kapachino

Category: thoughts

  • just a buffer post – it’s friday, after all

    Ah, Friday. What a great day. Even though for me today begins the first of four days of work, I still enjoy it. We get more discharges than admissions, we get to wear whatever color scrubs we want (I’m wearing pink!), and people are generally in good spirits.

    I had a day off yesterday, and I sure did utilize the time. I spent the early morning cleaning, then had a fun day with my good friend Emily. She accompanied me to a card-making class at a local scrapbooking store, and we made 8 adorable birthday cards. If I remember, I’ll take some pictures to share. After a leisurely lunch at Panera, she came back to my house and did my hair. Not only is she my friend, she’s my personal stylist. This time she gave me a trim and put in highlights. Summer’s coming, it’s time to lighten things up!

    I spent the rest of the evening running errands, having dinner with another friend, and of course coming home and spending some quality family time with David and our girls Cleo and Eddie. There were some other tasks I wanted to get accomplished, but I always make a longer to-do list than is feasible. Family time is worth putting some things off. :)

    I’m still working on my list of 101 goals. Right now I’m stuck at about 87. I’m going to try to finish it up over the weekend so I can post it and get started on Monday.

    Well, I have no plans for a big finish here, just wanted to check in. So, happy Friday!

  • today’s successes

    1. Went to the dentist, and I have clean teeth and no cavities!

    2. Bought these sunglasses at my brother’s store, which are really cute and 50% off:

    sunglasses

    3. Met with our wedding photographer and am this close to finally getting an album ordered.

    4. Grocery shopping and laundry: done!

    5. Joined paperbackswap.com thanks to the recommendation of my good friend Sara. It’s great!

    6. Had a surprise visit from my father-in-law who brought me Coldstone ice cream, which completely spoiled my dinner but it was worth it.

    7. Loved on my husband and my dogs.

    8. Preemptive success: going to bed on time!

    I love my days off.

  • first-time guest

    So I am on my church’s “communication team,” and my job as part of this team is to write a monthly newsletter. Our team then meets once a month to mail it out. During this time we also go through the information forms that the congregation fills out and puts in the offering plate each week to update the mailing list.

    We met last night, and as I was stuffing envelopes our team leader, a woman about the age of my parents, was asking the rest of us questions about the information forms.

    “Who is Maggie McDonald?”

    “Oh, that’s my brother’s girlfriend.”

    “It says here she’s a regular attender, is she on the mailing list?”

    And so it went. Until she got to this card, which she began reading out loud:

    eddiecashmoney

    In case you can’t read the blurry writing, because I am horrible at taking pictures with my iPhone, it says:

    Name(s): Eddie “Cash” Money
    Email: igetmoney@gmail.com
    Address: 100 C Note Ln., Las Vegas
    Best Contact Phone: 1-800-Hustler
    Occupation(s): Hu$tla

    As soon as she read the name, I immediately knew that it had to be written by one of my brothers. Unfortunately, it could easily have been either one of them. When I saw the handwriting my suspicions were confirmed, and a text message sealed the deal. It was Barry, the youngest, although he’s 23 now which should count as an adult.

    Mature, right? Although it did get me to laugh, so what that says about me I’m not sure.

  • recovering

    For those of you who don’t know, my husband found out in the middle of last year that he has a condition in both of his hips that causes the bone to die due to lack of blood flow. The disease is very advanced in his right hip especially. It’s an extremely painful condition because it causes a deep, aching bone pain, similar to cancer of the bone. If left alone, eventually his hips will collapse.

    Since he’s so young, and hip replacements don’t last forever, we’ve tried a different procedure to help prolong the need for them. What they do is drill holes in his hips to clear out some of the dead bone and relieve the pressure. He had the surgery done on his left hip first, since there was more of a chance of it working. Yesterday he had it done on his right one.

    The doctor’s very words were that the procedure is a “Hail Mary” for his right hip, and if this doesn’t work he will have to get it replaced. Obviously we want to avoid that.

    Anyway, he came through the surgery alright, and I was able to get a really cute picture of him with his surgical gear on lying in the stretcher, but sorry ladies, that one’s for me to enjoy!

    Unfortunately, this recovery so far has been a lot harder on him because this hip was so much worse to begin with. He really should be staying in a hospital for a few days, but they just gave him a bunch of pain medicine after surgery and then sent him home within 45 minutes. Well, that medicine wore off in about 3 hours and what he has to take now isn’t covering it. I took today off work to be with him, and I’m doing all I can to make him comfortable. It’s so hard to see him like this.

    So right now, this is what is consuming our lives. That, and cleaning my house, which I needed to do for my own sanity. It’s not easy for either of us to be going through this. Him in miserable pain, unable to be of much help around the house and practically immobile, and me helpless to make his pain go away, with all the duties of the house and dogs and work on my back.

    There are times when I start to feel myself get irritable – not at David, but just at the situation. But all I do for him is worth it when he compliments me. He’s the best patient I’ve ever had, and taking care of him is definitely the most fulfilling.

  • 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?