how about drinking?

Good afternoon, Loungettes!Happy Happy whatever day this is. Hmm, Wednesday? Yup, Wednesday. Went in to work at 7 peeyem last night, expecting to work until 3 ayem. The Director of Nurses was the nurse coming in at 3.Except that she overslept and it was almost 4 by the time she got there, and then she found a couple more things for me to do, so I ended up signing out around 4 ayem, gathered up the few things I wanted from my office, put my badge and key in an envelope with a copy of my resignation letter in the HR director's mailbox (I had called and talked with her yesterday), left a copy of the resignation letter in the DON's mailbox, and left. Walked away. AND did not say anything to the DON. (I almost wish I could be a fly on the wall when she finds my letter.) Cowardly, I know, but it avoided me getting treated to one of her special, in-your-face-screaming-swearing-name-calling tantrums. She was moaning about how tired she was. I actually kind of enjoyed telling her that one of the day shift nurses called out sick. While I do wish I could have said good-bye to some people, a quiet departure is best, I think. Some people won't even notice that I'm gone. I tried to talk to the admin, talked to the HR director several times, nobody should be surprised, right? So I get home around 5 ayem, fix something to eat and lots to drink (it was hotter than the hinges of Hades in the building last night) and figure I'd be wound and not be able to settle for a while. Wrong. I felt so relieved, and so relaxed, that I ended up falling asleep in the recliner as soon as I got done eating! Sadie woke me up, and I toddled off to bed, and slept like a rock until 1 peeyem.

I've looked over the onboarding stuff I need to do, will start actively working on that tomorrow. The usual stuff, TB testing, drug screening, copies of various forms, etc. Going to be a challenge to get it all done before Monday, but that's ok.

When I was talking with the HR director yesterday she reminded me that I have PTO time that I will get paid for. Last time I remember looking at the balance it was 120 hours, so I've got a check coming that will be equivalent to 3 weeks of full time pay! The school nurse job pays weekly, probably won't pay the first week or two, but that's pretty much covered by the PTO time. Not exactly bad news!

Illi--I bet those do sell out fast. They look like great fun.

Cammy--as you can see I wimped out, no dramatic exit! Just doing a disappearing act!

Jazzy--yes there will be benes through the contracting company. So I will be getting health insurance back, yeah! I think there is some retirement, too, but I'm not 100% sure on that one. Will have to wait and see when the info comes for signing up for those things.

Chi--sorry to hear about the weight gain, but it sounds like you caught it quickly. Hopefully that means it won't take long to reverse!

Illi--it's funny, the few reds I like tend to be Merlot or Pinot Noir! And frankly, the fact that you took a sip is pretty darn good. Show's you don't have a totally closed mind!

Goldie--Yup, done at the nursing home, been done for 11 hours or so. I think that at least a few people will be shocked or surprised, but probably not many. Glad you get a day off from appointments!

Karen--Thanks for the vote of confidence! I'll take you up on that offer!

Goldie--What a pretty Christmas drink!

Librarian--Yikes, what a noisy mess all that work must be! I'm glad you didn't let them park equipment on the lawn.

Beaver--This thing did move much faster than I thought it would. I was planning on a 2 week notice, but the school nurse position is new and is considered COVID Critical, and what I am doing at the nursing home is not direct patient care (supposedly) and thus cannot be classified as a critical position, and since I had already been told to expect to work overnight Saturday and Sunday (and probably the full 12 hours), and potentially start a new job Monday ayem,the HR director suggested an "immediate effect" resignation strategy, which would also decrease the likelihood of my getting verbally blasted by the DON, which is something I was afraid would happen. Actually, I was afraid that I would lose my temper if it happened, and that would not have been pretty. I was really expecting the job to start after the Holiday Break, but the school district wants the new nurses up and running ASAP to stop the need for one nurse to go back and forth between 2 schools. Full time nurses in each school better meets the student/staff/community needs and is safer from a COVID standpoint.

Jazzy--the last shift went reasonably well. It was Doctor Day, and there were 2 admissions so there was a ton of char/computer/paper- work to do taking care of new orders, and the DON found a couple more things for me to dobefore I left. Given that I left her with next to nothing to do she could have done those couple things easily enough in the 3 hours she was going to be there, but hey, that's the culture now, make sure everyone else does as much as possible so you have to do as little as possible.But now I am done, done, done. No begging or gnashing of teeth, no confrontations, just a silent walking out the door (after putting a couple boxes of personal stuff in the car).I will need to focus on onboarding stuff over the next few days, but that's ok. I had been thinking I'd get a couple of weeks off in between, but instead it will be2 short weeks (I probably will not be able to start on Monday as I will not have my PPD read until Monday, and Christmas break starts on Wed the 23rd) and then I will get a week off. Even so, this job is going to be much easier on the body, predictable, steady hours, none of the heavy lifting and turning, a week off in Feb and again in April. And with no bullying, no one looking for every mistake and trying to micromanage me I'll be able to breathe again! I am so looking forward to being happy to go to work again! The travel surge is hitting Maine, too, and in a lot of places it's worse than the original spring time round. But, hospitals and ICUs are nowhere near capacity yet, running about 50% occupancy, so there is still more talk about all the money the hospitals are losing by not doing elective procedures than there is concern about being overwhelmed.

Beaverintx, I take my first sip without food and if it’s not awful, I pour 4-5 oz and drink it with dinner.

Jazzy, so far I only really like sweet reds but I’m open.

So far the tasting has been fun but I haven’t found anything really great yet, fortunately I have until the 31st, so I’m hopeful.

DOTD, fizzy or acidic, I’m not sure but it’s not for me.

NM - good for you on the quiet exit!!! let me know if you/when you want to talk. Back east vacations are much different than by me. We get 2 week winter break (last 2 weeks in December) and 1 week spring break and all of Thanksgiving week. No February week off. We do get MLK and Presidents day. I can't complain about the schedule as its 10 week summer break. You'll be awesome. Good luck with getting all the paperwork done prior to starting on Monday.

I saw online that an employee gave their boss a sympathy card as a resignation. It said “Sorry for your loss” and when opened, the employee wrote “it’s me, I quit”. Really wish I’d thought of that when I left work.

For Cami

NM,

Way to go!

DOTD is ok, a bit better than the other cab I tried.

Oh, Sandy, how horrific! Wishing all who observe. a happy and safe Chanukah.

Good Morning, Loungettes!Happy TGIF Day! Did some running around yesterday trying to get onboarding stuff done, didn't get very far. So it's back into town today to get the TB test planted, drug screen done, and meet up with a friend who will help with another form verifying my eligibility to work in the US. Since The TB test can't get read until Monday, it looks like my start date will have to be moved over at least one day. But, I got the offer on Tuesday, and got all but one of the paperwork things done that day, so I guess I'm doing OK! Most of the paperwork I did Tuesday was putting the same info into different forms, and I was talking out loud during a lot of it, so by now Sadie knows my resume and tax info by heart just by hearing it so many times! You would think in this electronic age that I could submit my resume and the computer could take the info and fill in the forms.

I've discovered an unexpected benefit from resigning from the nursing home. I have traumatic arthritis on top of osteoarthritis in my right knee, and that knee has been really hurting the last few weeks. As in 8 out of 10 hurt, taking tylenol to be able to walk all the way through a work shift, and hurting all the time even when not walking on it. Wednesday peeyem I noticed the knee was not hurting when I was not walking on it, and was stiff and sore but nothing really notable when I was walking on it. Yesterday I noticed that it was stiff and got a little bit sore after walking for some time, as in 3 out of 10, noticeable but ignorable. The only thing different is the resignation. Here I thought the arthritis was getting worse (or maybe bone mets had crossed my mind) and all the time it was stress! Our bodies really do try to talk to us!

Chi--It's amazing how quickly the "cheats" can add up. Still good that you caught it early, so there is less to take back off. I wish I had your discipline when it comes to eating!

Jazzy --Love the pic! Eye roll the person relieving me, indeed, especially since it was the Director of Nursing herself! If I had been late relieving her there would have been he## to pay. Getting all the onboarding stuff done in less than 7 days is being a bit of a challenge, but I should just make it. It actually works out in my favor to not go to work on Monday, since the guy is coming to clean the furnace Monday ayem. At least I won't have to reschedule that appointment. And I am sleeping much better already. I'm having very odd dreams about taking tests and running around looking for things, but they're only odd and not scary, so I'll just roll with them. I know it's just my subconscious telling me that it's worried about the new job falling through after already quitting the old one. My subconscious would have preferred I stayed on at the old place until the new job onboarding was completed. I am so looking forward to a fun work environment, and working with kids has always been fun for me!

Illi--fizzy or acidic, sounds like something I might like! Even if you don't find something wondreful, it's fun trying new wines.

Beaver--very interesting about the garlic bread bringing out the fruit in the wine!

Karen--If all goes as planned I'll have everything done but the TB test reading by the end of the day today. Maybe we can talk this weekend? I'll let you know when I know for sure when I will be home. I am going to take some time to drive to the various schools in the district this weekend just to look at them. I seem to remember Christmas Break being longer, too, but that was back when it was called Christmas break and not Winter break. Things have changed over time. I'm not sure how long the summer break is. Just knowing what the hours and days will be in advance and not having them change frequently will feel like a vacation. And, I expect I will actually get to eat lunch regularly, too. I have found that days when I did get to eat lunch the entire day seems shorter and better.

Goldie--I suppose a really good exit scene would have been satisfying, but with healthcare being such a small community at heart I didn't want to permanently burn any bridges I didn't have to. Walking with essentially no notice will be bad enough to have on my record, although with today's work ethics it's not so bad a thing anymore. According to the job description the school nurse is involved in the planning sessions for kids with special needs. I'm not sure how much of that there is. Yup, the DON is one of the bully nurses who wants to make sure the nurse working half the shift does at least 95% of the 12 hour shift work, reasonable or not. Such an attitude of looking out for #1. Good luck with the next infusion. And good luck to DH with his appointments.

LOVE the Peppermintinis!

Illi--WOW--that was GREAT!That's the way to make a statement!

Jake in the Lake over Elf on the Shelf ANY day!

Chi--that must have been a great espresso!

Thank, Teka!

Karen--Happy Hannukah! Enjoy your calls with your children.

Chi--how horrible!What a tragedy for that family.

Coffee geeks call that kind of espresso a "God shot" (apologies to the Deity). Perfect taste, temp, consistency and color/thickness of the layer of "crema" on top. (Quick bit of trivia: the Italians call that rusty-brownish layer "schiuma," which means--eeeuww--"scum").

Last night's DOTD with Hanukkah dinner was Louis Jadot Beaujolais-Villages 2019. Much more "serious" than a Nouveau, subtler bouquet--but not as "serious" as a cru Beauj. (a named wine from one of those "villages:" Fleurie, Regnie, Julienas, Chenas, Morgon, Moulin a Vent, etc.).

Kim, isn't it amazing how that cortisol released during stress can cause all sorts of nasty stuff? It leads in turn to the release of inflammatory cytokines--and that stiff sore knee is due to the resulting inflammation (even if only osteo rather than rheumatoid, the deteriorated cartilage and surrounding tissue get very "angry"). I'm beginning to take seriously my Apple Watch's constant admonitions to "Breathe." Helping my back. (Having to constantly shoo the cat off the dinner table--and from "video bombing" my Zoom shoots--does add stress).

Tonight, a bubbly. We learned last night that we have something to celebrate, but are not at liberty to say till the 21st. (No, it has nothing to do with the vaccine).

Well ChiSandy didn't ask us to guess, but I'd think a wedding.

Hi all I've been lurking and enjoying or commiserating with your adventures and DsOTD. Mine was a decaf Bailey's irish cream coffee after dinner with a big dollop of whipped cream on top. DH had his over the rocks. Ouch. I'm a lightweight 🙂☕

Schlink Haus Riesling also comes in a blue bottle. (Rheingau, Rheinhessen, & Mittlerhein wine bottles are brown; Mosel bottles are green; and Nahe--sort of a flat-plain area of the Rhine region--bottles are blue). On my first trip to Europe in 1990 (with a wine merchant and his sales trainee), we stayed in Bad Kreuznach at a hotel owned by the Schlink family, who put us up, fed us, and even had us participate in a tasting for "Essen und Tranken" magazine. Even though they're "vins ordinaires" (or the equivalent German term), I'll always have a soft spot for Schlink Haus wines.

Try an off-dry or slightly sweeter riesling with strawberries. Yum! Also pairs very nicely with spicy foods: Cajun, Thai, Hunan, Szechwan, Indian, etc. Not Mexican, though--you need either beer or sparkling water with lots of lime. (Although a couple of years ago we went to a Baja-grown wine-pairing dinner at a neighborhood Mexican restaurant--terrific, but the wines were insanely expensive because produced on such a small scale. Sorry, but no still rosé is worth $40).