preservation from my whining... changed the filter sand and hooked it all back up again.

And BEHOLD... the pool pic above!! Crystal clear!! Can I brag on on my crystal clear art form pool water? Can I? Okay.. so I am. Check it out. C-R-Y-S-T-A-L CLEAR!

Persistence pays off!

I'm just sayin. :)

Persistence = $39.00

I LOVE this quote! (I would frame that. :)

It might not seem like much... but $39.00 is $39.00.

And then there is the principal of it all.

I was reviewing my credit card statement and saw that the company added a $39.00 membership fee. I did have to pay that fee in the early years, but have since had the fee removed as a courtesy...which I most appreciated.

So I called and spoke with a pleasant enough woman, who said that she was sorry , but my agreement states I have a membership fee. And I stated that the company had removed it, told her to review my account and she could see how good I am with making payments throughout the month. I may have made mistakes elsewhere but I am really on top of this account. She agreed, but maintained the membership agreement still stood and that even though they waved it in the past... they had to cover costs of credit card protection, 24 hour service and I forget what else. (all for my $39.00 - what a bargain! ;)

I told her that I appreciated her patience and assistance, but that I would like to please speak with a supervisor. She told me that a supervisor would tell me the same thing. I told her that I would still like to speak with the supervisor. And so she put me on hold.

After approximately 2 minutes... she came back on to tell me he was on another call and again stated that he would agree with her and would not remove the membership fee. I again requested the supervisor.

After approximately 4 more minutes... she came back on to tell me he was still involved in another call and asked if I still wanted to speak with him. "Yes... I still want to speak with him please."

And so she put me back on hold. It occurred to me that she may be trying to wear me down... but I had the phone on speaker and I am blogging. I thought "Little did she know just how tenacious I can be... and that blogging will keep me happily occupied for as long as I have to wait."

Also... now it felt like a little competition of the wills. After all...why was she trying to discourage me from speaking to a supervisor?

5 or so minutes later...she came back on to inform me he was still tied up and to restate that he also would say the same thing she had told me... that they cannot remove the membership fee. At this point... I was a cross between annoyed and amused and in it for the long hall.

As I waited... AGAIN... an episode of Friends came to mind, in which Phoebe stayed on hold for a company for hours... maybe all day.. I don't recall. Well... I was blogging... I could do it! Time just flies by when I am in the the land of Blogdom. :)

But as it turned out... the supervisor came on almost immediately after she put me on hold. I do give her credit for coming back to inform me because you should never leave someone on hold too long without checking back with them, especially since there weren't any recordings reminding me "You're call is important. Please stay on the line and someone will be with you shortly." :)

I was polite, yet assertive and of course factual. I discussed my impeccable history with them and did state that I have made mistakes elsewhere but not with this card and reminded him that I was a valued customer. I explained some other personal facts and ended up stating... "I know it might seem like a little thing... but $39.00 is $39.00."

He was most gracious and apologized. He said she didn't have the power to reverse the fee and to ALWAYS ask for a supervisor if I want charges removed. He told me I would see the fee removed in a couple of days.

I thanked him and told him to have a beautiful day and he told me to have a beautiful day too and I hung up as a happy customer.

If I was working, enmeshed in the hectic hamster wheel of life ... this would've been pushed aside and they would've won in the past.

I have found persistence pays off with medical insurance companies as well as cell phone/telephone companies and electric and other random financial errors. If something doesn't seem right about your bill... it probably isn't. You should at least review these things because mistakes do happen. And be persistent... politely persistent, because they may not want to own up to it, may not care, may not understand and has to be rectified by someone in the company.

So... for about 20 minutes of my time...I saved $39.00. I'll take that. :)

Scripps Mercy New Drug Music Video 2008

I was listening to WhiteCoat's YouTube "I'm goin to the ED" AGAIN and then decided to check out the videos on the bottom and this one caught my attention.

It's cute and the bloopers at the end made me laugh. It looks like they had a lot of fun making this.

It also looks like they had a lot of down time. :)

It also reminds me of when older son and friends used to have me record them while they did skits and then we'd all sit around and laugh at them. (The waffle party was one of the best :)

And it reminds me of the days working with the ED when they played practical jokes. They worked like crazy when it was busy and *they* were crazy when it wasn't busy. It's a gift when you work with great people and enjoy going into your job. Sometimes we'd laugh so hard. (Which was a release from the stress and sometimes sadness that occurred) I shall always remember that job and those people with great fondness. :)

Their camaraderie is evident. They obviously had a lot of fun making this video.

The Animals Are Hilarious!

They're so serious and wanting to obliterate each other. His cartoons just crack me up! :)

An Emergency Doc's Singing Debut :)

I just had to put this song up.... written and sung by none other than one of my favorite blogging docs... Dr WhiteCoat from WhiteCoat's call Room where he writes for Emergency Physicians Monthly.

MedblogAddict interviewed him (good job!) as the Dr June Calendar Doc and you can read the interview here and here the song over there too.

WC often cracks me up and this song makes me laugh every time I hear it... and then it gets stuck in my head... the filler music..not sure how you spell it though which his rendition of a human banjo. The pain meds part must be the universal mantra of ED staff everywhere. :)

I also find the image of him singing this and calling himself (to remember the lyrics) repeatedly while driving to work to be quite amusing.

Hey... maybe this could be the beginning of a trend for a Medbloggers Have Talent contest and everyone could take turns competing with their talents put up on YouTube... for prizes, recognition and maybe even the prestigious Golden Llama Award... which is given out by Dr Rob over at Musings of a Distractible Mind. :) (It would be fun:)

And now it is gonna take a while to get the song out of my head again... but that's okay... because I smile every time I hear it. :)

"They're SO Pointy.. " :)

First of all...I can't believe Mr SeaSpray used the word *pointy*! LOL! Seems so girly. ;)

He's definitely the MANLY type though. :)

Earlier this evening, as I was typing in my blog... I turned around and told Mr SeaSpray I was going to Costco and I asked him if he wanted anything. Then I turned back around to finish my post.

He said, "Yeah...could you pick up some more Q-Tips?"

Still typing... I hollered out (He was in another room), "Okay. I can get a lot more for a much cheaper price down there." (I just LOVE Costco!)

He then said... with a somewhat puzzled intonation in his voice, "The Q-Tips I used...were so.. pointy? and they didn't absorb anything!??"
I immediately stopped typing and bolted around in my chair to face him and afraid to hear the answer, I said "WHAT? (already kind of knew) What did you use that was pointy??"

"Those Q-Tips you had."

"In my draw?"

"Yeah..."

"Oh my gosh! You could've poked your eardrums out! THOSE aren't Q-Tips... they're NAIL TEES! They're used to remove nail polish off of cuticles!!"



"They're terrible!"

"Because they are for NAILS and CUTICLES!!"

P.S. I picked up a whole bunch of Q-tips at Costco today (Friday) ... 1,750 cotton Q-Tip swabs... to be exact. I am sure it warmed Mr SeaSpray's heart when he saw them on the counter. :)

P.P.S. Anyone need any Q-Tips? I think we are gonna have these for awhile. :)

Frustration Fuels Determination! (What's your gopher?)

This is a funny clip! :)

I have been relating to the original Caddyshack movie, specifically Bill Murray's obsession with killing the ever elusive, destructive gopher. That was such a funny movie!

Anyway, I came across this Tiger Woods commercial and liked it better than what I could find of the original Caddyshack.

Why do I relate to this movie right now?

Because... after owning and maintaining a pool with mostly pristine water... for 12 years... this 13th pool season is frustrating me greatly.

One summer a friend came over and admired... * ADMIRED * I tell you ... the crystal clear water and told me it was an art form to maintain total clarity in the water.

I was beaming. :)

And... I used to go to the pool stores, test the water and buy everything they said. But over time..I discovered that I didn't need to run in with water but just eyeball it and maybe use a tester every so often. I have always tried to get by with as few chemicals as possible. A little algaecide once a week and chlorine tabs and only shocked during real hot weather. Ph conditioning..once in a blue moon.... and the ever so occasional clarifier.

I have never had the good fortune of opening it with pristine water... but it's usually not bad... a little cloudy and a bit of shock clears it right up.

Well last summer it opened like a swamp and there were tree frogs living in the bottom... but that was because the cover broke over the winter and let everything in and then with hot days before we can open the pool... it was an olive green swamp. UGH!

BUT...even with that... I had the pool clean and looking good.

Not this year.

And this year... the pool opened with the water looking pretty good. I asked son to bring the water to the pool store for testing. I told him we only needed stabilizer and algaecide...oh and one shock... because I prefer the liquid shock Pelican sells.

I did add one bag of Walmart powdered shock a couple of days prior.

Just as I thought... water was basically good. It needed stabilizer, shock, and something for the ph. The only thing different is that the girl wrote we should have 3 lbs of stabilizer vs the usual 2 lbs I remembered putting in. I hesitated and then figured I'd do it her way.

The water got cloudier! I could barely see the bottom. The chlorine level was very high and not coming down and we couldn't swim in it. Maybe partly... because NJ isn't getting much sun and so it wasn't evaporating. We couldn't put chlorine in it...ever because it was staying high. This never happened before. I also wondered if putting two different brands of shock in close together did something.?

So.. after a week of still very high chlorine levels with no additional chlorine being added... I made the trek down to Pelican with our pool water on ice so the results wouldn't be compromised. The guy told me the water was good but the chlorine was high. He didn't know why it was cloudy.

GEEEEE!

*** Warning -Water conservationists look away from this point on!

So the next day... I drained the pool water down to the bottom of the skimmer. Suffice it to know...that is a whole lotta water! My reasoning was that if I exchanged fresh water for pool water that it would clear up and the chlorine would drop down.

That was back in mid June.

After refilling the pool, the chlorine dropped down to high normal... but... the water was still cloudy. Not as cloudy... but cloudy... and definitely not pristine.

Fine!

It didn't appear to need it, but I added the usual weekly does of algaecide to the water.

* The chlorine level was so high... I never bothered to add the algaecide because it seemed no respectable bit of algae would want to reside in such an obviously chlorinated pool. But that day I went through the motions thinking..what if..this just does something good? A girl can dream! :)

I was hopeful.

No change the next day.

I inspect the water every day... *sigh*... get frustrated because it just won't clear.

So... A few days after adding the algaecide... I figured that perhaps a water clarifier would do the trick. So I back washed the water and added clarifier ... leaving the filter on for 24 hours straight. It helped minimally. I rarely swear... but if I did...it would be *%($! I'm just sayin...

FINE!

Not to be daunted.. a couple of days after that... I drained the pool water down to bottom of skimmer... AGAIN! Filled it back up with fresh water... better.. but still CLOUDY!!!

What the heck?!!! Does not make sense!!! ???

I wondered if maybe too much stabilizer and so is why the chlorine levels take sooooo long to go down that I didn't need chlorine. ?? Is the sand too old and the stabilizer is somehow trapped and affecting water quality. Are the sand bags leaking that hold the drop down stairs in place? No..no sand anywhere, is the well water cloudy (no), is the filter hooked up right?

Now I will say... once the pool filter is hooked up... unless a hose breaks... Mr SeaSpray does not feel any obligation toward the pool. He gets it going and I maintain. Well..he takes the heavy ladder down for me and he lifts the big heavy containers of shock and empties it around the pool for me... but other than that... he disengages from said pool maintenance and does not want to hear anything about the filter until Labor day.

LOL! Then he wants to close the pool and I want to keep it open for that one hot day that I know will hit after he closes it. Then I am in the pool in frigid water vacuuming it for the last time of the season because we waited too long to close it and leaves are dropping in and with cold night temperatures... water temp is just shy of formed ice... well... it feels like it anyway. :)

I called Pelican pools and relayed the whole story. They asked me about ph and all that stuff. All good. He was nice, but didn't help at all.

So..one day as I was just staring into the water... I decided to vacuum the pool on waste and took the water level down AGAIN and refill (still cloudy.. but better) ... only this time I added this fluffy stuff mixed with water into the skimmer. Filter aid. I figured if anything wrong with filter... maybe that would help. I left the filter running another 24 hours.

It helped minimally.

Fine!

So..I went to Mr SeaSpray and suggested..maybe it is the filter... but he suggested it was fine and let it go for the summer. *sigh*

Fine!

I told my friends the water was safe to swim in even tho cloudy because no respectable bacteria would hang around as the chlorine levels were good. I said their bathing suits might get eaten by the chlorine a bit but they'd be fine. I'm kidding! The chlorine levels were normal... but that is weird since I wasn't using chlorine tabs like I have always had to do in past.

So.. I was leaning toward a stabilizer problem.

I did have to use ph increaser or decreaser through this.. minimally tho.

I drained the pool down to bottom of skimmer... AGAIN!

Refilled it and it looked somewhat clearer... but still cloudy. This time I let it sit for hours because I wanted to see if it looked clearer without the filter running and it seemed to ...but not great.

Ran the filter the next day and chlorine level was nonexistent and so I added one of the big chlorine tabs to the skimmer to put some chlorine back in. The water got cloudier through the day and so by night time I decided... okay... maybe now it needs some shock. So Mr SeaSpray added a half of container of liquid shock to the pool. We ran the filter awhile and then shut it off.

I was optimistic in the morning. I actually expected to see the ashy stuff to be vacuumed on the bottom and pristine water. It was an ERRONEOUS LINE OF THINKING!

The water was CLOUDY!

Not only that... but on the test kit...a high chlorine level would be bright yellow. This chlorine level tested as dark amber..bordering on brown for a high chlorine level!!!!

I was fit to be tied at that point..internally anyway. 12 previous pool seasons of shocking pool water...and I have N-E-V-E-R seen it test as BORDERLINE BROWN! That ruled out swimming for a few days at least and I wouldn't even discharge that onto the ground!

I wondered... "Where is the SUN anyway??? ", because it helps dissipate the chlorine.

So i left it alone... but checked it every day. I went on line to research a little and it said if there is too much stabilizer to drain a little every week and add fresh water. Well I did that by hundreds if not a couple thousand or more gallons!

So..when the chlorine went back onto the test levels... I drained it again, still cloudy and I tried to resign myself to this is how it will be for the summer. Who cares if it's cloudy? You know it's clean.

But as fate would have it... a couple of days ago... a filter hose broke. Ha! my golden opportunity!

I asked Mr SeaSpray if he would please take the filter apart and could we please put new sand in it and start over. Resistance again. Mr SeaSpray felt that we could just let it go for the summer since it's half over anyway.

Fine....

But then before son went to pick up the hose... I called that pool store, explained and they checked in the computer and said it was the right amount of stabilizer. I secretly disagreed... but let it go. Then I asked son to pick up filter sand too.

Then when Mr SeaSpray came home, I informed him that we have filter sand and asked, "Could you PLEEEEASE replace the filter sand? I just HAVE to KNOW if it is the filter.... pleeeeeeease!"

So Mr SeaSpray will be taking the filter apart, replacing the sand and setting it up again... this afternoon. I wondered how could he go through the summer not knowing the cause of the cloudy water. ??

For the first time... this pool season... I also notice the water pressure flowing into the pool is so strong... that it repeatedly causes this little sucking sound, which seems to happen because the water takes on a little cyclone action near the water return.

So... tomorrow morning... I REEEEALLY hope I will see clearer water in the pool. The water will be have been refilled AGAIN and have NEW filter sand!

So this is why I can relate to Bill Murray obsessing over the gopher in Caddyshack.

The cloudy pool water this season is my ever elusive gopher!!

What's your gopher?

Oh NO! Not COMMANDO!!!!

Isn't that against employment protocol?

GEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEE!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

I really hope my husband's whites... um that would be undershirts and underwear and a couple of ...well they were gray sweat shirts... haven't become all holey and I don't mean holy as in blessed... or basically turned into bare, disintegrating threads. !!

At approximately 1p.m. ... I threw my husband's whites in the washer. When it gets to the last few minutes of agitation... I add bleach. Now... in all my years of doing laundry... I have never quite mastered the art of bleaching. If there a bleach dispenser on the machine... never found one. I am the dispenser. Basically...I bleach like I cook... and just like I cook (tonight will be one such night), I go solo... depart from any form of instruction and just add a pinch of this and a little of that... and it usually tastes real good. You develop a knack for such things... says me.

But , admittedly... I am still not so sure with the bleach. Yes.. I've read the directions, mixed with water and listened to people who tell me they only use Clorox for colors..or hang the clothes out in the sun... which is a natural whitener. On that last point...have you been to NJ this summer? There has virtually been no sun and so that negates the last point.

Only a few of times did I overdo the bleach and put some holes in his whites and that's not a bad track record for 33 years.

Your thinking..well after 33 yrs... you should KNOW how to bleach.

Your right.

I know.

But it BORES me.

Bleach is boring.

Evidently in more ways then one and hopefully today's bleach... didn't do the physical kind of boring.

I am much happier with a little splash here and a bigger splash there and hope for the best. I have ...at times... been concerned upon reentering the wash area and discovering that I would prefer not to inhale the chlorinated air caused by the emanating bleach fumes from the wash... but even then... his whites have been in tact. Suffice it to know... that on those laundry whites days... I would not want to spray any ammonia products in said area because I am certain my next words uttered would be, "Hello...Poison control?"

Oh..so I began this process at about 13:00 this afternoon.

I leave the lid up so that if I get distracted...all the water won't drain out as the washer completes it's cycle. Then I go back and reset it for the last few minutes and while agitating, pour in the bleach..um splash here and there... and I hope for the best...that the bleach doesn't actually settle onto the clothing but mixes quickly with the water.

And so that is what I did today.

After that I blogged a tiny bit but then spent the afternoon floating in the pool, reading another blogger's book that I am just loving (that will be another post) and hoping to get some sun.

Ha! Remember what I said about no summer sun in NJ this year? The sun decided to play peek-a-boo with me and unfortunately for me... I got more peek-a than boo! So being wet... I got cold. I tried to fall asleep because than I wouldn't know I was cold but I'd be rested... but gave up on that and so got out and tried to warm up on the deck and read there. Once I wrapped myself in a towel... I did warm up because then the sun came out and I fell asleep all toasty and comfy with a breeze blowing.

I woke up feeling refreshed from my little nap, picked some herbs... (basil and Greek oregano) for tonight's garden zucchini casserole and then went around front to weed a little.

Then at about 4:30, I walked back in the house and almost past the washer... until much to my dismay... I observed ...I had left the lid up...which meant it never drained and so for about 3 1/4 hours... his whites and gray sweatshirts...sat..soaking in the bleach water. Now the upside is that I didn't smell the bleach in the area and so perhaps this time... it was not enough... even though soaking, to riddle his clothes with Swiss cheese like holes... or even worse... disintegrate them.

Well maybe disintegration would be better because...well... "What happened to your underwear? Your t-shirts? Hmmmm... you say there are only threads of white material in the machine? Gosh!? I don't know...? Do you think something is wrong with the washer? Oh! Do we need a NEW one?" :)

But if he sees the Swiss cheese holes in his shirts and underwear... he'll know... the bleach bandit struck again.

I am pretty certain he's not willing to go commando to work in the morning. Well.. he wouldn't go commando anywhere. And do you think t-shirt Swiss cheese holes will show up through his top shirt?

So... how late is Walmart open on a Sunday night?

And now... I am going to go check out the damage. Hopefully..they'll just be so bright..he'll need sunglasses to get dressed and that will be it. Or else... tomorrow morning... he'll open his high boy to a freshly stacked pile of new under clothes... and at least they won't need bleach for a while. :)

*** 7:19 pm update - SHEER..would be the operative word. Fortunately..there is that extra panel in the front of the briefs. No Swiss cheese holes in the underwear or t-shirts. The whites are VERY white.

The sweat shirts are lighter..but still gray and no holes..although one has bleach spots. Eh... it's old anyway!

The underwear and shirts felt weird though and so I added extra bounce to soften more... and so he'll go to work in manly very white whites that are sheer and softer.

Gee... that kind of sounds like lingerie! ;)

I'll get him some new ones tomorrow.

I Am So EXCITED!!! :)

Older son (preschool picture) 5 yrs old

Why am I EXCITED?

Because I am so HAPPY!!!

Why am I so HAPPY?

If you read the previous post that I put up only yesterday... then you know my computer died.

I pretty much resigned myself to the fact that I would be sans computer for a long time because we have other more pressing financial obligations... and a computer isn't a necessity (It isn't? ;) and I survived most of my life without one and could certainly do it again for a while. I gave myself one of *those* pep talks.

Older son called me today to tell me he had a computer for me. He got it from the company he works for and is a little older and so got it for free for me. BUT... it is newer than mine and works so fast. We have high speed inter net (5 something?) ... but the old one was on it's way out for a long time and was doing everything so slowly. I could hear it just clicking away as if it was working so hard to relay the information/perform even simple tasks. In computer years... it was a dinosaur. Son built that one for me around 2003 or earlier.. not sure.

He also retrieved my info off of the old hard drive and installed it into this new one. So.. I have almost everything that was important to me before.

And the keyboard is so much nicer.

I'll tell you... he really came through for me and surprised me greatly! Dear son... absolutely..MADE MY DAY!!! :)

Thank you Jonathan!

Love,
Mom :)

P.S. I didn't realize just how slow the old computer had gotten. I am so astounded at the speed this computer operates at... that it's even fun to click on things... just to see how fast it works. :)

My Computer Died

... but I'll survive..I'm sure.

My computer stopped working on Saturday before I left for a wedding over the weekend.

I got it to come back on when I came home but never got it to let me on line...although I could play scrabble on line. Then it just shut off and kept coming on/off, on/off repeatedly without ever actually coming on. The start button doesn't work.. nor did it shut the computer off. I had to unplug it, which meant it wouldn't come back on. *sigh*

It has officially died and I am computerless and may be for quite a while. :(

However... I will occasionally be able to use son's laptop... depends on his schedule and willingness to share. I also don't want to put additional wear and tear on his... but am grateful to use it.

Eh... computers aren't a necessity (They aren't?) and there are more important things in life. But darn... I do love this blogging hobby.

Unfortunately...there are other more pressing expenses... and so this is on the back burner.

C'est la vie!

Please know that I am still blogging... but just slowed down somewhat for now.

Ha! Maybe now I will finesse the short post. :)

By the way... the wedding was beautiful and the reception was FABULOUS! We had a blast! :)

Cheese Doodles Don't Make Sunburn Feel Better (but I'll tell you what does)

They don't!

No..I'm not rubbing them on my fiery body.

Owwwww..that would hurt and be just a bit scratch. Talk about fire!

It's 02:54 (am) and I feel like I am on fire. I'm hot and cold at the same time... and sore.

I have a big wedding to go to on the weekend.

There hasn't been very much sun and so I was barely tan when I fell asleep in the pool by high noon today. I was actually feeling cold before I fell asleep.... but the warm sun on me felt sooooo good. How can something that feels so good be so bad for you?

It was the deepest, most pleasurable sleep... just drifting around in the pool.

The summer has been so weird and not a great summer at all ..weather wise. Mostly cloudy days and the sunny days cloud up too. The corn isn't as high as it should be.

So..I thought I was tan. I was going out at the end of the day and thought I had built a little tan and so wouldn't burn.

My rules are sunscreen for face and throat and no sun between 11am - 12 pm.

But..remember I have this wedding to go to and remember I had a little tan? Well I wanted more tan... especially in the cleavage area. My dress is low cut in front and with straps...so I just wanted more tan.

The thing Is my new bathing suit doesn't go down like a v in the front and so I took the straps down and pulled the top... just a little too low and so I have a really red hot burn straight across the girls where the sun has never been. OUCH! (my virgin skin (sans sunlight exposure) is very fair and I didn't realize just far down I pulled my suit. *sigh*


And I pulled my suit down in the back and so burned there but not as badly. I fell asleep while lying on my back.

Suffice it to know that it looks like when you're painting and you peel the tape back and you see the distinct contrasting borders...except I didn't pull them down evenly and so it is crooked too..and ... it still wasn't low enough in the middle. So.. I'll give it a rest and Friday will put a different suit on that covers the burned area and will tan like usual in the middle.

I was telling people on twitter that a pharmacist recommended using whole milk compresses to help a burn.

I was 18 and decided to go out in the sun for the 1st time with just baby oil for 6 hours. I was in the water some of the time but was also lying on the beach.

I was supposed to play tennis that night. I took a little nap and when I woke up I was in unbearable pain, was dizzy and had chills.

My aunt was looking for Noxema, Solarcaine (sp?), etc and the pharmacist recommended whole milk compresses.

I had baby doll pajamas on and my boyfriend (now husband) came up and she let him do the compresses. (That surprised me!)

What he did is take a couple of paper towels, dip them in the cold whole milk, wring out, open them up and apply to the burned area. They are ice cold at first and then are very soothing. You press them onto the burned area. And leave them on until they feel hot. Then remove the paper towels and repeat the process. Make sure the milk is cold.

You do this over and over again until the person doesn't feel as warm and they are feeling some relief. It takes a while!

I was covered in paper towels...legs, arms, chest, back, stomach. It was the worst burn I have ever had in my life and I have gotten sun burned at the beach.. for sure.

Well.... I woke up the next day...with out ANY pain. NO PAIN at all!! No blisters.. ever AND.. I didn't peel either.

We have always used that when needed and works every time.

Personally... I would do that before I'd ever go to the ED for treatment. It works, you don't need any drugs and its just about free... just labor intensive for the person helping you.

My husband... who's legs and feet are as white as the virgin snow...well almost... got a really bad burn on them. he refused my doing that for him and the next day... he couldn't put his shoes on and his pants hurt his skin because the burn was so intense. He let me do the compresses...and he felt much better.

We had a party here tonight and and so I didn't have time for my husband to help with the sunburn, a friend came over after ward and so I just didn't get to it. And husband has to work tomorrow. It's messy and so I am going to forgo the milk compresses and hope for the best.

But I have to say... it it totally weird how you can be both really hot and really cold at the same time with a sunburn.



I am joking about the cheeses doodles helping sunburn. I wasn't even hungry and as I was eating them, observed... my emotional eating of cheese doodles was not helping me in any way...at all. The sunburn still hurts... and the salt will make me retain water along with supplying me with non nutritious unwanted calories.

*I have a friend who swore her girls were bigger the next morning if she ate a salty snack the night before. I'm just sayin. :)

I will put sunscreen over the burned areas Friday!

Funny Bunny on "Howie Do It" pilot episode

If you enjoy exquisitely funny practical jokes ... then this clip is a MUST see!

They hired a man to dress up as a rabbit to deliver a singing telegram. However... the one fact they neglected to tell him is that he would be delivering the singing telegram to mourners at a funeral service in a church.

Everyone else is an actor.

The poor guy has to sing "For He's a Jolly Good Fellow" as the mourners respond accordingly.

My favorite mourner is the older guy staring down the Funny Bunny guy. :)

It ends with a surprise.

I love a good practical joke and think this is HILARIOUS and hope you enjoy it as much as I do. :)

P.S. You will need to press pause on the ocean sounds down on the right so it doesn't compete with the audio in the clip.

Mechanical Patients and Other Opinions :)

It warms my heart when I see a man fixing something. I guess because I feel like everything will be alright and it is a secure feeling. I can sometimes fix things...following the logic with the most basic things... but I certainly am not mechanically inclined... nor am I a carpenter, plumber or a gazillion other things.

I admit I felt discouraged and even got a little panicky when things broke and the funds were tight and we'd just have to make do... or sacrifice somewhere else so we could pay someone else to fix it. But then when it was fixed... it was and is such a good feeling. :)

My uncles were the kind of guys who could seemingly do anything. I once asked my Uncle Hector if Grandpa taught him how to do all these things he could do. He said no... that my grandfather was a mason and good at what he did, but he didn't know how to fix other things. He said he came up with the nicest white paint mixture for stucco that he had ever seen and people really liked it and maybe could've done something with it.. but he never did.

Uncle Hector also said, "Pat...when you don't have the money to fix things...you figure out how to do it yourself." I asked, "But what if you do it wrong?" He answered, "Oh..I've made mistakes. That is how you learn... you just keep at it until you get it right."

My husband's Uncle Henry can do even more than my uncle. Mechanical, carpentry, electrical,electronics, etc., and I asked him how he knew how to do all these things. He said, "All you have to know how to do is read. If you can read...you can do anything."

Somehow...I think that he is probably more gifted than most when it comes to working with his hands.

I worked with an ER doc who was also a surgeon that once told me "Anyone could be a doctor. All you need is a good memory." That is interesting... but I have a good memory... and I know I couldn't be a doctor. And he made that statement with such confidence...as if it was the most logical progression in achievement. He was an excellent doctor and the doc you'd want on if you came in as an ER patient. He was also good at suturing and when he sutured a facial lac... they healed beautifully.

Reading and good memory are key... but I also think some people have an innate ability to be proficient in particular areas... more so than others. And continuing education in whatever form required, hones those skills.

A couple of years ago I was having a discussion with a surgeon, who was telling me how he loved to work in the OR and when he's not working... he loves to work with tools in his home. He said he is always fixing or changing something...taking walls down, building... whatever he could find to do and that he is happiest when he works with his hands.

He also said...when he visits a friend who is a dentist... he likes to look at his friend's dental tools, opens his drawers to see what he's got, etc., and he was really funny when he was talking about it. He reminded me of a kid in a candy store! :)

Thank God for all the Mr and Ms. Fix its out there. :)

Happy Birthday America!

I hope everyone is enjoying their July 4th weekend! Even if you're working...I hope it's still a good day for you.

I've sure done my share of working Holidays... and may be again... if I end up working in a hospital.

There was always a certain camaraderie with the other co-workers because we were all in it together. You just make the best of it and often times people bring food in for the holiday.

Of course..the ED tends to be crazy on the warmer holidays because everyone is out and about... but then the shift just goes faster...although not fast enough on the worst ones.

We had a fun July 4th. We went to a family barbecue and it was so nice to see all the relatives (my husband's family)...aunts, uncles and cousins with some friends in the mix. The ones who were kids when J and I began dating... now have their own kids... as does our older son and d-i-l. (time flies by) And our newest addition to the family... lovely Wrenna got to meet more of her family. Of course my m-i-l and her sisters took turns holding her and I had my turn too. The little girls... Devan and Ashley... both 8 years old .... came over to her too. So sweet. :) And as with all barbecues... there was so much food...good food and good company.

A good time was had by all. :)