I blame the booze
And messed up cosmic bowling. And a million people all driving towards the mall. And a long line at the liquor store. And that first, delicious, vodka martini with garlic stuffed olives (pretty good, not as over powering or breath killing as you might think). And the movie Elf. And the bottle of wine that I bought the other day. And the other bottle of wine that I bought today. And the sore muscles that prevented me from getting up and moving in a timely fashion. And the Wizard of Oz, with commercials, so that I could struggle to my feet and exercise my way to the kitchen for more drinks in between.
But not actually exercise. Or not eat. The moment I said I would just drink and not eat, all I could think about was food. So we ate pretty much all the leftovers in the house. And then some other stuff too. Sorry Mason, we ate the cheese sticks. I’ll buy more this week.
And then it was so late. I could stand and walk enough but I was not doing, like, a workout. And now it’s morning. For the record I slept like crap. And I had a headache all night long. And I was really thirsty. And I had strange, weird dreams about working in a hospital. A giant, multi-level, spread out hospital that doesn’t exist in real life. I had to put eye drops in a long list of patients scattered everywhere, and measure their pupil dilation. But I couldn’t find the rooms. And the patients were listed categorically by disorder and it seemed most were psychiatric. It took me 15 minutes just to get near the hospital rooms. There was a huge, 2 level, narrow, oddly stepped staircase I had to go down (and back up) and my kids were following me and I was wearing my school uniform. AND I was drinking in my dream too! IN the hospital. All the other nurses and doctors were too. I don’t know what that means but it’s probably not good. In the end I could only find one person on the list and he refused.
Thank god I woke up. I’m drinking coffee now without anything in it, although I bought something for that yesterday too. I’m going to wait until later. During football, to start drinking again. And I must try to exercise even though just trying to cough hurts at this point. That’s the problem with irregular exercise. Those muscles hate stretching out after you let them sit for awhile. Then they punish you big time by not letting you move faster than sitting and not lifting more than a fork or a glass. Thank goodness I can type, right Amanda??
I suppose I better get up now and do something. In celebration of school being over I got myself some fake nails. But I am not skilled on managing alot of personal hygiene things yet. Takes practice and some different moves. Like, for instance, it took me half an hour to put in my contact lenses. It’s stupid. I don’t know how the fancy girls do it 24/7. But in a week or so, I’ll have naturalized myself to the whole concept and I’ll be fine. I let my daughter get some too, but her’s are probably all broken and chipped by now. 2 days would be a record. She likes to tap them on everything and pull at them all the time. Anyway…my point was that it takes longer to do less.
And I have a crazy fish to deal with. My son’s Oscar has taken to swimming around the tank in circles. Not like around the outer edges, literally swimming in fast circles like he’s a dog chasing his tail. We can’t figure out what the problem is. One site said water issues, one says nutrition, one said maybe he broke the heater and he’s getting electrocuted continuously. Well, there’s another fish in the tank and he seems fine so I doubt it’s that, but we unplugged the heater anyway. Still spinning. He also likes to attack the surface and throw water out. He just did it again. The other things are not easily fixable so I say just move him out. I think he’s too large for where he’s at and needs to be moved to the big tank. There are a variety of fish in it already and one giant Oscar. He used to be really aggressive, but he seems to be tamer now. I think it might be ok. It’s a pity though, because Mason’s fish is nice and smooth with no scars or damage and he’s probably going to get beat up a little bit if we switch him.
Anyway, these are the problems of a Sunday morning stall. Type long enough and something else will come up to do other than exercise. Like your mom calling you and asking when you planned on coming over. Hi mom! Thanks! Did you read all this? It’s funny huh?? So, since I didn’t make it clear when I called her earlier, and she won’t drive her scroungy butt to me, I guess I better really go get dressed and haul it out there! See? No exercise! Yay fat me!
I am posting a picture of the big Oscar that Mason took as companion to this fine piece of writing, except that its at the top, so you’ve already seen it. And I still have lots of Christmas pics I took from around my house when I was goofing around with the camera. And hopefully, I’ll have really old pics to post from when my dad was alive later too. Pretty exciting stuff. You do want to see those, I promise. In the meantime though, here’s a picture of Mason’s crazy fish:
He’s not as clear as he could be, but you get the idea. He’s about 8 inches long and 5 inches top fin to bottom. In a 36 gallon bow tank and looking mean, but we’ll see.
I’m sensing a theme here…
From the Zimbio website. It's entertainment info if you want to check it out! Thank you!
I’ve stepped up all the way into the 90’s. And he’s closer to my age! Justin Smith. San Fran 49’ers. Defensive Tackle. They lost big time and he got ejected, but you know, football is not for the faint of heart. Big men pushing other big men around.
Before I get too far off the track here…I wanted to congratulate myself for actually exercising again, after a really long time (shame) and on Friday no less. I am back to P90X. Core Syn to start because I need to start back in fast. Sucks too because I have to do it tomorrow too. Blah. Who likes working out on Saturday?? No one that’s who. I am on the clock here tho. I got 46 days approximately. Day 1 is done. I’ll prob go to the gym too. Double workouts. Half the food. So far so good today. Only cheated with a few potato chips. Small steps. At least they made me thirsty so more water!
So here we go together for awhile. I would have posted a weight but, oh too bad, the battery on my scale is only strong enough to tell me that it’s low and won’t give me a number. Sad face. I guess I’ll just have to guess. Hmmm….110. I like that number. But I’ll settle for the one on my driver’s license.
I’d love to go on and on and I did have more, different things to post, but I have to go pick up my kid. He’s after school making up work to improve a grade. Not much to argue about there. Be back later with some holiday cheer!
And ready to bring it home…
Last semester. Schedule secured. Paid in full. ID updated. Lucky pen pack purchased. Said goodbye to my friends and headed out the door.
Drove to the local White Castle (I know right? but for some reason it hits you when you drive past it) and got a bunch of crap I definitely don’t need to eat. With the DIET Coke. I mean, come on, the food is really enough. And they shorted me on three of my chicken rings. Which is actually fine because instead of being able to type this I would probably be in the bathroom throwing up, wondering why I ever ate all that food in the first place. I don’t have any kind of eating disorder, I just wanted something nasty before I starve myself for the next month! Seriously…it sucks too because of Christmas and all that.
The reason I will not be eating more than grains and water (and exercising like a fiend—don’t worry purists I still need some muscle tone) is because I have a picture to take in January. Late January, early Feb. It is probably the most important and most meaningful picture I will ever take in my whole life, and I’ve been married! Like all formal and stuff! This picture is actually going to be forever!! So you see…no food.
It’s fine though, I can eat after! And I am even pretty sure I don’t have to buy any more books! Which is fine because the ones I have are plenty.
I will be taking a little break from the books for now, but only very short. The new material gets posted every day and the “encouragement” to look over the new readings to be prepared is subtle but unmistakable. None of us want to fail now.
Oh look! The snow they said was coming last night has just arrived. I might actually enjoy a flake or two of it while sweating my butt off and listening to my stomach growl…ha…but that won’t be until tomorrow. I am seriously going to need, like 24 hours, to digest all that food I just ate.
And it’s Thursday! Start of Football Week! I have developed a real love problem with football this year. It started last year but it’s really full on now. I even bought a jersey! My family is sick of it already…well ONE person in my family anyway—you know who you are (hahaha!) so I am just hanging out waiting for my kids to get home from school because we got some stuff to go do. Then some dinner (I will be eating today—obviously…) some football, and then…that’s it. Tomorrow is a free day. Aren’t you all lucky! I’ll post all the crap I haven’t and I will let you follow me along on my journey of hunger and yearning R/T one singular photo. Sounds fun doesn’t it?
I gotta say…
I don’t know who the heck is still looking at this every day, but, thank you. Thank you from the bottom of my 15-week-jammed-up-school-crazy-going-no-time-to-post-anything heart! Someone is keeping me alive and on the charts and I thank you.
I literally have one more clinical and one more week of class to go this semester. One care plan. One evaluation sheet w/ goals. One Hesi test. One Lab Final and one final Final. Now that I have typed it…it seems like alot. But trust. It is not. Actually it is but that’s just because I have to study everything, all over again, and then answer even MORE questions. But then I’m done. Until January. One post in 15 weeks…not bad.
Here’s a quick update: School. Football. School. Football. I take the kids to bowling. I go to clinicals. I don’t play any games anymore on facebook, but I do check the site. I stay up way too late. And not for good stuff. I rebooted my Ipod but I am not in love with it anymore. I lost all my playlists and a few hundred songs when I re-loaded the back up discs. I haven’t exercised in weeks. Unless you count the few pushups I do every few days to make sure that I still can. Which I do. But I still fit in my small pants so I don’t care too much about the extra flab hanging over the top for now. I can hit the gym in about a week. School is busy but fun this time. Stressful but in a completely different way from last semester. And my license is calling. I can almost hear it now. I haven’t really been drinking either. Not even enough time for that. Or movies. Or pleasure books. Or mags. I have alot of gossip news to catch up on. My mags are from August…I know I should just throw them away…I’ll decide at Christmas about that. Anyway, I am having a drink now and it is good.
The two things for fun that I have still been doing is collecting change off the street (and keeping it in a cup) and playing my pocket poker game (the quest for the royal flush). Don’t I sound like FUN?? I will post the amount for the last few months in a few days maybe.
AND….wait for it……the quest is over!!
I GOT THE ROYAL FLUSH!!
Oh yeah! No kidding. I think it was clubs. I got it awhile ago but saved the pic for just this moment. I am a wild woman! Do not mess with me and my mad fake poker points skillz! The back of the game says I get 2500 points for the royal flush but I got 5000! What?? I know! It was an exciting day! And just when I did not think it could ever happen again….IT DID!!
TWO Royal Flushes! This was a hearts set. Another 5000. Oh yeah…I’m going for the 10,000. I am unstoppable.
I need to go eat dinner and study something. Thanks for hanging again with me thru the weeks of drought! I really do appreciate your time! I’ll have more later! Pictures are below.
The first one. And that was pretty exciting.
Ugh! Blurry! But you can see it! Another 5000.
That was the high score but I am going for more points. I think I am over 7100 now. Yes I know. Sad life. That’s what the vodka is for. See ya!
Storms are rolling in…
And it is dark at 4 o’clock. I posted yesterday morning but I never did come back. I apologize to all those breathless to read more about my long, boring, days of summer until school starts again…it’s a me thing.
I did complete Day 22 and Day 23. That would be some chest and back–so misleading–when it’s just endless push-ups and pull-ups and ab exercises–and Plyo, the jump stuff. I managed to half-ass my way thru that too today. I have a theory on my lack of energy and it’s not pretty. Reading the books that come with the program (P90X–got it in there for ya’ Amanda) They talk about the diet, eating healthy, I get that. They also talk about eating enough. Yes, eating more than you want to because you are burning the cals and you need the food to help you make it thru the workouts. I thought that was a load of crap. I have plenty of food stored in me that I should be able to go for many more days without any extra. But I might be wrong. Hardheaded. It’s all written. I read it. Didn’t believe it.
Here’s the unpretty part: (Turn away if you are squeamish, it’s about to get too personal) This is my first period, menstrual cycle, whatever you want to call it, while doing this program, and since I am a bit older than I’d like to be, things can be fast, slow, heavy, light, if you get my drift, AND I was trying to burn up the cals with some double workouts (got one tonight) and some leaner eating–by which I mean NONE. No food. Just some fruit and a chicken breast with some steamed beans…like literally, I cut my cals by three-fourths. Well, lo and behold, I can’t get up and once I do, I can’t do the exercises. I can’t get the same intensity because I have no energy. Like none. It’s strange. No food in, lots of draining body fluids (sweat and other things, sorry) and I am dogging it. My booty is not lifting, as much as sagging, around the living room trying to keep up with the gang on the TV.
But I think I got it now. I’ll increase the food or at least go back to my normal diet. Normal, healthy, low-fat, no-dairy, diet, I mean. Of course.
I’m excited though because I weighed yesterday too. I am trying to do it about every two weeks. Nothing drastic. Slow and steady. It’s good. I am down 5.5 lbs in 27 days. It is not noticeable on me whatsoever. It’s just the way I’m shaped I guess. And I’m not starving myself or starving at all. My appetite is less lately. Although that could also be because it’s 90+ degrees every day now and that kills any urge to eat or move or breathe. But I don’t care anyway because it’s for the long haul and I don’t have alot of years left to be getting down to little old lady size. Gotta do it now.
Last night we did dinner with the family. Pizza–so good. Tried to eat the smallest, crustiest pieces I could, as slow as I could. I even had dessert. Key Lime pie. Not my fav but it was ok.
Here is a fun fact for you: One eighth of that pie had 450 calories. I wasn’t cutting so I tried to get a small piece, but isn’t that alot?? I thought so. Sometimes all that labeling is evil.
So hopefully I will go to the gym again tonight and run my miles…do I even dare try the 55 mins.? I don’t know. I’m scared thinking about it. Have to do something as my sister Amanda and my friend Beth are trying to kill me in the next two days. Garage sale tomorrow, nice and early, all day and an hour away…I have to get up sooooo early and I don’t even get any of the money!
Then Friday is my cardio-fitness-trainer-tag-a-long workout with Beth. Again with the early. 7 am. People are crazy. Who can exercise that early? I’m really not an early morning kind of girl for doing stuff. Any stuff. I like to lay and drink coffee until my eyes open better. I am already overly worried about my school schedule and I still have three weeks! I’ll be getting up early for sure, but it’s mostly moving the kids around and putting on clothes. Then driving in the car. The nursing part is not nearly as hard as balancing on half a ball for a minute holding dumbbells and jumping 50 times. Or sitting at a garage sale in the sweltering sun bargaining down my sissy’s belongings, praying for death or at least a big rainstorm. (Just kidding…I’m sure it will be fine. And fun!)
Anyway…I’ll wrap it up for today. It’s longer than I thought, as always. I can’t even shut up typing! And the sky has cleared. I’m going to go back outside and finish sitting in my chair, looking at the backyard. We have hummingbirds!
There’s some pictures around because I took them and it looks better than just all words. I may be back. (She says mysteriously) Later.
Day 3 P90X Just a quick note…
I swear I am in muscle hell. Every single one in my body hurts. I WISH I had started these discs earlier. The BEST by far, of any I have ever done and I have done ALOT. Trust that I could not complete any of the three workouts so far, but I am trying. The Ab Ripper is seriously not even funny as a workout. When I complete this series I know that I will have accomplished something here. And the nice thing is that it is going to take a really long time to get all the exercises, with all the reps, in the time allotted. But in case you didn’t get me before, I LOVE this workout.
And here’s something that I did not expect: Every workout person/tape/company says you have to do the workout AND eat right for it to work…blah blah blah we all know but we never do it do we? We keep eating crap and tell ourselves we will just work out harder next time. Well let me tell you, do this program for 2 days. That’s it. Do the Chest/Shoulder/Abs…that’s good. Then go eat lunch, dinner whatever.
Day 2, do the Plyometrics. Basically Jump/Squat/Lunge Hell for an hour. Any muscle that did not hurt from the first day will now be screaming in pain today. Then I dare you to eat some junky food. I love fast, junky food because I don’t like to prepare and cook stuff. But I swear on all that I care about I DID NOT want to eat anything that might be “unclean”. I’m not sure what is going on with these discs. Maybe some kind of subliminal messaging while you’re slowly dying of your own accord and on purpose.
Now I am not going to be all holy here and say that I am not eating and drinking this weekend. I picked Fourth of July, party people, to start this madness, but I WILL be thinking twice about every bit of food I do eat, and probably eating a little less and drinking slow with lots of ice. This workout requires alot of work and effort and it seriously feels wrong to sabotage it with nasty food. The food doesn’t even taste as good. (I tried. I ate about half)
I know I can go on and on but it really is amazing to me that some simple dvd’s can change my entire outlook like nothing before. Maybe it’s just the right time for me. If you try it, please please, let me know! I would love to hear from other people out there doing it to. I cannot even imagine where I will be in 10 days and 20 days and then 90…
For me, I am adding in some running on the “weight” days to supplement my cardio because I still have a five mile to run on Labor Day, but otherwise the workout as it stands would prob be enough. I will be streamlining my food (after tomorrow) and the whole family is going to have to get on board or they will be hungry! Kids are already in a semi-program of my doing but it’s really not enough…won’t they be sorry when they get back! They have no idea trolling around out there in the sun…
So that’s it for now, Day 3 complete. More weights and arms and abs…which was comical because I could barely raise my body off the floor…the abs are already on holiday. I have to go change and hit the stores. I have buns to buy for the bbq (say that five times fast) and some pasta salad to throw together to impress the fam with. But I’ll be back tomorrow—just cause it’s a holiday doesn’t mean I can skip the workout, not this early in the game.
And please drop me a line if you are as excited as I am. Let me know how and why and what you are doing! XOXOXO
SuperFastUpdateForTheSeventeenPeopleStill
Following This Mess…Even though there is NOTHING new to read. I mean, I like my writing style, and I think that I am pretty interesting, and there is alot of stuff in past posts that you should totally check out…but I am straying off my original path here….
Since I had a comment (thanks Jesse!) I thought I’d throw down a few words and let the last of November fade out with a quick update.
This is week 15 out of 16 in the nursing program. Two more weeks and a Final. I am hanging in there to say the very least. My grades are fine, but the stress is going to give ME a disorder. I have dreams every night about what I read (tomorrow is ostomy care so…maybe I should just stay up…)
Nutrition has been the focus for the last few weeks…it is interesting and VAST. I cannot dream about vitamins and beriberi and rickets one more night! I used to laugh at my ex-father-in-law and his beriberi comments as excuse to call in sick, but not anymore. I thought he was making it up! It’s not as funny when you have to actually know what it is!! And then identify it in an application question about thiamine or niacin or B6 with staggering walk and mental confusion….see?? Remember in Down and Out in Beverly Hills when Nick Nolte grabs the grapefruit off the tree and says, “Don’t want to get scurvy!” He’s not kidding. Same thing. I see this learning-stuff everywhere! It’s terrible!
However, it has made me more aware of my diet and my family’s diet, and guess what?? It sucks. We are flabby and unhealthy. We eat poorly and we don’t exercise enough. So, I am inviting you, along with me and the kids and BF, to jump on my bandwagon. Check out this site:
Go to the My Pyramid Tracker portion of it and start calculating that food and energy. Let’s really do something next year for our health. I mean, if it really blows that bad you can always just quit and eat chips and junk again!
It’s a cool site, really. Very helpful. All about the food pyramid and guides for healthy choices. It takes some time and effort to make it work for you, but believe me, I had to use it for a graded assignment and I spent lots of time, back and forth, tweaking the thing. My family can testify to the choice words I may have uttered (shouted screamed yelled) but in the end…Pass. Satisfactory.
Also in honor of better health, I started running again. I stopped after the 5 Mile. Ran every few days to weeks, but nothing in the last month, until Saturday. Do I pace myself? Take it slow? Easy? 30 minutes, maybe a few miles? Oh No! I go full out five mile run for 65 minutes. (Not a great time, but let’s see how long any of you would do after a month break) And then to top it off I go do some sit-ups and arm exercises. You know, gain all that fitness back in one giant shot. HA. FAIL.
I can barely walk 2 days later. Stairs are excruciating, especially down. Why is that? I should probably know huh? Oh well, we ain’t on muscle disease and disorders yet…I blame my sister Amanda. We were supposed to be running together but she got all preggers with another kid and now we can’t do that. Thanks alot babymaker. Heehee.
Anyhoo, that’s all for now. I have to go back to studying. The ball keeps rolling and I like to stay ahead of it. Check out that site. Check out my stuff and stay tuned! I have some really awesome playlists to catch us all up on. Perfect for getting back into shape with and just rocking out. (Rocking out…what a nerd!) I also found more money! Nothing spectacular like twenty bucks, but change and stuff. Also we have sushi pics (I know there is at least one person out there who likes to look and tell me what I’m eating! Thanks to you-know-who-you-are!) And what else…I think I have Challenger pics and some other stuff on my phone that I can’t think of right now. You know me. I’ll get all the useless info out there for ya. I’m a giver. I also have some serious stuff too…for real. I wish I had enough time to do it justice. I will in about three weeks. For now, let me just say:
Good luck Scotta! You are the bravest woman I know! Keep fighting the good fight and do not lose that sense of humor. You rock! We are sending out all the love and strength in the world to you!
Alright. I have to attach some kind of pictures because these are just too many words. Talk to you all on the other side.
You have to ask yourself, "What could this be?? And why did she post it??" Best guess gets a shout out...and an explanation to follow later.
Attempting a “quick” post. Yeah right.
Hopefully. Had school today. Told my joke. It was funny enough.
Maybe you want it? There’s a blonde on one side of a river, and another blonde on the opposite side of the river. The blonde on the right yells to the other blonde, “How did you get on the other side of the river??” And the other blonde yells back, “You’re already there!” Ha and Ha.
Lots of good ones were given! Didn’t buy any more books. Going to check online and buy the rest there. I have the main ones so its ok for now.
Driving home I find out I have to take my mom for her eye surgery at 6:30 am. Which means I need to be at her house by 5:30 am. Which means I have to leave my house at 4:45 am. Which means I get to see every spectacular shooting star and debris from the meteor shower at the most opportune time of all the viewing hours here in North America! Click here for the link. Just making lemonade out of my lemons! I actually think that meteors are pretty cool. Pray for good weather. No clouds or rain please!! I don’t want to be getting up just in the plain old dark!! I need entertainment!
After I got home I changed and did a quick (ha) five mile run around the neighborhood. My goal is less than one hour for the 5-mile race on Labor Day. I did one hour and 15 seconds, non-stop, except where I got stuck at lights going across a main road. (There was too much traffic for me to just run across) So based on today’s jog, I believe I can easily achieve my goal. I probably would have been under by about a minute or two save for the stoplights. Promising!!
That led me to a cool down walk where I found change (oh yeah!) Street Money next!
And that led me to coming into the house to do a quick weigh-in. Shouldn’t have done that! No good. Not losing. I know why. Too much crap. The days are ok, but dinner just sucks. Greasy spoon hot dogs, pizza, quesadillas and guac, ice cream, McDonald’s! It’s not enough to run and bike, I gotta eat healthy. And I have really fallen off the wagon. (I think my legs look really good now though. They feel solid and muscular and look good in shorts (all my opinion) but who else’s should really matter??) Anymodestway…
It also led me to here, the internet, where I wanted to post, but not really because I can never keep it short enough! As I opened the WordPress page there was a picture of delicious looking chocolate cake, right on the front! How terrible of them, and right at dinnertime when people are out there sweating and starving. Anyway, I click on it of course, and the site is full of good looking food and recipes and amazing photos and so I included it in my side bar. You can click here for the fast version. You know it has a complicated name. I listed it as Beautiful Food. Very elegant though. Again, makes mine look like the ramblings of a crazy out patient, but we can all have our space in the airwaves. I will be using it as my food porn because I have to cut it back down before the race. Dr. Ian I’m looking at you! And your Extreme Fat Smash. Just for the three weeks. Then BFL. Life on the hamster wheel!
Alright, one more bad dinner is on the way, so I better finish up. I haven’t forgotten all the other stuff, I’m just losing time. Let me end with a lite joke from class today for when you are feeling like life sucks and it can’t get any worse (it can always get worse). This is no reflection on me at this particular moment, things are stable, but you can see the relevance for the future:
The Toothbrush says, “Somedays I feel like I have the worst job in the whole world!”
“Ya, right.” says the Toilet Paper.
We need some pictures in all these words! How about…SUSHI!
I’ve been promising pictures. You’ve been waiting. This was after our 25 mile bike ride; that was after our 19 mile bike ride the day before. It was good. The sushi.
Never been a big fan. That black stuff they wrap the rolls in always makes me gag, but this place has a mild wrapping. Or I’m just getting more, “cultured”! (Hahaha, NEVER!)
Now, if I could just get the whole pieces in my mouth without looking like an idiot or like I’m about to have it all fall out, we’d be all set.
(Sorry, but I don’t know the names. My apologies to the experts and lovers out there…maybe next time!)
This was the better picture. The guy who prepares it made it special for us. Spicy crab, and something. It was large and delicious and hot! I'm sure he thought I was some kind of crazy person taking pictures of the food.
We had already eaten 3 rolls that I DIDN'T take pictures of, when we ordered these from the specials. They were beautiful, BIG, spicy and so delicious! I was stuffed and I didn't think this kind of food would do that. (I think I want to go again tomorrow now!) The picture is making me hungry!
When last you heard from me, I was on my way to school…
…with high hopes for the rest of the evening. When suddenly…Tequila! (And that was TWO days ago.)
I did go to school. I got the “pre-heads-up” to the actual “heads-up” classes I have next week. Signed some paperwork. Got some questions answered. Payed for classes. Bought more books. Drove home excited as hell, but unaware of the complicated nature of what I am about to embark upon.
I have three books and a syllabus right now, and I have three more books to buy. Definitely the most I have needed so far. When I trained for EMT I was on an adrenaline rush for hours after every single class, for like 4-6 months. It was crazy. And I have that same crazy feeling just looking at these books. Two years and god knows how many hours are about to go into this program, but I am ready. I’m not sure my body can take the intensity. I had trouble sleeping before, but I guess that will just help me on the job! I talked so much on the phone to the BF just driving home from a pre-class class, that I, “low-battery-powered-off”, the cell phone. The damn thing drained out good. First time I talked to the cut-off. Even after I plugged it back in it wouldn’t turn on for a little while.
So I take a closer look at this new book. Calculating With Confidence. Drug calculations, measurements, math conversions…OMG, it looks hard. Drug labels, syringes, pills, liquids, fractions, decimals, cc. mL. mg. oz. You need: Aspirin gr 10 p.o. q4h p.r.n. for pain. You have: Drug label, that suddenly makes no sense whatsoever. And tell me how much, with how much diluent, time of day, route of administration, but don’t forget who you are giving it to, how much they weigh, what else they are taking; now mark it on the drawing, and don’t “F” it up because you could kill someone…. I’m paraphrasing…but that’s the idea. Once you take off the plastic shrink wrap, the front cover has a skull and crossbones on it. They don’t want you to see that until it’s too late. And you thought that the nurse handing you two Tylenol in the hospital after dinner didn’t require any skill. HA!
The amazing thing is, that in 2 months, that book is going to make perfect sense, and I’ll be calculating in my sleep (not literally), but for now…we better go to Pepe’s and think about the future.
So the guy that has been working there since he was a child, really, (I know, because we as a family, collectively have been going there for his whole life basically, I even remember a time when he was out in the parking lot trying to drive off in his older brothers car…he got in trouble for that…) anypepestoryway…this kid/adult now (Ricky? The name would not come to me, don’t judge, I’m approaching 40, but Mason and Stevie both agree, yes, on the name) made me a killer, and I mean KILLER margarita. I took 4 drinks and I was feeling the heat. By one third gone, I was TWO thirds gone. I wish I could say I was joking, because I was getting “altered” and fast. (My teeth were numb and I tried to walk out of the clear glass panel NEXT to the door, when I left the restaurant) I ate some chips and salsa and some shrimp cocktail on crackers and a tamale and a chili rellano but food was failing me fast, so I concentrated on finishing the medium margarita that, based on my morning calculations of how-long-it-takes-my-body-to-filter-out-the-alcohol (years of research have perfected this system) there must have been at least, 5 shots of tequila in my drink. I can say that with confidence because I was still slightly drunk at 7:30 in the morning. And I even tried to move the alcohol along with activity and oxygen before I fell into dreamy-drunky sleep the night before but sometimes you can’t keep a good buzz down, or up, or whatever. End of story.
I dragged myself up, took out the garbage, diluted my remaining blood level of tequila with coffee, and watched Regis & Kelly with Pat Tomasulo subbing for Regis (!!) I wrote it on the calendar! Busy schedule, yeah yeah, I’ll be working soon enough and you’ll miss these long, rambling posts. (More Pat Stuff)
The Pat Down. For your enjoyment. And since this is Chicago, we have 2 newspapers…here’s the Trib version. Ok, I think I’m done now.
Then I really pushed the limit with a five mile run. Five point one something something, to be exact. I ran the water bill to the Village Hall, which maps out at 5+ miles. MapMy Run.com. 30 minutes there. 34 minutes back. One hour, four minutes. I will take it. I ran on the sidewalks. Concrete, hard on the shins with lots of hills, (dang Park Forest doesn’t have a completely flat spot 10 steps in a row), and chock full of tripping hazards. Broken cement, uneven, crooked, weeds, rocks…I’m not sure what the village is doing all the time. It seems like they dig holes in random spots all around town just so there’s something for the kids to fall into. At any rate. I was done for the day. Kids got home about 3 ish and we ate ice cream and talked about all they did last week. Stevie made cupcakes! First time on her own and no crunchy ones from egg shells! (So far) So proud. Then dinner and a movie. (Burgers on the grill and Smokey and the Bandit from Netflix) unpack the bags, go to bed and poof! Here we are. Today.
I’m going to skip the run today, maybe go take a walk at the nature trail if I can get the kids out there. Mason has grass to finish and we are open. I have the pictures you have been waiting for…I didn’t forget, it’s just time and energy and getting them off the cell phone. I even have video! The kids wanted to play in the water, but we don’t have a pool. We have a hose. So they filled up larger, plastic, Tupperware bowls and put their faces in them or dumped them over their heads. They would swim in a wet sponge if they could. Then they played water-hose-jump-rope, which is actually pretty funny. So that’s coming too! And all that other stuff I said I had…Remember my theme: Everything is always two days ago!
Cupcakes!
Half with sprinkles, half without! Tasty!
just shy of pretty 