Working at Home

I got behind on the blog because I’ve been “working at home”.
I’ve been told I am “lucky” that I “get to” work at home. Well, yeah, but there are no employer benefits when you’re self employed. I’ve been working at home for almost five years and Greg has been working at home for 17 years. We don’t have an office in the house—it’s the entire house, which is 1,000 square feet and looks like a giant medical record repository. We don’t each have a space that we can call our very own—it is all taken over with medical records stacked here and there. We are never away from work because it is always there, right where we live, on the table where we eat, on the sofa where I sit when I watch TV, on the floor that Greg has to steer his wheelchair around. It is embarrassing or impossible to have people over as there would be no place for them to sit!
I already know most people envision that a person “working at home” is spending more time watching soap operas, sipping coffee, and chatting on the phone than actually turning out work product, or making business calls, or typing up documents. You know—“I work at home”.
I have heard what we do called “turning boxes into books”. That’s a pretty good description of a copy paper box full of medical records condensed down into the 1” of records pertinent to the case which is being reviewed by the physician. To get the box full of records down to 1”, every page has to be read to determine if it is something of value to the doctor, then put in chronological order, and indexed down the right hand side with tabs. For the most part, that is what Greg does for the doctor he works for.
And, for the most part, what I do for the doctor I work for, is take the records that have been condensed down, read all the miserable, scribbled, hand-written, illegible, abbreviated, undated notes and compose a medical record summary as I am typing. I have to read, compose, type, and turn pages all at the same time.
Now, I like computer work. But games and e-mail are 180 degrees in the other direction from sitting in one spot for hours, squinting at illegible stuff, condensing one page into one sentence, and grammatically typing it all at the same time, while you correctly spell medical terms.
On the plus side, I like setting my own schedule and not having to wait on someone else’s schedule. I like not having to drive someplace every day. I like being able to take a break and throw laundry in and out of the washer and dryer, and put something in the oven, and watch the business channel on TV, and read the on-line newspapers when I want to.
But then there are many more days and weeks like the one happening right now.
On Wednesday, I was in bed with a fever, ill with the influenza. No paid sick day. So, when I got up on Thursday, I was feeling somewhat better, and wanted to start working right away, doing something “easy”, as I was still ill. To get a quick start, I didn’t get dressed (my first mistake), and typed line item summaries of medical records while I was still in my pajamas. Then, all day long, I couldn’t take time to get dressed, so actually slopped around the house in my pajamas until I went to bed at 11:30 (my usual bedtime is 8:00). I didn’t have time to make anything to eat, but there was a quarter serving of leftover spaghetti I warmed up. Greg had to run errands in the middle of the afternoon, so I asked him to get me French toast sticks at Jack-In-The-Box; he got two tacos for himself. No time to get any fruit or vegetables prepared, no time to do laundry, no time to exercise, no time to clean, no time to even be able to drink enough fluids, no time to go outdoors for fresh air and sunshine. I mean, there was NO TIME!
After I spent more than four hours writing the line item summary, I did my next “easy” project, which took 10 hours. The medical records were on a disc. Seems like that should be a time saver, huh? Nope. There were 1499 pages of records on the disc, and I had to read all of them, decide if it was pertinent to the case, print the pages I needed, highlight the info I wanted, and put the records in chronological order so I would be able to easily see if the next records were duplicates. If I had received the actual hard copies of the records, I could have gone through them in probably two hours instead of ten hours. That was indeed the “easy” part of this record review. Today, I am writing the line item summary of the records. So far, it has taken seven hours and I’m not yet one-fourth the way through.
I’m not complaining, or at least not much. I am grateful, very grateful, that I have a job when so many others don’t. I can wear my pajamas and make tea, and eat junk food while I work. But, it is also the most physically, mentally, and emotionally demanding job I have ever done. It is not a job that is conducive to taking breaks, as you have to keep up the pace to make progress. I get all kinds of great advice from people who have never written a line item summary that I should take frequent breaks, but the work would never get done if I was taking breaks a couple times every hour; a certain momentum has to be maintained to get to the end.
So, for those of you who wish you could “work at home”, I encourage you to give it a try. Find out how great it is to balance your dinner on a stack of medical records. Feel the embarrassment of having friends over and there is literally no place to sit because every chair is covered with medical records. Try navigating a wheelchair through a maze of boxes full of records or around stacks of paper that are slipping everywhere. Work 15 hour days because your work is where you live and there is no chance to take a break, and if you don't get it done and out of the house, you will be deluged.
We don't feel like we have a home--it is just storage for other folk's medical records. And that doesn't even touch all the bad karma we are accruing by having other people's medical conditions all over our house.

January 20

I set up this display last night. Good thing we saved the campaign sign. We were up by 6:00 to start the inauguration day party. We are more hopeful for our country now that President Obama is in office. Our country needs so much in the way of health care, economic, educational, and social reform. I watched the entire inauguration festivities--so far, and saw the Fergus Falls Marching Band, who were all very cute indeed as they marched past the viewing booth.
Now, I'm not sure how the dinner turned out. The roast was overdone and dry, the Yorkshire pudding didn't puff very much and stuck to the pan so there wasn't a lot in the way of presentation, and I put too much vinegar in the Green Goddess dressing. The cake, carrots, and wine were delicious, though.
Well, now I must go and take down our sign as we think it will be a collector's item, and our first one was stolen from the lawn on Halloween.

Inauguration Day Menu

I understand the Obama family prefers organic, local, and seasonal dietary choices, but in celebration of the inauguration, we are having a retro menu: roast beef with Yorkshire pudding, salad with Green Goddess dressing, German chocolate cake, and a bottle of Frivolo to wash it all down.
Since I could read cook books, I have had a strange fascination with Yorkshire pudding. I haven’t made it--just puzzled over the reason a person would bake cream puff batter in beef fat, and then eat it (???). It still doesn’t make sense, but I am going to give it a try.
Green Goddess dressing was always my favorite, but I haven’t been able to find it in stores for years, and I am pretty sure that no one makes it anymore. I have the recipe in at least two cook books, and have never made it, mostly because I found the ingredients objectionable. I don’t know why Green Goddess dressing tastes so good when it is made with such odd materials. This project required I purchase my very first tube of anchovy paste, ever.
German chocolate cake—doesn’t really need much explanation other than it is Greg’s favorite.
The Frivolo isn’t retro. Greg bought me a case for Christmas and it is reserved for only very special occasions, such as the inauguration of our best hope to save the USA.
Our recipe-writing ancestors weren’t much for paying attention to saturated fat or cholesterol, were they?
Oh, alright, I will throw a few carrots in with the roast and slice a plate of oranges for our vitamins A and C.

Belated Christmas Presents!

We got a fabulous gift today—cookies and venison! The gift from my brother and sister-in-law was on hold due to Greg having a root canal done and being unable to eat much of anything good, and a serious shortage of home made cookies. Everything was in perfect condition when we got the overnight Fed Ex delivery. I was just planning to make up some fried eggs for breakfast, so we had the eggs and slim jims, followed by a “cookie buffet”. Bless her heart, my sister-in-law sent more than 6 ½ dozen cookies! And they are all delicious. We had just finished up our other Christmas goodies, so this was welcome indeed.

This is the venison, which we love and which is difficult for us to get as Greg is no longer able to hunt. From the left, ring sausage, slim jims, and jerky. The ring sausage was still frozen solid when it arrived from North Dakota. We are having sausage and mashed potatoes for our dinner tonight.

These are the cookies: spritz, peanut butter blossoms, candy cane topped sugar cookies, peanut butter with peanut cookies, M & M cookies, and a peanut butter-coconut-corn flake cream cookie dipped in chocolate. We both love the peanut cookies. Greg’s other favorite is the spritz and my other favorite is the candy cane topped cookie, with little pieces of crushed up candy cane in the cookie.

Its a really good thing I am back on my walking and Gazelle exercise program.

Pink Lemonade

This is a seasonal treat, made with ingredients from our own backyard. Lemonade made with Meyer lemons--spiked with blood oranges. Greg likes his with sugar and I like mine with stevia. It's delicious and full of antioxidants.

Valley Weather--Again!

There aren't any photos today. Yesterday, I was complaining about the weather, being 27 degrees and all. Today, on January 12, we are getting our first taste of spring. It is 60 degrees on the dark side of the house, and in the sun, it is warmer than the inside of the house! I took the back road home from Folsom and there are California golden poppies blooming! We haven't even had any rain yet, which is a bad sign, but Greg is hopeful that the rainy season isn't done.

Backyard Projects

I love blood oranges and planted this poor thing in a pot about 10 years ago with the intention I would some day dig a big hole in the backyard and plant it.

Here is another blood orange tree in a pot in my backyard.

This is a miniature Meyer lemon--its also waiting to be planted in the ground. I didn't give it much care this year, but the lemons are amazing!

And this is a pot of daffodils in the backyard, blooming in 27 degree weather in January! They have since been cut and brought in the house as I just can't see good daffodils freezing.

Coco--A Very Tough Little Cat

First off, I should apologize to Coco for using such a horrible picture of her. She really doesn't look like a devil cat, but she is difficult to capture, so this is the best we got.
She is just a little gal, about 5 pounds, and is really a little old lady, almost 14 years old, but she has a yowl like a mountain lion and basically is the "person" who runs this household.
On Sunday, I noticed she had a bad looking bottom tooth, so I made an appointment on Monday for her to see the vet on Tuesday. On Tuesday morning before she even had breakfast, she got boxed up and carted off to the doctor. The exam was quick and didn't sound good--she had at least the one tooth, and probably two, that needed to be extracted. She has a long-standing history of thyroid disease; and yes, she has a goiter, and we have been giving her pills for that for years. But as she has aged, I guess her thyroid has gotten worse, as the vet determined, after lab work, we need to give her two pills per day. Yes, I know I am a nurse, but administration of pills to this gal is man's work, so Greg does that.
She had her dental procedure done, and the reports we received were that she was a very good kitty. I picked her up on Wednesday morning and then got the final report, which was shocking. The poor little thing had eight teeth removed! We were instructed to give her soft food for about one week. And she ate a whole can in less than 24 hours! I guess she must not have been able to eat very well with her poor, old broken teeth and she was hungry! Greg thought he would set out a bowl of her regular dry food for her today, and even with the not-yet-healed extractions, she gobbled down half a bowl. It seems she is on the road to recovery.
We really didn't have any idea that her teeth were so bad, and the vet reassured us that we aren't really bad cat parents, that cats don't process pain the way humans do, and that cat's teeth can get really bad before it is noticed.

California Orange Tree

This is the orange tree that I have agonized over for 15 years. 2008 was apparently not much of an orange year as they look kind of sparse. Whether I water, fertilize, and prune really does not make much of a difference in regard to the quality of the oranges. The picture doesn't really do the oranges justice as most of them are larger than grapefruit. As we have heard that oranges should not be picked until after Jan. 1, we just had our first "taste test" today. We usually don't pick the last ones until Valentine's Day.

One of Greg's favorite "orange products" is grated rind mixed with sugar. It keeps for a year in a Mason jar in the refrigerator and you can use it to sweeten tea or sprinkle it on anything.

Another yummy thing to make with oranges is orange butter to spread on warm toast. Cream together 2 Tbsp. butter and 4 Tbsp. powdered sugar, add 2 tsp. orange juice, and 1/2 to 1 tsp. grated orange rind.

HP Printer Ink Cartridge

Hi Everyone. Does anyone use an HP 57 tricolor ink cartridge? I mistakenly bought it, ripped the package open to put it in the printer, and then found out it doesn't work in our printer. I obviously can't return it. Let me know if you can use it and I will mail it to you.