Christmas Is For Kids!

I Need To Vent

OK, I'm writing this because I need to vent. It's 1:45 in the morning and I just got home and sat down. Tonight I had to work at the front nurse's station. It's been a week since I worked that area, and then I really wasn't working....I was orientating. I have been there one week and had to work every hall in that place. That's one of my problems with this place. There's nothing that is a constant for those residents. They need to see the same faces on the same schedule every week. I am on a different assignment every night. How am I supposed to get to know these residents in order to give them more efficient nursing care???? And they are so disorganized! Supplies should be fully stocked at each nurses station, but they are not. I had to stop giving medications three times this evening to run all the way to the far end of the building to retrieve needed supplies, such as formula for tube feedings, lancets and alcohol pads for glucose monitoring, etc.. Talk about wasting a lot of time running around!
Most of the staff there seem to be friendly and likeable, but there ARE those lazy ones that only want to do the bare minmum and then get ugly with you when you ask them to do something for one of the residents. Although I have noticed which ones do their work and which ones barely scoot by. Someone just needs to come in, clean house, and organize that place. I can't wait for the time when I can speak my mind to someone who will listen and do something about it. 'Nuff said.

A New Job, A New Year!

Well, it's 12:30 am and here I sit looking at "The Golden Girls" on TV. I hate working these late hours. I've gone to work at a long term care facility and right now their greatest need (and highest paying shift!) is 3-11. So here I am, back where I started. But that's OK.....because I feel like I was led there for a reason. I guess time will tell.......Oh! and one of my patients has a big yellow butterfly hanging from the ceiling above her head. Do I really need more of a sign than that? I think not. In fact, after only three days working there, I already have some suggestions to help improve the nursing care. I'll wait a while before suggesting them though.....I don't want to seem too critical too soon.

Christmas will be here in a few days. The pickings will be slim this year, but it's more about being with your family than anything. This year I'm cooking on Christmas Eve and having the kids and and their families here. I've even invited Vanessa to join us. She still has not agreed to let us be a part of Hayden's life, although I did attempt to reach out to her by inviting her to join us. I've even gotten her a gift and filled a stocking for her. I figure that if she chooses not to come, I can always send them home with Robert. I just want to have a nice dinner with my family around me. It's hard to believe this year is almost over. As I reflect back over the past year, it's been a rough one. A lot of things have happened this year. The birth of our grandchildren, my surgery (twice), Rob's panic attacks, and the usual family dramas (which I absolutely hate). The loss of a job I loved, in combination with starting a new one ( I hate job hunting!) and the depression in between them, has made this an especially stressful time. But I know it will get better...........in time.

Monday Full of Memories

It's early Monday morning and streaks of daylight are just beginning to show in the sky. It promises to be a beautiful day. I'm sitting at the kitchen table sipping my coffee and thinking of all the things I need to do today. I am thankful I am able to do them........not all of us are that fortunate. I am hopeful that my phone will ring today with the offer of a new job. Although my husband would rather I stay home until the new year, I am truly bored and miss the interaction with patients. I need that. For my sanity if nothing else.

Looking out the window at the gray sky, it reminds me of the sky I used to see in the winters up north. I remember winters in the north as a child, full of snow........and lots of shoveling! Dad used to get us out of bed early to help shovel the driveway so he could just get the car out of the garage to go to work. I remember one year (1977?) we had a huge blizzard. My room was on the second floor and the as I looked out my bedroom window, there was a giant snow drift from my window to the second floor window of the house across the street. I can remember opening the garage door to a wall of snow as high as that door. Naturally mom decided we needed to get a few things from the store that day to hold us over......just in case. We (my brother, dad, and I) shoveled, and shoveled, and shoveled! Unfortunately, it was so deep that not even the snow plows could get through. So what did we three geniuses come up with? We tied our little hound dog (Gretchen) to the sled and set out walking to the nearest store...........almost a mile away. We managed to pick up a few things (thank goodness the store was even open!), load them on the sled, then walk back.........with poor Gretchen pulling the sled. It worked, and we enjoyed a full week out of school! I miss the snow and the fun we had digging tunnels, making snowmen, and having snowball fights. But I sure don't miss the shoveling! I found it rather ironic when dad decided to move to Florida after he retired. He called me one day and announced he had sold the house and would be moving soon. He wanted to know if I wanted his snowblower............the one he bought AFTER us kids grew up and moved away. I just laughed and told him "no, thanks...maybe you should leave it for the owners" and he agreed.