Girl Scout Dropout

Archive for January, 2009

Woo hoo! I won an award! ::happy dance:: Yes, I’m a little excited. I’ve never won anything before. The lovely Sheila gave me this award.

Along with this award comes great responsibilty. I can hand this out to other worthy people. Up to 10 to be exact. And, I guess we’re supposed to be kind of cautious on who we give it to…so the award stays special (that’s what Sheila said). I think its funny, most of the people I would give this to are also on Sheila’s list. Obviously, there will be duplicates:)

My list….in no particular order:

Sheila

Aravis

Amber

Dustin

Janelle

Amy

Sarah

Talina

Lori

Emerald

Wow, only being able to pick 10 was harder than I thought. I needed at least 1 more. But, I like my 10. So, there you go spread the joy:)

I had this lovely little conversation with Seth last night. It had Travis laughing for awhile, so I thought I’d share.

Seth: Mommy, when I’m older can I marry you? (yes, he’s at that age)

Me: Well, would you take care of me and give me all your money?

Seth: Yes. Where do people get married at?

Me: Usually in a church.

Seth: What’s a church?

–as you can tell, I’m really not much of an active particpant in religion.

Me: Its a place where poeple go to worship God and Jesus and listen to a minister.

Seth: Who the hell is Jesus? (those were his exact words)

Needless to say, I must rethink this whole religion idea and possibly get him involved in Sunday school. Oh, he knows “hell” is a naughty word, he was being in full punk mode last night.

Its said that nursery rhyme is based off of the Black Plague. I’m singing it today because I went to the doctor this afternoon. I hate going to the doctor’s office. Nothing good ever happens there for me. Last year I had the chicken pox. The year before I ended up in the hospital because I fainted twice. This year, I’m stuck on a 5 day quarantine to rule out whooping cough. And I have a “slight” pneumonia. I went in because my cold wasn’t going away and to get something for it. This was NOT what I had in mind.

So, I did what every good mommy does. I called my kid’s pediatrician to see what I had to do for them. Since I am being actively treated (antibiotics and banned from public), they wanted to have my kids tested for it as well. Do you know how they test for whooping cough? They take a long, thin, metal q-tip and shove in up your nose and down the back of your throat. Its not pleasent at all, it made me cry. No way in hell are you doing that to my babies. Taylor doesn’t have a cough, so she’s safe to go about her business. Seth has a cold, with a cough. So, he’s supposed to be quarantined with me…but only if I had him tested.

Now, I’m a nurse. I know how this works. He would have been exposing everyone at daycare for the past 2 weeks. it takes 2 days for the test to come back. Having him be at daycare isn’t going to cause any more harm. However, the guilt will get to me by tomorrow morning. He will be staying home with me all week. By tomorrow afternoon I will be in dire need of a padded room.

Thank God my mom comes on Thursday.

I know I don’t have whooping cough. My doctor is 99% sure I don’t either. She justs wants to rule it out. I also know that I will probably be non-compliant about staying home through Sunday.

Not feeling good sucks. Not feeling good and having Seth home will really suck. I won’t be able to watch what I want to, or play the Wii. I will be watching cartoons and playing construction.

I must go rest now. I will need my strength to get through the next few days.

Travis just informed me that I’ve slowed down on blogging and that I have people who want to read. This is coming from the man who will read what I write but never leave a comment. It makes me wonder why I shared the url with him. So, this is for you, my dear Travis….and yes, that was just a tiny bit of sarcasm you heard.

Our kid’s birthdays are coming up. Next week as a matter of fact. Seth will be 4 on the 4th and Taylor will be 14 on the 5th.  My mom is flying in from Maine this Thursday. She wants to be here for their birthdays. We really won’t be doing anything special. The following weekend Taylor is going to have a couple friends spend the night and they will take over the downstairs and play Rock Band and giggle all night.

I’m not into inviting people that I see maybe 5 times a year over and have them bring presents. Now, part of the big fight that happened a couple weeks ago brought up that we never invite the MIL and the SIL over for a party. At the most, when my mom used to live here, she’d bring over a cake and her presents, end of story. His family is apparently pissy that we never invited them over. Never mind the fact that if we had called, it would’ve been an issue that it was last minute, no gifts, other plans….blah blah blah.

The countdown has started. His mom has no idea my mom is coming to visit. Taylor is still pissed about no Christmas present from his sister. She doesn’t want his sister to come over here at all if we do decide to do something. So now its come down to, do we call his mom and invite her over? Do we call just so she’s aware my mom will be here? Do we pretend its February? Who the hell knows.

Happy now Travis?

I had to work today. And even though my hospital does have all the cable channels, every TV on the floor was tuned into the Inauguration of President Obama. It didn’t matter that we were beyond busy today. When the Chief Justice started to swear Obama into office, the whole floor came to a stand still.

I have watched several presidential inaugurations. I always find it interesting to watch the dynamics when you get several Presidents together in the same room. The body language is exciting to observe. For example, when Senior Bush and Bill Clinto hugged and talked, it seemed like a genuine friendship. Bill helped George Sr. walk for a bit. I also got a kick when Jimmy Carter barely stopped for more than a few seconds as the couples were lining up.

Something about today just stuck with me. I have yet to put my finger on it. I don’t know if it was the peacefulness of the crowd, the historical impact of today, or just me being all PMS’ing. Today touched me on many different levels.

I am excited to see what these next 4 years will bring. I am not envious of the mountains ahead of Obama that he has to climb. I’m hopeful that he will come through with the things he spoke about during his campaign. To see other countries be excited about this presidency speaks volumes. I hope that President Obama comes through for all of us. Here’s to the next 4 years…

There has been so much talk lately about friendships, and things that are done best with a girlfriend, that it has me missing me friend. The one that I haven’t spoken with since September 12. That was the last time she saw her godson. That was the last time we spoke. There has been maybe 5 texts shared between us since then. A happy birthday one, a “are the lines horrendous at the voting poll” and a Merry Christmas. That’s it. 20 years of friendship boiled down to less than 160 characters.

I’ve thought about sending her a letter. I have it all typed out and saved. I figured it would be easier to type than to try to talk. I didn’t want emotions to get in the way. Because I know they would. I know that I would get upset about the way she just threw away her feelings for Seth. I’m trying to get over this. But its hard. Everytime we go past the road she lives on, Seth asks me why Jamie is mad and doesn’t want to see him anymore. How do I answer that? I just tell him that she’s not mad at him, she just didn’t have room at her daycare anymore for him. So, I am no a liar to my son. Nice. Someone should call the Mother of the Year Committee and nominate me.

That being said, I do miss her. We have had times when we haven’t talked for a year and the picked right up like nothing ever happened. But unless she’s willing to apologize, I’m not sure I can get over this. A betrayal that honestly broke my heart. Broke my son’s heart.

I’m willing to open the doors to communication. I don’t know what to expect. My life has gone on without her, I’ve moved along and have some wonderful friends. But she and I have all that history. All the stupid “remember that time in 9th grade” kinda stuff. The stuff that I don’t have with anybody else. Maybe I should just let it stay in the past and be history.

Do I ever tihnk that she and I will be as close as we were? No. That will never happen. But I miss being able to text the funny thing that Seth just said, or just asking her if she wants company for a for minutes. So, here I sit. Debating. Do I send this letter or not? Do I try to put myself out there? If she rejects the offer, will I be ok with that? And that’s what I’m still trying to figure out.

Tomorrow is the birthday party. My plans got moved to a different day. The whiny baby, bitchy, let me call you out on everything but don’t tell me I’ve done anything wrong, sister-in-law got her way. Now, I’m not stupid. I know I pitched a few fits of my own. Why do my plans have to get switched around? Why do we have to go to maintain “family peace” in a family that we are not a part of?

But we will do our duty. We will show up. I will have a screw with me and I’ll take you down smile on my face. I have told Travis that depending on how events unfold, i may not keep my mouth shut. He told me I was free to stay home. Um, yeah, wrong answer. It was that me vs them feeling that I have felt over the years, without having backup from my husband, that has put a strain on our relationship. I felt like all the progress I thought we were making had disappeared in an instant.

I asked him outright if he wanted me to stay home. He said I was welcome to come, but he doesn’t want to be in the middle of a pissing match. I can understand and even respect that point of view. But, until I get to say what I need to say, the air will never be cleared between me and his sister.

Is a birthday party the most appropriate place? Not really. Considering we only see her a handful of times in a year, and its always for some type of party, I don’t know what to do. I don’t want to waste a day off to talk to her.

I guess all I can do is wait and see what happens tomorrow, and hope that nothing sets off an explosion.

In keeping with my no thinking theme, I bring to your reading pleasure, the questions that LeSombre asked me. Gotta also add that he is one hell of an IT guy!!!

1. So you’re the Girl Scout Dropout. It’s no secret that I hate camping. How would you convince me that camping is a fun thing to do? If you hate camping, how would you convince LovelyWife that camping sucks?

I don’t camp. My idea of roughing it is staying at a 2 star hotel. That being said…..LovelyWife, what is enjoyable about sleeping in a tent, that is on the ground? The hard, full of rocks, ground. There are bugs, specifically ones that fly and swarm, ones that bite. Did you know you can get Lyme disease, or bitten by some oogie spider or something else with more than 2 legs? Or come home with a rash in a very inappropriate place to scratch, because you ran out of toilet paper. I could go on, but I”m starting to creep myself out. I’m a city girl, through and through.

2. I’m honestly fascinated by the fact that you’re a RN. Without compromising the patient confidentiality, what is the funniest thing you ever witnessed at work?

This one is kinda hard. My patients usually aren’t funny, they’re whiney. But,  I do love it when the little 80year old grandma’s come back from surgery and cuss like a sailor because of the anesethia. The funniest thing happened to a doctor this past week, who happens to be an absolute asshole. He came in to take a sample of some tissue. He had me set up the scalpel, lidocaine, and etc. I warned him the wound had been draining and asked if he wanted a mask. He gave me a death glare and shook his head no. Whatever. Anyway, he’s poking around, squeezing here and there and all of a sudden I here him yell “mother fucker”…I turned around and his face was covered in goo and all over his shirt!!!! I tried so hard not to laugh, so again I asked if he wanted a mask, he said “yes, please”. Seriously, that was the highlight of my week.

3. Wisconsin has something to do with cheese if I remember correctly. What is your most memorable experience with cheese?  

Hmm, I can think of a few. But I’ll go with the first time I ate a non-fried cheese curd. Dude, they squeak when you chew them if they’re fresh. There’s your lesson….if you’re eating cheese curds and they don’t squeak, don’t eat them!!

4.Take the four food groups, and order them from your favorite to the one you could live without. Explain your classification and tell us the weirdest thing of each group.  

I’m a boring eater. I don’t experiment with exotic foods. I’m always afraid I’ll end up eating monley brains, or something else as equally icky. My favorite food group is the breads/grains. I am a carb loving girl! Take my carbs away and I become super bitch. I can do low carb, but I will not do no carb. Next is fruit and veggies. I big, red puffy heart this category. Plus, I don’t feel guilty for eating any of it. Then dairy. I like Greek yogurt and stinky cheeses. Does that count as weird food? But, I don’t drink milk. I hate the way it smells and coats my mouth. I eat ceral dry, or I put OJ in it…don’t judge me! Then is meat. I like meat, but I can do with out it if I had to. Of course, now that I’m talking about it, I want a big juicy tenderloin for dinner!           ** Taylor just informed me that there are more than 4 food groups** whatever, she’s a show off.

5. When you asked me to interview you, what was the one question you hoped I would never ask you?

I wasn’t worried about anything you would ask me. But, I’m glad you didn’t ask what blogger I have a slight crush on. I wouldn’t want Sheila to get jealous that it wasn’t her:)

Ok, for some stupid reason, it won’t let me go back and edit this to put spaces between the questions. Sorry its coming across as a major jumble of words. This is why I hate all things computer!!

Due to the majorly crappy past couple of weeks at work, I am going to do a few light weight posts while I mentally recover. These were given to me by the beautiful Hilly.

1.  What is one thing that totally annoys you more than anything else? People who don’t have manners. What makes you think that you can bump into me and shoot me the nasty look? Manners seem to be a long lost artform, and I’m on a mission to bring them back!

2.  In Animal Crossing, is it more important for you to cultivate relationships with the animals or make money and pay off your house/buy things? Its a toss up. I’ve paid off 3 mortgages and am now trying to pay off the basement expansion. But, I love talking to all the animals and doing their little errands for them. I also enjoy talking to the animals in my friend’s towns….because they send you letters, and I love getting mail!

3.  If you could only teach your kids one lesson, what would that be? Be kind to others. I think in being kind, it also conveys respect, honesty, and responsibility to those around you. Everyone deserves to be treated with kindness.

4.  If you could switch lives with any one blogger for the day, who would it be and why? Haha! I guess it would depend on the kind of day the blogging community is having and if anything exciting is going on in someone’s world! But overall, I think I would like to be Avitable for a day. Just to try to figure out how he thinks:)

5.  What has blogging taught you? Blogging has taught me that’s a whole other world out there. One where people understand you and are willing to give support and advice. It has shown me that kindness does exist. Wow…that’s incredibly sappy, oh well.

9 out of 10 days I love my job. I actually don’t mind being in at 3am, which means getting up at 1:30am. I look forward to my seeing my patients and interacting with them and their families. I love the teaching aspect, I love the technical/skills/ hands on aspect, and most of all I love being an important member of the care team and work on getting my patient to progress in his or her plan of care. I love the staff on my unit. I’m blessed with working a great bunch of people who know the meaning of teamwork and cooperation.

But this past week has been different. It has been sheer hell on my foor. We have had NO empty beds, which puts us at a census red, no admissions at all. Which is normally ok. But this past week has been different. We had to actually cancel some elective surgeries because we didn’t have the beds to put them. We have also been short staffed. Due to the economy, the healthcare system that I work for is on a “hiring pause”. In October, we had 108 nursing positions to fill. These included RN’s, LPN’s and CNA’s. As of today, we had 7 to fill. And I can tell you that those other 101 positions have not been filled. They’ve been taken out of the budget. So, we are no operating at full patient capacity, but short staffed.

And, a unit on a different floor has been closing off and on because its more “cost effective” to close a unit and keep staff on call (when you’re on call, you get $2.00/hr). Its become more “cost effective” to have to deny admissions to people who should be admitted to get treatment. Its more “cost effective” to baby-sit certain patients because independent doctors think its ok to keep a person who no longer needs acute care in the hospital over the weekend because it would fuck up the doctor’s weekend to have to come in and do paperwork. Even tho said doc called in and was told your patient is good to go. Its more “cost effective” to force staff into working 16 hour shifts and not giving them the next day off. Its forced overtime and you can’t say no. If you leave, its considered patient abandonment and buh-bye nursing license.

Then I have a weekend like this. As full as we are. As tired and crabby that we are. We pull together as team to get the patients taken care of. Then, a trauma comes in. As long as the trauma doesn’t require ventilation, they come to my floor. We had a mother and daughter who were invloved in a head-on collision with a drunk driver. The mom was picking up her 14 yr old daughter from a friend’s house. This is my daughter’s age. These girls were hanging out, giggling about boys, and watching TV. In an instant this family’s world was shattered. The daughter was pronounced brain dead. We approached for organ donation. We watched a mother and father fall apart, rage, scream, be in utter denial. We saw an older brother hold his baby sister in his arms one last time and bawl his eyes out. We watched this family make the ultimate sacrifice. This family, in the midst of their grief, provided life and hope for several over people that they will never know. All because they didn’t want someone else have to go through what they were going through.

The driver, a few minor cuts and a broken arm.

Save lives, donate. Never drink and drive.