Spring forward

It's that time of year again. So far, I don't feel tired. I'm sure I will tomorrow.

Bubba and Dahey were helping a friend move this weekend, so it really threw off my normal schedule of errands. Thankfully, I was able to finish up most of them today, while they laid around the house. To celebrate the end of the week, I decided to cook a nice dinner. I made it myself since Junior Chef Bubba passed out on the couch when he was watching TV earlier. Of course, the child wakes up AFTER all the prep work is done.

It's been warm and sunny, so I'm enjoying every minute. I sat outside for coffee today and I walked two miles yesterday. So on my breaks (someone has to do all this stuff around here) when I'm not outside, I'm  checking Cake Wrecks, and watching silly dog videos. It makes me miss WildDog.

Stay tuned and hope you enjoy the rest of your weekend, wherever you are!

No planes, no trains, just automobiles

It's snowy in RehabLand and now Dahey's decided to get a new car (used really). The old Swedish monster has too many problems to solve, so we may as well look for something else.  Most of the searching has been given to me. He just likes to veto what I find.

We thought we found an old VW in good shape. On his test drive, one of the indicator sticks broke. The salesman was pressuring us to buy it. It was snowing like mad. My husband wanted more maintenance information from their repair staff. The salesmen wouldn't call them or look it up online.I finally told the salesman the only way we'd buy right that second was if it would be if it would fit on the credit card limit in my purse. ( I had one with a 5k limit).

He and (the ever present) manager were offended and refused (since it was a lowball, but in the ballpark offer). I felt relieved because all I wanted to do was get dinner.

The restaurant was one we've always wanted to try. So did nearly half of the nearby town, too. It was packed. You wouldn't have guessed there was a snow storm raging outside. We finally got in after 45 minutes waiting near the door where the cold air kept blowing in and stupid coeds kept opening it. Lots of food, so plenty of leftovers and good prices.

After our lovely dinner, we got on the road to drive 20 miles home. The roads were snow covered and in some parts, pretty icy. It took nearly an hour to get home and the most harrowing part was within five miles of our house.

Just when you think you've gotten away from the crazy drivers, another would appear. I was thrilled to get home. The local snow plow brigade started on our street just as I was going to bed.

Alas, the scrape of the plow was my lullaby, but that sure beats icy roads any day!

Now for Monday and the crazy specialist I get to deal with.  Time for a prophylactic Tums.

Stay tuned...

Weekend diversions

What kinds of movies will a rehab nurse watch before hanging out with hundreds of other rehab nurses? Well, if you're into history and sports,like I am, you'll watch The Best of Men. My favorite part was watching it on Bubba's computer (which has a big screen). Somehow I got it on closed captioning by mistake.

Maybe because I have a lot of parental controls turned on (maybe note), but I noticed that all the swear words were not included.

Another interesting article I found today was this article about the big cheese at one hospital taking a pay cut. What a novel idea. Hope this one spreads.

Now I just get to make dinner and get ready for Monday.

More to come, so stay tuned!

Seasons Greeterings

 As Homer used to say, here's the latest and greatest.



The Christmas Meme from Sunday Stealing.


1.The Christmas song I can listen to even in June is...
Go tell it on the Mountain

2.Hot Chocolate, Egg Nog or Mulled wine?
Mostly hot chocolate.

3.When do you put your decorations up?
Usually by December 15 (it depends).

4. What are you having for Christmas dinner?
Ham. Always.

5.What is your favorite Christmas tradition?
I get up early, make a big breakfast after filming Bubba opening all his gifts.

6. Have you ever gone Carol singing?
Yes, a very LONG time ago.

7. When did you learn the truth about Santa?
I was about 8 or 9 years old.

8. How do you decorate your Christmas tree?
Very simply.

9. What's the best thing about Christmas?
After my birthday, the end of the year, seeing friends and family you haven't seen much during the year.

10. All I want for Christmas is... to be happy and healthy enough to celebrate with family and friends.

Recovery

It's been a nice evening enjoying escaping work.

I had dinner with a friend and had a nice summery lager.

A great way to forget there are two more days left his week...ugh!

Important RSS information

Folks:

If you need a new reader, check out this timely (er, last minute) article from VentureBeat.

We don't want to lose you!

Note: I am feeling much better now that Nurse Dahey barricaded me in the house until this afternoon when he told me I would not be cooking and would have to go out to eat with him and Bubba.

Not a bad deal. I just wish I wouldn't have eaten so much and strayed from the diet (with a very delicious hot fudge sundae).

More to come...

So, so glad

It's Election Day, a day we should thank our lucky stars that many veterans have fought and died for us to stand in line and vote for what we believe will make our lives better.

I'm also so happy that the robocalls will finally stop. It's so sweet when a call comes over and says "Political call" on the caller ID.

Quiet at dinner time? I can only hope...stay tuned!

Boys will be boys

And idiots sometimes. You could tell the moon was full recently, since we had so much juvenile antics lately.

Scenario #1
Patient X doesn't like Patient Y. Patient X decides to duke it out with Patient Y in front of the table in the dining room. Security is called. Patient X gets a ticket, and will be considered for discharge soon. Patient Y fell down, so this causes tons of paperwork mayhem for Ella, our harried night charge nurse, who is late giving report, since she's filling out incident reports, info for security, fall reassessments, patient assessments, and calls to the on-call MD. Word spread fast around the unit, since one of our characters says to Mr. Y. when he saw him today, "I heard you had an exciting time earlier."

Scenario #2
Patient Z, one of our resident COPDers was scheduled for discharge recently. Patient Z likes it at our place, so he turns off his oxygen to make us think he's "sick". Try as he might to sabotage his discharge, we figured out that Z could indeed reach the oxygen valve from his perch in bed, and yes, he did turn it off. He got crazy, so the chiropractor came down at the boss's request and gave him a mini-adjustment, the specialist gave him his specialty consult, and finally, three hours late, his transportation showed up.

Scenario #3
Patient A tells our student nurse, who's doing an assessment for her master's program, that, yes, he is indeed still smoking weed. Despite everything, we have to keep him for a while. Patient A has developed a new problem and we cannot simply discharge him for non-compliance. So far, no one's found his stash.


So needless to say, I was happy, happy, happy to be going home after a long day. Stay tuned for more excitement. You never know what will happen at the Hotel Rehab.

Some types of compensation

You get right away, like your paycheck. Some organizations, in an effort to save money, give you time instead.

Since Madison makes this time expire, I was very fortunate to have to use some of it this week. Consequently, I have been enjoying a glorious Friday, with beautiful weather, going to lunch with the SU folks at their meeting. I even did some networking.

It is so warm I can actually go out and hose off some of the salt off my car. Since I got back, I have been lollygagging around the house reading some books for class and soon, Dahey and I will be celebrating the weekend and a babysitter by going out to dinner.

Some things are worth the wait. Don't let your good times expire. Stay tuned!

Countdown to T-day

Since I'm not working this year, I'm getting the battle plans set for Thursday. This means an assault on the home and checking all the cabinets, etc. to purge old items and get ready for the new onslaught of foodmania.

Wish me luck...at least the refrigerator's clean!

Stay tuned.

Do you really think...

I need my house cleaned? Not anymore!

Left to her own devices, RehabRN got out the vac after work, terrorized WildDog by putting him in his room (so he would stop chasing the vacuum), mopped and made dinner all before the guests arrived. Don't worry...he got his cookie for relaxing in his room (he just tries to make me feel guilty!)

Whew! Now for another scoop of pistachio ice cream...I worked hard!

Hope you day went just as well. Traveling partner's been working on the next trip. Who knows...maybe we'll see Elvis.

More later...stay tuned.

Preview

Happy, happy, joy, joy

The latest semester of grad school is finally over.

Dahey and I celebrated by going out to eat and I had a very lovely sangria. We had dinner at a hip restaurant with some of these funky bar stools. Afterwards, we marched around the neighborhood sampling at a few of the stores, and then we sat out on a patio with a coffee and an espresso version of these treats while the weather was lovely.

More to come....

Up, down and all around

That's been my story lately. A lot of things almost whirling around my head and inside the building. A fly kept buzzing the table as K. and I ate our dinner. I watched it whirl around the room. No matter what I did, it wouldn't land.

Later that evening, K. caught said fly in a weak moment and slapped it dead on the table, and sent a bag of open potato chips all over the floor. Thankfully, one of the nursing assistants found the broom and dustpan (housekeeping usually locks this stuff up) and it was cleaned up quickly.

My patients were reasonably good. Both have my least favorite bug, C-diff. If I only had a dollar for every time I was in their rooms and for every, single, solitary time I had to wash my hands (since that ol' hand sanitizer won't do with C-diff), I would have a whole lot of money. I am so paranoid with C-diff. I go home and disinfect my shoes with bleach spray (since housekeeping hides ours).

School's gonna kick my butt if I'm not careful. My first paper came back yesterday. I talked to the instructor about it because of the grade and we have a resolution. Stay tuned! I have two weeks to resubmit, which I thought was a nice thing for her to do. From her discussion, I suspect she gets a lot of people who would be going to the dean or something if they don't get x grade. Not that I like a not-so-hot grade, but if the instructor's amenable and has a solution, I have no problem working with them. We'll see how it goes. I have a few more ideas and another paper to submit by Monday. This weekend will be busy in a few more ways than one.

Gotta run...an off day means errands and homework! More to come...

Sort, shift, shuffle

And that's how I'm ending a pleasant vacation at home. A few major things done, lots of minor things, and lots of assorted miscellany in between. Now I'm sorting school-related paperwork.

Except for a little sinus craziness going on, I feel pretty good. I wish I could do this little three day thing every month. (My boss would kill me, I'm sure!). I am also thankful. In talking with people I haven't talked to in a long time, I realize that I am happy and healthy and I'd just better start to be grateful for that. Many of my friends have their own health issues and lots and lots of caregiver strain issues.

Well, back to paper shuffling...then on to dinner with friends. I can't think of a better way to end vacation.

I'll be back to the old grind tomorrow. Stay tuned...I've got lots of goodies planned next week. Thanks for stopping by everyone! You make my day...now leave a comment if you please! ;->

Thankful

Although my co-workers and I kvetch, whine and moan about the least little things, today, I have put aside the slights of some of them and I am thankful. We stopped b(^t$%ing about the people we can't change.



I am most thankful that I work at the Hotel Madison. Many of my classmates this holiday season have to take low census (from their vacation if they want to get paid) or get docked because their hospitals need to save a buck. Thank you Uncle Sam for that no low census thing! I can use my vacation for what it was intended...actual vacation...when I want it!



I am thankful I woke up today. It sure beats pushing up daisies as I told K., one of my coworkers. It's been a little depressing seeing some of my old patients in the obituary section of the newspaper lately, but I'm getting used to it, not numb necessarily, but more aware.


Today was a pleasant day. One patient went home to see his family for the weekend and the other was very laid-back and relaxed. No admissions and no time stress today.

I'm off tomorrow, so check out Change of Shift. Back to prepping for Thanksgiving dinner! Stay tuned...