Wednesday, December 29, 2010

are you ready!?


I am so ready, in so many ways. Then there's one reason that leaves me wanting time to slow way down. I'm ready for this upcoming year. It's a year without me attending classes and studying for endless hours. Ironically though, I'll have a full year without college attendance, at least on my own behalf. LB will take up where I've left off. He'll be attending college, somewhere. harumph.

So, as I start paying off student loans, my eldest son will become an adult, become of age to vote and will be eligible for selective service. All that wrenches at my heart, and it leaves me sad, but it's exciting as well.

He'll be 18 in March. Where has the time gone?

It's going to be a good year; I'm sure of it.

I turn 40 in January.

AW turns 15 and while we're at it, Big B will celebrate his 42nd.

I'm going to Vegas for my 40th birthday. Big B has arranged a trip for us to go out and celebrate, sans the younger guys. I can't wait. It should be a blast.

What else can we look forward to in 2011?

Right now I feel a sense of contentment. It's great to have a family that's healthy and to be employed. Granted, there are things in both aspects of my life that leave lots of room for improvement. Although AW is generally healthy, he's recently been diagnosed with sleep apnea. He was supposed to have a tonsillectomy with uvulopalatectomy January 5th, but just yesterday I found out Tricare (our insurance through the US military) denied it based on "not a benefit". Yeah, that came as a harsh blow, but rest assured I won't lay back and take the denial without a fight.

It is very frustrating because he's made some really bad decisions in the past couple of years and I was hopeful the surgery would 1.) work, therefore 2.) be the answer to some of his problems. He's even landed himself in legal trouble, so we're also dealing with going to court in the near future. In my mind it would help us to work on distinguishing between behavioral issues stemming from organic causes and well, those that are just rooted by teenageritis. Chaos...

As of today I am now on dayshift. I'm still plugging away on the rehab unit. Nightshift was aging me. Who needs that with the regular toils and troubles of life that add gray hairs and wrinkles, not that I've grown any of the former, just plenty of the latter?

Today was a great day, albeit horrid at times, what with the dysfunctionality I've spoken of previously. We have a new unit manager and she's working toward improving upon a great deal, to include adding a 4th pod (that would mean our 60 bed unit would be divided by 4 nurses versus the 3 [when we're lucky]). Today made me wonder if I'm just more comfortable overall in my new-nurse skin, or have I just gotten used to the chaos? Hmmm....

The above photo was taken on my 20th birthday. Friends threw a surprise intimate gathering for me, complete with Garfield cake.

Friday, December 10, 2010

all aglow


As I was sitting here in the great room I looked out and noticed the pre-dusk glow of the sun setting. I thought it looked pretty silhouetting my tree.

Thursday, December 9, 2010

things with wings

Tuesday, December 7, 2010

these are a must-make...and soon!

A friend of mine posted this scrumptious recipe on Facebook a while back and I thought I'd share it here, it is all thanks to fellow blogger A Whisk and a Prayer.

I'm trying to channel the negative energy I've been consumed with lately, into some creative energy. It's a great time of year to do so, and so I've done some usual decorating. I even went so far as to buy a second tree. I've been wanting a pencil-slim tree, and finally splurged and made the purchase. Every year it'll be decorated with a theme. I almost went with a nursing theme, kind of an ode to finishing school. I was even going to tear up my old scrub pants from my school uniform and make a garland out of the strips, but decided I didn't really want to be reminded of something that's caused some major frustration and self-reflection lately - that being my dismal career. Instead, "things with wings" popped into my head. The tree has everything I could find that has wings, from angels, to birds, to bees, some ladybugs, butterlfies and dragonflies and even some jets. I tried to find a Batman toy and some other toys of the like, but didn't want to spend tons of money. I can use some of the stuff in future Christmases, but will donate the toys I did buy to a co-worker who has children. They've recently gone through some tough times, so I've been trying to think up different ways to help out where and when I can.