I haven't posted in awhile...

It's been awhile since I have posted on here. With being a little sick (just normal colds and stuff) and having to work, I just haven't found the time. I am still on Medical Oncology. Human Resources called me in to a meeting and told me I was "on hold" to move and that I was still going to move. Our manager, Lori, said that I might not have to because now we are short-staffed. We have two people coming from days and we still have people floating to us. It is weird. The last few weeks have been crazy in the hospital. We have been testing everyone for the flu and it is insane. Even people without flu symptoms, we have been testing. This wouldn't be a problem except for the fact that we have to put them in isolation until the flu is ruled out.

The weather here has been okay. Not too cold, in the 40s-50s mostly. I love the colors of fall in Michigan. They are so pretty. This is a picture I took from my car while coming back from the store. (Yes, I stopped the car. I don't take pictures and drive.) This picture is all yellow, but we have oranges and reds. Just beautiful. :)

I changed the layout of my blog. Most people would say that it is too early for snow. But I love snowmen. I don't like the snow, but they are one of my favorite things!

This past month or so, I have been to so many classes for work it is not funny. We got new IV pumps, so there was a class for that. We are getting electronic medication records, so another class. I took basic dysrhythmia, which is a total of ten classes. Then I had a TB class and had to renew my Basic Life Support. Whew! It's been a busy month and a half! I have until December for my next round of classes, so I am glad for that!

I have some time off this next week and I am grateful for that! I definitely need some time to relax. When you work overnight, you rarely get time to relax because it takes two days to do anything. I think I'm going to try and get my father's birth certificate, which would involve a trip up north. It would be a pretty drive though. This time of year is the best for Northern Michigan. We don't have to go to the Upper Peninsula, but it is a ways away. Genealogy trips are always fun and exciting!

Forced to Move

Yesterday we had a meeting on our unit (Medical Oncology) about future staffing needs. We knew that this would be coming sometime because when we moved to the new tower, we had around 14 less beds than we did on our old floor. Since we moved, we have been floating to various floors to staff them. I would say that I floated about one of my three shifts per week. This was good because we still got to work.

Well, yesterday they told us that they are moving staff. Since our unit was the largest unit, we had the most staff and they are pulling 13 of us. 8 nurses and 5 aides. The other units are post-surgical, cardiac telemetry (CTU) and ortho/neuro. They have attempted in the past to post voluntary moves but no one accepted it because our unit is awesome and we don't want to leave it.

They told us that they will be taking volunteers until Friday at noon and then if there aren't enough volunteers, they will start filling positions starting by lowest seniority. Well, I'm number 2 or 3 from the bottom. One of the last people hired on our unit before the move. (I say 2 or 3 because another nurse started on the same day and I don't know how they would rank us.) So, it is inevitable that I would have to move, so I signed up for 12 hour night shift position on ortho/neuro.

The problem is that if anyone signs up for the same position with more seniority (which is practically everyone!) then I get bumped. I'm guessing I will get bumped to CTU which are part-time positions and 8 hour shifts. I do 12 hour shifts right now and it is nice because I only have to work 3 days a week. This is really nice considering it is a 40 minute drive to work. We should know by next week, what positions we have and they wanted us to start on those units by October 1st.

I feel really bad for the aides because all the positions are part time and two of the aides were really upset that they would have less hours. They kept reiterating that "at least there were no layoffs" like that would make us feel any better about the whole situation.

One of the nurses and I were talking yesterday and we were saying imagine what the other floors will be like with our staff. We say that because Med/Onc staff is like a family. We help each other. Rarely do you hear someone on our floor say "that isn't my job" like you do on other floors. We are a team and we act like it. It will be interesting to see how that attitude will be meshed with the other units.

So, yes, I am a little discouraged this morning. I know that what will happen is supposed to happen even though I may not understand the reasoning yet. It is still a little disheartening not to know your fate.

Canning, Jonas Brothers Concert

Last week, we went to Columbus, OH to see the Jonas Brothers in concert. We meaning, my sister Jamie, my nephew Alex, and my nieces Ilana and Isabel. This is one of the pictures that I took while we were at the concert. Our seats were really high, but they were good because of the way the stage was laid out. It was a lot of fun, but tiring at the same time.

Honor Society opened up for them and they were pretty good. Jordin Sparks was supposed to be next, but since she joined Britney's Circus tour, she couldn't make it. That was a little sad, but ok. The traffic was horrible trying to get out of there. If we go to that arena again, we said we're paying to stay across the street so we can walk!

The hotel that we stayed at upgraded our room to a penthouse and that was exciting for the kids because they have never stayed in a room like that before. The concert came at a time when funding was low, so it was nice that our hotel had a kitchenette in it, so we could make our own food instead of paying to eat out all the time. That was nice.

It was about a six hour drive to Columbus, so it wasn't that bad. We ended up getting there around one and called for an early check in, but couldn't check in to the hotel until two p.m. This is the kids waiting at the hotel to check in. We let them out of the car and they were excited we did. Our room was upstairs and it was really nice.

Not bad for a quick trip before school starts! (Which is Tuesday in Michigan, btw.) When we were leaving all the school kids in Columbus had school the next day. We were like "good thing we're from Michigan!" Hehe. (In an effort, to save on funding, Governor Granholm made it a law or something that all schools start after Labor Day in Michigan.)

Yesterday, mom and I spent the day canning. We got some apples and peaches from our local farm market that we love and made caramel apple butter, apple pie filling, canned peaches and homemade vegetable beef soup. We had some tomatoes to can too, but we just didn't get that far. It was 9 p.m. before we were done and we were tired!

The caramel apple butter turned out really good, but I wouldn't put the cloves in it next time. We made apple pie filling before and it is just great! You just open the jar, stick it in a pie crust or use it for apple crisp and bake it. Wonderful thing and tastes great! I cannot wait for our apple trees to mature so we can get apples from them instead of buying them.

All the while, our soup (or sloup) was cooking. We always can that and chili for the winter. It was really good because most of the vegetables we either canned or froze ourselves. With the exception of the carrots and potatoes. Our carrots and potatoes just didn't do good this year, so we had to buy those. The Dragon Tongue Beans tasted really good in the soup! Yummy! At one point, we had both canners going. We were saying that we needed more stove space. :)

I hope that everyone has a safe and wonderful labor day weekend. I'm not sure what I'll be doing. Mom wants to go to the flea market. I want to go to the craft fair and the drive-in. We'll see what happens. Neither I nor Jamie has to work. If it's nice, maybe we'll grill out.

Ilana's baptism

Ilana had her baptism this past Sunday. I had to work all weekend, but made it for that. It was a really tired day of work after that, but I wouldn't have missed it for anything.

Lately, I have been sick and working a lot. Starting tomorrow, I have basic dysrhythmia classes. I also had to go to civil court and testify for a previous patient. They moved the court date after I had requested two days off for it. NOT fun!

In one week, we go to see the Jonas Brothers in Ohio. I am excited to get away and actually do something! I will post more pics from the JoBros Concert and Jordin Sparks, who is opening for them.

Weather, gardening, cooking...

It has been an unusual summer here in Michigan. The average temperature for the last couple of weeks has been in the 60s. Everyone has been saying how it has been an odd July and mom was saying that maybe that means that winter will not be as harsh. I told her it probably means we are going to have a cold winter. Who knows?

We haven't gotten much rain to speak of, although it is raining as I type this. We have had to water the garden more often than usual. With the weather being cooler, it has stunted a lot of the growth in the garden. We have gotten one ripe tomato, a few zucchini and cucumbers, but things haven't really taken off yet. We didn't get very many beans because the critters got in the garden and ate them. Every other year, our neighbors have planted soybeans, so the critters have left our measly beans alone, but this year he planted corn. We have gotten quite a few of the dragon beans this year. They must not like those! We went to our local farm market and bought a bushel of green beans to freeze for the year. Nothing like fresh green beans!

This is a tree that we have in our yard that I frequently take pictures of. It has never had flowers before in the three plus years that I have owned my house. After some research, it was discovered that it is a basswood tree and produces the best honey. It was literally buzzing with bees. You could hear it all over the yard! It now has "fruit" on it that they said the birds like. It was very fragrant with all the flowers on it. We kind of stayed away from it for awhile because I counted four different types of bees and it was hard for me to take a picture without a bee in it.

Since we were surrounded by corn fields this year, I took some photos of my nieces and nephews "Children of the Corn" style. They were asking me about the movies and I told them that we would have to rent them sometime. I gave them some garden tools and told them that they couldn't smile. That was really hard for them!! When I finally told them to smile at the end, it was less than enthusiastic. It was fun for them though and I got some great pics!

I've been trying to do more natural cooking. I started things slowing because it takes awhile for mom to adjust to things. We used to make homemade soup and use everything canned, but I've slowly changed it and now we use everything fresh (or frozen if we cannot get it fresh). Even cutting out the canned tomatoes and dicing them ourselves. It tastes so much better this way! This week I am going to try to make chili from scratch. I have some beans that I am going to cook and cut up some tomatoes and stuff. Hopefully it will work out well. If it does, then we are going to make some for winter and can it. Nothing like canned homemade vegetable beef soup and homemade chili when it is cold out!

I am excited to do some canning this year. I want to can some tomatoes definitely, but also some apples. I am looking for a recipe to try tomato sauce. I really like it when I can then because we use 1/2 the amount of salt, so it is a bit healthier. Plus, it just gives you satisfaction knowing that you did it yourself!

I did my first IV chemo at work this week. It went pretty well. We have been floating to Cardiac Telemetry a lot lately and it has been crazy busy there. The last time I floated, I only had 5 patients (as opposed to the 7 the time before) and we were doing trivia. It ended with me trying to think of a question, but I couldn't come up with one. Did you know chickens have ears? I didn't. I also learned this week at work that battery acid does not eat through scotch tape. Okay, I don't really believe that, but for some reason, we have to tape batteries before we dispose of them. I don't know...I just smile and nod.

Deer Forest

We went with my sisters and their kids to Deer Forest today. It was a good day because it wasn't hot. It was overcast and about 65 degrees. It was fun to see the animals.

The kids had fun feeding the deer and riding the rides and train.

I have some more photos that I posted to my facebook account. There are just too many to post here! :)

Work Woes, Facebook, Jo Bros, and more

Work has been a little crazy this week. I worked Thursday and Friday. Thursday, I had a patient's family yell at me for something that was due to the stinking Vocera badges we wear. The call lights are programmed to go to the vocera that we wear around our neck. They go to the nurse aides first and then the nurses. It's nice when they work right, but a pain when they don't. The latter occurs more frequently. I have gone to a patient's room, turned the call light off, walked to the med room, back to the patient's room and to the desk before it has rung on my vocera that their light is on. The family of the patient was the one upset about it taking so long to answer the call light. The patient was sticking up for me and Angela, the nurse tech, saying that we have been right in there all night. The other nurses were like, "I heard you failed the test." It was a trying night.

Then Friday, I had a vent patient. Yep, a vent patient on the medical oncology floor. We weren't supposed to have it, but we did. Dr. Judy (the CCU doctor) only wanted him to be on it a few hours, but once we got him on, we couldn't get him off. That is not uncommon. That night, our team shined. Yes, it was very stressful for me because I was doing a one on one with this patient (and had four other patients to boot!), but the other nurses and aides stepped up and did what was needed for my other patients. I was proud to be a member of the medical oncology team that night!! They are truly an awesome bunch! (I always knew that, but it was reinforced Friday night!) Then, after transferring that patient to ICU where he belonged, I got floated to Cardiac Telemetry. Another stressful night!

Friday morning, I started feeling not well. My voice started to crack when I was giving report. I just chalked it up to being really tired after that night's events and hoped that the next night would be better. (No such luck!) Midway through Saturday morning (around 3 a.m.), I started to lose my voice. My throat didn't hurt, but I just didn't feel well. Well, my voice is almost gone and I have congestion in my head, sore throat. I just hope I feel better by Monday night because I have to work Monday and Tuesday!

We are planning on going to Deer Forest on Thursday with all my nieces and nephews. It is a local place that has animals, carnival rides, a train and some other things that would be fun for the kids. I hope I feel better and the weather holds up. :) Other than that, I have to work the holiday, so I really don't have any plans for that. We always have our family party on the 4th, (which I will miss).

I bought tickets for Alex, Ilana, Isabel, Jamie and me to go to Columbus, Ohio to see the Jonas Brothers in concert in August. I am excited about this. Jordin Sparks is supposed to be the opener and we love her too!! The tickets were relatively cheap ($35 each) which made it feasible for me to do so. They don't know it yet, so it's going to be a surprise! We are going to drive to Columbus that morning, stay in a hotel that night after the concert, then drive home the next day. I figure the drive will take 6-7 hours. Quite a drive, but I'm sure the kids will think it is worth it. They got quite a kick out of watching the 3D movie of the JoBros last year.

I must say that I love Facebook! It has allowed me to keep in touch with my relatives and friends much easier than in normal methods. On a regular basis, I can talk to my brother & sister-in-law in Orlando; my cousin in Florida; my friends in Boston; and most recently my relatives in Missouri, whom I "found" on there and haven't been able to find them any other way! My mom, sisters and I have been searching for awhile for them. It's nice to be able to see all my nieces pictures and be able to watch them grow.

I also keep up to date on what is happening with my coworkers and that is nice. We talk about gardening, flowers and things that we just don't have the time to do in passing at work. I spend more time with my coworkers than I do with my family some weeks, so it is nice to see what they are doing. I love Facebook! That is my mantra for the week!

It has been really hot here for June. This photo I took yesterday of our thermometer. Today it is supposed to be even hotter. I am not complaining though. I like the sunshine and the warmth!

This week...

This week has been an interesting one with all the thunderstorms & power outages. My two sisters and my power went out. The only one who had power was my grandmother, meaning if we wanted to shower for work, we had to go there. I was at work when the first thunderstorms hit and the power flashed there and I'm not sure if it was the generator coming on or the power coming back on, but it was scary! I don't like being in the hospital when the power goes out. Scenes from horror movies from my youth come flashing back to me.

I have also been working on some little tweaks with my blog and working on the computer a lot. There isn't much else to do when it is wet outside!

We have some little tomatoes in our garden. I'm so excited! We also have the beginnings of beans, zucchini, and cucumbers. Our fruit trees are still doing well.

I haven't really done much else on my genealogy this week. I'm kinda at a standstill until I get more information. That means either going to Gaylord, MI or Pennsylvania. Neither is a terrible distance, it is just a matter of doing it!

On a lighter note, the sun is shining today. It is in the 80s. Hot, hot, hot. So, I am going to go and enjoy the sun!

I love quotes!

Since I am a lover of quotes, I thought that I would share one:



(If it is too small to read, click on the picture)

A busy few weeks

It's been awhile since I have posted. I have had a busy few weeks. My chemotherapy class is finished! Yeah! I am not certified to give chemo...although I have actually done so yet. :) I also have been working Thursday, Friday and Sunday. That is nice because I know which days I am working, but also stinks because working Sunday night, I have to leave church early to get some sleep before work. At least I get to go to some of it!

I've also been working on my Genealogy. It has been interesting. I went to my grandparents and asked for whatever they had. My grandma has a marriage certificate dating back to 1894. Really cool. Some of it was too big to copy on my printer, so I'm going to have to do that at Kinkos or something. My sister who was named after my great-grandmother Genevieve "Marie." Well, I found out that her middle name wasn't Marie and I am not sure where they got it. Also that she was born in Pennsylvania and not Bangor, MI. My grandpa argued with me until I told him that I got it from HIS birth certificate. Interesting stuff! I have tons to left to do. I want to go back to Corry, PA (where my grandpa is from) to get records and stuff, so that will be exciting. I love looking through my grandparents old things!

Here is a picture that I love of my great-grandmother, Bessie May Rutledge:

My friend's farm

This week, my family took a visit to my friend Georgette's farm. She breeds lambs and goats and it was a ton of fun! Here are some of my favorite photos.


Rafael on the farm.



My mom with all the grandkids and Tori-Georgette's grand daughter.



Everyone looking at Georgette holding a baby that was two hours old.


Too Cute! Marcos and Riley are "friends" according to Marcos. He would wait for him and then only want to hold his hand. :)

We had a lot of fun at Georgette's farm. She has 100 acres and it was fun to just let the younger kids run and not have to worry about where they were going...and the big kids too. :)

This week...

This week, I have been enjoying the sun. It has been super warm here and I am loving it. We are also putting up a fence at my sister's house so my two autistic nephews can play outside. Fafa likes to run, is fast and nobody can catch him when he gets going, making the fence a necessity when he is outside. Marcos is getting to where he wants to run too.

Putting the posts together.


My sisters and mom putting the posts in.


Marcos when I asked him to take a picture. He was distraught, but he's so cute when he poses!

Other than that, I've been doing yard work and I have my final chemo class and test this Friday. I'm not that stressed about the test. It's an open book test and we have hands on stuff that we're working on in the morning and that is how I learn the best!

Pictures, pictures, pictures...

Anyone who knows me knows that I love to take pictures...and I take a lot of them. Of everything and anything because you never know what will look really good. Well, I took some pictures of our fire pit, my favorite tree in the yard (which is actually a combination of like four trees), my lilacs (white and sensation) and the garden (including our fake owl.)





The tree at sunset and the fire. We put copper in the fire and it made it turn green. I couldn't get a good picture of that though. :(





















































Okay, that is all the pics that I have for today. I love the rhubarb, asparagus and strawberries in the garden. We had to re-plant them all, which means we might not get any yield this summer. On to more planting...tomatoes, cucumbers, zucchini, pumpkins, watermelon, carrots, radishes, onions...I think that is all. Our garden is about 1/4 acre, so we usually have lots of room for things. You can see in some of the garden pics that we are surrounded by fields, and I think that helps our crops grow. :)

Yeah for Spring!!

I am so happy to be having warmer weather. It is so exciting to see everything growing. Mom and I planted beans and peas in the garden this week. I just cannot wait to get everything planted. (There is still a threat of frost for next week) Hopefully, our crop will be better than it was last year. It was just too wet last year and things didn't grow well...except for the weeds, of course. They grew just fine. Here is a picture of my flower garden. I love all the tulips and daffodils.

I had my first of three chemo classes today. When I am done, I will be certified by the Oncological Nursing Society to administer IV chemotherapy. Going to the class was kinda difficult because I'm used to being awake at night and sleeping during the day and now I have to take a class that starts when I normally am going to sleep. The class went okay, but I was super tired! It's a lot of information and I'm sure I'll grasp it eventually, it just seems like I am drowning in a wealth of oncological knowledge right now. (Good thing I have a manual for review!!)

The classes are on Friday for the next two Fridays. It's good because then I only have to work two days a week and then the class. Boy am I glad that it is getting warmer! Yeah for Spring and Flowers!!