Been a while

I know, I know. It's been a while since I last posted, but it's been crazy. I know it's not a good enough excuse, but let me tell you abit about what has been going on here.
I was sick. Again. I had some sort of stomach thing. Trust me when I say it wasn't great. I seemed to have come down with it after Em's party. (Which was great. We all had a blast).
But the day after I went home from work sick, I went back to work only to be greated by my friends from the NYS Department of Health. Yeah!
We knew they coming. It's something we begin to work on harder than normal around Thanksgiving.
For those of you who have never been through a state inspection let me try and explain it to you. In order for our facility to state that we are regulated and live and strive to a certain standard, we are required to have annual inspections. This means the state sends in a team of 3-5 people to look through everything. And I mean everything. They make sure that I pass my medications correctly and to the letter of the rules ( which were written before I was born and are so grey that even a lawyer can't figure them out). They look at all our paperwork, all our charts, our personel paperwork, our water temperture, out food prep, out freezers, even how much salt we have in the salt shakers! There is nothing and I mean nothing that doesn't get the scrutiny of the inspectors. They have the ultimate say in if we stay open. They can shut us down in a second.
We are being watched the entire time. They ask us about decsions and other statements we made a year ago. It's hard to remember what has happened in that time. They ask what happened each and every time a resident falls. Why didn't we do this or that or why did we do what we did.
Now, ask yourself, a year ago a work you did X. Do you remember doing X? Do you remember if you did uvw first? Or did you do lmn? Did you still come to X? Now do that for about 50 or so people? Answer those questions. Then still take care of normal day to day operations, prepare for the next doctor day, order medications.... you get the idea. It's the least fun thing about my job.
In the past I have been through state inspections, JACHO inspections and the like. But, I was never anything more than a pawn. I was the one still working on the floor and maybe had to open a room or answer a question or two for the inspectors. Now, it's my butt and licsence on the line.
WHAT THE HELL DID I GET MYSELF INTO?
I wish I knew. All I can say is that the stress at work has ebbed a bit, at least we aren't worried about them coming back until next year. But now the corrections have to be made and work around them.
Sigh. At least they were plesant!

Birthday Parties and Colds

Last week I had a nasty head cold. It wasn't plesant, but almost expected in the winter. Now Brian and Emily have one. My house sounds like a TB ward.
My little girl turns 8 on Sunday. My mother convinced me that this year we need to have kids party in addition to the regular party that we always have. So, I decided that if we are indeed going to have a kid party we were going to do both parties in one weekend. What the hell was I thinking? It's planning two parties, trying to do the normal week stuff, work around two Valentine's Day parties and deal with the illness in the house. Plus we are having company on Saturday for the weekend.
When Em doesn't feel well, it's kinda expected that she whines and carrys on. She's little yet. Now her father, a grown man whines even louder. It's almost embarrasing. He moaned and groaned all day yesterday and is so whiny that asking him to help me pick up and clean the house is out of the question. I might as well ask him to reshingle the roof. I might get better results there.
Em is back on her Mary Poppins kick. Why can't I have the magic power to snap my fingers and clean the house like she does?

Nyquil for Mommy please!

Thursday night Emily came down with a low grade fever. She was miserable, and was in bed within a few minutes of when we got home from Brownies. She crawled into bed with me sometime during the night and when I kissed her forehead in the morning to say goodbye, I noticed she was buring up. Her fever was 103.4 I got my mother to watch her while I went to work for a while. I got her to the doctor, as I am always afraid with high fevers that she will seize. She has some sort of lung infection along with a head cold. Okay, so Tylenol and antibiotics. But since she's allergic to Motrin, it makes it hard to keep her high fevers down.
I gave her Tylenol and we were resting in my bed. She suddenly had to vomit because of the coughing and I was tucking her back in when I noticed she was really, really hot. I took her temp again. 104.5. Great. I called the doctor and well, needless to say, after a really really long night, she doing much better. Okay, so it's been two nights. But it feels like it hasn't stopped.
Now, Brian has it. What a baby! He doesn't do well when he is sick.
I went out today to do some shopping for Em's parties and the phone kept ringing. "Where are you? When are you coming home?" I was trying to stay out as long as I could. I needed the break. Then I get home and find out that Brian is being obbsessive about his temp. 103! I need to call the doctor. I need to go to hospital.
No, take a cool shower, take off the fifteen layers of sweats and get into bed. And STAY THERE!!!!
I need to move out until they are all better. It really is like having two kids.

The coolest coffee maker.... EVER!!!

Mom and I were in Bed Bath and Way Beyond the other day. First my Beyond tangent. I understand the bed and bath part. Even the kitchen stuff makes some sense. But, exercise equipment? Candy? There are somethings in that store that just boggle my mind.
But, anyway, we were walking in the store and I saw this really cool coffee maker that I have seen several times before. I said to Mom, how cool it was and that I would love one.
Mom and Dad bought it for us as a belated anniversery present.
It's called a Keurig. Basically, it has this big tank of water that heats up fast. Then you place in this cup of coffee, tea or hot chocolate. It's shaped like a coffee creamer but five times the size. You shut the machine up and it pierces the cup. Then you push a button and it passes the heated water through the cup and out into your mug. One instant hot cup of coffee. Then, change the pod for the next person.
So, I like Hazelnut but Brian preffers French Vanilla. Great. No more compromise. Em can have hot chocolate and if we have my mother in law over, instant brewed tea. No pot to clean.
It even has an auto off. It's great. No fuss, no muss.
I was telling my coffee addicted boss about it and he was telling me that his father bought him one a few years back, but then the pods for the coffee where harder to find. His father found him an insert that allows you to use regular coffee. Still perfect.

Spoiled Rotten

Emily and I got into a fight tonight. It's not important what we were fighting about but the majority of the fight came down to the issue that Emily is spoiled rotten. Okay, so part of that is my fault. But it's just as much everyone else's fault too.
Emily was on the phone with my father tonight, begging for something she wanted to do, after I had said no. My father gets on the phone with me and asks me how I can really deny her anything. I think what he really said was how could I say no to that little girl. Especially when she was asking.
She wasn't asking. She was begging and whining. I hate the fact that she has so many people wrapped around her fingers that when I have to be the mean mother and say no, she can just turn her head, bat her eyes and pout and poof! what ever she wants is hers. I hate that. Mommy's word should be finial. But my father taught her how to pout and now she uses it against him.
It's pissing me off. So much so that I nearly slapped her across the face tonight.
And she's almost eight. Can't wait until she's a teenager.

Squeaky Wheels

Last Tuesday Brian and I headed into NYC to have some scans done and see the doctor. Well, we get all the way down there, have lunch and get ready to get scanned. We find out that they changed the appointments and never told us. They rescheduled them for tomorrow. I can't get out of work. Brian has a hard time as well. I called the doctor's office and yelled. They denied the appointment change, but I have written proof of the changes.
So, today they call to confirm the appointments. His scan was supposed to be at 3 and doctor's appointment at 4:30. So, reality states, scan at 4:30 and appointment near six. We were ready for this. But after talking to both Brian and I today and listening to me bitch about the fact that they didn't call me back for a week and continue to deny that they changed the appointments, they call Brian back and tell him that they can get him a scan at 10:30 and an appoitment with the doctor at noon. That's so much better.
Brian doesn't want to go by himself. I can't get out of work. So, his sister, Chris thought she might be able to go. But she's on jury duty tomorrow. Then there was his mother, but she's gone back to work and is working tomorrow. She can't get off. My father can't go. My mother can't. So, his brother in law is going.
I love Brian, but I'm a bit concerned about him going to the right places at the right times and with his French Canadian brother in law who is wonderful but basically useless in NYC... well, it's out of my hands. All I can do is keep my phone on at work and wait for the phone calls.
But after talking to Brian about the change in appointments, I said to him... you were mad at me about raising hell for the appointment change, but the squeky wheel gets the grease. It's worth complaining especially when they are at fault.
Let's just hope this is the start of a better year for this household.