Robin's Nest

When I went to work yesterday I was only going to visit, not work. On my way there I received a phone call that one of my favorite residents had passed during the wee hours of the morning. Yes nurses have favorites and yes like parents they have to try not to show it... This was one exceptional man. The love and kindness he showed to all was only surpassed by his deep understanding of humankind and his love for his wife and family. His apartment was decorated with pictures of family, artwork he had done and one very special charcoal sketch of him giving his wife a "last kiss". His love for her was reflected in everything he did. She passed away some years back but the love he held in his heart for her never faded even one iota. Some days were harder for him than others, but he plugged along, never complaining to staff of anything and thanking everyone without fail for whatever they did for him. His daughter spent her days near him and the reality of losing him is as har...

It's Groundhog Day!!!! I can hardly believe January is over... and so is my crockpot cooking month. My goal was 50% or more of my meals, dinner meals that is, in the crockpot. I am not sure that I accomplished that but I did get close.  So for February my goal is no fast food meals.. at all. Our meals for January were a mix of old favorites and a few new recipes.  One new recipe I tried was for a roast chicken. It was beautiful looking but so dry, like swallowing sawdust! So that was a never make again flop! It got eaten but it took days and I fell for a "pay the shipping only" deal for a crock pot recipe book and to me that was a waste of money.. the first recipe in it that I considered trying was for some oatmeal and it called for 1 and 1/2 cups of butter or something like that so I wrote the author an e-mail for clarification, turns out it should have read 1 and 1/2 tablespoons of butter. Kind of took the interest out of the rest of the recipes... although I think th...