The Sew Happy Stitcher: Confused and Busy

Hello All! I have been staying a bit confused about things of late. I think running like a crazy woman with my hair on fire almost entirely from the start of Christmas break to now (there were approximately 2-3 days of blissful, relative rest in December) has left me incredibly discombobulated. Ah, apparently talking to myself awoke the Queen- my normally docile and silent cat just sent a despaired meow my way! Now she is sitting next to the laptop purring; she like to help me type, so I'll blame any typos or oddness (excessive oddness for me) on her! OK, scapegoat established, on to what I was saying. There are many instances, but yesterday I sometimes knew it was Monday and other times thought it was Tuesday, but regardless, I believed the following day to be Wednesday. I'm not entirely certain I should be allowed to drive, function as an adult, or take care of other people, but here we are! At least I have today off to catch up on QAing, schoolwork (it never ends! 😫😧😧- Her Royal Highness wants credit for the emojis), and maybe decluttering the place. I would love to get at least my room looking more like a somewhat organized human lives here instead of a displaced troll. My hopes and wishes are excessive, I know!

Anyway, they are calling for Snowmageddon tommorow and over the next few days. Fortunately, Snowmageddon is the much friendlier cousin of Icemageddon, our usual winter visitor. Unfortunately, Icemaggedon is tentatively planning on visiting her cousin. Apparently the two have not visited in quite some time and Icemaggedon needs a new pair of shoes for some Unknown Winter Event looming in the future. Maybe Icemaggedon will get caught in traffic? One can always hope!

Asides from crazy and confused, things haven't been terrible. School is school. At this point, we all appear to be very apathetic regarding it. I'm feeling less certain about being a nurse. I know I'll learn a lot, and the hours are much, much better than being a full time medic, but I don't enjoy it as much most of the time. It doesn't help that I received my assignment for the preceptor-led 120 hours of clinical, which will also extend 6 months past graduation for me (I took a position in a new program that hospital is doing; I will be paid for the 120 hours of clinical, which they will count as part of my onboarding, in exchange for 6 months of work). I was hoping for, and requested ICU (their ER stinks), but I got a Step Down Unit instead. Step Down is somewhat better than normal med-surg (God bless all med-surg nurses, clinicals have taught me that it is not compatible with my will to live, especially if done long term), but it is definitely not ICU. I'm one of those weird people that does better if trained for the position I intend to work in long term- if I move to ICU later (which I deeply hope will happen), I'll have a hard time not reverting back to the Step Down stuff on the things that differ between the two. Inconvenient, but apparently my brain was not wired for my convenience. I do have a friend that is going to talk to her supervisor to see if there is any way I could transfer to the ICU after graduation. The folks on the floor I've been assigned to were nice in the summer when my group did clinical there, but it is not work that filled me with an abundance of joy. (There was still fun and cool people- patients and employees- to meet with, but still not the type of work I love.)

I've also been working on boarding practice and new-hire ride time for the ambulance service I got hired at. Boarding appears to be terrifying. We get some practice, but my group is huge, so not a lot, before we actually board. If you pass, yay, you get to work! If you fail, you either get sent through again, or lose your job. So, no pressure. Ride-times have been really good though, I like the two preceptors I have had so far. Boarding practice has been very informative, but I don't have much time left for practice, and definitely am not doing things their way yet. 5 1/2 years experience is great for a lot of things, but makes it hard to change some things.

I'm still QAing (from home!) at my original company. I'll eventually pick up a shift, but their new schedule (48 on, 96 off) with the 3 full time trucks makes it hard, especially with my limited schedule. They do page out last minute a lot, but I can't do last minute, my entire month is planned beforehand right now. If I mess that up, its for school or family at this point.

Not much stitching here lately. I received some projects for Christmas that are in my Really Want to Stitch list, but no time just yet. I did finish the heart project. I can't remember if I shared it here or not, so here is a picture. Fortunately, it hid my mistakes well!

Other than that, not much else to report. The furry children are mad I don't have much time for them, but they are making do, and help me study quite a bit!