Little Miss Homemaker

Prior to resigning from my full time position at the pediatric clinic I currently work PRN shifts for I worked 40 hours a week, was a full-time graduate student in the family nurse practitioner program, and the maid/cook/newly-wed to DrH who works 50+ hours a week and every other Saturday.

I resigned because I realized there were not enough hours in the day to
0600 - Wake up
0615 - Shower
0645 - Ready for work
0700-coffee in a to-go container
0715 - in the car headed to work
0755 - arrive at work
0800 - checking open orders, preparing for the patent daily schedule (attempting to find any possible way to make my doctor and my day any easier!)
0815 - work day begins full force (most day some days its earlier)
0815-1155 - run like a chicken with your head cut off, triage patients, give 10230928 shots, answer/make 1209 phone calls and referrals, 234089 medicaid referrals filled out/faxed/appointments made.
1200-1300 - lunch, scarfed down in attempt to make time to study.
1300-1315 - back from lunch 15 minutes early to make sure I am prepared for afternoon patient load.
1315 - 1655 - refer to 0815 and repeat (add DrH text messages asking whats for dinner x2 - as if i have time to stop and think about whats for dinner)
1700 - check with doctor to make sure nothing else needs to be addressed. (if doctor is on call doc that day - list continues until 1730.
1730-1830 - drag myself to the car and make the 45 minute drive home
1915-1930 arrive home (includes picking up the dog from daycare)
 1930-2030 - scramble around the house trying to decide what to cook for dinner, prep something for dinner, wipe down counter from husbands attempt to prepare himself some sort of breakfast before running out the door, load or unload the dishwasher, husband arrives home (takes scrub top off and lays it in the kitchen, sits in chair and takes off shoes and socks and lies them on the floor asking whats for dinner).
2030-2100 - make myself and DrH plates, eat, watch a few minutes of tv while eating.
2100-2130 - clean up dinner dishes, container leftovers, load dishwasher, wipe down counters, sweep.
2130-2230 - attempt to study or complete any due assignments.
2230 - kiss DrH on the cheek and retire to bed (unable to hold eyes open any longer)

repeat this x5 days Mon-Fri

Saturday - Sunday
0900 - DrH is up and watching tv or preparing to "work in the yard"
0915 - make myself coffee and wonder why every muscle in my body seems achy while wiping down counters after DrH and loading/unloading dishwasher.
1000 - check courses for any emails messages
1030 1200 - work on any assignments (continual interruptions by DrH - he's missing his nurse apparently)
1200 - DrH "whats for lunch" try to work on assignments while worrying about what to cook for lunch
1200-1300 - lunch prepared and eaten
1300-1600- attempt to study/work on assignments (continual interruptions by Dr.H - he's still missing his nurse) do at least 1 load of laundry, sweet the kitchen/living room, and DrH "whats for dinner"
1600-1800 - fold laundry, return phone calls, return text messages that iv missed all day and attempt to decide what to and cook dinner (or wave the white flag and suggest dinner out)

Dinner out = DrH "where do you want to go" Me "i dont know where do you want to go" DrH "not it you decide" this happens for at least 30 minutes before i give in and pick something.

Sunday - repeat saturday however include all remaining laundry, sheets/bedding, mopping, bathrooms, vaccuming, dusting and a mandatory Sunday Graduate Assignment that could take anywhere from 1hr-3hrs to complete!

DrH was still sure he worked harder than me. Apparently, because you make more money you work harder.

Prior to getting married this week repeated itself however it included planning a wedding with an extended guest list in a town I was unfamiliar with, cleaning/laundry for DrH home and my home. Was diagnosed with Left Sided Heart/Diastolic Heart Failure (r/t chemotherapy/BMT), Hypothyroidism (r/t to radiation), and Menopause (yes, at 28yrs old - r/t chemotherapy/BMT) - so, factoring in the necessary doctors appointments and new medications - I was pushing over the edge.

I definitely needed to make the decision to resign as I had burnt out at both ends!

Now, apparently because I am no longer working 40 hours a week I am suppose to allieviate DrH of all duties other than going to and coming home from work. Naturally, "working in the yard" is his duty bc its his hobby, but you've got to be kidding me right?? I resigned from full time work to reach SANITY and DrH wants to add 40+ hours of his duties onto my lap. Am I the only one who thinks this is WRONG!?!? DrH constantly reminds me of what he endured through residency to get where he is, but apparently he has forgotten how intense the studies prior to it were!

My rant for the day. I better get back to deciding "what is going to be for dinner".

Vroom Vroom

A couple of weeks ago my husband made the comment that he though he needed to purchase a car that he could drive daily back and forth to work and that would get better gas mileage than his current large diesel truck. I was thinking less than $10,000 dollars (naturally, right?) Well, he started researching all these different cars, and suddenly every car he was showing me looked like it belonged on the fast-and-furious and should have been painted in a lime green color.  Hatchbacks, really!??! BLAH!
So, now that everyone knows how I feel about these cars (smirk) I will say that it is HIS car.  Well, now I am going to be obliged to drive this car if for some reason my (8 year old SUV takes a crap) until it can be fixed.

Last night he comes to me with a Mazda 3 hatchback, and suddenly we have gone from a USED car to a NEW car. We have gone from that $10,000 dollar purchase to now a $24,000 dollar car!! Wow, am I crazy or is it the double X Chromosome that makes me worry about big money purchases. Yes, my husband has worked very hard and sacrificed to get to where we are today and should be able to purchase a second car if he would like; however, I am a little sketchy about this. Maybe because about the same time he mentioned this get-around-car we also discussed that my SUV (8 years 150k miles and counting) has seen better days and is ready to go to that car-home in the sky, we are constantly fixing things on it and it gets TERRIBLE gas mileage. It did its job, it got me through college & endless trips back and forth for cancer treatments and even my first year 1/2 of the "big-girl" career. We looked at Hyundai's and Mercedes; however, I am naturally drawn to the large sedans as I swore when I made the jump from a Mustang Convertible to an SUV I would never go back, and now that I am going back I can't bear the thought of being "squished" like the nutty-professor gone wrong in a little bitty car. I have also tried to consider the future and children and a car that would be large enough to get a car-seat in and out of, that would be safe for a child, and that my family would be comfortable commuting 8 hours round-trip every weekend during football season.

I suppose I am going to actually have to give in and test drive both. Oh well, hopefully I'll be posting a photo of a new car (or 2 cars) soon! Wish us luck :)

2012 Mercedes E class

  VS  2012 Hyundai Equus

Good Eats

My husband and I started the "eat healthy" journey at the beginning of the ear. Its not necessarily a diet (although we both need to lose a significant amount of weight) but we just wanted to "feel better". We started eating all white meats/fish and very little red meats (every now and then). We also started grilling everything, even our vegetables. Now all we find ourselves eating is grilled chicken/fish and grilled squash/zucchini. I am so bored with it!!! We have done kabobs and salads, but I have run completely out of ideas. This is pushing me back to comfort foods that we all know how to cook and know how to cook well without spending hours scouring the internet looking for healthy recipes, and then wondering where we're supposed to find all these random ingredients (mainly spices/sauces) that we dont have at our local grocery store. I have decided that I am going to start a recipe tab on my blog to share those recipes I find. I would love for everyone else to share their recipes and ideas as well.

Let me just say I am so excited as well that its spring/summer and fruit is in season! 

 To celebrate I will be making one of these Peach Raspberry Smoothies today!

SOAP NOTE HELL

I truly believe I have found myself in S.O.A.P note hell and constantly asking myself "what in the world have I gotten myself into" and craving a glass of wine.  Our last assignment was to watch an OSCE video, and to complete a clinic note (from what I could actually see).  So, my first rant - the video was in 3 parts each 20 minutes long. Who in the world has a 60 minute OSCE (sign me up for that program) because we have 25 minutes with a 5 minute break before moving on to the SECOND encounter that is also 25 minutes. Secondly, the chief complaint must "yearly checkup", seriously?! I am sitting here scouring Bates, Pagana & Pagana, for the appropriate care r/t to a chief complaint of something as vague as "headache" or "jaundice" or "unintentional weight loss" and this kid gets "yearly checkup"!!  Lastly, I couldn't see 3/4 of the things he was doing as his back was to the camera and he didn't say them all out loud so yes i can ASSUME he was palpating/percussing the liver. Ok, now that I have shared rants ... I am left completing this assignment. I spent 4 hours yesterday looking up the name of tests and medical terminology to fill in the ROM of the note (that i completed from intake forms the patients were given). Talk about feeling like a moron, but I am not sure I have ever had to chart the medical term for occasional muscle weakness and so on). I wont even start to rant about how many times I wish I would have just dove into medical school 10 years ago rather than nursing and now NP but life apparently had other plans for me, and so here I am. I honestly think we were given this assignment to have us scour the pages of Bates ... at this point I am pretty sure I have read nearly EVERY page in that book. Still, I feel a tad bit clueless. The only abnormality I found was that my patient had a BP indicative of stage one hypertension and a family hx. So, 3 pages worth of Subjective & Objective information gets me 1. Yearly Checkup 2. Hypertension ..... my treatment plan will be next to nothing. My conclusion, our instructors have absolutely NO faith in our assessment skills (sigh) and I am starting to agree!!

17 days and counting until the dreaded OSCE and I still have to find time to practice a few vaginal exams on the plastic pelvis before we're asked to complete one on the spot (i am still trying to figure out who says as a child "when i grow up I want to be the vaginal exam practice patient") but thankful for them i suppose. Not sure who id rather be the vaginal exam volunteer or the prostate exam volunteer?? Hahha, i'll get back to my studies on that note.

Lottery

Welp, I woke up this morning a non-lottery winner, what a shame.  It's my prayer today that the people who won "apparently there are 3 winning tickets" do good with the monies they've won. I have been lagging serious energy today. I rolled out of bed at 10am, managed to drag myself to my Keurig "lifesaver" and then to the couch. After 2 cups of coffee I found the push to make it to the grocery store. We'll be having grilled ribeyes, sweet potato for me and baked potato for the husband, and sauteed asparagus. I think I am going to make some mexican corn dip to snack on in the mean time. Its gorgeous outside, and I am so glad we got the new outdoor umbrella for our patio table, its perfect to sit under and blog. Now, to get my husband to buy me the hammock I have had my eye on.

I am almost 100% sure that this will be me tomorrow when I have to come to terms with the fact that I indeed did not win the $640 million dollar Mega Millions Lottery and instead am $50.00 poorer as a result of optimism. 

 Majority of my Facebook friends have been posting their "winning" tickets on facebook and updating their status with chatter about how they'd spend the money. Funny, I can honestly say I have NO idea how I would spend it other than to pay it forward as much as possible. Let's think about this after taxes you'd be looking at approximately 200ish million dollars, I mean if we're being realistic here "and we're not since I am delusional and think I stand a chance of winning" no one could spend that much money in their lifetime without just GIVING it away.  Although I am unsure of how I would spend it I am sure that I would NEVER know a person in need.


I must admit that I did meet a very sweet lady standing in line (that wrapped around the store and out the door to the parking lot). She was elderly, retired elementary school teacher, and artist. She told me about how she lost her husband several years ago and chose to retire soon after, how she had traveled to Scotland, and how she now paints canvas rugs for homes as a hobby. She had $20 dollars to buy her lottery tickets, and we chuckled together as neither one of us really knew how all the lottery business worked, how to pick the numbers, or really which tickets to ask for. I mentioned that I had once been to Ireland & Scotland which sparked further conversation about my career while in nursing school. She was one of those rare souls, so sincere, so sweet, and just plain genuine. If I were to win I'd definitely make it my mission to find her - she'd my first "pay it forward".