Elvis Has Left the Building

For those of you who have been following this blog closely, or not so closely, you have heard about pre-employment hoops and for lack of a better word, procedures that one must go through before starting a new job.

Likewise, there are ceremonies for leaving a job. After almost exactly 3 years Mrs. Balabusta is leaving the college health community to treat children at a hospital based facility on an outpatient basis. Some people refer to it as Ambulatory Float - I prefer to think of it as "Flying Squad".

I write this on the eve of my first day of orientation. I received the agenda via e-mail and it looked daunting, at least to me. Some of the procedures and skills I will be tested on I have not practiced since the third year of nursing school. Yet I find myself excited, intrigued, and feeling much like any freshman before the first day of school. I hope to come back tomorrow night and let you both know how it worked out.

Not the least of this new job will be the expanded hours. I will be likely working until after 4, instead of just past 3, which may mean dinner is not hot and ready and on the table at the stroke of five. This, needless to say, will be quite an adjustment for my family. So I will let you know how that works out.

However, I must tell you that this past week I spent entirely with Fudge doing nothing in particular. It was glorious. About 5 days of vacation that felt like having a month off.

Sunday - We went up to Mequon to see my grandparents in the nursing home. I cut Grampa's hair, even his sideburns which as my daughter remarked "Grampa, sideburns that long went out with the Civil War." He looks 20 years younger, which is good, because he is turning 93 this week K"IH.

Monday - Took Fudge in the a.m. for immunizations. Take a minute to take out your kids cards. Fudge is too old to have gotten Hep B with her baby shots, so we had to finish up that series, added a second Varicella (stay tuned for that recommendation, but she is living in a dorm for crying out loud) and for the bonus round finished off with HPV after much intense and frank discussion over the course of many days. This will be an entirely different post later, stay tuned. After this we went to a fabric/craft store across the street and for an unplanned activity decided to put together a book bag/purse for her out of the coolest corduroy fabric. Took a few hours in the afternoon, but she is going to be the hippest frood in Manhattan.

Tuesday - Errands, nothing major. Made sugar cookies and some very good cappucino cookies. Yum Yum. Started working on my AHA CPR Instructor certification.

Wednesday - Went to Super Wal Mart in West Bend and bought 9 boxes of Mrs. Freshly's for the boys at school. This stuff is like gold in a boys' dorm and you can't get it in Milwaukee. You also can't get Drakes, but I digress. Some things for Fudge's dorm room.... We also got little Kreplach squares for shabbos.

Thursday - Cleaned up the house, cooked for company. Finished my CPR Instructor prereq's.

Friday - Made kreplach, Fudge's first encounter with the supply end of Kreplach. This was supposed to be a museum trip with company, but the company didn't come, so we just went with ourselves. Also brought the Freshly's to the boys, and the celebration carried on for weeks.

I write it here and I imagine a lot of you looking around and saying "So what, nothing new here." and there really isn't. But she is a cool kid, funny, biddable, and fun to be with, and I am so glad I had the time when she was available. I really didn't know what I was missing, and now I fear I will miss her quite a bit.

So for now, it's just me, Mr. Wonderful and his marinated mushrooms (and three other kids).