Nearing the Finish Line for 2012

This year, especially the last six months have been tough. I said, 'Yes' to too may 'opportunities'. I have always thrived at work and am good at what I do. I like for that to be recognized and am motivated by new things and recognition. It's fair to say my identify is pretty much tied into my career. When I get that call that there is a new client, or new project that I am the BEST person to assign to, I typically jump at it, whatever the cost to my time. The standard for productive days is 12.5 per month (three per week). I averaged 15 per month, which means I provided a free extra week of revenue to the company every month.

In 2012, two major opportunities consumed any office time I might have had. One was a corporate client who wanted a review of their Medicare practices at seven of their facilities. The engagement added 18 days to May and June, which meant I spent the rest of the year trying to catch up with my assigned clients. The second assignment was to work with a financial consultant on an ongoing contract with a company based on California. This consisted of setting aside at least four days (a four day week) each month and some months two. Squeezing those in pushed my other visits together to create four day and five day weeks. But those visits are fun and I like working with Monica.

I have been pretty outspoken about my frustration with the last few months and the workload I had gotten myself into. I advertised my resolve to change my ways so I can have a life, a family, participate more actively in my church and work on crafts and in my yard. And maybe add to my Blog more often. I know there are skeptical people out there who don't believe I can do it. My commitment is to average 13 visits per month, which will give me back my Friday office days. One week a month I will still work on the California project and that will have to be a four day week.

So this Wednesday I was tested. I got a call that Polaris was sending two people for education about a product designed to help nursing homes decrease readmissions back to the hospital--second week in January a three day session. Then I would be one of two consultants who would be assigned to a contract to provide education to all their facilities to reduce hospital readmissions. Gosh, that would be fun. I would be special and know more than the others! I actually said I would check my calendar and see what I could move around. Keep in mind that I have already completed my schedule through May using my new parameters.

I opened my calendar and looked at the second week in January. That Thursday I have a hair appointment. Tuesday and Wednesday are scheduled for a steady client. I could change that week and move........... But I didn't. I said, 'On second thought' and declined the assignment. I said this seemed like a good opportunity for someone else. I am more excited about saying 'no' than I think I would have been about saying 'yes'.

Tomorrow is my last day to work in 2012 and I will finish the twelfth yearly visit for this client. I am ending the year current with all contracts. I will have four reports to write and then kick back and smell the roses. I am committed to tying my identity to my family and friends. They will be around a lot longer than this job.

Bra Shopping

Been in Arizona this week. By tomorrow night at this time, I will have logged 15 hours in the car. I started in Phoenix on Monday afternoon. Drove to Yuma for one night, then to Prescott for two and am now in Lake Havasu City. The weather has varied from 95 to 55 as the elevation has changed through out the trip.

Since I had one night without travel, I shopped for a bra. About a year ago, Carolyn and I went bra shopping. (Her girls had told her she needed to find a bra that actually fit.) We went to a Macy's and were assisted by a very zealous sales associate who had us in stitches while she fitted, measured and analyzed our 60 year old breasts. She had us try on various bras, extolling the virtues of the different options available. I hadn't even intended to but a bra, but ended up spending almost $100 dollars and had two bras. One was a Wacoal bra (which has been promoted by Oprah herself) and I loved it, but it cost $65. It fit great, was comfortable and was pretty. I ended up throwing caution to the wind and pretending money was not issue. During the past year it has been my very favorite and I kept thinking I needed to get some more Wacoals. I was sure that all their styles would be wonderful.

I recently cleaned dresser drawers and threw away all those bras I kept just in case I needed, but never actually wore because they were uncomfortable and didn't fit right. I was down to five! That creates a laundry problem when I get home late on Thursday or Friday and don't even unload the suitcase before I fall into bed. So here I am at Dillard's with a goal to replenish my depleted bra stock.

I tried on six different styles of Wacoal bras and ended up buying another of the ones I bought last year for another $65 dollars.  All Wacoal's are not the same. I'll get another one in a few months after I save up some more money!

September

September was a long month as I worked every Friday and had short week-ends. I'm working on plan to prevent that from happening next year. The primary change is that I need to learn to say NO. The good part of September was that I didn't leave until afternoon on Mondays, so Mira and Griffin took turns spending the night on Sundays and I took them to school on Monday morning. Mira started soccer on Saturday mornings. That has been entertaining and the mornings have been a beautiful hour or so to be outside.

Fun events included a Saturday afternoon at World's of Fun, a trip to Wayside Waifs for a new kitten for the Smith household, a 90 birthday reception for Benjamin's grandmother, a baby shower for Bobbi Jo, and and the birth of baby Alex on September 27. I also had my yard aerated and re-seeded and have watered non-stop on the week-ends. I can't wait to see the water bill, but my yard is starting to be green.

That brings us to October.

Catching Up

The last few months have found me at my workaholic worst. Weeks have been long and included travel most evenings. Week-ends have been fun filled and busy and the most I could make myself do was turn in my expense reports (always the priority) and write my facility reports (usually late). In addition to the work schedule, I also volunteered to teach my Sunday School class and preparing for that has comsumed any down time I have had. While my work statistics are great and my quarterly bonus top notch, the blog has suffered

June: Spent a great week-end in New York with Molly, Hillary and Susan McClure. We saw the Book of Mormon, which I had been looking forward to for quite a while. Molly, as usually, found us wonderful, unique places to eat and we walked and walked and walked. My great toenail on my right foot is still bruised and I'm not sure but that I may loose it in the end. For pictures and details see Molly and Hillary's blogs.

July: Hillary and Brooks took the big kids to the Lake of the Ozarks for July 4 and I got to have Sullivan all to myself for three days. Unfortunately, he became sick on Thursday and vomited through the night resulting in my first work 'call-in' in years. By Friday morning he was better and we had a good day Friday, then Mom and Dad came home and took him back. Also in July I was wrecked by an errant pick-up on I-80 outside of Sacramento. If you have to have a wreck it's the best kind. I wasn't hurt, it wasn't my car and it wasn't my insurance. Pictures are available on my Facebook page. The week after that I went to Branson with the Sunday School class for out annual bonding trip. It is always fun. This year was the hottest yet and we saw an 'outside' show, which, while entertaining, was not fun. The next week-end in July was the Smithville tri-athalon and I went with Hillary. It was a great morning, but I never could find her once the race started. Fortunately I did see her cross the finish line.

August: After five years of trying to find someone who could cut my hair the way I wanted, I gave up and returned to Frank Chambers in August. I guess I will just have to drive a little to be happy with the cut.
Hillary, Mira, Griffin and I met up with Trish Butler and family for a picnic and the community production of Joseph and the Amazing Technicolor Dream coat. I was a fun evening and the weather had cooled so we were not sweating to death the whole time. The next week I was in Arizona and scheduled the visits so I could drive into Sherman Oaks and spend the week-end with Marian. We crocheted and watched movies and I made Scotcheroos. We went to see 'Hope Springs' which I liked and Marian didn't. On Sunday, after a burrito at the corner Mexican restaurant I headed back to Arizona. It was 113 degrees in Needles when I stopped to go to the bathroom. An hour later, when I got out of the care in Kingman, AZ it was 93 and felt like I needed a coat. The next week I worked in Bishop, California. It is a small town on the East side of Yosemite and is a four hour drive from everywhere and is the home of the Annual Mule Day celebration.

That brings me to September and I'm out of time.

Home Away from Home

I am in West Palm Beach, Florida staying at a Homewood Suites. It's a great little home away from home. My room has a full kitchen, with stove, dishwasher, refrigerator and microwave, a living room, bedroom and large bathroom. (When I end up with accommodations like this, I always think I should go to the grocery store and make cookies.)

The Homewood Suites always serve a full breakfast daily and a hot evening meal Monday thru Thursday. Yesterday evening, when I went down for supper, I noticed several children in wheelchairs with casts, braces and external fixation devices. This evening I was a bit later, and found even more families with obvious orthopedic interventions in progress. I asked the staff member working the meal and she said there is an orthopedic surgeon associated with a hospital nearby who works with children on bone lengthening procedures. The Homewood Suites has a contract with the hospital to provide lodging for these families during their stay. She said they get to watch these kids recover and over months get to know them and their families.

The dining room was fun. The kids all seemed to know one another and talked and played. Families chatted. The room was full of a dull roar of conversation. As I returned to my room, I talked with a family on the elevator. They have been coming for about a year and their daughter will need at least one more surgery, possibly two, but is looking forward to her legs being the same length and being able to walk independently.

Night Shift

This week I had the wonderful experience of missing a night in a bed. I had to fly from Seattle, Washington to West Palm Beach, Florida between Tuesday at 5 PM and Thursday at 8 AM. The best choice seemed to be to take the Red Eye at 11:55 on Tuesday night, arriving in Florida around 11 AM on Wednesday.

I had time to kill Tuesday evening, since I left the nursing home at 5 PM and didn't need to be at the airport until 10 or so. I went to a movie. I saw Men In Black III, which was pretty good. I liked watching Josh Brolin playing Tommy Lee Jones. I also had Buttered Popcorn and a bottle of water. I then went shopping for a while. I still ended up at the airport by 8 PM.

I sat, read, and ate some ice cream. The plane loaded on time and I was upgraded to first class, for which I was very happy. The seats really are more comfortable and my plan was to sleep. When I finally arrived in West Palm Beach I felt like I had worked a night shift! I drove around for about an hour including driving down the coastal highway.

The hotel was very nice to let me check in shortly before 1 PM and I donned my PJ's and got some sleep!

The Temple Grounds

The temple grounds cover 10 acres with lots of history and LOTS of flowers. The first place I saw was The Beehive House. It was Brigham Young's first residence, built in the 1850's

The Loin House was was later built as the resident of Brigham Young and his family. They lived here from 1857 until his death in 1877.

This is the Lion atop the entrance, from which the name is derived.

Throughout the grounds are many statues. This is just two of many.

Across the street from the Temple Square is the Brigham Young Park.

 The rest of these pictures are of the Flowers. They were absolutely beautiful, everywhere you looked. The season there is a little behind Missouri, as the tulips were still in full bloom. In Missouri the tulips were done weeks ago!

Salt Lake City Temple

This week I am in Salt Lake City, Utah. The new Kansas City Temple was recently completed and Hillary and I were able to tour it before it was dedicated. Once the dedication ceremony was held on May 6, the general people would no longer be allowed to enter. I decided that since I was close to the original Temple I should go see. I thought it would be in a scenic area, but found it in the center of downtown Salt Lake City. The temple square is 10 acres and the grounds are amazing. I didn't think about the fact that the temple was built prior to 1900 (It was dedicated in 1893) and at that point in time it was probably out by itself. I took several pictures, which follow.

I was there in the evening and was frustrated by the sun in my picture, but once I saw them I decided that I liked the sun shinning behind.

Marriages are held in the temple as the bride and groom are 'sealed' together for all eternity. Family must be Mormon to be able to attend the ceremony, since only Mormon's in good standing can enter the temple. It must have been a day for weddings as there were several couples on the grounds with families taking pictures.

Apple Blossom Parade

Saturday morning I took Mira and Griffin to the Apple Blossom Parade. I think it was their first parade and they really weren't sure what to expect. But once it finally started they quickly figured out how to scramble for candy. The pictures speak for themselves! 

This will probably need to be an annual event!!

World War II

I recently arrived at Midway airport in Chicago around 10PM and as I walked up the concourse to the exit I could see a crowd of people. When I finally got closer, I could see a military made aisle with soldiers in dress uniforms and flags lining the sides. Initially I thought it was probably going to be a coffin but decided that wouldn't come through the passenger gates and down the concourse.

This is what I saw. 

At the far left of this picture you can see a gentleman in a wheelchair shaking hands. It was WWII veterans returning from a Day in Washington DC to visit the war Memorials.  The welcome home was amazing!

This is just one on many school groups with banners and I don't know how many bands!

I talked to this veteran. He had tears in his eyes and said it was a 'wonderful day'. They left Chicago at 4:30 AM! I had tears running down my checks!!

I had been tired and cranky about getting in so late and having to drive an hour to the hotel, but that really perked me up!! 

A Day in Sacramento

This week I am in Sacramento working with a colleague. What should have been four days, sending me home on Thursday night, ended up being five. My colleague had to take a quick trip to Phoenix to speak at a convention on Wednesday. We worked Monday and Tuesday at one nursing home, she was gone on Wednesday and we will work Thursday and Friday at a different nursing home.

As a result, I had a day in the middle of the week to myself. I decided to be a tourist and go to downtown Sacramento. I stated off by trying to find the Governor's mansion where Arnold had lived. I actually found the historical Governor's Mansion Museum.

From there I drove to the California Capital Grounds and began an LONG walk. The grounds cover about four square city block and are beautiful!! The first garden I came across was the Cactus Garden.

From there I saw the Viet Nam Memorial for California servicemen who died or became missing in Viet Nam.

I was standing in the middle of the Memorial when I heard a voice and jumped. The voice came from another visitor, but I initially thought the Memorial was talking!!

From there I walked though out the grounds and finally arrived at the Capital Building. This is the California Governors Office and is well protected. I do not recall the Missouri Governor having such protection, but I don't think I have been there since 9/11.

A view of the California Capital Building.

After walking for about an hour in sandals, my feet and legs were tired!! I returned to the car and decided I was tired and wanted to go back to the hotel. The drive led me through streets with signs that kept pointing to 'Old Sacramento'. Since it was on the way, and I really had nothing else to do, I decide to check it out.

I'm glad I did.

It was an obvious tourist area and numerous troops of school children were there. The sidewalks were wooden and the shop signs designed in an 'Old Sacramento' language.

What I didn't expect to find was the Pony Express! I guess I should have. Being a St. Joseph person, it never occurred to me that there was somewhere else that was part of the Pony Express story. For some reason, they think it started there!

Here is the Pony Express Memorial, Sacramento style. Looks familiar, doesn't it?

By now my feet were totally tired and I was hungry. I found a cute little restaurant with outdoor seating.

Check out my lunch. This is the Vegetable Panini and it was very good. I couldn't eat the whole thing!!

All in all, a great day.

Tomorrow it is back to work.

Fast Trip

I was home until Wednesday morning. Hillary, Charlie and I toured the new Mormon Temple in Kansas City on Tuesday. It was a beautiful building, but not at all what I expected. I thought I would see a great big sanctuary for worship. It is actually three stories of little rooms for study and ceremonies.

I left KC at 6 AM on Wednesday, after waking to my whining cat at 3:30 AM. I left home a little after 4:30 and about a mile from the house realized that I didn't have a coat, but decided I didn't have time to go back and it surely couldn't be that cold.

I arrived in Sacramento at 9:45 AM and was picked up by my colleague to drive to Auburn, which is north of Sacramento. It was overcast and by the time we got to the nursing home it wasa raining and has continued to rain the whole time. This morning it was absolutely pouring and I made Monica drive up to the door to pick me up. She has a coat!

Auburn is an old California town. We worked until 6 last night and then started hunting for a place to eat. We wandered to the downtown and found a renovated area with trendy shops and eating places. We picked a cute little restaurant that had an acoustical guitar player and interesting food. I had a portabella mushroom sandwich and homemade potato chips. Monica had a Blue cheese Burger and zucchini french fries. By this time it is 10 PM Central Time and I have been awake way too long. I didn't even turn the TV on. Just snuggled down and went to sleep.

I head back to KC tonight and will be home around 1 AM. I hope is isn't TOO cold.

Arizona

I left Missouri around noon on Monday after a very warm week-end and arrived in Phoenix to cool breezes. Who would ever have thought one would need to go to Arizona to cool off?

My frustration here is that I never can figure out the Television schedule. Arizona is Mountain Time in the winter and Pacific Time in the summer. This is the only state that does not participate in daylight savings time. I made it to Yuma on Monday at 6:55 PM. I thought they would be on California time and the Dancing with the Stars would start at 8PM. I quickly changed to work out clothes with a plan to head to the exercise room, but decided to turn on the TV and make sure the timing was correct. Once I clicked on ABC I discovered my show was starting! Soooo, I reverted to PJ's and settled in.

Since I was awake by 5:30 the next morning, I was able to head to the treadmill and begin an exercise plan that I hope will keep me a bit more agile. Over the past couple of years I have been too satisfied to stay in the hotel room watching TV and surfing the Internet.

I am in Lake Havasu City, AZ today. To eliminate the need the change hotels every day, I decided to stay here two nights, arise early in the AM, and drive the 1 1/2 hours to Kingman in the morning. Thus, I was able to complete my walk/run this evening and have time to kick back and relax.

I really like the Arizona nursing homes. These buildings were the beginning of a new stage of my life. In 2005, when one stage or my life was ending, I was offered the opportunity to begin a new adventure. From there I established networks and friendships and polished my skills to allow me to move forward to a career that I had previously thought would only be a dream. That I am again allowed to interact with these people is a blessing that never ceases to amaze me.

Delay, Delay

Since March 12, I returned from Arizona and spent a week in Michigan in 90 degree weather. What a crazy winter and spring. I can't believe my daffodils are done, and the tulips are in full bloom. What will happen next?

I am in Florida this week and the weather is in the upper 70's and lower 80's. Much nicer than the midwest.

This Monday I was scheduled to leave Kansas City at 10:30. I receive a call from Delta around 8 telling me I would be delayed until 11:30, which would impact my connection in Atlanta. I finally left Kansas City at 1:00 PM with a planned connection in Atlanta to leave at 4. I made the connection with minute to spare, but then sat and waited another hours. I finally arrived in Florida at 6:30 instead of the planned 4:00. I was able to read an entire book with time for cat naps through out the trip. By the time I got my luggage and the car and drove to the hotel, I barely made it in time for Dancing with the Stars.

Right now I am watching the results show.

Week-end Adventure

I have four visits every month in Arizona. I try to schedule them over a week-end and drive into LA to visit Marian on Saturday and Sunday. This month it worked.

I left Lake Havasu on Friday night and arrived on Coldwater Canyon around 8:30 PM. On Saturday we were up early. Marian left at 7:30 to have lab drawn while I stayed in bed with my computer and worked on my expense report. By 11 AM we were headed to Staples to fax my expenses and start our day. We stopped at a Farmers Market for some chips and mango salsa. Then to Staples and lunch.

We were finished with lunch by noon and we had decided on a movie which didn't start until 1:20 pm. I wanted to check out the thrift stores, but the one we tried was closed!!!

The only thing wrong with the movie was that I was too full to eat popcorn!! We saw 'The Artist' which I had previously seen, but had fallen asleep during some of the pivotal scenes, so was glad to have the opportunity to try again.

After the movie we rented 'Ides of March' and 'The Bridesmaids' and went home. Marian baked cookies, I did laundry and we tried to watch the movies, but had to give up and go to bed before finishing The Bridesmaids because we kept falling asleep.

On Sunday morning we finished 'The Bridesmaids', baked some cookie bars, crocheted, learned to embroidery, had lunch at the local Mexican place, packed and by 1:30 I was headed back to Arizona.

Tales from a chart

In the course of my job responsibilities I read LOTS of charts. Some are more entertaining than others. While I was in Montana I found this documentation in a chart. (The initials and places have been changed to protect the names of the innocent.)

"C.M. states his wife does come to visit. She would come more often if she was able to fix her car.
C.M. states he would like to live near San Luis Rio on a ranch. He reports that he has a girlfriend in San Luis Ris and another in Mexicali and would like the oppoprtunity to see them also. "

Hmmmmmm....... How do you care plan that?

Long Day of Travel

This morning at 5:30 I left my cozy house in Gladstone for the airport where I started a long day of travel to Montana. I flew from KC to Los Angeles. Fortunately I was upgraded to first class and had a nice breakfast of cereal, fruit and a muffin, then a nice nap.


From Los Angeles I flew to Salt Lake City, NOT first class, but is was a shorter flight. The landing in Salt Lake was pretty bumpy and when I arrive at the gate and hastened to the gate to leave for Kalispel I was worried that I might be late.

At the gate to Kalispel there were many people gathered around the attendant. I arrived at the end of the announcement when they were asking for one person to agree to take a later flight due a weight issue related to needing to take on more fuel. No one was volunteering, so some fellow with a pet in a carry on crate was chosen. I stayed quiet and hoped for the best because I really didn't want to arrive at Kalispel at midnight. At the end, some very nice man volunteered to stay, so the man and the pet got to leave. We finally started boarding and no one had said my name, so I headed through the gate. The PA was still talking about delays and I was still unsure about what was going on, so I asked these people standing next to me. The rest of the story was that they anticipated bad weather at Kalispel and might need to divert us to a different airport, then bus us to Kalispel.

The flight to Kalispel was smooth and the landing was gentle....no bumps! SO after nine hours of travel, I was on the ground in Montana. The weather was beautiful. Bright blue sky, crisp air and a only a dusting of snow around.

On Thursday it snowed off and on. I told the staff I appreciated being able to watch the snow, since we hadn't had any in KC this winter.

Raleigh

This week I was able to schedule a client in Raleigh, NC and include a visit with Molly and Ben. Wednesday evening we had a lentil soup with carrots that was very tastey.

Thursday we went to an Ethopian restaurant where we ate with our hands. No untensils were provided. The food items were served on a spongy like bread surface. The glob at the top is another folded spongey bread. The method is to tear off hunks of the spongy bread and scoop up food with the bread. It was an interesting consistency, but the process was efficient and the food was good.






Today I received an e-mail from the client in Floriday scheduled for Monday and Tuesday, requesting that I delay their visits due to some staffing issues at the facility. My first inclination was to say that the travel was booked and they would be charged for the visits whether I came or not. Then I realized I had an option.

The assessment nurse at the building in Raleigh had severed employment on Tuesday. My assignment had been to provide education to her on Friday, but instead I did assessments to keep them current with payment. I offered to come back on Monday and work ahead so they would not be in non-compliance and have some breathing room until the 'back-up' assessment nurse returns from maternity leave on March 1. It all worked out and I will stay in Raleigh until Tuesday morning. Molly and Ben are THRILLED!

This and That

Since January 18th?

Finished the week in New Orleans and the consultant meeting. Glad that's done for another year.

The next week was in Florida. The Hampton there irritated me by putting me in a handicapped room and telling me I had requested it. I would NEVER request a handicapped room. That particular hotel is always a bit irritating for differing reasons each visit. I am looking for another place to stay.

Last week I worked from home. I spent eleven nights sleeping in my very own bed!! Make that 10. The night Mira stayed all night she wanted to sleep on the hide-a-bed in the living room. That was pretty tough on my back! When Griffin stayed all night we slept in my wonderful bed with the great mattress. I moved the DVD player from the play room into my bedroom thinking he would fall asleep watching Toy Story. Not so. I dozed off and on, but he stayed awake for the whole movie, then wanted me to change the DVD and watch Thomas. Not to happen.... I told him it was time to sleep and turned off the TV. He was asleep in minutes.

I finished two scrub tops for Hillary. We had a size problem going on, but it seems to have resolved since I have my sewing machine back. Who would have thought the sewing machine could make a difference in the size of the garment.

The only thing I should have gotten done and didn't, was scrubbing the kitchen floor, but alas, that just never became the priority.

This week I am in Arizona. I flew into Las Vegas and drove five hours to Yuma, then two days later I drove four hours to Kingman. Tomorrow I will drive 1 1/2 hours back to Las Vegas and go home. I kept telling myself, during the LONG drive that it is no further than from Albany to Tablerock Lake. I have had good books to listen to and the weather is great. When I walked into the nursing home in Yuma on Tuesday morning I could smell the newly mown grass!!

Annual Meeting

I know I haven't been a very good blogger recently!! AND I am not even promising to try to do better.

This week I am in New Orleans at the annual meeting for consultants. The past five years the meeting has been in Las Vegas. Not sure why we have changed, but the hotel is comfortable, the food is good, and the service as been commendable. We are at a Hilton right on the river and last night I spent some time walking through the River Walk which consists of 140 shops of T-shirts that say New Orleans in a variety of ways.

Tonight was the employee banquet. I won for the most new business referrals. The fifth year in which I have won an award. I have to thank my former employer for making this happen. Most of the new business was from the company I worked for before Polaris. They have decided to contract with Polaris for Medicare consultation since I wouldn't leave Polaris and go back to work for them. We have a new division....interim assessment nurses. That just may be my retirement job.

I head home Friday. Most of the next few weeks will be spent in the southern part of the country....Florida, Arizona, North Carolina. That would be great if we were actually having winter weather in Kansas City!