daddy's day
Mom woke me up this morning by telling me that it was 5:50am and that my dad was going to the hospital. Neither of these things really bothered me, although I suppose that in a different time or place they would probably raise my blood pressure. I worked a day shift today, so actually 5:50am is after my alarm was supposed to go off....especially with this sudden blast of winter weather. I'm glad I don't have to commute so far to work anymore. And I avoid all types of highways, freeways, and rush hour traffic in general. I was happy to hear that my dad was going to the hospital though. No, I am not a sadist in any way, but my dad has had this cold for some time and it seems to be getting worse. I am proud that he takes care of himself the best that he can when it comes to his breathing. I went to visit him on my lunch break, but found out that he was getting an x-ray, so I had to wait until later to see him. He had gone home by the time my shift was over. As much as people complain about the Emergency room, or wait-times or bed shortages or overworked hospital staff...I am glad to be a Canadian. I dont' think he would have complained for staying in the ER for nearly 7 hours. The entire day cost him $4.00 for a perscription. Parking was even free because the meter was broken.
Surprise...you win an elephant!
I have to say, I was truely not expecting what happened on Friday! Thanks to all who came out for PRi's surprise party for me, and sorry I missed those who weren't able to come! PRi planned to pick me up in her new car and we were going for dinner or a movie or whatever came to our minds on Friday. I am working nights, so I couldn't stay out late last night....inevitably I would have to turn up at work (and if I didn't need the shift for my Vegas fund, I would have called in sick....but anyways....). I had wondered why PRi was going to park in her garage, but I suppose seeing my mom's car out front would have given the whole surprise away. Anyways, good times were had eating pizza and milkshakes and pepsi (I love you too, Pepsi......Peppy.....whatever) :):)
Kudos to you all, and especially for PRi for pulling this off!
Happy Birthday to me:)
So it's my birthday today. Yay me! I'm not usually that excited about my birthday...I think it has to do with the years of having exams or working on the day that I would actually like to have off. This year, there are no exams. There is no work. There isn't even any laundry. Just a nice quiet day to do nothing. Well, almost nothing.
I picked up my passport today and almost caused a riot. I guess it had something to do with the counter I was at. While standing in line at the "Passport Pick-Up" counter, the guy over in the Pre-Screening counter waved us over. *RUCKUS!!!* The security guard even came up to us and told us to wait in line before pre-screening. Uh, we're just here to pick up the passports, and this guy told us to come here.
So anyways, after avoiding being stabbed on the way out, we went for dinner. Nothing too fancy, just to Montana's. Great food, but I am definitely stuffed. Half of my dinner is going to be lunch tomorrow. Oh well....it will be a nice lunch. Of course, back home we go for some cake (sooo full!) and some presents and some phone calls. Hi Jo!
So now I am just relaxing the evening away. I used to get caught up in trying to celebrate my birthday, but I think as long as I am happy when the day is over, that is all that matters. Trying to organize a party when everyone was taking exams or working was hassle enough, and usually never turned out right. Whatever. No more worrying.
A very merry unbirthday to you (to you!) to you (to you!) Now blow the candles out my dear and make your wish come true!
(Sorry PRi, you probably have the tea cup music in your head now........boop boop bo! bo!)
too funny...
I got this one from Stephi......I laughed so hard when I read my result. I suppose it describes a lot about how I came to be a nurse. Goes with my personality colour that's for sure!
You Are Sunshine
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Soothing and calm
You are often held up by others as the ideal
But too much of you, and they'll get burned
You are best known for: your warmth
Your dominant state: connecting
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Clean up day
Today was supposed to be a sale weekend, but it was dead slow. So intead, I started cleaning up my office. When I got home, I followed my momentum and started cleaning up my computer. Here I am, putzing on my computer, looking through some of my old stuff and I come across a little document that I wrote in first year. it was right after I got back from a Florida trip which included sights such as Universal Studios and Disneyland
From the Cluttered Desk of Priscilla
As you know, we just came back from Florida. One of the major sights that we saw was Universal Studios Orlando. Here I had an amazing revelation:
* How did they write the ending for the movie “Never Ending Story?”
This led to waves of epiphanies, some which are written below. I call them
Priscilla’s Confused Rants
- How come movies are so realistic yet no one ever uses the bathroom?
- In the movie 'Face Off' how come Nick Cage and John Travolta can shoot anybody at any time except each other?
- How come a woman in the movies no longer needs to wear her glasses once a man tells her that she's beautiful without them?
- The Scarecrow got a brain, Tin Man got a heart, Lion got courage, Dorothy got home, but what did Toto get?
- How come the invisible man's clothes are invisible too? Where does he shop to get that stuff?
- On the parental warning for the movie South Park, they say that it is intended for mature audiences, but honestly, how mature do you think the average South Park fan is?
Then at Disney World, the epiphanies continued.
- In Snow White and the Seven Dwarves if Doc is a doctor why didn't he cure Sneezy?
- Why does Donald Duck never wear pants but wears a towel in the shower?
- Donald Duck has three nephews Huey Dewey and Louie. Where is his brother or sister? And why can't they take care of their own kids?
-How come Mickey Mouse has a dog for a pet and a different dog as a best friend?
-Tinkerbell’s pixie dust helps kids fly. What about the poor kids with asthma and allergies?
-How come the Lost Boys know where in Neverland they are? They must not be all that lost.
Anyways, a little tid bit to share
Edumacation day
Is it just me or is post post-secondary education lacking these days? As much as I complained during school about school, I never realized how much I actually learned. And how much I didn't learn. I don't mean
in class stuff, I mean the real things that you have to know when you go to work. Kind of like learning on the job, but more specific than that.
Ok, here's an example
I went to an education day yesterday. Again. I read about the topics of discussion beforehand, and was kind of interested in learning about ethics and building teamwork. Things that I guess would be important.....everyday, and every shift. No matter how long you have been working, some things you just have to keep learning. But anyways.....I came home after an entire day of sessions feeling a lot stupider than I should have. Ok, so I haven't been in school for a while, but I thought I would have at least learned
something. The ethics discussion turned out to be a debate between mental health nurses and the rest of the hospital on whether or not we should tell patients about ourselves. Granted that could be dangerous with a lot of mental health patients, but most people aren't psychotic sociopaths when they come to the hospital to have a baby. Even if they are in labour. I don't divulge my life story, but if my patient asks me if I like working in labour and delivery, I'll answer. No ethical debate there.
It was a pointless discussion, emphasising the fact that I will never work in mental health.
The rest of the day went pretty much the same. Blah blah, here's what Capital Health is doing with your taxes to prepare for the flu pandemic blah blah wash your hands blah blah get your flu shot blah blah if your patient has a complaint talk to your manager blah blah. Then I went to the "injury prevention" session with the personal trainer from NAIT. Let's all strengthen our core with exercise balls. Labour and delivery nurses do not like exercise balls. I think it has something to do with the people who think that they can sit on their exercise balls all through their labour and then get upset at staff when labour really starts to hurt. But that's another ethical debate for another day. I don't even remember what it had to do with injury prevention.
The only session that was worth going to was the one on building teamwork. It was taught by the same woman who did the colours workshop that I went to a couple of months ago. Great fun, and I actually can apply what I learned to my practice. That was the point of the whole day anyways. But whatever. I got paid for it and got free coffee and muffins in the morning.
I suppose the occasional edumacation day is necessary for everybody, no matter what job you have. Otherwise it would still be 1950.
I really think that my edumacation day would have been more productive if they kept CPR recertification sessions in the morning instead of filler material. Maybe more people would have stayed for the teamwork building.
don't worry....be happy
I woke up yesterday....afternoon......and had a rather large headache. No smiles from me. We ran out of Motrin, and I was hungry. I was also tired from having a really busy night at work....I had 2 babies and a lot of patients not in labour that I sent home.
But anyways, despite my frowning and being rumbly in my tumbly, Devin made me laugh. In the past, he has used his camera a lot for random pictures of everyday things...usually a video of a fire we are having, or pictures of Bear doing stupid things....like sitting on my stomach when I am trying to sleep....... or whatever. Yesterday's picture made me laugh.
The upstairs bathroom has an octagonal window...which was hard to cover last summer when having a shower and the neighbours were repairing their roof. But whatever.
I guess when you are having a bad day, a smile makes all the difference.
May someone's smile brighten your day today:):)
My rage?!
I have just spent 6 hours at the local passport office......and I am exhausted. My previous post I said that no matter what, I was going to get my passport today....no procrastinating this time, because I have a deadline for Vegas. Well, PRi, mom, and I decided to wake up early today and brave the lines to get our passports. It's a good thing it was a raging blizzard today, because I don't know how many more people would have been there with us.
We started off going 20km/hr on the Whitemud...past 2 accidents before hitting the second exit, and then slowly made our way to downtown....thanks PRi for driving, by the way. When we finally got downtown, parked, and walked to Canada Place......we got into the long line of people who had been there for 2 hours already. It was only 8:20am. There should have been a sign saying "your wait time from this point: 3 hours" in the style of Disneyland. Mom talked to one of the managers to get a form for us for the "in lieu of guarantor" signature, as neither of us had someone who was available to sign. We then found out that there was no one at the passport office who would sign the form (although this is not what the application said), and had to find someone who could legally sign for us on our own. PRi held our place in line...while talking to a fellow line-waiter.......and mom and I ventured out into the blizzard to the Law Courts Building (where they confiscated my nursing scissors) and found out after arriving at the Queen's Bench that the only documents the Comissioner of Oaths would sign had to be of court origin. After a phone call to the registries where the receptionist had no idea that the notery public at the registry could sign the form and gave me no information on the phone, we couldn't find the way out of the building. Oh, and while lost, we ran into a lawyer that worked with mom years ago at the bank. He was able to point us in the right direction, thankfully.
Ok, so no go at the Law Courts building. On to City hall. No dice there either. The lady at the Civil Services desk said that she couldn't fill out the form for civilians. Great. Well, back into the snow, and over to the lawyer who said "come see me if you have no one who can sign". Thank goodness for him, otherwise we would have been up the proverbial creek with no paddle. While sitting in his office, we found out that our documents were filled in wrong, and were dated wrong. Hang on, here's a call from PRi......still in line at Canada Place......"I just passed the photo shop where they told me that my passport photo might be rejected, depending on the mood of the people in the office." Great. Will the lawyer sign the passport photos? No. He is not a guarantor. Back into the blizzard and find PRi in line. Have a coffee PRi. The lady in front of us gets her nephew to bring a different passport photo of herself. Three and a half hours later, we get to the PRE-SCREENING wicket. Mom and I find out that the lawyer needed to sign the photos in the first place. We were just there, he said no. Not good enough for the lady at the pre-screening wicket. Note it is lunch time now.
So into the blizzard again, Mom and I go back to the lawyer's office.....just in time to catch him before he leaves. Poor PRi is still holding our place in line. We get the photos signed, and back to Canada Place we go. An hour later we are still waiting to be called to the next available wicket. PRi's dad comes by....waits for a while.....gets tired of waiting...and back to work he goes. It is past lunch time now. Finally we get called up to one of the wickets. "Exact change is appreciated." Things go well, and we are off to find some much needed food. There are still 300 people lined up behind us, and more outside the office.
PRi is now curled up in the fetal position behind me. I think she needs to sleep. Mom and I need a drink. Oh and apparently our Vegas trip is a chance to bond with each other???
So yeah. I contemplated on lodging an official complaint with the passport office. It's one thing to be busy with the number of people getting their passports.....it's another to be completely oblivious with new changes (related to 9/11) and not even know what information....or lack thereof.....is on the website that they keep telling you to go to.
But I think I will just settle for a thank you gift to the lawyer....
The sun will come out tomorrow
What a difference a good night's sleep does for your health. It could also be that I saw the sun today for the first time in a week. Stupid working nights in the winter. Bah.
So yeah. Feeling much more refreshed. PRi was going to get her passport done today. Hope the lines weren't too long. I need to get mine done too....and no procrastinating this time!
But seriously. I think I will go Wednesday. I have to find someone who will be my witness or whatever. That will be my project for tomorrow I guess.
Now that it's January, I have to seriously start thinking of saving my money. I spent way too much during the Christmas season....and even more than I thought I would need to spend on my car...so my bank account needs some TLC. Who cares if I get my passport in time for my trip to Vegas if I don't have money to pay for the trip???
Alright....no more spending if I don't need to.......but I'll start that after my shopping trip today:)
zzzzzzzzzz
For the last few days, I have lived in my pyjamas. I am utterly exhausted, both physically and mentally. It's probably a good thing I don't work until Thursday night. I came home from work on Friday and curled up on my couch with my comforter and my pillow and a good book. Two and a half hours later I woke up on my couch snuggled in my comforter with my book on the floor. Then I proceded to toss and turn until 4:00am. At this point, the couch is no longer comfortable so upstairs to bed I go. My mom came to wake me up at 3:30pm to see if everything was ok. The staffing office has phoned my house 4 times since Saturday morning (note: it is only Sunday), and I have been avoiding taking the phone. Hint hint.......I am tired!!!! Do you really think I am safe enough to work when I can hardly keep my eyes open during lunch? I think it was working the extra night that really threw me off. Normally in my rotation I work 4 nights in a row, then 3 days. Because of "Christmas" hours, they screwed up everyone's schedule, so I found out at the last minute that I was supposed to work 5 nights in a row. Now I have done 7 nights before, but take into consideration that it was a full moon, and staff have been phoning in sick from burnout, and it has been busy enough that I have missed breaks...... I have been coming home really wiped out. I am also having problems sleeping, which isn't helping matters much.
So yeah. I dragged myself out of bed this afternoon to start making a roast for dinner. I think I should shower too. Ewww..........but who cares....I haven't been anywhere except my bed and my couch.
I have completely lost track of what I was going to say.....
Maybe I should go shower now.
Philosophizing
Now that most people have recovered from celebrating the new year, I wish you all the best in 2007:):) My New Years celebration consisted of welcoming Edmonton's New Year's baby at 12:03am. It was fate I tells ya; if it was a boy.....Carson it is.......If it was a girl.....well, they picked the same name of yours truely....which was the end of many jokes for the rest of the night, as a girl it was.
Needless to say, the sparkling cranberry juice we had planned for midnight still isn't opened yet because we have been so busy at work. I just need to work on getting my body used to being up in the daytime. Good luck with that.
So anywho, as this is my first post of the new year, I had thought about whether or not I should make resolutions....and post them. The last New Years resolution I made, I vowed to give up drinking pop. But then Jo told me pop was ok on Sundays (Orange crush, I think it was....).....and then I decided that iced tea is not considered pop......so really, that resolution was pretty much broken. Except I haven't bought nearly as many Cokes as I did before that resolution. Stupid Coke. Please buy another Coke product. I don't even like Coke.
But that was a long time ago, and I begin to wonder if it is time for another attempt at a New Years resolution. Every year we look back at the things we have done....or not done....and promise to change things for the better. It's so negative. What is it about me that I don't like? Or should I be asking "what is it about me that I think others don't like?" It's all too complicated. And my brain hurts. Why should I make a resolution for a
year when I could just go day by day? That way, if I resolve to eat more fruit this year...it's easier to eat more fruit just today. And then tomorrow, I would be more inclined to eat more fruit because I was able to do it already. Make sense? Maybe not. Maybe I'm just babbling away and you stopped paying attention paragraphs ago. But in any case, wouldn't you think it would be easier to keep a resolution that you could see the results instantly??? And because you are resolving to do something each day, if one day you screw up...you don't "wait until next year"......you just move on and try again tomorrow. Then next year, you would feel better about yourself enough that you won't even need a New Years resolution.
So then maybe my resolution is to stop making resolutions...... At least that one I could keep.
