I was out in the garage doing laundry and I thought I heard my dad's voice. I know today he and his entourage are passing by on their way back home. I went outside to find the gardener was here. Very disappointing. Almost time for us to go!
Well, tomorrow we are off. I have a lot to do before we go. I have to pack and stuff all of our food into these special bags. I am looking forward to our little trip. Shane has a final tomorrow afternoon and then we will be on our way to Vista. I am hoping we will miss LA traffic. My mom and dad and two of their friends were here on Thursday night. They stopped here on their way to a wedding. It was a quick visit, but it was nice to see them. It seems like they have more fun now that my dad is retired. He used to work six ten hour days a week and was pretty busy. He still keeps busy, but it seems like they have more fun. I miss my parents.
So, we will be staying with Ryan and Mandy. Mandy is six months pregnant or so. This will probably be the last time we get to stay with them, as the guest room will soon become a nursery. It It's always a riot and Ryan and Mandy's. Should be fun! Probably won't be writing much while we are gone. I wonder if Matt will come down and see us....
I am unofficially on vacation. I have worked my three days this week and I have next week off. Yipee! It's really nice to think that I get about two weeks away from work. I plan to enjoy every
minute of it.
Our house is going to be tented while we are gone. The termite man came over today to give us the scoop. I have to bag up pretty much all of our food so that we don't get poisoned. He said that our dishes and silverware will be okay and that I really don't even need to wash them before I use them again, which is strange to me. I know they spray a gas, which according to Mr. Termite, leaves no residue, but it seems like you would want to wash the stuff before eating off of it. I wish all of this had been taken care of before we moved in. I guess it isn't that big of a deal. Maybe it will kill all of our spiders. We have so many spiders in this place.
I was at Longs Drug Store getting some batteries and ended up in the school supply isle. It's that time of year. There was this little boy, probably third grade or so, all by himself with his list typed up by his teacher of all the goodies he needs to fill his desk. He has his little basket and his book bag over his shoulder. I stood there for a bit and watched him search for the perfect folder and search up and down the isle for the other essentials. It was very entertaining and I enjoyed it very much. There were kids everywhere I went this afternoon and for some reason they all caught my attention. I miss being a kid.
It was wonderfully dark when I climbed into bed this morning. It almost seemed like it was night time. It made me happy. The hospital has been frustrating this last weekend. Both nights I worked, I was floated to another unit, which I didn't mind at all considering the circumstances. I could be working on my own unit and caring for eight patients or work on another unit and have four. It is getting out of hand. Last night, they were going to have two nurses for eighteen patients. That's nine patients a piece! Half of which are confused, demanding, and incontinent.We couldn't believe it. I don't know what they are thinking. There is a new staffing ratio law that some people say is already in effect or will be very soon that mandates a ratio of six patients per nurse, at the most. They are burning out their nurses and making work a dreaded place to be. I have two more nights on and am praying things are better. I have never had more than seen patients in one night and it was overwhelming. Could this be an issue for our union to address? That would really be something. Anyway, two more nights and I am on vacation. I will survive.
I just slept twelve hours. Shane tells me I am lazy. I don't think I should be considered lazy. I only slept two hours yesterday. I usually don't sleep a lot my first day off when I get home so that I can get back onto the sleeping at night routine. I am always very tired and grumpy that first day. I don't think I was too bad yesterday. We went to breakfast, then went to Costco and spent a lot of money on tires and other stuff. We also went to Target, which is my favorite store. In Vista we had a Target Greatland, which was heaven to me. It was so nice and new and big. I could spend hours there just walking around, looking at everything. I slept a couple of hours, then cleaned around the house and stuff. Shane was working on a paper, which was a bummer. I watched Trading Spaces and distracted him. I love that show. For some reason I can't stop watching it. He stayed up late to finish it. I am so glad my paper writing days are over. He says he has more papers to write. I am working the next three nights, so I will be out of his hair. So, I have three more nights of work and then I am on vacation! It would be nice if they were good nights, where nothing crazy happens. All I can do is hope....
I have had a rough couple of days at work lately. Tuesday night, I had two patients pass away on me. Two in one night! I couldn't believe it. It isn't really that often that even one passes away, let alone two assigned to the same nurse. They weren't doing well and it was obvious they weren't going to live much longer. It was emotionally draining. I had to call both families and tell them. The worst part was when I called the wife of the second man, the answering machine came on and it was the man who had just passed away on the message. I felt so bad for them. Having to tell someone their loved one has died over the phone. It was hard. I couldn't believe when I walked into the second man's room and he had stopped breathing. They both were suffering and it was their time, but it is still really hard to see someone lose the love of their life, no matter how sick they were. I have tonight off, which makes me happy.
It looks like Shane will not be going to Fullerton for Supervisor School. It was canceled. I am a little bummed. We are still going to Vista the last week of August. It will be so nice to have a vacation. Time for me to go to bed now.
We have a neighborhood cat named Newman. Newman as in, "Hello, Newman." Some families call him Norman. Apparently he was left here by his last owner. I have seen him lounging in our back yard, perched in the upstairs window of our neighbors house, and I have been told that he often goes inside the house across the street via the doggie door. Yesterday, we heard scratching on the back door that leads out to the garage. I got up to see what it was. There was Newman, stuck in our garage. Who knows how long he had been in there. He appeared very happy to get out. He's not proud...he takes hand outs. He's kind of a cute cat, white on the bottom and different shades of brown on the top. He seems very happy, roaming the neighborhood. It doesn't seem to bother him one bit that his previous owner left him behind.
A little addition to the Madison and Helena story. I witnessed the ride first-hand today from the rear view mirror of my car. They lie down in the back of the El Camino while their dad speeds down the street. And today, they did it dressed as ballerinas, pink tutus and all.
Have you seen the new GE 4d Ultrasound commercials? It's pretty amazing, especially compared to the 2d ones that you usually see. Here you can move the transducer around and see the baby moving. It's pretty cool. I'm not sure how much they are being used yet. Maybe by the time we have kids, they will be more common. I think it's pretty cool.
I feel like I just walked out of a really loud concert, except I really just got home from work. You know how everything sounds far away and muffled after you've been in close proximity to something loud all night long? Tonight I spent a lot of time in a room with two screeching hearing aides. Regardless of what was done to them, they kept on with their screeching. And then came the point in the evening when the owner of the hearing aides would not hand them over to be adjusted. He wanted out of prison. He wanted to go back to French Hospital. We yelled back and forth to each other for a minute or so. He was yelling because he wanted out of prison. I was yelling because even with his hearing aides he couldn't hear. No wonder with all that screeching. I thought hearing aides were supposed to help. They have probably helped make him more deaf. So, the night progressed and he went in and out of lucidity, telling me how sweet I was, then threatening to punch me in the face. Actually, I believe he asked me how I would like a punch in the face. I wouldn't like it at all, sir. Boy oh boy.
I go to work every night, trying to have a good attitude. I think I will treat each one of my patients like he were Jesus. You know, the whole "whatever you did for one of the least of these, you did it for me" kind of mentality. Then I get a really trying patient and I lose sight of my "servant heart." It's easy to be sweet and compassionate to sweet, appreciative sick people. But you get a difficult one, and it's really sweetness is out the window. I don't usually outwardly express my frustration to the patient. I try to be calm and level headed and fair, but I am no longer sweet and compassionate. And I should be. I am sure this man is not himself. He is sick, he is on a bunch of drugs. I should have a little grace. Mostly, I just feel bad on my way home, when it hits me that on the way to work, twelve hours ago, I was going to be super nurse and treat my patients like they were Jesus and I have treated them exactly opposite of how I would want to treat my Lord. It's something I want to work on. I want to have grace and patience with my patients and to care for them as best I can. I want to stop griping and counting the minutes until I get to go home. I want to enjoy my job and the challenges that I face as I care for them. I want a new attitude.
I received a phone call from my friend Tisra Fadely today. She informed me that she was my friend Amanda's stalker. She was looking for some of Amanda's artwork and stumbled upon my little blog. We don't get to talk very often, so it was nice to catch up. She lives in Tennessee with her husband and son now. They have lived there four years now, which is hard for me to believe. They are expecting a new addition to their family next March. I can't believe all of my friends are having babies! So, maybe Tisra will be stopping by every now and then. Maybe she will start a blog....
A guy from Shane's work went back packing on the John Muir trail last week. He went all by himself. He told Shane he wasn't going to take his dog because the dog would be bear food (bear food, not bear foot). So, the guy is back to work this week and did in fact run into a bear. He went to get some water and came back to find a bear had taken his backpack. So, the guy picked up a bunch of rocks, chased after the bear and got his backpack back, minus his food. Quite a trip. Good thing he left his dog at home.
When I was little, we would often go on camping trips up to Yosemite, mostly in the Valley. I had a couple of bear experiences of my own. We had a bear try to get into our cooler once, and he left the tooth marks to prove it. We had this cooler for years-my parents may still have it- that had these big bear tooth marks in it. It was kind of cool.
On another trip, we were camping with the Taylors. There were five of us kids. Michael was the oldest, Jenna and I were next in line, then Andrew and Chrissy. We were playing baseball one afternoon and Michael was up to bat. Out of the forest, standing on two legs comes this bear. He is coming for Michael and we are next. We start yelling, "Michael, there is a bear behind you!" He didn't believe us at first. He finally turned around and came face to face with the hungry bear. We ran as fast as we could into the nearest trailer screaming, Michael in the lead. Of course, our parents tell a different version of the story about a bear wandering into camp, minding it's own business. They claim it wasn't standing on it's hind legs and that it wasn't even that close to us, but that's not the way I remember it. My brother will tell you a version of the story quite similar to mine. If we had not run into the trailer as fast as our little legs would carry us, we would have been bear food. I think the bear might even have growled at us....
We went out on a walk yesterday. I was surprised because it was Shane's idea. I like to go out walking and he usually doesn't want to go with me when I suggest it. I like to walk along this path next to the railroad tracks. The landscape here in San Luis is so beautiful, with all the green rolling hills and the lack of development on every one of them. I also just like to get outside. I am sure my body appreciates the exercise as well. So, I was happy that Shane wanted to walk. I like when we go together. We are able to relax and talk and spend time away from everything we normally do at home. I wish we would do it more. We talked about his philosophy class. I often wish I was more articulate and intellectual than I am. I imagine Shane wishes I was also. I am trying to work on it.
I hate when the phone rings around here. I think we probably go for days without receiving a phone call sometimes. Probably the number one caller is my work, although they haven't been calling very much lately, either (not that I am disappointed). The next runner up is probably wrong numbers. Some girl just called.
Girl: "Hey."
Me: "Hi."
Girl: "Angie?"
Me: "Sorry, you have the wrong number."
Next in line is probably people from Shane's classes and then our mom's. We hardly even get any telemarketers.
Three weeks till our vacation. Shane will be done with school and we will get out of this town for a few days. Then, he's off to Fullerton for supervisor school. I am going to go down there for a week or so. It should be fun to get away. Maybe Shane and I will get to spend some time together. Ooh...and I will get to sleep a week of nights in a row. I can't wait.
Madison and Helena live across the street from us. I am guessing they are about 7 and 10 years old. I have officially met them once and they will now wave when I go by, but I haven't really ever talked to them. They both are very shy and would run away and hide at the site of either Shane or I when we first moved here. According to their mother, our driveway is their favorite place to play. Maybe it's because they don't have a driveway of their own. Our bathroom window looks out onto the street and I often stop for a mintue to watch them play. Watching them makes me wish I had a sister. It also makes me wish I was ten again. They draw with side walk chalk, swing each other on the hammock, they sneak over and pick flowers from my yard, looking around to make sure no one is watching them. I always stop to take a peak at what they are doing if I hear them outside. They are such happy, content little girls, running around in there bathing suits all day long, with nothing to worry about but what they will play next. My favorite thing is that every week night when their dad gets home from work at about 5:30, he honks the horn of his El Camino and the two girls come running out. They jump in the back and he drives to the end of the street at high speeds, then backs his El Camino in front of their house. The girls love it. I think their dad loves it too. It makes me smile every evening as I hear the honk and the screech of his tires. Soon, they will grow up. The dad will stop honking and the girls will stop running, but for now, I think it is the highlight of their day and I love that I get to watch it from my bathroom window.
Shane spotted little tomatoes on one of the tomato plants today. A few more sweet peas have bloomed. I hope more are on their way. They all smell so good. I would like there to be enough for me to cut some and bring inside. I wish I had a greener thumb. I think flowers and gardens are so cool, but I don't feel like I do the best job with them. I guess it just takes practice. This is my first real try, so I guess I can't expect it to make the cover of Better Homes & Gardens or something.
Someone keeps visiting my site by searching for my friend Amanda Cunagin on Google. I thought it was kind of cool someone was looking her up. I am wondering who it is, because they have visited a couple of times. I suppose it could be Amanda, but I think she might leave a comment. Anyway, if you come back again, let me know who you are. We can talk all about her and how great she is (unless you are stalking her, I suppose).
