WHUCK is over my head and why does it feel like I need an umbrella??

I called off from work today. Yep. I had it yesterday. 5 different patients:

2 transfers out to the ICU,
1 discharge,
1 admission from ER who clearly should have been ICU not stepdown but, "we know you can take good care of her*" and "putting her in the ICU will just make her less of a person" are the comments you get from the MFDs (referring to physician's degrees - I'm sure you can all decipher) when you question her status, and
1 transfer from med floor with a whopping 160 heart rate, SOB, clammy and hypotensive

REALLY??? WHUCK is over my head and why does it feel like I need an umbrella??

So, I got home, ate, showered, took a muscle relaxant b/c I couldn't stand hearing my back yell at me any longer and went to bed. UGH.

But, here I lay now, in bed, after 1100am, awake less than 1/2 hour and pondering what to do with the day. Here's what I've come up with:

1. Nothing
2. Start up on the laundry since DH is having a bad week and you do have an unexpected day
off after all
3. Watch more Doctor Who
4. Pack for this weekend's BHI trip with my girls
5. Nothing
6. Finally finish up that damn book so that you can start this month's book club selection
7. Work on the girls xmas gifts which you are to present them with this weekend (see #4)
8. Finally put out this week's flex team newsletter for work so that you at least make SOME pesos today.
9. Nothing
10. Work on DH's felted clogs that were due to him since last Fall

I think I like 1, 5 and 9 the best. We'll see how those go and then decide from there. Hey, 3 out of 10 ain't bad right?

*So, BTW, this is a blog written by an actual, practicing, 4 year degree, registered nurse with over 20 years of critical care experience under her cap (just kidding, I hate those damn things) so, let me give you all a piece of advice. NEVER, EVER, EVER ask a nurse to "please take good care of Grandma, Mom, Son, Cousin, Hubby, Sister, Priest, self, next door neighbor, WHOMEVER!" Why you might ask? Well, would you tell a chef at a restaurant to "please be sure to actually cook my meal correctly" or a Salesperson to "please scan my item the right way" or to the dentist "please drill the correct tooth" or to your doctor "please give me the right prescription" (OK, you might have a point with the last one but you get what I mean).......

It's an insult. If a nurse wasn't going to take good care of your X,Y,Z she wouldn't have shown up to work. OK, sometimes there are nurses that might make you question that but DAMMIT, not all of us and that sure as hell better not come out of the mouth of some snot-nosed, yet to be independent, I've been a nurse almost as long as you've been alive, just out of internship, I've saved your ass on more than one occasion resident who thinks they don't sound condescending as they say it to you.

I'm not sayin', just sayin'.

Back to taking care of 1,3 and 9. Isn't it great to be productive?

Happiness all rolled up into a candle

I love scented candles. However, I am not a huge flowery scent kind of girl. I like to go for "clean" scents.

My favorite scented candle of all time is a Yankee Candle scent called "green grass". It is the clean scent of freshly mowed grass on a crisp spring morning. Ahhhh.

I burned that candle all the time for years and then one day I walked into a YC store looking for "MY" candle. When I didn't see it on the shelves I asked the salesperson where I could find the "green grass" candles. "Oh, that scent has been discontinued" was all she said. I think I stood there speechless for a good 5 minutes (and anyone who knows me knows that would be a sign of the apocalypse).

That was quite a few years ago. Since then, I still look for "green grass" whenever I enter a YC store or any store that sells YC products. It was gone.

I.

WAS.

DEVASTATED.




Fast forward to yesterday and the Tanger Outlets in Mebane, NC. Just a mere 45 mins away from home and the newest Outlet Mall in NC, we went as a family yesterday to see the outlets and go shopping. It was amazing.

The Outlets themselves are great . . . . clean, pretty, well designed, lots of store that we actually shop at and many great sales. yeah!

So, one of the last stores I enter is the YC outlet store. As usual, I look around and then ask about 'green grass'. "Oh, we have tons of that!" - "Um, really? GREEN GRASS????". "Yeah, we have it in 2 different sizes, would you like me to show you?"

(trumpets blared, angels sang and the Heavens shown down on me in all their glory)

I bought 6 candles in total and will probably get some more then next time I'm there. I literally jumped up and down in excitement when DH came in through the doors a few minutes later and said "They have Green Grass, they have Green Grass!!"

He smiled kindly at the salesperson and just nodded as if to say "she's fallen on her head a few times, please forgive her".

OH, and I had a 10% off your total purchase coupon to boot!

MAN, was I a happy girl on the drive home!