"its an adventure!"

Okay so we haven't even left yet and we're already having glitches in our trip to Belize (we're leaving tomorrow at 9am)....
Just now I received this email from Black Rock Lodge, which is where we're supposed to stay tomorrow night:

Hi Karrie,This is Estelle from Black Rock Lodge with a Little bad news. We have been having a lot of rain for the past few days due to the Tropical Depression that just passed us by and our roads are flooded and impassable at the moment. We are trying to avoid any harm coming to our guest on their vacation and telling you that you wont be able to make it to Black Rock tomorrow.We are hoping the water goes down by Sunday and the roads should be fine but we will definitely be in touch to let you know.I have to tell you that the same situation exists for Placencia as of right now. We will have our driver meet you at the airport tomorrow because we don’t want you to be stranded there. I have looked into couple places for you to stay the night and hopefully be able to come to us on Sunday. There is Martha’s Guest House in San Ignacio. They have a standard room with a fan that goes for USD $43.60 a night tax included and an air conditioned room that goes for USD $54.50 a night tax included. There is also this place by the river that’s called Table Rock which is very nice. Their rates are a bit more higher. You can actually look them up on the internet and see what it looks like. Their website is www.tablerockbelize.com. I am so sorry for the inconvenience but will definitely keep you informed about the flooding situation. If you have an international cell phone that you will be using can you let me have the number so that we will be able to be in touch over the weekend. All My Best,Estelle Martinez Black Rock Lodge

I would say impassible flooded roads is a little more than "a little bad news." Thanks to their super customer service we are staying at www.tablerockbelize.com Saturday night, which looks equally as wonderful as black rock lodge. Phew, I had a little panic attack, and the BF is stuck at work tonight so I'm left to make the decision as to where we'll stay tomorrow. Of course I have great taste, so I picked the more extravagant one :)

Unfortunately the whole reason we are staying in the rain forest is to go hiking at the ATM cave http://belizex.com/tunichil_muknal.htm but it is flooded as well! Hopefully by Sunday or Monday the storm will have passed and we'll still be able to make our trip to the cave. If not, its off to Placencia for some quality beach time. As my mother always said when things went awry "its an adventure" and I have a feeling, just by the way things are starting out, that I'm going to keep repeating that to myself throughout this trip. it will be interesting to see how the BF and I get along under some unplanned, possibly stressfull circumstances....

Never offer help unless you're willing to give it

I, being the nice gf that I am offered the bf help tearing down his deck on Sunday. I've been offerring to help for a few weeks, and every time he has turned me down, thank god. Except for this last time, I offerred expecting for him to say no, but to my surprise he said "yeah I think I do need it." Because of his awesome planning, and busy schedule, he left it to the day before it needed to be down so that the roofers could re-roof their building. So, for about 4hrs I made about a million trips up and down two flights of stairs, carrying pieces of the deck to the dumpster. All the while I was thinking, I really need to go sleep (because I was working a 12 hour shift that night from 7:30pm-8am. Now every time I walk, my calves scream in pain from all the stair climbing on Sunday. Moral of the story, don't offer help unless you really are up for the task....

sewing sewing

I'm not the most creative person in the world, but this year I decided to make Christmas presents. I can't say what I'm making but it has to do with sewing. The last time I sewed something, I was in elementary school I think. My oldest friend and I decided to take a sewing class at a local store. I never finished my shirt and shorts, I think I got bored. So what made me decide to try to sew something now? I have no idea. I started out writing a list of all the people I wanted to make something for, and its a pretty long list. Good thing its October. Last Monday night I sat down with my first pattern, cut it out, and started HAND sewing my project. It took about 5 hours to complete. My hand literally hurt for two days afterwards, I think I should have started this project last December as it takes 3 days to complete one them (including hand recovery time) Maybe I should cut down my list, as this is a hefty task and my sewing skills would make June Cleaver blush.

My first finished project looks great from far away but VERY homemade when up close. This one will be for my own personal use, I'm too embarassed to give it away. New idea, let's try a sewing machine. Luckily I have some very crafty friends who own sewing machines and that were willing to let me borrow one. I finally got it to my house on Thursday night and was really excited to start whipping through my projects. I sat down and realized, I HAVE NO IDEA HOW TO USE A SEWING MACHINE! I don't even know how to thread it. What's this bobbin thing? How does it work? Thanks to you tube I found instructional videos that taught me how to thread the machine and use the bobbin. For part of the project I need a zigzag stitch and I have now realized that this is a little too advanced for me, the sewing machine wont cooperate. Sorry people, you'll have to settle with chain stitches for now!

5 things I've learned since becoming an RN

1. Men are ALWAYS sicker than women, even if they have the same illness
2. family members always yell at their loved ones when they are sedated, even if they don't have a hearing problem
3. Bed rails really don't keep grandma from leaving the bed, they're just fun obstacles to climb over and fall from
4. Nicotine patches and gum don't really work on the 80 year old who's smoked 2 packs a day for 60 years, she's still going to try to escape to smoke (with the oxygen tank in hand)
5. Retired RNs can be horrible patients.

ma soeur

I told my sister that I wanted some type of retro/vintage hook to hang my mom's old purse collection that we have very democratically divided between us. So she sends me this picture, please sister do not send me this for my birthday....

Its all greek to me

Today was just another typical day at work where we all mess with people's hearts in the effort to make them work more efficiently. I spent four hours today watching doctors thread catheters, wires, stents, balloons in to the arteries of the heart. It was amazing but all I could think of was how bad my feet and back hurt because not only was I standing for the entire time in a room that felt like it was below zero, but i also had a 30 lb lead gown on from neck to knees.

So instead of blindly threading this wire through your femoral artery, they do it under xray and fluoroscopy. Which means they are staring at a camera while manipulating the equipment in the patient. I hope I never have to get this done because you're awake during the whole thing! AND the docs kind of forget you're there (yes I said that) and fight with each other, talk about really inappropriate things, flirt with the cute nurses, and teach the newbies how to do it. I would be so nervous hearing them tell the other what to do, I would kind of want to say "hey aren't' you supposed to know this before you go poking around in my heart!?!" But we're a "teaching hospital" so its expected. Writing this doesn't do it justice, it really is crazy how many interventions can be done to the heart without totally messing things up. Can you tell I totally love my job?