Tiny Eden

Tuesday, May 8, 2012

Week 6 - Whiter Whites & Greeting Cards

The past week was a pretty decent week.  On Thursday, I had my first orientation shift as charge nurse.  My Assistant Nurse Manager, Shanta, was the person doing my orientation.  It is always a good time when I work with her and this was no exception.  Well, maybe there was one small exception.  The fact that I got rather sick when I was at work.  I am still not sure what exactly it was that came over me.  It was similar to the issue I had the week before, but I had a lot more physical symptoms at work than I did the week before.  Since then, I have gotten queasy a few times, but not nearly as badly.  Either way, I stuck it out and the hospital was still standing when I left.  My co-workers were extremely supportive and very patient and helpful, so that made the shift go by very smoothly.  Kudos to my great friends at work!

Lately, I have been on a kick where I just want things to be "normal".  I know there is no such thing as normal, but I wanted to get as close to it as possible.  There are times when I get tired of always having to be on someone else's schedule.  This sounds terrible, I know.  But some days it can be a lot to bear and I am not even the one doing the treatments and the home IV's, having body aches and pains, being exhausted, etc.  I see how I feel with all of this stuff going on, so I cannot even imagine what it is like for Sam.  So, this weekend, Sam made sure that we got up early, we had breakfast, he did his treatments, he packed the cooler with his IV's and all the necessary supplies, as well as everything he needed for his afternoon treatments, and we hit the road!  We didn't come home until almost 11 pm!  Not that we have never stayed out until 11, but we were gone the whole day and didn't have to have any time constraints or stop what we were doing to come home and do treatments/IV's.  The entire day was spent at the outlets shopping and then we went out for dinner.  Sam was quite the trooper.  It was hot, he had his aircast on his foot, but we went up and down every row of stores and he did not complain once.  I know it sounds really dumb, but there were so many things that I used to take for granted and now every aspect of the day pretty much needs to be scheduled out.  It was something that I really needed and I appreciate Sam going out of his comfort zone in order to make me happy.

Today, on the other hand, was quite the doozy!  Sam and I were just talking the other day about us getting a new car.  While I would love to get a new car, the thought of not having a car payment is even nicer.  I don't live in my car, it doesn't take me very long to get to work, the car is not used for long car trips - I really don't even like to drive!  So the necessity of me having a new car is just not there for me.  Same thing with Sam.  Our cars get us from Point A to Point B without any issues - except for today.  About 5 minutes from my house, my car started to ding and I looked down at the dashboard only to see that my temperature gauge was in the red zone.  CRAP!  For some reason, I remember this happening to us on the way to Chicago in my dad's car in the dead of summer when I was about 6 years old.  The only thing that I could remember was that I had to turn the heat on.  Well, it was about 85+ degrees out here today.  And did I mention that none of my windows actually roll down but the rear driver's side window has dropped about an inch so it is slightly open?  And did I mention that it was pouring rain so every few seconds a raindrop would find it's way onto the back of my neck?  I actually think that I heard a sizzle every once in a while when one hit me.  In a sweaty panic, I called Sam - and no answer.  Next, I called my dad - he was on the phone with a client and said he would call me right back.  Thankfully, I was right down the street from my destination so I made it to the supermarket parking lot in one big sweaty, steamy piece.  As I was walking into the store, Sam called.  The call took a turn for the worst when he suggested that I go out into the parking lot to see if I was out of antifreeze.  Yeah, not going to happen.  There is rain, me already hot, sweaty and angry.  Popping the hood of my car searching for things was not going to happen.  I was able to get back home in one hot piece and my dad came over and discovered that I was completely out of antifreeze.  Either way, I learned how to fill my car with antifreeze and I also learned that my eye lids have a ton of sweat glands in them.  There was about a three hour's time when I was kicking myself for not taking up the new car offer, but again, no car payment is even better! 

Onto my Pinterest project!  I used bleach on our whites a few times and, while Sam was thrilled with how white everything came out, the bleach was an irritant for hime.  When I found that vinegar and baking soda worked well as a whitening agent on Pinterest, I was skeptical as always.  I figured it would not hurt to try it, so when I did laundry, I put in the detergent, added Borax as usual, and then tossed in a half cup of vinegar and 2 tablespoons of baking soda.  Lo and behold when I pulled out our whites from the washing machine, I was shocked to see that old yellow t-shirts that we use to do gardening, dingy socks, and Sam's boxers all came out gleaming white!  I will never go back to bleach again!  When I put it in with my colored clothing, they came out even brighter.  So cheap and so easy!  I definitely give this one 2 thumbs up and would recommend it for anyone who is looking to decrease their bleach usage. 

My next Pinterest project involved my beloved Cricut machine.  I used it to make some greeting cards.  I got the idea for the daisies from the card from this blog.  Mine is not as intricate as hers is, but I still like it.  I also made a few other cards as well including graduation, birthday, and new baby cards.  It was really simple to do.  I got the blank cards from Michael's as well as the cardstock from there.  In order to add some dimention, I used some double sided foam tape.  Let me know your card occassion needs and I can do it!  They are $2.50 a card.  And remember, PhoebeLu's will donate 15%of the profits to the CF Foundation!  I have a check in my hot little hands for my Great Strides team and I am hoping to add more to it before I send it in! 






That is all of my excitement for this week.  Wishing all of my Nurse friends a Happy Nurse's Week!  I know that every day that I get home from work, I am satisfied because I know that I made a difference in the life of a child.  I hope you feel the same way, too!  Big hugs to all!

"To do what nobody else will do, a way that nobody else can do, in spite of all we go through; is to be a nurse."  ~ Rawsi Williams

"Nursing is an art: and if it is to be made an art, it requires an exclusive devotion as hard a preparation, as any painter's or sculptor's work; for what is the having to do with dead canvas or dead marble, compared with having to do with the living body, the temple of God's spirit? It is one of the Fine Arts: I had almost said, the finest of Fine Arts."  ~Florence Nightingale

"As descendants of the "lady with the lamp", we the angles of mercy, spread the warmth and light of care, compassion and hope to the ones we serve!"

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