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Come on, I know there's more like me out there.
Round about November I'm all excited and have my list in place, asking who wants what.
I hate the response, " I don't know, get me whatever." There's also the Christmas music being played in all the shops during Thanksgiving-grrr.
By December 1st I've scratched through half my list and feeling smug.
By Dec 12th I'm in a panic because I've procrastinated thinking the last half of the list would be a breeze.
It's now Dec 14th and Christmas Spirit is fading. The only bright side is knowing I will get to see my Granddaughter soon and I've already done her shopping.
Bah Humbug side. I tell myself "I'll just shop online or go shopping when I get up to Idaho..
I have no tree set up in California since I'm only here to work. I decided to pull out my ole Douglas Fir talking tree!
After 5 minutes of it automatically turning on when I walked by I unpluged it- ACK !
I'm currently hoping Christmas will go away - rainey California weather does that to a soul.
I can't wait to get up to Cocolalla and hopefully see BIG SNOW !!!
Merry Humbug Christmas
I've been in Morgan Hill on my week off work... If it weren't for my folks, other family members and work I would not be here at all. My son, Bobby, from New Jersey came out to visit and saved me from total boredom. He kept me entertained with his wit and humor. Sometimes it's hard not to treat him like a kid even though he's nearing 30, is a pilot for the USAF and has a degree in Aerospace Engineering. Yikes! Just dated myself.
As the first born son he has always been the "test" baby. You know, the child you test all the rules on and see what works and doesn't work. Then by the time you get to the second child you're a bit more lax on rules...like I haven't heard the end of that. Bobby doesn't hesitate to let me know where I went wrong in raising him, but I have news for him. Unfortunately, he has to wait till he has a childof his own, then the real fun begins!
Now Bobby has left and I'm home alone...again.
I just received an email from NumbersUSA.com on another immigration bill congress is trying to pass. It's the H-1B bill to increase foreign workers in tech, nursing, physical therapy, engineering and science fields.
I have to RANT a little as I know some of this to be true... I work in California, yes California. But I do bring my moola back to Idaho! I am a nurse and I do work along side of foreign nurses. While some of them are good nurses some are not, that goes for any other nurse for that matter.
What I do know, being educated in California myself, is that the nursing schools have waiting lists a mile long. So what happens when foreign nurses come swarming in? Our lines get longer on the college wait list, foreign nurses will work for lower wages (if their employer is not in a union) and then they bring in their relatives and friends on visas who take the other skilled or non-skilled jobs. Someday your kid won't even be able to work at Burger King or Taco Bell after school ?
Nurses are sent here usually by some contract to work in states like Texas where there is no union and are trained. They work under some grueling circumstances from the stories I have been told. Once they have the "experience"under their belt and fulfilled their obligation they come to CA where there are "ratios" for nursing and a union. Ratio Ex: The ICU where I work is a 1:2 ratio, one nurse, two patients-no ifs ands or buts. Med Surgical is 1:5.
Here's the double edged sword part.....
I have seen the foreign nurse I work with bring in six nursing friends who she sponsors on visas, not to mention relatives. I know this as she has asked me to help her write the sponsor letters !!! I have to hand it to her though, she is a pretty smart cookie. And don't think she's the only one that does this. They trade off bringing the Mom or Mother in Law here for six months to babysit the kids and help with the house while they work. And I mean they work! They take the overtime no one wants, do the double shifts and work at two hospitals. They sign up for holidays for double pay. In the CNA (union) they are making avg. base rate $55.00/hr you add differential pay for night work and extra pay for charge nurse duties and then top it off with overtime you're making a big fat paycheck. No wonder she lives in a 1.2 million dollar home and I don't. Her husband is also a nurse so double those figures I just gave you!!!
So basically what I am trying to say is that we need to start steppin up to the plate and take a stand for ourselves as US citizens. If we don't want our jobs taken over by foreign workers then we must let our congress know. What do you think?
On Monday Dear Hubby drove me back to Spokane airport at 4:45 am in a blizzard. I was on my way to Seattle for three days to see my Grand baby. Near Silverwood the road was almost impossible to see, we drove by center line braille and left side berms. The jerk behind us was tailgating and had his lights on high beam, some think more is better.. arrrggghhh!
During our ride we saw a red car off the road down in the ditch on 95 in Chilco. I tried being a good Samaritan and called the Bonner Sheriff Dispatch, what a joke.. They asked if I pulled over and I said nooo, it's snowing too bad and the guy behind us has his lights on bright and riding our bumper-not safe and we didn't see him until we were 10 feet away, that's how bad it was. They told me to call Kootenai dispatch and after telling them I don't know the number they decided to connect me. What? Isn't that their job? So the dispatcher finally transfers me and no one comes on the line. After 5 minutes I call back Bonner dispatch and she said they were suppose to call me back on my cell but they didn't. Go figure. She said Kootenai dispatch was alerted so I felt a little better. Hubby said the car was gone on his trip back.
This reminds me of this last summer when I reported a fire to Bonner Dispatch up the mountain behind Round Lake. They couldn't find it...hello? After sending out a truck and calling me back they still couldn't find it. See the big plume of smoke in the middle of the green forest? I guess others reported it also and finally some local land owners went up the trail and put it out. Hummm wonder how it started in the middle of the day in the first place...
I just love to look out the window at snow...here's why:
Covers all the weeds.
I can anticipate my seed catalogs in a few months.
I fair better in snow than rain...old bones.
Ah, No mud!!!
My hubby is a good snow shoveler and loves his Bobcat.
I feel like I'm on vacation.
Oh and Seattle, it snowed there, too ! Yippee, thankfully I rented a 4WD.
WON'T WATCH THE SHOW, WON'T READ THE BOOK...nuff said
Nothing horribly exciting to post about today. I was called in to work tonight so that basically ruins my afternoon. I must take at least a four hour nap prior to working the night shift when I'm called in less than 24 hours. I love night shift but my body hates it. It's the only way I can work six nights on and have eight days off and go back home to Idaho. I've gained weight and that in it's self is my fault. One of the MD's told us night shifters that we would have a shorter life span and tend to get more cancers-good grief, such wonderful statistics !
Why don't I work days....list too long. Shh...if you're a night nurse you know why.
I need to find a counter I can post in my profile for days left to retire.
OK, off to grab a Starbucks...
For those of you who don't know me, ha ha that would be just about everyone, the name Scheenkonigin means Snow Queen. I believe the spelling is German and here's the wierd part. I'm not German, not a smidge.
I'm Azorian and Sicilian, which translates to me that I'm an island girl. You know the kind, Mediterranean tan, thick brown hair, slender......hey, it was good for me.
So back to why the blog name? A fluke? A whim? At first I wanted to use SNOQUEEN but decided someone might associate me with the "Evil Snow Queen." No comment......hah! Schneekonigin was just different I suppose.
I took a picture of the train while on the Long Bridge into Sandpoint last week. Actually, I have many pictures of the train crossing on the bridge. I'm not photogenic and thought the train was much more interesting to look at that why it's in my profile :) I swear every time I cross the bridge there is a train. But considering how many trains there are, like 80+ a day, I guess the odds are in my favor.
Hey, I can't wait for the Holiday traffic in town, how about you?
Well....for the last few weeks I have been stressed over my recent post and deletion (finally) of the slide show containing pictures of family, friends and the surrounding areas in Idaho. It took me one hour to figure where the html code was in the template. The reason I'm so bent outta shape is because I used to teach computer programing (basic language) back in the day when the Apple II was hot stuff. Now, it's archaic and so am I !! I was going into the template to remove it like the site said, but all I had to do was delete the post---ARRRGGGGHH...
So now I will start over. And Wordtosser, I will get in touch with you next time I'm up. I fell down my stairs last week and was a bit outta sorts, more like my ego was crushed as I've never had that happen. Also, I have dial up in Cocolalla and just was in a foul mood at the 26K connection that kept dropping. I have cable down south ;) and I'm just spoiled I guess?
I contacted the Idaho satellite company in Sandpoint to get hooked up only to find out that the transponder on the satellite that serves this area is full and I have to be put on a waiting list. I guess it will be a Christmas present to myself since it won't be available till then.
What really prompted me to contact the satellite company was the fact that the new Sandpoint telephone book has their number printed in the yellow pages and it looks extremely similar to ours so we have been getting scads of calls for them. I finally called them up and told them the problem and that I would put a recording on our phone to redirect their calls back to them. Of course I just had to ask.....and now I'm patiently waiting for my satellite connection (not).
Hey did ya see the headless horseman picture in Sandpointonline.com, he was the guy riding around Bonner Mall. It was such a treat to see ! I ran over with a bunch of other people and snapped a picture for the paper.
I'm flying in on Turkey Day, can't wait.
