First things first.. I am not normally one to quote Homer Simpson, but I felt it was truly appropriate in this situation. Now.. A few weeks ago, Elijah was making microwave popcorn. It's one of his favorite things - to make. He makes it regularly, but eats it rarely. Anyhoo.. while he was making it, the microwave decided to do some "snap, crackle, pop" thing - and then it ROARED! I kid you not.. After this, it didn't work anymore. I was so angry! We bought this thing less than a year ago! We searched and searched for the receipt so we could return it, but didn't find it. (note to self, keep receipts of such items in a logical location in the future) We thought we were just stuck with a broken microwave and would have to just buy another one. I called GE (the manufacturer of my microwave) and asked if I had any recourse. Without question, they sent a technician out to our house to investigate since. Since it was less than a year old, it was still under warranty. I was so impressed with GE. The technician was there in a matter of hours and let me know that the microwave was defective and I would be getting a new one.. wow! GE really stands behind their product! That brings me to the "DOH!".
The delivery guy showed up yesterday to bring my new appliance and retreive the defective one. He was a very nice and very tall young man. Let me set this scene a bit.. In our hall we have a small brass and glass light fixture. Typical 1979 light fixture... As the delivery guy was leaving the house, he walks in to the light fixture in the foyer and hits his head.. Now.. he wasn't running, he didn't hit with any great force - but this impact somehow led him to fall out smooth on the foyer floor!!!! I gasped! Sadly, not out of concern for this delivery guy - but because it was so over the top dramatic, I nearly laughed!! "are you SERIOUS?" I wanted to ask... I was speechless as this large specimen of a man rolled around on my foyer floor as though he had just been smacked in the face with a crow bar! "um.. are you okay?" - I said - REALLY trying not to laugh.. "oh, my.. where did THAT come from?" he said... I wanted to go "Dude, it's not that heavy - it couldn't have hurt that bad".. but he got up, said he was okay, rubbed his head, and staggered out the door. As soon as the door closed and said delivery guy got in his van, I cracked up laughing in my foyer wishing that someone else had been there to witness the spectical. That said.. I have my new microwave, it works like a charm. I hope the delivery guy is okay. ha ha
DOH!
Home
I am so happy to be home today. I miss being here when I work, but I am thankful to be working again. I like my job quite a bit, but don't like seeing some of the things I see up there. We saw a little girl yesterday who was five and who had been molested by her father. Such a sweet little girl and something so horrible. I think as a society we try to tune out stuff like that and pretend it happens to other people. Sort of like cancer. That happens to other peoples kids - not mine. When you are slapped in the face with the reality of how harsh our world is, it makes you really appreciate your family and your home. I am thankful for this haven. I am thankful for having reached a point where we are able to deal with what is happening with Elijah's health instead of the overwhelming emotions that came with the newness of it all. Don't get me wrong - it's still hard and very overwhelming, I just feel like we are better equipped to deal with it. Especially since we tackle everything as a family - together and unified.
Strange Dreams
I have been having some of the wackiest dreams lately. In the past few dreams I have had, I have been pregnant or had a baby. The baby that I had was a little boy who looked exactly like Eli when he was born only this baby had black hair. Elijah's hair was golden blonde when he was born. We had this baby and I told Britt that he looked just like Elijah and that he had Britt's nose. I have also been dreaming about the house that I lived in with Hannah's dad a lot. Dreams that the house still belongs to me and I am going to fix it up and move in to it. In my dream from last night, I was pregnant and staying in a trailer on the land while I remodeled the house. Very strange stuff, indeed. A friends husband (who I have only met once for about 2 minutes) was helping with the remodeling work. I don't want to have another baby and I definitely don't want to live in that house again, so I wonder why I am having these dreams. I keep thinking it has something to do with building stuff, changing, growth, rebirth - something along those lines. It's either that or I need to stop snacking so late at night. ha!
Good Week
Work flew by this weekend.. I say weekend, but it was Thursday, Friday, Saturday and Sunday. It's crazy some of the stuff that we see in the ER. The shifts go by very quickly and for the most part, I really like most of the people I work with. There is one nurse that I don't care for. She just never smiles and no matter how nice I am to her, she is just very short and acts as though she is bothered by everything. To me, you have to have a bit of pleasantry about your demeanor to be a pediatric nurse. I guess that's just me. For the most part, everyone up there is really great and fun.
Valentine's Day was lovely. Britt surprised me with a bath stuff, chocolates, a balloon and a beautiful card.. It was waiting for me when I got home. I took advantage of some quiet time and relaxed in the bath until he got home.. Then we went out to dinner. It was very nice.
I am going to try and get the house in order this week. Thursday and Friday I don't have to be at work until 11:30 so I don't have to get up so early on those days. Today I really want to lay in bed all day because I am worn out from working - but I won't. I am going to get laundry going and do school work with Elijah in a bit.
I have a huge list of things that need to be done.. I guess I will just start marking them off one by one. :)
peace
So far so good
I am really liking working again. My job is interesting and the shifts go by really fast. I have to admit that I am not used to working 40 hours anymore - it really wore me out, but in a good way. I need some healthy snacks to take to work so I am not so tempted to hit the cafeteria or the vending machines. I have stayed away from the vending machine completely - but have visited the cafe a few times. Mostly for diet coke.
So far, my Lenten committment is going well. I decided that pizza crust didn't count as long as it was thin crust. (ha!) Other than that, I have done a great job of avoiding bread. I have eaten salads where I would normally get a burger or a sandwich. Britt and the kids went to Wendy's the other day and were going to bring me lunch to work. I had a baked potato and some chili while they had chicken sandwiches. I think this will be a good move for me all around. Bread is something that I love dearly, so it's definitely a sacrifice and will hopefully teach me that I DO have willpower. I am secretly hoping it helps with my snug scrub dillema as well.
Can I tell you how much I LOVE wearing scrubs to work??? It's like getting to go to work in your comfy pj's, if you ask me.
Elijah has scans coming up. I feel really positive about those. I just know in my heart they will be clean scans. He is doing really great.
Snug Scrubs
I start my new job in the ER tomorrow. I have to admit I am incredibly nervous!! What if I have forgotten my work ethic? ha ha. One would look at my house and argue that yes, I have indeed forgotten my work ethic. I went to try on my scrubs and lay everything out for work tomorrow.. My scrubs are fitting a tad bit more snug than what I remember!!!! WTF? For a split second, I started to be shocked that they were more snug than they were several months ago, but then I remembered that I have not really been as good as I should have been with my dieting. A friend brought some frosted sugar cookies to Elijah at the hospital today. You know the kind I mean? The ones that are about an inch thick and then have that wonderful icing on top of them? Those cookies are one of my absolute favorite treats... I couldn't resist them. I ate two today. I have no idea how many calories are in one of those puppies, but they are pretty heavy. I guess I will just say ignorance is bliss on this one. I did get some nice healthy soup to take to work tomorrow to eat for my lunch.
I have decided to give up bread for Lent. I decided this, and then started arguing with myself as to what would clasify as "bread". I have decided obvious sliced bread, loaves of bread, biscuits, rolls, buns, etc. Definitely all count as bread. But then I thought, what about cake, cookies, tortillas (I LOVE tortillas)and pizza crust? Doest THAT count as bread? The cake, cookies and pizza crust I can probably (maybe) do without.. but tortillas???? Britt said maybe if it were just corn tortillas, it wouldn't really count as bread... sigh. It's all about sacrifice,, I guess.. so I will give up tortillas as well. I forgot and had croutons on my salad tonight, but that was before I truly defined what I was going to qualify as bread.. After all, I did eat cookies today, so the croutons were minor compared to the cookie feast. Maybe by doing this for Lent, next week my scrubs will fit a tiny bit more loosely. :)
Today
Today is my 9th Wedding Anniversary. Today would have also been my mom's 54th Birthday. 9 years ago Britt and I got married in the court house on our lunch break and then we both went back to work for the rest of the day. I called my mom to tell her what we were doing and let her know that we would be coming up to share her birthday with her when we got off work. When we got there, she had a lovely cake and champagne for us to celebrate our marriage. Our cake topper was "true mom" form. She had a bottle of elmer's glue and it had a label on it that she had printed "HOPE THIS ONE STICKS". Well, Mom. So far it has. It has even though we have been through more trials than most married folks I know. Perhaps that's why it stuck. Britt probably knows I would have fallen apart long ago had it not been for him. Less than two months after we were married and shared our happy day with my mom, she died. She had been sick for a while, but was doing well so her death was very unexpected. I was at work when it happened. Britt took off work, came to get me, and held my hand while I cried all the way to the hospital. I thought for sure that was going to be the most horrific thing we would ever have to face as a married couple. Not true - although it is in the top two on my list. Not too long after my mom died, we had to fight in court for Cody. This was so trying for Britt. Very emotional. Then we got pregnant... (well, I did but he had a little to do with it). When we found out we were going to have a baby, we decided to move to a bigger house. Not too long after we moved, our house was broken in to. They took so many things.. Our camera with pictures of Britt's 30th Birthday party, his watch, computer, tv, vcr. We felt so invaded. It took a long time for us to get over that trauma. We moved to Fayetteville when Elijah was 3 so Britt could finish school. Finish school he did - and we moved back to Little Rock to get started on what we thought was going to be life with drama put behind us. Then Elijah got sick. Our precious baby was diagnosed with every parents nightmare. Cancer. How is this possible? I would get so angry and think to myself "don't you think we have been through enough?". Worst part is, Elijah is the one who has to suffer the most with this. I think Britt and I would gladly take it away from him and suffer it ourselves if we could. He is such a wonderful Father and Husband. I am truly Blessed to be married to him and I KNOW I would have crumbled years ago had it not been for him, his love and his support. As to why he puts up with me, I have yet to figure that one out.. ha! Maybe it's because I laugh at his jokes - ha! Either way, I am so glad to be married to this man. I pray for many many more years of complaining about his snoring and having him make me laugh every day.