wow, it's December!

Time is flying by!
I would say we had a wonderful Thanksgiving, but I was at work. I accidentally signed myself up for the whole week straight, not realizing the end of November on the work calendar was Thanksgiving. It was my year to work, but I at least try to take one day off to celebrate! Whoops. So this year, John and I put all our energy into cooking the CCU Thanksgiving lunch, and we didn't stretch ourselves to achieve anything more this year. When you work 12 hr shifts in a tiny 10 bed unit with only 4 other nurses at a time, you become a tight-knit work family. And you have better like each other because you work as a team quite often in the ICU setting. So I enjoyed a nice lunch with our star RNs: Drew, Greg, Donna, and Jill, Debbie our lovely HUC, Connie our lovely PCT, and our friendly and hilarious ex-CCU MET RN Blee. I have worked enough holidays now that it becomes part of life. You can spend the time feeling sorry for yourself, pondering a job change, being grumpy and lazy, mad at your patients for being so sick at such a bad time, etc. OR you can make the best of it and stay positive. It is always a challenge, but I stayed pretty upbeat...until I got home that night. Then I realized I was in a bad place due to exhaustion and kicked myself into bed for the next shift the following day. All in all, it was a great lunch but I still felt upset about missing the holiday as it should be.

This is why I am pouring extra energy into Advent and Christmas this year. I will have 3 days to celebrate, and a whole season of Advent to anticipate and prepare for it. I also lucked out by getting New Years off as well, so we are excited to host a party this year!

John and I are doing the Adore Ministry's "Theotokos" for some Advent prep this year. We already love it. Each day consists of a tiny reflection on a one word topic, placing your mind back in the time of Jesus and what it would be like to be experiencing life first-hand during the Incarnation. Then you read and re-read a bible passage. Finally, you discuss and relate to that passage, keeping in mind the one word focus for the day. I have let too many Advent's go by without preparing spiritually, so it feels great to finally be on track for once.

My big plan for John this year (he never reads this blog so it is OK!) is to attempt a T-shirt quilt. He has a stockpile of ratty T-shirts from high school and college that he refuses to throw out b/c of sentimental reasons. I have slowly been weeding them out of his drawers so he won't notice. Pretty soon I will get to cut them all up and sew them into a beautiful creation. That is the hope anyway. This is the first project on my sewing machine that I got last Christmas, so I hope it goes well! If not, he can't be mad at me for destroying his shirts, right?

The big news is that we are adopting a puppy. I have been controlling the urge to get a puppy for years and I finally caved when we found "Adelle" online. We have been disagreeing over which breed of dog to choose for awhile, so as a joke I searched for a dog with half of each: shepherd and beagle. Up popped Adelle. And we fell in love with her. It took me an hour to fill out the adoption paperwork but 5 days later we got the good news that we were approved! (I feel like we're adopting a child for heaven's sake)

I talked with the foster mom today, and we are thrilled to learn she is 12 weeks old, very smart, already knows basic commands, almost potty trained, beautiful, and best of all very friendly! She is 1/4 beagle, 1/4 shepherd, and 1/2 unknown. We are wondering if she is part retriever. Her family was discovered by a local shelter worker. Her mom was tied to a tree and the pups were wandering around aimlessly. The hurricane was about to hit and they had no shelter. Luckily, they all went to a foster home, so she has spent no time in the shelter. We pick her up Saturday morning, and have picked out the name "Carly." I love her already!!