Life before Taco Soup...

I dont really remember when I first had Taco Soup. I just know that I love it. I just know that life is good that now it is a part of my life.

Last night after working at Baylor, I went home & made Taco Soup. It is wonderful. It is so easy.

I am probably thinking about food so much because (1) I didnt clean up the kitchen last night after cooking & I am kind of feeling guilty about it. I have a dirty soup pot on my stove & bowls in the sink...and a frying pan in the sink...I feel bad. That's dirty. (2) I'm supposed to be on my clear liquid diet. About that....I already screwed it up. I had to have coffee. I cant drink it black. So, I added the normal creamer & sugar. I know, I know...not clear. I dont care. I had 3/4 of one cup of coffee. I figure, the earlier in the day--the better. But, then I saw a can of peanuts....and I forgot that I cant eat solid food...and I had about 10. I realized what I was doing & threw the rest away.
I dont know if I can do this. The alternative sucks, but this is really hard.

What else???
I'll be off work & at home for Tues-Monday. So, there will be no posts until probably next Monday. (that's when I am due to return to work).

Weekend Movie Review...
Against the Ropes: with Meg Ryan. Mediocre at best.

Damon was very impressed with my grocery shopping ability over the weekend. He gave me a budget & told me not to go over the budget with impulse buys. (my mom can attest to the fact that I can EASILY spend $3-$400 in the grocery stor...I'm so terrible.) Anyway....I came in UNDER budget & still managed to buy fresh flowers for the house. He was incredibly impressed.
..."oh Lainey-Paney, how do you do it?"
"Well, the secret is........and you always buy fresh flowers".

Fresh flowers...so indulgent! I cant help it. If I'm going to be at home, it just helps to have vases of fresh flowers. It's wonderful. It is just a feeling that things are complete. So, I buy them. I always budget for them.

What else?? We washed our cars this weekend. That was fun.
Got my hair colored. It's dark. I'm ready for a big change like Red hair or something, but I'm a little afraid that I'll look like a freak. So, maybe I'll get red highlights or something when I am feeling particularly in need of a change.

...The social workers upstairs have pissed me off. Really probably a vent for another time...but here goes...
I am going to be off work tomorrow, Wednesday, Thursday, Friday. I have busted my butt to rearrange the ER schedule to ensure coverage while I'm out. I have asked several of my people to work extra, rearrange their lives to help out during this time. So far, two people are bending over backwards to help out. Are they doing it for me?? Well partially. But really--they are doing it for the floor staff so that (1) they arent so swamped & wont have to stop what they are doing to trot down to the ER to see a patient. & (2) the hospital doesnt appear to be short-staffed, the hospital wont actually be short-staffed. & (3) the quality of the patient care wont go down due to a lack of ER coverage. So, naturally, I expected the floor social workers to be excited when I told them that I had ER coverage for 4 out of the 5 days that I will be out. See, when I am not here, and an ER referral comes up, they HAVE to see the ER patient first because ER patients are usually discharged in a matter of hours rather than days. I do in a few hours what they have about 3 or 4 days to do. While they carry more cases on a daily basis, they have 3-4 days to manage the cases. I have a few hours to get the referral, see the patient, & get them out of here with whatever they need or wherever they need to go. In the ER, you have to move fast & move them out fast!
Anyway...I'm pissy because on Friday after work, I took one of the Social Workers who is covering for me up to the main office & told them how flexible she's being, how she's rearranged things to help out, how she's covering 3 of the days for us. Nobody seemed to care. That's the impression she got too, and she's like, "why should I bend over backward to help them if they arent even going to appreciate it? This is the LAST time I'll be doing this to help them out." It's just stupid, pissy drama. Why dont they see that they need to be appreciative???

anyway.

I'm pissy.

I'm signing off for now. :)