Tuesday Fragments

It's been a while since I did the whole "Friday Fragments" thing. But today was sort of all over, so it seemed fitting. Even if it is Tuesday.

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I spent a lot of time on the NOAA website today. I felt better. I now feel worse. The entire Eastern Carolina coast is under a hurricane watch right now. Seriously, if Earl invites himself along to our beach retreat, I'm going to lose my damn mind.
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I actually said the words today, "We had a big argument over Costco." That should just never be uttered.
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Hurricanes always remind me of a particular man from my past, who lived (lives? Who knows) in Hurricane Alley and allegedly threw a hell of a hurricane party. I learned more about hurricane proofing than I ever wanted to from him. Who knew it might actually turn out to be relevant?
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I got my stuff today for the conference I'm going to in New York in October. That made me a little giddy.
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Overheard on my walk in to work the other day (remember - hospital in the middle of a college campus): "I'm not sure this geology class is worth the half hour walk to class. I mean, I pass like fifty rocks on the way there, why not just study those?"
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Corny Joke #1 I heard at the Starbucks at work today: "Skeleton walks into a bar. He orders a beer and a mop."
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Corny Joke #2 I heard at Starbucks today: "Helium walks into a bar. The bartender says, hey, we don't serve inert gasses here! Helium doesn't react."
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Corny co-worker joke I heard today: "I bit into a pumpkin muffin and was like, 'wow, this is fantastic! Oh my gourd!!'"
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TV quote I love du jour: "Broken bodies are easier to mend than broken minds." From NCIS, about PTSD.
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Tomorrow my coffee shop is celebrating its 10 year anniversary. I'm excited about the discount. And wish them another 10.
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The hurricane is going to miss us. The hurricane is going to miss us. The hurricane is going to miss us. 
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I really like my coffee people. I'm a little bummer that after I get back I'm going to have to get to work earlier and not linger so long at the coffee shop in the morning.
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I really need to go to bed. I haven't been getting out of bed so well in the mornings...

All's well that's almost well

So I talked to the beach real estate people today. The previously screwed up beach house reservation? Unscrewed.

Oh, holy cow.

We have the super awesome beach house again. I have it for a WEEK! A weeeeek!!

In just three more days!

Now if I can only get the hurricanes to knock it the heck off....

Drawn to a close

Ahhh, another week down.

Mom's home. She's feeling better and her lip is back to its normal size.

Maggie missed her.

 

It was a full and yet very unproductive day. I had a good time at coffee this morning. I picked up my mom, her prescriptions, and some lunch and then headed back to the ranch. I had a good workout. I ran a couple of errands. I took Maggie back to my folks later in the evening so she could say hello and I could do my mom's pill boxes. We watched some SVU. I didn't get my laundry or my dishes done. I didn't get half the work done this weekend that I wanted to. I never made it to Costco.

You know? It's just fine.

Saturday ahoy

Yeah, I don't know what that title means.

It's been an interesting couple of days. My mom developed a giant, rapidly spreading abscess in her lip, and so we spent last night in the ER, where ENT drained it and they admitted her for IV antibiotics. I spent a lot of today driving back and forth from the hospital to where we live. I went to the hospital to get my blood drawn (time for a thyroid test), then went home and got my dad, dropped him off to keep my mom company, went to coffee, went and got shoes and picked up lunch, went back to my house to eat, went back to pick up my dad, went back to the hospital to hang out with my mom....well, you get the picture.

I walked into the New Balance store and said, "I have the worst plantar faciitis in the history of feet. Help. Please." I left with new tennis shoes and a pair of those tone-your-butt flip-flops. Not because I think they'll actually tone my butt (flip-flops vs. my fat ass? Please.), but because the guy suggested them and they were SO comfortable. And marginally cute. But SO comfortable....

My mom and I had a nice visit, though. We got an off unit pass and took a walk to the Starbucks in the hospital. We people-watched. We ate cookies. I worked on knitting a baby sock.

When I left the hospital I caught up with a bunch of my coworkers at a local watering hole to celebrate May's upcoming wedding. We had a lovely time. We ate and talked and laughed a whole lot. It was an intimate little group of us by design, and it was so great to chat and catch up and tell stories. And May and Doug are adorable together. It was exactly what I needed after a really long day...

The return of Love Thursday

Ten things I love on the late-summer Thursday:

1. My job, particularly at the state hospital clinic.

2. This killer burrito place located near State Hospital, from where I had lunch today. Chicken Verde Deluxe. SO GOOD.

3. My morning ritual of meeting my coffee friends at the coffee shop. It's even better when I can actually stick around a little longer (or they get there a little earlier).

4. The Medium Skim Half-Caf Carmella that accompanies #3. Also scores in the "SO GOOD" category. The shop was out of caramel sauce for a few days and tried to give me caramel syrup, and it just wasn't the same...

5. The abundance of pregnant women at work. Although it's a little creepy (dude. Seriously. There has to be something in the water), it's like a forest of trees in bloom. And it makes me miss OB a little, which I sublimate into the knitting of multiple blankets.

6. One particular non-work friend who has been wanting so very much to be pregnant, and finally is. It makes me mist up a little.

7. The crazy cute babies that accompany 5, and will accompany 6.

8. My Jeep. It still makes me happy.

9. The beach!! Where I will be going a week from tomorrow. Assuming the real estate company doesn't screw up our reservation yet again.

10. North Carolina storms. Maybe even at the beach. I looooove a good thunderstorm. Maggie? Not so much. But then she gets all snuggly, which makes me love them even more.

An Open Letter to My Life

Could you cut me a break? Just for a little bit? Please? 'Cause I'm really, really tired.

Much obliged.


K

Last of the good Mondays

So I think I mentioned JD and I have been doing this Monday/Friday coverage swap on the consult service, and I haven't had to go in on Mondays. I overslept this morning, went to the gym, ran some errands, took my mom to the oncologist (so far, so good), had dinner with my folks.

It's been a nice way of doing things, but today was my last Monday at home. Which is actually okay - I have one more week on Consults, but next week we're swapping because a week from Friday I'm going to the BEACH. I so, totally, completely, cannot wait.

And then I come back, and start on the Child inpatient unit, and then it's back to long days and a real workweek again...le sigh....

Week's end

Hey, look! I have my internet back!

It's been quite a weekend. Maggie proved her prowess as a mouser (I think we caught the mama mouse the other day, because there were five juveniles who came out all of a sudden. Maggie - who's never so much as nipped at anyone - did a great job breaking their little necks. Meanwhile, I keep trying to stop telling myself little stories about the mousy family and the subsequent massacre that happened in my apartment Friday...). I finally figured out just how far my car will go after it hits "E". I did some actual work, spent some time with friends, hung out with the folks, played some Wii.

And now the weekend is drawing to a close, and there's a rumbly summer storm rolling through. Maggie is none too pleased about this. I, on the other hand, love it.

Often makes me thing of this song...

Bleh

The internet is down at my house.

It will be fixed Saturday, or so they allege.

I don't care if it IS Thursday, I do not love this!

Oh, and, the little brown mouse? (Who was, for the record, not the mouse in the picture. That was a Google stock photo somewhere.) He is no more. RIP, little brown mouse. In better news, the second trap is currently mouse-free, so maybe there was just one.

And in news I *do* love - it's almost Friday!! Which is two weeks to the beach! Woo-hoo!!!

That is all for this Stream of Consciousness Thursday....

I hope he likes extra chunky

So I've got dinner on the stove tonight and I'm boxing on the Wii while it cooks....

....when I see this brown streak run by out of the corner of my eye...

There is a MOUSE. In. My. HOUSE.

He kept poking out of his little hiding place and running back in when he saw me and Maggie (who, incidentally, was totally oblivious to the whole situation). I tried to lure him into a parmesan cheese container. It didn't work. I gave him a speech about how I'd really appreciate it if he left. I don't think it swayed him. So, concluding that my only viable option is muricide, Maggie and I went off to the Rite Aid down the street to buy traps.

There are two "hygienic" traps downstairs laced with JIF extra-chunky peanut butter. And I bought a package of those sonic repellent thingies.

Ick. Ick, ick, ick, ick. This is almost as bad as cockroaches, but I'm letting it slide, since there's only one right now, and I think he might have come in through the door that wasn't quite closed. Poor thing was also as scared of us as I was of him (Maggie, again, oblivious).

Turtles. Can we go back to the turtle infestation?


(PS....look at that picture. Is that mouse driving a car???)

Hysterical. No, wait, that would be gynecology...

I stumbled across this today. I heart it so.



Happy Friday!!!

And then there's the very short chairs

Ten ways you know you're a child psychiatrist:

1. Whatever it is, you don't prescribe it unless you know if it comes in a liquid.

2. There's a dollhouse in your office.

3. You're standing in the Barnes and Noble, and realize that the blood-curdling wails of the child melting down in the Kids' section for the last ten minutes didn't even make a ding on your radar (this might have happened to me yesterday).

4. You've spent an entire therapy session playing chess, and gathered a lot of data from that.

5. You realize that half the notes you've taken lately are in crayon.

6. You frequently have to stop yourself from turning to strangers' children and saying "1.....2....."

7. You often resist the urge to do the same to your colleagues.

8. You think the whole world can be explained by attachment theory.

9. You can speak for a good five minutes entirely using acronyms.

10. Your patients repeatedly use nonsense words, Twilight references, and text speak in therapy sessions (ZOMG!).

I so love my job.

Sunrise happiness

Good times, sore thumbs

Since it's Happiness Happens month, I share with you something that made me smile. And reminded me of many fun hours playing the old school NES with my cousin (who always kicked my ass).

Kudos to the stock person who figured this one out. And to their boss, for not reprimanding them for wasting time stacking the cases of pop into a Mario scene....

Not bad, for a Monday

So there's two of us Fellows on Consults right now, and the service just isn't that busy. So at the recommendation of one of the upper levels, we've been splitting the service. He takes all the consults on Mondays, I take all the consults on Fridays, and Tuesday is a toss up. So technically, I got to work from home today. But, since I'm caught up on my paperwork, I spent the day catching up on other things - laundry, unpacking, napping. I started the day at coffee, which was great because the usual weekday morning crew was there but we had a couple of less-common visitors, whom it was nice to see. I bought some groceries. I hung out with my parents. The dog and I hung out and played a little Wii.

A doc could get used to this.

Glub. glub, glub

People think shrinks have all the answers. And, of course, like anybody else, it's easier to see patterns and offer solutions in someone else's life.

I'll tell you the truth, though. I'm so overwhelmed these days. I'm struggling a lot with limit setting and the number of people in all areas of my life that are demanding a lot of me. I'm trying really, really hard to take care of myself, which is something I don't do so well.

I'm so tired.

So much better than cockroaches.

Wordful Wednesday

So today was my first day at the State Hospital outpatient clinic.

It was unceremonious and overwhelming.

But none of my patients showed up, which is a little weird for that setting.

We spend all day there on Wednesdays and the afternoons there on Thursdays. So I have a meeting tomorrow, then a lecture, then supervision, then two therapy patients. BUT! The morning County clinic is canceled, so I have to morning to myself. I'm going to go to coffee, then maybe the gym, then I'm going to get to SH a little early and continue setting up my office.

I have a private office all to myself. Where I will do therapy. And I LOVE it. 

There's a little short table with little short chairs. There's a chalkboard and a bookshelf with toys. I have a dollhouse and a deck of cards and a plastic dinosaur. And I hit up the "toy room" today for crayons, markers, and colored pencils (since most of my patients are teenagers). I'd like a little different furniture, but I fully intend to make that place all mine for the next two years. Today after clinic I went to Staples and bought some...well, you know.

No clinic. Fresh office supplies. Tomorrow morning is going to be just like Christmas. Only warmer, and will feature me trying to clean the mildew out of the air conditioner vents...

Monday

Not so manic. For once.

Difficult, though. I rounded with the pedes neuro team this am. I did that last Monday, too, and I really like the team. But it's a striking reminder of why I didn't go into pediatrics. When things get so sad that *I* can't tolerate it, I think that's significant. The days-old baby who wouldn't stop seizing did me in today.

I also had to do some finagling with the upcoming beach trip, but I think we picked a better house. And I think it's going to work. Or at least, I really, really hope so....

I need some beach.

Reaping

So, for those who follow a more Pagan tradition (and for those of you who think you don't - there are a lot of traditions that carried into Judaism and then Christianity), today is the celebration of Lammas, the first of the festivals of the Harvest.

I identify myself as a Christian, as we've discussed before, but in my own personal faith I draw from a lot of different traditions. Because I don't think any of us have it exactly right. And I don't think that the good ideas in each are necessarily mutually exclusive - under the light of scrutiny, in fact many of them are complementary. It helps that I was raised in a tradition that is heavily steeped in ritual and mystery and allegory (however closed-minded it can sometimes be), but I think there's something to be learned from every faith. This is a prime example of what I mean - if God is in everything, then praising and giving thanks for the bounty that He brings us from the earth is very consistent with the Christian theology. And however we represent those parts - as gods/goddesses, as being part of a greater collective, as individual souls, as representations of a Holy Spirit - we bring ourselves closer to and embrace what is holy in our world, our higher power, and each other.

But I digress.

I went to a party tonight to celebrate Lammas. It was a small, well-acquainted group of people who come from various walks of life and who endorse alliance with multiple faiths. Many of us in the group have had multiple significant losses of late, and so this is the perfect time to reflect on that which has been harvested from our lives, the cycle of things, the idea that for growth and renewal we must cut down what has grown.

The ritual was beautiful, and gave us all a moment to make that reflection. We spoke individually and as a group of recent losses, of good wishes for peace and healing, and of hope for the future. We lit a lot of candles and shed a lot of light.

And I kept thinking of this Bible passage, which I looked up today trying to remember something that had been said at the funeral and in relation to a recent conversation Jen and I had about death and what to do with our bodies after that.

1 Corinthians 36-44: What you sow does not come to life unless it dies. When you sow, you do not plant the body that will be, but just a seed, perhaps of wheat or of something else. But God gives it a body as he has determined, and to each kind of seed he gives its own body...So will it be with the resurrection of the dead. The body that is sown is perishable, it is raised imperishable; it is sown in dishonor, it is raised in glory; it is sown in weakness, it is raised in power; it is sown a natural body, it is raised a spiritual body.

Had I known ahead of time that it probably wouldn't have offended anyone there, I would've brought it with me and read it while I lit a candle. I really like the imagery that you don't plant what you hope to reap, that the seed has to "die" in order for something better, more nourishing, more hopeful to come forth. 


That's reassuring.

Blessed be.