It has been a while.....

So yeah. It has been quite a while since I've shared anything here. Amazing how the days march quickly by.

A lot has happened in the past several months. I left my job at the college and got a part time job (with insurance benefits!) at a hospital, as of the first week of April. The pay is quite a bit less, but the insurance benefit cost is also less. My take home pay was basically cut in half, but I'm only working 2 12 hour days a week. So I am working 3 days a week with Mark--so my time with him doubled.

I'm a patient care tech, and was trained to do patient care (taking out IVs, fetching food and water, taking blood sugars, changing soiled bed linens, basically all the people care of nursing but not skilled nursing). But I'm not doing any of that. I was hired for my office skills and am doing data collection, excel spreadsheet stuff, payroll, and other office type help to the nurse managers.

I work on a new observation unit that started May 1, so they need all kinds of data collected to know if it's successful. And we are starting the same type of unit at the East side campus (I am at the downtown campus, and we also have an East side hospital), and I'm helping the nurse manager get it going. I'll split my time between hospitals.

I really like the two nurses I work for. They are both YOUNG (mid to late 20s). Everyone is so young. I'm lucky I still look young. But I don't feel so young anymore. I feel like I could be everyone's mom. LOL

The kids are good. Sophie finished her school year with a 4.0. A real accomplishment, considering her high school was recently ranked the 3rd most challenging school in the country. She also got a 4 on her AP US History exam, which means she should have college credit for that subject. She was so excited to get a 4. She knew she'd pass with at least a 3, but a 4 is a big deal (a 5 is the highest score and I take it quite rare).

She still takes Improv class, private voice and acting lessons. She has an active social life. It's time to start driving lessons, although I haven't signed her up yet.

She went to Prince Edward Island with my mom at the end of May, and to church camp in June. She had a busy start to her summer.

Luke got straight As his last quarter. He goes into 6th grade in August. He'll be in band (trombone) and I'm hoping to get him started in a fencing class soon. He needs an outside activity badly. He only has a couple of good friends and one of them hasn't been available all summer. His middle school will have another elementary school that will join with his elementary school, and I'm hoping he will meet a couple new boys and girls that he can make friends with. He has a hard time making friends. We've talked about it. We'll talk more before school starts. I want him to be happier. It's been harder for him to find his niche.

He enjoys having a quiet summer at home. He is definitely a homebody and it's hard to get him to do things outside his comfort zone. We go to my sister's house to swim and my mom comes down to visit. But other than that, it's pretty quiet during the summer at our house with us both working all day. The kids often go for walks in the late afternoon after we get home from work, which is really great for them as siblings. Mark and Luke spend a lot of time together playing, either video games or with Legos or with the frisbee or his other toys. He gets attention, I just worry he doesn't have as much interaction as he needs with kids his own age when he's not in school.

Everyone has been healthy, thank goodness. That's most important. More than anything.

Mark is working a ton, as usual. He's happy to have me with him at the office more. He went to Louisville for 4 days in June with his brother from Colorado and they saw U2, and did several other fun things. It was nice for him to have some guy time.

Through all this change, I've managed to--what else?--gain weight! Yep. 20 freaking pounds. Thank goodness for the store Torrid. They have the cutest clothes. I actually was going to OA for a while, then I started working on Mondays until 7pm, then that fell apart. And my food is just over the top. And boom. I'm back at 185 pounds. Boo. :(

And my nurse practitioner who does my meds, who has been in Ohio for the last year getting her doctorate (we've been doing appts via Skype at her office) is no longer doing appointments. So I've been pawned off on a new NP and can't see her until late August. My anxiety was off the charts and I took myself off Wellbutrin, which I've been on for years, but it has helped lower my anxiety somewhat. Hopefully I'll like the new NP.

So that's the scoop. Kids start school August 9. It will be here in no time at all.