Miscellany

A) Micah got shorn this week. He was getting this very unflattering muffin-top from his new mesh BAHA band making him look like a demented aerobics instructor, so off we went to Snip-Its. Just as the stylist was prepping the clippers to have at it, he looked over at her and said, "Uh oh" but he sat still and let her clip and snip until a good bit of his hair was on the floor. Thea also got a haircut two days later. Flo, Thea's stylist at Snip-Its, only works Saturdays and Sundays so we had to trust someone new, but this stylist did an amazing job shaping up the cut that Flo originally did and getting Thea's random wisps under control. Thea was decked out in her knight's costume and green dinosaur backpack for the occasion, her sword and helmet stayed at home.

B) Thea's One Hundred Good Wishes Quilt arrived today. It's been almost four years in the making - or rather a few months in the acquisition phase, many more months in the sitting around phase and then the hand off of the fabric to Eleanor, the expert quilter, who volunteered to pull the project out of the abyss into which it had sunk in November 2007. It's beyond amazing, somehow she made all the random patterned fabric squares work together - and she added squares with the state flags of Maryland and New Jersey, the US flag, a crab, and better still the hideous Redskins fabric was relegated to the side while the Bears fabric had pride of place further in. Photos to follow. It was such a nice surprise because I had to work this morning and I returned home to a living room that was trashed. (Steve took the kids to visit his mother and then to Seaside for a walk on the beach so I came home to a quiet house.) I saved opening the box until after the debris field was cleaned up and order restored. Then after giving the quilt the proper amount of admiration and attention, I remembered to look upstairs - and yes, the bed still needed to be made.

C) I went to the most amazing continuing education program last Saturday. And it was free. Granted the presentations started at 7:30 am, which is just way too early - though breakfast was provided and copious quantities of Starbucks. It was at the Westin Forrestal which is just a hop and a skip from home so I could leave home at 7:10 and be signed in and on my way to the buffet by 7:20. The speaker on conjunctivitis totally rocked and had wonderful, really gross slides to go along with his talk, turning what I thought would be a total post-lunch snooze fest into the best session of the day. The two quotes of the day came courtesy of one of the co-presenters of the HPV (human papilloma virus) session: "Cancer is yucky" and "The anus is interesting." I think that cancer is a little, itty-bitty bit BEYOND yucky, and even in the context of HPV, the anus is, at best, approached with gloved hands and a bit of K-Y, if at all. Interesting? I don't think so.

D) This year I recertify so I need 150 contact hours of continuing education. My last re-cert was 2003, the year before Thea arrived. Since 2004, with free time at a premium, I felt like I had accomplished next to nothing in the way of CE and was getting very nervous because the recertification application will be arriving some time in the next couple of months (even though my certification doesn't expire until November 2008, the accrediting body wants its $400+ fee early, greedy buggers). Then a brochure for a national conference conveniently taking place in late June/early July practically in my mother's backyard arrived, followed by another for an NP conference in Philadelphia in May. Between those two events, the program last week and another two-day freebie in April, I figured I might just squeak by. So Thursday night, in a fit of inspired panic with a purpose, I dug out all the CE certificates from 2003 until now and put them in an Xcel spreadsheet. I have 118.1 hours. (Insert sound effect of me breaking my arm patting myself on the back.) Things are not dismal AT ALL, and I am much more industrious than I give myself credit, especially when those 118 hours are comprised of mostly one and two hour increments. Now I just need to make sure that I meet the requirement in terms of percentage of credits acquired through an ANCC-certified continuing education provider - that's probably where I'll fall short.

E) I got a comment on one of my more recent posts. Comments on posts since returning from China have be nil, giving me the feeling that I am pretty much writing this blog for myself - and for the kids if they are ever eventually interested in reading it. So if you're reading this regularly or just passing through, leave a note once in a while, it's like getting a present when I find one.