I am such a fair nerd.

I admit it. I'm addicted to the fair. I go several times in the three and a half weeks it's here. I live for the exhibit halls, the colors of the midway at night, but most of all, the new and different foods they've chosen to fry this year. My nerdiness was confirmed today. My aunt hasn't been to the fair in about 20 years. She asked me to take her, since I'm such a fair expert. Today she called me and said that she wanted to try this new food that they were advertising for this year. She said it was a Corny Dog with jalapeno and cheese in the weenie. I told her these weren't new. She said that the way they talked on the radio, she was convinced that they were new. I said (in my very best fair nerd voice) "No, they had them last year at Fletcher's. That's the only corny dog stand at the fair. There's no other place to get them." She laughed. and laughed. I deserved it. I am a fair nerd. Anyways, I know she'll have a good time. I always do! :)

Liberty is recovering well from her incident with the cat. Her nose has a little nick on it, and she hates it when you press on it. One would ask why I press on it when I know she hates it. It's pretty much because I'm a mean and nasty mom. I also wanted to make sure it wasn't an infected lump. That would be nasty. Can you imagine her with a bandaged nose? It was bad enough when she had an infected lump on her foot. She had to have it all the way bandaged and she actually had to have surgery on it. Tiny retard. She walked around in a cone, attempting to lick her foot around the cone

Anyways. I'd better go, I have to get ready to pick up my aunt so we can have fair fun. By the way, if anyone is interested in going to the fair, let me know...I'll gladly be your tour guide...I have a season pass (oh my gosh....fair nerd)!!!

Gracie, the attempted cat-killer

I was sitting in the living room, perusing the mail, when I heard the most awful sound. It's the sound of Gracie screeching and howling in pain. Not a good sound, mind you. The pain turned to anger and then she started barking like a crazy beast. By this time, I had rounded the corner outside to see her with her ears flat against her head, the hair on her back standing straight up from neck to tail, and a quivering body. She ran over to me, and I checked her over for wounds. Apparently, she lost the battle between her and a cat and had been scratched (or bitten) just above her nose. Great. Gracie blood. EW. The vet says to watch it so it doesn't get infected, and we had a grand time washing it with water and peroxide. She HATED it. She's fine now...after a good five minutes of digging her head into the pillow as if she was digging in dirt. She's crazy...a little wiser (maybe?)...and a little bloodier...but fine.

Hooray for off days!

It is 65 degrees right now. That's right....65!!!! Yesterday it was 102! Hooray for cooling winds! It's not permanent, but at least it's a nice break today. It's supposed to be in the low 90's the rest of the week. That's much better than it has been. I am celebrating today! :)

I planned to start my morning around 10 today. This did not happen because I am retarded. Guess what I forgot to do? TURN OFF MY ALARM! At 5:50, I was awakened by the alarm and a VERY excited puppy. She thought it was time to get up. Little did she know, it was NOT! :) I went back to sleep, happily enough, until about 9am when I felt as though someone was staring at me. It was Sadie, literally 2 inches from my face. I actually jumped because I was so startled....of course that woke up Grace and then we could not go back to sleep. It's just as well, I had errands to run from Monday. It's all good! :)

I weighed in this morning. I had lost 1.4 more lbs for a grand total of 56! Hooray! :) It never ceases to amaze me that something so simple as watching my portions would turn into such a great weight loss! I am SO excited to try a plane seat after all this! I know when Becca and I flew to Puerto Rico in May, neither of us were uncomfortable in our seats, and that was after 30lbs! Now it's almost double (and hopefully will be by that time). I'm 2.8lbs away from my next goal, which is to drop the amount of Weight Watcher points by 2. I'm interested to see how my asthma behaves this winter with less weight. I don't know if it will have any correlation, but I'm hoping! I've gotten a rocking case of asthma/pneumonia the last two years and I HATE it! :) No more!

I am so ready to get out of this house. At this point, I don't care where I live, as long as it is not here! I usually go through this anger episode when we get our electric bill. It's the same as always...ridiculously high for not much cooling. Today I turned it off! I opened the door and turned off the fans. It feels so nice in here. I guess I'm just angry with myself for not looking around more for a place that wasn't falling apart. My door won't close, there's a big giant crack in the living room wall, the tile is coming up, the carpet is nasty...all things that I'm just frustrated with at the moment. I should be thankful that I have somewhere to live at all! A roof over my head, a yard for my puppy, a bed to sleep in...it's just hard to get the big picture sometimes, you know?

Liberty is hiding in my bed. She has no idea that I'm about to rip all the sheets off to wash them. She will HATE that. Oh well, it's really fun to be around her on laundry day. She loves warm clothes.

Today, Becca and I are going to go do water aerobics. I'm very excited about it. Of course, we would pick the day that it's cold outside. It's all good, the pool is heated! :) I think the sun just came out...it's supposed to be up to 75 degrees today. Hooray!

Well, must begin the laundry fun! :)

Oh the beauty of the day! :)

Well, for me not to blog on a day...that just shows you how crazy I have been the last couple days! I got called in to work on Monday, and the days just continued to go downhill from there. They have been SO STINKING busy! :) Today has actually gone much more smoothly than previous days...so I am very thankful. I don't work again until Saturday...and then I'll be getting overtime, so it really won't matter! Weekends are almost always more peaceful, except a really difficult doctor is coming onto the service Friday...so we'll see. Apparently she likes to make nurses cry. I will NOT cry. NO NO NO! :)

Anyways, besides working like a crazy person, things are going well. My aunt and I are going to the fair on Friday afternoon. THE FAIR! :) I love the fair. I would go with pretty much anyone. 'Tis a fabulous time, the fair.

And now for my favorite patients updates! :) Precious baby Marcos has gone home and apparently is doing very well. We've heard nothing but good things about his progress. I'm so excited for his family. I look at his picture every day and just smile! The other baby that I've been praying for, little Miss Kendall, is in the ICU still recovering from surgery. Apparently she did not have a good morning yesterday and actually did not have a heart beat or lung function at one point. NOT GOOD! She's fine and dandy today, and her parents are still as sweet as they can be, especially for parents whose child has recently gone through CPR! :)

Tomorrow will be a happy day...lots of relaxing and spending time with Grace and Boo. They miss having someone home all the time! Poor lambs! :)

Must go...am still technically working! :)

angry Angry ANGRY! :)

So, here's the situation. I'm sleeping peacefully in my bed, minding my own business...when my cell phone rang. In hindsight, I NEVER should have answered it, but in a blind and sleepy stupor, I did. It was work. Apparently, even though I said I was available for EMERGENCY shifts, they decided that it was necessary to use me because we were short staffed. This is ridiculous. They claim (and by they, I mean the nursing supervisor) that since we have kids from hurricane Rita on the floor, we are still needing disaster help. This is garbage. The charge nurse and the head charge nurse on the floor don't have any idea why this was enforced today. My idea is that someone let their own staff off and there weren't any nurses to float up here...so I got the wonderful job. BLECH! I've got a great assignment today, so I'm really not complaining. It's just frustrating to be lied to. It was good to be here today because I got to send Kendall off to surgery. Her whole family was up here, and it was good for them to see a friendly face before sending their child off to be cut on and chest cracked open. I really do love that family! :)

SO, all that to say that I am tired. I stayed up late...cause I'm retarded...and because I thought I would be sitting at home or working out on the elliptical machines right about now. Or still sleeping. Oh well, such is life. I'm sure that the manager will not be too happy when she has to pay me overtime on Saturday...a weekend....with my weekend extra money already on there. Sad for them. :) Happy for me! I just know that I will really enjoy Thursday and Friday...I only volunteered shifts for yesterday and today! No more of this! :)

ANyways. Guess that's all I have to say. I'm hiding in a corner in the back of the nurses station...like a weenie! :) I'm sure I'll have more exciting stories later! :)

Oh Ikea!

Ikea is a wonderland. I think I've said this before....it never ceases to be true. It's hysterical to watch people who have never been there before revel in its beauty. I love it. I never spend very much money, but it's always fun to dream in there. I have this bedroom set that I've been drooling over for quite a while..and I really will buy it one day...just not now! :)

I obviously did not get called into work today...what a delight! :) I doubt I will get called in tomorrow either. I really do love my job, but I treasure my days off! :)

My parents are going back to Houston tomorrow, after being gone for almost a week. I can't imagine how long it is going to take them to get there. Normally, it takes almost 5 hours. Tomorrow, there's no telling. I know they are planning on lots of back roads.

Big prayer request. A patient that I had the priviledge to care for last week is having surgery tomorrow. I just love this little girl and her family. It's amazing to be a part of the realization that there is something wrong with your child. Anyways, Kendall is 10 weeks old and is having major heart surgery tomorrow at 7:30am. Her parents are absolutely precious and are so worried about their little girl. Just keep this precious family in your prayers.

Liberty is squished into a hole between me and the chair. She's desperate for love. Aren't we all? :)

The fair starts this weekend. I'm SO excited. I love the fair. It's really all about the food and the exhibit halls. I was scheduled to volunteer at the Children's Medical Center petting zoo...but it was cancelled this year. BLAST! :) Stupid kids who eat their hands after touching animals! :)

Anyways....happy days!

Greek food is YUMMY!

Well, Becca, her parents, and I went to the Dallas Greek Food Festival tonight. How yummy is that! First of all, we were pretty much blown away literally by the gusts of wind from Rita. While we were eating our dinner (so divine...words are not enough), I literally thought the tent we were sitting in was going to be blown away. It was a big circus-like tent...and the middle pole was starting to wiggle. Scary! There were all these little kid Greek dancers that had the most elaborate costumes! I wanted to jump up on stage and dance with them, but I would have looked retarded in my tshirt and jeans....oh well. We also got a tour of the church it was held at, which is obviously Greek Orthodox. Oh my heavens...so elaborate. The paintings on the walls, the marble alter, all of it...just such excess. I did learn so many interesting reasons why I could never be Greek Orthodox. First of all, their weddings don't involve vows. Isn't that weird? I realize that being blessed by God is the best, but I want to pledge to my future husband (are you still out there?) on that day...not just stand there and not say anything. Second, their worship of Mary is just ridiculous. Our tour guide went as far as to say that if you didn't hold Mary in the high regard that she deserves, you were shaming Christ. That's nuts. I can be thankful that Mary said yes, but that doesn't make her holy. Brave...gutsy...amazing...but not holy. Finally, apparently one of their "sacrements" is a depiction of the dead body of Christ! Why do I need to see this? I don't revel in His dead body! It was just like when Becca and I were exploring the Puerto Rican cathedral. They actually had a life sized figure of dead Jesus in a glass box. How disturbing. Anyways....I just kept my thoughts to myself and tried to keep quiet...which is sometimes hard for me (shocker!).

We didn't get a single drop of rain from Rita. This is pretty hilarious considering that's all we heard about for a week. East Texas got slammed, but we got off with just some crazy wind gusts. I called work tonight to see if they had been calling people in for their "disaster shifts" and the charge nurse said they hadn't. I was very glad of that...mostly because Becca's going to Ikea tomorrow and I really REALLY want to go. I love Ikea. It's a wonderland. It's a good thing that I don't have kids, or I'd be broke. Ikea is so cheap and amazing. I haven't been there in several weeks...and I have birthday money. This is truly a bad combination.

It's less than a month before I go to Washington DC. I am so excited. I love that city! :)

Hope that you and your family are safe...from hurricanes or just every day life.

Drama, part 2

Well, the drama continues. People are running around wildly at the Walmart, attempting to throw every thing they might possibly need into their carts. Bread, flashlights, water...planning to hole up in their houses while the hurricane no doubt will tear their house down. We passed at least 8 gas stations that were either out of gas or only had premium. I think we're probably only going to get rain, but people are preparing for the worst. It's maddening. My sister in law called me today and said that their grocery store is out of Ramen Noodles. Do these people realize they can't cook the ramen if they have no power? Craziness.

Today I went to visit my parents who are "refugees" at my grandma's house. Pitiful. Let's see...power, food, potty, and tv. Such refugee quarters. I think that my parents really just have me over to see Gracie. I think that's what happens with actual grandchildren too...not just grand dogs. Liberty is just spoiled rotten...all that extra attention isn't going to make it any worse than it already is! She had to ride in her car seat all the way to Fort Worth. She hated it. She actually did much better than she has in the past. I only saw her attempting to sneak over the back seat once. My grandma really got a laugh out of the seat. I told her she needs one for her puppy. Those dachshunds are wild in the car. Emmitt always cried in his carrier until we sneaked him out...then he would go wild. He would never stay hidden long. My precious boy.

Tomorrow I am going to attempt to sleep in. I was trounced upon at 7:47 this morning...so no sleep there! If Grace decides to trounce in the morning...I think I'll squish her. She will not like that. :)

Must go....Getting very sleepy...

Hurricane Drama!

My day was nothing but drama. It really wouldn't have been that bad of a day. I had the same three patients as yesterday, which always makes things easier. Patient wise...I had a great day. Everyone behaved and I didn't have any problems or situations with any of them. The drama came when we found out that we were going to be getting some of the kids from Corpus Christi that were transferred last night. Also, there were at least 70 kids on the way from Houston and Beaumont. Children's has cleared one floor of patients and is using that floor to admit all the kids that need to be admitted from these hospitals. We're pretty much busting at the seams. Even with all this news, we were doing fine. It was when we got our lecture from our manager that sent us all over the edge. We were instructed that the next time we come to work, we needed to bring a change of clothes, toiletries, sleeping bags, flashlights, and non perishable food with us to work. First of all, is there going to be someone assigned to carry all this mess? She also told us that the 1st floor might flood, the plumbing might go out, and we might have to pee in BAGS! WHAT IS THAT? I really dont' know how this hurricane will hit Dallas, but I do know that I will NOT be peeing in any bag. If I'm required to do this, I'm going home and finding a new job! :)

I had the most exciting news today! Marcos is going home TOMORROW! :) :) I am so excited for him! I went in to kiss him goodbye and his family gave me a thank you card and a picture of him. When I get the time, I'll post the picture that they gave me. It's SO cute! :) He hasn't been home since April...so it's about time! :)

Tomorrow, the puppies and I are going to my grandma's to visit her and my parents, who are evacuated there. My mom makes it seem like they are hard up over there....really. They have a queen sized bed, their own bathroom, and food. What else do they need? :) They need to see their granddog. Wish granted. We'll go tomorrow.

Well, I'm glad I don't have to be at work the next two days. Hopefully by the time I have my "disaster" shifts, I won't be needed. We'll hope for that. It's much easier to be on call when you work days. I don't really have to prepare...or sleep. I just go. If I worked overnight in a disaster shift, I'd probably fall asleep half way through. Not good for patient care.

Anyways, I hope wherever you are, you are safe and away from the hurricane...and its ensuing drama! :)

Retarded dog

Liberty is sitting on the couch next to me chewing something. I can't really tell what it is...especially since every time I go over there to fish it out of her mouth, she stops chewing. Tonight, Becca and I took the pups on a car ride, and we opened up the top of the car and put the puppies out the sun room. Sadie loved it. She loves the wind against her face! Liberty hates it. She did not like it.

Work was really good today...again, busy...but good. I have this precious new family that has just found out their daughter has a heart defect. It's really interesting being with them as they go down this new adventure. I spent a lot of time today reassuring and helping them cope today..which is exactly why I became a nurse. I love that one on one time. I think they liked me too...so that always helps. I did take a little boy to a sleep study and ended up on the anorexia/bulimia floor. That was an interesting experience...a bunch of ridiculously skinny teenagers, some as young as 13. So sad!

Well, the hospital is officially under a "Code Yellow External Disaster". This means we're required to be available to work extra if we are needed. The funny thing is, they are willing to pay for child care and PET CARE! Liberty does fine staying by herself, but let me tell you, if they call me in, I will be shipping her and her sister off to the Pet Hotel at Pet Smart. They can enjoy Doggie day care on Children's Medical Center budget. The hospital transporters left earlier today to get about 12 kids from the children's hospital in Corpus Christi. At this point, they are also deciding whether or not to evacuate Texas Childrens in Houston. It's going to be an interesting couple of days.

My parents evacuated their city today. My mother is so dramatic. She called me at 9:30 this morning, while I was with one of my patients in a procedure and said "Stephanie. Your father and I are evacuating Houston". It was in this creepy "Doom is coming" voice. It's the same voice she used when she and my dad took Emmitt to the vet when they ended up putting him to sleep and she called me and said "Stephanie. Do you want to say goodbye?" Tears obviously ensued. She also used this voice when my father cut his arm with a chainsaw. She had taken him to the ER, had him already sewn up, and was waiting to be discharged. She said "Stephanie. Your father's in the ER" Now, many things go through my mind. My dad has high blood pressure and high cholesterol. I'm thinking stroke, heart attack, something terrible. I asked her if I needed to come, what was going on, what meds had they given him...and then she finished her story "He cut his arm with a chain saw and it's already sewn up. He's fine." All that to say, my parents are fine. They are staying with my grandma in Fort Worth.

Anyways. I've got 45 minutes before bedtime...so I'd better get going...have fun!

Laundry day...not my favorite!

I really don't like doing laundry. I'm of the thinking that clothes should either A. not get dirty or B. wash themselves. I just don't like taking the time to do laundry. I hate wrinkly clothes, so I always feel like I'm stalking the dryer to get the clothes out before the heat goes away and they could get wrinkled. Liberty loves the laundry because she can burrow in it...which wrinkles it. I usually give up at that point. There's no point in chasing her out of the laundry because the minute I turn my back, she's right back in it. Weirdo.

Today was weigh in day. I lost 1.4 lbs! I think that's pretty good, especially considering it was my birthday and there was cake and brownies. I think I'm at the beginning of a good streak...I always eat better when I work the day shift. I don't have time to get bored and eat from boredom! I'm usually moving non stop without a chance to run to the vending machine to get some barbeque chips (so yummy).

I work the next two days, so I'm sure I'll be busy there! Hooray for busyness! This entry is kinda short...I have less going on when I'm not working, but I'm sure that tomorrow will be full of stories again! :)

Hooray for the day! :)

Oh, the beauty of the day shift. So busy, yet so worth it. I'm so excited to be back in the day time. I had 4 kids today, and was busy all day, but I didn't mind at all! I even was able to help out my fellow nurses! It was overall a nice day. I'm not as tired as I though I would be, which is always a nice thing.

So now, my brother and sister in law are doing Weight Watchers. Have I started a revolution? First my sister, then mom, then Becca, now Michael and Jennifer. Oh well, I would always recommend it to anyone...it's fabulous. Hooray for 53lbs gone! :) I weigh in tomorrow and we'll see how that goes. I don't know how birthday fun has affected it. It will be interesting! :)

Right now I am watching the Cowboy game. Becca is afraid to come in here right now. Apparently the screaming and yelling is scaring her. I've always done that with the games. When my parents had Emmitt, we used to scare him because we kept screaming "GO EMMITT RUN!" and he would be confused. When Emmitt Smith would score a touchdown, we'd throw our Emmitt into the air and give him a treat. He didn't understand it, but he loved that treat. We even had a little jersey for him that we made out of a baby t-shirt. It had glitter paint on it with a 22 and I think it actually said "go ween go". He hated that too! :) Poor thing..so sad.

Sadie and I had a barking match today. She was shrieking at the top of her lungs...and so was I. Pretty fun, I tell you. Ever tried to out-shriek a poodle? Pretty difficult! :)

Not quite sure what I'm going to be doing tomorrow. Probably laundry...since it's piling up in epic proportions in my bedroom...partly in the basket...partly in the floor. Ah well. Such is life! :)

Good news for my little friend Marcos! He got his chest tube out today and there's word that he may go home on Thursday! I'm so happy for him and his family today! I love his mom and her broken english. It's precious! She's come so far since she's been here! When she first got to the hospital 4 months ago, she spoke no English. Now we can communicate in our broken Spanglish! :)

Well, must go stop Gracie from shredding Dr. Pepper wrappers all over my bed. She's mangled the bottle...and is moving on to the paper! :) Scary!

Drew is EVIL!

Oh my goodness. My entire torso is aching. My 30 minutes with the evil personal trainer on Friday has turned into 48 hours of torture. It actually hurts to lift my arms...and it even is a strain to type! That obviously is not stopping me.

I've had a fun weekend! :) On Saturday morning, on the way home from work, I decided that I needed to take my car to get washed. Now the unnamed car smells like vanilla! Yum! That afternoon, I went to a baby shower for the nurse who was my mentor during my orientation. She's been on bedrest since the beginning of August and still has a month to go. We gathered around her bedside for the shower. It was a lot of fun. When I got home, I was told we were leaving at 6:15pm. I was told that I should not wear the skirt that I was presently wearing. Seeing as I had an hour and a half until then, promptly jumped on the bed and took a nap! :) I love naps. We went to Blue Mesa (so yummy) where we were met by some of our friends! Then we went miniature golfing, which I LOVE ! My family has always gone miniature golfing. I'm always terrible, but it's always fun.

Today, after church, my aunt took me to this fabulous restaurant at the galleria. It was very fancy and the food...oh my goodness yum. We had these Asian nachos...which was pretty much like California Pizza Kitchen's Thai Chicken Pizza on a fried wonton instead of crust. YUM.

Tomorrow, I start DAY SHIFT! It's a welcome change...especially after the hellish night I had on Friday. Oh my goodness, I was never so ready to leave! :) I know that day shift is busier and more chaotic, but at least I can sleep!

I think Becca's TV must be really loud right now...I'm sitting in my bedroom with my TV on and I can still hear hers! Funny! :) Liberty is crowding my space in this chair. I think she waits until I get absolutely comfortable...then crams her bootie in the smallest possible space. Beastie.

I'm sad because Extreme Makeover is not on tonight. This is sad. I love Ty...or that show, I mean! :) I cry every single week! I'm a weenie!

Well, I must be off...to go do something very important, I'm sure. :)

Nights be gone! :)

Well, it's my last night shift. I was hoping that it would be a fabulous walk in the park....with the same kids I have been taking care of for weeks....but someone didn't want me to go out with ease. It's been a regular picnic tonight. I have 3 kids...which is not bad. I actually have a tech tonight, so I'm not having to do my own vital signs! Hooray! :) I do have a pretty sick little boy though...who really wasn't supposed to come out of the ICU yet. Well, he's here...and just chugging along. I've spent the night chasing his blood pressure. We have this horrid senior resident tonight who is not compassionate and who never should have thought he should go into pediatrics. He's mean and unfeeling. Nasty beast. Of course, with my pretty critical kids, I've had to bug the intern a lot more than normal. She's pretty attached at the hip to the senior, which means I have to see him. EW!

The second reason that my night has gone to pot is that our senior nurse team leader and the manager are STILL HERE. It's 1:42am...they should be home and in bed. They are up here working on all these retarded care plans and nonsense. They are hounding us and walking around behind us practically watching to see us make a mistake. I wish they would lighten up. I know that moving to day shift means a lot more people watch what I'm doing, and I'm okay with that....I just like my nights to myself! :)

Today, I went to the gym and worked out with the arm and back nazi. "Drew" loves him some personal training...and for the bargain price of 55 dollars a SESSION, I can see him for 4 times a week for 3 months! No thank you! I tried to be nice and say things like "I need to see if that will work into my budget"...and that seemed to hold him. I'm tired of people trying to sell me things...cars, gym memberships, now personal training sessions. I just want to put a big sign on my forehead that says "NOT INTERESTED!" I'm not an easily convinced person, and these people keep thinking I am. It's okay, I guess...they don't know me. I could just as easily be the retard who walks in off the street uneducated and retarded. HA! :)

Well, my birthday turned out to be just not the most exciting one...but that's okay. They don't all have to be. I got up late...ate some french fries (so yummy)...worked out (birthday fun)...and came home and ate my Boston Market (another so yummy). I didn't have to work, and that was SO nice. I just relaxed. Today, besides going to visit the trainer nazi, I really didn't do much either...I think I'm developing a pattern. Tomorrow, I have things to do! Hooray for me and business! I have a baby shower and an unidentified event occurring tomorrow night. FUN! :)

Well, I'd better get going. Have fun in what you do today! :)

Happy Birthday to me!

Well, another birthday come...and I'm sure it's going to be as rocking as ever. The fact that I woke up at 11:30am today made the day start off good! I absolutely love to sleep! Becca and I were just talking about this last night...that I can sleep anywhere at any time. Ironically, last night I couldn't sleep. I was awake until at least 3am...just laying around in my bed...trying to sleep. It was absolutely crazy! I actually had to go digging around in my bathroom cabinet for sleep inducing medications, which I really don't like to take. Finally, the Simply Sleep took effect and I was whisked off into a dreamless slumber. This morning I've done many exciting things already...got up, took a REALLY late movie back to the video store, and went to the post office. Doesn't that sound like birthday fun to you? Tonight, Becca and I are planning to go work out...which is always what one wishes to do on a birthday.

Right now, Liberty is smushed in a tiny crevice between my rear end and the edge of the papizan chair. She's desperate for attention. The crazy beast is following me around like I've abandoned her for the last time! Sadie, on the other hand, is being anti-social. She's either curled up in my bed or sitting on the couch, away from the action. Last night, she was so crazy! She was sitting in Becca's lap with her new favorite toy...Liberty's squirrel. Another squirrel was on the ground at Becca's feet. The minute she saw Liberty going for it, she jumped off the lap, ran to the squirrel, and savagely snarled and growled at Gracie for even thinking about taking the second squirrel. She then took it up to Becca's lap, to sit with the other squirrel. She's crazy.

Here's an update on my precious baby Marcos! He's doing well! He's back on the floor and out of the ICU. He's still got some recovery to go, but it shouldn't be too long before he gets to go home, something he hasn't done in 4 months. I actually haven't taken care of him since he got back from the IcU. I've been taking care of another pretty sick baby. Her name is Kayla. She's had a rough week and it's been really interesting seeing her progress over the last 3 weeks. Her parents are young, but they are absolutely precious! They love that baby so much! It's always nice to see parents who love their children, no matter what may be wrong with them. There's no telling how long this baby will be with them, but they are already planning her future. Her mom says "She's going to be a dancer...or President!" Her dad thinks she's going to be a cheerleader. They are very sweet.

Well, I'm sure that there are many interesting things I should be doing...like laundry...or dishes. I'm not going to touch them! :) Not today! :) Have fun today...I know I will!

Busy me.

Tonight's been one of those nights where I don't ever stop moving. When I got here, I found out that I had 4 patients, and there is no tech here. This means we get to do all our own vital signs...which just takes longer. I don't mind doing them, and I actually get to spend more time with the families when I do the vital signs. I never have a problem with that! I've got some great families tonight. I like appreciative families! :)

This morning after I got off work, I went to go work out. It's always SO hard to do that. It takes every fiber in my being not to go straight home instead of stopping. I never mind once I'm there...it's just getting there that is the problem. Today, I'm not going there straight after work. I figure, I might as well just go home and get some sleep since I only get to sleep to noon or so. I'm also giving platelets today. It's really not my favorite thing to do, be strapped down in a chair for 2 hours while my body is stripped of my clotting agents. BUT...I know it's the right thing to do. I'm especially excited because the way the blood center works, if you donate platelets twice (this is my second time) than you can sign up to be on the bone marrow donor registry for free! I've never been able to do it before because I have been too fat...but not anymore! Hooray for me! I just really need to eat a lot of Tums before I go this time. The way they filter your platelets causes your body to lose calcium...and you start to have facial twitching and my teeth hurt. Not so fun if you're not prepared.

Tomorrow is my birthday. I'm not really having any feelings one way or another about it. I guess I don't really react to birthdays as much as others. To me, it's just another year that I'm by myself with my Gracie! :) I just accept it...I won't say that I've never been upset at a birthday...just not lately!

Well, I'd better get going. I'm sure there is something I am supposed to be doing...just not quite sure what it is! :) Happy Sept 14 to you!

Two more and counting...

It is so hard to believe that I am almost done with the night shift! I only have 2 more to go! Hooray! It's going to be a fun 2 though...I can already tell. Right now, I have 4 patients, and 3 of them are trying to do some crazy stuff. I'm having to keep a watchful eye. Sometimes I hate being responsible! :) Oh well, they are awful cute...so I can't despise them too much.

Tomorrow (or actually today) I get to go work out on my way home from work. It's actually a pretty insane time to go. There are so many people there, trying to squeeze that workout in before they go to work, and some of us are coming after work. Last week, both days that I went early in the am, there were a whole big group of guys playing basketball! Apparently their jobs don't start until 9 or later! :) It's pretty peaceful in the morning...it is hard finding something to watch that will keep me awake. Now that I know that I like the elliptical machine, I'm going to split up my time between it and the bike and treadmill. I figure if I can get at least 30 minutes in, I've done more than enough...especially if I end up going more than 3 times a week, which I have been. It's really nice enjoying working out again. I hope that I'm able to keep up this momentum!

At work, we have this REALLY lazy tech. She likes to spend her evenings playing on the internet, chatting with her internet lover. She gets so out of sorts when she is asked to actually do her job. The techs are supposed to do vital signs (which she does), write down how much kids eat, change their diapers, and just basically help out. She only does the first one. I just sat here and watched her chat on the internet, then get angry when the heart monitor guy paged her to go check on a kid. She huffed around, mumbling that the kid's nurse wasn't doing anything...and why did they page her! Umm....let me think....maybe because it's her job? Just a wild goose chase though... :) Now she's back to chatting with her lover (whom she's gone to Oklahoma for booty call for...EW! She told me all about it. I wanted to know none of it.) and giggling to herself. Maybe I'll have her paged, just for the fun of it...

I'm actually rather awake right now...not sure why. I didn't get much sleep.

Gracie ate an entire box of chocolate mint cookies. She's so retarded, the little beggar. I think in the last two days, she's maybe had 1 meal of dog food. The rest of the time she's been stealing crap out of the cabinet. It's partly our fault...when we leave the cabinet open, this tempts the puppies because they can reach it. We never used to have food that they could reach there before...just things like Bisquick. I'm going to move all the temptations out of there.....the mini wheats....the cookies...the wheat thins...Who knows what else they will decide looks good!

The tech just got paged again and stormed off in a huff. She's crazy.

Well...must be off now. My kids are deciding not to behave again....EEK!

Days fly by!

It seems that the days in this year have just flown by. I can't believe it's already September 11th! This is always a hard day for me, as I'm sure it is for most Americans. I always like to watch the ceremonies on TV and see all the different things that people do to honor the dead. This morning...I was angry. I woke up, turned on my computer and found out that the headlines in the news didn't have anything to do with Sept 11! It was all about who should run for president and (my personal favorite)...what to do if you fall in love with your babysitter's boyfriend! YIKES! This kind of crap makes my patriotic blood boil. How dare we decide that 3,000 lives are less important than adultery?!? It's so frustrating.

I went to the gym again today. It was actually really quiet, which surprised me. Normally, weekends are always busy...but not really today. I tried a snazzy new elliptical machine..one with little arm handles. It was so much fun! I could have stayed on it for longer...but I wanted to go have treadmill fun, too.

I have to go weigh in tomorrow. It's going to be horrific. I have been so wretchedly awful this week...dang PMS. I also blame all the working out. I get so hungry afterwards! Not good at all! :(

Liberty just ran into my room, jumped head first into a pile of towels, rooted around for 3 minutes, and went to sleep. Now she's decided that she needs the squirrel (her favorite toy) and she's brought it up to me. She's sitting in my legs (I'm laying on my stomach) with the squirrel in her paws. She's crazy.

Must be off now. I've got to watch the final minutes of a wedding cake bake off. TONS OF FUN! :)

Semi-well rested!

I finally feel awake! I decided to stay up yesterday instead of sleeping in order to clean. I thought that would be a better option. My house was pretty dirty, and although I know that my friends are just happy to see me, not my house, I'd rather have it not be an embarrassment. I cleaned the kitchen, living room, bathroom, and my bedroom. I needed to stay busy in order to stay awake. I actually worked straight through until about 10:30am. I knew Dana and Dave would be here about 11:30, so I needed to kill an hour. I ran some errands and tried my best to stay awake. They came about 11:15am with their brood of tiny angels! Oh my goodness..they are so cute! Sam's 3 1/2 and a little performer. More than once, he broke into song and dance. He's so cute! He's a mirror image of his dad...which is really fun to see! Micah is 2 and so funny! She decided at lunch that she absolutely had to dip her hamburger in yogurt (EW)! She got so upset until it was decided that it all went to the same place! The baby, Annabelle, is 2 months old. She's quite the little smiler! Liberty wanted so much to kiss her face, but was only allowed to sniff her hands. We went to lunch, then brought the kids back here to nap. We watched TV and did lots of talking while they napped. I have missed Dana so much! It was really good to see her and her little family.

After they left, I realized how tired I really was. I had been up at that point for 24 hours. I knew I couldn't go to bed yet, but I also was going to be absolutely worthless at my personal training session at the gym. I called and cancelled it. Becca and I went to Target ( hooray for new pajamas!) and got some food and brought it home. We watched a movie...and then I was allowed to sleep! Hooray for sleep! I slept from 9 ish to 11:25 this morning. It was a very nice sleep. Even Grace slept...which was surprising.

Today I went and saw my great aunt in the hospital. She fell and broke her ankle last week. Then I took Gracie to the vet. That's always a fun time. The guy who runs the hospital is very gay, but loves dachshunds. He absolutely loves Gracie. He has 2 dacshunds at home. We always talk about the love of doxies. Her vet, Dr. Bass...or who we call Dr Rachel, also loves the puppies. She always gives them lots of love and kisses (and puppy treats) when she sees them. Gracie got a shot in the bootie (hated it) and a vaccine up her nose (hated that more). She's pretty crabby right now...the rabies vaccine always makes her mad.

Tonight a friend is having a housewarming party. I like parties. Well, I'd better go. Things need to be done...like the rest of my laundry...FUN!

Only three more night shifts...

Thankfully, my night tonight started out better than it has this week. I actually had pretty calm children, only 3 patients, and they all had parents! Then, 2 of the parents left...but the kids were okay...so that made it nice. I've been steadily busy all night, which is why it's 2:33am and I'm just now typing this. Scandalous.

We have this absolutely crazy dad on the floor. He's so out of touch with reality...it's almost scary. Apparently, his child was throwing up today and he thought it was because she hadn't pooped in like 2 days. He wanted an enema for her. (what a nice dad!) Well, the resident didn't order it and the nurse kept asking and asking. Finally, they got her one...after a couple of hours. This guy at this point went psycho. He called the manager of the floor, the nursing supervisor, the president of the hospital...all because he thought his child was wronged. They did think that something might have happened to her heart, but they did a test and it all turned out okay. Nothing was wrong. So this child has no permanent damage from not getting an enema for a couple of hours. Now he's threatening to call the newspaper. He's been calling the hospital operator all night, trying to talk to the head of the medical staff, the chief cardiologist....he's crazy! Thankfully, he is not mad at nursing...so we're off the hook...but I do feel sorry for that resident. I really think he might just wait for her by the elevator and attack her. We might have to call security! I think I'll make it a point to sit at the desk in the morning...should be interesting.

I am having so many food cravings...it's ridiculous! I literally can not stop eating! I am so hungry! I know that I've been working out a lot more this week...or maybe it's that I'm PMSing...but it's something. It's really bad. Tonight we went to McDonalds and I just had to have a salad...okay so a Double Cheeseburger...but who cares, right? :) I am so horrid. I'm totally counteracting all this good working out I'm doing. Blast!

It's going to be an interesting day! A friend of mine that I haven't seen in 2 years is coming to Dallas to see her family and she's stopping by with her hubby and 3 kiddos for lunch! Well, working nights doesn't really allow for much housecleaning...so I'm going to try and do that when I get home. I'm sure I'm going to probably not be any good to anyone this afternoon...no sleep makes me crazy! They will be here around 11:30 or so...not sure when they are leaving. Then at 6, a trainer at the new gym is going to teach me how to use the machines...I'm sure I'll be a bundle of energy at that point! It doesn't matter though...cause I haven't seen Dana in 2 years..since right after the birth of her second child (my namesake...Micah LYNNE!) and now she has 3 kids! I'm such a terrible friend! I know it's not going to matter though...the minute I see her, it will be like it always is! Hooray! :)

I don't work again until Monday night...so hopefully I'll be able to get some rest this weekend. That's my current plan. I have a party to go to Saturday night, but hopefully I'll be able to lay around and rest on Saturday. I do have to take Gracie to the vet...she needs shots. I love her vet..she's so sweet and you can really tell that she loves puppies! :)

K. I think I'm done now. I'm gonna go feed one of my chillins. and then maybe curl up and take a nap. HA! :)

Cliff Jumping.

I have decided. I am going to jump off a cliff! :) This night has been an absolute disaster...and it's only 10:30pm! Yikes! The madness began bright and early when I found out I had 4 kids...we usually only have 3. This is not a problem usually...I don't mind taking on more work. It keeps me busy...little did I know how busy. One of my kids (the same one from last night actually) was alone again. The funny thing was, the parents and aunt had been here all day! They just decided to sneak out...literally. No one saw them leave, but we did hear the baby squacking! She was so angry! Her heart rate was very elevated and she was sweating like a pig! I think I'm going to have to bathe her next time she wakes up...she's pretty stinky in there. I also had to draw lab from a 14 year old...which shouldn't have been a problem. He had a really big IV..so I should have been able to pull blood out of it....but I couldn't. No such luck. I ended up having to stick him! I hate that! :( All the while...this baby is still screaming. We are short on techs tonight, so I couldn't send one of them in there. Frustrating. My personal favorite part of the whole tech fiasco was that the one tech was given about 1/2 the patients. The ironic thing was, she only had 1 of mine. That seems a big unfair to me, but I just take it in stride and do my own stinking vital signs. (not bitter...not bitter...not bitter). I finally got all my meds given, all my kids assessed, and I had taken the screamer out to the nurses station with me. She fell asleep, of course. Right at that point, the mom called and wanted to know how she was doing. Oh, the things I wish I could have said...but didn't. It's hard keeping my mouth shut sometimes. The real kicker was that my underpants were on backwards the entire time. That didn't feel good, I'll tell you. I'm finally straightened out, all kids are sleeping or at least quiet, and I am starting to warm up (this place is a cooler!).

Other than my fiasco the first couple hours at work, it's been a pretty good day. I went to the gym this morning on the way home from work. I got to watch an infomercial about the "Flavorwave" oven while I did the treadmill and bike. It really makes the time go faster. I still got home and into bed by 8:45am. Happy day! :) I slept until 4:30pm, with only one interruption by the dynamic duo who wanted to go potty. I got gas for $2.90 on the way to work! What a deal! I did have to wait in line for it...but who cares!

I only have to work one more night this week...and I am so thrilled! :) Thankfully, my "disaster" shift was cancelled...as far as I know...and I dont' have to come! :) It's a happy day! I'm supposed to call on Saturday to verify, but the charge nurse said that if the hospital is not at code "yellow", then I don't have to be here. Hooray!

Well, I guess that's all there is to report...not a lot going on here on the homefront...pretty dull actually! :)

Babies are CRYING!

Oh my goodness. I absolutely despise when I get babies that the parents do not stay the night. I understand if you have to work during the day...there are volunteers who would love nothing better than to come and hold our babies. It gets bad at night. They cry and scream and there is no one to hold them! I would love to carry them around all night, but that's just not possible! :) I've got a really cranky baby tonight, plus 2 other kids. Thankfully, everyone else has parents! I just want this little angel to go to sleep! She'll be really fun tomorrow...when they poke and prod on her all day, and she hasn't had any sleep. No fun at all.

Other than my cranky baby, things are going well. I weighed in at Weight Watchers before I came to work and found out I've lost 3 more pounds. It never ceases to amaze me how the weight keeps coming off. I find it hard to believe sometimes. I look at myself and think "I was 53lbs heavier than this 27 weeks ago!" It's nice to have clothes that fit...wait, I have no clothes that fit! I need to go to Goodwill and find some cheap clothes that will actually fit. I've made a decision that I am not going to buy new clothes until I am either at my goal weight or close. There's really no point! Wait, that sounds like I'm going to be either A: naked or B: in baggy nasty clothes. I'll have to buy clothes, but I'll refuse to buy them for full price until I am at my goal. Clearance is my friend! I may be the homliest person around, but at least I won't have had to pay a lot for clothes!

I really enjoy the new place we work out. Becca and I were talking about it tonight. She went this evening and worked out on the cardio machines for 50 minutes, but didn't even realize it because she was watching TV! It really does make time go faster! They also have these really REALLY snazzy fans on each of the machines. I don't get as hot as I normally would. That's always a good thing. It's nice being excited about working out. I'm really excited to be able to start going to classes...once I have some time off.

I work the next two nights also. I really prefer to work my nights 3 in a row. When I do day shift, I like to do 2 in a row...it is more stressful on days and 3 in a row really wears on me. I've found if I do 2 days, I'm a lot more willing to come in if I think to myself that there's only 2 days then a couple days off. I can't believe that I am so close to being on the day shift! It's a miracle!

All the babies are quiet now (knock on wood). I guess I've loved them up for one night...maybe they will sleep for awhile.

My precious baby Marcos is still in the ICU. They did take out his breathing tube, and he's supposedly doing fine. I'll probably sneak on up there later...just to cuddle with him. He's a tiny little angel! Keep him in your prayers.

Must go eat dinner now. Salad's calling my name! :)

I hurt everywhere!

Well, it's been an exciting weekend! On Saturday, my mom came into town, and she and I went over to my aunt's house for her surprise birthday celebration. It was a blast! All my aunt's friends were there...even ones that were from really far away! It really surprised her, and that's the best part. We rode in a Hummer limo (can you really get any more tacky?) and went downtown Dallas to Sambuca (fancy word for expensive food) and Nick and Sam's (another fancy term for expensive dessert). We had a really great time. The most hilarious moment was at Nick and Sam's. I went back into the restaurant to find my grandma (she's always the last one to be anywhere) to make sure she was okay. She'd already stolen a wine glass from the first restaurant, so I didn't really trust her to be alone. While I was waiting for her, I saw this waiter crouched in the corner of the bar, drinking wine straight out of the bottle. Then he put the bottle back in its hiding place and went back to work! What kind of crazy person does that!?! This was definately not the kind of restaurant that one would do something so trashy at....maybe down the street with a paper bag. Crazy man. I had a great time, but I was so tired from working the night before...I probably wasn't the greatest company.

On Sunday, my mom and I went over to Canton. That's always fun. We even took Liberty, to make it a bit more exciting. She loves to bark her fool head off at other dogs...especially those who are much bigger than her. My favorite barking incident is with a lady with 2 toy poodles. Liberty was SO annoyed at the white one, snapping and barking. She left the gray one totally alone...for those of you who don't know Sadie...she's gray. I thought it was pretty funny.

Becca and I went on a search for a new gym yesterday. We figured we might be able to get a good deal since it was Labor Day. I'm really passionate about water aerobics..so I only wanted to look at gyms that had it. 24 hour fitness didn't...so we didn't even look there. We did go to Bally's Total Fitness and LA Fitness, which is very new to the Dallas area. We went to Bally's first, and found everything we were looking for. They had great classes, water aerobics, and nice machines. The only problem was that it seemed like I was buying a car...the salesman simply did not understand that I was intending to look around. He kept saying things like "well, what would make you sign up with us right here today". I kept saying "WE WANT TO LOOK AROUND!" When we went to the other place, I fell in love with it! They just replaced all their machines with beautiful ones that have individual TV's on them. They have a pool with water aerobics and a locker room with a private women's jacuzzi, sauna, and steam room. This place also doesn't have any contracts, so you don't have to be there for any certain amount of time. We ended up picking the second place, and I don't have any regrets. I go to Curves now, and love the people there...but it's time to move on. I've gotten into a rut there...but I don't hold it against them. We ended up going back to work out yesterday afternoon...and let me tell you, I feel it everywhere. I'm one giant muscle cramp. SAD!

I go back to work tonight..for three days in a row. At the end of the week, I'll only have 1 more week of the night shift. Hooray!

Well, it's almost time for my "get ready for work" nap. Have fun today!

Middle O' the night musings.

I absolutely hate this time of the night. It's the time when the minutes go so quickly by that I almost want to discover the way to make time go faster...RIGHT THEN! :) I just spent an hour and a half in the break room, watching what else? HGTV! Remember...only at work and only to pass the time. I don't live for it. It's been a pretty uneventful night...thankfully. Well, I guess it would be nice to have some excitement, but the last couple nights have gotten crazy right before my shift is over, and I would rather that not happen again. My precious baby Marcos is still in the ICU. They are hoping to take the breathing tube out today..so keep him in your prayers! His sisters were up here earlier...little angels. They have the biggest smiles! They love that little boy to death! :)

Today my mom is coming to visit. I think my house is a mess...but I care not. I figure, my mom knows that I'm not the cleanest person. I don't think I'll throw her into shock with a spotless house. My aunt called me at work tonight, desperate to find out what we are doing with her tomorrow. It should be interesting.

I literally am running out of clothes to wear. I cleaned out my closet and gave a lot to the Leukemia society. I'd rather give to them than Goodwill...and they just happened to call and ask for donations. I think I had 3 bags of clothes. I wish I had someone to give them to...but that looks bad "Here's the clothes that I'm not fat enough for anymore...are you fat enough?" I don't have anyone to give them to anyways. I guess I only have skinny friends...skinnier than me anyways. I need to go buy some pants...all my dress pants were huge. Blast it all. My closet consists of 3/4 scrubs and 1/4 real people clothes. If I took all the scrubs out that were too big, I would have precisely 4 tops and 1 pair of pants to wear to work. Right now, I look like a sack of potatoes. Ah well. There are worse problems I could have, right?

I only have six more night shifts...I AM SO HAPPY! I really do love the staff on nights, and I will miss working with them. They are a wild bunch. They are also critical of people who don't know how to do their job...but thankfully they have accepted me as "knowledgeable!" I am also happy because the new set of interns comes out on their own in 3 or 4 weeks. This means that I will no longer be the first to float! WHAT A HAPPY DAY! :) There are 2 girls coming onto days...and they go first. Unfortunately, we are getting ready to go to RSV season...where we end up never having an empty bed on the floor...so they probably won't have to float very much. Oh well...the staff on the floor that I float to all the time is very nice...and most of the time ask me to join them down there..but it's GI/Renal. I don't do poop. I don't like it. I like hearts...which is why I am a cardiology nurse!

I would say "maybe I should go do my job now" but I really don't have anything to do! Stinking boredom!

Lovin' the nightlife...

Well, maybe loving is too strong a term. Tonight I am really struggling to stay awake! I slept enough hours today, but woke up half way through because the puppies knew Grandma had food and they needed it. Angry at puppies. :) I threw them outside, then we went back to bed..without chicken from Grandma! :) I think my REM cycle was interrupted because I usually do fine when I sleep from 8:30-4...but not so much today. I think it's also that I didn't sleep very well yesterday afternoon...so I started out the three days tired. Not such a good idea.

Other than sleeping, my day was uneventful. Becca and I took the puppies on a CAR RIDE (I love to say that to Sadie...she goes manic.) to McDonalds after I woke up. I needed french fries. Liberty tried to catapault herself through the drive thru window...apparently she was very excited to be so close to all the action. She even dared to put her nose close to the window. SHAME!

I cannot wait to go home and sleep..in approximately 4 hours and 22 minutes. My bed is calling my name. It's not even that I have had a particularly crazy night. I have had 2 kids. One has slept through the whole night, only getting up to eat. The other one had a cranky spell around midnight, but other than that has slept. I have no xrays in the morning..which is fabulous. I hate waking kids up, throwing them in a wagon, and toting them downstairs, complete with all their gear. It's really bad when they have all their monitor wires plus chest tubes plus oxygen. I haven't had one that bad in awhile....my day will come. That's one of the things I hate about the night shift. From 2-5, I'm usually bored out of my mind. For the next hour, I am sitting with baited breath, waiting for radiology to call and say bring the kids. It's very frustrating. The worst part is those who don't get their xrays done. Then the day shift has to do them. As a former (and soon to be permanent) member of day shift, this is the worst way to start your day!

Right now, I've rigged the TV across from the nurse's station so I can watch HGTV while I type. Now, let me set the record straight...I do NOT like this channel. I have no interest in interior decorating or how to prepare a house to sell. I do watch it so that I have something to do while I'm at work in the wee hours of the morning. It seems that this channel plays their regular programming long after others have gone to the infamous "paid programming" IE infomercials.

Must go now. I think I need to go walk the stairs to stay awake. And just in time...HGTV has now gone to an infomercial selling something called "Light Relief" which seems to heal pain by shining light on body parts. Wow. This is really too much.