Crawling Towards Friday

In 3 hours I'll officially be off call - I'll probably be slinging the beeper into the office on my way through. It's been a long and stressful week which has been winding down gradually. It's not been all bad - I've been able to shop between patients (the deals here in January are spectacular) and I am making slow, but sure progress on The Sock. The crap with my father's family is done (again) so that's off the boards and I've heard from friends abroad which is always fun. Pam in NZ sent pictures this week of the view from her house - it makes you just want to pack up and move! The weather remains fairly warm, but now it's raining which is delaying the repair to the leach field. We had someone look at it and it's not a big deal, we just need to add another line to it but it involves digging and when it rains, that means mud as far as the eye  can see. This weekend we need to go food shopping and house cleaning and mortal activities like that, I do plan on sleeping in tomorrow - as much as Pearl the Girl will allow. I'm FINALLY getting used to the dentures I got about a month or so ago, my dentist here decided it would be a fun for thing for me to have back teeth on the bottom. I've been losing my molars since I was in my early 20's so it wasn't a big deal to me, but I went along with it and as I've gotten more used to it I do have to admit it does have it's advantages. It was hard at first - I felt like an alligator with all those teeth! and was a bit self conscious but now that I'm more used to them I do enjoy it.  I do still forget them once in awhile (I told Susan once they're my "dress teeth") but I'm old so what do you want out of me? I finally have enough sock done to take a picture of it, I'm still on the fence about it though. It's a bit boring and the double point needles are hard to negotiate, but I suppose I should make an actual pair before making any judgements. According to Jackson the sock making is going so slow he might be a proud owner of a "unisock"

You Do The Crime, You Pay The Fine

David took Jackson to pay his speeding ticket yesterday - and he had to pay it himself. David could see him through the window and said he took out his wallet and handed over a few bills. Then handed over a few more, a couple more. It cost him $175 and that was with the cop knocking it down a bit - otherwise he might have lost his brand new adult license. David said the whole thing didn't sit well with Mr. Miser at all and he'll probably be hoarding his money now for the next month. I think he'll be more careful in the future, especially since it involved his cash. He's busy counting down the days til the end of school,very eager to get on with his life and be an adult. David and I are still discussing where we'll be next year - he asked me where I wanted to be and I of course answered Missouri - and no, I don't know why I like it so much, I just do. The weather is turning cold again, we had a few days in the 50 and 60's, it was wonderful. Yesterday everyone was driving with thier windows open, I even saw a few people in shorts!

TGIM

Thank Goodness It's Monday was the theme yesterday - who would've ever thought I would be happy for the weekend to end?? On Monday I did my early morning labs and was at the office by 9:45  - I found one of my patients had a doctor's appointment and the other had been evacuated to the hospital for a water main break. Susan and I did some paperwork and then I vamoosed for the day at 11:30! What a relief that was. I had to return some things to the mall so I did that first, Victoria's Secret has lost it's allure mainly due to the fact I can get most of what I want off the internet for a 1/3 less most of the time. And the other problem of course is Gabe's, convieniently located right next door. 7 pairs of socks, 5 pair of underpants, 2 bras, and 2 shirts - $19.18 - and all name brands. Thier clearance sales could make you weep with shopper happiness. Then I went home and got some stuff done, including working on the sock which there isn't enough of yet to take a picture of(actually, working on the sock is pretty much all I got done). Jackson got me Sixteen Candles, a movie I've been watching repeatedly since it was released and he refuses to watch it with me anymore even though the ending is the way life should be. Speaking of Jackson, he got his first speeding ticket today so he's a bit upset. He was up at the Unversity Plaza where the Granville Police dept make thier money and was doing 40 in a 25 zone. Please keep in mind that David was pulled over when we first moved here for going 27 in a 25 mile an hour zone so they're a bit zealous. Jackson will have to pay for it himself and it doesn't go on our insurance so we just told him to be more careful. He's upset, but it's the best way to learn, isn't it? Heck, I only got a few before I learned my lesson! Speaking of upset I got an email from Knitpicks, since they've been moving into thier new warehouse my order will be delayed. They might as well stick a knife in my heart (or a double pointed handturned bamboo needle) - I suppose I'll get over it.  Someday.

The Long and Winding Road

Well, I broke my record in milage - this weekend I drove 168 miles for ONE VISIT. When I was getting directions I could've puked, I couldn't believe I would have to drive so far for one patient. But I did - and it wasn't as bad as I thought it would be. I got to see alot of West Virginia that I haven't seen before and I hit both The Nest and A.C. Moore's on the way back. At The Nest I got the coolest sock needles - they're made by Lantern Moon, hand made and cost 3 times as much as Brittney needles. But I do have Christmas money and I DID do a lot of driving so they are mine now. Finding sock needles is impossible I've found but I knew they would have them at that shop. I actually have some on order from KnitPicks but I cannot wait. Sunday turned out to be just as bad - I got a call that a patient needed to be seen in Clarksburg and halfway there I got another call for a patient out in Preston county which is 50 miles away. However, while I was out there I called another patient I was supposed to see today that lives down the road by patient #2 and saw him so he's off my census for today. I FINALLY started knitting a sock last night after all this time of collecting sock related items, I think my main problem will be keeping it from sliding off the needles. I'm doing on double points and since they're sock needles they are tiny, but I've never knitted socks and need a challenge right now. January and February are b-o-r-i-n-g  and work is a bit stressful, but not as bad. The storm broke in the office so I think it's safe to go in, I think. Adam went back to LI to see friends this weekend, one of his navy friends is in town on leave so he wanted to see him before he left. He sounds good and I'm glad he got to go, he's still waiting to hear from the navy after the stand down in January (that's when they all take vacation).

Run While You Can

I was advised to stay away from the office today when I came in - it was nothing I did but there was a massive thunderstorm brewing and it's best to seek shelter (elsewhere!) at times. So I quick finished up things with Susan and hit the road again. I say again because I was out at 7 am this morning doing labs as one of my patients had labs due a couple of days ago and it would have been nice if the facility had let SOMEONE know. The only ones who knew were the pharmacy who were looking for the results and made the person in my office anxious and that person wanted me to go RIGHT NOW yesterday afternoon and do the labs. I deferred that and called the pharmacist and figured out a situation that everyone was happy with. I find the wheeling and dealing of my job interesting, home care nurses have a lot more autonomy  - a lot of doctors let you do what you think and they'll sign the order. It's changed my practice a lot, in the hospital you wouldn't think of doing things and then calling the doctor - but when my patient's central line broke - I pulled it, reinserted a peripheral so she could continue with her treatment, then called the doctor's office and negotiated a new plan of care until they could get a new one put in and then called the pharmacy to update them. And it's expected I'll do that. Part of the reason I love my job is it really makes you think - I have to come up with an appropriate wound dressing for a dialysis/cardiac patient this weekend as I was told to decide and write the order. And you learn constantly from the patients the best way to do a wound dressing or how to use an apnea monitor - I've passed plenty of information on to other patients and even doctors when I see a good idea or a better way to do things.

Stay Away From The Office And No One Will Get Hurt

The office is all riled up again, someone said this, someone did that and the boss is on the warpath decimating all that cross her path. I love after the holidays, don't you? We had our weekly meeting, I don't let this nonsense bother me and I don't get involved, I don't even speak to the boss unless cornered. It'll all blow over eventually but until then I'm out of the office and in for VERY brief periods of time, just enough to make phone calls and finish up paperwork. I did my pediatric patient the other day and while I was taking her temp her little brother noticed the string on my scrubs and gave it a yank. And then tried to run off with it while I hung onto to my pants! I finished taking the temp (any patient under 10 you only get one shot at vitals before they run off to play with the cat) and regained control of my pants, it was hard as everyone was laughing pretty hard by then so I was on my own. I finally finished that afgan I've been working on and gave it to Susan who loves that sort of stuff. The scarf went to Grandma Hendrickson who's only comment was it "smelled funny" (typical Grandma)- my response was "well, wash it!" and the shawl went to Nancy across the sea in Kent, England. I might keep the green cotton sweater I made and I still have the purple one that I like but it doesn't really fit me. I did a bit of driving today and even got time to take a few pictures on my way home. I took the pike - everyone knows where that is and if you tell anyone you live on the Pike, they know exactly where you're from. It's a road that runs along the back between Kingwood and Morgantown and a lot of fun to drive. It's up and down and twisty, but not too much in the way of drop off sides and even has guard rails in some spots. If you drive it enough you can go pretty fast - and it's beautiful, especially when it snows. And the main attraction is no coal trucks which route 7 is lousy with lately. Pearl has been enjoying the snow a great deal and races all over the yard when we take her out, she finds it all very exciting. David continues to work on the house, we don't have too much time before the RE puts it up - it's funny how we though we had so much time and now it's a race to the finish! It's not a huge deal since we still haven't decided what we're doing next I'm in no hurry.

New Year's Resolutions

Every year we make these,don't we? They tend to be thing we SHOULD be doing anyhow - or things we feel we should do and have been unable to in the past due to circumstances or it's just annoying and no fun. So I have thought carefully and here are mine:

1) I resolve to lose weight. This is an easy one as I've been losing and gaining the same 5 pounds for quite awhile now. However I did put on a bit more than intended over the holidays (whoever didn't put on weight over the holidays raise your hand. Fine, now all of you with your hand raised please leave the room) so I have to work a bit harder.

2) I promise to buy as much as yarn as possible without having to go on welfare and to stash it in every available closet, drawer, basket, or any empty space.

3) I resolve to knit constantly.

4) I am going to sort of resolve to save money - this might be at odds with resolution #2 but if I buy the yarn on sale or from KnitPicks that will work out.

Ok, that's enough of that, I'm old now and can only remember so much at one time. And I did order from Knit picks - I'm getting the right size needles for my sock experiment and some VERY cool yarn that I'll be knitting a starfish shawl from the lastest Vogue Knitting. One thing I have done is cut down on buying knitting magazines, I was getting to the point I was just buying them to buy them. I was paging through one I'd bought - and they are expensive - and realized I would never knit anything out of it, it was all too wierd and trendy. Especially the "asymetrical" sweater which was some odd affair in which one side hung a lot lower than the other and there was some other odd part that you swung around your neck....and all fastened up with a stick.  After I sorted through all the old issues I discovered there's actually only 4 total that I really like and tend to save so yesterday at the book store I walked out with nothing. Actually I didn't buy anything yesterday, it's too soon after Christmas and really, if I wait a couple of weeks EVERYTHING will be on clearance.