?

Happy birthday to me :) I hit up the PX to look for Coach purses. I love the PX, things are cheaper and you don't have to pay tax. This purse was already $60 cheaper compared to other retailers (like Dillard's, Macy's etc) and no tax :)

And btw, the Main PX at Fort Hood is huuuuuuge!

Published with Blogger-droid v1.7.3

instant nurse: just add coffee.

I'm starting my 3 night stretch tonight.
I hope work doesn't suck.
Some nurses left and now the ICU is expanding, so that takes away some nurses from my unit who want to work permanently in the ICU.
Which means we're becoming short-staffed.
I thought about picking up some OT shifts to help combat the short-staffedness, but I'm trying to think of a way to do it without burning myself out. After 3 nights in a row I'm dead...we'll see!

Run for your lives.

This past weekend hubs and I saw The Thing, which is a prequel to The Thing (made in 1982) which was a remake of The Thing From Another World in the 50's lol. The Thing is one of my favorite horror movies. It's about an alien that crash lands in Antarctica, is founded by a group of humans and then the alien starts attacking them. The alien attacks them and then imitates it's victim, creating a perfect copy of the victim - this leads to mistrust amongst the group because who is really human and who is just an imitation? The Thing (2011 prequel) shows everything that happens and ends where The Thing (1982) starts.

Although the 2011 version had me jumping out of my seat several times, I still think the 1982 version is better. Highly recommend :)

The Walking Dead also premiered last night! I'm excited for this season :) And during the commercials I saw an ad for a 5k zombie-infested obstacle course race! There will be one in Austin on December 15th, 2012. I hate running and I don't think I could do a 5k, but this looks really fun. It's like Warrior Dash, only 10 times cooler in my opinion. I have over a year to train if I want to do it!

loneliness...

I was supposed to work tonight.
I came into work and the moment I got there, the unit received the on-call list.
It was between me and two other nurses. They said I could stay since I was the first one there.
Then the other nurses came. One refused to go home (she already dropped off her kids and other stuff) and the other volunteered, but she lives about 30min away whereas I only live about 8min away. I volunteered since I live the closest and I don't have kids to worry about.
It just sucks because I was already there, all ready to go!
We'll see if I get called in tonight.

It just sucks because I wasted my whole day sleeping and now I plan on staying up all night so I can stay on my sleeping schedule. I'm supposed to work the next 2 nights.

I really hate staying up all night, though. I get bored with sitting around on my computer and half of the time there isn't anything to watch on TV. Nothing interesting on Netflix, either. I could CLEAN, but hubby is now asleep and I need to be quiet.

It really sucks not having friends here. Sure, there are my work friends, but those are work friends. and I try to go to all of the monthly FRG meetings, but sometimes with my work schedule that is impossible. I feel like I have nothing in common with the other FRG members...they are all older, more established wives with kids. Don't get me wrong, everyone I met has been very nice, I just feel like we have nothing in common. Maybe once hubs & I have kiddos of our someday that will change. We will see...

In other news, I received a $0.50 raise, hooray! :D

more pinterest ideas

Lately I have been trying a lot of recipes/other ideas, thanks to pinterest. One of those ideas is using sliced bell peppers as egg molds. Just put a bit of oil in a non-stick skillet, slice a bell pepper and crack an egg in the middle, season w/ salt & pepper and cover and cook on low until done :) I should have used larger peppers, this one was a little too small and the egg "bled" out.

Hubby gave this two thumbs up :)

Published with Blogger-droid v1.7.3

Crockpot Lasagna

This was so easy! It's hard to get that "lasagna" shape when serving (so it's just a bowl of noodles, beef & Italian cheese) but it tastes pretty damn good!

I also really need to start taking pictures of the whole set-up/cooking process.

1 package of ground beef (I used 93% lean and the meat is still moist, not dry at all!) - this package was roughly around 2lbs, btw
2 jars of pasta sauce (I used Prego Tomato, Onion & Garlic)
Ricotta cheese
1 package of shredded Italian cheese (I used Italian Blend)
Lasagna noodles, *uncooked*
Salt, pepper, garlic powder to taste (I used to season the beef)

Brown the beef in a skillet, season to taste. Drain off excess grease. Mix in jars of pasta sauce.

For the crockpot, I suggest spraying with non-stick spray...I didn't have any, so I just took a towel and rubbed a bit of vegetable oil all along the sides.

Cover the bottom of the pot with the beef/pasta sauce mixture.
Layer lasagna noodles (I had to break mine up a bit to make them fit).
Spread ricotta cheese. I admit it was hard to spread this smoothly.
Sprinkle Italian cheese(s) on top of ricotta.
Top with more beef/pasta mixture and repeat.

I made 2 layers using all ingredients, then once I ended with the beef/pasta mixture, I added more lasagna noodles then topped with the remaining beef/pasta sauce mixture. The crockpot was about 2/3 full.

Cover and cook on LOW for about 4 hours, then about 5min before serving sprinkle some more Italian cheese(s) on top.

So yummy!

Published with Blogger-droid v1.7.3

Thank you for the birthday wishes :) I had to work the night of my birthday, but the night before we went to this sushi place in Harker Heights called Shogun. One of the nurses I work with used to work there and highly recommended it. We were pretty impressed! It still doesn't compare to our FAVORITE place back home, but I'm happy to have found some GOOD sushi.

Work wasn't too bad. Our crazy director got fired earlier this week for unknown reasons, but all of us have a good idea as to why. The start of the shift was hectic; I had a patient whom was anxiously awaiting discharge. We were awaiting the doc to write the paperwork and prescriptions. Patient was supposed to be discharged at 1830 but obviously wasn't. It was 1945, I told the patient I kept checking but nothing was in the computer. Patient was getting really angry told me to take out their IV right now. I told them I would grab a piece a gauze and come back. I got the piece of gauze, but I wanted to check one more time to see if the paperwork and the ORDER were in the computer (can't discharge a patient unless the order is in there). Nothing. I started to walk back to the room and the patient was walking down the hall, then said I "lied" to them because I didn't come back to take out their IV. Then the patient threatened to "sue the hospital" because they has been "lied to" during their whole stay (huh?) We told them they could leave but they would be leaving AMA and would need to sign a form, but they refused to sign. One of the hospitalist doctors (who doesn't like me, but whatever) was nearby and since this was a hospitalist patient, we tried to see if this doctor could do anything and hasten the process. No discharge order, no prescriptions. Finally at 2008 the order popped into the computer and the prescriptions were tubed up to the unit. The patient's physician called me and was angry with me, saying that everything was in there an hour ago, blah blah blah..."you're creating mistrust between physicians, nurses and patients" blah blah blah...then told me to tell him what the time said on the order. I told him 2008. He basically said that wasn't possible, it wasn't his fault, etc. While I was listening to this physician's bickering, the charge nurse printed off the paperwork and gave the patient his instructions (which they didn't want to listen to, they just wanted to sign and GTFO) and their prescriptions. The physician then decided to call the RN who did the paperwork in the first place, then I never heard back from him ever again.

Turns out another nurse from A DIFFERENT FLOOR put in the paperwork and the order. I told my supervisor (and made sure the night supervisor knew about it, too) who then called this RN and said she shouldn't have done that. The doctor should have been the one to put everything in.

WTF. Then to top it off, the patient went home without their inhaler (they left in such a rush) which I could totally get in trouble for...but I called the patient later that evening and told them they could come pick it up. They told me they appreciated the call. Maybe now that the patient was home that eased up some of the tension.

And while all of this was going on I also had a patient going through acute ETOH intoxication with a BAC of 407 (with that level you should be in a coma!) with a VERY high BP (systolic >180, diastolic was >100!) so I was also trying to PRIORITIZE...but I guess I was "wrong." Whatever.

Why do I always have to get the patients and family members that are upset with something? A month ago I had family members who were very upset because the patient didn't have an MRI that day, even though the doctors said it wasn't medically necessary. Oh, and they were also pissed because one of the tele leads was off when they walked in (they pop off all of the time!) They were telling me this is all my fault, etc...I literally just got report then went to see my other patient because they were DESATING to the 70's...again, I was prioritizing. I didn't tell them why I was in another room, I just said I was in another room...and the family member, "a fellow nurse", had the nerve to say to me, "I don't care if the patient next door was DYING, this is unacceptable" - WTF!!! Family members were yelling at me/the charge/the doctor in the hallway and all of this bickering and shit went on for FOUR HOURS....finally they apologized, but really. WHY ME???

Last night hubs and I were in the mood for Italian, so we went to Giovanni's in Copperas Cove. Too bad they were PACKED, so we went down the street to Seoul Garden for some Korean instead lol. Tomorrow we're planning on going to Waco to go to the zoo lol...just for something to do and to get out of here for a bit! Plus there is a Quaker Steak and I'm dying to have some buckeye BBQ ribs and supercharged wings :)

happy birthday to meeeee....

I turn 24 today, yikes.

Or as one of hubby's 1SG's told him, "oh is your wife turning 17? One more year and she'll be legal!" bahaha.

We had plans to go to Vegas this weekend but we decided not to go because it would be too expensive, especially for only 3 nights. I'm still looking forward to the 4 day weekend, though :)