Thursday's Almost Over!

I'm so glad I'm not in Kansas, errr, I mean Oklahoma anymore!! Geez, it's cold here too!  It was only in the upper 40s or low 50s for the high today, but tomorrow it is supposed to be 68.  Is that possible?  I was so cold driving home this morning.  That makes me not look forward to Christmas in Texas, among other things (like flying!). 

 

I was talking to Hannah today and she told me they got 6inches of snow in OKC overnight and today in between the ice and and rain.  She said everything was closed up.  Even Elizabeth had her clinical canceled, and it's got to be the end of the world to do that!  Oh man, watch the skies, lol!

 

How about you?  Are you keeping warm wherever you are?

 

 De

Early Tuesday Morning - Playing Catch Up

Hi guys, sorry I've been absent so long.  Been busy!  How about you?  How was your Thanksgiving?

 

Let's see how my last week went:

 

Monday: Slept in and then went to work.

 

Tuesday: Kathryn came flew into town.  She was supposed to be here at 10:45pm, but her flight was delayed and by the time she got here, picked up luggage, got home, it was midnight.  Whew!

 

Wednesday: Everybody but Caleb slept in, and that was because he had to be at school.  So I got up and picked the boy up at 1:55pm,  headed to Wal-Mart, did my Thanksgiving shopping, got home, put up groceries, and jumped into the shower for work.

 

Thursday: Stayed up a little bit after I got home from work and chatted with Kathryn and the boy.  Slept a little bit.  Got up around 3:30pm.  Cooked David something to take to work (never can tell if the hospital will provide a dinner, and they didn't).  Hopped into the shower.  Went to see Happy Feet.  Now I've got to recommend this movie to all age groups!  It was so good!!!  Okay, so after the movie got the boy to bed and Kathryn and I got a head start on baking and putting some dishes together for Thanksgiving dinner on Friday.

 

Friday: Slept in a little bit.  Jumped into the shower as soon as I got up.  Kathryn and I got our hair cut and colored and boy were we beautiful! ;)  Took CMB to the game store and Blockbuster, but first we had to go to Target because Kathryn killed my mixer while preparing the cheesecake.  And since I was in desperate need of cheesecake, I was only happy to buy a new mixer, lol.  Finished putting Thanksgiving dinner together, sat down and ate, just the four of us since Stephanie was too tired to come over .  Had way too much food and dessert left over since I prepared for 7 and not 4 and plotted ways to get rid of all the food.  David was tired and didn't feel good so he went to bed, and CMB went with him.  Kathryn and I stayed up, girl talked about her new man, and watched Grey's Anatomy.  Off to bed for everyone!

 

Saturday:  Up earlier, jumped into the shower, and got Kathryn off to the airport.  Awwww!  Going to miss her!  But she was really missing her man who was sick, so she had to go and play nurse, ha ha.  Hung around with the boy after I got back from the airport and then David & I went to see Casino Royale while CMB went over to Stephanie's for fun and putt-putt golfing with Diante.  Home, but the boy to bed, and puttering around the house.

 

Sunday:  Slept in waaaaaay too late.  Jumped up, tried to do 50 million things in 1 hour before jumping into the shower to get ready for work.  I was running around in my sock feet and slipped and fell.  Didn't parentally damage anything, but I wasn't so sure at the time, lol.  And then it's off to work I go taking with me the yummy cheesecake, because if I didn't I would have eaten the whole darn thing! () I made David take an extra pumpkin pie, and I had Stephanie take hometons of food, too.

 

Monday/Today:  Got home from work, puttered around a little bit andthen went to bed around 9:00am.  Had my alarm set for 2:00pm in order to get CMB from school, but I woke up in a panic around 3:30pm and ran through the house.  David wasn't home and neither was CMB, so I figured David must have turned off my alarm, as my clock was turned all funky, and got CMB and was running errands.  That proved to be true as I finally got up around 5:30pm..  I was so tired because of all the running around I did last week and only sleeping 4-5 hours a night.  Geez!  Holidays are hard work!  So tonight I just bummed around, did some dishes, laundry, and am going to go to bed here in a little bit, but first I've got to get on the stationary bike as I gained back the 2 pounds I lost before Kathryn showed up.  Yikes!

 

So...now that I've bored you to tears, I'll sign off for now.  I don't know what I'm doing today.  Probably more of the same, whatever that is.

 

 De

PS: 

It's Saturday

Thought I would throw out an entry for the Saturday Six before David & I head out to the movies for a date night.  Hope you are having a great weekend with your family!

 

Saturday Six - Episode 137

I hope everyone had a great Thanksgiving, or that you're going to have a great celebration of the holiday this weekend if your schedules haven't previously allowed it. Since most of us are still working those calories out of our system, I thought I'd give you a Thanksgiving-related mental exercise. (It's better than hitting the treadmill, right?)

But first, Cat of "Sweet Memes" was first to play last week! Congratulations, Cat!

Here are this week's "Saturday Six" questions. Either answer the questions in a comment here, or put the answers in an entry on your journal...but either way, leave a link to your journal so that everyone else can visit! To be counted as "first to play," you must be the first player to either answer the questions in a comment or to provide a complete link to the specific entry in your journal in which you answer the questions. A link to your journal in general cannot count. Enjoy!

 

1. Take the quiz: What was your Thanksgiving horoscope?

Thanksgiving Horoscope for Sagittarius

You're the sign most likely to really enjoy the holidays with your family. Your signature dish: Jello salad Your signature dessert: Cranberry tart This holiday: Spend time with everyone's least favorite family members. You have a knack for getting along with anyone.

 

2. Did you have either of those two dishes on your Thanksgiving table? Of the two, which would have been your choice?  No, nothing like either of these on my table this year.  Probably the jello salad of some variety would have been presented over the cranberry tart.

3. Which single food do you blame most for your weight gain?  Dessert in general because I can’t pick just one, obviously.  Ha ha!

4. Take the quiz: How thankful are you?

You Are 74% Thankful

You are a very thankful person - for both the big and little things in life. Your optimism is powerful. Getting through hard times is fairly easy for you.

5. Which are you more thankful for: your family, your friends, your career or your possessions?  Family, they will outlast all the others.

6. Did you do any shopping at all on "Black Friday?"  Just a little bit.  We didn’t celebrate Thanksgiving until Friday, so there was too much preparation going on to do much shopping, darn it.

 

Friday - It's My Birthday!

Don't tell me...it's that time of the year again! 

Oh well...I might as well eat cake...

 

No, I didn't see any cake! Did you?

Ha ha!  And it's someone else's birthday too.  That would Hannah and my Uncle Fred.  Happy Birthday to each of you too!

And, since you asked, I'm 29!

Early Wednesday

How was your Monday & Tuesday?  Busy here.

I worked Monday night and then when I got off this morning I went by Dream Dinners and fixed the Thanksgiving side dishes, Parmesan Crusted Chicken, and Peach Caramel French Toast.  All three things sound yummy.  If you've never checked out these dinner helper places, you should.  They are wonderful!

After the Dream Dinners thing, I went to Caleb's Thanksgiving Play.  He was so cute and just knew all his lines, and was telling everyone else theirs.  It was great!  I then came home and just crashed having been up for 23hours at that point.  Ugh!  I did have plans on Thanksgiving meal shopping, but instead I just slept for about 4hours.  I couldn't sleep any longer but I was too tired to get up, so I just laid in bed for 2 more hours.  I then got up, got a shower and went and got Kathryn from the airport.  Yea!  Kathryn is here!

I tell you, sometimes I get so frustrated at work.  Like Monday night.  I was in triage and try to tell doctors when I feel there are patients who need to be seen right away.  There were two that night, and right in both instances.  But things were so busy and they didn't get seen real fast, and then when the Doctor/PA saw the patients they were running around because the patients were really sick.

One was a little 2yr old boy that had been bitten by an "insect".  I didn't initially think much about it because there was hardly a mark on the little boy, but he just wasn't acting right.  I kept asking the mom all sorts of questionslike did she see what bit him, but she didn't.  Finally she said "I got bit too, do you want to see it?"  I'm like "uh...yeah!".  So then I look at her bite and I said "Did you see a scorpion?"  "No"  I said "I think your son got bit by a scorpion".  Now for most people being stung by a scorpion isn't that big of a deal except that it hurts, but in young children they can have severe reactions with some pretty serious neurological symptoms.  To me that little boy fit the bill.  So I tell the doctor and he says "tell the PA I'm in the middle of an admit".  So I tell the PAand he's like "oh great, I'll see him in a little while" and never did.  He left!  So then it's an hour later and I didn't know the little boy had just been seen when I hear the other nurses talking about transferring him to Children's.  I'm like "what's wrong with him".  The doctor said "oh he got stung by a scorpion and he has serum sickness, he is going to have to get the anti-venom."  Oh really?  The good news is the little boy got the medicine and went home that night.  But damn it!  These are the times I wish I had gone ahead with my Nurse Practitioner program!  Instead I am just the lowly nurse who can only do so much.

I work tonight.  I hope each of you are able to spend the holidays with your loved ones.  Enjoy the time together and be safe!

 De

Sunday News/The Saturday Six/The Sunday Seven & Other Memes

Hello everyone.  How was your weekend?  Mine was spent either at the ER working or sleeping.

 

Friday night was c-r-a-z-y!  Two hospitals close to us were "closed" or on "divert" because they were critically overloaded and didn't have admit beds.  So guess who got 36 ambulances Friday night?  We did!  Count them, 36!  I knew it was a lot, and I even joked around that it was over 30, but when I actually got the number I was shocked.  I don't think I've ever worked when we got that many ambulances in one shift except at the OKC bombing.  Now I know that there wasn't any terrorist activity, but I do know that there were a lot of stupid drunk people out and about.  We ended up seeing 58 people between 7p and 7a.  That is 4.8 patients an hour.  The American Society of Emergency Physicians (ASEP) has determined that a safe number to be seen in one hour is 2.5.  We almost doubled that.  Thank goodness a lot of what came is was minor, although we did admit over 10 patients and filled up both telemetry and med/surg.  Thank goodness we got all our admits up.  I just hate having to hold patients, and they really hate it too because the beds are very uncomfortable and it can get quite noisy in the ER.  Half of our rooms only have curtains, no doors.  So...nothing to close off and shut out all the noise.

 

Last night wasn't as bad, although it does seem as if I have a black cloud hanging over me (fondly called a "shit magnet" by my co-workers) whenever I go to work.  The tech last night asked me "how come you are always the busiest person here, why do you always get the sickest patients no matter what rooms you have?"  You know, I've thought about that.  I've even gotten bitter about it too when a bunch of people are sitting around doing jack nothing and I'm running around sweating.  I've come to a determination that has saved my attitude and sanity...I think God gives me what He knows I can handle, and what my patients need.  I don't mean to sound like I'm bragging here, but I'm a darn good nurse.  I have 11 1/2 years of experience with 10 years of that being in theER (minus 3 months in CCU).  I know what I'm doing, I just don't say I do.  I have a bachelor's degree vs an associates, which better prepares you by giving a more well founded knowledge base.  The AMA has determined that mortality and morbidity decrease when RNs over LPNs are placed in patient care, and are greatly reduced when an bachelor prepared RN is placed in critical care areas.  So it just makes sense to me that since I'm the only BSN (Bachelor of Science in Nursing) on the night shift, that I should get the sickest patients.  I don't always think positively this way, but I try to because it helps me get through the night. 

 

Did I tell you I was in charge on Monday?  I kind of freaked out about it when I first walked in and I was the only staff person.  So no matter that I hadn't been charge there before, here I was, lol.  Oh I could do it and have done it multiple times, I was just worried that I do the paperwork right so no one would gripe.  Here I go bragging again, but I did a darn good job.  I charged, had my own patients, answered all the ambulance patches, triaged all the ambulances, and after the 3pm nurse went home did all those triages too.  New charting system and all, I kept up really well.  There, now I really am bragging, ha ha!

 

And I'm sure you are all thinking...

 

Okay, okay!  Enough about me and my greatness, tell me how your weekend went.

 

 De

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Saturday Six - Episode 136

I'm just about over that bug that was going around. I'm back to about 95%, just in time for Thanksgiving week! Couldn't miss the big feast! Anyway, it's time for another round of questions.  But first, Nichole of "My Two Cents" was first to play last week! Congratulations, Nichole!

 

1. When a bill arrives in the mail, what do you do with it: pay it immediately, hold it with others and pay at once, or put it off until the last possible minute?  I hold all the bills and pay them at the end of the month when my husband gets paid.  Everything taken care of at once and nothing more to worry about until the next month.

2. Which actor makes the best James Bond?

Hands down, Sean Connery.

3. Of the foods you enjoy, which one are you least likely to try cooking yourself?  Oy…just about anything because I don’t cook very much.  Okay.  I love my Mom’s smothered pork chops, homemade mashed potatoes and butter beans.  The last time I tried to cook this was when my sister, Kathryn, was out last year.  Let’s just say it’s going to be a very long time before I try cooking that again!

4. Take the quiz: What does your birth month reveal about you? November  Has lots of extraordinary ideas. Difficult to fathom. Think forward. Unique. brilliant. Sharp thinking. Fine, strong clairvoyance. make good doctors. Dynamic. Secretive. Inquisitive. Know how to dig secrets. Always thinking.Less talkative. amiable. Brave. generous. Patient. Stubborn. Hard-hearted. Determined. Never quit. Hardly become angry unless provoked. Love to be alone. Think differently. Sharp-minded. Motivate self. Don’t appreciate praises. High spirited. Well-built, tough. Deep love, emotions. Romantic. Uncertain in relationships. Homely. Hardworking. High abilities. Trustworthy. Honest. Keep secrets. Can’t control emotions. Unpredictable.  Hmmmm….mostly true I’d say.

5. Of the results you just got, which one seems the farthest from the "real" you?  Homely, of course!

6. Will you see your extended family on Thanksgiving Day this year?  No, not even Hannah and we share our birthday.  But we are supposed to all get together at Christmas if the schedule and airline gods deem is so.

 

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Sunday Seven - Episode 64

Film buffs will love this week's question! Imagine those wonderful movie moments helped by just the right thing said at just the right time, and you'll be ready to tackle this week's challenge!  But first, Nichole, of "My Two Cents" was first to play last week! Congratulations, Nichole!

 

THIS WEEK'S QUESTION:
Name seven of your all-time favorite lines from the movies.
1.      “Oh Snap!” Chicken Little

2.      “I came here tonight because when you realize you want to spend the rest of your life with somebody, you want the rest of your life to start as soon as possible.”  When Harry Met Sally

3.      "Sell crazy some place else, we're all stocked up here.”  As Good As It Gets

4.      “Inconceivable.”  The Princess Bride

5.      “Hasta la vista, baby.”  The Terminator

6.      “The needs of the many, out weigh the needs of the few”.  Star Wars - The Wrath of Khan

7.      And from Vacation:

“Real tomato ketchup, Eddie?”  “Oh, nothing but the best.”

“This is crazy, this is crazy, this is crazy!”

“Roll 'em up!”

“Well am I gonna eat, or am I gonna starve to death?”

“You’ve been speeding for 1000s of miles!”

 

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Unconscious Mutterings

Week 198 - I say ... and you think ... ?

1. Teacher :: Instructor
2. Fifty :: Dollars
3. Crossword :: Puzzle
4. Stuffed :: Animal
5. Family :: Unit
6. Purr :: Kitty
7. Toad :: Frog
8. Cocktail :: Drink
9. Insecurity :: Social
10. Magical:: Kingdom

Thursday, almost Friday

Good evening, or should I say night, lol.  How is everyone doing?

 

Kind of a quiet day around here.  I got up and picked up Caleb from school. "Can we go to McDonald's Mom?"  "Don't you want to go to martial arts, today?  If you do, we don't have time for McDonald's right now, but Daddy can take you after class."  "I don't want to go to martial arts, I want to go to McDonald's now."  Oh sure.  Caleb's been twice this week to martial arts so that's fine by me.  Drive to McDonalds, order, and get up tot he window to pay and guess what?  I forgot my wallet at home.  Silly me!  I had it pulled it out last night buying something online and forgot to put in back in my purse.  "Sorry boy.  You can go to McDonalds tomorrow.  Do you want to go to martial arts now?"  "No, I want to go home and watch cartoons."  Okay.  Caleb has extra homework to do today as we didn't get finished yesterday so that is okay with me, too.

 

Oh guess what I got today?  I really have been doing so horrible on my diet since going to San Diego.  As a matter of fact, I have gained 4 pounds since then.  Ugh.  That means not only did I gain back the 3.4 pounds I had lost, I gained an extra pound also.  Yea!  Just in time for the holidays to hit and Kathryn's cheesecake.  Ugh.  So I decided since I was having a hard time losing weight and getting motivated that I would try one of those food prepared diets.  eDiets has one such program and you can choose from all sorts of plans like low fat, low cholesterol, low carbs, diabetic, etc.  I chose low carb for this week and then got to calculating and determined it probably wasn't going to be the best plan for me.  It would if it was more like Atkins, but it's not exactly Zone friendly (40%protein, 30%fat, 30%carbs).  So I am choosing low cholesterol for next week as it is the closest plan to Zone offered.  So eDiets prepares all the meals fresh and send it to you a week at a time.  All the food is stored in your refrigerator, not the freezer.  I've eaten two meals so far today and they are both very good.  The down side of all this is that it is pretty expensive, but I'm all for that if I can start losing the weight I need.  Hopefully I can jump start my weight loss and switch over to me cooking pretty soon.  This is kind of a birthday present to myself, KWIM?  I just can't go around being fat and 40-something forever.  I just hate looking at myself in the mirror.  I want to lose 25 pounds, and that is a lot on me to lose being only 4'10".  Another thing I've got to do is get back to exercising and get rid of the Halloween candy!  I took some to work already, but I need to get it ALL out of here.  

 

Oh man, my right hand is hurting like crazy!  I injured it last year when the boy decided he had to be first into the house and tripped me in the process.  Now I know he didn't mean to hurt me, but I fell and jammed my hand into the door frame.  I had/have a "gamekeeper's fracture" which is a break between the thumb and index finger.  It has taken almost a year for it to get better because I'm stubborn and refused to wear a cast because "I can't work wearing a cast".  Dumb me.  Well my hand has been feeling much better the last month or two, so what do I do?  I scrub the heck out of my shower tonight and now my hand is throbbing.  Pretty smart.  Oh, did I say it's my dominant right hand that is hurt.  Of course it is!  LOL.

 

Have a great night!

De

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Thursday Threesome::A Day in the Rain::

Onesome: A Day--or so ago? Oops, wrong meme. Wait, that might be cool... "A Day or So Ago, I saw......." You fill it in <my boy doing “kick and punch”>! 

Twosome: in-- case of rain, do you carry an umbrella? ...or do you just hoof it in a hat?  Depends if I get a head’s up or not.  If I’m in my car or heading to my car, then I grab the umbrella.

Threesome: the Rain-- in Spain? Nah, how about locally: has the rainy season kicked in for you yet? Snow? Nothing? Come on, it's almost Thanksgiving here in the States!  The rainy season has already passed for the desert of AZ.  We should get another monsoon season in the spring.