Minding My Own Business

Sometimes I sit around blog hopping on the internet and I think, "wow! so-and-so is super cool"! Depending on my mood, my admiration of others can quickly turn into feelings of inadequacy. And while there are many great bloggers leading awesome existences, I take care to remind myself that there is plenty of fabulous right here in Tennessee. So, here I am with some updates on my interactions with the world.

Joseph and I went to Santa Barbara recently. It was very beautiful. We ate lots of great food, replaced my antique underpants collection and attempted to surf.

I got lots of feet shots

That's as close to standing as I got

Santa Barbara Mission

USA's prettiest courthouse-Santa Barbara

We also located the last of the payphones

We of course have cell phones, so we used the pay phones as props.

Meanwhile, back at the homestead, we are keeping busy. As I mentioned previously, I left my nursing job in the ICU for a more laid back position in a recovery room. However, there's still a part of me that misses some of the drama of my previous jobs. So, through a staffing agency I'm working for I will be filling in at a small urban hospital. It's a non profit hospital that takes people regardless of their ability to pay. Being the only of it's kind in the city it gets a decently rough crowd of patients, which I like. Today was my hospital orientation and I found out they have a contract with the department of corrections and actually have a prison floor within the hospital! I have a big interest in corrections  nursing so I'm super excited for the opportunity to work on this floor. Another cool thing about this job is that they can float me to any floor and lately I've been craving some diversity. I feel like my itches will definitely be scratched at this place and the staff seems really down to earth and friendly. Case in point: As I was leaving the parking garage, I pulled up to the ticket window to pay. I was munching on a rice cake. The guy taking my ticket was like, "What is that? A rice cake? It looks good." 

"Sure is" I told him. I then offered him one from my sack of cakes and he took one. I like that.

On my way home, I stopped at the dump to do some recycling. Conveniently located next to the dump is the animal shelter. I knew I shouldn't go in, but I just wanted to hold a puppy, so I made the stop. I didn't find any puppies but I did find an adorable kitten named Claude. Claude and his litter mates were adorable but infested with fleas.

Claude almost made it home

 The shelter director told me that the lady who does all the cat baths was on vacation for a couple weeks. As you know, I love cleaning animals (and people) so I offered to wash his kittens. Joseph wouldn't let me take Claude home and I thought a little extra kitten time would do me good. And of course, I felt bad for the kittens. I cleaned the litter of kittens with blue Dawn dishsoap and it instantly killed their fleas. I felt great satisfaction as I washed the little suckers down the drain (the fleas, not the kittens) After the initial spray of water, the kittens were remarkably calm for their bubble baths. It was good clean fun for all. I may return over the weekend as it's kitten season and there are about 30 more flea bags needing a bath. 

Happy to be done

Defeat

That's all for now. That old Northeastern guy owes me a blog post, so be on the look out for that. I'll leave him some threatening messages this weekend to get the ball rolling.