Katiebell’s blog

Just thought I'd let everyone know, I don't like Plyometrics.  Every time I do them i end up with the worst quadriceps pain.   I mean tortoruous pain.  Knees, Ankles, Quads.  I  think I am going to have to let people know no more Plyometrics for me. 

I'm going to nap for an hour or two andthen go running on those painful parts. 

and why wont it heal.....

  Yesterday all of the necessary paperwork was signed at the attorneys office to get my house sold to the Lucky couple.

This morning the Deed will be filed in whatever office it gets filed in and I will be officially home-less. 

That sounds awful, but in reality I am so relieved, that its hard for me to function!  My whole body feels sort of like jello.

     One of the oddest things about getting a house ready for sale is that all sorts of things come up and have to be repaired.  As all the repairs and some repainting got done, I began to feel a little frustrated as the house was now looking so nice and I of course wasn't getting to live in it!!! 

In May, I finally got an offer that was solid and appropriate for the house. I was pretty excited, but, of course then all the inspections rolled in and it became very messy.  Apparently there was a crack in the septic tank, so I had to replace that, as well as most of the wood siding for the home.  I knew there was wood rot but I had decided not to replace it until the house sold because if I had replaced it earlier I would have had to paint the entire exterior.  Now, all I had to do was replace the siding, as house painting is not considered a repair.  It gets very tricky what is a repair and what is just cosmetic. 

I found some of these dealings rather amazing.  I had agreed to make several expensive repairs, but stated that I did not want to clean the Chimney.  Cleaning the chimney is like a 70 dollar cost and it is not a repair.  The buyers agreed that I did not have to, but then I found that they really whined and complained about this not getting done.  With the Obama Stimulus, this couple will get an 8,000 check in the mail shortly just for closing the deal.  I think they can handle getting the chimney cleaned. It is wierd how pushy, emotional and aggressive people can get when dealing with large purchases.  

My realtor was fairly good considering the extensive wood repair, but towards the end I thiknk she just gave up, and I am so relieved to not have to speak with her personally again.  If I were to ever buy a home, I will admit, I would choose the buyers agent the buyer used.

Deep down, I hope they love and take care of the home.  But some petty part of me on the surface hopes sincerely that the annoying neighbours annoy them more than they annoyed me, and that the extensive bamboo creeps into their pipes and causes them more headaches than it did me! 

And now, given that I have been awake for 3 hours and am completely confused, and such I am going to take a nap as the relief sinks in!  I would have thought my energy level would soar, but I think all the adrenalin has been sucked out of my body and I am left with a shell.  I sincerely hope over the next week or two, as I readjust my finances, that energy will return, I am still running, but I barely have any energy to do so. 

And my reward for selling off the house,  I plan on ordering a deck hammock for snoozing.....as soon as I can find the energy. 

So, the Employee of the Month or something or other at my hospital gets to park in this Designated spot...

Oddly it's never me, I am just not a joy giver I suppose.   It's sometimes hard to be a joy giver in an Emergency Room.  (THough I did deliver a Baby about 3 weeks ago,  the staff was waaay more excited than the Mom.)

Just another quirk of FLorida Hospital.  Good Hospital, Good Place to work, but has some odd trends.   We think this sign combined with the photo posted earlier....creates a definite atmosphere...

Or course for the Situation in Iran. 

Boy its been forever since I wrote about anything.

Everything has been rather in shambles since I last wrote.

When moving down from NC in April, My car broke down on the I 95.  The fan belt broke which is no big deal, butit ripped out a timing sensor which then caused the timing belt to jump off its regular track.  What a hassle.

I was very excited that I had paid off this care in January, but clearly having no car payment was not to last. 

I bit the bullet and got a new car.  I'll admit though, I love my new car.  a Prius. 

shows the new prius.  I like my car, but I will admit, you can't just drive it and expect to get the superior gas mileage.  You have got to pay attention to the computer screen and be willing to maybe drive a bit slower.  Still, I find I barely note the changes in gas prices which have been extreme....

So new car crisis taken care of.

After that I arrived to find that the power in my apartment had not been turned on and so all the stuff I left in the freezer, salmon mostly, had rotted Eeeeew.

THe job has continued to be alright.  My main problem has been that one of the Assistant Nurse Managers wanted me to be her new best friend.  This is a bit tricky as being friends with a boss can be.  I finally actually found that as a person I really don't like her.  Her main idea of something to do on a day off is "Sit by the pool and relax" or "GO shoe shopping"  THose of you who know me know that my idea is to go swim in the pool, or buy running shoes....THe Manager has this controlling way at work, and after spending some time outside of work with her, I realized that she continues this into her personal life.  So I have backed off, and tried to sort of remain friendly but not at the same time.  Unfortunately she's the one doing my 90 day evaluation and I think the fact that I don't want to go to champange brunches with her will have some sort of effect on it.  Ahhhh Workplace politics. The eval happens in July, so I have a while to try to perfect my workplace behavior and possibly go to the Beach with the manager to make her happy.  Eeek.

On another note, I have been doing Charge at work on two occasions,  Not bad, not great.  And I will start with a nursing Student to teach this week, so that should be a challenge, which I hope I am up to.  One never wants to warp fresh minds.

I am now only working 36 hours a week, so I finally have a little more time to write! 

 

The moving company took an extra 14 days to get my furniture to me!  It was horrific, finally on a Sunday night at 8 pm, a sweaty man in a wifebeater showed up.  He looked and acted a little like Onslow from Keeping Up apprearances   I will say I do not recommend MARS van lines out of Atlanta Georgia for your moving needs.  Really horribly service. SO that was an interesting two weeks of sleeping on the floor.  In honesty  it wasnt too bad, I slept on a lot of blankets and it was rather like a firm mattress.

During all of this, my running took a turn for the down side.  I am back running again.  My trainer and I were both planning on running the Space Coast Marathon, but I got so behind schedule, i think I am going to have to look for a January or February Marathon.  I was on target, but just barely and then this week I got sick. I ran the half last year when sick and it really was not fun.  SO, picking a later race, I am going to include a few "sick weeks"  that can be used just in case...and I think I'll be readier and have more fun.

 

Oh yes, my house seems to have a buyer.  It's been a disaster, since we discovered a leak in the septic, etc etc.  Hopefully we will close sometime in July. At this point, i am so so sick of dealing with it, I just want it to sell.  I feel hateful to the new owners, but yet grateful to them as well. 

Alot of stressful things seem to be happening.  I'm very worried about work, with the manager situation and the House which is like a quagmire. 

I'm excited about running and trying to do a Marathon (AGAIN!).  This time, I think I am not going to fund raise.  I was so disappointed about the injury last time, that I just don't know what I'm going to do...lately I've been interested in the Food Bank, and the many needs there, but we shall see.  Currently I just want to finish with a target time...

Oh And I am so excited I got a topsy turvy for my birthday and am trying to grow some yellow tomatos.....  WIll try to post my progress.

so moving right along, I hope all of you are also well!~

 

So, I did say that Florida Hosptial is a bit religious, eh?   On my first day i came across this picture.  It's Oil on what appears to be canvas.  My personal thought is this is something that belongs on Black velvet and not in the hospital.  I imagine some important someones neice or something painted it.  It has the unfortunate effet of very soft porn and paint by numbers. 

       I finally got brave enough to snap a photo, which was a little hard to do as it is up in a main thoroughfare.  SO here it is in all its, errr Glory.

Is it me or is this just a tad wierd?.

The great backyard bird watch happened in February.  So, I decided to go and make some photographs at a Heron Rookery that I had been watching for a while. 

Herons always seem to be such solitary birds, that seeing them all nesting together was a little unusual.  though it is typical behavior for them.  I just didnt know!

Any way it was really fun. The nests are on the edge of a highway and I thought I was going to have one nest to look at, but as I was looking I could not complete counting the nests and such.  The birds are adept at disguising themselves, so it was always a surprise to find another one peeking out.

 

So, there are at least 5 nests in this photo, can you spot them?

the birds are really so dramatic that I thought I'd share what photos I was able to capture.

 

 

this one is feeding and checking the nest.

 

Well, we did do about a 18 hour day at Disney so two posts, not too bad. I intended to post this up the next day but then I guess I got tired. But here is the end of the day at Disney. 

We had a Park Hopper Pass...

SO we went over to the big Golf Ball  Epcot.

And walked around.  We rode some rides.  I did really enjoy the finding Nemo ride because of the real Dolphins and Manatees in the ride, but I will have to admit some concern as the tank seems none too large.  I also enjoyed a ride that took us through a variety of plants.  There were definitely some things I had not seen before.

We had Dinner at China, which to me was a  very very big disappointment.  I KNOW the Chefs at Disney are great, but, what passed as Chinese food there was a very dressed up Americanized Chinese food.  I expected that we would have the option of really traditional yummy Chinese food.  It was definitely tasty, but I have had more authentic and better food at the local Dim Sum.  Ahhh well.

After that it got dark and we went to see the presentation of Wishes and the Parade.. This was probably my highlight of the whole day.  The Castle has millions of icicles on it for the holidays and was programmed to change colors every few minutes.  Some color combinations were a bit odd, but the effect was definitely Magical.

 

 

 

 

Because it is a special year, Disney is doing the Presentation of "Wishes"  a fireworks show, very frequently So, in addition to the Parade, we were treated to a presentation of Wishes, which is a narrated Fireworks show.   I've actually seen parts of Wishes driving home from work a few times over the horizon, but seeing it with the Castle in the background, is really neat!

 

 

And of course the parade was very lit up as well....

And I think thats plenty from Disney. 

 

 

So I did finally go to Disney.  Interesting place.  I will admit I did not find it as magical as the commercials make it out to be, but I am also not 5 years old!

But it was definitely an interesting day.

This is the entry to Disney.  People are very friendly and of coruse everyone sends you off with a "Have a magical Day!"

We got our tickets, which have a few different Disneified slogans and pictures on them. Mine, which I do not have a picture of had Cinderella and says, "Walt Disney World, where glass slippers always fit" Given the size of the parks, I am glad I did not wear any glass slippers that day.

We started off with a breakfast at the Crystal palace.  The Crystal Palace is one of the restaurants inside the Magic Kingdom park.  I think it is modeled after  the other crystal palace of Hyde Park in 1851, but I am unsure.  Since I went in November, it was decorated up for the Holidays and very Mickey focused.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

I thought the greeter at The Crystal Palace was great.  he wore the Mickey hands, and tried to give endless high fives to the people coming in for Breakfast.

 

To be honest the food at the Crystal Palace was not at all impressive nor was it worth what we paid, but the big attraction is of course the Charater breakfast there.  All the Characters gather round and you can have you photo taken with them.  Eventually they lead the children on a parade, which is very entertaining as most of the girls come dressed in their little princess Halloween costume. The girls were charming but I avoidede taking photos of them as people do not take to strangers taking photos of their little girls, yes?

 

 All the topiary was dressed up for the holidays as well.  Here is tigger with his scarf. 

And Eeyore for the Eeyore fans...

 

So we had Breakfast and set out to the Magic Kingdom and Epcot.  I do not recommend doing 2 parks in one day to anyone, especially if you have kids who may get cranky!.

Oh and Here's me at the Crystal Palace.  Note how much my face has filled out! 

 

We started at the Magic Kingdom Park of course at the Cinderella Castle.

 

This shot has the statue of Walt and Mickey waving at you as well.  I was impressed at the detail of parts of the park that I could tell have been there most likely since the opening...I especially liked the little brass statuettes of the charaters that are all around the big statue of Walt and Mickey.

 

 

And of course the Mickey and Minnie Topiary. 

I think all of these details are lost on the Kids and most of the Adults.  No one seemed to notice these smaller details.  People do seem to be rushing a great deal of the time at the park.  Given the cost of tickets though I guess I am not at all surprised that people do rush and try to take it all in.  You can see the throng of people beyond me in this photo....also note the Holiday decor on Main Street.

We were able to enjoy the Monsters Inc Show...

Which I thought was not going to be any fun, but it turned out to be so hysterical, I'd definitely do that over and over again.  The Imagineers have made it so that the images on the screen are interactive with the audience.  The audience is occasionally on screen and is called upon to answer questions and tell jokes.  I am unsure as to how they make it all work, but they do!

We then we on all the rides, Space Mountain, the Big bear Mountain express (Or something of that sort)  Pirates of the Caribean,  finding Nemo, and on and on.

I will say I did not find Space Mountain fun.  I am not a good roller coaster rider.  and that particular ride sounds rickety and takes very very sharp turns int he dark. 

Most of the rides at Disney are essentially built on the same thing:  climb into a car, ride through a variety of scenes.  I will admit after a bit it got a bit sort of bland.  Again though, I am not five.  At age five, I would have been absoloutely thrilled with the entire park. 

Here is the entrance of the Land of tomorro I think. 

 

 

 

.I especially liked the little space planet theme involved there. 

I have got to post more later, will come back and edit!

 

 

 

I really have not been blogging at all!  Somewhere in November, I got a bit overwhelmed with the Holidays, Work, the Gym, and "stuff" in general.

I have a ton of photos because I've done some cool stuff since November.  Lets see.

I went to Disney World.... which was fun , but not something I want to repeat any time soon.  Really it costs a lot and

 

I found it to be a bit crowded.  I took about 200 photos though, so Maybe I can get them all up here soon.

In December, I went nuts trying to get everything taken care of for the Holidays.

My Big achievement this year was getting the nephews the gift they really thought was "awesome"

 

The Pirate ship was considered waaaay cool.  I was at work, but I took a moment to make a call and my Mother let my nephew open it, I could hear them chanting "Pirates pirates" in the background. 

I highly recommend this ship for kids of that age.  Apparently they are still playing with it a month later, so I have become the "good aunt" 

 

 

 

January was a big blur.  The work schedule they have me on has me going to and from work ALL the time.  I was pretty tired.

 

 

Well now, my only news is that I am

becoming a real Floridian.  With the economy in such bad shape, the travel nurse industry seems to have diminshed greatly.  I put the NC house on the Market (where it will stay forever, I am sure)  and accepted a permanent job at East the Beast.  I love working there. 

Running is coming along well again.  I plan on another Half in May, if I can afford to go to where the half will be.  Since of course May in Florida is a little warm for races.   

So I will try to post more as things come along, I really do have some photos to share!