Finished!…finally

I finally finished this cross stitch. I have been working on it since before Brian and I even met, around 7 years ago. I would work on it for a few weeks and then not pull it out again for months or even years. I’m so glad that it’s finally done. It still needs ironed and framed, but at least the sewing part is finished. Someday, if we ever have a little girl I will frame it and hang it in her nursery. Now I will allow myself to start some new craft projects. I can’t wait to get to Nashville. I want to set up a space to leave my sewing machine out all of the time. Sorry the pictures aren’t that great, my camera sucks.

Job Search Update

I have a phone interview scheduled for Monday!  It’s for a day shift position at Vanderbilt University Medical Center, which is where I really want to work.  I’m not in love with the floor I would be working on, but I could live with it.  And it would get my food in the door to move into a unit that I really want.  They have a high risk labor and delivery floor and I’m sure an awsome ER there, both of which I’m very interested in.  Can you tell that I love adrenalin rushing jobs???

Smells like Grandma’s House

Isn’t it amazing how a smell can remind you so much of a person, place, or time in your life? I made dressing last night and as soon as I opened the loaf of white bread I thought of my grandma. She is such an amazing cook. Even Cracker Barrel doesn’t match her food. I think part of the trick is that she still cooks with lard. Soooo fattening I know, but she’s in her mid 80’s and still kickin’. Every Sunday my grandma made a lunch equal to most family’s Thanksgiving feasts. Some sort of meat, turkey, chicken, roast beef. Noodles, mashed potatoes, dressing, green beans, corn. Then either apple cobble, chocolate pie, banana pudding. YUM!! It’s a good thing I didn’t eat there every day! This Christmas one of my projects is to make a cookbook for everyone in my family with grandma’s recipes in it. Of course Grandma doesn’t have recipes, she just throws stuff together with out measuring, so this was harder than it seems. My sister helped out with this project by sitting down with grandma and having her list of all of the ingredients in each dish. I have everything typed up, I just need to get it all printed and into a book. Each page has a family picture on it too. I can’t wait to see the finished project!

Update: Yeah, these didn’t get finished this year.  I guess I have all year to work on them for next Christmas huh?

Job Search Frustration

Why is it so hard to find a day shift job in the nursing world? I know that I was seriously lucky to get a day shift job straight out of school, but I took a job at a lower paying hospital to get it. I’m so glad that I did. I love my boss and everyone I work with. Now I’m on the search again and everything that I’m interested in and qualify for is a night shift job. The hospital that I REALLY want to work at has NO day shift jobs. I guess that’s because everyone else REALLY wants to work there too.

I’ve worked nights for over a year and my body never adjusted to the schedule. I fell asleep taking someones temperature one night. I don’t trust myself handing out medications while feeling like a zombie. And driving home? HA! I fell asleep driving almost every morning on my way home. I’m lucky I never killed myself or someone else. Plus, it sucks when all of your friends and family are out having fun while you are stuck trying to sleep or at work.

So, I’m sitting here applying for every day shift job I can find. Most hospitals in Nashville have no day shit jobs available at all. But, I just found a hospital that lists several. Do I give in and work nights for awhile to get into a hospital and unit that I really want?? Or do I go to a smaller hospital and unit that I’m not too crazy about to get day shift??

I guess we’ll see what happens…..

Happy Thanksgiving!

I know, I know, I’m late. But, Brian and I didn’t have a Thanksgiving last week because I worked at 7AM and didn’t get home until around 9PM then went straight to bed because I had to work on Black Friday too. Soooo, I have a small turkey breast cooking in the crockpot and this is going to be our little Thanksgiving dinner tonight.

A lot has happened since I blogged last. Brian has been looking for a job for the past year or so. He was offered a job last week in Nashville! Yippee! We were in Nashville over the weekend looking at houses. Most of our time was spent in the rain. YUCK! I wanted to post some pictures from our trip, but with the rain I didn’t take any. Our realtor was amazing and such a good sport. Nashville reminds me a lot of Cincinnati. We’re both excited, but stressed. I will feel much better once we have our living situation and my job search figured out.

Please keep us in your prayers while we transition to a new city and jobs. We’re so excited that Liz and Jace are living in Nashville. It will be so nice to know someone there already. Plus, it will be nice to get to spend time with them again.

Lisa, you rock!

Lisa is my boss and she’s so amazing. Lisa was on vacation the week that I interviewed for my job, so I didn’t even meet her until I had already started. But, I felt comfortable taking the job because everyone I met while I interviewed raved about how amazing she was. I’m so glad I accepted the job hoping that they were right. I had to go into her office this week to tell her that I would be quiting and moving to Nashville. Instead of making me feel stupid for crying (like some of my past bosses) she passed over the tissue and told me to go ahead and cry, that she had been crying all morning from stress too. Then she told me that she would do anything she could to help me find a job, even take calls at home and on her cell phone from recruiters. She even offered to get a hold of a family member who is a nurse in Nashville to see if she could help me out. Then she gave me my review that she had ready because it’s that time of year. Every time I see her on the floor she tells me I’m doing an awesome job and my review stated the same. YEAH!! Too bad I won’t be around to see the raise I was supposed to get! Anyway, she is going to spruce up my review and give me a copy to take on interviews with me. I was so lucky to have Lisa as a boss for my first nursing job. She is hands down the best boss I have ever had and I’m sad to leave her floor. Hopefully my next boss will be at least half as good as her.

Give a Christmas gift that makes a difference

Last year I got my mom a goat for Christmas! That’s right a fuzzy, eats everything, stinky goat. OK, technically I didn’t give the goat to my mom. I donated a goat in her name through World Visions gift catalog. A dairy goat was given to a family in need in a third world country to provide them with baby goats to sell, milk to drink, and dairy products to sell at market. They have gifts for any budget, no matter how small or LARGE! They range from $15-$39,000 and they send a really nice card for you to give to your loved one. So, if you know someone who already has everything, think about buying them something that will really make a difference!!

*These pics are from www.worldvision.com*

2008 Olympics

I found this video on my friend Stephanie’s blog. It is about Ryan Hall a 25 year old who just won the US Olympic trials in New York by more than 2 minutes. Watching this makes me with I could get out there and run still, but alas my shin splints and bad ankle won’t let me. There’s nothing like the feeling of running on a cool day.

I hope you are blessed by this video as much as I was.

I’m not able to upload the video on wordpress (I’m thinking of switching blogging sites). So, here is the link for now.

http://www.godtube.com/view_video.php?viewkey=e593f8eba239bada1a0c

These shoes were made for walkin’!

I just read a study that showed that the average nurse walks 5 miles per 12 hour shift, and that doesn’t even count the time spent on our feet that we are standing still. I’m usually lucky to sit down long enough to pee, let alone give my feet a rest. I would guess that in an average 12 hour shift for me I might get to sit down for 45 minutes total. I almost never take the entire lunch break that I’m allowed. I know that when I get home and take my shoes off my feet are killing me. Even this morning after sleeping for around 10 hours last night it still hurt to walk when I woke up. Don’t even ask what my feet felt like after a 17 hour shift a couple weeks ago. A HUGE thank you to my mom who would work a 12 hour shift and then come to watch us cheer, dance, run, or whatever depending on the time of year. I know all I want to do at the end of the day is kick off my shoes and crash in front of the TV hoping that nobody can smell my poor, tired, stinky feet! I think they’re deserving of a pedicure soon! So, if you love a nurse, buy her a pedicure this holiday season! (hint! hint!)

Making a difference

On Saturday my husband and I helped out packing food at our church. We packed enough food to feed 1,000 children per day for a year. WOW! Our church started raising money a couple months ago and this weekend was the final event. We raised around $45,000 and had over 1,000 volunteers show up that day to help pack food. The church was a mad house of organized chaos. When we got there we had to sign a two page document saying we wouldn’t sue the church if we got hurt. HA! Not a good sign for a klutz like me. Then we washed our hands, donned hair nets, and waited for someone to show us to our spot in the madness. I think Brian and I both just stood in aw when we first entered the sanctuary where all of the work was being done. There were people everywhere all working like busy bees. The first stations had people pouring food through funnels into the plastic bags.

Four scoops per bag, rice, soy, seasoning, and dried veggies.

Then the bags got taken to the weight tables where each bag was weighed to make sure it had the right amount of content. Then the bags were sealed, packed into boxes and loaded onto a semi. The boxes were also all be decorated on the outside by children. And of course there were runners making sure that each station didn’t run out of supplies.  The food will be shipped to Haiti and passed out to 1,000 children a day.

It was such an amazing couple of hours. It brings tears to my eyes to think of the children and families that will be blessed with this food and shown the love of Jesus by the missionaries who pass it out. I was/am so bummed that I forgot to take my camera. These are some pictures from www.iwant2dosomething.com and some pictures from my mission trip to Haiti in ‘99.