Who knew?!!

Welp, CNA is the job I've waited for all my life, and I've finally nailed it.  Well........really I would LOVE to be an LPN or RN but don't think that will happen in this lifetime....just too expensive.  Who knew that I would be so happy wiping butts, dressing folks, feeding folks, cleaning and scooping up puke, making the same beds 2 or 3 times a day, walking 20 miles in a weekend up and down the same 3 halls, giving folks showers, emptying catheter bags, putting medicine on bed sores, etc.  This job is certainly not for just the average "Joe".  Example........I don't think everyone could handle my situation on Monday!  I actually got poop in my hair!  (Don't ask!)  Just part of the job.  I'm now known as "shit head" to the RNs on my halls.  Some people go to work and get ink, chalk or drymarker on their hands.  NOT ME!  I get poop in my hair.  Now that's an adventure of a lifetime.  No day is ever the same, and I LOVE IT!  Another funny....caught a resident that can have nothing by mouth trying to get a drink of water out of the water fountain using his ball cap.  Such a sweet old guy who got a big grin on his face when he was caught!  How many people can say that they actually look forward to going to work everyday?  LOVE, LOVE, LOVE IT!!!  I have such great support from my sweet husband too!  Life is so good..........

My nomination for Teacher of the Year

I am married to a future Teacher of the Year winner.  I've told him very few times (I know I should do much better with that),  but I think he is a terrific teacher.  Our kids think he is "one of THOSE kind of teachers", but our schools could use many, many more like him.  His dedication and desire for these kids to learn is unbelievable.  He takes it personally that the kids don't care, and he takes it personally when a kid wants to learn but isn't the brightest sparkler on the 4th.  He goes in early to meet with a student (when I say early, I mean EARLY.....he leaves at 5:30), he stays late to help students, he will call a student and help with work over the phone.  He makes phone calls to parents/grandparents/custodians of the kids that struggle, have an attitude, don't do their homework, etc.  He has even been known to call a parent right there in class with the student........ he has ruined a few days for some kids!  An example of "one of THOSE kind of teachers"......if the kid doesn't do their homework, they have to stand up in class (homework is rental payment on their desk).  No homework, no desk.  He does take cell phones away, he doesn't let kids go to the bathroom (unless REALLY needing to go), etc.  He has TONS of kids that love him and a handful that don't.  The handful that don't are losers anyway.  He uses humor to teach and to get/maintain their attention.  He could teach some teachers a few things!  Some of the things that he tells me he says/does.......well, let's just say he does have an active imagination and sense of humor.  Good thing he didn't teach back when a teacher could put their hands on the kids.  There would be a lot of kids going home with sore butts!  However, it would certainly get their attention! 

I'm very proud of him.........what else can I say?

JUST CALL ME QUINTOMOM

Well........not really, but almost.  I have 4 under the age of 3 and 2 of those are infants and 1 is 12 months.  Monday I get another infant, hence the quintomom!  Now I know why God has women have babies WAY before the age of 51.  I'm worn out every afternoon, my hands are so chaped from washing them constantly after changing diapers, I can now hold 2 infants and feed them at the same time!  That's why God gave us chins.......did you know you can hold a bottle with your chin?  It really does work if the baby doesn't turn it's head!  I've gone from one end of the spectrum to the other.....sitting by myself all day with no noise transcribing to constantly moving with a house full of kids!  There has to be a happy medium.  So Julie and I have come up with a solution.  We are going to take CNA classes!  Can't wait until we can get started.  Not only do I get to spend all day everyday for 2 weeks with my best girl friend but get to FINALLY start learning/doing what I've always wanted to do.  I'm thinking after I get my CNA and then work for about a year, maybe we can go back and get out LPNs.  Don't think I'm interested in getting my RN at this age, but I would be extremely happy with an LPN.  I'm just so stinkin' glad that I don't have to take any math classes or writing classes or speech classes.  Fainting in front of a speech class would be so humiliating!!  I don't think they would allow Joe to come to class and give my speech for me like he used to do for PTA and my treasurer's report.  So.....here's to getting my CNA and finding a job in a hospital or nursing home finally!!!

Just some "not-so-interesting" news!

Starting a new adventure in the Bautista house.  I will be the pseudo-mommy for 3 little ones under the age of 4 months (equal to being the mother of triplets!), a 2-1/2 year old little girl, and a 12 month old little boy.  Four of the 5 children's mothers are teachers, so I won't have them when school isn't in.  Sure hope this old body can make it all day every day! 

My BFF bought me a new bike yesterday.  Pretty, pretty, pretty!  It is white with some foam green/maybe light teal, (hard to describe color) flowers!  LOVE IT!  Joe and I have been trying to ride, but the weather is not cooperating.  Hard to ride when it is 95 and above.  Just can't get into it with the heat.  Wish we had the time after it cools off to take a few days/weeks and ride and ride and ride.  I guess that will be in our next life though.  We are planning a ride in September and maybe a ride in October over his fall break.  Sure hope it all works out.  He kicks my butt when we ride, but I really love it.

Moving on to Joseph.........sure do wish we would hear from him.  It has been weeks since we have had any communication, and I absolutely HATE it.  I keep having these horrible dreams about him.  Can't wait until he gets back on American soil.  I'm sure he has lost a TON of weight and is so, so tired and hot.  Hang in there baby, there is a light at the end of your tunnel and a family who is anxious to see you.

Now Christina..........we finally bought her a car, and she gets it today!  It is so pretty, and the best part is she REALLY likes it.  It is a Chevy Cobalt and is a very, very pretty sky blue.  Great car for her, and Joe got us a really great deal on it too!  She leaves Saturday for hiking on the Appalachian trail .  She will be gone for 8 days, home for 4 days and then off to Colorado for 9 days to visit a girl friend and then to visit her Uncle Larry, home on the 20th and then back to school on the 21st.  She is a traveler!!!  So glad she can go and do.

Daniel........registered him for school this past Monday.  Why do public schools cost so stinkin' much?  $256.04!!  That doesn't make sense to me.  At least we have him home for another 2 years.  I'm going to be so sad when there aren't any children left.  He starts 2-a-days in tennis on Monday!  Something inside me says he is not really looking forward to that.

Joe starts school on the 15th and he is dreading it so much.  I wish he could retire and find something that has absolutely NO stress and is fun......like mixing paint at Lowes or greating people at Wal-Mart or bike riding cross country with me!  Like I said.....maybe in our next life. 

Sometimes things just don't work the way you want them to

Do you ever wonder WHEN things are going to go your way.....just once already ok?  I thought when I got this new job, everything would be cool.  What a joke this turned out to be.  I'm working 40 hours a week just on transcribing and making about 1/4 of what I made with my ortho job.  That just plain out sucks man.  I'm having to transcribe while trying to take care of an 8 month old too.  Can you say extra high stress level?  I dread getting up in the mornings, I dread sitting at the computer all day, I just dread the weeks.  People say "be thankful you have a job".  I know I should but.......working as many hours and only making 1/4 of the pay.  HA!  I've said for years, back when Joe was working for Factory Mutual and CHUBB, that 90% of a job is liking/loving what you do.  Guess who absolutely HATES her job?  It's a really hard balancing act trying to do both jobs at the same time, worry about getting dinner on, laundry, dogs, trying to keep some semblence of a half-way clean house (that's a joke in and of itself).  Then on top of everything.....Christina's laptop died a couple of days ago.  How can a college student survive these days without a computer?  I wish I could wiggle my nose and a laptop and a car for that poor little girl would appear.  I feel so sad for her not having a car at the age of 21.  I thought a parent's stress level was supposed to ease with time.  Mine........over the top.  Joseph going to some God-forsaken place with weapons everywhere, Christina no car and no laptop with grad school just around the corner, Daniel now behind the wheel of a car (well... MY vehicle), my hot flashes being completely out of control, my hormone pills making me gain weight, and my crappy, crappy job.  What's up with life sometimes?  Is there ever going to be a point in my life that I feel not maxed out on the stress-o-meter?  I can't see that at any point in the near future.  I want to wake up in the morning and experience NO pressure whatsoever.  I'd love to see how that really feels just for a couple of days.  I think I need to pop some pink footballs......that bit of information is for my mother and my Ninny!! 

So.........in my next life, there will be no sitting in front of the computer for hours upon hours, I will be a size 9 (shoot I'd be happy with a stinkin' size 12 right now), I will go on 30 mile bike rides at least 4 times a week, my kids will NOT have to go to war, my kids will have a car of their own to drive and I'll have mine back, Joe and I will be able to travel to fun places in the car and on the bikes, and I'll have the job of my dreams working with real people and not computer gremlins.  I hate those little suckers.

first day jitters!!

My first day on the job today.  Boy did I have stomach problems up until 1:30 this afternoon.  That was the time to start training.  Thankfully, my trainer started off the training period with "Just so you know.....I haven't had my cup of coffee today."  I knew right then that she was a keeper!  Very sweet and patient lady.  We were on the phone for a little over  2 hours.  I was then cut "loose" to start producing.  My first doctor was an infectious disease practitioner....a specialty that I have never transcribed before.  However, a piece of cake pretty much.  I feel so much better knowing that this day is over.  The bad news is that in 2 weeks I am going to be put on my "permanent" account which is an orthopedic account with a brand new platform that no one has ever worked on.  Training all over again.  That's okay....I have a job now and I think I'm going to be really happy with this one.  It is a small company that has been in business almost 20 years.  They have less than 100 employees.......hence over 100 applications and only hiring 4 for my position!!!  I have high expectations for this company and this MT job.  I'm feeling so much better this evening, and now I think I can go enjoy a little something to eat!!  First-day jitters are flushed......literally!!!!

My BFF is so sweet to me!

Yesterday I left about 8:30 am to pick Daniel up in Tennessee at my niece's house.  It was going to be a long 10 hour day of driving.  I love to listen to country music which I don't get to listen to very much because either I'm working or Joe doesn't put it on a country station in the car because he can't stand it.  I actually was looking forward to the drive just to listen to some country music.  However, when you travel, a station doesn't stay on for too long, so you spend quite a bit of time scanning the stations to pick up a good one.  When I went out to the car, my BFF had taken 4 CDs of my favorite country singers out of the truck and put them in the car for me to listen to!  It was one of the AWWWWWW moments!  Those are the little things that make it all so great.  Thanks Joe for the Polar Pop and the CDs.....I love you!

During a drought, it's really dry......when it rains, it pours!

First off, did I spell drought right?  When you spend all day typing medical terminology, real words don't look quite right.  If I didn't spell it correctly........you know what I mean.  I've gone over 1-1/2 months without work.  Lots of rejection emails and no prospects really of any work.  I FINALLY got a call last week and was offered a job.  However, if you read my previous post, you know that things didn't quite work out the way they should have.  Needless to say, I didn't end up with that position (stupid electronics).  Well......last week, actually the day after I realized that THAT position wasn't going to work out, I got a call from the head honcho from the OTHER company that I had the phone interview with a couple of weeks ago. Yes, this is the one that I lied about my pretty blue book being in the car!  Long story short (really this is the short version Joe), I was offered the position with this company that had over 100 applicants and they only hired 4!!!  That afternoon I got 4 roses delivered, 3 red roses and 1 white rose with a sweet card saying "Congratulations 1 of 4!" from my BFF.  (That one gets its own page in the scrapbook)  This position gives me a much warmer fuzzy feeling than the other one did.  The other one......independent contractor and I had to pay taxes,  this one....EMPLOYEE!!!  The other one.....Sunday through Thursday, this one.....MONDAY THROUGH FRIDAY!!! No more weekend working.  The other one......no paid vacation or holidays, this one.....6 paid holidays and 1 to 2-1/2 weeks of paid vacation!  The other one......multiple ESLs, this one..........NO ESLs!!!!  The other one.....no benefits whatsoever, this one.....full benefits (yeah I know we don't need medical and dental) including vision, free $15000 life insurance, 401K, 3 days bereavement leave with pay (don't plan on using ANY of that), and reimbursement for MT certification.  The old one.......no pay for training, this one......pay $12.75 an hour for the 1st week of training, 125% of your pay per line for the 2nd week, 115% of your pay per line for the 3rd week.  Now that's what I'm talking about girlfriend!!  I know I won't be making what I made with my other work that I've done for over 13 years, but I won't be working on the weekend, when 2 pm comes my day will be over, vision insurance, no self-employment taxes to pay.  Now when I say "when it rains, it pours" I mean this......I got another email and call from a voice recognition editing company (she's called twice and emailed me twice) but I told her nope.  Got another email from a company that is wanting overflow work.  I thought maybe this would be just a few hours per week and I could do it just for some extra money.  It's more than part time.  I've emailed her back and told her I was really only looking for just a few hours per week.  She emailed back saying she needed someone at least 25 hours a week.  Really?  I'm not working 65 hours a week AND babysitting.  Wonder Woman has left the building!  Also, I got a call for babysitting.  Things are looking up for the Bautista family........and I REALLY love my BFF Joe!  Happiness is......... Now I just wish the gang bangers that Joe teaches would spontaneously combust and intelligent students would appear in their ashes.  I think he would enjoy teaching a lot more if that were to happen. 

Can ANYTHING go right?

It's really hard to keep a sense of humor when everything seems to be going WRONG.  When I say everything.....believe me, I mean everything.  I was so stinkin' excited because I was offered a position on Wednesday.  Thank you Lord!  She asked when I wanted to start...."tomorrow of course!"  She called at 11 yesterday morning to load the platform on my computer and train me.  Everything was "supposed" to take about 1-1/2.  Right!  I was on the phone from 11 until 2:45.  There is a glitch in the platform and something on my computer not allowing my foot pedal to work.  Usually, in the world of medical transcribing, it helps to be able to hear exactly what the doctor is dictating.  That really is an important part of meeting your 98% accuracy rating.  The lady training me could not figure out what the *&$&)%(* was wrong.  She gave me a number to call.  Guess who I got to speak with?  Now keep in mind that I'm in tears at this point because I was supposed to have already started producing lines and making money.  I got to speak with Ritesh Patel in some remote middle eastern portion of the world.  I'm crying, he's speaking some language I don't understand and telling me to do different things and all I can say is "I'm sorry, I didn't understand you."  Really???  Come on......can't a girl get a stinkin' break?  This is unbelievable.  I'm speaking to some foreigner, my dog is snoring on her beanbag chair down by my legs (very loudly), Romo has to go pee and Landry is probably somewhere in the house chewing on the house..... I'm over this.  I just want to crawl in my bed and eat!  But nooooooooooo....I have to have a one-sided conversation with Sadam Hussein of the computer world.  I get an email from the lady who was training me saying that if it doesn't get fixed I have two options.  Either go out and buy another computer/foot pedal or not get the position.  Hmmmmm......that's a problem.  Guess I'm not getting that position.  No big deal, the offers are coming in everyday.  Right, and I'm a size 2.  On the positive side of things, I got an email from the lady who interviewed me last week just a few minutes ago.  This is the job that they had over 100 applications and are only hiring 4.  Anyway, the email says the head lady is going to call me this morning for her portion of the interview and "Good Luck!"  I'm now sitting on pins and needles wondering what it is I'm going to have to lie about with this lady.  I did get my Blue book and ready for any questions coming my way on that.  I'm hoping beyond all hope that I am offered a position and am one of the four lucky soles who get an offer.  Oh yeah, I forgot to mention that it started off crappy yesterday before she even called, because I was printing off the account specifics and samples and my black ink ran out.  SUPER!!!  So I start this morning in a really crappy mood.  I think to myself that it's okay we have our tax return coming any day now.  Clever me ruined the day even more.... I checked on line to see when our return would be coming.  It is "delayed....please contact the IRS for further information".  Well crap, that doesn't sound good.  I sit on hold for over 25 minutes to speak with a very pleasant sounding IRS lady who doesn't have a care in the world about my return.  She asks me every question in the world to verify that I'm really who I say I am.  She then puts me on hold for over 10 minutes.  It's all MY FAULT!  When I paid our estimated taxes in January I wrote MY SSN on the check.  They posted it to "my IRS account" and the computer spit out our tax return because it didn't show that the primary  account holder (that would be Joe) doesn't have any estimated taxes posted to his account.  The very-"nice"-IRS-lady-who-doesn't-give-a-crap-about-my-life-or-tax-return-or-anything-else-in-this-world said "it will be another 2 to 3 weeks to have that posted onto the primary's account and then your refund will be processed.  Another fine start to my morning.  So here I sit, no job with MedScribe because of computer issues, waiting for the second interview phone call from Opti-Script, no tax return for another month or so, Romo has to pee (or poop) again, Landry is laying in her bed chewing on her bed probably, the bird is screaming waking up the baby, the baby is wanting a bottle and some LuLu time, and still no black ink in my printer.  Wow, what an end to another unemployed week.  Come on God........NO MORE!  I wonder if the lady calling for my second interview would mind if I was chomping on some chips or candy while we chat.

Just a crappy day

One of those days you have out of the blue that is just a crappy day.  Blue mood, nothing going right, everything getting on your nerves, and just plain sad.  I hate these kind of days.