Five Question Friday-11 March 2011

Oh my, it's Friday again already. Everyone knows that means time for Five Question Friday, hosted by Mama M at My Little Life.  Click <here> or on her name to visit her blog and get the rules and original questions to copy and paste on your own blog.  You can also link your blog to hers so others can read what you have to say in response to the questions.  Too much trouble? You're welcome to answer the questions in the comments below, also. Have a great weekend.

1. Do you know what your REAL hair color is?

It's whatever color my hair is now: mostly black with an ever increasing number of grays in the mix.  Although at times my hair turns a little lighter shade of "so dark brown it looks black" in the summer with pool chemicals and sun and such, I've never colored my hair.

2. Do you plan ahead for summer, or fly by the seat of your pants?

Unless there's something for which we must plan in advance, like a family reunion, it's usually the fly by the seat of our pants "planning" in the White household. Money is always the deciding factor, and there's usually not a lot of it to do much with.  Mike and the kids both have summer birthdays so we do "plan" how they'll celebrate. Maybe that counts for something.

3. What is your favorite meal to cook?

Oh, gosh, I love to eat, so practically every meal is my favorite meal. If I had to choose one favorite meal that's not too much work but still feels special, I guess it would be smothered pork chops, sweet potatoes, cabbage & cornbread. Soul food = comfort food.

 

4. Do you get offended by not receiving thank yous?

I'm a little hypocritical here, and I'll tell you why...I do enjoy receiving thank yous, but sometimes I forget to write them myself.  Years after my hubs and I were married, I was "cleaning out" some old boxes and found a box of thank you notes from our wedding.  Mostly, they were blank notes and envelopes, but some were written and addressed, but apparently never mailed! Imagine the horror! Oh, Miss Manners would be so displeased as it was well past the allotted 6 week grace period for accomplishing such a task.
I truly dislike shopping. So, if I've taken the time to grab my purse, trudge to the shopping center or heaven forbid the mall and browse through racks and shelves of stuff looking for just the right thing for someone, I am offended if they never so much as acknowledge receipt with a thank you. It can be a phonecall, an email or an old-fashioned note in the mail (which I probably love the most to break up the monotony of bills and ads),

5. How did you meet your best friend?

 

Well, I met my traditional BFF when we were in grade school.  We're nine months apart in age, so she was a year ahead of me in school. Our families had been invited to a cook out at a mutual friend's house, and that's where we met.  She was tall and thin and had a long ponytail, not to mention she was the "older sister" I never had. We became fast friends that summer, and we still keep in touch today. I loved the sanctuary of her quiet "only child" home, and she loved the chaos and confusion of my childhood home shared with a younger sister, two brothers and a dog. Although we aren't as close as we once were, we always pick up where we left off, giggling uncontrollably as we bring each other up to speed on life's ups and downs.

I met my more recent BFF, with whom I chat, rant and rave, listen, share recipes, etc., when my brother introduced us several years back and then married her in 2006. Guess I'm a lucky girl to have several "besties."

Fix Me, Jesus, Fix Me!

For some reason today was an emotional day for me.  Every now and then, I think my cup (and eyelids) overfloweth.  I'm still trying to find the balance between work and home.  It doesn't really help that my 12-year-old pleads with me to stay home and take her to school which is exactly what I'd do every school day if I could continue to do so. I explained to her once again that we all have to give up things in order to keep moving forward financially.  Also, there was a fatal accident on the interstate near my house, and I was late to class this morning.  Then, I get there and one of today's speakers was a nurse talking about palliative (end of life) care for our patients.  Now, keep in mind I get all bleary-eyed when I discharge a patient home after caring for them for a day or two.  I can only imagine how I'll react when I have to deal with losing a patient.  The presenter this morning did say it was okay to cry with the patient's family...it shows you're human and that you cared for their loved one.  However, she also warned us not to cry harder than the family and have them consoling you instead of vice versa.  Uh oh. My eyes were wet with tears during her entire presentation. As she spoke of the palliative care unit at our facility and signs of "active dying" and having difficult talks with patients and their families, I was reminded of my beloved father-in-law.  Palliative care is where he spent his final days before he passed the weekend after Thanksgiving last year.  A flood of emotions washed over me, but I tried hard to keep the tears from spilling over for fear that they wouldn't stop.  I was seated on the front row staring at the presenter face to face. I could practically count her teeth as she spoke. If a single tear fell and she made some compassionate remark, I would have had to excuse myself and ball my eyeballs out for the rest of the presentation.
A few rogue tears did spring forth afterward as I shared with my coworker seated behind me that the presentation made me so sad I didn't know how I'd possibly deal with a "near death" patient any time soon.  And here I thought I had gotten over being such a big marshmallow!  I told him I was a little embarrassed that I felt like crying when no one else in the room seemed the least bit bothered by the content of the presentation (didn't mention the whole FIL bit because that would have been too much for me to verbalize and bear). He said the only reason I didn't see more tears was that I didn't turn around.  He was a little tearful, too, because he is currently working on the palliative care unit and has already experienced death and dying patients..
If all of that wasn't enough, I went to church tonight to have ashes smudged on my forehead in the shape of a cross to remind me that I'd come from ashes and to ashes I would someday return.  The season of Lent or the 40 days leading up to Easter Sunday is a time of spiritual reflection, a time of sacrifice in memory of God's ultimate sacrifice (John 3:16).  Then the choir sang Fix Me, Jesus, Fix Me. Did I ever feel like I needed some fixing today...

Fix me with a starry crown. Fix me, Jesus, fix me
Fix me with a long white robe. Fix me, Jesus, fix me

Anyone familiar with this song?  Want to take a guess at the next refrain?
Fix me for my journey home. Fix me, Jesus, fix me


I thought of the victims of the car accident this morning. I thought of my patients and their families. I thought of my father in law, and I couldn't hold back the tears. Oh, how I tried to stop them!  I took a deep, cleansing breath (which was kind of shuddery as I exhaled), I tried blinking my eyes to "clear" my eyeballs like windshield wipers on a drizzly day...to no avail.  Realizing I had no tissues in my tiny little purse, I dabbed at my eyes with the tail of my jacket and prayed that my nose wouldn't run, too. My daughter handed me a tissue from her purse and looked the other way. I'm sure it's rather embarrassing for a pre-teen to have one's mother balling in public for no apparent reason.

Five Question Friday -4 March 2011

Well, it's that time of the week again.  I'm going to get right to the point so I will not be beating myself up later that I spent "all morning" on my blog and neglected to get done the stuff I need to do today in order to be prepared to work this weekend.  This is a fun blog hop.  You visit Mama M at My Little Life and copy and paste the questions on your own post so you can answer them, too.  Then you add your name and info to the link on Mama M's blog so others can pay you a visit and see what you have to say.  You're welcome to hop around to some of the other participants' blogs as well.  It's a fun way to get to know your fellow bloggers...

1. Have you ever forgotten your child in a store or at school?

I can't say I've actually forgotten a child as in hopped in the car and drove off without them present, but I did forget to communicate where to meet back up with my daughter when I sent her with a coupon to the dairy section to grab a package of  cheese.  I "found" her at the checkout as I was heading to customer service to have her paged.

2. Where did you go on your very first date? (Like...first first, not first with your spouse or current significant other!)

I want to say it was to the movies to see "Halloween" (as in the original one a way long time ago). If I remember correctly, it was a double date with my brother and his girlfriend (who was the sister of my date). Nothing like keeping it all in the family. My date's dad drove us there.

3. What's your "silly" fear? (We're not talking water and heights.)

This fear might just win the "silly fear" award of all times.  I have a fear of losing my teeth.  As in, those old episodes of Tom and Jerry where Tom gets his head slammed in a piano and when he smiles, his teeth look like wobbly piano keys hanging from his gums. I've had recurrent dreams where I awake (in the dream) with my teeth wobbling in my head just like old Tom cat.  You asked for silly...

4. Confrontation: do you cause it, deal with is as it comes, or run far far away?

I am not a confrontational person by nature, period. I'm certainly not going to initiate a confrontation with someone without cause, but I will do my best to "hold my own" and defend my point of view if I feel I'm in the right. Some certain family members may beg to differ.

5. Wood floors or carpet?

Ditto Mama M's response. I could just copy and paste it here and change  "white" carpet color to "dusty brown" (formerly dusty rose...very 1980's flavor for those of you who might not remember). In a nutshell, we have carpet throughout the house (awful linoleum in the kitchen and baths), some of which was recently damaged by a hot water heater leak (all of which has been damaged over time by kids and pet accidents as well as grown up fumbles, too). I love the look of hard wood flooring and some of the ceramic tiles, but at this point am unsure of just how much more "work" they may create-dust mop, wet mop, scrubbing grout, etc. For now I haven't got the money for carpet or hard wood or ceramic or anything else, so I'll just stick with my sickly carpet, do a little research and squirrel away my pennies until I can decide what I want. So maybe that was a coconut shell...

You know you're getting older when...

I've been thinking of this post for some time now, and wanted to do my very own "Top Ten" list.  Alas, I haven't managed to come up with 10 ideas.  So, I'll start with what's been rattling around in my head and let you all help me out.  Feel free to add your own observations in the comments section below!  Meanwhile, you know you're getting old when...
You run into your high school teacher at the grocery store and she mistakes you for your mother!
You spend way more time in the get well and sympathy sections of the card store than the "Congratulations on your wedding/new baby" section.
Some of the people you work with were born AFTER you graduated from high school and they're old enough to be done with college and in the workforce right along with you.
You can totally relate to the Three Little Pigs' retort to the Big Bad Wolf: "Not by the hairs of my chinny-chin-chin..."
One of those hairs on your chinny-chin-chin has the audacity to be GRAY!
Mention of shows you watched growing up (on your non flat screen, black and white TV with foil or a wire coat hanger on the antenna and no cable, digital whatever) draws blank stares from the younger crowd.
You remember when TV dinners came in an aluminum tray and had to be warmed in the real oven for 45 minutes versus the microwave for 5 minutes.
I sure hope this was worth at least a little chuckle.  Let me know how YOU know you're getting older.  Until next time...

Five Question Friday 2/25/11

Hip, hip hooray! It's Five Question Friday. I've missed this for the past couple of weeks. Sometimes feel like I don't have much to blog about; then along comes Friday and Mama M over at My Little Life offers up questions that are simple to answer and give me an excuse to blog--woo hoo! If you'd like to join the fun or find out what others have to say in response to the questions, click <here> to visit Mama M and copy and paste the original questions for yourself. This blog hop is a lot of fun. Here goes...

1. Can you drive a stick shift?

Bet your bottom dollar I can drive a stick shift.  An old boyfriend (former sounds a lot nicer, but that was a long time ago and he probably is old by now anyway) tried teaching me on his little blue Chevette.  I remember stalling out every time I tried to take off before I got the "feel" for it.  My first car (as in the one for which I was responsible for making payments) was a 5-speed Toyota Camry. I loved Katie Camry with a passion, and she was an awesome vehicle.  Alas, I had to trade her in once I had kids and needed electric locks & windows and more space and such.

2. What are two foods you just can't eat?

I can only think of one and that's "chitlins" or chitterlings if you want to get all formal. They're pig intestines and I've never been able to get past the "what" they are and the smell. I'm told I'm missing out on some good eatin' but I'll gladly take someone else's word for that.

3. Do you buy Girl Scout Cookies? What is your favorite kind?

Because Girl Scout Cookies now cost $3.50 a box (versus the 75 cents a box when I was a Girl Scout) I don't buy them all that much.  Growing up we all loved the thin mints (especially right out of the freezer where of course we stored them so as to enjoy them beyond the month of February). I'll usually try all of the new flavors, but if I were to only buy one box (which is all I bought this year 'cause my little neighbor was just so stinkin' cute) I'd go for the Caramel Delights...the one that's like a Twix bar with a little toasted coconut on top.

4. How do you pamper yourself?

I run right over to the massage school and get a full hour massage. The students cost half of what the instructors charge and they're really pretty good since they're trying to get good marks for their portfolios.  I'll also escape to a weekend bed and breakfast scrapbook retreat once or twice a year, finances permitting. 

5. What is your nickname and how did you get it?

I don't really have a nickname, per se.  When I taught the 18-month-old class at Parent's Day Out, I introduced myself to my babies as "Miss E" and they shortened it to "E" so that's what lots of people call me now.  The Hubs calls me "Sue-Sue" although it has nothing to do with any of my names.

Well, that was fun and now I'm done.  Gotta link up and skedaddle to an appointment. I can't wait to get back and see what everyone else has to say about these questions. Have a great weekend.  I'll be working, which is a good thing!

My House Stinks!

Hey, Everybody! I am so ready for spring.  I thought that maybe changing my blog background my help expedite the change of seasons.  We've enjoyed weather in the 70's for the past few days, but I think I heard a meteorologist saying something about rain and a cold front, so I don't think winter is quite over for good.
Anyway...I've survived three days on the unit--two days shadowing other nurses and one day taking care of a patient of my own.  My preceptor (akin to a mentor) will assign me two patients Saturday which will be a bit more of a challenge, but I'm ready!  I must follow my preceptor's schedule, and she works Sunday, Tuesday, Saturday, which suits me just fine except that I have to miss church and teaching my Sunday school class for the next 7 weeks :(.  I keep telling myself it's only temporary.  The Hubs is off on Tuesdays so we're able to get the kids to and from school without a lot of shuffling and drama.  My daughter, who feared she'd never see me ever again, is thrilled about this schedule.  Kicking the student mentality is still a challenge for me.  On my days off I feel as if I should be looking up medications, preparing paperwork for "class" or practicing putting together care plans or SOMETHING! It feels strange to just show up on the job and go from there.
On Wednesdays, we have classroom time scheduled for half a day.  This week a chaplain from Pastoral Care briefed us on where their office is and what they do for patients and staff alike.  I never thought of them being available to us (the nurses) as well as the patients and their families.  The chaplain dispersed prayer beads which I wear on my name badge.  I'll have to take a snapshot to share; they really are quite pretty.
This week's other speaker was a diabetes educator.  Diabetes is one disease that just confounds me and I'm always open to more information on the subject.  Nurse D actually made us all give ourselves an injection!  I was a little wary at first.  My hands were really shaking, but she contends that we'll be a little more sympathetic toward our diabetes patients who have to give themselves insulin injections if we've experienced it ourselves.  She said we could always demonstrate this for our patients...ummm, the verdict is still out on that one.  I guess I would if I really had to but I'm not too anxious to flush normal saline (salt water) into the flab on my belly in front of my patients.
Even though I don't have to go to work per se tomorrow, I do have an appointment with a plumber.  The carpet in my hallway is squishy wet from the hot water heater leaking (hence the title for today's blog).  Tomorrow is my first payday and guess where that check is going? *sigh* At least I can rest assured that more checks will follow and one day I'll even be caught up (with bills, anyway).
Now that I know my schedule and all, I'll try to incorporate more frequent updates and get back to visiting you all.  I feel like it's been forever since I've been blog hopping and I miss hearing what's going on with you.  I know better than to log on and get started because a few minutes quickly stretch into several hours, and I have a hard time breaking away.  Thank you all for hanging in there with me.  I look forward to visiting you all soon. Until next time...

What a week!

Well who wishing for those snow days last week? Because we sure got them here in Texas.  Actually, I should clarify that what I'm really referring to are "ice/cold" days.  My kids have been out of school all week!  Monday they went to school; and early Tuesday morning that storm blew in dumping rain and sleet all over the metroplex.  I debated about going in to work.  My educator told us we'd follow the local school district as far as school closings go, but then she said we'd be really behind if we lost a day so we should try to make it in if at all possible.  She gave us a number to call to verify whether or not classes would be cancelled, but admonished us not to call before 7:45 a.m..  The roads were icy, but I had a route mapped out that didn't involve any highways or overpasses. I figured I'd just take my time and get there when I got there.  I made it about halfway driving 20 miles per hours before I decided to turn around and head back home.  Seeing an ambulance pulling away from a scene that looked like bumper cars at Six Flags with several tow trucks thrown in the mix should have been enough. Then I made it to a stop light where a car was having trouble getting traction. The truck beside me was spinning his wheels and I was just praying that I'd be able to move forward when the light turned green.  Before then, a small white car turning left in front of me lost control and came sliding sideways toward the hood of my car.  All I could do was keep my foot on the brake (so as not to be pushed backward into the cars behind and beside me), try to brace for the impact and pray that my van would still be drivable.  Luckily, his front tires hit the median beside my van and he stopped a couple of feet away. He and I were able to go on our merry little ways.  I was so thankful to make it home safely...what was I thinking trying to get to work in that mess?  About a mile from my house the educator reached me by my cell phone and informed me that classes were cancelled.  Good enough for me!
Needless to say, schools have been closed all week and will remain closed tomorrow.  My kiddoes couldn't be happier--they have a 6-day weekend.  Unfortunately, I don't think the temperature has risen above the 20's all week and the ice just isn't going away (well, except on the highways and roads that affect Super Bowl Traffic, that is), so it's not like they can go outside and "play" in the ice. I did go to work on Wednesday and today. I'm supposed to report tomorrow as well.  We were informed that hospitals are open 24 hours a day, seven days a week and nurses are considered essential employees (translation: get your buns to work no matter what even if it means driving in the night before and crashing on a cot somewhere until your shift begins or spending the night after your shift if you're supposed to be right back the following morning.  I have an extra set of scrubs and toiletries in my car even as I type this!
Training is going well so far.  I'm getting a little antsy to get to the business of patient care, but will gladly accept whatever skills reviews they have to offer to help me keep my patients safe when I do finally get to work with them.
I'm guessing there will be no Five Question Friday this week as hostess Mama M. over at My Little Life has experienced an unexpected tragedy in her family.  Please keep her and her family uplifted in prayer. Click here to visit her blog and  let her know you're thinking of them in their time of grief. Until next time, my friends...stay warm and snuggle with the ones you love.