Stuff

If this is Saturday, this must be a work-related blog entry.

Sure enough, I'm at work. It's just after 3:00 a.m. I should lay off the caffeine about now, but I don't want to. So I'm having a cup of half-caf (half decaf, half regular). It gives me something to sip on.

I've finished the work that I absolutely have to do on my shift and I even did a little bit of extra stuff. Now I have a few hours left in my shift. I was reading patient histories, but there is only so much of that that I can do at once. The kids are only admitted if they are homicidal or suicidal and most of them don't get this way by accident. It's awful to read hour after hour about their histories, so I have to take it in short bursts and do something in between to keep from getting overwhelmed. Such is the nature of this work.

I slept most of the day while listening to episodes of Northern Exposure. One of them was one of my favorites: Ed, in his role as a shaman, goes to fight The Demon of External Validation and of course he gets his ass beat. (Turns out that The Demon of External Validation is a pretty potent demon. Who knew?)

I did have Friday off, but I didn't do much except sleep. I'm still in the midst of the usual winter doldrums. (Our idiot "president" isn't helping what with his stupid efforts to get us into a war that he think will help him get elected. And don't get me started on the fact that he called Putin before he let Congress know. I mean, we all know he's Putin's puppet--Hillary warned us of that before the election--but even so, his cult members will still vote for him. I hope someone spikes the Kool-Aid, Jonestown-style, at their next evangelical meeting.)

So that's my rant. I could go on and on, but I won't.

So what am I hoping to get done on my days off? Well, more sleep, for one. I also want to start working on my quilt again. There are lots of ideas floating around in my head, but I have yet to actually sit down and work them out in fabric. I want to try the raw-edged applique technique to add shadowy figures to my 80s pink and baby blue quilt. (I need to get some pictures up of that one, fer sure. Totally.)

I also started doing some minor--very minor--decluttering in the bathroom. I tossed out a few things and re-organized about a third of the baskets that we use to store stuff, toiletries and stuff. Stuff like that. I want to go through the other two-thirds and just get rid of a bunch of stuff.  Stuff, stuff, stuff.

I also need to read some of the books that I want to bring into work. After that last one that was a bust, I think I should continue to be fairly careful about the other books. (One of them is a copy of the first Harry Potter book, which I know is okay because practically every cottage has a copy already--at least the ones where it hasn't walked out the door with a patient.)

And I need to clear off my desk, yet again. I don't actually use my desk anymore, but it somehow attracts varying amounts and types of detritus. I still have schoolbooks piled up on top and on top of those is where I park my things as I come home (my keys, wallet, badge, work-related things) and next to that is my computer and pens and pencils and scissors and art supplies and bills and mail and notes and office supplies, and since I also use it as a kind of nightstand, there's always water, lotions and potions, makeup and makeup samples....just everything.

It's about 4:30 in the morning and I just ate my dinner (a breakfast burrito from Blakes--carne adobada, hashbrowns, cheese, and red chile. I want another soda, but it's five a.m. (I was up with a patient just now) and I know I shouldn't have another soda. I am also having major sugar cravings. I could eat some candy that I keep in my pocket for sugar crashes, but I think I won't do that. The last thing I need to do is to go on some major sugar binge. Maybe I'll distract myself with some quilting videos.