another bit of good news

Got a letter from the state of Michigan in the mail. Bill did well enough on the state mandated exams for seniors, that they will be giving him an academic scholarship. And it is even good for Ball State, even though BSU is in Indiana. That will be some thousands we will not have to scratch up.

Only one night left of work this week. Since I got stress diarrhea once again, that is a good thing.

My two elder sisters both sound as if they will be coming for the weekend and for Bill's graduation. Hopefully that will go well! You never know with family stuff...could be wonderful or a living nightmare...

a bit of good news

I just checked on the patient whose life I supposedly saved in April. Over the long weekend he started doing much better. He is able to sit up in a chair for hours now, is alert and able to joke around, and is able to eat and drink small amounts of very gentle foods and liquids. He is still in the ICU and has a long way to go, but he sure came a long way this weekend.

long weekend

We had a very enjoyable long weekend in Kentucky.

On Saturday we left around noon, and got to Lake Cumberland in the early evening. The cottage was very nice. It was two stories, with bedrooms and a bathroom in the upper floor, and a half bath, a kitchen, and the living room in the lower floor. It also had a wonderful deck, where you could sit and relax and enjoy views of the lake and of the surrounding forest. The lake was down a small cliff, and you could watch the never ending parade of boats for hours, if you liked.

On Sunday morning we ate breakfast at the restaurant in the Lodge (which had a wonderful view of the lake), then went grocery shopping in the little park store while the kids played miniature golf. Then we all took long naps. In the evening, Dan and the kids went and played golf on the little par 3, 9 hole course. Then they went swimming at the indoor pool at the lodge. Afterwards, we cooked dinner and relaxed. I called a couple of friends, which was very nice.

On Monday we got up and packed, then ate breakfast at the lodge restaurant and then started the drive home. Near Lima, Ohio, we ran into a horrible storm with torrential rain and hail while on the freeway. Everyone had to pull off to the sides of the road. You couldn't see a thing!

When we got home Dan and the kids installed the window air conditioners. It got really hot over the weekend. Unfortunately. I got diarrhea within fifteen minutes of walking in the door. I might have been exposed to a bug down south, or possibly eaten something funny, but it might also be stress related. I felt so much better over the course of the weekend, too. I was really bummed out when the sudden and frequent trips to the bathroom started once more.

I have started taking some steps to try to reduce my stress levels, beginning with one step I have been thinking about for months now...we will see if that helps...

 

At least I only have two nights of work this week, though I will have a lot of housework and yard work to do to make up for that. Bill's graduation is coming up this weekend!!!

 

getting ready for the long weekend

Today was a bit of an odd day. Dan told me at 3AM last night that we had to go in today to get the mortgage refinanced. We had it refinanced a few years ago when the interest rates were low, and initially it was great. Because we have good credit ratings, our initial rate was less than 2%. But it has been steadily rising over the last couple of years, since it was an ARM, so we went in today and signed a new one, at a decent fixed rate (less than 7%). So we did that, and ate lunch at a noodle place near Arborland Mall.

My period is horrible this month. Last night at work I had an overnight pad on the inside of my underwear, another on the outside of my underwear (thank God for those sticky wings) and I was using a tampon at the same time, but I was still staining through my clothing. And yes, I have been taking the medicine to help decrease the bleeding. It was sort of frightening, and I was seriously considering asking one of the lady pharmacists I was working with to drive me to the nearest ER not in our own hospital. I decided to stick it out, and today it does seem to be better. I am not having those heavy spurts of scalding hot blood today. That was what frightened me yesterday. It has got to be the stress.

I need this break from work, and from the greater stress of having to be around my former friend so often.

So today the kids have been going through and organizing our pantry. They are throwing out expired items and consolidating things (soup on this shelf, baking mixes on that shelf) and washing down the shelves with antibacterial cleaner. They are being absolutely awesome children.

I went to the store and got snacks and drinks for the trip. I have packed nearly all of the clothes, and only have toiletries and books to go. Dan will take Max to the kennel first thing in the morning, and I will sit down and pay the bills tonight so we can drop them in the mail tomorrow.

And then we can find out own little corner of heaven in a cabin in the woods down in Kentucky at Lake Cumberland State Park.

Beethoven's Sixth Symphony

Here are some sites with background on Beethoven and/ or this particular piece of music:
http://inkpot.com/classical/beethsyms.html
and
http://park.org/Guests/Beethoven/6.htm

and I even found a weird spoof site:
http://www.brumm.com/music/Beethoven.html

Now on to my impressions of this piece of music and why I enjoy it.

But first I must get my inner fangirl gushing out of the way.

Beethoven's music is frigging amazing! He was a genius! He has so MUCH passion!!!



As you can tell, the music of Beethoven just does it for me.

My all time favorite piece of music in any genre is his Ninth Symphony, but I am afraid to even try to discuss that, as I am sure that with my nonmusical background I could never even begin to do it justice.

After the Ninth, it is a tossup as to whether I prefer the Fifth, Sixth, or Seventh.

But since it is springtime, I chose to talk about the Sixth this month.

Here in Michigan we have looooooooooong cold snowy winters. It is a rare and special occasion when we get to see the sun in the winter months. We have a lot of cloud cover in this part of the world during the winter. We dream of the sun, of being able to be outside without twenty gazillion layers of clothing, of being able to eat out on our decks, sleep on top of the grass in the sunshine, picnic next to a brook, hear the birds singing.

They must have plenty of crappy winter weather in parts of Germany and Austria, too, because Beethoven captures the great Michigander dream of a perfect spring/summer day out in the country in his Sixth Symphony. It is the musical equivalent of a gorgeous Impressionist painting of a spring day filled with flowers and water.

So come along on this beautiful June day for a picnic in the country. Listen to the babbling brook. Listen to the birds flying around and singing. Maybe a band will play for us, and we can dance. Maybe a storm will pass through ,and we can snuggle up together with a bottle of fine wine and watch the lightning. And then after the storm passes, we can relax some more with some sweet white wine and crusty French bread and delicious gourmet cheese, and plenty of dark chocolate and fresh fruit, and give thanks for our safety and happiness on a beautiful afternoon.

weekend is in sight

I am somehow making it through the week, but it has been a bit rough. Work is strange because of the supervisors' actions. Lots of tension there. My period started a full week early (I am guessing because of the stress) and so I am not feeling the greatest. The cabin in the woods in the park in Kentucky just sounds better to me every day. So peaceful, so lovely, with nothing to do but rest and be surrounded by beauty.

I will pick up some things we need for the trip (bottled water for the cooler and snacks for the kids) tomorrow, and get packed up on Friday. We will leave first thing in the morning on Saturday. It will be heaven.

 

sad

I am sad. The weekend was great, but going back to work tonight was awful. I found out one of my favorite people has accepted a job offer out in Vegas. Lord, I will miss John like crazy. On Friday (when I was thankfully off) lots of poop hit the fan. The supervisors are taking care of a lot of problems. I hate seeing people being disciplined, but on the other hand, I am also weary of having a lot of work continually dumped on me from people who are constantly calling in. I have no problem with people missing now and then for themselves or for their family members, but some of these people literally never make it through a week without missing time. Sort of like my former friend - having to cut things off with him broke my heart and still has me devastated - and I wish him no ill whatsoever - but I just can't take being continually hurt anymore. That is the way it is with these coworkers - I hate seeing them in trouble - I wish them no ill in the world - But I just cannot take the stress of always trying to do all of their work along with my own anymore. It is making me sick and giving me stress diarrhea every time it happens. And it happens way too often.

The weekend was good. On Saturday Dan and Bill were busy working, so I drove Steven out to Clinton for his soccer game. It was really funny, as one of the kids booted a huge shot. The ball sailed over the goal. It sailed over the large picnic shelter behind the goal. It sailed for quite some ways beyond the picnic shelter. It bounced into the Raisin River and headed downstream!   After the game, we stopped off for ice cream at the Dairy Queen in Clinton. 

I also got the vegetables and herbs planted. I was tasting the leaves of the herbs as I planted them. Lord, I love the taste of oregano, rosemary, mint, and cilantro!!! I am thinking of getting some more oregano and rosemary and planting them in pots to grow as house plants. They just taste and smell so good.

Today  I got lots of laundry done, as we have started a great cleaning campaign so the house will be clean for possible out of town guests for Bill's graduation weekend.

 

thank God for the weekend

Well, Dan finally went into the doctor yesterday. It might have started out as a cold, but the cold must have run down his immune system, and he got a secondary bacterial infection in his sinuses. Tonight, after more than 24 hours on antibiotics, he was feeling much better. I am glad, as he was running a high fever the other night, and all of his thrashing kept me awake, and we were both exhausted as a result (it wasn't restful for him, either, needless to say).

Bill survived his wild ride yesterday, and reportedly did spectacularly well on his physics final. Besides describing the effects of the rides on the human body (he threw up twice, so that described the effects pretty well) they also had to estimate the pitches of the hills, the acceleration and speeds, and the heights of the various rides. It rained very hard at different points of the day, and even hailed on the kids for awhile. Dan said when he got home he was soaked to the skin, and he went straight into the bathroom for a hot shower.

One of my sisters-in-law just got back (to her home in Utah) from a wonderful trip to the Southwest, featuring the Grand Canyon. She went in through the east entrance, as I have always done, and climbed the tower for its spectacular views, just as I always do. Reading her emails brought forth some great memories to my mind. Ah, the Canyon is one of my favorite places in all the world.

Today was cloudy, and it rained yet again. I did manage to get to the nursery to get some vegetable plants and herbs. I also got some ferns and hostas to plant back in our woodsy corner of the back yard.

Our garden this year:

blueberries

red raspberries

blackberries

strawberries

blue potatoes

red potatoes

asparagus

grape tomatoes

4 kinds of lettuce

4 kinds of peppers (sweet, medium, and hot)

snow peas

yellow beans

cucumbers

red onions

yellow onions

garlic

broccoli

cilantro

garlic chives

chives

spearmint

orange mint

catnip

peppermint

chocolate mint

rosemary

sage

thyme

oregano

marigolds (they supposedly keep some common garden pests away if you plant them in your vegetable garden - some bugs do not like their odor)

another crazy work week

This is turning into a crazy and difficult week at work. We have a lot of very sick patients and the workload is just crushing. Thank God there is just one more night this week - I hope that the weather will be a bit better, so I can work in my garden at least a little bit on my days off. Today the sun was out for awhile - but it was raining again by nightfall.

Tomorrow is the day Bill will be at the amusement park for his physics final. He is afraid of heights, so I hope he will be OK on his wild ride!!!!!!!!

Poor Dan has been sick all week with  a terrible cold. He just cannot seem to shake it. I have been urging him to go to the doctor, since it has been about a week now.

another week begins

Well, another week began last night. I was in a pretty good mood yesterday until I got to work, then immediately started having stress diarrhea once again. The moment I walked in the door I was handed four grocery sacks of narcotics to deliver to the inpatient units, and that was enough to begin the stress.  At least we are now in the week of the midnight person who very rarely calls in starting tonight, so maybe this week will be better!

Some good things are going on. Dan and I made up that missed breakfast from the weekend by meeting some people for lunch today. Soup, which was great in this cold and wet weather. That particular coffee shop also has pasties, so we will go there on our own for those.

I have Pearl Jam tickets to their upcoming concert.

I discovered that we will be staying across the street from Grant Park the weekend of the Chicago Blues Festival. That will be great! And the second weekend in Chicago will begin a classical music festival, though I do not know if we will have the time to go to any of it. But the blues festival should be fantastic.

I hope this rainy weather ceases soon. On Thursday Bill has his physics final at Cedar Point amusement park down in Ohio. The kids had a choice of going to the park and drawing a wild ride, or taking a written final. The problem is, that if there is lightning, the park closes the taller rides, which includes many of the roller coasters. Bill has drawn a coaster called the Mean Streak. After riding their coaster the kids have to describe the affects of the ride (such as the acceleration and high g-forces) on the human body riding it.

meh part two

Well, the kids and I were all feeling better today, though still not 100%. Dan is feeling about as bad as I was yesterday, which means he isn't up to do much more than sleeping on the couch.

I did a bunch of housework today. I am despairing of ever having time to work on my and Bill's photos. The housework increases to fill up any and all time allotted to it. And it feels as if I fall further and further behind with it with each and every day. It has been cold and raining now for three days, so I have not been able to work outside at all.

I think my real problem right now, though is just being very burned out from work and the situation with the person on midnights who is calling in so much. I am just emotionally, mentally, and physically exhausted. Luckily, I do have a couple of long weekends coming up, as well as a vacation next month. I am so hoping having a bit of time off will help me feel better.

Steven played soccer in the soaking cold rain today. I parked my Jeep behind one of the nets and just stayed in the vehicle and watched the game. The field was like a swamp. Steven came home and took a long, hot shower.

Tomorrow is Mother's Day. I will, of course, work. Dan is saying he will cook up a tasty  breakfast featuring French toast, though, which will be very nice.

meh

Spent a lot of the day doing housework. Spent  most of the rest of it resting. Steven was home from school with his cold, and Bill had a half day and came home sick. I'm not feeling the greatest, and neither is Dan.

Dan came home tonight with a bunch of invitations to parties, meet and greets for a local politician running for congress, and breakfasts - all for this weekend. I told him that he was more than welcome to go to any or all of them, but I just am not up to it right now. He laughed and told me that was what he was hoping I would say, as he isn't feeling well, either.

Watched some movies with the kids this afternoon - Serenity and The Fantastic Four. Steven is reading a fantasy series about warrior cats, Bill is reading Tolkien's Sil, and I am still slowly working my way through a series of biographies of Roman emperors by an ancient Roman. The similar names of members of the noble houses are driving me nuts with this head cold.

ickiness

This week is turning rough on me.

The midnight person has been out yet again.  It seems as if she is gone as much as she is here.  So we afternoon people have to try to cram as much as her twelve hour shift's worth of work into our work shift as possible. So we do not get any breaks, lunch time, etc. And you feel like you've been hit by a truck when you get off work.  And you have to stay over and finish things up and help out the other midnight person. So it really sucks.

Yesterday the high school called really early, asking where Bill was. He has supposed to take the chemistry AP test and he wasn't there, and they were holding off starting the test for him. Well, he had left the house half an hour before that, and should have been there. Then we realized he had probably gone to the church where they have been administering the tests rather than the high school, where they had moved this test to, in an large administrative office in the school administration wing. Bill did not have his cell phone turned on, so Dan drove down to town to find him, but Bill had already realized something was wrong when no one else showed up at the church, and headed to the school. So everything turned out OK, other than me being woken up and having very little sleep by that phone call.

Today I was woken up by the middle school calling. Steven had a hideous cold, could I please come get him and bring him home? So I did that, and then had to run to the grocery store to get cold things for his sore throat. By the time I got home, Bill was home, and he is also sick with the bad cold.  And I think I might be getting it, too, though it is quite possible that my head feels so funny from lack of sleep and my nose is running from allergies.

Some good things:

The patient whose life I supposedly saved is now awake and alert. When I poked my head into his room yesterday to see how he was doing, he looked at me.He has been an impatient sicne April 20, and this was the first time i have seen his eyes open. He is still very sick and still in the ICU, but just being able to pick up his head and look at someone is a good thing at this point. He was improving at a very slow but steady rate, and suddenly in the last couple of days he had been getting a lot better a lot faster.

Being woken up so early yesterday allowed me to watch a couple of movies that I enjoyed (I wastoo tired to concentrate enough to read). Hotel Rwanda was incredibly good, though disturbing due to its genocide subject matter. The violence was fairly muted and implied, rather than being right in your face, which is something I greatly appreciated. I also watched Pride and Prejudice which was enjoyable, though not up to the standards of the BBC mini series from a few years ago.

Today I am too tired to either read or watch a movie. This is one of those days when you go into work and just hope that you're not so tired that you make a bad mistake that could hurt a patient.

another gorgeous spring day

Another gorgeous sunny spring day. In truth, we could perhaps use a bit of rain, but I will not complain about the glorious weather. I spent some time outside this morning, in between bouts of finishing up paying the bills. The snow peas are starting to spring up.

 

Bill had his second of three AP classes today, the one he was dreading the most, American government. I asked how he did when he got home, and he feels pretty confident. he thinks he did well enough to able to get full college credit for it.  His next (and last) AP test is tomorrow morning - chemistry.  When that is over he will be a halftime student for a couple of weeks, then be done forever with public school.

Right now he is asleep upstairs on the couch, with Steven's cat Bud asleep on top of him.

And with that, I am out the door and on my way to work.