I really shouldn't complain

Do you ever feel like something is passing you by? I feel very blessed and fortunate for everything I have. For my husband, my family, my friends, my home, my entire life situation, I cannot (or shouldn't) complain.

I am even blessed to live in Sunny California where I never have to worry about weather ruining my plans for the day. But sometimes, I just want it to rain. I want my plans to be ruined because of rain. All day today it teased me making wish and pray that it would rain. I'm not asking for much. I just want a steady rain. Maybe even some sprinkles. I was excited to wake up and see a cloudy sky and learn that it had rained lightly through the night. Some parts of the sky were darker than others, but then I realized that the sky right above us was always the least likely to rain. It seems that the 2 mile radius around our house is the last place to get any rain. All around were dark, rain looking clouds, but right above us was pretty blue or light overcast grey. The rain clouds never came and just passed us by. Grrr!

Now watch, it will be raining on my way to work tomorrow and I won't be able to enjoy the rain. There is something about the hospital that feels like a vacuum. The world could be ending outside and the only way I would know is if they were sending the overflow of wounded to my floor and I wouldn't be able to get any of my patients to CT or MRI. So I don't count it as a successful rain if it rains on the days I work or at night when I can't hear it.

Initiative 957

Have you heard about initiative 957 in Washington? This article explains it pretty well:
http://seattletimes.nwsource.com/html/localnews/2003558717_nokids06m.html

At first I thought, "Whose crazy idea is it to make it a law that you must have children after 3 years of marriage or your marriage would no longer be valid?" Then I looked into it and realized that they aren't as serious about the initiative being passed as they are serious about proving a point. They are trying to prove that a court ruling saying homosexual couples could not be married because they are unable to procreate. Therefore they are saying that procreation is the only reason for a marriage and therefore anyone not having children within 3 years of marriage, would no longer be married. Who decided on three years? I guess its because, as if the initiative isn't crazy enough, 3 years is even more of a crazy statement. Based on this initiative, our almost 5 year marriage would be invalid. Crazy!

Happy Valentine's Day

Unfortunately I have to work tomorrow (Valentine's Day). The nice thing is we've been celebrating Valentine's Day for a few weeks now thanks to me. Let me explain...

Nathan told me at the end of January that he was excited about the gift he had gotten me for Valentine's and said it would be coming in the mail in the next week. About a week later, a package arrived from thinkgeek.com. I was curious to see what Nathan had gotten off of this geeky website. So I opened it. Inside was the shirt shown above. As soon as I saw the pink chocolate molecule, I knew it was for me. I thought, "How cute, Nathan randomly bought me a gift." So, I decided to wash it and put it on so I would be wearing it when he came home. He walks in the door, chuckles and says "I see you found your Valentine's Day gift" Oops.

An Inconvenient Truth

We finally saw "The Inconvenient Truth." If you are confused about global warming and the effects it can have and has already had, I highly recommend it. I have never seen anything that puts it into a more simple, yet intellectual explanation.

Instead of plugging in my laptop to make this a most perfect post, I will keep this post short and save energy by letting the battery die.

You Get What You Pay For

We have been wanting to purchase a new toaster oven for awhile. We finally decided this week to get one. This way Nathan could take our old one to work and have more options for lunch. We searched around and found one at Target that was on clearance. The price was extremely good, it was larger, had two racks inside, was deeper, and had a timer. It seemed too good to be true, but because it was what we wanted and half of what we wanted to pay, we went for it.

We got it home, plugged it in, and gave it a whirl. Then we figured out why it was on clearance. There is a power light that obviously tells you when it is on and working. Above that power light are the letters "poewr." Love it!

The Small Stuff

Working as a pediatric oncology nurse, I have big things to get excited about; Someone goes into remission. Another one completes their treatment. Someone finds a bone marrow transplant donor. These are the obviously big, exciting things. Then there are the little things that are just as exciting in the moment. For example, when a patient the other day was having abdominal pain. I knew he hadn't stooled in 2 days, so I convinced him to sit on the toilet and try. He had a HUGE success (if you know what I mean). I was excited because it was a basic thing that made the discomfort go away.

Then yesterday, I admitted a little baby for anemia, fevers and vomiting. They ordered a nasopharyngeal wash (flushing your nasal passage with saline and aspirating it back out to send it for a culture) They also ordered a urine culture by placing a urinary catheter to collect a sterile specimen since a little baby can't do a "clean catch" in a cup. These are two of my least favorite things to do, so I was neither excited nor eager to get them done. However, I wanted to get them done before night shift arrived because I would not want this passed on to me. So, I had two nurses help hold. The nasopharyngeal wash went smoothly. Then came the catheter. I set up my sterile field, the other two were holding her in position. I cleaned the area, and as I'm reaching for the catheter, she starts to urinate in a perfect, beautiful arch. So, we placed the specimen cup under the stream and we got our "clean catch" sample without needing to put the catheter in!! This seriously made my day. And even though she isn't aware, she made her own day being that she didn't have to go through the trauma of having a catheter! I love getting excited over the small stuff.