Dear Bathrobe,

I love you so much. Opening you this Christmas gave me instant joy and warmth. You are so cozy, and so soft, and wearing you keeps me warmer than wearing a blanket. Getting out of bed in the mornings isn't quite so bad when I can put on.

But I think it's time we spend some time apart. You see, when I put you on, I never want to take you off. Then I don't get dressed. And then I don't do my hair or makeup. It is currently 4:07 PM and I am still wearing you. I'm putting off my errands because I do not want to lose your soft fluffy touch. This is a problem.

Please don't be offended. We've had some really great times together. But I need to enjoy my winter wardrobe while it's still winter. My sweaters miss me. And frankly, you need to be washed. Maybe once you smell good again we can spend more time together.

Love,
Robyn

Blackthumb

For anyone who knows me, I have a bit of a rocky past when it comes to plants. At BYU I took a class called "Living With Plants 100" thinking it would teach me basics on how to keep plants alive. I was sorely mistaken when the class was more of a biology lesson in how plants grow. Anyway, for this class, I had an assignment to grow something or tend to a plant. My grade depended on keeping a plant alive. So I did what any typical blackthumb would do. I went to Wal Mart and got a Chia (yes, ch-ch-ch-chia) Herb Garden. Pots, soil, seeds, everything was included in this kit, so I thought I had an automatic A in this class. After all, who can screw up a chia herb garden?! Well friends, I can. Case in point:

The chives were semi successful. . . until they started wilting. They were my most successful crop.

I was really excited for the basil, but it too had the same fate as the chives.



The parsley didn't even sprout at all.


But perhaps the cilantro was the most disastrous. It looks so incredibly pathetic.

Anyway, I'm going through a phase right now where I really want to grow a vegetable garden, and if I feel brave enough, maybe throw a few herbs in there too. Given my history though, I'm more than a little apprehensive. I ordered this book and I'm spending all of my time reading about gardening. I don't think my backyard has enough sunlight for me to successfully grow anything, so I'm contemplating a plot at the community garden. Does anyone have gardening advice or tips or suggestions? I'm in need of all the help I can get. Some days I get so excited planning a garden, other days I look back on these pictures and wonder why I even bother trying to grow anything.

I may have a hard time keeping plants alive, but my dog is still alive and kicking! That gives me hope. :)

RN vs. RT

This weekend I learned something very important about myself: I hate phlegm. I find it revolting. My gag reflex starts to act up when someone starts coughing and I can just hear all of the mucus in their lungs prepare for a journey to the world.

Ugh.

Nasty.

Grossness to the extreme.

I was telling my preceptor about how I need to get over this problem (in the ICU half of the patients are on ventilators and need to be suctioned. Ewwww, suctioning out phlegm) and he told me this story.

Way back in heaven, there was a group of people who were going to become Respiratory Therapists and Nurses when they came to earth. They were standing together in a room talking, when the room slowly starts to fill up with poop (never mind about the weirdness of poop existing in heaven). Eventually the room starts to fill up with poop so that it is up to their necks. Into the room walks a patient on a ventilator who coughs up a huge loogie. All of the nurses duck to avoid it, while the RTs keep their heads above the poop and get a face full of snot.

Yes, I'm definitely a nurse. I'd rather clean up poop any day than deal with loogies.

And I'm so grateful there are plentiful RTs on the ICU to clean up all that crap. (Maybe a pun was intended. . . . .)

15 for 15

15 random facts for January 15th:

1- We purchased an obscene amount of candy canes with the after Christmas sales.

2 - Dinner needs to be cooked tonight, any ideas?

3 - Chloe's 3 tennis balls for Christmas have now diminished to 0.75. She has chewed through two of them just this week and is starting to attack the last one.

4 - I'm sick of cleaning up slobbery tennis ball fuzz.

5 - Due to random fact number 3, we purchased a bone that measures from my elbow to just past my fingertips. And it's about as wide as my forearm too. We'll see how long it lasts.

6 - 105 days until I graduate. Excited? Yes. Plans after that? . . . . . . .

7 - I love the ICU! Or maybe I just love not writing care plans every day, walking up to a patient and completely poking him without feeling like a jerk, or having daily post conference.

8 - From my extensive experience in the ICU (not), I've concluded about half of the patients end up there by some freak accident that is completely not their fault.

9 - My time in the ICU has taught me that I never want to leave my house again.

10 - Then I look at how dirty my house is and I want to be anywhere but home.

11 - Pink lady apples and blueberries are my favorite fruits right now. But that may just be because they were on sale.

12 - There is always room in my freezer for tater tots.

13 - I'm in charge of New Beginnings for the YW in a few weeks. I should probably get started on that.

14 - I've lived through 2 winters in Oregon and still don't own a pair of rain boots.

15 - Tyler and I are addicted to farkle.