the sickness!

Last Thursday I had to leave work early! We were having quite the day as far as pt acuity and staffing went so I toughed it out until 4p but at that time I was so emotionally and physically spent that it's a wonder I drove home safely. Denis came home at his usual time and took one look at me and felt my forehead and called our camping trip off. We were set to leave early Fri AM for a quickie camping trip at Paynes Prairie just outside of Gainesville. I had hoped to see some bison, cracker cattle and wild horses...

but instead I just saw a whole lot of....

I'm still planning on going to this park... as I have for the past few years... maybe next month sometime.


The photos in this post are from the Florida State Parks website.

I've had a lot of ups and downs lately. I was in a really positive and energetic mood yesterday, despite being at work. Now today I was off and did nothing with myself. I didn't plan any trips. I watched a bit of tv and took a long nap. I ate poorly. I generally am depressed from my laziness today and think it's the weather?? All of the sunny days have been my work days lately. I really want to get out to the beach and get some vit D stat.

Presently reading some fat loss journals... trying to find some that work for me. Usually boosts my energy and esteem and snaps me out of it when I find a good one to follow. Anyway, I work tomorrow and then am off Fri, work an 8 sat and a 12 sun. we will have Judie this weekend and she usually livens things up a bit.
Not sure if I'm going to start the book American Gods that Denis bought for me or if I'm going to keep looking for blogs until bed. He's playing a creepy game and I'm keeping him company so I'm guessing blogs. 

Well

I revisted my orthopedic doc yesterday. I, he agreed, have some concerns about how achey my knee can be and I told him I get stabbing intermittent pains some days. He wrote a script for an MRI and meanwhile I'm able to take patient's at work but am limited from squatting, kneeling, and stairs and whatever else seems like 'too much'.

This is all fine to me as I tired of being in the middle as charge nurse or as sitting on 1:1 observation patients. One is stressful purely for having to deal with others that don't respect my opinions or direction. Importantly these are not really my coworkers/ floor staff as I have a pretty good working relationship with them all. It is the NODs that don't trust my judgement on how to run my floor. It is them that constantly short staff and question our needs while dumping multiple patients on us at once. Last night we entered a staffing crisis and I was given no help at all. My patient's waited while I ran the phones begging people to come in. Gotta love that!



Anyway, the holidays are upon us! I have my tree up and the stockings are hung from the bookshelf with care. Most of my gifts are wrapped but I'm still waiting on a few to ship in! I purchased a joint present for me and Denis recently. Groupon had a deal that was $50 for 2 tickets to any masterworks FL orchestra events. If you book early you can get a value of $138 and since I've prebought I can't "forget" to plan for it as I often do with these kinds of things. I also think we're taking the kiddo to Beauty and The Beast. 2011 WILL be the year of theatre for me :D

Holidays and some more

As the month passes by I'm getting more and more excited for the holidays! Denis and I picked out our christmas tree this Saturday and even found a cute "our first christmas" ornament to go on it. I'm putting on  the lights, pine cones and bows tonight but we're waiting for his daughter to help us do the fun decorating later this week. I'm excited because I have been single for the holidays the past couple of years and celebrations are definitely a little more lively with little kids around.

Also of note is we're going to have our first stayover guests this season. Denis' dad is going to be stopping by for a couple nights at Christmas and also one of his childhood friends will be living on our couch for a bit.  Pretty glad about that because I know he's been missing some of his old friends.

My knee was dislocated a couple of weeks ago but work has been very accomodating with the light duty status. I'm able to walk on it but it fatigues early and gets pain above and below the kneecap if I forget and am too active. I see my orthopedic doc sometime next week and hope he has good news for me. I really want to start strength training to better stabilize the area and get back to some thing I enjoy like hiking and swiming.

I'm sitting a 1:1 today so I think I'll research some holiday cookie ideas! I bought the cutest snowman tin so I need to fill it up!

veggie lasagna- it's whats for dinner!

So yesterday I made a recipe I stumbled upon on google from http://vegetarian-hausfrau.blogspot.com/
Here's the recipe: black bean and spinach lasagna.

First of all I didn't get pictures of my finished product because we cut into it so quickly. The only changes I made were using a green pepper/mushroom pasta sauce and using less shredded cheese.

My review? Delicious! My vegetarian boyfriend went back for seconds and even requested it as something i make again. I was loving it because I can add another recipe that uses a bunch of cilantro to my list. I LOVE cilantro. Like, really, I've been teased about liking it so much. Also, pretty cost effective as we've both eaten leftovers from it a couple times and she provides directions for making 1/2 to freeze for later.

Now, back to Glee!

hello

RAIN
So I ended up taking a day off of work yesterday b/c of vertigo. I'm not sure why I'm having episodes again as I haven't had it since college. I know I've been really stressed out lately with headaches everyday (I think I've been grinding my teeth while sleeping again). I feel better today but the day is so lazy it's somewhat depressing. There was a glimmer of a chance to go boating today but it's not looking like it during this deluge. My friend thinks there is some meteorological conspiracy occurring. She's kidding but seriously, this is some INTENSELY long rainstorms.

CATS
My cat Addy darted out the door two nights ago. It was raining at the time and like 3am so I gave up pretty quickly trying to get her back in. I haven't seen her since. I'm not sure she knows where the apartment is. She usually comes back by now for food and whatnot. Maybe it's the rain that's got her in hiding but my money says she went exploring the trees in the other side of the big  pond and found some cats and isn't coming back anytime soon :( OH well, still have my dog Macy, my other  cat Benson and now Denis' senile cat Sonia for company.

CAMPING
I have been obsessed lately. I have the biggest hankering to jump in a packed up car and get lost in the woods for a couple of days. I'm going to GA in November to visit Denis' family. While I initially wanted to swing by Savannah on the way back I'm thinking of asking if we can pack up a few supplies and do a night or two of  camping instead. Unless it's too terribly freezing already- then I'll just settle for exploring ATL.

HAIR 

I recently ordered this Sedu hair straightener 
from Folica.com (where the pic is from). I've read and seen lots of
good  things about it. I'm hoping it does the trick. No I haven't become
a CURL hater! I am however thinking of cutting my hair and on the chance that the bangs/cut looks awful curly I will need a straighener. Plus
I've always been envious of straight hair some days- the long sideswept bangs and flippy layers- you just can't do that with curly hair. The purchase came with a free 2 yr warranty, heat proof pouch and a mini solia straightener that I can use for just my bangs if I want or sell it/ give it away as a gift since I may not need it at all.

I'm planning on getting my hair cut like AnnaLynne McCord as seen in this picture from CelebSalon blog

Just gotta find a good salon out here in New Tampa.