Frederick Meijer Gardens

First I want to post a few photos that I took from the lake. This is the South Pier and some seagulls on the swingset.

We went to Frederik Meijer Gardens on Saturday to see their "Blooming Butterfly" exhibit. This was after I worked Friday night in the new tower. (I hear we aren't supposed to call it "the tower" anymore after we've been calling it that for months now...) The rooms and everything are really nice in the new place. Everyone was just as lost as I have been for the last few months, and that was exciting to know. There are four nursing stations, so you have to get used to which rooms are in which nursing station. There doesn't seem to be a rhyme or reason to it, you just have to learn it.

The Gardens were beautiful. I took some pictures of the flowers and stuff there:

Some plants at the Gardens. I don't know what they are, but they were pretty.









Some flowers











Cacti











My Aunt JoAnne











My grandpa, mom and grandma





I also took some photos of the butterflies. It was really neat. You walked into this aviary and there were tons of butterflies there.

I have internet again!!

Okay, so I've been without the internet for the past few days...like a week, I guess. The only access I have is facebook on my phone. (I love facebook, btw. I try to tell everyone to get it!!) I had satellite internet through Hughes.net because the phone lines where I live are so archaic that I would only be able to connect at half the speed of dial-up and there are no other forms of internet available for my area. Well, where I live is very windy. I have never really been happy with the satellite internet because of the reason. We are surrounded by empty fields with no wind block. Last week, we noticed that there was a cover missing off of the satellite, and it wasn't connecting very well. So, I call and they tell me it will be $125 just to come out and then I would have to pay for the parts to repair it. At first, I was going to let them come out, but then I got mad about it.

I called Sprint to see about a wireless card for my computers. (Because that is who I have my cell service through.) They told me it would be $200 for the cheapest one...but if I knew someone who didn't have sprint I could have them order it for me and it would be free. I told them I was going to call someone else and I did. I called verizon and the card was free. Take that Sprint. They just lost some business because they were being retarded. Then I called Hughes.net to cancel and they asked me "would it make a difference if we paid for the repairs?" That just made me madder and I told them no. Dorks! Anyway, I have the satellite and modem. They're mine, I paid for them.

So far, I like this wireless card because I can take it anywhere and use it. They said that I could use it on my desktop too, so I'll have to try that later. I would like to try to get wifi using the card and my router, but I do not know if that is possible.

Mom got nine teeth pulled today. She is surely sore. I think she has to wait a month before she can get dentures. So mashed potatoes and scrambled eggs it is!!

Yeah for days off!!

This week at work went better than I had anticipated. I didn't have too much pain in my back, so that was good. We finally got our schedule from work and I have a stretch at the end of the month where I have five days off in a row. (The beauty of working 12 hours shifts) I told my mom that we are just going to have to go somewhere. Somewhere far enough away but close enough to drive to. I was thinking of St. Louis because I haven't really been there before. I've been through it, but never actually visited there. I have to do some research and see if there is actually enough stuff to do there. The only thing I know for sure is the arch.

My sisters are all moved into their trailers now, meaning that Jennifer and my kids are out of my house. My animals sure are happy. The cats could not come downstairs during the daytime and the dogs were always on edge. Everything is going well, they are just looking for washers/dryers because going somewhere to do the laundry is a drag. I'm glad that I have my Whirlpool Duets (and that they were on sale!).

We were in the car today with my grandparents, cousin Tara, cousin Mikey and his friend. My cousin Mikey is kinda weird. My whole family (including me) is a little weird, but he is weirder than most! He was asking us "how long would it take you to put someone out who was on fire?" (He always asks us silly questions like this and it drives us crazy!) Well, we found a way to make him crazy. We kept asking him questions about the situation telling him that we "needed more information" to accurately determine how long it would take us. We asked him questions like "which way is the wind blowing?"; "how close are you to the lake?" and "is there an accelerant involved?" We were laughing so hard because he was like "forget it!" From then on during that ride, everything he said, we would ask him "which way is the wind blowing?" or some other random question. Sometimes I was laughing so hard, I couldn't even talk! It was great! :)

I have to work the next weekend, but the weekend after that, I think that we are planning on going to Frederik Meijer Gardens and Sculpture Park. My grandma has been wanting to go there for awhile. I have been there before and it is nice. (I went for a nursing seminar on poisonous mushrooms-what I learned: buy your mushrooms in the store, don't go find your own!!) Right now is a great time to go because they have their "Butterflies are Blooming" exhibit. So, hopefully, we'll get to be able to see that.

We also found out at work this week that we are going to have to start wearing uniforms...well, they are telling us we have to wear a specific color. We have always worn scrubs, but had the liberty of picking what we wanted. Now, nurses have to wear carribean blue. That is the same color that we wore as RNs when I worked at another hospital. When our director was telling us, I happened to be wearing that scrub set and she said "it's kinda like what Tammi is wearing." I told them that that WAS the color I was wearing. I'm kinda disappointed that they didn't pick another color. I'm kinda bored with that one...but the good news is I have a few scrub sets already. We have 10 months to get them, so I'm thinking that at the beginning of the new year, we'll have to be wearing them. So much for variety! (That's the color at the right)

We are also moving to the new addition in a week. They built it to look similar to some luxury hotels. I think the rooms are gorgeous, but we're going to have a hard time getting some patients to leave and we are dreading that. (We have a hard enough time in our old, dilapidated rooms!) I think that move is going to be chaotic! I'm glad that I don't work on days. I think that most of the work should be done by the time I get there. They have to move everything off of our floor, and all the patients. Which means, they will have to have nurses in the new addition and also nurses in the old floor. I'm not sure how they're going to do it or how I'm going to like it yet, but we'll see. I'm sure it will take a few months to get used to everything again, but it should go fine. At least everyone else will be as lost as I am. :) There are four nursing stations on the floor, but they all look the same, so that will be interesting!

This weekend

So, I return to work tomorrow. I think that I am mostly ready. I was all ready until I woke up feeling a little pain this morning. I still get a little pain when I sit for too long, but I know that won't be a problem when I'm at work, so I'm not too worried about that. I'm ready to be back to work!

My sister Jennifer got her trailer and should be moved out by the end of the week. Her (any my other sister Jamie) have been making arrangements for their new places. Jamie is already in her place, but it still trying to get T.V. and everything. Well, since their trailers are out in the country, they called the local satellite companies and since neither of them have a credit card that isn't a debit card (I am proud to say that I don't either), they would have to pay up front for the receivers. That's like $200 for 2 rooms. We didn't have to do that when we set up our satellite system. Needless to say, that is a lot of money when you are first renting a place for a "non-necessity." They said that they will be renting movies for awhile. I told them to do Netflix. I liked it when I had it, I just didn't want movies enough to make it worthwhile.

I did go to the theater this past weekend and saw two movies. The first one was the Jonas Brothers 3D movie. I took Isabel, Alex and Ilana to see it. Jamie went with me. It was the most expensive movie that I have ever seen. They enjoyed it and that was good. Here is a photo of them with their 3D glasses on (l-r: Alex, Isabel, Ilana, Jamie):

The other movie was Coraline in 3D. I really liked it but I don't think it is for younger kids. (It's a bit startling in spots) It was cute and the trailers don't really tell you what the movie is about, but the key is the tag line "Be careful what you wish for." I don't want to spoil it so I won't divulge too much here. But I recommend seeing it!!! It was good to see a movie that actually has a sorta moral to it instead of just being a fun story.

I've been thinking and I am really starting to not like the cold. I really have a hard time getting warm. My house is always cold. Which is nice in the summer, but not nice when it's like 12 degrees outside. Then Alex and Isabel (my niece & nephew) came down today wearing clothes like it was summer...shorts, tank top, capris, no socks. I have on long sleeves, two pair of socks, my thermals on under my pants. It made me cold just looking at them! I made them go back upstairs and gets socks on and "dress appropriately" I told them. Jen said that they always dress like that. Brrr!!

I took my mom to get another new phone this morning. She wasn't happy with the Rumor that she had gotten a few weeks ago. So, she got the Blackberry Curve. It's just funny to think of my mom with a blackberry. She was so against texting before she got her Rumor and now she is all about it. She is having fun trying to figure it out. I told her to ask Jamie because she has a blackberry too. I'm a Palm owner, so I know nothing about blackberries. It is still humorous!

Okay, so I changed my layout again. I guess that I have just been bored this week with not working. I think I like this one a lot. Come on Spring!!