The Gift.

Quinn left presents on my side of the bed. He's so silly.

GIVE UP YOUR BLOOD! Bwahahahahaha

No seriously.

Right now, our local blood services has 5 units of O negative blood to support all of the metro Richmond area. And do you know why? Because people are not donating. It's a busy time of year folks, I get it. But think of how you can affect the lives of the sick and helpless. Think of it... 1-1.5 hours of your time positively affects three lives. 3!! So go. Put it on your to-do list. Pat yourselves on the back. Get a latte as a reward. But GO.

Just tonight, we've had to give products that are not exactly matching to people in the hospital due to the lack of resources available. The demand is outweighing the supply by leaps and bounds and with the holidays here, it's just going to get worse.

SO, specifically, if you are Rh NEGATIVE or type O. GIVE IT UP PEOPLE! GIVE.IT.UP. Go now! Run! You can do it!

The weather...

So I predicted we would get some snow, flurries or what not, this past week. Not only was I WRONG about that, but it has been extremely warm during the day.  This has been good for my boy since he likes the outside more than the inside (who does he get that from? My mom maybe?) 

I keep wondering when Winter is going to kick in. I'm ready man! I want some cold weather. Gimme some highs in the 40's and lows in the teens. I need it.  I feel bad for the beautiful people who get SAD, but I don't. I need my winters. Plus, if it snows I'm free from going to work. I live too far away.

PS I never heard back from the author I emailed. The consensus was that I am not a jerk face for emailing him.

PPS I just started my first Jack Reacher novel by Lee Child. I REALLY like it!!

PPPS Don't read David Baldacci's One Summer. It's gut wrenching and doesn't have a happy enough ending to make all that emotion worth it. Sorry Davy.

French press....

Should I ask Santa for one?

500

I love to play scrabble! I have been playing wordfeud on my phone with people for a while now. 

This one particular game I scored a 208 point Bingo! My game score was 500 points, the most for me ever!!

Bingo is when you play a word using all of your letters.

Writer's block...

When your imaginary friends won't talk to you.

Is This Obnoxious?

I am reading The Cold Moon by Jeffery Deaver. I came across a passage where he talks about blood typing and he gives, in my opinion, grossly eroneous information. So, I emailed him. I have never done this sort of thing before. It's too late to take it back and I do not expect he'll read it, but here is what I wrote anyway.

Hello Mr. Deaver, I hope this email finds you well. I have read two of your Lincoln Rhyme books before this one and enjoy their fast-paced, interesting stories. I think the characters are so likeable, but with faults and problems, which really humanizes them to me.

I work at a hospital 45 minutes from my house, so I have a long commute. I rent books on CD from the local library system to keep me entertained on the long drives, that was how I came upon your books in the first place. I am reading paper copies (also library books) now because not very many are available to me in audio format.

I am in the beginning pages of "The Cold Moon" and I came across a part in Chapter 5 regarding blood typing. The sentence reads "... the blood, which Mel Cooper tested and found to be human and type AB positive, which meant that both A and B antigens - proteins- were present in the victim's plasma, and neither anti-A nor anti-B were. In addition, a separate protein, Rh, was present. The combination of the AB antigens and Rh positive made the victims the third-rarest blood type, accounting for about 3.5 percent of the population."

I've worked in Transfusion medicine for over 10 years, including working in a reference lab identifying difficult antibodies in plasma and finding rare blood for transfusion. The above passage regarding the blood typing has some gross errors in it. Antigens, which are proteins, are found on the red cells, not in the plasma. The Anti-A and Anti-B are antibodies, not antigens and, right, they are found in plasma.

Furthermore, the Rh factor, also a protein, but is also found only on the red cells. The absence of the factor accounts for people that are Rh negative. (i.e. O Neg, A Neg, B Neg, AB Neg.) Being AB pos is a "rare" blood type, but the Rh factor is not the reason why. Only about 15% of the population is Rh negative, the majority of those being Caucasian.

In addition, while being AB positive is rare (AB negative being the only blood type more rare), when taking transfusion needs into consideration, the patient would be able to receive ANY type of blood regardless of both the antigens present or the Rh factor.

I work night shift and my coworkers are teasing me about emailing you, I hope you do not take offense. If, for future writings, you would need any technical expertise, feel free to email me back. I'd be happy to be of help

Any thoughts? Am I a big ol' jerk?

Fried Chicken Secrets

My coworker brought in some fried chicken for dinner tonight. She gave me a piece. It was REALLY good. Like REALLY REALLY good. She gave me instructions on how to fry it correctly.  I'm going to try it, but I doubt I'll get it anywhere near as good as hers.  She uses a fry-daddy. I don't have one of those. I'm not sure I should get one. I don't like the smell of the oil and it's not exactly healthy.

Her secret though? She puts a thin coat of hot sauce on the chicken before she coats it with flour salt, pepper, garlic and parsley.  You can't even taste the hot sauce, but I bet it wouldn't be near as good without it.  I might try this with some tenders and see how I do. Or maybe some boneless thighs.

PSA: Soda is the evil, Legitimately.

So a couple months back it was decided, by my body, that I am diabetic.  My love of the Pepsi and the sweet tea is notorious in my family... not to mention sweets in general cookies, cakes, chocolate, etc... 

So the biggest challenge is soda. I gave it up for about a month. But, of course, I eased back. I have successfully graduated to sugar-free Pepsi max (It's my drug of choice at the moment.)  It didn't occur to me that there would be other ramification of drinking soda.  

After drinking nothing but water for a month, my joints are limber and relaxed. I drink two sodas, sugar free, and my ankles are puffed up like the stay puft marshmallow guy. It's insane. I didn't expect it. It's enough to be "off" sodas forever.

Ode to My bed.

Oh dearest bed, how much I doth love thee.
Your mattress is firm and silky.
Your covers warm with glee.
You welcome me so sweetly.

You comfort me to wild abandon.
Your love is never random.
Faithfully I remain.
Never far from your domain.

I love you always and forever.

The loves of my life....

I'm not entirely sure I would make it without them.

Stomach Pains

I'm at work. There is so much tension. So much inter-personnel strife that my stomach is in a knot. I didn't cause it. I didn't participate in it. I don't know how to fix it. But I alternately feel like crying and vomiting.  I didn't want to come back to an environment that is so toxic and stressful. I don't know what to do. I can't quit. I can't go anywhere. And even if I did, it would be the same every where I went. Maybe I'm not cut out for this. It really is exhausting.

It's like it's "them" against "us" and by "us" I mean most me. They don't have to like me. I don't care. But they should really be professional. I don't really want to complain. But I will. (To the boss I mean.)

Weather prediction

It will snow next Wednesday or Thursday. 

Awake...

I am never the only one awake in my house. Often I am the only one asleep.  It's nice to be in the quiet. It's calming watching my guys sleep.  They're so peaceful.

10 Reasons- A LIST

I love lists. Love'em. So here's a fun one.

REASONS I LOVE YOU QUINN MOBLEY


1) You act like you’re going to give a kiss, you lean toward and purse your lips together and say “mmmhhhh” and then at the last second you turn and run away laughing maniacally.

2) When you’re mad, don’t get your way, feel like it… you run as fast as you can, fake crying, to the front of the house and throw your whole body down on the only place in the house that’s carpeted. You kick your feet and pound your tiny fists and then turn to look to see if one of us is watching.

3) You body bounce off of us and then look at us sincerely and ask “Alright?”

4) I say “Night-Night”… you say “Night-Night-Night”… I say “Night-Night-Night” … you say “Night-Night-Night-Night.” So forth and so on until I stop saying it.

5) You also do that with Hello. Only you pronounce it Heh-Whoa.

6) You’re ticklish on both sides of you body and the back of your legs and the bottoms of your feet.

7) You learn things SO FAST. You love your cars and we showed you once how to make them zoom and you got it and zoom them all over the house.

8) You look so much like your daddy it takes my breath away.

9) No matter how many times Thor Mobley tries to bite your fingers when you touch him, you love him so much. You keep feeding him and playing. He’s your best friend.

10) You have my eyes. I love looking in them and seeing me. It validates who I am as a woman. And bonus, they’re very pretty.

There, of course, are a thousand and one other reasons I love you, but here are ten for prosperity.

Android!

I just downloaded the Blogger ap to my phone.  Bwahadhaha you'll never get rid of me now. 

Also, my feet hurt something awful!!

Happy Birthday MOM!!

My mom would've been 59 today. It's hard to believe, still, that she's been gone 11 years. I miss her more right this second than ever before.

I Heart Nathan Fillion!!!

This morning when I get off of work at 7:30 am I am going to go have a Castle marathon to catch up on the season. 

I first fell in love with Mr. Fillion during "Firefly" then "Serenity"... he was a creepy preacher on "Buffy the Vampire Slayer" also.  He is such a fun actor and he's done so much work with Joss Whedon, who creates such great shows and characters you just have to adore him. 

So now he's had his own show, Castle, for a few seasons now.  The show is so much fun. It is a very modern "Murder She Wrote."  Now, wait, I know that sounds horrible... but in todays world, so much tv is based on sex or drugs or violence... not that those are bad things. Shows like "Breaking Bad" are clever and smart.  But it's refreshing to watch a show that has humor and drama and easy murder mysteries.  That's what Murder She Wrote was for me as a kid.  My family and I would watch it on Sunday nights. It came on CBS, I think, at 8pm. We would sit all together in the living room with our notepads and watch the show and write down our opinions of "whodoneit." I was never right. At least I don't remember being right.  I'm often right these days, but that doesn't take away the fun factor.

So yeah, I enjoy it so very much.  His Character, Rick Castle, is suave and nerdy at the same time. I love his off-the-wall theories and ideas. He's great. Becket, his romantic interest, is ok. She's the dry no-nonsense half, which the show needs, but it makes her less interesting to me.

So watch it. It's great!

Disappointing people

First, I'll admit, I'm not always easy to deal with, live with, be with. I'm sure Mark could attest to that, though I don't think he would admit it.  But to be fair to myself, I'm a really nice person. Like REALLY nice. I'm thoughtful and generous and when I love you, there's no getting out of it.

The last week has been rough though.  With the anniversary of my mom's passing I wanted my family to be together. Not to mourn, though that is always part of things this time of year, but to just be.  My sister doesn't care for my dad's girlfriend and so refused to join us.  It's petty and attention-seeking behavior, but it annoys me all the same. Why not put that aside to be with us? Why punish me, dad, your nephew just to show your tail? I don't get it. It was really disappointing. I really needed her this weekend.  I am not one to reach out when I need help, but I did this time and she shot me down.  She says she's coming down next weekend, but I'll be shocked if she does.

Then... grrrrr... my sister-in-law is a peach.  She and her husband went on a vacation. They brought back my two nephews gifts, but nothing for Quinn.  I don't need them to spend money on my kid... but it bothered me that they'd snub him that way. Why not be fair? Treat all three of them equally? She doesn't like me, so I'm 100% sure that was what the issue was and this was her way of showing me.  I get it. Thanks for the update, the feeling is mutual- especially if you keep doing shit like this.  I don't want my boy's feelings hurt over stuff like this.  He doesn't deserve to be excluded, it's not his fault that we don't get along. I know he doesn't "get it" right now and the other two getting presents isn't affecting him at all... but it will, and soon. He's a smart kid and he'll pick up on it. What do I tell him? Sorry they don't like me so you don't get to be treated nicely? That's not cool. Not cool at all.

In good news tonight... when Mark was putting Quinn to bed I was laying down to rest before work tonight.  Mark got him dressed in his pj's and Quinn came running into our bedroom and cried to get up on our bed with me.  He (voluntarily) gave me a big, fat, wet night-night kiss. GOD BLESS that boy! I love him more than there are words.

11 years... unbelievable.

Today, at about 5:45 am will mark the 11th year since my mom, Libby, passed away. It is really difficult to fathom that it has been this long. So many things have changed since 2000.  I got divorced, remarried, had a baby, 4 miscarriages, became estranged and reconnected with my dad and sister... we bought a house, lost a house, moved to the ghetto (Prince George style.) just to name a few of the bigger items.

And yet, after all this, I know she'd still be proud of me. Concerned about me maybe, but proud just the same.   If all this had happened and I didn't have Quinn I would not feel this way. But having him has changed my perspective. I get it. I know that if he were in my situation and had been through what I have, I would still love him so fiercely that I could not feel anything but pride.  It's so good to know she'd feel this way. Still... I miss her so much. I tell Quinn about her all the time. I show him pictures. I sing him her favorite songs. I tell him how incredibly much she would be in love with him and how I know she is so sad she can't be there to tell him herself.  I guess I just have to love him double time for the both of us.

If I could tell her one thing... RIP mom. We're O.K.