Wow! It is quite unbelievable that I do not need to spend my whole day off cooking!! I actually had an incredible day. It started with a facial by Andrea at the Avia Salon and Day Spa. Andrea's facial would be enough for me any day, she is that good! But I had already booked a massage as well. The massage was very nice but after the facial, it lost some impact. How often should one have a facial???
I barely got to the movie in time, Pat had already gone in. "No Reservations" was sweet, tearful, hopeful and funny. It tied in most of my life issues, we had a psychiatrist, a chef, single motherhood and controlling woman. A Seafood Chimichanga and a Margarita at Casa Di Pico and some shopping made for a lovely day. I even found a nice comfortable black sandal. Mom is still napping so the house is peaceful and the A/C is on, I could nap but that just seems too decadent!
In another week or so I will learn to wallow in decadence like an afternoon nap or goofing off for a whole day. If I did not have Mom I would probably even leave my phone at home, or off for a few hours......or more! Life is sweet indeed!!
Saturday, July 28, 2007
Tuesday, July 24, 2007
The Days After....
Actually we have 2 days now, 2 days after leaving Arc. I had seen it in many of my friends when they left, a lightness, an inner glow. I have that now and it is wonderful!!
My first day was sort of a "have to" day, I HAVE TO get my oil changed, I HAVE TO get some other scrubs, I HAVE TO get gas. All things that seem simple but when working 2 jobs are very hard to accomplish.
Today is more of an "aaahhhh!" day. I walked the dog and did the cat litter (let's face it there are some things that can't be avoided) then I went to the gym!!! Wow! I am out of shape! I kept it simple, little bike, little lower body weights. Small Jamba "all fruit" drink after. Home for laundry (after all I have not yet won the lotto!). Now I sit here having time to write and listening to Sarah M and friends on the stereo, daytime TV sucks and I really don't think I want to pay for DVR so TV has really gone way down on the activity list. Funny cause when I worked days I just let the TV suck me in at night......All the better to work PMs. I will meet my friend, Ellis, for lunch and shop a little (I can't say what it is but I just feel better about myself and I want to look really good when I see the girls tonight). Tonight will be Wine Steals in Point Loma with my very good friends!! Melissa is driving my ass!!
So is there life after Arc?? Wow! Is there ever!! I am so relaxed, I will need to keep Mabel around for a while just so I can have some stress in my life!!
My first day was sort of a "have to" day, I HAVE TO get my oil changed, I HAVE TO get some other scrubs, I HAVE TO get gas. All things that seem simple but when working 2 jobs are very hard to accomplish.
Today is more of an "aaahhhh!" day. I walked the dog and did the cat litter (let's face it there are some things that can't be avoided) then I went to the gym!!! Wow! I am out of shape! I kept it simple, little bike, little lower body weights. Small Jamba "all fruit" drink after. Home for laundry (after all I have not yet won the lotto!). Now I sit here having time to write and listening to Sarah M and friends on the stereo, daytime TV sucks and I really don't think I want to pay for DVR so TV has really gone way down on the activity list. Funny cause when I worked days I just let the TV suck me in at night......All the better to work PMs. I will meet my friend, Ellis, for lunch and shop a little (I can't say what it is but I just feel better about myself and I want to look really good when I see the girls tonight). Tonight will be Wine Steals in Point Loma with my very good friends!! Melissa is driving my ass!!
So is there life after Arc?? Wow! Is there ever!! I am so relaxed, I will need to keep Mabel around for a while just so I can have some stress in my life!!
Friday, July 20, 2007
Time and Freedom
Well the Admin at the lovely Arc did one of their "kick in the pants" routines. My boss pretended to want to learn about stuff in my office and sat right next to me while I walked her through things. She then told me how she understood how difficult things have been for me and told me I was being paid till the 27th but that my services would not be required as the new Nurse Administrator would be starting on Monday. So as of 10a on Friday July 20th I am an ex-Arcer!!!
Now I don't know how they got this person cleared so fast cause it took a while for the nurse I just hired. The thing is next week was going to be a bear, covering 5 homes and psych rounds while working full-time at API. So now it is all someone else's problem. My ex-boss told someone that she wasn't sure that the new nurse would be there for the psych rounds. If there is no nurse to do the beach homes then I think our psychiatrist will certainly quit, very sad for our consumers. And for this woman to come in and start-up cold?! Consumer care is definitely going to suffer.
Mom is happy and the other ex-Arcers are ecstatic that I have joined the "unburdened"!! Hot damn! I can sleep in or go to the gym or do nothing Monday morning and every morning! And my new job is cool, and the people are really nice, what a change.
Now I don't know how they got this person cleared so fast cause it took a while for the nurse I just hired. The thing is next week was going to be a bear, covering 5 homes and psych rounds while working full-time at API. So now it is all someone else's problem. My ex-boss told someone that she wasn't sure that the new nurse would be there for the psych rounds. If there is no nurse to do the beach homes then I think our psychiatrist will certainly quit, very sad for our consumers. And for this woman to come in and start-up cold?! Consumer care is definitely going to suffer.
Mom is happy and the other ex-Arcers are ecstatic that I have joined the "unburdened"!! Hot damn! I can sleep in or go to the gym or do nothing Monday morning and every morning! And my new job is cool, and the people are really nice, what a change.
Sunday, July 15, 2007
I want my ice to be 5mm x 9mm, please!
Yes Mabel has dictated that I need to not fill the ice trays so much cause she wants smaller cubes of ice.......
This is on top of packaged meals, soups, repackaging 4bean salad and ice cream into single serving cups (not together mind you!), on top of the microwave on the table, utensils and dishes in a special counter top storage, individual CoffeeMates, individual fruit cup (fresh fruit not Del Monte).
I have no time for a life but I picked up Chilis ribs today and ran away to the movies!! Mabel, of course, want to go to the foot doctor on Thursday...Now I have told her that my last day at Arc has been moved up to July 27th so why she is expecting to go before that I cannot imagine. I told her she was going to wait until after that, "well I guess so, they aren't too bad yet...."
I have 10 days of my old job to go and have already made an appointment for a facial and Massage at the Spa for the day after my last Arc day!! It's my damn turn!!!!
This is on top of packaged meals, soups, repackaging 4bean salad and ice cream into single serving cups (not together mind you!), on top of the microwave on the table, utensils and dishes in a special counter top storage, individual CoffeeMates, individual fruit cup (fresh fruit not Del Monte).
I have no time for a life but I picked up Chilis ribs today and ran away to the movies!! Mabel, of course, want to go to the foot doctor on Thursday...Now I have told her that my last day at Arc has been moved up to July 27th so why she is expecting to go before that I cannot imagine. I told her she was going to wait until after that, "well I guess so, they aren't too bad yet...."
I have 10 days of my old job to go and have already made an appointment for a facial and Massage at the Spa for the day after my last Arc day!! It's my damn turn!!!!
Sunday, July 08, 2007
For love.....
I will obviously put up with a lot for love. I did this yesterday and still needed to get a small mouse with the sweeper.....
Thursday, July 05, 2007
Contrasts
Life is full of contrasts; at work (for either job) I am respected and looked to for guidance, people have respect for me and my opinion. At home my mother thinks I can't tie my shoes by myself....
Tonight was the whiny old girl routine where SHE decided that I should do her eye drops in the afternoon before I leave for work........duh, that is what I said when I was switching jobs. You see she just doesn't get enough sleep:
Me: up at 6-6:30a. Walk dog, bfast (maybe), ice, water check, feed and water dog, get my lunch and head off for Arc office or group home. Work preferably till 12-12:30p and run home, do ice again cause it is hot and the cat can't have warm water (let me interject here that Sammie may have no water while the cat has iced water), bring in the mail, clean up anything that needs to be done then. Now I go off to API at about 2:40p for my 3-11p shift where I am usually on the go for the next 8 hours, then I come home and give the drops in that one eye, check food and water and crawl into bed hopefully falling asleep before 12-12:30a. Start all over the next day. Now one day every week I don't have to do the evening job and every other weekend I am really blessed with 2 days off from both jobs!!! I am looking very forward to August 3rd when I will be celebrating my independence from the Arc of San Diego!!
Mom: up around 8-9a. Have bfast and read newspaper till 10ish. Trot back to room for prayers and game shows. Maybe watch TV or clean cat litter, or wash undies/slippers. About noonish come back out to the kitchen for fully prepared meal to stick in microwave (meal is prepared during those "days off" of mine). takes till 1p or so and then she will wash her dishes and go back to her room and watch a baseball game or soaps until she lays down for her nap around 2:30-3p. Up around 5p and back out for dinner (also mostly prepared and ready to go) at 6p. By 7p she is on her way back to her room (now we have a thermos for her nighttime ice cause she doesn't want to walk to the kitchen again). On nights I don't work she is at the door asking for her eye drops around 9:30p, "you can do my drops now, I know you're tired" Like she is doing me a favor.
For me, I will be a stronger person for this experience. I will hopefully be a better aging adult. I know she is scared of death, we all are...some more than others. Death is the ultimate unknown but it is unavoidable. I would think that as you get closer to the end of life, and especially if your life has become so difficult, that the idea of a rest would be welcomed. But mom still checks her blood pressure daily and stews about her bowels and little aches and pains that most of us just don't even think about. Yet she will not pursue the doctor about physical therapy, she gives me a cock and bull story and the doctor says he thinks she needs it but i think she tells him she can't do it. She stopped taking her Fosamax for bone strength cause she hasn't had a scan recently. Pretty sure that is why her leg hurts more but she knows more than I do and more than the doctors do.
I pray every day that this is the day she doesn't get up from that bed, just go in her sleep. I sleep more lightly than when Jessica was little cause there is always that chance of a nice fall. I am always watching (and I know that sometimes she puts on "extra drama" just for me) trying to figure out what other modifications can be done to maintain her. I am never really "off", not even when I am sleeping for those 5-6 hours a day.
Tonight was the whiny old girl routine where SHE decided that I should do her eye drops in the afternoon before I leave for work........duh, that is what I said when I was switching jobs. You see she just doesn't get enough sleep:
Me: up at 6-6:30a. Walk dog, bfast (maybe), ice, water check, feed and water dog, get my lunch and head off for Arc office or group home. Work preferably till 12-12:30p and run home, do ice again cause it is hot and the cat can't have warm water (let me interject here that Sammie may have no water while the cat has iced water), bring in the mail, clean up anything that needs to be done then. Now I go off to API at about 2:40p for my 3-11p shift where I am usually on the go for the next 8 hours, then I come home and give the drops in that one eye, check food and water and crawl into bed hopefully falling asleep before 12-12:30a. Start all over the next day. Now one day every week I don't have to do the evening job and every other weekend I am really blessed with 2 days off from both jobs!!! I am looking very forward to August 3rd when I will be celebrating my independence from the Arc of San Diego!!
Mom: up around 8-9a. Have bfast and read newspaper till 10ish. Trot back to room for prayers and game shows. Maybe watch TV or clean cat litter, or wash undies/slippers. About noonish come back out to the kitchen for fully prepared meal to stick in microwave (meal is prepared during those "days off" of mine). takes till 1p or so and then she will wash her dishes and go back to her room and watch a baseball game or soaps until she lays down for her nap around 2:30-3p. Up around 5p and back out for dinner (also mostly prepared and ready to go) at 6p. By 7p she is on her way back to her room (now we have a thermos for her nighttime ice cause she doesn't want to walk to the kitchen again). On nights I don't work she is at the door asking for her eye drops around 9:30p, "you can do my drops now, I know you're tired" Like she is doing me a favor.
For me, I will be a stronger person for this experience. I will hopefully be a better aging adult. I know she is scared of death, we all are...some more than others. Death is the ultimate unknown but it is unavoidable. I would think that as you get closer to the end of life, and especially if your life has become so difficult, that the idea of a rest would be welcomed. But mom still checks her blood pressure daily and stews about her bowels and little aches and pains that most of us just don't even think about. Yet she will not pursue the doctor about physical therapy, she gives me a cock and bull story and the doctor says he thinks she needs it but i think she tells him she can't do it. She stopped taking her Fosamax for bone strength cause she hasn't had a scan recently. Pretty sure that is why her leg hurts more but she knows more than I do and more than the doctors do.
I pray every day that this is the day she doesn't get up from that bed, just go in her sleep. I sleep more lightly than when Jessica was little cause there is always that chance of a nice fall. I am always watching (and I know that sometimes she puts on "extra drama" just for me) trying to figure out what other modifications can be done to maintain her. I am never really "off", not even when I am sleeping for those 5-6 hours a day.
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