Scribbles and Scrambles ~ Progress

I'm making serious progress on my purging goal. My count as of yesterday is 869. I'm not going to stop, this is addictive. Now, I'm not saying I'm going to be clutter free. I would need to get rid of way more than 1,000 items to make that claim. And I do live with another person who kinda doesn't mind his clutter so there's that. But I like the feeling of being unpinched, if that makes sense. 

I have room in all my drawers and even a few empties. My clothes fit neatly in my closet and I can slide things wide and far apart. 

I'll tell you, it's getting really personal now. The first few passes were clothes I honestly didn't think about. The last pass was items that were security for me. Not that I wore them frequently but they were ones I knew I could grab or had on hand if such and such occasion came up. Some even looked okay on. But if it didn't make sense to keep the item, it had to go. I don't really need four black tank tops. Nor do I need 17 skirts that are cute enough if I don't wear them. The above picture is the whittled down section, the lower picture is when I had fifty outfit choices I could make on any given day. I didn't have to do laundry for weeks. Except I still went for the same things that I liked and felt good in.  And most of the items in that closet didn't fit that criteria. I still have things that will go. I'm giving them a chance to come through for me, but the time on that chance is ticking down. 

Oddly, even though I got rid of more dish towels than I kept, more socks and underwear than I kept, I haven't run out of any of the above mentioned items and I don't miss digging through items to find the favorites. I even have given away about 100 hangers. (I didn't count each hanger in my 1,000 total only groups of 10 counted as 1.) I love that there are others benefitting from my excess. So far a local homeless shelter, a women and families ministry and a local high school service organization are sharing in my bounty. 

Scribbles and Scrambles ~ Snow Day

Gladys is NOT Amused

With our "blizzard" aka 6 inches of snow and blow we had a snow day at the local schools. Including our kids. 

& had to work so I offered to take the kids for the afternoon. 

Here are the high points: 

Three bags came in with the kids. Outdoor fun was number one on the list. So even though their mother told them no less than 4 times to go potty, nobody had to go. 

Locked and loaded we headed out for our adventure. The 2 older kids found a huge pile of snow and commenced trouncing in it. 

The lil one discovered that the pups enjoyed knocking her feet out from underneath her. Right as mom was driving down the road Lil buffed it face first. Ugh! I prepped to hear the high pitched keening of injury and for triage. But she laughed. Oh, sweet mercy we skated past that one. 

One of the older ones screamed and raised a sock foot in the air. I pulled a boot from the snow bank and replaced it on the foot. We headed down to softer ground and I heard. "Let's get this started." And glanced over to see a huge 8 inch ice chunk headed toward my head. Nailed it! She clocked me in my left temple. That girl has arm. With birdies and stars swirling and dancing round my head, I explained that ice balls are not what we throw in a snowball fight. Two more boot in snow issues and some peaceful calm while 3 kids made snow angels and 4 dogs pounced and played. 

Then the little bit decided she wanted to go in. I suggested other things to do. She looked up at me with her little hat all dusted in snow and 2 gooey nose tracks trickling toward her mouth. "I'm cold." Then the middle one tore over to me with matching nose goo. 

"Okay, I'm going to take the little ones in because they are cold. You can play in the backyard with the dogs." I said to the oldest. 

"I have to go pee." 

Time spent outdoors? Fifteen minutes. 

Story potential? Limitless.

Scribbles and Scrambles ~ Wait Twenty Minutes

Oh, Iowa. In one hundred hours our temperature and landscape changed dramatically. Tuesday hit 60+ with sun and not a lick of snow. Saturday unleashed. It snowed and blew through Sunday with a snow day declared in the metro area that extended into Monday. There is a saying in Iowa. "If you don't like the weather wait twenty minutes, it'll change." 

Scribbles and Scrambles ~ Love

I haven't spoken much about my foster grandchildren on the dregs. Part of me has wanted to respect & and the kids' privacy. But part of me has held back because this isn't my story to tell. 

But, while I've been interacting and helping and participating something has happened. I've been living a story. I've given my heart fully away to these little ones. They are no longer foster grandchildren, they are my grandkids. Period. 

Which leads me to some interesting observations. 

1) I'm risking my heart. I'm going to get hurt. The tables could turn, the kids could end up being placed somewhere else. The kids could stay with our family and one or more could chose a heart crushing path. Their time in my life could be just months or years. I have no control. 

2) Even though I risk pain and sorrow by loving them, I'm going to do just that. No matter what. Because my life would be less had I never had the 3 year old button champion search my shirt for buttons to practice with. Or the look of triumph on her face when she met her goal of being green at preschool. (Long story. Green is good.) Or the 6 year old's smile when he lost his first tooth. Or the hugs and kisses, or his mermish. Or the 7 year old's smile when she gets to just be a child and play, or help me make treats to take to church, or to hear the confidence in her voice as she grows into a stronger reader. Giving my heart is a bargain when I consider what I gain. The soft, tiny hands in mine. Joyful rediscovery of the old and mundane. Answering questions that force me to think first and work on the answer that will make sense. Laughter. Tenderness. Small bundles cuddling with puppies or stuffed animals, or curled up on my lap. 

While I cuddle with my puppies who are so loved and spoiled I can't help but think that just until a few months ago, my grand babies weren't even treated as well as my dogs. And that stinks. Because every child in this world should have at least one human being who adores him or her. If it costs me my whole heart to be one of those people to these little humans, then it is a bargain indeed. 

3) These very stark truths about love pretty much are the definition of love, aren't they?  Kind of like tying my heart to a string and letting it float out of my reach. 

Scribbles and Scrambles - Hey Sunshine!

Our Iowa weather is insane. The last few days we have had temps in the 50's! The girls and I (emphasis on I) have ENJOYED long walks the past two days. I can't believe it's January! Makes me wonder what to expect the rest of the year!

Scribbles and Scrambles ~ Wisdom from the Hundred Acre Wood...

 And it that isn't enough to get you through the week, I do know someone who is bigger than all that, bigger than even Christopher Robin. 

Scribbles and Scrambles ~ The Rant...

Scrounged lunch.

So here's my rant. Ready? It's kind of a 1st World Problem. But it's also a comment on professionalism and how we can impact something much bigger than ourselves by our actions. 

Part of my "other duties as assigned" job description includes sharing an important calendar with a co-worker. This calendar is the lunch schedule that we make available to medical supply companies and drug representatives. The companies set up a time to bring in lunch for the staff and in turn get to share data and information with the prescribers in our office. (There are things I could say about this practice, but it is what it is and it has drastically changed over the ten+ years I've been the keeper of the calendar.) 

There are extremely professional men and women who work for these companies. A good representative is friendly, courteous, respectful, able to read body language, succinct and cares more about people than getting data pounded into a provider's head. These professionals make their company look good. 

And then there are some completely clueless individuals. We've refused a lunch appointment a time or two because of unprofessionalism and lack of common sense. And, trust me, their actions certainly impacted their company. 

Tuesday we had a no show lunch. Over the years we've asked people to call the day before to confirm. A full half would not. We tried e-mailing and getting a confirmation. That worked better. 

But we still had no shows or last minute cancellations. 

So this is part of a representative's job...setting up appointments to promote their product or service. In our office we do our best to make sure all the providers know who's coming and make it simple for them to see the person during the appointment time. I am still shocked at the way people look at these appointments. For starters, a dozen or so people plan on lunch coming to the office. Four of these people are busy prescribers who often only sit still long enough to wolf down food between patients. No lunch might mean a doctor goes hungry or gets behind in their schedule because they have to leave the office. In our clinic we place a calendar out with the representative's name and company on the appropriate date. So a no show or late cancel is known by everyone. Oddly, that doesn't seem to make a difference to the ones who don't care. My co-worker and I don't like to babysit or hound reps. But we like to know people are going to keep their appointments because a dozen co-workers looking at us wondering where food is kind of sucks. 

So Tuesday's lunch was set up a mere 14 days before. Shouldn't have had a conflict come up. Right? Right. So he leaves a voicemail at 9 o'clock that morning on a co-worker's voice mail that he needed to chat about lunch. At 10:30 she called and got his voicemail. At 11:30 she got real concerned when he hadn't called back. Long story short. Since we didn't call him back before 10:30 he thought it would just be okay to just not come because he wasn't "feeling good" and "since he didn't hear from us" he thought it'd be okay. Really? Those details were shared after my co-worker called his company and asked how she could get hold of him and explained the situation. He finally called her. Then he said he'd make it up to us by bringing a really nice lunch someday. 

Yeah. That's not going to happen. One of the doctors and a PA were ticked. Neither will use his company. (There are other providers to choose from that do a better job, so it won't impact patient care. This is also a company that has not had a great track record with patient response and active involvement with our office and he was trying to put them back on our to use list.) Like the doctor said. "If he can't handle an appointment with professionalism then how can we trust him with patients who need their supplies?"