Shorty

I brought home a little tree today. Ryan has already dubbed it Shorty. It's a Rosemary tree, with a nice strong tree odor. Does the Rosemary spice come from a tree? Cause if it does, maybe my tree is edible...

Carrie and I put these up Sunday night. She said I would think of her every time a snowflake fell down and she wasn't kidding...
(Bet you can't figure out who's on TV!)

I need a bigger desk; the kind that is big and circular where you can spread 300 books around your monitor. This is the frustration of nursing: you must own a library to do your homework. Lab reference, med-surg text book, class notes, assessment manual. I could have my massive Pathophysiology book in there but then I'd have to add my Mosby's Medical dictionary (which happens to be the heaviest book I own, and the most distracting) to decipher the medicalese so I just leave it on the floor and stick to my AS med-surg books (2 volumes) and the internet. Think of what this would be like if I had become a doctor...

By the way, I went to an auto body place today and they buffed out the scratch on my car in all of 5 minutes for no charge! I can't even tell the scratch was there.

Up with the Christmas tree and back to work

We put up the Christmas tree on Saturday night. Here's a picture almost all put together...

My "first year as a nurse" ornament

Somebody made me these mittens a long time ago

The felt versions of Mom and Dad


Our trip took only 8ish hours this time! I was the designated CD switcher for most of the trip. At the end we were driving in the dark on the windy roads by Ocoee singing along with the Veggie Tales Christmas album. This may be the last time the 4 of us get to ride on a long trip together. But we'll sure have some interesting memories...


The Pisgah exit is really the only place we hit traffic. Funny how that exit used to feel like home... We hit places with memories the whole way back. Guess that's what happens with you live in North Carolina for a long time and you've travled I-40 5000 times too many.

Thanksgiving

Cooking dinner

Waiting for dinner to cook... This stool came from my grandma's house, but it used to be covered with cracking white paint until mom decided to "fix" it. The cousins always fought over who got to sit on it at meals. I don't fit on it quite as well as I used to but it still reminds me of lots of big family meals at Grandma's house.

Stephanie playing Need for Speed

Watching White Christmas
(My grandmother always had this movie at her house and we watched it every year.)

A little post-movie fun.

Dad the photojournalist

Stephanie and I used to get these curlers put in our hair every Friday night. Mom and Stephanie decided to pull them out again...

The best laid plans... well, just don't make them in the first place

We set off this morning at 8:30, after Carrie and I both said goodbye to our respective Ryans :-( , and headed through the gorge thinking we'd be able to avoid some holiday/Knoxville traffic. A little past Murphy I was driving along in the left lane slowly passing another car when the driver slowly started to come over on me and just kept coming. She finally realized she was really close to me and slammed on her brakes and started swerving at the same time I laid on my horn. I had nowhere to go but up on the concrete median so I just held straight and stepped on the gas while she squealed around. I didn't think she'd hit us but Carrie said she had so we pulled over and waved her over. This is what we found... (Carrie and Stephanie were trying to be CSI-like with their to-scale devices)

On the phone with Ryan telling him what happened

The more I think about what happened the more thankful I am that this accident wasn't worse. Two cars going about 65 mph on a highway in close enough proximity to scrape a side mirror into a quarter panel could have been a recipe for a much bigger problem than this scratch. Four angels were working hard this afternoon.

Over an hour later we finally had a police report and we were on our way again. Between stopping to visit the Cooks, getting Taco Bell, dropping Carrie and Grant off, rain, congested holiday roadways, and a slight detour around the Raleigh Durham city limits, we have reached our destination 10.5 hours after we started a trip that usually takes 7 hours. Let's hope Thanksgiving takes a turn to the bright side... and that your Thanksgiving travels were slightly less exciting than mine.

In the post-election spirit...

You Are 60% Republican

You aren't a full fledged Republican yet, but it's probably the party that fits you best. You probably consider yourself an independent Republican. You usually support the party, but you also think for yourself!

How Republican Are You?

(I'm 24% Democrat by the way)

The travelers gather

Carrie and Ryan got to Collegedale from Nashville and Mt. Vernon respectively just in time for Hollie, Carrie, and I to have a little Girl's Night Out consisting of Olive Garden and shopping! (Carrie has a picture on her camera.) Then we met Ryan at the airport to drop off his rental car and headed to the Heilmans where Ryan and Stephanie joined us before we all head out for Thanksgiving trips tomorrow morning. (Can you keep the Ryan's straight?) It's so nice to have the "family" all there, the driveway looked like a car lot again!

Ryan gets his first food since breakfast

There's nothing like a mom-cooked meal even if its leftovers! We decided he definitely wins the longest drive contest: Ohio to Collegedale to Zephyrhills, FL. Carrie seconds with Nashville to Collegedale to Winston-Salem. Stephanie and I third with Collegedale to Raleigh and Ryan (Knight that is) loses with Alabama. (I secretly wish I was losing too, I do NOT want to sit in a car for 8+ hours tomorrow, however, I haven't been home since early June so nothing can keep me from my big bed and mom's cooking.)

In other news, I had really good days at work the last two days. It makes a big difference in how you feel when you get home. My patients were so sweet and easy to take care of, I could have cheerfully taken care of them for a week. Schoolwise, apparently my procrastination isn't paying off because I checked my grade in Pathophysiology today and I have a totally undeserved or superbly well-planned procrastinated A-. I suppose it helped that the last test was on the heart, my specialty. But before I crow too much, my super huge project isn't finished that is due next Tuesday. Oh well, it will get done somehow... all that matters is that I'm homeward bound.

Happy Thanksgiving to you all!

Winter doldrums

I think I've realized why we pile our holidays in the winter, because we need something to cheer us up. Every year about now I get worn out and impatient and generally in a not-so-good mood. The patients at work get older and sicker, the staff start getting sick and calling in to work which makes us all work harder. The days are so short that when I work I don't see the sun for 2 whole days sometimes. You don't realize how depressing that is until it happens to you... The end of semester assignments start piling up and everybody is tired. I just don't care about anything, the bottom line for this time of year is: I just want to go HOME! I'm giving thanks Thanksgiving break is only 6 days away... and I'm almost ready to bust out the Christmas music a week early, Carrie has.

have YOU voted today?

I voted for the second time in my life today and I must say I'm proud of myself; it wasn't even a presidential election! But with the polls right down at 4 corners, it's really not that hard. Voting in a small town is great. You have to sign your name in a book and you get this manilla folder to hide your ballot. Then you have to mark your answers with a sharpie and slide it in a box. I'm even more proud of myself because I knew all the people I voted for except the governor. I'd even met most of them personally because of Health Care Policy class last semester (one of them even came and taught a class for us). That means I even knew some of what they stand for (mostly about healthcare issues). Tennessee's Senatorial campaign is an important one and there were also serious issues on the ballot like an amendment about marriage being only between a man and a woman and whether people can sell alcohol in Collegedale (can this issue please be settled???). So here's to being a well informed voting citizen! Tomorrow when you see the news will you be able to say your vote made a difference?

Git R Done

Saturday night was the Extreme Dodgeball tournament. I've never seen so many SAU students dressed in crazy clothing. Attendance was worth it just to see the fashion show.

Ryan's team was Git R Done with Nataniel, Chris, Jonathan, Jill, and Erica.


Ryan does the "na, na na na, na na, come get me" dance

And yet I still claim him...

In other news I set a few records today. I had 6 patients at once for the first time. It's very scary to walk in the door (a little late because of a car accident blocking the road on the way in) and see that there's not enough staff and night shift is going crazy because somebody coded (and died) unexpectedly at 5 AM. All of the administrative nurses for our 3 sister floors were even there on a Sunday because of the short staffing, we should have taken pictures to document the occasion. I also bleached my favorite oldest uniform cleaning off my stethoscope with bleach wipes after being in my isolation room. So I threw the top away tonight after almost 3 years of faithful service. I have been needing to throw it away for awhile, maybe this was the handwriting on the wall. So there's a few work rites of passage for me...

sick day

So I woke up this morning at 3 AM with the same stomach ache I'd gone to bed with but reaching throw up proportions. Thankfully this was at 3 AM instead of 5 AM so I had a chance to call work and tell them I was staying in bed today. Being a nurse is really a touchy thing when it comes to being sick. You can't go to work if you can't eat or are weak or heavily drugged or can't think because you're so congested and sleepy because 12 hours of constant exercise and brain activity is a marathon with big risks to your patients. So I laid on the couch and watched Leave it to Beaver (how many ways can that boy find to get into "trouble"? The things he does are so lame compared to what kids do on TV shows today). And wait until you get sick to notice how many commercials are about FOOD when you want that to be the farthest thing from your mind. Both Stephanie and Ryan came to see me bringing me "sick drinks" and comfort. With perfect timing, Movie Gallery called me with a free movie rental and Ryan went to get it for me. I barely got through the end of it before falling asleep for the rest of the afternoon. Stephanie's coming to make me chicken noodle soup tonight and I almost can't wait. After one bowl of cream of wheat, I think my stomach is ready to tackle something else. So even though I've been sick all day it's been nice to take a day to just lay on the couch because I've been running around pretty crazily the last few weeks. I was probably headed for one of these "slow down" moments in some form. And I've seen how nice it is to have people a phone call away to take care of you. I feel very loved...