I am going to select three weekend seminar course to attend next semester that are one month apart so it's never two or three weekends in a row.
They are under the heading of Social Work or Psychology.
Each one runs from 2-9 pm on a Friday and then from 8 am till 5pm the next day, Saturday.
One credit each so I won't have to take a 16 week class.
Another perk: no homework or test.

Of the ones available to me, which three would you choose?
Don't worry... I will make the choice myself so I can blame no one but me if it doesn't work out...or the professor....or the early Saturday start time....or too much material... but I am interested to know where your interests would lead you.

They are:



Mind, Body, Spirit

Suicide

Chemical Dependency

Sex Offenders Treatment

Art Therapy

Social Work with the Elderly

Sexism

Spirituality

Grief & Loss Issues

Vernon was always proud of his masters degree in Chemical Engineering and his career with Conoco Phillips (sp?). But he did take such pleasure in making and selling jewelry professionally as his hobby. He has a room in his wing with his workbench and all his tools and machines. He can do little with them any more but his son Michael comes by for a few to five hours every Sunday and has learned to make jewelry. Michael promised his daughter Emma that he'd make something for her a year ago and he just finished the piece this past weekend.

Marcia and I were shopping on Sunday when Michael phoned and said he left the piece on Vernon's workbench and could we put it aside when we got home. I suggested he turn around, go back and get it or he may never see it again. Vernon loves jewelry and a health aide once showed him a ring he bought for his mother and within minutes it couldn't be found. It took me eight hours to locate it in the bottom of Vernon's workshop closet in a box where he usually keeps loose gems in individual containers. I told Michael he was running a similar risk.

Michael didn't go back and I did not find the jeweletic piece he made on the workbench. I spent two hours looking for it. I found fifteen gems in the pocket of Vernon's sweat pants, two oreo cookies wrapped in tissues on the bookshelf, my book on shihtzus in a hanging folder in his desk drawer, but no chain and pendant. To ask Vernon if he saw it or where he put it would be fruitless since he retains information for no more than fifteen seconds. I asked him if he'd like to help me look for a silver chain with or without something hanging from it. He said okay and seemed excited because he loves the idea of helping. But, alas, every 30 seconds or so he asked me what we were looking for as he rummaged through his boxes of jewelry pieces. After a total of three hours I gave up, Vernon went to bed and I planned to start searching anew Sunday morning.

Marcia got a message on her cell Sunday morning from Michael saying he was embarassed to say he found the necklace and pendant in his briefcase. I was at least glad that he got the message to us before I started searching again.

Michael and Marcia's Aunt Audrey (Vernon's sister) died two years ago with Alzheimer's and Vernon was diagnosed four years ago. Michael is especially worried and concerned that he may fall prey to the affliction. I hope this incident doesn't add fuel to his worry.

As we approach Halloween, the horror movies seem to appear on tv.

How do you feel about them?
Are you a big fan?
Do you steer away from them?

And can someone explain to me why some people really like to watch a bloody, scary horror film? I never could quite understand that.

COLUMBUS DAY

Is your place of business open or closed today?

Do you know any interesting tidbits about Christopher Columbus?

Do you have any feelings one way or the other about there being a holiday in his name?

Care to comment on any of the ((Quotations RE: Columbus)) below?..........

~~~But the fact that some geniuses were laughed at does not imply that all who are laughed at are geniuses. They laughed at Columbus, they laughed at Fulton, they laughed at the Wright brothers. But they also laughed at Bozo the Clown.
Carl Sagan (1934 - 1996)

~~~America had often been discovered before Columbus, but it had always been hushed up.
Oscar Wilde (1854 - 1900)

~~~If Columbus had an advisory committee he would probably still be at the dock.
Arthur Goldberg (1908 - 1990)

~~~What a pity, when Christopher Columbus discovered America, that he ever mentioned it.
Margot Asquith

~~~Was all this bloodshed and deceit - from Columbus to Cortes, Pizarro the Puritans - a necessity for the human race to progress from savagery to civilization? Was Morison right in burying the story of genocide inside a more important story of human progress? Perhaps a persuasive argument can be made - as it was made by Stalin when he killed pesants for industrial progress in the Soviet Union, as it was made by Churchill explaining the bombings of Dresden and Hamburg, and Truman explaining Hiroshima. But how can the judgement be made if the benefits and losses cannot be balanced because the losses are either unmentioned or mentioned quickly?
Howard Zinn

We don't have The Nobel Peace Prize to talk about every October (if I recall the every three year span correctly). So today's question will be about that.

Friends and Folks, I'm not asking for derogatory tones or argumentative ones. I would like to know the general opinion of President Barack Obama being awarded the Peace Prize. A sentence or two is fine. A paragraph or two is fine. I've heard so many opinions here in Oklahoma and on the news. I wonder what you think. I don't mind an opinion that differs with mine or with my other lj friends. I'm just putting in a request for no flame wars. But do tell.......

I am late in getting started on October posts.
I like to sometimes pick a theme for a month and use icons and posts that deal with it.
I guess in October we can use halloween, costumes, decorations, cemeteries, Stephen King, ghosts, horror movies, trick-or-treating, the autumn season, appple picking, haunted houses, hayrides, etc..

TODAY'S QUESTION:

What is your most memorable Halloween and why?

MY ANSWER:

My most memorable Halloween was when my sons and I started decorating our front lawn quite extensively. We made tombstones with neon painted poems on them, life size pumpkin men & skeletons hanging from the trees and from the house, life size coffins, baby ghosts and a six foot tall wooden spider that my then husband made that the neighborhood kids liked to climb on and sit on its legs. We had a ball putting it together and added to it each year.

I knew the bus driver who picked up school kids at the top of my driveway and she and I worked out an arrangement. After my sons and our neighbors got on the bus, the bus driver paused and told all the kids to look. Of course, oohs and aahs. Pat the driver said, "Let's beep and talk to Mrs. Moura." I walked out of the house looking straight ahead at the bus and said, "Yes?" All the occupants on the bus shouted about the decorations. Then I looked to the side of me aghast. I had no idea how all this stuff got there and I told the children that. My sons never said a word and went along with it. From that day on we never put the decorations up till after dark on Sept. 30th and I never took them down until 11pm on Halloween night so no one ever saw the display going up or coming down. I imagine the cherubs on the bus figured it out at some point!

I heard something this past weekend that still has me shaking my head.

We had visitors: Vernon's 73 yr old brother Leroy from Georgia with his wife Yvonne,
Vernon's 78 yr old brother Aaron with his wife Martha who live here in Tulsa.
Vernon's son, Michael who is his primary physician also.
Vernon's granddaughter Emma who is a nurse.

I made myself scarce since I had a lot of reading to do for Monday classes.
I did meet up with Aaron in the kitchen.
Vernon has been living here for over three years now and his brother Aaron who is about five miles away has visited him a total of three times.
He told me he hasn't visited his brother a lot because he has always felt a large resentment towards him because Vernon is the one "with the brains" with two Masters degrees and a PhD in chemical engineering. Aaron said his whole life his parents compared him to Vernon and he always felt so inferior and angry.

Vernon is sitting in the family room with the company. In diapers, not knowing who any of the visitors are (Vernon insists Aaron cannot be his brother because Aaron was his father's name and there can't be two people with the same name in one family) except Leroy, not recalling any of the childhood or adult stories being told, his occasional attempts at concentrating are evident in his face as well as the looks of disappointment and confusion. If he tries to add to the conversation, few can understand him since he speaks so low and slurs his speech. Everyone is speaking slowly and trying to include him and make him feel cheerful.

Back in the kitchen, where it's just me and Aaron, Aaron continues to tell me that he bumped into Michael and heard how Vernon is deteriorating. THAT is why he came to visit. He had to see it for himself. He is so pleased to see Vernon in his alzheimic state. He said that "God evens things out" and now it is payback time for all the years of feeling inferior and less worthwhile than Vernon. Seeing Vernon like he is now brings him a feeling of satisfaction.

I did not want to start any sort of argument so all I said was that it was probably best not to get into a discussion of God. I did say that we are all worthy of dignity and respect and if his parents didn't give it to him, he didn't have to let resentment build up for them or Vernon. THEY were the ignorant ones and it's not too late for him to let go of the ressentment, not because Vernon is in the last stages of Alzheimers but because forgiving his parents is best for him and wanting something bad for Vernon is NOT best for him. His reply was, "Maybe."

I guess a "maybe" is better than a "no way."

Our next door neighbors, Ruth and Bud, are in their late 70's. They are planning to sell their house and move to Illinois to be near their "good children" and get away from the "deadbeat children." Ruth developed a blood clot problem along with respiratory issues and ended up in the hospital and a week later went to a nursing home. Bud had a stroke and ended up in the same two places respectively.

We saw their sons and daughters working in the house and moving things out in pick up trucks, mini-vans, etc.. They were moving things bit by bit to Illinois storage. About two weeks ago we saw a large moving van in front of their house moving the large pieces out.

Ruth and Bud's cleaning woman had planned to buy the house. She told them she wanted to measure for carpeting. One of their sons gave her the key to the house. It appears that her family rented the moving van and cleared them out. The cleaning lady claims to have no idea what happened and says she had no part in it. There were no signs of breaking and entering.

This brings to mind an episode from "Roseanne" where a moving van pulls up in front of the neighbor's house and clears them out and Roseanne watched, saying nothing. If it hadn't been for the fact that we know Ruth and Bud are moving and saw the offspring moving things out, we would have investigated, especially with Ruth and Bud both in the nursing home. The sons and daughters understood why we didn't call the police.
I hope Ruth and Bud will be okay with fact that their children did not report it to the police and have no intention of trying to find the culprits or their parents' possessions. They have "too much to do."

My neighbor Jerry is head of the Republican Committee of Oklahoma. Any time I put an Obama sign on my front lawn he would move his garbage cans there or McCain signs to block the view. I asked him if he felt people would be getting ready to cast their vote and would ask themselves, "Who had the most signs?" or "Which political team has the vagina as part of it?" because I myself put up signs to show my support and how proud I am to live in a country of political freedom with freedom of expression. He said nothing and walked away. Our health aide Scott put the Obama signs up a tree trunk. The next day Jerry rang our bell and gave us a bag or oranges & grapfruits and said, "Just because we see things differently politically doesn't mean we can't be friendly neighbors." We've gotten along very well every since.

I did stop being friendly with the neighbors on the other side of us a few months after Election Day. All through the election campaign Ruth would send us many anti-Obama emails. None were flattering. None were civil. I always replied by asking her to remove me from her anti-Obama email list and if she would notice, I never sent anything rude about her candidate. She continued. After the election she sent an email that near the end said, "If you voted for Obama, thanks you asshole." I replied and mentioned that she was participating in asshole behavior that I thought was definitely beneath her. She wrote back and said I am a not nice person for calling her the A word. "Ruth, re-read the email you orignially sent and see who called who the A word. Pot meet kettle." She had sent the email without even reading it. She went in the hospital a few weeks after and is still there. She calls me every so often to ask if I'll check if her doors are locked or the timers are turning the lights on and off and I go and do it.

Marcia was telling me about a veterinarian page that lists animals that are lost. She started reading the printout aloud.

Lost in June: six month old pug - fawn colored - no tag or micro chip - lost in the vicinity of (location inserted here)- is named Lucky.

When Marcia said "Lucky" our newly rescued one yr old fawn colored pug jerked his head around to look at her.
I started to cry. Marcia asked why I was crying. Adam replied, "Because she loves him and doesn't want to give him away."
Marcia claimed she has no intention of returning him to someone who loses him.
I told her it could happen to anyone. And if they placed the lost notice with the vets, they must care. If I lost Abigail, I would want her returned.
The location listed was about eight miles away and the idea of a puppy traveling that far on busy roads didn't seem possible. But stranger things have happened.
I asked Marcia is she had no intention of returning the dog, then why did she look up the site?
She said because she was curious.
I had an image in my head of someone crying their eyes out because they hadn't seen their pup in so long.

I got in touch with the site the next day. The piece of info they did not publish so they'd have a way of identifying the animal was: he had not been fixed. So unless Lucky ran into a butcher on the way here, the darling puppy we rescued from the creek and woods across the street is Perry Gabriel....ours.

I am starting to feel like I live in medical offices.
Bit of a busy week in that department.

I returned to the orthopaedic surgeon for three more shots of steroids into my back.
The next day I was off to the cardiologist and had a Thalium stress test.
The results of that showed not 100% oxygen getting to all parts of my heart.
So another day later I was back there getting a cat scan of my heart.
I am allergic to the iodine dye so I had to be pre-medicated with steroids.

Got a call from the cardiologist at 6 a.m. the next morning to be told that I have 25% blockage of my cardiac arteries. So he wants me in on Oct. 6th for god only knows what sort of test.

Today I had a cervical biopsy and that's all I'm gonna say on that one.

Tomorrow I see the liver specialist to have a review of my meds for the damaged liver that just keeps producing cholesterol no matter what I do or what I eat. My last reading was 1800 cholesterol so we need to rotate some meds.

I feel a bit drained. I feel a bit defective.
I feel a bit apprehensive about each visit to each specialist.
But more than that, I feel like I need to detach.
So that's what I'm going to try to do.

Believe me, I can't fathom that we have FIVE doggies and THREE cats.
The latest addition Perry is in the icon above.
To see that pup every day for over three weeks wandering in the woods and greenbelt was such a sad sight.
He is a bit rowdy and tends to produce and use too much energy.
He's like the young child that was given no boundaries.
But we love him and he is trying very hard to pay attention.

Here is your "I told you so" post.
When Adam came here with his cat Matilda, she had trouble adjusting to two other cats.
And in all her nervousness, she urinated on one wall in the master bath. We replaced the floor. Simple enough.

Now Matilda is nervous over Perry who zips around like greased lightening, wanting to not just sniff the other animals' butts, but who wants to ram his head there and shake it all around. We were not aware this weekend that Matilda was running into our master walk-in closet. OH MY WORD, the odor was horrendous but we could not pinpoint the offensive area.
So Marcia and I spent about six hours emptying the entire closet out and disinfecting the whole place. When we thought we were done, I bent to pick up something and almost passed out from the scent. Matilda had jumped up on the shelves where I keep all my shoes. But it wasn't the shelf that smelled since I disinfected it already. The sniffable horrid stuff was coming from the shopping bags that I had placed my shoes in. I took the bags out on the pation and washed them over and over again.

It's over and done now but as I look back and see the two of us trying to turn our nice walk-in closet to something useable, I can't help but chuckle at the ridiculous scene.

A few wks ago this pup was abandoned in our neighborhood.
He's part of our family now.
Marcia just brought home the dog tag with name and phone # engraved.
So it is official, folks.
Marcia and I asked Adam to name the new pup since he just lost his 15 yr old beagle this week. *tears*

Meet ............ P E R R Y ............

Middle name to come at a later date. Here is Perry:



Last week my son Adam got a call from his father in NY telling him that Adam's fifteen year old beagle Sam had to be euthanized due to severe arthritis, a weakening heart and pooping and peeing with every step. Adam and Sam bonded so strongly. Sam couldn't come with Adam when he left NY one yr ago due to his weak heart and inability to tolerate tranquilizers and a strong fear of driving. I know Adam misses Sam. Fourteen years with your loving dog is a special gift for any boy. Here is Sam:::



The post I made before this one is about Sam (with the same beagle pup pix.) Take a moment and get to know Adam and Sam. The post I made before *that* post is about how we met our new puppy.

When my son Adam was 12, he so wanted a puppy. We'd play a game where no matter where I returned from he'd ask me if I got him a puppy. If it was the supermarket, I informed him they were out of stock. If it was the bank, I told him someone robbed the place and took all the puppies out of the safe. If it was a PTA meeting, I'd tell him all the puppies were being used as guard dogs for the classrooms. He enjoyed the banter. One day, unplanned when his dad and I and our 2 sons were together, we surprised him with a 10 lb beagle puppy. I swear I thought Adam was going to take flight from sheer joy.

Adam named him Sam Beckett after the main character of the tv show Quantum Leap. Sam was the dearest dog with the strongest sense of smell. If I put a piece of meat the size of a dime in a dixie cup and hid it somewhere in the room, Sam would gravitate to it instantly like like a magnet. He didn't bark. He did a seal impersonation any time someone would say "kitty cat." If we asked him if he wanted "boney" which meant baloney, he'd throw himself full body against the fridge. He disliked driving in the car a great deal. And he didn't like the idea of sitting in his dog house in the woods. He loved to roam and smell and when he did that he heard nothing.

Adam did a great job of training Sam. He had him housebroken in no time. He took him for a walk down our country road every time Sam finished eating, sleeping, or playing. Within the first few weeks he had taught Sam to sit, lay down, give me your paw, now give me your other paw, speak, beg, roll over. As Sam aged, his "roll over" was just a half roll because he followed his love of food and gained enough weight to make a full turn around too much of a chore.

Adam and Sam were inseparable for 14 years. When it was time for Adam to leave New York, Sam could not accompany him. He had a heart condition that made it dangerous for him to travel due to his fear of it and inability to be medicated. So Adam has not seen his dear buddy in a year. His dad phoned this week. He had to put Sam to sleep. He had arthritis and was in a great deal of pain and his heart was weak. Sam was pooping and peeing with every step and crying. His life was 15 years long, which gave Adam and him a lot of good times together. I can tell that Adam is heartbroken. He came home from work in the middle of the day. We exchanged 15 yrs worth of sweet Sam stories.

As you know from my last post we have a new puppy who was abandoned. Adam chose his new name.

I mentioned about a week ago that someone deserted their puppy pug in our neighborhood. He's been living in the backyard of our neighbor and Marcia has been taking food and water over to him daily. We've been trying to catch him but he is so darned fast and runs away.

Marcia caught him last night and took him to the vet. He is about one year old, the neutering stitches had to be taken out and he has quite a few cuts and one is infected so we are giving him antibiotics.

The health aide who bathes Vernon mentioned she'd love to take him if we ever catch him. Marcia, bless her heart, is talking about how a puppy needs dog companionship and he can get that here. And a puppy doesn't need to be left alone all day and he wouldn't be alone here. I think I knew we were getting another canine cutie when we started trying to catch it. But I couldn't just leave him out there to freeze in the winter.

He is fawn colored (the most common for a pug) with blackened face front. He is very energetic, playful but not bothersome to our other dogs or cats. He comes when called and is quite obedient.

Would you be willing to tell us what names you think are good ones for him?

Perry
McCoy
Max
Jake
Cooper
Oliver
Reuben/Rubin
Edgar
Zeuss
Huckleberry Or Sawyer (mischievous boys)
Montana
E.T.
Milo (from Milo & Otis the movie)
Tyler
Aidan (Little fiery one in Irish)

...and do feel free to add any that are not on this list if you feel the pup might be happy being called that....

I went to the cardiologist the other day to have a cat scan of my heart with contrast (dye). I waited in the waiting room for 2 hours while they tried to get my primary physician to fax over my latest blood work since I am a "high risk" patient. Why didn't they ask for the xray reports early in the day so they'd be there & ready?
Finally they got the report and I was led to the cat scan room. The technician was starting to put the IV in and she said, "You are allergic to iodine." My reply was, "Correct." She said I have to pre-medicated because of the iodine dye. I told her they pre-medicated me right there in the room the last time I had it done. She said they discontinued doing that and now pre-meds are called it to the pharmacy for use the night before. I asked, "And I am supposed to know this how?" You could have told the receptionist when you made the appt.. "Why would I do that when you gave me the meds here? And doesn't my file come up on the screen when she makes the appt.? I say that since they ask for my phone # and not my name to pull up the file."
So they rescheduled me for this afternoon. That was 3 hours wasted.

I am leaving now for the heart cat scan with contrast.
I'm curious about one itsy-bitsy question.....

I PAID THE CO-PAY WHEN I ARRIVED LAST TIME FOR THE PLEASURE OF LEANING ON THEIR WALL FOR THREE HOURS.
DO YOU THINK THEY WILL BE ASKING FOR A CO-PAY TODAY?

I don't even need to ask if I should find another cardiologist since I have alread decided to swith. St. Francis Hospital has and entire systems of doctor, specialists. If he had been a part of that system, he could have accessed the blood work results himselt, as well as anything my ob/gyn, oncologist, endocrinologist, liver specialist had ever entered. It is a wonderful system.

Wish me luck.
My last triglyceride & cholesterol counts were 1600 and 1800.
How my heart tolerates it is beyond me.

A fellow student who was born and raised in the Phillipines asked me what the smalll scar was in the center of my forehead near the hairline. I explained that my father would often "accidentally" stick out his foot as I was walking by and I would slam into the radiator. I have several such cuts and scars throughout my head.
She (Sandy) said she did not understand how such a thing could happen.
I told her that many people are mentally unbalanced and haven't got much control over how they act.
She said, "I mean 'How did you hit the radiator?' Did your father open the hood of the car? How could you go up that far?"
I told her I was speaking of the heating radiator in the house and she had no idea what I was referring to.
My supervisor must have heard the conversation because she walked by and placed a google printout on my desk.

http://www.naturalnews.net/wordpress/wp-content/uploads/2007/10/radiator.jpg

Sandra had never seen one, let alone tripped into one.

"Here is the world, sound as a nut, perfect, not the smallest piece of chaos left, never a stitch nor an end, not a mark of haste, or botching, or second thought; but the theory of the world is a thing of shreds and patches. " ~ Ralph Waldo Emerson

I went to the orthopaedist surgeon on Tuesday.
He looked at the radiographs the urgent care unit took over a month ago when I first injured my back.
Five years ago my three lower back discs broke in half ("fragmented") and fell down my spinal column, paralyzing me. It took over 45 hours of surgery to correct it all and the complications that arose.
I have spinal arthritis and hip arthritis.
The reason I have been in so much pain is that the next disc is now starting to deteriorate and surgery will be needed eventually. And then the next disc and so on and so on. The doctor gave me four injections into my lower back of steroids, which of course usually means that blood sugar levels will rise so I have to test myself often and adjust the amount of insulin I inject into myself.
I followed the orthopaedist's orders and Marcia signed me up to join the Health Zone, which is an extensive fitness center affiliated with St. Francis Hospital. For $50 per month I can swim all I want/need, use the machines, attend pilates, racquetball, etc..
All I want to do is swim, since I know how helpful it was ten years ago when my first disc started acting up.
I will swim every Tues., Thurs., Fri., Sat., Sun.. When my back first started to deteriorate about 20 yrs ago I swan seven days a week for one hr.. Whether or not I can now still do 72 laps in a 60 ft. pool remains to be seen.

The Dr. said I have a Vitamin D deficiency. Basically, over the counter you can purchase 1,000 or 2,000 IU of Vitamin D. Since I need way more than that, I am taking a prescription strength of 50,000 IU once a week for six weeks. And I must take 3,000 mg of calcium and of magnesium every morning and afternoon.

I will always have the threat of surgery hanging over me. But at least there is a game plan. The pain is not completely gone and I still feel pain and pressure in my lower back pain and my leg.

The back stuff isn't enough, I guess......I go in the morning to have a cat scan done on my heart. I'm crossing my fingers again!

I see the orthopaedic surgeon Tuesday morning at 9 a.m..
I don't know what to expect. I'm hopeful. I'm frightened beyond words.
I am so very tired of being in constant pain,
- of getting no more than three hours of sleep per night,
- of soaking in the tub 4 or 5 times in the dark of night,
- of awakening to the blue of water and the inhalation of epsom salts as I slip into the tub from exhaustion,
- of turning down invitations to dinner out, BBQs, and live shows,
- of being just an observer to the projects going on around here,
- of having to ask for an assistant to cut the okra and melons from my garden when all I can do is point them out when they are worthy.

I know I sound like a whiney child.
Nevertheless I feel that six spinal surgeries five years ago leading to a 3 month critical hospital stay is enough for one body to bear in a lifetime.
My back hardware is sturdy and doing its job on the lower spine but I really don't think I have the emotional fortitude to go through any more removal and re-building of discs.
But I do so want to have a day where I am free of pain, even if just for 30 minutes or so.
I rarely cry anymore and I don't know what that means.

I hope Tuesday's news is on the promising side and I wish the pain would take a vacation. Six weeks can seem so long.

A gal at work once asked me why I didn't want to have a man in my bedroom.( I am gay. )
I told her I did not mind at all having a man in my bedroom.....as long as he brought another man and I got to watch.
Our gay co-worker Conroy who sat next to her, spit his coffee across his table.