Last weekend was a holiday weekend of sorts here in Alabama. Last Saturday, all normal operations in Alabama ceased and all eyes were focused on "The Game". It was the biggest game of the season. It was even referred to as the "game of the century" by some. Of course, I'm talking about the LSU-Alabama game.
Back at the beginning of the football season, I decided it would be fun to have a football party at my house. After looking at the schedule, I figured that the weekend of the LSU-Alabama game would be a good weekend to have a party. Can I call it, or what?! I invited most everyone I know to the party--and their spouses, children, and pets--fully expecting that very few people would actually want to watch The Game at my house on my measly 32-inch TV. Wrong! The RSVPs started coming in at incredible speed, and I quickly started to wonder if I had bitten off more than I could chew. As it turns out, the party went very well (except for Alabama's big loss, of course) and everyone seemed to have a great time. However, I learned several interesting lessons from this party, and I will share them with you now:
1. Always accept offers of help, especially from those who are (slightly) older and (much) wiser than yourself.
About a week before the party (and obviously before I had given any thought to the logistics of grilling hotdogs, entertaining guests, and making sure my dog was on his best behavior all at the same time), my mom casually asked me about how many guests I was expecting. I told her somewhere between 20 and 30. She choked a little, and then asked if she and my dad could come up for the party to help out. I agreed, but secretly didn't think I needed that much help. Truth be told, my parents helped me out so much before, during, and after the party, and I'm not sure I could have done it all without them. I was very grateful for their help!
2. Understand that some people are insanely obsessed with football and you should just relinquish control of your TV remote to them.
Some of my guests had no trouble making themselves feel at home. I had absolutely no control over my TV, my remote, or my couch during the party. Luckily, there wasn't much dispute over what to watch!
3. Try to keep the adult-to-kid ratio greater than 1:1.
After the party, my dad told me that he looked around during the party and everyone was under 3 feet tall. Of course this is a bit of an exaggeration, but the 5 and under crowd was definitely well-represented at the party. I think there were 8 kids in all. There were only slightly more adults than kids. I guess I wasn't kidding on the invitation when I said it would be a kid-friendly event.
4. No need for toys, stickers, or crayons to keep the kids entertained. Doggy doors work just as well.
Who knew the doggy door would be such a hit with the kids? I'm pretty sure those kids will be putting doggy doors on their Christmas lists this year.
5. When in doubt, buy more juice boxes.
Juice boxes are also a big hit with the kids. Whatever keeps them happy--and gets their parents' blood boiling when they get home with severely sugar-overloaded kids--is my philosophy.
6. Never take offense to a kindergartener who is learning about rhyming in school.
Here is a conversation with one of my younger guests at the party--an adorable kindergartener named Caleb.
Me: "Caleb, you're a hoot!"
Caleb: "You're a toot."
Ouch. I think it's safe to say Caleb really grasped the rhyming lesson at school.
7. When you ask your guests to bring an appetizer or snack, never expect that they will return home with the item they brought.
Seriously, my fridge has been working overtime this week and my pantry looks like a heart attack waiting to happen. Next time I will plan on discretely slipping food into people's purses and cars before they leave.
8. Don't worry about party cleanup. That's Colby's job.
During the party, Colby kept a vigilant eye out for any spills or dropped food and whenever it did happen, he was there in a flash to assist with the cleanup. And even before the last guest left my house, he was hard at work making sure every crumb of food was cleaned up. I guess it's a tough job, because after his work was done he laid down and went into a sleep so deep that it resembled something like a coma. His tummy sure was making some strange noises too. I'm so glad I have a dog with such a strong work ethic!
Overall, I think the party was a big success. I can't wait to host another football party...next year!
Saturday, November 12, 2011
Wednesday, October 5, 2011
A Long Overdue Post
It was recently brought to my attention by Colleen, one of my two faithful blog readers (the other one being my mom), that I have done a less-than-stellar job of keeping my blog up-to-date. Truth be told, I have had neither the time nor the content to make any exciting blog posts. Over the past three months, I have spent a lot of time at work. A LOT. Women in Birmingham seem to be birthing babies at an alarmingly high rate as of late, and they all seem to be coming to UAB to have their babies. Props to them for choosing to come to the best hospital in Birmingham to have their babies (with one of the most state-of-the-art NICUs in the country, and THE largest all-private room NICU in the country). However, this baby boom resulted in a high patient census for most of the summer, which meant several months of mandatory overtime for me and my co-workers. There were several weeks when my co-workers and I strongly considered setting up tents in the break room on my unit since work really became our primary residence during the summer months. Mandatory overtime definitely meant a lot of time spent at work, but it also made for some pretty sweet paychecks. Things seem to have calmed down a good bit at work, and we are slowly getting back to normal...whatever "normal" is. Here's a brief update on the few happenings in my life since we last talked. Feel free to go ahead and take a good snooze. You won't miss much.
Beach Trip
Me, the Stephs, Bev, and Luna managed to escape our crazy workplace for a few days in August to take our annual beach trip. As usual, it included good laughs, good food, and good fun. And as usual, we had our annual photo shoot on the beach.
Getting into Shape
Mandatory overtime meant little time to cook and a lot of eating out. And the scale doesn't lie. So I decided it was time to join a gym. On my mom's advice, I joined Planet Fitness. I really enjoy going to the gym, and it has now become part of my daily routine 3-4 days a week.
JustFaith
Several months ago, I heard about a program at my church called JustFaith. It is a 30-week program that involves a small faith community coming together once a week to discuss issues of social justice and social ministry. There is assigned reading each week and several immersion experiences throughout the program where the group doesn't just serve the poor, but really spends time listening to the poor. After hearing about the program, I felt called to participate. Unfortunately, I was not able to partipate in the JustFaith program at my church due to scheduling conflicts. However, one of the other churches in the area is also offering the program, so I was able to join the program at that church. I am only five weeks into the program, but so far I am enjoying it. Everything I have heard and read about the program says that it really "transforms" participants. While I wouldn't consider myself "transformed" yet, I have begun to take a more critical view of the way I live my life. For example, one of the issues we have really focused on is world hunger. We have heard so many harsh truths about hunger, both throughout the world and in our own country. Knowing these truths, I have started to think twice about throwing food away. I am trying to do a better job of eating all of my leftovers whenever I cook a meal, which means taking lunches to work and avoiding the temptation to go out to eat. I know my actions cannot solve poverty and social injustice, but I can live my life with more gratitude for everything that I have.
New Office Furniture
Up until recently, my method of organizing bills, important papers, etc. was to make piles. Lots and lots of piles. It got to the point where every room of my house was full of piles. During one of their visits to my house, my parents had an intervention and told me I needed a better method of organizing. So I decided I needed a filing cabinet. But not one of those ugly metal ones that would ultimately end up just taking up room in a closet. I wanted a pretty wooden one. While I was at it, I figured why not buy a new desk, a matching bookcase, and a new office chair in addition to the filing cabinet so everything would match. Thank goodness for the mandatory overtime... The purchases have been made, the furniture has been delivered, and it is all put together thanks to my awesome dad. I would include pictures of the new furniture, but getting everything organized and filed in the filing cabinet is a process. And the new desk definitely shows it right now. Once everything is neat and organized I will post some pictures.
Becoming a Grill Master
As if that wasn't enough spending, I decided to purchase a grill as well.
I've been having a lot of fun learning how to be a grill master!
All into Football...As Much As I Hate to Admit It
It all started when my friend Beverly needed a friend to go with her to the first Alabama game of the season. I volunteered to be her friend at the football game, and I haven't been the same since.
College football really is a bit addictive. And it doesn't help that it is the only topic of conversation at work from about September to December, so the more you know about football, the better able you are to contribute to conversations at work. My allegiance is still to the New Orleans Saints, but I have enjoyed watching some college football this season, namely Alabama and Notre Dame. Roll Tide. Go Irish.
Trip to Austin, TX
About two weeks ago, I ventured to Austin, Texas for a work conference about cue-based feeding for infants. I won't bore you with the details of the conference, but it was a great conference and it has really changed the way I think about feeding babies while I am at work. I didn't get to see a whole lot of Austin because I was attending the conference most of the time I was there, but what I did see, I liked.
I hope to make it back to "The Live Music Capital of the World" one day!
Well, you can wake up now. You can see it hasn't been the most exciting few months, but they have been good nonetheless. I'm hoping the weeks ahead will provide me with more blog content, but also give me some much-needed rest!
Beach Trip
Me, the Stephs, Bev, and Luna managed to escape our crazy workplace for a few days in August to take our annual beach trip. As usual, it included good laughs, good food, and good fun. And as usual, we had our annual photo shoot on the beach.
Getting into Shape
Mandatory overtime meant little time to cook and a lot of eating out. And the scale doesn't lie. So I decided it was time to join a gym. On my mom's advice, I joined Planet Fitness. I really enjoy going to the gym, and it has now become part of my daily routine 3-4 days a week.
JustFaith
Several months ago, I heard about a program at my church called JustFaith. It is a 30-week program that involves a small faith community coming together once a week to discuss issues of social justice and social ministry. There is assigned reading each week and several immersion experiences throughout the program where the group doesn't just serve the poor, but really spends time listening to the poor. After hearing about the program, I felt called to participate. Unfortunately, I was not able to partipate in the JustFaith program at my church due to scheduling conflicts. However, one of the other churches in the area is also offering the program, so I was able to join the program at that church. I am only five weeks into the program, but so far I am enjoying it. Everything I have heard and read about the program says that it really "transforms" participants. While I wouldn't consider myself "transformed" yet, I have begun to take a more critical view of the way I live my life. For example, one of the issues we have really focused on is world hunger. We have heard so many harsh truths about hunger, both throughout the world and in our own country. Knowing these truths, I have started to think twice about throwing food away. I am trying to do a better job of eating all of my leftovers whenever I cook a meal, which means taking lunches to work and avoiding the temptation to go out to eat. I know my actions cannot solve poverty and social injustice, but I can live my life with more gratitude for everything that I have.
New Office Furniture
Up until recently, my method of organizing bills, important papers, etc. was to make piles. Lots and lots of piles. It got to the point where every room of my house was full of piles. During one of their visits to my house, my parents had an intervention and told me I needed a better method of organizing. So I decided I needed a filing cabinet. But not one of those ugly metal ones that would ultimately end up just taking up room in a closet. I wanted a pretty wooden one. While I was at it, I figured why not buy a new desk, a matching bookcase, and a new office chair in addition to the filing cabinet so everything would match. Thank goodness for the mandatory overtime... The purchases have been made, the furniture has been delivered, and it is all put together thanks to my awesome dad. I would include pictures of the new furniture, but getting everything organized and filed in the filing cabinet is a process. And the new desk definitely shows it right now. Once everything is neat and organized I will post some pictures.
Becoming a Grill Master
As if that wasn't enough spending, I decided to purchase a grill as well.
I've been having a lot of fun learning how to be a grill master!
All into Football...As Much As I Hate to Admit It
It all started when my friend Beverly needed a friend to go with her to the first Alabama game of the season. I volunteered to be her friend at the football game, and I haven't been the same since.
College football really is a bit addictive. And it doesn't help that it is the only topic of conversation at work from about September to December, so the more you know about football, the better able you are to contribute to conversations at work. My allegiance is still to the New Orleans Saints, but I have enjoyed watching some college football this season, namely Alabama and Notre Dame. Roll Tide. Go Irish.
Trip to Austin, TX
About two weeks ago, I ventured to Austin, Texas for a work conference about cue-based feeding for infants. I won't bore you with the details of the conference, but it was a great conference and it has really changed the way I think about feeding babies while I am at work. I didn't get to see a whole lot of Austin because I was attending the conference most of the time I was there, but what I did see, I liked.
I hope to make it back to "The Live Music Capital of the World" one day!
Well, you can wake up now. You can see it hasn't been the most exciting few months, but they have been good nonetheless. I'm hoping the weeks ahead will provide me with more blog content, but also give me some much-needed rest!
Sunday, August 14, 2011
Happy Birthday, Paul D.!
Happy Birthday to the best grandfather a girl could ask for! Thank you for all of your support throughout the years...
Love,
Ann
Love,
Ann
Saturday, June 18, 2011
Colby's Giant Water Bowl
With as hot as it has been the past few weeks, I've been spending a lot of time in and around my backyard pool. Being the loyal pup that he is, Colby tries his best to keep me company when I'm out in the backyard. However, he can only last a couple of minutes before he starts panting and gasping in the summer heat. On many occasions, I've tried everything I can do to get him to get in the pool to cool down, short of just throwing him in there. He refuses to get in, and for some reason he seems to prefer to hang out in the air-conditioned house over the 100+ degree backyard.
Now something you must understand about Colby is that he is a bit narcissistic. He believes that everything that happens in this world revolves around him. For example, whenever I open my refrigerator, he automatically thinks that he is going to get something to eat (usually cheese or carrots, which is the only non-dog food he typically gets to eat). As another example, every time I grab my purse and open the door out to my garage, Colby gets excited and darts to the car, thinking he is about to go for a ride. And, of course, whenever someone comes over to my house--friends, the bug man, UPS delivery people, etc.--Colby knows for sure that they have come to see him. So, naturally, Colby would find a way to make the backyard pool all about him.
Nope, it's not a pool at all. It's a giant water bowl for Colby! At least I don't have to worry about him getting dehydrated any time soon...
Now something you must understand about Colby is that he is a bit narcissistic. He believes that everything that happens in this world revolves around him. For example, whenever I open my refrigerator, he automatically thinks that he is going to get something to eat (usually cheese or carrots, which is the only non-dog food he typically gets to eat). As another example, every time I grab my purse and open the door out to my garage, Colby gets excited and darts to the car, thinking he is about to go for a ride. And, of course, whenever someone comes over to my house--friends, the bug man, UPS delivery people, etc.--Colby knows for sure that they have come to see him. So, naturally, Colby would find a way to make the backyard pool all about him.
Nope, it's not a pool at all. It's a giant water bowl for Colby! At least I don't have to worry about him getting dehydrated any time soon...
Saturday, May 7, 2011
Not Just Another Nurse...On a Billboard
This past week was Nurse's Week. To celebrate, I worked the maximum numbers of hours that UAB nurses are allowed to work in one week...60 hours. Yes, a total of five 12-hour shifts. I may be crazy for volunteering to work all of that overtime, but it sure will be worth it when I get that paycheck!
Every year during Nurse's Week, UAB Hospital has various events each day to celebrate their nurses. On Tuesday, there was the annual Nursing Fair. The Nursing Fair is basically just a bunch of vendors advertising things nurses may be interested in, but the highlight of the event for me is always the free stuff (pens, candy, and even a sticker that I got to wear for the rest of the day that said "Not Just Another Nurse"). Some of my co-workers and I ventured over to the Nursing Fair during our lunch break on Tuesday. While at the Fair, we were each handed a copy of the 2010 UAB Nursing Annual Report. Not really the most thrilling piece of literature, but I figured I would save it and read it during one of those rare moments that I had nothing better to do. One of my co-workers started flipping through the booklet, and all of the sudden she exclaimed, "Look, Ann, it's you!". Sure enough, there was a picture of me hard at work in the booklet. Here's a link to the online version of the Annual Report, in case you're interested.
When I first saw the picture of myself in the booklet, I had no recollection of having my picture taken. After racking my brain for a little while, I finally remembered. It was about 3 or 4 months ago, and I was assessing one of my patients at the beginning of my shift. A guy from the marketing department at UAB came up to me and asked if he could take a couple of photographs of me listening to the baby with my stethoscope. I said sure, and I do remember signing a consent form to be photographed. This is where it gets a little fuzzy, but I seem to remember the guy saying that he was only going to be taking pictures of my hands. At the time, I didn't think the camera was close enough to only be capturing my hands, but I figured he knew what he was doing. Maybe I made up the part about him only photographing my hands. Obviously, he captured more than just my hands. Knowing what I know now, I probably should have spent a little more time getting ready for work that morning...
After getting a few extra copies of the Annual Report so that I could provide my co-workers with autographed copies, my co-workers and I left the Nursing Fair and headed back to the unit. I got busy getting back into my work routine, and I quickly forgot about my newfound fame.
Now, skip ahead to Thursday morning, driving to work. It was just a typical commute to work. Until I approached my exit to get to the hospital. Something on a billboard caught my eye. I did a quick double-take while driving and realized that what had caught my eye was a picture of...myself. Yes, that same picture of me from the Annual Report was plastered on a billboard for all of Birmingham to see:
Okay, so maybe I've exaggerated a tiny bit about just how big the picture is, but still...that's me, on a billboard. I had absolutely no clue that my picture was going to be printed in the Annual Report, much less on a billboard! And to tell you the truth, if my co-worker had not pointed out the picture of me in the Annual Report, it's very possible that I could be oblivious to the fact that my picture is on a billboard--a billboard that I pass every day on my way to work. I guess it will get less weird seeing myself on a billboard as time goes by, but for now it's still pretty wild!
I'm not just another nurse. I'm a nurse on a billboard.
Every year during Nurse's Week, UAB Hospital has various events each day to celebrate their nurses. On Tuesday, there was the annual Nursing Fair. The Nursing Fair is basically just a bunch of vendors advertising things nurses may be interested in, but the highlight of the event for me is always the free stuff (pens, candy, and even a sticker that I got to wear for the rest of the day that said "Not Just Another Nurse"). Some of my co-workers and I ventured over to the Nursing Fair during our lunch break on Tuesday. While at the Fair, we were each handed a copy of the 2010 UAB Nursing Annual Report. Not really the most thrilling piece of literature, but I figured I would save it and read it during one of those rare moments that I had nothing better to do. One of my co-workers started flipping through the booklet, and all of the sudden she exclaimed, "Look, Ann, it's you!". Sure enough, there was a picture of me hard at work in the booklet. Here's a link to the online version of the Annual Report, in case you're interested.
When I first saw the picture of myself in the booklet, I had no recollection of having my picture taken. After racking my brain for a little while, I finally remembered. It was about 3 or 4 months ago, and I was assessing one of my patients at the beginning of my shift. A guy from the marketing department at UAB came up to me and asked if he could take a couple of photographs of me listening to the baby with my stethoscope. I said sure, and I do remember signing a consent form to be photographed. This is where it gets a little fuzzy, but I seem to remember the guy saying that he was only going to be taking pictures of my hands. At the time, I didn't think the camera was close enough to only be capturing my hands, but I figured he knew what he was doing. Maybe I made up the part about him only photographing my hands. Obviously, he captured more than just my hands. Knowing what I know now, I probably should have spent a little more time getting ready for work that morning...
After getting a few extra copies of the Annual Report so that I could provide my co-workers with autographed copies, my co-workers and I left the Nursing Fair and headed back to the unit. I got busy getting back into my work routine, and I quickly forgot about my newfound fame.
Now, skip ahead to Thursday morning, driving to work. It was just a typical commute to work. Until I approached my exit to get to the hospital. Something on a billboard caught my eye. I did a quick double-take while driving and realized that what had caught my eye was a picture of...myself. Yes, that same picture of me from the Annual Report was plastered on a billboard for all of Birmingham to see:
Okay, so maybe I've exaggerated a tiny bit about just how big the picture is, but still...that's me, on a billboard. I had absolutely no clue that my picture was going to be printed in the Annual Report, much less on a billboard! And to tell you the truth, if my co-worker had not pointed out the picture of me in the Annual Report, it's very possible that I could be oblivious to the fact that my picture is on a billboard--a billboard that I pass every day on my way to work. I guess it will get less weird seeing myself on a billboard as time goes by, but for now it's still pretty wild!
I'm not just another nurse. I'm a nurse on a billboard.
Saturday, April 23, 2011
Tuesday, April 19, 2011
Maybe I'm More Like My Mother Than I Thought...
Most people agree that my dad and I have a lot of the same qualities. We're both pretty laid back and calm about most things, we both love listening to music and we even have similar tastes in music, and we both have an amazing sense of humor. Don't get me wrong--my mom has a lot of great qualities too, but I really seem to have inherited most of my dad's qualities. Lately, however, I have come to realize that maybe I am more like my mother than I originally thought. You see, my mom LOVES to be outside working in her yard. Growing up, the only time I can really remember my mom being inside the house was when she was sleeping. I clearly remember on multiple occasions my dad practically having to drag my mom inside because it was thundering and lightening, a hurricane was blowing through, or it was so hot that he feared she would suffer a heat stroke. The woman just loves to be outside. You may remember my posts last year about my backyard landscaping project, and how much I enjoyed working in my new yard. Now that spring has sprung and everything is greening back up, I am back at it. I often find myself spending hours upon hours outside--pulling weeds, cutting the grass, weed eating, edging, fertilizing, watering the plants, or simply just admiring my yard. And--if I do say so myself--it is pretty admirable these days.
My mom definitely passed the yard work genes on to me. I guess I'm more like her than I thought! Of course, I must give some credit to my yard work supervisor:
A lot of the plants in my yard are close to blooming, so stay tuned for more pictures of some pretty flowers!
My mom definitely passed the yard work genes on to me. I guess I'm more like her than I thought! Of course, I must give some credit to my yard work supervisor:
A lot of the plants in my yard are close to blooming, so stay tuned for more pictures of some pretty flowers!
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