Do I Remember How to Do This?

Alright, everyone. It's been awhile. With good reason!

I started orienting at my first job as a registered nurse on Wednesday. I worked every day, Wednesday through Sunday. It was incredibly tiring, and I'm very glad it is over, but I learned a lot and was able to enjoy my patients every day.

I am surrounded by old people every day; I love it. I have found my niche with the elderly once again. I can't help but chuckle at the things they say and do. This is their home! This is where they live, which means they can do just about anything they want to do or say. A good bunch of them have Alzheimer's, which means I get to have the same conversations over and over.

Things I heard this week that had me rolling on the ground: (please note that the majority of these are said with Southern accents)
"You have to watch that one! She spits out her pills when you ain't lookin'."

"Who am I? Do you know me? Do I live here? Who is that? I have a roommate? Does my family know that I'm here?"

"Don't you all know that there's gonna be a murder?" (This was my personal favorite, mostly because it was followed by a chuckle.)

I am really enjoying myself. It feels so good to be a nurse. It feels so good to feel like I'm making a difference in someone's life, even if it is just for a moment. It feels good to do all those little things that really make people feel happy, no matter how small. I am a big believer in that doing the small things really make a huge difference, just because it shows you care.

Keeping that in mind, I also realized how quickly I can move when patients are chucking their inhalers at me. Yes, this happened on my second day. I now have to work myself up in order to enter that room every time now. It gets my heart pumping, that's for sure!

I am very excited about bringing home some bacon for our little Lazoritz household. I feel like I am now actually helping out a little bit with bills, and not just around the house (not that there is anything wrong with that). It has been very hard to balance managing the house and work, though. I have found that it's really difficult to get my mind off work once I am home. I am constantly thinking about what I need to do for my patients when I get back. I feel like this will get better with time, but I do need to get there. I haven't been sleeping well and I have the worst dreams!

Last night, for instance, (and I love how I do this to myself) but I wake up from one bad dream and think to myself, "Don't dream about zombies. Don't dream about zombies."

So what do I do?

Dream about zombies.

And then I really can't sleep.

Not to mention I've been a little stressed out with all the hub-bub of life, so I'm having terrible acid reflux as well as a bit of an irregular heartbeat (something that used to happen in high school but rarely does anymore). Oh the joys of getting older and having responsibilities.

I feel terrible for the dogs. They were in their kennels for almost every shift of mine. :(

Last night was rough without all the extra crap. I was raging because I was overly emotional and tired, but I got really fired up over a post on the Quantico Spouses' Facebook page. Someone was asking for directions, I didn't read someone's response correctly so I said my piece. I said something about the "OCS Gate" (there is none) and all of a sudden all the spouses who hadn't been trying to help MAGICALLY had something to say about it. Quoting me and tagging me and making me feel like an absolutely idiot.

Boy was I fiery. I mean, the red hair fits me in moments like that.

Honestly, the fact that a bunch of these wives don't want to help to be nice, they just want to be the ones that are right and know everything just completely infuriates me. What happened to being nice and helpful and understanding where new wives were coming from?

Chris told me not to get so butthurt so I threw a full-on adult-sized tantrum. I tried to hide from him behind the kitchen table because I didn't want to talk to him or see him, and he found me and dumped half of his water bottle on my head.

I'm glad he did. I needed a bit of a reality check.

Moriah, what you are doing is ridiculous. Please stop acting like you are five years old.

So, I slept like crap and didn't get up to run when I wanted to. That meant I ran AFTER the gym, which was desperately hot. I don't know how these Marines do this every day. Exercising outside on a day like today was too much for me. I felt horrible. I ran about 4 miles and realized that I had a dentist appointment in half an hour, and I was two miles from my car. Crap. I was exhausted, had blisters, and was sweating profusely. I made it back to my car and into the shower and was just a couple of minutes late for my appointment. Win!

This was my first dentist appointment in about three years. Oops. I thought I was going to get yelled at but they were incredibly nice there. Plus, you get your own TV and you're in control of the channel. By the grace of God I didn't have any new cavities and the dentist was able to smooth out the tops of my bottom front teeth and bottoms of my top front teeth. He also suggested that I look into braces and a couple of other things (Cosmetic dentists-shake my head). Honestly I know that I need some serious work when we can afford it, but Chris says I can't have braces until he is deployed. That is fine by me. I am planning on being comfortable and unattractive while he is gone anyway, so it will work out for everyone!

After my TWO HOUR dentist appointment, I was completely out of it. I didn't eat before I ran, so when I got back my place my blood sugar had probably bottomed out. I wanted a BLT but I sure wasn't going to wait that long! I went into zombie mode until I had eaten and recuperated a bit. Then I headed out the door again to go to Rachele's pool. I had such a good time hanging out with the girls. I probably talked all of their ears off, but I can't help it when I haven't been around people my age in a week! And Chris isn't a great listener unless it's important stuff.

I actually got a little color (I think), although tomorrow it will probably disappear because it usually does.

As for cooking this week, we had Buffalo Wild Wings one night, which was pretty delicious. I can't take responsibility for that. What I CAN take responsibility for was tonight and last night's dinner.

Tonight was from the Food Network Cookbook, a very simple but very delicious stir-fry Moo Shu Pork. I had mine on lettuce leaves and Chris decided that was not for him so he wrapped his in a tortilla instead. God forbid his food be straight up healthy!
Last night's dinner was unbelievable. It was from the Rachel Ray Book of Burger, called the "Fire Eater Burger". Hamburgers with pepperjack cheese, doused in a pepper sauce, topped with some jalapeno jam and balanced out with some Greek yogurt.
I wasn't even hungry and I wanted two. I unwillingly sent the fourth with Chris today in his lunch.

I love cooking. I think one of the hardest parts about this job is going to be not having the time to make such great food, although Chris did tell me that it would be fine for me to feed him "Chili Mac". One, I don't even know what that is. Two, gross. Three, no. I hope he doesn't forget that I have to eat it, too. Which means none of that easy gross stuff (SORRY MOM) but Red Baron pizzas and Tater Tot Casserole are off the table for the rest of my life. Also, Chris' mom makes a casserole that I'm not too fond of...I think it might be called "Company Casserole"?

Not my thing. I don't think I am a huge fan of casseroles in general, unless they are incredible.

Although, I wouldn't mind a little of my dad's goulash. Even if it's just for the memories.
(Hamburger, tomato sauce, and elbow macaroni. Fancy stuff.)