Not much going on

I worked today and it was SO hard to get up after 2 days off work AND it felt SO nice in bed with my bedroom window open since the day started off pretty cool. I reluctantly got out of bed, and luckily had left-overs to bring for lunch. My patients kept me busy for a little while (mostly annoying "busy work" I had to do because for some reason the residents caring for one of my patients didn't want to do the work that other residents usually do for us...maybe we've been "spoiled"). It all turned out fine and, now that the shift is over, I can say that I was pretty bored for an hour or so. But, now that I'm thinking about that, I should have been doing the required education tests that are due sometime in October. Hopefully tomorrow will be a "nice" day and I can work on those! Tomorrow night is a party at one of the transplant docs houses. Last year there was pretty amazing food AND an open bar...looking forward to it, even though I have to go after working a 12-hr shift (I'll be ready for a drink, that's for sure!)

I finally talked to my aunt tonight for the first time since her surgery. She is doing okay...having some discomfort and forcing herself to take it easy and rest. She goes back to the doctor on Monday and I guess will find out then if she needs chemo.

While I'm posting "random" stuff, this is a photo of me, a couple friends, and "our "server at Village Inn. He "hooks us up" with some great stuff! Last time, I ordered the "Two Egg Breakfast"-substitute toast for the pancakes and fruit for the eggs, keep the hash browns-and it didn't phase him one bit (we also got a free slice of triple chocolate pie to share...that I am just SURE my body needed!).

Okay, that's a bit of randomness for this evening. I started a new book, so maybe I'll read some of that before going to sleep (I should get some extra rest so I can make it through the day AND the night!)

Happy Mercy Day!

I took today and tomorrow off work so I could attend activities at my "Alma Mater", a Mercy High School. I'm really big on traditions (probably because I was raised Catholic and had the opportunity to attend a school whose foundation is also tradition). One of the traditions I love to celebrate is Mercy Day. Even when I was away at college and when I lived on the East Coast, I remembered this day and celebrated it as I could. The actual "Mercy Day" is tomorrow, but I'm writing about it tonight in case I get busy tomorrow.

Today we had an all-school "reunion" Mass and Brunch and tomorrow is Mass and a play put on by the seniors. I am looking forward to that because each year the class portrays the story of Catherine McAuley in their own unique way. None of the plays are the same. Maybe I'll get a picture or two to post tomorrow (not that it REALLY matters because I'm the only one who reads my blog!)

Here is a little history about the day:
September 24, 1827
Feast of our Lady of Mercy: the House on Baggot Street opens as a school for poor young girls and a residence for homeless girls and women. Anna Maria Doyle and Catherine Byrn move in and begin works of mercy.
On the 24th of September every year, 11,000 Sisters of Mercy and their friends and colleagues around the world celebrate Mercy Day. This is the day on which Catherine McAuley first opened the House of Mercy in Baggot Street, Dublin, Ireland and dedicated it to Our Lady of Mercy.

Tired and crabby

I guess I saw that coming, after my last post about how much I was going to be working and anticipating the tiredness.
I didn't, however, anticipate that a patient who has "lived" with us for nearly four years
would lose his battle this weekend.
I think I am still in shock, even though he came close to death SO many times before.
I've been too tired to talk to his parents, or to his sisters who have spent many days with me and my family.
I feel REALLY bad about that.
I have barely shed a tear...that isn't like me at all.

Today I was really crabby at work.
I felt it inside, and am hoping it didn't show.
All of the patients I had today have the odds against them
to make it to age two.

That is my job.
I love my job.
Even though sometimes
my job sucks.





This is not a great picture,
but it was easy to find
(and I wasn't in the mood to search).
He actually was pretty sick here too.
(it was Christmas)

Prayers for his family and friends...I know he is in Heaven and at Peace.

On a better note, my aunt is home after her surgery...still praying for no chemo!

Has it been THAT long?!

Wow, I can hardly believe it's been that long since I posted. I ACTUALLY had TEN days off for my sister's wedding (I think she took about that many!). I worked two crazy shifts, then was off for another 5 days. I flew to be with my aunt for four days as she prepares for surgery (double masectomy) this coming Monday. She is in good spirits and has some really good friends (and an awesome husband!) who will be there to help her. It is hard that her family all live hundreds of miles away, but great to know that she is not alone. We are all praying that she has a quick recovery with no chemo needed.

So, I'm back at home and in the middle of working 5 out of 6 days (that doesn't sound TOO bad, but it could be considering they are 12-hour shifts). The one day I don't work (Monday), I have a class, an appointment, am working my other job, and have a party to attend. Nice "day off"! Oh well, at least my first two shifts have gone well even though I had to change my patient assignment because no one else was chemo certified. I was pretty bummed not having my cute girls from yesterday, but had a pretty quiet day today so should not complain!

Well, we are still sorting through the thousands of photos from my sister's wedding. So, I thought I could post a few more just so there is "someone" looking at them and they are serving some kind of purpose!

My tallest cousin, my one cousin who is shorter than me, and grandparents.

The happy couple

Just me and my two 13-year old cousins...

I'm older than the two of them put together!

Sleeping on the couch...again!

Yes, for the second night in a row, I will be sleeping on my couch. I don't think this is "supposed" to happen when you live by yourself! However, my bed is so piled with stuff, there is no way I could sleep in it...I suppose I could (?should!) dump it back on the floor where it came from, but I REALLY want to do it right! I got new windows yesterday, so need to vacuum and would LOVE to get rid of some junk. My guest bed is still not re-made after I washed the sheets from the weekend...oh well, at least I have a comfy couch! So, what did I do today that prevented me from at least clearing off my bed?! Oh, probably posting a blog entry, searching the net for random things...but, I will have to say that I did work for two hours, went running (probably close to a mile), bought groceries, new pillows, and a new outside garbage can. I also helped my parents clean their house for the gathering they will have on Friday for the newlyweds to open their gifts. That sounds MUCH better than saying that I sat on my couch all day doing nothing so I can sleep on it again...I'll stick with that story. Tomorrow, though, I HAVE to clean off my bed because something tells me it would be hard making it through a 12-hour shift after 10 days off and three nights on a couch!

Busy Busy!

I can hardly believe I haven't posted in nearly 2 weeks! It has been pretty busy even though I haven't worked in over a week (gotta love 12-hour shifts! 3 days vacation for 10 days off!). My sister got married on Saturday, so last week was spent doing some preparation for that. I helped make a slide show that turned out very nice, but did take quite a bit of time. I'm glad I'm off all week to "recover" from all the fun :o)

Yep, that's my sister the bride! It was very "non-traditional", but perfectly my sister!

Mimosas were my drink of choice for the evening ...I had to have had at least eight!

The wedding party...the white looked SO cool with the blue!

During the ceremony

Me, my sister, and my cousin (the "other" maid-of-honor!)

The "C" word

My aunt called...she was making "the phone calls" and my mom happened to be at my house. So, I received the next phone call. During the past week, she has had two mammograms and a biopsy. Today she was told it is malignant. Tomorrow she meets with the surgeon. Hopefully they will have a treatment plan after that meeting. The initial pathology report looks like Stage 1. Luckily she works with a lot of pathologists and is feeling blessed about that. My sister is getting married in 10 days. She still hopes to travel here for that. My four years away from home at college were just minutes from where she and her family lived. She became my second mom, sometimes the "first mom". She is the one I call when I can't talk to my mom. She will be a survivor.

Really tired!

I'm not sure why I'm so tired lately. It isn't even 9:00 but I am SO ready for bed! I actually took nearly an hour nap earlier this evening and it didn't seem to help. A tiny part of me is wondering if it's because I've been having cups of sangria every night since I made it on Saturday... I haven't worked at the hospital since Friday and when I do go back, it will be for three days in a row, so I should rest up while I can! I had my annual evaluation at work today. It went alright. My boss did have some nice suggestions on how I can do better, so I have some classes to take to help me with communication, leadership, conflict management, and maybe even something to help me with my emotions (I wish I could afford a therapist...some days I REALLY think I could use one!).

My special assignment with CPS seems to have taken a bit of an intersting turn. I think I have gotten myself into the middle of an agency conflict. I have been working with family support workers from one agency and today during a visit, I received a phone call that I didn't quite understand. So, I had the person I was working with listen and she was able to tell me that this person was from another agency...nice way to find out you are soon to be without a job...oops! I think my job is safe for now...but is that a good thing?! Well, the paycheck is pretty good and I had to dig into my savings once again just to pay bills...oh thank goodness my windows aren't here yet!! I need to work anyway...I've been a little bored these past 4 days of not working all the time (even though there is plenty of stuff I could be doing!).

My celebrity look-alikes

Trying to recover from a not-very-fun week. This looked like fun...oh if only I REALLY looked like that (although the Dakota Fanning thing is a bit interesting!)

Which way is UP?

Last week's issues were caused by hormones and lots of changes. This week I fear I am setting myself up for a breakdown from exhaustion. I like to stay busy so maybe I won't sit on the couch all day and gain more weight than I already do on a regular basis. However, for the past five days, I have either worked a 12 hour shift, worked two jobs back-to-back, or both, including one night shift. AND, I still have probably 30 hours of work left this week. I can feel myself getting crabby already! Why do I do this to myself?! Of course, making money is nice, but one of my jobs has yet to pay me for over 15 hours worked...I'm being patient I promise! I AM having vacation withdrawal and not ready to give up my daily latte, so money is good...I'm just not quite sure that working every day is all that great (that's supposed to be the up-side of working 12-hour shifts...4 days OFF a week!). In all my craziness with scheduling, I managed to sign myself up to work on my mom's birthday, my dad's birthday, my friend's baby's first birthday, the day of the transplant pig roast at the head surgeon's house, and probably the day my sister and her new husband will open their wedding gifts. If my cousin (the "real" maid-of-honor) hadn't called me yesterday, I probably would have forgotten that my sister's bachelorette party is this Saturday at MY MESSY HOUSE! I guess that was a nice reminder that I need to go to the store and do something about that adjective that so perfectly describes my place of residence. Oh what to do what to do...it doesn't look like October will be any less crazy, but I suppose I should try to make it through August first. What day is it again?...I think the doctor (or nurse) orders an early bedtime tonight (after a glass of wine...or maybe a margarita).

Of course, the fact that the heat index has made it triple digits for a week or so now is helping SO much. My grass is about a foot tall but you aren't gonna get me out there mowing in this heat! Oh well, let the neighbors be mad...I'm hot, tired, and crabby.

Change is in the Air

Sunday was my sister's wedding shower. She is getting married in 25 days! On my mom's side of the family, there are 21 grand kids, including 13 granddaughters. This will be the first wedding! Eleven of the girls made it to the shower. Four of my grandpa's sisters and three of my mom's cousins also came. It was SO much fun! I guess that means we are growing up...or at least getting older!

Family changes AND work changes...her last day is next Friday. I found out today that another work friend is changing jobs (it isn't "official" so I suppose that means, no photo on the blog yet!). I pretty much burst into tears when she told me, and proceeded to cry any time throughout the day that I thought about it. Of course, these are wonderful opportunities for both of them...I suppose what more can you ask for than for your friends to be happy?

His mom is the one who painted my spare bedrooms. She also was the "sounding board" for many of my issues this summer...a great new friend. I think I may have helped her too :o) Fortunately, he is better and they were able to go back home this weekend. It was a bit of a "rushed" good-bye, but of course, me being the emotional one, I did shed some tears (to cut myself a LITTLE slack, it WAS right after I just worked my third 12-hour shift in a row and they were pretty rough/emotional ones!). He gets to go to Kindergarten...I'm so happy for them!

I will say that one really good change that has happened recently is that I have some new friends! The Young Adult group at my church is in its early stages. Some of them have been in the group for a year, but I started going a few months ago to various social events. We went to a baseball game and they handed out free bread...how funny is that?! Tonight we had a planning meeting and have some fun events planned, and hopefully some service and spiritual ones too.

Well, I have finished my mint chocolate chip ice cream and this post is complete, so now I can go to bed. Back to work tomorrow...it's hard to believe I've been off for FOUR days! Hopefully things aren't as crazy this week as they were last week!

Is this a good thing?

57%How Addicted to Blogging Are You?

Houston Singles from Mingle²

Better than 90% I guess!!

A little "clarity"

Today I finally was able to gather my thoughts (or, so I THOUGHT) and decided to talk to those individuals I believed were involved in the "hiring" for the position I wanted. I spoke with one person and asked why they would put out a request for applicants and not even conduct interviews or accept a written statement about why we wanted the position or what we would bring to the program. She bowed out of that one and told me to talk to her boss. I have conflict issues and was pretty impressed that my "instant hives" managed to stay away during this discussion and tried to gear myself up for the next person. Luckily, I managed to have the next conversation over the phone. My emotions got the best at me and I found myself crying my eyes out in an empty room (reminder, I'm at WORK!) as I listened to her also tell me that she really wasn't involved in the "process" because there wasn't really a "process" as far as she knew. I said something to the effect that I didn't get it because I have "brown hair" or lost a game of "eeny, meeny, miney, moe"? I expressed my disappointment and she said they never wanted any hurt feelings, they just wanted the position filled by a qualified, knowledgeable person. While I kept trying to tell myself that it had nothing to do with me, my looks, my personality, or my skills, it was nice to actually hear that (at least, I'll tell myself that's what I heard!). I know that everything happens for a reason and accept that God has other plans for me (one of which involves an "easy" job that pays me $35/hr on my days off from the hospital!). I do also know that there is at least one other person involved in all this who may be getting an earful from me (if I can keep my emotions in check!). I seriously thought that I was a bit of a suck-up, but in this case, my reputation seems to have failed me...or maybe not.

Luckily, my patients "behaved"...the kids in the PICU definitely did not get that memo...it could be a bad week. Lots of prayers.

Quick Post (maybe!)

I decided it has been a few days and time to post. I actually had a fun weekend, but am trying to watch a show, so will make this as quick as I can...not very easy since I tend to be quite "wordy".

Today, my friend finished painting my guest room. Her son has been in the hospital for nearly a week, so getting that project done made her feel a sense of accomplishment (at least, that's what she keeps telling me and I have to believe her...she wouldn't even let me help!). I don't have all the furniture I want or the wall stuff up yet, but plan to put up "finished" pictures when it is ready. My office is also ready to be put together and then I can start getting stuff out of my bedroom (I was nearly living in my bedroom until about 8 months ago, so I have a lot of "stuff" in there that can now be moved into other areas of the house in a hopefully more organized manner!). I have less than 3 weeks to get it looking "party ready" since my sister's Bachelorette party is here.



Today I also worked out for the first time in about two weeks. It was pretty tough (I didn't actually think it would be that bad because I have been REALLY busy and DO work 12-hour shifts!). I also sat on the couch and ate ice cream for the second night in a row, so I'm probably up a few pounds anyway.



Well, I "TiVo'ed" 6 Degrees of Martina McBride and am interested to see how it turns out, so that's my update for today.

Just for fun

Mingle² - Free Online Dating

So, maybe I need to start "spicing it up" a little bit on here!

Yesterday I was such a grouch at work...luckily for everyone else, I was off today and also tomorrow. I'm about to take a nap so my friends who have to sit through a dinner with me tonight hopefully will not be wishing I'd have taken a rain check.

Pity party anyone?

Oh what a week...can I start over? Or maybe jump to the end? Sunday at work my leadership was questioned because I didn't want to be the nurse of the transplant kid I baby-sit. My family is on vacation without me. Campbell Brown left the Today Show. I had to float to the PICU yesterday (but actually had a super easy day...so, maybe no pity party for that). My best friend from work is moving to Philadelphia. I put my name in for a new position and they hired someone else without conducting interviews. The transplant kid of my friend who is helping at my house is sick and maybe in the hospital (I haven't heard from her since this afternoon). My friend had a baby over a week ago and I still haven't talked to her. I hate my softball team. Did I mention my family is having fun without me in Las Vegas? Tomorrow is my last day at the doctor's office which one of the reasons I quit is because of the potential new position mentioned above that I wasn't given a chance to fight for. Argh. Now I actually have to do my self-evaluation that was due yesterday...and pour myself a margarita (and try not to cry).

Busy Busy!

Gosh, it hardly seems like I had three days "off" in a row last week because the past three days have been going going gone and I work another "12" at the hospital tomorrow. My annual evaluation is due tomorrow, but I guess I'm turning it in late because I haven't started yet! I can hardly wait until Tuesday my "day off" which actually will probably turn into just a couple of hours. Oh what would I do if I had a significant other or a child?! I suppose I'd figure out SOMETHING! Time for some sleep :o)

Blogging for Organ Donation

One of the blogs I read (If I knew how to link to it, I would, sorry tc) encouraged people to blog about signing up to be an organ donor today. Since working with transplant patients is pretty much all I do, that was right up my alley.

I'm not feeling very eloquent even though this is a topic that is very close to my heart. As "they" say, a picture is worth a thousand words (but I'll let her mother "speak" too!) Here is the face of what organ transplant can do. She received her gift of life a year ago this Friday. For some reason she didn't want to look at the camera or smile today, but this girl just cracks me up. Her mom wrote a letter to the D.M.V thanking the people there for asking people to sign their donor cards. Below the photo is an edited version of what she wrote. (She is a much better writer than I am anyway!)

Dearest lifesaver, we hope you are well. Did you think that when you accepted your job at the D.M.V. you would help save lives every day? God bless you. You are a part of the elite few in this world who can claim this honor...if (our daughter) had not received (her transplant), she would not have survived. She is so full of life--hilarious and smart and loving and beautiful--and a very old soul. She has a knowing that amazes everyone she meets. Her big blue eyes are so wise, she touches people in ways that surprises and delights them, even perplexes them because they cannot believe such a young girl could be so sophisticated...When we got the call for her organs, we had a tea party and cheered 'to life! to life! to life!'...So thank you, thank you deeply and humbly. You are now part of (our team), one of the many special people who have helped give her life-and helped her teach others how to live. Next time you sign someone up to be an organ donor, know that (she) is cheering 'to life!'

Again, if I knew how to link, you could just click here to read my other postings about organ donation, but I don't so just go to the labels at the right if you're interested!!

Be an Organ and Tissue Donor and give the Gift of Life!! Sign up at http://www.organdonor.gov/donor/index.htm and tell your family!

All mine!

Today I made the last payment on my car! I am SO excited!! It is two months shy of four years old and today also hit the 18,800 mile mark. Needless to say, I do not drive very much :o) I am planning to make some improvements to my house and was wondering where the money was going to come from. Of course, I am still working most days doing this or that, but having one less bill to pay every month definitely cannot hurt! Oh how exciting my life is, I am "blogging" about my car. Now it's time for bed!

Hi Mom and Dad!

Tonight I finally decided to tell my parents about this blog. As mentioned in probably my first post, my mother is really pretty scared of the Internet, particularly identity theft and all "those horrible people" looking for someone to prey on. So, if you are one of those people, please make this your last visit to my blog :o)

Anyway, contrary to most kids, I actually probably have more disagreements with my parents now, as an adult, than I EVER did as a teenager. For the most part, though, they are the people with whom I "hang out". More often than not, I eat their food (and drink their alcohol). We sit at their dining room table or outside on their patio and visit at least 3 times a week, usually more. They have been instrumental in making me the person I am today (and I think I'm a pretty great person!) and have helped me through many changes, difficult decisions, and sometimes crazy life choices.

So, thanks mom and dad...hope you enjoy this post and my blog...Mom, I'll be careful :o)