Garbage, books, Ivan the Gorilla.

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It’s Wed night.  I should take out the garbage.  I’ll be right back.

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I’m about halfway done with the week.  It’s been fine.  Quiet.  I’ve had more time to read and listen to podcasts which I don’t usually do.  I feel like I haven’t read a book all year.  I’m reverting back to children’s books which give me the warm fuzzies.  I’m reading the One and Only Ivan – Ivan’s a gorilla.

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AM, dishes, PM.

Edda in the am.

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Jeremy usually does all the dishes in the house.  I don’t really realize how many dishes I don’t do.  This week, I’m doing a lot of dishes and I’m sure I’m cooking a lot less than he usually does.

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I’m making Edda’s lunch, French toast and fruit.

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It got hot today!  Almost 90.  The blossoms are beautiful though.

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Edda in the pm.

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Lawn, sneaking, ice cream.

I did the first lawn mow of the season today.  There is a City of Rockville person who drives around and gives citations to folks with overgrown lawns.  I’m often on the receiving end of these citations.  I’m hoping not to get one this season.

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While the boys are in Florida, it’s me and Edda here at the homestead.  Though it’s MCPS spring break, it’s not nursing school spring break, so I’m still working/studying through the week.  I have a help though, even though it’s hard for me to remember everyone’s schedule.  Edda’s after school camp runs most days of spring break (except for Good Friday) for four hours in the afternoon from noon-4pm.  Kitachi is helping me out in the mornings and evenings Mon-Wed and then she’s off for her own spring break.  Adriana will be around on Good Friday mid-day and for a few hours on Sat.  I worked most of this past Sunday so I can work shorter hours during the week.

On Sunday, the first day the boys were away (and I always get this feeling the first 24 hours after they are gone), I find myself returning to the feeling of living on one’s own.  I know Edda’s around, but in some ways, she’s like a well behaved roommate.  She’s neat, quiet & kind of keeps to herself (most of the time, though some days she’ll hunt you down and hit you on the head while you are trying to play Candy Crush).  She doesn’t move things around or take something that’s yours and eats it.  She never argues with me.  Anyways, this old feeling that I remember, but didn’t know I had when I had it.  This feeling of independence and total control over my environment.  Of making decisions without consulting anyone or telling anyone.  Even going for ice cream with everyone around, I can’t just sneak out of the house without telling anyone where I’m going.  I mean, I could sneak out, but then I’m sneaking out which happens only when someone cares that you are leaving the house or cares about ice cream.

Anyways, I’m telling you, on Sunday Edda & I snuck out of the house for some ice cream.  I suspect we’ll do it later on this week as well.  

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BWI, Miami, Keys.

I recently discovered Jeremy is constantly sharing his location with me on Google Maps.  So here he is at BWI on the airplane.

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Here he is in Miami.

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And finally to the keys.

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Here’s the non-Google map version of the trip.  Boys got up at 3:45 am and made their way to BWI with the rest of the boy scout troop.

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Here they are, a little groggy still.

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Jeremy didn’t lift anything at all because he’s all obsessed with his hernia which is bothering him more and more.

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They loaded onto 2 buses to head down to the keys.

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At about 3pm, they reached paradise.  They all passed a swimming test and then they had dinner are go to sleep in bunks here.

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Tomorrow, they canoe 7 miles to the island with no cell service and no electricity for the rest of the week.  No more photos from them for a week!

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Pineapple, quilt, Florida.

Ready?  Busy day.  Boys are off to Florida at 3:45 am tomorrow morning, so I squeezed as much as I could today.

Morning run:

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Brunch at Mark’s Kitchen in Takoma Park.

usual suspects

Then to IKEA to try out mattresses.

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Then to Vickey’s house to see my quilting coach – Gina.  You see?  I’m almost done with a quilt top!

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Vickey and her amazing $10 Trader Joe’s orchid which just won’t quit blooming.

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Jeremy made me chicken liver for dinner.  <3

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Vickey gave me a Harry & David pineapple.  She said it needed a few more days, but we couldn’t wait.

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Beer with the liver.

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Almost falling asleep at night.

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Boys are done, ready for their flight tomorrow.

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Tornado, Stockholm, D&D.

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We had a tornado warning a few days ago – my phone alarmed at me to find shelter for the next 30 min.  I don’t mess around with that.  When we first moved into the house, I was never nervous about the tall trees all around the house.  Now that the weather is changing into stronger, more sustained winds, I’m often terrified of being in our bedroom/office during any strong wind storm.  I have a very persistent feeling that I’ll die in some sort of compression accident which includes being hit by a falling tree.  Max and I were the only ones home at the time and we scurried into the basement while the warning passed us by.

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I’ve heard about these safety statuses on Facebook, but I hadn’t seen one in action until now.

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We went out to dinner tonight.  Everyone was looking at their electronic device.  Vince went to play Dungeons and Dragons this afternoon with a new group of friends.  A group of friends involving girls – the gathering actually was at a girl’s house.  He failed to mention this and I (sexist that I am) imagined that Dungeon & Dragons was a boy thing.

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Jeremy and Vince discussed the history of D&D.

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Me, Family, Community.

I haven’t posted since Monday!  An eternity in just regular folks time.  We are fine, lots of stuff going on, shall we give the run down since Monday?

Me:  I’m struggling with this nursing thing.  It’s exactly how I expected it to be, but now it’s staring me in the face a couple times a week.  It’s still going to happen, but I’m hesitating at the threshold.  I’ve seen an 85 year old man, unaware, incontinent, with bed sores all over his body.  I’ve seen suicide attempts (failed), drug overdoses, violent patients, code blue – full resuscitation & lonely patients.  I’ve fed countless peoples’ parents while their children are watching because I now realize no child wants to hold a spoonful of oatmeal to their parent’s lips.  I wish I could say these words, “I’m sorry” “I’ll be right back” “I hope you feel better”  “Do you need to go to the bathroom” “Does it hurt?” “Your son/daughter/family member/friend will be back soon/at 1:30pm/tomorrow” and “Are you hungry? Cold? Hot?” in the following languages: Spanish, Italian, Farsi, French, Korean and Vietnamese (probably I need more languages, but I haven’t gotten so many patients yet – less than 50 so far).  I’ve also seen many patients feel better, appreciate the care that they get and walk out of the hospital into a car driven by a family member or a friend back to a warm house with food.  It’s not always like that. 

Family: Vince is mad at me right now.  I’m not sure why as it’s spring break eve and he’s going to Florida in a couple of days with the Boy Scout troop (all his besties) and Jeremy.  He’s usually not mad at me, I’m worried that something is up with him.  It’s probably a passing thing and I shouldn’t dwell on it.  Edda’s appointments just beget other appointments – the neurologist this week (which Jeremy covered because I was at the hospital) said we should follow up with a physical medicine doctor to look at the foot braces and think about Botox injections to relax some of her musculature.  Jeremy is fretting about work, though this week I’ve been falling asleep as soon as my head hits the pillow at 10pm, so I haven’t been chatting with him as much as I’d like and then next week he’s gone – out of cell reach.  I think the boys will be even out of reach of electricity.

Community:  Our two local high schools have been in the news recently, for less than stellar reasons.  The NYTimes wrote about the first one at Rockville High School here.  Today something happened at Vince’s high school and you can read about it here.

I think I’ll skip the national/global news…

I am more chipper than this gloomy entry sounds.  I’m getting enough sleep, not exhausting myself.   Which is always my #1 goal. 

Love,
Doris

Underwear, hernia, haircut, math.

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  • Someone has stolen all my underwear.  I don’t know who did it, but I used to have an unending pile of underwear that I’d never get to the bottom of, but now every time I reach for some underwear, I have none.
  • Jeremy is worried about his inguinal hernia.  He frets about it, but the earliest he wants to fix it is Oct so it won’t screw up his biking season.
  • Edda got a haircut from me this weekend.  Usually I have a second person (usually Kitachi) to eyeball it with me to prevent me from missing spots or going too crooked.  Unfortunately, I didn’t have anyone home at the time I gave Edda a haircut, so I had to go back again and fix some errors.
  • Vince knows his math. Esp. parabolas and directrix.  He’s having a good math term.

Pussy hat, new friends, boy scout banquet.

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Mary Ann made me a pussy hat.  I’m very excited.  I had a nice day – working some & doing some taxes.

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Jeremy went on a gravel ride with some new biking friends.  Vince came home mid-day from a sleepover when Jeremy was out and asked where he was.  I told Vince he was out having fun with friends and Vince was like – Dad has friends who he goes out with and has fun with?!?  Yes.  Your dad has friends now.

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A long bike ride is rewarded with ice cream.

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Scout banquet tonight.  The chicken was excellent.

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