Thursday January 9th 2025

No Stars In My Eyes · Jan 9

Joe, my plan for 2025 ....🤔? It is simplicity personified: merely to not implode. I don't need to write that down; I just need to grit my teeth and hang on to my watch because it's too late for my shoes.

This morning I went down to the kitchen to grab some coffee. I planned on taking my meds and getting back in bed to wait for them to talk to the arthritis discomfort. Well, the best laid plans of mice and men....and No Stars....

There was Nannie, sitting in her recliner: nekkid legs, no pj bottoms, a pair of pull-ups she put on sideways, so that her right hip had the absorbent side toward her and therefore was failing at its job, a semi-wet chux around her shoulders, and a towel in her lap. TA-DA! Wonderful self-care! But she did have the wherewithal to turn on the electric fireplace correctly, which is actually quite amazing.

I had to take her into the bathroom, wash her up and get her dressed properly. Then give her pills to her, which she has, for the past week, for some reason, had a lot of trouble swallowing. I have to instruct her (a useless proposition) on HOW to get the pills to go down when she swallows her juice. It takes her 5 ounces and then some to get them swallowed. I am contemplating crushing the tablets and mixing them in with applesauce. I'm sure the extra juice she has to drink to get them swallowed does no harm, but there she sits with her lips puckered and the tablets still on her tongue, and I can't walk away until those pills have gone down and she's not spitting them out!

Chatty CG will be here in 2 hours (that includes her 12-15 minutes late arrival) so I have covered Nannie with a blanket and told her I was going back to bed to rest my aching hips and knees. After all the activity, I doubt I can do anymore sleeping, but at least I can REST.

I am not planning on doing anything for today.....well, except the laundry, trash collection, and dishes! Otherwise I will just stay upstairs in my room. Will have to cover up the air-vent on the floor to muffle the sound of CG's chatting (spell-check or AI just changed my words again, this time from the word "chatting" to "chair")

Waiting to see what tomorrow afternoon's weather will actually deliver, starting in mid-day. Have heard it could be anywhere from "a dusting, to three inches of snow", which will have rain either over it or under it, creating an icey surface on the roads Saturday morning. Thankfully I do not have to go out and present myself as a target for other drivers.

Enough for now.....

No Stars In My Eyes · Jan 9

Been contemplating "somebody".....

Three songs came to mind:

"I Wanna Dance With Somebody" (Whitney Houston)

"Somebody to Love" (Queen")

"Somebody Done Somebody Wrong" (a Country Music song)

I'm not giving somebody, whomever you are, a difficult time; but, SOMEHOW I just can't help my runaway brain from yanking your chain. (Oooh! That sounds like a country song title, too!)

Ado Annie, ASN, RN · Jan 9

The snow fall started this morning, not sure exactly what time. I only know that when I drove to the hospital at 6:30 it was not snowy and when I left to pick up some Rid shampoo from a local pharmacy around 10(?) I had to brush snow off the car and the roads were snowy. Perhaps 3". It is still falling and is actually very pretty. Looks just like a Christmas card. You just have to not pay attention to the emergency lights from police cars, fire trucks, and ambulances because people don't know how to drive.

We had 7 patients to start the day (down to 5 now) and patch-worked people in to help on med/surg. I had a meeting I couldn't miss at 8 but by that time there were others available who could help. One new admission does indeed have lice, hence the trip to the pharmacy for Rid. It sounds as if another patient is being transferred to the big hospital. So we'll be down to 4.

When I walked in this morning, I was immediately flagged down by a nurse who has been helping out on med/surg. She was concerned about staff not following isolation precautions. I have tried to keep an eye on them but guess I will be more watchful. I really don't understand why medical professionals will (1) refuse vaccines AND (2) not take appropriate precautions when caring for sick people. They're all about wearing protection when they go in the room with the patient with lice! Anyway, the nurse was pointing out how many staff members have been sick (she's right). *sigh*. To be fair, our recent patients have included only 1 Covid and 1 flu (confirmed). But there are other respiratory viruses about (for which we don't REQUIRE droplet isolation but it's certainly permitted).

The fires in California are frightening. Someone I knew from high school lives out there and her husband is a firefighter. I saw that she posted a couple of days ago that he was home and safe for the time being.

I'm feeling distracted today. Ate junk from the vending machine because I didn't want to go out in the snow or cause some poor door-dasher to have to go out in the snow. I had been thinking about making some chili and bringing it in with a crockpot. Today would have been a really good day for that. Maybe I'll do it tomorrow. I was so worried about oversleeping this morning since I was coming in to help out that I dreamed about having to be up early because I was going to be a substitute teacher in a kindergarten class. 🤣In my dream, I got there and nobody gave me any information about the class or the schedule or anything. I remember thinking that I should have gotten report. 🤣

No Stars In My Eyes · Jan 9

Here's a surprise.......I sent BiL a text and said Chatty CG was 45 minutes late, and if he was thinking about bringing CG's check over here (which he usually does on Thursday afternoons) to be sure to spell her name right, as in S T A R S. 😋

He sent a text back saying he thought I knew, but CG's mom was in the hospital (don't know why) and CG will be coming NEXT Thursday instead. How can I know these things if nobody tells me?

That just means I will sneak out in the AM while Nannie is still in bed (well, one can only hope, right?). I want to go to the library to return the book I am finishing up today and grab a couple more. You know that a print-junkie has to have printed words to rest her eyes on at any given point in time! I get panicky if there isn't anything to read! Well, there is a 1965 set of encyclopedias downstairs, so I guess if all else fails, I can go through all those volumes. I bet there is lots and LOTS of out-dated and wrong information in them!

Anyway, it is so *$)%Q$R** cold in the house, even with the thermostat set on 74 degrees! That's how "COZY" a heat-pump makes it! Even with 2 pair of socks on and the comforter is over my lower body, my feet still don't feel warm, and neither do my fingers! If I shook your hand you'd have to remark about how icey my fingers feel.

That just made me realize that I have to put a load of wash into the dryer. So maybe when they are done, all nice and warm and dry, I can just pile them on my lap and bury my hands in them!. That ought to feel really GOOD!

I just now decided I am prolly gonna call for a pizza delivery late this afternoon. And an order of some bare-nekkid boneless chicken wings (legs?). I was going to do either an omelet or scrambled eggs tonight, but I'll save that for tomorrow night's supper

What's this, my 3rd post today? And I have the audacity to call the CG "Chatty" !!

nursej22, MSN, RN · Jan 9

I spent the morning at the Master Gardener class and enjoyed the potluck that myself and the 11 other mentors provided. I met with my mentees, they seem like a delightful group! We exchanged numbers and emails and agreed that we would get past next week to see if they wanted to meet regularly. We live in 3 different corners of the county, so we may not meet in person. But I am open to what ever. I walked home, because dh needed to get to the food bank for deliveries. The dogs were very happy to see me. The kitchen door must not have latched, because the door was open and a trail of mud was across the floor. Luckily it is a balmy 50 degrees and dry.

I can't fathom caregivers not wanting vaccines. The idea of lice really does send people over the edge, though.

I think I got burned out with goals when I was a nursing instructor and reading and grading what seemed like endless care plans, LOL. But I can see value in having them.

I need to take out the trash, but first I think I need a cup of coffee. Or a nap. Pizza sounds good, too.