Bigger or Better: Life outside of Texas

I got a back brace from my parents for Christmas. Technically speaking, I got it the day after Christmas, because I worked Christmas Day (see photographic evidence below). I put a poinsettia tree ornament in my hair, 'cuz it's important to look festive So Mark and I opened presents on Boxing Day, with no major surprises, because my family believes in following Wish Lists. Thus, I had requested said back brace, which I'm excited to use at work, because I want every benefit a supported and correctly-postured back can bring to someone who is still working through some pain from a lumbar discectomy. However, on opening the package, I discovered that getting the back brace on was not exactly intuitive, and the instructions would probably be more helpful if they were in a different language. Although maybe Google Translate is how the current instruction manual exists, in which case we would be entirely dependent on trial & error. Mark trying to figure it out Her

Sometimes I forget that blogging makes me happy. It helps me stay connected to my family. Yes, blogger.com is a third-party provider of family togetherness. It's even better than Facebook, because no one (to date) has countered an opinion against any of my blog posts. Today's blog post title is taken from a pin I gave myself from my boss's office after I stopped the water machine from forming a lake in the Patient/Family Lounge. The episode was quite exciting; gallons of water cascaded off of the counter from underneath the ice/water machine and soaked the drawers, the floor, and a bunch of towels we threw down. Unfortunately, unplugging the machine didn't stop the flow, but a custodian lady and I successfully removed a wooden panel covering the pipe works, and I pulled the lever to turn off the water. Nobody was offering me a gold star, so I picked out afore-mentioned pin from a tray of nursing trinket things our unit director had. I thought it applied, since nobody