Mining for Awesome!

Today, I'm super-duper proud! Why? Well, yesterday I ran my very first adventure race, the Miner's Mayhem! 6km of mud and hills and obstacles!

I may not have been very speedy but Mike helped keep me going and once I scaled that last big wall I finished feeling supremely satisfed.

Now if only I could get the dirt out of my ears...

Nurse Ball, Pediatric RN

As many of you are aware, when it comes to nursing I love to work with kids. Since I've been in Sudbury, I've been able to find work on the pediatric unit at the general hospital. It's not nearly as "glamorous" as what I'd been doing in Vancouver but it's been very good for keeping my skills en pointe.

The unit it small (only 12 beds), but what makes this floor a healthy challenge is that I no longer care for children of a certain diagnosis (neurology/neurosurgery and general surgery) - this ward takes all sorts! Oncology patients, respiratory care, general medical (think: my kid has a high fever and has been extra sick for days). In fact, I seem to rarely see children coming from the OR! So I'm quickly expanding my breadth of knowledge. The other big leap for me is the (re) introduction of the responsibilty of inserting my own IV's! Previously, with BCCH being so big there was a happy little team of nurses who did all of the IV's for us. But now I'm plopped into a place where not only am I responsible for IV's on my floor, but occasionally Peds nurses get called to ER to insert IV's into children there!

<<insert panic here>>

But I am dead set on getting this one skill under my belt. A few weeks ago, a colleague let me do THIS:

that's a bonified IV, people!

And last week, a nice teenage boy (a regular on the unit) let me try my first attempt on him - a real live patient! Even better - I got the vein on the first try!

Yeah Life!

So despite some of my misgivings about the management of the ward and the tight financial belt (they don't provide baby wipes OR pens...how can they not provide us pens, when they help us do, like 80% of my job!?), I find myself quite happy to go to work. I'm learning so so so much every shift. I keep imaginging "One day, when I go back to Children's, I'm going to dazzle them with all of my learn-ed-ness! Plus I can do their IV!" Who knows if I'll get back there, but for now it's nice to think that this transition to a less-equipped, smaller ward has left me a more experienced, prepared nurse.

The happy in my day: On the right, you can see where I labelled my pen "BALL.S." I left it alone at the desk and when I came back someone had also labelled it "sac" "jewels" and "nuts." I felt like part of the team!!

Fancy Stratford Premiere!

Do you remember the time I read Shakespeare at wreck beach? Well, the time came for me to get to the fruits of my labour!

I was awarded my bounty - two tickets to the opening night and premiere of the 2013 Stratford Festival - early in May. I plotted my attack soon afterwards. Armed with two nights at a  supremely adorable B&B, 

a reservation at The Church, and plans for getting fancy, I drove the 5.5 hours from Sudbury to Stratford on May 26th.

Now, I wasn't able to find anyone to use my second ticket, but I was happy to give it to the couple who ran the B&B I was staying in. They were positively lovely, and frankly quite interesting. And they seemed to know everyone in town! They offered to accompany me to the theatre (they already had two tickets for themselves, so they gave one of their seats to a friend) and I was happy for it because they were able to point out all of the (Canadian) celebs at the premiere. Did I mention that Jack  taught yoga to the students of the Stratford convervancy? oh ya.

We spotted Peter Mansbridge, Stratfordian management and current acting company, and prima bellerina & Artistic director of the National Ballet of Canada Karen Kain. At intermission I breezed by her a few times. For the record, she was wearing (ballet) flats!

You'll have to excuse me. I was so busy people watching that I didn't get a single picture! Following the show, there was a cocktail party and the entire cast attended. It just affirmed my belief that Stratford is the happiest place on earth.

Greetings from the pipers!

The vainty inside my B&B room. This is how is looked the next morning - cough drops because I was getting over a cold, the jewels I bought at the antique mall...beautiful

cozy breakfast nook

Before my night out, I visited the Stratford Antiques Warehouse. It was a goldmine of awesome things, such as...

mug to commemorate the wedding of Fergie and Andrew

$240 Beatles mug

This clock-lamp. want.

Another weird mug. "In loving memory...." and there's the image of a man who's been hung!

Local dairy milk jugs

Antique hospital-style pee pots. THERE WERE TWO

That's One Tough Mudder!

Michael ran Tough Mudder Toronto in May! He ran with a small group of friends, and boy was I proud! The course looked pretty tough (from the spectator route, which included a chairlift ride, thank goodness), and they finished with a spring in their step.

...And it inspired me to try an adventure race of my own - I'm running the Miner's Mayhem in Sudbury tomorrow morning!

Pre-race. Cool as cucumbers!

getting muddy!

I managed to find them mid-course. Muddy, but still happy!

Post race, and the guys were chilled from all of that cold, muddy water. But still handsome!

Where's My Club Application Form?

Thanks, Ke$ha, for reminding me that even though I'm not thrilled to be getting older today, I am now eligible for membership into rock music's most infamous club....

...Club 27

Weird Weather

So on the day I landed in Sudbury (only about 2 weeks ago), it had snowed. Today, the lake is completely thawed, and I'm wearing red shorts and cute red peeptoes while puttering around town doing errands. This city obviously doesn't believe in seasonal transions (aka "spring") and prefers to jump directly from the dead of winter right into hot, hot summer!

I'm not complaining.

Somehow, Somewhere, We'll Find a New Way of Living....

Ok, so this isn't the "check out my new home" exposition. What this is, is the "I'm tried of unpacking and finally have my computer up and running therefore I should waste some time blogging" exposition. I've taken a few photos on the new smartphone, but haven't bothered to upload them yet, so I've decided to go in to the "March" folder and show you all of the great things that happened before I left Vancouver....

My parents came to visit in late February for Easter. I finally got to tick "Steveston" off of my Vancouver bucket list. Mike was right, it isn't terribly exciting, but it was a lovely sunny day, and worth the drive just to check it out...

Dad checks out an exhibit at the cannery...

Sun. Perfect day for red peep-toes.

 Despite my belief that my short stay on 3R (the neurosciences and surgery unit at BC Children's) would allow me to slink of quietly, there were some wonderful ladies who organized an impomptu potluck for me on my last day of work. (It was actually a night shift, though I wouldn't argue about sweets at 3am).

I brought a cake. The chocolate cake from Whole Foods is a favourite of mine, and it's cheap, too! ($16!)

 Though I couldn't always say that 3R was the unit I was destined for, I was definitely sad to leave the hospital. For all of it's quirks, it was a great place to learn and the team was stellar. After my very last shift, I stayed up (until 10:30, when it opened) so I could go for breakfast at the Flying Pig in Yaletown, a short walk from my home. Eggs Benny and a mimosa. Delicious. I was a titch worried that I might get shunned because I showed up in clothes only appropraite for  slumming it in your home when you feel like death, but the waiter commented that he did like my red socks - a pair that I had knit myself! Worries abated.

 Because I couldn't leave this town without a proper goodbye to friends, I held a "house-cooling" party. The best 4 people who could have shown up, did. They cleaned out my pantry exquisitely, drank out the liquor cabinet, and we all opened up the Tickle Trunk for some excellent impromptu costuming. Stellar!

Callyn as "the Tacky Talent Agent"

Mike as "Mike," Brennen as "Tranny Captain Planet," and Rae as "Cher"

No Costume Ball would be complete without a "How many friends can you fit in the tub?" contest!

I'm going to miss this city. For years I've been saying that I was just going to live in Vancouver for a little while to get my city sillies out, but that I didn't picture myself living there forever. I still think this is true, but I think I've still got plenty of city sillies in me yet....

Until next time....