More Mizsuzee's Musings

A crazy week… in many ways….

mizsuzee — Sat, 21 Jan 2012 00:28:58 +0000

I thought by now I’d have my first book review posted for the year, but it sort of slipped to the back burner this week. A week ago today, I was attending an mandatory meeting at work and got a call from Son #2. Dear DIL was (unbeknownst to all) having premature labor! At 24 weeks, we knew this was not a good thing… to say the least. I truly believe it was God’s hand that allowed dear DIL to have an appointment last Friday morning with a high risk OB specialist MD who had come to their community from Seattle. He noted immediately that she was in early labor and that action needed to be taken – now. I can only imagine how frightening this must have been for both my son and DDIL. She was quickly transferred to an ambulance and taken to a hospital in Seattle, where I can guarantee you, they know how to handle premature labor! After many tests and examinations, as well as an IV with MagSulfate, her contractions slowed, her cervix closed, and the bag of water from baby “A” which had been bulging – disappeared back to where it belonged! Oh, the prayers that were sent up for these precious babies!! And the joy that God heard and answered our prayers!! Looks like our little momma will be hangin’ out with the folks in the big-city hospital for another 5 weeks or thereabouts. I know it will be boring, but I also know it’s the best place for her to just rest and gestate! Here is a photo taken early this week… of course AT the hospital.

Another development this week was the announcement of our babies names! Now we know we’ll soon be meeting (well, not TOO soon!) Jacob Thomas (“Jake”) and Katelyn Macy. When the parents-to-be asked me for input on baby names, I pretty much refused to give any. All I said was… “don’t pick anything too weird and please, whatever you do, don’t name your little girl Bertha”. My granny was named Bertha, and I loved her dearly, but I can’t say I was too fond of her name.

Also, this week we had some perfectly HORRIBLE weather. All the predictions for snow came true, plus more. It was all bad enough to keep us from making our flight down to Palm Springs this week. What a disappointment, but what can you do? Wait for it to melt and reschedule, I guess. That’s what we did today! Here’s a huge shout-out to Allegiant Airlines for refunding our money for the flight we were completely unable to make! We will be going down next week to put the finishing touches on the vacation rental home… and, it looks like we have our first serious renter lined up for several weeks in February. YAHOO!

Be watching for an update next week from our sunny place in the California desert!

Hello 2012!

mizsuzee — Thu, 12 Jan 2012 18:28:20 +0000

It’s only taken me 12 days, but here I am, ready for my first blog post of the year. At the end of last year, I stated that I’d be reviewing books under the tab of “Books 2012″ as I’ve done in the past. You may have noticed that the tab, “Books 2012″ has disappeared. Yep, I’ve changed my mind. It’s all for a good reason – I’m participating in the Historical Fiction Challenge 2012 and as a participant, I need to leave links to my book reviews. If I post all my reviews on the separate page, then every review will have the same link, and people would have to scroll through them all, each time. So, it’s back to reviews in the body of the blog, where each posting has it’s own link.

Our Vacation Rental Home in Indian Palms Country Club

It’s been a hauntingly mild winter here so far…. but I’m afraid that’s all about to change. “They” are predicting snow for this weekend and much of next week. I used to love snow. Now I hate it with a passion. It’s all because of that nasty 88 mile drive I make weekly into Seattle for work. Since I have no control whatsoever over the weather, I’ll just have to wait and see what happens. On another note, next week we are headed to the Palm Springs California area, to work on getting our vacation/rental home ready for use! I checked the weather forecast for that area, and YAY! It’s supposed to be sunny and in the 70′s the entire time we are there. Honestly, that place is heaven-on-earth this time of year. Recently, hubby pretty much finished and then published the website for our vacation rental home. There are still some tweaks to be made and additional pictures to be added, but do feel free to check it out at: MountainVistaPalmSprings.com

I also have an update regarding our twins. Yesterday dear DIL went to the OB doc and was told it was time for her to quit work and be horizontal more than she is vertical. They are not actually calling it “bedrest” yet, but her activities must be very limited. She has another appointment on Friday with a “high-risk” OB specialist, so we’ll know more then. We would sure appreciate prayers for both mommy and babies and for a safe delivery. Here is last week’s baby bump photo.

It’s amazing how much we already love these babies that we haven’t even met yet.

On a completely different note, let’s talk about the football playoffs! Okay, my team (Seahawks) didn’t make the playoffs – no surprise. Normally I have little interest in the post season, until the SuperBowl happens…. but this year — well folks, there’s a phenomenon happening. He’s called Tim Tebow. I love this guy! He’s young, he’s fit, he’s the quarterback for the Denver Broncos (a team I used to love to hate). He’s not the best quarterback in the league, but he is doing his best to lead the team in his 2nd season. He is very open about his faith in God, and frankly, it’s refreshing to see a successful young guy who is not afraid to tell the world where he gets his strength. We’ll be watching Saturday night as Denver takes on New England for the next round of the playoffs.

Soon, I’ll be posting my first book review of the year! More updates on our twins as they happen!

Final post for 2011…. Happy New Year!

mizsuzee — Sat, 31 Dec 2011 03:23:20 +0000

Since I have to work tomorrow (New Year’s Eve) I decided it was time to do my final post of the year tonight. Yes, I should (Lord willing) get home shortly after 9pm, but it’s probable that I won’t want to write in the blog after a long day at work, so, tonight’s the night!

Last year I had every intention to “go through every cupboard, closet, and dusty box in the garage” in an effort to DE-clutter my home. I planned to give away everything I didn’t truly love or need. Well, to be perfectly honest, I didn’t get through every single drawer, closet, and dusty box. I did get through a fair amount of my stuff and we did actually give away quite a few bags and boxes of stuff. It truly DOES feel great to de-clutter, and I will once again make it a priority in 2012 to finish the job, yet undone.

I mentioned briefly last year that I hoped to lose some weight – for lots of reasons. Highest on my list was to help my “broken” hip. Well, I did lose some weight and am happy to report that this New Year’s Eve I weigh 13 pounds less than I did last year at this time. Okay, it’s not great and I did gain back some of the weight I managed to lose, but it’s all okay. I will start again at the turn of the year, and maybe next year I can report similar progress.

Next year we have a major event in store! The birth of our long awaited, dreamed for, hoped for, prayed for, grandbabies! They are due in early May, but realistically we know they will arrive sooner. I am praying that they will make it into April… the neonatal nurse in me knows WAAYYY too much about “what could happen” and I try very hard NOT to dwell on any of that. Yesterday I went out into the garage, into my craft cupboard and found a cross stitch sampler I started when my youngest (now 33) was a baby. I don’t quite remember just why I didn’t finish it, but now I have MAJOR motivation. Here’s a snapshot of it, taken yesterday. Oh yeah, there’s another goal for next year! Get this adorable sampler done and ready to hang!

I’m also going to go back to putting my book reviews under the “Books 2012″ tab at the top of the page. I have a feeling that with the grandbabies (yup, a boy and a girl!) coming next year, that I will have lots and lots to put in the main section of the blog.

I’ve decided to get involved in a “reading challenge” also this coming year! It’s called the “Historical Fiction Challenge 2012″. I’ll be trying to read under Level Two – “Undoubtedly Obsessed” where I’ll be striving to read 15 historical books this year. I think I’ll manage it, although believe it or not, I DO read more than just historical stuff, although it’s definitely my “go-to” genre.

I also have one final book review for this year. Recently I finished reading a book on my phone. Yep. I took advantage of the free Kindle app and it took me a year, but I finished it! It was called “I Still Dream About You” by Fannie Flagg. Her books are easy to follow… even though it would sometimes be days or weeks before I’d pick it up again. I really enjoyed the book and will most definitely read more by her in the future! Well, that’s about it for my end of the year post. As always, I wish everyone a happy, healthy, and wonderful new year 2012. Stay tuned for frequent Twin updates… as well as much, much more!!

Books and babies

mizsuzee — Thu, 29 Dec 2011 00:31:24 +0000

Here we are, nearly done with 2011. Amazing. I could write a novel about this past year, but I’ll spare my readers the ramblings – and cut to the chase! By now you all know that Son #2 and Dear DIL are expecting twins, through the miracle and generosity of embryo adoption. Here are the two most recent baby bump photos:

Yesterday we found out the gender of the babies. I was overjoyed to learn that we are having……. ONE OF EACH! A boy AND a girl!! Awesome! Brilliant! Can you tell I’m ecstatic? Shoot, I would have been happy with two girls or two boys… but there is just something particularly lovely about having one of each. We are all smiles here, that’s for sure. And grateful. And thankful.

Now for my end of year book reviews. They will be short, they will be sweet. Maybe not so sweet. Here are the three books I finished recently:

This was the fourth or possibly the fifth in the “Irish Country Doctor” series by Patrick Taylor. I have thoroughly enjoyed EVERY SINGLE ONE of these books. I have listened to EVERY SINGLE ONE on CD and absolutely adore the reader/narrator. This volume actually got specific in describing a few medical situations and of course I ate that stuff up. Non-medical people might not be as thrilled as I was to read all those details. I splurged and pre-ordered this one from Amazon.com. Sure hope that the author, Dr Patrick Taylor (who now lives in Canada) will be coming out with another one VERY soon!

The Winthrop Woman, by Anya Seton… my first book by this beloved historical author. This novel was written in the mid 1950′s and is set in both England and the New England (American) Colonies in the early 1600′s. I enjoyed it very much, although it took me nearly forever to finish it. I don’t often read books of this era, so a lot of the events and circumstances were fairly new to me. Ahhhh, another reason I DO love reading historical books — I learn so much from them! Okay, I said I’d keep this section “short and sweet”, so let’s move on to my final novel of the year….

Say When, by Elizabeth Berg. Oh good heavens…. when will I learn? I have read at least 3 Berg novels this year and none impressed me. I guess I keep remembering some of her previous books that really WERE excellent. Well, this one wasn’t. I still do not understand the fantastic ratings most of her books receive on Amazon. Maybe the women who read them and truly love them are lacking a few brain cells? Well this was another novel that really lacked substance. I most certainly DO NOT recommend this one…. it’s all about a couple who have been married 12 years (or thereabouts) and have a 6 yr old daughter…. the wife falls out of love with hubby, falls IN love with her local auto mechanic (lame!) and essentially how they break up and then make up. End of story. Blah.

I do plan to try and do one more post this year…. one that will briefly address my plans/goals (I refuse to use the word “resolution”) for next year… as well as a brief report on how I did with last year’s “plans and goals”!

Christmas and more….

mizsuzee — Fri, 16 Dec 2011 05:22:57 +0000

I love the thought of an “old fashioned Christmas”… something sort of depicted on the picture here. Do you have snow at your house? We don’t. I wouldn’t mind having about a foot of it arrive on Christmas Eve, and then depart on Boxing Day. Have you ever been on a sleigh ride? I haven’t. I’d sure love to do that “someday” before I’m too old and would complain too much about being cold to enjoy it! Have you put up all your Christmas decorations, got your home looking all cozy and Christmasy? Not here. Lots of reasons, but nope, it’s not done. Every year I consider NOT doing it. I highly doubt this will be my “year off” from decorating, but I’m sure not rushing into it. Have you been baking cookies, making special candy, fudge, and treats? These are all traditions from my own childhood… great memories of my mom in the kitchen EVERY day in December, baking something different, making delicious homemade fudge, – and my dad’s favorite – penuche. Well, I’ve thought about it, but haven’t baked a thing. Got all your Christmas cards in the mail? Not me. I haven’t sent out one card. Not one. This is highly unusual for me, as I really DO love writing and receiving cards every year. Have you got all your gifts purchased and wrapped? Not done here. Yes, I’ve got some stuff but I haven’t wrapped a thing. Not one thing. Don’t ask me why I have been dragging my feet all the way to Christmas this year. My reasons are as lengthy as my husband’s long list of “Why I Won’t Eat Chicken”. I’m hoping the spirit of the season hits me good and hard… and SOON! We have all sorts of family members coming over next week ~ people who expect and DESERVE a merry Christmas family event. I hope I can get in the mood, quick-like.

Time for another twin update! Here are a photos from the past three weeks:

Still no word on the genders of the babies. We will find out on December 27th after the next ultrasound. I think it’s an understatement to say that we are all super excited to find out! Tomorrow my dear daughter in law will be 20 weeks/5 months pregnant! I’ll post that photo soon, and not wait for three weeks to show it. I can barely put into words how happy we are, and thankful too that this has been a good pregnancy for her. We are more than halfway there now… hoping the babies will wait to arrive until at least 37 weeks. Be watching for gender announcement, coming in less than two weeks!!

Our twins are growing!

mizsuzee — Sat, 19 Nov 2011 04:05:23 +0000

Our twins are growing right along! This week I’ll post three photos – all taken one week apart.Here she/they are at 14 weeks.

Here we are at 15 weeks.

And now, today at 16 weeks.

Our mommy-to-be reports that she is no longer nauseated – YAY! We still don’t know if we have two boys, two girls, or one of each…but you can be sure when we find out, I’ll be sharing that news as well. I’m excited that son #2 and our mommy-to-be will be coming to our house next week for Thanksgiving. We’re really looking forward to it! No doubt I’ll have more pictures next week, this time taken at our house!

Soon I’ll be posting about a great audio book I recently finished.. another in the “Irish Country Doctor” series by Patrick Taylor. I’m still plugging along (what? two months now? tooooo long!) on a very good book set in Colonial times (1630′s) in Massachusetts. I’m enjoying it, but would love to finish it and move on to something new! I just haven’t had enough time to read lately. This week has been spent studying for my NRP renewal (Neonatal Resuscitation) and taking the 9 tests online prior to the megacode in a week or so. Fun. Not.

Oddball stuff about me

mizsuzee — Sat, 05 Nov 2011 00:16:22 +0000

Have you ever received one of those emails where you fill in the blanks and return it to the sender, and then send it on to all your friends to get their answers? Well, here is sort of a blog version of one of those. Just for the heck of it.

Guilty Pleasure? Some folks would say lattes or chocolate. Not me. Once in a while I splurge and then feel horribly guilty indulging on potato chips. BBQ please.

I can’t travel without? My smartphone. Love that thing…. and I HIGHLY RECOMMEND that everybody have one.

Recent Splurge? We bought a house in the Palm Springs area. Hopefully it won’t be as much of a splurge and more of a good investment. Not to mention a ton of fun for us and the family as the years go by!

In bulk, I buy? Toilet paper (Charmin Ultra soft) and paper towels (Bounty or Brawny).

My go-to flower? Does everybody have a go-to flower? Hmmmm, well I’d say Carnation as they are always plentiful and cheap at the store, should I want to get some fresh flowers. Just for the record, my favorite smelling flower is the Lilac and my favorite flower to receive is ANY! (I’m easy)

I sleep on? As the official “BeautyRest Sleep Queen” of our household, I sleep on our wonderful BeautyRest king-sized mattress, with cozy flannel sheets this time of year. Best $1300 we ever spent – hubby and I both agree on that!!

Comfort food? Most food is pretty darn “comfortable” to me, but I’ll go with mac-n-cheese cause I do love it and rarely make it as hubby hates it. (it’s on his long list of ‘food I hate’)

For breakfast? On workdays, I happen to love instant Oatmeal – Apples and Cinnamon is my favorite. On NON-work days… toast and coffee happens a lot. On special weekends? I do make a mean Greek omelette with feta cheese, Kalamata olives, tomatoes, etc.

For dinner? That changes a lot since I LOVE to cook. I make weekly meal menus sometimes when I’m really inspired. Some favorites around here for dinner: Beef Bourguignon; Curry anything (except chicken as that is on hubby’s long list of ‘Food I hate’) with Naan bread; Homemade soups of all kinds… I could go on and on.

Love/hate relationship with? My stitchery. I love to start a project and then have a lot of trouble finishing it! This did not used to be the case, so I don’t know what’s wrong with me now that I’m “older”. I could also have said “my right hip”. I love that it still sort of works, but I HATE how much it hurts me everyday.

Dream job? How many people can really say they have the dream job? Well if it weren’t for the 88 mile drive to work, I could say that I currently possess my “dream job”. Years ago, I would have said “stay at home mom” as the answer to this question, but that wasn’t in the cards for me. So now, taking care of precious babies and being paid to do it – shoot, it doesn’t get any better than that (for me). Except retirement — which is something I dream of daily! ha!

Can’t stop watching? Okay, I watch some strange TV shows. I have to DVR them because hubby hates them. WHY oh WHY doesn’t he like to watch “Sister Wives”? or “The Little Couple”? or “The Biggest Loser”? I don’t get it.

Okay, I guess that’s about it for this time. A silly little post, just for a bit of fun. Anybody else want to answer my questions???

A Friday in Fall ~~ plus Twin update!

mizsuzee — Sat, 29 Oct 2011 05:03:38 +0000

Eight years ago I was finishing up my fourth year of living in the Southern California desert. It was really fun to live in an area that was soooo foreign to me – weather wise, but after four years of “the fun” I was sure missing something. Missing it real bad. That something was the changing of the seasons. For the most part, the trees never lose their leaves in Palm Springs. If an evening temp gets down to the 40′s (around 7C for my non-American readers), well, that’s pretty miraculous. I think what I missed most was Autumn. I love the changing colors, crisp days, extra blue skies, or – the pouring rain like we had today. Today was lovely. We didn’t have to go anywhere… and I sure do enjoy my days at home. Hubby and I got the house nice and clean and also performed an autumn rite of passage…. we put the flannel sheets on the bed today! Ohhhhh I DO love the coziness of flannel sheets Eight years ago, there were NEVER any flannel sheets on the bed. I rarely made hot soups on weekend evenings, and huddling up before the fireplace was unheard of!

Today I also fired up the oven and baked a batch of yummy pumpkin-apple-walnut muffins… oh the delectable aromas in our house! That and my wonderful “Scentsy” warmer with “Sentimental Cider” making our home smell heavenly. For dinner I made a delicious meal of pork chops with apples, garlic smashed potates, and sauteed brussels sprouts with lemon zest. Ahhhhhhhh……. the joys of Autumn.

Last week we made a trip over the mountains to visit family. It was probably the last trip over with our motorhome, until spring. There’s just no chance we want to have to drive that thing in the snow. Anyway, we had a nice visit with Son #2, dear DIL and my brother. I am hoping to get weekly updates in the way of “baby bump” photos that I can share.

Here is dear DIL at 12 weeks.

Then on Monday, they had another ultrasound… Here are the twins, both looking great according to the Doc.

Then today I received the latest baby bump photo….Still pretty tiny, but definitely growing!! Won’t it be fun to watch the twins (and dear DIL) grow?!

Here are a couple more photos from last week’s trip.

I’ll end this post with a Happy Halloween greeting from our beautiful black cat, Mr. Jinx!!

The Union Quilters: An Elm Creek Quilt Novel

mizsuzee — Sat, 15 Oct 2011 21:15:32 +0000

I’ve been reading Jennifer Chiaverini’s Elm Creek Quilt novels for years, and for the most part I’ve enjoyed them all….until I read “The Union Quilters”. This book is set during the American Civil War (1861-1865) and the author tries to incorporate some of the familiar characters from previous books into this one. Unfortunately, it just doesn’t work. This book should never have been written as an Elm Creek Quilts novel. Since the author is obviously intensely interested in Civil War history, she should have, in my humble opinion, just written this book as a remembrance of the Civil War in Pennsylvania. The amount of detail in regards to the movement of various armies and all their leading officers is not only overwhelming, its just plain boring. I sure hope Ms Chiaverini is done writing about the Civil War. I think everybody is ready for her to get back to the winning combination of modern day, the escapades of the Elm Creek quilters, and the Elm Creek quilt camp. Unless you are a SERIOUS CIVIL WAR buff and interested in Pennsylvania history, I’d definitely skip this book.

On another note, I can only say great things about the reader/narrator of ALL the audio Elm Creek Quilt novels, Christina Moore. She makes listening a pleasure! However, even her fantastic narration couldn’t keep me interested in “The Union Quilters”.

Twins update

mizsuzee — Fri, 07 Oct 2011 23:28:38 +0000

I have a feeling that I’ll be doing LOTS of these “Twins updates” in the coming months. Since we live 250 miles away, I don’t know all the little particulars of every day, but I do know that dear DIL is still feeling pretty yuckky much of the time. She says that if she forces herself to eat, then she actually feels a little better. She is still awfully tired, and just going to work every day really takes it out of her. I tried to reassure her that in a few weeks, both of those symptoms should fade away and she should start to feel a whole lot better. I do hope and pray that is the case. I asked my son if DIL has a “baby bump” yet, and he just laughed. Apparently the answer is “not yet”! With permission, I will post baby bump photos (assuming I get some! hint, hint) and we can all watch our darling little embies grow. Here is the most recent ultrasound photo – taken the last week in September. Amazing, huh?

Last week we were in Palm Springs, looking at property – hoping to find a super reasonably priced vacation place for a rental investment. While there, I couldn’t miss the opportunity to do a little BABY SHOPPING!! I did find it a bit frustrating, though. These days, everything – even from the tiniest newborn outfit – are gender specific. Well, obviously we don’t know the gender(s) yet, so I combed through several stores, trying to find something CUTE and unisex! I was thrilled to finally find a couple of adorable receiving blankets, bibs, and booties that have SHEEP on them. I should say “lambs” I guess. I have been a collector of sheepy things … well, forever! So when I saw these, I just KNEW I had to get them. Pretty cute, huh?? I just couldn’t resist, I’ll tell ya! I was talking this week with one of our twin moms at work. Her two little girls are still hospitalized but she told me that she wishes she would have received more “practical” stuff for them. She said everybody wants to buy clothes, clothes, clothes! Well of course, because there are such incredibly cute clothes out there these days! So I asked, “well, please tell me, what is practical?” She mentioned bibs and diapers – and honestly I can’t remember what else. Oh well, at least there are three bibs in my latest “baby haul”. I feel quite practical now!

On another subject, we have indeed purchased a Palm Springs property for investment, rental, and vacation purposes! More on that soon!!