Happy New Year!

Kurt's out like a light, I'm watching All-American New Year on Fox, responding to all you kind people who have contacted me regarding my job loss, googling job openings and Adam is at a party with friends in Nazareth. Think I'll go break open a bottle of wine.....

Alyssa and Jesse are with Chris, Sam, Holly and Alyce at The Melting Pot:

Ugh.

It is with sadness, disappointment, tears, hurt and a feeling of betrayal, that I must announce that I was informed yesterday afternoon that there is no longer a need for an RN at Valley Kidney Specialists and my RN position is terminated as of Monday, 1/3/14.  I am all cried out at this point.  I gave 13+ years to this job; I stayed late, I came in on days off, I worked on Saturdays when necessary, I showed up when no one else did in the ice and snow, I gave up summer vacations to train new people, I would go years without calling in sick.   I devoted my life to the physicians and patients.  And for what?  This?

They've offered to allow me to stay on, but in an LPN position at an LPN's salary.  Thank you very much, and I have nothing against LPN's, but I'm an RN and have been for almost 34 years.  I have no intention of working as an LPN.

To all of you who already know and are praying for me, I thank you.  It means so much. The general consensus is that it is THEIR loss and things are meant to happen for a reason.

I would ask that if you have any comments, you send me a private message via FB or email (mlgeiger@aol.com) and not publicly comment on this post.  Thanks.

Alix's Bridal Shower

Alyssa and I went to a lovely bridal shower earlier today.  Here's some pics:

Sam made the cupcakes, aren't they adorable!?!?  She made pumpkin, banana and chocolate. I had banana...it was delish!

Alyssa & Sam:

Opening the gift we got Alix:

Church friends (Me, Barb, Kathy & Sandy):

I won one of the flowers.  I had it home before I realized it was real...LOL!!

Opening more presents:

Self-explanatory:

Now where did he come from!?!?!?  :-)

Forgot This!

End Of An Era

Where to begin.  Our nephrology practice merged with another nephrology practice two years ago this past July.  Their main office is located on the campus of Lehigh Valley Hospital-Cedar Crest.  Our main office has been located in Easton.  I've worked with our practice since March '99.  The decision was made several months ago to close our office and move the entire staff to their main office at LVH-CC.  They've opened a much smaller satellite office right by Easton office in order to still be able to accommodate all the patients that we see from the Easton/NJ/Slate Belt area, but that is not big enough to house our entire staff.

We all dreaded this day.  We prayed for the fall to drag...Christmas to never come.  We knew that along with Christmas came the closing of our office and us having to relocate clear across the Lehigh Valley.  For some, who live in New Jersey, or in the Slate Belt, it's a much further drive than they are used to.  It means a longer day for them.  It means more gas.  It means less time with their families.  Less time with their children.  It means driving on I-78 twice a day....

With the move, jobs are changing.  Some are having to learn new things.  Some are no longer allowed to do things they've done for years....and did well, very well.  Some of these changes are mandated by the federal government, believe it or not.

It means learning to work with new people, hoping we'll all figure it out and work in the best way possible to accomplish the goal of caring for our patients and assisting the physicians.  It means that some things we do better, and some things they do better.  Here's hoping that the management is open to seeing that and is willing to consider changing their ways if our ways are better.  And for us to accept that there are things we will have to do differently.

The saddest part of this whole move is having to say 'good-bye' to a man who has become a good friend over the past 14 years.  Robert Grunberg, M.D., took a chance on me almost 14 years ago and hired me to work in his office where there had never been a nurse before.  We've worked very closely together over the years and have become great friends over the years.  He trusts me and my judgement implicitly.  I value his knowledge.  He's such a caring physician and his patients love him.  I love him :-)  He built our practice over the years and made him and the group very well respected in the medical community.  We'll still talk on the phone, but I won't see him every day any more.  He's only doing office hours twice a week and only in the Easton office.  I am now clear across the valley.  Talking on the phone just won't be the same.  God, I love that man.....

I've dreaded this moment, however, I've come to accept that this is the way it is and I'm willing to give it a try and do the best job that I can.  I'm hoping that they'll be open to seeing that there are some things that we do better and that they'll be willing to adapt.  I'm hoping that I can be a bit less stubborn and realize that change is not always a bad thing.

Wish us all luck!

We got together the week before Christmas.  There were some there who no longer work in the office, some who've already transferred to other offices and then those of us who were there to the end.  We had a great time catching up and reminiscing about old times.

Merry Christmas!!

Just a few pics from Christmas Day. 

 Alyssa gave Adam an adorable little Corgi calendar: 

Two pairs of Toms for Alyssa:

An iPad Air for Kurt:

An electric guitar for Adam:
  

A Kitchen Aid mixer for Alyssa:

And some adorable pics of Jesse and Alyssa:

Aren't They Cute!?!?

Alyssa found this idea on Pinterest:

Late Post :-)

Happy Thanksgiving!

I have no idea what I was thinking.  I made enough food for an army!  And none of us are that crazy about leftovers :-(  Fortunately, Adam really liked the stuffing that mom made (it was a new recipe using loose sausage) and he loves green bean casserole, so actually offered to take most of those back to school with him tomorrow.  I, however, have about 8 lbs of turkey left to do something with.  And I really don't like leftover turkey...LOL!  I have ingredients to make turkey potpie, but sheesh, how much turkey potpie does one need!?!?

You'll notice there was someone missing in the above picture (besides me, who was taking the picture).  Miss Alyssa had Thanksgiving dinner with Jesse.  She texted me this picture after supper.  I questioned her on it; said she forgot to send me a pic of her plate full, thus this instead ;-)

This was the exciting news of the week!  After me complaining for years that Adam was driving junk cars that constantly broke down, Kurt finally decided to look at a car for himself with the intention of passing his Audi down to Adam.  This whole process moved quite quickly in Kurt time; I think he started looking less than a week ago.  This is quite unusual; he's been 'looking' for a truck for the last 6-8 months.  I wasn't convinced when he found this Mini Cooper that anything would ever come of it....but, lo and behold, as of this AM he's now the owner of this cute little buggie.  It's a 2003, but only had ~67,000 miles on it and the price was right (believe me, if the price hadn't been right, he'd never have bought it!)

It's so tiny, though!!  Kurt said with the seat back, Adam can actually drive it and supposedly it's even more comfortable for him than driving the Scirocco.

Now I can rest easier knowing that Adam is driving a more reliable car :-)

It Was A Doctor Who Kinda' Day

Today was the 50th anniversary of the British television show Doctor Who. There are people who are totally hooked on this show (not me!)...I think their official title are Whovians.  Well, I was in the midst of three of them today :)

Whovian #1-Sheri (on left):

Whovians #2 & 3-Jesse & Alyssa:

There was a 50th anniversary special of Doctor Who on this afternoon at 2:50 pm and then repeated again at 7 pm.  They watched both!  AND we had a Whovian supper!

Upper left is a mango/cucumber salsa.  Upper right is Honey Mustard Mock Custard and those are fish sticks on the bottom.  Why this combination you ask?!?!?

To be able to make/eat FISH CUSTARD TACOS!!

And for dessert we had GOOEY BROWNIE FAUX FISH FINGERS WITH CUSTARD :-)

Now, I will tell you this won't be a regular in my meal planning book, but for one meal it was OK :)  These recipes came from Alyssa's Doctor Who cookbook (see, I told you she's a Whovian...who else would have a Doctor Who cookbook?!!?!?)

**Oh, and BTW, meet Jesse, Alyssa's boyfriend ;-)**

Pulled Pork

Tried this yesterday.  I shredded the roast once it was cooked and put it back in the sauce and simmered it for about 15 minutes.  The sauce was not very strong, but when we put it on rolls, we added BBQ sauce and it was pretty tasty. I made fried rice to go along with it and had coleslaw as a side.  I have enough left over for at least one, if not two, meals.  I'd probably make this again.  

Last Penn State Game

Today was the last home game of the season and Adam's there :-)

There's too many lasts this year :(

Thanks :-)

Another patient has given me a token of her appreciation for all I've done for her.  She knows I'm a huge Penn State fan and felt the angel was appropriate ;-)

I love my patients.  My job is so gratifying and rewarding; I love helping them and serving as the liaison between them and the physicians.  

New Pot Roast Recipe

A friend from work found this yummy pot roast recipe on Pinterest.  It's way easy!!  And quite tasty, too!

1 packet McCormick Slow Cooker Savory Pot Roast seasoning mix

1 packet McCormick Au Jus gravy mix

1 cup water

12 oz can Coke

chuck roast

carrots

potatoes

Place roast in crock pot.  Mix savory pot roast seasoning mix with one cup of water.  Pour over roast.  Add coke.  Cook on high x 4 hours or low x 8 hours.  (I cooked mine on high x 7 hours and it turned out just dandy!)

You can add peeled potatoes at the start of cooking and throw in a small bag of carrots with a few hours left.

Right before serving, take out the potatoes and carrots and add the Au Jus packet and mix well. That sort of thickens the juice, which means you don't even have to make gravy!

It's so easy and so yummy!

DCF

This is what Adam did this past weekend:

He was at the DiscipleMakers Fall Conference.  There were close to 400 students from multiple colleges.  This was just the Penn State contingent :-)

(He's the tall one in the pic!)

Yum!

Well, this is a keeper for sure!!  I saw this slow cooker sauce in the coupon circular this weekend and found it at the grocery store (of course, I hadn't cut the coupon out...LOL!!).  They have about 4 different flavors for different meats, this was the only one that I thought we might like. I decided to add a can of mushrooms, but other than that, all I did this morning before I left for work was put the roast in the crock pot (not browned), added the mushrooms, 4 potatoes (I peeled them last night and soaked them in water) and the packet of sauce.  Tonight I made salads and peas and voila!  We really enjoyed it!  And it was SO easy!!  It had a great flavor, the mushrooms were delicious and the meat just fell apart.

Now, where'd these come from!??!

This is Samson's absolute favorite way to be held!  He loves his paws hanging down, whether he's in our arms or sitting on the sofa....or sink....or kitchen table.... ;-)

So Sweet!

I had a patient bring these for me today :-) He and his wife are moving South and he stopped by to say goodbye and thank me for everything I've done for him over the years.

Most of us teared up when I read the card aloud: I am leaving the area but will think of you. You have set the bar high for caring, compassion and the love of giving. You can't be replaced.....

This couldn't have happened on a better day.  There's a lot of change going on in our office right now, and for many of us, sadness...and a few other emotions that I won't get into right now.  Today was a particularly rough day; this was a bright spot in the middle of a bad day.

One of Our Favorites! And So Easy, Too :-)

This is so quick, easy.....and yummy on top of it! For three of us, I buy four boxes of frozen veggies (as below) and fry up one pound of ground turkey (or beef). I microwave all four boxes of veggies at the same time for 12 minutes while the turkey is browning. I add either Season All or Nature's Seasoning to the meat, too. Then just throw it all together and stir! Voila! Done!!  I make a tossed salad to go with it.

If you don't want leftovers, then one box per person is sufficient.  I like having leftovers for lunch the next day at work :-)

The 'icing on the cake' is adding french fried onions on top when serving!

Delicious!!