So... it has been over 5 months since I updated this thing. I will be very surprised if any one actually checks this anymore, but here is what has been happening in my life. Work. Ok, so that basically sums it up. I will update in another 5 months to let you know what has changed in my life. HAHA

I guess I can be a little more elaborate in my explanation. Well, I have been working my part time jobs at Mayo and at Olmsted Public Health. My job at Mayo has been going just dandy. Only a few cranky patients to speak of and my co-workers are as always great. The only crappy thing about the whole job is the unattainable goal of reaching a point where I feel completely competent. There are always changes with computer systems or patient care practices. And if I think it is hard to change, it is even harder for my co-workers who have working and doing things the same way for over 10 years. I am learning how to do "intakes" now, which is basically what LPNs do for staff and what we do for residents. Essentially we room the patient, get their height, weight, BP, and pulse, and go over medications and allergies. I am not qualified to do this in my opinion, but I think Mayo is even getting cheap and only wanting to pay the salaries of Clinical Assistants rather than hire more LPNs or RNs.

My position at the health dept. as a tobacco prevention educator is going ok I guess. The grant cycle we are currently in ends at the end of December, so in October my co-worker Shay and I worked on writing a grant extension for 2009. Well, it is no secret that the economy is going in the crapper. A week after we were supposed to hear if we got the grant extension for the amount we requested, we got an ominous e-mail that said MDH had reviewed our application, but because of unforeseen circumstances we would not hear from them for another week when they would tell us their final decision. On Thursday we received a response that they would give us an extension but would cut $50,000 from our budget, which is rather substantial. That accounts for about 20% of our total budget. :(

In October I had quite a few opportunities to practice my cake baking skills!! I made a cake for Shay's daughter's first birthday, 3 cakes for a volunteer appreciation dinner at a local church, a birthday cake for another co-worker's daughter in the shape of Eve from "Wall-e", and a birthday cake for my Aunt Sandy's b-day. Now, I am on a bit of a dry streak, but for Thanksgiving I am bring an oatmeal cake to our family gathering. In the far off future maybe I will get to change careers and open my own bakery. :)

And lastly, on the Christmas Music front, I have officially been listening to Christmas music for the past month... maybe even month and a half. There nothing more exciting to me... nostalgic. In fact right now I am listening to Celtic Christmas :) Makes me want to do a little jig and maybe a leprechaun jump. I caught myself doing one in the middle of the Mayo shuttle lot on Thursday night while walking back to my car. I hope no one saw me! :)