Anatomy of a Weekend, and on

I know I haven't written in over a week. Just barely over a week.  I'll blame it on lack of inspiration. I'll blame it on extremely hot summer days, where it's 95 outside and humid as hell, forcing us to seek refuge in a cooler basement.  I'll blame it on sitting around and thinking about what we want to do, but lacking the energy to do it because of the heat. 

But, I'm going to mostly blame it on work, because that's the greatest excuse in the book. With a new scheduler brings mucho shifts.  Shifts that start early and end in the afternoon, shifts that start late and finish late, with more early shifts right around the corner.  Basically, I've been working a lot.  And my knees feel it.  When you're a nurse, you build up a tolerance with all of that walking.  Walking up the hall, and back down, then up again because you forgot something, then back down because someone's calling you, and then back up because you forgot something else.  Little old ladies in wheelchairs watch you like they're watching a tennis match: head to the right, then the left, then right again. And they become exhausted just sitting there. 
I've always said that nurses should be a size 2, with all of the exercise they get at work. I guess the stress evens everything out. 

When I wasn't at the nursing home, I was teaching.  My second job is with the Red Cross, and lately, babysitting classes have been in more demand than CPR.  So I drove an hour away, to where farms are the new black, and taught 5 students how to change diapers.  And begged them not to text on the job.  Or use facebook. Or invite friends over.


The house was mine and the dogs when I got home.  Eventually, I decided to get out of the house.  The decision was most definitely made after I banged on the window like an idiot, trying to get a wild bunny out of my garden patch, as the next door neighbor poked her head over her fence and stared at me.  It was time to do something else.  

So, I went to the gym, and I ran.  I ran for, well, I won't tell you how long because it's really not THAT much, but it was for me. Yes, I ran and I did it until I couldn't anymore.  And I felt great until Ms. Thing with her blonde hair and too-tight everything got on the long row of empty treadmills, two treadmills from me.  Then, running didn't seem so freeing.  And then, one of her tool of a boyfriends came along and the conversation went to something like this:

Ms. Thing: Hey

Tool: Hey

Tool hits the emergency stop buttom on the treadmill

Ms. Thing:  Heyyyy

Tool: How come you didn't call me?

Ms. Thing: How come you didn't call me?

Tool: I don't have your number

Ms. Thing: I don't have your number

Tool: What's your number


And so on, so on.


My weekend ended with another shift, in the evening, where I heard things like this:

Little old lady (in a wheelchair) (talking to me): Are you walking?  Where is your walker?!?


Eventually, Monday came and the weather cooled, and I found myself with three days off.  And on Tuesday, K found himself with two days off.  So we cooked dinners, tidied up, contributed to our gardens, and played with energetic, cabin-feverish puppies. 

Here is my current pride and joy of the garden:

Things are growin and bloomin and I think that's just swell. 

We stayed up late on Monday night, with all intentions of watching a movie, and instead picking out songs that we want for our wedding.  I think we have about 10 hours of songs that we love. 

Last night, I took advantage of the cooler weather and started a fire.  Or attempted to. The logs were still damp from the storms of last week.  I implemented the Randy Troy method (tiki-torch fluid), and still not a lot of luck.  I should say that it was a variation of the Randy Troy method, as I used probably a cup of fluid to his pouring copious amounts straight from the gas can. 

Still, we sat by the measly fire, drank our wine, and admired the stars. 

At least the candles worked.

This morning, the air is chill, the rain is falling, and the screen door is being used.  Who knows how we'll spend our last day off, but we're already off to a good start.