I think these guys need to start hiding a little more than they have been. Its a little over a month before Thanksgiving and people might be thinking about that big dinner.

Me, I'm thinking about all the money I'm going to be making since I have to work Thanksgiving and the day after, which is all holiday pay at the U. Maybe I'll be able to get caught up on bills and get some in the bank for Christmas.

The days are getting shorter and the leaves are finally changing. Despite the predictions that fall color wouldn't be much this year, it seems the colors are brilliant. I'm hoping for a sunny day soon so I can get some pictures. The reds and oranges of the maples are gorgeous and hopefully the rain hasn't knocked down too many of the leaves. Maybe tomorrow the sun will shine.






The sun came out and I went out to the Langley Covered Bridge instead of looking for photogenic leaves. The bridge is down to a skeleton, barges under the steel, roof off, and the river has been dropped to accomplish the task. It sure looks strange. I'm not sure how deconstructing and reconstructing the bridge influences its historic value. But it is used for traffic so it needs to be safe.

Indian Summer

Beautiful days have followed days of rain. Today was an awesome fall day, no clouds in the sky, 80 degrees for a high temperature and looking to a night with crickets, frogs and 50's for good sleeping.

My friend Kim and I went to Shipshewana today for the last flea market trip of the year. At least I think it will be the last for the year. The vendors really start to disappear as the days get shorter and the temperatures get cooler. Its nice to not have to fight the crowds.

Follow up on Caitlin's purse theft last week, our car insurance won't cover the theft since there wasn't any damage to the car. So if the thief would've broken the window to take her purse, we wouldn't have to pay a dime.

The St. Joseph County Road Commission is tearing apart the Langley Covered Bridge to repair it. It looks pretty strange with only the 'skeleton' left. I have to go take more pictures of the process. The last time the bridge was refurbished was about 10 years ago. The work they are doing this time is supposed to last longer than 10 years. Come to think about it, the last time they worked on in was during fair week too, just like this time.

The end of the first month

Last week was the end of the first month of my new career at the Holden NICU at the University of Michigan. May I just say again for the hundreth time, I'm so very glad to be back. Everyone should be able to work at a job where they enjoy the work, their co-workers and the way people are treated overall.

Last week was voting time for the new contract between the University and nursing. It was ratified by the membership as of yesterday and for me this is good news as I will be getting a pay increase when all is said and done.

On the home front things have been a bit up and down. Caitlin had her purse stolen out of her car while at an apartment complex. She lost her camera (it had been a Christmas present), MP3 player, ATM card, debit card and spare set of car keys. I found out about the whole thing while riding the bus from the parking lot to get to work Tuesday morning. She was sobbing hysterically and I couldn't understand what she was saying. Me, I tried to stay calm enough to talk her down so I could find out what had happened. She still hasn't gotten her driver's license replaced but the bank stuff has been taken care of and nothing was taken from the accounts. Today she and I went and got a camera and MP3 player to replace the stolen. Hopefully she'll start keeping closer tabs on where her stuff is. I'm sure the purse won't get left in the car anymore.

The End of a veryyyyyy lonnnnngggggg week

Its now August 30. As you might have noticed, I started to write this a week ago and another very long week happened. The long awaited job at the University of Michigan has begun. Actual time spent sitting in lectures, 6 days; time in the unit doing modules, 8 hours; time taking care of a patient, 12 hours. That should end up close to 9 days worth of stuff. It may sound awful but its really been great.

The number of things that have changed in the 7 months that I've been gone are few, the number of new nurses that have started in that time are many. I've gotten soooo many hugs and smiles! Its such a good feeling to know that I am wanted and welcomed back. I'm back home so to speak.

I have 6 days off and return to work Thursday evening. That's the beginning of 5 nights in a row and also the start of the real unit orientation. Wish me luck.

Counting down to the new beginning

So I'm counting down the days until I start my new job.  Not counting today I have 3 days off before I start.  August 18, 2008 will be the new beginning.  I will officially be a Holdenette.  What that means is I will be working as a permanent staff member, not a traveler, in the Holden NICU at the University of Michigan.  What it means to me is being welcomed, valued and wanted.  After spending a year there working as a traveler I felt very much at home.  But I had it in my head that I really wanted to work at Spectrum Health in Grand Rapids in the Neonatal Unit at Butterworth.  I was able to work there as a traveler for 6 months and realized that although it is closer to home and I could be home everyday, it wasn't a good fit for me.  Don't get me wrong, the physical space is roomier than at the U, its a bigger unit, 90 bed instead of the 40 that Holden is, but the people that work there are not the welcoming group that the gals in Holden are.  So maybe since they weren't very traveler friendly and for the first 6-8 weeks didn't really talk to me much I started off with a bad impression of the place.  And don't get me wrong, there are a lot of very nice people that work there.  Since myself and the 4 other travelers that were there were working on the level II side most of the time, we rarely worked with some of the staff.  It got very boring feeding and changing babies for 6 months, but if they want to pay more money to people with more experience than many of the regular night staff I guess that's their choice.  What a waste of resources.  But now I'm sounding bitter, maybe so, but I did get a lot of reading done while I was there!  So it all works out.

Back to the new job.  Being in Grand Rapids made me realize exactly how much I missed the work and the people at Holden.  So in May I applied for a staff job in Holden and got it.  I feel as though I will be going home.  Sure there were some things I didn't get to do while I was there as a traveler but I'll get to do them now.  No I won't be able to be home everyday any more, but I will be happy at work and than means so much to me.

I have decided to make the jump into blogging. The timing just seemed right. I'm going to be starting a new job in a couple of weeks and thought this could be a way to document the experience. We'll see how it all works out.

There have been a lot of changes in the past couple of years, but I won't go into all of that right now. Let's just say its been an interesting journey and I've met a lot of great people along the way. I've learned things about myself and actually have become proud of me. I've done new things that would never have been possible 2 years ago. I hope to continue to learn and grow, you're never too old for that.

Caitlin and I went to Mackinaw City and Island the end of July. While Caitlin was browsing through the expected brochures of things to do in the area she found one for parasailing. Now who would have thought of parasailing up there? She decided that she wanted to do it since you have to try everything. So, with her prompting, we looked into it and decided to do a tandem sail that Monday evening. She screamed and at least acted like she was scared. Me, who really hadn't wanted to do it in the first place, I loved it. I'll do it again and have them take us up 600ft. the next time instead of the 300 ft. we did.