Why I Work for BJC

I've recently taken a new position within BJC, so things have been a bit busy. However, the following story gave me a great reason to post.

My dad was recently seen at two of our facilities, which not only resulted in the identification of an unknown problem for him, but also indicated a genetic risk for our whole family.

Dad was originally sent to Northwest HealthCare by his internist at Christian Hospital for an MRI, because he was experiencing severe back pain. The MRI report identified a herniated disc, and his doc referred Dad to an orthopedic surgeon at Missouri Baptist Medical Center to evaluate the problem. When Dad met with the orthopedic surgeon, his back pain had subsided and the disc appeared to have moved back into place on its own. The surgeon said that, more than the disc, he was concerned about an abdominal aortic aneurysm that had been identified on the MRI.

Dad followed up with his internist, who performed a sonogram to look at the aneurysm. Because its size was nearing the point at which surgical intervention is recommended, he referred Dad to a vascular surgeon at MoBap. The vascular surgeon and his physician assistant explained the condition to dad, mentioning that it can be hereditary, and sent him for a CT scan to determine if surgery is necessary. The results should be in this week.

Dad is now the third generation of his family to develop this condition, and this knowledge will help my brother and I (who both have a genetic risk for cardiovascular problems from Mom's side of the family, as well) better manage our health. It was suggested that we both be screened for the condition at age 45, which is well below the suggested age for screening individuals without a family history.

Dad went on and on about how great his experiences were at both facilities. The staff were friendly, explaining everything to him and making sure he understood. They reassured him, and made the experience much less stressful. He says it's no wonder I work for this organization, everyone is great!

As his daughter, I am grateful to the staff for taking care of my dad and for identifying a problem that could affect our whole family. As a BJC employee, my first thought when dad said how impressed he was with the care he received was, "Well of course, you were at a BJC facility!" This is exactly the type of care patients expect, and it's great to see that we are exceeding their expectations!

Cakes!

I like to cook. And bake - I looooove to bake.
The problem is that, at our house, it's just DH & me, and the dogs - who do their fair share of enjoying the yummyness that comes from the kitchen but, let's face it, they can only eat so much. I have, therefore, built up a list of people and departments at work that I can take goodies to, in order to limit the calorie buildup at our house.

I absolutely LOVE it when a special occasion arises that lets me flex my creative muscles - like birthdays! My mom used to decorate cakes semi-professionally (and was darn good at it, too!), so I use her "secret recipe" for the cake and had, for years, used her recipe for buttercream icing. But then something happened . . .

something terrible . . .

the powers-that-be changed the recipe for shortening to make it trans-fat-free! This may not seem too terrible, but in fact it turns mom's trusted recipe from yummy, stable icing into yummy, slide-y icing. Good for eating, not good for decorating. It's like watching a glacier melt over a milennia - sloooooowwwwwwwllllyyyyyy it slides off the edges. At first, I thought it was just me having a "consistency" issue, since cake decorating isn't something I do regularly and getting the icing just right is an art.

The first cake I did turned out relatively well - you can hardly tell there's any sliding, but the outline of the numbers didn't quite hold shape:

(this was especially cute because my boss loves the Cardinals & shared a last name with one of their players)

Then I read an article in a Pillsbury saying that the shortening was the culprit, but I did not pay heed. The next birthday:

Can you see the slipping around the edges? juuuuust barely, because I kept the cake in the fridge all night and, as I said, it happens slowly - so I didn't notice any slippage until the next morning, when it was too late!

So I went back to the Pillsbury book, which gave an "updated" recipe for icing that used meringue powder. When I bought the meringue powder, though, it had it's own recipe for buttercream icing -- both of these, of course, used different amounts of powdered sugar than mom's trusted recipe, and they both used WAY different amounts of meringue powder. So I used mom's recipe & guessed at the amount of meringue powder to use:

This was a cake for my personal trainer's birthday - the icing consistency was better, but not fixed completely.

Finally, I decided to just use the recipe that came in the meringue powder, from Wilton - because Wilton rules the world of cakes, cupcakes, icing, etc. This time, the result was much more awesome:
I take full responsibility for the slight bowing of the lines on the bottom edge - that's me, not the icing. Now I'm trying to decide what to do next - any ideas?

Cinco de Mayo = Tres de Oscar!

Okay, it's been a long time since I took Spanish, and the above isn't a good translation, but today is Oscar's third birthday! When we got him, he:

- was chunky
- wasn't used to long walks
- hated car rides (would sit and tremble)
- had a chronic medical issue that is too gross to mention
This is a picture from the very first walk we took him on - please notice how he is more "barrel-shaped" than "wiener-dog-shaped":


Now he:
- is wiener-dog-shaped
- loves to run and hike in the woods
- loves car rides more than Pepper does (and that's saying something)
- has had surgery to correct the medical issue and is noticeably feeling better

If you look closely in this picture, you can see that his tummy now tucks up the way it is supposed to, instead of being level with his ribcage:


He is, totally and completely, mommy's boy!

LOTS of pictures!

Now that you have a general idea of what the area surrounding my house looks like, come along and spend an afternoon walking around!

This is the front of our house:

Here is our custom-built (by Hubby), extra-large, stainless steel mailbox:


With the tulips I planted last fall:


Look down the road to the right:

And down the road to the left:


There are lots of cool things about living out where we are, such as . . .

. . . we have a tractor


We can burn stuff, and nobody cares. This used to be a pile of tree limbs from the yard:


And this will eventually be gotten rid of the same way:


Forget bags, we buy mulch by the truckload - mulching is my job!


AND we have a wood-burning boiler that heats the house and the hot water. This past winter, it saved us over $1,000 because we didn't have to buy propane - just chop wood!

Hubby built it himself - please note & appreciate how it matches the garage.

Something else I like about our home is that there are plenty of places for plants!

These plants were already there when we moved in . . .

My favorite shrub - gets beautiful pink flowers in the summer:

I love this lilac shrub - we had to seriously prune it (with a chainsaw) as it was terribly overgrown and blocking our view of the road, but it's come back beautifully:
See?


And this - this is the bane of my existence. It gets lovely white flowers in the summer, but it hasn't been pruned since who-knows-when, and the branches grow together in a huge twisty mess. I've tried three times to prune it with no luck - once I cut the branches, I can't remove them from the jumble - so we're going to have to chainsaw it, as well.

Here is something funny - these bricks were here when we moved in, I have no idea why, but Pepper has decided there is something living in this tree, so he spends an ample amount of time digging for it. He's now gotten it dug out enough that he can fit his whole body in the trunk, so I have dubbed it "Pepper's Secret Lair":


I have no clue what this shrub is, but it gets marvelous red flowers in the spring:


And finally, my favorite flower - the resurrection lily. It looks like this now:

but in awhile the leaves will die off and there will be nothing. Then, toward the end of the season, the flowers will show up:

They're also called "magic lilies" or "naked ladies."

As much as I love the plants that were here before us, I'm also quite proud of the ones I've added.

This is the first planting I did - it involved digging up a bazillion yucca plants and replacing them with Asiatic lilies surrounded by daylilies:


Here's another - hyacinths, tulips, and something else I've forgotten, surrounding St. Francis (who looks out for our weenie dogs!):


This is a trellis I built from tree limbs, to set off another area that I'd worked in - the plants were already there but they needed to be thinned out.

This year, I planted a climbing jasmine for the trellis.


I know it looks kind of sad, but if you look closely, you'll see there's new growth at the bottom - yay!


I have two more jasmine plants waiting to go up on these beautiful trellises that Hubby built for my birthday:


Notice the wonderfully beveled edges? Hubby does not mess around!


Here are some seeds I've started in pots - flower mixes for cutting:

and lettuce:


Speaking of growing things you can eat, here are some photos from my garden.

Hubby built the raised bed for me last year:


And in it, I attempt to grow such things as . . .

parsley,


oregano,


carrots (for the first time),


basil,


strawberries, which not only came back from last year (which they're supposed to do but I always worry),


but they've already got flowers!


This year, I tried my hand at potatoes:


Silly me, I didn't notice they'd sprouted until I looked at them next to a strawberry plant and realized it wasn't just an offshoot. See the difference?


However, something that also comes with living in the country is this:


Someone's been in my garden!!!

I wonder who it could be . . . oh, here's a clue:


Yup - Bambi and Thumper. Bambi has also been responsible for tipping my birdfeeder to spill out all the seed.


So I had to add some things to the garden:


Marigolds are supposed to be a natural deterrent, and they're pretty!


And to wrap up the garden tour, here's the view behind the garden on a cloudy day:


What else should we do this afternoon? Oh right - play with weenie dogs!

First, Hubby takes Pepper on a ride. Pepper LOVES rides - car, truck, motorcycle, 4-wheeler:


Oscar does not like the 4-wheeler - it's too noisy for him. But when it is turned off, he gets jealous if he doesn't get to sit on it with Dad:


After the ride, it's time to play fetch.

I've never seen a little dog move so fast - as soon as Pepper drops the toy, he's off and running:


He's just a little fuzzy blur:


He only stops to get a grip on the toy:


Or - on very rare occasions - to catch his breath:


Oscar, on the other hand, believes in the slow-and-steady method of fetch:


But occasionally, he will get mad:


This is Oscar being mad:


Can you see what he's mad at? Look closely in the upper right corner:


But once I shake the toy out of the tree, he's content. So content that he leaves the toy for something better - a stick!


Meanwhile, Pepper has discovered one of the many mole-holes in our yard, and is convinced that he is going to evict the occupant:


Yep, if he keeps digging, surely he'll get that mole . . .


He didn't have any luck, but we did end up with a Pepper-sized trench in the yard:


Oh well.

That wraps up this afternoon - after all this fun, it's time for some serious weenie-dog snoozing. Thanks so much for coming to visit!