Loving this artist this week

Tomorrow I leave for NYC to pick up Rheanna.
We'll stay at my grandparents' house for the night, then leave for JFK in the am.

Rheanna is my best friend from OT school.
This has been a pipe dream of ours from our first year. "If we graduate and we're still single, lets go to Europe and speak in British accents together."
We've postponed planning this trip twice, but a month ago, we decided to just go for it.
And we are.

I got a pretty new dress and bracelet. I'm borrowing 2 of Rachel's shirts. I packed all my clothes into a carry-on. I am ready to go.

What I'm most looking forward to? My tour of Normandy.
Second on the list? Seeing Helen (my British Roommate at St Andrews)

We're going to London, Portsmouth, Normandy and Paris.
Thanks to overbooking, we got a free upgrade to a hotel that's typically $350 a night (we have it for 100$). Adventures shall be plenty and I'm sure we'll have lots of fun.

Au revior.

I love living with a roommate.

On Sunday we sang that song Come ye sinners which has the lyric "In the arms of my dear savior, there are ten thousand charms." 

I have to think that one of the big, great, mighty ways that God has taken care of me was with my fabulous roommate. 

Rachel and I didn't know each other until December 2014. We don't even have a single photograph together yet. 

She's upbeat, kind, confident, and a bit goofy. And well-educated/spoken.

So when she proposed we be roommates, my general reaction was "let's not feel pressure to be more friends than whatever we grow into, but I think we'll get along well."

It has been so fun. 

First of all, neither of us brought a lot of stuff, so there's nothing. to. pick. up. It's so liberating. 

For whatever reason, it's much more fun to cook, clean, and make my bed than it was at home, so I'm building good habits. 

But we've also cracked up over the blathroom, swam in pools, talked about 

"I love this song."

"I don't really know this."

Sings a bit early

"Rachel [Platten] is a little off-beat today"

which results in peals of laughter driving down the highway. Plus good stories. Embarrassing moments.

I also love my co-workers. Yesterday Sherry was in Joan's room treating. I walked in to say hi, even though I had already seen her. Erin walked in afterwards. We ended up having an impromptu dance party, with Sherry doing "The Leg," me doing the jack-knife, and Erin doing the shopping cart. Our little aphasic Joan cracked up. I love working with her.

Today we laughed about Sherry's pronounced sternocleidomastoid. A formerly almost completely non-communicative patient surprised us all, when he commented on a different body part that we were talking about. Hilarious.

Also
Tony: Where did you get the BEAUTIFUL tan?
Patient: It's jaundice

hahahaha. So terrible but really happened. Thankfully the patient had a sense of humor as we all watched in horror.

My co-OT's nickname is Mama C. My nickname is JDiddy. We also have the Asian Assassin and Swole P. Some days are more fun than others, but I share them all with hilarious co-workers. 

Funny

I have lived in my new home for a week.
It is ah-mazing.

I go to work. On the way home is the gym (I had a little back pain. Between my boss, stim, stretches, and strengthening, praise God, it's gone). I make dinner, wash dishes, weed, do some reading or studying outside, and read into the night.

My neighborhood is a half-mile long circle on top of a big hill. It's very neighborly, because you walk and drive around the circle.

I've met all my neighbors, and we see each other often.

I've also met some folks from around the corner.

Setting: Front driveway. Joyce is cleaning roller blades
Context: The region's very first Sonic drive-in opened this week

Joyce: Hello!
Neighbor 1: Hello! Welcome to the neighborhood! I can see you're applying for a job at sonic
Joyce: Oh, the rollerblades? Haha I'm not that good yet. If I worked for Sonic, I would end up owing them for all the drinks I would accidentally throw at patrons.
Neighbor 2: Oh hahaha. Well if you ever need anyone to practice on...
Joyce: I will deliver soft drinks to your doors on my skates


_____

Setting 2: Bringing groceries in from my car across the street
Players: little girl (running), her mom, old man

Joyce: I'm going to get you!
Girl: hehehehehe (runs away)
Joyce: Oh, you're to fast for me! Nice to meet you though.
Mom: She's so fast.
Mom (turning to elderly man): So did you tell Joyce that you got a new girlfriend yet?
Joyce: Haha! That's funny, because my name is Joyce. (turns to old man) You got a new girlfriend!?!

Joyce is a 85 year old lady who invited Rachel and I to her neighborhood walking group.

So meeting neighbors is fun.


Also funny:

Sherry: Did you hear about how C***** peed in the fax machine today?
Joyce: Wait, he just went in the corner and peed on the fax machine?
Sherry: Well, he actually walked into the conference room and peed on it. I guess he thought it was a urinal.


I have a patient right now with dementia who is HILARIOUS.  She is making my whole day. Some people are aggressively confused. She is pleasantly confused. I am really enjoying my caseload right now.

After scouring the internet for school OT jobs this weekend (joking but only kind of) and feeling locked in, I went into work on Monday feeling a bit forlorn.

My policy is never to talk behind someone's back unless I talked with them about it first. Now, I spoke to Don on Thursday. Friday was still tough, and I was still stewing about the ridiculousness of it all on Monday. 

I was ticked. Yeah. 

Don is also my friend. He, Erin, Sherry and I routinely share laughs, and he has said many times that if we weren't there, he'd have quit long before now (when he was still functioning as the social worker on top of rehab director). 

So when I went in on Monday and did a transfer that resulted in quite painful pain, and he and I were the only ones in the office, I was a little bit on the verge of tears. "I want you to know that I was really frustrated by that scheduling over the weekend. My back has been painful for awhile, and you were aware of it. I know you want what's best for the patients because I'll do the lifts, but that's not fair to me either. And I won't be able to do them for long. I know I could do something else, but it would really suck to only get to work as an OT for a year and a half because a back injury."

Cue almost-tears. 

But then Don worked his outpatient evaluation magic, some manual therapy, and made me feel better about everything. He brought me a TENS unit, and said that if he had to transfer every one of my patients out of bed every day, he would do that. I have to accept help (which I have done twice). This week has been blissfully light. I get to keep my favorite patient who is a maximal assist, but otherwise have a supervision to moderate assist schedule. It has been so much more pleasant, and I don't have near as much pain. 

I am sure that I will start to build back up, but at least now I know that I CAN do the job. I still may keep one eye out for a pediatric position, but at least I don't feel like I have to choose between being an OT and ruining my body. At least I don't feel trapped. 

Erin and I went out for post-documentation ice cream sundaes this Tuesday. I can't say enough about how lucky I am with her, or Don. I don't know where my career will take me, but while I'm here, I'm enjoying it. 

Haha. A year ago I posted this:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=rxsdiusm1NQ

Habits and character really do win so much of the time. 

Today at work my fav co-worker (Erin, the other OT), accidentally thought my foot was her chair at lunch. "Um, Erin, this is really sweet and all, but you can stop playing footsie with me now." Hilarious. 

In not so cool work news, I realized that the reason why my back hurts is because I have a 90/10 schedule: 90% Max assist lifts and 10% CGA or better. The OTAs all have 10/90 schedules. My boss said that it's because he knows that I will stand them and I'm more experienced (um, by like -10 years). However, as I have been complaining of back pain for 2 weeks, I didn't appreciate that so much. Just so you know it's not all rosy all the time in Joyceland. I was ticked off about that discrepancy, even if I didn't have pain. However, he promised to give me a light week next week. I need it. And after that's over, there's NO way I'm going back to 90/10. The OTAs get breaks every 2 hours, pay less insurance, get more vacation, and have a light lift load. All but the last thing is because the union, and you don't need a masters degree to transfer someone. Plus I have to write tons more notes and all the evals (with Erin), and now cover their productivity. 

I won't lie. I am freaking out a little about my back. I don't want to regret not being able to pick up my kids because I wanted to tough out another year or three. I had no lifting in pediatrics, but those job opportunities are scarce. I know God will bring the right opportunity at the right time, though. 

I was going to write a post about all my frustrations. You know. Legit frustrations and concerns with care that have most of the (fabulous) rehab department looking for other jobs because

well...I won't write that post. 

My struggle now is to find joy in the midst of this new, frustrating circumstance. 

Because my days are filled with walking through hostile hallways and covert conferences and telling my (awesome) boss not to talk to me in the therapy office (because I'm on the verge of tears)

What am I supposed to learn here?

Long-suffering

Having higher standards than others (thank God for Erin, Sherry and Don)

How a good friend can make a hard circumstance manageable

To trust God to open a door at some point, and love until then

That I can thank God for the free time and the grass and bunnies after work

That God is love and God is hope and nothing is too great and he can change care. Circle the nursing home (highly recommend Mark Batterson's The Circle Maker, by the way)

Submission to God's plan if this is where I'm at for awhile

How to be a light in the midst of darkness

How to take those critical mass moments and breathe through them

How to be blessed by my patients when the staff is difficult

How to see God in everyone

Spend more time on my knees

Depend less on my circumstances and more on my savior for joy

I guess that's a fair start. It's a lot.

It's a good purpose. 

My Most Perfect Day

Wake up exhausted

Pull it together (aka throw on scrubs and contacts)

Work with funny people

Leftover ribs for lunch

More funny people

Come home

Sew my teapot square for my quilt

Read about Patton

A bit of core

Read le Bible

Bed

Evenings like this are complete bliss

Y'all (stories that begin in St. Louis bring that vocab out).

I heard Rachel Platten's song 1,000 Ships on my winter break between 2011 and 2012. 

After googling the lyrics, I googled Rachel's Tour Schedule. 

One of the delightful things about living in the Lou is that it's one of the few big connecting cities between the east coast and west coast. Most big musicians stop their on tour, and so do the little ones.

I went alone to the little concert at the Old Rock House (http://joycey223.blogspot.com/search?q=rachel+platten). I loooooooooooved all of Rachel's songs. I went to the concert intending not to buy anything, but after hearing her set, I broke (plus it was only $8 or something). Let me tell you, I listened to that CD more than any other that I own. 

Rachel is drop-dead gorgeous in the way that no girl can be jealous of, because she's so graceful, kind and gracious. I don't know her personally aside from a 1-minute conversation and an autographed CD, but I've followed her intermittently since. 

Seven months ago, I stumbled upon a video of Rachel Platten singing a new song for a woman with an inoperable brain tumor. I listened to it a few times. This week at work, instead of our usual country channel, we turned to the pop/rock channel and I was shocked to hear it! I love that this girl is killing it. 

This is my fight song!

Comfort corners can be death traps

Everybody needs some love. Even those who don't look like it.

Go and live a big and daring life

Go the distance for love

So I've been meaning to look at apartments, but I just never seemed to get around to calling apartment buildings during my workday to schedule a viewing. Plus, I hosted my first big family gathering (mother's day) and was gone a couple weekends. 

Then I got a message from a friend of a friend, Rachel. Rachel went to same church growing up as one of my high school best friends, Liz, and a family friend, Alison. This winter, I met Rachel when the four of us got together to do Christmas Crafts.

My first impression was that she was stylish and outgoing. She looked classy. I didn't feel all that sociable that day, to be honest, but it was nice to meet someone else in their mid-20s living at home her with mom and dad to save money. She mentioned at the last event that she was looking to buy a townhouse in this complex. She didn't mention a roommate, and I didn't bring it up. 

A couple days ago she contacted me about living together. We met up and discussed the details. She had turned down a couple people who had requested to move in with her, but thought of me. I thought about it for a couple days (commute, distance, pros and cons) before being all in. 

Unfortunately, then things got complicated on the work front (no, I wasn't in trouble). They've mostly resolved. I will definitely be moving in with Rachel now. Here's a photo tour of the new digs. 

I am excited that we have a yard and a little patio. At this point in life, I feel like settling. The thought of not being able to garden a little in an apartment was making me sad. 

The living room. On the right is the dining area. 

Kitchen with all new appliances

Upstairs bathroom

My room

I will pay a reasonable amount (less than for a 1-bedroom in the area I was looking) and have a lot more space. I also enjoy having a roommate. It's fun to have someone to come home to when you want. I think that we'll be pretty compatible. It is inevitable that we'll have some things come up, but overall, I think that we'll handle that well. We're of the same mindset where it'll be fun to do some stuff together, but also keep up with our separate social groups. 

Another bonus: She is furnishing the entire thing (except my room). I have a lot of nice kitchen stuff from my grandparents, who sold their FL condo to be here full-time, and I will buy some bookshelves, but other than that, it's on her. 

Move-in for me will probably be in mid-June to early-July. I'll move in kitchen items, let her move in, and then move in a week or so later so she can set up things the way that she'd like them.