If you missed the start of this series, you can find it here. A lot of things will be the same or very similar.
Sunset was amazing again…
I like how it starts off serene and then the colors get vibrant, then fade. Living in a valley I get sunset in two phases. The first phase is when the Sun drops below the hills in the west, and the second phase is when it sinks into the Pacific Ocean, 17 miles (28 kilometers) from my house. Sunrise is the same way, only in reverse. My city is surrounded by hills on all sides. I guess we’re in more of a bowl than a valley.
Anyway, moving on… after sunset and after Ben had his meds, I ran his bath, got him cleaned up and left him to play. He didn’t fight about getting out and getting ready to Drive Miss Daisy, which was fantastic. We dropped Daughter at the hospital, drove home and The Boys were settled in Ben’s room… drama free.
I ate the rest of my Veggie Rolls while reading through posts, comments and miscellaneous other stuff. I made a major mistake by getting under my blankets after I ate and did the Things and part of the Stuff. I was full, I was warm, and I had a purring Sophie Cat on me… I dozed. Actually, I think it was more of a light sleep, because it was close to an hour of time I lost. I still had stuff I wanted to do, but it was 10pm and I had been awake since 4:30am. Blah, blah, blah… meds at 11:30pm, sleep sometime after midnight.
BAM! BAM! BAM! BAM! BAM! Ben kicking the front door was my wakeup today. It was around 5:30am. I don’t know why he isn’t coming to my room to get me, I’m assuming he’s going straight to the baño when he gets up, but why he stays in the living room after is a mystery. I’m also guessing the door kicking is a speech issue. He has been having trouble with his speech recently. I hope it’s just the undermedicated ADHD interfering. He has processing delays, and it’s worse when he’s tired or SpazmaTaz’d out. (I seem to be having Tangent problems)
I yelled for him to stop and got up. The morning was full of a lot of back and forth. Gathering all his stuff, getting him and myself ready to pick Daughter up, going outside and around to the back gate to watch and photograph sunrise… I kept forgetting stuff or getting sidetracked. It felt like a very busy morning, though I didn’t really DO anything.
Sunrise… Venus is visible in most of the first set. The crows were funny this morning, but the gulls, especially Georgie and Gracie, seem to be busy with other stuff… better dumpsters to dive I guess.
Ben and I left to pick Daughter up from work a little later, had to wait for the frost on the windshield to melt, and still got there before she was done. She was waiting for the only bathroom/changing room to be available so she could change back into her scrubs. Oh, yeah… her unit went COVID again.
Daughter texted me last night that her unit was taking COVID patients again. Through several texts, I got the sense that everything was FUBAR, and they were making it up as they went along. At first she was going to have mixed patients, which is completely against rules for infection control. Then they decided to transfer all the non COVID people out of the designated area and just have her do COVID. (Her entire unit isn’t COVID… yet) She had to transfer four patients and then do eight admissions. EIGHT!
Admissions take time. There’s a long checklist of stuff that has to be done, including inventory of belongings, skin check for pressure sores, vitals and verification of medical info. Each patient, then going through the whole process of taking off the PPE, then putting on new PPE to go to the next patient.
The Emergency Department wanted to send them up all at once. The Charge for her unit called the ED and asked them to space them out, at least a half hour in between, and no more than three in a row with short spacing. The ED sent the people up three at a time. Ugh!
Daughter was exhausted when she finished work. She went to her room and went to sleep soon after we got home. Ben and I settled into a regular Casa Cuckoo morning.
Ben was intensive all morning and early afternoon. He was in a good mood, singing and making Happy Noises, but he wanted me to be right with him, and interacting with him pretty much non-stop. It’s difficult to keep my energy level up, to be constantly ON and remember all my lines in a back and forth script, or keep repeating the same thing over and over with him.
At 3pm I tried to talk Ben into coming into my room with me, but he said “It’s fine.” which means “I’m going to keep doing what I’m doing.” in Ben-speak. UGH! I needed to stretch out and I wanted a break from him, so I went and woke Daughter up. She’s off tonight, and a few nights more. She goes back on Thursday night. I refilled my coffee and went to my room… Horizontal Time, baby!
I’m going to end a little early again. I’m feeling dozey and I might just drift a while… let the DJ in my head play whatever they want. I expect the rest of tonight will be very much like the day was… Rinse, repeat.
Another random choice from the DJ in my head… it’s been playing off and on all day. Maybe the DJ is trying to tell me something??
Today was pretty much “Rinse, repeat…“, aka the same as yesterday. That is absolutely okay with me. Tomorrow’s agenda is a blank page. We have no plans at all. Bring your markers, paints, crayons or whatever and let’s Graffiti Art it up righteously! We’ll have some fun, Adventures, and hopefully some laughs. ¡Hasta mañana!
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HUGS!
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King Ben's Grandma 
Oh wow! Daughter had quite a night at the hospital! It sounds intense. I’m glad for both of you that she has a few nights off. I thought I didn’t know the song until it started playing and then I thought… oh, I know that one 😝🎶. See ya tomorrow, hugs 🤗💞🧸💃🐉🦄☕️
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I’m horrible with titles and artists… I’m always saying “oh, I do know that song!😂😂 Switchfoot is a local band, like Steam Powered Giraffe. Both from the San Diego Area.
I live in a great place!💃🏼🎶🌈🌊💫🤗🥰💕🦋
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Oh poor Eldest! No wonder she’s stressed n crabby 😞
Gorgeous sunset pics! 🤩
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Yeah, rough night at the hospital. She just told me that when she was leaving, she heard the Day Charge say there were 22 people in emergency waiting for beds.
It makes me SO angry!!
I’m glad she’s already had one shot of the vaccine. She get the other on the 17th.
Thanks!💕🦋
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That must be so tough for daughter. Not only to have to deal with the COVID but to also have to deal with so many patients at one time, especially at once. I hope things get a little bit easier for her t work.
The pictures are beautiful. I hope tonight and tomorrow are as mellow as they have been. And of course, a good night’s rest!
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Thanks, Robyn! The sky has been amazing this year, or I’m finally paying attention 😉
Poor Daughter had a bad night, but she says as bad as it was, it was still better than working at the Skilled Nursing Facilities. She’s predicting that they’ll convert one of the other 2 “pod”s of her unit to COVID before she goes back on Thursday. I don’t know where they’re going to get the extra staff. With COVID, the staff to patients ratio is different. Because of the time involved to put on & take off PPE safely, they have fewer patients.
Good luck Zoomin tomorrow. I’ll keep my fingers crossed for no tears🤞💕
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Lovely pictures Angie. You’re getting to be a pro! It’s good that your daughter is getting a break for a few nights from the hospital. Very hectic and stressful job, specially nowadays.
Hope you can sleep early tonight. Lots of love and hugs 🫂
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Thank you! I am a Scientist AND a Photographer 😂😂😂
I’m glad she has time off too! Maybe I wont be so tired in the early evening and I can learn about my camera. 🤞
Enjoy your Monday!💕🤗🥰
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You sure are great in both photography and science! Hope it goes well tonight 💜Thanks Angie!
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The sky looks liquid in some of those photos. Must be scary to know that your daughter is around covid all day. My family went to a massive asian grocer that was by far the chanciest thing I’ve done during the pandemic even though everyone had masks. I simply don’t understand how all of these medical professionals are getting by without catching it–yes I know, many are, but some, not yet. Wishing you a relaxing day tomorrow.
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Thanks Jeff! I do worry about Daughter but she’s always been super cautious with infection control. She worked Skilled Nursing Facilities for years before the hospital and those places have all kinds of nasties. MRSA, scabies, hepatitis… not as deadly as COVID, but not great either. She never once brought anything home.
She has had the 1st shot of the Pfizer vaccine too. 2nd shot will be on the 17th.
The hospital she works for is pretty good (so far) with their rules about how much time they spend with a COVID patient, limiting staff exposure and they DO have appropriate PPE. She uses a PAPR and an n95, plus all the covering, and changes into hospital scrubs to work, then back into her personal scrubs to come home.
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I know I’ve babbled about this before, but I have such respect for OIder and all the frontline workers who are doing so much for our country. They are making tremendous sacrifices and taking risks in the name of compassion, and it’s very humbling to me. (And very annoying that half of the country is still running wild and ignoring any sense of precaution, which is a major factor in why we’re in this current mess.)
I don’t know if Ben travels well but, once all of this passes, and it will, maybe a nice vacation for Older is possible? Perhaps a little resort somewhere quiet and peaceful where all of you can completely chill and do absolutely nothing productive. Just thinking out loud…
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We haven’t gone anywhere with Ben since he was little enough to plop in a stroller. He does okay in the car, but we haven’t done an hours long ride in a while either.
Maybe a camping trip with Younger and Partner. We all like camping…
I just made you cringe, huh?😂😂
Honestly… having Ben back in school full time would go a long long way towards peace and harmony. 💕
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Actually, I DO like camping, although we haven’t done such in a long while. I’m all about getting as far away from humanity as possible, having a few beers, and just enjoying one another’s company without all the distractions, digital and otherwise. Relax, breathe, and marvel at the nature all around you…
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My goodness, it’s sounds like you’ve all had an intense, busy time. It must be very stressful for your oldest, especially when things keep changing. Hope you get a more relaxed day tomorrow!
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It’s been non stop since… I was gonna say the new year, but I’m gonna go with “it’s been non stop.”🤪😂😂💌💌
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