someday i want a wii of my very own

Today was pretty nice. I got to sleep in a little bit and then just as I was about to start leisurely getting ready for work, I got a phone call saying it was super slow so they were just going to put me on call. I have a feeling that I could have argued my way into going in but I think sometimes it's just better to go with the flow. Especially when it means an unexpected day off!

I unpacked some more stuff, organized things a little bit, did some laundry... K came over after he was done working for a little while which was definitely a nice and unexpected plus of the day. We went over to my parent's house and played with their new Wii and ate pizza and drank margaritas. It was a lot of fun having a nice low-key kind of evening.

The other day I went to Weight Watchers and while I was standing in line waiting for my turn to step on the scale, I got my little booklet and stuff out. Then I realized I hadn't been in a month. This bummed me out because I really had no idea that it had been an entire month. I gained three pounds, which by itself isn't a huge deal. I can work that right off my booty in a couple of weeks as long as I stay on top of everything again. I am more dissappointed by the fact that I let an entire month go by without counting points or weighing in without even realizing it. I feel like this is something I do to myself a lot and I have no idea how to break that pattern.

Yesterday was fun too though. Sushi for my dad's birthday celebration, playing Wii games, and running around with my niece and nephew making them laugh hysterically. I don't know what it is exactly, but I have ALWAYS been able to make my niece laugh harder for longer than I've seen others do. Not that I'm the only one she likes to play with, but it makes my heart so happy to run around with her and have her shrieking with laughter like that. It'll make me smile for a week just to remember it for a minute.

All in all, things are good albeit a tiny bit boring. Sometimes that's not really so bad though. :)

i hate ants.

I grew up in California where the bugs are annoying but not malicious. Now I'm in Texas and I have to say that quite frankly it pisses me off that little teeny tiny ants bite. And it freaking hurts when they do! And what is the point of them biting me? All that happens is that I cuss at them and then totally squish them. And these are not even fire ants. These are a handful of black ants wandering around here and there in my apartment. They're all going to die next Tuesday though.

I only feel this violently towards ants, don't worry.

a 10 hour saturday at work

Yesterday I worked a 10 hour shift. I don't know exactly how this happened or what I was thinking when I said it'd be fine because last night I was seriously exhausted. Luckily it wasn't a very busy day, just lots of cleaning and wiping people's butts because I was part secretary but mostly nurse's aide. I seriously love the two nurses that I worked with yesterday. I don't think I could work on a Saturday with the other set of nurses that work on the weekends together, but anytime these two needed me, I'd do it again. Even knowing how ridiculously tired I will be at the end of the night.

There was one patient who was this sweet old lady who was getting a blood transfusion. She was a little bit confused, but not completely out of it. Her brother actually brought her in for the transfusion and we got her all comfortable in a recliner with the tv on in a spot right by the nurse's station in case she got extra confused and needed a little more attention. I had to take vital signs every hour and every time she had something new to tell me that made giggle a little bit. One time I went to start getting her blood pressure and she said "Well, Kennedy is resting comfortably, let's hope the rest of us are." It was kind of an astute observation. Then the patient in the slot next to hers starting moaning again because he was in pain (and to be honest, a bit of a drama queen), and she frowned and then said "Well, Kennedy is resting comfortably, let's hope the rest of us are." This made me want to laugh like crazy, but I just smiled and asked her if I could get her anything at all.

Later on I went to take her vital signs and realized her pants were hanging over the little garbage can. I have no idea when exactly it happened, but she had an accident and just took her pants off and laid them in the trash can. She was still sitting in her recliner and had a towel daintly draped across her crossed legs. At first glance, it seemed like she had just gotten cold, but it was definitely her pants in the trash can. I got her some scrub pants and gathered some wipes and stuff and went into her room.

"Mrs. R, do you need some clean pants?"

She took a peek under the towel and said "Why, I don't have any on, so I guess I do!"

I cleaned her all up, got her in the scrub pants, cleaned up the recliner and got her a fresh sheet and pillow. I told her to just let me know if she needed anything at all and she put her little hand on my arm and said "You're a good man, Charlie Brown."

Seriously, it's things like this that make me want to stay in the medical field forever. Little touches of compassion and patience go such a long way and it just makes me feel good to do something nice for someone, even if I know they probably won't even remember it tomorrow.

I definitely like days like yesterday better than the ones spent answering the phone with rude doctors on the other end who would like to know why I haven't read their minds yet.

...

There is something to be said for living in a place where the store brand jalapeno poppers are considerably more spicy than the name brand jalapeno poppers.

who knew you could fit so much into one kitchen?

I had a lot of moving help on Saturday and I got almost everything packed up and ready to go. I have some odds and ends here and there, things on the wall, and most of the kitchen left to bring to the new place. I've done two trips where I had needed to take care of some other things and stopped by my old place and filled up my truck cab with stuff from the kitchen. Today I realized that this method is going to take forever. I need to go there after work tonight and just empty out all the cabinets and load up my truck and bring it all home. I will just have to wait to catch up on sleep and other things like setting up my gym routine again until next week when I only have one apartment in my name.

But I do have cable, internet, and phone. And something else that's awesome is I totally have an intrusion alarm on my apartment. Don't be trying to break in, EVERYONE will know! And, even with all the stuff I have left to do, I feel like half of my usual stress load has been lifted right off my shoulders. My new place already feels like home. Even with the boxes and the kitchen especially being in such disarray.

Yay for such a great move!

this is the most grown up looking apartment i've ever had

First of all I have to say my dad will be proud but probably shake his head at me when I tell him that I turned my computer on just to see if there were any unprotected wireless networks I could borrow for the day and immediately found on. I'm not going to cancel my own actual internet service or anything, but it sure is nice to sit and relax with some bloggin' before I get back to all the unpacking and figuring out what else I need to buy and when to do it and all of that madness. :)

My new apartment is fantastic. There is still some stuff in my old place and I still need to clean it up a little but I am going to be actually living at the new place from now (well, yesterday) on. The cool thing is that the people who helped me move think it is just as great as I do. It's extra fun when other people get excited with you about something you've done or bought or have looked forward to. I'm still working on putting all the furniture where it will really be and I have two items that I am starting to lean more and more towards getting rid of but I am a little hesitant to make that decision final. I don't know what to do with them though!

K was super grumpy last night and I have learned that sometimes it is better to just let him be when he's grumpy because then he'll eventually tell me what's bothering him. I used to ask him what was going on and he'd deny anything was on his mind and get even grumpier. You learn a lot about someone in two years of dating I suppose. Anyway, something that I admire about him that annoys me at the same time is the fact he adjusts so well to his surroundings and circumstances that he rarely wonders what things would be like if they were different. I am envious in some ways because until very recently I've had one foot out the door at all times. With jobs, with where I've lived, with relationships in some ways, just in everything. I often have to tell myself to only do one thing at a time so I can have time to actually enjoy just where I'm at instead of staring off wistfully into the distance wondering what's coming up next. K doesn't really do that. A little bit, sure, but he's never spent an afternoon thinking about which foriegn country he would most like to live in for a year and thought of a possible way to make it happen. I think that's fun to do sometimes.

Something I did not know that he explained to me was that he just simply doesn't like change. He doesn't like having to get to know a new area. He doesn't like things being different. Even if the new thing is better, he just doesn't like it at first. So he's grumpy because I moved. We have to get to know a different neighborhood and find new little hole in the wall places to eat close to my apartment. He has to drive a different way to work. My apartment looks different. The stuff in the kitchen is going to be in different spots. I'm glad he knows exactly why he is grumpy and decided to tell me, but I'm just hoping he'll get over it soon. Especially because I am super stoked to be here and I think this was a fantastic decision and move in a lot of different ways.

There's a lot of stuff I need to take care of to be able to just go to bed tonight and go to work tomorrow without jumping through ten different hoops to get ready. Plus, my mom is cooking salmon tonight. I could make it myself, but I've had a hankering for it for awhile and I can't make it for myself any old time and have dinner with my grandmother at the same time. It's a good deal all around to hang out with the fam tonight. :)

weight watchers unofficial update

Oh yeah! I forgot to mention that I have lost 10 pounds through Weight Watchers so I got my second little star sticker. I love stars so this works out extra well for me. :)

My clothes are fitting better, I feel better, and I feel motivated to keep on going.

The other day at work, someone commented that I look different from my name badge picture. I started talking about how my hair is different and she politely listened and then said "No, I mean it looks like you've lost some weight."

Yay!

i could make an AWESOME fort in my living room right now

I'm moving on Saturday! I am very excited about this. I have lived in my current place for a year and nine months and it's been fine, but I'm really looking forward to the new apartment. It's closer to work and it's a tiny bit bigger and a tiny bit cheaper. The price difference is enough to cover my cell phone bill so that's cool with me. The kitchen and the bathroom are a little bit smaller than in my current placce, but I'd rather have a bigger living area in exchange so that's cool. Plus, the bathroom is not actually in my bedroom, which again, not a big deal but so nice for it to be that way.

Before the exciting part of moving everything in and deciding where everything goes and then making plans to invite people over for dinner and a movie night or just to hang out for a bit, I have to finish pack everything up and get it moderately organized so the people that have so graciously agreed to help don't find the whole task to be arduous. I hate packing. I really seriously do. I don't even really like packing for small trips. I either end up with too much or too little. You'd think packing everything I own would be fun because it's a good opportunity to evaluate whether or not I really need all this stuff, but no. It's a pain in my ass.

The packing does lead to unpacking which I am a fan of. I like getting to decide where everything goes and making a new place feel like home. I'm excited to explore my new neighborhood and find where the good grocery story and Target are and all of that stuff. Should be good times!

10 things I thought about last week

1. I am getting burnt out at work and therefore need to take a couple of weeks that I only work 40 hours. I'm not quite sure when that will happen exactly, but I think Monday is a good day to sit down and talk to my boss about putting it on the calendar.

2. Apartment hunting is a huge pain in the ass. First of all, you have to find places to go look at. Then you need to figure out if it's worth your time to actually go to the complex and walk around and whatnot. Sometimes when you call, you find out the office people work on commission because you can't get them to give you a straight answer on whether or not the size apartment you want is available and they suggest coming in within the hour to make sure their "last one until July" is snatched up.

3. I think I have a place to move into now though. I'll know for sure in a couple of days and I'm not super worried but I sure would like it to be for reals so I can stop looking through the little books and at web sites and making phone calls. Also I need a good solid motivating factor to pack and go through my crap to make sure I really want to take it with me. Any input on living on the first floor vs the third floor is greatly appreciated!

4. There is no proper way to try to explain to your boyfriend why working 50 hours a week is so different than working 35 hours a week without sounding like a self-important or self-absorbed jerk.

5. My legs hurt like a mofo earlier this week and my back is killing me this weekend. I think ordering new work shoes online was the smart thing to do. Hopefully they make a marked difference quickly because I can't think of anything else to fix the problem. I would like to avoid taking various pain killer medicines every day if at all possible.

6. I feel as though I am perpetually grumpy.

7. Sometimes I feel like a jerk for not really wanting to do stuff with people from work on the weekends based mostly on the fact that I just want a freaking break from that place on the two days I don't get paid to care about what happens at the hospital. The work weeks have been rough for the last few months and I don't want to talk about it at all on Saturday and Sunday because I HAVE to talk about it Monday through Friday. But some of the people I work with are really lovely and I feel like I'm missing out by not hanging out with them when they invite me. I don't know.

8. It's Fiesta time in San Antonio. I don't really know anything about it.

9. My family is a really great group of people. Even the extended members that sometimes frustrate me because I don't understand where they are coming from and they don't understand where I am coming from either make me feel lucky to be a part of my family.

10. As soon as I can do it without sacrificing groceries or gas for it, I'm ordering some sort of acne dissappearing kit and the good kind of makeup from Sephora. And maybe some Philosophy bodywash/bubble bath. I am at the beginning stages of desperately needing to feel like a pretty and moderately pampered girl again.

wednesday wonders

Happy things!

...going to the gym after work. It's late and maybe a little scary walking back out into the parking lot, but it feels so great to sweat off stress and frustration and get my heart in a tiny bit better shape. The new plan is three times a week no matter what! So far, so good. :)
...vodka tonics. My new favorite drink when I am in a drink having mood.
...free boxes from Starbucks and the hospital.
...getting pretty close to knowing where I'm going to move to.
...dinner with K and my parents on Sunday night. The Thai food was delicious. How can you not love coconut milk curry?
...going to leave from dinner with K and my parents and then standing in the parking lot talking for another half hour. It is fantastic that my boyfriend is so comfortable around my family.
...having WW points at the end of the day after coming home from work and being able to have a nice little snack before bedtime. I feel like this is a habit I need to break at some point but right now as long as I'm within my points I think it's alright.
...eating ridiculous amounts of fruit. Do you know how delicious an orange is when you keep it in the fridge? It's fantastic. And if you haven't sliced the top off a kiwi and scooped it out with a spoon any time recently, go to the grocery store immediately.
...feeling more confident as a nurses's aide.
...laughing cow reduced fat spreadable cheese. I freaking love that stuff. And I love all the flavors. And I love that the last three times I've bought it I've had a coupon.
...coupons.
...I hate the circumstances, but I am ridiculously happy my dear friend Splenda is moving back to San Antonio in a month or so. It's going to be so kickass!
...good paychecks.
...making out with K.
...K calling me at work to tell me he misses me and he is getting kind of grumpy because he hasn't seen me in a few days. I'm sorry he's a grouch but I like knowing how much he loves me.
...air conditioning.
...Carmex.