I'm Almost Giddy...

My man is coming home today, my man is coming home today!!!! This has been a really long week. I have really missed Sam and I am so glad that he is coming home tonight. I can't wait to make him go shopping with me tomorrow! (Sucker!!!! - He should have stayed in Texas)

I'm so glad that he was able to hang out with our families and with our dogs and with our friends, but I'm gladder (ha!) that he's coming home to hang out with me.

I just can't stop smiling. My man is coming home today, my man is coming home today.

I better get cleaning. I haven't taken good care of the apartment while he has been gone. Gonna get crackin'!!

Idle Hands...

Read 300+ page books in ONE DAY! I finished The Lovely Bones a few minutes ago and I have to say that it was an amazing book. Every page captured my attention and I am so glad that it is being turned into a movie. I just hope that it doesn't take anything away from the book. It's so strange to have a book make such an impact on my heart. I just loved it.

So in the tradition of past, I allowed my mom to choose the next book I would read. I asked her to pick a number between 1 and 7 (yay! The books yet to read are down to 7!!) and top or bottom. Well, she chose 7 and top so I will be reading Confessions of an Ugly Stepsister by Gregory Maguire.



It's funny - this is the first new book that I bought to read in September and then kept buying new books so this one got moved to the bottom of the stack. So after this book, only 6 more to go before I can go shopping for more books.!!! I'm feeling a little better although I did stay home from work today too. I was running a slight fever this morning and decided to sleep in. I'm feeling 1,000 times better than I did in the last four days. I might even leave the house to get more apple juice and Kleenex. It's amazing to me that I was able to go through a 64-oz bottle of apple juice in 12 hours. Wow!

Anyway, not gonna start the new book until at least tomorrow. Sam will be home in T minus 3 days and counting. Hopefully I'll be completely over this sickness by then. My body is so sore from coughing and sneezing (I've sneezed 4 times while writing this post!). I'm off to nap and then take in some pointless TV. Maybe I'll get a wild hair up my ass and do some cleaning. (Make it 5 sneezes!)

Good Intentions Don't Get You Too Far...

I had so many plans for Sunday and Monday since I wasn't working until I woke up on Sunday morning feeling like crap! I wasn't able to leave the house until last night. I forced my wobbly ass out to head to the Duane Reade to get drugs! Everything is draining snot, I'm coughing, running a fever and my throat hurts. I love how my body chooses to wait until my husband leaves town to get sick. Stupid body.

I actually had to call in sick today. I felt awful to call in and tell them I would be at home today. Honestly, if this fever continues, I'll be at home tomorrow too. Luckily I'm not missing anything today. Everything has been changed because I'm guessing that a lot of people were out today. So hopefully when I feel better, I can get some shopping done and think about heading to the gym.

So I ordered food from the grocery store (what a great invention!). The food should be delivered between 3 and 4pm today. Unfortunately I'm not hungry at all, but I really need apple juice. It's the only thing that makes me feel good. Damnit, I should have ordered Kleenex. I think I've gone through an entire box in two days.

Okay, so I'm heading back to bed. At least I get to catch up on all of the sleep I've been missing out on. Sleep makes me better, right? Sleep is great, when I'm not waking myself up by coughing or sneezing or sniffling or needing to blow my nose. Honestly, I'm glad that no one is here to watch me look terrible with my bright red nose. Gotta go - gotta go blow my damn nose again!

Reading is FUN (damental)

I'm really doing well on my book-reading goal for the month. I just finished Everything is Illuminated and passed it off to my husband to read while he's on the plane to Texas for the week. I'm hoping to see the movie in the next couple of weeks, mainly because it looks really cute (and having Elijah Wood in it doesn't hurt). Now I'm onto book #3 for the month, The Lovely Bones by Alice Sebold. I've heard so many things about this book and now it's being made into a movie courtesy of Peter Jackson. I chose this one from the stack by again asking Sam to pick a number between 1 and 8 and choosing top or bottom. So he chose 6 and bottom (or was it 3 and top?), which led me to this book. It's a great time to start a new book.



Sam is gone for the week and I'm sure that I'm going to find myself incredibly bored. I was so bored today that I took a "short nap", which turned into sleeping the entire time that Sam was on the plane (almost 5 hours). I'm sure I'll be up all night, which isn't terrible. I'm seeming to have a burst of energy right now, which explains why I'm posting as well as why I caught up on all of my progress notes for work and made a to-do list for my patients and a schedule of seeing patients for the next two weeks. How's that for energy? I might even start cleaning the apartment!

Plan for tomorrow? Chill around the house, read, do some shopping (I need a sports bra and some work-out pants), check out the local gym (seriously!) and clean some more. I might call my friend Dawn and see what she's doing. If I can get the apartment clean enough, I might invite someone over to hang out with me on Monday. I love that I have a three-day weekend but hate that Sam isn't here to spend it with me! I need to try to keep myself really busy this week so I won't get depressed thinking of Sam being at home hanging out with our friends and with our families and me being alone. Wish me luck!

Why People in New York City take Mass Transit

...Because the people who try to drive eventually do something retarded! Case in point, I had a patient to see yesterday at the bottom of Brooklyn. I mapquested (yup, it's a verb, kinda like "googled") the address and had to take the BQE (Brooklyn-Queens Expressway) to the Belt Parkway. When I tried to get on the BQE, my exit was closed so I had to take a detour to the next on-ramp. Assuming that it would only be a few blocks away, I didn't panic. Unfortunately, it was about 40 blocks away. Unbeknownst to be, I got on the BQE past the exit to the Belt Parkway. So I kept on truckin' down the BQE looking for the exit to the Belt. Still driving...No exit sign. What I did encounter was the sign that said, "Last Exit before Toll". Being new to the driving thing and not exactly knowing where I was going, I ignored this and then....

All I saw before me was the Verrazzano-Narrows Bridge that leads from Brooklyn to Staten Island. Shit! It's a super-long bridge. I'm not usually a fan of bridges, but I'm especially not a fan when I'm the one driving. Oh well, no place to u-turn, I was stuck going into Staten Island. I just figured I'd pay the toll (it can't be that bad) and then turn around and head back to Brooklyn.



Man, I was shocked when I got to the toll booth. There is no sign for the amount of the toll. I gave the guy a $10 bill and he handed me my change - $1 !!!! Yep, the toll to get into Staten Island was a whopping $9. I was shocked. Are they kidding? I can see someone paying this to get OUT of Staten Island, but to go into Staten Island?!?!?! So I turned around and headed back over the bridge to Brooklyn.

As scared as I was and as stupid as I felt, I must say that the view from atop the bridge was amazing. I could see forever. Water, water everywhere. I could see Manhattan, the Staten Island Ferry, tons of boats and more water. It was scary to realize how high up I was and to realize how loooong this bridge was. Crazy.



Well, at least I can now say that I've been on every single major bridge in the NYC area. The Brooklyn Bridge will always be my favorite.

So I finally got to my patient's house - 30 minutes late. I didn't dare tell them or any of my co-workers about the stupid mistake that I made. But I will say this - I won't ever make the same mistake again. From now on, if I don't know where I'm going, it might be best to steer clear of the highways and just use the crowded streets in Brooklyn - or take a Subway or a Bus!

Love...a Tribute

I am in love with a wonderful man. He treats me like a princess (Princess Poopy Pants to be exact). He is kind, compassionate, caring, protective, encouraging and tells me he's proud of me no matter what I do. He tells me that I'm beautiful, when clearly I look like crap. He takes me to new places and doesn't mind going with me on shopping excursions. He tries new things with me and makes me open my mind, heart and palette to new things. He often lets me lead but always takes my hand when I'd rather follow. He tells me to be careful when I leave the house alone and he checks in with me every morning to make sure I got to work safely. He worries about me when I'm away and I miss him when I'm gone.

He takes me to exotic lands (okay, just one land - Europe, but it was a great honeymoon). He shares his dreams with me and helps me make my dreams come true.



He'd follow me to the ends of the earth (or at least New York City) to pursue my dreams. He supports me when I'm looking for work and when I decide that it's a good idea to spend $50,000 on a degree. He tells me I'm stupid when I don't believe enough in myself.



He keeps me entertained and can always make me laugh when I'm blue. He tells me jokes and we are so connected that we often feel like we're sharing a brain.



He loves me when I'm crazy. He loves me when I'm dumb. He loves me when I'm unloveable and when I embarrass him.



He loves me for me and I love him for him. I love that we have our own language and would rather be together on our couch than anywhere else in the world. I love that I'm going to grow old with him and that he will be the father of my children.

I love that he loves me as much as I love him...

The Blizzard has Arrived...

Sam and I woke up to tons of snow outside, cars completely covered on our block and kids throwing snowballs and sledding down the street. We decided to take a walk to get some breakfast. We were knee-deep in snowfall. Brooklyn isn't very good at plowing the streets. Our main street (7th Ave.) hasn't been plowed yet, and our street hasn't even been thought about. People were out shoveling their walks. We walked in the middle of the street, because it had a better path than the sidewalks. We even saw a guy skiing down the street (skis + poles + Brooklyn = what a sight!) I've added a bunch of the pictures we took just so that everyone can get an idea of the kind of snowfall we had! Enjoy!!!



People walking down 7th Avenue



I guess this way is much easier than walking




A townhome that has yet to be shoveled



Sam sliding down our street



Sam in the blizzard



Carlye the Eskimo



An actual plow on Flatbush Avenue!

Are you kidding me?

My mom sent me this. I don't even know if you can read it or not. I guess the people of Austin, Texas are supposed to see this as an exciting event and that $99 is a small price to pay to be in the presence of a "legend"? You get your very own copy of the picture of you and Vince and a special t-shirt from the Co-Op. Come on people, he's 21 years old and he's only a college player. I can see this after he's been in the NFL for at least ONE YEAR or maybe after he wins a Superbowl ring. Hell, at this point, he's not even officially in the NFL yet. I'm sorry, but I feel that anyone can just head down to 6th Street on a Saturday night and snap a picture of him with their camera phone. That's how I encountered Ricky Williams a few years ago! Don't get me wrong, I'm as proud of him and of UT as the next guy and very happy that Texas finally got a National Championship, but he's not a celebrity - yet! Wow, glad to see that UT is making some last minute attempts to exploit Vince Young before he's drafted! Go bureaucrats!!

There's a First Time for Everything...

I've been a Hospice Social Worker for two months now and I've taken a very strange attitude towards death. Basically, it's part of my job and the quicker people die, the less I have to see dying patients. This may sounds really wrong, but I'm really looking forward to my new project and I can't focus on my new project if I'm constantly seeing Hospice patients. I began with 16 patients, then lost 6 and got a few more, then went back down to 10. Last week I was given two more. My boss decided that I wasn't going to be given any more new patients so that I could begin to focus on the new project. Well, she obviously didn't tell the powers that be. I saw a new patient yesterday (that I shouldn't have gotten) and then checked my voice mail last night and was given yet another patient. With the addition of the newest patient, my caseload is back up to 13! I was so happy when it was down to 9. I guess I should take this as a compliment. There are 3 other new social workers that can take patients yet all of the new ones are going to me. Either they really like me and think I can handle it, or they really don't like me and are trying to punish me. My plan is to have a sit-down with the powers that be next week to request that my patient load stays steady at 13 and that no new patients are added after these people die. I think that's fair!

However, as I get new patients, especially recently, I form a bond with the patients and families. When I first started this, I was the second social worker to be assigned to a case and I never had enough time to form a bond with the family before the patient died. Last week (I guess it's actually the week before last) I visited a patient. Prior to this visit, I had spent most of my time in the home speaking with the daughter and granddaughter, doing pre-bereavement. I decided that I had neglected the patient and really wanted to get to know her. I visited her on Thursday, February 2nd and spent 45-minutes learning about her childhood, her adulthood and what she hoped for in the remaining time that she had. I really enjoyed her and felt an even closer bond to this family. You can imagine my complete shock when I got a call from one of my supervisors on Friday, letting me know that I should try to get ahold of the patient's daughter, because my patient was possibly already dead. She had stopped breathing and refused her medication that day. They were waiting on the nurse to visit to pronounce her as dead. I was in complete shock - I had just talked to that patient! I did some brief counseling on the phone with the daughter and made a plan to call her on Monday.



Monday came around and I was still a little distraught. I couldn't believe that she had died. Even though I know that death is the outcome of Hospice, I wasn't prepared and I didn't feel like I had done a good job of preparing the family. I went to the wake (viewing) on Monday afternoon. I walked in and was amazed at all of the flower arrangements and all of the people. As I signed the guestbook, I overheard the daughter telling some family member, "Oh, the Social Worker is here, I'll introduce you". I hugged the daughter and grandchildren and went and paid my respects to my patient, who was now laying in a casket covered in flowers. Very weird. I made arrangements to meet with the family in the next week to start some grief counseling. I couldn't imagine that I would ever get this attached to a family.

But that's not the weirdest part. As a social worker, I have to document everything that I do with my patients in progress notes. I wasn't sure whether or not I had to document that I went to the wake. Turns out that I do. What the hell was I going to say? "Well, patient is still dead although I thought I saw her neck move. Her make-up looked good and the flowers were real pretty. Looked like a pretty good turnout, guess she knew a lot of people." It just seemed strange, although I was supposed to write about the fact that I will continue to be available for the family as a source of support, blah, blah, blah. It's so much easier NOT to see the dead people afterwards. I kept willing her to get up (hence the neck movement) and all I could say to the daughter (aside from "I'm sorry") was, wow, she really looks good, they did a good job (horrible, I know). And I told her that her mother was a neat lady (I actually think I used the word "neat") and that I was glad I got to meet her. So awkward...

So, my first wake. Next up - my first funeral. This working with dying people is just getting weirder and weirder!

Winter Olympics are Here!!!

Did you people watch the opening ceremonies tonight? If not, I've included some pictures. If you did, I hope you can join me in saying, "What the Fuck?!?!?!?" Who the hell choreographed this thing? There was fire, yellow people with head lights, skaters shooting fire from their backs, all around weirdness - and who can forget the gymnast striking the anvil?!







It reminded me of some sort of performance art that I didn't understand. The theme for the opening ceremonies was Passion, which is cool in itself, but I think the choreographers got it all wrong. I see Passion much differently. It doesn't take strange performance art to get Passion across to me. But that's just me. Maybe I'm just not cool enough to get it. Oh well.

I do get excited about the Olympics, the opening ceremonies notwithstanding. I love the figure skating and all of the snow stuff. I'm excited about the snowboarding this year and the ladies hockey. There is a speed skater, Chad Hedrick, who played hockey with Sam when they were kids. We'll definitely watch him, hopefully he'll bring home the gold.

So we're watching all of the athletes walking in, alphabetically. What strikes me as especially weird is the 80's pop music playing in the background, 80's American pop music. We're in Italy people, play something Italian, you can do that! And what kills me is the dresses that the, oh hell, what do you call them - um, the ladies bearing the name of the countries behind them. The dresses that look like the Alps, complete with little skiers.



Crazy shit! Oh well, Go USA. U-S-A, U-S-A, U-S-A!!! Let's bring home some medals!

One down...

I finished the first of many books that I hope to read this month. So, one down, nine more to go. I just finished Prep by Curtis Sittenfield and it made me realize how glad I am that I'm no longer in high school. I was not a fan of being in high school, it was more of a formality before I got to head off to college. Very strange. But it was well written, and I think I covered the 400 pages or so in about a week. Yay reading!!



I looked at the stack of nine books on the top of the bookshelf and asked Sam to pick a number between 1 and 9 and then to choose top or bottom. He chose 7 and bottom, so the next book that I'm reading is Everything is Illuminated by Jonathan Safran Foer. Should be interesting, that is, if I put stock into who the New York Times declares as a bestseller. But if they made it into a movie, it has to be good right??

On another note, I'm in store for a busy next couple of days. Aside from seeing patients, I'm having a "Girls Night Out" tomorrow night with one of my co-workers. She is a very conservative ultra-Orthodox Jew who is quite a bit older than me, but she's fun to be around and I really enjoy her. We're going to see Brokeback Mountain, which is very intriguing. I'll be very interested to get her reaction of the gay cowboys. The movie was her choice, which is both cool and weird at the same time. Sam and I are getting together with one of my other co-workers Saturday night for Margaritas and Tacos. She's offered us her pull-out couch in the event that we get too drunk to take the subway. Hooray Mexican food!!!

Still loving the job, and loving what I do. I went to my first wake yesterday, which was awkward, a bit strange, and a great method of closure.

I also want to give a shout out (how very TRL) to my mom for sending us (finally!) a DVD of our rehearsal dinner and wedding. Sam and I really enjoyed watching it, especially reminiscing about being in Austin. Thanks mom!

A Night With the Piano Man

Okay, so this post is a couple of days late, but better late than later, right? So Sam and I headed to the "Garden" on Thursday evening to see Billy Joel. We had both had long days and to go to this concert began feeling like almost a burden rather than something really exciting. It's hard to get really excited about spending a night out when you just have to come home, go to sleep and get up and go to work the next morning. We half-contemplated selling our tickets outside of the venue and heading home. But for some reason, once we stood under the lights of the Garden marquis, we both got excited!

We headed inside to our nosebleed seats. I knew that we didn't have "good" seats, but I never would have guessed that we would be in the absolute LAST row! Luckily we were to the side of the stage and not directly across from the stage, which seemed much farther away. It was exciting. I've seen Billy Joel in concert with Elton John but there is something to be said for having tickets to night 3 of 12 (and counting) of his first solo tour in SEVEN years. And it's always nice to see an event at Madison Square Garden.

Billy played all of my favorite songs. He was funny and is amazingly talented. He's got a lot of energy for a 60+ year-old man. I was impressed. I sang to almost every song to the point that I was beginning to lose my voice. I'm so glad that we decided to go and didn't sell our tickets, as tempting as making $500 would have been.

I must give out thanks to my co-worker Karen, who doesn't read this (because my work people don't know I have a blog), for selling us her two extra tickets. What a memorable night!

We got home @ 11:30 pm or so (not too terribly late) and were able to get up easily the next morning.