I’ve had a good weekend.

 

Went to a wedding, ran w/ my running group (don’t know what marathon I’m training for yet- I just know around the time), spent some time/ went to dinner w/ my mom.  I saw this movie.  It was funny and cute- I enjoyed it! 🙂

 

I got a raise at work!  Not a lot.  Not even as much as anticipated (so that it a bad thing).  But still, it’s a raise and will help a little, until I decide if I want to do something else.  I just finally started my 401K.  I don’t have a lot of extra money at all so I’ve been putting off starting it, but finally did.  ::Karen pats herself on the back::

 

I’m excited about Halloween- not that I’m expecting it to be much, but I bought some Halloween tights, and nail polish, and a little things to dress up in for work!  Not that it’s much but I’m looking forward to it anyhow!  Also I’m excited about Christmas already as well.  I love planning what I want to give people.  This year I’m going to have to be more careful w/ how much I spend though :S  I can go overboard sometimes… got to watch it.  It’s hard for me to save much money anyhow.  However, figured it might be fun to perhaps make some things instead of buying them.  That would help.  Buy supplies and/or ingredients, and spend time as apposed to money.  Just take off work a day and make crafts and bake.  At any rate, I’m glad to be excited for the holidays-  that losing my dad hasn’t caused me to hate them.  Luckily last year (and this year as well), we didn’t have any of them over at the same house where they lived – it didn’t feel like Thanksgiving and Christmas particularly, but a good time never the less, so I’m anticipating something similar this year.  It’s a little easier with baby Caitlyn (my neice) around as well (she’s 1 ½ – so we’ve had her last year and this year), and the only kid in our whole family right now.  I know it’s not the whole meaning part, but kids, I think, help make Christmas more fun.  Little people who can’t pay for something themselves getting what they desire 🙂  It’s priceless to watch their reaction.  People who can’t pay for something themselves getting what they desire..one of the meanings of Christmas anyhow, right?  Some parts of religion seem so ugly, but that is something that is a beautiful concept.  A beautiful depiction of grace and love.

 

I went to my friend Annie’s wedding this Friday.  It was small but turned out gorgeous.  They had a western theme.  I loved her dress!!  It reminded me of a Cinderella dress!  My friend took this picture w/ her cell phone (you can’t see it totally well, only pic I’ve got though)…

 

 

I would wear that dress! 🙂 Actually, if I ever get married… this is one of my favorite dresses…

 

 

It’s sooo totally Karen!  I can picture myself in it!  BUT…not so totally conservative huh?  And concidering there would probably be some older folks there, and people I might not know as well from the grooms side, may not be the best choice.  I guess it will just depend on where I have it and the people there.  I love that dress though!

 

Other things…

 

A random confession…normal or no:  I have a habit of listening to the same song (or two max)over and over everytime I get into my car, for weeks, until I eventually switch to a new song I do the same with.  Normal?  lol  Yeah I know, maybe for the weirdos.  Exactly huh 😉   They’ll probably discover at some point it’s a sign of lower IQ or something.  No joke.  Lol  Let hope it’s not true, but probably is.  Aw well.  I’ve done that as long as I can think back, it’s almost innate to me, so I just go with it.  Same song over and over until I’m sick of it, then doing that with a new song.  Sometimes, if it’s a new CD, only when I get involved in some project, and forget to rewind the song I bought it for I’ll end up discovering the rest of the CD. Lol  The song in my car right now makes me feel confort when I’m sad.  It’s just so pleasant.  I don’t think it’s real deep in meaning, just simple, relaxing, and comfortable.  I’m still on the Dave Matthews kick (probably will be that way for a couple of months).  He lost his dad when he was like 10, and his sister later on in some domestic dispute.  I wonder if he’s singing about one of them in this song?  Sometimes I’ll turn it up loud to drown out my emotions if I’m feeling bad or whatever.  Here’s the song…

 

 

Now watch.. now that I put the song up here I probably won’t feel like playing in my car anymore.  lol  Not purposely, but that’s what tend to happen- I’ll write something and after that the habit changes 😉  Anyhow, just thought I’d share the song, I think it’s lovely. 🙂

 

Anyhow, will go for now, it’s late!

Have a good one!

 

Karen

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“Know your strengths, use your stengths.” ~ Annonymous

 

Blah!  Haven’t had much to write about.  Some drama happened today, but I don’t want to talk about it.  Not yet at least.

 

The weekend was okay in general. 

 

I think I’ll do something different this time.  Random lists maybe?  That might be fun.  Okay, yeah… here we go…

 

 

Some of my goals for the next few years:

 

– Go on a cruise (preferably to somewhere tropic)

 

– Master my plan to meditate 2 minutes each day (I feel off track with that one guys >_<)

 

– Become more spiritually aware (which I believe will help me better prioritize my life)

 

– Do either the New York or Chicago Marathon

 

 

My typical grocery shopping list:

 

Fizzy water, Skippy all natural peanut butter, all natural raspberry or blueberry preserves, Turning Leaf red wine, organic milk, Minute Maid OJ, cheddar cheese, apples, carrots, frozen vegetables, drinking water, diet Coke Plus, 100% whole wheat bread, chicken.

 

(ps I find all I need at Wal-Mart)

 

 

Things I love about myself:

 

– I tend to give people the benefit of the doubt. 

 

– I’m tall, and I appreciate my body.

 

– I’m sporty.

 

– I enjoy encouraging people.

 

– I love to laugh.

 

– I want to make a big difference in the world (not that I feel I’ve managed thus far lol).  I want to have a good time too though. I think it’s a paradox though to think you are doing what your supposed to do, and not having a good time…those two, I believe, are designed to go hand in hand.

 

– I’m methodical.

 

 

Things I hate about myself:

 

– I can be so planned (can make you blind to seeing opportunities in the moment)

 

– I’m emotional.

 

– I can be so perfectionated and get so down on myself.

 

– I don’t always verbalize what I’m thinking clearly.  Not that I write well either, but I definitely write better than I speak.  I rarely manage to covey exactly what I want to say through a verbal conversation.

 

– Sometimes I feel extremely worthless…oh wait, I already said I get so down on myself 😉

 

 

A few of my favorite Chandler restaurants:

 

– Iguana Max 

 

– Los Favoritos Taco Shop

 

– Coffee Rush

 

 

Things that don’t make sense to me:

 

– “One bad apple will spoil the bunch.”  Where did that phrase come from?  I don’t even find it true.  Now raspberries or blueberries may spread mold onto the others, but that doesn’t seem to happen as much with apples.  Apples don’t even tend to get mold that often.  And if there’s one with a soft spot or something, the others usually seem okay.  Whatever! Lol!

 

– Why do you think the broken sprinkler outside in my comlex never gets fixed?  It gushes water like Old Faithful.  I should have people over to watch off my balcony just like Yellowstone National Park and charge.;)   The simulated version…but same effect. lol 😉  I haven’t called anyone about it, just naturally figure someone else will call about it.  Everyone else probably thinking the same as me, huh?  If there’s no water left for the fishies in the worlds oceans you know why …seems like it gushes enough water to do the job. 😉   Maybe I’ll call.  I should probably (if I don’t get too lazy to look up the # 😉 make sure maintenance knows about it.

 

 

Kinda embarrassing confessions:

 

– I’ve always wanted to go to prison for a little bit.  I would only want to go for a couple weeks max and no great desire to do any of the things to get me there, but I just picture myself having nothing but time on my hands to plan my life and read all the books I want, and re-focus.  It’s hard to do with so many distractions and responsibilities in this world, agree?  In prison, you’d have nothing but time to do that. 🙂  Yep- paradise. 😉   Okay- maybe not quite.  Maybe I’m focusing on the only good part, huh?

 

– Er, nothing else comes to mind 😛

 

Well no other lists I can think up in the moment.

 

Hope all is well!

 

<3,

Karen

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“Real love doesn’t make you suffer.” ~ Anonymous

 

It’s Saturday!! 🙂  I think I generally feel good on Saturdays!   I felt so horrible earlier this week though.  At work, things haven’t been so good :S – actually mainly just one incident there just entirely threw me so I shouldn’t let one thing like that bother me so much, right?  I think I’ll get over it, it’s just frustrating since it just happened and it’s on my mind a lot.

 

You see..I learned Thursday, through a patients family member (not the care center staff where the patient is staying that I’ve discussed and given feedback to for a year), that they didn’t have a renal diet at the patients care center.  After faxing monthly, speaking to both nursing and the dietary department, and giving recommendations for diet changes monthy for nearly a year, they never mentioned this!!   I have never felt my contributions so ignored :S  I spoke to the nurse after finding this out (that hadn’t mentioned it to the family up until now either.  I found out through an email asking me about it from a family member told recently, not from the care center). The nurse had no apology for not telling me or the family for so long.  Just said “yep, that’s our policy, no renal diet.”  I can’t believe I’m finding this out now, instead of over a year ago when the patient was admitted.   And every time the patient would have a high potassium, and I would make my diet recommendations, and the cook went along with it as if it would be followed, with no mention that they don’t do the renal diet.  You’d think that was something important to mention, right?  Meanwhile the patient’s heart could have stopped from high potassium.   Because they still accepted a renal patient. :S  I still, don’t know what to do.  Or how to go about handling it.  I’m just very upset over the whole thing.  I feel it’s an issue way over what I should be dealing with myself to get it fixed, and it just makes me want to never deal with the care centers again.  All someone in that patients care home would have had to say (somewhere within the monthly faxes, conversations and messages), was “we can’t honor your request, we don’t do the renal diet here,” and then we could have determined if the care center could really meet the needs of this patient, the patient then would have the knowledge to go somewhere else.  But to leave us in the dark up until now?  To not let their standards known (so that we can assess weather this pt could be taken adequately care of in this center appropriately)?  To go so long, evidently simply ignoring my recommendations, without ever mentioning “we can’t do that here” or “we can’t honor that”.  I feel like crap.  And the patient herself has bad dementia, so can’t tell you personally if she’s getting the right foods, so I depend on the center to tell me what’s going on.  All the effort of sending them labs and recommendations, and making it sound like their putting forth the effort to do everything, when I’ve spoken with the staff, instead of responding back with a simple “we can’t do that.”  It’s things like this that make me feel like I don’t want to ever be a patient in the healthcare system.  This particular situation makes me feel like a joke.  I feel worthless right now.

 

Okay, I should really talk about something more uplifting than this…

 

Something more uplifting…okay..

 

I watched “The Office” finally last week.  Loved it!  Went out to Best Buy and bought the whole first season!  Would have bought them all, but couldn’t find a good deal for all 3 seasons!  That is what I did last night…watched that.  Not a very exciting Friday night, huh?  But it was nice at the same time.

 

This morning I went running with a group in Scottsdale.  Got up at 5:30 in the morning to be ready by 6:00 :S to be there at 6:30.  I felt pretty good once I was up and ready though.  We ran 12 miles (as a long run that’s not too long).  The group’s training for the marathon in Jan here in the Phx area.  Will be good.  I’m excited about meeting different personalities there.  There was this one guy that ran with me some of the way- he looks like he was maybe in his early sixties and ran ~8 min/mile pace.   When I’m in my sixties, I would love to be like that.  Or to just run long distance into my sixties in general, no matter what the pace, and still feel the same way I usually do now during and after a run.  To still feel great about it. 

 

And.. um..what else..well, it’s Saturday!!  One of my favorite days of the week!! 😀  Oh, I guess I already mentioned that huh?  Okay 😉  As if you didn’t know anyway.

 

Other bad news though…my friend Jenn moved!!  ::sniff, sniff::  I’ve got some great friends besides her, but I saw her more often than a lot of friends though…my other friends have lived here long enough to have quite the variety of friends…  I don’t know what I’m going to do now 😦  I love my friends but I could use more.  I have no really close friends.  That is just not a need of the friends I have to be really close.  No blame on the friends I do have though, because it’s got to be a mutual need.  Otherwise I don’t want it.  That is a desire of mine to have that with some people though.  Please pray for me if you pray.  I really need more friends that want to be closer pals.

 

My bebe (niece) Caitlyn is the flower girl in a wedding last Friday.  She did sooo well. :D.   I wish I had pics.  She’s now she had an aunt though besides me  ::sniff sniff::…well, however.. not aunt through genetics (I’m the only one), the new one’s aunt through marriage.  This new gal to the family is sooo sweet though…I totally love her.  She’s going to be great.  😀  I’m so glad my brother’s wife’s brother ( lol), chose her.  She sooo sweet and personable, and humble…not bad to have her energy at family gatherings…she’s great.

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Love you all,

 

Have a fabulous weekend!

 

Karen

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“You can’t do all the good the world needs, but the world needs all that you can do.” ~ Anonymous.

 

 

Ps I went to the Dave Matthews concert I was hoping to go to in one of the entries below!  😀  My friend Brenda came with me!  It was FABULOUS!  And after I went, I think I like the band even more, and Dave Matthews (because he sounded so much different than I expected in person)- so keep looking up interviews of him on youtube and such!  In his interviews he just seems so humble and trying hard to not let the glits of fame get in the way of fulfilling what he feels he can contribute to the world.  That’s so respectable.  Plus, he’s not always so elequantly spoken, words and thoughts don’t always come together so perfectly (I know I’m like that myself sometimes, so I entirely relate).  So now I think I’m an even bigger fan now that I know more about him!! 😀 Here’s a link to one of his interviews (well, this one’s a little long, I don’t think the second ½ of that is on him, but I like some of what he says in that one):  http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ariYygPtcIU

  

Anyway, hope you are all doing well!