kapachino

Category: personal

  • happy friday to me!

    I got up this morning, as usual, a little after 4 a.m. to get ready for work. As I was in the shower, I heard my phone ring. At first I thought it was my alarm, but no – I had turned that off. When I got out, I checked my messages and it was my unit calling me to say that they had too many nurses scheduled for the amount of patients on the floor, so would I like to take a day off?

    At first I was, of course, really excited about this. Then, for a split second, I thought, “Maybe I should say no, I want to work. After all, if I stay home I won’t get paid.” But that thought didn’t last long. Everyone will get called off at some point, so why shouldn’t today be my day? Yesterday was my scheduled day off, and I already got all my chores done then. And I discovered some really great sales at Banana Republic, which I would love to explore in greater detail.

    So here I sit at home, on my couch. I have already showered and played some Mario Galaxy. I am thinking of reading for awhile and then venturing out to do some shopping. What would you do with an unexpected day off like this?

  • On Starting To Exercise Again

    When I first got Cleo over a year ago, I was running a lot. I would take her to the park and we would run 5 miles together no problem. (Well, no problem after I purchased her a choke collar having learned the hard way that she loves to chase squirrels.) I was in pretty good shape then, and it felt good. 

    Now I look at Cleo, and there is a reason we call her our little sausage. She even has a couple of back fat rolls. And yesterday, my nurse mentor/friend Pat said to me, “I’m not saying this because you look like you’ve put a single pound on your body, but have you gained weight? I’m only asking because most newlyweds gain weight.” And later that day, two OTHER women I work with told me I look like I HAVE gained weight. Maybe it’s because I was wearing my pink scrubs for the first time in awhile, but still. Aren’t women supposed to know that we don’t say that kind of thing to each other?

    Truthfully, I’ve probably only gained 3-4 pounds since I got married. I don’t eat badly, even though I really REALLY love having chocolate after dinner. But ever since my indoor soccer team disbanded a few months ago, I haven’t been exercising. It’s thanks to my physically demanding job that I haven’t gained more, I think.

    I’m really getting the itch to be more active again. My new year’s resolution is to ride my bike and do a race at some point. I’ve decided that I don’t want to ride outside the neighborhood alone, however. My friend Sara said she’d ride with me, but I’m waiting for her to get a new bike. Until then, I’ve got to start doing something. I asked for a Wii Fit for my birthday, so maybe that will help on days I don’t want to get out of the house, but I need more than that.

    So, Methodist is sponsoring the annual Stride4Stroke 5K in March, and I signed up to be a part of our unit’s team. I’m going to run it. I used to be able to run a 5K in my sleep, but not so much anymore; I’m going to have to train.

    Which is really the point of this post, to tell you about a great website that I found to help me: www.djsteveboy.com. On it are free podcasts that you can download to listen to while you run. I chose the one called “First Day to 5K.” The podcasts have upbeat music that you listen to, and then there is a chiming sound that lets you know when you switch from walking to jogging. They are designed by a coach, and you just need to run to them 3 times a week for 9 weeks. I’ve found that running at intervals like this is really the best way to get started. It’s not too overwhelming, you feel good, and it helps you ease into running shape again.

    Cleo and I ran week one today, and although I’m not too winded, my legs are definitely tired. Poor Cleo was huffing and puffing right alongside me. Hopefully we can find time to complete the program together.

  • One Hazard of Marriage

    I absolutely love being married. I don’t have anything to complain about, except this: it has become exponentially harder for me to wake up in the morning. Over the course of these few months of marriage, I have gotten into the bad habit of pressing my snooze button for 30 minutes, which is just not acceptable! I believe this is for a combination of reasons:

    1. Being married and having two incomes allowed us to buy something I’ve dreamed about for years: a Tempur Pedic mattress. In my opinion, it is amazing. Perfectly forms around my body, with just the right amount of give.

    2. Although for awhile my dog Cleo was too excited about the prospect of an entire house for her to explore and a new sister to share it with that she had taken to sleeping elsewhere, I have since forced her back into my bed at night and hopefully brainwashed her into liking it. I now wake up almost every morning with her stretched out beside me as close as possible.

    3. Finally, how can I be expected to hop out of bed at 4 a.m. when there is a warm, soft, deeply breathing body next to me? I’m not talking about Cleo, but a human who gets to sleep for at least 3 hours more and looks incredibly adorable doing it? All I want to do is cuddle up next to it.

  • Jury Duty

    Today is my day off, and I spent a portion of it going to jury duty. This is my first time that I couldn’t claim an exemption from going, and although I know I could have just skipped it and probably wouldn’t have ever seen the consequences, that’s just not the type of person I am. Also, I thought it would be an experience. My father-in-law sat on a murder trial once – not that I would want to have THAT kind of experience, but still.

    Anyway, I was very impressed with the whole process. I arrived and sat in a comfortable assembly hall and read for a short while before they began announcing the panels. I was in the first one they announced, one of 36 potential jurors. We were herded to a different room and accounted for by the bailiff, then walked three blocks to the new civil courthouse. Our tax money was at work in that building; it is very nice. We were given a number (I was 24) and lined up in order, then entered the courtroom and sat down to face the judge and two attorneys. I was kind of nervous, kind of interested, but still didn’t want to be picked.

    As soon as we sat down, the judge told us that we wouldn’t get to hear the very interesting story the two lawyers had prepared, because they had reached an agreement before our arrival. The good news was, we got to leave. Part of me felt let down, but mostly I was happy because that left more time for me to play Mario Galaxy. (Which is what I had spent my morning doing, and what I will return to doing in just a few minutes!)

    Anyway, including commute the whole ordeal was less than three hours – not bad. I have done my civic duty and am feeling very patriotic, and now I need to collect some stars and try to save the princess.

  • Weekend Update

    I’ve had every intention of posting more frequently this year. Then I went out of town for our fifth annual Angel Fire, NM girls getaway, and since I’ve been back I’ve been getting back into the swing of working and taking care of things at home. Whenever I go too long without posting I get into a self-defeating cycle of feeling like I need to make a really GOOD post, which causes me to put off posting until I have something really GOOD to say. And the longer it goes, the better the post needs to be. Well this time, forget that. Here are some random things.

    My wonderful husband turned 30 this week, and his family got him a Wii. One cool thing about being married is that sometimes you get presents by default. I hope to someday soon have some spare time to play a video game every now and then.

    I have had a patient this week who is a real handful. She must be the adult form of ADHD, because she can’t sit still, is extremely needy, and is noncompliant. She has been caught twice smoking in the bathroom. Also twice she has snuck off the floor without telling anyone to go downstairs to smoke, and then she’s too weak to make it back so hospital staff has to bring her. And on the very day that my boss gave us all a lecture about preventing falls in the hospital, she fell. But I know it’s not my fault, because it happened not 15 minutes after my boss herself had actually spoken to the patient about not getting up by herself. Anyway.

    So there is my random update. Lately it seems the only chance I have to update is when things are slow at work, and right now I’m eleven hours into a twelve hour shift, so please forgive me.