Bonus Afternoon and Heart Attack Soup

When I got to work this morning, it looked like it was going to be a day of discharges (and hopefully not quickly followed by admissions!) We tried to split them up as best we could among the nurses there, but some were "for sure" discharges and others were "maybes" (pretty much depended on how much the transplant team wanted to work today...oh, did I just write that?!...not nice, but unfortunately true at times...). I actually "picked" two kids who were for sure going home since I hadn't worked in a few days so wouldn't complain QUITE as much about having to take a new patient :o) After I got report, I realized that it was highly likely that ALL THREE of my patients would be going home...yay for them...and possibly a yay for me as well.

I sent one kid home at 9:50, another at 10:15, and the third at 2:00. I mentioned to the charge nurse that my dad's basketball team played at 3:00. She said that if we didn't get paged with any admissions and my kids were all gone by then, I could leave and go to his game!

So, I clocked out around 2:45 and headed to the game, excited to have a "bonus afternoon" to do whatever I wanted. (Of course, my "big plans" didn't get done any of the FOUR WHOLE DAYS I had off this week, but it was a good idea anyway!) The game before his ran late, but was a pretty exciting game (eighth grade girls he had coached when they were in sixth grade, so it was great seeing how much they have grown and improved!). The referees were not that great for seventh grade "B" girls and called every little travel and foul, which you REALLY can't do with that caliber of players. Needless to say, it was nearly 5:00 by the time the game was over! There went the afternoon :o) but at least it was in the gym and not at the hospital!

I went and visited with my parents for about an hour. My mom spent some time this morning with one of my friends and I had to hear HER version of the stories :o) My dad and I also had to tell my mom ALL about the game she missed (my dad ALWAYS does that and he likes it when he has a witness to back up his stories!)

When I got home, my plans to do anything productive went out the window (even though they are closed tightly with predictions of wind chills in the -25 to -35 range...that is just CRAZY!) I HAVE to get my work Christmas cards and presents put together before Monday because that is the last time I work before Christmas. I ALSO need to work on minutes from the meeting I had the first week in December and prepare for a meeting I have on Tuesday. I also should probably wrap some more presents and think about what I am going to do about Christmas cards this year...and yet, here I sit with the computer on my lap doing none of those things, but at least I am sitting by the Christmas tree listening to my Christmas music!

Eventually, I decided I should make something for dinner (just a side note to declare I actually cooked dinner THREE times this week...and that does not include the day I made macaroni and cheese from the box or the day I had frozen tortellini with cheese!) Last week, I tried out a recipe from my soup cookbook. I only used half of what I bought, and I wasn't sure what else I would make with those ingredients, so I made it again. When I told one of my friends some of the ingredients, she dubbed it "heart attack soup" since it not only contains four kinds of cheese, but also two cups of half and half...it DOES taste good, though (and why WOULDN'T it with those kinds of ingredients!)

I'm feeling WAY more tired than I should, considering I haven't had to get up early in a while and I didn't even have to work a whole 12-hour shift! My body is pretty sore from shoveling that ice yesterday, but I don't really have any excuse to be ready for bed at 10:00 (although I AM pretty comfy cozy in my two pairs of pants, three long-sleeved shirts, socks and slippers...I am rebelling against turning up the heat any more...I already had to turn it up a couple notches this week...)

So, I'm nice and warm, have a full belly of heart attack soup, and really don't feel like doing anything more tonight (although, I may do some reading since I found a new place I like to sit and do that).

My "bonus afternoon" wasn't exactly spent the way I wanted it to, but it was great to have it anyway!

Good night.