The Other Side

If you read our profile you'll see that we own a small business of screen-printed children's tees and that we have day jobs. But what we haven't really discussed is Tom's day job. He assists in surgery at a local hospital. We feel lucky that he has the job and was able to cut his hours back to part-time because the business continually grows. This sounds nice, expect that his job isn't a normal job. When I say part-time I mean 20 hours a week (7:00am-5:30pm two days a week) but then there is the call. He must be on call at least once a week (7:00pm-7:00am) and then take call for a weekend (Friday 7:00pm-Monday 7:00am) about once a month (it used to be worse- every other week- when they were short staffed on and off for a year). When he is on call he must be at the hospital within 25 minutes. The call is the stressful part because he (we) have no idea of how our night or weekend will end up. Sometimes it is very quiet, but other times, more often than not, it can be crazy.
Take this weekend for example:

Friday: Hospital 7am-5:30pm
Saturday: Farmers Market 7am-2pm
Hospital 3pm-10pm (Appendectomy and ORIF Mid Shaft Humeral And Radial Fractures)
Sunday: Hospital 12am-6am (Multiple Stab Wounds To The Chest)
Hospital 9am-2pm (Laproscopic Cholecystectomy And An Appendectomy)
Hospital 5:45pm-? (Appendectomy)

So, it's Sunday night and almost 10pm and I haven't heard anything yet. I don't know when he'll be home, I just know that it ends at 7am tomorrow morning. Luckily, he doesn't have to go back in to hospital to work a normal shift until Wed (which is a new policy that changed recently). But we have a bunch of work for the business that needs to finished by the end of the week.
You might be wondering why he(we) keep(s) doing this. It's for the health insurance. If we were to buy our current health insurance out of pocket through our business it would cost us $12,000 a year for our family of four. We're just not there yet. We feel so fortunate that we have the insurance and it's the best out there. We are very liberal in our thinking and believe that all should have excellent health care provided by the government. But until then, we will keep working to move forward so we don't have to live on this crazy schedule just to stay healthy and not go bankrupt because of medical bills.

Update:
Well, Tom came home that night at 11:30pm, went to bed at 12:00am. Then was called in again at 3:00am (Ventoral Hernia with Incarcerated Bowel) and came home at 8:00am Monday morning. Crazy!

Dinky Part 2

Here is the latest to Dinky Dinky Dink Dink.

Take'm Outside

Did you know that it is
International Take A Child Outside Week
(September 24- September 30 2007)?


Taking a child outside promotes concentration and relaxation, connects them to their natural environment, and reduces their chances of obesity.
Go for a walk. Have them look up into the sky and ask them, "What do they see?".
Have them pick up a stick or pick up a handful of leaves.
Let them get dirty.
The dirt will wash away but their memories of being outside will always stay with them.
Not to mention, it is good for us parents too.

Lately, we've been reading the original Thomas the Tank Engine stories and we've come across warning signs in some of them. I'm not sure what chord this has struck with him, but the monkey is very interested in them. Maybe I'm just mean but for me the greatest pleasure surrounding the sign here is that he thinks it says "Danger Keep Away". Kinda the same. Tom

5 T-shirts to 5 Lucky Customers

Remember...
We are having our first giveaway tomorrow at 8:00pm PST.
Just login or make a purchase and you're entered.
Winners will be notified by email.
Good Luck!


Saturday September 15, 2007 8:25pm PST
And The Winners Are:

Karen Taylor, Florida
Erica Tomlinson, California
Danielle Moore, Georgia
Gwen Roedel, California
Pamela Gallego, California

Thanks to everyone who entered and visited our site. Stay in touch we will be having another giveaway soon.
Cheers!

Mon Mode

The Bubby has an Etsy shop. Check it out.

Cool Little Backpack and Deal

When we were in the bay area working recently, we went in to an Elephant Pharm to look around. We came across their display of SIGG water bottles and accessories. Along with them were these cool backpacks for kids. They are super sturdy, colorful, functional and come with a kids size SIGG bottle (blue with pirate frogs). Aren't the little feet at the bottom cute. The most useful feature is that the red flat in the front can pull open so you have direct access to the SIGG bottle. No need to open up the whole flat, just pull open on the little ear shapes and grab your water bottle from it's special home from the inside. The Monkey loves it and so do we. Oh, did we mention, Elephant Pharm is selling them for $25.00 and they are $45.00 on the SIGG website. What's up with that? Call Elephant Pharm and get one.

Words of Wisdom From The Bubby Part I

"All the cool things come from Sweden. I mean like, IKEA, H&M and ABBA."
Hmmm.

Doing Our Part...Because It's Important

For those who pay attention, the recent recall of toys and news regarding manufacturing practices in Asia are of no surprise. That so many goods are manufactured and even grown abroad really is a problem. Oversight becomes compromised and less than ethical decisions can have free reign. Trade deficits drive imbalances in economies from which few ultimately benefit.

The manufacturing base of the United States was once huge and powerful. Out sourcing has pared this to a shell of its former self. This is not unique to the United States either; other countries are experiencing similar changes. This is not a xenophobic assertion. There are organizations that do oversee ethical and fair business, manufacturing and farming practices. But when one creates or grows a product more “locally”, one can have more control over the result. One can take on a greater share of responsibility.

We are concerned about these issues. At nina and tom, we do everything we can to minimize our role in these issues. Increasingly and especially as we convert our entire line to organic, we are accomplishing this. Presently, with only a few exceptions, everything we produce, from the growing of the cotton to the sewing of the garment to the printing of our totally cute designs is done here, in the United States, in a fair and responsible way. We’re proud of this, because it’s important.

Dinky-Dinky-Dink-Dink

This has become The Monkey's new thing. He loves watching it and has gotten Tom to make him his very own. Only Tom's isn't quite elaborate (Oh, but he is working on it). We'll be posting a photo or video of it soon. I love the song that plays at about 4:50 minutes and because there is just something diverting about it.

Sometimes A Three Year Old Can Be So...

OK...That Was Lame but Lucky

So,
this morning I was at The Monkey's gymnastics class watching him bounce around with the other kids. As I walked to go to the other side of the trampoline, I felt my toe get caught on a mat and heard the sound of a stick snapping. I looked down and saw my left pinkie toe in a position I had never seen it in before, saying rather calmly, "Oh my gosh, I think I broke my toe." The other moms came over to look and were completely shocked. Some saying, "Oh, it looks like you just displaced it." (You think?) or "Wow, that looks broken." Amazingly, it didn't hurt then but now it does. I called Tom and he came right over. He looked at it and put it back to where it has always been. Many don't know this but Tom is a surgical tech at local hospital (two days a week, mostly so we can have health insurance during times like these) and has an amazing understanding of the anatomy. The three of us walked home and called one of the doctors he works with. I went in and had some x-rays taken and low and behold I broke my toe. What was so cool was that the doctor had said Tom had put my toe back perfectly, "I couldn't have done a better job. This is why he can't leave his job, he's too good." (well that's a whole different story for a different post). Tom was very pleased and flattered by what the doctor had said by saying, "Gosh Honey, you married a man who can sew, cook, pees sitting down and can align a fracture, perfectly. Aren't you lucky?"
Yes I am.