um-yet again!

So...I'm moving again! A huge deal basically fell into my lap and there was NO way I could pass it up. First of all, I have the master bedroom. Now, if you all recall, my room right now is a tad bigger than a cave in the deep dark mountains. My new room is quite large and spacious (not to be confused with the building). I have a balcony--which means that Romeo can now find me and begin reciting poetry my way! Also, it is a brand new house- never before lived in! YEA!!! Count your many blessings- I am so excited. Here are some pictures- ENJOY! :)


I know its a little blurry- I just couldnt keep my hand still! I guess I am just too excited!


















My room! LOOK AT ALL THAT SPACE!







THE BATHROOM!





My balcony!






Upstaris livingroom













Downstaris livingroom #1



Main downstaris livingroom #2












Kitchen





Backyard with porch (perfect for a hammock if you ask me! and there is a little swing set as well. I didnt ask so I dont know!)





When we pulled up tonight to unpack there was a perfect full rainbow! Its a sign! The heavens are smiling down upon us!

We'll move in tomorrow so I'll get some updates with actual furniture in it! Yea for me! "I'm so happy!" (Name that movie!)

Ticksy little Hobittses!

The hospital that I work at has many wonderful people that donate money to help keep it going. One of these people is a retired General that recently turned 95. He has donated and is continuing to donate millions of dollars to the pediatric department itself. So- how do we thank him? With some carrot cake a little party with the kids on the unit! This is a great plan if you're in a regular hospital. However, when you have 4 kids on the floor and they are all teens- the "lets decorate cookies with the kids" has a different feel to it.

The other part is that I was supposed to have the kids make birthday cards for the General during the last couple of weeks. Well folks, we haven't had kids that could do that. I had a few make them, but it was ultimately up to me to do it. I put on my little kid hat and went to work. They were all fine and dandy, but not exactly what I was picturing. Then it came to me. I put the marker in my left hand ( I am right handed mind you) and then closed my eyes. I thought of a the many pictures I have received from my nieces and nephews and went to work. Then, I got out the stickers and closed my eyes as I plopped them down. When I opened my eyes, I was quite proud of myself! It looked great! I think I even had a few tears of joy in my eyes. But the test was on. Would it fool the others?

I put up the cards around the lobby and sat back to watch. All I have to say was it was really hard to keep the giggles in. I would ask people what they thought of the cards and they would look around and then go right to the one I did with my eyes closed and say things like "oh! look how sweet!" or "this one is so cute!" Or they would get a little laugh and say "oh look at this one. Its priceless". I, of course being so proud of my accomplishment, couldn't keep it in. So I told them, "I did it!" They would get the best shocked faces I had ever seen and then we would laugh together. Of course, we didn't tell the General. What he doesn't know wont hurt him!

I think that that should be enough to say that I am a REAL child life specialist eh? I don't think I should have to take the certification test in November. Do you think the child life counsel would agree?

Well here it is the moment you have been waiting for! I took a picture with my camera phone right before the General took it home!



So what do you think? Could I pass as a toddler?

Getting out!

This weekend, my roommate Sarah and I decided that enough was enough! It was time to get out of the heat and head off to the mountains for some much needed rest and relaxation! (kind of). So off we went to go camping with her little brothers. It was beautiful- but like always--an adventure! I learned a little thing about camping in the white mountains. They dont have designated campgrounds like the ones that I am used to. You find a nice piece of dirt that looks good and settle down. Here is what we found. It was beautiful!!!


The best part was that if you stood at the face of the tent and looked forward- this is what you would see--

You might not be able to see unless you click on it- but they are cows. Yep. Cows roaming free right across from the dirt road! So funny! I told them that if we woke up to cows grazing around us I would probably freak out!




The other funny thing that happened was that all the wood that he had was soaked due to the unusually large amounts of rain that the mountains had received. We tried, but to no avail- all we got was smoke.










Thankfully we live in a wonderful day of technology and we could call their dad (who was coming up later to drop off their other son) to bring up DRY wood.

Therefore, not having a fire what else are you going to do? How about work on your golf swing. I have to say I've never done that while camping before but it was fun!



Dont be fooled. I know I look like a pro, but keep in mind that I left out the many pictures of me missing the ball.





The next day we went on a hike. There are no pictures on the way up because my focus was on breathing and not dying. However- It was worth it once we got there.

Once back at Sarah's house we hung out with the cutest puppy ever. I fell in love with Brody! So he deserves some pictures on here! You'd have to agree he's pretty darn cute!


I had a great weekend. It was nice to get away from life for a little while. I definitely recommend it to all. Even take a golf club or two because its fun for all!



And a Happy Birthday to my cute roommate too! You're great!

Thank goodness for kids!

Yesterday I was working with a five year old boy in the hospital. This little guy couldnt leave his room to play in the playroom, so he was super bored and you can only imagine how his parents were feeling! I went in and introduced myself. I asked him if he wanted some things to do. His not so emphatic reply was "sure". When I returned with some activities his mom had left the room. She came back and we went for a walk (a "we have to keep our hands together so we dont touch anything" walk)and then I left him with some more things to do. A few minutes later one of the doctors asked me if I had worked with this patient. I responded "yes" and she started laughing. Apparently, when I was playing with him, his mom had gone to tell the doctor this really funny thing. After the first encounter that I had with him, and then left to get the activites, he said to his mom- "mom, you gotta get out of here because this girl is pretty!"

At least little boys love me! Now I gotta work on the older ones! :)

Fish heads

Working in a playroom in a hospital has its ups and downs. Ups include- seeing the children get well and begin playing again, having a fun environment and music playing all day long (which could also go in the "down" category as well. Hearing the wheels on the bus all day long can really start getting on your nerves!)Down side- fish tank. Dont get me wrong. I love the fish. As I have mentioned in a previous post, I love how excited they get to see me in the morning. What I dont love is actually feeding them. Have you smelled fish food lately? EWW! I have to hold my breath and count to three. Not to mention when I slide the cover off the fish tank, an awful, pungent, stinky odor fills my nostrils. Lets just say, not the best way to start the morning. I do it, however, because I love how it makes the children so happy and excited.

That being said, one day I was sitting on a mat in front of the fish tank with a mom and her 2 year old son. We were pointing out the fish and talking to them as if they were in Finding Nemo. The mom pointing to something floating on the top of the water. "Whats that?!" She asked me. Looking at it, I was 100% positive that it was nothing but a piece of the fake seaweed in the water that had gotten loose and was floating on the top. I told her in a rather confident tone what I believed it to be. However, the mom was not convinced. "You know, some fish end up eating each other if they're not fed enough" she said as she got up on her knees for a closer examination. Those words did not bring happiness into my heart. Also I thought to myself--#1 please dont say that in front of your son and #2 please dont really be a dead fish.

Sure enough, she jumped back quickly and with all the confidence in the world told me that it was a dead fish that had been eaten and was still being eaten. I then examined it myself and sure enough it was a dead fish, but without the head! EWW!!! SICK SICK SICK!!! Those cannibals! It had been so disintigrated that it looked like seaweed!
I did the best I could to distract the kid so that the trauma of the hospital did not include the death of one of his fish friends. The mom then asked-"whos job is it to clean it up? Its not yours is it?!" Yes mam! It sure is. I dont know who else would do it. I got up, feeling like the song that is played on the drums right before an execution, was being played all around me. (I even think that I began singing it outload so as to have some comic relief!)I slowly slid the lid off right after a took a deep breath. However, in doing so the fish got extremely excited. To them, they were getting second breakfasts! They were jumping all around and swimming so out of control that the dead fish was moving all over the place and was basically impossible to get out. Then a brilliant idea popped into my head. (or at least at the time what I thought was a brillant idea.) I'll give them more food and then they'll be busy eating that, that they will leave us alone. Nope. Remember, when they get food they go crazy trying to scarf up each and every one of those tasty little circular bites of food- that they dont care that I am trying to scoop of their neighbor and flush it! Each time I went in with the net, a fish would run into it. Then some of them began taking little nips that the dead fish AGAIN! Goodness fishies! Give it a rest!!!

Soon after the food frenzy died down and I was able to fish it out! (hehe. PUN definitely intended!) I went to the toilet and flushed it away. As it was going down, I thought- maybe its tricking me and thinks that this will lead to ocean! Maybe he thinks that he is finally free. Then I remembered that it didnt have a head. I dont think it was a trick.

I now am super careful to feed the fish more food and more often so as to have less casualties!

Jill-isms

I once had a friend that would talk about the books that we are writing that are being recorded in heaven. These books contain our very most embarrassing moments. I know that I have thousands of them already written and many more to come. I know that one day when I get around to reading them, I will need an entire box of tissues because I will be laughing hysterically! I thought I would share a few of the moments this week that I am SURE made it into the book.

*I was talking to a girl a church about how her dog gets medicine for his arthritis. I commented on how at the pharmacy we filled prescriptions for dogs that included antidepressants and insulin. and then as a matter of fact, I said, "You know, dogs are people too!"

*I was talking to a co-worker in my office on Tuesday. I had to make some copies and wasnt sure if she would be there when I got back. We said goodbye and I left. A few minutes later, I returned and she was still there! I was so happy that I got a little confused with my words and shouted to her "I"M STILL HERE!!!" (Of course meaning to say, you're still here!)

*We were in our living room talking about funny things and I decided to smell a candle. At the moment that I was sniffing the luxurious pumpkin pie smell, someone made a comment and my friend's response was exactly what I would have said, had I not been in the process of sniffing. Excitingly, I said "I would have said that same thing had I not been sniffing the candle. I guess I can't use 2 senses at once!" (Apparently, speaking is one of the 5 senses! Who knew?)

*And lastly- this one takes the cake! Recently I went to San Diego with my family. I got super sunburned and spent many long nights uncomfortable as I couldn't lay on my back. The redness and burn has left (HALLELUJAH) however, the itching has begun. My back has itched for about 2 weeks straight now. The problem is that it is a super hard to reach place. My poor arm muscles are so sore from trying to stretch and reach the middle of my back. I can reach it, but it isnt a place where I have scratched very often. But now, its a constant every 5 minute motion and my arm is beginning to ache with even the slightest movement now! Well, this morning, they hurt so bad that as I was running out of my house to go work, I grabbed 3 Ibuprofen and guzzled them down. On my way to work, I was so tired. I could barely keep my eyes open. I thought to myself- "Why am I so tired?! I slept well last night." When I got to work I put my head on the steering wheel and actually feel asleep for about 10 min. I woke up, saw the time and freaked out because I was late! I jumped out and started fast walking. I then thought- I feel like I am drugged! because I couldnt walk straight. So I thought back to the IBU and then stopped in my tracks...It wasnt IBU it was Tylenol PM. I drugged myself!!! I took 3 Tylenol pm and then drove! No wonder I felt like I was going to pass out! I feel extremely blessed that I made it to work okay. I went into my office and saw that there wasn't anything too important happening on the floor so I made a call to my dad. He informed it would be in my system for 6-8 hrs! I started drinking a coke and put my head down for a few minutes. I wanted to crawl into one of the beds on the unit!!! I am still feeling the affects of it, so I hope this blog makes sense!
Lesson learned---Sleep aids go in their own special place!

Yea for friends!

My old roommate Katey came down to visit this weekend. Plus, my long time friend Nate has been here going to school for a little bit. So being the fun people that we are and being sunday we decided to get together and take a trip to the temple, walk around, and ofcourse---take pictures! Enjoy!


Here is my cute roommate Sarah! I know- We are gorgeous!




I love to see the temple!!!(Dont worry- I did sing it out loud!)


There was this beautiful tree with big green fruit. So of course it became a game of guess the fruit. What better way to guess it than to smell it!










(So I decided to put the strap from my camera on my head. and Yes, I know I look like a Lamanite. Perfect example that my brillant ideas are not so brillant after the thought!)


The verdict is in! We believe that they are limes!












I am thankful for great friends!!!

THANKS FOR VISITING!!!

Now all the rest of you need to come on down! Look how much fun we could have?!