Saturday, March 27, 2021

"So, what did I miss?"

 I've been watching "Hamilton".  I have not been in France.  I don't understand why Mr. EdNursesauras and my daughter hated it, I don't like rap but I thought it was brilliant.  

As my friend Cath (who retired last month) says, "I've been remarkably busy doing remarkably little".  But there is routine.  Get up when you want.  Enjoy my morning coffee while I wake up, in no rush to get anywhere most days.  Get out walking.  Spend quiet afternoons enjoying my sewing turret planning and completing projects.  Have a firm lunch date with Mr. EdNurseasauras every week.  The usual drudgery of keeping house, although of that I can say its a piece of cake when you do something every day.  WTF was I thinking all those years when I would spend an entire weekend before a holiday cleaning and putting things in order?  

I've had a lot of time to think about lots of stuff, you would imagine I would have more time to write.  I'm just not sure there is quite enough to write about.  Who wants to see my spice drawer?  Or my sewing projects?  Or the gnome I made out of spruce boughs and red felt for a hat?  I don't think I'm quite there yet, and I'm not sure I'm that kind of a blogger.   I have been reading some books about nurses' training in the last century which is interesting, and I have some thoughts about how that affected my own nursing education, but perhaps Oldfoolrn has that covered.  I dunno, I do enjoy reading about the antics of nurses long ago.

I've realized I have a few regrets about retiring somewhat abruptly.  

Like, not taking a lifetime supply of bandaids.  For the first time in decades, I had to purchase them.  I was not happy with the quality.  I suppose it would have been good to have a bunch of surgical masks early on.  I did have just one that I, like the rest of my colleagues, had to reuse until more became available.  We made do.  We didn't go out much anyway.

I always had a bag full of saline flushes, the result of not emptying the pockets of my scrubs before leaving work.  The syringes, when emptied and dried,  are so handy for storing various things.  I used a few on trips to put a few cc's of moisturizer, shampoo or other liquid to keep to the required 3 ounces rule on flights.   Quite handy.  Now they are all gone.  Sadface.  

I had to use regular scotch tape instead of medical for Christmas gifts this past year.  My family was shocked.

My husband has bi-weekly injections, it would have been nice to pirate a box of alcohol wipes.

A few tongue depressors always come in handy, and my grandson will soon reach the age where he would enjoy simple craft projects.  Ah, well, Popsicle sticks it is.  

I have two pairs of hospital scrub pants to last me the rest of my life.  The really good kind with the thick twill tape, my preferred pajama pants as they are huge, soft and comfy.  My 17 year old scrubs from a previous job have holes in them.  The end of an era.  I have one pair of black work scrubs that I keep in case I need them.  But it is more likely I am just not ready to bury them yet.

On the plus side, I managed to collect about 300 pens.  I won't ever have to buy another one for the rest of my life. 

Just recently I remembered I had a locker at work that I never emptied.  I also never used it.  As I recall, there was several pieces of bubble wrap in there, one of which had the absolutely huge bubbles.  I could never pop it at work because it sounded like gunshots, and I certainly didn't want to be responsible for creating a situation.  I hope the new owner of my locker appreciates my legacy.  




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