A Busy Week

Well... I attended hospital orientation this past week for two days and I have to tell you, I am very impressed with my very community minded hospital. It spends an incredible amount of money on community outreach programs and it treats all patients with dignity whether they are a CEO or homeless. I am so in the right hospital! I found out Tuesday after orientation that I was actually scheduled to orient in the ER on Thursday and Friday; so much for getting some projects completed before I started work! I had planned on using the rest of the week to accomplish quite a but I have on my to do list, but that was not to be the case. Instead, I worked two 12 hour shifts, learned as much as I could, and dragged by butt out of bed at 0530 in the morning to report to work on time. I am a night shift person, mornings are not my thing, ugh. I have to do one more week (three 12 hour shifts) on days and then will go to nights, thank goodness! I have to say, I love my new ER and my new hospital, oh dark thirty or not! Yesterday I spent the better part of the day in my jammies, I played on the sewing machine, read, piddled around, and refreshed myself. I did line the felted purse Tabetha made and asked me to do something with. My machine had a fit trying to sew through two layers of knitting so I ended up sewing her side pockets on by hand but the lining (complete with a split pocket) came out quite good. I love the fabric I chose, the green in it is perfect and the glittery stitching adds just the right something!





Mark was given two VIP tickets to the county fair so we went today. VIP parking, lunch with the Board of Directors, and box seats to the horse races. Another free day of wonderful entertainment in sunny northern California! We spent not a dime today. We walked the fair and I was so thrilled to find it was a real county fair, livestock, jams and jellies, quilts, entertainment, crafts, and ribbons, lots of winners! There was a baby cow born just before we arrived at the livestock barn and mama was still cleaning the little one off when we saw it. We watched one horse race, something I have never seen before, and of course, it was the one race a horse got hurt on the back stretch. I was so busy worrying about the horse and jockey, I missed the entire rest of the race!



While we were at the fair, we did a toy drop for the Toy Society and we were like mother hens watching to see if anyone picked it up. We laughed at the people who were so totally oblivious to their surroundings that they walked past the stuffie, sometimes several times, without seeing it. One man picked it up, read the very clear TAKE ME HOME tag and put it back on the bench. A letter is included in the bag clearing explaining the concept, but maybe in these days and times, not everyone is trusting enough to accept a random act of kindness in the form of a cute stuffie! We're still deciding where the next drop will happen, but I know some will find their way into various parts of the hospital!