thrifted churchy dress

we've been watching a lot of mister rogers lately, can you tell? watching nightly is our new ritual while i get dinner together...won't you be my neighbor??? i seriously am currently obsessed with mr. rogers. it's a sickness i am glad to have at the moment.

just another day at the office, you STILL want to be an ultrasound tech?

see this?



so you see a baby in there? don't worry, i can hardly see it myself.

this patient came in today, excited for her ultrasound, wanting to know if it was a boy or girl and STRESSING that her mother (waiting patiently in the waiting room) REALLY wanted a girl. ok, i thought, wondering if i was going to be able to see ANYTHING at all being that this patient was on the chunky side. but, ok, let's give it a try. luckily for her, i felt pretty confident that this was a baby girl. let me also say that i NEVER guess, i only say when i feel pretty certain.

well, the mom comes in and the daughter plays some guessing games with her and everyone is laughing and everything seems fine....this grandma REALLY wanted a girl. so she got her girl BUT, she still has to ask me a dozen times more and then shouts out randomly "oh! i see balls! oh no! i see balls!" as i am scanning (sorry but "balls" is just tacky). ok....deep breath, almost done, everyone seems happy....last picture, last check for baby girl parts...done! daughter is off to the bathroom.

now, what does her mom do? she asks me a couple more times if i am SURE it's a girl, what is the percentage of a chance it might be a boy? i tell her it is always 50/50... we just tell the patient what we think, there is no guarantee...blah blah blah...help me! the final question: have i ever been wrong? well, i say, i have never had anyone come back and TELL me i was wrong so i am not sure...and she says (grabbing my arm) "you wanna know something? if you are wrong about this baby, i WILL come back, you can bet on that." and i am not kidding, it was like out of a movie or something, she had a little glint in her eye and added a little hee hee...not kidding type laugh.

holy crap! get me out of here! daughter comes out of the bathroom and off they go.

now thinking about it later i feel pretty ticked off, i dont have to tell a patient whether they are having a boy or a girl, that's a courtesy. it is not part of my diagnostic protocol to sex the baby, it is only important for twins and for people who carry genetic malformations that are sex-linked. geez people, now i have to add "fearing bodily harm if i make a mistake" to my list of worries...thanks a lot. i have an ultrasound friend who NEVER tells the patient what they are having, never ever. she was sick and tired of this kind of wacky patient and family. i always thought she was hardcore over the top, but i think i am moving in that direction myself.

:)

back to work i go!

Memorial Weekend 2007

late start to gvl

relaxing morning

checking out the flowers



yes i water the weeds, can't help but love these pin wheels...



macro shot (ok, i am macro shooting weeds now, i think i have officially lost it!)

lake walk

we watched this dog forever, he was having so much fun chasing the ball into the lake. check out all the boats, there were dozens out there fishing.



i was having a hard time finding a black oak to plant at camp shiwaka. as part of our wise old willie patch, the green feather, we chose to donate a tree. well, 6 weeks of phone calls led me nowhere since it is difficult to purchase native california trees at your local nursery. many places said they could get one within two months, yikes! too late!

luckily i remembered last minute that there is a nursery on our way to the cabin, they had one black oak left and we had to search and search to find it. deerlick nursery in arrowbear saved the day for sure! our tree planting day is next saturday...thank goodness we got it! by the way, it is the prettiest lime green color, lovely!



there has been a lot of swashbuckling...sword play going on around here and i think dad had just about had enough when he tossed this sword out of the way while packing the truck. i said i didn't hear it hit the ground and we both laughed when we saw it high in the trees...ooops! the boys would never have noticed, until a week later i am sure, but we let them help get it down. aaron actually asked us how it got up there...suggesting a supernatural force of some kind did it (yes i am serious!) no aaron, aliens, wizards, fairies have better things to do than toss your sword into the trees. this kid reads A LOT!

Walker Baby Number Four!

using baby number 4 as a guinea pig for some new product, hee hee.

gorgeous in green! no fair to look this great 9 months prego with baby number 4!

welcome baby! i can't wait to stack blocks with you!

leo politi

left breathless

finally saw this, WOW!

sometimes it's good to check your messages

so, i have been known to check the house phone messages like....um....never if i can help it. most of the time i rely on my cell phone and how many times is the message, "oh, you aren't home so i will try your cell..." which means i already got the message. i hate all the, "please stay on the line for an important message!!!" then 10 minutes of "hold" music plays only to find it is an advertisement of some kind. no thanks!

so imagine my surprise when my neighbor (and fellow cerritos wetland member) leaves a message that goes something like this, "um...not sure if you would be interested, sorry to bother you, some books, not in the best condition, retired teacher, library editions,old...not in the greatest shape, off to goodwill, let me know if you are interested." ok can you say speed dial? i was over there so fast and could not believe my eyes when i saw the huge boxes, heavy with old hard back children's books. i almost passed out and did scream when the first book i pulled from the top box was a ? first edition "james and the giant peach" with the illustrations i remember as a child. perfect condition. there are so many gorgeous examples, i could write for days on them. these were even picked over by several other people before me and i still scored big time! thanks pat bliss! i am in heaven over here!

cool elephant book

and little red riding hood

chasing bluebirds

jacaranda time

these may be a sticky mess, but what a sight!

Spring Campout 2007

check another event off the list, fun times had by all! unfortunately i caught a cold the day before at work, so i was buzzing on a sinus medication crack high...at least it got me through the day and night. we bought a tent last minute and it was called affectionately the "colliseum" of tents. we're talking HUGE!





afternoon crafts

banana boat fixin (i highly recommend these, better than s'mores!)



cool mom, yummy dinner



we were asked to run the flag lowering ceremony (a big time first) and the girls did an awesome job!

pancake breakfast, camp breaks, off to the real world again...more photos on flickr!