been a good day....

went out just me and the girls for a walk in the white forest. love, love, love that our snow is back to it's normal perfect self. the temperatures have dropped down close to zero and all is right in my winter wonderland. post walk i met up with sandra for a little ski, classic style. we met at goose lake and enjoyed 3 miles of blissful skiing on perfect snow! post ski i went for a bit of a swim. time to get back at the pool and get my bootie in shape.
blossom enjoyed chasing her tennis ball and frisbee unimpeded. rio was a bit off taken by the chill and kept lifting her frosty paws one at a time. you can see blossoms lashes are frosted up.saw a pair of moose in the parking lot again today. the mama moose was dashing across the street as i was arriving. moose sightings are getting more and more regular. went with the dogs in the bog between shifts and ended up turning around as the moose and her calf were right next to trail. they were just bark eating, but the trees were pretty thick there and i didn't see anyway around them and they were happy where they were. work was work. ran the dialysis in the pediatrics one day and that patient was allowed to pass so the next day i was shipped off to the neonate icu. must admit it hasn't been bad the last few times i've been down there. boring and it feels a bit like prison to me though. not that i've ever been to prison, except to visit. (not a friend, in college a professor arranged for a group to go observe or something, not sure what class it was at this point. it was los angeles county lockdown and it was horrible. not a place i'd like to revisit). anyway, nicu is like a prison as there are no windows down there and they won't let you have any of your stuff with you. i carry around a big pack and all my winter crap. they made me cram it all into a tiny locker they have for visitors. i was annoyed. even water is restricted. i am sure i broke a few rules. i only had two babies who i really just had to do the whole feed routine on every 3 hours. inbetween that, i had nothing to do. long night. everyone was nice enough though and i got through it. they are going through the same providence induced management changes. providence hosp seems in capable of doing these things without totally pissing off everyone. i've been quite happy with my set up of going between the two icu units, peds and adults. i knew i was too happy as i suspect with the changes i may be dealing with some changes myself. first the new schedule came out and i was schedule for 3/4 weekends in february. then, this morning i ran into the new peds acm. she doesn't like that all my weekends on my set schedule fall on the adult icu days. so she now wants to switch it up and have me do my weekends in picu. if that is the worst change that occurs i think i will do fine, but i will need to re-evaluate my place and see if any more dramatic changes are needed. i really do hope i can just keep doing what i'm doing and that if she does make these switches i can still have the time off i've requested from acc and been awarded. one feels a bit like she is marking her territory and re-establishing a role over me. i am not power hungry at all, i just want to come in and take care of patients. it gets harder and harder to do that as nurses. always seems to me that the people who run hospitals forget that we are all here to take care of people who are sick. they are ceo's and they only think of the financial aspect of it...that is until they have thier own brush with death. eventually we are mostly all a patient at some hospital and when you are, all that crap means nothing, you want a good and kind and caring nurse at your bedside.
i'm trying my best to not let myself get sucked in and upset. not always easy. my schedule is my life and i don't like playing little power games over it. since i worked the last few nights i wasn't able to get out for my walk til after 2pm. was trying to get photo's of blossom but it was already a bit dusky out. she looks so cute with the frost and i think she really likes her new frisbee that tanya and family got for her.felt great to be back in the pool again. i do love swimming. easy to put on those winter pounds, especially when i like to eat the crap that i do. already working on my 2012 goals...
1...re-commit to my swimming and work out goals
2...focus on my book project and write at least 2-3 entries a week.
3...plan a pool party and stop worrying if anyone will come, the house will get clean. :-)
4...write more poetry and maybe a few new songs, it's been awhile
5...declutter
6...replace hall/stair carpeting
7...get up and out of bed in the mornings rather than waste away the day
8...study and pass CCRN test..there i wrote it, must do!
guess that is a start. christmas was sort of a pass this year. not that it was bad, but more like it just didn't really happen. i went through the motions, cards out, tree up, gifts delivered. i just wasn't able to some of my relaxing traditions like sit by the tree and sing christmas songs and play guitar or drive around the city looking at decorations and stuff.
we didn't notice these huge christmas bulbs skiing out but did notice them coming back. they are pretty high up in the trees for us short folks. same big bulbs as are out on the north bivouac trail. fun running into this stuff around town.not sure how we spotted them coming back.have been watching episodes of the "big bang theory" still. often for christmas i will purchase some series and enjoy them over the long winter. last year i bought the james herriot series which were as wonderful now as they were back when i was a kid. loved all those books as well. a few years before that i bought "northern exposure". another fun though often flawed, detail wise, series. i think they got the characters right. my brother bought me "sex and the city" years ago for christmas which i watched over and over. i also have several years of "bones". i think that one is ending soon as is, "the closer". i've enjoyed both so that is a bummer. i love "sienfeld" and "law and order" but i don't have any of those. they rerun all the time so i guess i haven't felt the need. i remember that i used to like "wings". it came on in south dakota as i was getting ready for work each night. the girls were happy that i got them out today. i slept well, but i know i burned quite a few calories through the day and will be ready to crash soon tonight as well.blossom enjoys the early sun set.love how the snow clumps up on treestodays moose sighting.driving to the trail today after 2pm. just thought that sun looked cool. that is as high as she gets this time of year it seemsin the bog, fluffy, snow laden trees.the blue skies came out temporarily, but it's back cloudy and the snow is falling lightly at times.yesterdays bog moose. well, i guess i have come to the end of another exciting post. i know you can all hardly wait for the next installment. doing a drawing for my leftover calendars on the 1st. i think tomorrow i will put away the christmas stuff and begin clearing out the garage a bit. not sure what exciting plans i have for new years. i haven't actually had it off for years. hmm.. gets to crazy and crowded at times. downtown is supposed to be fun, there is a hockey game which also sounds like a possibility. maybe a game night with friends...maybe just curl up with a book before all the mayhem happens and wake early to watch the rose parade on my computer. have discovered that watching on the computer is much better. anchorage barely shows the parade, too many commercials.