Don't You Forget About Us - Keeping her Promises

Princess Four ran for office with the slogan, "Don't you forget about me" (see that post here) and then, for the school year "theme" she used, "Don't you forget about us." (see that post here)

That theme was carefully thought up so that no person would be forgotten this year as the students went to support teams and in other activities.

Princess four has taken that theme to heart as she has served as Student Body President this year.

Many months ago, she promised a socially awkward girl that she would plan a blind date for her on her 16th birthday. Months went by and Princess four wasn't in a class with this girl any more but she never forgot that promise.

Princess approached the starting quarterback and most popular boy in school and asked him if he would be willing to be her "friends" first date. The boy was willing to do it and actually made a huge sacrifice to make it happen as the date was planned and then his family announced a weekend trip and he gave up the weekend trip with his family to take this girl out for her first date.

Princess Four planned the entire thing and was doubling on the date. She planned flowers and a movie and a treat after. They went early to pick up the flowers and she had a gift card for the theater that she won and was planning on using for the movie but the "Boys" picked that up as well as the flowers and Princess was grateful that they were such gentlemen on the date.

The girl had a wonderful time and Princess enjoyed doing that service for her and was so grateful for the boys kindness in making it a wonderful first date for the girl.

That experience was so great that Princess worked it out to have another double date with someone who has had some issues over the years. I have worked with this boy as a teachers helper through the years and he is such a kind and sweet boy. Princess worked it out and got some friends to double with them. They played games and had a fun time.

Flash forward again, and the winter girls choice dance is coming up. Princess has been planning for months to get a group of the more popular kids to take some of those students who probably wouldn't go otherwise and haven't had the chance to go on many, if any, dates while in high school.

She called a boy's mother and spoke to his brother to see if it would be possible to ask him on the date. The mother and the brother thought he probably would say "no" to the offer. She asked if I had any ideas on how she could ask him and I had just gotten some wooden paint pallets from a church activity which they didn't need and though she could do something cute with them.

We thought it would be cute to use them by writing one letter of her name on the back and a number on the front of each and giving him one for each class of the day having the teacher give it to him and the last one would have her last name on it. She wasn't sure if he would get the other without her last name.

She wrote on the first one, "You would add COLOR to my life if you would go to preference with me...." in cute colors and then used lots of different colored Sharpie marking pens to write on them all.(If you read this blog often, you will know that I LOVE Sharpies!)

We added bags of candy to each pallet as she wanted to use balloons but worried about them losing air or popping so the candy with curling ribbon worked just as well.

She went into each class in his schedule before school and asked the teacher for their help. They were all thrilled to help when they knew who she was asking.

She came home after school thinking he would say "Yes" because she said after third period that he told someone he thought it was her. I don't know if his mother or brother told him but she said she passed him after lunch and he smiled at her. That wasn't a normal occurrence.

She came home from school today and told me he said, "Yes" to going with her. I asked how he did it and she told me he drew her a picture. She said he is really into drawing "Pokeman" and he drew her one and wrote, "YES" on the back of it.

Later, she showed it to me and I asked her if it was OK with her if I posted about the cute idea on how she asked her date and how he answered, and if she thought it would be alright to share. She thought it would be fine.  

The best part of all this is that she is really having fun going on these dates and enjoys spending time with all types of people. She has worked hard all year to get to know new people that she doesn't know and has especially worked hard at remembering everyone's name this year.

I can't believe how fast this year has gone and that the dance team competitions and performances are almost all over and that graduation will be in a few more months.

I know she will have a wonderful time on her date and hope those going will as well. I know her friends are looking forward to the date and they are in planning mode to try and make it as enjoyable as possible for everyone going.

I am grateful for Princess Four and her ability to serve other and keep her promises. I am blessed with wonderful girls.

Dealing with the Pressure

This post is about resetting a blood pressure cuff to zero. A blood pressure cuff is called a sphygmomanometer. 
 
This post may be boring to most people but helpful to some. Pass it over if you aren't medical but if you do a search for this, there isn't much out there on this so I figured it was something worth posting about to help others who have a similar problem as I did with my gauge.

I have a Princess who is taking a Certified Nursing Assistant course. She needs a blood pressure cuff and has to take 100 vital signs while in the class. 
 
This means she needs to have a blood pressure cuff for the job. I had an old one that was sticky and leaking and a new one that didn't have the gauge or the pump on it. While taking off the gauge off the old one, I twisted the bottom valve on the gauge and somehow moved the needle off of zero. 

I looked online to see how to get it back to zero. There was one video on youtube that showed how to "zero" out the needle, but when I tried what it said, it didn't work. 

In his video, it said to move the gauge valve using pliers to move it. My gauge had two moving parts on the valve area. One was the valve itself and the other is a little nut that moves up and down to tighten the valve into place. The valve is attached inside to some metal diaphragm looking disc shapes.

That metal piece moving up and down, is what moves the needle showing the pressures. the nut has two little holes in it that you can put a large paperclip into to tighten or loosen the nut on the valve. By twisting the valve itself, you can break the valve connection to the diaphragm which can cause the gauge to not work. 

By shaping a paperclip into a "U" shaped tool, you can loosen the nut, twist the valve back to zero and then tighten the valve nut back on resetting the gauge back to zero. 
 




I have a video I did on youtube. Here is a link to the video. If you are at work and you need to do it, use a paperclip for the tool and see if you can loosen the nut. If not, you can use a "surgery clamp" or the handles of your bandage scissors to try and loosen the valve just a little in order to get the nut to move. Just don't move it very much or you could break the seal. 


Test the fixed cuff against a working one before using it on a patient making sure it is giving accurate readings. It is something to try if you don't have other options or are waiting on a new one. 

Funny that I had a "Pressure" headache today as I worked on fixing this "pressure" gauge. It must have been my day for High Pressure!

A Penny For Your Thoughts - In God We Trust

I was in bed this morning feeling very tired of struggling to fund the activities the girls would like to do and be involved with. They are all good activities and have good outcomes but they cost a bit and now with another driver, insurance, a car for college in a few months, becoming a grandma, doing it all alone and stressing over time and money issues, I decided to have a little chat with God. 

Into my mind kept coming the song line, “A penny for your thoughts” from the Taylor Swift song, “If I die young.” It took me an hour or so before I got what He was trying to tell me. “My thoughts were stressful and I wasn’t trusting Him. When I find a Penny, it reminds me to trust Him.” He was telling me He is buying my negative thoughts by putting a Penny in my path and to use the penny in place of my thoughts. 

I need to Trust in Him in my thoughts. Then, I found two pennies today. I smiled and happily picked them up in a parking lot and in the checkout line at Walmart. I was reminded that even though I have stresses and worries, He is paying me for those thoughts with the pennies from heaven that He sends me almost daily.

The other day I was thinking I hadn’t found any pennies for several days and thought perhaps I wasn’t giving enough gratitude for those things which I do have so I concentrated on giving gratitude and found a few pennies that day and the next day, I found $0.37 throughout the day. He truly does bless me.

So, now when I find a penny, I will look at it like He purchased the negative thoughts and it will remind me to continually trust in Him. 

Has He purchased any of your thoughts lately?

Homemade Braided Belts Like Friendship Bracelets

I posted yesterday about some pop tab belts that were homemade. I saw these as well. I thought I would show you these as I thought they were quite creative. 

They used thicker cording or strings and wove them like you would a friendship bracelet. They used two different patters. I thought it was very creative.


They used the decorative screws to make the look where the belt hook would fit. If you blow up the picture of the white belt, you can see how it looks. 


They used the craft store belt edge on the pointed end which you can also see in the bottom picture. The two belts were so great. I think I will talk Princess Five into trying to make some of these.


Anyway, we haven't made these but I wanted to show them as they were at the store. There are several patterns for friendship bracelets which will make some cute belts. 


I am sure there are probably videos on youtube on how to make them as well.
I will have Princess Five try one and let you know how it goes.

Pop or Soda Tab Belt Options

I posted just over a year ago about Princess Five making jewelry out of pop can lid tabs. Here is that first post. Here is the second post about that.


I was at a second hand store the other day and found two belts made out of pop can tabs. 

There were two belts and one was using the silver cording they sell at the craft store. The second one was made using black thicker string. 


The black one was a bit nicer looking in my opinion and was a bit thicker. If you blow up the images, you can see how they did it.


To make a slot for the buckle, they will use a small and thin screw/nut set. They also used silver on the tips for the opposite side of the buckle. 


The shiny belt is a tie belt so you leave the ends long and tie them at the end so they don't fray. 

The black one is wrapped so are less rough looking. 

It is something to make using the tabs and there are several styles. I haven't make any of these but just wanted to show you them as I hadn't ever seen them.

Family Newsletter 2013 Part Two

Princess Four is 16 and FINALLY got her drivers license. Yahoo for me! She was forced to take the test a few weeks ago so I could visit with my new grand-daughter and now that she has it, she is NEVER home. She actually was never home before either but now; there are days I don’t leave the house as I don’t have to drive the girls around. 

I am enjoying that. It will be short lived as she is graduating soon and headed to college. She was elected Student Body President of the high school this year and has done an AMAZING job leading the students. She raised money for a student whose father passed away from a heart attack just before Christmas, as well as setting up dates for special needs kids all year keeping everyone involved. She went to Thailand on a service mission this summer and enjoyed that as well as four other camps dealing with leadership and finished up her fourth year on the drill team with her younger sister. She maintained her straight A’s and was offered a scholarship to several universities but has chosen to attend the college that her sisters all attended prior to a four year university. She has applied to be an ambassador and did well on the interview and we will find out soon if she gets accepted. She is doing musical theater and she and her sister sang the national anthem at a competition recently. She loves to sing and dance and is heading off on another choir tour in April. Her dream is to be a Disney Princess. I think she really could do anything she sets her heart on as she is amazing. I am excited to see where she goes from here. 

 

Princess Five is 14 and is taking the world on. She has enjoyed dancing this year with her sister but is itching to do  more so she started acting and had a dancing lead in the play “grease” this summer and she and her sisters danced at “Stadium of Fire” which is the show that the US sends to all their deployed troops around the world. She has straight A’s and has gotten several parts in the plays that are coming up at school and is also doing a duet with her sister called “If momma was married” for musical theater to compete in at region and state. I wonder if they are trying to tell me something by choosing that song but life is keeping me so busy, I don’t have time to date. 

 

She is thinking of trying something new next year and is contemplating doing cheerleading or swim team. She has lots of friends and is very social and is growing taller day by day. She had her wisdom teeth out and got braces on a few months ago and I wonder if anyone will recognize her in a year. She continues to play her guitar and sing and I LOVE hearing her sing when she is showering, vacuuming or doing the dishes when she doesn’t think anyone can hear her. It makes me smile each time. I am sure you will see her on the stage at some point acting, dancing and singing. She loves it all. 

I am still dealing with my mother’s health and drove the six hours a few months ago to take her to the ER as I just didn’t think she sounded well. She got 2 units of blood she was so anemic. She stayed in the hospital for a week and was diagnosed with a slow form of leukemia. She is struggling with short term memory loss and I worry about her. I spend lots of time organizing her things and gathering family history pictures, journals, movies, audio etc and scan it and then share it with the entire family. 

I did this through the year and found some wonderful video of my mother winning a beauty pageant and her grandparents and her siblings as children all in color from 1957. It was a golden find at my uncle’s home as he got it when my grandmother died and didn’t know he even had it. Working on these projects, as well as dealing with my mother’s health, along with having some of my own health issues have kept me busy this year. Driving the girls around has also taken me all over the state as well. I worked on my camp trailer for 9 months pulling out all windows, vents, & doors and put in new seals etc. I have learned so much and am just finishing up polishing it. We will enjoy using it this Easter as we camp with my family several times a year. 

I hope this letter finds everyone well. There have been some sad losses as my mother’s sister died of pancreatic cancer a few months ago and some other friends have passed on. It reminds me how fragile life is and how we should enjoy every moment. I truly KNOW I am blessed and give GRATITUDE daily in my life for all the blessings which I have. I hope you are as blessed in your life.

Family Newsletter 2013 Part One

I didn’t write my Christmas and holiday newsletter because my oldest daughter was expecting my first grandchild in the New Year. So, I waited to write this letter to let everyone know how we are doing. It has been a VERY busy month but I can now write this letter and share some fun pictures with you all with our newest edition.


Princess One is happily married. She worked for the state helping foster children move into adult living between ages 19 and 21. She helps them find jobs, get training, apartments etc. It is a stressful job but it kept her busy while her husband finished his master’s degree in Civil Engineering with a concentration in water systems. The condo they lived in was sold so they moved into a small rental until he graduated in December the week before Christmas. They moved the week of Christmas for him to take a job in a city five hours drive from our home but are still within the state. She finished working for the state a few weeks after their move and was due for their first child February 8. I always thought her due date was the 7^th and their first Princess came on the seventh after a long labor but both mother and baby are doing fine and Dad was SUPER with both and is helping out lots even though he is still getting used to his new job and their new apartment. I went for a week to help them out and LOVED every minute with their beautiful princess and mine. She was 7lbs 13 oz and 20 inches long. She has lots of dark hair and looks just like her mother. She is a HUGE blessing in our lives.  

Princess Two is 23 and is working at a college transferring transcripts. She lives in a house with a girl from our town and is having fun living in a college town. There are two major universities within miles of her house and they keep active with house parties and match making amongst their friends. She sells things online for some spare cash and works often in the temple for our faith. She is working on genealogy and has enjoyed finding things on both sides of her family lines. She is dating often and still isn’t sure what to do when she “grows up” having graduated college years ago and since her surgery last year at Thanksgiving, her health has continued to improve and has no lasting issues so we are very grateful that she was able to have the surgery to remove her gallbladder.

   

Princess Three is 19 and finishing up her associate’s degree in the next few months. She was asked to be the Vice President of her ambassadors at the college she attends which gave her $1,000 on top of free rent and she has an academic scholarship which she is maintaining as well as working in the business office. She is VERY busy and we don’t often see her but I have tried to get back into visiting her once a week for lunch as I have missed that this past year. She is social and active and has a boyfriend whom we met for the first time this week. She just applied to be an ambassador for a 4 year college to continue in her studies for her bachelor’s degree. She made it through the first round and has just finished up the second round. We hope to find out soon if she is selected. She still isn’t sure what she wants to major in but has done well and maintained her grades so she will attend on scholarship there as well. It is about 6 hours away but we have family in that area so I am sure she will enjoy moving on there.

To be continued....