Sunday, January 13, 2013
Christmas present from school???
Ok, honestly, this one doesn't seem so bad. A book report on a cereal box. This has the potential to be pretty cool. I love reading and I love talking to the girls about their books. So, I take the girls to the library to get some books. I also knew that all 3 of them had 4 books each under the tree. The bad thing is that the girls like to read as much as I do and they aren't exactly decisive. Every day for 2 weeks, I asked them about the project. The only answers I got were either "I don't know" or "I haven't finished the book I want to use yet". Seriously guys? Figure it out so we can get this done already.
And now it's the Friday before the project is due. It's now or never because they are at their dad's house for the weekend and we know that nothing good will happen while they are there. Good news is that S has done hers already on the computer. All she has to do is print and glue. Even their dad can handle that. Better news, I actually have empty cereal boxes and construction paper. I don't have to go to the store!!!
Books are finally chosen, and they pick out the colors for each part of the box. And now it's time for the drama. Every single thing they have to write or draw causes a melt down. I'm still not quite sure why every little thing makes them cry. I hope that they didn't get the type of perfectionist gene that I have. The kind that if you can't do it EXACTLY the way that you want, then it'll never be good enough, but it sure seems that way. We have so many pieces of extra construction paper because we were covering mistakes. And yet again, my "I'm not doing this" got thrown away, but just a little. All I did this time was write out the characters for them.
I'm kinda proud of myself. And they picked pretty good books too. S picked a book about twins that I found for her. The chapters alternated voice, which I always think is cool and she really enjoyed. M picked a Bad Kitty book. And she free-handed a pretty great pic of the cat. And best of all, A picked Charlie and the Chocolate Factory. I LOVE LOVE LOVE that they are so into good books now. Spend enough time reading to and around your kids and they might just decide that reading is fun....
Thursday, January 10, 2013
Beer and eggs may not be the breakfast of champions, but it may be the dinner of the ones that save your life
EVERY time we are at breakfast though, at least one person asks our server if we are on our way in to work. Some days, people are brave enough to ask us directly. I usually try to refrain from my typical sarcastic remark (there is only 1 hospital in town and I don't want to have to talk to HR or administration because I answered a stupid question with sarcasm and scared/pissed off a board member or something). It's funny and sad just how ridiculous people can be. I really blame bad TV shows for depicting nurses as desperate, doctor hunting, drug stealing, cheating alcoholics that worry more about our social lives and which physician we are going to sleep with next than actually taking care of our patients. (Side note: I have been a nurse for 8 years and have worked at 5 hospitals and have yet to meet a doctor that I want to sleep with and have never even considered stealing a med from a patient.)
But let me tell you how much fun we have after work. People that work in medicine tend to have a twisted sense of humor. Meredith Gray (Gray's anatomy) says "I'm dark and twisty." Yeah, I think I am too. I think we need to be just to get past some of the stuff we see. If I can't laugh about the some of this stuff, then I think I would totally breakdown. The people at breakfast almost always make us laugh.
One morning, as we are giggling about something, this older couple sits down next to us. She says to him "I didn't know they served iced tea in those pitchers". Granted, I guess Yuengling could be mistaken for tea, but the only ice to be found was on the outside of our frosty mugs. Of course that just made us giggle more.
Another time, we were chatting and I was glancing at the morning news shows (they are always on mute, so I only guess what they are actually saying) and this photo of a girl pops up. She honestly looks like she is auditioning for Playboy. Then the feed displays the story and it is about some high school girl that is suing because the yearbook committee (made entirely of other students) vetoed that photo for the yearbook. If you've ever watched the morning shows (like Today, or GMA) you know that they show the same promos for 30-45 min before the actual show. So for the next half hour I kept seeing this photo flash up on my screen. Finally, in the middle of a sentence, I yelled out "hooker". No idea why that came out like that, but it did. Right at that moment, a 70+ y/o guy and his 50+y/o significant other sat at the booth next to us. He looks over, smirks and says "tell me more about those hookers". Needless to say, the wife/gf/so didn't look so happy with us. I won't embarrass my friend by finishing the story. Maybe if she reads this one, she can give her permission...
Usually, by the end of the meal, someone has said something that has us all laughing so hard we are crying. That becomes the quote of the day, when I remember it later... Some of my favorites "and then I told them to show me the real thing," "and you didn't buy him a prosthetic one?" "you can't hold me down, I rebel," "dude, you're not worth the dent," and pretty much anything our server buddy JB says.
I don't know if I should, but I think I'll tell you about when we scared the poor bar back... I can't remember exactly how the little joke goes, but it's something like: I'm a nurse, I've seen more dick that a prostitute and I don't make as much money. We can be pretty blue with our jokes. If you didn't know, the foam on the top of a beer is called the head. Some people know how to fill a pitcher so that there isn't much head and some people just can't seem to get it right. This young guy brought out our pitcher and there was way to much foam. So of course we start in on the "big head" jokes. I think 4 girls asking him about head was just too much for him to take. He not only ran away from our table, he changed his shirt so as to not be recognized by us...
So here's to beer and eggs, laughing with friends, pitchers of tea and scarring young guys...
Wednesday, January 9, 2013
The condo is alive with the sounds of cats being beaten... oh wait, that's just us singing
I joined the middle school band when I was in 7th grade. I tried to get the sax because I thought my dad would like it (plus mommom LOVED Kenny G), but the band director said no. I became a pretty darn good clarinetist. I had some natural talent, but if you have read some of my other posts, you know I SUCK at playing Jazz. I could sight read music great and I memorized music quickly.
But I can't read music to sing to save my life. Every time I sing where people can hear me, I'm waiting for the strange looks and maybe even the "can you sing a little softer?" comments. I went to a church once and the pastor told a story about a guy that came to him complaining about the woman singing too loud and out of tune behind him and I'm still sure that it was about me... J claims that he likes my singing, but I think that he just said that to make me feel better. I will never sing karaoke and I whispered through our night out caroling with the church. Trust me, I didn't want the pastor to ask me to move to the back of the group.
Unfortunately, I think all 3 girls inherited my lack of singing talent. And yet they love to sing. When they walk around the house with their iPods in, they sound kinda scary. But fortunately, they do like good music for the most part. But they aren't afraid to listen to the same song for hours on end. The best part of that is listening to their interpretations of the lyrics. I think that every song they like has something about a bathroom in it. They can turn almost any word that starts with a b into bathroom. I really didn't think that they were that into potty humor.
Saturday, January 5, 2013
Please don't lick the dog
No one ever told me that I'd have to referee the most ridiculous fights known to man. "She made her stuffed animal look at your stuffed animal funny?" Seriously??? What am I supposed to say to that? I still wonder if making fun of their crazy temper tantrums is setting them up for a lifetime of therapy or not, but if you could just see them throw their arms up, stomp to the couch and fling themselves on it with a big huff you'd be laughing too.
Therapy or not, I am still proud that I have at least initiated a decent appreciation for good music. They still fall under the peer pressure of bad pop music, but they don't like Justin Beiber or One Direction and they know the words to Beatles songs. I can handle some Taylor Swift and LMFAO as long as I can break it up with some Clapton and Jack Johnson.
I had heard before I became a mom that I'd say things that I never thought I would, but everyday it amazes me the words that come out of my mouth. Quote of the day "just because we can't see you doesn't mean that we can't see you". Other ones just today include: "don't hit your sister in the head with your flipflop," "please don't lick the dog," and "can you please take my underwear off your head?" I think that I might have to start a journal just of the things I say. Got any funny quotes of your own to share?
Tuesday, January 1, 2013
Wow, that girl's batcrap crazy... wait, that's me? Uh oh
I haven't had many out of body experiences, but the one I recently had seems like it might be worth sharing. I've said a lot recently about how stressful life is. I don't think that there is any aspect of my life that doesn't cause some sort of stress. And apparently the thing that brought the crazy out was the van breaking down.
My job can be very unreliable. I can't always get all my shifts because of the nature of the unit I work in. I love what I do, but as a single mom the unreliability is very hard on the old savings account. When the savings account gets low, thats always when SOMETHING happens.
My something happens to be the van falling apart. Driving back from Orlando, fortunately with the boy in the seat next to me, the van suddenly wouldn't accelerate. I get frustrated and punch the steering wheel a couple times and say some words I shouldn't repeat. Luckily, the boy yells at me to pull it together and I kinda calm down.
Two days later, rental car is picked up and the van is in the shop. I'm a giant bundle of nerves. Every inch of my body is tense and ready to snap. My brilliant self decides that I should have some wine. And not just a glass, I drank the entire bottle. Oh, and I didn't have dinner. Like I said, brilliant.
I honestly don't know what all I did to make myself look like a complete fool, but I know that I yelled and I cried and I threw things. I also know that the entire time I was doing all this, that it was crazy. But I was not in control. That crazy lady had control. And boy, that lady was batcrap crazy. Crying, fully dressed in the bathtub crazy...
Have you ever had the crazy lady take control? How did you make her go away? I finally put myself in bed and woke up sane. And fortunately, still in a relationship. He must really love me if the crazy lady didn't scare him away...
Tuesday, December 25, 2012
Sorry about this rant, but it needs to be said
I'm not a nurse because I'm not smart enough to go to med school. I'm not a nurse because I wanted an easy job. I'm not a nurse because I couldn't find something else to do with my life. I'm a nurse because I love taking care of patients. I love almost every aspect of my job. I love the fact that I can save your life. I know I can't do it alone, but I know what to do and what needs to be done in many critical situations.
Nurses take crap from everyone (and I'm not just talking code brown). Nurses are disrespected by their patients, patient's families, hospital administration, other nurses and worst of all, doctors.
I promise that I didn't call you at 3am because I thought it'd be nice to talk to you. I called you because something is going on with our patient and you need to know and to give me orders to fix it. You went to medical school, you wanted to be the doctor, you get paid to take my call in the middle of the night. Oh, you are sleeping? I'm sorry. I'm at the hospital actually keeping the patient alive.
I work in a very stressful unit. My patients are all in critical condition and I've had to go with them into the OR many times to save their lives. I work with an amazing surgeon. He is highly talented and has great outcomes even on his very sick patients. We all respect him. I've rarely heard our nurses talk bad about him. But he has crossed the line of acceptable behavior. He has begun to talk to us like we are idiots. He is rude and condescending to me in front of my coworkers. I accept a lot of crap because I love my job, but I'm thisclose to quitting my job because of him. It's crazy.
In the last year, we have lost our float pay and our call back pay, we have spent many weeks only getting part time hours (and we don't get paid if we aren't there), they have made it much harder to get raises or bonuses and have remodeled out unit and removed our break room and 50% of our space. We have stayed loyal. But this is pushing me to my breaking point. I'm not cocky or conceited, but I'm a good nurse with many years taking care of critically ill people. And the way he talked to me today, Christmas day, made me want to quit my job.
Please, if you get nothing out of my rant, please treat your nurses nice. We are here to help you or your family heal. If we are late with something, it's not cause we didn't think it was important. It just might mean that something or someone else pulled us in a different direction and that may have had a higher priority. I've gone 13 hours without food, water or a bathroom break because I'm taking care of someone that can't take care of himself. Gifts, flowers, food aren't necessary in respecting your nurse, but a please, thank you and a smile or joke always makes my day go a little easier.
Monday, December 17, 2012
Life is good and bad but at least i don't have her attitude...
I have a job that I love. No, it isn't perfect. I don't always get to work and I am too stressed about things out of my control. But I have a job and I do really love it.
I have 3 beautiful girls. They are sweet, smart, well behaved, caring little girls. Granted, custody is always an issue and I'll have to deal with their dad for the rest of their lives. But they are still mine and they are safe, happy and healthy.
I have an awesome guy. He cares about me and the girls and he is willing to do anything for us. He is amazing, handsome and does the little things to make me smile. Yes, we have had our share of issues, but we love each other and we have a great relationship that was made stronger by fighting through the issues together. And he's the type of guy that won't let me give up. He fights for us and reminds me that things are worth fighting for.
I have a house, a car and a dog. I have friends that would do anything for me and vise versa. I have a church family that is growing every day. I live in a state where I can go hiking in December and complain about the heat. I am healthy, strong and intelligent. And I didn't cave and buy an elf! Life is good.
I watch the people I love struggle all the time. People out of work, people battling addictions and other demons, people that have children or family members that are sick and dying, people who have lost faith in everything. I have never told any one to look at the positives in their life. Honestly, any time that anyone has told me that, I have wanted to slap them. But I will admit to looking at all the bad that is going on and reminding myself that life is good.
There are so many people that look for drama and try to find something to complain about. (Yes, I do that too sometimes, but I am aware of it now and really try hard not to do that any more.) I honestly wonder if they could ever be happy. If you want to see things as terrible, if you want to believe that the world is out to get you, can you ever find happiness? I want to tell one of my friends that for every horrible, awful thing that you see as part of your life, take a look around at all the situations that surround you and see if they really are that horrible. Maybe after a few days she'll change her mind and decide that the world is not out to get her. But maybe she will never see things as good. But at least I can still use her to remind myself that life is good. And if one day everything does decide to fall apart around me, at least I don't have that crappy attitude.
Friday, something unbelievably horrible happened. Something that has happened all too often lately. I am still struggling not to cry when I think about it. But it feels as though some people are already blowing it off. Turning it into a political battle about gun control and other issues. I honestly wonder if the sheer number of tragedies have numbed some people. Maybe the more that occur, the more commonplace it becomes for them and the less it hurts? The more it gives them a reason to think that they have answers to it all? I want to distance myself from my facebook account more the last few days than I did over the election. Arguing with your friends or friends of your friends isn't going to fix the problem. Legalizing or banning guns isn't going to fix it. There has to be a way to find a root of the problem. Is it a mental health issue? Is it a numbness to violence that we have created? Is it the total lack of religious beliefs? Is it this parenting style that seems so prevalent, where people don't discipline their kids and the kids want for nothing? Is it a cry for attention? Let me kill people because that's the only way I'll be known for anything? I want my children to be well balanced functioning adults when they reach that age. But more importantly, I want them to reach that age. It's a scary time in our world and I hope some way, some how we can come together and find a solution.
Sorry if this seems disjointed, but if you know me, you know that my thoughts can be disjointed at times and these all seemed to link together in my head...