I was going to say that not much has happened around here since I last wrote, but that's not true. Things have happened....
For instance, my patient upset me. Notice I said patient, in the single tense, not patients, which would include the Mrs of the couple. She's more understanding. The Mr is the one who both upset and pissed me off a little....
....he knows that I'm going to be taking some time off when my mum comes to visit. He's known since I first started looking after him that I'm going to be gone for pretty much 3 weeks, and I've reminded him regularly. However, when I reminded him this past week that I wasn't going to be coming over to care for him, he told me that I couldn't do that, that I couldn't leave him hanging like that. There's things I can't do around here, he said, and you can't just be gone like that.
Well, I said, I haven't seen my mum for 11 years, and I'm going to take some time off to be with her. My boss has said it's ok, so that's what I'm going to do.
He didn't like that, and that upset me. What REALLY upset me, though, was what he did the next day.
Jake stayed home from school because he was having dizzy spells. I had an appointment with his doctor at 0940, so I called the Mr to let him know that I wouldn't be coming in because I had a sick kid. That's no good, he said. I've got a hell of a mess over here and I need you to come and help me with it. Ok, I said, I'll come over when I'm done with the doctor - I'll bring Jake with me, and I'm not going to stay all morning; I'll come over and help clean up the mess you've got and then I'm going home.
When we got done at the doctor's (irregular heartbeat, probably nothing to worry about), Jake and I headed over to help the Mr with his mess. When we got there, though, he'd already cleaned the mess up, which irritated me. There wasn't a whole lot for me to do; I gave the Mrs her medications, listened to her chest, took her temperature and did a few dishes....and as I was doing the dishes, the Mr started talking about what we were having for lunch, as if I was going to be staying for a while. When I told him that I was leaving shortly he got a little indignant - he didn't seem to understand that I had a sick child that needed to be home in his own bed, not hanging out on someone else's couch. So, once I'd finished with what I needed to do I simply told the Mr that I was leaving, gathered up Jake and our bags, and left.
The thing that he doesn't seem to understand is that I will NOT put anyone or anything before my family. Ever. Yes, I give a hoot about him and his wife, but caring for them is my JOB. I'm not going to let my job come before my family, period, and he should understand that - him having a family himself and all. The Mrs gets it - she and I talked about it the day after the Mr rubbed me the wrong way - so I don't get why the Mr doesn't. *sigh* I can't talk to him about it, he doesn't hear half of what I say and doesn't comprehend about the same amount - and he's got some funny ideas about stuff too. For instance, the other day I was mixing up the Mrs' crushed medication with some pudding (she can't swallow pills whole) and he told me that I had to hurry and give it to her becuase 'the medication starts working as soon as it gets mixed with the water in that, and if you don't hurry all the medicine will have worn out'. Ooooookay then. It took me half an hour to get him to understand that that's not the way it works, and I'm not even sure he totally understood what I was saying.
That's what the working situation is like.
The homefront is trucking along nicely: we got a digital camcorder so we can record mum's visit,
Jake has taken to playing alto sax and is doing INCREDIBLY well (I think he's found his 'thing'. My 'thing' is knitting, Shea's 'thing' is writing, Dave's 'thing' is running, Davey's 'thing' is....well, I'm not sure what his 'thing' is but I'm pretty sure he has one..)
. Gracie got a toy pheasant and I've named it Plucker. I knew as soon as I saw it what it's name was going to be. She's also got a goosey named Lucy and she really enjoys playing with both of them. She shakes them and chews them and invites us to play tug-of-war with them....she's a great dog and we are both smitten with her.
I've finished my Jaywalker socks and am now working on a pair that has an Om symbol in the heel; I've been bitten by the sock knitting bug and I could spend all of my paycheck on sock yarn and would still find more to buy.
I've got one of those automatic shower sprayer doo-hickies in my shower and I really like it - in fact, I like it so much that I've bought one for the kids' bathroom too.
I've redecorated their bathroom and have made most of the art and the fabric shower curtain myself - I actually like our house now, and that hasn't happened in ages. I'm happy with the way it looks and am in dager of being houseproud. Me, houseproud. Miracles really DO happen....
Our new house won't be finished until June so we're not moving until then. I'm not happy about it, but there's nothing I can do. it'll be worth the wait, though. The new house has almost 3000 sq feet of living space, which is HUGE. I'm really, really, really looking forward to living in it.
Dave goes to Raven school 10 days after mum gets here. It's a shame that he won't be here the entire visit, but I'm grateful that he's here at all. The way deployments are right now, any time he gets to spend at home is a bonus and we're both grateful for that.
I've been called to sit vigilance overnight tonight, so I'm going to try and sleep this afternoon. I know I'm not going to be able to do it without some chemical help, so I've made sure I've got some diphenhydraime hcl on hand (Benadryl, in other words).
That's about it, JU. How've YOU been?