Ronald McDonald House

Last night I went from work over to Children's Hospital to help serve a meal to the families of children who are admitted to the hospital. I had volunteered through Allina 2 months ago and it looked like a fun thing to do at the time. Allina provides the money to buy the groceries, volunteers make the meal which includes a main dish, salad, fruit, dessert, ice cream and milk or water, and then more volunteers serve the meal and clean up. When the day came to do it I almost canceled myself out having just put in a tiring 8 hours at the clinic but I figured it was only 2 hours of my evening (I was signed up to serve the meal) and maybe when I get there it will get better. I found that it did. Some very weary moms and dads and some patients came through our line to have a nice hot meal and some time to relax. I was glad I went. I got to know some wonderful fellow employees and was able to play a part in putting some smiles on some very weary and worried families of sick children that are staying at the hospital. Many of them thanked us when they left and told us how much they appreciated our service in making their stay more restful and pleasant. The person in charge took a picture and I asked him to send it to me so I could put it on my blog site. It was a wonderful and rewarding volunteer experience!

Moving on from 2011

Here is hoping everyone enjoyed and/or survived Christmas. We had 7 at the table on Christmas Day dinner. Played a game of Sequence with partners, one of my mom's favorite games. Daniel and Karen came early to help with set up. I meant to take more pictures than I did which ended up as one pic of Daniel and Karen going over the friends and relatives Christmas cards. When one doesn't live at home the cards are usually found there even though they received a few at their new place. Will throw in a pic of DJ Fieds and the Fam since that is what I did the day after Christmas instead of clean-up at home. I do some photography for Daniel's DJ business which is thriving so far and they had gotten logo shirts so I thought it would be nice if I stopped over to take some pics for their web page. This particular event was for a couple that got married in Venuzuela a few months ago and then returned to the U.S. and had a welcome home party. Daniel works with the mother of the bride at Byerlys - thus the job.

Here's to 2012! Happy New Year everyone!!

Long Time No See

Sorry to all my blog readers. As some of you know I have to be in the mood to write. Maybe I take it to seriously but that's me. I will try to do better in the future. Anyway as Christmas approaches we all are very busy - too busy to read blogs and too busy to write on one but I thought a note for the month of December would be good. I have been working for approx. 30 hours a week since we are down 3 Medical Assistants and one supervisor. I turned down the 36 hour a week opening at my clinic since I'm just too tired to work that much even though I love working for that particular doctor so I'm sticking with the 20 hrs a week I spend with Dr. X. As many of you who are 50+ know one starts to want to stop and smell the flowers and kick fall leaves and if I took that job I wouldn't have time to slow down for any of that, especially all the volunteer stuff I want to do. I would love to share the many stories and blessings I receive meeting and working with so many people in just one day at work but privacy laws are paramount so I can't but suffice it to say I love what I do. I will be posting a new post soon that I'm going to do thru Allina at the Ronald McDonald House so I will looking forward to sharing that. Right now I'm sewing a carry bag pattern I picked up last week for my gift exchange at work (picture above). This particular fellow employee loves cats and the material has lots of cats on it. I'm really having fun with that and staff at work are all enjoying Michael's Chex Mix and Christmas cookies. Well, back to all the festivities. Here's to a relaxing Christmas and New Year. Thanks for stopping in!

TCOTC (Twin City Obedience Training Club)

Karen came with me to obedience training class and shared some photos with me so I decided to add a very short segment on the blogsite. Bandit is doing well. Me, not so much. It is hard when you first start out because the dogs don't get the first thing you are trying to teach them but they say that eventually it clicks. So far his attention span is great which is one of the most important parts. They have to "check in" with you at all times. The teachers are great and there is homework every week. Essentially they teach you how to teach your dog to be obedient to you, to make him believe that you are the "top dog". He knows signs for sit and down and some heeling with turns. We started out with clicker training but I don't like it because it's one more thing you have to remember to do and it's all about timing. The only problem now is he goes down when I say "stay" so we are working on that. Don't know why, though. I plan to move into Obedience II and then possibly agility training where they jump through hopes and stuff. Everyone tells me he would be great at it. Right now he can catch balls in the air so I'm hoping to move into using a frisbee at some point and at the airport dog park he gets so worked up and running so fast that he sometimes will jump over other dogs in all the excitement.
**As a side line from my last post, Allina was able to collect close to 3500 bikes for donations at Christmas. Yes, Virginia, there is such a thing as Minnesota nice.

Freebikes4kids!

When I started my job with Allina I found out that they offer a number of volunteer opportunities. I picked one that is right up my alley since I bike to work and enjoy biking. My first volunteer opportunity came this past Saturday for the Allina/FB4K Community bike Collection Day. We held a collection day at each of the Allina clinics and people donated old and new bicycles, volunteers fix them up and refurbish them and then they are given out to kids in need at Christmas. It's a win-win for all.

I had a wonderful time getting to know some other people in the Allina network, I logged some volunteer hours that will be matched by Allina to go toward my favorite charity at some point and the end result of all of it will be making a difference in thousands of children's lives. So if you have a bike gathering dust in your garage or basement there is still time to donate. Just go to Freebikes4kidz.com. All bikes are accepted, regardless of condition and it is tax deductable.

Three-peat

Took a weekend away with Michael down to the homecoming at Platteville, Wisc. Michael is on the alumni committee and enjoys his involvement with his university. Karen decided to take the weekend and join us which was a rare treat. We took in the sites, farmer's markets, and festivals along the way as well as enjoying the wonderful weather. probably packed too much into the weekend but with my new job I don't have clearance for vacation time until next September. We managed to have alot of fun despite the fact that I know the route and stops by heart.

Maple trees? I don't think so

Sorry for taking so much time away from my blogging. I had a broken index finger and keyboarding is next to impossible. Praise God for the Gentle Leader people. I now can walk my dog in "calm" mode. Hopefully you all are hanging in there for friendship sake. I finally have something to blog about and it's not about the puppy for once. Michael came to me last night and said he wanted to take a day trip to enjoy the colors and buy his usual supply of raspberries that he gets at a stand just outside of Clearwater, Wisconsin. We headed out this morning (Saturday) bright and early and headed down the Wisconsin side going through Wabasha, Red Wing, Winona, and various other places and heading back the other way. Don't tell Michael but to me these trips are "yawners" and full of old retired geezers eating ice cream cones and stopping for the festivals and farmers markets, ending up having a meatball dinner at the local church in some little town along the way. One has to admit if you've seen one maple tree you've seen them all. I can hear all my Christian friends saying, "but Christine, the maple trees are like the snowflakes. Every one is different and unique". I agree but when I have my camera I tend to take pictures of things you would never see in the ordinary day at any time of the year. If you have seen some of my pics from past posts you know my style. Anyway I was again successful! Enjoy or say, "she's at it again".