Homeownership

My little house passed inspection yesterday with the fewest number of issues the inspector has seen. Sweet!! My loans have been approved so closing is officially 4/30. I just got an email from my landlady saying that someone is interested in my apartment so I should be moved in to my house over the course of the first two weeks of May. Holy crap, so soon! It's in a little development so it has a neighborhood feel to it but yet it's so close to everything in the bustling city of Lebanon...lol. A well-built, energy efficient two bedroom, two bath house with an attached garage and deck!! A full basement too which I can choose to finish at some point. The whole process has been a little stressful but I'm glad I've finally gone through with it...I finally feel excited. If Xander's health issues resolve (this house has a built-in air filtration system) then I know it was meant to be. It's a far-fetched hope but you can't blame a girl for attempting optimism. What a lovely birthday present to myself. And Xander. I wish I knew when he was born but I don't so I just say he was born on June 7th. 6:56 pm, to be precise.

Ok so the month of March. And some of April. Simone turned 2, we had a little family shingdig at my moms on the 2nd. The Little Mermaid theme complete with Ariel's torso on the cake. I posted an album of pics on Facebook so refer to that for images from the day. As part of her bday present, Heather and I took her to the Montshire Museum on the 14th...she had blast. So much fun despite the horribly sore throat I woke up with that morning which was the start of a bad cold that lasted almost 2 weeks.

The next day was the Goss girls' combined birthday party which I totally spaced and would not have shown up if Ashley hadn't posted something about it on Facebook the night before. I've never done that before. All the changes and increased stress in my life lately have made me a space cadet. After I'm settled in my house, I am focusing on the ICU and enjoying the summer and NOT making any big changes anytime soon.

Speaking of the ICU, it's been a challenging, discouraging, and stressful roller coaster. I knew it was going to be hard and I know I'm at a strong disadvantage coming from years of OR background but you don't really know the degree of difficulty until you're experiencing it firsthand. I'd love to say it's going great with a big shit-eating grin on my face but I'd be lying. This past Thursday, right before I took a pre-night shift nap, depression washed over me and all I wanted to do was cry. I feel better now but felt like that for a few days...not sure where it came from. Post 3 West days, I went years without doing physical assessments and administering medication so I just feel overwhelmed and perpetually behind. If I was a dumb person, I wouldn't be where I am now but I feel like a dumbass quite frequently. There is so much to know regarding disease processes and drugs (mechanism of action, contraindications, side-effects, etc); I feel like I'm going to be unsafe when I'm on my own because I just won't be ready. Some concepts are more difficult to grasp than others and I find myself going back to basics in order to somewhat understand more complicated things. Charting is time consuming (so different from the OR). Managing 2 critically-ill patients is confusing. I know, with time, critical thinking and efficiency with various tasks will improve...the interim just sucks. All I can do is try to be positive, take it one day at a time, advocate for myself, and continue taking time to study outside of work. Mucho thanks to Tomek's suggestion to buy The ICU Book. It's helping a lot and I feel smarter as I continue to read it. Ok, enough about work.

Dayna and I went to Burlington on the 27th to see the Tribal Seeds at Higher Ground. Awesome concert. Love their music. Love reggae. Now, I must admit I'm a tad obsessed because, after taking a picture with him, Ryan "Gonzo" (guitarist) invited us to hang out with them on their tour bus. So, we did. Had some beers (gotta find me some Red Stripe). Hung out for about 3 hours. Awesome guys. Epic. That is all I will say on the subject. One of those things where you actually question the next morning if the previous night actually occurred and wasn't just a fantastic dream. Jahhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhh.

On April Fool's Day, I got my first iced coffee of the season and took a little trip over to Ludlow to hang out with Cora and Diane. I walked in to a common room full of residents getting ready for an exciting 2 hours worth of bingo. I sat down and joined them. I didn't win anything the whole time except for the jackpot at the end as I was the first to fill my card with chips. Yup, I be swoopin in and scorin all that cash from the senior citizens. Won it fair and square. Meh, I'll just use it to buy booze for the next time I go visit. We had a lovely time sipping cocktails and chitchatting, complete with a tasty meatloaf dinner with homemade fries. Speaking of, I'm getting hungry. I guess that concludes this entry.

When Babylon tries to offer...Rasta, Refuse It!!!