Still not-well.

Ugh. I’ve been cooped up here in my place all week long. I went home early from my shift on Monday (by early.. I mean: 12.30am Tuesday morning). I had “flu-like” symptoms. I had a fever on Monday night, but since then I’ve had nothing except weird stomach issues… Haven’t thrown up or have had diarrhea, but just feel tired and bad. Honestly, in my 38 years I have NEVER had the flu…EVER. Maybe I have the flu? Who knows… Employee health said that the earliest that I can go back to work is next Monday on the 16th..as long as I don’t have a fever… which, I haven’t … so, I guess that’s a good thing.

I did cover my bases and go get blood tests run for CMV… which is a virus that is basically harmless for normal people..but for immunosuppressed people like me it can be hell…  Turns out that was negative. That’s good news. Maybe it’s just a stomach bug that needs to run its course.

I’m just bored and tired of being tired.

The only good thing about this “forced vacation” is that I’m half way through “Breaking Dawn”…

Weekend wrap up…

It was good. I worked all of it.

The thrills of being a nurse.

With weekend pay!

Other randomness…..

1) I really think the Bears got the short end of the stick with Jay Cutler. Or, maybe the Bears were never really that good to begin with this season.

2). Work tonight, tomorrow, & Thursday. Already looking forward to the w/e… It’s Grand Nationals time for Bands of America. Basically, 100 or some marching bands from across the country meet in Indianapolis for 4 days of competition. My parents are coming down and we are going to the Finals on Saturday evening at Lucas Oil stadium. Watching marching bands never gets old for me. My former HS has won the most Grand National Titles with a total of seven.. then next highest total is three. During my four years, we won 3 out of the 4. It’s still to this day one of the best memories/times of my life. I recommend every student who is at all musically inclined to get involved with marching band. It’s cool that I can go to this competition as an alumnus and say I went to Marian Catholic… people usually either say “hey, that’s great” or “we hated you guys…” (which, is also a huge complement in the marching world).

3). Got my ticket for The Swell Season in Ann Arbor. It will be fun to take a road trip to a city I’ve never been to.

4). Ok… was totally, utterly disappointed in the new version of “V”… I was interested for like 20 minutes and then turned off the TV. The original was cheesy..but also, it had some element of suspense…  the actors on this version were too polished….  like they woke up that morning already knowing that they were going to be visited by huge alien ships & they just acted surprised for the cameras.

That’s about it for today. Sorry about my post from the other day. If you’ve been reading long enough (the nine of you)… you know how it goes…

Enjoy your Monday. It’s another nice day in Indy today (although I’ll be sleeping most of it away since I have to work tonight).

 

Friday, 6.24am

I got up this morning about 5 because I was hungry and couldn’t sleep. A Trader Joes granola bar fixed the hunger.. the sleep issue not so much. A rerun of “Angel” is on in the other room and I’m sitting here just surfing the web without a real destination. I paid a credit card bill online, read the morning newspapers (Philly, NYT, Chicago Suntimes, & Indy Star), started looking for some Christmas presents online and priced a new flat screen TV (my Christmas present… 42 inches of pure color glory… my parents are paying half).

I’m working tonight and tomorrow night so my weekend is basically shot.. which sucks because the weather here in Indianapolis is supposed to be really nice. It’s hard for me to do anything during the nights that I work because I’m afraid I’ll be brain dead by the time work rolls around & honestly I really don’t have anywhere to go during the day except to run errands…  and, I really don’t have any errands to run… so, I would rather stay in and sleep. As much as I want to get to day shift (and, I really, really, really do!!)… Night shift is basically an additional $600/month (or more, depending if I get an extra shift & thus, overtime) which I can really use now that my student loans are coming due this month.

On Monday night my new friend Amanda & I went to see The Swell Season at Clowes Memorial Hall on the campus of Butler University. As always, the duo was amazing. I could sit and listen to them play all night long. Somehow by the luck of the draw I got seats in the 2nd row of the auditorium. They were the best seats I’ve ever gotten for a concert. Literally, Glen & Mar were 20 feet from me. I tried to take pictures, but unfortunately, even the ones I mistakenly took with the flash still on didn’t turn out at all. Bummer.

I’m looking forward to seeing them again in December. I’m becoming a little groupie (spelling?) and bought tickets to their show in Ann Arbor, MI on December 2. It’s a four hour drive from here.. Definitely worth it to seem them again.

Nothing else too exciting to report. Every so often I’ll read old posts from my blog… I’ll go back to Nov ‘08, Nov ‘07, ‘06, etc… back all the way to ‘04 when I first started this blog. Literally nothing has changed in my life. Yea, I moved cities, I changed careers. I’m still single. Jeremy (aka… “the quirky boy”) got married a few weeks ago. Something I knew was going to happen for him and he kept denying it at the time. How did I know back then that he was going to get married…because everyone can get married except for me. And, as much as he denied it.. I knew deep down he wanted to also. And, he did. I’m still single. I’m still lonely. I’m still paying shit loads of money for Eharmony for the *chance* that maybe, just maybe this time will be different (which, turns out… Midwest men are exactly the same as East Coast guys).

Anyway, I don’t know if I have the strength to be alone for my whole life. A family at the hospital had the nerve to say to me “Well, it’s probably for the best because God is saving you from the hardship that marriage brings.”

Well, that’s it for this morning. Enjoy your weekend folks.

Happy Halloween!!!

I’m going to a poker party tonight… we are supposed to be wearing hats… I was going to wear my Minnie Mouse ears that Jamie & Suzy bought me when I was dying in the hospital and they had to Disney World… (he-he). Anyways, I can’t find them ANYWHERE. I’m sad.

I guess I’ll wear my Phillies ball cap instead… I mean.. it is the 3rd game of the WS tonight…  I should show some Philly pride… right?

Also, I’m seeing The Swell Season here in Indy on Monday night… totally excited… and bonus!!!  I got a ticket to the Ann Arbor, MI show on December 2nd!!! Twice in one year… My next goal is to see them in either Ireland or London.

Toots for now.

Latest Company to tick me off…

OK… there aren’t THAT many companies that tick me off… but, after today I will never set foot in another Room Place Furniture store. I saw a coffee table that I liked. I ordered it online. The delivery charge was almost as much as the table (table: $299, delivery: $250). I saw that the distribution center was in a Chicago suburb. I CALLED customer service and asked if it would be OK if my father picks up the table b/c I didn’t want to pay the delivery charge. They said (this was last week Wednesday): “Sure, No Problem.”

Flash forward to today. My dad calls me at 2pm saying that I was dealing with some POS organization (if you don’t know what POS stands for… I’m afraid you’ll still be in the dark) because they couldn’t release the table without me being there. No matter that I gave my dad a copy of my driver’s license, the email with the confirmation number, a copy of the credit card I used to purchase the table. He called customer service and then I also called customer service and we both got the same answer…”No, we can’t release the table b/c you need to be physically here. There is no proof that this man is your father…” No matter that I called last week and got a different answer. They didn’t even apologize that last week’s answer was wrong. They were the most rude customer service people I have EVER, EVER, EVER spoke to on the phone.

I ended up canceling my order and the Room Place will NOT get my $350 & definitely will not get any business from me ever again.

So, if you out there in Internet land googled “Room Place Furniture” and got this blog…. take from me… there are dozens of other furniture companies out there that could use your business. Do not give it to Room Place Furniture.

I’m done for now.

A good replacement.

I went here today. I bought three & ate two already. I miss Flying Monkey… but this will do. this will do.

OK… I’m jumping on the band wagon..

So, Congrats Phillies fans… you have taken away the one last shot for Jim Thome (aka FUTURE HALL OF FAMER JIM THOME) to get a WS ring. Anyway, that’s ok… The Phillies were clearly superior in every way and I hated the whole soul patch look on Joe Torre. This all being said. I’m a White Sox girl. Have ALWAYS been a White Sox girl. I lived in Cleveland during the good year & was taken to games at Jacobs (err… Progressive Field) Field in hopes that I would give up my CWS allegiency. Didn’t happen. But, as I grow and see that Phillies fans might have some good to offer the world. I will jump on the band wagon for this Series. ***

(what the author really means… she hates the Yankees even more!!)

The last week of work has been crazy. Tuesday night was absolutely insane. I didn’t pee in 12 hours… I didn’t have anything to eat until 5.30am Wednesday morning (which, means… I didn’t actually sit down to eat my frozen Lean Cuisine pasta & get to watch any of the late shows). It was bad. For the last two days, I’ve gotten to work… found my assignment.. printed out all my med records… completed my spreadsheet (my way of organizing… I print out a grid with my whole night on it… I just fill in the boxes of what I need to do at what times for each patient…works VERY well for me) AND have started to receive report from the day shift nurses. Both Tuesday night & Wednesday afternoon, I’m in the middle of receiving report and I see my manager walking towards me. Both times, she asks the person that I’m getting report from to stay a little longer b/c someone hasn’t shown up, is sick, etc (disclaimer… they are all good reasons)… Unfortunately, this means that they take their team back and I go to the station and pick up 4 new patients that I know nothing about at almost 7.3o in the evening (or in today’s case 3.30 in the afternoon). Both times, it sucks rocks b/c I need to start from scratch again and then it puts me even further behind and because the other nurse wants to get out of dodge… I don’t get a great report (which is what happen on Tue night–hence, why I didn’t pee or eat for almost 12 hours). I know that nursing is all about flexibility… but I feel like I have gotten dumped on the last two days. UGH.

Another reason this week is crazy… Look at it:

Monday… final part of Central Nursing Orientation (8am-4.30pm).. Sat in a lecture room listening to presentations from other departments. Fell asleep 2x.

Tuesday… Worked 7.00pm-7.30am Wednesday morning

Wednesday… Got home at 8am, took a shower… in bed by 8.30am.. up at 1.30pm… dressed. Left for work at 2pm. Worked from 3-7.30pm. Drove to Bible Study. Got home at 10pm.. watched Phillies on TV… fell aslee on sofa while watching Phillies on TV.

Thursday… up now at 4.30am b/c my sleep schedule is all off and I can’t sleep. Hopefully going back to bed soon. Driving to the hospital for a meeting at Noon with the Clinical Nurse Educator to go over my orientation test. I didn’t score the required 80% when I took the post test… (we had a class that met for 6 weeks on a Monday… I scored 55% on the pre-test…I think jumping 20% points is pretty good). This is probably going to last until 3pm. Then I’m meeting a girl from House Church for Thai food tonight at 6.30. After that… baseball.

Friday… work at 7pm until 7.30 am Saturday morning.

UGH……………………..

Getting tired again…. I think I’ll jump back into my amazing pillow top Queen size mattress with amazingly soft 800 count cotton sheets.

Good night all.

Eyes by India

For $20 this afternoon I was tortured as my hair was pulled out by plain white thread. I went to Eyes by India… a “beauty” shop near my house… Don’t get me wrong… I WILL go back… I like how my eyebrows turned out… very natural looking compared to waxing and/or plucking…but ah… the initial pain… unbearable. I hear from a friend that the next time will be easier…  The woman also “threaded” my upper lip and my chin (yes.. what women do for beauty… pluck all the hair off their face). It smarted for about 1/2 hour and then I was fine…

Today was the third and last day of Central Nursing Orientation at the hospital. I sat in a freezing lecture room for 8 hours listening to different departments in the hospital. My hospital’s orientation program is so thorough… I don’t know a hospital who could top it… even the best ones on the East Coast.  It’s beyond good..

Listening to the Phillies/Dodgers game in the other room… something exciting just happened. Phillies have a few men on base… it’s still 4-3. I’m sorry… I’m cheering for the Dodgers…because I want Jim Thome to get his World Series ring…  nothing against the Phillies or White Sox who both traded him away…but he’s a great guy and deserves this.

Haven’t heard from Kevin at all… didn’t think I would. It’s ok… really, it is. I’m getting used to the singleness again. I once was hopeful.. not so much anymore.

Randomness… had Chicken curry tonight… awesomeness my name is spicy!!! 

Nothing else exciting to report…bye for now.

A Perfect Fall Sunday.

I’m back. Killing time until the Colts game starts tonight. Thankfully, the Bears have a bye this week. Trying to keep up with which Cutler will show up to play can get exhausting…

My weekend was full of good stuff. Friday night I met a guy that I went to HS with. I think the last time I literally saw Kevin was in 1986. Anyway, his company has their convention in town twice a year (it’s a company based out of Fort Wayne, IN). It was interesting talking to him. Here is Kevin, someone I haven’t seen in 23 years and we talked for a good chunk of the evening.. without awkward fits and stops. On the other hand, the Eharmony guy, I ran out of things to talk about in 20 minutes. It doesn’t bode well for eharmony guy.

Anyhoo, don’t anybody get excited about Kevin. He is recently divorced (2 1/2 years), has 3 boys, and I was just someone to have dinner with. As I was talking to him I realized that I was really sad that his marriage broke up… He didn’t give me much details &  I didn’t ask…but I *think* he would still like to be married. He was probably a good husband & just from the time I spent with him… I’m sure he’s a cool dad.

Why can’t I ever meet nice men like Kevin? Bleh.

Today I went to a jewelry party in Lebanon, IN (which is about 30 minutes north of Indy). I ended up taking the back country roads back to my place. It was a great drive home… it took me twice as long..but the trees were amazing. I definitely couldn’t live anywhere that didn’t have a Fall season. Definitely my favorite of the four seasons.

Nothing else exciting to report.

Toots for now.

Rainy Thursday.

I’m getting ready for work and watching (listening) to the Phillies on the TV. I think it’s 4-3 right now at the top of the 7th. It was a crazy bottom of the 6th. It’s hard for me to do anything regarding Philadelphia. I miss the city that much. It’s hard to watch the Phillies on TV, read my last few issues of Philadelphia magazine..although.. it has been always easy to not watch the Eagles…

Eharmony. I met a guy last Wednesday for lunch. His name is Jim. 43 years old. He’s lived all over the country but he was raised here in Indiana. He is nice.. but there was nothing there when we ate lunch last week.. a lot of awkward pauses… I talked to him on the phone today and the same thing happened.

Work is work. I’m asking to get more hours for overtime…  My student loans come due next month… totally scared that I will not have enough money to pay for them.

My 20th HS reunion was last Saturday night back in Chicago. It was a lot of fun. I hope everyone who reads this goes back to their reunions. It’s nice to be remembered where we came from. I was a geeky band kid in HS…  and, in some respects I’m still that same person. I enjoyed talking to people that I never thought would have talked to me back then.. Yes, I know it’s been 20 years…but some of the same insecurities have followed me that whole time.

My weekend is actually full this time around. Tomorrow night I’m meeting an old HS buddy.. his work convention is here in Indy. We are going to this great German Restaurant… I think the oldest restaurant in Indy… beautiful old brick building with 20 foot ceilings…  Saturday night I’m hanging out with my friend Heather from church. Sunday is church, then a jewelry party (ala Tupperware…but instead jewelry) in the afternoon, and the the Colts Sunday night football game.

Well, need to go. It’s 5pm and I need to leave for work in 1/2 hour..

Toots for now.