Working in oncology.

I found out today that one of my favorite patients died. He was a 60 year old man who rode a motorcycle. We started talking about it because he was wearing his biker do rag to chemo. We compared bikes and talked about favorite places to ride. We were supposed to go for a ride together when he got better.................I am sad for his family and for those of us who got to know him during his brief time at the cancer clinic, but he was a follower of Jesus so I know I will get to see him again. It, really brings home the change to me, I'm not a pediatric out patient healthy child elective surgery nurse anymore.

The first t-shirt quilt class.

Today we had our first t-shirt quilt class. Three ladies came. Katie, Rhende and Melody. We got all our t-shirts cut out and the fusible interfacing ironed on them, and then the shirts cut down again. It was lots of fun. Katie's shirts are all from one particular band, Rhende's shirts are a combination of hers, her family and friends, Melody's are all from bands that her husband Jeremy has been in, and I'm working on one for a friend whose son is at UGA at school. A belated graduation present.


Wow that is a lot of shirts!

Health Central.

Well, I made it to health central 3 times this week. I did a Tai Chi, Yoga, Pilates combination class twice. I really like it. It gives me a good work out and some great stretching as well. I also did a step class. I would just like to say get to class early because then you don't have to be in the front especially if you are girl with not great rhythm. (i.e. me) I'm sure the people behind me got a good laugh out of it. We'll see how next week goes.

Megan practices starting an IV.

Megan practiced starting an IV on me tonight. Things moms do for their kids. She, is messy like me. But, she got it.

You, go girl.

And now for the suturing.

Megan learned to suture today. Here she is practicing her technique on a banana.











Look at how well the lacerated banana is sutured together! Again, you go girl.

Robert is building his immunity.

So, Robert is building his immunity. He came home from work yesterday congested and coughing. So, tonight he just sat around in a sweat shirt and was under the flannel quilt for a while. Which, is NOT like him at all. Welcome to working in a hospital honey.

Good food and good fellowship.

Robert is now the grill master, his bar-b-cue ribs are every bit as good as my Dads. That is saying a lot, because I do love my Dad's bar-b-cue ribs.

The Carrs and the Hornes came over and had ribs with us and the Leonards. Awwww, aren't the dads cute, holding their baby girls.

First T-shrit quilt class meeting.

Some friends have been asking me about teaching a t-shirt quilt class. We had our first meeting today. We met at New Moon Cafe just to see what people are interested in doing. It was fun. There were seven people there and I know of two more that are interested in making a t-shirt quilt. We looked at some of the t-shirts and decided to meet at my house next Saturday for a t-shirt cutting, and fusing fest. Yeah! I'm excited about the opportunity to try my hand a teaching a class and especially getting to know these ladies better.

The end of the week.

Well, all in all I think that this has been a good week. Robert likes his job and feels like it is a good fit for him. After a rough start to the week for me, I finished feeling like I can actually be a good oncology nurse. Robert and I joined the gym downtown that is part of his benefits. It is a nice size and really close to the house. Robert gets his membership reimbursed if he goes 12 times a month. That is a nice perk. Robert and I carpooled together on Thursday and Friday. That was fun. We are looking forward to the Leonards visiting and for me a three day weekend. Yippee!

The Book Tavern.

Hey check this link to see what the Book Tavern is doing to support our troops.
We know both of the people in this interview. Kinda fun.

Downtown Augusta Book Store Seeks To Support Troops

Robert's second day of work.

"It's like trying to drink out of the fire hydrant" Robert said when I asked him how his day went. Pretty much the way Megan felt about the first two semesters of PA school and they way I feel about oncology nursing. Seems to be the theme around the Mullis' house this year.

Robert's first day of work.

It was really a day of orientation. Lots of this is our hospital, and these are our benefits. He was home by 3:30 p.m. Tomorrow will be his real first day. I'm excited for him and can't wait to hear how it goes.

Here's a look at the finished floors.

Here are the finished floors.








We decided to rearrange the bedroom and try our bed on a different wall. I'm a little skeptical about the car noise, the window that bed is at is right at the intersection of 5th and Telfair which is pretty busy. But once we get new windows that should help. And we do sleep with a fan on for white noise now. We'll see. However, the room is huge and having it set up this way really makes the room feel much larger than it did before.

As you can see we still have some walls to finish, and paint and some blinds or curtains to buy, but all in all we are pretty close to being finished.

I do not like the way we have my sewing corner set up now, so I made the decision to make the spare room my sewing room. Which ought to be fun in itself as the floors are now level. I might have to wait until after the weekend to figure it all out, but that's okay.

So, this one time during church.......

So, during church this morning Robert got a call from our alarm company. He didn't answer the phone cause we were in church, he does set out to drive over to check it out. He calls the alarm company on the way and they say the alarm has been deactivated and, when he gets to the house, Megan's car is there. He decides not to stop and comes back to church. After church I call Megan to meet us for lunch and during lunch we get to hear the story. Megan stopped by our house after she got out of her church to drop a couple of things off. When she opened the door the alarm warning sounded. ("Oh, crap" was her first thought) She couldn't remember the code, so she looked for a phone to call us. None was to be found.....by now the piercing alarm had started to sound and the dogs had fled to the back bedroom....so, holding one ear and she tried what she thought was the code and it worked and she was able to disarm the alarm. Her thoughts, on the whole drama "if I was a robber I that alarm would make me pee my pants"

The day of polyurethaning.

Here's the reverse image of Tallulah's paw prints. These have been polyurethaned to live in infamy under the desk.








Here's the floors after the first coat of polyurethane. Shiny and stinky!
This is at 11:30p.m. when we decided to put the second coat on. We know you are supposed to wait 48 hours, but we decided that 12 might work just as well. That way we can be moved back in and sleeping in our own bed and Robert can be well rested for his first day of work tomorrow. Yippee!

Now all is left is the polyurethane.

Here' s the pictures of the stained floors, now all we have left is a couple of coats of polyurethane. Wow, if feels like we are just about to get everything the way we want it.

My husband the supper sander stainer man.

I came home totally expecting to help Robert sand our bedroom floors so we could sand more on Saturday and then maybe start the staining process. To my surprise Robert had finished the sanding and had almost all of the staining done. Drew and I took the sanders back to the rental place and went by Lowe's for one more can of stain. Robert finished up, showered and we all went to dinner. Robert took some Ibuprofen, we watched a movie and he crashed. This is much different than the way I thought I would be spending the evening.





This is where he was when I came home.

Guess who "helped".

More you might be a redneck...........

It can be convenient to have your dresser in the living room.














It is a little challenging though to have them behind the mattress and box springs.


And how about the office master bath combo.

Well, with Robert starting a new job on Monday we feel the push to get the floors in our bedroom sanded and stained. It helps that Beth and Katelyn coming to check out Augusta State on Thursday so we will have a deadline to be out of the spare room and back in our room. Who knows maybe they feel like painting again. :-)
We have moved things into the spare room and the living room.


Tomorrow the sanding will begin, and I'm sure last through the weekend. Oh, joy.

Toning down the color.

It was about a 50/50 split on whether people liked my hair color or not. But, after I had lived with it and still felt like it was too light and looking grayish, I went back to Modish today and had Lauren tone it down. I am much happier. I love the cut (and am getting better with the flat iron) and now I love the color too!

Robert has a job!!!!!!

Robert, was offered and accepted a job as IT help desk manager at University Hospital. (the rival hospital to where I am working) He will be managing 14 help desk people. The hospital has 2500 computers compared to 400 that the City of Alpharetta had. And they get about 100 calls a day. One of the fun parts is he could ride a bike to work. And he and I could commute together as we will only work a couple of blocks from each other. He starts his new job on Monday!!! Yipee! Thank you, Lord!

More master bath progress.

Wow, we actually have a working toilet in the water closet. The vaniety is hooked up and working. We have regular mirrors and my new lighted, and magnified "so I can see my eyebrow hairs to pluck them" mirror. Yeah!!!!!!!

Both of our children are officially college students!

Drew started at Augusta State University today. So, he did actually start college a semester earlier than he would have if would have waited to graduate this May. We applaud him for, passing his GED and scoring well on his placement exams. He registered for school all on his own as well. He is in class Mon. and Wed. from 5 p.m. to 7 p.m. and 1 p.m. to 7 p.m. on Tues. and Thurs. That schedule works better for our son the night owl. Woo Hoo Drew way to go!

A funny thing happened on the way to get my hair cut.

I was turning onto Broad street at about 2:55p.m. (my appt was at 3:00) And an old woman put her hand out and stopped me. She motioned for me to roll down my window. So I did. (not the brightest moment in my life) She asked me if I could give her a ride to Walmart. I told her I had an appointment to get to, so she unlocked the door and got in. I will say that I was amazed at how quickly she had the door unlocked and was in my car. I asked her which Walmart and after about 5 times I finally understood her to say Deans Bridge. (which is not close) So, I asked her if my husband could take her and she said yes. I called Robert and he graciously agreed to take her, so I could go to my appointment. I called Robert after I was done with my hair cut and he told me I owed him BIG. Not, only did he take her to Walmart, but she told him that she needed him to buy her a pair of pants as well. So, he walked around Walmart with her and finally found her a pair of pants. She then told him she could take the bus home. He probably spent more than an hour taking, buying and returning home. God bless him.

A new year and a new do.

I've been thinking that my hair , makes me look frumpy. It is long and thick, but not really much of a style. In fact I wear it pulled back more than I wear it down. So, I decided that it was time to get it cut. Here's the before.

Now the back.

Here it is now. I can still pull it back and Lauren added some highlights. (I'm not sure I really like the highlights) I think they maybe are too blond and look gray. I do like the cut and I'd like to think it makes me look younger and my hair is not so HEAVY looking.

And here it is from the back. So, at least my hair is starting the new year off skinnier.

Megan was legally blind..........

Megan had lasik surgery today. She was able to read street signs on the way home. This goggles are to protect her eyes. They gave her 5mg of Valium and she was pretty punchy, hence the goofy smile. She came home and slept for 4 hours, got up ate dinner and then stayed under the quilt resting for a couple more.


Occasionally she stuck her head out and would read the credits on the T.V. screen. Something she hasn't been able to do without glasses since she eight years old. WOO HOO! It is really cool that she can do that. I can't wait to see what the doctor says tomorrow about what her vision is.

The Sunflower quilt expirement.

I made this small sunflower quilt this fall, I really love the colors and the difference in the sunflowers. I wanted to attempt to make it into a larger scale wall hanging, with just one sunflower. I took the pattern over to Beth's and we projected it onto the wall. At a much larger scale.


Here is the difference in the scale of the sunflowers.













Here is the finished project. I like it, but I wish I would have put a small red border around it. I think that is one of the things that makes the smaller quilt "pop".

New Years Eve 2007.

We have celebrated New Years Eve with Beth and Don for the last 9 years, so we left when I got off of work Monday and headed to Roswell. Last year we showed up at their house in our PJ's. This year Beth and Don met us at the door in their PJ's. Their daughter Katelyn had some friends over and they all had their PJ's on. So, it looks like another tradition has been born. We had fun eating chili, playing cards and watching football and toasting the new year with champagne. Happy New Year everyone!