New Year, New Job

I've been working at the Med Center for a little over a week now and am starting to feel like I'm getting the hang of things. I worked 6 out of 7 days last week and it was pretty crazy every shift. Most everyone that I've meet so far has been very nice and helpful. I like the other midlevels that I work with, and am starting to get in good with some of the nurses. It's is a bit strange to be the only full time female midlevel provider, but then again, I've always been one to hang with the boys! I went to elementary, middle, and high school with one the guys I work with and it's been nice to reconnect with a familar face and talk about the "old days." So far, I've encountered a good number people of that I know. Some of them past class mates, a few people from the community, and some that remember me from when I did my rotation here almost 3 years ago.
One of the things I like most about my new job, is the amount of respect I receive as a PA here. Doctors and residents are appreciative when I see their patients and do all the work up for them. They talk to me like I know what I am doing and converse with me as they would a colleague. It's a nice change to have residents available for consult and physicians that will actually set foot in the ER. Sometime there are so many specialist in the ER at one time that you are tripping over them, where as before it was as if they didn't want to be caught dead in the ER. In Chattanooga, the on call doctors (with the exception of the OB/GYNs) treated me like I were stupid simply because I wasn't a physician and basically refused to talk to you (even when I was the one that knew the most about the patient). At the Med Center, I get to decide if a patient needs to be admitted, call the appropriate doctor, and actually discuss my patient with them. It's really nice to appreciated and encouraged to be independent.
Another wonderful change has been the significant decrease in the amount of OB/GYN care that I have had to do. Some days in Chattanooga, that was all I did. Mind you, I got to the point where I could do it in my sleep, but it's nice not to have to do some many freaking pelvic exams. The first 3 shifts I worked, I got to do my first spinal tap on a real person (I've practiced on models and dead chickens) and did ZERO pelvic exams. It was wonderful.
While there are lots of good things to be said about my new job, I do miss my old one. I miss the people I worked with and the comfort level I had there. In some ways I have to proove myself to the nurses and ER Docs here all over again. Before, everyone knew that I was easy to get along with, worked hard, and that I knew what I was doing. Now I have to work to establish that again. I know in time that it will come, but for now I miss being able to joke with the staff and be the super sarcastic person that I naturally am. I look forward to seeing what else my new job holds and the many things I'm sure that I will learn here. But don't worry, I won't forget my roots. After all, I was just a "baby PA" when I started in Chattanooga, and I am the PA I am today because of what I learned there.

Last Days

January 1st is my last offical day working at Parkridge East Hospital in Chattanooga. I have 24 hours left to work and then I will no longer be employed there. It's a weird feeling to have. I've never really "quit" a job before. At least not in the sense of giving a notice and being all offical about it. In the past it was because I went off to college or moved away, not really anything where I made the decision to leave. This was my first "grown up/real" job. It marked the beginning of my career as a PA. I moved to Chattanooga specifically for this job and started over on my own. I truely felt like I had entered the adult world. I bought my first car and my first house. I was completely independent of my parents in a place where no one knew me as "one of the Keyt girls". It was a strange feeling at first, but one I am very glad to have had. I have grown up a lot in the past 2 years and I feel as though I have finally figured out who I am and the kind of person I want to be. It's been a time of personal growth and struggle. I've met lots of great people and have made some great memories. I'm going to miss this place.
The Chattanooga chapter of my life is about to end though. Over the next couple of weeks I will pack up my stuff and make the transition back to Johnson City to start my new job there. I'm excited about it. I'm ready for a change. For the next phase of my life. But it may also be a bit weird to be back in the town where I grew up. Where so much has changed but at the same time so much has stayed the same. I'm not the same person I was in high school. It's been almost 6 1/2 years since I really lived there. In some ways it's like coming home, but I'm not the kid who grew up there, or the teenager who made trips home from college. I'm an adult now. I have the chance to make my own idenity and life separate from the one I left when I was 19. I hope it will be a good experience. I really feel like this where God wants me to be right now and I have a feeling of peace that I haven't had in several months.
I don't know what this next chapter of my life will hold, but I'm ready for it, whatever it may be. Look out Johnson City, I'm coming back!

Say Cheese!

I realized my past few posts have been kind of bland, so I decided it was time for a few pictures to spice things up a bit. Enjoy! My Tree
Me and Alicia
Ferocious Toby

Toby's new favorite toy (i payed 17cents for it!)
Alicia's Tree (we have the same one from Target)
Me and Alicia
The expensive "tough" toy that lasted 20minutes
Pregnant Alicia
Bo and Toby
Say Cheese Toby

Back to Work

Now that December is here, it means that I'm back to having to work like a normal person. I had a large chunk of vacation time accumulated at work that I needed to use up before I leave at the end of the year. So, I decided to use most of that time in November and I got rather spoiled by having so much free time. I only worked 8 shifts in November (96 hours) and the only week I worked a semi-normal schedule was the week of Thanksgiving. Tomorrow is the end of my "vacation month" and I start back to my usually schedule by working all weekend. I can't really complain though since I only work 15-17 days a month as it is.
Before I head back to work this weekend, I am taking one last chance to have a bit of fun and enjoy the start of the holiday season. Tomorrow night my friend Nathan is singing in a Christmas concert at Lee University and I'm looking forward to attending. I love Christmas time and especially Christmas music. (I however do believe that one shouldn't start playing Christmas music until the day after Thanksgiving!) I haven't found my Christmas spirit yet this year and am hoping this concert might help me find it. I also plan to put up my tree on Monday, which is something I always look forward to. As much as I love real trees, I'm resorting to the artificial tree again this year since I don't know exactly when I might end up moving. Guess I'll have to settle for my pine scent coming from a candle this year. Next week's agenda also includes sending out Christmas cards, starting and finishing my shopping, and baking. Why I didn't do some of this during all my time off, I'm not really sure, but for some reason this year I have chosen to be a procrastinator. With only 20 days left till Christmas (well almost 19), I'd better get on it though!!!!!!!

Christmas is Coming

It's a been a little while since I last posted, and while nothing major has happened in my life, I decided I'd post about the little bit that has occurred. After returning from Boston, I worked the weekend, and then spent a week in Johnson City with the family. I did a lot of house looking and have found a couple of prospects. My house here is still for sale and I'm trying not to stress about it. I would love for it to sell before I have to move so that I can just move once. It looks like I may end up renting something for a few months or so, which unfortunately means moving twice. I don't mind moving to new places, or back to old places as the case may be, but I hate the process. I hate having to carefully wrap everything up. While most things pack easily, it seems like there is always that one box that has a bunch of random stuff in it that doesn't really fit in any other place. Then there's the unpacking, which is fun for the first little bit, but get tedious really quickly. And no matter how carefully you label things, things always seem to end up in boxes you know you didn't put them in.
My last day at my job here in Chattanooga is January 6th, and I'll be starting at the med center around the 14th. For those you who may have missed this info from my earlier posts, I have accepted at job as a PA in the ER at JCMC and will be moving back to Johnson City. I'm ready for change and am excited about it.
After my week with the fam, I came back to Chattanooga and worked two horrible shifts. I then drove back to JC for two days to spend Thanksgiving with the family. I also got to catch up with Leah and Jennifer for a short while, which was nice. Thanksgiving morning I watched the Macy's Day parade, as I always do, and managed to turn it on just in time to see the Ooltewah High School Band perform. They were the band dressed like clowns for anyone who happened to catch it, and that's where I actually live. I just say I live in Chattanooga cause it's easier. I then enjoyed some traditional football watching as the Green Bay Packers continued their winning streak!!!!!!Thanksgiving dinner was especially wonderful this year, because last year I got the stomach virus on Thanksgiving day and spend the evening puking my guts up. This year I decided to try a recipe that I saw in a Rachael Ray magazine as my contribution to dessert (we ended up with six different desserts this year and decided we are going to have plan a little better next year). We've never really been a pumpkin pie kind of family, although Sarah has made this pumpkin cheesecake the past few years that's a big hit, so we normally end up with a random assortment of things. Anyway, I made an apple caramel cake from scratch. It was my first attempt in all my years of baking, at making a cake from scratch. I've always used mixes in the past. It turned out quite well and I plan to add it to my ever growing list of favorite recipes.
After my short visit home, I headed back to Chattanooga to work all weekend. The day after Thanksgiving wasn't too bad because all the nuts where out shopping and not in the ER. The next two days weren't so wonderful though and I was very glad to put last week behind me. Last week was actually the only week this month that I worked my normal full schedule. I'm only working 8 shifts in November because I'm using up all my vacation time before I leave! It's been wonderful. I am currently on another stretch of vacation time and don't work again until December 7th. I've spent the past couple of days on a desperate search for Hanukkah decorations. My sister Rebekah is student teaching kindergarten this year and they are doing a unit on "Winter Celebrations Around the World." I didn't that it would be too hard to find a Star of David and a few dreidels, but it was. Out of all the places that I went to in Chattanooga, only one had any decorations. I realize there may not be a huge Jewish population here, but surely there are some people who celebrate Hanukkah. I finally found some at Party City (just in case anyone else has been searching) and only went there as a last ditch attempt.
This evening I'm heading to Knoxville to spend the night with Elizabeth (my sister), doing a little outlet shopping Thursday morning, and then heading to Johnson City again. Friday morning I'm flying to Richmond to visit my pregnant college roomie and I'm very excited about seeing her. Currently, I'm hanging around waiting for the heat man to come and see why my heat is not working. If you turn on the heat, it blows freezing air and makes the temp in the house drop. It was 54 when I got up this morning! It did this last year too and it was a quick fix, so I'm hoping for the same thing this time.

Boston

I spent this past weekend in Boston visiting my best friend Valerie and we had lots of fun. Boston is a really cool place and I had never been there before. It was nice to get away for a few days and catch up with Val. For those of you who aren't aware, Val and I have been friends since we were somewhere around 4 and she is definitely one of my best friends. She moved to Boston at the end of July, and this is first time I've seen her since she left.

I love big cities that have good public transportation systems and where people walk a lot. It reminds me of being in Europe, and well, I love it in Europe. Plus it's nice that things are within walking distance and that people actually use the sidewalks.

I got to Boston on Thursday evening and after navigating the bus and the T by myself, I met Val at the station as she was getting back from work, and we made the treck up to her apartment. We cooked dinner and hung out with her bf, Adam. Friday I bummed around Harvard area while Val was at work, which was kind of neat to see. We had the best burgers that night at this little place (and by little I mean 30 people max can be in there at one time, if you have to wait you do it outside!), that was just down the street from the apartment. I am slowly becoming addicted to The Simpsons, thanks to Val and Adam! I've never really watched any episodes before and we watched more than a few this weekend. I must say most of them were pretty funny, even if they are a bit ridiculous! Saturday it was cold and really windy, thanks to the hurricane that moved up the coast. So after bumming around for most of the morning, we braved the elements and ventured out to shop at this big indoor mall place, which had pretty much any store you could imagine in it. Thankfully, the weather in Boston changes almost as quickly as it does here in the South, and Sunday was a perfect day. We went down to the waterfront and walked around a lot so I could get a taste of Boston. It was fun. We spent the late afternoon eating wonderful seafood and sadly watching the Colts get beat at this nice resturaunt near MIT. It was a really good weekend and I didn't want to leave on Monday.

Here are some random interesting things I learned about Boston during my trip:

1. There's no such thing as Happy Hour due to some weird law

2. You can only buy alcohol in a liqueor store, not the grocery store or the gas station, another one of those crazy northern laws. Talk about having to plan in advance.

3. You can't smoke in bars, which is really nice.

4. All those items in the LL Bean catalog that you thought people couldn't possible ever need to wear, are for people who live in Boston. You have to dress for warmth and comfort and not fashion, or you will freeze to death!

5. 95% of Boston owns a pair of UGH boots, or it least it seems like they do!

6. Valerie lives at the top of one of the only hills in Boston and I'm willing to bet that someone has probably had a heart attack walking up it at some point!

Being Girly

I'm not known for being a particularly "girly girl". It's not that I'm really a tomboy or anything, but I am know for enjoying sports, being competitive, not so emotional, and being able to hang with the guys. The term my friends and I have always used is a "gril".Occasionally though, I do enjoy giving in and doing all the girly things that are expected of me. This weekend I spent all Saturday shopping with my dear friend Leah in Nashville. It was some much needed "retail therapy" and I gave in to the shopping experience and bought a few non-practical items just because I loved them. I even paid full price for something, which for those of you who know me well realize how big of a deal this is! We ended our outing with manicures and pedicures. It was my first pedicure, and I think I'm hooked. It was nice to be pampered and just relax. I must say my toes look quite cute. I even went for pink nail polish! That night, I met my friend Erin for drinks and dinner at this awesome little place called Virago (a must try if you are ever in Nashville). The food and drinks were awesome and the atmosphere was great. I felt like I was on Sex and the City or something. It was lots of fun. Then we hit The Stage and as always fun times were had by all! :)
The super "girlyness" didn't last for too long though. By Sunday evening I was back to watching football and trying to figure out why my oil light is on when I still have 2000 more miles to go before it's supposed to be changed!

What's Wrong with People?

This week I have witnessed an unusual amount of weird, random, and inappropriate things around town. Call me crazy, but there are just some things that I feel aren't appropriate, especially when one reaches a certain age. I took care of a patient the other day whose mother has an eyebrow piercing. This woman has to be at least fourty and I think it looks ridiculous. It would be one thing if she was a funky, hip woman with tattoos and other piercings, but she's far from it (think short, fat, bleach blonde hair, in front of a trailer). Maybe I'm being judgemental, but sometimes as an adult you have to realize some fashion trends have age limits, especially when you're a mom! The craziest thing is that I was talking to one of the doctors I work with about this woman and the minute I said "she has an eyebrow piercing", the doc knew exactly who I was talking about, probably because she's in the ER all the time. This of course brings up another inappropriate thing that happens way too often these days- the use of the ER as your doctor. It's called an EMERGENCY room for a reason. I shouldn't see anyone often enough that I know your name, medical history, allergies, kids names, pets, and where you went on vacation this summer! And unfortunately there are plenty of patients that I can say this about! Trying to educate people about how this is not what the ER is meant for is a waste of time and effort, they just don't get it. Trust me, I've tried. Even when we screen people out (ie tell them we aren't going to treat them unless they pay because their problem isn't an emergency), they still keep coming back for the same type problems. Now there are a few patients that I see on a fairly regular basis because they are accident prone or just have bad luck. Those people I don't mind because they actually have a reason to be in the ER. I did have a pretty interesting patient that bears mentioning because it''s not something I see every day- I guess he fits in the weird category. He was using a sledge hammer to nail in a large metal nail (I think of it like a railroad steak thing), when it shattered. Part of the nail head went through his pants, into his leg making a cut, travelled though his leg, came out, made another cut, and lodged in his leg. It was kind or cool. Since it was metal it showed up really well on x-ray, making it really easy to locate. I was able remove it pretty easily and it ended up being over 1cm long and about 1/2 cm wide. I let him keep it because he said his friends would never believe him. It was the highlight of my day. I know, I'm weird.
The next thing I witnessed was less inappropriate, and more just plain dangerous! I was on the interstate behind this car, when I noticed this man has his arm hanging out the window. I don't mean resting it out the window, it was hanging down beside the car. What if a car had swerved into his lane going 70 mph?!?! His arm would have been smashed or even ripped off! Some people are just stupid and I think he deserves a sign!
Okay, I'm done ranting for now. I work 5 days this week though, so I'm sure I'll witness a few more stupid and inappropriate things!

BIG News

Last week I made a decision that is both the most important and difficult decision that I have had to make in my life so far. I decided to quit my current job and accept an offer to work in the ER at the Johnson City Medical Center. I offically turned in my letter of resignation on Monday. That's right folks, I'm coming "home". I will start the new job either the beginning of December or January, depending on when they can fill my current position. It was a really hard choice for me. I really like the people I work and am liked and trusted at my current job. But I'm also starting to get bored and the potential for growth and networking is limited. I realized that the easy and comfortable thing is not always the right thing. Sometimes you have to take a chance and choose the hard thing. I guess the reason this decision was so difficult for me is due to the personal side of it all. I worry how this will affect my relationship with my boyfriend. I know that I have to trust that if we're supposed to be together things will work out regardless of where we are. But saying it and believing it are two different things.
I am at peace about my decision though. I'm starting to get excited about the new job and all that comes with it. I must admit though that I'm a bit stressed out about selling my house, finding a new one, moving and all that entails. For now though, I'm just going to take it one day at a time. Otherwise, I might have nervous breakdown!!!!!

Stuck with the Funk

Yesterday I stuck myself with a dirty needle at work. I was doing an I&D of an abscess that I know was full of MRSA (ie bad bacteria). I had injected the area with Lidocaine, cut into it, and was expressing a lot of pus. (for non-medical people, basically I was cutting open a pus pocket to drain the infection, I do this a lot in the ER and enjoy it probably more that I should) I went back to grab the needle to flush the area and numb it some more, and that's when I stuck myself. And it wasn't just a little poke in the glove, I stuck it bad enough that I pulled my hand back in pain and it instantly started bleeding. There was also a clear puncture hole in the glove. I probable shouldn't have, but I finished the procedure before I did anything about it. Needle sticks are pretty much going to happen to you at some point when you work in healthcare. It actually wasn't the first time I've stuck myself. It happens sometimes when I'm suturing kids up and they thrash about, but I never really worry about catching anything. Even with this stick, I wasn't worried about HIV or Hepatitis or anything like that. I'm concerned about catching MRSA from the stick.
Since this all happened at work, I had to go through the whole process of signing in as a patient and doing the worker's comp thing. Then I had to have blood drawn. It was freezing cold in the ER and I'm a hard stick anyway, whic meant my veins were pretty much nonexistant. So in order to get blood, I got stuck an additional 3 times. The 3rd time being in my wrist, which is really painful, but it was the only visible vein and they needed blood. When they finally did get a vein, it took like 5 minutes to fill the 3 tubes because the vein was so small and I was bleeding so slowly. On top of all of that, I had to get a tetanus shot since I haven't had one in 10 years. That means that my arm is horribly sore today and I can barely move it. So, yeah it was an "exciting" day at work. At least now if I catch "the funk" (as a patient of mine called it yesterday), I have an offical record of it and my employer will be responsible for paying for any complications. Hopefully it will be okay. I pretty much know it will be and that the chances of catching anything are very low, but still MRSA is the one thing I worry about catching at work. I don't worry about getting all the other diseases that we see, but I do worry that I will pick this up. We see some really bad infections of the stuff and once people get it, sometimes they have a hard time getting rid of it. It affects people from all walks of life too. One of our nurses even got it and had to be hospitalized for it. So keep your fingers crossed that I don't get the funk!

(my finger is where I stuck myself, and the other 3 photos are my blood draw sites. it's not real clear, but I have a pretty good size bruise on my wrist)

25

So I've been 25 for almost 2 weeks now, and I've decided that it's not too bad. In fact, it even has a few perks. My car insurance went down $33, which is fantastic! It's crazy that with the passing of one day, the insurance company suddenly decides that I have become a more competent driver. I'm not complaining about it, I just think it's interesting. It seems that to a lot of people 25 sounds much older than 24, because now when patients at work ask how old I am and I say 25, that for some reason sits better with them. Another thing that came with turning 25 was having to renew my driver's license, which I almost forgot to do. I realized it several weeks before my birthday and had planned to go to the office the week prior to my b-day, because I wanted to take a new picture. However, I kind of forgot about it and realized on Friday at 7pm, that I never made it to the DMV and it expired the next day! So, instead of panicing, I simple logged on to tn.gov and renewed it online. It's a bit crazy that you can do that over the internet, but I was very glad that I could. I am stuck with the same picture for the next 5 years though, unless I want to pay for another one.
My tattoo is healing nicely, and I like it alot. Which is a good thing, seeing as how it's there for life! I decided turning 25 was a good occasion to get another tattoo. Since I got the first one in Paris with my college roomie, I couldn't just pick a random day to get the next one. I've wanted a second one for a while (it's true what they say, they are addicting), but was waiting for the perfect time to get it. In case anyone was wondering, it hurt a lot! Actually it wasn't so much pain, as it was a very intense stinging. Fortunately, it didn't last too long, and there were frequent pauses.
Turning 25 also got me thinking about some of my past birthdays. I must say I remember some really random things. Like I remember my 4th birthday party very well. It was a Rainbow Bright Party that I had with my friend Erika, who has the exact same birthday as I do and lived down the street from me growing up. She blew out the candles before her mom counted to 3, so her mom relit them and I got to blow them out all by myself. I know, very random, but also very vivid for some reason. Turning 10 stands out too, maybe because I finally hit "double digits" and as a kid that's a big deal. I had a "carnival" themed party with 3 of my friends. I don't remember a lot of what we did, but it ranks up there on the birthday list for some reason. Maybe because we didn't have parties every year, so when we did, it seemed really special. There are also a couple of birthdays that I remember, and wish I didn't. My 22nd is one of those. I didn't celebrate my 21st in the "traditional" way because I had just started PA school in Nashville and didn't really know anyone well enough to celebrate it with. So instead, I celebrated my 22nd birthday with the help of a couple of my PA friends. I had a little too much fun, and I hope to never feel like that again. Puking in the parking garage was definitely the low point of the evening. The next day wasn't too much fun either! Unfortunately, my 25th birthday makes the list of ones I'd rather forget as well. My whole birthday experience ended up being good, but the actual day of wasn't too great. (check out my facebook note for more on that) Fortunately I have wonderful friends and family who helped me get through it and tried to make my birthday experience a positive one.

Thinkin'

Tomorrow I turn 25 and it's putting me in a bit of a reflective mood. I guess because it's one of those ages that I consider a bit of a milestone. There's certain things that in my head I always thought would have happened by this point in time. A lot them are a reality. I have my master's degree, a job that I like, and I bought my first house a year ago. I have wonderful friends and a boyfriend who I love. But then there are a few things that have happened yet. I know 25 is by no means old, but in a way to me it is. I guess I figured I'd be married by now and maybe even thinking about starting a family. I try and focus on the things that I do have and be content with that. But sometimes I'm not. Maybe it's because a close friend just got engaged and my college roomie is pregnant. Maybe because I'm in the process of making some hard decisions about my job and the future. Sometimes growing up and dealing with life can be so complicated.
On a lighter subject, I've decided to get another tattoo to mark my 25 years. I'm getting it tonight with my friend Ashley, who is also getting one. I'll post pictures once it's done!

Picture Time

The past few couple of weeks have been busy ones for me, so rather than just ramble on about what I've been up to, I decided to just post some pictures. Hope you enjoy them!

These first photos are from Philadelphia. I spent 6 days there for the National Physician Assistant Conference. It was interesting for the most part. I learned a few things and got to hangout with Alicia (see previous post) and her husband. I also got to see one of my friends from college who is in his last semester of PA school. I took most of these as I walked the 9 blocks to and from the conference center every day.The Skyline
City Hall

Sites along my morning walk

*Warning* If you have a weak stomach, scroll past this next photo quickly!Alicia and I took a procedure class and one of the stations involved doing lumbar punctures (spinal taps), which we practiced on chickens. Supposedly it's just like doing one on an infant. The first two chickens that came out of the cooler had "feet" but no head, but the third one as you can see from the photo, certainly did! The doctor that pulled it out was like "wow this is too much, we can't use this one, we have to put it back in the cooler". It was after all 9am and this isn't exactly what you want to see at that time of the day! Of course, later the chicken again emerged from the cooler for her photo op. It's kind of one of those things you know you probably shouldn't take a picture of, but you just can't miss out on a prime opportunity.

When I left Philly, I flew back to Nashville to meet up with Valerie, Leah, and Jennifer for our second annual trip to the lake. We spent the weekend catching up, relaxing, riding around in the boat, and catching some rays. It was great to hang out with the girls and just enjoy being together. These are just a few of the many photos that we took.

Cooling off in the lake

Hanging out in the dockValerie, Leah, Me, and JenniferVal, Me, and Leah

Weekend Adventures

I had a fabulous 4 day weekend, which made going back to work yesterday even harder than normal. Thursday evening I drove to Johnson City, had dinner with the family, and quickly got caught up on the latest news around town. Friday morning I got up at 5:30 (I can't remember the last time I got up that early!) to fly out of the TRI airport to Richmond, VA to visit my best friend and college roomie. I found tickets for way cheaper than the cost of gas and plus I love to fly! I hadn't seen Alicia since September 2005, when I was in her wedding.

We have stayed in touch through e-mail and phone calls, but nothing beats a visit. From the minute she picked me up from the airport, we talked nonstop the whole weekend. It was like we just saw each other last week. I am truely blessed to have her as a friend. In the three years that we lived together, we never once had a fight. We get each other in a way that it hard to put into words. I had a wonderful time, and we vowed that we would try and be better about visiting. I was very sad to say goodbye Sunday afternoon. However, I will get to see her next week because we are both going to Philly for the National Physician Assistant Conference. We didn't realize we were both going when we planned our weekend visit, so we are getting two visits back to back!

I had left my car at my parents house while I was gone, and I returned on Sunday night to find that some stupid punks had taken a baseball bat and smashed my passenger side mirror. Why do people have to do things like that?!?!?! I was so mad. They broke the glass, the plastic cover, and the wire that supplies the motor was cut (my mirrors fold in completely to the side of the car, so that all has to be replaced.) Plus they put a nice scratch all down the side of the car. They also busted the mirror on another one of our cars.

I have pictures I will add to this post later, but for now I have to get ready for work.
Only one more day this week and then I am off for 12 days!!!!!!!!!

A post with out a picture of Kaley just wouldn't be complete. She's just so darn cute, I had to put one in of her. I took this one right before I left on Monday morning to Drive back to Chattanooga. And for all of you who keep up with my personal life and are curious about Jason, here's a picture I took of us the other day while we were hanging out.

Full Moon

It really is true what they say about things in the ER being worse when it's a full moon. At least it was tonight. The afternoon was great, just a few easy patients and a good staff. Then at about 7:30 the flood gates opened and all hell broke loose. At one point 17 people signed in within 30 minutes. That has to be some kind of record! To make matters worse, we were short staffed. It was all a bunch of nonsense crap too. I did stitch up this really awesome lip laceration though; it was the highlight of my night. Yeah I know, I'm twisted.
I still have 3 shifts to go this week too. I have the weekend off and my sisters are coming to visit, so that will be fun. I can't really complain about having to work 4 days in a row though, because I did it to myself. It was worth it have Saturday and Sunday off. My boyfriend's birthday (yes you did read that right) was Saturday so we went out to dinner, saw a movie, and hung out downtown with some of his friends. If you haven't seen Blades of Glory and are in need of a laugh, I highly recommend it. I laughed so hard! Sunday we spent the day out on the lake. It was so nice. I am so ready for summer and warm weather. I'm a lovely shade of pink after 6 hours in the sun! Not too bad though, and I did wear sunscreen.

Easter Photos

Hope everyone had a great Easter, I know I did. It was nice to hang out with th family and see everyone. I also got to see 2 of my best friends that I didn't know were going to be intown until the last minute. Surprises like that are always welcomed. We managed to take a family for the first time in forever (thanks Chip), so I decided I'd post it for all to behold. Seriously I can't remember the last time all 7 of us (well 8 with Kaley) had our picture taken. It's been at least 3 years because Kaley wasn't in the last one.

It was quite cold at home and it even snowed on Saturday. (yes you did read that right, it says snow!) It's April and I'm ready for spring and summer. 2 weekends ago I was out on the lake in my bathing suit. I've already had my first good burn for the season. If I had any doubts about wishing it was still cold, they are gone after this recent cold snap. Bring on the sun! Enjoy the pics.

Never Ending Weekend

This has been one of the longest weekends ever. Work has sucked the past 2 days and I still have one more shift to go before I get a couple of days off. Patients have been obnoxious, it's been busy, and my allergies are out of control. I have had several really interesting cases this week, but today I'm just hoping for slow and boring! Yes, I know, I'm whining.
In other news, I'm looking forward to going home to see my family next weekend for Easter. I haven't seen them since January and it will nice to be back "home" for a few days.

Tax Time

First, let me say that if I just finshed cleaning the bathroom (yes I'm aware that's midnight, but I'm not tired yet, so what's a girl to do?) and I inhailed way too many fumes from the cleaning supplies. So if this sounds like random jiberish, that's why. At least that's my excuse this time anyway!

So I finished doing my taxes today and offically filed them. It's nice to have that over with. I had been putting it off for quite a while. It really wasn't that bad though. I just had to make myself sit down with the huge stack of papers that is required to fill out all the forms and do it. And yes, I did it all myself. I did make a few phones calls to my dad just to verify that I had done things correctly and wasn't going to get in trouble with the government. I even did the whole itemized deduction thing this year. Now I can make plans for that refund check!

As for the picture, yeah it has nothing to do with this post at all, but I just wanted to include a picture and this is the one I chose. This photo is from Father's Day and it's the first picture of all 5 of us (plus Kaley) that we'd taken in a long time. For those of you who might can't tell who's who here's the order: me, Christine, Rebekah, Sarah, Kaley, and Elizabeth. (L to R)

Randomness

I haven't posted in a while mainly because my life has been pretty routine and there hasn't been much to comment on. I wouldn't want to deprive my "fans" for too long though, so I decided I'd slap some random things together to come up with a post. Work has been insane for the past month and it doesn't look like it's going to get better anytime soon. I saw 32 people in 12 hours the other day. I sewed 3 of them up, lanced a few of their abscesses, and x-rayed and splinted most of the rest of them, which makes for a really long shift. The flu is making a comeback, especially in kids, and the stomach virus that's been going around since Christmas is still hanging around. Surprisingly enough, I haven't anyone who's been afflicted with the Salmonella peanut butter yet. Of course, now that I've said that I'll probably see 20 people tomorrow that will swear it's the PB.
I borrowed the new Keith Urban CD from my friend Jenny yesterday, and I can't stop listening to it. You should check it out if you like, country and if you don't you should still give it a try. It has just the right balance of upbeat and slow songs, and they actually don't all sound the same. All things that are definitely a plus in my book. I also recently watched The Guardian, with Ashton Kutcher and Kevin Costner, and it's pretty good. It kept my attention and I'd probably watch it again.
I've been meaning to post these pictures for a while, but just haven't gotten around to it, so I thought I'd throw them in to spice up the post. So here they are:
Toby's not quite sure what to make of snow
The First (and only) Real Snow in Chatt. this Winter
Kaley's Christmas Photo (one of many takes!)
Toby with his Christmas deer, which he promptly destroyed

(her shirt says "I've been so good!")

Willow Springs Park, Johnson City

Kaley and I made strawberry cupcakes for her 3rd birthday and of course a taste-testing was in order!

Toby and Bo sitting next to each other and not barking-it's a small miracle

Three Cheers for Walmart!

Today the new Walmart in Ooltewah opened, and I couldn't be happier. It's exactly 1.2 miles from my house, which may actually be a little too convinent. In case you were wondering, yes I've already visited it. It's fantastic. The aisle are wide enough that 2 carts can fit down them with room to spare. Everything is bright, open, well labeled, and organized in a way that actually makes sense. The only down side of the new store is no self check out lanes. I was a bit bummed about that since that's how I prefer to checkout.
I know that a lot of people out there hate Walmart, but I love it. It's capitalism at it's best. When a Walmart opens, it provided lots of jobs and enriches the local economy. I've heard the rumors that they don't always treat their employees well, but lets face it, there are plenty of companies that treat their employees like crap. Not that I think that's okay, I'm just saying. I love that I can get everything with one stop at a good price. I also think it's great that they honor advertisements from other stores. Plus there's the whole open 24 hours thing, which means when I get off work at 2am I can go grocery shopping if I want. Walmart can offer things and prices that no one else can because of their widespread success. For example their $4 generic prescription plan for people without insurance. How great is that?!?!? Because of this Walmart can drive market forces and help to lower the costs of medication across the board. It's exactly what healthcare needs. There's also talk of Walmart starting clinics in their stores which I'm personally all for. So Walmart will continue to get my business for now, at least until they open a Super Target in Ooltewah! :)