it has been forever

almost 3 weeks... what have I been doing?
The shore was wonderful. Can't believe it's taken me so long to get there and it is not that far away.
Every day I walked to the pool and swam. I met some really nice people. The pool looked old, but the walls and gutters made it a fast pool. Nothing like swimming a few thousand and then walking in the clean, fresh air back to a beautiful rental sitting 1/2 block from the beach. Thank you Kath, Sean and Mom and Dad for letting me come along.

And then it was back to work and swim and clean and grocery shop and teach swim lessons and sell Mary Kay and 18 days later here I am.

I'm going to for sure take another day or two at the beach in NJ before the cold days come along.
Can't believe we used to live at the beach for 12 years. Not taking that for granted anymore.

almost time for the shore

I haven't been to the shore in YEARS! I travelled back to CA in 2008 and I have been stuck on the East Coast since then. I love the water, not too much into the sand, but I know I will enjoy the AIR. I need a breeze. I would actually take the cold misty morning of the West Coast right now. I just need to be able to walk around the block without sweating. I want to swim outside and the air feels brisk, not wet and warm.
I will find the pool in Ocean City NJ next week and I will even try to swim in the ocean. Of course if there are any jellyfish, then NO. I will only put my feet in. I don't even want to imagine getting stung. I will take walks and sit in beach chairs. I will have my laptop and a book and my Mary Kay sunscreen and 15 for lips. No baby oil and no Sun-in. Sorry skin- you're gonna get some protection this year. Hopefully it won't rain next week. We are definitely praying for sunshine!
Breathe towards the sun!

3 days off and now 6 in a row- what a week!

Keeping busy between all these shifts. Busy resting, busy swimming, busy cleaning the house and doing laundry. Busy with projects at work, a baby shower to plan, a car that was in the shop and now may have a slow leaking tire.......

I've swam at a different pool every day so far this week. Today was the Sport and Health in McLean, VA. The water was warm, the sun was bright and the pool was crowded, but I got a lane right away.
My lane was next to the family play area. I was constantly on alert for balls, noodles, kids and even this one dad who actually brought his baby over to my lane. Are you serious? Worst part was, I thought that the man was a woman. Curly hair, a cap on his head and big sunglasses, swimming breaststroke with his head up. I thought he was a woman. The highlight of this swim, was afterwards I found a gas station run by Safeway. It was next to a Safeway store. I punched in my number and voila', I was rewarded with 30 cents off each gallon- so I paid $3.46/gal today! I bought a few groceries and while the checkout guy from Lebanon kept me talking, the bagger kid put all of my glass jar groceries into one cheap miserable plastic bag that was already tearing. I didn't notice until I was putting my groceries into the car. Thank goodness for the reusables!

Laundry: done. Chris' laundry: done. Now it's paperwork. Gonna clean out this desk. If this desk was clean, my living room would really look nice. I just got a matching console table for the one that dropped on my foot in April. I put it together last night and set it up on the left side of my desk. The culprit desk is to the right. I noticed that Marissa had turned the culprit console table around so that the little beads and decorations couldn't be seen. When I realized it and said something to Chris, he actually asked me, "How does that make you feel?"
"How does that make me feel?"
"Yeah, Mom, how does that make you feel that Marissa turned your table around?"

Well, now that you ask.........

Have a good Sunday!

St Jude answers prayers

I'm going to use this time and blog to publicly thank St Jude for answering all of the prayers that I have thrown at him. Thrown, hurled, piled in front of, dumped on, handed over, unloaded....You name it, I've somehow gotten to St Jude. Because everything is going really well. Every single prayer has been answered. Even if the answer was "ummmm, I don't think so..." or , "uhhhh maybe-----no, no, sorry"---well, that was for the good of everyone involved.

I can just picture St Jude with his hands over his ears and he is thinking, "Not YOU again!"

Yep, it's me St Jude and thanks for listening! You are the best.

back to work!

 Oh what a great week I've had. No complaints. Only great things to say about my week off.
First stopped up in Wilkes-Barre to visit the Slavoski's. I love my cousins and my Aunt Anne and Uncle John. I learned that they have changed their names: Aunt Anne is "Jim" and Uncle John is "Peggy". Hysterical!

Then on to Doylestown. Family dinner at Pete and Tracey's. Kara Valko was down from NYC. So sweet, so nice, I love her! Dinner was great. Fish taco night. Omgosh, the food was delicious!

The week went quickly. Too quick. I swam at the Y, shopped with Grandma. Hung out with Buz.
Anne and I walked through Dtown one night with Joey. We spent a few hours at Fanny Chapman working on our tan! The water was cold, but it felt great.

Highlight: Grandma (Mom) became an Apple convert. When Joe set up and turned on the computer I knew she was never going to go back to the PC. Andrew came over and did the internet/computery/ code and number part for Mom and she is up and running.

Yay!
For the first time ever I drove straight through back to DC. The house was clean (thank you Marissa and Chris) and the cat was good (thank you again).
Yesterday Marissa and I watched Anysia teach a microclass. She is brilliant! Today is Immigration with Andreas. And then WORK.

Thank you Liz, for doing the first 4 hours of my day so that I can go to Immigration.

Have a wonderful weekend!

Friday the 24th

So, has anyone noticed the gnats? It's like they hatched from gnat eggs and are swarming everywhere. So agnoying!

How about the young person I saw allowing her dog to poop on the apartment complex lawn, not pick it up and rush back into her apartment across the street? I made 2 signs for the fence around the lawn.

How about the brown, greasy dirty filthy windows and blinds of the apartment on the first floor.....where this chain smoking couples resides with their little cat. When I'm outside, I can see their blinds that have turned black/brown. Their windows have a nasty film now. They are such a nice couple but they are smelling up the entire building. She tells me about her hypertension. HAH!

Has anyone seen me come to a complete stop at the stop signs lately? No more rolling. I realized that if I drove carefully, I would save, on the average, $50/mo.

Did you know that if you bring back your Super Big Gulp cup to 7-11 for a refill, that it costs only $1.01? Instead of $1.83? That's for the 7-11 on Rte 29 in VA.

Marissa rescued a baby bird. I saw the nest she built for it. I hope that the mommy bird found her baby and takes care of it. Anysia made a poster filled with photos of all of us to show her class. It was awesome! Chris is in aquatics now. Yay! Eric has a beautiful new patio set for their house. Can't wait to picnic there. And Andreas is now working out at the state of the art gym right here at the complex.

Wally the dog got a haircut. Jack and Joey are next. Too hot now for hairy puppies. Skwisgaar likes a little bit of wet puppy food mixed into his cat kibble. hmmmmm.

Random news for this week....hope your week has been just as exciting!

Saturday at 0112. home from work. tired.

Home from a 3-11. No cookies to eat. Ate them all on the walk home. I'm tired but don't want to take the time or make the effort to take out my contacts. Can I sleep in my scrubs? Can someone take my contacts out for me? Can someone bake the brownie mix that I bought and is sitting on my table? I want a brownie when I wake up. Where is my butler? I need someone to bend over and take off my shoes. Can someone pull the contacts out of my eyes? Put the toothpaste on the toothbrush? Brush my teeth whilst I stand wobbily in front of the sink?

I am tired. 3-11 is a busy shift. I have two 4 hour shifts to go this weekend. I will spend the day doing as I please and then the evening doing as others please. Its a tradeoff.

Go to sleep.

hugs to all

I keep thinking that it is Wednesday

Now why is that? Maybe because I worked all weekend. I had Monday off but went to a party on the unit for our dearest Pauline- one of the nicest, kindest nurses I've EVER known EVER in my life. Like truthfully, NO ONE beats her in the 'genuinely awesome' field.

  Today was fun so far. I swam with my swim buddy Dave. We met in the pool last year. He kinda reminds me of my bro in law Joe......He's funny, a good swimmer and today he corrected my freestyle a bit. And it helped. I don't let too many people watch me and fix my stroke. So he is lucky to be in that category. We killed ourselves for 2000. Then I relaxed through another 1000. I've been tired the rest of today!!

Now its time for a partial shift. My buddy dog Joey is asleep on the sofa...tired from following me around,  I guess. I've created a home made cheesy pasta with corn dish AND I've baked some chocolate chip brownies. I'm having fun on Facebook for the first time today. And I'm pretending to buy the new Mini Cooper.

So it's time to go-----getting ready for work and I will be back another day :>)

100 degrees two days in a row

And its crazy that there are outdoor pools that still are not opened here in this major metropolitan city and surrounding areas. Honestly, that opening date needs to be moved BACK.

1. More jobs would be created because there are plenty of out of work lifeguards that need to get onto a pool deck.
2. Kids would have something to do after school other than walk around the city, and/or congregate in CVS or Starbucks.
3. There are other sports than soccer and baseball and basketball.

Unfortunately, this post will not be read by any DC official. And even if they did read it, they would do pretty much NOTHING about it.

Maybe in my next life, after I'm a caterer and landscaper....I will be the city's aquatics director!
Have a nice day :>)

I've had the weekend off

So what did I do with myself? I was busy and it was one of the first weekends at home where I didn't worry too much about housework, paperwork, accomplishing, getting stuff done, staying busy, doing errands...etc etc.

Alas-the consequences: Chris is looking for milk in the fridge. "Mom- this one says 'sell buy May 23'"...
...and this one says 'sell buy May 27'.......oh, here's one- it says 'sell buy June 3'...so, Mom, can you smell this one? "

"Uh, no thanks- I don't need to smell that milk, but thanks for offering."

Back to the real world!

June 2nd and its already 112 degrees in the shade

So yesterday I awoke from a nite shift...2 hours sleep max. Spiked a drink with some caffeine and drove to the outdoor pool. I literally languished through 3000. My goggles kept breaking apart, my cap was too hot on my head. The pool's fins that I picked out were damaged. I had something in my throat and had to keep clearing my throat. I didn't even look at the clock, I just rested at the wall. I was hot. The water was hot. The air was hot. I never complained. I'm not complaining. Just saying.

I rewarded myself with the Super Big Gulp from the 7-11 on Lee Highway. Love that place. Its on the opposite side of the road and U turns aren't allowed at the closest intersection. So I have to go out of my way to get there. But it's always worth it.

I just wish that my Scion had a cup holder that was large enough to fit the Super Big Gulp cup.

Trying it again today after 10 hours of sleep and a slightly cooler air temp.

Makes me miss the cross breezes between the bay and ocean in Coronado.

Have a great day!

Memorial Day Weekend

Going to make the best of this weekend because #1: I'm only working 4 hours. #2. It is so sunny out right now and other than a few storms...will be sunny for the next few days. #3. Because that 4 hr shift has kept me from driving to Doylestown. #4. But that's okay because can you imagine the traffic? #5. Need to save the gas money right now - have a mountain of one-time bills to pay. #6. When I go home to Dtown I eat like I am 21 years old and that's just not working for me anymore. #7. Dr BJ says that women our age have unwanted stored up fat that, anthropologically speaking is a survival thing. #8. I want to survive but does that mean I have to be built like a soup can? #9. I can't wear the two piece anymore. I'm officially a one-piecer and will have to use self tanning lotion to make up the color difference.

Now that was a flight of ideas.........

5 days have flown!

Wow. I have been so busy. What a week!
Work and work and more work. Things to do, places to go and people to see. All organized around work.
Did very little, saw very few people, and pretty much went nowhere. Except work. I'm glad that I love my coworkers. Work is fun because of the great people I work with.

So...look into my eyes? Are my pupils the shape of $? I'm keeping my eyes on the prize---- A paycheck on Thursday that reinforces the sad and somber truth: I have to work to make the money. Ok, maybe an occasional dime on the ground, a penny on the floor, a dusty nickel at the bottom of my purse.

I remember when the kids were little and we would take them to the zoo, or Seaworld, Disneyland.....they would be on the ground looking underneath benches and soda machines looking for spare change. Geez, if we had known that we could have saved $40 per child on entrance fees...we could have taken them ANYWHERE for free and actually come out with more money than when we arrived!!

Well, this is my only day off and I'm going to spend nothing. I'm going to take a very long swim (free) and a very long walk (free) and eat the food in my refrigerator even though I want to go to Qdoba  and get the Quesadilla with guac and sour cream and pico de gallo.

Have a wonderful day!

my only day off this week

I"m glad that I spent the weekend having a GREAT time in Doylestown with my family. Sisters are like girlfriends. Brothers are my guardian angels. Mom and Dad are the tribal leaders :>)

I missed my kids, my pup and kit......but I needed to swim and eat and shop because this week it's 6 shifts out of 7. And its CRAZY this week. FULL MOON CRAZY.

I want to say: Stop getting pregnant!!!!! Go to another hospital!!!! Did you ever think of home births?
Here's some formula- feed your kid. Take this pill and go to sleep. What do you mean you need help?
Is your husband still sleeping? Kick his butt, Momma- it's his kid too.

4 days of work to go. Wild thing is, I actually love my job.
All we need is a 24 hour salad bar, a sleep break and unlimited caffeinated drinks.
Have a great rest of the week!

Dad's birthday

I am in Doylestown for the weekend. My kids are keeping the home fires burning in DC. Hopefully not burning the home in DC. Just kidding. Fortunately no one smokes, except for the hoarder in 103. This very very nice woman (who gives housewarming and holiday gifts of candy to all the residents) smokes in chain fashion. The smell is oppressive when entering the lobby area. But the vision that will forever be burned into my mind is the time I was walking up the steps, her door was opened maybe a foot....and this cute and little white/beige kitten or cat was sitting at the doorway looking out. Meowing. In a raspy voice. I can't even imagine the lungs of this cat.
Ok well now that I completely depressed myself. I will depress myself further. Its raining. Gloomy. Yuk. April showers bring May flowers. They're here- announcement- flowers are here. And what am I complaining about? I'm not flooded out of my home or my town. Poor southern states. I can't even imagine.
Good news of the day! We are all celebrating Dad's 80th birthday. Everyone is coming over for pizza and cake.
Except Will and Deb and kids who live too far away. Except my kids who work weekends. Dad is 80. Mom and I took him to St Anne's last night. The Liturgy lit a spark and I could see it in his eyes and hands. That was my birthday present from Dad!!
Off to the pool!
Have a wonderful day.

i miss my balcony

it's warm, but not too warm. it's sunny. and i miss the balcony that was on the back of my slumlord-owned apartment. i'm considering paying full price at the Bethesda Y tomorrow....to swim, lie out, bake on both sides, consider feeling guilty, push it out of my mind and lay there for several hours.

i will let you know....after a night shift it seems to me that its the least i could do for myself!

breathe towards the sun!
have a good day :>)

Mother's Day throughout the years

age 1-5: Dad buys something for Mom and gives it to her and says it's from us kids.

age 6-10: Dad takes us to the drugstore or Woolworth's and tells us to pick something out for Mom and he buys it and makes sure it cost less than a dollar: because it's the thought that counts :>$

age 11-15: Dad drops us off at the drugstore or Woolworth's and tells us to buy something for Mom with      our own money. We walk over to the handkerchiefs and candy aisle.

age 16-20: We go to the mall with our friends and find a gift for Mom. We hope that our gift is better than our friend's gifts to their Moms but it depends on how much we spent at the Food Court.

age 21-30: We realize how awesome our Mom was to get us this far and since we are still living at home, or coming home to visit...Mother's Day means jewelry, plants and a adding to a collection that we want our Mom to start up. For example : Mom, I bought you this cool angel figurine, so now you can start a collection and I will buy you one every year!!!

age 30-40: We have kids. Now we know. We know what it's like to be a Mom. We are experiencing this prophetic exclamation by our Mom when we were in our teens: "I HOPE THAT YOU HAVE KIDS JUST LIKE YOU AND YOU WILL KNOW WHAT I'M GOING THROUGH!!" So that means extravagant gifts, reminiscent of the guilt we are feeling for having put our Mom through what we are going through with our own kids right now.

age 40-50: Some of us are broke at the end of the month. Some of us aren't. But what seems to be the best Mother's Day gift to our Mom is: helping with chores around the house....bringing a gift that she mentioned a long time ago and figured we forgot.....doing something to brighten up her home and watching her break into a huge smile and say, I LOVE IT!! THANK YOU SO MUCH!!

I'm stopping at age 50 because I will not get any older than that.
Have a wonderful day!

Saturday after the busiest week ever

....well, almost. I would say my busiest week was in February when I moved from my slum dwelling on 40th Place to this really nice apartment building on Edmunds St NW. My question is: why does one streetsign say "Edmund St" and the other one says, "Edmunds St". Just wondering.

So, this past Monday I went to my friend Liz' awards ceremony. We drove to Howard University- which, by the way is a surprisingly well kept campus- and found the Blackburn center. After a 2 hour ceremony we truly enjoyed some really great meatballs and chicken wings. Good thing it was afterwards, because my Blackberry would have been a pretty sticky mess if we had been fed prior or during.

Tuesday was swim and work. Wednesday was swim and work. Thursday was swim and work. Friday was wake up from a night shift..swim...CVS....a huge pasta meal.....and sofa. I was a goner. Out like a light. Nothing like going to sleep.

Sounds so boring!! But it was a busy boring and kept me out of trouble.
I hope everyone's week was great and the weekend even better. The sun is shining and the weather is California. Enjoy!

Mid-week, glad it is. Raining, glad it is.

Not that I ever want time to fly, because then I would be freakin' old. But I need these next several days to go by quickly...I see a 3 day off stretch in a row on the schedule and I'm achin' for that to git here fast.

I love the sun. My motto is: breathe towards the sun. That's what my friend Kelli told me to do when we were swimming in a cold pool. We didn't have much body fat back then, in Coronado...so the cold water and the cool air were a painful duo. We pushed off the wall from the far end and, by breathing to the left, the sun was shining in our faces. Kelli lifts her head and yells out,"Mary..breathe towards the sun! Feel the warmth on your face!" I have never forgotten that moment.

But now that it is getting warm and sunny I only want to be outside. Now I'm checking my tan index (pressing my skin to see if it blanches from tan to white and back); and walking the dog for much longer at a time;  and wearing sandals, not shoes; and constantly dreaming of the moment that I'm in an outdoor pool for the first time this season.

Thank you rainy day-I've got a lot to do today.
uh oh......

Is it Wednesday and my sister Anne is off from work and its crappy out? NOT GOOD!!
Let's check her blog and see how she feels!
Have a great day :>)

proud to be an American

When we lived in Coronado we watched the Navy Seals train on the beach. When we lived in Virginia Beach/Norfolk we watched them there, too. A few of my swimmers on the Coronado swim teams joined the military. Even though I've witnessed their training, and watched my swimmers grow  into military men...it's not until we read and hear about the attack on the compound that we can even partially fathom  or imagine how skilled, trained, disciplined, and devoted to their country that they  truly are. WOW!!

Anything I've done in the past couple days since posting last is not even remotely as awesome and wonderful as what these people have accomplished. Thank you President Bush for sticking to your principles 100% of the time! Thank you military and intelligence agencies for never giving up. Thanks President Obama for seeing that your country's welfare is your top priority.

Have a great day. But- terror is still a real threat. Be careful.

it's saturday already

Where does the time go? The days fly by when I try to write about them. I worked an 11-7 on Wednesday night, a kind of busy night. I never sat and just chilled for a minute, but did have a few moments when the bells weren't ringing. If it wasn't for the other nurses, work would be a drag.

 I always kid about what I want to be after nursing, or if I committed a crime and HAD to stop being a nurse....for a long while I wanted to coach swimming. Then I dreamed about being a caterer (that's when my chocolate chip cookies always turned out perfectly). I fantasized about landscaping - you know - "becoming one with the earth." My most recent daydream was during a two day class for OB. There was the famous speaker who knew everything you would ever want to know about Obstetrics. She was funny, intelligent, successful and loved her work. BUT THEN I met the person who sat at the front table and greeted us. "Sign right here," she said as she pointed to the sign-in sheets. "Take a pen and a book and feel free to grab a morning snack on the back table."  HMMMMMMmmm. Later, about noon, she walked into the conference room and announced that the COSI box lunches had arrived and would we all take a drink and a lunch box and meet back in an hour."

I want her job!! My brother Will told me that she is called an Event Coordinator. I don't know if I want THAT much responsibility. That's a little too much. But I could see myself counting the participants and then calling COSI and placing an order. I would guesstimate how many Turkey, Roast Beef, Veggie and Ham Sandwiches the class would need. I would over estimate the canned sodas and water bottles. And then I would lengthen the lunch hour to 90 minutes :>)

Am I hired?

Have a great day!!

Wednesday- cloudy or sunny? swim or hang out this morning?

What should I do right now? I can't seem to get anything done, I keep getting distracted. Maybe that's what I should be doing- little bits of here nor there- until something concrete results.
1. walk dog
2. feed pets
3. boil water
4. email boss
5. text Marissa
6. make tea
7. check emails
8. eat cookie
9. facebook
10. pick up pieces of paper towel that Joey tore apart all over the apartment
11. take Marissa to work
12. walk dog
13. answer email
14. pull out dead pansy plants from pot
15. eat cookie
16. drink water but delay for a bit in kitchen and then decide 'no more tea for now'
17. find jobs for son
18. email him the  website and then say, "uh oh" to myself
19. straighten blanket on sofa
20.

DO YOU SEE? This means I need to get to the pool, straighten out all my brain cells and then get back home to really accomplish something. Have a great day!

Monday- the day we got together for Easter as a family

Thanks to Anysia and Eric...we all got together for a cookout and Easter egg hunt at their house.So it was me, Marissa, Eric and Anysia, Chris, Andreas and all three dogs. Anysia put out 83 eggs. We found 82. 82. Where did that last egg go? When will it be found? You know, I will post it on this blog when it is found!
Some of the eggs were numbered and those eggs earned the finder a special prize. Prizes included: bubble maker, stuffed puppy dog (wow did Marissa try to get that from Eric), rubiks cube...... Have you had the new peanut butter Snickers? Its square-shaped. Delicious. Try it!

We also had another throwing competition. Last week it was to throw an apple that was bitten off three times. This competition was throwing moldy hamburger rolls from Safeway. They do not have enough mass and therefore went maybe halfway across the yard. Joey got them first and Chris finished the job by throwing them over into the field where the wild animals will find them soon.

Dinner was preceded by a walk to Home Goods with the puppies and even before that...homemade guacamole and chips. We got to sit on the newly power washed deck and admire the beautiful new color that the house has been painted. The day was beautiful and believe me...I was breathing towards the sun!

Tomorrow is the start of a busy work week, so it was wonderful to have an Easter Monday!
love to all!

Easter Sunday

How beautiful is this day? Joey loved his walk. Everyone is so friendly this morning.

I went to Easter Vigil last night at my church- the Ukrainian Catholic National Shrine of the Holy Family.
I meant to take a picture but forgot...the Vespers Service and Paschal Liturgy was so beautiful.
I didn't have an Easter basket to bless. Usually I would have food and candles and pysanky. The food I include is: kovbasa, pirohy, cirek, butter lamb, ham, and hard boiled eggs. With the very special cloth embroidered by Grandma Valko and decorated church candles that I have collected over the years.
There was no traffic. I had my own pew. And the priest, at the Mirovanija, asked me where my daughters were...told me to tell them,"tell them the priest was asking about them." HOW NICE!!

I have a 3-11, and I'm going to go to the pool and have a calm and happy swim.

Christ is Risen, Indeed He is Risen. Christos Voskrese, Voistinnu Voskrese!

Good Friday

It always rains on Good Friday. Or it is sunny in the morning and then at about noon it becomes dark and cloudy. Very mysterious. Not to be confused with the word 'mystical'. This was a very sad day for Jesus and the clouds at noon will always remind me of that.

Work last night was fun. I ordered from Kitchen No. 1 --Deciding the restaurant was torture but I was craving cheap and tasty. And for some reason I was into Asian. I had my choice of Thai and Chinese. I had my choice of quick and cheap or a bit further and more expensive. Kitchen No. 1 hit the spot with their Sweet and Sour Pork, Fried Rice and Vegetables. Yum. Ordered AND delivered within 20 minutes. The delivery boy knows me and the girls. He was happy to see me and I left him a generous tip. It was worth seeing his smile.

But- we all know about Chinese Food. I was STARVING by 4 am  for some reason and I needed to decide whether I was going to pop up some" Orville Redenbacher Movie Theater Coated in Tons of Butter Rendering this Popcorn anything but Healthy" Popcorn.........OR............a "Chocolate from Georgetown Cupcake topped with a 4 ounce Chocolate Fudge Frosting Ball I have a Space Just For You in this Artery" Cupcake  donated by a favorite patient and saved FOR JUST ME by my buddy Liz RN.

Today I received a wonderful surprise from Anysia and Eric. Eric won a raffle at a function and it was a huge box of scrapbooking supplies, scrapbooks, stickers, punches, paper, tape. Thank you thank you for such an unexpected act of kindness. There's nothing like someone being aware of what you do, or collect, or love...and they take the opportunity to surprise you. I felt very special.

So- what I"m saying today is: do something surprisingly special for someone. And do something surprisingly special for yourself this weekend!

thursday and i'm heading into a 14 hr shift

So many articles about sleep deprivation with medical personnel...In California we were assigned breaks in a break room with a cot and an alarm clock. I wish it were so on the East coast.

Yesterday was busy- the highlight was helping Anysia and Eric build a garden in their backyard. When they take a picture, I will post it. My favorite Anysia saying, "Mom, no don't put the flowers in a line in the  garden, I need them to be clustered in a group because if I start putting things in a line, then I will be fixated on if the line is straight or not and I don't want to do that.
I KNOW WHAT YOU MEAN ANYSIA!

Second favorite moment: Going into the Petsmart with Joey on a leash and he takes a quick but sneaky pee on the shelving unit of dog food WAY in the back of the store. ooops.

Third moment that isn't my favorite but: I buy Skwisgaar Purina One cat food. 4 times as much money as the Friskies " ground up fish bones mixed with chicken toenails and then ground up and compressed to look like little tiny goldfish" that he has been eating. Poured the Purina One into a bowl and he turned up his nose and walked away....WHAT??????

Whatever. His brother Joey was inhaling this new food I bought called BilJac which is 80% meat.
My pup is a skinny dog because he has been picking at his Royal Canine Schnauzer Puppy food.
$40 a bag and wouldn't you think? NOPE. I"m going to stick with BilJac because he hasn't scammed the cat food in 24 hours.

gotta go- have a meeting at 6 and then a 13 hour.

Sleep well all of you who work days.

first day back to work, what a day it will be

Had my Ortho appointment yesterday morning. Doctor said it wasn't broken, that it was going to hurt for a while because it is swollen, but that I could go back to work as long as I did the 30 minute on/30 minute off rule. I told the bosses that the Techs were going to have to be helpful. I just can't be running around filling water pitchers and getting diapers out of the far closet. I guess I will have to delegate.

Taxes: done. Laundry: done. Catch me Caring paperwork for the hospital: done.
Went to Safeway, swam 3000. Ate half a bag of tortilla chips with half a jar of salsa and a bunch of cheese.

Highlight of my day: I painted. I asked Marissa if she would create another flower painting for me.
No luck. So I asked for her paints and I made one myself. She let me use her paints and paint brushes. So while Fox News entertained me ( and believe me I love that channel) I created a flower scene. Its hard!! I'm so used to marker pens that I'm not used to a brush and how its difficult to make smooth edges. I even tried to remember back to my childhood when I would watch that guy on PBS. He had the frizzy hair, wild big frizzy hair...he had a really quiet voice. And he would paint forest scenes. Some water, lots of pine trees and a house somewhere in there. What's his name?

First day of work. I"m 3-11. Wish my foot luck! And I've posted a picture of my first painting.

hugs to all!

2 in 1 day. must have been quite a day!

So well, after not going to sleep until 0300, I didn't wake up Sunday am til almost 0830. Too late for the 0900 Liturgy. So I "puttered" around and walked the dog for a while. Nice and slow. Met some friendly dog owners.

I went to the 1130 Liturgy. I stood in the back. By 1300 I was having a low blood sugar feeling and that diet Coke I drank on the way to Church was knock knock knockin' at my door. If you know what I"m sayin'.....Liturgy was over, but it was time to bless the pussy willows. Another 15 minutes. The line formed to go up for the blessing, take a piece of bread, put a dollar in the basket and walk around to the pussy willow table.

Oh the line was long and I was in the back. Maybe if I just went to the bathroom real quick then I could
get back in line. Or maybe I will just go to the bathroom and then leave. I decided to go to the bathroom in the vestibule and then play it by ear. I push the door open to the vestibule and who is standing there?
The priest who did not celebrate the Liturgy. The priest who was there to meet and greet. The priest who was there to catch people like ME.

"oh HI there Father, how are you? so nice to see you...how are you feeling with your atrial fib? good? oh that's great. so I see you around the neighborhood, do you live in Glover Park? really? yeah, I live close to your apartment. mmhmmhmmm , yep, oh that's nice. Ok, well I was just heading to the bathroom while the line was still long, so ok...see you later , Father!"

I go to the bathroom and as I'm exiting the BR I serendipitously decide to run down the stairs to the Parish Hall and purchase some Ukrainian gifts for Easter. He is still standing there and he looks RIGHT at me!
argh! Caught like a rat in a trap.

Now what is the real reason that I didn't go up for the blessing and the pussy willows? I had no money.
Not a dollar. Maybe a few pennies. Too embarrassed to go up for Mirovanija. Sigh.

Lesson to be learned? Yep: don't drink a diet Coke before Church.

have a good evening!

Sunday Morning..Pussy Willow Sunday/Palm Sunday

So...what an interesting Saturday. Interesting meaning I was at home most of the day and actually puttered around the apartment like other people. I've honestly never puttered before. It was nice. I hung some pictures, cleaned out one of the closets, studied my OB manual, took the dogs out every 3-4 hours and even baked cookies.

Well, burned them. You know how when you check your cookies and they aren't done? So you close up the oven and say to yourself, "just do this one little thing and check them in a minute"....and 2 minutes goes by.......burned. Then you think "should I eat them? I paid for them. Should I eat them and have that terrible taste in my mouth? Or throw them away and never do it again, I swear I will stand there right by the oven and NOT MOVE for that minute that I said they needed to bake.

Anysia and Eric came home at about 2 am. What a long day. Tornadoes on the East Coast can really ruin travel plans. I feel truly awful for the poor poor people who died from those tornadoes. So sad. Just sad.
The pictures of devastation on the news were mind boggling. I'm honestly and truthfully never going to care if it's windy out and my hair gets blown all over.

Joey is by himself now with the cat. The cat is by himself with Joey. Skwisgaar loved having Jack and Wally. He was one of the gang. I was leaving for the pool yesterday, was putting up the baby gate in the kitchen...and there was Skwis on top of the table, 3 dogs around him on the floor. He wouldn't get off. He WANTED to be there with his buddies!

Well, gonna take the pup out for a bit before Church. Somber and special  Holy Week to all!

Friday and it has been a good day

Day #2-3 of taking care of Joey and Jack and Wally. I must say that they have been very well behaved and walking the three of them together has gotten a bit easier.

Day #2 of OB class today too. Class if over. I learned so much. I sometimes wish I was as brave as a couple of the other nurses who are being tested tomorrow for their Certification. Best of luck and great wishes to them. Truthfully, I just can not sit one more minute in that building. But I am taking the test later in the summertime. Gonna study. Yep, gunna. mmmmhmmm.

Day #2 of short workout day but just glad I got there to swim a little. I think I would have gone further but the same guy who got in next to me the other day, got in next to me today. I will call him Frankenstein. Or Terraceraptor Rex. If that is a name.  The waves were atrocious. But I battled my way through 1000 and got out. Gonna swim in the morning. Yep, gunna. mmmmmhmmm.

So that's it. Except I did do quite a lot of cleaning. Trash, junk, floors, dishes in the kitchen. A little bit of bathroom and even an overhaul of Chris' room. Uhoh wait til he sees it.

My Anysia is with Eric in Disneyland (I have never been to Florida) and Marissa, Chris and Andreas are out with their Dad. I'm enjoying Fox News, mint chip ice cream, and the dream of swimming tomorrow morning at 9.

My foot still hurts. The pain is localized to where the glass hit. It's swollen there. My toes are tingly.
But I'm walking. Slow, but walking. YAY!

Have a comfortable and quiet Friday night everyone.

thursday after class

Hey all, well we survived the first day of class and Chris taking care of the dogs during the day. What was I worried about? Everybody is fine. Class was good. I'm amazed at what I know and how much more there is to learn about OB.

I've been up since 0445. Enough time to walk the dogs. Take a shower and get dressed. Feed the dogs and cat. Get my stuff together. Forget and misplace things and find them. Walk as fast as possible (ouch) to the parking space to get the car and pick up Liz. Off we went to Holy Cross in Silver Spring. We travelled the most scenic route through Rock Creek Park. It was beautiful. You would never know that it was DC.

Class was interesting, the instructor was brilliant and FUNNY. Probably just a bit older than me. But when she would say, "in the olden days we would....." wellllll, I remember the olden days too! Yikes! Sigh.
But why OH why could I barely stay awake. I would go through periods of STUPOR and have to drink and fiddle a bit and concentrate and flex my legs, etc. Then I would be fine. Mostly I was fine when the instructor announced, "Lunch is in 10 minutes.."  "Break for 20 minutes!"...."see you in 15 minutes"

I'm a terrible audience!

So I've just pigged out on a huge chicken salad sandwich with chips and pickles. The dogs are playing underneath the coffee table. Fox News is on. My window is open and it is beautifully sunny even at 7pm.

Anysia called from Florida. Wanted to know why I had to pray to St Francis to help me through these next few days with 3 dogs. Well, seeing as Day #1 has gone just fine, I must say that St Francis listened.

Have a calm and relaxing evening!

wednesday the 13th aka "please let the next few days go by quickly"

My foot tingles and hurts. Now I know why the MD said," no pushing, pulling, kneeling, squatting, lifting"--I was dragged by 3 Terriers  and my foot really is throbbing. 3 Terriers dragging me down a sidewalk. My fingers turning black because the leashes are twisted around them. My left elbow in pain because my tendons hurt from February when the same 3 Terriers pulled out my elbow. Terrier Joe somehow gets out of his body collar...whatever that word is, I honestly don't recall at the moment....and he freakin' Rocket Dogs down the block, across the street and onto the next block. Thankfully a nice man was walking his very well trained, calm, sweet, perfectly behaved dog and he got Joey and reattached him.

Help me St Francis of Assisi, Patron Saint of animals. Help me through these next 4 days.

Class tomorrow and Friday! If it's sunny, then just don't tell me. I will be sitting on my butt feeling it spread  to the width of the seat.

Everyone please have a good day tomorrow and I hope your day today was easy!

Tues the 12th, one week since the foot episode

It's been one week since a 13"x 32" piece of glass tabletop fell onto my right foot. My foot is purple, a bit swollen, stiff and tingly. Crushed blood vessels and crushed nerve. I get to swim but I can't push off the wall. I can walk but it hurts, of course not as bad as a week ago. Even at rest, it surprises me with tingling or a jolt of pain. Weird.

Anyways!! what a day. It started with ADHD of astronomic proportions.
1. wake up feed cat 2. take dog for walk 3. feed dog and make myself tea 4. eat chocolate chips out of bag in freezer: and that's where it started.....twirling, starting something, whirling about not finishing what I started and this went on from 0700-1030.

Thank goodness I had to get to the hospital to fill out leave papers in preparation for the doctor not allowing me to work next week. Actually, thank goodness I have a boss who knows what papers I have to fill out and has the patience of a saint when it comes to repeating herself 45 times as I try to comprehend the instructions. I was hoping that I was pathetic enough that she would do it for me. No. Sorry.

A trip to Bethesda for the 3 dogs to play. Back to DC for a 3000 swim. Over to the Paper Source for bulletin board crafts.  Down the street to Sprinkles for 4 cupcakes. Up to CVS for meds. Back home for spaghetti and hot Italian sausage.

And here's the kicker: what shows up on my email? Diet and Dementia. Diabetes and Brain disease. Great.
And here's the question: do I eat a cupcake? Should I do Sudoku? Subtract my checkbook without the calculator? Find my brainteaser book and answer some questions?

I've decided that I'm going to work on my bulletin board for 2 North Catch me Caring. My theme is April Showers. I was just googling "pictures of umbrellas" and thought, "hey I didn't blog" so I'm blogging. But I swear, I'm going back to my umbrella pictures.

BYE!

monday late afternoon

wow what a day!
I was at the Foot Clinic early. I even amazed the tech and the radiology tech with my technocolor foot. Wait...even the Ortho guy was psyched when he saw it. Basically I have damaged nerves (thus the tingling and numbness) and I have damaged blood vessels (therefore the bleeding under my skin) but I did not break the bone. Actually last October when my foot swelled while at work, I was worried enough to get it checked out at the ER. It wasn't until today that the Ortho guy said,"hey you know, you had a stress fracture last October (in the bone of my second toe- the bone in the foot). I knew it. Anyways, I'm on limited duty til May1, which I will try and shorten by a week. So that means STD. ..... not Sexually Transmitted Disease, but Short Term Disability.  (OK God I totally get the meaning of the Handicap parking sign now).

I swam. Ortho guy said to swim, just don't push off the wall with the foot. That felt good. Will I have a bigger left calf now? Hmmmm. Anyways, I needed that, especially after yesterday's Buffet Extravaganza at the Mohegan Sun Casino with the family. Followed by Hor dourves   ????????? what and how do you spell that?....... at the Slavoski's. Did I mention that I got a ride in Bill Slavoski's 2010 Deep Red Corvette. OMgosh. I've never been "wowed" by cars, but can I tell you? This car was gorgeous. Fast, strong, sturdy, fancy, sleek, hot. Best radio ever. Yeah, a few miles through Shavertown and I was a believer!

Can someone tell me where these ants are coming from? Can the stinkbugs that adorn my apartment at least feast on these little suckers? I have an occasional ant crawling on my desk. Annoying.

Well, I have hospital homework. And if I am not going to physically be at the hospital, I am going to do my work from home.

Have a wonderful evening. Stay cool in this rogue hot day!

Sunday in Doylestown

Today will be warm, but not sunny, it seems. Yesterday was a good one. I swam at the Y. I shared a double lane with an older man and once the middle lane emptied, I slid over and had my own space for a while. I used the pull buoy and only pushed off with my left foot. So, that worked and I had my swim fix.

Ever had the Wendy's Asiago Spicy Chicken Club? WOW. It was worth swimming 3000m.
Ever had Brother's Pizza in Jamison, Pa? It was worth swimming 3000m and laying out on Mom's back patio with Buz for 2 hours! Top that off, at midnight, with Avalanche Chocolate Igloo Surprise Ice Cream. Delicious, and worth laying on the sofa for 3 hours after Church and pizza.

You can tell that I'm past the age of 50 because all I think about is eating. Too bad I'm not thinking about the blood tests that my MD ordered. You know, the ones that measure your cholestrol and bad and good HDL and LDL.The morning that I get those lab tests done, I will be sure that the day before can be illustrated on a poster with the Pyramid Food Group and eight glasses of water. "But MD, I follow the USDA daily recommended allowance of ...."   Yeah right.


So this morning we are off to Wilkes-Barre. A 2 hour ride to the Casino for lunch with Uncle Normy and Aunt Mary, and then a visit with Aunt Anne and Uncle John. Every few months we make the trek because it is fun and it something that we will always remember, and something that I will always be glad that I did.

Love to all on this Sunday!

Saturday morning and not at the doylestown ymca yet

..so what have I been doing? Well, the highlight of the morning was disposing of the cutest little half alive mouse in the bread drawer. It was stuck on this sticky pad, still kinda wiggling. Mom and I took out the entire drawer and dumped the mouse and the trap into the trashcan in the garage. Poor thing. It was actually cute. Now that I have a puppy, it seems that I'm more sympathetic to little animals. Except for the huge roach in 2235 the other night. The poor patient saw the roach and instead of ringing the bell, she got out of bed (after a C/s) and tried to catch it underneath her bed. I had no idea this happened to her. I walked into her room and flicked on the sink light and saw this huge freaking nasty roach on her sink. I screamed, called for backup, and another nurse killed it and put it in a plastic bag. We took a photo for the Clinical Administrator. Gross.

 Well, I'm off to the pool. I'm going to the Doylestown Y this morning. It's not ever a great workout because of the crowds, but at least it's water!

friday morning and i've been off all week

this post is about "should have"

I've been off since Monday. What have I accomplished? Have I used my time at home wisely?
Well, I spent all of Tuesday either busy, at Anysia and Eric's house or in the ER and then at home.

Wednesday I ....what did I do Wednesday? I stared at my foot a lot. I was on the phone with Employee Health. I went to Safeway after I dropped off Marissa to work. But did I do any homework? Some, but I passed out on the sofa while doing it. Typical.

 Yesterday, which was Thursday I worked on the next newsletter for 2 North. This one is about Infant Falls. Actually, the alternate term is Infant Drops.Imagine that, a newborn baby and you drop it. Not good. But its a reality.

 I also did 5 loads of laundry.I picked up my new eye glasses. I just about threw up when I first looked through them. I wasn't sure that I was going to make it home looking out of my coke bottle lenses. Driving and my new glasses was a recipe for self induced motion sickness. OMG. Between that feeling and my sugar dropping, I had to lie down and pass out for an hour.

So now its Friday and I am on the computer. I need to get going!
Took the dog for a poop walk - a short one- because today he gets to play with Jack and Wally!

You know, maybe its better not to look back and figure out where the week went. Maybe its just better to live moment to moment, day to day. Be nice, don't get mad at people, enjoy the weather, play with the pets, help out others when possible, brighten other  people's day. Laundry and chores don't have feelings, but people do.

Sunshine to all on this rainy day :>)

post foot day #3

So there must be a message here...once again God telling me something that I need to know. Remember when I got the $500 ticket for parking in someone's handicapped spot that is directly in front of their house?
Well, after blasting it verbally and making my own snarky comments about the situation, I hurt my foot and now I have to experience what it is like to have to walk any type of distance on an injury. Yep, I went to the Emp Health office today and had to park 3 blocks away. A set of steps, an elevator that never came so another set of steps....and then 3 block return to my car. Ouch. Best part: I tripped on the stairs in the apartment building because I didn't lift my bad foot far up enough. Bam! Ow! Crap. Sigh.
I will never make another insensitive comment about a handicap space, no matter how personalized it is for the person who somehow knows someone in DC to score such an awesome $50000 piece of property.

Not my foot!

So yesterday I was at my oldest daughter and her boyfriend's house. Dropped off my Joey (Schnoodle puppy) and let all the dogs out to play in the backyard while they were at work. Anysia bought me a glass top table. Wrought iron look with a glass top. Picked it up and WHAM it dropped onto my foot. I thought that the glass was attached, but NO. I honestly did not want to look down. Have never felt pain that bad in a limb. Is a limb a foot? A foot a limb? Is a leg a limb with a foot on it? HMMMMmmm.
Whatever...about an hour later, after checking to make sure that my toes were still attached to my foot...I took off my sandal and saw the damage. OUCH. I called work to tell them that I had possibly broken a bone and I was on my way to the ER. I kenneled the dogs and locked up and drove from Rockville to DC.
Put my scrubs on for my 7p shift (wishful thinking) and took myself to the ER. Well, my son dropped me off, but technically, I took myself there.

Check-in was a bit frustrating because the clerk needed to alcoholize her desktop and keyboard. And I wasn't allowed to sit there while she did that. So I sat in a chair with my foot throbbing wondering how long it takes for alcohol to dry. Watching her out of the corner of my eye, I saw her re-wiping the desktop numerous times. It will never dry at this point. May as well let my foot swell to gigantic proportions.
And by the way, I thought to myself, it had better be at least broken. None of this just swollen and bruised stuff. I need at least a hairline fracture for all the trouble I"m going through. Not to mention that I don't just go to the  ER for fun. Plus I was starved so I needed a quick exam, a high speed Xray and some crutches with a week or two off from work.

Fast forward to discharge. Not broken. Rest and elevate for 48 hours. Take Motrin and or Vicodin.
Wear this shoe. Here is an ice pack that gets warm in 10 minutes. Go back to work whenever! See you! Bye! Good luck!

I'm glad it's not broken, but I do have a follow up to detect any hairline fractures undetectable underneath the huge amount of swollen and bruised tissue. I'm glad it's not broken because I don't want to miss swimming. It just became spring and long walks in the sunshine are on the books. I don't have a lot of time in my PTO so, I got to get back to work.

I'm glad it's not broken. It's ugly and a good conversation starter. That will do!

What a day

A long time ago there was a newspaper writer who would, every Sunday, write about her previous week. I don't remember her name, I just remember that she posted from New Hampshire, she was married with children and she worked from home. I especially remember the article posted on the Valentine's week issue. She had her girls, and their friends use the dining room to make Valentine's Day cards and decorations. Then she decided NOT to clean up the dining room table. She dared herself to leave the dining room an absolute artful mess for two weeks. And she did it...and why do I remember that article after all these years?

Maybe because years later I had 3 kids of my own, and we spent hours out of the day creating art. If we weren't at the pool (my other crazy love) we were being artistic. Paper, pens, crayons, paint, clay, playdo, pencils, coloring books, oh my gosh it was everywhere,  all the time. And I learned to live with the beauty of that mess.

I have 3 grown up kids now..My youngest is an artist. Gorgeous artwork. So cool. Everything hangs on her wall or sits on her furniture, or she wears her original  jewelry. My oldest is a Spanish teacher and I know that years of art and imaginative play is now the basis for her natural ability to teach children a foreign language. My son, an aquatic phenom, has become a swim instructor and water polo coach. He used to love to mix up animals and he would draw or create these imaginative creatures in clay.

So now here I am, here we are, and it has been a crazy 6 years since moving from their childhood home of beautiful California to the hardwired DC area. Everyday has been an adventure. Good, bad, ridiculous, crazy, nuts, worse than ever, better than ever, awesome, okay, not bad, no big deal, good, bad....and I could go on and on.

I am going to use this as a daily, weekly, or somewhere in between diary. Hopefully there will be some young girl out there who reads my posts and remembers me forever, for something that happened to me and it made a difference for her.