post-christmas updates and babbles

Over the last week, a lot has happened! I worked the night of December 23, and one of the nice things about being at work at midnight is that I could celebrate (in my head) when it was finally Christmas Eve! haha. I've had lots of interesting experiences at work lately, and I'll fill you in on a few:

• On the 21st, I experienced my scariest moment yet as a CNA: it was approximately 6am, and a dad strolls out nonchalantly to the nurses' station where I am sitting with a Doc (well, a resident technically). He says, "Hey, so my baby has been spitting up...and now she's stiff as a board." Okay, so "stiff as a board" has never been an okay situation that I have ever known of, so I hop up and jog to his room, asking the resident to come with me. We get to the room and I take one look at the baby girl in her mom's arms: her back is arched, eyes and mouth closed, and she is purple. Yep, purple. I glance at the resident, and she is ZERO help, as she says, "um, should we call the pediatric department?" I quickly dial our charge nurse and she barges in, takes one look at the baby, rips her out of mom's arms, and dashes to the nursery. There, she tosses the baby under oxygen at 10 liters (that's a LOT of oxygen) and the baby pinks up within a few seconds. But seriously!!! It was scary for a lot of reasons (really - the DOCTOR had NO idea how to handle the situation, and the parents thought a purple baby was fine?!?), but mostly I was upset that I never really recieved training for what sort of protocol is supposed to happen in that situation. Thank goodness nothing happened, but I would have felt so responsible had something happened because I didn't do anything, really. Sheesh. 
• On the 22nd, I got floated to work on the 4th floor, which is Telemetry. I had no idea what that was, so I quickly googled it before they sent me up! It is the heart monitoring floor, which basically means that after someone has been to the ER for complaints of chest pain or something like that, they are sent to that floor for 24 hours to monitor things before they are sent home. The experience in and of itself wasn't all that exciting, but there was kind of a funny thing that happened. So they had sent me up to be a sitter for this elderly guy. When my patient arrived, I decided to make small talk with the ER Tech who brought him up. I said, "So, how has your night been going?" He said, "Busy! Hey, are you married? Because you're beautiful!" I was kind of taken of guard, but said, "Yep, and thanks!" as I flashed my ring. He responded, "Wow. Okay, well have a good night, nice to meet you!" It was funny because I don't usually get hit on, and I told Tyler about it right away, but I also told him that in a weird way it's nice to be hit on every once in a while. Because I know that Tyler thinks I'm pretty, but I often feel like he is a little biased, you know? So that awkward interaction kind of made me smile a little more confidently. Haha.
• Lastly, I got my first apple!!! Okay, so at work, when a patient wants to recognize you for doing a great job, he/she fills out an apple card with your name and why you deserve an apple. For the last 2 months on the floor, I was eagerly awaiting an apple! Because when you get an apple card, you also get an apple sticker, and people put these stickers on their nametag for the world to see just how many patients love them. I kept thinking, "This patient and I really got along, surely she'll write me an apple card!" But I didn't get any. Finally, on the 23rd, I got an apple card!!! Unfortunately, it was from 11/24/09, so I honestly don't rememeber the patient! I remember the name, but not the woman in particular. Dang it. Oh well, I got an apple and it is now proudly displayed on my nametag!!! Yay!!!

Okay, so work news aside :) I am super close to my weight loss goal of 10 lbs by January 1st. I have .6lbs left to lose! So after I finish blogging, I have to hit the gym of course! I have to hit it extra today because tonight I am going out on the town to the Rio and then off to some bars = 1.4 million calories of estimated intake...yikes.

I hope everyone had a great Christmas! I know we really had a fantastic weekend! We spent Christmas Eve with my family, and I really enjoyed our church service. It was beautiful, and the choir didn't disappoint with a beautiful rendition of O Holy Night. The handbell choir was fantastic, as was the sermon :) 

After church, my cousins, aunt, Tyler, and I went to this incredibly decorated house! It had lights coordinated to music and it was truly worth going! The family who decorated the house have been working on the programming since May, and started putting up the lights on November 1st! The coolest thing is that they take donations to benifit Habitat for Humanity because they, themselves, got their house from Habitat for Humanity. They are running their shows through January 1st, so you have a few more days to check it out if you want! Their website has all the information you need, and I totally recommend it. PS - I don't even want to think about their electric bill!!!

I certainly got a lot of great stuff for Christmas! I think my favorite thing I got is a ring that my lovely friend Katherine handmade for me! She has a gorgeous new line of jewelry called Moonspun Jewelry, and I had strongly hinted to Tyler that I would love something of Katherine's, but I didn't think I'd actually get one! My ring is similar to this one, but each piece is a little different :) 
 

Love it! I also got an easel, oil paints, canvases, paintbrushes, and pretty much everything else I need to get started on my dream of painting! I am so excited :) Thanks so much to my parents and Tyler for really hooking me up! I got a cute movie night kit from my sister (complete with candy, Blockbuster gift card, and Love Actually!) and gorgeous earrings, and an awesome brimmed beanie from my brother! I got spoiled!

Penny got a penguin with 16 squeakers!!! 

 

Lastly, I thought I would inform you of an interesting situation with Penny last night. We got home from Fort Collins and decided to put her to the listening test. I checked the mail and let her off leash to see if she would come when called. She started out well, but soon ran off. I sprinted after her, but seeing as how she is the fasted puppy alive, she ran around the corner and out of my sight really quickly. I was pissed and a little scared. Luckily, though, I went to our house and she was sitting by our gate to our backyard waiting to go in. So, on the one hand, she failed miserably at listening. On the other hand, I guess she knows how to get home from the mailbox at least! I had been wondering if she could find her way home because all of the townhomes look alike and everything. Guess she can. Sheesh. 

Well, I am really looking forward to seeing my old American Eagle coworkers tonight at our get-together! And then tomorrow we are headed to Breckenridge for some playtime with good friends and hopefully in the snow! Take care, stay warm, and think up some good (and realistic) New Years Goals, everyone!!!

Double Cheers!!!

This is from when Penny got spayed and had to wear her cone. Haha. I just had to share :)

Oh and actually, I forgot to mention that there is a really cool blog design give-away going on! If you go to Courtney's blog, you can read all about how to enter to win it!