Friday January 3rd 2024

Tweety, BSN, RN · Jan 3

Good morning!

It's really cold here too in the low 50's. We may see some freezing or near freezing temps in the coming days. I guess it's January, so I shouldn't complain but I miss those days of a last week in the 70's.

Roofing work continues. I hear hammering and work being done. Be glad when it's over. It's looking good compared to the old metal roof. A bit darker than I realized but I ordered them online without seeing in person, but I'm okay with it. Guess I'd better be since the shingles are on. LOL.

Next project is going to be fixing the ceiling in the garage where there was water damage and most of the leaking during the hurricane. Can't wait to hear how much that will cost.

Slept in an extra hour. Have the sheets in the wash and will do some other laundry and get ready for the weekend. I worked the floor the last two days and yesterday was much more busy. I had a period of when I had to hang blood, got a post op admission and a guy with a blood pressure of 200/100 that was angry about something. I got it done but was mocked by a coworker for "you're always running around like a chicken with your head cut off". Me: "it's called work". I had patients on opposite sides of the unit so I do tend to walk fast, but don't care what people think. LOL

Just got a bill for my flood insurance and it went up "only" $700 a year. Sheesh.

No Stars In My Eyes, LPN · Jan 3

I woke up at 6:45 AM and decided to get up and unlock the doors for SiL to come in without having to text me to get up and let her in (even though she has a key). I found Nannie sitting in her chair in the den, tossed a blanket over her and told her SiL would be here in a while to give her a shower, get her dressed, and take her over to the Day-Care Center. Made myself some coffee, came back upstairs and took my meds and went back to sleep. Momo didn't even bark when she arrived and I sort of heard a bit of noise from downstairs, but I didn't bark, either! Now I am awake and have reheated my coffee and added some more to the cup.

The onliest (!) thing I know I have to do is go to the bank to deposit the check BiL left for me yesterday. Have some other "shoulds" to take care of here, and I'm trying to summon some spit to do at least a few things....The thing is, lately, when I have a few small amounts of time granted to me, I am more inclined to be lazy and not attend to the things that linger right in my face. I am such an expert at eluding and ignoring due to my too-long residence here. I would like the time off to be OFF. Every single day begins and ends with Nannie. One day this too shall pass, and then I will be complaining about all the legalities of inheritance. Although I really like the neighborhood and the yard, this house is too much for me, and then what? I don't know. But thinking about all that now is not conducive to getting on with my day.

Seems like all I do is complain. Ugh. I don't even want to 'give up the time' it would take to get my hair trimmed and my nails re-done; how's THAT for resentment?! And I have that gift certificate for the Swedish massage and I don't even want to do that! Tsk, tsk. Oh well.

nursej22, MSN, RN · Jan 3

It's raining, again. We were going to drive up the river to a spot where the eagles like to congregate for the Winter, but neither one of us want to go stand in the rain. I've been working on a jigsaw puzzle instead. I really should tackle the dishes. I've been watching Hoarders on YouTube and I'm inspired to toss some stuff, but I need to do it when dh is out of the house. I did some last week and youngest ds was suspicious that I might toss his stuff and I thought, oh, jeez, not another one!

Yes, roofing is noisy! But a new roof looks so nice. Our auto and home insurance seem to go up yearly, too, but likely not as much as in Florida.

Stars, perhaps a little white lie to Chatty CG, like I don't want to be late for my appointment could help to cut her convo short? I really do think you need to go to the nail salon if for no other reason than to interact with non-in-law people. And please, do follow up with the massage, I love mine.

Joe, I am really bad about planning for the year. We have booked a camping trip in June, 2 night hotel at Mt. Rainier, and looking for more camping in August. And our trip in March. That seems like enough. Oh, and my 50th high school reunion is in September, but that is local.

Hi Annie and Dianah! I don't know about you all, but I am so over making cookies!

Ado Annie, ASN, RN · Jan 3

Hah! I tried making fudge last night and ended up with something more like chocolate gravy. Either I need to find/replace the candy thermometer or just use fudge recipes that don't require one. Soft ball, hard ball, no ball... who knows? Hubs and I were both craving something sweet but that didn't do the trick for me. The boys dug out marshmallows to dip in it. 🤷‍♀️

We have a bunch of sick staff and a steady census of around 6. I might be working tomorrow. We shall see.

We are bad about planning ahead. We can tell ourselves that it is partly due to taking care of Gma. But it's probably just us. I admire Joe's organization.

A high school friend recently friended me on Facebook and wants to meet for lunch. I haven't seen her in years and honestly thought she'd written me off. So it feels a little funny but I could always enjoy a friend.

Editorial Team / Admin · Jan 4

nursej22 said:

Hi Annie and Dianah! I don't know about you all, but I am so over making cookies!

Surprisingly, I am doing OK with it this year. I changed how I am doing it: I prepare the dough and refrigerate it in used Cool Whip containers (one batch of dough fits into two containers). Then I can bake as needed. Baking half the dough (one container) -- which means I roll out dough to small balls and roll each dough ball in granulated sugar, then place on ungreased cookie sheet -- takes about an hour. It feels a lot more do-able than what I used to do: make the cookie dough and expect to roll the cookies, and bake 'em, ALL all once!