One Year Today.

OK, so I had this long post written.  Names named.  I've decided it's not worth it. Suffice it to say:

One year ago today,
Betrayed.
Still hurts.
Still cry.
Miss the patients.
Miss nephrology.
Miss transplant.
Thought I meant more.
Guess not.

Kazakhstan!

Here's a montage of pictures from Adam's adventure in Kazakhstan!  The first pic is the night we dropped him off at the office for his ride to the airport; the next two pics show where he is living. There are apparently 1000 people living here in these 'over-sized shipping bins' as Adam calls them.

  All of these pictures below were taken in Astana, which is the capital of Kazakhstan.  Here's an article I found on-line about the city.  If you have two extra minutes, take the time to watch the short video which is about 1/4 of the way down the article.  It's on the left hand side of the article and is a two minute video about the city.

These pictures sort of make me think Hunger Games ;-)

Wedding!

Our Pastors' son, Eric, got married yesterday.  It was a beautiful!  Both Pastors' Barry and Elizabeth officiated at the wedding :)

Eric, with our table:

My little friend, Samantha, took this lovely picture:

Chris and Samantha, their wedding is next in May :-)

Samantha with our dear friend, Sandy:

This is the only nice one of us that Sam wasn't making a goofy face:

My gladiator friend, Kathy (that's a Scandal reference!):

Me and my honey:  

The wedding was in Gilberstville, here's a pic of the Limerick Power Plant:

30 Years!

Today Kurt and I celebrate 30 years of marriage.  It just doesn't seem that long to me.  Well, I guess there's some days that it seems waayyy longer than that...LOL!!

Thirty years ago today started out cloudy and raining.  By noon, the rain had stopped and pretty soon the clouds parted and by the time we got married it was a beautiful fall day!

I had flowers put in church yesterday for our 30th anniversary.  Aren't they just beautiful?!!?  $15 for that gorgeous bouquet!  The only problem with having flowers in this house is that if we leave them anywhere that certain critters can reach them, they EAT them!  So, unfortunately, we always need to put them on top our entertainment center and they're just not as visible up there.

I was able to clear my calendar this evening so we could go out for dinner.  We weren't sure where to go, so I put the question out there on trusty old Facebook and got tons of suggestions (I want to go to all of them...LOL!).  We ended up choosing a restaurant on Main St. in Bethlehem called Corked.  The food was fabulous!  Thanks, Fiona, for the suggestion...we loved it!

My martini, Valley Sunset.

We each got their French Onion soup, which was delicious.

Our wedge salad that came with our meal.

My Filet Medallions Au Poivre.  It was delicious!  That's mashed potatoes and brussel sprouts with it.

A selfie as we were leaving :-)

Thirty years ago!  I like to call Kurt my 'Stevie Wonder' in these outdoor pictures!  I don't think we really even thought about his stupid photo-grey lenses when we did these pictures outside!!  

And, of note, Mom made my wedding dress for me :-)  I think the material cost all of about $150 at the time!

Here's a recent pic of us during our Fall Foliage tour last weekend!

The Job.

I just celebrated my three month anniversary with my new job.  I'm to the point that I don't come downstairs in tears any more at the end of my work day ;-)  It's actually getting better.  I didn't think I'd ever be able to say that!  I'm getting more comfortable with the tests that I am trying to authorize and the criteria for these tests.  I'm learning about brains and lung nodules and sinuses and neuromas and ankles and knees and wrists and gallbladders and ligaments and rotator cuffs and so on and so on and so on.....I'm getting used to people not always being so nice on the other end of the line.  When that happens, I try to be just that much nicer to them :-)  I've gotten over being called a MORON by one physician shortly after I started taking calls by myself.  That didn't sit well with me, I was so upset I couldn't say a word and ended up crying while I was on the phone with the caller...LOL.  Thanks, VKS.  Not.

I'm supposed to do at least 70 cases/calls per day.  I'm hanging around 65 most days. I've had a few days that I've done 73-75, but not regularly.  Once I get to 70 per day on a regular basis, they will move me from an hourly pay to a per case rate.  Word on the street is that some of the Clinical Reviewers do up to 80-90 cases/calls per day.  I can't imagine me ever being able to do that many!  Obviously, the more calls one can take, the more money one can make.  I'm perfectly fine with not making more money...LOL!

I hate, hate, hate, HATE, working full time (did I make my point?!?!?!)  I so totally miss having off my Thursdays!!  And it's even worse being a new employee and not having much/any PTO accrued!  I don't have any time off until the end of November. Yuck.

I do miss not having anyone to talk to during the day, although, it's probably better, cuz if I had someone to talk to, I don't think I'd be able to 'make productivity' as they call it.  I think once it gets cold outside, or it snows, or we have ice, I'll be MUCH happier with the job ;-)  If you know what I mean.....

So, overall, the job is OK, it's not my dream job,  I totally miss my nephrology patients and my transplant patients.  I still have dreams about the practice and the physicians and think about it more often than I prefer.  I still cry.  I try not to, but it happens.  I've had all the physicians from the practice, except for TWO of them (anyone care to guess which two??), ask about me and say they are sorry for what was done to me.

And now, if only Samson could talk...... ;-)

Amish Yumasetta Casserole

My pictures don't look the prettiest, but this was a pretty good casserole and I'll definitely be making it again.  I got it from an Amish Facebook page I belong to.  Ok, I can hear you now..."the Amish are on Facebook?!?!?!"  No, I don't think they are, what I've been able to figure out thus far, it's mostly people who love the Amish, people who have Amish neighbors and those who used to be Amish.

2 lb hamburger
salt and pepper
Brown sugar
2-3 onions
1 can tomato soup
1 can cream of chicken soup (I messed up and got cream of mushroom soup instead, it was still good!
16 oz egg noodles
8 ounce processed Velveeta cheese

Brown beef and onions, drain.  Add salt, pepper and brown sugar to taste.  Mix with cream of tomato soup.  Combine noodles with cream of chicken soup.  Layer hamburger mixture and noodle mixture in 9x13 pan.  The cheese goes inside the layer, not on top.  Bake at 350 degrees for 30-45 minutes.

The Ice Cream Truck!

Gosh, I don't know when the last time was that I got ice cream from an Ice Cream truck!  I must have been a little girl!  This truck has been coming round all summer; I kept missing it.  You need to understand, we live out in the country...it's not typical to have an ice cream truck out here!  Not that I really needed the ice cream (in more ways than one!).  In fact, today when I caught the truck, I had just gotten home from grocery shopping and had bought popsicles (mostly for the kids and Kurt); the bags were still sitting on the landing.  I could have easily grabbed one of those instead.  But it didn't come from the ice cream truck!  It just wasn't the same!  The funny thing is,  I don't even really care for popsicles or ice cream all that much.  

But maybe I should have held back and just waited til I put my groceries away and had one of the pops I got at the grocery store.  The choco taco I got was $3 and the Magnum pop was $4!!!  Gee, I don't remember them being quite that expensive 50 years ago...LOL!!  I think I probably paid that much for 2 boxes of Dove pops and 1 box of chocolate crunch bars!!

I'm pretty sure these'll taste much better though!

Technology.

Today's technology just amazes me.  I'm talking to Kurt while he's in Brazil ;-)

Chicken, Potatoes, Green Beans

I saw this recipe on Facebook and thought I'd give it a try.  It's so easy to put together!  It kind of reminded us of the packets that the kids used to make with Scouts, or the ones we used to make when camping when I was growing up.

Line a 9x13 pan with green beans, chicken and potatoes.  I used three cans green beans, 4 chicken breasts and 4 potatoes.  Sprinkle one packet Zesty Italian salad dressing over top, then pour one stick melted butter on top.  Bake in oven, covered with foil, for one hour at 350 degrees.  

The only thing I'd do differently is cut the potatoes a bit smaller (everything else was done, but the potatoes took longer than an hour).  I'd also use a second packet of dressing-or at least half of one.

It probably isn't the greatest new recipe I've ever made, however, it was good enough (and certainly easy enough!!) to make it again.

Wedding Cross Stitch