Exploration

I've finally decided to look into another job. The corporation that I work for has pushed me to the brink with their "We don't give a damn about our employees" ways. I've been gleaning information from several sources within the facility and comparing notes from what each person is saying and have come up with a scenario that may be paranoid, but I don't think so. Apparently, they are setting a situation up that puts the supervisors' licenses on the line and that is a bit scary. From what I understand, they are going to have the RN supervisor work a floor while supervising all 4 floors. This is not a safe practice in my opinion. The icing on the cake, and the thing that has expedited my desire to leave, is the sneaky way they are going about this transition. They have not asked for a meeting with me or the 3-11 Supervisor to explain what they have in mind and this transition is supposed to take place after this weekend. I have to hear this stuff through the grapevine. I have also heard of a master plan to do away with the 16 hour weekend program. The plan I heard is quite detailed and it involves me moving to the 4 day weekend program, which consists of Friday, Saturday, Sunday, and Monday. The kicker is that they expect me to do the 3-11 shift. I can't, and won't, do 4 days 3-11. I'd rather do a 10 day 7-3 shift with every other weekend off if they do get rid of the 16 hour program. Working an 8 day schedule and losing every single weekend is not worth it to me. Doing the 16 hour shifts and having 5 days off every week was worth giving up every weekend, but having off only 1 extra day with the 4 day program, is not. They have proven time and time again that they are sneaky bastards and cannot be trusted. I'm sick of wondering what is going to befall us next so, for the first time in 13 years, I have made a phone call to explore a position somewhere else.

We'll see how it all turns out...

This whole thing has me a nervous wreck and I've been covered in hives since I made the phone call last night. At least I hope it's hives.

Aaaand here I go again....

Another home project. I'm going to lay a new floor in my dogs' room/laundry room.

What? You want to know if I ever finished the bathroom? Well, uh, not just yet...but we did buy a palm sander today so it could be finished. I just couldn't manage to hand sand the massive amount the walls and ceiling. It's tough, man! Today, since the bug bit me to work on the house again, we bit the bullet and bought the damn thing. So, soon on the bathroom...K?

I've been yapping for a while over here about needing to pull the nasty carpet out of the dogs' room. Having 2 big-ass shedsomuchthatit'sawonderthey'renotbald dogs in that room is not conducive to carpeting. It cannot be kept clean, plus the smell after they come in from the rain just stays in there. So, yeah, yuck.

Today I bought the flooring, came home and starting cutting the carpet out of that room. It's almost done being torn out. I just have the end to do where the dryer sits and my back was just hurting too bad after moving and lifting the washer to continue. I can't wait to get it done. Hopefully the bug will keep biting me throughout the whole project.

The writing on the wall

There was no cooking in my house tonight. Roni took Katie shopping for some personal items *cough* bras *cough* so I took Kevin to BK for dinner. I love taking him out to eat because he's just so darn cute sitting there, like a big boy, scarfing down unhealthy food. I decided to treat him tonight and get him a Sprite (sugar, but no caffeine-I'm not completely crazy). He's never had a Sprite before and was in heaven. I got the biggest smile when he tasted it and realized it wasn't the usual milk. Now that he was on a sugar high, I decided that taking him to the park to run it off would be a good idea-especially since the weather was so beautiful. Unfortunately, I couldn't get a picture of us going down the slide for obvious reasons, but he was somewhere between thrilled and terrified. It's a thin line. He did want to go a second time so I guess he had fun, although he clutched me just as tight the second time.

Mommy aiding and abetting getting the child wired (horrible picture of me-wow):

Oh, yeah, he's feeling good:

He's not giving up that cup even thought it's mostly water at this point:

Just as we were winding things up (I was trying to time his "crash" to get home for bath and bedtime), up pulls Renee squealing tires and laying skid marks and then running pell mell across the park who walked over to me to lay The News on me. The DON in my facility has been fired. It is the 9th time I've heard this news in one form, or another, in my almost 13 years of working at my facility. That is an awfully high turnover rate. They either quit or get canned after a relatively short period of time. It really didn't surprise me knowing the history of this position, but it makes me nervous. Again I have to wonder who we'll get next and what she/he will be like. We sure have had our share of nutcases there. I also have an uneasy feeling about a major shakeup may be happening and maybe my job, or my hours, being in jeopardy.

Keep your fingers crossed for me that it doesn't get too crazy there...

Cherry Cheesecake!

The weather was beautiful today. While Roni was getting ready for us to go shopping and then to dinner, I took Kevin for a walk:



Kevin and I went into ToysRUs while Roni was shopping for clothes next door. I've been on the hunt for wooden blocks of different shapes for Kevin to play with because he loves to stack things. I found some blocks, but they're smaller than what I wanted. I swear they don't make the ones I'm thinking of anymore because I can't find them anywhere. I also scored a new insulated straw cup, 2 new Wiggles DVDs, and a travel MagnaDoodle for the trip. Afterward, we picked Roni up at the next store and headed to Old Country Buffet. I love buffets with Kevin because there's not a bit of waiting involved, hence, no trying to occupy toddler while waiting for waitperson/drinks/food/bill. He also eats very well at a buffet and they lose money on the boy. His favorite thing is the breaded shrimp. This cracks me up because Katie, at almost 15, has never even tasted shrimp. The only problem with a buffet is that he has trouble comprehending that, when we get up from the table, we will be right back and starts to cry.

We went and got our desserts and one of the items I got was cherry cheesecake. Kevin wound up with it and was in heaven. I, unfortunately, forgot his bib...After he took the first bite, he actually shimmied in his seat with delight:

"Wow! This is good!"



"What is this stuff called? Cheesecake? Odd name..."



"Thank-you, Lord, for cheesecake!"



"I just can't get enough!"



"Is there any more?"

Apparently he prefers the tougher look...

I put his hat on this way....



Two minutes later he did this...

WTH are the chances?!

Yeah. So we leave for Disney/Universal on November 7th. Right? Uh-huh. Check the date on the ad below...This is the arena that I watch the hockey games from and is, like, 10 minutes from my house. I can't stand it, already. Do I deprive the boy from his favorite thing? Sigh. I guess I'll see if I can change our ressies...

My email address...

For contact purposes re: facebook, if you'd like to send me info on how I can get you on my friends list, email me at: Ratherxbxatxdsny at aol dot com.

I was trying to think of a good way to do this without all of us putting our entire names on my public blog...even though they're there on facebook. I'm weird.

I need friends!

Facebook is irritating the hell out of me. I just joined and am really having a tough time navigating it. It seems so UNintuitive to me. I'm trying to persevere and not junk the whole thing already, but MAN!

Anyway, I'm feeling lonely on there. I sent out some requests for "friends", but I don't think anyone knows who I am. I say that because one (Hi Barb!) actually wrote back to ask who the heck I was....OK, she didn't say it like that. She was very nice, but she really didn't know who I was until I brought up this blog. Jane knew who I was (Hi Jane!), but we have actually exchanged emails before so maybe that's why *shrug*. So there I sit...2 friends...well 3, if you count Roni...

Pathetic.

Wanna be my friend?

Yikes!

Let me tell you something...Last night was something else altogether with Kevin. I've never seen such a display from the boy. We actually were discussing taking him to the ER due to his inconsolable crying/screaming. It was so bad that I didn't even bring out the video recorder...

First off, he refused to nap yesterday and was way over tired. On top of that, he didn't eat much all day (probably because he was over tired). The combination of these two things caused a meltdown of epic porportions. At the time that it was happening, we weren't sure if that was the issue or if he was having severe belly pain because he kept pulling his legs up while screaming and screaming and screaming. We're both nurses and were starting to wonder if he had an impaction, or something. I'm telling you that it was nonstop for about an hour and we were getting really worried...especially when even the Wiggles didn't help!

Roni finally said that maybe he was mistaking hunger for pain and needed to eat. That was a good thought, but how was I going to get food in him while he was like this? He wouldn't eat. I finally decided that I would take him upstairs, away from the stimulation, with a bottle. I was praying this would work because, if it didn't, we'd be headed to the hospital. When we got upstairs, he continued his crying/screaming for about five minutes while I held him. Then he picked up his bottle and handed it to me. I held him and fed it to him. I have never seen him take a bottle so fast. As soon as he was done, he sat up and said, " What's that?" while looking out the window. He was a completely different kid and I was extremely relieved. I knew then that he was OK. Now that he was energized, he didn't want to go to bed so I took him back downstairs to play or awhile. After another half hour, or so, he took his bath and went to bed with no problem.

Today he woke up on a fabulous mood. I will never allow that combination of events to happen again. Believe it.

Remembering

I'm sitting here watching "102 Minutes That Changed America" on the History Channel. It is still unbelievable the events that happened 7 years ago today.

Sad. So very sad. I am at a loss for words to express the feelings this brings out in me.

I'm sure you understand.

I'll never forget what I was doing the very moment I heard about the World Trade Center Towers...I was in the basement of the building I work in. There are no windows, radio, etc., down there and you are completely cut off from anything going on outside. or even upstairs for that matter. I was in the process of implementing the Weekend Program at work and I had a chart in front of me of employees who were switching to the program and employees I was calling to ask if they wanted to go Monday-Friday. I was working on the schedule to be implemented in a couple of weeks. A guy who worked there at the time had his office down there and came down and said to me, in a not-so-convincing manner, that 2 planes had hit the Towers. I was barely paying attention to him and kinda chuckled because I thought he was playing around. A few minutes later, my boss's boss came down and told me the same thing in a much more believable tone of voice and I was like, "Wait. What?!"

Those moments very clearly stand out in my memory like it was yesterday.

Do you have a memory to share?

God bless all the innocent people who died and their families & friends who have suffered so deeply.

Yo Dawg, I'm not afraid of you!

Check it. Notice the big can of spider killer? Now, notice the spider that is hanging by its web from the spider killer? I have it circled in red.

Uh-huh. I believe it is flippin' me off....

W.T.F?!

Why, oh why, is the boy giving me a hard time about going to bed recently? I had to find the humor in his temper tantrum to keep my sanity tonight so, what did I do? I video taped it for the blog and for posterity. *wink* Sorry it's so dark, but I wasn't crazy enough to turn the light on.

He actually was much worse than this before I grabbed the Flip to record it. He was screaming his bloody little head off and his hair was flying around while he was jumping up and down with all his might. While it was so frustrating that I felt like I was ready to call Super Nanny, it was also hysterical to watch.

I did wind up picking him up and holding him for about a half hour after I turned the camera off. That may have been the wrong thing to do....I guess I'll find out tomorrow...

My two babies

Kevin, just before his bath, was watching the Wiggles (big surprise there, huh?) and singing along with the video. What he is saying is, "Quack, quack, quack" (If you don't watch the Wiggles, you wouldn't understand, but you can hear the song in the background...). He is also showing how much he loves our ever-so-patient Pug, Cassie.

Mama knows best

Why do kids never, ever get that? From toddlerhood to teenville, they think we don't know WTH we're talking about.

So I tried to put Kevin down for a nap today when it was sooo obvious he was tired and needed one, but noooo. He don't need no stinkin' nap. So now I decided to take him to the park up the street because I knew I'd be in for a whiny afternoon and it would be a looong day at the homestead.

We were there all of ten minutes...

He started out happy enough...

but then the swinging motion did him in, me thinks....

Needless to say, he's napping now. I hate to say "I told you so"....naw, that's a lie, I love to say, "I told you so". It's one of my very favorite phrases, actually. One he'll get to hear many, many times for the rest of his life if he doesn't wise up and listen to his mama. I hope he learns quick for his own sake. Yeah, I know he's just a toddler, but experience with the Katie tells me that I sure hope he catches on fast! LOL!

Trying to give up control

I admit that I've been reluctant to allow Kevin to feed himself anything other than finger foods. I hate the mess, but lately he's been wanting to do it more and more himself. I know that's a good thing. Bully for him and all that. The problem is that if he's not truly starving, he will just play with his food and, by then, it's too late for me to jump in because he gets all indignant and gets pissed if I try to feed him. Well, tonight, he was starving and I knew it by the way he was whining. I decided to let him have at it, even though there was sauce involved and there was gonna be a mess. He ate a ton and I never lifted a finger to help him:

Ironically tonight, for the first time in for-freakin'-ever, he wanted me to hold him and rock him while I gave him a bottle. I was so surprised. I just kept thinking, "This may be the very last time he asks me to do this....ever."