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8.28.2008

I have a clean house!

So, I broke down and did the mounds of laundry that threatened to take over my hallway. It's funny, the only time I think I have almost too many clothes, is when I'm putting them away. I don't mind the putting away part, it's the trying to sort them all and fit them in the drawers I mind. MCM says he's not a 'clothes-in-the-drawers' type of guy, meaning he'd rather step on them than stuff them in a drawer. But when it's hard to determine what's dirty and what's clean (I refuse to perform the sniff test) I just gather them all up in one BIG pile and wash them all. Yeah, it's extra work, but it's only me and him, so a few extra shirts don't make a difference. All of that said, I washed, folded and put away clothes. I even put clean sheets on the bed! I've done a load of dishes. I had someone come fix my hotwater heater, and they're working on getting my bathroom light fixed. I feel all productive and homemaker-y {{big grin}}

I took some boxes out to the car, and a fly got in! It's driving me nuts! Buzzing and swooping and all. Anyone got a fly swatter to share? Hopefully it will die soon. The last fly lasted 2 days. The one before it, like at least a month! I don't think I could stand it.

I'm off to work for a few hours.

8.26.2008

My Hero

My husband wants me to blog. He practically begged me to blog...so, what to tell you about? I could tell you about the two awesome IVs I started today, but you'd only appreciated that if you've ever tried to start one. I could tell you about the spoiled kid in the hospital who rings his call bell ALL. DAY. LONG. but it means nothing unless you have nightmares about call bells. I know!

MCM and I went shopping the other day, Friday I think. We went to Bed, Bath & Beyond. I like that store. We looked at the fine china (I only got one setting, so it's worthless unless we can both eat at the same time), but we had problems. The one they have record of me registering for has blue on it, and I'm pretty sure my one setting has no blue on it. I was going to check when we got home, *someone* forgot to remind me.

But we did manage to buy a new toaster! It's a great toaster! Nothing at all like the piece of poo we have now. The heating elements/timings are all messed up, so unless it's on the lowest setting, it completely chars the item being toasted. AND this new one is made espeically for bagels! The inner coils get hot, while the outer ones don't. AND this new one has wide slots! Now, my chunky bagels don't get stuck, and I won't get electricuted trying to eat breakfast!

We also bought a small fan. Guess who's part polar bear and thinks if it's not 20 degrees outside, it's hot?? Don't look at me, it's not me. Yeah. *looks at him* The best part about this fan, is that it's silent. Not just quiet, I can't sleep with quiet; it has to be pretty silent, otherwise it keeps me up. I'm serious! Little noises keep me awake. Like, hearing my own breathing bugs me. I've gotten somewhat used to MCM's breathing, if we're not facing each other.

One year for my birthday/Christmas, I asked for an alarm clock. That's all I wanted, an alarm clock. My mom's stepdad got me one. A little background on this guy. He had this shelf, called "The Tacky Shelf." All things, every things. So he bought me an alarm clock. Not just a simple digital alarm clock. It was a face and arms, with real bells and a wind-up-thingy. And it ticked. IT TICKED LOUDLY! I struggled with it for about 4 months. I tried everything, even hiding it under a pillow, but I still heard it! Then we went on vacation. I left it home. I could just imagine the baggage people (we took a boat to Carriacou from Grenada) going berzerkers over hearing a loud ticking! Anyways, after being not wound for a week, and my sleep being silent, I did my best to 'loose' it. Actually, I think I still that little bugger somewhere...

Two years later, I put an alarm clock back on my birthday/Christmas list. I got the on I still use today. Silent, digital, electric, battery back up, with a snooze :)

It's barely 9pm, and MCM's already knocked out on the couch. I can't blame him though. Sunday after work, I was just as pooped (it was my working weekend).

I like Pirates of the Caribbean. There's so many funny ironic lines. *laughing at the movie* Jack Sparrow cracks me up, "You smell funny." "Why is the rum gone...but why is the run gone?" "Elizabeth, I would never have worked out between us. I'm sorry, darling."

Anyways, I have a blasted staff meeting to go to. It's the time that makes it so...annoying. 730 am, or 730pm. And it's always on a Wednesday. Stinks for me cause of church, so I have to go the super-crack of dawn meeting. I mean, yeah, by 730am, I'm usually in the middle of muck on the floor, but not by personal choice, y'know? Anyways, I'll be bringing myself some breakfast, I'm thinking a chicken biscuit from Chik-fil-A. Want some?

Oh, I have you to tell you, MCM was a hero today again! He found a roach on the bathroom floor, almost dead, but still moving his legs. But still, he saved me, and destroyed the roach!

8.16.2008

How Many Uses Is 'Multipurpose'?

I think I'm entitled to disliking certain insects. I am fearful of spiders, like can't function around them. One time though, I did put that fear aside and assisted my group of girls at a summer camp win a scavenger hunt by being the one who held a daddy-long-leg by a leg for what seemed like forever.

I hate roaches, like thought Wall-E would have been so much better if his buggy friend had been non-roach. I've met many since we've moved in to this apartment. We had zero in the other place, now it seems as if the previous owners didn't clean or what, and the roaches moved in when it was vacant. First, it started with just the little ones. I smashed those with a vengeance, gleeful to give them payment for living in my space.

Then, the Big Ones showed up. These are the ones that are the size of your whole big toe! The first one I saw was at like 550 when I was up for work. Mark was still asleep so I couldn't call for him. I had an epiphany. I used my 'multipurpose cleaner'. It says multipurpose, so multipurpose is multipurpose. It kills germs as well as roaches. I chased that bugger through my small dinning room and gassed the area between the wall and the heater unit with fumes of bleach. I found it dead when I got home, it and a few little ones.

Today was the Worst Day Ever. First, at breakfast, I had my feet under the table. I felt something like a plastic wrapper, like off the top of a syrup bottle or something. My thought was, Oh, I'll pick it up with my toes. Right after that was, Let's look at to make sure it's not a roach...

I am so glad I did. So very glad. I looked under the table...IT WAS A ROACH! I had just thought about picking up a roach with my toes. I had played with a roach with my toes. I was disgusting! And to make matters worse, my game of footsie with it had ripped off its wings or something. Talk about nasty. Lest, I accidentally nudge it, I kept my feet on my chair for the rest of breakfast, since no one would pick it up for me. Bethany finally did, but she found that part of it had stuck to the floor. What the-?! I know I didn't toe it *that* hard.

They made a second appearance. I was trying to be a good wifey and clean up the mess MCM and I had made while we were making dinner. I made biscuits, he made chicken alfredo (I promise, he did!). I started rinsing out dishes, loaded the dishwasher, and reached out to pick cups off the counter. I screamed. Loudly, like, I had never done before. This One had invaded my counter space! I was mad, I was scared, I was also bawling. That's how MCM found me when he rode in on his white horse to save me, wearing the amazing Dr. Pepper pants I bought him. How could those bugs think that these counters are for them to roam around on? How could they think that they deserve free reign in my kitchen?! I despise them! Even as MCM's arms were around me comforting me in my distress-ness, my thoughts were 'what do I have to kill it with?' Then I remembered my 'multipurpose cleaner'. He discovered the nastiness had moved, further defiling my countertops. Moving appliances, cups, empty bottles, he cornered it, showered it with bleach and poison, forcing it into the sink and trapping it in the drain part where he drenched it in 'multipurpose cleaner'. MCM's my hero. What would I do without him? I'd probably move out, inspite of year lease we just signed.

After the trauma wore off, I had a mission. I scrubbed the defiled countertop with my 'multipurpose cleaner' just to spite that thing. I hadn't really been doing a good job keeping the kitchen clean anyways, so it's probably my fault anyways, that the roaches have flurrished :( But MCM and I decided to do better. We're going to rinse dishes off, keep crumbs down, and get the maintainance men to come spray the whole kitchen!

On a lighter, happier note, I went to Busch Gardens today. It was pretty cool. I'm a chicken with heights, so you can imagine me on rollercoasters. I was freaking out the whole time. But I will admit, it was fun! Until the last one that shook my head and gave me the start of a migraine :( It was worth the fun that MCM, Thing One, Thing Two, and I had together. Blondie is on her way down here, even as I type this. She should be here soon :) We're planning on going to Virginia Beach on Monday. It's gonna be fun!

8.12.2008

Wordles



Here's a wordle from my most recent blogs. Notice the biggest words? "Get Patients"

8.11.2008

Whaddaya think?








I signed up at etsy, but I haven't posted any items yet. Working on it, though. I'll have these two up tonight.

Mondays...not my fave

At the hospital, there are busy times and there are slow times. On Monday, it's all busy times. Here's what a "normal" time line would be...

(I say "normal" because NOTHING ever goes as planned out, especially when it's in regards to health care)

0635-0645: Arrive at hospital, stop at locker and load up pockets and drop lunch off in fridge

0645-0715: Get report, check charts, attempt to wake up so I appear awake when I wake up patients

0645-0715: Organize all my papers, answer the phone, look up lab results, find out who gets what meds when

0715-0750: Meet and greet my patients, wake them up, apologize for waking their delightful sleep on their comfy hospital beds (yeah, right! (about the comfy part)), do my morning assessment (breakfast usually arrives between 0730 and 815ish),

0750-0830: Pass meds and help sit up/get out of bed for breakfast, eat my own breakfast

0830-0930: Set up for baths and chart my morning assessment and anything else I can, talk to the daughter who always call about Mama

0930-1100: "Stuff" like calling docs, implementing orders, perhaps discharging people, maybe getting report on a patient being transferred to me, passing noon meds, sending people off to tests/procedures

1100-1330: Various jobs like answering call bells, potty breaks (for me), potty breaks (for the patients), perhaps getting report a new patient being admitted, maybe discharging someone, fetching water, snacks, bedpans, dressing changes if needed, answering phone calls, calling docs, implementing orders...doing stuff that needs to be done before I go to lunch, dodge all the extra 15 bodies around the nurses station, look for lost charts, talk to the daughter called about Mama, even though she called this morning, set up people for lunch, get some out of bed for lunch

1330-1430: Take half an hour to for lunch, and cover for the other nurse to eat, answer call bells, think about threatening to take call bell buttons away, pass afternoon meds, potty breaks (for patients), wonder where that new patient is that I got report on at 10, getting patients back from tests and procedures, dodge all the extra 20 bodies around the nurses station, talking to family members who insist that auntie didn't get bathed all day, when I personally bathed her this morning, but she's confused so she doesn't know what she's saying, reassure the family that's upset because granny is restrained and explain that she was pulling at her Central Lne (and if she pulls it out, she could bleed to death before someone stopped her), explain to "loony tunes" that he can't get out of bed because he'll fall cause he has no legs from the thigh down.

1430-1630: Enjoy the solitude of not having more than 4 extra people in the nurses sation, discharge someone else, finally get that admit from the ER, then realize that half the stuff they said they did (labs, etc.) wasn't done, pass late afternoon meds, draw some labs, restart some IV's, send for more tests, get more ice water and snacks, attempt to make some patients realize that they don't have to press the call bell every 5 minutes, I will not for that they're here

1630-1730: Finish up charting, check labs I drew, call doctors, find out who's coming in tonight, set up patients dinner, get some out of bed for dinner

1730-1830: Pass evening meds, tell the patients that between 6:45 and 7:15 I will be giving report and to try to keep off the call bell until we're done, get charts ready, fill out report papers, empty out pockets of extra trash I carry for no reason...

1830-1845: Anxiously await the next shift's arrival, try to keep busy so I don't check my watch every 2 minutes

1845-1915: Give report, and leave the hospital



Wow, that makes me tired already....for a Monday....take all that goes on, divide it into maybe three groups: start of shift to middle of shift, middle of shift to late afternoon, afternoon 'til end of shift, AND mix them up, like a deck of cards in the hands of a toddler. In each group these things are continuously going on:
  1. patients leaving for and coming back from tests
  2. paging doctors again, and again, and again
  3. avoiding the extra 7-20 people at the nurse's station
  4. discharge and admit patients
  5. get orders off charts and do them
  6. restrain myself from hiding call bells from select patients
  7. convincing patients who are confused to stay in bed
  8. potty breaks for every patient every half hour (because they're convinced they *might* have to go poo)
  9. givng pain medication, telling every one how long they have to wait before they can get more Dilaudid/Morphine/Vicodin/Percocet
  10. talking to patients and family members, explaining that the doctors have no schedule, have to see about 20-30 other patients today, and will be in before tonight
There's no promise about breakfast for me, and lunch will be when I can breathe, be it 1200 or 4pm. I run to pee when it threatens to soak my scrubs....

That about sums it up for a Monday. There's just no way to take a picture of, it'd have to be one of those time lapsed photos, then compare it with a "normal" Sunday. Nothing happens on Sunday, except for two weekends ago, when everything happened. I guess it keeps it interesting. I mean, that's why I picked hospital nursing versus a doctor's office or something, the variety. How boring would it be if you could predict what would happen. I mean, it'd make it easier, I guess, knowing that there'd be nothing to make your lunch happen after 4pm...

About half of our full time staff is leaving in the near future (one person has already left), two nurses are preggo, so they'll be out, soon, as well. One doctor was commenting on the fact the Diane left two weeks ago, and asked Laura when she's leaving (December), looked at me, and said "When are you gone?" I was like "Yeah right, I'm stuck." Not literally stuck, but I'll probably be here at least 2 years or so. I mean, I wouldn't know where to go!

8.08.2008

What if?

I have a thought, and I'd appreciate your thoughts about my thought. Here goes.

I LOVE scrapbooking/stamping/card making, etc. I mean, I love it, I love it, I love it. "You hate it compared to how much I love it!" (sorry, I like quoting movies, too). But the problems is, I don't give out enough stuff to make it as much as I want too. Most of it just sits around until I remember that I forgot it. So my thought.

Do you think it'd be...realistic to make them to sell here or on Ebay? Who doesn't like to give hand-made (nicely hand made) presents? Not something that looks like a 4 year old cut it out and poured some elmer's on it. I think they're pretty nice.

Say I made about 10 cards in a box or something, anything from occasions to just because, and all in between. I've made a few, just a trial, and I was going to put pictures up, to show you. However, the sprites in my house have struck, again, and wisked off my memory card reader.

Questions for you to think about:

1. Would you (theoretically) buy the cards to give?

2. How much would you pay for a set of 10?

3. Am I totally nuts and should just give up before I start?

I'm off to pizza at MCM's boss's house, so I won't be checking every 2 mins for comments...

8.07.2008

If I had the Money...

Remember my post about Nurse's Week or whatever? Well, the hospital, in appreciation of our tremendous work load, gave us a gift certificate to a thingy. It's called Institute of Health and Healing. Don't go charismatic on me, not THAT kind of healing. They offer things likes massages, facials, and the such. I finally made an appointment, like 3 months after getting it. I went yesterday. Oh. My. Word. If I had the money and time, I'd go like...as often as I could. She started with my face...my poor nose....it doesn't like to be touched. After feeling like my face was being stretched off, she moved on to my scalp. The funny thing is, I actually did my hair yesterday. It didn't make a difference. Good thing I had a hair tie with me, huh? After feeling like my various muscles and joints had been used more than ever, she did my feet. Boy, was she in for a shock. My toes are always ice cold...ask MCM...her expression was "I think they're frostbitten!" So she put some warm moist towels on them. The warm part helped, the moist part didn't. She gave me good advice though. "Don't go skiing. You'll definitely get frostbite, then!"

MCM and I decided something last night. Well, we decided a few things, but you don't need to know *ALL* the decisions...I'm going to hire a maid. Just to do the dishes and the laundry. I can keep up with everything else. Maybe the bathroom cleaning too, and the sweeping. Oh, and the cooking, and might as well the grocery shopping. Yeah, I'll do the...uh...I'll make the bed, and, uh...the blogging definitely. If I had the money, I'd do that.

Speaking of grocery shopping, it's that time again. I went to make dinner, tuna melts, last night. I opened and drained the tuna, put it in a bowl, went to get the mayo and the cheese...the following went something like this:

me: "Did you use the last of mayo the other day?"

him: "Yeah, I did."

me: "Next time could you let me know? Thanks"

him: "Can't me make it without mayo?"

me: "No. We don't have any cheese, either"

him: "Let's just have something else?"

me: "uh..."

him: "you already opened it, didn't you?"

me: "yeah."

Then I proceded to get frustrated with the mess of tupperware to put the tuna in. I couldn't find the right top in the mess....then he pulls it out of the other cabinet...because he put it there...but I won't rag on him, he unloaded the dishwasher for me...*waggles eyebrows*

I'm headed to the store. Why do we have to spend money to live?

8.06.2008

Wordless Wednesday

Any got any tips for petunias?

8.04.2008

TAG!

I usually don't blog between work days cause I'm pooped, but I'm balking at showering and I like spending time with Mark. Even if we both have laptops on our laps, sitting on different pieces of furniture, watching a movie. We're geeks, what can I say? My sil, tata tagged me. She left me the comment, "I tagged you, go see my blog." I was so confused, so horribly confused. But I'm with it now O_o

This is my first meme! Aren't you so proud of me?! *ahem*

I'm supposed to list five things that...hang on *check's tata's blog* most people don't know and tag five people. I think I only have like 5 friends with blogs...here goes...

1. I lost a ton of weight in college, not because I was trying, but because I was too picky with my food.
2. I'm good at figuring puzzles/directions out.
3. My shoe size used to be 8 1/2. Now it's a 7.
4. I could be very neat and tidy, but I'm too lazy to start sorting out the mess.

I guess I'm too open, I can't think of a number five. At least, a number five that I want the world knowing about. There's plenty of things that most people don't know, but I'm not that friendly

5. I can't play video games worth squat, seriously.

There.

I tag:

Shannon

Karen

Melinda

I told you I don't have 5 friends that have blogs that haven't already been tagged or what!!

Mary

I don't *know* this person personally, but I've been stalking her blog for a while

Carrie

There...I managed 5 people. Now I have to go tell them the horrible deed I've done.

8.02.2008

Mornings and Cooties

Did you know how much I despise mornings and waking up? Like, always. When I was little my brothers and sisters would take great delight in getting up super early, like 5ish to play games and stuff. I was the one who liked to say in bed. I remember this one time, we, as a family, had played Monopoly one evening. About 11 or so, we called it quits. Dad would make unseemly deals with those who were going bankrupt and the game would just go on and on. My little brother, Marine, had so much fun, that he woke up super early the next morning, like 5 or so and was like, KL, let's go play Monopoly again. I was having none of that, so he got Blondie to play with him...get this, they were like 9 and 6 or something, could barely read, and had no clue what to do. They played for hours though. Thing 1 and Thing 2 liked getting up early too. They usually kept each other entertained in their room. Their favourite things to play with were 1) beanie babies, or 2) plastic bottles. Yeah, like shampoo, sprays, empties, fulls, anything plastic. Thing 2 especially liked this game. She'd group them up in families in the bathroom and play house, make them talk, walk and such. We'd frequently have to raid her room before we'd shower or bathe.

So back to early mornings...I like sleeping. MCM is a morning person. Saturdays are a conflict of interests. This morning, about 6ish, while I was still reveling in the sleep, He was awake...paying more attention to me than I wanted. I tried everything, fake sleeping, moving away, huffing, grumbling, and bartering. He was persistent. I finally got him to let me sleep until 7:15. AFTER all this he decided to go downstairs so he wouldn't wake me up. AFTER I was already up. AFTER I couldn't go back to sleep again. AFTER I started getting hungry for breakfast. Wasn't that considerate of him? I love him, so it's all good. That really only happens on Saturdays. Weird, I know. Sundays he sleeps later, at least 630 or 7.

I went to a friend's baby shower today. Here's some pics. She's about 35 weeks, having a little girl. Can you imagine all the pink?

It's kinda funny. When I was in high school, all my friends were getting boyfriends/girlfriends and going out. When I was in college, all my friends were getting engaged and married. Now that I'm *whispers* an adult (SHH!!) */whisper*, everyone's having babies and such. There's Rebecca, Devon, Susan, (someone else), a doc at work, a nurse at work, a physical therapist at work, a pharmacist at work, a dietician at work, two more nurses at work...I think it's contaigious, so I'm going to just wear a HazMat suit to work from now on. That'll protect me from baby cooties, and bodily fluids too!

Speaking of babies, Noah, who I mentioned a little while ago, is doing pretty good. I forget what I had mentioned, but here's the scoop. Before he was born, the docs were concerned about his kidneys not working right. After he was born, he was peeing pretty good, but they ultrasounded his kidneys and found out that one of them was pretty much just a mass of cells, not a kidney, and the other was trying to overcompensate for it. They took him to surgery a few days ago to remove the mass (it was 10 cm!). The biopsy came back benign, but it's a type of fast growing benign tumor, so they'll have to keep him under watch. During surgery, they found out that his diaphragm (the muscle under your lungs that helps you breathe), wasn't entirely intact. They fixed it, attaching to the back of his abdominal cavity. Currently, he kidney is working well, with no reflux (backwards flow), and he's eating well now that he's got some extra room in that tummy. I think he even got to go home today! Here's some pics from my cell phone that I took a the day after he was born.