Work Reunion

10 years, oh my, is it really 10 years?
Must be we have a 10 year old!

10 years ago Auckland Hospital moved to a new building and we were there, well I was on maternity leave but I knew it was happening!
So much has happened since then.

A reunion was called for and we gladly attended this past weekend.
Lovely to catch up with people you knew and find out what everyone is doing.
Amusing to hear people comment on how big the boys have got! Like they still expected them to be babes in arms!

Quick tour of the operating theatres was called for even though we have been there many times and I did actually work there for a few weeks at one stage!
But the boys enjoyed dressing up in protective clothing so we could go inside the theatres.

well maybe not everyone was impressed with getting dressed up!

but others made up for it with their enthusiasm!

They enjoyed seeing inside a theatre, talking non stop about what took place in there etc.
Although think we may have sparked some career ideas for them....?

budding surgeons in the making?

Better start that college fund really soon!

Everyday......

Life goes on.....
everyday and on each and every one of those days I think about blogging and what I can write and then the day slips on by and I have sadly got nowhere near the computer!
Ok I lie a little, I have got real close to the computer but there has been so much else to achieve that blogging has not been on the agenda! Even my Face Book posts have dwindled done to bare essentials.

Work takes over
my life at present, even though 1 of my days during the week has now become a volunteer day, suddenly I am now out of the house 5 days a week.
Last year it was 4 and man do I miss that 1 day! Please come back day, all is forgiven, I will use you wisely....well to an extent I am using you wisely now so maybe I shouldn't complain so!

My 2 jobs
are calling me daily and I am finally, after 3 weeks (reason why I have not been around!) I have managed to get into some sort of pattern working at 2 different jobs, however as they are both based at the hopsital I am finding that there is a little cross over in the roles, mainly from one direction rather than both.

2 days a week I am a nurse in a fixed department. I have to be there at a set time, I finish at a set time and people rely on me to be there. We work as a team and I am scheduled to be in a certain place on the days I am rostered, I have 3 days that I am available to them and they get to choose which 2 days of the 3 they want me to work.

My 2nd role is as a tutor to the student nurses on clinical placement at the hospital. I have 5 wards that I cover and when I have a student on placement on one of my wards then it is my responsibility to meet with these students weekly to ensure they are getting everything out of their time in the clinical setting.
They do work shifts so getting to meet with them can sometimes be a small problem. I have 1 set day a week when I am free to go and find them and I have 1 other day a week that changes depending on which day my other role has chosen to give me off.

This is where the challenge can enter life as at present I have 7 students to see each week and even though I have Mondays, they are not always rostered to work on a Monday so then I have to fit all 7 1 hour meetings into 1 day!

Believe me
this does not work sometimes, (due to their rosters) and so there are times when I will finish my nurse role at 5pm and then switch hats to my tutor role and go and find a student who is working a late shift and meet with them then.
All meetings are pre planned with the student weekly according to their roster but sometimes it takes a little juggling on my part, especially if they are on night shift!!

So the first rotation of students is just coming to an end next week, I will have been through the complete cycle once and I will have a greater understanding of what is required from each meeting and how they can be fine tuned. Which given the fact that at some stage for a 2 week period when there is a cross over of rotations of students going out on placement I will end up with 12 to see in 1 week.

But despite everything
I am loving my life so far this year. It is keeping me on my toes, it is offering challenges daily and I am excited to be going to work, which given the last 5 months of last year is something I am grateful for.

Falling Into Place

Life is falling into place for me and it feels great.

After 6+ months of unemployment and the frustrations that come with that I really feel that everything is going where I want it to go.
I have a job, got offered it more or less on Christmas Eve. 3 days a week in a department at the hospital.
Then when we returned from a wonderful 3 weeks away at the beach (more to come on this later) there was a message from a company that I had an interview with 5 months ago!
Am I still interested in their position!?
I was shocked to say the least as they had never ever got back to me at all, nada, zero, silence!

So after meeting with them during the week and then having to meet with a manager at the hospital to renegotiate things, which was surprisingly simple and all just fell into place, I have reshuffled all my hours and have the ability to do both jobs, nicely and fitting into my life how I want it to fit.

So as of Monday I start my new life, my life that I want, doing what I want, when I want to do it and believe me......it feels great.

Now I just have to work out who is doing all the cooking and cleaning around here now that I am out of the house full time again!

Shh It's Christmas

Yes Christmas is coming, well for those that have maybe been asleep for the last month and had forgotten!
We are so close yet I am missing a few things and have found 1 thing.......

Missing

I have the Christmas spirit which is great, just a shame that "The Book Depository" did not quite have the same spirit that I had! They managed to screw up thousands of orders coming down under to New Zealand. Consequently the wonderful new addition to our family, that little mischievious "Elf on The Shelf" didn't arrive until 2 days ago.

Therefore he has sadly had to go into hiding until next year. Never fear, I have welcomed him into the family and shown him round the house, feed and watered him for his long sleep ahead and explained the situation to him. He is perfectly happy to finally be in a new home and not stuck in a shipping container at the immigration warehouse, so is happy to not meet the children until next November/December and has now gone away. He will be back though.

Missing

One thing I like about Christmas is the music. I love Christmas carols and I doubly like singing along to them. However this year I think someone is trying to tell me something......as yesterday I sadly got struck down with Viral Laryngitis! In plain simple terms.....I have lost my voice!

The boys think this is funny and my husband cheered! I hit him.
The boys have been unwell with viral infections since Dec 1 and I knew it was only a matter of time before I gained something. I just wish it had been their cough and cold instead.
Ok I feel really quite well, apart from a little tired and no voice, but that is not helping us get everything completed in time for the up coming holiday.
I was sick last Christmas from Christmas Eve through till just before New Year, so I can't believe I am so close again. Hopefully the cough and cold will never come near me and the voice will have returned before Tuesday!

Found

With everything that is missing at present it is lovely to find something that has been missing.

I have found a job

I have secured a position at the hospital 3 days a week.
It has only taken me 6 months! However when they tell you that they had over 70 applicants, shortlisted to 4 and you get the position then you start to  realise just how hard the job situation is at the present moment.
We have never had a situation like this in nursing for as long as I have been a nurse!
There has never been an abundance of nurses there has always been a shortage of nurses!
The jobs have just been few and far between and when you do find something worth applying for so does 50 other people. I have been shortlisted several times for interviews but sadly there has always been someone just slightly better qualified than myself but this time it was my turn, yea for me.

So on that happy joyful note I will wish you all a very Merry Christmas and a wonderful joyous New Year.

Can't Be That Hard...Can It??

I am currently unemployed, have been now since the beginning of July.
Most people are shocked to hear that and then start questioning me as to how a nurse has not managed to get a job? Aren't they crying out for nurses they say? Isn't there a shortage of nurses at present?

Well yes there is but unfortunately there is also a thing called a budget and the hospitals are trying their hardest to stay within theirs. So this means that when someone leaves they are really scruntinising the position to see if it is really required or can they manage without replacing the person.
So to an extent there is a shortage of jobs at present.
Add to this that when you do find a job worth applying for then you are in line with up to 30-50 other interested people.

1 job I applied for a few weeks ago, I got to discover that 60 of us had applied for it!!
This means that the employers can afford to be picky about who they hire.
Where once upon a time someone with my experience would have got the job and with a little training in the new area I would be great in the position, they now have so many people apply that they can afford to choose the person who already has experience that they want and not take on someone who needs to be trained in anyway.
So for someone like myself, who has no ward experience because I am a theatre nurse by trade, then I really don't stand a chance at being successful against 20 others who have many years experience on the wards when I have none!

At present, it is a real privilege to just even gain an interview.
I have been successful in about 75% of the jobs I have applied for in that I have gained an interview, unfortunately I have not secured a position from this (well one I did, but I had to withdraw as it wasn't going to work with the family at all), however when they call and talk to me it is always the same feedback...
"You interviewed so well, we were impressed however unfortunately there was someone else with more experience at this time. Thank you for your time."

So I feel like I am hitting my head against a brick wall.
Once upon a time I would see a job advertised, think to myself "what a cool interesting job" apply for it, interview for it and always be successful in  obtaining the job. So it is a little disheartening to have applied for so many jobs in the last few months only to still have nothing, although there isn't a great deal out there to apply for either.

They can choose to be very picky at present with who they give the job too so I don't even stand a chance at working in a restaurant/office/shop till something comes along at present because I have no experience and there are 10 others who have been spilling coffee over people/typing faster for longer in another position and they are more suited.

It is very frustrating to say the least.

Garden Update

We moved into our house here 4 years ago.
The back garden was a complete mess. Still is really although we have done a lot of work on it.

When we moved in there was a large area of tarmac out the back for no reason. There were large ferns halfway down the garden that cut off the back area.

Before any work

Of course we started, very slowly I will have you know, clearing the ferns and other rubbish from the area. As you can see there really is life at the end of our garden, another house!

After a little large amount of clearing, which was very slowly done! We got rid of the ferns and all the other rubbish. This included all the tarmac that was once in the back garden where the play set is situated in the above picture..
We have stuck a retaining wall at the very end and are slowly filling in with soil. Seeing as there was a difference of 75cm between the lowest point and the highest point, then we are requiring a rather large amount of dirt.

In December last year a friend put us in touch with a Bobcat owner who regularly had truck loads of soil to be dumped. So he came and visited and agreed that if he had anything to dump in this area then he would dump with us rather than taking to the council dump way across town. Win win for all really.
He dumped a few loads before Christmas and then everything went quiet.

Of course we then hit winter and weather has not been the greatest for digging out plots of land etc.
So last week Steve decided that we could maybe look at buying the final cubic meters that we required.
My first question was "Where the hell do we buy that much dirt, cheaply?"

So I called the bobcat owner and asked if he could help, did he know of somewhere we could buy soil cheaply and could he also help us deliver it? Sure he said and suddenly we have dirt coming out of our ears.

Seems he called a few earth movers in the area and found one of them had just started a job in the local area. So I came home on Tuesday to a pile of dirt on our front verge.
Next afternoon came home to another pile of dirt, so Steve and the boys decided to start moving it round the back. However whilst doing this Wayne showed up with yet another truck load of dirt!

Don't ask me how he managed to get the truck down the side of our house, it is so tight, although the only advice we gave him was please take the hedge out before the house!
The boys were once more in their element and helped at every possible moment.

Whilst writing this post this morning, Wayne has already arrived with yet another truck load. It is dumped out the front and he will be back either tonight or tomorrow morning with the bobcat to shift it all round the back for us. All he is asking is money towards his time, nothing for the dirt!
If it is anything like last time he used the bobcat here, then the boys will be in for a real treat again.

At this rate we will have grass seed planted in a few weeks and maybe a lawn to play on by February! Wow

Dislike...?

I am not sure on the title of this post as dislike is too easy a word but I can't use anything stronger as I am not sure on the word to use?

I am grateful for the qualification that I have. I know I worked hard for my nursing and I have used it to my advantage quite nicely, however having this qualification can also be a pain and I dislike having it sometimes!

It is extremely hard to get out of nursing as the pay, although everyone goes on about the lack of it, is extremely difficult to shake.
People just can't seem to understand that yes I do know the job I am applying for is less than I was on but to do something other than nursing will always incur me to drop maybe a 1/3 to 1/2 of what I am on now.
Although that is where it is also difficult.
If I stay in nursing I know what my pay will be, if I move to something else and take less money then that is my decision but also our outgoings will remain the same and that is where I have a huge fight with myself!
How can I justify taking a job that is 1/2-1/3 less than what I was on when we still have the same bills to pay for me to be able to do the job? We still have to pay childcare so I can do the job?
1 solution is that I find a position that allows me to start early and finish in time to collect the boys.
Another is that I find a part time job that they are happy with me starting at 8.30 and finishing at 3pm.
(Yea right like that is available, doesn't every mother want that job!)

So now I get to continue checking the job vacancies everyday waiting for that great position to become available that will suit our family perfectly...or with a little adaption made!

Confidence

I have confidence in sunshine

I have confidence in rain

I have confidence that spring will come again

Besides which you see I have confidence in me

I have confidence in confidence alone

Besides which you see I have confidence in me!

Just as Maria sang in the Sound of Music, confidence gets you everywhere.

I have confidence, I know I do as I am a strong, stubborn independent woman.
However over the last few weeks my confidence has been shot to pieces and I have managed to question my ability to do my work!

I have resigned from the current position I am working in. I am being brave and do not have a position to go to. Not for lack of trying either.
I am currently, till Friday anyway, working at a desk job looking at the business side of the hospital. It has been interesting, I have learnt some stuff but it is not me.
I do not have the business knowledge to do the job and that has become apparent.
It was a little kick in the head to have them acknowledge this as well and they have been very nice in letting me take time to find another position before kicking me out on the street.
However it is very obvious that they don't have much confidence in me and I am therefore loosing confidence in myself. I know I don't know how to format a document in the way they require. I know I don't know how to word certain things how they would like it to be worded so it sounds and looks great. I don't have that business knowledge.
I am grateful for the time they have given me to secure another position but I can't keep sitting in an office where they seem perfectly happy for me to sit doing just about nothing, everyday.
It is knocking my confidence. It is knocking my confidence in my ability to achieve anything, to obtain anything to even have the ability to do my old job.


So I am out of there. I have walked. I have given them the paper required and taken my leave.


I currently have 3 job applications that I am waiting to hear on. All 3 jobs have closed and I am waiting to hear if I will be interviewed.
The waiting game is sometimes the hardest part.


So life is a little slow at present. My enthusiasms is a little low. Doesn't help that it is currently winter here and that can make you feel low and lifeless anyway. At the end of the day snuggling in bed and reading a book is great fun, but I can't keep doing that, there is more to achieve.


I am still here, I am still reading blogs and commenting, I just don't have anything to write about at present, although I do, I have an award to write about that I received. I have a post about the Fieldays that we attended last week. I have a swap that I took part in that I wanted to write up and several other things. But I just don't seem to want to at present!
Is that bad?

Go Away Pain....!

I have ear ache, have had for 3 days now. It is not totally unbearable but I know it is there.
I wandered all around the Fieldays yesterday with it (more on our visit to this later in another post)

Finally yesterday I could take no more and took myself off to the emergency doctor.
For the grand total of $73 they took my pulse, blood pressure and temp (all normal) asked me a few questions, felt the glands in my neck, looked in both ears and proclaimed that they could see nothing, no build up or pressure or even infection.

They laughed when they saw I was allergic to Codeine and Ibuprofen and said oh well Paracetamol or Tramadol is all you can take.
Oh and to feel free to come back to them if I feel it has got worse or I develop a temperature.

I knew it was a waste of time going, I felt fine apart from the pain, but unfortunately looking inside someone's ear is not something that anyone else can do except a doctor. And seeing as how I was really sick over Easter with an inner ear problem I was not tempting fate by leaving an infection to brew to cause more hassle than I currently needed.

Oh and on a even sadder note.......I resigned from my job today and do not have anything to go on to.

Isn't life exciting when you want it to be!

Employment

It seems that the whole time we have been in this town I have been trying to find my fit in the employment world.
In Auckland I was working in the Operating Theatres and it was my niche. I have actually been doing it for about 16 years. It is what I love to do.
When we moved to Hamilton the boys were still little and with some changes the Government had just made to childcare, there was quite a waiting list if you found somewhere you wanted them to attend.
So for the first few months I didn't look for a job, but when I did I never really found anything great. The local public hospital does have a large Operating Theatre department but how it is run does not fit with my family or life, so I have never gone to work there. I did manage to find work (private hospital) but it was very part time, I got bored and after a year I moved on.
The position I moved on to was actually a position that only had a years contract so I knew it would end eventually. From there I secured a position at the hospital but after 18 months I realised that this department (Cardiology) was not for me, the work was ok but just not my speciality.
A secondment came up for a change management position and I managed to get one of the 4 positions available, however like a lot of things in the last few years, it was only for a set amount of time!
That time is now ending.....and so I am once again in that wonderful (!) position of looking for some more work.
I have the ability to go back to the department I came from, but I don't want to. I didn't enjoy it and I am now big enough and ugly enough to know that there is more to a pay check than just getting fed up and miserable.
It affects everything.....my life, my family even my mood, so why not be happy.
Although I am well aware of the fact that I do need to work, sadly we are not in a position to be able to only have 1 pay check coming in, plus I know I would go stark raving nutty if I had to stay home all day every day!

So I am now one of those people who spends each day checking the situation vacant pages online. I would be happy to stay at the hospital if I could find a suitable position.
I also currently work 4 days a week and most of the positions I am seeing advertised are for full time! Looks like I finally have to bite the bullet and get back into the real world and finally go back to full time work, although I so don't want to, I love being able to collect the boys from school 1 afternoon a week, it makes me feel like I am still apart of their world and they are only 7 & 9 years old.
We never had the boys for someone else to always look after them, I want them to enjoy school, not have to be constantly tired from being out of the house each day by 7.30am and not getting home until after 5pm each evening.
However I do have a job interview tomorrow afternoon. In a position that I would like, well apart from the fact that it is full time!
It would be a good position to have, I think. The hours are very suitable with my family, so I can work out, no afternoons or nights at least.
So at 2pm on Monday I will be smiling sweetly and answering questions to the best of my ability.

Wish me luck

Interesting Figures About Christmas

The following survey was display in the newspaper.
Makes for some interesting reading.

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Christmas is as much a time for checking work emails as it is for going to church, a survey has revealed.


23% of 1060 people who completed a Colmar Brunton online survey said they would check their work emails on Christmas Day.
That is nearly as much as the 25% who will go to a church service on Christmas Eve or Christmas Day.

Spokeswoman for the Auckland Catholic Diocese, Lyndsay Freer, said she thought people would "need to be a bit compulsive" to check work emails on Christmas Day.
But she said the statistics were a reflection of the fact a large number of people were not Christian, and of the increasing popularity of computers and smartphones.

Tradition also takes a battering when it comes to the Christmas tree, with 71% of those putting up a tree shunning the smell of pine in favour of a fake tree.

Santa Claus will go hungry during his dash around the country, with only 29% of households planning to leave out food or a present for him.

The survey also showed the average age people stopped believing in Santa Claus was 8 years old. (This I can believe as I am sure this year Ben is already wondering secretly in his head, by next year he is going to be questioning this in more detail, although I know he would never let on because of his little brother!)

But there is some comfort for those fearing the disintegration of society, with 84% of people saying for them Christmas meant getting together with family and friends.

34% of people said it was most about the birth of Christ, and 5% of people said the day only meant time off work.
Christmas will be spent with relatives for 53% of Kiwis this year.

And despite the tensions that can come with family reunions, 61% of those surveyed said they would be spending Christmas Day where they wanted to be.

Just 11% admitted they would rather be somewhere else!

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So where do you fall in these numbers?
Will you be checking work emails on Christmas day?

Flexi Time

In my new position at work I am suddenly sat at a desk with flexi time.
It is easy to get carried away with this but oh how life has just got easier and not so stressed.
I know in my line of work that you do sometimes have to be the person who is told what to do, when to do it and how, that is life as a nurse.
However to suddenly be at a desk and told that generally you give and we will take and we are flexible about when you give and when we take is exciting to get use to. Especially as the boss doesn't really want to know every detail of what you are doing and when, he wants you to use your initiative and show him the result at the end, which usually means he wants to see the job finished!

I have finished (well as long as my result comes through good this weekend coming!) my study for the year, so therefore Wednesday are back to being my days to me and to get things sorted.
However being in a new position there are occassions when a meeting comes up on a Wednesday and I know it is important to be there, so I have planned it with my manager that 'if and I mean if' I have to come to work on a Wednesday then I will take the time back on another day during the week. Saves changing payroll and everything just for an hour or 2.

He is happy with this and in fact it is working to my advantage, even though it is nice to have one day a week to get things done it is also nice to know that I can finish an hour early for something when needed.

For some reason, I seem to have succumbed to 3 hours of work this Wednesday (don't worry I won't make a habit of it but job is so new) but on the other hand I am finishing early tomorrow and getting my hair cut and finishing early on Thursday before weekend away, so in fact all works out very nicely.

Could get very use to this line of work, might have to look at getting contract extended next year!

Ranting Over Now

Thanks for all your kind words yesterday whilst I ranted and raved.
I know they were only trying to get a gift to me in a timely manner before it was too far past when I left (I left 3 weeks ago)
I do know they are not that p****ed off with me but however they do have 3 means of contact for me and I am after all only 400m walk through the hospital away from them.
Would it have taken very much at all to contact me and ask me to pop by sometime?

I think not!

5 Minute Rant and Rave Because I Can and I Need Too!!

Sorry, if you don't want to read a very big rant and rave then please skip this post and wait for a happier one tomorrow!

I have just changed jobs at work. I have gone from a clinical setting to a desk job. I am very excited about it and see this as a growth within my career. It is all still within the hospital and I am going to be learning a lot about the business running of the hospital over the actual hands on nursing, although my nursing knowledge will be used and stretched no doubt over the next year.

Sadly the department I have come from is small, very busy and very short of staff. They have had people changing hours over the last year, people have left and in a nut shell they don't seem to have replaced any of them, well no that is not true, they employed 2 nurses and 1 left after 6 weeks! Nothing to do with the job more to do with family and the fact they lived in Ireland and she was here in NZ.
So for me to get seconded to a position went down like a ton of bricks, although if they had all had their eyes open just a little more they would have realised that I applied for this position just like applying for a new job, which I was successful at obtaining.

So in the last 2 weeks of being in my old department they discussed about going out to dinner, the place was so busy and people away here there and everywhere that we planned it for the first week after I had left.
Unfortunately they ran the department on 3 nurses that week and had to cancel the dinner due to no one being available, which I had no problem with.

This is where the rant comes in folks - when I went up to the department the following week it became apparent that a new date was not going to be organised, there was no sign up or anything. The person planning it all had found out that I had applied for the job and not just been seconded, for some reason this annoyed her very much (not going to swear on here today otherwise I just won't stop!) although what difference it makes I just don't know.
So I am not bothered, well just a little, how can they be so petty and stupid, grow up will you! People change jobs all the time, 1/3 of the hospital runs on secondments don't they know this! Man they really are living in the dark ages there and think their department is the most special little place in the world and the hospital should revolve around them.

However the real bullet moment happened today when I arrived at work, the real reason I am ranting and raving, the moment that hit me in the gut, the moment when just for 2 minutes I was p****ed of with my old department and actually let it get to me.......

I arrived to find an internal envelope sitting on my desk, oh I thought, who is sending me anything? On opening it I now do not want what was sent to me, in fact I opened it and 2 seconds later walked out my office to find my husband (who works in the next building) so I could scream at someone and sadly cry too!

So what was in the envelope I hear you ask?

They had kindly thoughtfully sent through the Good Luck Card and gift that they had put together and were obviously going to give me at the dinner! But because they are so p****ed at me for leaving (well they haven't actually said but I think they are) they can't be bothered! There was no phone call to say 'please pop up to the department when you have a moment' no 'hey lets catch up for drink instead of dinner' or anything, just a card and a small gift in an INTERNAL post envelope sent through the hospital internal post!

I was speechless, I just sat there and stared at the stuff, not sure exactly what to do or even say. It felt like I was handling stolen goods, you want to touch it but you know you really don't want to but you are curious.
My empty stomach (no breakfast yet!) hit the empty bottom very quickly and hurt.
As you can imagine I felt about that tall and a little less more, they really managed to hit me and make it hurt.
As mentioned before, all I could do was go and see Steve, I meant to just show him what they had sent but as I stood in his door and told him "I knew the answer to how to make someone feel like crap" I just cried.

I worked there for 20 months, ok I clashed with the acting manager in the last 6 months but only because we were so a like and she liked to be controlling!
I hate giving them the satisfaction of tears, I am sure that is not what they had intended, they obviously just thought it would be nice to get the gift to me that they had kindly got for me, but come on there are much better ways of doing that.

My secondment finishes Oct 1 next year, in the January after I am planning on doing my teacher training, so I will have 3 months where offically (if my secondment is not extended) I will be going back to my old department, as of today I will scrimp, scrap and save so I don't have to go back there, I will become a SAHM instead. On Sept 1 they will be receiving my resignation if my secondment is not extended, if it is then I may extend and do my training the following year but you can guarentee I will not be working back there, why would I want to?

Holidays

This is the start of the 2nd week of school holidays.
Steve is off all of this week, I have Thursday and Friday off.

Will be interesting to see the following when I get home:

1. The state of the house
2. whether the washing has all been put away
3. is the dinner cooked or cooking
4. have they completed the list of jobs I left?

Steve did mumble something about "but I am on holiday!" but I think I just mumbled back something about "it would be expected if I was home for the week so where is the difference?"

Happy Monday all

Homework!

Ben can get himself all in a tizz over his homework very easily.
Somedays it flows nicely whilst on others it is harder than turning the tap on.

However the other day he asked us what jobs didn't have paperwork?
Turns out he doesn't want to do any!
On further investigation, it turns out that his only understanding about paperwork is homework and that is what he doesn't want to do in a job....homework!

I had just finished my last essay for my degree and he felt this was paperwork for my job (it is not, as I am doing this totally seperate from anything to do with work) so we had to explain that in fact my essays are for my school not work, that they were my homework like he has.

We did go though some jobs and discuss what paperwork would be involved, he caught on pretty quickly that, hopefully, training in a job would give you all the information and skills you would need to complete any paperwork involved.

Funny the little things that bother them somedays.

New Job

Over the last 4 years this seems to be something I have blogged about often.
My career within the last 4 years has been eratic to say the least.
However this time I am not leaving a company to move somewhere else I have just accepted a secondment to a project for a year.
It means no clinical hands on nursing for a year but that doesn't both me too much.
But it does mean that I get to use all the knowledge I have acquired over the last 16 years on how things work.
When we were in Auckland I had just started to get an inside look at how management worked within nursing, I am not totally clear on how it works in this hospital, nor do I know who does what senior role within the hospital, but believe me I am about to learn all this.

So I now have to find a decent wardrobe to wear to work each day, I was in surgical scrubs up until now, and get use to meetings and emails and sitting at a desk.

But hey, I like a good challenge.

Oppotunity Knocking

I am one that always believes that if you don't go for something when you see it, then you may miss out.
Life's an adventure and let's have some fun along the way.
The worst that can happen is that you fall on your behind and have to pick yourself up and start again, but sometimes that can be fun too.

I think my parents instilled this fun adventure into me, with the nomadic life we have lived then adventure is always something I am happy to go on.
Ok, I am not so sure if all the adventures the family have taken were what everyone wanted but I am sure looking back we had fun taking risks along the way.

2 weeks ago at work there was an ad for expressions of interest in joining a group to look at change and waste management within the hospital. Now waste management is looking at process and usage waste not good old fashion trash!

Anyhow, I showed my interest because it looked interesting. 1 quick group meeting to find out more info, the lucky chance of being called to a one on one meeting and this week I have been seconded for a year to the project as of Oct 1.

I am excited and looking forward to it. My current department is fun but not my total cup of tea. I sure can't see me staying here for the remainder of my career, so the ability to go away for a year is most apleasing to me.

The other advantage of moving to a desk job is that my blogging may stay up to date cause I will be able to post when I want to.

Frustration Again

Yet again I am writing a post entitled 'Frustration'
I last wrote one just over a year ago and now I am writing another on exactly the same subject.

Frustration at being home from work with a sick child.

Now don't get me wrong...I love my children and they mean the world to me, there is nothing I wouldn't do for them.
I also know there is nothing that can be done when they are sick, you just have to love them and help them through it.
BUT that doesn't help work!

In January I was off for a week sick, I had a medical certificate to back me, so no worries.
In March Alex was sick and I had a few days off with him.
Ben got sick somewhere along the line and Steve happily took time off.
Alex also had another 2 days off somewhere else and we both shared that time, taking 1 day off each.
In May I got a nasty viral chest infection and ended up with a week off again.

By now you can guess that I have used up all my sick time from work!

Unfortunately on Saturday night the babysitter informed me that Alex had redness on his back. Thought nothing of it and promptly forgot.
On Sunday morning Alex informed me that the redness on his back was bigger, like all of his back, he had a nasty rash.
It wasn't chicken pox (no spots) and it wasn't measles, German, English or any other nationality!
It started to fade by the end of the day, well it was still under the skin but just not so prominant. The dose of Phenergan also helped I feel.
Monday there was still a hint of rash but nothing else. He went to school and I to work.
Last night unfortunately Alex looked like he had done 6 rounds with a mosquito, hive type bumps all over his legs and back!
So another quick visit to the emergency doctors only to be told he has a viral infection and that .....wait for it......you guessed it........it is contagious! So no school.

So here I sit, at home with Alex who is feeling fine apart from so itching.
I got so frustrated last night I actually called the emergency doctors and demanded a medical certificate for Alex that I could present to my work, because it just made it much easier to swallow knowing I had something in writing from a Doctor.

So today, before going to see my manager, I went and saw the manager above her. Felt I really had to talk to her first before my direct manager informs her yet again that I am away sick!
She was understanding, grateful for the medical certificate and even asked if there was anything they could do to help me?

It makes me feel so useless, so unreliable. I hate that feeling of not being able to support the team and feeling that they may feel I am not a sure thing, cause you just never know when I might take a day off sick! In fact last time I was sick I actually went back to work way too soon and practically killed myself in the process and got sent home being told not to return until I was well again.

Oh well, life goes on. Got a week off in July for annual leave, aren't I lucky!

P.S - this is when I wished we lived next door to Grandma!

Holidays and Sickness

Our Christmas holiday has been great. We all had such fun.
Alex desperately wanted to stay home for Christmas this year.
Turns out, that with having the caravan, we have gone away for Christmas every year and he decided that he wanted to have a Christmas where he could come downstairs and see the presents under the tree.
We really couldn't argue with that at all.
So Christmas morning was spent at home.

By lunchtime we were on the road and heading to my cousin's house for a family day.
Alex didn't actually seem to mind that his vision of a whole day at home had suddenly been abruptly cut short and now we were on the move again.
I had to make a dessert to take with us, so opted for a traditional Kiwi one and made a pavlova. Alex had strict instructions not to drop it and hold on tight.

We had an awesome family day, with 30 others, drinking, eating and being very merry.
We then spent the next 2 weeks at the caravan and there are many posts on the blog about the fun things we got up to.

Unfortunately that wonderful time has now ended and we are back to work and holiday programme, well at least 3 of us are.
Me, I am off sick, yep that is right, first full week back and I am off for the first 2 days! I was at work last week for 2 days so have been back since Christmas.
Turns out my insides don't want to play the working party game and have been churning and cramping for 36 hours now.
Steve was concerned this morning and decided I needed to see a Doctor, which I had already decided myself at 3am!
So he happily came home from work at 9.30 and took me to my appointment.
I already had a feeling in my head that maybe I had Irritable Bowel, although we can not pin point any particular food that I have eaten that may have sparked it off, in myself I feel quite fine, although a little tired. So had looked the symptoms up on the internet, like all good medical personel do before going to see the Doctor!

The doctor sort of agreed with me and explained nothing I didn't already know.
He has given me some anti cramping pills and it is now a waiting game to see if they do the trick, although he wants to know tomorrow if they haven't.

Currently 3 hours after taking them, they haven't worked yet, although he did say a few hours. So hopefully by tonight things may have settled.
He has told me to stay away from food today, although I can't say I have eaten much this last 24 hours. I don't actually fancy any food but have had the odd moment where I feel rather hungry and I have eaten something because I know I will feel worse if I don't, but it has not been much at all.

So that is the start to 2011, let's hope it doesn't last long and that everything settles really soon!