Normal Working Stiffs

After being berated by my brother today and then looking at my last posting date of over a month ago, I thought I'd try and write an entry. I wish I had lots of exotic and fun stories to tell, but things have been a bit dry. In fact, I think it might only be my brothers and our parents who will even look at this anymore. I have thought about posting a blog, but we have hardly taken a picture since we've been back and how fun is a blog without any pictures?

Here is an older shot from one of our moves. This is in my parent's back yard. I think they were happy to see it all go...


So, I had a couple interviews, and as of March 9, I've been gainfully employed as a staff nurse at Sacred Heart Hospital here in Eugene on the Progressive Cardiac Unit. I tell you, it is not easy jumping back into the profession after taking almost two years off. And "jumping back in" is hardly accurate as I was anything but a seasoned nurse when we left. Nevertheless they hired me, and after a couple weeks of orientation, I have been flying solo (i.e. taking a full team of patients on my own) for a week now. It hasn't been easy. Nursing is hard. Sometimes I wonder why I left that cushy desk job with my own private office, for these nights of stress and overwhelming feelings of inadequacy. But then I have a good night or have small successes like: Striking a balance with the demented patient who has been terrorizing the rest of the staff and get her to smile and relax, or putting the pieces together regarding treatment, or just getting a genuine "Thank You" from family or patients letting me know that I made their yucky hospital day a little bit more tolerable. It is an intense floor with mostly cardiac related patients (heart attacks, heart failure, stent placements, heart surgery, etc.). It is divided into three zones, two of which require further training for me before I'll work on them independently. For now, the focus becomes a lot of time management and prioritizing and juggling what at times seem unmanageable demands. While I wasn't too thrilled with my orientation, I think I will be happy on the floor (everyone I have talked to says the first three months basically suck no matter what) as the nurses I work with are very nice, non-presuming, and always willing to lend a hand.

But enough nursing talk. Keith is employed as well. He took a no-brainer, muscle job at Jerry's Home Improvement working in the lumber yard. Not the best paying job out there, but it keeps him busy and brings in a little extra cash. And it is giving him a greater appreciation for how hard people have to work physically for not much pay. With the rest of his time, he's been researching the plethora of foreclosed homes out there looking to see if he can make a living out of buying, fixing and reselling them. It looks promising, except that the logistics of auctions are just plain weird, and that there are lots of other people out there looking to do the same thing. We'll see where it takes us.

Meanwhile I took a trip up to Seattle and went to another baby shower. Stacey will be bringing little Caylin into the world shortly adding to the abundance of babies being born up in that area (it seems that all of my high school friends are having babies at the same time - so fun for them to be going through it together). On that trip, mom and I went and saw the Soweto Gospel Choir from South Africa perform at the Pantages Theatre in Tacoma. Amazing. I am sorry for all who missed the show. http://www.sowetogospelchoir.com/

Here is Stacey and me. She is looking great! And we can't wait to meet Caylin!


And other than that, it's been long walks with the dog and some tinkering in our garden. We are both becoming restless and anxious about not owning our own home. Being in such a tiny place with no garage or home projects is wearing on Keith especially. And reverting to the work life is not easy either. I'm working a swing shift and Keith is mostly days and of course neither of us work a normal M-F, so days off or evenings off together are few and far between. Woe is me. Welcome back to the real world.

My peas growing nicely. I have since added the strings for them to climb up. Look at how excited Gracie is that my peas are growing! OK, so maybe she found a squirrel....


Keith's lettuce. He is so proud.


A look at the rest of the backyard. Nothing fancy, but Gracie likes it.....when we're out there with her.....and playing with her....
See all that white hair on her? Everyone we walk by makes some kind of comment like, "oh, what an old dog!", "How old is she anyway?", etc, etc. I am convinced this weird white fuzzy hair that is growing in strange places is not a reflection of her age, but a side-effect from her thyroid pills. Seriously.


My peas up close.