Spring Break, Mod Style

I got in a good two and half days of work before heading out again, this time to see the mod for our annual Good Friday/Easter shenanigans. I had such a good time. I was sad that Yodes and Em could not be among those present, but I can hardly fault a trip to China. I can, however, fault Yodes.


Easter weekend for us follows a pretty similar pattern every year - lots of hanging out, lots of catching up, and lots of candy eating. I don't think I've felt well for any Easter since graduating. How old are we?




In addition to the candy, the trip was augmented by some amazing eating. As many options as I have here in Denver, some of my old regulars are still my favorites. We took in the Bread Basket, Lupe's, N&J's Deli, and got some sushi. Verenike to schawarma to sushi. . . what a great mix.


We did surprise Amber with this fabulous cake from DQ. Please note the well combined artwork of two things she loves - cats and pears. Nope - they're just both stuck on there.

Spring Break, Family Style

It's spring break - finally. It's such a needed respite. I started my break off with a fabulous weekend - my parents came to visit. I was really scared that my busy schedule would prohibit us ever finding a time, but we made it work.

Mom and I did a lot of shopping. I showed them around DU, my job, and my field placement. We enjoyed some local fare. We also went to Boulder, did a little hiking, and took in the town. It was really great to see them and finally have a weekend mostly off.


On Sunday I said goodbye to my parents, went to work for eight hours (got off late due to a small staff crisis), and then drove 4 hours to join some of my fabulous cousins at a condo in Glenwood Springs. The drive shouldn't have taken that long, but I was foiled by a nice snow storm.

Boarding with the Schmidts was great! They were very generous about my lack of ability, as they all (including Joshua!) can ski much better than me. There were hardly any other people on the slopes, and the snow was great (I should know - I drove through it!).


After boarding/skiing, we went into town for the night. We enjoyed some tasty food at a local brewery. Then we relaxed in some hot springs. It felt wonderful after a pretty painful day - okay, only painful for those of us who aren't very good.




I had a great time with them and was so fortunate to crash their family! Go Bartels.

5 Down, 1 to Go

For better or for worse, I am done with another quarter. I only have one left to complete. I can't guarantee the quality of any of the papers I just turned in, but they are turned in. And at this point, that is a major success.

Woo-hoo.

I knew it. . .

I should have known today wasn't going to go very well. Having a bad shift last night and losing an hour of sleep just wasn't enough, I guess. Today one of my clients ate something with strawberries in it, even though she knows she's allergic. (We all have our theories about why.) Of course this resulted in a swelling throat and a closing airway. . . causing a medical back-up, staff jabbing her with an epi-pen, and then ambulances flying in. Of course, within two minutes of this girl coming back to cottage, one of my staff made the ultra sensitive comment "I don't feel sorry for you - you brought this on yourself." Which while true, didn't help the situation. Of course this caused a 45 minute stand-off in which she was screaming (and I mean screaming) at the top of her lungs (you would never have known she had just gotten out of the hospital). She threatened all kinds of shenanigans before we were finally able to get her to a safe space. All of this excitement prevented me from getting any of my paperwork done and caused me to leave work much later than I should have or wanted to. Just what I need on my last weekend of the quarter with all my papers due.

Foiled by Daylight Savings

It is currently about 10 minutes before 1 am. I just got home from work. It was a very, very bad shift. One of the things that makes this shift so excruciating is that I have to be back at work at 9 am. This has happened on several weekends, but is made worse this weekend by the loss of a very precious hour. If I am complaining about such a short turnaround, why am I wasting precious sleeping time blogging, you might wonder. It is quite usual to need at least five to fifteen minutes after getting home to unwind before I can fall asleep. This is especially true after having such a bad shift. This turnaround is so shady that my coworker who would otherwise have to do the same took a vacation day just to avoid it. That means that I'll have to work tomorrow's already coming way too soon shift with a fill-in which always makes it more difficult. I am dreading it like no other.

As to the actual shift tonight. . . I consider myself a very competent person. Additionally, I have lived in several places without a car in which I was dependent upon public transportation. I am very able to figure this stuff out. Or so I thought. It was my responsibility to take 5 girls via the bus to a Walmart about 2 miles away - on a bus line that requires no transfers and seemingly no difficulties. Not so. Things went very wrong. Long story short -we did not get to Walmart by bus, after about an hour and a half of trying. To make matters worse, as I am trying to fix the problem with staff, my cell phone died. We then witnessed a head-on collision. It was a fiasco. But the whole trip wasn't a complete loss. I think I bestowed a great lesson on my girls - how to roll with the punches. This is a skill many of them struggle with, but they handled it beautifully. They are now ready for traveling by train in Europe.

I'm not sure this post is going to be very coherent, and I'm currently lacking the skills to edit it. Sorry.

End of the Quarter

Ok. . . So I am completely overwhelmed right now. The end of the quarter is next week. That means that everything for the quarter is due. Right now that includes 13 reaction papers to 13 articles I haven't read, one 12 page paper on gender-based violence, an hour presentation in family systems class, and a 10 page paper on international perspectives on trauma. Plus, I work 27 hours this weekend. Did I mention this is all due by Tuesday? On top of that, I have three workshops to plan for work next week. On top of that, I have a crap ton of work to do on my thesis. Things are definitely out of control.

In other news. . . despite the amazing amount of work I have do, I decided the best way to accomplish all this was to take a day and go snowboarding. Actually, that was last week, before this all piled up. (okay, I knew it was coming) I got a righteous sunburn - reddest face in my life. Not good, but I learned my lesson.