Emergency room, take 2.

Apparently my family's new hobby is to visit the emergency rooms on or around the nearest holiday. Thanksgiving night my sister phoned me from work to take her to the hospital for a suspected broken wrist. You can read about that in this blog
.

My sister's visit to the emergency room took place in room 3B as you can see by the following picture.



My mother, not wishing to be left out, decided she had to have a turn, too, so on the morning of Christmas Eve I got a phone call at 7am. Jeren answered the phone and then came to my room to tell me I had to take my mom out to the emergency room because she had fallen and gashed her head. I didn't look forward to having to drive her car and was a little cranky about it so Jeren offered to come along. Her hospital is on the military base, so it was easier to drive her car than have to wait while I got a visitor pass on mine. The back of Mom's shirt was covered in blood and she was a little shaky but otherwise seemed ok so we got in her car and headed out to the hospital.

On the way she told me what happened. She had decided to replace a light bulb in the kitchen while her dough was mixing in the bread maker. Rather than get a stool or step ladder she had decided to use an office style chair with a cloth seat. (More of a waiting room chair than an actual desk chair.) The seat was unstable since it was unsupported fabric so she was trying to balance on the edges where the wood frame is.

Hey Mom...here's a reality check for you. You are 80 years old. LOL.

Well, it's not really funny but we were laughing about it. She, herself, admits she was being an idiot, which is what she told the doctors and nurses when they asked her what happened. ("I was being an idiot!")

So apparently she lost her balance and fell backwards off the chair. She isn't really very clear about that. She doesn't remember the actual fall, but she does remember laying on the floor thinking about that commercial in which the lady says, "Help!!! I've fallen and I can't get up." She said all kinds of crazy thoughts kept running through her mind (I'm thinking the life passing before your eyes scenario, but she doesn't say that) and she kept thinking, "I need to get Sheila."

My step-dad appeared at some point and she asked him to come across the street and get me, but he couldn't figure things out. He said, "I'm in my pajamas. I'm wearing my slippers. I'd have to change clothes." in that rambling way he does when he has no idea what to do. (He has mild altzheimers.) So somehow he helped her up or brought her the phone. I'm not sure which. Maybe both. That part is a little fuzzy.

At any rate, we made it to the hospital. I was surprised the way they question you if you are "elderly". The questions they asked mom were so different than the questions they asked Krys. I think she had to tell the story of what happened approximately ten times. I lost count. They asked about her heart, did she lose consciousness, was she light-headed before she fell and more. Finally they were satisfied that she actually just fell and sent us to wait. Bleeding from head wounds is priority over flu and such, so we were quickly called back to a room and she was instructed to remove her top and put on one of those lovely hospital gowns. She climbed on the bed and we waited. I had forgotten my camera, but I did have my phone, so I proceeded to look around.
Can you guess what room we were in?


Yup! You got it! Room 3B. What are the chances?

So here is mom's lovely Christmas outfit after her visit.


It turns out she didn't need stitches but they wanted the gash protected while it healed. I told her she had her holidays mixed up...the mummy costume only works for halloween. Laughing was quite painful for her, however. Seems that her main injury seemed to be her ribs. They x-rayed, but it was inconclusive whether or not she had cracked, fractured or just bruised her ribs. They sent her home with pain medication and we were out of there at 9:4U. Yes, you read that right. Here it is on the clock.


In all fairness I felt I had to snap some photos and write a blog since Mom went to such great lengths to be included in this new family pastime. So enjoy the somewhat cheesy photos from Emergency Room 3B, Version 2.

Getting her holiday cap on.


Yellow plate covers in the wire maze behind her bed.


Her shoes.


Red, white and blue.


Jeren.


Mom always asks for a blanket FIRST thing.


If anyone is anywhere near a hospital over New Year's Eve it had better be Nikki having her baby. I already told them I don't intend on partaking in this particular family hobby.

Tidbits

I haven't been posting much since NaBloPoMo got over, but it's not for lack of interest. I have been in this crazy little busy period. I say "busy" because it feels busy. I don't really see where I have accomplished much lately. It's like I'm in this little whirlwind and all it's doing is blowing the dust around. When the dust settles everything is still the same except that it's covered with dust.

Here's a couple of tidbits from the last couple of weeks:

1. I saw a falling star on my way home from work one night. I know that may not be big news to some of you, but I always think it's very special to see just one shooting star fall from the sky. I love to watch meteor showers where they are darting everywhere and there are lots of them, but when you see just one it's just different. You have to be looking at just the right spot at just the right time. So that's very special to me. I guess it's somewhat like an affirmation from God.

2. I learned to eat cheese and crackers. That may not seem like big news either, but to me it's an accomplishment. Most of my life I have hated cold cheese. I loved macaroni and cheese and cheese melted on hamburgers, toasted cheese, and cheesy broccoli or cheese soup but to take a piece of cheese out of the refrigerator and just eat it bare and cold and alone...ewwwww! I couldn't stand the texture. Then I worked for Dave and Louise. Louise used to like to pack a lunch for me when she packed lunch for herself and Dave. She was quite fond of making meat and cheese sandwiches. I am a polite person and so I would choke them down followed by large gulps of whatever drink I had. I never had the heart to tell her I hated cold cheese because she was always so sweet to bring me a lunch when she didn't have to do that at all. I eventually learned to really like cheese on a sandwich. I think I was about 37 years old at the time. I started letting them leave the cheese on my tacos and actually ordering sandwiches with cheese on them. I learned to love parmesan cheese sprinkled on everything. And I don't mean the powdery Kraft version but regular shredded parmesan. I made a lot of progress in the cheese world and ventured out and tried different kinds of cheese. I still hate American cheese, squeeze cheese, and most cheese spreads and I still hadn't learned to eat cheese on crackers. I have grown quite fond of Swiss cheese. It's one of my favorites. The other night I had some whole wheat Ritz left over from a party and I decided to try the Swiss cheese with salami on the crackers. Then I got really brave and ate a cracker with just the cheese. It was actually quite delicious and I feel accomplished that I can now attend a party and actually eat the cheese and crackers. I'm not sure if I could handle it cut thick, but thin slices are a go! Yay!
I know. I'm weird.

End of an era.

I grew up in the military and we lived in base housing, which was nice, but never really ours. I was fifteen when my parents bought the house across the street from where I live now, and we moved for the first time into a home that was all ours. At the time my current house was occupied by an old man named Sylvan A. Wright. He was 75. Sometime after we moved in he had a household sale. He was getting remarried and was going to be moving to his new wife's house over on Wright Street. He was selling a beautiful 1917 Magnavox radio. You can see it here in this picture.



I have always loved old things and was begging my mother over and over to lend me one hundred dollars so I could buy this lovely piece. Mr. Wright heard me and surprised me by giving me the radio. Along with the radio he also gave me a dresser scarf (you can barely see it on the radio), his former wife's stethoscope (she was a nurse), and a lovely dresser set that also belonged to her. The dresser set consisted of a mirror, brush and small jewelry box. The jewelry box came with an assortment of odd little jewelry pieces. There was also a matching set of his that consisted of a cigarette case, a rectangular locket, tie clip and cuff links. These were engraved with his initials. I still have the locket, but someone stole the cigarette case and I'm not sure what happened to the clip and cuff links. I'm a very sentimental person and these things were very special to me and became even more special to me when I moved into this house, the house that used to be his.

Over the years I found a really nice antique dresser and I always displayed my three piece dresser set on vintage doilies on that dresser. Then came a time when it had to go in storage. When I got my stuff out of storage the brush and mirror were showing some damage. I thought they had been under something heavy or something. They went back on my dresser. Then when I moved to another smaller house, they had to go back in storage again. When I got them out the next time, they had even more damage than the first time. I was curious what was happening to them, but couldn't find any information. I had a computer, but things weren't like they are now where you can find almost anything on the internet. I was saddened to see them chipping away and made sure they were out of reach of any small children. One day I noticed the "chipping" had increased. I decided to wrap them and put them away. I would later find out that turned out to be a really good decision on my part.

Fast forward to the present.
I wanted to change some things around the other day and so I needed this little bookshelf that was in my closet. The brush and mirror had deteriorated again in the meantime and I had wrapped them in layers of tissue paper and they were in the closet at the back of the shelf, so when I pulled it out I had to remove them first. My friend wanted to know what the package was so I opened the wrapping and showed her the set. I almost cried at that point because the damage had greatly increased and the mirror was now showing mold and the back of the brush was bubbling. When I picked up the brush to show her the bristles it was sticky and left the stickiness on my hands. I became very determined to find out what was happening. The trouble was that I couldn't remember just what the material was called. I knew it was an art deco plastic, but didn't know the terms.
I put art deco plastic and whatever other terms came to mind into the search engine until I finally hit upon "celluloid" and "bakelite". Then I knew I was on to something and searched sites until I found pictures of sets like mine. I found a site highlighting a lady named Julie Robinson who wrote two books on the subject and studied it in school. She said on her site, "Contact me" and gave her email address. I immediately sent an email to her, outlining my experience and describing the damage I was seeing. When I got the email back from Julie, I actually sat down and cried.
I finally found the answers I was seeking but they were devastating. My lovely set had a terminal illness. There was nothing that could be done to save it. The jewelry box was still in very good condition, looking very much like it did the day I got it, but the brush and mirror were not going to survive. I realize now that it was a very good thing to put those two pieces away when I noticed the damage. I think that might be what saved the box from a similar fate.
I put the box on a cloth with the brush and mirror to take some last pictures of the set and then I did as Julie told me and washed it out with warm soapy water, dried it and then let it air dry completely before putting the velvet pad and jewelry back into it. I then had to say goodbye to my lovely set, the brush with natural hog bristles and the mirror. I was looking at them sitting there and I decided I had to save the glass. I put the pictures from that endeavor in another blog.
It is a lovely piece with beveled edges. I can either have it re-silvered or wash the silvering off and use it as a clear glass piece. Maybe I will throw it into a stained glass piece as the center. In fact I am leaning more and more toward that answer. I have some other pieces of very old glass and I think it would be neat to do a piece with all of them. I will have to work on a design.
In the meantime I will cherish the little box and all it's belongings and continue to love the fact that the stuff belonging to the first Mrs. Wright still lives in her home. I never knew her. I think she died quite some time before we ever moved here, but having her stuff "return home" always gave me some little sense of satisfaction. I know. I'm weird.

The whole set. Doesn't really look that bad in this picture.



Here you can really see the damage on the mirror.


Here if you look closely you can see the bubbling on the back
of the brush.



The little box.



The hog bristles.

The Gilded Fish.

Here you have the Gilded Fish. When I wrote that up there in the title bar it sounded like a good title for a novel. Maybe I can build a novel around these and do NaNoWriMo next year. LOL.
I think this proves the fact that I am too sentimental for my own good. I was all set to just toss these to Goodwill or some other thrift store. They came in a bin of stuff from someone's house. I don't know the person. It was a free ad on Craigslist. I'm sure that it was a little old lady. Probably she died or was put in a rest home. I don't know. All this stuff was placed on the porch and there were several people there like me taking it away.
I was washing the stuff because I always wash stuff, even if I'm going to give it away or even throw it away. If it comes in my house it gets washed. I can't seem to help myself over that little OCD trait. While washing it I found that it had initials and a date. Someone obviously made it in ceramics class. I used to do ceramics myself and did the same thing with the initials and date.
This somehow personalized it for me and I found myself reluctant to "just give it away". I feel like I'm giving away that lady's life and memories. It's weird. I'll admit it. But I will hang these in my bathroom. Someday I will be an old lady that either dies or goes to a rest home. And someone will probably throw them out.

The pair.


Signed and dated.


The gilding is not really my style at all.




I think she has a nice smile.

Whatever.

I'm not having any luck today uploading photos for my blog.
I will try tomorrow.
This counts as a post, though.
So here it is.
A post.
For NaBloPoMo.
Here's to you!

I tried again. It said bad request.
Oh well.
You will have to wait another day to see the gilded fish.

Emergency Room

I decided to replace my planned blog with this blog due to the fact that I spent the night at the hospital with my sister because she broke her wrist in a fall at her job. I didn't get to bed until 8am and didn't want to do a blog where I really had to think and compose. So here is a nice little visit to the emergency room. I found some neat things to photograph while waiting around. So without further ado...

A Visit to the Emergency Room

First wrap.


Final wrap.


All done and all slung up. Waiting for discharge.


Handy new arm rest.


I love that he keeps his clamp handy hanging on the
outside of his shirt.


We were in 3B. They brought the x-ray machine right
to the room.



And, in no particular order, here are some of the things I found
to photograph.

Blah

I promised pictures of fish today. Gilded fish. The day got away from me. I had to take care of farms and a cafe. I had to do some word twists. I had to do a lot of nothing. I'm tired. I have to work later.
So you get this.
Nothing.
Really.
You'll survive.
It counts as a post.
I did one after midnight.
But I wasn't counting it.
So this is it.
I will take pictures tomorrow. I have the day off tomorrow and no turkey dinner to attend.
Ok.
Done now.

Comments

This is not really a post as concerns NaBloPoMo.
This post is informational.
Recently I have gotten some unsettling comments on an old post. (Surprise Guest, Sept.)
I have deleted them, only to find they came back. They are not even really comments, just links to a bunch of adult sites. I don't understand people. And why on that blog? Who knows? The weird part is that they are not even in English, but in Russian? or ?
At any rate, I do not want to delete the blog, so I have enabled comment moderation on posts older than 5 days on "World of Words". Since most of you who comment usually do so within a day or two it shouldn't affect most of you. If you want to comment on any blogs older than five days it will simply tell you that the comment has to be approved before it is posted.
This is not because of any comments I have gotten from friends and family and even strangers who have sincerely commented on my blogs.
It is just a step I am taking to try and circumvent the idiots who find fun in stupidity. Since all the spam has only gone to that one blog I am hoping it will lay it to rest. If not I will step up my security another notch.
Thanks for understanding.

What I did today. (because of yesterday).

My name is Sheila O.
I am a Craigslist addict.
Please help.

Yes. I admit it. There's just something about the free ads that I can't resist. I have gotten a lot of nice stuff by perusing those ads. I have also had to, at times, take stuff to get stuff. This could be dangerous, because I am already enough of a pack-rat without any help WHAT.SO.EVER.
One day I wanted a few cookbooks. I had to take six huge boxes of books and National Geographics in order to get the three books I wanted. I actually found a few more books in those boxes that I could use. There were three sets of encyclopedias. I did keep the oldest of those. (World Book. I then donated most of the books and some of the National Geographics to the thrift store and took the rest of the National Geographics to the recycling bin.

Yesterday I was talking on the phone to my daughter and she mentioned an ad. I had just seen it, too, and we decided to go get some of the stuff they had. We got there too late for her to get the cupboard full of canned goods and a couple of the other things we wanted, but I was able to get a few nice things, like an extremely rusty milk can. I'm ok with the rust. I will wire brush it down and then paint it cute. I was happy to get it because it reminds me of my grandmother. I also got three really nice fake plants.
Here they are after taking their shower.


There were two plastic bins I wanted for storage, but people were coming like flies to outdated yogurt, so I quit going through them and just took them how they were. I also took the hose reel, complete with hose, a garden stone, a planter, a nice fireplace screen for David and Nicole, an old wool rug that I want to use at the back door and a mirror.
My daughter got a really nice sewing cabinet complete with a machine and lots of accessories. She was very happy about that. She also got a nice ironing board and a couple of birdhouses.

So today I spent the day going through those two plastic bins, washing everything and then sorting it. I actually got some pretty nice stuff in those two bins. I didn't take pictures, but there are a couple of fish that I was going to throw away. They are the type that people used to put in their bathrooms in the seventies. I really was going to throw them away. Really. But then while washing them I noticed they were hand painted, probably in some ceramic class like I used to take and had initials and a date. 1964. They are white with gold (as in gold, not yellow) accents. Oh heck. I will take a picture and show you tomorrow. Why am I now keeping them? I don't know. Refer to one of the above paragraphs. I think it's because of that.
My name is Sheila O.
I am a pack-rat.
Please help.

The other thing I did today was rescue this piece of mirror


from this frame.


The explanation to that is another blog. I'm working on it.
It's kind of emotional to me, although forcing that mirror out in one piece was somewhat therapeutic even if my fingers are a little beat up from the acid. I will explain later. I can't do it tomorrow. I have to work. I will aim for Friday.
But trust me. I was determined to save this small piece of mirror.
I'm not crazy. Really.

Peruna's Modern Webster Dictionary, Atlas and Hymn Book.

Here are a few of the reference books in my collection. Most of these are early 20th century, although "The Big Toast Book" is mid-century and the college handbook is from my college days which started in the 70's and ended in the 90's.


I found these two books together in a thrift store. They are very small, less than five inches high and jam packed with information. Pitfalls in English is very much what the title says. It's about the common little errors to avoid while writing or speaking the English language.
Everyday Sayings is a little history book about the common sayings of the time, for instance, "mind your p's and q's" which refers to pints and quarts being consumed at the tavern. I can cover them more in detail in another blog.



These are some of my dictionaries and encyclopedias from the early 20th century.
Also on this shelf is "The Big Toast Book". It is what it says and contains toasts for all occasions.




The Hodges/Harbrace College Handbook replaced the old Harcourt Brace or Harbrace handbooks that were considered to be the right arm of most writers. They were a must have item on any writers bookshelf, along with a good standard Webster's Dictionary and Roget's Thesaurus. None of my classes required this book, but I required it and still use it.



How can you not love this title? The book truly contains all three. I'm not at all sure WHY it contains all three, but it does. Inside the first pages are the Atlas, then some Hymn pages and then the dictionary. After the dictionary it continues with more Hymns and then some more Atlas pages. Odd combination, but overall a nice little book. When I can get someone to help me I will take a picture of the inside pages. They are brittle so I cannot do it alone. I love, love, love this book for its title alone.




I would have liked to go into more detail, but man....the blogs are just getting lame the last few days. My cafe is taking all my time. Starting a business isn't easy, you know.

I'm working on it.

I am working on a blog. Actually, I'm beginning to see it will have to be several related blogs. I'm going to check in my archives because maybe I already did one on one item that I'm planning on featuring. I planned on having the one ready today, but didn't think it out enough and should have taken the pictures for it in the daylight hours to avoid the glare that occurs when taking it under incandescent lighting.
This is what you get tonight. Pretty much nothing exciting. I'm hoping the next few will make up for this very lame blog.
Maybe I can redeem it with a few of the pictures I've taken over the last few days.
Here you go:

Hail on the trampoline.

Berries at night with flash.

Blue Spruce at night with flash.

Berries with leaves turning color.

Barbed wire on a fence post.

November is almost over. I have enjoyed posting again so much. Maybe I will do next month's themed NabloPoMo assignment.

Oh Gee...it's 11:03

And I haven't written my blog, yet. How about another picture blog.
How about this cookbook?
Well, it probably doesn't really classify as a cookbook because it doesn't really have any recipes in it. Hmmm...Well, it does have recipes in it, but they were all added to it. They didn't come printed in it.
I thought it was a pretty clever idea. I can't even remember where in the heck I got it. It may have been given to me or I may have gotten it at a thrift store. I have no idea.
But here it is in all it's 1950's (or maybe 60's) glory. I love the color and illustrations because it definitely defines the era. Sorry about the shadowing on the pages. I couldn't find a way to take the pictures without a shadow and the flash washed the pages out. I should have taken them in daylight. Oh well. If you click on the pictures you will be able to see them bigger.

These pages are at the back. I love the fact that it has a place for you to put the date you tried the recipe.

This is one of the recipes that I keep in the pockets. I should transfer it to one of the pages but I enjoy looking at the handwriting.  It's one of my favorite things even though I personally don't care for pumpkin pie.