Weekend Recovery

The meaning of the title is two-fold… I would much rather be detailing how the events of the weekend provided some much needed recovery. However, the events and the occurrences of the weekend from which I need to recover predominate my thoughts and occupy waaaaaay too much of my time and energy at this moment and also will necessitate a repetition of the same pattern for several days to come…

I would love to elaborate and give the details of my co-workers’ exploits and actions that are the reason I need recovery, but it simply pisses me off too fucking much to even begin the thought processes necessary to merge the actions of the three nurses who created this cluster-fuck on Saturday night into a single time-line. Let me sum it up by saying two things, when I even begin to think about it, the screaming headache returns in an instant. No, that is not exaggeration for the sake of literary license. That is a fact of truth. The second thing, I am awaiting the written report from the on duty physician and charge nurse from the local hospital’s Emergency Department that is being sent to the investigative unit of the county board of mental retardation in which they label my staff as “incompetent.”

Finally, it will be documented correctly on paper for everyone to see. Hallelujah!! Amen!! Thank you Jesus!!

As I have been prohibited by my superiors from using the “i” word in any of my written reports, corrective actions, retraining documents, I am overjoyed at the impending prospect of being able to see it in black and white and out there in plain sight for the people who need to see it to see it. This is a banner day in my quest to be able to finally make a sweeping change in who works on my shift, and more importantly, who is charged with taking care of my clients. More accurately phrased in my reality, who is entitled to be able to take care of my clients.

The other part of the title refers to how I spent my Saturday. All day Saturday after working all night on Friday. I had seen a memo posted that for the 25^th Anniversary Open House next month, the clients from our supported living division had decided to make a quilt to celebrate. Implements of construction, fabric, embellishments in hand, I headed to the corporate office for a day of block-making.

By the time 3pm rolled around, I was exhausted, fulfilled, and amazed. I had made several new friends, had finally gotten to put faces to names with some of our supported living staff, and was in awe of the creations that the clients had made. It was such a very cool thing to me to be able to see how they had incorporated the various “bits of stuff” into expressing their vision. It was truly the stuff that art is made of.

For now…. I’m off to re-write policy & procedure…..

A Day Off... Wow!

I am just waking up (recovering from the Nyquil hangover) and getting a start on the morning. Albeit a slow start.

I have coffee now. Hopefully that will help. I have waded through 6 email accounts this morning. On to #7. And, Yahoo awaits.

What an adventure #7 turned out to be... I upgraded my Opera browser in the process of checking #7. I had configured Opera to read my email from my #2 email addy. Problem was, I had changed passwords a couple of months back. Could not get it to re-configure to accept the new password.... Then, in seriously blonde moment, I decided that I would configure Opera to read my #1 email account as well.... OYYYYYYYYY!! OUCHHHHHHHH!!!! MAKE IT STOP!!!!!!!!
Everything from eBay goes to my #1 email. Invoices, PayPal receipts, everything. Makes it easier to go through and audit to see how much I have spent for various accounting purposes. (And, it keeps the accountant daughter off my ass for the most part. The most important part. lol) So, Opera diligently loaded all 278 unread emails from my #1 email addy. Not all of them are from eBay, Al..... I have a couple of other email newsletter subscriptions to that account as well. Interesting stuff, but I don't always read every newsletter before I file it. I went back in to Opera's settings and deleted both email accounts. Guess I will just have to be content with multiple browsers open if I want to keep up to the minute tabs (no pun intended) on my oh-so-unimportant email. And still, the specter of the Yahoo account looms...

It is 50 degrees outside today. Means that the ground is slushy, mucky mud. In turn, the dogs are a wet, filthy mess.

One facet of the impending housecleaning agenda that got messed up was the failure to obtain the Space Bags from Wal-Mart last evening. What I did end up obtaining from Wal-Mart was a battery for Joni's car. There is nothing better than two women with jumper cables and a flashlight in the parking lot at 11pm on a Saturday night.

The Yahoo inbox has been purged.

I am tempted to clean in earnest, but I'm finding this cold has me coughing too much with anything more than minor exertion. I am taking the Robitussin and drinking lots of water, but it is not loosening up as much as I would like.

Got some things done. Think I'm going to knit, watch a movie, and contemplate dinner at some point.

The Official 2007 Christmas Letter

TO: Friends, Family, Extraterrestrial Intelligent Entities, Charismatic Evangelicals, Devotees of Anime, Double-espresso Drinkers, Knitters for Political and Social Change

RE: All the news from my reality that isn't

Salutations and such -

As I am sitting here with the non-Maoist Cultural Revolution Gang of Five and taking a break from finishing the last three-and-a-half inches of the turtleneck on my Christmas sweater, I pause to reflect on events of questionable relevance from the last year.

I missed, without regret, much of the celluloid schlock and all of the banal television broadcasts of the preceding 12 months.

I spent way too much time at work and way too much time with my grand kids. A myriad of advantages and disadvantages to both scenarios.

2007 was the year of disarray. If it was possible to be messed up, it was. If it was possible for it to be broken, it happened. Procrastination was the order of the day. Money went faster than it came.

Social blogging networks were the new prevailing distraction this year. I finally got around to doing a bit of something with my MySpace and Multiply pages. I still post to del.icio.us on occasion. Stumble Upon just didn't do it for me. I have yet to peruse Digg. (I feel I need to leave something for the new year.) I think I'm also on Facebook and Tagged. I gave up my memberships for the Pogo game site and don't miss it at all after it having been an internet staple for nearly 6 years. I gave up a couple of internet forums and joined a few more. Other than a couple of friends, I have completely disassociated myself with all people and things relating to The Way International.

I reconnected with some old friends and acquired some new friends. There are still a couple of friends that I need to reconnect with. And, I really need to quit being such a lazy ass and find a couple of people from years gone by.

The last time we were all together as a family was at my dad's funeral. Today we will be all together with my mom's new boyfriend.

I have met my soul mate, and he makes me crazy to the very depths of my soul.

My daughters are my daughters. In some ways consistency is good; in other ways it serves merely to make me wish I lived further away.

The summary of all that is that isn't is complete.

Wishing you a cool yule & a great 2008!

Monday Evening

I am supposed to be finishing the last of the chainette fringe on this scarf. I will get back to it shortly. I didn't make it out to finish my shopping today. I was simply too fatigued.

It is now about four hours later. I have been working on the scarf. I had a nice chat with Genny. Our conversations are always fun. We talk about so many different things. Tonight was mainly about her work, her clients - current and former, and some of the obstacles they face with referrals to and help (or lack of help) from other agencies and problems with public transportation. I was appalled by some of the problems and issues with the public transportation system.

We talked for a bit about the guy. How I feel that I'm just "something you have." Much in the same way that you have a house or you have a car. I think much of it is cultural. Arranged marriages are still very normal in Sierra Leone. A wife is something that you have.

He appreciates me for my intellect and my sense of humor. He does genuinely care for me. However, everything else and everyone else comes before me because I'm just "something you have."

That hurts.

Break time is over. Back to work on this scarf. I think this is going to be the last thing I do gratis. I will make things for gifts, certainly, but these side projects simply take too much time away from what I need to be doing. I'll be back when I finish this scarf. It will be finished tonight.

It is nearly 1am. The scarf is done!

Next project, finish seaming and stitch on the collar for my teal chenille (There, I said it again.) Christmas sweater.

Brian phoned me earlier tonight. When I told him that I was shopping on line, he asked if I was buying yarn. LOL Not buying, but getting my order ready for the yarn to make my sweaters for myself for next year. I made three this year. I hope to get in five for 2008. Two tank tops, a t-shirt, a fancy little pullover, and a bulky cardigan. The first three listed will work up quickly. The cardigan should as well. It's that little pullover that will take the time. I picked yellow for it, but I'm not so sure about it now. Maybe a coral or a peach. All the rest are to be worked from multicolor yarns.

After we had finished speaking of my yarn addiction and the fact that I still have not finished and delivered his pillows and window treatments, we did talk about work. Well, one aspect of work.

I was bad and played the "I will call the state" card. And, I will, too.

Nurses are required to distribute cigarettes to some of the residents. It creates more problems than you can imagine. The rationale for this is that the staff cannot be trusted to do it. The staff in another apartment manage to distribute cigarettes to their two ladies without difficulty. Brian agrees with us (several of the other nurses and myself) that it is not the function of the nurse to give out cigarettes. Our Health Care Coordinator argues that the staff cannot be trusted to do it.

This is the same staff that they will have passing medications to the residents once we go over to the I/O Waiver program. The staff can be trusted to give medications but are not competent enough to distribute cigarettes?

Brian said he would talk to Barb tomorrow and reiterated several times not to call the state. I told him that all I know is that I had better not have to be handing out cigarettes at 6am Saturday morning. We will be done with this shit once and for all, and we will be done with it tomorrow.

The reason that my BS threshold was surpassed on this issue was because Sunday evening, I had to stop in the middle of my 5pm medication pass (The second heaviest pass of the day. Only morning is heavier, and it is split between two shifts.) and deal with why someone was out of cigarettes. As I told the supervisor, there is someone here 5 days a week, 8 hours a day whose responsibility it is to make sure that this resident's cigarettes are purchased, and I am NOT that person. The final straw was when the supervisor (who is the supervisor of this individual who is supposed to be purchasing the cigarettes) said he would revise the sign out form so that nursing would have to notify the person whose job it is to be on top of this when we distributed the last pack. NO MORE!!

I was over to my office and on the phone to Brian so quick it would have made your head spin. Every time he has talked with me since, I have been in an absolute livid tizzy about it. Enough is fucking enough!!

If they refuse to fix it, I am certain the state will find a way to remedy the situation. A call to the state means a re-survey. An unannounced re-survey. Much easier to fix the cigarette distribution problem than to go through another week with the survey team in the house.

Here is a bit of insight into the staff that will soon be passing medications to people who, for the most part, have no idea what it is they are taking.

On Sunday, the nurse was called to one of the apartments. On arrival, the question was asked, could the nurse please check out this resident as they were worried about his kidneys. In explaining their concerns to the nurse, they stated that his pants were so tight that it had taken three of them to get his pants on him and zipped up. They were worried that if his pants were too tight, it might bruise his kidneys.

When I got to work Sunday morning and was told this story by the two nurses who had already lived it and were still laughing about it, all I could do was sit there for a minute. Finally, I said, "OK, I have to say this. Can you please remind me again who the retarded people are?" Fits of hysterical laughter ensued from them.

This is who my company intends upon having give medications to the clients.

That is way beyond scary. I don't think that is even in the same time zone as scary.

Oh, it would be so nice to hit the lottery right about now! LMAO Of course, I would actually have to remember to buy a ticket for the lottery for that to happen.

It's 2am, and there are short people who need to see me bright and early.

Ciao

~sigh~

I spent my day off doing pretty much nothing. I wanted to get into work at some point and review and fax some labs. I left Brian a voice mail around 3pm that I'd just come in early tomorrow and do it as I was pretty much depressed today.

The day started off pretty well. Had coffee with the daughter and drama with the grands. I'm knitting on the teal chenille sweater and sipping coffee while the five of them fuss over Nintendo DS games, who gets to drink the last of the apple juice, who should be sitting where at the table to eat their cereal... the usual stuff that goes on from wake up until lights out (and sometimes beyond lights out) at my daughter's house.

I came home and began to wind the skeins of vintage cotton/viscose yarn into hanks in order to wash it. It's beautiful yarn. White with a multicolored wrap of blues and pinks and purples and oranges and just a bit of a slub. It's somewhere between a fingering weight and a DK weight. I have 18 skeins of it and can't wait to use it. I'm not sure what to make with it yet, but it will surely be beautiful.

I was in the middle of bribing the cat with a piece of cotton yarn and some cat nip and trying to wind the first hank when a friend IM'd. We hadn't talked in a very long time. He's a great guy. I need to get back to Seattle just so I have an excuse to pop up to BC and visit him. lol

I was telling him that I'm only working part time now and am concentrating on my art. He replied that it was about time because I do beautiful stuff. (blushing) Finally, things are falling into place. I've found a great media outlet. I'm working on the web site. I have space available to me for the Gallery Hop... for free!! Space is so coveted there, and I land an "in" for free! How awesome is that?! Yesterday, after seeing one of the summer sweaters I had done, our Program Director at work asked me to please consider putting some consignment work in the new art studio that we're opening. Again, space for free. And, I don't have a problem with the consignment because the money that the gallery takes goes to the residents for Christmas and birthday presents and day trips and clothing and medical supplies and equipment that insurance doesn't pay for.

I told my friend that I was a little behind right now in getting things done because my dad just died recently. I had just got my web domain the day before my dad went into the hospital.

I told him that it really sucked because I was finally going to be able to do what I have been wanting to do for so long with my art and my dad isn't here to see it happen. That's when the reality of the fact that my dad is dead hit me.

So, I've been crying off and on today, in between winding and washing hanks of yarn, crocheting a button for and attaching the strap on Carol's tote. It's finished, now. Joni's poncho still needs trimmed and sewn together. I won some yarn auctions on eBay. I found a light pink bamboo yarn that will be perfect for Yama's sweater. I'm still looking for the yarn I want to make Martha's sweater with.

Brian wants me to do fabric panels for his kitchen, in addition to the cornice board and the pillows for the living room. I also came up with a really neat idea for his sliding glass doors in order to get rid of those horrendous vertical blinds. I ran the idea by him yesterday and he loved it.

My fellow nurses also were made privy to my plastic bag obsession. Jane thought my ideas were very cool but asked what would even make me think of doing some of the things that I'm thinking of doing with the plastic grocery bags. I shrugged and told her that's just the way my mind seems to work. The strapping tapes from the boxes had her a bit lost though. lol However, they all thought that the use of the natural fiber and renewable source yarns and recycled yarns was a very cool thing. They have always sort of teased me about being the walking medical dictionary, but I am pretty sure that they had no idea that this "other" side of me existed. Sure, I wear my Docs and my Pendletons to work. My hair was down to my butt before I got it cut off and donated it two years ago. So, they sort of had an idea of who I really am away from work, but I don't think they had any clue that it was as dominant a part of my being as it really is. I guess they didn't realize that my Halloween costume was stuff from my closet and my makeup bag! lol

I didn't tell them about the "Linus blankets" for the orphanages in China or about the fact that a lot of the wool yarns that I buy on eBay aren't for my work but are for charity projects. Or that I'm getting ready to sit down and do a bunch of sweaters for the red sweater anti-war art project. Or that I've ruined many a crochet hook crocheting with wire. lol I guess I'll just send them to my website when it's up the first part of next month.

For now, I'm off to wind some more yarn into hanks and think about new uses for tyvek and corks from wine bottles.