A Time To Give

[Warning: this post is not for anyone who gets squeamish about the talk of needles, blood, or veins.  I'm looking at you, Doc.] Last Monday, I received a call from a local hospital's blood bank.  They needed my blood.  Gulp. I've given blood before, which is how they knew my blood type and to call me, and even though it doesn't hurt or bother me, I still make myself nervous about giving it.  I wish I could have gone right that moment to give - then I wouldn't have had time to think about it.  Instead, an appointment was made for Wednesday.  Sigh...two days to think about it.

So, why did they need my blood?  Because I'm A negative.  A quick wikipedia search tells me that's rare.  In fact, out of 307 million people in the United States, only 6.3% are A negative.  O positive is the most common blood type.   While few people may share my blood type, A negative blood can be given to four different blood types.  The only type that beats that is O negative, which is a match for all blood types.  On the downside, an A negative patient can only receive A negative or O negative blood.  Let's hope I never need a blood transfusion.

For this blood bank, I usually donate platelets.  I've done it a handful of times and the experience really isn't bad.  It takes a couple of hours (my little veins take 2.5 hours for one bag, others can do two bags in less than 2 hours) and you get to lay under a nice heated blanket and watch a movie.  Afterwards there's always a drink and a snack.  Another perk for me is that I can do it during the workday without having to use vacation time.  Wednesday afternoon nap while on the clock?  Don't mind if I do.

So my appointment time arrived and I gathered my things and drove over to the blood bank.

Don't think this is the type of place you can just barge into and steal a bunch of blood.  Nope, similar to a jewelry store, you have to ring the doorbell and show your face before they'll open the door for you to come in.  But once inside, everyone is super nice and glad you're there!

First stop is the interview room.

This is where they ask you about a billion questions (really it's like 34) to make sure you're a good candidate to give blood.  It's very possible to never make it past the interview room.  Trust me, I've been rejected before.   One of the first things done is a quick finger prick to make sure your iron is high enough.  It has to reach a 12.5 on the scale (no idea what kind of measurement this is) and I've been low on several occasions.  This particular time I was a 13.4.  Oh yea!

After the finger prick, blood pressure, and heart rate check, come the questions.  Some samples?

--Do you weigh at least 110 pounds? --Have you been to the dentist recently?  (Must wait 3 days after an appointment - bacteria from your teeth can get into your blood stream if your gums are wounded.) --Have you traveled out of the country?  (Different countries have different restrictions.) --What medicines do you take? (An aspirin within the last 48 hours will get you rejected.) --Have you had any shots recently? --Do you have any open sores?  (I got kicked out from a mouth ulcer once.) --Have you gotten a tattoo in the last year?

There are also questions about diseases and illnesses that I've never heard of, questions about using drugs and needles, and questions about having relations with prostitutes.  Fun stuff.

If you pass all the questions, your left in the room by yourself with a piece of paper to circle Yes or No about whether or not you think your blood is good enough to be used on a patient.  After circling your answer, you fold your piece of paper, drop it in a box, and head out to the donor room.

The chairs are similar to dentist chairs, except bigger and comfier.  Each chair has its own tv and headphones and you can have an electric blanket draped over you (I always do) and pillows.   While I was in the interview room this past time, they told me they had met their quota of platelets for the day and asked if I would be willing to give whole blood.

A little info about the differences between giving platelets and whole blood:

--Whole blood is a much faster process.  When you give platelets, your blood comes out, spins in a machine to separate out the platelets, and then the blood is put back in.  The process repeats over and over - draw blood, put in - instead of drawing it all out and then putting it all back in. --When you give whole blood, you obviously don't get your blood back, which means its possible to feel puny - for lack of a better word - after giving. --A bag of whole blood is red; a bag of platelets is yellow.

I had only given whole blood one other time, and since I didn't eat a good meal afterwards like I was supposed to, I did end up getting really light-headed.  But I told the nurse I'd be willing to do whatever they needed so whole blood it was.  (They were originally going to try to get both platelets AND whole blood out of me before they realized they'd met their total for the day.  Wowza.)

My nurse helped me get situated and I got to work squeezing my stress ball.  I tried to give my veins a quick pep talk; I really didn't want to have to go through multiple needle pokes.

My pep talk must've worked because we were successful on the first try.  I was wearing a cream turtleneck that day and my nurse was kind enough to drape a cloth over it in case things got messy.  It's a good thing she did because my vein was so excited about its donation that it splattered a little when the needle went in.

Small splatter proof on the blue towel.  The white cloth is covering up the rest.  The blood's flowing now!

I filled up my bag in six minutes flat.  Impressive, right?  Once filled, the bag goes to the third floor so testing may be done.  It takes about three days before the blood is ready for a patient to receive it.  I gave permission for my blood to be used in research, and I think they were also going to see if it is a match for a particular patient.  If it is, I'll be called back to give platelets.

After everything was removed from my arm, my vein was still flowing so I had to apply pressure for a few minutes.  Finally, I got bandaged up!

Since I gave whole blood, I made sure to eat all of my snack (peanut butter cookies) and drink all of my drink (orange juice).  I didn't want to stand up too soon.

For giving a donation I received a free t-shirt.  Who doesn't love freebies?

Two last things to help explain the title of this post:

--Blood banks hurt for donations during the holidays.  Donors get caught up in the rush and hooplah of the season and forget that hospital operations don't take time off.  Some regular donors may also be traveling and unable to make their appointments.

--Statistically, more people are killed during the Thanksgiving and Christmas holidays than any other time of the year.  Your blood donation could help save a life.

Now I know that giving blood isn't for everyone, but if you are one of the few that's able to donate, maybe you can find it in your heart (and veins) to give now.

(If you live near me and would like to visit the donor center I go to, I'll be glad to help you make an appointment.  I'll even go with you and hold your hand!)

Christmas Home Tour

It's official: our halls have been decked!  Wanna see? This year, instead of a typical wreath, I wanted something for our front door that would really pop.  I found this lawn ornament at Pier One and sweet-talked Doc into turning it into a door ornament.

Isn't it cute?  I love it.  It's worth every penny I didn't want to spend on it.

Beside our front door are two planters.  The mums they held during the fall died a quick death and I suggested we buy little Christmas tree looking plants to replace them.  Doc was a little skeptical but he obliged and bought me the teeniest tiniest little trees you've ever seen before.  And I jazzed them up with some red Christmas lights.

Another new purchase I made this year was this doormat from Garnet Hill (on sale!).

Put all three of those decorations together and you get...our front entrance.

If that doesn't make you feel welcome, maybe the Christmas tree that you can see through our front windows will make you want to come in.

(While we're still outside, I should mention that if you look up, you'll see the lights on our balcony railing.)

So, anyway, come on inside!  First, you'll be greeted by these cute jingle bell trees on our cocktail table.

And if you look past the couch, you'll see the Christmas mantle.  If it's cold outside, chances are there will be a fire burning.

To the left of the mantle is the tree you saw glowing in the window.  Now, there are times when I think I'm pretty crafty, but I've gotta say, decorating a Christmas tree is not really one of my strengths.  But at least it's up!

These silvery things were a new addition to the tree this year - you put them over a light bulb so they can really shine.

As you probably noticed above, under our tree is chock full of presents!

Anyone hungry?  The dining table is set with my favorite peppermint plates.

One of my new favorite Christmas traditions is when the box arrives each year with our live bay leaf wreath from Doc's parents.  I love using it as a centerpiece on the table - the smell is divine!  It fills the Christmas-smell void that using a fake tree leaves us with.

So the bay leaf wreath is on the dining room table and it holds this clear bowl of peppermint ornaments.  You know I like things that match!

A complete view of the table setup:

If you wander into the kitchen, you'll see these cute wooden trees I made a couple of years ago.

Also in the kitchen is this wreath that has changeable themes.  After the 25th I can switch the reindeer out for a snowman.

Can't forget the hot chocolate mugs!  These are courtesy of my friend Allison.

A few weeks ago my nephew hit me up with his school fundraiser.  I ordered some paperwhite bulbs because my mom suggested them.  I had no idea how easy they would be to grow or how Christmas-y they would make my kitchen table look.  I may have started a new tradition!

Heading upstairs, you'll find these candles in the hallway.

I kept the mantle in our bedroom nice and simple...it just has these five small package ornaments on it.

Oh, it has our stockings hanging from it too.  The kids have yet to notice that our stockings are much bigger than theirs.  Shh, don't tell 'em.

On the door to our bathroom hangs this ornament, cause bathrooms need decorations too, ya know.

And, last but not least, is the Miss Winfrey tree in our bedroom.  What the heck is a Miss Winfrey tree?  Glad you asked.

My grandmother had a friend named Miss Winfrey.   She was a shorter lady, not big but not skin and bones either, and every time I saw Miss Winfrey, it looked like she might be wearing every piece of jewelry she owned.  She wasn't, of course, because Miss Winfrey had LOTS of jewelry.

In high school, I asked my mom if I could have a tree in my bedroom.  She got me a tiny tree from Wal-Mart and we bought lots of blue and silver beaded garland and ornaments and I put every last piece of shiny decoration on my tree.  I called my mom upstairs to see it and together, we stood back and took a look.  "It looks like Miss Winfrey," I told her.  And that's how the tree got her name.

Miss Winfrey followed me to college for a couple of years, and then she decorated my apartment when I lived by myself.  Now, since I couldn't bear the thought of getting rid of her, she lives in our bedroom.  This year her ornaments are red and lime green, and I love her just as much as the first time I put her up.

Well, those are our Christmas decorations this year.  All the traditional elements are there but you know what really makes the house feel Christmas-y?  Having it full of friends and family.  Come visit us - I'll serve hot chocolate and we'll sit by the fire and watch Christmas movies all night long!

One-Ring Circus

Thursday night we did something a little out of the ordinary...we went to the Ringling Brothers' and Barnum and Bailey's circus.  Yep, we sure did.  And we didn't even invite the kids. It wasn't really our idea.  Our friend, Matt, planned the trip as a surprise party for his wife's 30th birthday.  Doc and I were in on the plan - we invited Matt and Mary over for "dinner" that night so she wouldn't make other plans.  Everything went smoothly, except that Mary arrived at our meeting place before most of the party goers! Oops.

Mary's mom brought party props for the big surprise.  Here are all the girls in our party hats.

Allison and I were excited about going to the circus!

Well, we were excited, that is, until Doc reminded us about the clowns.

After a few minutes of mingling, Matt passed out our tickets and we headed across the street to the circus.  We were greeted by this big Christmas tree.

Luckily, I chose to enter through the door that had a friendly security guard, because he let me sneak my camera in.  Who knew you couldn't take a big camera in to the circus?

As we made our way to our seats, the lights were still up and there was only one ring.  I'm not going to lie, I was a little unimpressed.  "Where are the elephants?" I asked.

After a few minutes the lights went down and it's like they had read my mind.  The first performer to come out from behind the curtain was on an elephant!

Matt and Mary were sitting in front of us with their little girl, Wesley.  Wesley did not like all the music and fireworks.  Poor thing didn't last very long at the circus.

I didn't take pictures of everything, for fear that my camera might get taken away from me, but I did try to sneak in some pictures of my favorites.  First up: the dog show.

I couldn't get good action shots of the dogs but they jumped through hoops and over hurdles right and left.  They were pretty cute!  (As opposed to the cat show, which just seemed kinda cruel.  We all agreed that being the cat lady in the circus would be the worst.)

Next came these people on a motorcycle - up on a wire in the air!  Doc made fun of me when I gasped just as loud as all the kids there.  I was just so nervous when that thing started swaying from side to side!

Two guys entertained us with some tightrope walking.  Their finale was when one of them got on the other's shoulders as they walked across.

Next came a group of jumpers and flippers that managed to flip this girl up onto these two guys.

Ok, this next part is a little crazy.  These two girls twirled and hung in the air by their hair.  Their ponytails were the only thing holding them up.  My head hurt just watching it!

There was a brief intermission so the circus crew could set the ring up for the next half.  Here's a blurry pic of some of our friends in attendance, including the birthday girl.

And, since it's not every Thursday we get to go to the circus, Doc treated me to a $10 sno cone in an elephant mug.  Isn't he sweet??

After intermission, the first performance was by a lion tamer.  He had about six or seven lions in the cage with him and he lined them up to perform tricks.  A couple of them took turns jumping over each other, which was cute.  This lion got a snack from a baby bottle.

And I'm pretty sure this one would have preferred his snack to be the lion tamer, not the piece of raw meat on the end of the stick.

The next part was the highlight of the evening for Doc.  It wasn't the ninja-like guys that came out, but when the little girl sitting directly behind us got excited and yelled out "Oooh! Nunchucks!" at the top of her lungs.  Awesome.

She was right, they had nunchuck-type things that they did tricks with, along with some pipe bending and what have you.  At the end, they brought out this ring of blades for one of the guys to jump through.  He made it through with no problem the first time, and so they brought out a blindfold to make it harder.  He made it through once again, so the next time they really took it up a notch: they set the blades on fire.

And, even with the ring of blades on fire, the ninja still blindfolded himself.

Boom! He made it through the ring of fire!

Thank goodness, because I would not have wanted to be watching if that went wrong.

The elephants made another appearance.  This time they performed several tricks for us.  I think I might like to have an elephant.  They just seem so cute, and kinda like they just wanna curl up in your lap even though that probably wouldn't end well.

After the elephants came another group of flippers, but this group used see-saw type things to throw each other into the air.  The first big started with this setup:

Let's see if I can remember how this went.  That guys with his arms up above (along with another guy) ran and jumped on the opposite end of the see-saw on the left.

That sent the guy that was already standing on the see-saw flipping through the air...

...and he landed on the end of the see-saw on the right which sent the girl flying through the air...

...and she landed on top of this pyramid.

Impressive, no?

They did another similar trick but this time with two girls.  You can't really see it in this picture, but there are two guys up on a platform that are about to jump down onto the see-saw that two girls are standing on.

And once again, the girls went flipping through the air onto pyramids.

Pffft.  I bet I could do that.  It doesn't look that hard.  [Yea right.]

And that was about it for the one-ring circus.

All in all, it was a pretty fun night.  Not really what I had expected (no tents? and where were the bearded lady and the live mermaid?) but still a good experience.  It was almost like watching 10 auditions for America's Got Talent in a row.  Matt, thanks for inviting us and Mary, I hope you enjoyed your surprise party!

Mantle Makeover

For eleven months of the year, our living room mantle looks like this:

Plain, simple, and symmetrical - just the way I like it.

But obviously, in December it can't look like that.  It needs stockings! And, in the past, I've also hung large ornaments from stocking hangers, but this year, they had to go.  I was tired of them and they really didn't hold up well in the attic.  So, after a quick lunch break at Pier One, I had two new gold Christmas trees cones to go with the stockings.

I put everything in its place and our December mantle transformed into this:

And after standing back to take a look, all I could think was, well that's boring.

I did some brainstorming and decided that maybe I needed some angel hair and ornaments.  The mantle is right next to the Christmas tree which is full of silver ornaments.  I figured a good handful of gold and silver ornaments on the mantle would help tie the Christmas tree and the Christmas cones together.

The only problem was that I was running short on time to get my house decorated, so I sent Doc to Hobby Lobby with strict instructions to get real angel hair.  I even pointed some out to him at my mom's house so he'd know what he was looking for.  When he called and said he was able to get six bags of it, I was thrilled! (I had already been to Michael's and Target and couldn't find it.)

Doc got home later in the evening and presented me with the angel hair.

Sigh...that's a bag of shredded plastic, but in his defense, it does say angel hair on the package.  So what do you do when you're less than 24 hours out from your house guests arriving? You say that's perfect! and you make it work.

I ripped into those packages and went to town spreading it out on the mantle.

Then came the fun part: adding the gold and silver ornaments.

I stood back to take another look and definitely thought it looked better, but still wasn't sure that I was satisfied.

But what else does it need?!?

Around this same time, we were facing another problem that happens every December: Christmas cards were filling up our mailbox but we had nowhere to put them.  It's the only time of the year when I don't love our non-magnetic stainless steel refrigerator.

That's when the light bulb went off and I thought, Wouldn't it be great if I could solve both of these problems at the same time?

And that's how this Christmas card clothesline idea was born.  I strung some gold ribbon on the mantle, had Doc spray paint some clothespins silver for me, and started hanging up the Christmas cards.

What do you think? Is it weird?

Tell me the truth - I can handle it.  Are the cards too much?  Should I take them down?

For now, I'm off to hang up four more that we just received.  Where do you display yours?

Thirty-Seven

He is obsessed with numbers.  He has a one-year forward cash flow for our personal finances that is always current.  On any given day, he can tell you when our low point for the year will be.  He calculates numbers in his head and will politely correct you if your calculations are wrong. He avoids mayonnaise like it's the plague.  Same for any other creamy white substance - cream cheese, ranch, sour cream.  At Subway, after the sandwich maker cuts my mayonnaise-filled sandwich in half, he announces that he'll wait while she cleans the knife before cutting his sandwich.

He yells, "Cops! Act cool!" every time he passes a patrolman while the kids are in the car.

He loves to cook, and is very good at it.  He enjoys trying to recreate delicious meals that we order at fancy restaurants, figuring out how he can make it even better.  It doesn't take long for him to take over the grill at any cookout.  I prefer staying home over going to a bar because he mixes drinks just the way I like them.

He makes up new dance moves in the car and choreographs dances in our bedroom.  At weddings, he dances silly with me and even sillier without me.  He uses chairs as props, or tries to break dance, or occasionally does handstands. 

He folds laundry even when I tell him not to because it's my chore.  He empties the dishwasher and always takes the garbage out.  He appreciates our yard looking nice just as much as I do.

He's naturally good at sports.  He's improved his golf game by several strokes, took up volleyball like he's played for years, and has run two half marathons. 

He's good at games too.  Whether it's scrabble, gin, thumb war, sudoku, or pinochle, he always wins.

He works out to keep his body healthy.  He calls his biceps Thunder and Lightening and convinces my nephew to eat his dinner so he can have muscles too.

He loves his kids and nieces and nephews and they all love him.  He plays touch football and throws them in the pool and holds them upside down and tickles them until they cry.  He considers it a good day when my niece lets him hold her.

He doesn't like needles and can't even talk about giving blood or watch the surgery scenes on Grey's Anatomy, yet he loves to watch Ultimate Fighting on tv.

He loves tootsie rolls and could eat a bag a day.  He can stomach the taste of any kind of alcohol and eats chewable vitamins and sports beans like they really taste like candy.

He is a proud Notre Dame alum and is always loyal to the Fighting Irish.

He is the best husband a girl could ask for.  He is a wonderful father to his children and a great son to his parents.  He is the perfect best friend, my favorite.

He turns thirty-seven today.

I love him.