wow, it's been a long long time

so i was thinking about this blog the other day and realized, there is not much substance to it and i am really just journaling and documenting my family life. not sure if i have even one serious "reader" not sure what this blog is even about anymore. i do enjoy writing stuff down and i love the photography but i am going to try and be more thoughtful here, just in case anyone is watching.

the past few years i have been on a roller coaster ride in my ultrasound career. never a day goes by that i don't have someone ask me if i like my job. it is so hard to answer because it is truly a love/hate relationship. i absolutely hate some aspects of it but absolutely love other things. i have been scanning patients for going on 17 years now and had considered myself quite a master at it. there aren't many techs who have been thrown in to the variety of places i have worked at. many many times i have felt i couldn't handle the situation i would find myself in, many times i had to reach down DEEP to stay on task and get the job done. hard patients, terrible schedules, horrific supervisors, condescending doctors, lazy and/or back stabbing bitchy co workers....long days, being on call in the middle of the night, being barfed on and just about any other gross thing you can imagine around sick patients, i have experienced. so here i am thinking i know everything and i apply for yet another per diem job, hoping to earn some extra money to take this fabulous trip to italy i am researching. to my surprise i was plunked down in a situation so demanding and so stressful i had physical symptoms of stress like i had never felt before, ever.



for weeks and weeks i "trained" at this new job experiencing stomach turning stress and the most god awful frighteningly gory patients to scan, the toughest protocols, the pickiest doctors and you know what? it made me a better tech, i learned (and am still learning) a lot! so when the boss at another account i was struggling to hold on to took me in the office after i dared to request a salary adjustment and literally chewed my ass off, i QUIT! believe me, i am no quitter, i actually have a hard time letting things go, i am a hoarder of "stuff" and i tend to hoard my jobs as well, staying per diem everywhere because i am scared to say goodbye to anything. i sat in that room while he told me what a horrible person i am because i don't have a "pep in my step" every day and have a bad attitude and threatened me and growled at me (yes he GROWLED!!) i thought, i don't deserve this? i just proved myself worthy at the most challenging hospital ever and i have never been fired, i have zero complaints from patients and doctors at this place and just because he doesn't like me, i am treated this way? no one deserves to be treated this way. it reminded me of a really out of control parent (guilty) and i didn't like how it felt to be spoken to in this manner, it made me think of my kids and how short i am with them because i work too much and am too tired to really listen to them after a long day of work. i realized that some of what he said was true and i had to be honest and say, this place is toxic, it makes me crazy, i hate the boss' guts and it's not healthy to be in this environment. i will never set foot there again, ever and it feels GREAT! i made a decision for myself and my family and i stood up for myself.



so on this new day off i am spending the day looking at past photos, working on this blog and hitting the gym. i will make lists of things i want to do and things that need to be done and start crossing them off. 2011 is starting to look pretty good.

snow

We are finally getting a bit of vacation in this holiday season. four days at the cabin with lots of snow and chilly weather. unfortunately we had a major leak during the weeks of rain (that came just prior to the snow) and flooded out our bedroom. what a mess! it actually soaked the BED!!! we cranked up the heat and after two days everything seems to be dried out pretty well. today is our last day and then its back to work and back to lots of camp fire events. focusing this day on relaxing as much as possible, wish i could stay a few more days but of course it's back to reality i go. hoping the leaks are something minor and we don't start the year off on the wrong financial foot!

liz with helmet and chapped lips



happy new year!!

christmas 2010

just a few snapshots of christmas... we had a nice quiet one, chilly weather and only a visit to my parents house on the schedule... today is chris' 39th birthday and we are all feeling a bit lazy. maybe a trip to see harry potter is in order? dinner out? we'll see.



merry merry!

Lizzie turns 7!

we celebrated another birthday, our "little" lizzie turned 7! we are often last minute with her parties, but i think i figured out finally that its ok to plan a midweek party during the holiday school break. most people are looking for something fun to break up the time the kids are at home. it doesnt always have to be on a saturday or sunday. 

we have a tiny house, teeny weeny tiny, but we managed to squeeze everyone around our dining room table for pizza, cake and then we opened presents. it was a fast paced party the REAL event was going to the 3d movie

which was pretty good actually (as i was dreading lizzies choice of yogi bear... just looked super dumb to me, but wasnt as bad as i thought it would be)



so i highly recommend a trip to the movies as an easy option for a birthday. midweek and in the evening, the kids were giddy and sang christmas songs in the car ride over... the girls were fast asleep about 5 minutes after returning home and there was very little clean up or prep work. we rarely go to the movies, maybe twice a year at most, so it was a real treat for my kids, like a trip to disneyland almost.



happy birthday lizzie!!!

quick gvl trip

i havent been to the cabin in months and months, all this new work has had an impact on my weekends. we had to drive up late saturday and come back sunday afternoon, not enough time for me to really settle in but gets me excited for the next visit over new years. four whole days in the mountains, hoping for snow!

we drove over to big bear for a run on the alpine sleds, the view of the lake was amazing.




the road between gvl and big bear is the most nauseous road ever, really takes effort to not get sick so after lunch we spent some time hanging out at the lake before heading back to the cabin. this little park was a nice pit stop for us.



back at the cabin the girls hung out with a few friends from school and we made a few christmas gifts...





heading in to 12 days of work in a row, what was i thinking taking on this much work? january looks pretty bad as well, guess i need to pace myself and hope for the best!

xmas

while searching through some papers, i stumbled on to the christmas wish lists from emily and liz. since i am FINALLY getting around to making a few purchases, i thought i would look them over. to my surprise, liz had included me on her list and asked santa for a cookbook just for me! i thought it was sweet, since i often feel like such a nag around here, snapping at everyone to pick up their stuff and settle down. i just started a new part time job (added to my other two part time jobs) and the stress has been killing me! just another learning experience for me i guess. we'll see.

christmas parade

this is the 5th year we have walked in the local christmas parade... always hard to photograph!

we have come a long way since that first parade we walked in!! a no brainer now, five years later. even with 2 groups, we managed to have a great time. merry christmas!