June 30, 2002
I was a lucky girl last night and ended up helping out in the Pediatric Unit. They had three kids, the littlest one being six weeks old. I spent most of my time with the little guy, rocking him and feeding him and changing him. It was very cool and made my uterus ache and all. The bummer thing is that he has to be in the hospital. He was a very popular little fellow last night and I am afraid he has been spoiled the past few days. I would say that last night was probably the best paying babysitting job I have ever had.
June 28, 2002
Well, here it is, Friday already. I have completed my EKG class and passed with flying colors. I was a little worried, but I guess I did pretty well on the test. I am now ready to get out there and start my strip interpretations. I have to work tonight and tomorrow night, but I get to work with cool people, so hopefully it will go well.
We went to my grandparent's trailer last night. They are on their summer vacation camping trip and decided to make San Luis a stop, since we are up here as is my cousin. Initially, we were going to go out to eat, but for some reason they decided to stay in and cook for us, the 6 of us crammed in their little trailer in Oceano. My grandma made quesadillas, which I thought was kind of odd. She had other stuff to go with it and it was nice to visit. This morning, Shane woke up cursing the dinner and stating that he had been poisoned. I didn't feel that well myself. I don't know if it was the dinner or our lunch from earlier (he claims it was the dinner). Who knows, we both feel better now. Just like in Arsenic and Old Lace..the little old grandmas poisoning people. I don't think she did it intentionally if it was even because of her food. It probably would have been better if we had just gone out. More space to sit and less work for my grandma in her tiny little kitchen.
June 26, 2002
Someone or something is leaving us little dead mice in our yard. Shane and I went out there the other day and happened upon two of them, just laying there in the grass. It took us both kind of by surprise. Shane disposed of them. A few days later, I walked out there to find another one, in about the same spot. I quickly ran as far away from it as I could get, shuddering. Shane took care of it again. I hope that whatever is catching these mice and decorating our lawn with them is through. It is really yucky to stumble upon them, thinking that you could have just walked on them if you hadn't been looking.
When we lived down in Vista, we lived sort of out in the country in a guest house. The people who owned the house had 4 dogs, who would frequently catch gophers and the like. One day, the husband of the family was off on a business trip and the wife was home alone. One of the dogs had once again caught a squirrel and was pretending it was it's baby or something. The wife was so squeamish and could not handle it at all, so she chose to ignore it. The squirrel hung around for a few days and started to look nastier and nastier. I happened to be outside at the same time as the wife on afternoon and kind of encouraged her to get rid of it, standing by as moral support. She couldn't do it. "You are going to be a nurse, Erika...." I had to take care of the squirrel. It was very gross.
June 25, 2002
Another thing I love...getting letters in the mail. There is just something about getting mail.
I finished my book last night. I tried to finish it before I left for work and managed to get to the beginning of the last chapter right before I had to go. It was a fairly slow night, so lucky me, I was able to finish it. I really enjoyed it and have already started the next one. The first two have both made me cry. They are so very touching and heart wrenching! I am enjoying them immensly. I am thankful that I am only at the beginning of the series. I love to read books in a series, knowing that the story continues and I have so much to look forward to...especially when I start the series and there are so many books already written. It's always so sad when you catch up, and longing for more, have to wait for the next book to be written. Especially if you decide you have to wait for the paperback, because you can't have a mismatched set! Oh, the trials a book worm must face!
10 things I love:
1) Reading a good book
2) Sleeping in
3) Falling to sleep to the sound of rain
4) Knowing that I have the Lord beside me every minute of every day
5) Listening to someone play the acoustic guitar
6) Going someplace I have never been before
7) People watching
8) Babies
9) The quiet of an early morning
10) Being outside, away from people, surrounded by the beauty of God's creation
June 24, 2002
I woke up three times this morning after Shane left for work and before I got out of bed. Each time, I had been dreaming that Shane had died. It was so sad and I would wake up so very sad and disturbed, fall back asleep, and dream about it some more. I usually don't remember my dreams and if I do, I usually don't fall back alseep into the same dream. I don't know how he died, but I know I was at work and he was somewhere other than our house and that he died. And I was all alone and so distraught and had no idea what I was going to do. I was so miserable. It was awful. I have thought about it several times today. I am happy and releived to say he is not dead. But he is very stressed and very tired. He is at school right now, probably struggling to stay awake. I woke him from a nap to go to his class. He had a late night last night and a rough morning today at work. I wish I coulddo something to make it all a little easier on him. I hope he goes to sleep early tonight and tomorrow goes better for him.
June 23, 2002
Today is my one day off and I feel like I have been kind of out of it all day. I feel tired, a little cranky, but don't want to waste my day by sleeping, seeing as I have to go back to work tomorrow night. After that, I do have a few days off. As it turns out, I am going dancing Wednesday night. The thing is, I don't really dance. It is disco night at Mother's Tavern and a bunch of people from work are going. They really want me to go. So, I am going. Why not? I will do my best to avoid the dance floor. I am not much of a bar hoppper either. I have only had a few experiences with alcohol, and due to those experiences and the fact that, A) Alcohol contains a lot of empty calories, which I do not need, B) I tend to chug my drinks and appreciate free refills one gets with say, an iced tea, and C) drinks are expensive, I do not typically partake in alcoholic beverages. I don't mind them and I don't feel like it is bad to drink, it's just not my thing. It should be fun to go out with my friends from work and to hang out.
We went to a life group Thursday night for young married people at our church. We both had a good time and felt like we fit in there. I hope we can keep going and get to know some people there. It would be really nice to have friends.
My car. I took it in to the dealer, which probably isn't the best idea to start with. My back brakes were at 3% and I need new rotars. They didn't have the parts, which is odd to me...you'd think they would have a few cars coming in and would have them in stock, but what do I know? Anyway, so I am driving around on 3% breaks right now and not feeling too safe about it. Luckily I don't drive so much. it's just a hassle to have to keep taking my car in and waiting around on them all day. I shouldn't have waited so long to take it in.
Time for Shane's group meeting in my living room, so I must crawl away to the bedroom and read my lovely book.
June 20, 2002
I wish I had an exciting life, so that I had all kinds of interesting things to write about. Or that I had the ability to make the few things I do to fill my days interesting when I write about them. I feel like I am pretty boring. Work was pretty boring last night, although I did get an offer to go live with one of my little old men. He told me he was going to have to take me home with him. I told him he might have to fight Shane for me. Shane wouldn't even have to touch the guy to beat him. The man fell on his own in the beginning of the night trying to find his glasses. Talk about freaking me out. I was out at the nurse's station and actually heard him hit the floor right as his roomate hit the call light. You walk into the room and find a 200 pound man on the ground. Is he hurt? Did he hit his head? Can I, the little thing that I am, get this big guy off the ground without us both falling again? He was okay, other than a skin tear on his elbow. I got him up into bed and told him not to move without calling again. The whole incident created more paperwork, but I was so glad he wasn't hurt. Talk about making my heart stop beating for a minute when I heard that sound of a body hitting the tiled floor. Then he told me he wanted to take me home. Right after he tried to give me his bum leg. Kind of a character. So, that was the exciting part of my night. The rest of it just kind of dragged on. I gave a lot of pain meds and did a lot of paperwork. Now I am home, wasting time until the VW dealership opens so I can get my breaks fixed. It's really bad. They are past the squeaking stage. It's really scary and embarrassing that we didn't take the car in sooner. So, today is the day. We are also going to go to a yound married couple's bble study tonight through our church. Shane had school Thursdays before, so we couldn't go. Hope it's cool and we meet people and all. I also hope that if it is cool and we want to keep going, that it turns out I have some Thursdays off next month. Well, time to take my car in.
June 19, 2002
Isn't it nice to know people who have connections! My loveable husband brought my package home with him this morning from work. Saving Army a trip and making my day! What a guy!
My Amazon package is out for delivery! Yippee!! I can expect Army to knock on our door this afternoon with my package in hand! I hope I have some time to do some reading tonight.
I don't know if people fully appreciate the fact that they get to sleep at night, in the dark. This morning I woke up at around four and it was pitch black. I was in heaven. I couldn't see a thing and I thought, "this is the life!" I don't think people who work normal day time jobs fully appreciate the fact that they get to sleep at night. They take it for granted. I fully appreciated it last night. I just snuggled under the covers and went back to sleep with a smile on my face.
June 18, 2002
I got to play nurse tonight on my cousin. He lives up here, 300 miles away from home and is also attending Cal Poly. Apparently, he cut up his finger this last weekend on some kind of big tool and had to go to the ER to get stitches. So, I get a call asking if I could rebandage it and look to see if it is infected. We usually don't see him very often, even though we live in the same town. He came over and we went down to the store to get some gauze and stuff. His girlfriend probably could have done just as good of a job as I did, but I guess I have an eye for spotting infection, being a nurse and all. It didn't look to bad. He wouldn't even look at it. As I was taking the bandage off of his thumb, he was squeezing my hand tightly and getting all clammy. Guess that's why I am the nurse and he is going to be an engineer.
Went out with Carol last night. We went out to eat and to the movies. The movie was good, but as is almost always the case, I liked the book better. I am glad that we were able to go out together and have a good time.
I am awaiting a package from Amazon carrying the next book in the Outlander series. Oh when will it ever come??? I only ordered it on Sunday, which means it was shipped yesterday, so I know there are still a few days of waiting ahead of me. In the mean time, I must be patient.
June 17, 2002
I made it through church yesterday. Didn't have have any trouble staying awake. I wish I could make my schedule so that I didn't have to work on Saturday nights. I think no one wants to work them, so for some reason I always end up with them when I look at the schedule and see all the blanks.
I am going to the movies tonight with my dear friend Carol. It should be lots of fun. Carol's always fun. We are going to see Divine Secrets of the Ya-Ya Sisterhood. Shane starts school again tomorrow, so today we will go to good old Cal Poly and get his books and stuff. I hope this summer is kind of kick back for him. He also starts his job as part-time supervisor this week. It should be an interesting week.
June 16, 2002
Here I sit, waiting until it's time to get ready to go to church. I just got home from a crazy night at work. It could have been a lot worse, but I was busy all night long. It makes the night go by so much faster when I am busy, which is great. It wasn't really a bad night, just busy and void of friends I like to work with. I am happy to be home.
I just ate a bowl of oatmeal and drank some coffee. I hope that will help me stay awake during church. I feel like such a dork, dozing off. I want to make a sign that lets everyone know that "no, I am not bored, I just worked a 12 hour night shift" so they will not think I am lame and will cut me some slack. We have to go to Costco today, thanks to Shane's flat tire. It is under warranty there. Costco up here is about 45 minutes away, though. But, I am looking forward to it. I just don't think I will get to sleep much today. I am going to try my hardest not to be a crab.
What a sweet husband I have! He went to Barnes and Noble while I was at work and tried to get me the next book in my series I am reading. They didn't have it, but it was so very sweet of him to try! Maybe I can order it from Amazon today. I think I will order all three of the next ones, seeing I will wish I had them in a few weeks. May as well get them all at once and save on the shipping...and trying to wait patiently to start the next book.
Well, time to get ready for church.
June 15, 2002
I stayed up till like three o'clock in the morning last night finishing my book. I really liked it. I liked it a lot. I am into stories that take place in the past, like this one, plus it was a really sweet love story, even though not everything ended up or was always so happy and going their way. It was only the first of a series, but of course I don't have any of the others and probably won't be able to get them for a while. Ahhh! I need to know what will happen next with all of the Highlander clans, Jamie, and Claire! I will live, I am sure.
I have to work tonight. It's only one night, so I can't complain. I don't feel like going, though. But, when do I ever. Suck it up!
We went out with Marc and Melanie last night. It was a lot of fun. I think Shane had a good time too. We went to a nice Italian restaurant and then walked down around the pier in Pismo Beach. They are having a car show this weekend down there, so there were a lot of hot rods and old cars cruising around. It was cool to check them all out. Well, I must go get ready for work.
June 11, 2002
We went to Monterey yesterday for our anniversary. It was a fun day and nice to spend time together away from every day stuff and from the house. We went to the Monterey Aquarium, where Shane took awesome pictures of the fishes, otters, and jellies. They turned out really well, considering there was a thick layer of glass between us and the lighting. He put themon our website. We then went to El Torito for lunch/dinner. We decided to take the 1 home, which was a very curvy drive and I was very sleepy. It took a little longer, but was so pretty. It was sunny and the water was beautiful. We drove through Big Sur and Hearst Castle. We could even see the castle up on the hill from the road. We had a nice day.
Now it's back to real life and work. I just feel tired all the time. I can sleep over eight hours on my nights off and still wake up sleepy. I catch myslef almost dozing off throughout the day. Will I ever get enough sleep? I wonder how people can work nights their whole lives. I am lucky, I only have to work three nights. I can't imagine working five nights a week. I guess I wouldn't be working twelve hour shifts if I worked five nights a week. You would have no life, though. I am glad we are on twelve hour shifts. I still wouldn't want to work days at my hospital. I like the night nurses so much more and wouldn't want to deal with all the stuff that goes on during the days there. So, on nights I stay. Shane has a final tonight and tomorrow so he is busy studying.
I am reading my huge book from Natalie and liking it. It's about a woman from the 1940s who is on holiday in Scotland with her husband. He is researching his family's history in the area. The woman ends up being transported to the 1700s and is trying to find her way back to the present, while living in the past and interacting with her husband's family. His family is English and she is found and living with the Scottish clansmen he is fighting against. It is interesting and not all mushy or full of romance at this point. It is the first in a series, so I don't think she'll make it back to the 40s in this book. I am enjoying it a lot and am sure it will keep me busy for a while.
June 8, 2002
I had a pretty good work week. Not to say that it wasn't crazy at times, but I didn't really mind being there and things went okay. My first night on, I had a patient go bad and he ended up in the ICU by the middle of the night. It was intense there for a few hours, but he is still with us. I had a nice patient load, no admits, and fun coworkers to work with.
We have plans to get together with Marc and Melanie from work next Friday. Friends!!!
So, what are we going to do for our anniversary, you ask? Who knows at this point. I have three nights off in a row. Shane's got to study for his finals. I will probably do a lot of reading. I received three new books from my mother-in-law. One down, two to go! I have started Outlander by Diana Gabaldon. Natalie loved it and I think I will enjoy it. I am not far enough into it to know what it's all about yet, other than the main character is a nurse in the 40s. It would be cool if we could find something fun to do to celebrate our two years together. We have been friends now for nine years! Well, at least that's when we chatted for the first time on that little hill in Mexico. I don't even know what we talked about or how we ended up out there, but we must have made an impression upon each other. Who knows how long we have actually been together...seems like forever. What a sweet, sweet husband I have!
June 4, 2002
I went to my first EKG class today. I was surprised that I know a lot of people in my class. I think it will be a good class...the education director that is teaching it is really animated and knows her stuff. We were assigned homework for next week. Homework! I haven't had to do homework for a year! It should be pretty easy. I think this class will make my trips working down on Step Down a little more comfortable.
Shane is at school. This is his last week, then he has finals. One three day weekend, and his summer quarter starts. He is non-stop! I'm proud of my little college boy. It appears that he will be finished with school in a year, as long as things go smoothly. And then, who knows....
I went on a walk just a little bit ago. Trying to get back into exercising and eating better. It would be nice to be able to feel good about wearing a bathing suit this summer. But there really isn't anywhere to wear a bathing suit around here anyway, so I guess I just would like to feel better about myself.
I want to go to Magic Mountain. I haven't been in a while.... I can remember going there in the summer when I was younger and how stinking hot it always was. They always had those cool mister things that sprayed water while you waited in line. Ah, memories. I house sat for these people that had those misters in their back yard. They had this totally decked out yard and a spa with pull down shades around it to make it *private* with the misters up above. It was oh so nice. We had fun at that place. Except for the stupid dog "Abby Rose" who was their little angel. They let that dog do whatever it wanted and it was a pain to deal with. And she would *piddle,* as her owner phrased it, when she was excited (which was all the time). I didn't like the dog part of it, but the money was good and the spa was nice. They were the kind of people that would call, like every other day to check on their dog and want to talk to her. Strange. I got to house sit at a couple really cool houses when I was in college. But it always involved taking care of dogs, which isn't really my thing. I have never really had a dog, so I am not a dog person. I wouldn't mind having a dog, but I assume I would feel differently caring for a pet that was mine. One time, at this really cool house out in the middle of nowhere, the people had two dogs that were pretty much their children (in addition to the 50 something year old woman's collection of beanie babies that could be found all around the house). One morning I woke up to find a tick on the ground. My immediate reaction was to smoosh this huge, nasty bug that was crawling on the floor. Bad idea. Blood everywhere. It was pretty gross. At least I didn''t have to get it off the dog, I guess. I had a lesson in how to do so, since I was resposible to search for ticks while there. I didn't really know what a tick looked like before that. This tick was huge, engorged with blood. I also had a lesson on how to put a pad on a dog in case she went into heat while the family was gone. That was for our dear Abby Rose. Yuck!!! Luckily, she didn't. I am all for spaying and neutering. It's not like they were going to breed the stupid dog. I don't get it. There were perks that made dealing with the dogs tolerable. If and when we get a pup, he will be a cool dog and not a stupid, spoiled, prissy dog.
June 3, 2002
Well, I lucked out! I had called the day time supervisor yesterday and told him I was willing to work last night. He didn't take me up on my offer and didn't tell the night supervisor I was available. I got a phone call around eight last night asking me to come in and work schedule plus (between time and a half and double time) and was offered a $100.00 bonus for coming in. They needed someone to come in and no one was willing. The Director of Nursing gave the okay and I was a lucky girl!! I was so very happy to offer my services and provide quality nursing care. If they keep it up, they (French Hospital) might retain some of their staff. Offering bonuses like that will give us incentive to work extra and keep us happy. Not only that, they are paying a ton of money for all these travellers, it's the least they can do. Well, I was very happy to be the recipient of the little bonus. Keep it coming!
June 2, 2002
Sunday...I worked last night, came home and proceeded to get ready to go to the eight o'clock service at church. We typically have a hard time getting there, as I ususally find myself climbing into bed instead of into the shower on Sunday mornings. Well, we made it there and I spent the entire service struggling to stay awake. I felt so stupid. I felt like everyone was watching me and shaking their heads in disgust. Is it worth it? I may as well be at home in bed. I think what needs to happen is that I need to do my best to avoid scheduling myself to work Saturday nights.
I slept all day, since it was possible they might need me to work tonight. But, I was told they would know and call me by 4:00 if they needed me and I haven't heard from them. At least I feel rested and did not spend the day laying on the couch fighting sleep, and being a psycho hose-beast. I am a little frustrated about my work schedule this month. You see, Shane mentioned to me about a week ago that we should go to San Francisco for our anniversary. So, I called my manager and let her know I needed Friday, Saturday, and Sunday of that weekend off. I got a call from her the next day saying that she had just completed the schedule and I am off Thursday, Friday, Sunday, and Monday, but scheduled on Saturday. How much does that suck. And no one can trade. I am tied with another girl as the senior full time nurse on our unit and I ask for one measily weekend off and cannot be accomodated. Everyone has these set days they can work and I always end up being the one to fill in the blanks. It really bums me out. I know if I had known a few days sooner, it wouln't have been a problem and I would have been able to get the time off. I was just too late. So, I think I might just call in sick. There are a few other possibilities in the works, but if they don't work out, I might just have a cold that evening. I so don't care.
I am reading Breakfast of Champions right now. I think I might finish it today. It is very humorous and I am enjoying it very much. I was reading at work last night, as were a few other people. They all read such crap! Like, stupid romance novels or stuff by James Patterson. Someone is always reading a James Patterson book. Actually, I have never read anything by James Patterson, but I can only assume his novels are somewhat trite. There are so many awesome books out there...quality books! I don't get it. I need to go to the bookstore and look for some new books to read, but probably not this week. I could read Winter's Heart, the ninth book in the Wheel of Time series by Robert Jordan, but that would make Shane very very sad. I don't want my Shanie to be sad, so I will have to search our book shelves for other books to read in the mean time.
