Blog Getting New Look.....Soon.....

Bug is going to work his HTML magic to dress up my boring blahhhhg. Expect to see pictures of important and relevant medical things, , a cooler font, links to all the old HNTs, pictures of geeky shite I like . And as always, links to The Most Beautiful and Wonderful Girl in the Whole Wide World, Aughra . Possibly pictures of antique lingerie too, cause I like that sorta stuff.

Ok, so I know these quizzes aren't like, scientific, but...

What Guys Think of Your Long Curly Hair...

Fun, outgoing, spontaneous. Guys know that you're up for almost anything - and are waiting for your surprises.

What Do Guys Think Of Your Hair?

Doesn't that just make me (and all long curly haired girls) sound like a total slut? Ick.

Trains Go Fast!

Go trains, go!

Foxglove Got to Run the Trains!

This is me at my Dad's train show. I GOT TO RUN THE TRAINS! more pictures to follow...

This can't be real.

But I think it is. Now, y'all know I'm not a political anything (I do get soap boxy about the homeless dogs and cats thing) but as far as things like actual politics, politicians, and the war- I try to stay out of it. As for the war- I hate that so many of our soldiers are dying. I hate that soldiers from other countries are dying. I hate that thousands of innocent civilians are dying. Overall, I would say that I think war is a bad thing. I've encountered more than a few psychiatric patients who are veterans- Vietnam, the Gulf (the one before this one) and Korea, and I can't even begin to imagine the horrors that these men went through.

I would never join any of the armed forces. But that's cause I'm a total pussy, and wouldn't even survive the bus ride to bootcamp without suffering a nervous breakdown. Any place they can make you do push ups? Yeah. Not for Fox. Bug is all noble and would probably think about joining up if we had some Pearl Harbor like thing (other than 9/11) but I'd shoot him in the damn foot or cut his frelling fingers off before I let that happen. (same for you two, Brothers Grimm)

Don't get me wrong- I have nothing but the utmost respect, and I think actual awe for (at? My grammar is confusing me) the men and women who are brave enough to join up knowing that any time, some random lunatic will go and do something impossibly inane, like start a frelling war. I hate that there are kids out there younger than my baby brother getting blown to bits because they wanted to go to college and thought the Army would be a good way to do it. Bug and I have watched Band of Brothers like, 900 times. We have an autographed photo of "Wild Bill" Guarnere and we're always amazed that in 1941 everyone just signed up. Cause it was the right thing to do. And granted, the kids I encounter at my job are probably crap examples, but to sound like something I never wanted to sound like, I just can't see kids today doing that. I'm not saying my generation would be any better, but...Obviously there are exceptions and thank god for that, but....

entire point of post: There's this really creepy dude, the Reverend Fred Phelps, (warning, his site is just so...I don't know, malevolent, that's it's hard to look at) who apparently goes to the funerals of US soldiers with his creepy little followers, and jeers at the families and friends of the dead because of their belief that U.S. combat deaths are a sign God is punishing the United States for harboring homosexuals.

Holy Shit. I mean, I'm all for people having opinions, really. Especially if I don't have to hear them. But..ahh...these Godly folk have been doing this at the funerals of AIDS victims for some time now. And when those miners died in West Virginia? These freaks were there.

This is why I wish I lived in a shack in the woods. Cause I wouldn't have to know about shit like this and be horrified. That's just..I can't even think of a word. I'm not a real religious person, as you've probably noted in the past, we're more of the "Christmas is Santa's Birthday and Easter is when the Bunny was Born or Created Chocolate or whatever" kind of Christians (agnostic- just in case) but, how sketchy is that?

But you know what rocks? Bikers. Why? Cause they go to the funerals too, for the express purpose of drowning out these freaks and letting the families lay their loved ones to rest without listening to words of hate. While Phelps and his family (I think I might've found something to hate as much as Scientology {screw you, Tom Cruise and the Masterson brothers and why oh why do they get Jason Lee? He's funny, dammit.} sing vulgar and insulting songs and condemn the dead, the bikers chant USA USA USA over and over. I think that's kinda beautiful.

I swear my next post will be totally fluffy and airheady, as usual. But this just pissed me off.

Plea for Assistance

See bags under eyes? Bloodshot baby blues? Please send QUITTING SMOKING WITHOUT COMMITTING MASS MURDER tips. Thanks!

My Bug is Sweet

Because my husband is the sweetest he went to pizzeria uno and got me the giant peanut butter cup slathered w/ice cream and whipped cream cream and drizzled with chocolate sauce because I'm so PMSy that I'm ready to get a rifle and get on a tower and start shooting people. Cramps should not occur before the period. It's unjust. And the cell phone postings always get cut off. Bastards.

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Mobile Email from a Cingular Wireless Customer http://www.cingular.com

We put a bid on a house. They accepted.

This is the house. 3 bedrooms, ONE BATHROOM (guess what will be the 1st project upon moving in? That's right, knocking the damned closet upstairs out and making it a half bath) gorgeous wood floors, a big backyard that's all fenced in for the dog (soon to be dogs) to run around in, and- here it is- A WASHER AND DRYER! AND A DISHWASHER! . I shall drape myself across the washer and dryer and weep with joy. I can't go upstairs in Sears because I make a 'scene' around the washers and dryers. The basement is partially finished (3/4) with two big comfy carpeted rooms and a room off the side with MEGA closet space and boilers and hot water heaters and all that other stuff I don't really get. The people who currently own the house have taken AMAZING care of it, and it's gorgeous. It's a wee bit country style, but that'll be easy enough to fix.

By April, I could be writing blog entries from MY HOUSE where MY STUPID EVIL LANDLADY DOTH NOT DWELL!

Mortgage huge, cause to live out here you have to actually pass $100 bills in your stool, and not everyone can do that. Taxes are ludicrous, etc etc. In any other part of the country this would be maybe $85-100,000. Not here. Let's just say that we'll be paying off a huge mortgage for a long time, which will put a severe dent in my shopping- no Anthropologie , no Pin Up Girl clothing , no Sephora , and no zappos and no best candle place on earth.

Wish us luck!!

Long blathering work related exhaustion.

So I'm off today- was off yesterday too. Went to Foot Doctor Who Doesn't Take My Insurance but Is Only Person I'll Let Near My Feet and found out ankle pain is caused by.......who the hell knows. Likely from one of the anywhere between 10-50 times a day I trip/stumble/bump into/almost fall off of/into the environment. I am without a doubt, one of the most graceful people ever born. Ask anyone who knows me. My patients often ask, after seeing me almost knock something over or slam my hip into the doorknob for the 90th time, "Are you OK?" and I'll reassure them that yes, I'm fine, and you can ask Paul "Saloon" Sanders, one of our regular Protect the Nurses From Harm people and he'll say "yes, she does that all the time. Don't worry."

But back to being off today. I'm so relieved. I love my job, I really do. It's also the only social outlet I have, which I know is deeply the bold word listed here , but alas, is true. But Monday, Tuesday and Wednesday sucked the life out of me in a huge way. There were three really problematic patients, and all of them are genuinely ill, which usually gets them a pass, as opposed to those who are just Annoying Asshats NOS (not otherwise specified) and who don't need to be on my unit when there's people who need to be there waiting for beds.

Anyway, these 2 guys (the 3rd guy I just medicated throughout the night, barely giving him a chance to wake up, which considering the night before he'd jumped over the nursing station and started throwing chairs at 5 AM, was OK with all of the staff) are both really, really sick.

Psychotic. One is religiously fixated, a very common delusion, and is convinced that we're all devil worshippers who are doing evil to him and that Christ doesn't want him to take the medication because it makes him sick. Monday it was heart breaking. 7 hours later, my head was throbbing and I was exhausted from trying to get him to stop screaming and cursing and pacing up and down waving his hands wildly, scaring everyone else. So we had to get STAT IM orders. I will admit that sometimes, yes, I kind of enjoy giving shots. Yeah, I know, I'm evil. But if it's haldol 5 mg for someone who's so floridly psychotic that they're actually touching the walls to feel the voices they're hearing and there's even a chance that the Haldol will knock out the symptoms or let the patient sleep and not be subjected to that misery for a bit, then yeah, I've got no problem. Also the people who've been really nasty and problem causing- inciting chaos on the unit, attacking other patients, screaming and insulting the other patients, I am less than remorseful that I'm the one who gets to jab them 3 times (we can't mix the injections anymore- used to be Haldol 5, Ativan 2 and Cogentin 1 in one needle- no longer) with one of these . Ideally, in a few days, we'll have gotten enough meds in him for him to come down and stop being so manic and agitated and threatening. But sometimes, and I feel bad admitting this, I desperately want to scream "Just Shut The Fuck Up!" which is a Very Bad Thing.

The other one is a Cheeky Devil (read 3rd down) who also starts screaming and flailing arms and then on Monday night SPIT IN THE FACE of Tommy "the Thinker" I can't remember his western name now, but he's a wonderful guy, very calm, and very good with the patients, always treating everyone with the utmost respect. So we had to toss him into seclusion, hold him down while I gave him 3 STAT IMs too. It's just deja vu- seclusion room, patient being held down, it's demeaning for them, it's depressing for us, it makes me feel evil and heartless but it's gotta be done. This kid is just dangerous when he's not medicated. You can ask one of the family members who are terrified of him after he tossed furniture and kitchen knives at them.

Added to my ankle pain and the necessitating of the walking stick( which is totally lame- I want a cool one. Maybe everyone can take up a collection? Mail $5 to my paypal account so I can get the kick ass walking stick? ) and therefore no cute boots, and what I feel is seriously unjustly early PMS unless I'm god forbid pregnant because Merciful Zeus, who the hell am I to be anyone's mother???!!??, I was just ready to cry by about 7 PM and that usually doesn't happen at Sweet Valley Psych, especially when I'm working with a good crew (which I was) and doing meds in my little Foxglove world (that's where the pic below was taken) where I play my CD's and spray my various room sprays , so that the room is heavily scented with something that makes me happy.. So the med room is like my little world, I've got my music, my lovely scents, a paper towel dispenser to reapply my lipstick in the reflection of, and a window into the chart room so I can chat with my lovely coworkers, Stella "the Bullet" Stevens and Theresa "Hellish Devil" Payne, who are my favorites. Amazing nurses, both of them. But even working with them couldn't take away the suck of these past 3 days. Saturday I'm back. And I'm wearing jeans. But I can't wear cute shoes...

And the Ebay links? The best seller ever. The Scented Room . Buy stuff, and tell her Shmeeshmak sent you.

Achey HNT.

The Ankle of Infamy Strikes Back. Note absence of cute boots. Have been using cane for past 2 days, though since there are psychotic people here, I can only use in med room. Grr Old Age caught up fast. Ow.

Compared to past ones, this must seem pretty dull, huh? Oh well. Go check Osbasso's for details on how to participate...

Oh, by the way, someone I work with asked me "that's just for decoration, right? Not for orthopedic reasons?" So apparently I am eccentric enough that using walking stick without needing it wouldn't be out of character. Huh?