My Bright Idea

Sometimes work is more interesting than I go in thinking it will be.

At first I figured I'd bitch about how when you ask someone how they're doing and they say, "If I were good, I wouldn't be here". Oh yeah, so original.

Or, "any allergies to medications?" "Yeah, I take claritin." "Right, but are you allergic to claritin or do you take that for your allergies?" "I have to take it every day"

Or, "what are you being seen for?" "I'm not really sure what I have. I've had a fever for 2 days" (by the way, her temp was 96.7)

But today I'm not going to bitch about those things... today I'm going to tell a story of 2 medical assistants who decided to remove a mole....

It started out so simple. MA#1 turned to MA#2 and said, "should we go over to the haunted side of the floor and get some liquid nitro and take this off?" MA#2 smiled at her friend and said, "absolutely". So the two brave MA's grabbed the key and set off to 'the other side' where it is haunted, to brave the ghosts and fetch some liquid nitrogen for this seemingly very simple procedure.

They got what they needed, and encountered no ghosts in the process! Bonus! Things are going well already! Then the next obstacle... the tattle tale nurse came around. Seriously? Can she go somewhere else???

So the two MA's snuck into an exam room and MA #1 was clever enough to sit in a chair against the door so no one could get in. She was very proud of this birght idea! MA#2 was experienced in this field of removing unwanted moles, so she leads the way, only asking MA#1 not to laugh in the process. OK, no problem. (MA#1 had chai mocha breath anyhow and didn't want to breath it on her friend, so it wasn't a problem not to laugh)

So the procedure begins. The mole freezes with no problem. MA#2, ever so gentle and concerned with her friends comfort level, make sure it doesn't hurt to pull the mole before she snips. Nope! No pain at all, can't feel a thing. So... 1...2...3... snip! Gone forever is the nasty mole hosting more moles that MA#1 has been longing to part with. Piece of cake! Throw a band aid on that bad boy and get back to work!

Woops, hmm, it doesn't seem to want to stop bleeding. No big deal, we'll just apply pressure and wait for it to clot. MA#2 is a little worried that her friend is going to bleed too much. But it's cool, just apply pressure. No big deal, just a little blood. Ah oh, hmm, after a few minutes of pressure the damn thing keeps bleeding. OK, apply harder pressure, wait longer. This isn't a big deal, it's under control. And it still doesn't hurt. Hmm, still bleeding. Interesting... OK well no problem, let's try these awesome silver nitrate sticks. They'll clot this problem right up!

So MA#1 sneaks into yet another room with a stick. Smash that puppy into the bleeding mole. OK, that stung a little. Still no big deal. Except the blood keeps flowing and it's just making a mess out of the silver nitrate. A muddy, gross mess. No wait, it's starting to work! MA1 hops on the phone and asks MA2 to bring another... it's working! OK. great. Throw on some gauze to keep the "medicine" in place and go home. This fun little work place drama has come to a sort of funny end.

NOT. MA#1 is taking a routine crap about 20 or so minutes later at home (cause she doesn't do that at work) and WTF? Blood is now pouring down her arm. Now this is just annoying. So luckily she brought home some of those magic sticks. Awesome, just use another. Bleeding stops, we're good to go. MA#2 is very worried about her friend now though, poor thing. MA1 feels bad for dragging her friend into this adventure that started out so innocent. We think the story is over now, this time for real.

NOPE. This is how MA1 wakes up the next morning:

... and it burns like a mother fucker. MA1's husband is freaking out and saying, "woman, you better start getting your story together!" MA2 feels guilty, though none of this is her fault. MA1 figures let's get the sick skin off the top so we can throw some neosporin on it and start healing. So... grit your teeth and scrub the damn thing under warm water. Suck it up. OK, done:



looks better already! Now we'll wait patiently for this to heal, and then MA1 plans to tackle that other mole you see in the picture.... TO BE CONTINUED!

By the way, MA1 finds all of this pretty funny. MA2 has informed MA1 that it is not funny, which makes MA1 chuckle even more. MA#1 loves her co workers for making the job interesting!

Interview with Kat

I copied this idea from a friend's blog. I just had to try it! Let's see how it goes...

Interview about mommy and Kat:

1. What is something mommy always says to you? "um, you love me"

2. What makes mommy happy? "um, huh... when I make a project"

3. What makes mommy sad? "hm, what makes Mommy sad? I don't know, when I'm being naughty?"

4. How does your mommy make you laugh? "being silly"

5. What was your mommy like as a child? "you liked... well I don't know what you liked. I didn't know you when you were a little girl. so I don't know that one yet"

6. How old is mommy? "hmm, how old are you Mom?" (I told her) "oh! you're 28!"

7. How tall is mommy? "Mommy is THIS (hold her hand to my head) tall!"

8. What is mommy's favorite thing to do? "snuggle with me!"

9. What does your mommy do when you're not around? "huh, do you watch TV?"

10. If your mommy becomes famous, what will it be for? "hmm, I don't know!"

11. What is your mommy really good at? "typing on the internet.and making projects and stuff"

12. What is your mommy not very good at? "Making a scarf. Well actually the small ones are OK, but just you're not good at making really long scarfs. What else are you not good at? You're not good at....hmm, I don't know"

13. What does your mommy do for her job? "go to work and make money to get toys for us". (so I rephrased... but what does Mommy DO at work while I'm making money? "oh, you help people by doctoring them when they're sick"

14. What is your mommy's favorite food? (scratches her head) "is it meatballs?" (nope! but very cute!)

15. What makes you proud of your mommy? "um I'm proud of you that you can turn on movies for me"

16. What makes your mommy proud of you? "cause I mind my manners and because, I don't know, I'm getting bigger"

17. If your mommy was a cartoon character, who would she be? "she would be...hmm...sleeping beauty!"

18. What do you and your mommy do together? "snuggle, and play, cook. I don't think anything else right now"

19. How do you know your mommy loves you? "because she hugs me. and because you play with me"

Leapster Digj Givaway!

Smiling Mom is hosting a free Digj giv away on her blog! Go make a comment to enter!

That's what he flippin gets! (Contains TMI... Mom's and Grama's please DO NOT READ!)

So in order to keep my kids in as little 'daycare' as possible, Hubby and I work opposite shifts. It works great. He works till 5:00PM, I don't start until 4:00PM. There is an hour of overlap time, 3 days a week. Not too shabby. I work every other weekend which means on those weekends Dad is alone with both kids. Great for bonding, saves tons of money. Sounds like win, win, Right? Ah! But it's a trick question. I forgot to mention football season. Tis the season where dad puts up baby gates and watches from the corner of his eye while Kat babysits Bear. Poor kids. They have fun though. Last weekend, too much fun!

I came home from work on Sunday afternoon. It was a nice, normal day. I worked with my girls all day. Good for me. Raiders won. Good for Hubby. So we're going to costco and Hub looks over at me and says, "oh, funny story..." (right away I think, what happened while you weren't watching the kids?) But I refrain and listen. Apparently during the football game, Bear and Kat were playing in Mom and Dad's room. They like to pull all of the million pillows off the bed and jump in them. However, Dad had the insight to know that this would not be OK without supervision and asked that they please come out of the room and play in the room where dad was rooted to the couch. (I interjected the last part)

So my sweet little bear comes out of the room happily shaking his hand in the air and trying to show dad some amazing treasure he had found. Dad asks him what he has and he holds his prize proudly in the air. What is it you ask? Why, it's a c-ring that he found in one of Dad's drawers. Yep, my unsupervised children found the naughty stash in the back of Dad's underwear drawer. So no big deal though. Bear is only 1, he could care less. He doesn't ask questions. AH HA! Enter the 4 year old. When Hub took it away casually and said, "no no Bear, not for you" Kat piped right in..."Why Daddy? Why can't we play with that? What is it anyway? Why does it have all these bumps? Why is it stretchy? Why can only Daddy's play with it?" as she is asking questions, she's trying to pry this mystery object out of his hands to learn more.

HA! That's what you get for letting them roam off "for a second or two". Maybe next time he'll pay more attention!

Family Pictures

We had family pictures done for the first time since Bear was born...

The Dreaded "To Do" list

I'm pretty sure the following article I found in Psychology Today was written for me! I'm famous for making the list and then feeling like that was a huge accomplishment.

Is the To-Do List Doing You In?
When the to-do list brings black clouds—and anxiety. Here's how to make the list work for you.

By: Kathleen McGowan

Many days seem to bring an endless barrage of tasks and responsibilities, all of which apparently must be tackled right away. You spend the day putting out fires, but by the end of the day you haven't accomplished any of the really important things you set out to do.

In desperation, you draft a to-do list—but most days, you can make little progress with it. When you look at the list each morning, a big fat cloud of doom is right at the top—those difficult, complex, important tasks that are so crucial to get done—and so easy to avoid.

Plenty of us create a to-do list to address feelings of being overwhelmed, but we rarely use these tools to their best effect. They wind up being guilt-provoking reminders of the fact that we're overcommitted and losing control of our priorities.

Is there a better way to use the to-do list? Experts on procrastination and efficiency say yes.

There's a right way and a wrong way to do a "to-do." According to procrastination researcher Timothy Pychyl, Ph.D., a professor of psychology at Carleton University in Ottawa, Canada, people often draw up a to-do list—and then rest on their laurels. The list itself becomes the day's achievement, allowing us to feel we've done something useful without taking on any real work.

In fact, drawing up the list becomes a way of avoiding the work itself! "Too often, the list is seen as the 'accomplishment' for the day, reducing the immediate guilt of not working on the tasks at hand by investing energy in the list," says Pychyl. "When a list is used like this, it is simply another way in which we 'lie' to ourselves."

It's an example of what's been called the "procrastination field"—we're preparing ourselves to work, we're getting all set to take it on, but we never actually start doing it. Instead, we waste time and make ourselves feel terrible by circling around it.

For many people, that takes the form of attending to a barrage of tiny details and immediate requests. Burying yourself in busywork is an effective way to avoid more important—and more challenging—tasks. Pychyl says that procrastinators typically "binge" on low-priority activities, bustling about with stuff that's second- or third-level priority, rather than tackling the things they really need to do.

If this is your pattern, a to-do list can be a big help—if you use it the right way. If there's one dreaded chore that stays on the top of your list for a while, says Pychyl, that's a signal that you should either tackle it right away or admit you're never going to do it and strike it off the list altogether.

Break it down. In order to make it easier to begin working on big, intimidating tasks, efficiency experts suggest breaking it down into much smaller parts composed of specific, tangible activities. Research has shown that tasks that don't have an obvious action plan or structure are the hardest ones to face.

Make it easier on yourself by listing specific actions and subgoals. Your to-do list will get much longer but, paradoxically, will be a much more helpful tool.

Make a flow chart. This type of list "becomes a 'flow chart' that tells you when to start and when you'll be finished," says psychologist and life coach Neil Fiore, author of The Now Habit. "You create an overview and act like a project manager who is less likely to be overwhelmed or distracted by low priority or urgent tasks."

Each item on the list should have a priority assigned to it, he says. Another way to motivate yourself is to schedule alternating tasks: spend one hour on a number-one priority item, and then "reward" yourself by doing something easier and lower-priority for the next 30 minutes.

Maintain focus. Lists help you maintain momentum. If you're working on an important but difficult task, and a concern or thought bubbles up regarding a different responsibility, jot it down and return to it in a half hour or so when you're done with the project you were working on.

Get real! Fiore says that a strength of to-do lists is that they force you to be realistic about the amount of time you have and to make some hard decisions about priorities. "Realistically, you can't do it all," he says. "But you can focus on the best use of your time now, in alignment with your higher priorities and with the reality of human limits, humbly accepted."

Psyched for Success, 7 December 2005
Last Reviewed 30 Oct 2007
Article ID: 3945

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I've let it go on too long...

First of all, may I say... I'm blogging at 10:00AM. AM people! Normally, if I'm lucky, I'll get to sit down and quickly put something in I don't want to forget at the crack of midnight when I really should be sleeping. Kat is at school and Bear is taking his nap. Who knew the house could be quiet and have it not mean that something naughty is secretly going on in the next room? I could get used to this!

Anyhow, I had sort of 'given up' on school for the time being. I have waited so long since I started college that I was sure all of my credits had expired. Then I started hearing rumblings lately that perhaps not all of my classes did expire. So I called a counselor and waited, waited, waited. Finally today I got the email that has made me feel like I'm not as bad off as I thought. Turns out, the classes that I took when I started college MANY years ago DO NOT EXPIRE!!!! I saved math and science for last because I rather like them... those would have expired. How lucky is that??? I am FINISHED with college English and need maybe 1 more psychology class. I can get into the 2 year nursing program and get this show on the road!

Now granted, I'm still going to have to take the slow road. I need to be there to raise my children, so online and evening classes is where it's at. But hey, I'm further ahead than I thought. It's not that taking all the English again would have been hard. But it's time consuming. Time is something I just don't have a lot of to spare. This is excellent news for me!

I need to be a nurse by the time I am 40. I think, just maybe... it's gonna happen!