Scribblings

Turn Around Shift

I met Billy's friend Kyle today at the allergist's office. I was there with Heidi so she could get her weekly shots (yippee). She leaned over and whispered that Kyle and his mother had just come in and sit down. I'd heard about Kyle but hadn't met him and so I introduced myself and we began talking. It seems poor Kyle has been suffering from some plaguish form of sinus infection that will not clear up. He's been on all sorts of antibiotics, none of which worked for long. He had a workup to see if he was allergic to anything and he's not! He had to have a sinus CT scan and the doctor found that he has all kinds of polyps and what have you that prevents his sinuses from draining.

So while I was sitting wondering why on earth the poor kid hasn't had surgery yet, I listened sympathetically to the mom telling me that one day he feels good and goes to school. The next, he is totally wiped out and unable to wakeup. He'll sleep for 10-24 hours and wake up feeling fine again. This has been going on since January and he hasn't been in school a full week since.

I'm amazed that this has dragged on that long. When I took Heidi to the allergist, he had her go for the same CT scan but they determined that surgery wouldn't help her. All of that was done within the first few visits.

Meanwhile, Kyle is freaking out because school is over in 3 weeks and he has finals. He can't catch up and is way behind. For a kid like Kyle, this is serious business. He is #6 in his entire class -- or he was. He was also due to get a promotion at the movie theater ... but he's had to bail out and call in sick a lot.

Speaking of the movie theater, I realized with dismay that if Kyle called in sick then we would need to drive our tired butts out later to pick Billy up after work. Not only that, but Billy's been scheduled to cover for someone else who is out from 8:30 to whenever tomorrow. This will be after working until 12:30 this evening.

I remember the turn-around shift. I used to do that, too. On Fridays, I'd work from 4 to 1 a.m. On Saturday mornings, I would work from 8:30 - 5. I could do it because I was young but it did mess my sleep cycle up for the weekend. Once I got home after work Friday (around 2 a.m. usually) I would be wide awak and not able to sleep. So I would be up until 3 or 4 and have to get up again at 7:30.

I would be barely awake and I'd be there swaying as I made my pot of coffee. Then I'd practically gulp the whole pot down and try to get some food down as well. I also tried a shower to try and wake me up. I'd feel better, clean, but not awake. It was almost as bad as having a hangover except there was no headache. I'd get in the car and somehow get myself to work and drag myself miserably to my chair. I'd feel like nodding off by noon time. People would talk to me and the first few hours I'd just look at them, not even able to do much more than grunt at them. Mostly I just wished everyone would leave me alone and let me sleep!

Not fun! Well, this will look good on Billy's record ... pitching in to help out more than once now.

There are lots of fun new memes:

Weekly DV:

if you had one minute to do, say, ask, scream, criticize or show something, do it.

I don?t understand why my kids never stick together or help each other out at home. If you ask one to pick up something, right away they?ll say ?That?s not mine!? and they don?t want to put it away. It?s like it would be a criminal act to do something nice for a brother or a sister. The girls are especially famous for doing that stuff. Why do they find helping each other to be such a threat or such a terrible thing to do? I don?t get it! It doesn?t make any sense to me. Yeah! Now I feel better!

Friday Foofah:

Ingredients
1. Choose upto 5 ingredients from the following list, then describe what you'd make using them (preferably edible!) :
Butter
Sultanas
Tomatoes
Nutmeg
Coriander
Eggs
Salt
Chicken
Oil

I would make a totally delicious but also totally unhealthy oven fried chicken using eggs, salt, chicken, oil and butter

2. What dish do you make best? Include the recipe!

I make lots of dishes that taste really good. The trouble with including a recipe is that I make it a little different each time. A basic chili recipe:

2 lbs ground beef
2 big cans of kidney beans
3 cans of whole or crushed tomatoes
some red wine
onions
peppers
mushrooms
Italian seasoning

I put the ground beef, onions, peppers & mushrooms into a frying pan until the ground beef is brown. Then I throw it into a crockpot and add all the other ingredients. I cook it on slow for like 6 hours or so. But I don?t measure anything precisely and I?m likely to add other stuff like garlic.

3. What dish do you like best?

I like corned beef and cabbage best

4. Favorite place to eat out?

Prospector?s, especially for their breakfast buffet

5. Atkins - miracle diet or a health disaster waiting to happen?

Well, for the short term it works. Long term: could be a health disaster for people like me at risk for clogged arteries. Studies now show that in the long run, the low carb diets aren?t that much more successful than other diets.

Weekend Wonderings:

1. Would you say that you're happy with yourself the way you are?

Mostly ? I?m not perfect and I know it.

2. If you could change one thing about yourself (bodily or personality-wise) what would it be and why?

I would change my weight so that I?d be healthy and not at high risk for heart attack, stroke, diabetes and other debilitating or deadly things

3. Are you the kind of person who always puts others first, or do you concentrate on making yourself happy?

I mostly put other people first. Then I come to my senses for a while and do things for me.

Friday Five:

1. If the world were to suddenly end right now, what do you wish you would have done?

published a best selling novel

2. How many times do you hit the snooze button before getting out of bed?

None because I don?t have a snooze button!

3. What cartoon do you enjoy watching from the present (or the past)?

I enjoy the Sniffles cartoons and the really old ones from WWII era

4. If you could go to any time and/or place in history, where/when would it be?

I would go in the present time to Hawaii. I wouldn?t go in the past because I might change something accidentally

5. If your life were a movie, what would it be rated and why?

It would be rated R because there would be love scenes in it. Lots of them. ;)