Working on My Retirement

I've been busy this past week. I worked 4 1/2 day at Mercy Hospital, on call for 2 departments. Today I worked 4 hours in OB, certain that it would be a short dance.

Wow, was I wrong! When I arrived at 7 AM there was one woman being assessed. That is where the pregnant woman is checked to see if she is indeed in labor. Another was being prepared for a Cesarean section. There were also 6 or 7 in labor rooms; that is where they are admitted and eventually deliver. I started sorting some papers and had quite a spread out mess when a nurse brought me the "pink card" with information on the new baby. Then I make up a chart and do various other things to get the baby officially admitted.

I wasn't done with that baby's admission when the tirage nurse told me the mom they were assessing was staying. There were things to be done in the computer and on paper for her admission to a labor bed. The phones got busy, the nurses gave me things to do, patients called on the intercom, medicines came in the tube system and I had to enter a security code at the income port in order for the tube to drop into our basket, visitors came in abundance, dietary had questions, etc, etc. The mom we had just admitted gave birth. Three more deliveries came right after that.

Between 7:30 and 9:04 we had a total of 5 new babies! I was so happy to see my relief come in at 11:00. I don't think I ever worked so hard at the OB desk before. It was actually fun in a way to be there, but it is so good to be home now. It was one wild Saturday morning.

"You're Not Alone"

Today is the first day of my assignment to myself to do three things daily: read the scriptures, write something, and play the piano and sing. Most of my time so far today has been devoted to these three things.

I became especially interested in an old song by the title of "You're Not Alone," which I used to sing often in days gone by. Knowing the church magazines had published it in 1984, I searched for it at lds.org so I could print myself a clearer copy. It didn't take long to find it. In order to share it now, I'm entering an online path to it written both as a poem and in sheet music. I know there are family and friends who might like to at least look at the song/poem, and giving these directions will show clean copies they might want to print for themselves.

lds.org
Gospel Library
Magazines
New Era
Past issues (to the upper left)
1984
Jan-Feb 1984
You're Not Alone - words and music by Michae McLean

To print the sheet music, click on to view larger. Click to enlarge one page at a time. After printing page one, I had to close it before it would let me then enlarge and print page 2.

Sorry that I again have no pictures to spice up my blog. I have to grab one of my kids to show me how to hook my new camera up to the computer!! I suppose I will have to put that on a to-do list in order to actually get it done!

Gifts and Talents

Today I finally went to my optician's office at North Suburban Eye Specialists in Coon Rapids and had the left lens glued back into the clip-ons that fit my glasses. It's been months since the lens popped out the first time and I picked off the line of tacky glue which had held it in place. I've had to nurse the lens ever since. A few weeks ago, the wind picked it right out of the frame and dumped it at the feet of the woman walking behind me as we entered Walmart. She and I had a good laugh over that one!

As I waited for the optician to do her magic in the back room, I overheard another optician ask his friend if she was going to take boots with on her trip out west next week. She replied she wasn't going to ski this time because last time she went skiing, she fell and couldn't get up. They had a good laugh over that one! Now she looked pretty fit to me, and not all that old. She admitted to not really being too interested in skiing any more anyway. But I thought how if she chose, she could work out and strengthen her legs and ski again.

This evening my visiting teachers came over with a message about reading the scriptures daily. It ought to part of our routine, like eating, sleeping, and brushing our teeth. Well, I'm pretty good at eating and sleeping, and I love to floss and brush. (My dentist and his hygienist are impressed by how well I do!) But I've fallen short when it comes to consistently reading the scriptures. I've consistently done crossword and sudoku puzzles (to keep my aging brain from atrophying) and read other books, though.

I've been given so many gifts and talents. I count the gospel as the greatest gift because it explains the purpose of my being here on earth. I count music and writing as some of my talents because they seem to come naturally and give me such great pleasure. But lately I'm like the lens that keeps popping out and like muscles that haven't been used and don't work as they once did. I'm not staying in the right place, and I'm not staying strong. Every once in a while I told myself I could easily establish a daily routine to keep my gifts and talents fresh. But then I wouldn't make a list--a written commitment-- and slipped back into the easy course of television, puzzles, and books. Well, not from now on!!!

Starting tomorrow, my daily commitment will be to:
* read the scriptures at least 15 minutes a
* play the piano and sing at least one song
* write a poem and/or a journal entry of at least 50 words

These things I will do in the morning, "morning" being defined as prior to noon, before doing anything else, except maybe listening to Fox News as I wake up and get dressed.

As the King of Siam proclaims in Rodgers and Hammerstein's musical, The King and I, "So let it be written. So let it be done."

Good night.

The Fireplace That Isn't

In all of my excitement last month about our new floors, I forgot to include pictures of what is happening to our basement family room. This is stonework done by our new friend, Cyle (pronounced as Kyle, but his dad is Clyde and wanted to spell it with a C, like his own name), who is a stone mason. He and Phil installed the upstairs laminate. Because of water damage last summer, Jerrod DeGolier installed a new ceiling and new laminate flooring in the basement family room. Dan painted the half paneling. We still need to paint the top part of the walls. We don't have a fireplace, but when we bought the house in 1986, this woodburning stove came with it. After a few years, we plugged the stovepipe connection and stored the stove.

But Phil and Cyle revived the stove and built a kind of fireplace for it in the past 2 months. Cyle designed the work for the wall and built a shelf to hold andirons and wood. In front of that, he built a free-standing, up-side-down box for the stove to stand on and covered it with stone to match. Phil connected the pipe and sealed all the joints. Since these pictures, he also repainted the stove black.

One very special feature is that the stove can be disconnected and the box on which it stands removed so that when we sell the house, the new owners will be able to remove the stove if they desire. Yet still, the beautiful stonework will remain. We have had some very comfortable fires. Then with the stove being up off the floor, it is very easy to clean the ashes out. (A serious consideration for us senior citizens!)

In addition, since these pictures, Cyle put matching stonework around the 2 other windows in the basement. Phil painted the stairs, the wall cabinet containing our circuit breakers, and the inside of the window casements a brick red to further draw the room together. We will soon paint the upper walls to match the bricks that fan around the wall opening for the stove pipes. After making curtains for the windows and the storage closet at the bottom of the stairs, we will be almost done working on the basement. The only thing remaining will be the fun decorative stuff.

We are so happy with the work that we have had done on the house! We are happy to recommend Cyle's stonework to anyone. And Phil's work, of course. They are an excellent team.