Nana's Toy Box: July 2009

A Busy Week

Well... I attended hospital orientation this past week for two days and I have to tell you, I am very impressed with my very community minded hospital. It spends an incredible amount of money on community outreach programs and it treats all patients with dignity whether they are a CEO or homeless. I am so in the right hospital! I found out Tuesday after orientation that I was actually scheduled to orient in the ER on Thursday and Friday; so much for getting some projects completed before I started work! I had planned on using the rest of the week to accomplish quite a but I have on my to do list, but that was not to be the case. Instead, I worked two 12 hour shifts, learned as much as I could, and dragged by butt out of bed at 0530 in the morning to report to work on time. I am a night shift person, mornings are not my thing, ugh. I have to do one more week (three 12 hour shifts) on days and then will go to nights, thank goodness! I have to say, I love my new ER and my new hospital, oh dark thirty or not! Yesterday I spent the better part of the day in my jammies, I played on the sewing machine, read, piddled around, and refreshed myself. I did line the felted purse Tabetha made and asked me to do something with. My machine had a fit trying to sew through two layers of knitting so I ended up sewing her side pockets on by hand but the lining (complete with a split pocket) came out quite good. I love the fabric I chose, the green in it is perfect and the glittery stitching adds just the right something!

Mark was given two VIP tickets to the county fair so we went today. VIP parking, lunch with the Board of Directors, and box seats to the horse races. Another free day of wonderful entertainment in sunny northern California! We spent not a dime today. We walked the fair and I was so thrilled to find it was a real county fair, livestock, jams and jellies, quilts, entertainment, crafts, and ribbons, lots of winners! There was a baby cow born just before we arrived at the livestock barn and mama was still cleaning the little one off when we saw it. We watched one horse race, something I have never seen before, and of course, it was the one race a horse got hurt on the back stretch. I was so busy worrying about the horse and jockey, I missed the entire rest of the race!

While we were at the fair, we did a toy drop for the Toy Society and we were like mother hens watching to see if anyone picked it up. We laughed at the people who were so totally oblivious to their surroundings that they walked past the stuffie, sometimes several times, without seeing it. One man picked it up, read the very clear TAKE ME HOME tag and put it back on the bench. A letter is included in the bag clearing explaining the concept, but maybe in these days and times, not everyone is trusting enough to accept a random act of kindness in the form of a cute stuffie! We're still deciding where the next drop will happen, but I know some will find their way into various parts of the hospital!

Transition Time

Well, its official, I got offered the job I wanted and now I need to transition into going back to work, and back to work at night! I have thoroughly enjoyed the past 3 1/2 months of not working but it's time and I found a hospital and ER that I believe will fit me perfectly. I start hospital orientation tomorrow and it will run for three days this week. Then it will be time to orient in the ER and get back to what I love, ER nursing.
I spent the week sewing; two custom babies are in the works, a dress for Sophie completed, an outfit for Ayla completed, and a custom order for a dress completed, packaged and ready to mail. I also have been working on baby gifts since Mark will have 4 coasties having (or wives having in some cases) babies, (one was born Friday morning, 3 more to go). I decided to make each a set of embroidered personalized blanket, an embroidered onsie, and a burp pad, of course, embroidered!

Sophie's Dress. A tweaked "pillowcase dress". One, its not made from a pillowcase, and two, I didn't like the standard ribbon straps nor the way the arm holes are normally done on them, so I reinvented it to suit my needs.

Ayla's outfit. The top buttons in the back, capri's for the bottoms!

The custom order dress I completed this week. Someone saw pictures of the grandbabies in their frog dresses and asked Tabetha where she got them, the rest if history. Yep, same fabric I used for Ayla's outfit!

Friday night music at the waterfront was once again incredibly fun! The band played cajun blues and man, that fiddler was totally awesome! Sorry about the video being sideways... I'm learning!

We went to San Fransisco yesterday to attend the Renegade Fair, 200 crafters from all over the country had booths. Too many booths of jewelry and of TShirts for me, but we did see some nice stuff! It was a thrill seeing some of the craft bloggers that I follow religiously, one of my favorites: Inside a Black Apple . We went to the movies last night, complete with popcorn! A splurge for sure during our self imposed year of frugality! But it was a nice way to end the day.

Catch Up

Another wonderful week in northern California ends and I have to admit, I do love this place! I love our town, I love the weather, I love the scenery, the fruit, the people, I guess just about everything! I had my job interview this week and it went well enough the nurse manager asked me to come back the next morning to interview with the night crew, since that's the slot I want. I dealt with severe panic but all went well and I came out of the morning interview deciding I was correct, this was the hospital for me. The nurse recruiter called me later in the day and told me if I was interested in the job, she would start on the background check, checking my work experience, etc. When that is done, she will call with an official offer. Once I shared the news with my east coast friends, their initial question was HOW MUCH IS THE PAY THERE? I'm sure it varies from hospital to hospital, some are union and some aren't and from area to area, but overall, my opinion is the west coast values their nurses more than the east coast, or so that's my experience. But, you say, the cost of living is so much greater on the west coast. I disagree. I suppose it, again, depends on the area you choose to live and the lifestyle you choose to participate in. Housing on the eastern shore of Virginia was so out of reach for the working folks, they aren't losing homes to foreclosure, they couldn't afford them to start with! Yes, gas is much more expensive here but I don't have to drive 30 minutes to the grocery store, or an hour to Walmart, or an hour and a half to the movies! Everything I could ever want or need is within a 15 minute drive! And we have mass transit! Some food items are more, some are less, the choices are greater, and the produce is out of this world! Enough of that!
We braved the heat and the crowd of 750,000 people to attend the Pride Parade in San Francisco a couple weekends ago, and it was a blast, sunburn aside. Last weekend we went to the waterfront in Suisun for their July 4th festival and chuckled at the people staking their claim to plots of land early in the morning to ensure their seating for the fireworks that night! Made me kind of worried that it would be a madhouse and it was! Oh it was wonderful! We went at the last possible minute, parked a few blocks away and hoofed it to the waterfront. We found a patch of grass, spread our blanket and discovered we had front row seats to one of the best firework displays I've ever seen! The crowd was unbelievable and everyone ooo'd and ahhh'd to my delight!

Last night we ventured back to the waterfront and watched an awesome Salsa Band. I might mention that the event was free! Next Friday I'm packing dinner in the cooler and we'll enjoy a different type of band. I think Mark enjoyed people watching as much as he did the music. Sunday afternoons, the town sponsors a Jazz series on the waterfront and while neither of us know anything about Jazz, we'll check them out tomorrow.
Have I mentioned that I love our town? LOL! I went to the library Friday and had a wonderful conversation with another patron. The lady was surfing the shelf I needed a book from and I couldn't help but glance at what she was looking at. Ok, I admit, I'm just flat out nosey. I commented that I had read the book she was considering and that led to a lengthy discusion of our favorite authors, types of books, the area, and why I had a southern accent, ugh. I call North Carolina home and I guess after 20+ years of living there, a southern accent is inevitable but I didnt realize that it was so, well, noticiable! I guess it is. Feeling self conscious about my accent aside, it was great talking to this lady; maybe I didnt realize that I might actually be lonely when Mark is at work!
Today we went to a Home and Garden and Craft show at the Senior Center in our neighbor town of Fairfield and while we strolled through the crafts, no babies (add to the consider for next year if we're here list) my intention was to visit the master gardeners who were set up. They were awesome answering my questions about planting an herb garden and I can't wait to start. I even left with some free cuttings of plants they were giving away, a jade plant that they assured me would "grow like crazy", some iris's for the yard, and a little chicken or hen or something like that, again, that I could not kill! Okay, so they too, commented on my southern accent!
When we first filled out our wishlist last year, I picked Vallejo and Mark picked Tahoe. Obviously, I won! We soon discovered that Vallejo's claim to fame was the Zodiac Killer, well, that and the city filing bankruptcy. We made the right decision staying out of that area and living in Suisun, I think. I really do love our town!

Gotta Love these Babies!

超可愛BB - Roller Babies @ Yahoo! Video

These little tots remind me of the dancing baby that was made popular by Allie McBeal!

A Baby Making Week

I spent a considerable amount of time this week filling out applications online; although I do have an interview next week at the hospital I feel I would like the best. Hopefully, the interview will go well and I will be able to report that I am once again employed.
I also have been making babies all week, and am ready for Tabetha to stock them in the store. Hopefully, she will get them uploaded this weekend! She has been pretty busy designing knitting patterns; she has a book in mind for them and I am incredibly proud of her.
While I did quite a few custom orders for Christmas, we decided it was a good idea to offer some custom slots in the store. Deciding that, I made an assortment of babies so people can get an idea of hair color, sizes, etc. They sure do come to life as they get completed and I enjoy their personalities!