diy part 2

Today we did a number of things wedding related, even though it was Austin's birthday. He even was a dear and sort of told me it was fun (he said I wasn't dragging him around.) We went to the party rental place and placed our orders for chairs/tables/linens, etc. And then we went to 3, yes 3, Dollar Trees for stuff for serving ware & centerpieces.

Here is what I got:


These little 3" high vases and tea candles.



I'm going to wrap around lavender to mimic the thing I found on Pinterest:


The lavender bunches are only $10.50 for five, and I LOVE the smell of lavender, I'm just worried that since they are dried they won't be as vibrantly purple as I want them to be.

So I'm going to be on the look out for lilac bushes in the area. I think it is sort of early for lilacs, but I love them and they would act similarly. Alternatively, I might look at Michaels and go the fake flower route. Either way, I'm not "wedded" to anything.

I've been making that same bad pun for weeks.

The other centerpiece I'm going to use is with taller vases (that I also got at the dollar store) with some green rock/marbles/whatever they're called, and then some green candles. Keeping it exceedingly simple, but I think it looks nice enough.


When we were renting our supplies, we got these long white plates to put little munchies on. But it's white on white on white, and so the green beads will add some necessary color.


That's about it. We ended up getting some plastic cutlery, plastic cups, and napkins too. All in all we spent about $40 and that's for all the centerpiece stuff (except flowers) and all serveware, so I'm feeling pretty awesome about that!

Week in Review.

This week has been most noticeable for learning a new trick at work, which included giving me permission electronically to do it. As I am receiving faxes and putting those documents in the charts next to everything should have a physician signature on it. If I received it and it doesn't, I now have the ability to mark it as deficient and electronically let the physician know it needs to be signed. As opposed to the nurses printing out the documents, getting a signature and re-scanning it into the chart. The process isn't all that impressive, but it does have a fairly large effect on efficiency and the completeness of the chart. So that's kinda of exciting... makes me feel important when I do it. (Which, I've only had to like, 4 times this week..)

Everything else is going well. I'm running for help much less often with the phone, usually now it's either a new problem I haven't encountered yet or I'm just double checking before I do something. I am now starting to keep track of what I do each day. How many phone calls, how many faxes, how many people walk in, how many QA's I do, etc. I'm also supposed to keep track of how long it takes me to do those things..but that's kinda hard to keep track of my day minute by minute. So I've come up with an excel chart with each of my job duties and I've divided it up from 7:30-10 10-12:30 and 1-4. While that's not exactly minute by minute, it still shows what I'm focusing on most during those hours, I may not have done a lot of QA in the afternoon, but their were a lot of phone calls and faxes, etc. I was asked to do this so the manager can justify keeping my position a position. I'm not worried about my status as an employee so much as I'm sure I could easily change to a new position, but this is for the position itself.

Valentine's Day was fun this year, Ed came to surprised me at work with flowers and chocolate. It was the first time he'd been in and seen my office at work since I started so it was fun having him there. He got to meet a couple of coworkers who were very impressed with him. After he left I was sitting there thinking "I should at least get him a card or something..." and came up with getting him a card and one of his favorite big bags of jerky and grabbed a soda for him too. Jerky is to guys as chocolate is to women, right? Nothing fancy, but still fun. I took it to him at work as well.

Speaking of his work, I've started going in to swim in the evenings and Ed is attempting to teach me proper strokes. I've only gotten the chance to go in twice so far, but hopefully this coming week I will be able to get in the pool more. I'm not so great at it. I can't breath and perform a some-what proper stroke at the same time. I can get the strokes but loose it when I move my head to breathe. Or if I focus on breathing properly, I lose the stroke. I've got a lot of breathing exercise to focus on, such as actually exhaling while underwater, and inhaling quicker when I do come up for air. My instinct is to take a deep breath when I come up but that's not really the goal. I think at this point it would help if I focus on one stroke too, probably the free style. I was trying the butterfly out on Wednesday which was getting really frustrating. I was hard on myself already from feeling like I was making a lot of mistakes at work (which I wasn't really..just dwelling on a few I did make) and then trying one of the hardest strokes I just felt like a failure all day in general. So.. hopefully I can keep this up and will should eventually start improving.

Ed is currently in Springfield at a swim meet. He's on his own with just two kids from the swim team to keep track of. The head coach, Heather, is with some of the older kids at a meet in Eugene. I stayed home to go dress shopping with Connie and the other girls. I got a dress for their wedding.. but I was the only one who got a dress and I guess we are all going to Portland next weekend to shop. I do still need another dress for Amy's wedding, so I'm glad we're going again, but I wish I had gone to the swim meet with Ed.
I do have the rest of the spring & summer meet schedule, there are 11 more meets, 6 of them are local, 2 of the remaining out of area are 3 days which I am going to try and get Friday off so I can go. Most of the out of area ones, and a few of the local ones Ed is on his own at those as well with the younger kids while Heather at different meets with the older kids. The last one is a camping trip meet on the coast. I'm really looking forward to that one, there is a big BBQ planned and it sounds like a lot of fun.

Not a whole lot else going on. Last month I took advantage of a photography special and booked Ed & I another session for this month. Still waiting for picture to drift in but here is one of my favorites so far.

I booked our session at the elementary school where we first met. Our photographer is another young high school student, truly has the cheapest prices in town. She was super fun and cute, and I actually got Dan & Connie to book her for their wedding after the other photographer moved and canceled on them. At the same time the person I found to do their cake told me she was unavailable that weekend and at least she recommend me to someone else who was available. Wedding planning chaos! They are so close it's getting a little stressful, but it also means they are nearly here and I'm super excited for them both.

diy Wedding Part 1

If one thing is true, it is that I am not a crafter. I do not sew (though I'd love to), I do not knit (also like to), I don't know the difference between craft paint and gorilla glue. The closest I come to being crafty is when I cook... and that's a stretch.

But I wanted to save money on my wedding AND add character to our party. I didn't want to have to buy candy jars and cake stands and centerpieces. So I decided to make them.

I'm happy to say this is the first time I've actually used Pinterest. I pinned a few things over the past few months and finally got around to making them!

I've been saving jars and whatnot for a few months now (against Austin's wishes, certainly). And I was finally ready to get to work a few weeks ago. 

I started by going to the Dollar Tree for candlesticks, Home Depot for terra cotta pots, and Michael's for craft spray paint and glue and paper for the cake stand. 

I got to work - I was VERY impressed with the way THIS SPRAYPAINT worked, particularly on glass. I originally bought acrylic paint because I'd heard it was very difficult to paint glass. But then it wasn't the right color (no picture EDIT: the very first picture has the first type of paint i used -- it was more of a forest green), and you could see the brush strokes, so instead I bought lime green spraypaint, which I like much better. 

The finish on it is GREAT! 

Once the paint was dry I glued on the jars I wanted to use. They are smaller than the ones in the Pinterest photo, but I figure the candy station won't be the draw & I can always refill the jars as the night goes on if necessary, plus they were the jars I had. 

They look great, yeah!?

The cake stand was MUCH simpler because I used the spray paint the first time around and terra cotta is pretty much the easiest thing to spray paint.

I did try and add the paper to the bottom like in the tutorial, but I couldn't get it on there smooth, and I couldn't cut a nice round circle. So instead, I'm going to get white paper doilies and cut them around to fit the base and we can put the dough-nuts on that. I'm feeling quite proud of myself.

Part 2 will be centerpieces. I think that's all there is left to do!!! :D

Happy Thoughts

Sometimes life is poopy. Like the last week. No reason to feel differently this week than last, and yet... I do. So I'm going to find 10 5 things to make me smile. :D (I wanted to post it and it already took me a few weeks to compile my list sooooo....)

#5

Dory. I was going to do just the "I will call him Squishy, and he will be mine..." bit, and then I was going to do the "Just keep swimming..." but then I forgot about the whale speak and so I watched this video and all was right with the world.

#4

 Shit like this makes me cry EVERY SINGLE TIME. I basically broke down at work today reading the dumb Yahoo! article, and then again just now posting it here & thinking about what a great kid her parents raised & that they were totally freaking awesome in response --> stupid awesomeness that makes me cry  [I know I'm only supposed to add happy things, but I have to juxtapose ^^ with >>this<<, which I also read today, because it made me sad & angry]

#3 

cats in suits. obviously. 

obviously. if not sliiiightly frightening. moving on.

#2

Chappelle Show - on netflix.

#1

And this. Whee! 57 days!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

Probably going to do Hawaii for our honeymoon (in September). We were thinking Mexico, but for the time of year, Hawaii will probably be nicer. I know, first-world problem.

Workin' Girl

 As I hinted in my last post, I do have good news! I've spent the last two weeks WORKING at the hospital here. I was the last of the new hires to squeeze into the paperwork session on the 18th and was able to start working on the 21st. Even after all the paperwork was done and I had worked my first 8..16 hours I was afraid to say I finally got a job in fear that it would be like a dream and suddenly disappear. But by the end of the first week I was feeling a little better as I ended up with my own desk (which is essentially the front desk of the office) and was given a phone with the main office extension so.. those are signs that they don't intend to change their mind about me right?

My desk. (It's L shaped, with my screens in the curve of the L)

I'd say the phone is the most challenging part of my current job duties. I am able to handle about 50% of the calls with no problems, but the other 50% send me running for help. I've got a phone list of extensions and such, and while I know the common ones and such there are still situations were it's faster for me to go ask someone was a persons extension is than to look it up. On the plus side of the phones, I do get to transfer most of the calls to another department, which was the first extension number I memorized. And really... I get less than 30 calls a day, so I can't complain too much.

My other main job duty is to take care of the fax queue for surgery pre-admissions. Which really is just checking to see if the patient has an account already or not, and if so properly indexing the faxed over documents into their account. Sorting out the titles and types of documents was a little challenging the first week, but it was a lot easier the second week. That doesn't take a whole lot of time either plus, I know I'm not the only one checking the fax throughout the day. Which is nice for when something comes over and I can't for the life of me read the physician's handwriting of the patient's name. I just leave it in there for someone to interpret.

I've also been learning the office mail. Most of it goes to one of two places and is fairly easy. But usually at least once a day I have to open it up to find out what it is, or look up where an outside physician works so I know what mailbox to put it in.

Besides all that, which really only takes up minutes at a time of my day, I spend my day doing quality assurance. Checking hard copy documents,  one at a time to make sure they are in the electronic records before destroying the hard copy. It's mind numbingly dull for the most part, but besides the necessary need of these QA checks, the whole point is for me to learn my way though the electronic chart and know what kind of documents are in it and where to find information when I am doing other jobs in the future.

My end-of-the-week paperclip collection.

I have what I'm sure is an unobtainable goal for this...getting caught up as I'm currently working on discharges from November, but I really hope I get to move on to something more interesting soon. I also HATE the fact that in the fax queue are "pre-admits" from December. I want those documents out of there! (that's my OCD speaking.) But overall, it's all still very exciting, to actually be working and in the field I went to school for. I wasn't sure it was going to happen for a while there.

I've got some great perks of being a hospital employee. We have the cafeteria with a pasta and pizza area, usually a burrito and grill area, and the daily specials, a salad bar and deli, with side options such as fruit, yogurt, desserts, frozen yogurt, etc. Oh, and two soup options. PLUS we have a cafe downstairs that also serves soups and sandwiches, coffees, smoothies, breakfast sandwiches, muffins, doughnuts, etc. And I get an employee discount that is close to half off. I actually ate three meals a day all week for the first time in who knows how long.

My new favorite thing in life is oatmeal. Most days the cafeteria has "artisan oatmeal" full of bran, quiona, dried bananas  and other good for you things. I paid a dollar something for it, took me 45 minutes to eat it all, and I wasn't hungry at lunch time. So I had a small salad for lunch, and paid like two bucks. I think on Friday's, the main breakfast option is an oatmeal bar, with various toppings. (They also have eggs and sausage, bacon, etc.) The cafe has the oatmeal bar every day, but also a parfait bar every morning. (hellooo summer breakfast!) I've never had a job that fed me so well! So yeah... hospital food. Can't complain!

We get a bunch of other discounts around town too, some local coffee places, car dealerships, even an apartment complex around here. Haven't had a chance to look into all those options. Also, one day a week in the summer the Farmers Market parks itself on the hospital lawn so it should be easier for me start exploring that each week.

I work with one of my classmates, another who was recently hired has been training in our office but doesn't regularly work there. A few others we see periodically as their work in other nearby hospitals brings them into ours for training and meetings. It's kinda fun to see all of us out of the classroom and in the field! I know almost everyone in the office now, and where they sit (the mail sorting helps with that..) just need to figure out their extensions now. And the people who work from home... I've had a few calls for them and they don't have an extension nor am I allowed to give out their number so that's interesting.

The only downside (so far) is that my hours are 7:30-4, which is actually great, since there were considering me for a graveyard shift (and while I would have taken it, I'm glad to not have that one!) But that means I get up at 6 am in order to get ready and drive into town (although the early morning drive is pretty pleasant.. not like it's rush hour in Sacramento or anything! :P) and when I get home around 4:45 Ed has been at work for about an hour already. He doesn't get home until about 7 pm or so. And then I try to be in bed around 9 so I can get up the next morning. Which means I see Ed for about 2 hours a day during the week. Weekends are precious time together now.

And we spent last weekend in Vancouver at a swim meet.. which was time together, but it was time together in a very crowed swimming pool while Ed was working for 8-9 hours. It was chaotic, but still a fun weekend out of the house doing something different. I got to get to know a few of the other kids on the swim team, and realized one of the younger ones Ed teaches is one I know from the preschool I worked in 4 years ago.

My swim meet view.

So anyway, that's what I've been up to. Ed has been trying to get me to go to lap swim with him the evenings, and I've been thinking about it, I want to, but haven't actually gone yet. (I also have access to a gym at the hospital, which I can use anytime, any day.) So now that I'm finally eating better, time to add in the daily activity. (ESPECIALLY now that I sit at desk all day. Which is different than sitting in bed or on the couch all day...) We did get to run around yesterday and spent a bit of time together. Got haircuts (I just cut my bangs), had lunch, did a little bit of shopping and then took a nap. Yay sleep!