TST- Do Over

Can I have a do-over?

So, here's what my day is scheduled to look like:

• 8:30 - 12:30 class
• 12:30 - 4:00 curriculum work day
• 3:00 - 5:00 class
• 5:45 meet with student
• 6:00 - 10:00 class

Fourteen hours, pretty much straight through, save 45 minutes between 5:00 and 5:45.  Bad enough, right?

Nope.  RCC's truck is in the shop, so we're sharing a car and he dropped me off at 7:30 (add an hour, fifteen hours today).  Not too horrible, I routinely work fourteen hour days; it goes with the territory.  So that's not even made me want a do-over today.

Was it finding out that the instructor who is supposed to teach the coding class next mod can't and now I have to, which means I give up my vacation week?

Nope.

Was it trying to make copies for class and breaking the copier?

Nope.

Was it...having to do a lecture on the urinary and reproductive systems today, complete with illustrations?

Nope.

It was sitting down in class, while the class was working on a group project and realizing that I had my scrub pants on inside out.

Yep, you read that right.

Inside out.

In front of class.

NOW can I have a do-over?

Awww, hell... my boss just came in with some news from corporate.  They want us to start offering free community certifications in areas like phlebotomy.  Guess who already works 50+ hours a week and is the only phlebotomy instructor on campus?

NOW can I have a do-over?

Seven Days

It's almost time for NaNoWriMo!

I'm a NaNo rebel this year; someone who is working on an old project, not a new one. I love HUNTED LYON and want to finish it. I'll be working on revising/making more coherent/building character depth this time around. Hell, I might even get to write "The End" this time around.


I'm going to throw a plea out, though. The Office of Letters and Light, the folks who keep NaNo, Script Frenzy and the Young Writers' Program running from year to year are a fantastic group of people. NaNoWriMo is funded solely on donations and I'm looking for writing sponsors. Your donation can be as little as $1 that goes directly to OLL. If you've got a spare $1 laying around or are willing to forgo a couple cups of Starbucks and want to help keep the organization running, click here. I've earned my halo - I've donated $10 to OLL and RCC will be donated his time to design book covers for our local writers. Last year, he was the single largest fund raiser in the group and it looks like he'll be doing the same this year.

Small Town Saturday Night

Zombie Hunting

Last night was the annual Zombie Fest, a fundraiser to support one of the local charities.  Since I (and my family) have absolutely zero intention of ever being infected by the Zombie virus, we geared up as zombie hunters.

The Gear...


Pistol, shotgun, and Krylon




Can't go out with bright guns - they might see us...




...A touch of Krylon...




...And these babies are tactical black!

 The vehicle...


1956 Deuce and a half with anti-zombie spikes



Ridding the vehicle of the brain-eaters

Warning: biohazards aboard

Cannons on the side - just in case

The Hunters...

Bring 'em on!

Guard duty

Junior driving his Deuce - he's the bravest of all - open cab=no protection

The Hunt...

On the lookout

Locked and Loaded

ZOMBIES!!!  Kill 'em!

!Hasta la vista...baby!

The Gather...

One load back to HQ

We picked up other zombie hunters along the way -
They helped keep order in the cage

Junior found hisself a new hood ornament

Hey D.o.C. - We brought your escapees back!

End of the Night...

Sleeping with weapons - zombie hunting is tiring work.

Wrap-up:
Zombie hunting night was easily the most fun I've had with toy guns since I was a kid.  RCC, Deejo, Junior and I giggled like kids on Christmas morning all night long.  The police were out in force, trying to keep the zombie crawl participants in check, and I was worried they might have an issue with us driving around with loads of zombies and "weapons", but they saw it for what it was - good, clean fun.  In fact, most of the PoPo just smiled and waved when we drove by hooting and hollering, blazing away with our toy guns.  One officer even saluted us with a big ole sh*t-eating grin on his face.  You know he would have rather been playing with us than walking through a bunch of zombie-fied drunks.

I love that my family is crazy enough to get together and play.  Too bad the heathi were too cool to come hang out with the old folks - they missed a really good time.

Mom's Job

Not A Mom's job, but my mom's job.

Is hard.

There's a reason she's in such amazing shape.  It would be the non-stop, constant movement that keeps her in such good shape.  I've said for a long time now that I wouldn't be able to keep up with her if I had to.  Guess what?  I can't.  Even broken and bolted back together, the woman's a damned Energizer Bunny.

Two days.  That's all I did.  Okay, okay, I lied. 

A day and a half.  I'm freakin' exhausted.

But there was one highlight of the weekend and that was Momma Fargo's visit.  She only made it down from her neck of the woods for one night, but it was good to see her.  Mom and RCC held down the lodge while Bill, Momma and I went for a longish ride (I'd put up pics, but Bill has them on his camera).

So, while I'm exhausted as hell, I had a blast.

And I hope Mom heals up fast.

Letters of Intent - Bionic Cowgirl Edition

I'm hooking up with Julie at Foursons today for a little LOI.  I think the nincompoops healthcare professionals at EPMC deserve it.

Dear ER "doctor":

Thank you very much for starting off my mother's stay at EPMC with a bang.  The ER nurses rocked.  You, you whined like a little bitch when Mom bled on your slacks. Caused by doing something you told her to do.  And then you had the nerve to tell her to "stop it!".  Hello?!  She was following your instructions to raise her arm - broken into nine pieces - above her head.  Mom is "dirty tough" (<-- thanks for that Mikey) and assumed you had a reason to ask her to do that, thus proceeded to do as you bid.  Next time, look at the x-rays first, asshole.

Signed,

Be Glad I Wasn't There

`````
Dear I'm too busy to help you Floor Nurse:

Standard operating procedure for patients who are post-op orthopaedic surgery is ice.  Copious amounts of ice.  Reduces swelling; increases healing.  Anyone who has ever sprained their ankle knows that.  So, why did you not at least offer ice?  Why did my mother have to suffer through the night - drugged up on IV meds - and have to ask for it the next morning when the meds no longer touched her pain?  Ice should have been applied liberally throughout the night.  But, hell, what do I know?  I've only got 25 years in medicine; several as an athletic trainer, several as an EMT, even more as an MA, plus throw in a year or two in hyperbaric medicine.  A nurse I am not, but I at least know to apply freakin' ice!

Signed,

Could Have Done A Better Job Drunk Than You Did Sober

````
Dear Orthopod's MA:

When I was told that you would call us when Mom's new prescription was called in, I expected you to, you know, call.  Since you did not, Mom spend her first night at home managing her pain with *ice* and ibuprofen.  24 hours after a horrific horse injury and an elbow reconstruction surgery in which the surgeon could only put seven of the nine bone pieces back in place, my mother had to spend the night with just ibuprofen.  She is dirty tough, but that was expecting a whole lot.

Not only did you not call to let us know her script had been called in that night, Bill had to call the next day to find out if it had been done.  Only then did Mom get her meds.

Signed,
Hope Karma Kicks You In The Ass

Never a Dull Moment

The Bionic Cowgirl's at it again.

Getting more bionic by the minute.

*shaking head*

That mother of mine.  What are we going to do with her?

*shrugs*

At this rate, she's going to be the Six Million Dollar Cowgirl.  (<--thanks for that one, Mrs Mom)

Randomness. Again.

Digger's my oldest child.  He's also a bit of a pain in the arse.  He's ten inches or so taller than me and likes to use my shoulders as arm rests.  It's annoying.  But not as annoying as what he told me at our friends' wedding:

"Mom, you're so little.  It's like having a fun-sized parent."

Funny, but annoying.

Little shit.

~~~~~~~~~~

So today, I went for up the hill for a ride.  It was cold enough that I wore my duster to ride in; I've found that riding bareback with a duster on will keep me nice and toasty.  The duster acts like a tent that holds in the horse's body temp.  It's actually quite cozy.

After my ride(s), two actually, Mom needed Bill and I to move some hay.  Since walking in my duster is like walking in a damn prom dress, I changed out of it and into my Carhartt jacket.

And was able to zip it closed.

For the first time in a long time (we're talking years).

Not only could I zip it closed, but I had layers on underneath!

Sister Saturday

Normally, Sister Saturday involves lots of sweat, swear words and tears. 

And then we pull into the gym parking lot. (<-- I crack myself up sometimes.)

Today, though, I'm gonna do something completely out of character and brag on my sister.

Every October 4th, Office Max bestows A Day Made Better Awards on teachers across the nation.  The secretary at Nebalee's school nominated her for the award with the following:

Nebalee has been at our school for several years. She is an enthusiastic and dedicated teacher who continually looks for creative ways to help students and staff achieve to their highest potential. Nebalee holds a Type D Adminstrators License and did her internship at Eagle Crest. Nebalee takes the time to get to know each of her students facilitate their individual learning style and time line. She is the first to volunteer to spearhead any new initiatives. Her professionalism speaks for itself, she always conducts herself in a professional manner with students, staff and parents. Her students find in her a loving and compassionate teacher who always looks to their best interest. Nebalee has taught in several grade levels at our school and she is undertaking the challenges of a new kindergarten classroom this year. Please consider her for this A Day Made Better Award.

Apparently, the people she works with think she's pretty incredible and the people at Office Max agreed.  Nebalee had no idea that she'd been nominated, or chosen, until they showed up in her classroom toting two large boxes...



Two of these boxes full of supplies for her classroom!



A peek inside one of the boxes



A new office chair!

In addition to all of the consumable supplies, she got a new camera and printer for her classroom.  But since the dates on the pictures are everything except the 4th, she must not have figured it out yet. :)

When she got home from work that day, she drove into her driveway to find this...

Guess Nebalee's not the only one excited about this cool award.

Way to go, Nebalee!  It's about time you got recognized for all of your hard work.

Long Week.

Glad it's over.

Managed to finish my challenge today: 32 push-ups in one minute.  Pathetic.

Don't care.

It's bed time.

Have a good weekend, y'all.

My Chillins Are Victims

I've been a healthcare instructor literally my children's entire lives.  When Digger and Ashinator were babies, they were my "victims" for my EMT classes.  I'm a firm believer in exposing students to as many experiences as possible while they are in the classroom.  That way, they don't freak out when they have to do it for realzies.

Today was the final class for my Medical Asepsis class, where the student learn about infection control and minor in-office procedures that they might be called on to perform.  With a theatrical make-up artist for a brother, it would be silly of me not to use his talents.  It's been a year or so since our schedules have lined up well enough to drag him into class, but today the stars aligned properly and I got him in to make up the chillins.

Don't open a radiator on an overheating car!*

The students changed wound packing.

And cut away dead "tissue" from the burn site.

I had to throw in a creepy picture just because it's October and it ups the creep factor.

I'm pretty certain the students had a good time and it's good practice for skills and documentation.  It doesn't even feel like a final exam. :)

*in real life, the make up looked much better, I don't know why the camera picked up so much yellow/orange.

Challenge update: worked a fourteen-hour day today, ditched the gym, so I'll add today's challenge to tomorrow's.

Challenge check-in

I couldn't complete yesterday's challenge due to my work schedule.  The challenge was to increase my usual cardio workout by 50%, so if I normally did 30 minutes of cardio, I should up it to 45 minutes.  Since I had to work until 10 pm, it would have been midnight before I got home last night.  Just wasn't going to happen.

But I had a plan...incorporate yesterday's challenge into today's workout.  I killed two birds with one stone at the gym today.  Today's challenge was to slow down.  Take three seconds to lift the weight, hold for one second, and take three seconds to lower the weight.  It was kind of cheating, since El Poquito Diablo has me lift like that anyway, but it still counts. :)

Four(ish) days down, twenty-six to go.

Bloggy Love

I know many of my followers also follow Rachel at Once Upon A Miracle.  Rachel wrote an amazing post last week about her mother-in-law, a woman I feel I know through Rachel's posts.

Rachel's MIL passed away this morning.  Please click on over and share some bloggy love with her.  I can't imagine the pain and gaping hole in their lives right now.

Really, Another Perfect Day

I am one tuckered out little girl.

First, I got up early to go kill zombies.  That takes a lot of work (and ammo).  It's important to keep in mind the "Double Tap" rule: two to the head makes 'em dead.

We celebrated our zombie killing success with a BBQ and then off to the mountains I headed; Bill's birthday party and all that.  So I ate.  Again.

But then, Nebalee joined me in today's challenge: hold a push-up position for one minute.  Repeat five times.

It sucked.  But we did it.

Two in a row.  By Jove, I believe I might be getting this.  Tomorrow's the true test, because it's one of my fourteen-hour days at work.  I'll have to complete the challenge when I get home.

Then, Bill and I went for a quick ride.  During which he forgot the first rule of riding: keep the horse between you and the ground.  Again.  Sheesh, if he keeps this up, I'm going to put him back in training wheels.  Or a saddle.  Whatever.

Now I'm stalling.  I have a lecture to write over a topic I love, but I felt like playing on the blog was much more fun important than writing a lecture over orthopaedic injuries and how to assess them.

One in a Row!

I've been looking for my motivation for a while.  Seems it just up and left me about ten days ago.  Haven't been able to drag my butt to the gym - could barely drag my butt to work. 

I found motivation's replacement - a challenge.  Not to say I'm a competitive type (stop snorting Mom, Bill, Nebalee, Deejo, Junior, Digger, Ashinator, Monster, etc...), but sometimes, in the absence of motivation a good ole double dog dare will work.

I didn't get a double dog dare, but I did receive an email from 24 hour fitness for the 30 day challenge.  No motivation, but I can't back down from a challenge, so I signed up.

Only, I don't look like this.  But you get the idea.

And received my first challenge via email this morning: get on the treadmill and sprint for 1/8 of a mile, recover for 1/8.  Repeat five times.

Because of my knee, I substituted the elliptical machine for the treadmill, but I did complete the challenge after Nebalee and I did body boot camp.

I suppose one in a row is a good start. :)