Olive Juice

What a great weekend! Not only was it nice to have a break from work, but it was on an actual weekend... wow! :) It's tough to blog when I work a few shifts in a row, so I haven't written much this week. I did 3 twelve hour shifts in a row (Wed, Thu, Fri), which was intense as always but not too bad. It's strange to think about how I put in a whole "work week" in 3 days rather than 5, but it's a helpful illustration when I try to explain to people why I am so exhausted afterwards! And why I am pretty much incommunicado during that time... emails go unanswered, phone calls unreturned... but then eventually I have some time off and catch up!!

Since I worked on Friday, I didn't have any big plans for a BBQ or anything. But a friend convinced me to go to see some fireworks Friday night, even though I was so tired. I am really glad I ended up going, because it turned out to be a lot of fun. There are 2 fireworks displays in Seattle: one over Lake Union and the other over Elliott Bay. And if you position yourself just right (as we did), you can see both!! Pretty cool.

Yesterday I mostly hung around the house after sleeping in. Ate an amazingly good steak cooked on my new grill. (I can't remember if I have blogged about the grill. Nothing fancy. Just a little cheap "tabletop" gas grill... but it gets the job done!)

Today was another wonderful day of relaxation. Slept in again. :) Sat out on my back deck this morning with my coffee, my Bible, and Smokey. Yes, Smokey. She has decided that she likes the outdoors after all and now goes out on the deck whenever I am out there. Today she got very bold and decided to not only walk through the flower bed, but to roll in the dirt and to eat some stems on the irises. She also ventured out into the grass... which makes me nervous as I really don't want her to get fleas!! But she is so cute rolling in the grass that I can't help but let her do it. Of course, then she brings half the backyard inside the house, thanks to her long fur! :)

Tonight at Hope we started a series on the book of Ruth. I really enjoyed the sermon tonight on the first chapter. As I was reading through some stuff this morning, I was thinking about bitterness, so it was interesting to think about Naomi and Ruth in that context. It's neat that we're spending some time on some strong women... too bad I am going to miss the rest of the series due to work and vacation. :( Maybe I can convince someone to take notes.

This evening I've been trying to prepare for the work week, cleaning up the house, folding clean laundry, etc. As well as trying to prepare mentally. Even though last week was not so bad at work, it is just a stressful job any way you put it. I've had some good experiences recently, though, that have served to build up my confidence in my abilities as a nurse, which is great. And I have wonderful support from a group of friends... sometimes that has made all the difference in the world!

You may wonder about the title of the blog... and if you are, I am guessing you maybe aren't a fan of the TV show "Family Guy". In recent months, I've started watching it on the recommendation of a friend (much to Andy's chagrin, who has been trying to get me to watch it for years!). While there are some highly inappropriate things about the show at times (pretty much any time the character Quagmire is present, for example!), there are some other things that are pretty hilarious. Last night I watched a classic, and oft-quoted, episode where Meg writes a letter to her boyfriend on the computer."Dear My Boyfriend..." Hahaha! Makes me laugh every time. Followed by the 2 guys in Starbucks... :-)

Well, time to go pack my lunch and set up the coffee pot before bed. Another 3 shifts to start off the week!