ABCs of a Nursing School Grad Trip + FL Keys Mini Report;D is for: Dang! Last Chapter of this TR...

[DonnaBeeGood]

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[Steppesister]

Omg, Casey's hot dogs *drool drool* And it looks so sunny and warm - only -34 C here today.
The costumes look great! The make up time did pay off, although it's easy to begrudge every moment away from the parks. Of course, one really needs 48 hours per day to really get the most out of each Disney day and still have time to relax and such!

Oh I do love me a Casey's dog!

YIKES! -34 C is WAY too cold for me! I'll take +34 F and rain any day. As long as I'm inside where it's nice a cozy.

Thanks! It was such a great evening and all of the fun costumes we saw made it so much better! And yes, 48 hour days would be lovely for Disney time!

 

[glennbo123]

Nice update!

Let us know when the job offer comes through!

 

[Captain_Oblivious]

Now that we’re a mere couple of weeks away from Christmas, I thought it was a perfect time for a big, fat update, or 3… or 4… on Halloween.

Seems legit.

Halloween costumes are frightfully expensive these days!

Not mine. Suburban Dad is pretty inexpensive. Sometimes I change it up and go with Civil Engineer.

I carefully chose Casey’s because I thought making sure a heinous case of heartburn would scare the crap out of me for the rest of the evening. It worked. Deep fried, batter-covered hot dogs.

You can picture a ruler in your mind, right? (Did it conjure up visions of your teacher smacking your hand with it? Really? You were a little naughty then. Shame on you!)

We're also dating ourselves. Can you imagine any teachers getting away with that in this day and age?

Now, pile it up with BBQ pork. Mmm! BBQ pork. Now… because it’s not quite as large as that 12-roll case of Quilted Northern that I’m going to need, please, by all means, add some coleslaw. A pretty sizeable portion. Keep going… No, really, add a little more. Theeeerrrrre ya go. That’ll do it. Stand back now and admire Casey’s Foot Long BBQ Pork Dog:

Sounds wonderful! Except for the cole slaw part.

And this was my opportunity to have a face-to-face dialogue with my potential boss, Doc.

Ha! Cute.

I thought my skills in resuscitation and first aid might be very useful around that neck of the woods being that there are, apparently, some exceedingly naïve and unsuspecting young girls around who take treats from strangers and shack up with a bunch of men.

"But she's the maid!" they all exclaim.

And much to my utter delight, he actually noticed me! See?! My stethoscope must have caught his attention and he waved a warm welcome to me.

Very nice! Off to a good start.

I found out a bit later that he was having a really bad day as Human Resources Manager; going through endless under-qualified applications will certainly put anyone in a Grumpy mood.

Oh, man, you nailed it. That is the PERFECT job for Grumpy. I can't name anyone who likes their HR department.

Doc immediately pointed to my shirt and we high fived; it was basically a grand slam interview. The other 6 Little Men were equally impressed, so much so that they wanted a photo with me. Imagine that! A new Team Photo even before a formal offer.

Beautifully done. I wish my interviews were that easy.

I also let them know under no certain terms that I would NOT be doing any of their dishes or touching their gross, stinking sweaty mining clothes.

Don't worry, they found some dummy to do that for them at below minimum wage.

I will let you all know when they contact me and the contract is signed.

Let me know if you get discounts at Mickey's of Glendale.

Before we went our separate ways, Karilynn and I got a photo taken of us to mark our meeting. It was fabulous hour spent with you, and we weren’t finished yet!

Another great DIS meet!

I could see immediately that the mine carts were an OSHA nightmare.

It also afforded me a great 1st person view of the potentially HUGE Christmas bonuses.

I hate to break it to you, but...cubic zirconium. Sorry.

I doubt there is much apple pie baking going on in his place.

Well, what's the point of going in, then?

 

[Steppesister]

Nice update!

Let us know when the job offer comes through!

Thanks, Glenn! Miss you around here. Hope all is well around your household! Have a great holiday season; tell Judy hi as well.

 

[krnelson65]

Love your H update! I so want to go back to Disney soon. I am going to have to break down and go sometime when I am at my Dad's. He lives between Orlando & Ocala, I just hate taking time away from visiting with him. Maybe I can convince him to at least go to Disney Springs sometime when I am there.

Kim

 

[Steppesister]

Not mine. Suburban Dad is pretty inexpensive. Sometimes I change it up and go with Civil Engineer.

Ohhh, Edgy!

We're also dating ourselves. Can you imagine any teachers getting away with that in this day and age?

No, and a huge reason I got out of education a thousand years ago. Not that I want to be slapping kids over the knuckles, but a little discipline might be a long ways in getting some actual education done.

"But she's the maid!" they all exclaim.

Uh huh.

Beautifully done. I wish my interviews were that easy.

Well, you did nail the last one, no?

Don't worry, they found some dummy to do that for them at below minimum wage.

Phew! I was worried this one was going to be slipped into Job Description.

Let me know if you get discounts at Mickey's of Glendale.

Roger that!

I hate to break it to you, but...cubic zirconium. Sorry.

WHAAAAAAA...?! I may call this whole thing off.

Well, what's the point of going in, then?

Because apple pie > hot young blondes??

 

[Steppesister]

Love your H update! I so want to go back to Disney soon. I am going to have to break down and go sometime when I am at my Dad's. He lives between Orlando & Ocala, I just hate taking time away from visiting with him. Maybe I can convince him to at least go to Disney Springs sometime when I am there.

Kim

Oh you really should! I think you both would enjoy it so much!! The Springs is a beautiful place to just relax and browse, but still get that Disney vibe.

 

[Steppesister]

A small personal update intermission...

Life has its seasons. Some are busy, some are stressful, some are filled with joy and happiness, and some are strange mix of all of those. The last couple of weeks has certainly been that sort of mix.... on steroids.

When I accepted my job at the Surg Center, I thought I'd get 24 hours or so a week. But what I didn't know is that at the end of the year, everyone decides to get new... "enhancements", ( we do tons of plastics) and other elective procedures. Deductibles are met and everyone is trying to get that end-of-the-year thing done. So instead of the 24, I've been regularly getting closer to 36. Some days are very long up to 10's or 12's. And I'm pretty spent when I get home. Without going into details, I had a very jolting reminder of the gravity of my job; one that made me realize all over again that there is no slacking on this job. I hold people's lives in my hands and decisions and level of attention I give.

Remember the 25 people over for Thanksgiving? It was fun! So fun that I've been elected (read, "Hey, we'll all be over!") for Christmas too. That means finding sleeping arrangements for at least 6, and hosting 20 again for 3 or 4 consecutive days. Not complaining, just takes a lot of time and effort.

Remember my son got married a few weeks ago to a lovely gal from Kentucky? She/They are in limbo as they wait (and wait and wait and wait) for word from the Army that she can move to Guam. Keep waiting, Toots. She has a minorly strained relationship with her own folks and is getting tired of living with them. I think in some ways they are having a hard time making that mental switch to her being a married woman who's all grown up. She texted me a couple of days ago and asked if she could move in with us here in Oregon until she gets word to go. Of course she can! She's part of our family now; she's my daughter now. So that means bedroom re-arranging and some emotional adjustments for everyone in our family.

Lastly, I bought my new laptop today and it will take time to get all set up. That process will take a lot of time as I'm not nearly as tech savvy as I'd like to be.

Add to the mix the holiday season in general and it's really hard to be as engaged here as I normally am. I LOVE to hang out with you all and love the friendly banter and chatter. I love to hear about what's going on in all of your lives so please keep sharing, okay??

I do have some time off next week so will have Pt. 2 of our party up then. Meantime, how are you all???

 

[cinderkelly]

Add to the mix the holiday season in general and it's really hard to be as engaged here as I normally am. I LOVE to hang out with you all and love the friendly banter and chatter. I love to hear about what's going on in all of your lives so please keep sharing, okay??

I totally hear ya on its hard to stay up to date here. I'm having a hard time keeping up as well. I don't know if it's the Holiday season or what but I'm having trouble just finishing my TR, let alone keep up with everyone else's

December is a crazy busy month at work for us, clients wanting to get in for appointments and some are getting angry that we have no availability... Sorry guys you should have booked your December hair or massage appointment in October... Plus we are loosing one of our receptionists to nursing school and I have to hire a new body to fill her position and I really hate trying to find a new employee.... So that's my life in a nutshell right now .

Hopefully things will slow down for us both after the first of the year. In the meantime, just keep swimming I'm still here reading, just sometimes my brain is too tired to comment

 

[Steppesister]

I totally hear ya on its hard to stay up to date here. I'm having a hard time keeping up as well. I don't know if it's the Holiday season or what but I'm having trouble just finishing my TR, let alone keep up with everyone else's

December is a crazy busy month at work for us, clients wanting to get in for appointments and some are getting angry that we have no availability... Sorry guys you should have booked your December hair or massage appointment in October... Plus we are loosing one of our receptionists to nursing school and I have to hire a new body to fill her position and I really hate trying to find a new employee.... So that's my life in a nutshell right now .

Hopefully things will slow down for us both after the first of the year. In the meantime, just keep swimming I'm still here reading, just sometimes my brain is too tired to comment

Thanks, Kelly! Setting up new laptop now; will comment in depth later tonight.

 

[DonnaBeeGood]

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[Steppesister]

I totally hear ya on its hard to stay up to date here. I'm having a hard time keeping up as well. I don't know if it's the Holiday season or what but I'm having trouble just finishing my TR, let alone keep up with everyone else's

I think it might be December; people are just busy. I do try to keep up with all the threads I follow, just taking a bit more time. I'll get there.

December is a crazy busy month at work for us, clients wanting to get in for appointments and some are getting angry that we have no availability... Sorry guys you should have booked your December hair or massage appointment in October... Plus we are loosing one of our receptionists to nursing school and I have to hire a new body to fill her position and I really hate trying to find a new employee.... So that's my life in a nutshell right now .

UGH! Hiring during a particularly busy season is hard. I really hope you can find someone quickly who is qualified and a good fit for your business. Keep us posted!

Hopefully things will slow down for us both after the first of the year. In the meantime, just keep swimming I'm still here reading, just sometimes my brain is too tired to comment

Me too!! I am enjoying the writing when I do find an empty and quiet hour at a time. Comment when you can, Kelly. I do appreciate them when you find the time.

Yup, December is extremely busy, and you seem to have even extra on your plate. Don't add DIS guilt to your plate - this is a place for when you have some time, and I/we are very patient and understanding of your precious extra time and it is at your discretion how you need to allocate your time. You are awesome!

Not really DIS guilt, more sadness that I can't find the time to be with the people I really enjoy being with. Thanks for you sweet words, Donna. I don't know about "awesome", but I do try.

 

[Malia78]

It was fabulous hour spent with you, and we weren’t finished yet!

If you gotta wait in line, there isn't a better a way than with another DISer

It was great meeting you too-- anticipating the Boo to You finale!

 

[franandaj]

Sounds like you had a great start to your party. Nice that you got to spend some time with Karilynn. I was confused at first as to where you were going with this update. Glad your interview went well!

I don't know why I'm so busy myself, I have nothing going on that should keep me busy, but it just seems that daily chores and such are kicking my butt. Well that and I did go out to Disney last night for dinner and to see the fireworks. Today I can't seem to get my butt put of bed!

 

[irene_dsc]

Sounds busy, but mostly good busy! I just finished up a few different little projects at the office, so I figured I could hop on the DIS and maybe even make a more than 1 or 2 sentence reply! Tho I am waiting to hear back from a village official whether or not I have to add anything to a submittal (hopefully it will either be something small, or they will consider that what I've given them is enough to not blow our public hearing deadline). And I have to figure out how to respond to a client who wants to know how long it will take me to do some stuff that I said I didn't know how long it would take and so we would have to bill him hourly. (Since it is yet another situation of trying to make a different set of village officials happy - and they keep finding new reasons not to be happy.)

Oh, but I also just finished office holiday cards! Yay! Now I just need to seriously start the personal holiday shopping. I've bought something like 3 gifts. Including one for me. (Instant Pot, that a bunch of my friends have been raving about and was on super duper Black Friday sale. For those who don't know, it's a pressure cooker that you don't have to leave on the stove and is mostly automated, and you can cook frozen meat in a really short time for those of us who sometimes forget to defrost anything. And apparently makes awesome cheesecake, tho I'm not much of a baker, so don't know if I'll get around to that)

Also, my dd has been busy with Pokemon tournaments. She's been pestering me to take her all over the place lately. And, apparently, I'm getting a reputation as a pushover mom. On Saturday, one of her friends had a last minute birthday celebration after a tournament. Now, we had been expecting snow all week, and I had mentioned to the dad that I was a little worried about the weather. As far as I was concerned, the most logical step was to turn it into a sleepover. But, not my family, so I didn't suggest it. So, what happens? About 9 pm, I get a text from dd, asking if I could drive over to her friend's house and drop off sleepover stuff (pj's, sleeping bag and change of clothes). I pretty much burst out laughing, and texted back, "Um, no. If I'm driving over there in the dark and snow, I will be bringing you home. Or, you can sleep in your clothes. Let me know." She wisely chose to sleep in her clothes (and they also have a huge guest room). The next morning, the mom commented about how it made so much sense to not have to drive last night in the snow, so I was like, um, I don't think you know about the text dd sent me??? The parents also thought it was pretty hilarious that she had the nerve to ask me to drive there in back in the dark and snow! (For the record, we live about 25 minutes away in good weather). So, yeah, it was dd's friend's idea to ask me. I think she thinks I'm really nice - which I usually am, but not that much of a pushover!

 

[pkondz]

Have only skimmed the last update. But wanted to give you a little
Sounds like you've got your hands full.

As someone who knows, it's okay to let the DIS go for a bit. Your friends will be here for you when you're ready.

I'll be back later to comment. But loved the costumes!

 

[amazingact21]

Loved your last (trip) update. Hoping you've had a call back from Doc already. You seemed to have nailed the interview...


Sounds like a pretty hectic time for you right now. Keeping my fingers crossed that the holidays go smoothly and everything settles into a slower, more steady pace afterwards.

 

[KathyM2]

Wow that sounds like a lot going on over there!!! Stress and family and good and bad...but...that's life right? Love the update...your costumes looked awesome. The food...well...gave me some heartburn just thinking about it!! But did look good )

 

[GreatBiscuit]

You definitely have a full plate. Take care of yourself! See you back soon! Not much to report here. 1 month post-op appointment tomorrow and hoping to put the nail into the cancer coffin. No new trips to report yet - but some unofficial plans are being tossed to and fro.