Long, hot summer

Welcome friends, family! I realized it had been a while since I've been online, but didn't realize it had been almost two months. I've tried to switch my background to reflect the transition from summer to fall. It's a little plain, but I didn't want to spend too much time hunting around for backgrounds this morning. Let's see, where do I begin...?
Work is going well.  I'm on my 5th of 9 rotations through medical-surgical units at the hospital.  So far, I much prefer the medical patients over the surgical ones.  I survived 5 weeks on the palliative care unit and actually enjoyed the serenity of caring for those near death. Sounds kind of morbid, and it really is difficult to explain.  I'm currently on an orthopedic-trauma unit, and it is tough. We get 'em, fix 'em, get 'em up and moving and out the door. Patients are constantly coming and going, and it's pretty tough to keep up. I'm doing my best. While I have loved the opportunity to rotate from floor to floor and experience different areas of med-surg care, I am looking forward to being assigned to one unit where I can really learn the ropes, the doctors, the medications, etc. and "settle in." That will come later this year or January 2012.  Meanwhile, I start working nights next month. I'm already trying to prepare myself mentally for staying awake all night.  I'm generally a night owl anyway, but it'll be different having the responsibility of five or six post-surgical patients in my care the entire time. Wish me luck!
The kids started back to school this week, and it has been quite the transition for them.  We started back on vitamins and allergy tablets a couple of weeks ago, but they've continued their summertime practice of staying up late and sleeping in up until Sunday night. Tsk, tsk (that's intended for me and them).
If you've been keeping up with the Texas heat you know that it really was a long, HOT summer around these parts.  I lost count of how many consecutive days of temps greater than 100 degrees after 35 or so. You walk outside to the car and feel as if the heat will blister you before you can get the a/c going.  Aaron still attended a couple weeks of band camp and participated in the 4th of July parade with the high school marching band.  Alisa attended a week of dance camp and a week of band camp.  My parents took them to Holly Lake, Texas for a little R & R at their time share.  All in all, we didn't do much.
We did manage a couple day's get away to Corpus Christi, TX back in July. The hubs has always wanted the kids to see a "Texas beach" and everything worked out so we took off. I'll post a separate blog about that a little later with a couple of pics.
I'm trying to distract myself from the kitchen for the time being.  I have my annual exam this afternoon and have to fast for blood work. I called the doctor's office to see if I can just run to the lab around the corner and have them draw blood so I can eat. My stomach is rumbling and I haven't quite gotten to the "over the hump where I'm no longer that hunger" point.  It doesn't help that the house still smells of pancakes and bacon because I got up and fixed breakfast for the family! Talk about sacrifice. My tall glass of ice water just isn't hitting the spot.
I'm off to hop around the blogosphere for a bit before I head out to run errands. I have missed blogging and catching up with what's going on with my fellow bloggers. I plan to poke around at least once a week to see what everyone is up to. Until next time....