Which is kinda ironic because if Larry's home watching Netflix, I have no trouble going to bed to sleep. But with him gone every creak in the night makes me awake. And I make huge grandiose plans of what I'm going to organize when he's gone, get 1/3 into a wheezing and sneezing fit, sit down and turn on the computer and drink herbal tea waiting for the claritin to work it's magic.
And last night the artillery was blowing stuff up that did more than a little window rattling. However it didn't do alot of banging, so with only the window rattling, it was sleep with the light on sort of night. I was talking with a fellow wife who said she loved having her big german shepherds when she was alone and I realize.. no. I'm ok. I don't want a dog. or 2. especially large hairy ones. I already can't breathe and the cat lives outside.
The cat. I haven't told you about that.
You see, Kayla batted her eyes and did a "daddy, I really want a cat" thing and we were finding rats outside with our neighbor's apple tree... so we went on the get a kitten hunt (think I did mention this) anyway.. kitten goes out one night and doesn't come back. Still hasn't. And another cat went missing that week also. I suspect there is a crazy cat lady somewhere.... anyway..
Because kitty was cute and sweet and I felt bad I said we could get another one. Larry, on the other hand said no, we're not going to get another and spend money on it. To which I reply, what if it's fixed already and free? To which he agreed.
So I go online a few times and find a cat. Free. Fixed, has his shots. And.. Orange.. which was the color we were originally trying to get because Kayla's fixated on her "stripey" the orange beenie baby cat she's had since she was 2.
And Violla.. She sends me a picture of this younish cute orange cat. Says he's a little shy but great with kids and playful like a kitten. I ask, is he short hair, she says yes.they have a baby and can't devote the time to him... (really. it's a cat. how much time are you talking here?)
So I show up. The cat is long haired, 45 lbs, and nearing the end of it's life. In fact I'm pretty sure I caught a glimpse of the tunnel of light it was supposed to travel down. Cept it was too fat and lazy to get down that tunnel.
Mistake #1. I had the kids with me, Larry was somewhere overnight and I thought maybe if the cat was settled in when he came home it would go over better.
Actually that's mistake #1 and #2.
Mistake #3. I didn't say "are you sure this is the same cat you were talking about? he looks 8 years older than his picture you sent?" and walk away. No stupid me let the girls go "AWWWHHHHHH mommmy! it's a cat! can get really have it?!"
So Cat came home with us. A sign of how "loved" he was might be when I asked his name, she said "we just call him fatty"
It stayed under the couch for a day. I'm surprised it got under the couch. Then it went under a bed for a day when we moved the couch. And when it was under the bed (we had extra kids sleeping over, to boot) the kids got hysterical- at 11pm- that the cat smelled and they thought it pooped.
Mistake #4. having friends over the weekend the new cat comes home.
Move bed, get cat, make sure the floor is clean and move cat outside to the garage.
It's been outside since. Once I realized it did nothing but sit on the shelves in the garage he got evicted from that, also. He's now an OUTSIDE outside cat who sits at the door and meows that he thinks he's an indoor cat.
He catches nothing. But he has lost enough weight that he could climb over the lower fences in the back yard. This is an improvement- before he couldn't get 3 feet off the ground. Did I mention this cat was Obese?
And he's named Garfield now. It fits, fat orange lazy cat...
The one almost good thing he's done is to sleep at the front door and fight with the across the street cat that sprays our front door. But he's only stopped him twice in 2 months. So can't say he's really earning his keep.
But it's minimal upkeep, throw some food and water in a dish once a day.
Still have most of our other animals - Pet rabbit, 9 chickens remaining after rooster was re-homed and 2 died in the 110+ heat we had last month. I haven't counted the quail. Cages get opened and not re-hooked good so we've lost to nature probably 15 that way. Some wild animal has attacked and killed another 12 and another 6 went in the heat and 12 went in the freezer... But we still have dozens of quail left.
But really.. farm life is messy. It's not all cute cuddly creatures and yummy veggies. It's life and death and vermin and weeds and bugs and, and, and... kinda like Genesis says life would be difficult to live on the land. As much as I live in paradise, we still live in a fallen world.
Wednesday, October 24, 2012
Wednesday, October 17, 2012
So I won't blog about the kids today
Lemme take a minute to tell anyone out there that thinks electronic medical records will improve life for doctors a little story.
There was once medicine. It was practiced where the doctor looked at the patient when they were talking, maybe took a few notes. The patient and doctor did their best to figure out what was best for the patient and sometimes lab results went missing, and charts took time to file, but that was part of life.
Now, the computer screen is being watched, the "provider" is not seeing the patient because they're looking for the 6pt clicky box to check for each symptom the patient is mentionings, and in going between screens missing about 10 symptoms- both in documenting and in hearing.
The computer crashes and there is nothing you can do aside from scribble notes on a piece of paper. You can't write prescriptions because no one has prescription paper pads anymore and the controlled medication prescription papers need to be filled out by computer. And if you need to go over labs or results... for get it.
And then.. the best part... you get rated on "quality of care" no longer do you get to discuss the options with your patient and decide what's best for them- nope. You get graded on percentage of your patients that have government clicky-boxes checked. When you hear the president talk about "we're going to pay the most efficient doctors" or that sort of wording, just remember they're treating you like a multiple choice clicky box and if you refuse the flu shot your doctor will be graded as incompetent.
As you might guess, there's a bit of a bee in my bonnet this week. I got my "random audit" of my August visits. And would you believe I failed 100% at giving my patient the flu vaccine in August. uh, HELLO? govt audit agency? We don't HAVE the vaccine to give in August. And today, of 15 patients, I had 3 say "yes, I'd love to pay an extra $20 and get the flu vaccine" the rest said "are you kidding me? it's 100 degrees out, I can't think of the flu right now and I never get the vaccine and I never get sick" so my audit this month will be crap, too.
Not to mention that 11% of the patients I saw had a Hgb A1c of >9%. uh... for 1, I'm seeing the person for the first time, so it's not like anything I did had any effect on the previous 3 months and their current A1c. For 2, dear govt agency, do you realize that a vast majority of our patients show up with meds from other countries and cross the border all the time for their care?
For example, I saw an immigrant who brought in her metformin and glyburide and tells me she's taking 1000mg of metformin bid and 20 mg of the glyburide bid. yep. When was the last time her sugar was checked? 1997? We've seen her for 4 years and never before had she mentioned she had diabetes, but her overseas source of her med dried up and suddenly she's got a random glucose of 300+ and would like her meds refilled. Oh, yeah, and she doesn't feel good.
Don't cha think mentioning to your doctor that you have diabetes might be a good idea?
Similarly, a woman presents for a mammogram. Ask, are you having any problems. "well, yes, I'm having pain" (this is of course in spanish) ok, well, let's take a look and WHOA nelly.. uh, this is a surgical site. did you have surgery here? Yes, 2 days ago.
For one... dear MA's rooming patients, I know you're pressed for time and don't have time to find the right clicky boxes in the medical records for this, but alittle heads up of "she had surgery 2 days ago" helps. ESPECIALLY if she's there for you to re-dress it and thinks you're taking her sutures out. A little help with my spanish to explain you don't take sutures out of anything 2 days after major surgery. And if you think this is rare... it isn't. This is in fact the second time in 6 months that this has happened. Apparently you go to mexico to have the lump removed, the doctor there says you need a mammogram, but in mexico you pay for your mammograms. If you come to CA, the state pays for it.
No one should wonder why we're bankrupt as a state here. no one.
BUT back to our dear government standards... so they're going to require medical persons to do testing and treat beyond side effects and patient desires to get numbers where they are, they're going to require us to put everyone on certain meds because that's what certain studies say is best, regardless if the patient wants it or not, and then they're going to make sure the government taxes us to pay for it. I mean I understand there's some logic there, but not really. Can't some of us make decisions for ourselves?
If any of my kids tell me they want to go into medicine, I'm going to steer them to plumbing- the hours might be worse but the autonomy and pay is better.
There was once medicine. It was practiced where the doctor looked at the patient when they were talking, maybe took a few notes. The patient and doctor did their best to figure out what was best for the patient and sometimes lab results went missing, and charts took time to file, but that was part of life.
Now, the computer screen is being watched, the "provider" is not seeing the patient because they're looking for the 6pt clicky box to check for each symptom the patient is mentionings, and in going between screens missing about 10 symptoms- both in documenting and in hearing.
The computer crashes and there is nothing you can do aside from scribble notes on a piece of paper. You can't write prescriptions because no one has prescription paper pads anymore and the controlled medication prescription papers need to be filled out by computer. And if you need to go over labs or results... for get it.
And then.. the best part... you get rated on "quality of care" no longer do you get to discuss the options with your patient and decide what's best for them- nope. You get graded on percentage of your patients that have government clicky-boxes checked. When you hear the president talk about "we're going to pay the most efficient doctors" or that sort of wording, just remember they're treating you like a multiple choice clicky box and if you refuse the flu shot your doctor will be graded as incompetent.
As you might guess, there's a bit of a bee in my bonnet this week. I got my "random audit" of my August visits. And would you believe I failed 100% at giving my patient the flu vaccine in August. uh, HELLO? govt audit agency? We don't HAVE the vaccine to give in August. And today, of 15 patients, I had 3 say "yes, I'd love to pay an extra $20 and get the flu vaccine" the rest said "are you kidding me? it's 100 degrees out, I can't think of the flu right now and I never get the vaccine and I never get sick" so my audit this month will be crap, too.
Not to mention that 11% of the patients I saw had a Hgb A1c of >9%. uh... for 1, I'm seeing the person for the first time, so it's not like anything I did had any effect on the previous 3 months and their current A1c. For 2, dear govt agency, do you realize that a vast majority of our patients show up with meds from other countries and cross the border all the time for their care?
For example, I saw an immigrant who brought in her metformin and glyburide and tells me she's taking 1000mg of metformin bid and 20 mg of the glyburide bid. yep. When was the last time her sugar was checked? 1997? We've seen her for 4 years and never before had she mentioned she had diabetes, but her overseas source of her med dried up and suddenly she's got a random glucose of 300+ and would like her meds refilled. Oh, yeah, and she doesn't feel good.
Don't cha think mentioning to your doctor that you have diabetes might be a good idea?
Similarly, a woman presents for a mammogram. Ask, are you having any problems. "well, yes, I'm having pain" (this is of course in spanish) ok, well, let's take a look and WHOA nelly.. uh, this is a surgical site. did you have surgery here? Yes, 2 days ago.
For one... dear MA's rooming patients, I know you're pressed for time and don't have time to find the right clicky boxes in the medical records for this, but alittle heads up of "she had surgery 2 days ago" helps. ESPECIALLY if she's there for you to re-dress it and thinks you're taking her sutures out. A little help with my spanish to explain you don't take sutures out of anything 2 days after major surgery. And if you think this is rare... it isn't. This is in fact the second time in 6 months that this has happened. Apparently you go to mexico to have the lump removed, the doctor there says you need a mammogram, but in mexico you pay for your mammograms. If you come to CA, the state pays for it.
No one should wonder why we're bankrupt as a state here. no one.
BUT back to our dear government standards... so they're going to require medical persons to do testing and treat beyond side effects and patient desires to get numbers where they are, they're going to require us to put everyone on certain meds because that's what certain studies say is best, regardless if the patient wants it or not, and then they're going to make sure the government taxes us to pay for it. I mean I understand there's some logic there, but not really. Can't some of us make decisions for ourselves?
If any of my kids tell me they want to go into medicine, I'm going to steer them to plumbing- the hours might be worse but the autonomy and pay is better.
Monday, October 15, 2012
Why don't I blog anymore?
In case you're wondering and haven't asked:
I'm more unplugged from the computer these days. Sure I have one, but I don't have to BE on it with the business stuff and not turning it on is the first step in getting unplugged from it. It's a good thing as far as time management goes.
I'm not at home to be on the computer- this whole start a job thing means I'm dropping kids off at school, going straight to work, going from work to the store to buy a gallon of milk and bread, dropping that off at home and getting back in the car for pick up time. We get home, get snacks, changed and suddenly we're back in the car and on our way to soccer. Then dinner, finishing homework, bathing, bedtime for kids then laundry, cleaning and bedtime for me. The second I throw the computer in there my bedtime gets pushed back an hour, if not more. Since I'm getting up before the sun these days, late bedtimes are not good.
I have less to say, or perhaps more accurately less positive things to say. I have alot of stuff to rant about but in an effort to not be NancyNegativity I try not to dwell and write about that. Try. Go ahead and point me to the archives here, I know. This is a work in progress.
But today we don't have Soccer, Sonia is getting a ride home from band practice and the remaining 3 are at the neighbor's house and I have 15 minutes where I turned on the computer.
So in a real quick synopsis of the time since school started:
JM has moved from his kindergarten class to a K/1 class- not that it is necessarily more advanced than a K class, it did get him out of the class of 30 kids with the teacher that seemed like she was 6 months past ready to retire. His new class only has 24 kids. Their school does these combo classes when they have too many students for the grades but not enough to fill a full classroom- so they had 1/2 a classroom of K and 1/2 a classroom of 1 so they combined it to a K/1 class. They also have a 2/3 class. His teacher still calls him Jon. As does his coach. And he forgets that's him, so he tends to ignore them. He also ignores me when I call him JonMichael, so perhaps it's more than the wrong name thing.
Soccer has hit full swing. And Sonia actually LIKES soccer this year- and runs and puts in effort. She's in better shape than I am at this point. Kayla also likes soccer (after the whole protest that the girls didn't' want to play when I was signing them up...) and is one of the 2 better players on the team. JonMichael is a born athlete, so it's ok that he's not past his first sight word list, I guess. We all have different strengths. And he hangs out on the side of the soccer field playing with the other siblings during his sibling practices so he's gotten a ton more practice. As has Kayla who's played along with Sonia/Joey's team. Sonia and Joey's team is VERY competitive. I guess this is the first year they have playoffs and rankings so winning is everything. They're ranked #2 and still undefeated. They have a great coach and I think that helps alot with Sonia liking soccer. Joey's always liked soccer and excels in pretty much any sport he tries. Except baseball. We didn't go great there, but a big part of that was we don't have a backyard for practice. In fact our neighborhood kids are here playing all the time and we've had near misses in neighbor windows up to 2 yards over. Thus anything harder than a pom pom has been confiscated.
School this year aside from JM- Kayla has Sonia's 2nd grade teacher who she adores. Joey had a new to the district teacher and so far loves that he gets 1/2 the nightly homework he used to get last year. This is the first year he gets less homework than Sonia on a regular basis. He thinks this is awesome. Sonia has a young teacher, but she seems to be doing fine. She's still mostly a loner when it comes to playing with kids at school, but I think I'd prefer a loner to some of the nonsense the 4th grade girls are getting into already. Besides she's a smart loner and doesn't think this is a problem.
JM lost his first tooth, and in a miracle it wasn't from him jumping off the top bunk- it was just a normal wiggle loose tooth. Joey has his first orthodontist apt this week.
For fun we went to the Air Show again. Joey took tons of pictures.
I'm now on Shutterfly because that's where we share team and class info, so my pictures are there. If I can figure how to get them to share with a link, I'll be posting it. I could put up a share site and invite whoever, so that might happen next. ok, we'll see if this works shutterfly pictures link
ok if it doens't work let me know. it takes a year and a day for me to get pictures to loan on the blog and it's now 5 min past my 15 minutes of allotted time, Sonia is walking in so it's time to start to hit the homework before dinner and growth group.
I'm more unplugged from the computer these days. Sure I have one, but I don't have to BE on it with the business stuff and not turning it on is the first step in getting unplugged from it. It's a good thing as far as time management goes.
I'm not at home to be on the computer- this whole start a job thing means I'm dropping kids off at school, going straight to work, going from work to the store to buy a gallon of milk and bread, dropping that off at home and getting back in the car for pick up time. We get home, get snacks, changed and suddenly we're back in the car and on our way to soccer. Then dinner, finishing homework, bathing, bedtime for kids then laundry, cleaning and bedtime for me. The second I throw the computer in there my bedtime gets pushed back an hour, if not more. Since I'm getting up before the sun these days, late bedtimes are not good.
I have less to say, or perhaps more accurately less positive things to say. I have alot of stuff to rant about but in an effort to not be NancyNegativity I try not to dwell and write about that. Try. Go ahead and point me to the archives here, I know. This is a work in progress.
But today we don't have Soccer, Sonia is getting a ride home from band practice and the remaining 3 are at the neighbor's house and I have 15 minutes where I turned on the computer.
So in a real quick synopsis of the time since school started:
JM has moved from his kindergarten class to a K/1 class- not that it is necessarily more advanced than a K class, it did get him out of the class of 30 kids with the teacher that seemed like she was 6 months past ready to retire. His new class only has 24 kids. Their school does these combo classes when they have too many students for the grades but not enough to fill a full classroom- so they had 1/2 a classroom of K and 1/2 a classroom of 1 so they combined it to a K/1 class. They also have a 2/3 class. His teacher still calls him Jon. As does his coach. And he forgets that's him, so he tends to ignore them. He also ignores me when I call him JonMichael, so perhaps it's more than the wrong name thing.
Soccer has hit full swing. And Sonia actually LIKES soccer this year- and runs and puts in effort. She's in better shape than I am at this point. Kayla also likes soccer (after the whole protest that the girls didn't' want to play when I was signing them up...) and is one of the 2 better players on the team. JonMichael is a born athlete, so it's ok that he's not past his first sight word list, I guess. We all have different strengths. And he hangs out on the side of the soccer field playing with the other siblings during his sibling practices so he's gotten a ton more practice. As has Kayla who's played along with Sonia/Joey's team. Sonia and Joey's team is VERY competitive. I guess this is the first year they have playoffs and rankings so winning is everything. They're ranked #2 and still undefeated. They have a great coach and I think that helps alot with Sonia liking soccer. Joey's always liked soccer and excels in pretty much any sport he tries. Except baseball. We didn't go great there, but a big part of that was we don't have a backyard for practice. In fact our neighborhood kids are here playing all the time and we've had near misses in neighbor windows up to 2 yards over. Thus anything harder than a pom pom has been confiscated.
School this year aside from JM- Kayla has Sonia's 2nd grade teacher who she adores. Joey had a new to the district teacher and so far loves that he gets 1/2 the nightly homework he used to get last year. This is the first year he gets less homework than Sonia on a regular basis. He thinks this is awesome. Sonia has a young teacher, but she seems to be doing fine. She's still mostly a loner when it comes to playing with kids at school, but I think I'd prefer a loner to some of the nonsense the 4th grade girls are getting into already. Besides she's a smart loner and doesn't think this is a problem.
JM lost his first tooth, and in a miracle it wasn't from him jumping off the top bunk- it was just a normal wiggle loose tooth. Joey has his first orthodontist apt this week.
For fun we went to the Air Show again. Joey took tons of pictures.
I'm now on Shutterfly because that's where we share team and class info, so my pictures are there. If I can figure how to get them to share with a link, I'll be posting it. I could put up a share site and invite whoever, so that might happen next. ok, we'll see if this works shutterfly pictures link
ok if it doens't work let me know. it takes a year and a day for me to get pictures to loan on the blog and it's now 5 min past my 15 minutes of allotted time, Sonia is walking in so it's time to start to hit the homework before dinner and growth group.
Friday, August 24, 2012
We went, we saw, we had fun
And here is my helpful advice:
In other news.. We had kindergarten orientation yesterday. Nothing has changed, and just incase it did with the increased insanity at the school with the parking/cones/etc... in the parking lot, I wondered... will they address the cones - are you allowed to go around or not go around the cones? Exactly what is the right way to access the kindergarten gate? Yeah. They skipped that part. The school sends out automated recorded messages and the principal already sent a "we know the parking lot is going to be crazy, please plan ahead" message. Considering there wasn't an open parking space the day of kinder orientation, I can't wait.
So we found out that Jon has Kayla's kindergarten teacher. Who knows him as JonMichael. So after all the drama of "what are you going to be called in school" being Jon Cowles, he is in fact still going to be JonMichael this year. So says his cubbie and folders at school. Lovely. I signed up to be classroom garden parent. It appears she had other volunteers for the stuff I used to volunteer for. Besides, I'm planning on working. And I'm already involved in the garden.
The garden- I think it's a great idea, frankly, for the kids to learn where their food comes from. I've been surprised that people think my offering them fruit or veggies or eggs from our yard is either great or gross. I'm not surprised by the great response- I mean who says no to free, fresh food? It's the "you grew this? and you expect me to eat this? That's gross" response that shocks me. So the school, in following our example, has started installing solar panels, and the garden is started so that they can start growing food for the cafeteria. And compost. I can't tell you how happy I am to hear they will be composting. I'm hoping they'll switch to non-disposable trays and silverware -the amount of trash that cafeteria produces is shocking. Of course I'm a weird crunchy granola-y libertarian odd ball.
Back to school: the rest of the school's class rosters were posted today. Joey has a teacher no one has heard of before. I'm going to guess she's new. I'm hoping optimistically that this is a good thing. After last year with a newer teacher, I hesitate. Sonia has a tried and true teacher with a bunch of kids she knows. Joey has at least 2 friends/acquaintances in his class. And the fun begins on Monday. whoo hoo!! I'd say let's party but in actuality I'll be heading to work after I drop them off. This reality stuff isn't much fun.
- All passes and tickets have fast pass. All of them. We were 1/2 way through day 2 when I thought to ask how to get said things. Apparently they are free with any ticket.
- They will give you free cups of ice water if you ask at the restaurants. You don't have to haul a day's worth of cold water bottles with you.
- Avoid the parking garage, aim for the surface lot
- Go to the fireworks show and stand/sit in front of the castle. Pick your spot an hour ahead of time and bring stuff to do while waiting. It's worth it, it's super cool.
- Check the seat of the roller coaster after you and your kids get out to avoid the panic of returning to try to find a lost cell phone.
- If you scream like a girl going down the roller coasters, you won't pass out from holding your breath.
- Extra memory cards for the camera
- Avoid the pizza place there. It makes little ceasar's look and taste gourmet.
In other news.. We had kindergarten orientation yesterday. Nothing has changed, and just incase it did with the increased insanity at the school with the parking/cones/etc... in the parking lot, I wondered... will they address the cones - are you allowed to go around or not go around the cones? Exactly what is the right way to access the kindergarten gate? Yeah. They skipped that part. The school sends out automated recorded messages and the principal already sent a "we know the parking lot is going to be crazy, please plan ahead" message. Considering there wasn't an open parking space the day of kinder orientation, I can't wait.
So we found out that Jon has Kayla's kindergarten teacher. Who knows him as JonMichael. So after all the drama of "what are you going to be called in school" being Jon Cowles, he is in fact still going to be JonMichael this year. So says his cubbie and folders at school. Lovely. I signed up to be classroom garden parent. It appears she had other volunteers for the stuff I used to volunteer for. Besides, I'm planning on working. And I'm already involved in the garden.
The garden- I think it's a great idea, frankly, for the kids to learn where their food comes from. I've been surprised that people think my offering them fruit or veggies or eggs from our yard is either great or gross. I'm not surprised by the great response- I mean who says no to free, fresh food? It's the "you grew this? and you expect me to eat this? That's gross" response that shocks me. So the school, in following our example, has started installing solar panels, and the garden is started so that they can start growing food for the cafeteria. And compost. I can't tell you how happy I am to hear they will be composting. I'm hoping they'll switch to non-disposable trays and silverware -the amount of trash that cafeteria produces is shocking. Of course I'm a weird crunchy granola-y libertarian odd ball.
Back to school: the rest of the school's class rosters were posted today. Joey has a teacher no one has heard of before. I'm going to guess she's new. I'm hoping optimistically that this is a good thing. After last year with a newer teacher, I hesitate. Sonia has a tried and true teacher with a bunch of kids she knows. Joey has at least 2 friends/acquaintances in his class. And the fun begins on Monday. whoo hoo!! I'd say let's party but in actuality I'll be heading to work after I drop them off. This reality stuff isn't much fun.
Monday, August 20, 2012
We're going to.....
Disneyland!!!
No. Really. We are.
As long as I don't break my ankle tonight or something equally tragic.
The kids and I. Larry's on call. And we might even stay overnight and go a second day.
Because I want to live richly. Really richly.
Because working like a dog has got to have SOMETHING to show for it.
I worked again tonight. (Bah) and while I have to say I really appreciate having been able to go bug the Docs at St Lukes for help at whim, being the Senior NP on staff is rather frightening. And that's what tonight was. And in a fun and ironic twist, I got to ask my co-NP to approve my Rx's (still, hours done, but no fancy number from the state yet) and she'd ask me what to do for her patients. Or better yet... see her patients. While she complains all night of how many patients she's booked while I'm seeing twice as many since she's still on 1/2 booked schedule.
AHHH!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!
And the crown jewel of tonight was a child brought in with diarrhea. Pull up his shirt and find surgical scars and steri strips. Ahem. did said child have surgery sometime recently? yes. actually he did. But he's being seen at our clinic as a walk in because he's in a great deal of pain and the surgeons office didn't answer his phone tonight.
I love my job. I love my job. I love my job.
I have to tell myself that because after paying taxes and the babysitter, the babysitter makes $2/hr more than I do.
And if she translates Spanish/English wrong or make the wrong decision she won't run the risk of getting sued.
(bangs head here)
But tomorrow, after all summer of insanity such as this, I get to find the hidden Mickeys, (opposed to the slipped mickeys) wait in lines, wear sunscreen and take lots of pictures.
And for their "what I did on my summer vacation" essays my kids will have something to remember. Insecure parenting at it's finest.
At least last year we missed that week and the whole world knew we were in CT, stranded without water, power or electricity due to a lovely hurricane. This year, I have to top a hurricane, grandparents and missing a week of school. 2 days of Disney ought to do it, I think.
Pictures to follow.
Although if I break my foot, we're not going anywhere other than the ER. I joke but I've injury prone and tripped over shoes already once tonight. So you'll either year later of the vacation day of the year or the trip of the year. Or not. I'm not all that great about updating this thing. So keep guessing and you'll hear eventually.
No. Really. We are.
As long as I don't break my ankle tonight or something equally tragic.
The kids and I. Larry's on call. And we might even stay overnight and go a second day.
Because I want to live richly. Really richly.
Because working like a dog has got to have SOMETHING to show for it.
I worked again tonight. (Bah) and while I have to say I really appreciate having been able to go bug the Docs at St Lukes for help at whim, being the Senior NP on staff is rather frightening. And that's what tonight was. And in a fun and ironic twist, I got to ask my co-NP to approve my Rx's (still, hours done, but no fancy number from the state yet) and she'd ask me what to do for her patients. Or better yet... see her patients. While she complains all night of how many patients she's booked while I'm seeing twice as many since she's still on 1/2 booked schedule.
AHHH!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!
And the crown jewel of tonight was a child brought in with diarrhea. Pull up his shirt and find surgical scars and steri strips. Ahem. did said child have surgery sometime recently? yes. actually he did. But he's being seen at our clinic as a walk in because he's in a great deal of pain and the surgeons office didn't answer his phone tonight.
I love my job. I love my job. I love my job.
I have to tell myself that because after paying taxes and the babysitter, the babysitter makes $2/hr more than I do.
And if she translates Spanish/English wrong or make the wrong decision she won't run the risk of getting sued.
(bangs head here)
But tomorrow, after all summer of insanity such as this, I get to find the hidden Mickeys, (opposed to the slipped mickeys) wait in lines, wear sunscreen and take lots of pictures.
And for their "what I did on my summer vacation" essays my kids will have something to remember. Insecure parenting at it's finest.
At least last year we missed that week and the whole world knew we were in CT, stranded without water, power or electricity due to a lovely hurricane. This year, I have to top a hurricane, grandparents and missing a week of school. 2 days of Disney ought to do it, I think.
Pictures to follow.
Although if I break my foot, we're not going anywhere other than the ER. I joke but I've injury prone and tripped over shoes already once tonight. So you'll either year later of the vacation day of the year or the trip of the year. Or not. I'm not all that great about updating this thing. So keep guessing and you'll hear eventually.
Friday, August 17, 2012
That was prophetic.
Last night as I was typing how good "Jon" is with scissors, guess what he was doing? Oh, I know it's a long shot.... yep. Cutting. He took not 1, not 2 but 3!! pairs of scissors to his room to bed with him. I check on him while going to yell at the girls for staying up all night and.... what do my eyes spy.. tiny confetti sized paper everywhere. Someone body decided to cut into microscopic pieces his brother's book report. I have a deal here since nothing else works. Joey will do 5 book reports and do them well, Sonia will know her multiplication, Kayla will know her addition and subtraction and JM will read 3 letter words and apparently we also need to work on knowing his name.. and in return for said skills being done and learned by Tues, they get to go to Disney. Anyone who doesn't know said skills will have their ticket sold on Craigslist.
Today I went to the Base pool with my kids and 3 more strays I picked up along the way and 2 more we picked up at the pool. (that would be 9 kids if you're counting along) I actually ran out of seats in the truck today. Sonia swore she put suncreen on her face, but her face tells another story. We even bought her the SPF 50 stick because she says that one works the best, but somehow that does not seem to be the case. Either that or it's not waterproof. Maybe I better to re-read the package.
But before I do that, I've got to go round up a few kids and return them home. I'm done having the house of perpetual chaos. I'm looking for a house of peace, tranquility, sleeping kids and maybe a glass or two of wine. Or a bowl of ice cream. Although I think there are fewer calories in wine. Decisions, decisions, decisions....
Today I went to the Base pool with my kids and 3 more strays I picked up along the way and 2 more we picked up at the pool. (that would be 9 kids if you're counting along) I actually ran out of seats in the truck today. Sonia swore she put suncreen on her face, but her face tells another story. We even bought her the SPF 50 stick because she says that one works the best, but somehow that does not seem to be the case. Either that or it's not waterproof. Maybe I better to re-read the package.
But before I do that, I've got to go round up a few kids and return them home. I'm done having the house of perpetual chaos. I'm looking for a house of peace, tranquility, sleeping kids and maybe a glass or two of wine. Or a bowl of ice cream. Although I think there are fewer calories in wine. Decisions, decisions, decisions....
Thursday, August 16, 2012
Hot. Dang hot. Maybe Global warming is happening
I know I usually live in paradise, but it appears the thermostat here in paradise is broken in the record breaking hot direction. Compared to the place in Texas Larry want to moved to, it's not hot or muggy. But we've been here 4 years. In my mind is it both hot and muggy. It's been in the 90s.
In other miserable news, the cat has gone missing. I'm guessing it was either hawk or coyote food, but he went out one night and never came back. I feel bad about that. And that I had just spent the money to get the dang thing fixed and his shots. That was a very expensive meal for coyotes. And I feel bad. He wasn't that terrible for a cat.
In less miserable news, the kids are now swimming. And without $200 of lessons this summer. We did 2 private lessons I traded eggs for and that was all it took. Well, that and it's been dang hot so I've been willing to go to the pool. Alot. I've even been swimming in it.
Back on the miserable front, I applied for life insurance again. Apparently I am insurable, but at the "there's a chance you'll drop dead rate" and this frustrates me. At the end of 20 years, I'll have paid the amount that they might pay Larry if I die between now and then. It's frustrating because either I have something or I don't. If you're going to decide there's something wrong with me, go ahead and tell me that to my face and start the intraferon. If you're just going to put it in my medical chart and leave me oblivious, you're making it difficult to get life insurance. And pissing me off. I'm talking you to, oh team of interns at the hospital I've seen. *sigh* I'm going to have to make an apt to have a heart to heart with my "your new primary care doctor is" intern. I get the letter every July. I'm pretty sure they assign me the worse intern ever. But I've spouted my thoughts on military medicine before. It shouldn't come as a surprise that I'm not a glowing fan.
Of course I've been operating in the bubble of I can't have "undefined demylenating disease" because no 2 neurologists can agree on it. Tricare denied the last MRI ordered since I can't have this disease, but the life insurance policy is written that I must have it because I don't have a recent MRI documenting non-progression. I guess I shouldn't feel too bad, they wouldn't insure JM, either. They were adding riders for all the kids and he's also uninsurable. And he's only 5, he's got a lifetime of this crap ahead of him. Hopefully.
He's told the school he wants to be Jon at the kindergarten testing day. He also told him his last name was Michael. The teacher left parents outside for the testing, but had to come out to ask me "uh, what is your son's name really?" because Jon Michael wasn't on the roster. I'm not sure what else they asked him. He told me they had him cut with scissors and tell them the colors. Well, heck.. he's great with scissors- did you give him hair and/or bedsheets to cut? he's awesome at getting alot of cuts in on those. Colors? well, I thought he knew them but he was trying to tell me his black shoes were white. I though he was kidding, but he was really insistent. He'll probably be in the drooly wheelchair kindergarten class til November, just like his mother was. (ha. I should write about that someday. And people wonder why I'm weird.)
Well this weirdness has had enough internet for the night. Ramble at you later...
In other miserable news, the cat has gone missing. I'm guessing it was either hawk or coyote food, but he went out one night and never came back. I feel bad about that. And that I had just spent the money to get the dang thing fixed and his shots. That was a very expensive meal for coyotes. And I feel bad. He wasn't that terrible for a cat.
In less miserable news, the kids are now swimming. And without $200 of lessons this summer. We did 2 private lessons I traded eggs for and that was all it took. Well, that and it's been dang hot so I've been willing to go to the pool. Alot. I've even been swimming in it.
Back on the miserable front, I applied for life insurance again. Apparently I am insurable, but at the "there's a chance you'll drop dead rate" and this frustrates me. At the end of 20 years, I'll have paid the amount that they might pay Larry if I die between now and then. It's frustrating because either I have something or I don't. If you're going to decide there's something wrong with me, go ahead and tell me that to my face and start the intraferon. If you're just going to put it in my medical chart and leave me oblivious, you're making it difficult to get life insurance. And pissing me off. I'm talking you to, oh team of interns at the hospital I've seen. *sigh* I'm going to have to make an apt to have a heart to heart with my "your new primary care doctor is" intern. I get the letter every July. I'm pretty sure they assign me the worse intern ever. But I've spouted my thoughts on military medicine before. It shouldn't come as a surprise that I'm not a glowing fan.
Of course I've been operating in the bubble of I can't have "undefined demylenating disease" because no 2 neurologists can agree on it. Tricare denied the last MRI ordered since I can't have this disease, but the life insurance policy is written that I must have it because I don't have a recent MRI documenting non-progression. I guess I shouldn't feel too bad, they wouldn't insure JM, either. They were adding riders for all the kids and he's also uninsurable. And he's only 5, he's got a lifetime of this crap ahead of him. Hopefully.
He's told the school he wants to be Jon at the kindergarten testing day. He also told him his last name was Michael. The teacher left parents outside for the testing, but had to come out to ask me "uh, what is your son's name really?" because Jon Michael wasn't on the roster. I'm not sure what else they asked him. He told me they had him cut with scissors and tell them the colors. Well, heck.. he's great with scissors- did you give him hair and/or bedsheets to cut? he's awesome at getting alot of cuts in on those. Colors? well, I thought he knew them but he was trying to tell me his black shoes were white. I though he was kidding, but he was really insistent. He'll probably be in the drooly wheelchair kindergarten class til November, just like his mother was. (ha. I should write about that someday. And people wonder why I'm weird.)
Well this weirdness has had enough internet for the night. Ramble at you later...
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