How to ruin a birthday.....

Take one spoiled soon-to-be 15 year old, add one video game, mix in some terrible grades, and a whole lot of attitude = you're not getting it.

Wow.....where the heck have I been?

So, I apparently abandoned the blogging for a while. A lot has happened in the two years since I was here last.

For one, I am over 40. Patooey. And we have relocated to Lexington, KY from Miami, FL. Talk about a culture shock.

I am now working as a newborn nursery nurse at a large hospital. I like it. But, as usual, I get that restless feeling that makes me want to wander. Since I became a nurse, I have worked four specialties, and four hospitals.

I have worked in Pediatrics, Pediatric Transplant, Mother-Baby, NICU and now, Newborn Nursery. I really like working with kids and babies. What I find is this.... every hospital is pretty much the same. There is no greener grass, it is just grass, everywhere. Every place has its own problems, and here it is drugs and a lousy economy.

I have been doing a ton of soul searching. I have begun revisiting my spirituality. I have begun trying to become the person I feel that I am on the inside. I have spent so many years being what others have wanted me to be, or at least what I thought they wanted me to be. The good wife, daughter, mother, employee. Which I want to be all of that, but I have been doing so at the loss of myself.

I haven't done anything I am interested in for so long. So, I am going to join a book club. I am resuming my blogging. I am taking up photography. I am going to start dressing for myself, and photojournaling it. I am going to earnestly resume my knitting. I really want to get back into sewing.

So, that is where I have been. Working, moving, and rediscovering who I am. Soon, there will be pictures to enjoy. Toodles.

How does your garden grow???

In the interim before planting my raised beds in the fall, I have 2 small plots in my yard a bunch of containers growing. Here is what I have growing, so far.

1 pot with Mr. Stripey tomatoes.
1 pot with Yellow Pear tomatoes.
2 pots of Patio Tomatoes.
1 pot with Ichiban Eggplant (hopefully this will turn into something besides a tall plant)
1 steel bin with 2 okra plants.
3 bell pepper plants

In the ground I have:

4 collard plants
3 cucumber plant
1 jack b little pumpkin plant
8 corn plants
1 okra plant
1 eggplant plant (Fairytale)
12 yard long bean plants

today I also moved my herbs from a window box to the garden:

bee balm
lemon balm
sweet basil
oregano
lavender plants x 2

I love my garden. I am out there every day pulling weeds and cultivating, mulching, watering. Now I just wish it would rain, already.

W. :0)

The more things change, the more they stay the same....

So, it is now nearly a year later. Because..that's how I roll. Let's see what's new:

Husbeast moved to KY. Got laid off, moved back. D. HATED it there. And frankly....after visiting there several times, I know I would have hated it there, too.

House never sold. No surprise there. So instead, I am dedicating myself to enjoying living there. I have big plans for a garden in the fall. Already have my layout, and I am so looking forward to starting all my new seeds. Planted a small butterfly garden. Want to have a pond, and some backyard furniture. Want to redecorate my room, David's room. Ahhh.... who am I kidding? The whole house.

D. is struggling along as always. I wish there was some way to make this kid like school. It is just so frustrating.

I have changed jobs, AGAIN. I am now working as a mother baby nurse at a small hospital. I love it. However, they are dead set on making me a charge nurse here. NOOOOOOOOO!!!!!! But I get to work with BABIES, which I love.

Also, since the husbeast is still unemployed, I have picked up some home health nursing to supplement the income. Because.. you know.. sleep is for suckers.

Well.....I guess I will try to start blogging again.

W. :o)

I've got Kentucky on my mind.....

So, the scrub moratorium is in full force. No new scrub purchases.

However, the book moratorium did not last as long. I bought two new books the day after that post. However, I refuse to count those since 1 was a gift and the other was class related.

However, I have completed 3 books I already own. So, that's progress.

Speaking of class, I passed my nutrition class with an "A." So that's another class down towards my AA and eventually my BSN. Now it's time to work on my CLEP classes.

In other news....My husbeast spent this past weekend in Lexington, KY at a job interview. He has been offered a position, and I think he may take it. I will stay here for a bit to try to get the house sold, look for work myself, and make $$ toward moving costs.

In my ideal situation....1) Husbeast takes the position, and excells at it, and we decide to make a permanent relocation. 2) I get a position at UK Medical Center. 3) D. loves it. Spends time outdoors, makes friends. 4) A house with an attic, basement, dormer windows. .......

So, there may be some serious changes coming around the bend. We shall see.

W. :o)

T minus 3 days left of orientation.....

So, once again, I get a shortened orientation. I was told at my time of hire that my orientation period would be from 4-6 months. May 23rd was my 3 month-iversary (I know, I know...made up word), and I am off orientation as of this coming Friday. WTF??? I am actually glad to get off orientation, because I am on my own anyway, and whenever my preceptor decides to observe me, all it does is irritate me.

All I really want is to move up to days. I am so ready to be off night shift, already. I am trying to develop a schedule that allows me maximum days off between shift-blocks, while still working within the required days working. I hate working 3 in a row, and would prefer not to if possible. But then that leaves me with very few weekdays not working. So, I really need to figure it out. I want regular block scheduling if possible. And if not, I want to work Sat, Sun, Mon weekends rather then Fri, Sat, Sun weekends. Here's hoping.

Also work related...I was expecting to get my insurance cards in the mail recently, and instead I got a COBRA flyer??? Am I missing something? So, I will be having some personal time with Human Resources shortly.

Finished my new Jen Lancaster book. (I so want to be her BFF. I am even willing to overlook the whole r-e-p-u-b-l-i-c-a-n thing.) She had me laughing out loud right to the very end. Good on you, Jen. You rock!

I am immediately diving into "Bitter is the New Black." (see I am working of my book moratorium already). I am going to lend my actuall BFF her books, because I know she will enjoy them as much as I have.

Ok, one more thing.....I work at a hospital, right? The very place one would go to achieve improved health, right? So, guess what lovely dining options are available to patients (who I see all the time out in their gowns, IV poles in tow), visitors and staff have as dining options on campus.... McDonald's, Dunkin Donuts, and Subway. There is also a wonderful Au Bon Pain (mushroom bisque....mmmmmmm)on campus, however it is not open at any sort of reasonable hour for night shifters. Thanks to my unwillingness to bring food regularly (I try, but it is usually what I already had for lunch/dinner so I don't want it, again. And TV dinners just don't do it for me.) I have managed to gain 15 pounds since I started working here. Eeeks. SUCKS!!!
I really need to make a change. FAST. I will develop a plan to address this issue.

I have a feeling sandwiches from home are in my future. :o/

W. :o)

I may have a problem......

I seem to have a little bit of an addiction to SCRUBS! (no, not the hilarious NBC sitcom of the same name) I am talking pediatric print scrubs.

I know there are oh, so professional nurses out there that poo-pooh the pedi-prints (or any print for that matter), but I work with kids, and the kids like my digs (and beside - I like them, too, because I am in fact 8 years old). So.....I have pedi-print scrubs....LOTS of them. Like, looking into my closet today, I figured that I could work my schedule for 4 solid months, and never run out of tops. (Ok, so I may end up with no pants after 3 weeks, but there just boring old solids, anyway.) This may be a bit extreme.

So, I am declaring a moratorium on scrub-purchasing until next year. (there...it is in writing, so I HAVE to comply, right? RIGHT?!?)

I have plenty of scrub pants, and plenty of tops for every season, holiday, and character. So this means I have to ignore all my lovely Uniform City coupons, and avoid that particular neighborhood altogether. (Especially, since my car has an autopilot mechanism that kicks in whenever I am within a 1 mile proximity of the uniform store.)

Along with the moratorium on scrubs,I am also declaring a moratorium on book purchases until I can finish 10 of the books on my overflowing bookshelf. I am currently reading 3 books (actually, I am currently devouring "Such a Pretty Fat" by Jen Lancaster. the other 2 are on hold.). I have at least 50 more on my reading shelf to be read. (I have my shelves categorized....don't you? There is nursing, knitting, cooking and diet [related], reading and liberal studies.) I have been picking away at "The Time Traveler's Wife" for over a year now, and I am also reading "The Life and Times of Queen Elizabeth I."

Last week I bought 2 books ("Such a Pretty Fat" and "Michael Tolliver Lives" by Armistead Maupin), today I bought 2 more ("Bitter is the New Black" by Jen Lancaster and "Everyone Worth Knowing" by Lauren Weisberger). And as I was shopping I noticed that there was another book by Jennier Weiner out that features her heroine from "Good in Bed" (which I love) so it is a "must buy." And Lauren Weisberger also has a new book out on hardcover "Chasing Harry Winston." Ohhhhhhhh.......

I like to pretend that I have all sorts of time for pleasure reading. I like to think that I can while away my days off with a good book and cold drink. Ohhhh, if only that were true.... So, instead I will be adding even more to my Amazon wishlist for that someday. Retirement is right around the corner, right? In, what, 35 years, I will be reading all the time, only in LARGE PRINT.

W. :o)