Tuesday, January 6, 2009, Nashville, TN., 6:12 a.m., C.S.T.~

Dear Journal~

Louie here.  Am at work, waiting to clock in at seven; just a little under an hour from now.  Wonder where I'll end up today; I never know from one day to the next where I'll work, but it seems like lately I've been working ICU or in the ER.

Yesterday I worked in the ICU, on the medical floor.  I had three patients.  Two were doing fabulously well; the other, not so much.  Still having a lot of complications; we thought we were going to have to call a Code on Mr. Renquist, but he held on, amazingly enough.

Mr. Renquist, a retired barber, has a lot of health problems, even though he's only in his mid forties.  If he survives the week, I'll be extremely surprised.  (He retired early because of health problems stemming from diabetes, liver failure from years of drinking, brain bleeds, and extremely high blood pressure, among other issues.  He's a medical nightmare waiting to happen.)

And yesterday I came home to Ronee' screaming at Enriquesa after Enri got into her music collection.  In fact, it got physical:  Ronee', in a fit of rage,  smacked Enriquesa right across the face, and Enri hit her sister over the head with her hooks.  That ended it, but I sent both girls to their rooms and made them apologize to each other later on. 

If there is one thing I will NOT tolerate in this house, it's violence, especially towards other family members.  The girls remained mad at each other for a good part of the day, but later on, they were friends again.

I made sure of that.

Poor Johnathon was in the corner, quaking in terror; he looked like a scared little boy.  It broke my heart.  I had to spend some time trying to console him, reassuring him that Ronee' and Enriquesa weren't going to murder each other, if I saw to it. 

When I saw his big, blue eyes fill up with tears and his bottom lip quivering, I couldn't help but give him some mama-style lovin'.   Poor Johnathon looked pitiful!

As a result, both Ronee' and Enriquesa are grounded from going to their friends' houses until I say otherwise.  They have got to learn to get along!!

Seems like the kids are suffering from Christmas overload.  It was fine for a while, but today the party stops.  They go back to school; Bill will have a much quieter day today, much to his relief.  I think greed/envy/jealousy is starting to set in; they need to get back to learning and homework instead of whiling away their days, trying to find ways to get in (or stay out of) trouble (whichever happens first).

It was nice having Anh, Thu, Steffi, Dwerlina and Andre, Lightning and Darnell, Dianna, and Melizza home for the holidays; they've since left.  It was wonderful to see my grandbabies again; they are all growing up, turning into smart, capable little men and women! 

I am especially proud of Jamie, my oldest grandchild:  she has grabbed life by the horns, even with having neuromuscular disease and relying on a wheelchair to get by.  She loves life, lives it to the full.

The weather here has been nasty the past few days:  heavy rain, had been under flood watches, even warnings.  No flooding here, but saw some on the way to work; nothing major, but enough to make some people nervous, particularly those closest to the Cumberland River.   Now it's turned sharply colder, and we may get some snow, before it clears out.

Seems the rainy weather has made my sweet, docile children turn into monsterous little heathens and heathenettes.  They are quickly becoming bored with being cooped up inside; I don't blame them, but they seriously need to learn to get along with each other and not use each other as punching bags!  I am trying to raise a family here, not a bunch of pint-sized pugilists!!

Bill's blood pressure has been up.  His face has been turning red for the past few days; I am getting most concerned for him.  If he doesn't watch himself, he may end up stroking out; I certainly don't need THAT to happen!!

Heard from Kat Hammer in Alaska:  it is brutally cold there.  Temps in the minus thirties (for highs!!), in the negative fifties for the lows.  BRRRR!!  That's tooo cold for me!!  She can have it!!  (And she doesn't want it; she's more than ready to pack up, head back to Louisiana!)  She's fine, only thing is she's freezing to death!

Jenna Doucet is okay, too, but the weather doesn't faze her.  She's part Inuit; no wonder it doesn't bother her!  LOL  She's just plugging away as best as she can, raising her three children (Kenai, Mattaq, and the big baby, Michael, who has been abed with the flu). 

Thank God she's had help in her sister Jerrica, who has been helping out while Michael recovers from the flu.  Otherwise, she'd be up a creek without a paddle! 

Not good!

Kendra Kent and her family are growing by leaps and bounds:  they have adopted a little girl from Afghanistan (I think; not so sure on this); the little one is slowly adjusting to American life, and to her new family.  In any event, the little girl is beautiful!  I pray she will learn to love it here, and learn to love her new family!

The Kents now have about forty children they've adopted.  No doubt they'll get even bigger before the year is out.  Think we may have influenced them just a bit.  LOL

Our family is bigger, full to bursting.  When the kids who live away come back home, it's wall-to-wall people; it's fun for a while, but then, we're always happy when they leave, so we can breathe again!  LOL

Life in our family is like one big, long holiday:  it is never boring, that is for true !!  LOL

Well, I've written in here long enough; time to hit the joe.  Need my coffee; I. Want. My. Coffee!!!!  I then have to go to work, see what's up, where I'll be for the day.  (Work until 7 tonight.  A long one today.)  Until later, this is Louie signing off; take care and may God bless y'all; I'll see y'all a while ago!

(((HUGS))) and much love, your friend in Tennessee, Louie May.  :D