So I was thinking. (It does happen occasionally.) If a baby's surname was Bell, what names could you call it. Now instead of the typical Sarah or John, I (with sisterly assistance) thought of some more amusing names.

Bar Bell
Tinker Bell
Dumb Bell
Jingle Bell
Blue Bell
Cow Bell
Door Bell
Re Bell
Snow Bell
Alexander Graham Bell
Miss La Bell
Ringa Bell
La Bell
Deci Bell
Li Bell
Rela Bell

Our favourite is the third one. I hope this helps some of you out there. It certainly amused us.

I saw this on a friend's blog.

Finish the line
If I had ...

I would...

So I can ...


If I had a life span of 200 healthy years,
I would be a nurse practitioner, missionary, health promotion worker, haematologic reasearcher, nurse educator, PhD, mother to many.
So I could fulfill all the dreams instead of picking the most important ones and trying to do them all at once.

I had a sad day today. My first ever patient this year, and one of my favourites, is about to die. She has had terminal cancer all year and has been admitted a few times this year and I always enjoy looking after her because she is such a beautiful person. But now its the end of this life for her. She was basically in a coma on my last night duty shift this morning and I don't expect her to be alive when I go back after days off. My 3 favourite patients this year have all died of cancer and I was thinking while driving home this afternoon about why these patients have meant so much to me. Mostly it is because they are exceptional people who I have great admiration for, cancer aside. These people showed great love, grace and fighting spirit. They have qualities that I admire and aspire to have. But what is the connection? Does God let the really great people get cancer so they can inspire people with their fight? Or is it that when faced with death, they realise what is important? That fighting, harsh words, ungraciousness have no worth or gain and have no place in a life that is so short of time. I suppose I have gained a lot from these women. They and their families showed me love when they were in such a difficult time. I had the opportunity to return that love to someone who was most vulnerable. And I hope i can learn from them not to let unimportant things take up space in my life. I can accept that life is short, but I also want to learn to fill my life with things that are worthy for the valuable time that I have.

I was told last night that I had to post on my blog. I offered up excuses but in short, I probably could post more. Although, if someone wants to know whats happening in my life and is standing right in front of me, they should ask me.
So it turns out that I have just enjoyed the funnest week of working that I have had. I got to go to a training course in the 'Garden City'. I stayed in a nice motel paid for by work which was a 1 minute walk to where I had to go each morning. The course was also paid for by work (so I am calling it a business trip cuz then i sound cool). And I got to listen to very knowledgable people talk about a subject that I am intensly interested in ... nursing. And I got to learn to do cool stuff like put breathing tubes down people's throats (LMAs) and needles into veins (cannulation). And I got taught how to read the bane of my existence (ECGs - which is very useful when the Dr is half an hour away at 2am and wont come in unless I can find something good enough on the ECg.) And my surprisingly favourite bit of all ... I learned how to suture. And now I only have to do 2 supervised ones on real people (as opposed to pigs trotters) and I can do them by myself. I am so excited. I can't wait. I love tying the knots.

Oh, and by the way, it turns out (not unexpectedly) that there is so much more to learn about nursing than I ever imagined and getting the chance to listen to people who know stuff that I want to know was invaluable.

Its been a month since my last post and I have noticed a lot of people in the blogging world have been neglecting their blogs. I was gonna post a couple times but life interrupted me. I hope that is the excuse for most people not blogging. And the only reason life is not interrupting me now is cuz its later than I should be up and I will soon be going to bed anyway. But as a quick update in case anyone reads this who doesnt see me regularly. All is good. Work is progressing. Relaxation comes even in the midst of busy shifts. I have had some excellent times when I have been back home lately. Seen some good friends. Made a couple new friends. And to top it off, I am increasingly amazed that as I hang out more with my loveable housemate, I like hanging out with her even more instead of getting sick of her. I am well provided for. Have an EXCELLENT day!

I am so excited. My last post was sposed to get Becky to talk to me. And she emailed me instead of commenting on my blog and Beck doesnt email much. Yay! I wanna go to Canada. Plus in other news my super sister came out here to visit me and we went on a 2 hour road trip to see a movie. Hee hee gotta go hang with her, bye

Spring has sprung and now I am starting to think that I am not gonna get through summer night duties without an air conditioner. But I know nothing about them beyond 'they make you feel nice and cool'. Any suggestions?
In happier news, I am hoping to spend most of January in Canada where it will be freezing cold so I might miss the worst of the summer stuff. Who knows?
Meanwhile, if you read this, Bec, I have had trouble getting onto you. Are you gonna be in Vancouver in January? Should I book a plane ticket yet? And I think it is a new low trying to talk to my sister through my blog. But you better reply!! =)

I had a proud day today. I had to transfer one of my patients to a ward that I worked on as a nursing student. The last time I was there I was a scared little student not really knowing where to stand much less what to do. Today, I got to be the nurse competently handing over a heart attack patient whom I had monitored, assessed, and treated for the 4 1/2 hours that it took us to travel. Its amazing the difference a year can make. =D

Most days, my job is just like any other job. I try to do the work I have planned for the day, try not to get too sidetracked by the unexpected and work on getting out of there at a reasonable hour. But sometimes, my job beats most others in the REALLY BAD DAY department. That's because unlike most jobs, mine can not only pull out the really busy card but it has the ultimate trump card - life or death - which when combined with really busy makes for a top 2 bad day.
Yesterday, I had that day. Weekends are bad at work because there is no medical centre open after 11 so we get everything. So I walked into work yesterday and within 10 seconds I was sent off on a task for a patient that I knew nothing about. The shift continued with many outpatients, lots of interuptions and frequent pestering of the very unfortunate Doctor on call. We had a patient who was rapidly losing blood from her stomach and were pumping her with extra blood and fluids as fast as the machine would go (999 mls/hr for those who get how fast that is). Then in the middle of this I recieved a call from the ambulance communication centre saying that we had a patient coming in in full cardiac arrest. ARGH!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! Totally freaking out. I hadn't ever witnessed an arrest and I wasn't thrilled to have my first one on one of my busiest shifts in ages. So I saw CPR in action, lots of people moving very fast, most of my patients ignored for the shift and the unfortunate ending of one life but one save with the lady who didn't bleed out on us and was airlifted to a Brisbane hospital.
Suffice to say, there are days when my job's bad days, trump yours.

Well it's finally over. Holidays have been and gone for this year and I am heading home. It's been great. I have seen so many of you and that has been wonderful. I have accomplished many things and now its back to regular life. So until next time, ciao!

I don't really have much to write but I think it's time for a new post anyway. I think for this post, I would like to make it all about you. So tell me, what have you been doing lately to occupy your days? List 5 things. I will start.
1.Hanging out with family - WAY FUN!!
2.Catching up with friends who I haven't seen for ages
3.Reading some books
4.Sleeping in
5.Listening to good tunes

Your turn ...

PHOTOS!!!!
So it has taken me 7 tries to get this on here because I kept accidently deleting the photos when trying to format the page. Blogger sucks! Meanwhile in other news....


Photo 1: Me!
Photo 2: Me and housemate Sarah
Photo 3: Chloe, me, Sarah and Elise (work friend)
Photo 4: ME!!
Photo 5: Me and Chloe ... Lookin' GOOD!!!!

My response to last post's comments was too long to comment so its a post.
Well sadly I had no chance to turn into a pumpkin because my sister was tired and wanted to go home and I couldn't convince her to stay past 11. She said she would walk home but I couldn't let my baby sister walk home that late. But then we stayed up anyway and took more photos. And yes occasionally country towns have night life. Sure it usually centres around the pub but this time they put on a show. The bigger party-ers were the mother aged nurses I work with. I am a wimp who needs her sleep. I'm still tired. And I have now had two really big days at work so I am only just awake and its not even six. Sarah is sick so we are having home night with videos and burritos.

Cinderella

So I think most girls at one point or another have wanted to be Cinderella at the ball. Well I got my Cinderella moment last night when I was a guest at the local charity ball. I had the dress, the hair, the face, the shoes and most definitely the smile. And I had so much fun. We took stacks of photos so once I get them off the camera I will post some here. Chloe looked superb and had many comments about how equisite her dress is. Sarah and Pete were the lovely (if height mis-matched) couple. There were lovely decorations, the all-important multi-draw raffle (that I didn't win), a curious girl band that sang 60's, 70's and country. I danced the twist, sampled the buffet, posed for many photos and had an excellent night. Yay for country towns who can put on a great night out!

So I never got around to posting about the ball. And Now it is tomorrow so I thought I should get in before its too late. Tomorrow night I am going to a charity ball. I have bought my tickets, and a dress plus some shoes, makeup and jewellery to go with it all. Oh and some stockings so my legs looks smooth and sparkly. (I know that sounds weird but it would look awesome if you could see it). I am going with my housemate, her boyfriend, my sister plus a number of people from my work and it's gonna be so much fun. We are apparently having a trial run on the outfits and accessories tonight because you have to make sure you get the look perfect. And then tomorrow its partying until the break of dawn. Or almost anyway. The band finishes at 2am but it remains to be seen how long I can last. I will endeavour to post photos on here so you can all see how great I will look ;)

Grrrr
I am frustrated so I am blogging cuz no one else is home or awake. I am trying to find study options for next year while I am still living in small quaint country town with very few entertainment options. I had always thought since applying for the scholarship that to do some post grad study while out in the middle of nowhere would be a good idea. So I am trying to find courses that interest me. I have particular motivation to pursue this because my housemate is planning to study Midwifery next year and so she will always be busy studying and I dont want to be left out. I first looked at options at my alma mater which had some promising options but not exactly what i wanted. So I went and looked at other universities and after en extensive search, I discovered the no other universities other anything worth poking a stick at. Which frustrates me cuz it means that I now have almost no options in university choice for further education. In better news though, at least it proves that my university is the best nursing university in the state. So now the question is, what should I study next year? Well I have narrowed it down to two choices - Graduate Certificate in Paediatric, Child and Youth Health Nursing or Graduate Certificate in Medical/Surgical Nursing. Now I already now which one I will choose because I will choose the one that is best for me instead of the one I want but I would like the entertain the thought that I might actually study what I feel like studying. Now its just a matter of working out how to pay for it or apply for PELS or whatever replaced that when the government changed stuff.

I am in a millennial age dilemma. Which of my latest excitements should I blog? There is the recent decision that I want to get a dog or dresses and balls. (Side note: if this blog was read by those I work with, one of those topics could lead to a large and long laugh about an inside joke, but seeing as none of them read this blog, the joke is lost.)
So I have decided to go with my dog because that happened first and its pretty cool. I asked my housemate what she would think if I got a dog, thinking that she may not want the bother and if not then I wouldnt be able to get one. But it turns out she has always wanted a dog but hadnt gotten one because she lives in a unit in Bris. So if we can get permission on our next lease, we/I are/am gonna get a dog. We have already named it. Petey. Sarah's choice - she loves the name and always wanted her first pet to be Petey. So we have many jokes about Petey piddling and pooping on the patio. hee hee. So now the question is what breed of dog to get??!??!?? Because while we do have a back yard it isnt huge and the fence is only waist height. Plus I want a dog that is small enough to come in my car to and from bris (if I buy it a cage/travel basket thing). And neither of us want a yappy dog and probably not one with really long hair. But one that doesnt get too stressed if its by itself cuz we both work shift work.
Speaking of which I finished night duty this am at 6:45am. It is now 6pm. I left for Bris straight from work and had 2 hours sleep halfway there in my car. So I am running on 2 hrs sleep in the last 24hrs. Its amazing I am still here. but not for long, I am gonna go hang with Farter Chloe who has to organise music for her party. Sayonara

Updating
So a certain sister of mine is buggin me to update my blog. So the latest exciting news in my life is ....... I got a visitor, I got a visitor, I got a visitor hey hey hey hey. For those who are too old or mature to notice my reference to childhood movies, recall Little Rascals. I have been remembering alfalfa's letter to Darla lately. Dear Darla, I hate your stinking guts ... etc. So anyway, back to my visitor. Chloe is staying with me for a few days having finally finished her first semester of uni. She is very excited to get to stay in the spare room which is officially known as Chloe's room. Its so nice to have sister time especially without me having a 7 hour round trip to get it. And then mum is coming to visit after Chloe leaves. I love having visitors. So you should come visit me. I can't guarantee a great tourist destination but I can offer excellent company. I currently vacancies for the end of July, the end of August and the rest of the year after that. I have one more planned visitor in Bec, a faithful commentor on this blog. Another visit I cant wait for. So what are the big plan Wobo and I have for this next couple days, umm well, we cooked yummy dinner last night and she is cooking again tonight while I am at work. We might go out on the town today and i can show her the best of Chinchi. That takes about 20 mins. Then we may go out to lunch before I have to go to work this arvo. In fact, instead of wasting time writing this, I am gonna go hang with my sis. Thats a whole lot more fun. Ciao

Well the last two days have been pretty full on. There has been a rural doctors conference here over this weekend and as part of that, on Thursday there was an emergency resource management day that the docs could attend. This involve participating in simulated exercises of emergency patient situations using a SimMan mannequin that surprisingly accurately imitates many patient conditions. So I am 2 other nurses got to participate (for free) in this session cuz it was held at our hospital. It was soo cool. It might sound boring the way I explain it but when you have something in front of you that looks pretty much like a human, talks to you, physiologically simulates medical conditions and a scenario that is realistic, it is not hard to suspend reality and believe that this is a real situation. I nwas in the fiorst group to do this and we were waiting in the hallway to come in when one of the organisers came out and said ok its time to come in now. Everyone stood up to go in but then she said she only wanted me to come in at the start. I nervously walked into the room to find a patient having a heart attack. I tried to make up what I thought would be the best things to do but the patient kept whinging about the pain so (cuz nurses can’t give medication without a doctor’s order) I rang the Dr and she came in and started to do some extra stuff. In hindsight I actually did all that I could do before ringing the Dr. I was pretty excited to find that even though I was scared and felt like I had no idea what to do, I actually did everything right. Yay! I am becoming a good nurse. Our (fake) patient ending up arresting but we shocked him and he came back and lived. Excellent collaboration.
Then yesterday we had a mock disaster involving all the emergency services, the SES, about 30 Drs from the conference and our entire hospital staff . There was real fire and real cars out the back of the hospital and then the (fake) injured came in for us to treat. Most of the volunteers were med students who had come out for the exercise. I was in charge of the walking wounded and once we treated them, they all wanted to watch what was going on with the critically injured so I lost all my patients. It was a pretty good exercise. Lots of adrenaline. But by the end of the exercise (because I had already worked my morning shift before this started) I was completely exhausted and came home and did very little.
But all in all I have learnt pack loads in the last few days and I feel a bit less apprehensive about dealing with emergency situations.

So these are some pics of my house. The quality is not the best cuz I took them with my phone but you can get the gist. We finally moved in this week. There was a few issues with getting furniture (particularly beds and a refrigerator) but finally I got to move out of the quarters a week and a half after we rented the house. I am still unpacking and setting up stuff but it is so great to have a house and a home to go to at the end of the day. And now we have the fun of making the house look and feel like a home. Sarah claimed decorative license on our bathroom and I believe I am going home to a chocolate brown and teal blue decorated bathroom. I have a few things that will add a bit of life to my bedroom and I am thinking I might find a few things that will compliment (as best you can) our kitchen. Its been so fun planning things for the house and getting to spread out over an entire house instead of just having one room. There were many pre-existing hooks on the walls which are now awaiting the hanging of hopefully many pictures and other wonderful things. We even have a spare room which will eventually be able to cater for visitors. I have two planned already and I think Sarah has a couple people in mind who will come exploring to our town as well. So the first pic is obviously of the outside of the house. The next 2 photos are different angles of our kitchen. The 4th photo is our (now) blue and chocolate brown bathroom. The last one is our laundry. I havent got any photos of the bedrooms but I will try to get one once they are furnished etc. I still have to get my bed and some other things sent from brisbane so once thats done then I will feel fully at home.

Photos

I googled for photos of where I live. Here is what I found. Next year I will be cultural and go to the biennial melon festival.

The main street, on the left is the library, cultural centre and cinema.

The highway through town

Should so will but thought about not

I thought that I should update seeing as I am home for a couple days and always have longer internet time when I'm home so I don't have to prioritise to do only the most important internet things. (I only have half an hour on the inter at the library). So I read my first post about Chinchi. I have changed a lot in the last four months. Eee! I have been a working nurse for 4 months. Maybe changes in life experiences always change who you are. Its awful to say but I am a lot harder than I was 4 months ago. How's that for honest on a usually light hearted blog?Sometime this job that I do and the hospital I do it at, takes your heart and soul, rips it out, slashes it up and leaves it on the sidewalk. I've been corrupted but all the mess going on around me. Not that I am trying to vent depression or anything. Cuz I actually feel pretty good and pretty positive about where life and work and stuff is at right now. I am working out how to be who I am when I am having a tough day at work and leaving work there and going home and living. Nursing, at times, makes you want to leave people on the sidewalk but I am learning to rise above work and not let work be me. So don't worry or anything, I am just letting thoughts spill out but I think it comes out more serious in written form than when I say it while laughing. Segue.
So Sarah and I start moving into our house on Tuesday. I am pretty excited to finally have a house to live in, 4 months after I moved out of home. I will try to post a photo soon but I have to type quick cuz Chloe will be home from work soon and we have fun stuff to do. Our house - a little 3 bedroom place, close to the main street, a really great price and we should be able to borrow most of the furnishings from random hospital people who keep coming up to us and offering us stuff for our house. Next segue.
It was Chloe's birthday yesterday. Ahh so fun. I sent her a post package stuffed with presents and random funny stuff which she opened the evening before her birthday because we both had to work in the morning and were too tired to wait up until midnight. And then I surprised her by driving home after work for her birthday dinner. Such a great day. I bought her Season 3 of Scrubs so we might have to watch that this arvo. Or at least some of it.
Anyway, its time to get on with the day. Comment up a storm. Have fun! Arrivederci

Montville

So I went to Montville yesterday. I don't think that I have ever been there before. I am more of an Alex heads girl than a Sunshine Coast hinterland person, but I discovered that it is really pretty up there. The views we got on the drive up there were stunning and Montville is this quaint little town that made us feel like we were ladies of leisure with nothing else to do but shop, enjoy the scenery and visit cafes. The picture is of the cafe we went to just before leaving to go home. Its called Poets and the balconey area has the most amazing view of the coastline. What a great backdrop to enjoy good company, great food and a beautiful day. Some of the highlights of the day included laughing at getting lost (again) and yet stumbling upon some incredible places you wouldn't find otherwise; going to the renowned fudge store and tasting melt-in-your-mouth, incredible fudge (Mmm); finding adult sized playground equipment and sitting at the top for over an hour watching the world go by; and spending time catching up with a great friend.
Definately a day trip worth doing!

Defibrillation

Almost everyone who has ever seen any version of a medical program has seen the telehyped version of defibrillation. The tense scene where someone is close to dying and the Dr says "We need to shock him" and the ensuing rush of action then "CLEAR" and the shock evidenced by the convulsing of the sick patient. The outcome of that generally follows two paths, either the person is fixed and they live happily ever after or after multiple shocks the dr says, "Time of death 2:45am". Now why would I refresh your memory of this much seen event.
Well I have good reason. I defibrillated someone yesterday. He had ventricular tachycardia (basically the lower part of the heart beating so fast that it loses its effectiveness and blood doesnt get pumped around the body. Remember blood is good) and he was lying on the bed with IV fluids going and anti-arrhythmia drugs being pumped in and oxygen on and I thought he was doing not too bad as far as they go. He was conscious so thats always a good sign. Then the Dr who was standing in the room with us watching the patient and the monitor said to me (cuz i was standing next to the monitoring/defibrillation machine) do you know which buttons to press to shock him. And i didnt and had to quickly look to find the buttons apropriately named Charge and Shock and literally within about 15 seconds as the Dr was walking to the head of the bed to get ready to maintain the airway, the guy started to arrest and suddenly everything moved very fast and everyone got ready to help the guy and I was told to press charge and then I waited till the Dr said "CLEAR" and everyone moved away and I pressed the shock button. I was so scared. But the guy cardioverted with the first shock and then it was a matter of calling the helicopter retrieval team to take him to toowoomba where he can be looked after by the heart specialists.
So that was my excitment for the day.

"Good Experiences"

I have discovered a new thing about life. There are many things that will set you up to be able to accomplish what you want to in life. Often these are classed as great experiences that teach you so much and help you grow as a person. I came here hoping for one of these experiences or rather a time of this. A time of preparation, learning, growth and lovely stuff like that. I just never realised that what gave you that really great experience often was the hard times that you learnt from. This applies for me at the moment particularly at work. The shifts where i learn the most are the ones that are the very hardest. The ones where there are two many patients, or very sick patients, or a big emergency or the many unexpected things happening. And the shift finishes (as thankfully they all do) and you are exhausted and ready to quit but in actuality you have developed the most in that day. There are probably many paralels to life in general that I could draw if I had the mental capacity at the moment but I will leave that to you. My brain took leave after suffering 4 night duties and the subsequent sleep deprivation. I am not feeling to bad now but my brain is not yet back. Anyway my sister is online in Canada and I would prefer to talk to her than type here so thus ends post.

Home for the Holidays

Okay so it's not my holidays but I am home. It seems sometimes that I spend more time in Brisbane than I do in Chinchi. I certainly have spent more of my days off here. But I have proper excuses. Such as this weekend, I have the engagement party of a very good friend as well as the goodbye party for my sister who is moving to Canada for a year. I will miss her lots but it's great to see her and I will be back next weekend to see her off at the airport.
It's nice to be home. I have my real bed which is twice the size of my current bed (can't wait to have a house so I can have my bed), I get to see my family and friends, I can sleep lots (cuz I am only home on my days off which means no work - Yay!) and I get to do stuff I can't do at home. It's strange and interesting having to homes. I leave home to go home no matter which way I am travelling. But I am starting to feeling accustomed to my life there and I miss it when I am away. Actually I miss life here when I'm not here too but at least I get to have both.
I had such a great day at work yesterday. I decided to have a good day. As I said to another staff member, "I am having a good day, by choice not by circumstance". Which was good because the circumstances of the shift yesterday were pretty busy, difficult and stressful but I kept choosing to have a good day and by then end of shift I was still having a good day. Granted this week was the first in a long time that I wasnt sleep deprived.
I have discoved a great way to catch up on sleep. Get sick. Then you can take the day off work and you feel so rotten that you stay in bed anyway and your body needs to sleep and so it does. That was my strategy this week at least. Not that I planned the getting sick (and certainly couldnt control it) but it meant that over 2 days I probably got about 24hrs of sleep. I felt so good after that. But it accidentally erased some of that by staying up late talking to a friend last night. Ah well, better have a nap today then.

Graduation

This is me celebrating graduation with Chloe.

House-Sitting

I have a house!!! I have a lounge room and a couch and a kitchen and a bedroom that all belong to a house that isnt attached to the hospital!!! Ahh, privacy!! But only for another week until my boss comes back from her honeymoon. Sarah and I are housesitting while she is gone. So I mustn't forget to feed the cats and water the gardens and stay away from the 10'000 little grean frogs that inhabit this place. Last night I was watering the plants and the watering can was going well as it should and then its stopped giving me the nice rain shower effect and was just dribbling little bits of water no matter how high I lifted it up. I couldnt work out why it had stopped working. I tried pushing the spout on a bit better, which didnt work so I just took it off. And in the spout I found a little green frog staring at me.
The house is on a farm about 10 mins out of town and its so nice and peaceful. Plus I can only just see the nearest neighbours on the other side of the field. There is a beautiful veranda which I will eat breakfast on shortly with the view of the millet growing in the fields surrounding the house. Its so nice to have a house and it will be a shame when we have to leave. But I will enjoy having my 30 second walk to work instead of the 10 minutes drive I currently have. I have gotten very used to the closeness of things here. Everything is 5 minutes or less away and if anything is further than that it is considered a long way. It takes me about 2 minutes to drive to the main street and the supermarket and I am kinda on the outskirts of town at the hospital.
Anyway I should go. Work is busy although we discharged 6 patients in the last day so hopefully it should calm down a bit now. Ciao

Shift Work

Well I am well and truly a shift working nurse! This last weekend I started my 4 night shifts which was an experience that I am sure to repeat. The first two night I so desperately wanted to be in bed by the time 4am rolled around but the next two nights were much better. Once my body got into a sleep routine and I got used to being up at horrible hours of the day. Did you know that there is this quiz show on at 1am called the Up-Late Game show and they get people to call in and answer puzzles and quizzes and the host pretty much talks non-stop for the hour or two that the show goes for. And they have really old movies and occasionally a familiar sitcom. One of my favourite shows came on at 3:30am one night but just as it started a guy came in with a massive gash in his arm needing stitches and by the time that was finished so was the show. Ah well you cant win them all. But the good thing is that in my night shifting and subsequent 2 days off, I miss some really busy shifts that were hell-ish for all who worked them and I only caught the tail end of it today. Thankfully todays shift had a few extra people on or else I may not have been awake right now but sleeping in exhaustion. About 6 discharges and 3 admissions just on our shift which is not bad for a ward that is considered pretty full with 10 patients and started the day with 13. Keep in mind we have a maximum of 20 beds but usually only 2-3 staff to deal with the number of patients. And we also have the random accident and emergency stuff that comes in. But I got through the day without feeling too stressed and it seems I am getting a bit better at doing this whole nurse thing. I am getting there with a long way to go. OkI am gonna finish cuz my brain is empty now. Work does that to me. Does it do that to you too?

Recipe

For Ruth here is that recipe I cooked.

Penne with pumpkin, Baked ricotta and Prosciutto

500g Penne
460g Butternut Pumpkin (cut into 1cm cubes)
1/4 cup (60ml) extra virgin olive oil
2 cloves garlic, crushed
100g semi dried tomatoes, chopped
4 slices prosciutto, chopped
250 g baked ricotta, cut into 1cm cubes
3 tablespoons shredded fresh basil

Cook penne in large saucepan of rapidly boiling salted water until al dente. Drain. meanwhile, cook pumpkin in saucepan of bioling water for 10-12 minutes or until just tender, then drain.

Heat the oil in large saucepan, add garlic and cook over medium heat for 30 seconds. Add the tomato, prosciutto, pumpkin and penne and toss gently over low heat for 1-2 minutes, or until heated through. Add the ricotta and the basil, season with salt and craked black pepper and serve immediately.

Serves 4


I find that there is too much pasta for the dish and the pumpkin always cooks faster than I expect but it's a yummy dish and I enjoyed it when I cooked it.

Weekend

It's finally weekend. I shouldn't really say that cuz I have only worked 3 shifts sinc last break but they have been ferally busy shifts and I am really tired after them. Plus i worked in a new area the last 2 shifts which meant I had to learn how it worked all over again. I've been in the aged care residential section and its lots of heavy work and I really have to try to be nicer to my back if I want to keep in this profession for very long.
In other news, I got me leave applications approved so it looks like I will have holidays in August and January. Chloe, that means "To Canada we go!!!!". I am liking the look of my roster over the next month or so. A few key breaks which will allow me to get home for a few days which is always nice.
Meanwhile, I should get off the computer because my time in the library has run out and I have to get home because I'm cooking tonight. I have been hanging out for a non-work night in order to cook properly rather than cook dinner in the half hour break I get while on shift. So tonight its this really yummy penne pumpkin, veges and other yumy stuff all mixed together. One of my favourite dishes that I cook. I'll admit I have a pretty short list of things that I cook on any sort of basis but I am growing this list and I have a few more recipes to try out including a really yummy looking caramel cheesecake. Don't worry Mum, I am eating healthy.
Anyway, have fun, email me!!

Chinchi

Well I have finally done it! After over 2 years of thinking about it, 2 months of planning for it and about 2 hours packing for it, I have moved to the country town of Chinchilla. A cool 3 1/2 hours from Brisbane (I timed it today) gets me to my new home. I have my two grocery stores, IGA and FoodWorks. FoodWorks is nicer, IGA is cheaper. I am planning on splitting my shopping between the two. I was supposed to check out the town today, including the pool, the shoe store (cuz I met the owner at church last week) and in general ge to know the place better. But I came back to my old home so I could me my gorgeous sister as she comes out of the international terminal after many weeks away from home. I like my new home. I like the air conditioning in my room, I like my house mates at the quarters, I like my colleagues at work and I like the church I visited. I like seeing about 3 people I know everytime I go grocery shopping and randomly running into old friends in the street. I like people being friendly and knowing my name before I've met them and I like living this new experience because it is stretching who I am.