Messes are ok sometimes

I've felt like a different person lately...not sure why, but maybe just alot of changes. One big change is the addition of a roommate to my tiny apartment! Claire is moving into my 2nd bedroom. For a few months, we will be very cramped, but hopefully cozy. I have spent most of the last 2 days cleaning all the stuff that contributed into making my 2nd bedroom my "junk room". I had high hopes for this room right when I moved in with bedroom furniture, bookshelves for my nursing books, and enjoyed having the 2nd closet to store my off-season clothes. It turned out to be a room for bins, bikes, coats, decor, books (in boxes), and now cat land. I ended up throwing so much stuff away which was probably a good thing, found a few lost items, and donated some old clothes.
My bedroom has taken the brunt of this move. It is jam packed with the contents of a 2.5 rooms. It works though. I mean, it's not like I need all this room to break-dance in there or anything. So I'm very excited for Claire and Pippi to move in.





As a side note, on my walk tonight, I passed an older man and his dog. The dog was small and was wearing a harness. I couldn't help but notice his funny walk. He would lift up each leg unnecessarily high while stepping and looked generally awkward. I asked the man if it was his first time on a harness (knowing this wasn't the case, but wanted to avoid the rude alternative, "what is wrong with your dog?". He told me the dog was 7 yrs old and had a neurological disorder. I immediately fell in love with the little thing. He continued to tell me that this little pup was the most determined creature he had ever known. My heart goes out to him and I hope he improves.

Blessing
H

Feeling kinda down today...

Blah...

Hopefully back with better post soon..
H

DEGA!

And since everyone is asking, no, we didn't get hit by any shrapnel

Time to reappear

Once again it's been way too long since I've blogged, but you've started to expect these sort of absences from me right?

Yesterday was my first multisport event. I did the Magic City Duathlon. This almost didn't happen due to bike issues. I managed to borrow a friend's road bike, practice on it for 2 days, and start my first bike race. This was a 3mi/12mi/1mi race. I was obviously most nervous about the bike for a few reasons:

1)Races tend to be cluttered with people. I fall, I take down 4-5 innocent surrounding racers.

2)Although the pedals aren't clip in, they have cages around your feet that you can't get out as fast as you could without. So if I needed to bail, may not be as easy-then the falling thing (see reason 1).

3)The longest distance I've ridden on a bike was around 30 mi but that was once, and really slow and flat.


So with jittery nerves, I got to the race, visited the port-a-potty twice in 45 min, put my bike in transition and lined up. This is one of the smallest races I've done with about 60 women, all of whom looked capable of beating me. Our wave started and nerves disappeared. Run went pretty well. Stayed with 2 particular girls until the bike, then I actually think I got ahead of them. Don't get excited, my bike was one of about 25 left to take out. Bike was actually great! After I got gear shifting figured out, I was OFF! I even passed a couple people (including men!) Rocky broken gravel made for brain jiggling buuuumpy ride. When bike was over, I got off and attempted to run my bike back to its spot. This is when I realized this mile wouldn't be easy with jello legs. Finish line involved sprint racing this older man. I even finished first in my age group! For those of you who actually know how many were in my age group let's just keep that to ourselves for my glory will be few and far between ;)

It's such a good feeling to finish things like that and I was honestly proud of myself. I would love to do more things like this and want a new bike terribly now!

Sorry I don't have pictures from race (as flattering as I'm sure they'd be) Try to post some soon. Here's a picture from a 5k I did in February.






All for now!
Blessing!
H

The secret

As I was calling patients up to triage, M.H.'s turn came. Here comes a enthusiastic little woman trotting up to the desk. I checked back to the screen to look at the person's profile to ensure I had gotten the correct one. 73 yo female.

Me- "How old are you ma'am"?

M.H. - "Why, I'm 73"

Me- "No, there's no way you're 73!!"


So she got me her urine sample and came back to the desk. I told her that she was going to have to share her secret of youth with me so I can have it in the future. She smiled and politely said she would.

When I was having her sign her discharge papers, she said, "So you wanna know my secret?" Of course!! She got a sneaky cute grin on her face and shamelessly told me, "I'm 73, and I still have SEX!"

I congratulated her while I tried to hold back extreme laughter! Then she trotted off with that same grin. So there it is folks... :)

Blessing
H

Do you think that old man heard me???

Today has been good...

It's my last week of the triage thing. Even though I'm beginning to tolerate it, I'm still reminded of how I loathe the work quite frequently. There will be work changes in the near future...

I went to a different gym than I usually do. Since I go to the Y, I can go to any location in Birmingham. I wasn't looking for convenience and proximity today. I just wanted a change in scenery. I think I may start doing this one day a week. Y-hopping.

I had a curling iron accident yesterday morning...in a not good place..healing in process...enough said.

I met H for dinner tonight. I had forgotten how fun it was to be around her. Fun to reassure her that her bracelet doesn't make her look like a hippie poser ;)
Now I don't really claim to fall into the bathroom humor scene, but occasionally (when presented the right way) I may just do that. Upon exiting the cheesecake factory (and I just laughed out loud thinking about it while writing), H says she has to "toot" which is just funny coming out of this really pretty tiny girl. Without going into detail, she let out a noise that I would expect from my grandpa, or a trumpet for that matter. Without thinking, I immediately threw my hands in the air in shock. Not to mention we had a couple in their 60's approximately 8-9 feet behind us walking out. So to answer your question, H, YES, I think he heard you.

Hails is in Seattle now, in a really cute room I may add. A visit is in the works with a couple kinks to straighten out. BOO 11 hour flight! What do you do for that long??

It's often good to remind yourself of your worth. Tell yourself how much you're worth. You know yourself better than anyone in the world, therefore don't let anyone change your mind about it.

Hopefully pictures to come!

Blessing
H

DMV drama

I had a to-do-list for all of the things that I needed to accomplish today. I've gotten some done, and left some for a later date. One of the things that was on my list was to get the 2009 stickers for my car tag.

First of all, I think it's dumb that in Alabama, because of your last name, you can buy a tag in August and then have to renew it in Sept of the same year..ugh. The worst part about doing this is going to the most horrible place in Bham as far as I'm concerned. There is never an optimal time to go. There is ALWAYS a line, ALWAYS rude employees angry with their jobs, and ALWAYS some sort of drama.

As for today, I went in with the notion that I would be waiting there for a while, might as well accept it right? This was something that had needed to be done for a while, so it couldn't be on the delay list. I entered the spiraling line separated by the flimsy metal dividers that have obviously been illegally leaned on as evidenced by their slant. In front of me, a foreign man who seemed to be utterly uncomfortable with people standing close to him. I kept my distance as much as possible. That was until the person behind me entered. The first thought that came through my mind when he walked into the line behind me was honestly, "Hmm I think I've taken care of that guy before!" Let me assure you, this is not really a compliment. I started to inch forward I'm sure bursting front man's huge personal bubble. We stayed in silence for a good 10 minutes. Then it happened, I knew it would. Conversation. Now I don't mind talking to strangers one bit, but sometimes you just want to complete the task without being social. I was wearing a tshirt from a race I had done last year. So the conversation started by him asking me if I did triathlons and how he was amazed by how "thick" these women were......?! Anyway, I had some mmm hmmm's and yeahs...and started to use body language to my advantage. I tried looking away, turning my shoulders and finally desperately searched through my purse for absolutely nothing. Nothing worked. He continued to tell me about his job as a paramedic and how his sister was this amazing physician who was unbelievably smart but had no sense of humor. His daughter just finished undergrad at harvard, going to med school, and getting married soon. I interjected a few courteous laughs and appropriate comments. Finally, more silence. At this point, I was completely turned with my back to him as in a normal line pattern.

A few minutes later... I WAS SAVED! The woman behind this man started to fuss about how she was a diabetic and needed to eat on her lunch break instead of wait on her dmv needs whatever they may have been. They chatted for a while. I felt such relief! She eventually decided to bail out. Dang...it was my problem again. Luckily after a few more needless back and forths, it became my turn to get my sticker. With little resistance (surprisingly), I got out of there with no issues! What a success!

Hopefully, I won't go back there for a really long time. Have a good day Mr. paramedic with smart family. Have a good day.

So it's 1:11 and I'm awake.

For those of you who haven't been yet subjected to my fuss-fest, I have a new job (kinda). For 4 weeks, I am working with the nurse practitioner in triage doing...well...I couldn't really tell you. But I WILL tell you that it's alot of blood drawing, pee collecting, fast talking, walking to the lab, with a breather somewhere around 5:00. This is not my favorite job thus far (nicely put) and I will be going back to my normal nursing duties and night shift at the end of this stint. Something good about this job, though, is that you pretty much get to see every complaint of every person that walks through the door. It is amazing to me what EMERGENCY ROOM calls out to people. If you've been having back pain for 6 years, why today when there's 37 people waiting for a bed? You have parasites you say? You brought them? thank you. So did your belly start hurting before or after I saw you woof down that big mac outside the waiting room?
My rant along with any other ED staff...will put it to rest for now



Lately I have been trying to get back into running. It's amazing how quickly that motivation and ability goes away. And at this silly mtn brook YMCA, the little older ladies run faster and look cuter...Oh well

As for my apt - my 3rd place of residence in Birmingham so far. You will be hearing about my 4th as of Nov 09. This is when my lease runs out. Don't get me wrong...great location, cute older apartment, close to work. But GYAH the neighbors are loud! I guess I've never lived under anyone at this point, but anyone that has been to my apt will testify to this being just a little worse than the normal upstairs issues. I mean, what are ya'll doing up there? bowling? aerobics? moving furniture daily? practicing your stomp skills? Anyway, that's enough of that.

I'm taking pharmacology right now and I LOVE it so far. Some of these online classes are much about "You get out of it what you put in" So much to say, you can get through it with little effort no doubt, but will learn less. You may think I'm preaching to those underachievers out there, but quite the contrary. I have gotten by with as little as I can at this point. I will TRY to read the weekly texts, but they're just making the quizzes too easy to not read! Oh well

So I think I've blogged myself to boredom, hopefully not you...more later

Blessing.
H

Recent times

Here's some pictures from my somewhat recent life...


Me and Katie at her rehearsal dinner...she was glowing the whole weekend!


Some of the bridesmaids on the grey route to the reception


My sweet dad on grandparent christmas visit (Be glad I didn't post the one of you snoozing :)


Gonna miss you Sarah! (this was pre-plunger episode hahaha)

Truth

As water reflects the face,
so one's life reflects the heart

-Proverbs 27:19