Month: November 2012 (Page 1 of 2)

I still haven’t decided how to handle the new photo limit on Google.  Start paying to store in google?  Renew my flickr account and only post links from there? Delete the first 5 years of my blog after backing it up again?  I don’t like any of those options. 

So anyway, it’s been a splendid week off of work for me.  In a stroke of genius I requested off the week after Thanksgiving as well as the holiday itself.  It has been so restorative to avoid work completely.  Vacations are nice, but it’s good to be home and just be home.  I cut off all my email connections so they don’t pop up with work-related messages.  I haven’t worn blueberry scrubs in 9 days.  It’s bliss. 

Tomorrow I go back but just for one shift + call.  Then I have Sunday and Monday off.  I can handle that.  Next week is heavier, with T, Th, Fr, Sat, and Sun shifts, with call every day too.  But I’ll be ready.  Plus that will be my last weekend to work until January.  Hurrah! 

I was all set to decorate for Christmas when we got back from Grand Junction.  But first thing Monday morning I got a call that we were getting our cement patio replaced.  Right now.  30 seconds later workers were in my backyard.  I had to run out there in the freezing sleet in my pajamas and slippers to clear off our patio furniture, bringing all the dirt and cobwebs they had accumulated into the house.  Ugh.  I mean, it’s nice to get a new patio but a little warning would have been appreciated!  So all week I’ve been waiting for it to dry so I can move the patio stuff back out.  I had to put some things in the basement, right where our Christmas tree was going to go.  Ben just called and found out it will be cleared this afternoon.  Thank goodness!  I’m embarrassed at how inconvenienced I feel being forced to use our front door to walk ALL THE WAY around the building to the visitor parking like.  My gosh, it sucks.  Good thing the weather has been nice all week or I would be REALLY annoyed. 

Jack and I have had lots of play time this week.  Crafts, playgrounds, practicing chores, and Christmas shopping.  The big news is that I started potty training!  He had sporadic practice before using the big toilet with a little kid seat on top of it.  On Monday I was coaxing him to pee and he went #2 too!  I was thrilled!  This kid is so ready.  So I invested in a froggy potty (the cheapest one at Target), some pull-ups, and flushable wipes.  I’m pleased to say we have great progress.  He still wears a regular diaper for naps and bedtime.   He doesn’t stay dry on his own yet either.  But he will sit on the potty when I ask him and every time he can produce something.  The reward system of little chocolate chips or M&Ms is working beautifully.  “Peepee Treat! Peepee Treat!  Poop Cookie!” He completely understands the system.  I’m not using any particular method and don’t even have a goal.  We’ll just keep at it and let him set his own learning pace for now. 

So my time has been split between activities above and casting the musical for Amanda’s school.  Monday I taught them a 1 minute dance to Dirty Dancing’s Time of Your Life.  Then I got to watch awkward teenagers (some questionably prepubescent still) try to roll their hips in various sexy ways.  Hilarious.  We got an incredible group of kids this year!  So many new male talent with good voices!  And lots of great, hard working girls too.  There were two days of auditions plus one day of call-backs, so I spent 4/5 afternoons up in Bailey this week.  Glad to skip the drive today and take advantage the quiet that Jack’s nap allows.  Now I have to work on some actual choreography. 

We are back from a wonderfully relaxing Thanksgiving in GJ.  I was sorting photos to post, but when I started to upload google said I was out of storage space!  You’ll have to wait until I sort that out to get the photos up.

A song before nap.

I laughed that we were all piled on the couch with our tablets. Ben said, “what's wrong with it? We are reading and playing games all together, just using our modern technology.” he has a point 🙂

Work is so busy lately!  I already have 31 hours this week and I have two shifts still.  I can’t wait to be done with it and take a vacation.  Not only do I have Thanksgiving off, but I took off the whole next week (well, through the next Saturday at least).  It’s going to be GLORIOUS!

Not only has there been a lot of work, but mostly it’s apheresis!  We maybe get a patient every 1-2 months, who will get 5-10 treatments over their 1-2 week stay.  The last two weeks we have FIVE apheresis patients.  Thrombotic Thrombocytopenia Purpura, Multiple Sclerosis, Cold Agglutinin, Antibody-Mediated Kidney Transplant Rejection/FSGS, and one guy with CIDP who I didn’t even get a chance to treat because I was booked up with the others.  The Cold Agglutinin case was totally crazy in terms of how I had to run the treatment, and ended sadly (not in any way my fault, you just can’t win them all).  You can ask me about it later. 

This is just to say that I’m still here, working and playing as usual.  When I get an hour or two at home I spend it knitting furiously, playing with Jack, or cleaning the house.  Not much time for blogging and not much to say really.  Life as usual. 

Boy, it’s nice to be home with my family.  Ben and Jack still have colds, but I still enjoy their company.  I don’t know how I missed the cold, considering Jack gave me two sneezes in my face at point blank range, and I give him kisses all over every night.  Luck of the draw.

After the fun of Halloween we didn’t do much.  I knocked a few major items off my To Do list.  I printed some photos.  I planned meals and bought groceries.  I gave Jack a long overdue haircut.  It did not go well.  Here’s a screen shot my folks took when we were done.  I had a movie on the iPad, grandparents on the iPhone, and a lollipop for both hands, but he still cried like I was torturing him.  But the biggest check-off on my list was cleaning out my dryer according to these instructions.  I pulled fistfuls of lint out the vent.  My bathrooms may still be filthy, but my dryer vents are gorgeous!

Last night Amanda came over and we worked on Christmas ornaments, as she posted.  It was cozy, quiet work, but really fun.  I might even call her to do it again today.  Maybe while Jack naps, so we can claim the TV to watch QI.

I have come to accept the fact that I’m the Safeco Insurance Lady.  Better just embrace it.

Here’s what we ate today that didn’t come out of a bucket.  Pumpkin pancakes with Jack O’ Lantern faces for breakfast. 

 The Fancy Tiger blog showed me that there was a new pie shop in Denver.  What what? I immediately called Brian and invoked him on an exploration excursion. 

 Jack and I shared a banana cream pie while Brian ordered a breakfast burrito pie slice.  The review from Jack in the above image is pretty much my reaction too.  I bought a savory beef pie to eat later. 

It was a super long, fun day.  Jack was a real trooper, considering his cold.  By the time we got to Chipotle for their $2 burrito-if-you-are-in-costume deal, he was wearing out.

After dinner and neighborhood trick-or-treating I curled up with him under a quilt and we watched It’s the Great Pumpkin Charlie Brown.  He thought Snoopy was hilarious.  A good teeth brushing, and then I tucked him in bed.  I could hear him over the monitor recounting the night as he fell asleep, “Rocket….candy….pumpkin…rocket….”  That pretty much sums it up.

 

Ben found his costume on a Hot Topic board.
 

The boys took a break to ride the kiddie Merry Go Round

 And to watch a spooky railroad set.

This image captures the moment Jack realized Wolfie was EATING a piece of bucket candy.

 (I love Amanda’s Formal Complaint costume)

Doesn’t this image sum it up?  Suckers in mouth, Wolfie checking out his friend’s bucket.

Once the suckers came out, it was hard to keep the boys focused on the task of acquiring more.  They are a “live for the moment” type of creature.  

Luckily we were almost done.

 Our pumpkins at home.

I took Jack out to a few friendly neighbors on our block.  We ran into the Larsons!  April did an amazing job on all their costumes. 

Still zooming.

Brian’s house was super spooky, as expected.  Organ music, strobe lights, a fog machine, and lots of decorations.  A great way to end the night.