What Keeps Me Sane

I had the most insanely busy day today. I thought about writing out a timeline of the day but just the thought of that made me utterly exhausted. I was just talking to another nurse the other day about what "bad days at work" really mean for nurses. They are not the typical bad day at work. They make me feel like I'm holding my breath for 8 hours. Running around with a million tasks to complete, a handful of people who need to speak with me, patients calling. I think around 10:30 I realized I had to pee and it wasn't until 2pm when I actually had the opportunity. I know you are supposed to take care of yourself so you can take care of others, but when you have patients who also need help peeing, getting up, need their meds, Drs who are impatiently waiting to speak with you peeing is the last thing on your mind.

So, what keeps me sane when my days are a blur of running around, meeting everyone's urgent demands, keeping patients happy/safe, and keeping their sometimes overbearing family members happy? My boys. They are my heart and soul. They keep me happy and give me the loves that I need to keep on chugging. This is a pic I took last night with our new camera! Homer is getting so big and Bryan and I have so much fun with him. At night, we often go watch tv in bed before going to sleep. Homer snuggles under the covers and falls asleep in the warm cave of our bed. We love it. Life is precious when I think of these moments. I love you Booger and Punky!xxxxxoooooo

The ridiculousness of $300 haircuts...sorry if I offend anyone

(I chose this picture cause it was just too gosh darn cute to pass up!)

I’ve been meaning to put up a new posting for awhile. Life has finally begun to slow down for the first time in almost 3 years. Since October, the holidays came and went without much excitement, I passed my comp exam on the 2nd try (after some crying and cursing), I graduated and received my masters of science in nursing (woohoo!) and I graduated from Clinical Nurse I to Clinical Nurse II at work! That pretty much brings us to present day, Jan 3 2010.

So the reason it’s taken me so long to post is because I couldn’t think of anything cool to write. My life is boring now. But not boring in a negative way, boring in that I have no more extraordinary stresses in my life, no drama. I have a normal work schedule as does Bryan, and when we’re not at work we are enjoying spending time cooking dinners together, taking Homer to the park, and the like.

In the months since I started to have an income again, we’ve rearranged our priorities A LOT. We don’t spend exorbitant amounts of money on entertainment, we rarely go on vacations (we did just got to Cabo but that was a carefully planned trip to celebrate all of my hard work in nursing school) and we save every penny we can. Our reasons for this shift in lifestyle are to: pay off school loans, save for our own home and a family. And, although this wasn’t the intention, the things that used to please and excite me (ie; going shopping, getting my hair and nails done, going out for an expensive dinner) no longer have the same appeal. When I lived in the city I used to get my hair cut and colored every 8 wks at a swanky hair salon which ended up costing me almost $300! And for what? Blonder highlights in my already blonde hair? I now get my hair cut for $40. No joke, just $40 and I don’t do highlights anymore because I already have blonde hair and it looks great the way it is. Our choice to lead a simpler life has not only been easy but it has allowed me to enjoy my life MORE. I spend more time with my husband and our beloved puppy, my apartment is cleaner and not cluttered with more crap that we don’t need. I appreciate the things we do splurge on much more because they are things we really want or need, not just things for the sake of acquiring more stuff.

What began out of necessity in order to pay off bills and save money, has become a new lifestyle that I really enjoy.

Paranormal Activity

I saw Paranormal Activity this weekend and, suprisingly, I wasn't that scared. Well, except for the last 7 minutes or so. I actually may have been more scared if I had watched it at home as it may have made the movie seem more real. The theater was light enough to be able to see other moviegoers and there were a ton of kids in the back giggling and making noise.

For those of you who haven't heard about Paranormal Activity, here's a quick synopsis... A couple begin videotaping their lives inside their home after the girl experiences "paranormal activity" at night while she is sleeping. Turns out that the videotaping only pisses off the demons more which escalates the whole situation. I won't tell you the ending if you were planning on watching it.

All in all, I'd give it a B+ rating. And although I had no trouble falling asleep after watching the movie, I did get a little spooked when I had to get up in the middle of the night to go to the bathroom.

BEST NEWS EVER!

My manager just gave me the best news ever today! I will no longer have to suffer through working nights anymore- at the end of November I can move to a day shift position!!!! This is beyond exciting as it will mean that my life will finally get back to normal.
- I will be able to end my days at 3:30pm and work out
- I will be able to sleep in the same bed, AT THE SAME TIME, as my husband!
- I will be able to have a glass of wine with dinner
- I will be able to get 8 hours or more of sleep per night
- I will be able to have 3 meals a day at the appropriate times (instead of breakfast, dinner, then a snack at 3am)
- I can start drinking coffee in the morning, not at 9pm at night
- I will have the energy to see friends and stay up past 8pm on my weekends off

What I'm Looking Forward to After School Ends

It's amazing how the little things can make you so happy

- Cleaning out my email inbox

- Making new, healthy recipes for Bryan

- Deep cleaning my apartment on a regular basis

- Learning to sew a baby blanket

-Taking walks with my mom again

-Resuming a regular exercise schedule

-Seeing my friends more often than every 3 months

-Taking Homer to new parks to meet other dogs

-Selling a stack of worthless text books

-Keeping up with what's going on in the news

A Trip Down Memory Lane

I got lost driving up to school the other day. I’m not sure what’s wrong with me, I’ve driven up there so many times it’s not even funny. I used to think I could do it in my sleep. So yeah, I got lost. I was actually on my way from SFO airport and decided to save myself a separate trip and turn in my comp exam a little early since I was already halfway to SF.

Instead of staying on 101 I got off near Moscone Center and decided to just take city streets all the way across town to USF. Traffic sucks in San Francisco! I could feel my blood pressure rising just from dealing with all of the sudden double parking, pedestrians randomly running out into oncoming traffic, and one way streets. It’s amazing how quickly I forgot (or blocked out) how to drive in the city since moving away 17 months ago.

As I was driving to school, all of these familiar places started jumping out at me. I drove down Sansome past my first full time job at ServiceSource. All of our lunch places, happy hour spots, and the walk back home down Broadway with all of the stripper joints. Through the Broadway tunnel I remembered the LOOOONG bus ride home to the Marina, stopping every 5 feet (or so it felt like) to let people on and off. I remember the first day I took the bus to work and how nervous I was, I think I got off about 3 stops before my actual stop. I drove past Nick’s Crispy Tacos (they are so delicious) and the Chinese place where Bryan and I had our third date. It was at that date that I realized I wanted him to be my boyfriend. I remembered all of the mornings of waking up at 6am and throwing on my scrubs, then catching the bus in the dark to Buchanan and walking about 6 blocks uphill to get to the hospital for my clinicals, just as the sun was starting to rise. Driving down Geary I thought of going to Bay to Breakers for the first time and naively thinking I could catch a cab back home, no problem. I ended up waiting out in the rain on Geary for nearly an hour before I got picked up. Then finally getting to my school and remembering all of the long hours studying, the endless hours spent in the skills lab worrying over passing each new skill, and the hundreds of tests and papers I’ve managed to get through in the past two and a half years. Wow, it’s been a crazy few years and so much has happened in my life. I’ve entered, left , and reentered the working world, I’ve met my husband and gotten married, moved four times, gotten a puppy, and managed to keep some of my sanity. Whew, I’m tired now just thinking about it all.

Naughty Nutella Sandwiches = HEAVEN

I discovered the most delicious, yummiest snack EVER! Ever heard of Nutella? It’s a jar of creamy hazelnut and chocolate spread that seriously puts peanut butter to shame. I usually eat a hearty snack before going off to work so I don’t get hungry before my break and I was used to having toast with peanut butter on it, sometimes with bananas if there were any around. I saw Nutella at the store a few weeks ago and decided to try it out in place of my usual peanut butter. I had no idea what I was missing! Bryan Emeril Lagasse’d it by buttering each side of the bread after making a sandwich and cooking it in a frying pan for a bit so the bread got all buttery and crunchy and the inside was all warm and gooey. Totally naughty and delicious. I think nutella is going on my top 5 list of things I’d want on a desert island. Give it a try sometime, you won’t regret it!