Yesterday after church, Emma went with the kids at church to a pottery activity (still haven’t heard the details from her) and then home with a friend for that friend’s birthday. Since she wouldn’t be home until after dinner, we decided to go on a quest for birthday present ideas. 

One thing my husband already wanted to do was upgrade her phone.  She has been using our hand-me-downs for a long time, and her SIM card was starting to act up.  He had seen one at the AT&T store that was on sale, so after lunch we went to see what they had.  It wasn’t very user-friendly, though, and all the other phones they had were way too expensive, considering it was for a fifth grader. 

We went to JC Penney to get our free catalog, and browsed that store for a few minutes.  There were some cute things, but she is so particular about her clothes now that I am almost afraid to buy without her there!  She will need new summer clothes soon; her current shorts fit in the waist but are way too short for school.  Thank goodness bermudas are in style!

We stopped at Best Buy next, to see their phones.  We found a good phone, a pretty blue, with a Blackberry-style keyboard that is uncovered when the top slides up, but without all the Blackberry functions.  After all, she is turning 11.  No need for a scheduler and all that jazz.  Best part?  It was free with contract renewal.  Which we were going to do anyway.  Success!!  We picked up a couple other gifts for her, too, and I already had a gift hidden in my trunk, so we’re set present-wise for her birthday.

We looked around a couple more stores while we were there, then went home for dinner.  She was dropped off half an hour later.

She was wearing shorts, a tank top, and flip flops. 

It was 50, cold and windy yesterday.

I DID NOT PACK THOSE CLOTHES FOR HER!!!!  I packed JEANS and a cute top WITH SLEEVES!!!

 

So now I feel like everyone, everywhere she went, thought Emma had a bad mother who didn’t care what the poor kid wore when it was cold out.  Even though I was a GOOD mother who packed a change of clothes for her because she was running behind for church! 

I actually laid awake last night thinking about that, mortified.  THAT was a new thing in our relationship.  I hope it was just an isolated instance, and not the beginning of a pattern.

I’m scared.

On the Skirt! website, we are having a contest.  The SkirtSetters have been challenged to write an entry titled Simple Chic, and the prize is a Simply Chic desk set from Carolina Paper.  The winner is chosen based on how many individual comments are left on our entry!! 

Please take a few minutes to register and leave me a comment!  It is quick, easy, and you won't get spammed!  Honestly!  I was registered on the site for months before I became a SkirtSetter and never got any email (unless I signed up for something).

Here's the link, and thank you so much!
http://skirt.com/node/33151

The Girl Scout cookie sale is almost over, thank goodness.  I love being involved with Scouts, but I have a perpetual headache from January through March.  This is the worst part – the money collecting part.  Oh the drama!  Makes me want to cry with frustration.  

Anyway, I started out the morning with making yet another deposit into the council’s account to pay for our cookies. That is where all that came from ;)

My morning at the first hospital was pretty uneventful.  I scheduled one transport, and visited with “my” ambulance crew for a while.  There are many, but one team is posted at that hospital in conjunction with my job.  They are nice, and fun to spend time with.  One eloped this past weekend, too!  Her new husband works at the hospital and they are so cute together.

When I left there, I sent my husband a text message to see if he wanted to meet me for lunch.  He said he couldn’t.  I wrote back that I was treating.  We had lunch together today =)  We ate at Salsarita’s.  I love the food there!  It’s quick, and healthy, and soooo good.  It’s like a Mexican Subway restaurant, the way it’s set up.  I get a burrito with rice, black beans, grilled veggies, and a bit of sour cream, lettuce, and cheese.  Deeeee-licious.

After lunch I stopped at the “Giant Book Sale” in our old Linens – n – Things space before going to the second hospital.  [All are in this amazingly huge, wonderful shopping/eating/anything you can imagine place called Turkey Creek.  Google it (just specify Knoxville) and you will see how huge and amazing it is.  The hospital is in there also.]  I picked up House of Mirth by Edith Wharton, and a book on Sartre, since a quiz on Facebook said he is my best philosophical fit.  I don’t remember studying anything about him, so I’ll read the book and see how close it is.  One book I almost got just for fun (and still might go back for) was Popstrology – your horoscope based on the top song when you were born.  Mine was something by A Taste of Honey.  Not a fan of disco, but what it said was pretty good.  I can’t remember the exact words, but was something about finding success by taking the path you don’t plan.  Which is exactly how I’ve gotten where I am, both personally and professionally!

Some things I noticed in the store were just so funny I had to write them down to be sure I remembered.  Like on the diet book table – “What Every Woman Should Know About Divorce.”  Lots of women I know who have gone through divorce call it the best way to lose 150 pounds (or whatever the ex’s weight is).  I flipped through a yoga book to see if it would be worth taking home.  I opened to a picture of a man in spandex shorts laying on his back with his knees bent but out to the sides (like a triangle).  He very obviously was not wearing anything under his spandex.  The book stayed there.  I really don’t want to stare at that, or try to explain why his shorts are so lumpy to my daughter!

There was an entire table of Idiot’s Guide to... or ___ for Dummies books. I hoped to find one on guitar playing for Emma (she has a guitar now!!) but none were to be found.  Instead I found “Idiot’s Guide to String Theory.”  Seriously??  I mean, why even bother with that one?   Oh, and Pregnancy for Dummies. Isn’t there enough of that going around as it is??

I finally made it to the second hospital.  For some reason, two hours there makes me more tired than an entire day at the other one!   I think part of that is because I don’t have a “home” yet there, just a drawer where I can keep some supplies.  I can’t relax there yet, just stay on the move.  I’m still trying to get “the lay of the land” and learn the people, too. 

Tonight was our monthly Girl Scout leaders’ meeting.  We have some exciting things coming up for the girls!  We are really working hard to build up excitement again with the girls and parents in our county.  I have a feeling it’s about to pick up for us, though.  Emma was at my parents’ house all week for Spring Break.  She had a very good time, but was ready to come home.  My husband brought her home while I was at my meeting.  I got such a big hug when I got home!  I think she grew a couple inches this week.... We had a nice time just the two of us, but I missed my girl.  It’s nice to have our family all under one roof again.

Today I pulled one of my business cards out of my pretty silver card holder.  Using that case makes me smile.  It is simple; a plain silver, no engraving or designs, but that is not what makes it so special.

Last Christmas my mother gave me that case for Christmas. Inside was a gift card to a department store (I LOVE getting gift cards!) but she told me she chose the business card case to put it in for a reason.

But first, a little background from that time in my life.

Two short years ago I was doing pretty well, work-wise.  I was manager of my own jewelry store.  In the time I had the store, just under a year, I had accomplished something big – the store’s profit went from -$10,000 (yes that was negative) to +$10,000.  And while sales were up most months, a big part of that was how the store was managed.  I was proud of that.  Unfortunately, the world of retail management was making me unhappy.  I was becoming a not-as-good wife and mother (I don’t want to say I was a bad wife or mom, but not as good as I should have been.)  I was stressed out, overworked, and didn’t have enough time for my family.  I spent more nights and weekends (not to mention weekdays) at the store than my house.

So I quit.

I had tried a sales job, but that didn’t work out.  I can’t con people into buying things they don’t want or need, and that is what that job required.  After a couple months at home being a happy wife and mom but with an inadequate budget, I signed with a temp agency and went on whatever assignment they sent me.  I enjoyed the work; it was nice to NOT have the stress I had been under the past several years, but knew I would not be happy as a receptionist long-term.  I felt undervalued and underused, even though I was grateful for the steady paycheck.

It was during this time my mom gave me the gift card in a business card holder.  Her words to me are what made it so special to me.  She told me that she knew I couldn’t use it right away, but she was confident that one day soon I would have a position again where I had my very own business cards, a job that challenged me and made me feel valuable again.

With that simple gift, she gave me so much more.  She gave me my confidence back.

Today I read one of those things that make you stop to reread it, to make sure you’re not insane.

Part of my job involves the reports ambulance crews fill out on their patients.  I have to look for certain complaints to make sure the hospital has all the necessary treatment information (like stroke, heart attack, serious issues).  One of the patients in my stack was complaining of hand pain....

Ummm, okay – you had to call 911 because your hand hurt?  Couldn’t you use the other to drive yourself to the hospital?  Or dial a cab?

Naturally I had to read the full report.  The guy shut his hand in a door, so he called 911.

 

And we wonder why insurance premiums are so high for the rest of us.....

Yesterday, my writer’s block disappeared. I had all kinds of inspiration and blog ideas!  Unfortunately, I was running all over two hospitals, from one floor to the next.  Couldn’t get on the computer, and couldn’t stop to write things down.  I hoped to remember everything when I got home.  

Didn’t happen.

Anyway, I am sure it was good =)

One thing I remember too well...

Sunday while we were out on errands I told my husband I really hoped I don’t get a red-light camera ticket since I was in the middle of the intersection when the light changed to red.  He didn’t think I would; the camera on that road isn’t as picky as one a couple exits further up the interstate.

Monday he was home a few minutes more than I was and got the mail.  I came home and we had our five-minute catch-up and he said “Oh by the way, you weren’t in the middle of that intersection!”  He had photographic evidence.

Oops. Tonight Emma and I are having a girlie sleepover.  My husband is out of town for the night, so it’s just us girls.  We picked up a pizza for dinner, and watched Wizards of Waverly Place and Hannah Montana.  She’s sleeping “in the big bed” too.

I have a new favourite quote:  

I am a woman, we don’t say what we want.  But we reserve the right to be pissed off if we don’t get it. That’s what makes us so fascinating.

My wrist is still killing me.  I REALLY need to go back to the doctor, but REALLY don’t want to take the time to do it! 

Or admit that I didn’t follow doctor’s orders....

I mentioned this briefly already, but yesterday I started something new at work.  Instead of being in one hospital all day, I am dividing my day between two hospitals now.  Yesterday was a test – I didn’t want to leave one because the case manager I was working with seemed so frazzled and needed my help, but I got a couple pages from “my” hospital, too, and couldn’t get there in time to help them.  Today was better – I spent the morning at my regular hospital, got caught up on one part of my job, and visited all the case managers that were working to tell them of the new arrangement.  It worked out well – several of them knew of patients that were going to be discharged later in the day so I could do those while I was there, and spent the afternoon at the new hospital (which is only 15 minutes from home, as opposed to 40!)

My days are much busier now, which I wanted, but I don’t have my Skirt! time during the day, either.  I miss my Skirt during the day!  It was my “reset” time.  Once I get my work laptop functional I should be able to get that back, though. 

 The cookie sale is winding down!  Two weeks from today and it is O-V-E-R!  I like being a Girl Scout leader, but I hate the headache and hassle of the cookie sale.  So that’s it right now – no great insights, no revelations, just life.  And exhaustion.