Trick or Treat

Sunday, October 31, 2010

Boo!

Yumm!

We only had EIGHT trick-or-treaters tonight.  Slow night this year.

Best laugh of the night--one of the little guys that came was dressed with a palette and a paintbrush, so I said to him, “Oh, so you’re a painter!”  He responded, quickly, “No, I’m an ARTIST!”  Then after Kimm gave him his Tootsie Pop and a bunch of Pixie Stix, he stands there, just staring at the lollipop.  Finally Kimm says, “Do you like cherry?” (all ready to exchange him for a different flavor), when he blurts out, “I’m allergic to this!” (turns out he’s allergic to milk which I assume is in the tootsie roll part).  So we gave him a bunch more Pixie Stix and he says, “These are PURE SUGAR…sticks of PURE SUGAR,” and then laughs continuously.  At that point we were bending over with laughter.  And the kid wouldn’t leave…finally I said to him, “Happy Halloween…have fun getting more candy…bye,” and FINALLY he left.  We found out from our neighbor that he has autism.  But he sure gave us our laughs for the night 🙂

Now I’m getting ready to go to work.  Hopefully it won’t be too crazy there considering it’s Halloween!

Vacuuming the Yard!

Saturday, October 30, 2010

I have a new favorite electric yard tool!!

First of all, let me say, my back, legs, and hands are KILLING me right now.  I’m very achy.  But I would be much more sore without the use of my new favorite electric yard tool 🙂

To cut the suspense, I will tell you that I was able to use a lawn leaf vacuum and mulcher (our neighbor’s–but we ARE going to purchase one at some point).

Raking the outside portion of lawn was no problem.  I like raking.  It’s very therapeutic!  I made about 50 piles.  That’s when things started getting not so fun.  The bending up and down to put leaves in the bag was the horrible part.  I was so sweaty and sore and irritated.  That’s when our neighbor came over with his nifty tool and offered to let me use it.  And it was love at first flip of the switch 🙂

It took about half the time of doing it manually AND it mulched the leaves so that more leaves fit in the bags.

It’s the little things that make me happy 🙂

And this gadget is not too expensive…about $80 only.  For our house, which has TONS of leaves from our oak tree, this would be a VERY GOOD investment.

I can’t wait to vacuum the lawn tomorrow!!

On another note, I made an AWESOME meal…homemade burritos like we used to get at On the Border–brown rice seasoned with butter and salt, black beans seasoned with lime juice, salt and cumin, roasted potatoes seasoned with taco seasoning, fried onions and green peppers, and Mexican cheese…all wrapped in a flour tortilla and baked in the oven….SO FREAKIN’ GOOD!!!!  And we have lots of leftovers.  Leftovers yummy 🙂

Adios amigos…time for some ice cream and Tylenol.

Wins vs. Fails

Friday, October 29, 2010

Ahhh…my first night off after working four 🙂

Of course I’ve been so tired that I haven’t done much.  I had good intentions though…I had gotten up early in order to start raking…but it was TOO WINDY.  Fail.

I did make an awesome dinner–Shepard’s Pie.  Seriously one of the best vegetarian meals I make (two Griller’s original Morningstar Farm veggie burgers on the George Forman, chopped up and added to cooked onions, then topped with corn and homemade mashed potatoes…yumm!!!).  Major win.

We bought Izzy a cage the other day because she’s been peeing again in the basement when we go out for longer periods of time as well as digging through our recyclables and my nursing bag.  But of course she doesn’t like it.  I don’t think she’s ever been in a cage.  We were hoping she would instantly like it, but no such luck.  But today I gave her one of her favorite treats, a peanut butter rawhide, for her to eat and she ate it IN THE CAGE.  At first she wasn’t too happy, but then she ate it and stayed in there with me staying next to her outside.  I’m calling that a win.

Kimm watched a game tonight and I was going to call my parents.  But I got too tired and took a nap instead.  Fail on my end.

Awake again and we’re going to watch a movie and have some popcorn.  Win, win!!

Hopefully after a good night’s sleep, tomorrow will be a winner 🙂

 

Leaves

Thursday, October 28, 2010

After a day of rain yesterday and lots of wind, a good amount of leaves have fallen in our yard.  Just in time for my days off to start raking.

Not much going on.  Still in ICU training.  One more night this week and then four nights next week and then I’m off orientation.  That sure went fast.

Haven’t seen any REALLY critical patients (except for that one man who was on all the vasopressor drips).  I guess it will be all about learning on the job, just like when I was training for IMC.  But I have to say I feel much more confident now than when I did when I first started orienting.

Off to bed I go.

 

Topic: Weather

Wednesday, October 27, 2010

This is some mighty strange weather for October.

Temp this morning = 69 degrees

And it’s raining…hard!

And VERY humid.  Kind of makes me wish we hadn’t taken out the A.C. from the bedroom.  Tough weather to sleep in.

Just doesn’t feel like October.  But it sure has affected the leaves in our yard…the birch and magnolia tree leaves have turned yellow almost overnight.  The oak is dropping its leaves like crazy.  You know what that means…raking in the near future.

Just got back from a shift at the hospital.  I’m learning a lot.  I think I’m going to like this ICU business 🙂

So Strange…

Tuesday, October 26, 2010

It feels so strange to be sitting here…waiting to go into work.  I don’t know how I ever worked this shift!

Slept in until 5 pm.  Made dinner.  Ate dinner.  Went shopping (Pet Supplies Plus to get Izzy a crate, yep that’s right, and to Stop and Shop for a few things).  Then back and took a shower.  Now having a snack and then I’ll change and go to work.

See you all on the flip side 🙂

 

Quick Clean

Monday, October 25, 2010

Kimm and I are trying something new with the cleaning.  We are deciding to do a “quick clean” once a week to keep up on everything.  This is instead of just saying, “oh, I should really clean the toilets (or vacuum, or dust, etc.).”  We actually schedule this on the calendar.

So far it is working GREAT.  We both do different things, but because we are working together, it goes by fast.  And because we are doing it weekly, the house doesn’t get too “dirty.”

Plus it’s a good workout…we were both SWEATY when we were done 🙂

Had a good lunch…LT’s (lettuce & tomato) sandwiches.  Yumm.  With a nice crisp Honeycrisp apple on the side.

And then, get this…I was called to come in to work extra (7p-7a) and I said “yes.”  WHO AM I??? I never go in extra!  I think I said yes because I’m already working 40 hours this week.  So these four extra hours will be OT.  Not to mention, they were offering a bonus.  It’s not like I would be missing too much at home either…Kimm has a game she’s watching tonight.

So the extra money will be nice and I don’t think it will negatively impact my work week.  I just hope it’s not crazy busy and I regret it.  They actually said they were taking me off ICU training tonight probably because they need the help on ICU.  So we’ll see…when I called in, they said I could possibly be back in ICU for training depending on the census.  So things are up in the air I guess.

Off to take a warm shower…can’t wait!

Back to Nights

Sunday, October 24, 2010

I’m back!

To nights that is.

I like it so much better 🙂

Just a more relaxed vibe…more time to think…not so many people (i.e., DOCTORS!) wanting to do stuff all the time!

I have a feeling that I will be okay in ICU.  Not to say that I don’t have A LOT to learn (because I do!) but I think I’m going to be just fine.

Today I slept until I had a stuffy nose then got up.  Lots of relaxing, finally.  Going to watch a movie and have some popcorn tonight.

Tomorrow maybe some yard work??  We shall see.  Still have to take out the garden!

I just get distracted on the darn computer 🙂

 

Waiting…

Saturday, October 23, 2010

There’s just something WRONG about having to go into work at 11 pm on a Saturday night!

Right now it is 8 pm and I’m waiting to get into the shower at 9 pm.

I’m not really sure what to do.  I hate the feeling of having only “so much time” before having to leave.  I’m just not used to this schedule.

I think what I’ll do is organize until shower time, then shower, then read before going in.

I’m sure I’ll be a bit tired at work since I only got in about an hour nap today, but at least I’m only on for one day.

I’ll have more of a schedule down once I work more than one 11-7  in a row.

But for now…on to organizing (can you tell I’m not really interested in that!).

ACLS Certified!

Friday, October 22, 2010

I passed ACLS (Advanced Cardiovascular Life Support).

It was easier than I thought it would be 🙂

Now I am certified for two years and I can relax since that is out of the way.

Celebrated with Chinese food and going to have some ice cream tonight!!

Onward and upward…starting night training tomorrow night.