What is that white stuff outside?

Well folks it does still know how to snow in Iowa.This is our first REAL taste of snow this season.

What a wonderful sight to see the freshly fallen snow.No more brown grass to look at.

I do understand those who do not enjoy it tho. I know I do not care to drive in this weather. Slippery roads are no fun.I am just lucky I only am about 6-8 blocks from work.I know some of you are thinking but everything is 6-8 blocks in Orange City. NOT TRUE!!!! it could be up to a mile depending on what side of town you live on.

Back to the snow....It was so much fun to come home and see 100's of foot prints in the snow all around my house from all the neighborhood children playing in the first snow of the season. Hearing there laughs and squeals of excitement brings back memories of how I could play for hours outside after it snowed. I would sled down the alley on my sled. Or I could be found playing on the biggest snow pile sledding down that or just digging in it.

I still enjoy the snow,however I think I would enjoy it more if it stayed off my sidewalks and driveway. I guess some day when a mystery person leaves me my millions of dollars I can have heated sidewalks and driveways. Or I guess if I had millions I would be able to hire it done or be on some Tropical Island having pretty women bring me ice tea and ... well I best not go there. It will never happen.

I have to go play in the snow now!!!!! Becky have you gone to play in it yet?

What is omething that

What is something that makes you giggle:It would have to be when a demented resident goes on a tangent about some crazy thing.

What makes you mad: people with no comman sense.

What makes you cry: Sad TV shows, and saying goodbye to friends when they move away.

What cheers you up: Spending time with a friend who is up beat and happy, and jokes around.

What makes you frustrated: trying to copy and paste on the computer.

What makes you hungry:Breathing and waking up, walking, working... OK get the point I LOVE to eat.

What makes you tired: Reading and anytime after 9 p.m.

What makes you sick: Cleaning up puke,and real smelly poopie pads at work.(None are good to make you sick in my line of work).

What makes you fall down: walking out the door and not knowing it is Icy.

What makes you nostalgic: getting together with friends and talking.

Well blogger friends, it seems I am at a loss for stories.I am suffering from writers block.That or all of the residents have learned of my blog page and been on good behavior lately. I sure hope that is not the case.

I think I just need to put on my thinking cap again and try remembering some more special moments.

I am sure some day some time when I least expect it some little old lady or man will do something to make us laugh.

As I am writing I've just remembered a good one............. better stay tuned. I am saving that one for later.

The suspense thickens!!!!!

I may be crazy for wishing this, but I sure am wishing the temperatures would drop about 10 degrees so we could get a snow storm. This is crazy getting all this rain in December, after all I am in IOWA. Who ever heard of all this rain in December. I am not in Florida I am in IOWA.

Now do not get me wrong I would never want what Denver has been getting that is a little to much. But I do not think wishing for maybe 6-8 inches is not asking for to much.

I am not just thinking of myself but these 100's of children who want to play with there new sleds they got from Santa.What a let down it has to be for them.

So all of you folks, lets think S N O W!!!!!!!!!!!

You will cut my what???

One of my co-workers was sharing with me today a conversation she had with one of the residents. This resident had been a beautician at one time so the CNA asked her if she could get a hair cut from her.The resident replied that yes she would cut her hair, however she was going to cut her ears off as well. Shocked the CNA asked this lady why she would cut off her ears, to which the resident replied,"so they will not get cold."
kind of makes me wonder what kind of beautician she was.

Left me speachless.

Picture it , new kid at work, quiet, shy and not sure what he is doing.OK so maybe the quiet is stretching things a little.
Anyway this memory was maybe a little should I say embarrassing for me.
I could not have been working at the nursing home for more then a month when I was walking one of the lady residents.Trying to do as told I was making conversation with this lady as I was walking her.I asked her ,"and how are you today?"
Imagine my shock when she replied,"well I've got my period," Not thinking I had heard her correctly I asked her to repeat herself.BIG MISTAKE!! Yes I heard her correctly, she repeated what she had said before.She continued to say "I thought I was done with that but I guess not." By now I was red as a tomato and did not know what to say.It seems when the gals checked her "PAD" as we call them or diaper she thought she was having her pad changed.
I was by now laughing and the other staff was too,however I am not sure if they were laughing at me or at her. I think maybe a little of both. After that day I decided if I could survive that I could survive almost anything.
You see there are very few men who do this kind of work. Maybe I know why after that day.

Here

Here I go again,I've just got so many things to share from working at the nursing home. This one again is about the take me to my room lady. She was by far one of the most entertaining residents we had.

It was Thanksgiving morning ,my first Thanksgiving of working in the nursing home and also my first time working a holiday. Before this I had a job that I had all holidays off.

I had gone into her room to help her and to get her out of bed. Trying to be cheerful, I wished her a happy Thanksgiving and asked her what she was thankful for.To my joy and excitement she responded "BRIAN"!!!!Being new I was overjoyed and flattered that someone was actually thankful for me. I quickly called one of my co-workers into the room and said,"Amy listen to this," turning to Sadie I said, "tell Amy what you are thankful for".With a smile on my face and beaming I awaited her answer only to hear her reply,"MY CALL LIGHT!!!: feeling rejected and with Amy laughing I asked again,"and what else?"This time I got another answer..."Jesus"By now Amy was laughing so hard and I was standing with my head hung low feeling like a fool. Not to be outdone or made a fool of I made one last attempt." Sadie" I asked, are you thankful for me?" A weak yes, came from her lips, but at least she said it.

Again it proves my theory of kids and elderly are a lot alike. When you want then to repeat something they will not do it.

That my friends is why my job never lacks excitement.

Only if your hair is on fire

Yes that is a picture of a fire. Now let me explain!!

Shortly after I started there was a resident who took a special liking to me. It so happens she was the (take me to my room lady.)She was on old maid librarian no less,(sorry Becky).

It seemed that when ever I was working she was constantly on her call light. The other aids said she only was this bad when I was there.She would pull her call light in hopes that I would come into her room to help her.As I would enter the room she would great me with a smile. I would ask her what she needed and she would just smile and say "I want my call light". OK folks now think about this...... she must have had it in order for me to go into her room. I would kindly say you have the call light in your hand. Next time she would ring it would be "I want more blankets or please read me scripture." If time allowed I would read some to her.

One day was extra bad with her ringing. We were trying to get residents down for a nap after lunch and so we could go have our lunch too. Within a matter of five minutes I think she had rang at least three times. Getting a little frustrated I went into her room and said" what do you need"? With nothing needed she said... yes, "give me my call light". I told her again she had it and said to her trying to sound serious.. "I only want you to ring if your hair is on fire"!!!!!I then turned and walked out of the room thinking I had made my point.Not more the 1-3 minutes later her light was again going. I marched in there and in a not so patient tone asked her , "IS your hair on fire?" to which she replied, "YES"!!!

Needless to say I turned of her call light and left the room laughing.

Residents 25 Brian 0. They had me again.

Now you know why I an crazy you have to be to work there. Laugh it off works best.

True Confessions

I know I have shared this with some of you before, but being Christmas it is a fun one to share again.

OK admit it I bet some of you have done this too. Now be honest. As a child waiting to open presents was more then I could stand. Every year packages under the tree was more temptation then a plate of warm chocolate chip cookies.( And I loved them too).So being a typical boy and child I decided that shortly before Christmas I was sick and needed to stay home from school.With the house empty and only myself with all the presents I took action.Careful not to tear any of the wrapping paper I began my task. Of course I knew where MY packages were after I had been checking them out for days.I made my move opening the end of the package to reveal what was inside. MY excitement mounted as I carefully looked at the end of the box. YESSSSSSS!!!!!!! a new race car set, I had been wanting one for a long time. (However I also think my dad was too). Now came the task of tapeing it shut again. I tried to retape with the old tape but no luck, I would need to get more tape to hide my nasty deed. I went to the drawer where I thought I would find the tape. The key word there is thought, because there was non there. So I went to the desk again no luck. I am thinking what am I going to do I've got to get this taped shut again before mom comes home.Trying to think of an option I finally thought maybe glue would work. Thank goodness for good ole Elmer. Elmer's glue use # 1937463. hide evidence of a naughty boy.

I must say,that Christmas opening presents was not as fun and I do not remember ever doing it again.

Now the big question should I tell my parents about this tonight some maybe 40 years later??????I'll keep you posted.

Childhood memories

I am sure as we all think back we have some type of memories of Christmas growing up.Family traditions,games we played ,food we ate the list could go on.
I remember as a child ( guess my memories is good if I can remember that long ago) of how my dad loved to tease my sisters and me.Every year at Christmas time he would always tell us that he was going to shoot Santa this year. OK I admit I was not real small but dad enjoyed having Santa come.Soon after my sisters and I would go to bed he would stand by the stairs and loudly do a Santa Ho HO HO!!!! Followed quickly by a bang! My sisters and I would all be yelling daaaad!!!!!!!!!!! Now I must admit that we were a little to old for Santa to visit ,but as long as dad enjoyed it who was to complain.
Did I mention how i used to watch out my bedroom window and see him carry in the gifts from the trunk of the car?????
I tag you to share your favorite Christmas memories.

Happy Holidays

From my home to yours. I wish all of you a very Merry Christmas and a Happy New Year!

Thanks to Becky I am able to do pictures too. That Becky is a wizz in the computer.

Let us not forget the real reason of Christmas.

A is for Age.
I am 47 and have decided 50 is no longer old
B is for beer. Has to be very cold
C is for career. Nurse Aid at local nursing homes
D is for dog . As a child we had Tuffy.Spoiled but not so tuff. Now I has a naughty spoiled Yorkie named Charlie
.
E is for Essential item I use every day. Has to be latex gloves, see job and no further explanation needed.
F is for favorite TV show. Any Lucy shows

G is for favorite game
I am not much of a game player however I recently played jerk and found that fun. Maybe it was just the people I played it with.
H is for hometown
Orange City
I is for Instruments I play
LOLOLOL me musical?
J is for favorite juice
Tomato or orange
K is for whose butt I like to kick
Lazy co-workers, and crabby people.
L is for last place I ate
The Hatchery in Orange City
M is for marriage
Been there, done it,did not work out.. next question.
N is for my name
Brian Jay
O is for operation
Knee scoped.
P is for People I was with today
Let see... 45 people over 75, co-workers, and the Bilbys for a while so Becky could show me computer stuff.
Q is for quote
Never eat yellow snow.

R is for biggest regret Getting married when I knew I should not have.
S is for sport
If you could see this body you would know sports is NOT a part of my life.
T is for time I woke up today
4:50 a.m. Did you see tht Becky.
U is for current underwear.Whittie tighties
V is for vegetable you love
Corn or maybe carrots
W is for worst habit
A worst habit, I have no bad habits.Ok Worring, and eating to much
X is for x-rays I've had
Ribs,knee.
Y is for Yummy food you ate today
T bone steak.
Z is for zodiac
I am a Libra. However I do not follow it to much. I am always told I will have a new love enter my life. Not sure I am wanting that. I am also told financial wealth will improve and that has not happened yet either.

I want to go to my room

Several years ago we had a resident who ate like a bird. Her main wish was to be laying in bed covered with 3 or 4 blankets and even a afghan around her head.
As soon as we would get to the dinning room for a meal she would start saying in a meek and mild voice that was hard to hear..."take me to my room... take me to my room take me to my room.
Being the new kid at work I thought I will show them and get her to eat. Trying several attempts at getting her to eat and failing she continued with her"take me to my room".I finally decided if I at least get her to drink her milk I would have succeeded a little. So I placed the glass of milk in her hand and said,"as soon as the milk is gone you may go to your room". Now I am thinking there I've gotten her to drink the nurse will be pleased with me and I am showing them this new guy has it together.NOT!!!!!! This lady promptly took the glass I had placed in her hand and proceeded to pour the milk on the floor placing the empty glass on the table saying" Now take me to my room." The charge nurse seeing this said to her if you were my grandchild I would send you to your room. I quickly pointed out that was her wish. Laughing all I could do was take her to her room.
They always say kids and old people are a lot alike I am finding that to be very very true.

Little bits of the day.

Yesterday at work they had a Christmas party for our residents> It was sponsered by a local business and a TV station from the area.It was so much fun to see the residents smile as they opened there gifts.They were having a truely wonderful time.... well most of them were.
One of the ladies will be celebrating her 105th birthday on Sunday December 24.
What a joy she still is to all of us.She has got a wonderful smile and a twinkle in her eyes that could warm the coldest of hearts.She loves to chat although she is hard of hearing.She will talk on and on about her younger years and her getting married in her 40's to a man who's wife passed away and she was a mother to 6 kids.
She loves to tell you about her love for dogs and always adds her husband did not allow her to have one. She always says " I think he was jelious".
Her Christmas gift was a stuffed dog her only comment was.. "I wish it were alive".
It was wonderful to see how a comunitee reached out to support these residents and make sure they had a happy holiday.

Withdrawls

My goodness being without a computer for two days was pure torture. My monitor died and lucky for me a friend at work had an old one they gave me.So that means I can be back to blogging. I've got some good ones to share..... Stay tuned.

Saying goodbye is not always easy

No one ever said saying goodbye would be easy. I remember after the death of one of the residents shortly after I started I stopped bye my parents house and was talking to my mom. I was sharing with her about the death of this resident and how sad I felt. I was crying and saying to my mom, it so sad I will miss them so much. They brought such joy to me and were always so much fun.It was then when the mom wisdom kicked in as usual. She said "Brian, you must remember they are going to a much better place and they are no longer suffering.and remember many of these people have been waiting for the day when they can be with loved ones". (To you moms out there how do you get to be so smart).
Those words have stuck with me and helped me threw the lose of many residents. One especially was very very hard on me.It has been a little over a year and I still think of her often.She was a spry classy lady never a hair out of place and always had makeup on.She had the most charming sense of humor you could ask for. She loved talking of the days she and her husband had gone dancing. Or she would just want to talk about her family or her days as a housewife or working one of her many jobs she did.
I can remember her talking on and on of how funny she always thought Johnny Carson was. Now since she was also a little demented.. (OK maybe more then a little) for several days she read in the paper about him dying(for some reason the paper had not been thrown away) but each time it was new news to her and she would again tell how she loved Johnny laughing and laughing. We too were laughing, yes I admit we do sometimes laugh at them or with them.
One fall day when I came to work I was told she had been rushed to Sioux City with a blood clot in her leg and was very very ill. Doctors did not know if she would return.Well she did return but only to live her final days with the people she new at the nursing home home.
It was by far one of the most stressful weeks I had ever had. Not knowing from day to day if she was going to be there when I got there in the morning. Her family was there around the clock. Each time we went in to do cares we talked to the family. At first my dear friend was able to talk to me when I talked to her.I would always be sure to give her a peck on the forehead and tell her I loved her. Before the end of the shift I would stop bye and see how she was and say good bye not knowing if it was the last time I would see her.My heart ached, knowing that she was going to go home to be with the lord soon but a part of me did not want him to take her yet.Yet I knew I had no control and that she and her family were ready to say good bye I also needed to let her go.
On Friday as I left for the weekend I went into her room told her I loved her and said it's OK Leona you go home now, you go. With tears in my eyes I gave the family hugs too and said I hope it is soon.
Sunday morning with all her family at her side, she sat up in bed( she had not been responding for several days) smiled at all of them as if to say it's OK I going home now. She then took her last breath and was finally at peace.
It took me a long time 1-2 months before I could talk about her without getting the vapors (my term for crying).Even when you know they are in a better place it does not always mean it is easy for us.
Thank You Leona for some very fond memories. I will never forget you.

How I came to working in the nursing home

Maybe some of you wonder how I happened to come about working in a nursing home,let me tell you.
I had been working at my previous job for 18 1/2 years. The company had been sold and the new owners kept downsizing to save money. Every week rumors would be going around this is the week there is going to be a big meeting.That big meeting finally did happen. In April of 2002, I was told that in one week my job was no longer going to be there for me as well as my coworkers.I can not say it came as a surprise to us.I was actually relieved to finally know my fate at work.The not knowing was the worst.
In the back of my mind I always said maybe working in the nursing home would be good, after all I always enjoyed the elderly.However when push came to shove I felt I could not do that work.Friends kept saying you can do it Brian,you would be so good.God kept closing doors on other jobs but kept opening the doors to the nursing home.I however kept saying "No God this is not for me, you are wrong on this one."Well needless to say i decided to finally listen to God and follow his plan for me.
It has been a great 4 1/2 years at this job.I have learned to love these residents and always strive to treat them as I would want my parent to be treated by others.Some days however I am tested to the limit.But with prayers and God I know I can do it.It has shown be God truly does know what he is doing and we need to trust him always. I just keep thinking.. Not my will but thine be done.
Truer words could not be spoken.

The Santa Hat

One of my most favorite laughs happened around this time last year. I was at work and trying to be in the festive holiday spirit. I had on my blinking bow tie and my santa hat.
Not wanting to keep the jolly santa hat to myself I ask one of the residents if they wanted to wear my hat.It just so happened that the resident I chose happened to be a retired pastors wife, and plesently confused.
I went up to her and asked Wilma (made up name as I may not use actual names.)"Wilma would you like to wear my Santa hat for a while?"
To my shock as well as those standing around her reply was,"NO you God damn fool, Jesus is the reason for the season."With that reply it not only left me speechless (and that seldom happens), but also with a good laugh for a long long time to follow.
As I said before please do not take offence to these posts.
Hope you got a big a laugh over this as I did.
Mr. Brian

Hope you are up for it.

Hear I go,my first attempt at blogging.
I hope to be able to share humor and advice from my work in the nursing homes.I've got many past humor to pass along and I only hope you will find them as interesting as I did.
Please do not be offended in any way by these,remember elderly are just like kids...... they say what they think.
Mr. Brian