Saturday, September 25, 2010

Nursing Home Safety Precautions

I was thinking about different ways to keep people that are in nursing homes safe. There was a tragedy that happened shortly after my grandma left an assisted living home to live with us for a while. This happened a couple weeks after my grandma left, in winter a woman went outside and froze to death. It was a terrible thing to happen. I still feel really bad for the family even now, many years later. I was thinking what if nursing homes bought an id badge printer and made ID cards for the patients? There are many benefits for doing this. It would help with the high amount of turnaround with employees knowing the patient by name. It would also help when it is time for meds for the patients and making sure the right person gets the right medications.

As a granddaughter of a woman who had Alzheimer’s I think it would also help those patients remember their names as well. I think for privacy reasons it should be the first name initial on the badge. You could even go as far as putting the patients and residents names in a certain color if they didn’t have permission to leave alone for safety reasons which would be great if it is a big building. It would also help knowing who belongs there and who is just visiting.

I think it is important to have some kind of protection for the residents that a stranger couldn’t be able to walk off the streets and victimize the patients. I don’t know how many times I went to visit my grandma and I was able to walk right in the facility and wasn’t asked who I was or who I was coming to see. Sure they have a sign in book but I think there should be an extra precaution in place. Of course there should always be a person at the front desk to protect our loved ones from strangers that have no business walking in.

Another idea would be that they have HID proximity cards for family members that visit. The family members could just swipe their card and gain access to the building or better yet, for families that have a loved one in a more secured location. I forgot the code to gain access to where my Grandma Rose was living because she was in a secure area. I wrote the number down many times and even tried to remember it with a mnemonic device and I never remembered it. There would be times we couldn’t leave because we forgot the code to the elevator and we had to hunt down an employee. I know that safety for our loved ones is very important especially those that are already fragile.

Friday, September 24, 2010

DYMO Label Maker Review and Giveaway

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I try really hard to be organized now that I am a busy mom and a blogger. I have so much stuff that I need to keep in some kind of order. I have a file box for all my important documents that I bought when I was pregnant with Noah to keep track of all my doctors stuff, Noah’s doctor stuff and of course important documents that we have such as birth certificates. I have noticed throughout the years the little paper tabs they provided have fallen out, became lost and now it is a huge mess. I could no longer look at the tabs and find what I was looking for. I had to start going through files. I didn’t like that because that is how things get lost or misplaced.

I thought I would buy a label maker, you know one of those old ones that you have to literally squeeze until your hand hurt to sometimes punch out the letters. I didn’t really use that one much because it was so unreliable and took a long time. I usually had to reuse it a few times to get what I wanted the label to say. As a scrapbooker I have a ton of stuff that needs to be organized and not thrown all together because a lot of it is delicate and could rip easily. So, when I had the opportunity to try out the DYMO Label Manager 260P I was really excited.

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Here are some of the cool features of the LabelManager 260P
• Prints professional quality labels on 1/4”, 3/8” and 1/2” easy-peel split-back DYMO D1 labels

• Includes separate set of keys for numbers, allowing for faster typing

• Features quick access buttons for punctuation and symbols

• Allows user to customize labels and add emphasis with three fonts, six font sizes, seven text styles, boxes and underlining

• Stores up to nine labels and is capable of inserting saved text

• Prints up to 10 copies of one label

• Sleek, compact and lightweight design, allowing for fast, uninterrupted labeling whether in the office or on-the-go

I love how easy it is to use. You just load the cartridge and you are good to go. I did have a slight problem with loading the cartridge but I figured it out quickly. I love that you are able to type out the labels on the keyboard. Since, I spend a lot of time typing I am able to label with accuracy and ease. My hand doesn’t hurt from squeezing out labels and hoping they do come out readable. You can even make different font sized labels. Great for people like my mom who has to wear reading glasses. It is also rechargeable! No more buying batteries or having to be restrained by the length of a cord. Just charge it and you are all ready to label your heart out. My scrapbook stuff is really starting to look organized.

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The first label I made was of my blogs url. I stuck that on my label maker. Yes I am a dork that labels her label maker. Noah really enjoys the label maker too or should I say the labels. He thinks that they are stickers and I made a few practice labels right after I received it and he stuck them to himself. He is always asking me for stickers when he sees the label maker. I hid it because it is so easy my now 4 year old could use it. I am glad he wants to be organized but there would be labels full of random letters stuck all over the house. I have taught him that stickers do not go on walls, doors and windows so I think those would be safe!

For more information please visit DYMO’s website. You can find the DYMO Label Manager 260P at your local office supply store. The suggested retail price is $65.99

Thank you to DYMO for providing me with a sample of the DYMO Label Manager 260P for my family to try out and providing one for the giveaway!

I have a giveaway for you!

One (1) lucky winner will win the DYMO Label Manager 260P

Mandatory Entry: Give me a great organization tip that you use to make your life easier
You must do the mandatory entry for any bonus entries to count.

Bonus Entries:
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This giveaway is open to US Residents ONLY.

This giveaway will end on October 8, 2010 at 11:59 pm ET.

Foods I Won't Eat

Recently, I have been thinking about foods I refuse to eat, mainly meats I won’t eat. Yes, I eat meat but there are some I refuse to have in my mouth for various reasons.

1.Lamb – I don’t care how good you think it tastes. I will not eat lamb in any way shape or form. All I can think of is Poor little Lamb Chop and who would eat Lamb chop?

2. Duck- No Duck for me. No thank you. No Turkducken or roasted duck that is just plain yuck. Ducks weren’t meant to be eaten in my opinion.

3. Goat- Sorry Annie. No goats for me.

I don’t have a problem with those that choose to eat these items but, please if I am coming to dinner, don’t serve them to me and tell me they are something else, I will know. People always say to me: “You’ll eat alligator but you won’t eat, lamb or duck?” I always respond with yep, crazy huh?”

This reminds me of a trip to North Carolina I took. I went to go see my friends Logan and Loretta; they kept talking about liver mush. I had no clue what livermush was. There were signs for livermush everywhere. Even on the marquee at Walgreens. I thought it just had a weird name. I never did make the connection that it was liver! Call me naïve. I thought liver mush would be like grits. I have never had grits but I thought it would be mush, after all it is called livermush. I took the name literally, but the wrong part. Somehow they managed to convince me to try it. It looked like sausage. I think they told me it was sausage or something. I can’t remember how they got me to try it. I do remember trying it. It did not taste like sausage. It was gross. Never again will I eat livermush. Never again!

My friend Logan aka the Jerky King passed away in November 2008 suddenly. I miss him a lot. We had many good times together and laughed a lot. Loretta’s mom thought Logan and I were having an affair but we weren’t. That whole trip to visit them was truly an adventure, you wouldn’t believe it if I told you. It was so messed up from the get go. I will blog about it sometime. I am so glad that I had the chance to know Logan. He was a great friend.

There are many other foods I won’t eat. Listing them all would take a coon’s age. What are some foods that you will eat?