Supper

Tonight with some random protein crumbles and veggies I'm gonna make what Rob likes to call "Potatoes with Crack"

I got it from the Food Network. Which I love and get lot's of ideas and recipies from. This one is simple, but REALLY YUMMY!

Roasted Baby Potatoes with Rosemary

Recipe courtesy Rachael Ray (YAY for Rachael Ray!!)

2 pounds small potatoes, baby Yukon gold or red skin potatoes
6 cloves garlic, cracked away from skin
2 to 3 tablespoons extra-virgin olive oil, enough to just coat potatoes
2 tablespoons fresh rosemary leaves, chopped
Salt and freshly ground black pepper


Preheat oven to 450 degrees F.

Halve potatoes and place on a cookie sheet. Combine with cracked cloves of garlic. Coat potatoes and garlic with extra-virgin oil and season with rosemary, salt and pepper.

Place potatoes on center rack of oven and roast 20 minutes, until just tender.

TA DUM!!!!!!! Potatoes with crack!!!

YUMMY!!!

Since I'm feeling a bit cranky this morning....

I'll tell you a couple of very funny jokes I heard from an adorable 2 year old last night.

Knock, Knock
Who's there?
PINEAPPLE!!!!


Knock Knock
Who's there?
BROCCOLI!!!!

Knock Knock
Who's there?
SPRING ROLL!!!!

And that my friends, is very cute humor from a 2 year old. :)

TEE HEE!!

I have a Question...

... for anyone out there who is a nurse.

Do they teach you transfers in nursing school? How to get a patient safely in and out of bed? How to get from the bed to the chair and back? Even if the patient is a bit weak?

I thought it was taught. But from some of the nurses at the hospital, you wouldn't know it. They seem to think that patients can't get out of bed until PT sees them. Or if PT gets them up, then PT has to get them back. Reality Check.... we don't have the time to get patients in and out of bed for the nurses. It's bad enough that we're something like 40 evals behind. And I only notice this on some floors. Why do some nurses know how to get patients back to bed and others don't?

Anyway, I know I'm just complaining, but it's been a really busy and cranky day, and it makes me more cranky when I get calls to come ad get a patient back to bed because the nurse says she doesn't know how to.

I was just curious about learning safe transfers. I thought it was taught, but I suppose I could be wrong.

Any ideas?

GOOD MORNING!! :) :(

It's 6;10 AM according to Rob's computer, and it's Saturday morning and I'm getting ready for work. WORK. Yes, Yes, I know, WORK. Hospital calls.....

But complaining about working the weekend, getting up ealry instead of sleeping in a bit and going to shul I have done, and that wasn't the point of my BLOG early this morning.

Watercolors. My watercolor class is cancelled!!! George is ill and can't teach the class and if they can't find a substitute it's cancelled! EEEK! It would be stinky if the class was cancelled because I really enjoy it, but GEORGE!!! And I only know him through the class, so I can't go inquiring around, but still it's NOT COOL! I hope that he's ok. He's a great guy and a great teacher and I hope he's ok. I love my watercolors, class, it teaches me not to be a perfectionist, to let the watercolors take charge as they may, to bring balance to the perfectionistic and artistic/creative sides of me. To know not to have oto copy a painting exactly from the photo. To do sketches and value studies before starting a piece. (Those are hard for me) To know when a piece is done, and not to touch it lest you ruin it! George likes moderation. "Everything in Moderation Including Moderation!" he always says, and if you recieve emails from me you'll know that. And while I can watercolor on my own, it would still be nice to go to class and get instruction, and well, even if they find a sub, I hope George is ok.

And on that note, I must dash. 6:17 AM and I have to finish getting ready to leave in about 13 minutes. Have a good Saturday all! Be well George, I'm thinking about ya!

On My Day Off...

I had to go to work. Yes, I went to work. Not for pay, but to return a pager. I accidently took the 424 home with me last night. The 424 is the "in charge" pager, for PT/OT/Speech, though mostly PT, the one which the nurses, doctors, and case managers call when they need a patient seen, for discharge planning, for safety, because they want them seen.... RIGHT NOW!!!

And I forgot to take it off yesterday after work and I took it home. And since it's needed, and since it gets paged a million times a day, it couldn't be left for a day, so I had to return it. Oh well. A trip to work on my day off...

Although it wasn't that bad. It took longer to get there and back than it did to drop off the pager, even with the elevators stopping at every floor on the way upstairs. But it had to be done so I did it. It got me up and out early though.

So with my up and early out, I was productive. I got a haircut, well hair trim anyway, I did some errands, I went to the library, went to the gym, took a nap, read, relaxed, cooked tabouleh, and greenbean/bean salad and potato soup, and hard boiled eggs. :) So I had a productive and yet relaxing day off. :)

Days off are nice. Even if they mean you have to work the weekend. But days off are still nice. :)

Today

Today, Rob attacked me with SQUISHES before I left for work. YAY for Rob attacking me with SQUISHES!! I like that. Even if it makes it a bit hard to breathe.

Today, an old friend from college called me while I was driving to work to tell me that he was in the car in front of me. He looked back in his rear view mirror and saw me in the car behind him. HOW WEIRD!! I haven't spoken with him in AGES! Really strange and kinda cool.

Today, I stopped in the midst of climbing the stairs to go to see my next patient on the 10th floor and once again realized, HEY!!! This is WORK!!! They PAY me to do this! COOL!!!! I love that. Once again, in a random way I realize I'm so lucky to have a job I enjoy.

Today, I saw alllllll the burn patients on the unit except for one who isn't on program. (hand burn) Today, the Burn Unit is capital FULL. Which means today, the Burn Unit is CRAZY! Today, an older patient on the Burn Unit asked me if I had a hot date tonight, and if not, he would step in. :) How cute is he!?!?!

Today, there was WAY too much chocolate at the hospital. Today, I told myself I really need to control myself around chocolate, because today I realize how addicted to chocolate I am. BTW, if I eat equal amounts of dark and white chocolate, is that a balanced diet??

Today, One of the OT's found out she passed her boards, and now we have another OT! YAY! Can we get another PT too?? And she got flowers at work from her boyfriend because of it. How sickeningly sweet!

Today, the sunset was beautiful. And it shone in my eyes the WHOLE way home. But I wouldn't have had it any other way. I got to look upon a gorgeous pink and red and orange sky all the way home.

Today, I had a strange supper. Moroccan Carrot Salad on a sandwich with mayo. REALLY strange and yet YUMMY at the same time.

Today, I registered for the ABA Burn Conference in Chicago in May. YAY! A whole week of the Burn Conference. I didn't get into all of the symposia I wanted to because I'm registering a little late but it's ok. It'll be a great learning experience anyway, a ton of rehab stuff, AND it's all expenses paid. I just have to put it all on my card and they'll pay it back. TEE HEE!! So I registered for the conference and booked a flight. Didn't do the hotel yet, but I have to check and see who I'm rooming with and if she booked a room yet. I don't want to double book anything. But the cool thing is that I gave myself enough time the day before and the day after the conference to sightsee around Chicago. The conference starts early Tuesday morning so I'm leaving Monday morning and I have most of Monday to hang around. And then it ends late Friday night and I'm not leaving until Sunday so I have time Saturday to explore some more. :) TEE HEE!!! Anyone have any good sights to see in Chicago in May??

Today, it's been perty good so far. Yay for Today! Hopefully Tomorrow will be just as good.

Conversation Hearts

Well, it's Valentine's Day, and I don't get all happy-go-lucky and obsessive about it. (I don't even LIKE the day for various reasons) BUT, it means that it's time for conversation hearts to flood the candy dishes. Ya know, those icky-tasting, hard-sugar hearts with things written on them. I noticed them at the hospital today. They've changed since I was a kid, probably the last time I had some.

I remember them saying things like Be Mine, Love You, I'm yours, My Girl, or You're Sweet. These said You're Hot, Bad Boy, My Baby, and Email Me! Just slightly different sayings. And yet not so slight.I think that it's just another reminder that either I'm getting old, or kids today are maturing too fast and know WAY more than they should.

Maybe it's just me. Or... Maybe not. What do you think??

Speaking of Library Books...

I've been reading still. I finished my cadever book, and now I'm on to Wicked.

I really liked the cadevar book, it was interesting, and actually pretty funny. And it makes ya think. Although I think I'm taking it off of my wish list. One read is enough, I don't need to own it, I don't see myself reading it over and over again. If I really want to read it again, I can go back to the library. I'm enjoying Wicked. It's kinda cool to imagine the lives before the Wizard of Oz.

And I'm late to return my books.. and I still have 2 more. I think I was over ambitious this checkout, I took out 4 long books. Oh well, some late fees and renewels this week should fix it.

But YAY for the library! I've been using the library forever and ever. I'm a bookworm, love to get lost in a story. Although with all the books that Rob has in the apartment (about 1200-1300) why I go out to the library is beyond me.

Any recommendations for a good book to add to my list to read? Tee hee!

Reading and the Fonz

Did You know that when Fonzie got a library card on Happy Days, he said "There's a card out there for everyone!"
And then library card enrollment nationally went up 500%???

Now THAT'S power!!!

I love my Library card. I just hate the late fees, because I always forget to bring my books back on time. Oh well.

Anyways, YAY for the Fonz and Happy Days and Library cards!!!!

TGIF, TGINWTW, and TGIAS!!!!

In other words, Thank Goodness It's Friday, Thank Goodness I'm Not Working This Weekend, and Thank Goodness It's Almost Shabbat!!!!

Looking forward to Shabbat this weekend. I need the day of rest. It's been a looooong week. Not really bad, but I'm tired, and I'm looking forward to the rest/peace/joy of Shabbat. YAY for Shabbat!!!


Shabbat Shalom!!!!! Have a good one!

Superbowl Party and Bottle Caps

Last night Rob and I ventured into Da Bronx to Adam And Laurie's apartment and watched the Superbowl. (well, sort of watched anyway) With friends. It was a fun night. :) I got to see friends I don't often get to see because I live in Bumblef..., I got to watch commercials that cost $80,000 per second, I sort of watched football, I ate and ate food, YUMMY food, I got to play with a baby, I got a rose bush, and I read bottle caps. Read bottle caps???

Well some of the beer bottles had sayings inside of them . Kinda cute and kinda thought provoking. Here are some.

Humor is a Tumor when it becomes Rumor.

Don't Plunder the Wonder

Life is Better in a Warm Sweater.

Don't Yap when you Nap.

I thought they were interesting so I thought I'd share. I had a good night last night. And it was nice to be off today. :) Thanks Adam and Laurie!!!!

Yakko's World

For some odd reason, a few years ago I memorized a strange song. An Animaniacs song. Who???? The Warner Brothers, Yakko and Wakko, and their sister Dot. (She's CUTE!) A crazy WB cartoon that I LOVED in High School and still find rather amusing. Not totally meant for kids, but what cartoons really are? Anyway, I love their antics and the crazy things that they come out with, especially the songs. One of my favorites, was Yakko's World. And so I memorized it. It's not ENTIRELY accurate, but hey, I didn't write it, only memorized it. it's one of the strange things I can do. Quite a party trick!

The nations of the world, brought to you by Yakko Warner!

(To the tune of the Mexican Hat Dance)

United States, Canada, Mexico, Panama
Haiti, Jamaica, Peru,
Republic Dominican, Cuba, Carribean
Greenland, El Salvador too.

Puerto Rico, Columbia, Venezuela
Honduras, Guyana, and still,
Guatemala, Bolivia, then Argentina
And Ecuador, Chile, Brazil.

Costa Rica, Belize, Nicaragua, Bermuda
Bahamas, Tobago, San Juan,
Paraguay, Uruguay, Surinam
And French Guiana, Barbados, and Guam.

Norway, and Sweden, and Iceland, and Finland
And Germany now one piece,
Switzerland, Austria, Czechoslovakia
Italy, Turkey, and Greece.

Poland, Romania, Scotland, Albania
Ireland, Russia, Oman,
Bulgaria, Saudi Arabia
Hungary, Cyprus, Iraq, and Iran.

There's Syria, Lebanon, Israel, Jordan
Both Yemens, Kuwait, and Bahrain,
The Netherlands, Luxembourg, Belgium, and Portugal
France, England, Denmark, and Spain.

India, Pakistan, Burma, Afghanistan
Thailand, Nepal, and Bhutan,
Kampuchea, Malaysia, then Bangladesh (Asia)
And China, Korea, Japan.

Mongolia, Laos, and Tibet, Indonesia
The Philippine Islands, Taiwan,
Sri Lanka, New Guinea, Sumatra, New Zealand
Then Borneo, and Vietnam.

Tunisia, Morocco, Uganda, Angola
Zimbabwe, Djibouti, Botswana,
Mozambique, Zambia, Swaziland, Gambia
Guinea, Algeria, Ghana.

Burundi, Lesotho, and Malawi, Togo
The Spanish Sahara is gone,
Niger, Nigeria, Chad, and Liberia
Egypt, Benin, and Gabon.

Tanzania, Somalia, Kenya, and Mali
Sierra Leone, and Algiers,
Dahomey, Namibia, Senegal, Libya
Cameroon, Congo, Zaire.

Ethiopia, Guinea-Bissau, Madagascar
Rwanda, Mahore, and Cayman,
Hong Kong, Abu Dhabi, Qatar, Yugoslavia...

Crete, Mauritania

Then Transylviania,

Monaco, Liechtenstein
Malta, and Palestine,
Fiji, Australia, Sudan!!!

WHEW!!!!!!

SNOOD!

YAY FOR SNOOD!!!!!!!!!!!!!

I love this game. It is colorful and challenging and mindful yet mindless, and addicting and FUN! I started playing in college, and somehow I managed to keep it on my computer and still pass and graduate. I know many people who have had to forcibly take it off of their computers because of it's addictiveness and they were failing their classes. Sounds like I knew some dumb people. But I do not blame the people. I blame the game. It's THAT GOOD! Anyone who has ever played and become addicted will immediately understand.

Now I'm not a huge computer game type person. I never was big into Nintendo or Playstation or any of that stuff. I did have and still do have an original Nintendo system, and I never beat any of the games. I just played for fun. (Once in college my roommate had a Super Nintendo and I played Marioland and saved the whole game l and was like 5 boards from completing and winning the game. I had been playing ALL YEAR! And then it got deleted accidentally and I was pisses and I just gave up. I didn't have the heart to start all over.)

Anyway, once in awhile a game comes up, usually a puzzly type game, that addicts me. Like Tetris, or Collapse, or Endorfun, or SNOOD!!!

Snood has stayed on my computer and has had its phases of addiction. My senior year in college, my second year in PT school, post ankle surgery, studying for the boards, this week....

I think its complex simplicity is what makes it so addicting. I think its color and childishness is what makes it so appealing. There are these funny little faces called "Snoods" which make faces at you, a blue circle face that looks a bit like Grover, a light blue hairy square, a green square with rounded corners, a purple triangle with horns, a gray old face thing, a red frankenstein square circle, and a yellow six sided thing with sun glasses, all making faces and sticking out their tounges and smiling and laughing at you. They cover the screen in various patterns. You shoot the face in your space-age looking shooter at the block of faces above and try to get 3 in a row touching to make them disappear. You bounce them across walls and they always stick where you don't want them to, kinda like saran wrap. Every time you shoot a face there's a counter thing at the side that goes up. When the counter gets to the top, the ceiling of the screen lowers a notch. Your job is to get rid of all the "Snoods" on the screen without letting them drop down and touch the floor. There are colorfully patterened backgrounds that always change, different levels, puzzle games, and you can even create your own levels, if you register that is.

And that's SNOOD. I like it. And now that I have a BLOG I can BLOG about SNOOD!!! and spread the addiction. Luckily all I lose now is sleep when I play and not study time. :) But it's fun and keeps me quiet and occupied and out of trouble. And we ALL know how much trouble I need to be kept out of!! ;)

My Nose is Running Away...

...I guess I'd better go catch it.

Ha ha ha ha. Funny Funny. Ok, maybe not. It's hard to be witty when sick. I have a cold and my head is stuffy, and my nose is runny and my throat hurts and I'm tired and achy, and the skin around my nose is all raw. Fun Fun Fun!

Was miserable yesterday, thank goodness I was off. Missed work today, but I can't tomorrow. So I've been resting all day but I still feel all sniffly and not happy. Relatively minor in comparison to whats out there I guess but who likes to be sick in any capacity?

So I've been sleeping and reading my cadaver book and watching TV and movies and sleeping and blowing my nose and trying to drink lots of fluids.

Ok back to sleeping. I'm sleepy. Hopefully I'll feel betterer soon so I don't have to run and catch my nose while trying to get patients out of bed tomorrow. You wait right here, try not to fall, I'll be back in a second... That'll go over well at my annual review tomorrow afternoon.

Ok time to schluff. Byebye.

Wacky Mac

Kosher Mac and Cheese.

I love Wacky Mac. It brings childhood memories of boxed "artificial" mac and cheese to a kosher kitchen. And with fun shaped noodles too! Not that I don't love real and homemade mac and cheese, but who has time to make it so often? So I get the boxed kind for quick comfort pleasures on cranky evenings.

What makes regular "Kraft" or other brands Mac and Cheese unkosher? Rennet.

Cheese is made by coagulating milk to make curds which are then separated from the liquid, whey. The curds are then processed and matured to produce cheese. Milk is coagulated by the addition of rennet. The active ingredient of rennet is the enzyme, chymosin (also known as rennin). The usual source of rennet is the stomach of slaughtered newly-born calves.

Under Kashrut, Milk and Meat cannot be mixed. So putting an animal product into milk to make cheese is a BIG NO NO. Kosher cheese is made with vegetable, or microbial or artificially produced rennet, of course supervised by a Rabbi.

Anyway so Wacky Mac doen't have animal rennet and is supervised by a Rabbi so it is a Kosher produce found in the Kosher section of the supermarket.

So my question is this, why on a kosher product do they tell you to enhance the mac and cheese dinner to add ham or bacon to the product? Hmmmm, milk and meat? A kosher no no! Pork? Also Kosher a no no! Adding pork meat to cheese? A double kosher no no!! TREIF POLICE!!! HELP!! THE PIG IN THE DAIRY SINK IS WAVING TO ME AGAIN!!!

Scuse me. Long story.

Anyway, just one of those Kosher mysteries that I thought I'd BLOG about and share with the world.

Scrubs

I got to wear scrubs today! Well, scrub pants anyway. For half the day. Why you ask? I got pooped on, I reply. Yes, again. Part of the job I suppose. I stood a man up and SPLAT!!!! Out it came, and splashed. Onto my pants. You get the picture. I I got to wear scrubs while I washed my pants! Except there wasn't any detergent. So I used water in the washing machine. And I didn't bother to dry them because I wanted to really wash them when I got home. So I wore the scrubs home. I think I'm supposed to return them. Oh well.

These are the reasons that I think therapists should be allowed to wear scrubs on a daily basis. The blood and the pee and the poop! But we don't look professional with scrubs so they say. So why do doctors and nurses look professional in scrubs and we don't? I ask. No one can tell me why. Just that we don't so we can't. But I got the pleasure for this afternoon at least. :)

And that was my day. Nothing else interesting happened.
But YAY for scrubs!

Black and White Abstract Art

I know awhile ago when I posted up some of my Watercolors I said I'd post some of my Black and White Abstract Drawings.

I started doing these as doodlings in my notebooks when professors would drone on and on and on, or when they would get off on random tangents etc. They evolved into full page doodlings. Here are some of them.

This next one is something I learned how to do sometime in elementary school art class. I call it a "fingerprinting" drawing because it looks like the center shape is making a fingerprint ripple around the page. I've done this with names, phrases etc. This was one I have hanging in my bedroom at my parents house of my own name. :)

These next two with the pink ribbons I sold. Rob and I walked in the Avon Breast Cancer 3 Day Walk in 2003. I sold these to raise money, all proceeds went to the Avon Foundation . Which works to advance Breast Cancer Research and to bring education and treatment to those who otherwise couldn't offord or access it. It's really a great cause. And the walk was a lot of fun. One of the best parts of selling these drawings was that the person who bought them used them in an auction to raise $$$ for her Avon Walking. So in their making, they were able to give twice to eliminating Breast Cancer.

This last one was a wedding present for Adam and Laurie. :) YAY for Adam and Laurie! The pictures aren't great because of the lighting and the reflection of the frame, but the drawing is hearts and swirlies surrounding a center heart with the phrase Ani L'Dodi V'Dodi Li. I am My Beloveds, and My Beloved is Mine. That's part of Song of Songs and is a part of I thinkl the Ketubah (Marriage Contract) Those who know more can correct me or not, but either way it is a beautiful and commonly used phrase for weddings and marriage and love.

So that's some of the drawing art I do. Abstract, I find it hard to draw something "real" But pretty cool looking i their own right. Hope you enjoyed!

Hospital Beds are UNCOMFORTABLE!

Well, Camping out at the hospital left me with little sleep for the above reason.

It was fine, I got some supper, watched the news on the TV in the patient lounge on the rehab floor for a bit, went to my room on the pedi floor, read my latest library book. (Stiff; the Curious Lives of Human Cadevars)(Hey, it's interesting, funnily written and it was a NY Times Bestseller!)(Ok, yes I have an odd taste in reading sometimes) Anyway, so I read for a bit and went to sleep early.

Or tried to go to sleep early that is... I kept waking up ever couple of hours.

Rubber/plastic mattreses just don't do it for me. They crinkle and make noise when you move. And every time you roll over, the air in the mattress adjusts itself and the bed makes a lot of noise. You can unplug the bed, but then the mattress goes limpish and that's uncomfortable too. And there was an unhappy baby on the floor. :( Poor thing. So I didn't sleep much.

I sat at my window for awhile during my waking hours and watched the snow fall. That was nice. I like watching snow fall, as I BLOGged about the other day. And I got to watch the maintenance people attempt to plow the outside parts and exits/entrances of the parking lot. It was like watching Tonka trucks move around. :) I watched them for awhile, went back to sleep, woke up a couple of hours later and watched them some more, it looked like they hadn't done any plowing. It was kinda funny, but I also felt kinda bad, they were up all night just trying to keep up with the storm, keeping the lot and the streets around the hospital clear for ambulances etc.

Today the hospital was eerily quiet. It's always quiet on a Sunday, but it was quieter because a lot of people didn't make it in for their shifts because of the snow, and a lot of patients left early on Friday and Saturday morning because of the storm. Maybe it was busy on other floors, but it was quiet on Rehab and on Ortho. Which was a good thing for me, I didn't have to run around or be stressed and I was so tired that it helped to be able to move at a bit of a slower pace. We're still really behind, but I was the only therapist for the Acute Care side of the hospital so I only got to go to ortho today. I can only do what one person can do. So I spent my day making people with bilateral knee replacements, back surgery, and neck surgery walk up and down the hallways. :)

I left relatively on time, a bit early actually, and came home and took a nap because I was so tired.

And that was my weekend. I will thoroughly enjoy my day off tomorrow catching up on sleep. :)

Camping out at the Hospital

Well, it's 4:30 and I'm just finishing up at the hospital and I can't see out the window. It's snowing SO HARD!!! I live too far away (25 miles) to make it safely home and back at 7:30 in the morning in a blizzard, so I'm camping out here in the hospital. Not ideal, but betterer than getting stuck in my car and freezing, or getting into an accident. I called the administrative peoples this afternoon and explained my situation and they said I could stay and offered me a place to sleep etc.

The National Weather Service had this to say: (I highlighted and bolded the really interesting parts.)

... A BLIZZARD WARNING REMAINS IN EFFECT FOR THIS AFTERNOON THROUGH SUNDAY MORNING...
SNOW WILL MOVE IN LATE THIS MORNING. THE SNOW WILL BECOME VERY HEAVY LATE THIS AFTERNOON AND EVENING..AND MAY MIX WITH SLEET TONIGHT AS WARMER AIR MOVES IN ALOFT. TOTAL SNOW ACCUMULATIONS WILL BE 14 TO 21 INCHES BY SUNDAY EVENING. IN ADDITION TO THE SNOW... NORTHEAST WINDS WILL INCREASE THIS AFTERNOON... AND WILL BE QUITE GUSTY TONIGHT AND SUNDAY MORNING. WINDS MAY GUST UP TO 50 MPH LATE TONIGHT AND SUNDAY MORNING... ALLOWING VISIBILITIES TO DROP TO NEAR ZERO AT TIMES. THESE WINDS WILL RESULT IN SIGNIFICANT BLOWING AND DRIFTING OF SNOW AS WELL AS POWER OUTAGES. WIND CHILL VALUES WILL BE BELOW ZERO AT TIMES.
A BLIZZARD WARNING MEANS THAT SUSTAINED WIND SPEEDS OR FREQUENT GUSTS OF OVER 35 MPH ARE EXPECTED WITH CONSIDERABLE FALLING AND OR BLOWING AND DRIFTING SNOW. VISIBILITIES WILL BECOME POOR... WITH WHITEOUT CONDITIONS AT TIMES. THOSE VENTURING OUTDOORS MAY BECOME LOST OR DISORIENTED... SO PEOPLE IN THE WARNING AREA SHOULD STAY INDOORS.
ANY TRAVEL IS STRONGLY DISCOURAGED. IF YOU LEAVE THE SAFETY OF BEING INDOORS... YOU ARE PUTTING YOUR LIFE AT RISK.
THIS IS A LIFE-THREATENING WINTER WEATHER SITUATION! PREPARATIONS TO PROTECT LIFE AND PROPERTY SHOULD COMPLETED BY NOON TODAY!...

So to be on the safe side and not threaten my life I'll take the uncomfortable bed in the pediatric unit being offered to me. I'm glad I brought a change of clothes and a book etc. with me this morning.

I'm sure it'll be an interesting evening.... But I'm glad that the hospital cares about my safety enough to put me up for the night.

Snow

Mostly I dislike winter. The storms, and crazy drivers, and dirty muddy snow, and sandy streets, and salted sidewalks. I hate being cold.
But during the storm, while the snow is falling, there's something magical about it.

I love the snow. I love the cool brisk feeling of being outside while it's snowing. Of being cold but warm all at the same time. I love to bundle up and take walks in the storm. I especially love walking in the snow at night. I love to watch it falling, glittering in whatever lights there may be. I love how it crunches under my feet, I love the shimmering glisten of an undisturbed patch, like there's something secretly special hidden in it all. I love to watch the trees catch it and become coated in white like a frozen fairy forest.

I love the feeling of the snow falling onto my face, and how it looks on my jacket. I love to catch the flakes with my gloves, marvelling at the simplistic complexity of each small piece of wonderment. I love to look up at the sky and watch it floating gently downward at the earth, making things bright and shimmery.

I love walking in the snow at night. I love being out in the storm. I love the quiet peacefulness of it. Even in a city things seem so much more still. Not so many people are out there, all huddled in their homes. It's quiet and freeing, silent and loud all at the same time.

I say a bracha,
Baruch atah adoshem, elokeinu melekh ha-olam, oseh ma'aseh v'reishit. Praised are You, Lrd our Gd, King of the Universe, Source of Creation.

I stare in wonderment at the falling snow and I amazed at the beauty of the world, how perfect Gd has made it for us.

You only need to take the time to see the beauty in the simplistic.

I love snowstorms.