beautiful things

I realized today on my way home from the hospital that there are few things more beautiful than the springtime mountains with the sun rising behind them. And then on my way back tonight, the sun was setting and shining through gaps in the clouds with rain visible in the distance. It takes my breath away.

Yeah it's a long commute, but i think it's totally worth it.

Bad News

Well. It looks like we're probably not going to buy that house. Turns out, there may or may not be a lawsuit pending that may or may not have to do with mold in some of the units and it may or may not involve the HOA and so we may or may not end up funding somebody's stupid lawsuit if we get into that condo.

And the best part?

NOBODY WILL RETURN OUR EFFING PHONE CALLS TO ANSWER OUR QUESTIONS.

I am so incredibly irritated right now, you don't even know. Everything is on hold until that jerkoff gets off his butt and returns a call. I'm about to go down there and smack some faces. Who's with me?

Why I need to learn how to be a CTB

Monday was memorial day. At the hospital, that means holiday pay, plus bonus PTO. BUT, since people work around the clock, they have to set up some limitations: It starts at midnight Monday, and ends at 11:55. So people working day shift win, and people working night shift mostly get screwed. But, that's mostly fair to everyone. Mostly.

I was scheduled for Sunday and Monday night, so yay me, I was all set up to get the whole 12 hours of holiday pay!

If only.

Sunday night, they were looking for someone to go home by 1 AM, because they were overstaffed. NOBODY wanted to go, obviously. They all wanted their holiday pay. Well, since I knew I would be back the next night, I volunteered. It didn't bother me *that* much, and I'd still be getting a half night of holiday pay, and it really wouldn't mess up my sleep schedule TOO badly, and I'd get to see my husband. So being the nice person I am, I went home so somebody else didn't have to.

So, Monday night, I'm sitting at my computer in my scrubs, just ready to get going to work... And Central Staffing calls and puts me on call, because they go by seniority for holidays (and monday night was considered the "official" holiday by our unit) and all the more seniored people than me (ie, everyone) wanted to work the front half. Well, duh, cos everyone is a greedy bitch at heart and wanted their holiday pay. "Oh, and you're only on call for the front half, you'll have to come in at 1." ARE YOU EFFING KIDDING ME?

Let me explain for a second. Not only does this mean I miss out COMPLETELY on ANY benefit of the holiday by merit of simply not being there. I don't even get call-back pay for coming in at 1. If they put you on call for the night, and then have to call back and say "Actually, we need you, please be here in an hour," you get time and a half for "call back pay." If they put you on call and say "but you'll be coming in at 1," you get NOTHING but SCREWED.

So basically, I missed out on an entire shift this week, without any recompense whatsoever. Not just any shift, a holiday shift. So not only am I screwed out of 12 hours of pay or 12 hours of PTO (which i'll NEED in july), I'm also screwed out of what should be a nice, fat holiday check.

And this is why it never pays to be a nice person.

(As a side note... I did manage to pick up an extra shift on friday night, which brings me up to a WHOLE REGULAR PAYCHECK oh glee. But, now it feels like I'm working 4 days this week, because even though I only worked half on Sunday and Monday, I still WORKED, and it still feels like WORKING Sunday and Monday and Friday and Saturday and Sunday.)

Danielle Steel

Have you read any of her novels? Thoughts? Opinions?

I picked up The Long Road Home from the hospital library this weekend, and it gave me some VERY strong opinions about this author. Basically, I hate her. The book hurt my brain! She writes like a presumptuous 16 year old. It's melodramatic, extremely repetitive, and written from an irritating omnipotent POV that switches characters too much, often even mid-paragraph, and leaves you emotionally attached to noone. Her most "dramatic" parts of the book (and the whole book is supposed to be extremely dramatic) leave me rolling my eyes so hard I feel like they're going to fall out. I mean, honestly woman, how many times can you reiterate "she knew they never loved her, she knew she deserved everything she got"?

I have about 5 different books on hold from the public library right now. I think I just got past the climax of this one, and I am DONE. At least, I don't care to know what happens anymore. /shudder

The Dreaded Annual Check-Up

I *finally* went back to The Doctor (y'know... that one...) for the first time since I got married. I'm supposed to go every year. I thought I'd wait until I got pregnant this year, but since that's probably not happening, I just made an appointment. It took me a little more than an hour, a whole 3 minutes of which I was actually in the room with the doctor. That struck me as funny.

What was really strange, though, is how she acted like she really KNEW me. I felt like I made an impression last time (y'know, two YEARS ago), and I told her all about Isabelle, but that woman must see thousands of people! For a minute I thought she was just pretending, being a good friendly midwife, but then she asked "So are you guys thinking about kids any time soon?" with no indication of thinking we had any already, even though the nurse had already asked the obligatory "How many pregnancies? How many children still living?" in her pre-check.

Anyway, I thought it was wierd. I like to believe she remembers me. I heart Heather to itty bitty pieces, and even when I'm commuting from Lehi, I plan on her being my midwife. She's so fun, and completely unconventional. The first time I met her, I think she had long black hair with blue streaks. I was instantly smitten.

There's a very small part of me that wants to get pregnant just so I have more excuses to go see her.

in lust

I need this dog. He's so beautiful it hurts me. But again, with the backyard... I'd just feel guilty keeping him in our little house. /sigh

Can anyone convince me it'd be a good idea to adopt him anyway??

it's our HOUSE!!!

Well. We're under contract. For a really nice, rather large townhome in a perfect location.

This is the link, but it shouldn't be available for much longer, since... y'know... they're under contract: http://www.realtor.com/realestateandhomes-detail/Lehi_UT_84043_1109247567

This isn't one I've even talked about yet, since it was rather last-minute. But it's in a GREAT location in Lehi, as far north as you can go without going over Point of the Mountain, right in between Orem and Salt Lake. The neighbors are cute (we've already met a few), and this particular unit backs almost right up to the big park. It has a finished basement, rounding out at about 2,000 sq ft total, with a big open family room in said basement, and a guest bedroom. This particular unit is coming partially furnished, which I normally don't care about, but in the case of the front room it's perfect- I wouldn't know what to do with that room anyway, and the furniture they have in there is adorable. So I'm just going to not even touch that. Except to paint. All the walls are white, which I love, because it's a blank slate that I'm going to do fun things with. The floors in the hallway and kitchen are a very nice pergo, and the countertops are solid surface, which is a huge upgrade from the other unit in the complex we looked at (pale boring laminate and linoleum).

The downsides: it's a townhouse, which AGAIN rankles... I want to put House in quotation marks. As in, we're buying a "house." But it's much bigger and nicer than any actual house we could get without getting into the shortsale mess, and it's a fabulous deal. The only other downside is it has NO yard. Which is sad, because we're going to get a dog eventually, and I'd really love a husky mix or something similar, which I would just feel guilty putting into a townhouse with no yard to roam free in.

We close on the 24th of June. I'm SO excited to move in, even though we're completely out of friends to help us move. I'm recruiting anyone who will listen to help me decorate. I want this place to be AWESOME. And I'm sure there will be multiple "What color should I use for this room?" posts. Be prepared!

It's given up...

Y'know, I think my body has just completely given up and thrown in the towel on this whole switching schedules thing. I CAN NOT sleep at night anymore. Last night, I had a "nap" from about 1 to 2:30, and was up again until almost 5. I need to start thinking about what I can do at night while the world is sleeping and my body is pacing in circles.

No Sleep For Me

It's 5 AM, and I haven't slept at all. This could be due to the 5 hour nap I took in the middle of the day, or maybe the large amounts of chocolate, sugar, and caffeine I have recently consumed. Either way, I'm not even tired, so you get to listen to me ramble, because Brit's asleep and I have nothing better to do.

I signed up for an extra shift tonight, but I got put on call. I expected it. They put about 3-4 nurses on call per night, and extras go first. Because they don't want to give me extra money. Cheapos. Sad, because it wouldn't be extra money, since I don't plan on working Friday night. Which means I'll have negative money. (Not really... but I WILL have to use PTO, and that makes me a very sad panda.)

I watched American Idol tonight, and Adam totally makes me swoon. I can't express how much I big puffy heart him. Brit would be jealous, but I think he has a little crush on Adam, too.

I've been TERRIBLE about exercising lately, as in maybe once a week since I got back from Colorado, but it's so much less stressful to not care. And I'm starting to want to go to the gym again. I need to take advantage of that while it lasts!

We went looking at houses (townhouses, really) on Monday, and found two that we LOVE in Lehi. We're probably going to put an offer on one. Not the one I loved most, but the one I loved most is based on aesthetic value, and that doesn't really matter in the long run. If we get this one we like, I'll need major input from people more stylish than me on decorating and painting. I fail at that, but I do NOT want pure white walls with bland carpet and pale kitchen flooring. BLAH.

I feel like I'm running out of friends, very quickly. The only couple we ever hang out with anymore is moving way up north, an hour and a half away, and we're talking about moving into a whole new city. And I fail at making and keeping friends. It's a scary thought.

I am in DESPERATE need of a new book to read. Sadly, I started the first book in a trilogy, and can't find the second one ANYWHERE without buying it, and I am a cheapskate. The library has it, but apparently all of Utah county wants to read the same books as me at the same time, because all copies are out and about 10 people are in the reserve line ahead of me. It's a conspiracy, I tell you.

A nurse brought roasted garlic hummus to work the other night, and I totally fell in love. Now I need to find it, and I will be guaranteed to get in all my veggie servings every day. SO GOOD.

Speaking of work, I had a very interesting and exasperating weekend. No particular night was altogether overwhelming, but every single night something fell apart right at 6 AM when I should have been getting ready to give report to the next shift. Saturday morning, someone coded and died (not a patient, but still, it was intense). Sunday morning, I had an admit at about 5:30 AM, and was JUST ABOUT caught up, when I realized all her antibiotic doses were off and I had to track down the doctor to get them verified. I started charting her admission at 7:15. My shift ends at 7. Monday morning, I had another last-minute admit, medications to give to all of my patients at about 4 AM, and a billion meds to start and reschedule for the new kid. I managed to get everything charted by 7, but was still scrambling to get everything organized as I was giving report. And I'm the type who likes to have everything charted, printed, and lined up in a neat little row by 6:15 waiting for the next shift.

I love my life. I don't really see how it could get any better right now. Unless we had infinite monies. That would be nice...

Houses

We've been looking at houses for a while. I've changed my attitude about staying in utah in light of my awesome job, so I don't mind being tied down in home ownership for a few years.

It feels rather hopeless, though. Entry-level in Utah is competetive, cut-throat, and rather more expensive than I think is necessary. In exasperation, I've handed the reigns over to Brit for the main grunt work, as he is the more optimistic and picky of the two of us.

We looked at some homes in American Fork yesterday, and these are our favorites so far:

"House" #1 is actually a townhome, which rankles, but we don't have much choice in our price range unless we want something at 900 sq ft built in the 1930's. We like this one for the decent private fenced "yard" that opens directly into a HUGE common green area/park/field. It's like having a several acre yard that you don't have to mow, but you have to share. It's a little small for us, though, at 1400 sq ft.



"House" #2, also a townhome, is much bigger at 2000 sq ft, and has an unfinished basement with loads of potential. It has a master bath, which I like (but is more of a luxury than a necessity), and the "backyard" leaves much to be desired- a tiny little "fenced" thing with this weird open section to the next door neighbor's. Like it's missing a gate, but I don't even know if we'd be allowed to put a gate in there. Weird. Also, there's only one parking space.




House #3, a real house this time, is lovely and has an actual 2 car garage, very well maintained, and a fabulous fenced yard. Except, it's a house, which means it's the most expensive of the 3 and tiny (not quite 1400 sq ft). It's further from the freeway, too. And the master bedroom would probably only just fit our bed, without a frame. Brit's not a fan of the small, cramped laundry room (they had their dryer at an angle, and you had to squeeze in) but I liked that it was on the second floor with all the bedrooms.

Those are our thoughts, for anyone who might be interested. It's a frustrating process, for sure. Next trip, all the Lehi homes/townhomes. I hope we find something good in there. I'm ready to be DONE.

What I've Done Today

So far today, I...

• Put away all the groceries
• Cleaned off and scrubbed the kitchen counters
• Scrubbed the stove
• Loaded the dishwasher (this is actually an accomplishment, as I haven't done this since last year sometime (not that it doesn't get done... usually I make Brit do it...))
• Purged, organized, and scrubbed the fridge
• Folded and put away Whisky's sleeping spots (aka, my freshly laundered scrubs and towels)
• Made and appointment with the DTD
• Joined Twitter. Follow me! http://twitter.com/purplepanda13 (Somebody stole my standard username- Puple Panda- so I had to add the stupid 13. And she hasn't even said anything since 2007. I HATE that!!)

So, I feel pretty darn accomplished. I like this whole working 3 days a week thing.

Still to do today: cleaning off the table, folding the rest of the laundry, and cleaning off the bathroom counters.

Yay me. I'm gonna eat a cookie.

On Call

I got put on call tonight. (Which, for the uninformed about healthcare professions, means we had not enough patients and too many nurses, so they told me to not come in unless they call.) So now I'm wandering aimlessly around the house going crazy. I've lain on the couch for far too long and my muscles and head all hurt. I'M BORED. And I'm considering going out to get a milkshake, but thinking I'm too lazy to even put shoes on.

Stupid.... healthy babies.