Seven Quick Takes (vol 5)

~one~I've been a little scarce around the Blogosphere lately... I've been really busy! To delve into the nitty gritty, although I'm slated for 20 hours a week, I've been able to pick up a few extra hours here and there and have worked closer to 50 than to 40 hours this pay period. Additionally, I've been working in my spare time on tying up loose ends for the old clinic. And I've started taking Spanish two nights a week. (And there's my Holy Hour once a week as well.) It seems like all I can do just to stay on top of routine chores, much less additional demands... I've been a little overwhelmed this week, to say the least. Thankfully, I'm feeling a little more sane now.

~two~Independence Day was lots of fun for me! It was a day devoted almost entirely to relaxation and socializing - an occurrence that is entirely too rare. :) In the morning, we went to 9 o'clock Mass and ate a late breakfast. I made Jell-O and did some ironing, but all in a casual, I've-got-all-the-time-in-the-world manner. (I feel like I'm always running, running, running, so that was great. No pressure!) After lunch, we watched four episodes of a really silly, but funny, TV show.
That evening, AB and I went party-hopping. We spent two hours at the first place, visiting with good friends and eating dinner. About an hour passed at the second get-together was there was live music and I got to visit with old friends that I hadn't talked to in quite a while. Our last stop of the evening was a three hour stay at a family's house, where we did lots of great fireworks and got a kick out of their kids. :) We tumbled, exhausted, into bed about midnight.
~three~Our garden is coming along really well so far. I'm generally QUITE happy with it. Our tomatoes haven't really started to turn red yet, but hopefully that will happen here soon. Our strawberries continue to produce steadily. And our peach trees are bearing a few small fruits... the likes of which I have never tasted. They are the sweetest, most flavorful peaches EVER!! Our okra plants have begun to produce as well. The green bean bushes are fairly prolific and our beets are so yummy! I can't wait 'til the leeks are ready to harvest in October. And I hope to get a fall crop of carrots, radishes, and maybe more beets in the ground here pretty soon.
~four~In my previous post, I mentioned that they would be demolishing the bell tower today. That is scheduled for 2 PM. I doubt that I need to reassure you that I'll be there, camera in hand! ;)

~five~I was recently directed to Johnson Farms' website. They are located in far western Missouri and currently offer pick-your-own green beans for $1 a pound. That sounds like a great opportunity and I hope to go sometime this summer! It sounds reminiscent of Gary's Berries which is another place I'd really like to visit.

~six~Monday will mark one year since my first date with AB! "Happy Anniversary" to us! :)

~seven~Well, I started this post late Thursday night and now that it is 11:50 on Friday night, I'd better wrap it up! Since I began drafting it, they have attempted again to fell the bell tower of the Immaculata... without success! They tried twice this afternoon (after MUCH effort to get the cables in place) to pull the tower down, or at least the top of it as a start. On the second attempt, the $1500, 1.5" cable that they were using snapped! I don't know what their next step from here will be... But it's safe to say that we're all very well impressed by the prowess of the Jesuits' architecture skills 100 years ago!
An action shot... (Note the falling debris visible in the opening of the belfry.)

Seven Quick Takes (vol 4)

~one~Merger complete, we started seeing patients at the new-to-us facility this past Tuesday, the day after Memorial Day. That first day on the job was a three-ring circus! A very, very busy day for us in times past (with two providers) would have been 40-45 patients. That would have kept everyone on their toes and exhausted us all by the end of the day.
On Tuesday, we saw 67 patients. Granted, this was spread over three providers - not two - but it was compounded by the fact that their office had been closed for three days (Memorial Day Weekend, of course) and ours had been closed for five to effect the move. (The phones rang off the hook!) This was doubly compounded by the fact that two of the three providers available, one of the nurses, and two of the business office personnel (myself included) were still very much in training and not yet up to speed.
Additionally, the x-ray tech who normally worked there (Mike, aged 62) passed away suddenly of heart failure on Monday afternoon - and a sub was in his place. (God rest his soul.) The final straw to the craziness was the fact that approximately two-thirds of the patients seen on Tuesday were new patients to the practice, requiring much additional paperwork to complete the check-in process. Miraculously, we still got out of there by 5:30 PM! Exhausted and overwhelmed might have been an understatement. :)

~twoFortunately, on Wednesday, we had only two providers at a time in the morning and afternoon. (Julia and Dad switched off morning and afternoon clinic, because Dad had a hospital delivery in the afternoon. Another nurse practitioner worked a full day.) This reduced the patient volume per force.
Both Tuesday and Wednesday evenings, I worked at home on accounts receivable for the "old clinic."

~three~Yesterday, we had two providers in the morning and three in the afternoon. I only worked a half-day, but when I left at lunch time, we had seen 15 patients in the morning and 30 were scheduled for the afternoon! Today we will have three providers all day, so I expect the pace to increase again somewhat. I get the impression that the "incumbent" staff with whom we have begun working are completely overwhelmed with the patient load. They keep hoping that it will slow back down, but I'm not sure it will... at least, not in the near future.

~four~I am very thankful that it's the weekend! I'm tired!!
~five~Don't miss this brief movie clip! Bob Hope's great. :)

~six~Ordinations in Winona, MN are three weeks from today! There will be 13 ordinands!! Ten for the Society, two for the Benedictines in Silver City, NM, and one Dominican priest for France. What a day that will be! Will any of my readers be there? (Please chime in!)

~seven~We have tens of thousands of honey bees in our backyard. On purpose. ;) They're primarily my dad's project and I admit that I was very skeptical and wary of them at first, as I have a horror of all flying, stinging insects... But they've been extremely peaceable and they're fascinating to watch. I don't know too much about them, but we have an acquaintance who has 30+ years experience as a beekeeper. He came and checked on them on Memorial Day and was impressed by the vigor of the hive. I'm looking forward to the honey!

Have a good weekend, all!! Don't miss the other 7 Quick Takes participants at this fantastic blog.

Seven Quick Takes (vol 3)

I hope everyone's Lent is going well (and yes, I understand that that typically translates as wishing crosses on you all :D - but it means that I'm wishing many graces on you as well!). Mine is moving right along... Friday in the first week of Lent is already here, and with it volume 3 of my "Seven Quick Takes" - a weekly special over at Jennifer's fantastic Conversion Diary. (Be sure to stop by there and congratulate her on her baby girl, born on Monday of this week!)


~one~
Yesterday was a GLORIOUS day, matching 1956's record high of 84 degrees! It was more than mild - it was really warm; the kind of warmth that soaks into your bones. :) In the evening, I went out on our deck to relish the beautiful air. I only stayed a few minutes, because it was time for dinner. In that amount of time, I got a mosquito bite! We also found a fly in the house after leaving the door propped open for about 45 minutes...! :O Can't we have just one single day in early March without bugs?!? It was 11 degrees on Sunday and 15 on Monday... How did they survive?? :-/
(Speaking of yesterday, it also marked the 21st anniversary of my sister's Baptism and it would have been my granddad's 84th birthday. He passed away 14 years ago this month.)


~two~
Have you seen the real estate prices in Detroit recently??! Oh. My. GOSH. They're practically paying people to live there - evidently without much success! (For those of you who don't visit the hyperlinks, the median price on a home in Detroit right now is $7,500. Not $75,000. Seven thousand, five hundred dollars for the average house that's on the market.)


~three~
How about a flashback photo for Friday? (I have no idea what Friday has to do with looking at old pictures. I just liked the alliteration.) Yours truly in October of 2004. I was 18.


~four~
I love Garfield. :D

This one might be more appropriate if half the precipitation-frames were snow instead of rain! :)


~five~
My younger sister got her Minnesota driver's license today! That's been a rather drawn-out process due to missing paperwork, but the story is complete now. :) All my sibs live in Minnesota... I guess I missed the memo! (Sure don't miss having those winters though!)


~six~
Speaking of winters - or the lack thereof - our tulips are pushing through the ground. They stand about 3 inches high now! Our daffodils are a couple of inches high and our irises are starting to peek through as well. Considering we're supposed to be dipping back down into the 20's next week, it looks like we'll need to get out there and cover them. (How many teasers can we have before the real Spring arrives?? We've been blessed with a very mild winter, but I'm still more than ready for Spring! :))



~seven~
This week, I have picked up again one of my favorite books, The Song of the Rosary by Fr. Daniel Lord, S.J. If you have not read it, I HIGHLY recommend it. It's a 399-page poem, chock full of fantastic images and oh-so-human depictions of the events in the mysteries of the Rosary. It's excellent material for meditating on the Rosary. That being said, I'd like to share with you one of my favorite passages, taken from the end of the chapter on the Second Sorrowful Mystery, the Scourging at the Pillar. Remember - as with all poetry - to read according to the punctuation marks and not as much according to where the lines begin and end...
If Jesus at the end, flung to the floor
Partly by almost death,
Partly by soldiers' pity as they grant
Rest after torture,
Partly by cruelty that laid
Raw flesh upon cold stone...
If then He lifted agonizing eyes to see
Close to the cellar casement, through the bars,
Her [editor's note: His Mother's] watching face...
Or if in vision, as the saints have thought,
She stood close to the pillar
Where they beat Him down,
A writhing worm, no longer quite a man...
Was there for Him a solace in her woe?
Or was it doubled agony that she should share
However willingly
These scourging blows
Rained by lustful men
In penalty
For all the lustful deeds of those
Who loved the flesh too sadly and too well?

Who knows
Save only He who bore the blows
Of our offences
And the lovely she
Whose guiltless body knew, proxy perhaps,
The scourges that His guiltless body bore
For all the guilty bodies of the world
And all our guilty flesh.

Ah, if perhaps, his bloody business done,
One soldier dropped his scourge and cried,
"Forgive!"...
If but one callous guard,
Seeing the bits of flesh
Upon the whip within his grip
Or, catching a glimpse of Mary's tortured eyes
There at the casement,
Flung to the farthest wall
The ugly thing that beat his God...
If that had been...

Or if today somewhere
Lust knows itself as lust and cries the shame
Which pampered flesh
The while it tortured His and hers,
Mary is glad, and Jesus smiles
Up from the column where they whittled Him
To writhing pain.
Mary is glad, and Jesus with joy
Forgives.

Seven Quick Takes (vol 2)

I'm participating in the "Seven Quick Takes Friday" carnival over at Conversion Diary... So here goes! ;)


~one~

Yesterday, a team of workers put a big dent in dismantling one of the old water towers
here in town. It was visible from our house, but on our way to do something else, we
pulled over and watched them work for a little bit. They were cutting the sheets of metal apart with a welding-type tool (I don't know the name for it when it's used to cut apart instead of weld together). It was really cool! And I just so happened to have my 300 mm lens with me... :)


~two~

Speaking of dismantling old stuff around town, work is continuing on the demolition of the old brick building(s) by the CoOp. The "city skyline" is changing! ;)





~three~
The only friends for whom I've ever taken wedding pictures got married May 31, 2008.
My family has known both of their families since they were two years old... And they were in my sister's and brother's classes. So we go way back. ;) The happy news is that they had their first baby - a girl - this past Wednesday at 8:15 in the morning! My dad delivered her... and my parents were asked to be her godparents! The baby was baptized Rita Marie yesterday evening. She's a BEAUTIFUL baby!! (I don't know too many newborns who really "earn" that adjective just as soon as they enter the world, but it takes very little prejudice indeed to see the "pretty" in this little girl. :) There has been quite a variety of opinions expressed regarding who she resembles most... but I'm sure that will become more evident as she gets bigger. :) (She's almost 36 hours old in the picture.)


~four~
Speaking of babies, my niece and goddaughter will turn one tomorrow! But technically, she is 365 days old today. :) That's what happens when you're born before Leap Day in a Leap Year. :D (She missed being born on February 29 by just 20 hours!) At one year old, she's been walking unassisted for two months, has a couple of her own words she uses for various things, LOVES dogs and books, and has distinct likes and dislikes. She's pretty even-keeled personality-wise and a virtual clone of her daddy. I can't imagine life without her now, though I sure wish our families lived a little closer than the 8-hour drive that currently separates us!


~five~
Have you ever noticed that you don't really want something until you give it up? We're barely three days into Lent and already ice cream sounds sooo good. It's 27 degrees outside! A week ago, when it was warmer, I was offered ice cream and it didn't sound very good, so I turned it down. Last night, all I could think about was how good a bowl of ice cream sounded. Terrible! It's the Friday-meat phenomenon in a different form. ;)


~six~
The stock market is flirting with dipping below 7000 points and gold is playing with the idea of crossing the $1000/ounce mark.I think this recession depression is here to stay. Everyone has a different opinion. That's mine. We're heading for painful times. :( No one can say that we didn't have it coming, though. The tragic part about it is the crazy spending being done by our government, which will surely be the death blow to a once powerful economy.


~seven~
Speaking of which, my sister introduced me to a unique YouTube channel a few weeks ago: Depression Cooking, recounted by 93-year-old Clara, complete with recipes and first-hand accounts of the (first) Great Depression. It's interesting to see with what simple things they were contented... and Clara is so sweet! She represents to me a quality of character that has become extremely rare. Definitely worth the watch...

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

....Don't miss the other entries for this week's "7 Quick Takes Friday"!

I hope your Lent is going well and encourage you if you have already "fallen off the horse" in some regard to get back on it. And if you haven't really started anything for Lent, it's not too late! :)

À plus tard!

Seven Quick Takes

(I saw this idea on Conversion Diary and decided to try to participate this week!)

~one~
I went to the chiropractor for the first time in my life on Wednesday. Spent over an hour there and learned a great deal. It was really interesting! I went in for a neck problem, but wound up spending half of my visit discussing and dealing with my tilted pelvis. I knew I was twisted that way ;), but that wasn't the reason for my visit. Apparently, though, something CAN be done about it and yes, it is just that important. Good to know.


~two~
My one and only niece (who doubles as my one and only goddaughter) will turn one a week from tomorrow! I can't believe we've had this wonderful little person in our family for a full year! It feels like only a year since her mommy and daddy got married. (But trust me, it's been longer than that! ;))


~three~
I worked all day today (unusual for me). The receptionist had laryngitis, so she went home at lunch. The doctor (my dad) was sick, too, so he stayed home all day to try to get some rest (after being up nearly all night). I believe this is considered very poor form - to have a third of the staff at a doctor's office out sick. LOL! (One of the job hazards, you know...)


~four~
I haven't tried it out yet, nor have I had the chance to read up on it completely, but Jennifer over at the Conversion Diary recently talked about how much she has benefited from staying away from processed foods and trying to eat fresh. I can well imagine how great that would be! I can't wait until the summer time, when more things are readily available in fresh form!!


~five~
Speaking of summer, we're going to try to have a garden this year... for the first time in twelve years! I'm really looking forward to it. And I'm a little nervous about it, since it's a pretty big undertaking and mostly new to me (now that I'm old enough to grasp what goes into it :)). But mostly, I'm excited about the prospect.


~six~
I realized only recently that my boyfriend and I met (one of the times that we met anyway :)) on the very day that his first (and so far, only) nephew was born! At least, that is my understanding of the matter. Just an interesting factoid. :)


~seven~
I can't believe how long it's taken me to get these seven things together. So much for it being seven quick takes! ;) I've been interrupted numerous times and had lots of things require my attention more urgently than this, so now, 24 hours or more after beginning to draft this, I'm going to publish it... and come in JUST under the wire for Friday. :)