Yep, it's THAT cold here in Denver!
The good news is that the sun is shining brightly outside as my feet shiver under the desk and my fingers are cold to the touch. Through the window, I see tiny ice crystals swirling and glittering through the frigid air.
Schools are closed from here to the east coast! (Sorry Buffy! And on your birthday too!!!!) All the kids are home and bored to the bone. This massive winter storm covers 2, 200 miles across the United States. Even President Obama had to cancel a trip because of the weather.
If all the kids across the USA are bored, I'm REALLY bored, and I'm the mother!
I might auto start the car and take my coupon book to the grocery store. Kroger AKA King Sooper has some great 10/$10 deals this week. (Buy 10 participating products and get $5 off at checkout.) I'd like to get tomatoes, cream cheese, Del Monte vegetables, All laundry detergent, Uncle Ben's Rice, and more.
Geocaching is cancelled today due to the weather. Or is it? If I check the geocaching website, and know exactly where to look. Maybe I could do some "cache and dash' locations. (Except they're never 'cache and dash' for me!)
A drive to the mountains is not safe according to the mountain traffic cams I have saved to favorites on my computer. I can check road conditions up there with a click on my desktop. Oh yeah, everything is all white and snow-covered on US HIghway 119!
Hubby is snuggled under the electric blanket. Smart man. I would have stayed there, but my back hurt too badly for me to lay there awake with a head full of thoughts and ideas. (Yep, it is so nice not to have little ones running around getting into things and forcing a parent or two out of bed before you're ready!) The playful cats are bad enough! Little Boots jumps up on the bed with his bottle cap in his mouth hinting that he wants someone to play with.
Work this weekend was interesting, so that helped the time go by quickly. I had several admissions and time to make the charts 'shine'. The Unit Manager left me a note saying what I great job I have done with admission paperwork. (There are about 50 kinds of paperwork to fill out, these days, for each admission. Regulations require massive amounts of paperwork!)
For some reason, the aides couldn't get along. I felt like Solomon as I tried to calm the bickering and separate them.
Well, I'm not great in wisdom, wealth and power like Solomon was, but there's the story of when two women came to him both claiming to be the mother. He ordered the baby cut in half, knowing that the real mother wouldn't allow it.
When an aide wouldn't clean up a BM mess on the floor this weekend, claiming that it was housekeeping's job, and housekeeping argued that it was her job to 'sanitaze' the floor AFTER the aide cleaned up it, they both came to me asking me to make the decision.
Thankfully, I didn't have to go there because it was ALREADY CLEANED UP (by the housekeeper who then had to change out all her water and discard the mop). I told them to drop it and NOT SPEAK TO EACH OTHER for the rest of the shift because I didn't want patients to hear them bickering.
I'm still trying to come up with a good solution to that one. It was a very big (stinky) mess, and I don't think I was expected to do it. I don't think it was the housekeepers job because she was going from room to room moping all the floors with nice, fresh, sanitizing water. (As she said.)
But, we were short one aide and this one was very busy and way behind in her work. I don't think there's a policy written for that. Guess I could have 'helped' the aide by providing supplies and making her feel like she wasn't alone, because I do believe it's her job to get the floor ready for the housekeeping 'sanitizing' mop when there's a mess on the floor. (This doesn't happen very often. A new patient had been given THREE laxatives before he left the hospital.)
The 34-hour weekend (with only 2 or 3 hours of sleep) really does wear me out, and I'm no good for anything on Monday. I love my job. Hubby is happy that we can be together during the week. I'm thankful for the Baylor shift. I wouldn't want it any other way! But, it sure does hang me out to dry for a day or two afterwards. Hubby always greets me at midnight with a steaming cup of hot chocolate and a big thank-you for going to work. He spends the weekend cleaning, doing laundry, and catching up on his 'honey-do' list.
Well, since I can't catch a plane to Tampa where it's 76 degrees today, I'll nudge up the thermostat and find something useful and fun to do. Little Boots has brought me his most favorite bottle cap to chase. ha ha NOT!
Take Care on the Journey
Your friend in life,
~Linda
Linda's E-mail: bestnurse@usa.com
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