Monthly Archives: September 2014

The kids woke up this morning to a package each from Louanne of really fun stickers.

They put their stickers in zip lock bags with their names on it.

Caleb and Hannah have been on high alert for the library book sale for two weeks now, they were begging Chad to allow them to walk to the library (at least three miles one way) to go to the $5 bag day yesterday because I had the car at work. But waiting until free book day has paid off. We have been to the Salem Library book sale before and didn’t find any really good finds, this time there were quite a few books pertinent to what we are studying in school this year plus boat loads of other educational and classic books. Eve made several new friends and was making sure to help them find all the books they might might need as well. I’m sure Chad was shaking his head on the inside but also happy with our find. The kids were picking out books for their cousins too so we may have some birthday packages to send out that may not wait until November and December. Eve was so excited she was doing a happy dance.

I loved that the librarians had guessed that we were homeschoolers and kept bringing me books that they thought we would particularly enjoy as well as anything pertaining to American history, immigration, civil liberty, government, electing a president. You name it.
After the library we headed to Oshkosh we ate lunch at our new favorite sub shop. If only they had one of these in the Salem/Keizer area or even Portland. They have GF hoagies….GF HOAGIES! Not a little midget sandwich that they charge you an extra two dollars for and put half the filling in. Besides that their subs have fun names and are all creative combinations.

We stopped at the Old Navy outlet mall and found a few shirts and shorts for Caleb on clearance to replace a few of his that have recently been ruined by a random bleach spot and the adhesive from a sticker. And found a few first Christmas presents and a welcome to the world present for little baby Hui! Congratulations Liz!!!! My sister from my summer mother (Aunt Susan). You and Al are going to be great parents I can't wait to meet that new little man of yours and to hear your whole birth story!!!
Finding everything we needed at the first store we didn't venture to the rest of the outlet mall the weather had turned cold and it was starting to rain. We headed home and carried all of our new treasures inside. We spent most of the rest of the day curled together on the floor of the living room reading books. Chad made us a special dinner of pad Thai noodles and tofu then we listened to hymns as we cleaned the house. At bed time the kids picked out four more books and I sat outside their bedroom door reading. It was a good day.

A hurricane may be the best way to describe my grouping of shifts this week with three on one off two on. I feel like I have successfully made it to the eye of the storm. With being down for the count on Thursday with a cold and headache I was praying my health would be returned by Friday since there are no such things as sick days as a traveler. Friday with the help of ibuprofen and airborne was one to check off in the books and never do again. I felt good enough to be at work but with a head ache, and a heart ache on board already the announcement that they were taking my little first time mommy to section with out what I would consider a fair chance at delivering vaginally really dragged me down emotionally. I thought of Suzanne, this was her story except that she delivered out side of the hospital and was given time making her own labor curve and successfully delivering her beautiful baby girl vaginally. This time was a happyish ending though. There was absolutely no fetal distress, mommy didn’t change her cervix in two hours of every 5-7 min. contractions no pit, no epidural. beautiful vigorous baby on the small end had the cord wrapped around the neck four times. So it is possible that we saved her the emergent C-section later although I have seen one baby with 4 neucal cords deliver vaginally it wasn’t a first time mommy. That was at lunch time so by the time I was caught up enough to eat lunch it was 11 hours into my shift and I wasn’t sure I was going to make it to twelve. I ate a few quick things out of my lunch bag and hurried back to the floor to tie up loose ends for the on coming shift. Dragging I ate dinner and fell into bed where I slept soundly and felt surprisingly good the next morning. Requiring less ibuprofen for the sinus headache and feeling so much better my busy second day flew by but I felt very accomplished by the time the shift drew to a close. Today I felt almost as good as new going into work. My assignment was odd and the triages kept walking in with the weirdest complaints all preterm of course and nothing that made them cut and dry or text book. There had to be the preterm contractions, huge fibroids, weird antibodies, vaginal bleeding and chest pain and of course ultrasound isn’t in house on the weekend. It was on the busy side but doable I’d rather not stand around trying to think of ways to look busy anyway. There was opportunity to get to know my coworkers a little more as the morning was slower. Two of the Heathers I work with (the third one is too I just haven’t had much of an opportunity to get to know her too well) are pretty awesome, interesting people who are both concerned about doing the right thing and being a team just the kind of weekend crew that all nurses would want to be a part of.
Chad made potato salad for dinner and the kids were complementing him on his cooking skills and then putting in requests for twice baked potatoes and stuffed jalapeños, so I added Lasagna on the list of should have soon food. Chad turned with a smile and said, ” you would think they have a gourmet cook for a dad or something.” So I added, “they kind of do.” Chad is really good with them and I love that he is passing on his love of cooking and of good food. Chad has gone to bed early tonight. It seems that I have shared my cold with the family although it really isn’t a bad one, mostly it’s that first day that will get you….and the sinus headache.
I am sure we will chill tomorrow resting in the eye of this storm of shifts, two more and I will be Scott free for a whole week!

Week one went great until Wednesday with bad news that had me searching Facebook for updates and the Thursday using Facebook to be supportive to friends and family and to in a way be “with” my fellow FBCers. We were back on track for Friday and Saturday although I don’t think the increased (not nearly to previous levels) usage was a bad thing it was above my allotted time. I have not gone over on Candy Crush and the last two days I have not had enough time for it at all.

Hello! My name is Caleb Owens, and I have a story to tell you! I have a lot to say, so I’ll start from the beginning. It started out as this, we had some talk about going around Lake Michigan, mostly it was talking about map routes , and things like that. We spent four days going around the lake. We packed our bags with everything we thought we would need. On our first day we went to Mackinac island (pronounced Mackinaw), where we walked around the town. We had went there by ferry because there was no other way onto the island. The town was a little town and was crowded with shops. We saw roughly a dozen fudge shops. There was only three fudge companies but there was at least three shops per company, flus a few shops that sold fudge but had other things. We went into this really cool shop that had big products! It had little medallions of glass with beetles and moths and stuff like that. They had a moth in a square of glass that was a foot long and a foot wide. It is a town with no cars allowed! We left on the ferry and spent the night in a Days Inn. We had a good breakfast and we were on the road. When we were traveling we say in the car, I eat a lot. You know, I actually have been adapting to that type of living, since I have been in the car seat so much that it doesn’t hurt after three hours. Since I have to sit in the car seat five hours a day, that really helps! Anyway we drove in the car for another day, then spent the night in another motel. We spent another half hour driving, and went to a church pastored by a cousin of moms. We went over to their house for lunch and had turkey. They had kids my size! There was three kids (girls) my age and a boy about Eve’s age. We had a lot of fun.

I’m pretty sure that every time I have ever received the flu shot I have felt like crap the following day. Today is no different. My arm feels fine. I just have a sore throat, headache, and nasal congestion. It is a good thing that I do not work today. I do however work tomorrow, five out of the next six days actually, so this had better be a one day thing. We laid low at our apartment. The big kids went with Chad to the library after they finished their school work, but were gone only a short time. I was a slug and laid around drinking airborne. Does laying low really help you get better faster? I wish I knew. I can’t afford to be sick in the world of no PTO and travel nursing contracts. In an attempt to do something productive and process the loss of a dear friend and longtime coworker and the many lessons I have learned from her I drew a small tribute. May my life produce the fruits of the spirit like yours did, may I love those around me in a way that they know that there’s no judgement from me.

I have not drawn much since high school it is quite therapeutic. Recently I started drawing on a few envelopes but this is the second person I have attempted in the last fifteen years.
Heres to feeling like new tomorrow.

This is my life. I have three cousins. I like pink and blue. I go many places and we get patches sometimes (a lot). I want to make a big picture. My favorite part about traveling is seeing all the stuff. My favorite part about homeschooling is getting to do such wonderful art.

After drawing into the evening, my eyes did not want to wake up or focus this morning never the less the kids still got up, early. We had breakfast, walked the dog and then headed north.

Caleb didn’t like the song Hannah made up and was singing to him, so he came up with a creative solution.
We needed to find a pharmacy and get the flu shot (a work requirement) before heading up toward Washington Island. The first stop was Target because I was told they had the best price. When it was my turn to ask at the pharmacy they informed me that they could not give the flu shot yet because they have to take a CPR class first, that really confirmed how I already felt about the health “benefits” of this medical recommendation. The second place, Walgreens, was a win and the pharmacist had a great sense of humor. He came out with the syringe and said, “right this way.”
To which I replied, “Oh, you get the job of torturer.”
He said, “Yes! And we have a special sound proof room, it’s better for business.”
Me: “Awe, I had a scream planned and everything.”
That and teasing him about the “advertising” by using a get your flu shot at Walgreens bandaid made for a pretty fun flu shot experience which, I guess, is the next best thing to not having to get one.

We keep trying to make it over to Desmoines Iowa, however, at an over 6 hour drive each way and a hotel stay not in the budget it keeps getting pushed back. This time instead we headed back up to door county to the tip of the the thumb. We drove through a lot of beautiful country side. The colors were starting to change but it’s still 80% green.

the road at the tip of the thumb is called, “The zig zag road.” It lived up to it’s name and made me instantly green at the gills and that cold sweat we have all felt before.

The ferry to Washington Island looked fun but after discovering the prices $42 for the family minus the car. (Another $26 if we wanted to take the car.) We decided to save that particular adventure for when Mary Beth is here next week because it’s not something you do twice. We checked out the visitor center and a few gift shops.

We then just drove around. We went up dirt roads and around soon discovering a state park and a dog friendly hiking trail.

We explored a few more roads after our hike and a few shops in Sister’s Bay as well as a small farmer’s market, then picked a Mexican restaurant for dinner. I got a text from a friend at dinner that put me in a tailspin. “What!?” That can’t be right. Our Shari? No. Chad was ok with me checking FB during dinner because I felt sick and really just wanted to know what happened. It is true. Our Silverton FBC beloved family member passed away this morning very unexpectedly. Please be in prayer for her family.
The ride home was quiet. I was in my head. Still in disbelief.
Dear Heavenly Father wrap the FBCers in your arms and give them peace. Be with Shari’s family as they grieve this sudden and huge loss…

I was really excited to share the kids oral presentations today. The kids were excited to do them as it has been so long. They picked their own subjects practiced once and then recorded, but after sitting outside of Starbucks (yes we got a drink, but it was with a free drink voucher we had been given earlier) for an hour trying to upload them onto YouTube so that the the link could be placed on here we gave up. With no luck at McDonald’s or a hotel parking lot either. We will try again tomorrow somewhere as we drive around.
The adventures of today mostly entailed an “treasure hunt” at Goodwill to replace the girls stained and warn shirts. The bonus was we even found slim non-skinny jeans pants that fit Caleb, it was only one pair but it just might get us through. Hannah took FOREVER trying on all the clothes that she had liked. It was a muzzling though to watch her dance around in the mirror so pleased with her selections. When we got home Eve promptly went up stairs and pushed her clothing tub down the stairs so we could remove the stained clothes and put in the new ones. She tried them all on and instructed me one by one to cut off the tags. Needless to say I think she was pleased with her purchases. Chad and I each also found a shirt spending a whole $45 to nearly replace at least half of the girls shirts, a pair of pants for Caleb as well as the shirts for Chad and myself.

The rest of the evening was spent on abstract art and coloring envelopes to mail to our friends.

I had one random 0930-2200 shift scheduled. I had seen it on the schedule and knew it was coming up, but for some reason I didn’t realize it was today. So my alarm went off at 0415 I showered, dressed, ate breakfast and made my way to work. Upon arrival we double checked the schedule and it dawned on me that I was not supposed to be there until 0930…..shoot. I missed out on an hour and a half of sleep just to find out I wasn’t working until later. I returned home and tried with only minimal success to catch some more Z’s. At 0840 I redressed, downed some coffee and headed back out for round two. Chad packed a lunch for me as he always does, he takes such good care of me. Both of us were unsure how much food should be taken for this odd hour shift, and when do you take your lunch break?How much food do I normal eat in that time frame? Lunch, dinner, an evening snack? Do I eat a second breakfast before I go since the last one was at 4:45 AM? When I arrived I was told to report to the newborn coordinators office and when I was done talk to the lead, was I in trouble, what could I be in trouble for?
The little meeting was just to attempt to get me into MyHR to use the online time clock to punch in and out, with no success as of yet, I wasn’t in trouble. It is amazing how your brain always goes to the bad things first. The lead didn’t have an assignment for me since we were at core staffing so I watched patients so permanent staff could go to the staff meeting. Soon though I had picked up a couple post partums and got an antepartum admit that were keeping me on my toes. All was ok until 1730 when the night shifters arrived. They changed up my assignment again. I did keep my antepartum though and she wasn’t behaving…. “Come on contractions come on baby take a chill pill. You don’t really want to come this soon.” I think the baby took my advise. I won’t know until I go back this weekend. We did however make it to the end of the shift and I just hope I never make a habit of these endless into the evening day shifts. If I do, I better not be getting up at 0415. Good night all…..I hope your day was better than mine.

Up for church, we loaded up on new books and movies from the church library.
Missing family Sunday dinners Chad made Swiss steak from a family recipe for a special treat after church.
Caleb has been looking forward to a book sale at the city library for a week so we headed there after lunch for the $5 bag special only to discover it isn’t until next week. The kids checked out their books and movies from the public library for the week while we were there. Eve made friends with a little boy named Jude and his mother asked us if we were a part of CC as she had heard us discussing what week we were on in history. We talked a bit about it and about our kids and the classical model. All though she believes on the classical model there is not any family support for that and her husband prefer the kids go to charter school so they do but the mommy supplements their education. She said that she had been to CC information meetings and had friends that were a part of it. She also talked about a few other homeschool groups in the area. It was fun to get to know her, I hope we run into them again at the library As I think they might visit it as much as we do. After the library we headed to McDonalds for internet (the library has oober poor slow internet we’ve tried it before). Chad was able to help Suzanne with a computer problem and I could check my thirty min. of Facebook as well as watch a few YouTube videos. We got home in time for a fend for yourself dinner. We watched our church library moves as we ate. Answers in Genesis 2 and a movie about North Korea. Now for an early bed time. But I can’t sleep, the weather is starting to turn colder. I hate to concede but we may need to get a few more blankets to get us through November here.