Hi. I hope the person this is intended for is reading this. Yes, it's intended for someone. They know who they are. But if, by chance, it's someone else - some random stranger who stumbled across this blog - yes, it's for you, too. I want to tell you about a gift I once bought a friend I loved. It was the most beautiful glass vase I'd ever seen - a pretty rose pink color with swirls of purples and blues. It was a very, very expensive piece from an art store in Birmingham - hand blown glass. There was no other vase like it in the world. My friend was worth every single dollar it cost me, and it cost me a lot! I REALLY wanted her to like it as much as I did. I bought a dozen long stem pink roses for her birthday, cut the stems, placed them perfectly in the vase, and put ... View Post
Last Minute & Unexpected
Have you ever made plans time after time with the same friend, that somehow always seem to fall apart? Not necessarily anyone's fault..... It's just that every single time you try to get together to catch up, something comes up, and one or both of you have to cancel? It happens every single time - almost to the point that it feels like there's a conspiracy going on? But then, when spur of the moment you decide to call and see what that same friend is doing right now.... you somehow always manage to get together? Sometimes, the best visits are the unplanned ones, the last minute ones, the ones you're most unprepared for. For some reason, they just somehow seem to be the best ones of all. Does this ever happen to you? This morning I had a list of things to do - ... View Post
Body Bags & Billionaires
When you tear open the plastic that body bags come in, they smell like a fresh liner of an old-fashioned above-the-ground swimming pool. Every time I open one, I take a big whiff and say that out loud to whoever I'm working with. I can't help it! It reminds me of my childhood days swimming in the Russell family pool. I spent a lot of time in that pool and I remember what a pool lining smells like. Every time I put a deceased person's body in a body bag, I remember a patient who told me how filthy rich he was. Those were his words - not mine. "Filthy" rich he called himself. He was a billionaire. That filthy rich patient had his meals delivered on china instead of paper plates. He had Egyptian cotton sheets delivered daily to his room. He was visited every shift by men in ... View Post
Dirt Roads, Dinky The Duck, & Bologna & Pickle Sandwiches
My friend and I recently took a road trip just a little north of where we live to look at some property suggested by https://exprealty.com/us/tx/kerrville/houses/, and I gotta tell ya..... There's just something really cool about driving down dirt roads. When the dust kicks up, and folks can hear someone coming from a ways away, people lift up their heads to wave even if they don't know you - it just has a way of taking me back in time. Back in time - to my good old days......... I grew up in Redford Township, and one of mine and my siblings' favorite things to do was was "go out to the farm." When we'd get up on a Saturday morning and find out we would be making the long trip out to St. Clair, we'd get so excited! Aunt Iris and Uncle Ed lived on what to me seemed like a ... View Post
Taking A Look Around Me
There's a really sweet walking path at a beautiful park near my home. It borders Lake St. Clair, and just across the water is Canada. Every time that I've gone there, I've taken photos and sent them to people to share the magnificent views of the sunrise, a fishing boat quietly passing by, or a storm cloud approaching. But when I began seeing out-of-area text message charges on my phone bill, I realized that with Canada being so close, I was being charged as though I was in a different country. So I stopped taking photos, and instead, began to bring my headphones and listen to music. But one morning I was taken by surprise when three police officers and a pretty big dog appeared suddenly from behind me, and decided that I needed to be more aware of what was happening around me. ... View Post
Carrie’s Shoes
I have a very predictable routine. You could even say it's quite boring. I get up at the same time every morning. I hit snooze the same number of times. Two back-up alarms go off. I get up, brush my teeth, shower, and I won't bore you with the rest of the details, but it's the same every single day. I take the same roads, drive in the same lane, and always hit 15 Mile and John R at 6:06 a.m. I park in the same garage, on the same floor, in the same spot each shift, and I look at the time clock on the way in and get a chuckle. It's always 6:18 a.m. My lunch goes in the fridge, I head to my locker, change my shoes, put my badge on and my necessities in my pockets, and head to the kitchen. I make a pot of coffee and have a conversation with Sherry or Denise from dietary. We ... View Post
“Crafty” Coconut Custard Pie
Ingredients: 1-1/3 cup of sugar 3 eggs 1/3 cup buttermilk 1 teaspoon vanilla 1 stick melted butter or margarine 1 cup coconut Directions: Mix together the first 5 ingredients. Add the coconut. Pour into an unbaked crust. Bake at 350 degrees for 35 to 45 minutes, depending on your oven - until golden brown. This recipe is one handed down from my dear friend Sue Craft, and I simply cannot publish this until in true Sue Craft style, I add a little riddle. So here goes: Q: What’s the best thing to put into Sue Craft's Coconut Custard Pie? A: Your teeth! ... View Post
Humbled By A Hamster
I'm divorced, but jokingly often refer to myself as "recycled - recovered, stronger, even better"..... I'm also fiercely independent (although I can think of at least ONE friend who will beg to differ). Maybe what I view as independent has now been clearly identified in the past 24 hours as just plain prideful. Yeah - that's it. I'm really just full of pride and stubbornness. You see, I'd rather fork out $500 to get a room painted than let someone do it for free. Why? Because I don't want to feel indebted to someone for a favor. If I choose to do something nice for someone, I don't want it to be because I now feel obligated because they did something for me. The problem with that is this - I am actually ROBBING someone of doing something nice just for me because of the ... View Post