Extra Gig

I picked up an extra rent-a-nurse gig on Saturday.  Extra moolah is a good thing.

Back to the Jungle tomorrow armed with my new NSAIDs and flexeril if I get so completely stressed as I did Monday and Tuesday.  (it doesn't make me sleepy.  it just helps with shoulders/neck tension issues.)

Then the extra gig Saturday at 6 freaking am but hey it's pretty easy money.  No whine zone here.

Have a fab Friday all.  See ya in a few days.

One Hundred Percent Better

Monday and Tuesday were grueling days. Extra hours to get my tasks finished combined with the stress from the mess that is my job had me hurting.

My lower back and shoulders/neck were TIGHT. Painfully tight.

Slept maybe 5 hours last night with naprosyn and ibuprofen on board.

Still could not get comfortable. Not acute, just enough pain so that I was unable to sleep.

Went to Urgent Care where my PCP had been located until she moved to Arizona last December. (How DARE she?? Snerk.)

Saw a PA and got me some mild muscle relaxers and a prescription anti-inflammatory.

Imagine my surprise when I saw what the dx was joint related.

Like osteoarthritis.

That's an OLD FOLKS disease!!!

What have I done by my years of inactivity, not paying attention to my weight, and my not so great diet?

ACK! I've gotten old I mean out of shape.

After a brisk barely-broke-a-sweat 2 mile walk with my spouse and Pupples plus the meds I feel 100% better.

(Except for my denial bubble getting burst again. Smirk.)

SHOCKING NEWS:

Exercise does make you feel better.

Medication Errors

Recently, a nurse at Seattle Childrens Medical Center a nurse gave an infant 10 times the prescribed dosage of calcium chloride.  That baby died.

OK.  NURSES WORST NIGHTMARE.

They're investigating and I don't know all deets but man, I know I'd never forgive myself for that one.

I cannot tell how many times in the past two days how close I've come to messing up with meds but caught myself in time.

Working in a med treatment room, dealing with diabetics, some dementia residents, a gazillion bingo cards,  if one is in a hurray it would so easy to mess up.  Thank You Lord, I caught myself in time.

My heart goes out to the family.

Yesterday was just crazy, Today was test of endurance

A picture's worth a thousand words.

Looney Day

Working on Me

I have learned I am responsible for and can control my own behavior. As much as I'd like to control some other folks' behavior, it is beyond my powers.

I am working on myself.

I would like to discover who I am.

I know who I'm not.

I'm not the girl I was at 16. Wish I was because I had such a bright possibility of a life in front of me.

I am not the person I was at 22. Thank you Lord. I broke away from the abusive tyrant at 24. The mind games and anger bubbling below the surface but not allowed to ever show is something I never want to live through again. But I did live through it.

I have lived through everything.

Now I've decided to take charge of myself~body, mind, and soul.

I'm exercising. It's not an Ironman triathlon but we all must begin somewhere. Today was 3 miles of trail with hills that I walked with my 19yo and the dog. With my iPod blasting Robert Palmer and Foreigner, I rocked my way into a lovely sweaty glowing healthier me. My knees hurt less, I wasn't so out of breath it hurt, and my lower back stopped hurting for the day!!!

I'm eating more vegetables, more fiber, less salt, less fat, no red meat, less cholesterol, no processed foods, and I'm feeling more energy. My 16 ounces of coca-cola a day is gone. It's been replaced by one cup of green tea and tons of water. My dependence on medications is over, except the over the counter kind PRN.

I've gone back to church. I felt the need to go back. It's not the church we slid away from several years ago. It's the same building with a new edgier and more honest approach. I'm liking it quite a bit. I'll be starting a bible study on Thursday mornings this week. The fellowship with other women is a balm to my spirit.

I have many things in my life I'd like to change but I will change the basics of me first.

About time I stopped wallowing and begin to get a grasp on reality.

The Joy of Words

I had forgotten how much I adore words.

The English language.

The Oxford English Dictionary that was always out in the home I grew up in.

I choose a book out of my thousands to read this morning.  An old favorite.  The Third Deadly Sin written by Lawrence Sanders circa 1980.

I rediscovered hundreds of words and phrases no one uses any more.  In the first half of the first chapter.

Words folks under 35 have most likely never seen.

We used to communicate with words before cell phones, personal computers, Facebook, voice mail, the internets.

Beautiful well crafted sentences.

Here's a quick list of words/phrases I noticed and wallowed delightfully like a pig in slop.

auguries

plump organs (referring to internal organs)

electric percolator

chesterfield (describing a coat)

The Hotel Granger, a coffin on end

morality clause (for hotel guests!)

japanned tray

She sat primly  Is anyone prim any more?

dowdy

a bony crown rising from a horseshoe of hair  Can't you just picture this instantly?

his ears resembled slices of dropping veal  They don't cook it that way anymore if anyone still eats veal.

stenographer's chair

You can type it up.  Copies to the desk, the front office, and bookkeeping.  I can 'see' this woman typing with carbon copy paper in between pages on an IBM Selectric.

"Listen, the only reason we're at university is to snare a husband.  All a woman needs to know to be a success is how to moan in bed."  Bwahahahahahahahaha.  We've come a long way Baby!!


a jangling, outgoing, capricious woman

I know~ enough.  Wordsmiths.  People used to be wordsmiths.

Time to go find a large hard bound dictionary to dive into headfirst!  Because I've lost the glory of words in my daily life and in my writing.  Technology is a wondrous thing, it would be devastating if the world loses the variety that is the English language.

ACK! Then Numb

Most of my 15 hour day (ten on the clock) I felt like Bill the Cat.  Ack, ack and more ACK!!!!!!

From about 6 p.m. on I began to feel numb.

I drove into the garage and closed the door with the car still running.  SCARY!

Now I don't feel anything.  Kinda like Opus.

That is all.

It's Four O'Clock in the Morning

(Sorry about the photo quality.  It's another picture that did not survive the Great Laptop Crash of '10)

Twenty two years ago my life changed dramatically.

I became a full-fledged mother after 18 hours of back labor, three hours of pushing, 16 hours of hurling, and with a full blown spinal headache.  I should have taken a clue from that event and known to expect the unexpected.

Labor was the start of a life long journey.

For the first time I loved someone I'd die for in a heart beat.

I loved with a complete and all consuming intensity.  I still love him, and I will always love him but things have altered.

My first baby, the one who initiated me into motherhood, turns 22 at 6:18p.m. Pacific Daylight Time.

Being the person he is, he stumbled in about 2:30a.m. waking his dog who then woke the household.

I have to be up at 5 a.m. so of course I cannot get  back to sleep.

Some things never change no matter the age of the child.  LOL.

As you may gather I'm slightly ambivalent about parenting my 'adult' child.

Happy Birthday K!  Now move out!

(laughing but serious)

Wading Through The Waters

It was a song from the early 1970's I believe.  Done by CCR perhaps.  The title of the post is what I'm talking about.  It's what I am in the process of doing.

I had a needle stick Monday and by state law I must report it and have bloodwork taken.  My bloodwork showed I have no diseases such as AIDS, HIV, any one of the 5 kinds of hepatitis.  Mandated is another blood test in 3 months and 6 months.  If by chance I acquire any of these diseases, the state Labor and Industries agency will cover me financially.  I'm sure there's more more to it but that is what I know.

I got my first paycheck yesterday.  I took $200 off the top and deposited the rest into our account.  I bought 2 new scrub tops in much lighter weight fabrics.  I bought new underwear because I've lost enough weight in the past 6 months that what I already owned wasn't working.  Someone is not all that happy about it but I deserved those and make no apologies.

We are trying to dig out of the hole that being unemployed for so long(both of us) has placed us in.

My new life philosophy is one day at a time.  I pray I give quality healthcare to my patients.  The facility is in flux from events that took place before I got there.  I will do things that I can live with ethically and legally.  That's the fact Jack! (Bill Murray reference.)

I spend the time, on the 3 days I work 10 hours (ha. It's 6:30a.m.-6:30p.m. with 2 hours off in the middle), on the drive home to be thankful for at least 3 things each day.  You can see what I mean if you read my Thankful post from a few days ago.

I also vent during that 20 mile drive out loud.  I talk things out to God and whomever(in my head) and then when I get home I deal with whatever is happening there.

I am eating low salt, low sugar, low fat foods.  I am walking 3-4 days a week.  These are my stress management tools.  I refuse to end up in need of the kind of facility in which I am working.  I have taken charge of changing my lifestyle to be as healthy as possible.  Bring on the Greek yogurt with sunflower seeds, bring on the Lean Cuisine, bring on the veggies!

No more soda, no more antidepressants, no more denial.  I have let go of the many things I cannot change.

I work tomorrow.  Weekend off 'work'.  Back to regular schedule of working Monday, Tuesdays, and Fridays.  I am responsible for making this work.  I will do it.  With God's mercy, I will do it.

Forget The Big Girl Panties

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Just give me a lobotomy!!!!


Made it through another day in the jungle.  HOOAAAAH!


(Blood work was all negative. :)  )

Thanks (Partially for Suldog. Wink)

Thanks for all the comments.  Suldog or should I say Pollyanna?  I know.  Seriously I do.  Just hate the choppy waters of change.  Thanks.  dykewife I appreciate the thoughts.  KLS yup newness and not knowing so many things is hard and I was considering English teacher myself.  Hugs to all of you.

Dear God,

Thanks for the dry roads on the way home.

Thanks for it still being light out.

Thanks for the blood pressure reading of 130/80 while I was dealing with my first needle stick.  Thanks for the needle stick to remind me to be MORE careful!!!

Thanks for the pounds I have lost in the past month or 6 weeks that I've been walking.

Thanks for the pain killers of Aleve and Advil!!  They rock!!!!

Thank you for the ability to learn, albeit slowly, but I still have the capacity to learn.

Thank you for my spouse who unloaded the dishwasher before I got home.  HOOYAY!!!

Thanks for relieving my headache today so that my after 'lunch' and evening wasn't as bad.

Thank you for sweet ex-nurses who give me hugs to let me know I don't completely suck!!!!!

Thank you for getting me through today.

With abiding hope and trusting faith I say Thank you Lord!

Treading Water

I'm managing to keep my head above the water.  What more can I ask?

Spouse is dealing with the loss of his mother by not dealing with much else.  In other words, denial and complete inability to act.  I want to give him space to cope in whatever manner he needs to cope.  I also want to smack him but I won't.

I'm trying to pick up the slack.  I had no idea how much he dealt with daily in terms of chores and small household details.  Please pray I can support him without resentment.  I cannot help him deal and I dislike finding lots of balls dropped and cluttering my household, I do not want to let petty anger get to me.  It's just the way it is right now.

Tomorrow I go back to the job I dislike.  Work.

That's right I'm not liking it very much.  Again, it is what it is and I will continue to persevere.  Still looking for my big girl panties.......

Juggling clueless males, stupid little tasks that needs to be completed, new job, commuting, and tons of rain, rain, and more rain.  An apt metaphor for my past year or so.

Not whining, just stating the facts.

I would not be surprised if I sprouted mushrooms from my scalp as the weather is that wet.  Forecasts for more.  I hope they're wrong.

Walked all over various connecting neighborhoods today.  A certain someone refused to go with me.

"It's going to rain."

Dude!  This is Seattle!  If we stopped everything for rain, nothing would ever be accomplished.  Yup.  Slight frustration at complete lack of effort.

Back to the trenches for the next two days.

Being a grown up is waaaaaay NOT FUN!!!

As long as my head stays above the water line, I'll be fine.

What The Heck?

What the heck was that blue thing in the middle of the clouds?

It was a small piece of the sky which we saw today for the first time in seemingly forever.

It's back to humid, warm, and raining again.  I can feel feel mildew sprouting all over the place!  EWWW!

I know Seattle is supposed to be wet but for crying out loud~ENOUGH!!!!!

September is normally our best month.  Dry and sunny with just right temps.

Global warming is most definitely happening here and now.

What the heck?  Nine babies dead of whopping cough this year in California?  I hate to be blunt but jeez stupid:  GET YOUR KIDS and YOURSELF VACCINATED!!!

Do you want to be responsible for an infant's death?  Spreading pertussis causes infantile deaths.

Whooping cough was a scourge in the mid 20th century.  It should NOT be reappearing in the 21st century!  We can prevent this disease.  Get a clue folks.

The people who do not get their kids vaccinated or do not keep up on their t-dap shots are not reading this blog.  My readers know better.  Which means I'm preaching to the choir, again.  Forgive me.  I just get so mad at the world some days.  Too many diseases that have no prevention and cure and here's one we actually can prevent and cure in people older than newborns/infants.  ARGH!

My rant is over.  Hope you are enjoying a wonderfully quiet Saturday.

When Did I Move to the Tropics?

My temp gauge in my car said 64 degrees. My internal gauge said 94 degrees with 100% humidity. Bleah.  Dripping rain off and on all day but warm stifling rain.

Who knows how Seattle has morphed into Nicaragua over night?

I sweated through my first set a scrubs by 10a.m.. Wonderful feeling.

Apparently the weather is going to be Nicaraguan-like for the weekend.......but I do not have to work until Monday! HOOAAAAHHHHHHH!

I made it through another day.

I consider that a triumph.

I did not kill anyone.

I caught myself several times before I made possible meds errors. Yes! I am learning.

Promise me my friends that no one will allow me to need an ALF ever!

I want to sent off on an iceberg~~~~~~~~~~~~

Back Into The Jungle

I'm referring to Upton Sinclair's novel when I reference The Jungle.

'Nuff said.

Working tomorrow from 6:30a.m.-6:30p.m. with a 2 hour break in the middle.   That's the official word anyway.


Hopefully I'll have my two hours where I go to the park up the street and walk by the waterfalls and the creek.  All green and very Western Washingtonian.  The rain is predicted to stop by then.  It's been 100 percent humidity which makes my days all the more stickier.  They have never heard of dehumidifiers here.

Let's all pray it's a simpler day without any sudden emergent events.   Filling out incidents reports is a bitch and a time sucker and completely messes with my time management.  Please Lord make it a simple day.  No complications needed.

Nothing Like School

Real world and school.

Two completely different places.

All that studying and hospital clinical groups prepped me for nothing.  Except the NCLEX.

Flying without a net is freakin frightening.  The responsibility overwhelming.  The anger at the lack of another nurse to confer with.  Med techs are NOT even close to nurses.

Nurses out of school for 10-20 years are not so comforting.

Delivering meds to a resident who does not present to the meds room~kinda creepy in a sad way.

I'm so lost I can't find my own mind.

I take a very hot shower each night and wash my scrubs in extra HOT water.

Serious ick factor. That just not quite right feeling.

Trusting in judgment I do not have, remembering the reasonable prudent action to CMA(cover my ass).

It's similar to being on one of those old playground merry go rounds~dizzying to the point of throwing up.

Sucking it up and will try and find my big girl panties.

It Doesn't Get Much Worse Than This

(I know I just posted this picture.  Sorry for the repeat but it's the only Brennan pic I have handily available on this computer.  All my pics were destroyed in the great laptop meltdown of '10.)

At this exact time 15 years ago my third son had been seizing uncontrollably for over 8 hours.  We were in the crash room and Brennan was being worked on by 6 (yup 6) docs trying to get his seizures under control.  Spouse and BFF were near the gurney watching.  I was sitting in the rocking chair praying my heart out.

Kid was 5 months 3 weeks old.

He ended up with a cut down catheter in his sub-clavian(big vein just under collar bone) with 9 anti seizure meds on board, was on a vent, and frankly looked dead.

This was the 12th circle of hell.

Life does not get much worse than this for a mother.

Rest in peace my beautiful baby boy.

3/22/95~2/2/96

Green as a Sour Lime

Diabetic management plus all oral meds, treatments, assessments for say weeping edema pitting +4.

Eight grand spent on nursing school and 98% of what I need to do today was not taught.

I am numb.  And a drone.

Maybe a coward because I'd rather give birth than go back on Friday.

Scared by My Bad Self

Tomorrow I fly solo.  Yeah (not).


It's a super kick job when compared to other nursing jobs.

Non-acute.

Passing meds, managing diabetic residents, a thousand small tasks that change from day to day.

All the ER, ICU, any hospital nurses would be bored to death in 60 seconds.  They rock!  They rock quickly in acute, life or death and come home knowing they've done well.

Me, well......just call me chicken and over the hill.  Acute scares me.

Chances are I won't harm anyone tomorrow.  Not in a serious medical way.

I want to be accurate. focused, effective, and kind.  These lovely people have shown me nothing but kindness and I would like to return that action.

Up in the a.m. at 5.  Yes, five.  It's ok, the freeway drive will wake me up.  Snort.

Thanks for reading!!

Signed,

Weenie cluck cluck nurse

Nursing School Versus Reality Nursing

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I have been told that what I learned in nursing school is extremely different from real world nursing.  Nurses say this often (nurses I know).

A real world job always has a learning curve.  In my opinion this learning curve is very steep and scary as a nurse.  Focus, ability to ignore irrelevant distractions, patience with myself as I put on the most pressure, and acting as if I know what I am doing.

The transition from all the things I learned in school to actuality is not easy for.  I am working with nurses who have been nurses for decades.  An incredible amount of knowledge.

It is a different nursing world now versus , let's say the 70's, and I am wondering if basic universal precautions, JHACO(I have no idea have no idea what the correct acronyms is.  We call them Jay-co) approved terminology and acronyms, and a few other things are important to keep in my practice.  How do I respect old school and still use current techniques????

I would appreciate responses from any nurse who reads this blog.  PLEASE let me know your experiences and thoughts!!!!!!!!! 

Crazy A** Day

I have a job.  I guess.

Things were insane today.

Things at home are not getting done. Pupples has no clue what's going on.  Very tired.
  Discombobulated.

Off Saturday will try to blog then.

Love and hugs.  Please pray or whatever you do for me to be effective and safe, not to get flustered, and to know I will prevail.

Thanks.

Topsy Turvy

May have a job.

I'm evaluating the pros and cons and watching and learning.

It happened in a New York minute.

It's a bit more my speed but I'm just not sure.  I'll be working the next two days~10 hours shifts.  Did 10 hours today and I am pondering many aspects.

I hope all of you are having a fabulous week!!!!

With love and hugs~
 Janice

Labor Day

It's about 55 degrees here and windy.  YEEHAW I love it!

The person I interviewed with last Monday called me today.  She said she'd narrowed it down to two choices.  Her first choice is there today and the DON is watching to see how she interacts with current staff etc.  If this person doesn't work out I'm next in line.  The DON apologized for not calling sooner but she had caught the flu and just got back into work.  I think I'm flattered and I really like her honesty.  She told me she'd call no matter what and she did.  I have no expectations but the job at this ALF would be more my speed and I'd get to interact with patients!

I still have an interview with a SNF that was bought by a large corporation and is changing all of the routines and staffing ratios.  Think of me at 8:30am PDT tomorrow.

I walked around the mall today.  Shocking, I know.  I normally avoid the mall like the plague.  I wanted to check out shoes.  I looked at/tried on Landaus which seem painfully hard, MBTs which are painfully expensive (MBTs are the shoes that Sketchers ripped off their rounded bottom shoe from), Merrills which had a small heal barely padded, and then I bought myself a pretzel as I laughed at the fashion and smiled (though they had no idea) at some of the folks wandering the mall.  Nordstroms is still my all time favorite store though I haven't been able to afford shopping there since 2001.  Talbots has tossed their classically awesome clothes for trendy!!!!  I think hell just froze over.

Time for a nap.  Still having bizarro dreams and waking often.

It's Odd

(I'm not whining or complaining here~just making observations)


It's weird how new grief beings up old grief in your psyche.  I had a bizarre dream in which an infant of mine(But not Brennie) was in Childrens Hospital and they couldn't figure out why he was dying.  I was told because I'm a nurse I should be able to figure it out and save him.  ODD.

I woke up groggy and confused.  Of course, I'm confused often so no news there.

I drove by my old house yesterday.  The house we bought in 1993 and sold in 2000.  Pupples was in the car with me hoping I'd let him out to carouse.  My cedar tree is now 30-40 feet high (holy cow it was a small tree they planted too close to the house!  Glad I replanted it) My hostas look AMAZING under the bay window.  It's been resided and repainted.(we had the evil lousiania pacific siding that rotted and was recalled)

It was this house that Brennan came home to as a newborn.  It was this house that we had several years before the potholes in our journey began appearing out of nowhere.

It was the house Brennie died in.  I told Pupples that and then I burst into tears.  It was this house that my MIL visited and where she met and spent time with Brennan.

I don't want the house back.  There were things I hated about that house.  There were things I loved.  I loved the deep soaking tub.  I loved the three car garage.

I wasn't crying about the house, just the events that happened there~good and bad.

Grief is such a strange emotion.  It shows up whether you want to feel it or not.

I still cannot believe my tree is HUGE!!!!

Brennan Has Company

This picture is from July 1995.  It is a picture of my son Brennan grinning happily at his Oma.  She was a gentle but strong woman and he loved her.

Today my mother-in-law went to join Brennie and her parents and family.  I am sad but happy they are all together again.  I know in my heart they are giggling and hugging and loving one another.

Oma was always kind to me.  Even when she thought her son married me on the rebound she was kind to me.  She adored my children.  She was one of the hardest working people I have ever met.

Oma started life in a Dutch colony where her family had servants.  She survived World War 2 when the Japanese captured and occupied her village.  The country kicked out all the Dutch in 1949 and her family relocated to The Netherlands where they were not welcome.  She married and had two children in The Hague.

In the early 1950's their family came to the United States.  She knew no English.  My husband told me his mom learned English from watching As The World Turns.  It must have been scary to live in a country so different culturally and to leave her family behind (her parents and siblings, etc).

She raised my husband and his sister with courage, never flagging love,  and determination.  She used to walk to work in an apparel store where she cleaned up after the patrons.  She waited on her husband as was the norm of the time.  When he betrayed her, she learned to take care of herself.  She never learned to drive.  She either walked, took the bus, or got rides when people offered.

She was a good woman, a nice person and an awesome gardener.  Her yard was her pride.

I never understood exactly what went through her mind but she was always sweet to me.  We came from two diametrically opposed worlds but had common ground in her son and then her grandsons.

I loved her.  I will miss her.  Not to get into details, I don't have their blood so I am not quite a member of the family.  It's either cultural or just their family.  I will need to be silent in my grief.  My words would not be welcomed.  I will feel the loss of her.

I comfort myself knowing that she and Brennan are singing and pulling weeds together in the next world.

Saturday Snippets

I went to sleep on a sunny 82 degree day and woke up to rainy 55 degree day.  The weather in Seattle must be going through menopause because she has massive mood swings!!!

Freaking out is a waste of time.  I know I've been freaking out a lot lately but I'm trying very hard not to freak over all the things/events I have no control over.

Anxiety dreams are cuckoo for cocoa puffs.  I have had some bizarre dreams in my life but the one I had last night was an amalgam of cyber bullying, social networking, fear of getting caught, and tons of totally unrelated elements.

Pupples can be more irritating than a toddler.  I love this dog.  I cannot walk him 12 hours a day no matter what he wants.  He's very strong and he pulls and then he's annoyed I don't walk as fast as he wants me to walk.  I've tried a gentle leader and a pinch collar but he still pulls.  He whines more than I do (hard to believe but he does).

My knees are better.  Ibuprofen is more effective than Aleve.  I have noticed that some of the side walks here are slanted and I have to be careful on those.  I will keep walking but I still believe exercise sucks.

Have a safe holiday weekend my friends!!!!!!!

Whoever Said Exercise Will Make You Feel Better LIED!!!

I've been walking daily.

Some days I walk a few blocks.

Yesterday I walked several blocks away and through that neighborhood (nicest houses in the immediate area! It's where I'd want to live) and back through several interconnecting neighborhoods to get back home.

I'm walking at a moderate pace and I wear supportive walking/cross trainers.

I do not feel better.  I do not feel good.  I feel like I want to cut my knees off!  With an ax.  Seriously.  They ache on a level of between 5-8 on a scale of 1-10.  Aleve doesn't help.  Ibuprofen doesn't help.  Baths that are alternating cool and warm aren't helping.

I wake up several times a night because of the pain.

My feet hurt too but only when I stand on them. Haha.

I have no health insurance and walk in clinics demand a deposit of $100 before they let you in the door and I'm told that will not cover an entire visit nor any medications.

I do not want opiates.  I just want something, perhaps a different NSAID that would be more effective than ibuprofen or naproxin sodium.

I will make a trip to the grocery store later for large plastic bags to fill with ice to place on my knees.

Why my knees hurt now more than they ever have is a mystery.

Trying to relieve stress and establish healthier patterns HURTS.

My wise friends, please give me suggestions that may help.  I cannot whine to my spouse because he's in the middle of his mother dying and he deserves not to be bothered by me.  I am not included in his situation because I'm not a blood relative.  In passing, said nicely and without trying to be mean, he told me it's a thing only his sister and he can understand. (Yeah.  Let's NOT go there.)  I'm pretty sure he'd tell me to deal with my knees/feet on my own.

I take glucosomine and chondroitin (forgive my poor spelling), fish oil, flaxseed oil, and the OTC pain relievers.

I want to keep walking.  I know for my cardiovascular health I need to keep walking.

I'm also trying to toughen up my body in case I get a job where I'm standing 8 hours at a time.

I have an interview Tuesday at a SNF.  If by some miracle I am hired, I will need to toughen up my feet, knees and back.

Ideas for pain relief please.


For my friends who deal with chronic pain I bow down to you in awe of your ability to deal.

Surviving the Deep Dark Hole

If Chilean miners can survive 46 days and counting trapped underground, I can suck my not-quite-so-important issues.

Right on miner men!!  You rock!!

It's a miracle they have survived.

It's a miracle food can now be sent to them.

It's a miracle they weren't swallowed up by the cave in!!!  I guess they were swallowed but they are not buried. (today is my cryptic day)

What did they talk about before they were found?

There must be some intricate social functioning going on in that mine shaft!!! (The show Lost pops into my head)

As the news appear to be getting worse and worse, the miners are a story that inspires hope and admiration.

God Bless the Chilean miners.

Tough Stuff

It's difficult to write about anything positive this month so I  have not been blogging as often as I sometimes do.  Things are bad financially, my MIL just took a turn for the worse, my kids. (OY VEY!!! is all I'm gonna say), etc.

One advantage of being dirt poor is that we don't have money for fast food or much food at all.  I'm losing weight.  Twisted but true.

I had an interview Monday.  The DON talked more than anyone I have met!  She made me look like an introvert!  So I listened and nodded and tried to sit calmly.  She'd ask me a question and then not allow me to answer it.  She and her asst. did say I interviewed well. HA!!!  Then why did I not get the job?  It was at an assisted living facility (ALF) about 10 blocks from my previous attempt at employment.  It would have been work but no where near the level of a skilled nursing facility (SNF).  She said she'd call whether she chose me for the job or not.  Silly me believed her.  No call. Nope.

I do not know how many of you out there are looking for jobs but the people who interview me LIE!  "We'll get back to you they say.  We'll let you know.  We'll definitely call you one way or another."  Lies, lies, and more lies.  I would adore a simple "We hired someone else." than the sound of silence.  It is just plain rude to lie.

Do these DONs or HR people think I'm going to get all hysterical on them?  Take out a weapon because they hired another person?  Must be.

If for some reason I stop posting all together, it will mean my power has been shut off.  I won't be dead or anything just no lights or hot water.  I'll have to invade the library to use their computers and perhaps to watch a TV online here and there.  Then I'll be Crazed Nitwit library stalker!!!!  LOL.