Best of 2018

As 2018 is coming to a close, I'm doing some reflection and remembering. Although it hasn't been all sunshine and roses, there were good times and simple pleasures along the way. "I've found it's the simple ordinary pleasures which are the real ones after all" describes it perfectly. I can't seem to find that quote but I don't think I made it up! If someone has it, send it to me!

Simple ordinary pleasures
Sitting on the deck on a warm summer evening listening to the sounds of nature. Watching fireflies. Coming home from work late on a cold night to a warm bed, thanks to my husband for turning on the heated mattress pad. Eating a good home cooked meal. The sound of my nieces' laughter. Fresh fruit and vegetables in season. An evening at home. A nap in the middle of the day. Mom's cooking. (Food = happiness) More ways to shop online than ever before means I can order essentials and have them delivered to my door. Yay!

Best books I read
Although I read quite a few books this year, my favorite was one of the most recent. The Sun Does Shine by Anthony Ray Hinton is an amazing true story. Others worthy of mention are Ghost Boy by Martin Pistorius (nonfiction), The Nightingale by Kristin Hannah (historical fiction) and The Lord of the Rings trilogy by J.R.R. Tolkien - finally read them!

Travels
January: While on our way to the spray foam convention, a refreshing weekend in the Smokies in a nice HomeAway condo high up in the mountains overlooking Gatlinburg. Stayed with Dad and Mom, Camille, Charles and SaraBeth and girlies in an Airbnb house in Fairhope, Alabama during the spray foam convention in Mobile. Had some good times in that house and ate some good ol' Southern food at Fish River Grill and Lambert's Cafe. Made a quick trip to Florida afterwards to see family and friends. In August, we spent a relaxing week in Phoenix with the Smith's and experienced Arizona summer.

Bittersweet occasion
My little sister's wedding. No more siblings at home when we go to folks. 😢

Home improvement projects 
Cliff did a wonderful job installing new hallway flooring that doesn't squeak. We also found a beautiful old barn beam mantel for above the wood stove in our living room. I knew this sign belonged on it the minute I saw it.

New Year's Eve
Anticipating being with family for a traditional pork and sauerkraut meal this evening. Been looking forward to that meal for several days! Wow, food seems to be a recurring theme here. Sounds like New Year's cookies are also involved for tonight.

Praise belongs to God for blessing us with health, jobs, family and friends, and countless other gifts this year. Wherever 2019 takes us, may He go with us all!

a day in the life of a pharmacy tech - Part I

As mentioned in an earlier post, I thought I could give more of a description of what I actually do as a pharmacy technician. When I started writing I soon realized it was going to get lengthy, so I decided to split it up in 3 different installments. This post will explain what I do when I'm working in the front of the pharmacy.

Since I work in an inpatient hospital pharmacy, some things are different than in a retail setting. I've never worked in a retail pharmacy, nor do I ever want to! Our pharmacy is located on the ground floor and has only one window which looks out to an interior hallway. I miss not being able to see outside but we're usually busy enough I don't have time to think about it. During the busiest part of the day, there's 20 - 25 people working, and the pharmacy is not all that big in size! Some of those people are working in offices attached to the main pharmacy, and other pharmacists are deployed to nursing floors. The techs who work in the front make all the deliveries and do a lot of walking. Some of the deliveries we make are chemo to the cancer center, epidurals to the birthing center, and morphine to the NICU babies who are withdrawing from drugs because their mothers used drugs while they were pregnant. We also make rounds 6 - 8 times a day delivering IV medications and antibiotics to the nursing floors. The hospital has a tube system much like the ones drive-up banks have. We can send things from the pharmacy to any part of the hospital but there are certain things that can't be tubed, like narcotics, which have to be delivered by a person. If the tube system goes down, you can spend all your time walking around the hospital delivering items.

pneumatic tube system

While we are in the pharmacy, we are responsible for answering phones, which are usually ringing constantly. Sometimes you may have 5 different phone calls you are working on, so being a multi-tasker is a must! In the morning we work on pulling meds for the Pyxis refill lists. Most nursing units have 2 med rooms with a Pyxis machine that has drawers and pockets for storing meds. After we pull the drugs and a pharmacist checks them, one of the technicians working in the front takes out the refills to the various med stations. When filling the Pyxis, you enter the beginning count of the medication, how many you are filling, and the expiration date. If you are filling a narcotic, you have to be especially careful that the count is correct or it will create a discrepancy.

Pyxis Med Station

During the day, there's usually around 4 techs working in the front. On second shift and during the weekend, there's only one. If it's a busy night or weekend, it can get a little overwhelming. Still, I'd much rather be swamped than sitting around twiddling my thumbs! My favorite part of working in the front is being able to get out and around. Since I worked on two different nursing floors before coming to the pharmacy, it's nice to go back and see nurses I worked with. I miss being with the nurses and hearing stories about patients, but I like the work I do now much better.

various musings and a recipe

Presently I'm feeling a bit of a post-holiday lack of motivation that I'm sure others are affected by too! My work schedule isn't helping this - I'm in the middle of a 6 day stretch working 2:30 - 11:00 pm. In the morning I feel draggy and tired, but by the time I get home at night, I'm ready to read! or blog! and don't get to sleep until late (or rather, early). There's things I should do around the house but I can't seem to gather up any extra energy and I'm relying too much on caffeine to get through my shift at work. I know this sounds undisciplined, but just being honest here! Hopefully this too shall pass.

Pennsylvania did not have a white Christmas this year. In fact, it's been warmish the last few days. On Christmas day in the evening Cliff and some of my family came to see me at work. It was the perfect chance to show them around a little since we were slow and only a few people working in the pharmacy. That made my day!

Before Christmas I made some caramels and took them to work. As a side note, I've never worked at a place that was so into food! People are always bringing food in and on weekends you can pretty much count on there being quiche, donuts, or cronuts and something hot for lunch. So the caramels got lots of compliments and several people wanted to pay me to make them some (I didn't). They take time to make and wrap, but really are fabulous! I sprinkled salt on top which added more deliciousness. I'm pasting the link here if you want to check it out. Thanks to SaraBeth who originally introduced me to the recipe!

https://tastesbetterfromscratch.com/homemade-caramels/

Christmas mood

First of all, I want to say thank you to all who have commented or sent me text messages giving me encouragement for this blog. It honestly surprised me that so many people would be interested! If you would like to follow so you can receive notifications when a new post is published, log in from a computer or go to "view web version" if you're on your phone. You should see "follow by email" on the right side of the page.

I was able to have off Saturday, Sunday, and today. Having a three day weekend every now and then is so rejuvenating! On Saturday we had the family over for supper. We're sixteen people now when we're all together, so we decided to set up in the garage since my tiny kitchen is full with 10 people around the table. Cliff did a super job cleaning out the garage, getting the tables set up, and stringing Christmas lights to add to the atmosphere. Burning my Bath & Body Works "Leaves" candle for several hours took away the garage-y smell very nicely. The menu consisted of ham chowder, "That Really Good Salad" (Schneider cookbook), fresh-baked French bread, and fruit slush.

Tonight we had our family Christmas at Dad & Mom's house. To keep it simple, we ordered Tony's Pizza for supper, which was delicious as always! Finally it was time for presents! This year the men and ladies drew names separately. Mom had my name and gave me a "CPhT" pin, along with some other items I had on my list. As of December 21, I am officially a certified pharmacy technician. This pin makes me happy! I'll wear it on my badge to work. Another gift she gave me was a new 1000 piece puzzle. I can't wait to start working on it one of these evenings when there's a fire going in the stove. When I get started on a puzzle, it's like a good book - hard to quit! Long winter evenings and puzzles make me happy too! The rest of the evening was spent playing Rummikub and doing some singing. Derek and Camille brought their espresso machine here all the way from Kansas and served us some top-notch lattes, iced coffee, and teardrops. Apparently the caffeine is still in my system.

In the morning we will go to church for a Christmas day service. I'm working 2:30 - 11pm so will be able to be with the family for lunch yet. My contribution to the meal is graham cracker fluff, which is my usual holiday dish. Cliff introduced it into our family and it's become a tradition. Thanks to the Smith family for the recipe!

Wishing you a joyful Christmas, and in the words of Tiny Tim in A Christmas Carol, "God Bless us, everyone!

thankful for family times

The holidays are here, and my family is all home. What a blessing! As I get older, I realize more how precious time with family is. My nieces and nephew are young, sweet, and innocent, and I wish we could hold on to this time, just like I wished my little sister would stay little. Since life continues to move along no matter what we wish for, I want to cherish each moment we have together. Yes, we do sometimes get annoyed at each other and don't always see things the same, but at the end of the day, we still love each other. I know people who don't speak to their mother because of a disagreement, or have family members with addiction, or their parents aren't together, and so many sad stories. How did I get so lucky to be born in a Christian home with loving parents?? In the world we live in, this is not so common. I just want to say, "Thank you, Jesus, for my family!"

which describes my job

I thought I could start out with a description of my job, since that seems to take up a large part of my life! Since quitting teaching in 2016, I've been at a small 200 bed hospital in Reading, Pennsylvania. Initially I worked part time as a unit coordinator (secretary) in the critical care unit. At the beginning of 2018, I transferred to a different part of the hospital, doing the same thing but now working full time. I enjoyed what I did until we upgraded to a new computer system in June 2018, which changed the job description for unit coordinators. When I started, I was trained to enter physician's orders for labs, testing, medications, etc. It was challenging to be able to read doctor's handwriting and determine how to enter their orders. I learned a lot and loved being involved with the doctors and nurses and getting in on the action without having to do actual patient care. Seeing what the nurses go through convinced me that nursing wasn't the job for me, although parts of that life are appealing. The medical world fascinates me and I enjoy learning about the body, diseases, and treatment. When it comes to dealing with difficult patients and family members and other stresses that come from being short-staffed (a constant issue, from what I've seen), I don't think I could handle it. Anyway, back to the change the new computer system brought. Doctors now are entering all their own orders and everything is "paperless", which is mostly a good thing. However, it left me feeling bored, useless, and unchallenged. Before we transitioned to the new system, I had been looking for a different position because I knew I probably wouldn't be happy staying where I was. Pharmacy has always interested me and I knew some of the pharmacy staff working in the hospital, so I made some inquiries. Upon their recommendation I applied to a technician position and was able to get an interview. It took a long time to hear back, which was rather anxiety-inducing, but finally I got an offer and accepted the position. After taking a week off to recharge and mentally prepare, I started in the pharmacy towards the end of July. The first few days were tough and I think I ended up in tears by the time I got home. Finding my niche and learning so many new things was pretty overwhelming for awhile. Being trained in the pharmacy is a steep learning curve and it feels like they "throw you to the wolves," meaning you are expected to launch out and learn by doing. When I was trained in my previous position, I had several weeks of observing and being monitored by someone before I was on my own. Here it was like, "this is what you do, now go ahead and if you have any questions let us know." Thankfully I was somewhat familiar with abbreviations, medications, and brand/generic names. Still, I felt extremely lost that first week. I was warned that it would be tough because they were really understaffed at that time and the week I started, the lead technician was on vacation. Gradually things started making sense though. Since I started, they've hired 4 more technicians so we're now fully staffed, although we all still have further training to go through. It can take 6 months or longer until you've been trained in all areas of the pharmacy. The techs fill three positions within the pharmacy - the front, anteroom, and clean room. Since we are required to work a rotation, we get trained for day and evening shifts in all three areas. I most often work 8:30 - 5:00, but also anywhere from 6 - 10 evenings during a 6 week schedule period and generally every other weekend. In another post I might describe what I actually do at my job, but I think this is enough detail for now!

what this is all about

The idea for this blog came as a suggestion from a friend. It was a new thought for me, but after thinking about how I'm not a great communicator and have lost contact with old friends, I decided to try it as a way of keeping in touch. Writing has always been easier for me than speaking and maybe putting my thoughts and experiences into written words will prove to be therapeutic. Since I'm not on the journey of typical Mennonite housewife and mom, I feel like it can be hard to relate to my peers. Now that I no longer teach school, contact with my church sisters has diminished to basically nothing except for brief words on the Sundays I don't have to work. Although I'm generally content with my life, I do wish I would be able to connect with others better. At this point, I'm not sure what all I'll be writing about on this blog. It may be part diary, inspiration, confession... I'll see what works for me! Hopefully I'll come up with at least one post a week.