So, this week has been interesting so far. I actually got to help a patient yesterday who was finally serious about getting out of a bad relationship. I have never felt more empowered and fired up as I did while I was helping him. He is an older guy and we were able to get the Dept. on Aging involved in order to get a restraining order on his caregiver who has been physically abusing him for about 10 years now. I could tell that finally ending the relationship was very difficult for the patient, he had a hard time justifying kicking her out as he said over and over agin "but she hasn't hit me in a while". We explained to him that it was only a matter of time before she hit him again...I just hope that he follows through with kicking her out.
For those who may not know abuse is often a cycle. There is a time where the abuse is occuring and then there is the Honeymoon Phase where the abuser "changes his/her ways" and treats the abused person very well...this will last for a while until the person is "set off" by something that someone else did or the abused person does and then they start abusing again. Often the time that the abused is getting abused lasts longer and longer and longer. But this cycle often tricks people into staying in an abusive relationship...they may think "oh wow he's being really nice to me, maybe he has changed?" or they may believe that the abuse is "normal" as he/she doesn't do it ALL the time. Abuse is NOT normal...and no one deserves to be abused in any way.
Helping someone finally come to terms with abuse and say "enough is enough" is powerful and I hope to be able to help more people who may be in abusive relationships...that is why I am in Social Work.
Wednesday, February 17, 2010
Monday, February 8, 2010
Summer Happenings
So, as I live in Wisconsin I have decided to get my mind off of the cold by planning for summer vacation. I have already bought a zoo pass so I can take Julia to the zoo this summer- which I intend to use weekly. This should be a lot of fun as it will get us out of the house and keep us busy (last summer I was sooo bored as I'm used to being busy all the time). I also bought a season's pass for 6 Flags. I have been getting a season's pass for 6 Flags since I was little. My mom used to take my siblings and I during the summer. Now it's my turn to take Julia. It will be interesting to see whether or not she's able to walk for long distances by summertime, but either way I plan on taking her and spending the day there (or as long as she can handle it!). I just cannot wait to see her on the kiddie rides!!
On top of the zoo pass and the 6 Flags season's pass, I am planning a trip to Cedar Point in June. I have never been to OH but I am soo excited! I'm going with one of my good friends. We love coasters so I just can't wait to go there! I was happy to discover that it would only be about $600 for three nights including the tickets for the park. We have to of course pay for food and gas as well, but I didn't think $600 was that bad. :) It's going to be about a 6 hour drive, but luckily my friend normally does the driving and I just sit back and relax.
In other news, I also have my birthday next month that I'm planning for. My husband and I always go to the Dells for my birthday so I booked us a room for a night at Chula Vista. What's cool about Chula Vista is that it is all inclusive--meaning free drinks and free food during your entire stay. They also have an indoor waterpark and an arcade which my husband and I spend a ton of money every year! I am also going to go out with my friends the night before--which entails dinner and bar hopping and lots of dancing. I certainly have a lot to look forward to! I feel so blessed to be able to do all these things this year and to have wonderful people to do them with!
On top of the zoo pass and the 6 Flags season's pass, I am planning a trip to Cedar Point in June. I have never been to OH but I am soo excited! I'm going with one of my good friends. We love coasters so I just can't wait to go there! I was happy to discover that it would only be about $600 for three nights including the tickets for the park. We have to of course pay for food and gas as well, but I didn't think $600 was that bad. :) It's going to be about a 6 hour drive, but luckily my friend normally does the driving and I just sit back and relax.
In other news, I also have my birthday next month that I'm planning for. My husband and I always go to the Dells for my birthday so I booked us a room for a night at Chula Vista. What's cool about Chula Vista is that it is all inclusive--meaning free drinks and free food during your entire stay. They also have an indoor waterpark and an arcade which my husband and I spend a ton of money every year! I am also going to go out with my friends the night before--which entails dinner and bar hopping and lots of dancing. I certainly have a lot to look forward to! I feel so blessed to be able to do all these things this year and to have wonderful people to do them with!
Tuesday, February 2, 2010
Back to School
So Thursday is my only day of classes. I am on campus from 12-9 every week. This will give me plenty of time to get my homework done and have lunch with friends. Although it is nice to be able to have the whole day to myself it's also annoying considering that I have to move my car every couple of hours. Parking is always an issue on campus. I wouldn't have too much of a problem with this if they didn't hike the prices up to park. In some lots it's $1.50/hour to park--if I were to stay in that parking structure the whole 9 hours that I'm on campus I would be spending almost $15 on parking. So if I have my classes once a week that's almost $60/month on parking. There is another lot that I normally park in that's only .80/hour which is a lot more reasonable considering I would be spending about half the amount. The only issue with this is that it's several blocks from campus...this creates a problem in the winter when it's only 8 degrees outside. Needless to say I get a lot of exercise on Thursdays.
Wednesday, January 27, 2010
Workings
It's another day here at my internship. I spent the morning in "protective time" which is basically just an excuse to bitch about coworkers and patients. I honestly don't know why I am forced to go to these meetings. After all I am just an intern, and my supervisor doesn't even go to them. But I suppose they do waste a couple of hours and it's not like I have a ton of other things to do. So, I usually just sit there and nod my head as people complain about other coworkers who aren't doing their job. Today one of our team members got upset and started screaming at another team member because they weren't "rotating" when it was their turn to do so. Needless to say the other team member screamed back and it was eventually decided that they would rotate-as they should do anyways. What always gets me about these meetings is that everyone is supposed to bring food, I never do because I never remember when protective time is and well I don't care all that much. But, since I never bring food I also never eat anything during these things. People find it odd that I don't eat anything and I've tried to explain to them that I never remember to bring a dish myself--but people still think I'm weird for not pigging out like everyone else does. Do you notice how weird people get about food??
It's almost like they feel guilty for eating in front of you so they have to make you feel bad for not eating anything. Anyways, after this 2 hour long meeting I finally got to escape as I had to go to the Social Work meeting. I tend to like Wednesdays because I have the social work meeting to go to. All the students get together and talk about a case or a client who they would like some insight about. Today we just talked about the women's program. Afterward we get together and eat lunch which is also nice. It's just a great way to waste half the day. I always tell myself on Wednesdays--really I only have 4 hours that I have to work--since half my day is taken up by the social work meeting and of course lunch.
On a different topic- it was difficult getting out of bed this morning. My alarm went off when I was right in the middle of a dream. I just hate when that happens. It's not like it was a great dream or anything but I wanted to know how it would end. Of course it's almost impossible to go back to dreaming after you've been rudely awoken by an alarm. But alas, I got my lazy butt out of bed, showered, and got my daughter ready for daycare. I have the mornings down to a science and it only takes me 45 minutes total to get ready in the morning.
It's cold here, this morning it was 7 degrees outside. I didn't think I was going to make it to the door without freezing to death. I'm dreading going back to my car tonight when it will probably be just as cold if not colder out. Parking is always an issue here so it's nothing to walk a couple blocks in order to get to where you're going. I suppose I should be grateful though because I no longer live on the east side--where I had to find street parking every night and walk sometimes 4 blocks to get home. But parking is still an issue-especially in the winter. With all of that said, I think I have updated you on today's happenings. I'm going to try to think warm thoughts tonight as I freeze my butt of getting to my car.
It's almost like they feel guilty for eating in front of you so they have to make you feel bad for not eating anything. Anyways, after this 2 hour long meeting I finally got to escape as I had to go to the Social Work meeting. I tend to like Wednesdays because I have the social work meeting to go to. All the students get together and talk about a case or a client who they would like some insight about. Today we just talked about the women's program. Afterward we get together and eat lunch which is also nice. It's just a great way to waste half the day. I always tell myself on Wednesdays--really I only have 4 hours that I have to work--since half my day is taken up by the social work meeting and of course lunch.
On a different topic- it was difficult getting out of bed this morning. My alarm went off when I was right in the middle of a dream. I just hate when that happens. It's not like it was a great dream or anything but I wanted to know how it would end. Of course it's almost impossible to go back to dreaming after you've been rudely awoken by an alarm. But alas, I got my lazy butt out of bed, showered, and got my daughter ready for daycare. I have the mornings down to a science and it only takes me 45 minutes total to get ready in the morning.
It's cold here, this morning it was 7 degrees outside. I didn't think I was going to make it to the door without freezing to death. I'm dreading going back to my car tonight when it will probably be just as cold if not colder out. Parking is always an issue here so it's nothing to walk a couple blocks in order to get to where you're going. I suppose I should be grateful though because I no longer live on the east side--where I had to find street parking every night and walk sometimes 4 blocks to get home. But parking is still an issue-especially in the winter. With all of that said, I think I have updated you on today's happenings. I'm going to try to think warm thoughts tonight as I freeze my butt of getting to my car.
Tuesday, January 26, 2010
Much a Do about Nothing
So, this is my second week back and alas I sit her and twiddle my thumbs. I'm seriously considering bringing my Nintendo DS to work, since it would help me waste time so much faster than checking my e-mail every other minute.
I suppose I could write about this past weekend. My mission for the weekend: buy myself a new watch. You wouldn't believe how complicated watch buying truly is. First you have to decide how much you want to spend on a new watch. Then you have to decide on what shape, size, and color of watch you would like--not to mention what kind of band you would like to have. They have plastic, leather, metal...then they have round faces, square faces, oval faces, and rectangular faces, then you have your choice of color and size....oi! So much more complicated than it really has to be. I'm picky when it comes to watches and you would be amazed at how long it took me to finally make a decision. I ended up going to the Fossil in Gurnee Mills--they didn't have much of a selection for women's watches which I was dissapointed in. But I still managed to keep the sales lady busy for a good 45 minutes trying on different watches. I finally ended up getting a watch with a round face, metal band and red face. It was a little bit bigger than I'm used to, but I will get used to it. I really hate when all they have are boring watches with no personality. It annoys me--why would I spend more then $30 on a plane white watch? I suppose white is now "in" for watches because that's pretty much all they had. While I am happy about my watch purchase it, I still have to get used to it.
My old watch was a Relic-and it was a lot smaller than my new one--but after I had my daughter it no longer fit my wrist, which was upseting because I always had to wear it. After months of not wearing a watch I finally got a new one- that actually fits. :]
In other news we spent the rest of Saturday at Gurnee Mills walking around the huge mall there- and we had dinner at the Rainforest Cafe. It was a fun Saturday afternoon--bought a few outfits for Julia, got some scrapbooking stuff at the art store, and I got those new Sketchers- the Shape-Ups. I plan on wearing them everywhere I go so my legs get toned. :0
On Sunday we dropped Julia off at Grandma and Grandpa's and spent the day at Fun World playing games. Did I mention I love Fun World? I can't wait for Julia to get old enough to go. They have mini-golf, and arcade games everywhere. I'm such a big kid. :]
Afterward we went to Tuesday Morning which is a resale shop. This is the kind of place where you go and find treasure. Their prices are really low and it's just amazing what you can find there. We ended up getting a new shower liner-which was originally $25 on sale for $10 and I got a ton of scrapbooking stuff.
The rest of the night we spent hanging out with Ryan's friends. One of his friend's dad had won a time share so he decided to give it to them. So we spent the night in the hot tub and watching tv in the Presidential Suite. It was just too bad that we had work on Monday--otherwise we would have been able to spend the night.
All in all it was a good weekend. The only problem is that it didn't last any longer.
I suppose I could write about this past weekend. My mission for the weekend: buy myself a new watch. You wouldn't believe how complicated watch buying truly is. First you have to decide how much you want to spend on a new watch. Then you have to decide on what shape, size, and color of watch you would like--not to mention what kind of band you would like to have. They have plastic, leather, metal...then they have round faces, square faces, oval faces, and rectangular faces, then you have your choice of color and size....oi! So much more complicated than it really has to be. I'm picky when it comes to watches and you would be amazed at how long it took me to finally make a decision. I ended up going to the Fossil in Gurnee Mills--they didn't have much of a selection for women's watches which I was dissapointed in. But I still managed to keep the sales lady busy for a good 45 minutes trying on different watches. I finally ended up getting a watch with a round face, metal band and red face. It was a little bit bigger than I'm used to, but I will get used to it. I really hate when all they have are boring watches with no personality. It annoys me--why would I spend more then $30 on a plane white watch? I suppose white is now "in" for watches because that's pretty much all they had. While I am happy about my watch purchase it, I still have to get used to it.
My old watch was a Relic-and it was a lot smaller than my new one--but after I had my daughter it no longer fit my wrist, which was upseting because I always had to wear it. After months of not wearing a watch I finally got a new one- that actually fits. :]
In other news we spent the rest of Saturday at Gurnee Mills walking around the huge mall there- and we had dinner at the Rainforest Cafe. It was a fun Saturday afternoon--bought a few outfits for Julia, got some scrapbooking stuff at the art store, and I got those new Sketchers- the Shape-Ups. I plan on wearing them everywhere I go so my legs get toned. :0
On Sunday we dropped Julia off at Grandma and Grandpa's and spent the day at Fun World playing games. Did I mention I love Fun World? I can't wait for Julia to get old enough to go. They have mini-golf, and arcade games everywhere. I'm such a big kid. :]
Afterward we went to Tuesday Morning which is a resale shop. This is the kind of place where you go and find treasure. Their prices are really low and it's just amazing what you can find there. We ended up getting a new shower liner-which was originally $25 on sale for $10 and I got a ton of scrapbooking stuff.
The rest of the night we spent hanging out with Ryan's friends. One of his friend's dad had won a time share so he decided to give it to them. So we spent the night in the hot tub and watching tv in the Presidential Suite. It was just too bad that we had work on Monday--otherwise we would have been able to spend the night.
All in all it was a good weekend. The only problem is that it didn't last any longer.
Tuesday, January 19, 2010
Back at Work
So today is my first official day of field from being off on winter break. I have to admit I was getting used to "lunch dates" with friends, visits with family members, and seeing my little Julia all day long. I now know what it is like to be a "stay at home mom".
My daughter is walking now...she got a cute little rocking chair for Christmas and she tries to sit in in and stand on it, and tip it over. I swear one of these days she is going to pull it on top of herself. She now understands words and can repeat them "cat" is "tat", "dog" is "da" and the list goes on. My husband tried to teach her to say "ugh" and instead she likes to say "oh" which isn't such a big deal except that she says it over and over again: "oh, oh, oh, oh". What's even worse is that she tends to wake up in the morning and say this over and over again.
One day while Julia and I were at my parents' house my mom was giving her small carrots from her salad. She continued to give them to her-as Julia put them all in her mouth (she learned that from her daddy as well). When we went to give her her bottle she refused to drink any of it. We thought this was strange as she loves her milk. Well, a few minutes later she spit up all of the carrots we had thought she had eaten. I guess she didn't eat them at all, instead she was keeping them in between her cheeks...oh the joys of motherhood!
While I would share these "mommy-hood" stories with my friends (which none of them have children) they would patiently listen...It will be nice though when I have some grown-up stories to share with them...so I guess that is one good thing about going back to work...
My daughter is walking now...she got a cute little rocking chair for Christmas and she tries to sit in in and stand on it, and tip it over. I swear one of these days she is going to pull it on top of herself. She now understands words and can repeat them "cat" is "tat", "dog" is "da" and the list goes on. My husband tried to teach her to say "ugh" and instead she likes to say "oh" which isn't such a big deal except that she says it over and over again: "oh, oh, oh, oh". What's even worse is that she tends to wake up in the morning and say this over and over again.
One day while Julia and I were at my parents' house my mom was giving her small carrots from her salad. She continued to give them to her-as Julia put them all in her mouth (she learned that from her daddy as well). When we went to give her her bottle she refused to drink any of it. We thought this was strange as she loves her milk. Well, a few minutes later she spit up all of the carrots we had thought she had eaten. I guess she didn't eat them at all, instead she was keeping them in between her cheeks...oh the joys of motherhood!
While I would share these "mommy-hood" stories with my friends (which none of them have children) they would patiently listen...It will be nice though when I have some grown-up stories to share with them...so I guess that is one good thing about going back to work...
Monday, December 7, 2009
The Big Bash
So, today will be my last full day at field for the semester. I'm sure I should be upset that I'm leaving for a whole month on winter break, most honestly I am soooooo happy! I get to spend my break with my daughter and visit my parents a couple times a week. Plus, I will also get the rest of the week off to work on my finals that are due this Tuesday and Wednesday. :) Here is the recap of the weekend happenings.
The weekend flew by! On Friday my whole family got together and went out to dinner. This event happens just once a year, and all the adults in my family go out. It gives us all time to connect and talk about life happenings. This Friday was especially important because my aunt flew in from NV to visit. We ate a lot and visited. I found out that my aunt who flew in from NV almost didn't make her flight. Apparently she had a steak knife in her carry-on. She claims she has no idea how it got there, but I have to ask how do you not know that there is a steak knife in your purse? I think my aunt might be losing it a little...unless by some act of God her dog put it there... I also learned about the new name my cousin and his wife are thinking about naming their soon-to-be-son. She is expecting any day now so it was nice to see her.I asked her about possible names (since they know it is going to be a boy) and she said the only name they could agree on was Colby Cole. Now I'm not sure what everyone else thinks but all I could say was "wow, how interesting" for everyone who hasn't read the book "Eats, Poops, and Leaves" you really should read it (especially for all of you who are expecting). My statement makes a lot more sense after you read it. ;) I guess the kid could have a worse name...but I really can't think of one...whenever I hear it I just think of cheese, and that's probably not something I should be thinking about. That's really not the only issue though- when I named my daughter I made sure it was a name that she could live with, a name that no one would make fun of. Maybe I'm the only one who cares about such things, after all I'm sure Apple is doing just fine...
On Saturday my husband and I helped my parents make all the food for my daughter's birthday (or rather he slept in and my parents and I made all the food). We made potato salad, grape salad, striped jello, and punch. Since I had dropped Julia off at my husband's parent's house, we were baby-free Friday night and all of Saturday. This is a rare occasion. After making the food for the big #1 birthday, we went grocery shopping for all the little odds and ends. Finally after that was done and we were all packed up and ready to go home we decided to see a movie. I truly miss being able to just "see a movie", I remember when my husband and I were dating we saw a movie at least once a week. So seeing a movie is a favorite pastime which we don't often get to enjoy since having our daughter. We decided to see Old Dogs, although it was a really corny, mushy movie, it had a lot of funny moments and left us laughing out loud. Afterward we went to our favorite place-Renzos. They make the best pizza turn-overs in the world. Overall Saturday was a wonderful day, and it was really nice to reconnect and spend some quality time with my husband, who I don't get to see all that often despite living together (since we spend so much time buzzing around the apartment and taking care of our daughter).
Sunday was the big day. It was my daughter's first birthday party. We set up and argued over decorations and table placement...but in the end it looked amazing. The food was all set up and the tables were all ready...the decorations were on the walls...everything just turned out perfectly. That is until people started showing up. There ended up being around 50 people there. Since none of my family or his RSVP'ed I wasn't expecting that many people. We had just enough chairs for our family, but many of our friends had to stand. Luckily we had enough food for everyone! After everyone ate and we passed out cake for everyone my husband suprised me with a gift. His coworker puts dvd's together filled with pictures, and he had her put together a dvd of our daughter's first year. It brought tears to my eyes...although I wasn't too happy about the "hospital pictures" and of our daughter all naked and goopy. But alas it stays true to the events of her first year. After wiping the tears from my cheeks my husband set up the pinatta for the kids, which they liked, and Julia opened her many gifts (with the help of some of my friends). The party was soon over and after hours of cleaning and packing things up, we spent another couple of hours unboxing all the toys so she could play with them the next morning. Did you ever wonder why toys are packaged the way they are? Now, logical would tell me that they are packaged so tightly in order to prevent theft and product damage. But, is it really necessary to zip-tie every single corner? Getting into a toy is about as difficult as getting into a cd--if not worse. Don't even get me started on the hard plastic enclosures, while toys do look pretty in them, they are almost impossible to get out of them. It probably took us longer to open the damn things then it took to shop for, buy, and wrap them...
On a good note, it's my last day for the semester, have a wonderful holiday season everyone. :)
The weekend flew by! On Friday my whole family got together and went out to dinner. This event happens just once a year, and all the adults in my family go out. It gives us all time to connect and talk about life happenings. This Friday was especially important because my aunt flew in from NV to visit. We ate a lot and visited. I found out that my aunt who flew in from NV almost didn't make her flight. Apparently she had a steak knife in her carry-on. She claims she has no idea how it got there, but I have to ask how do you not know that there is a steak knife in your purse? I think my aunt might be losing it a little...unless by some act of God her dog put it there... I also learned about the new name my cousin and his wife are thinking about naming their soon-to-be-son. She is expecting any day now so it was nice to see her.I asked her about possible names (since they know it is going to be a boy) and she said the only name they could agree on was Colby Cole. Now I'm not sure what everyone else thinks but all I could say was "wow, how interesting" for everyone who hasn't read the book "Eats, Poops, and Leaves" you really should read it (especially for all of you who are expecting). My statement makes a lot more sense after you read it. ;) I guess the kid could have a worse name...but I really can't think of one...whenever I hear it I just think of cheese, and that's probably not something I should be thinking about. That's really not the only issue though- when I named my daughter I made sure it was a name that she could live with, a name that no one would make fun of. Maybe I'm the only one who cares about such things, after all I'm sure Apple is doing just fine...
On Saturday my husband and I helped my parents make all the food for my daughter's birthday (or rather he slept in and my parents and I made all the food). We made potato salad, grape salad, striped jello, and punch. Since I had dropped Julia off at my husband's parent's house, we were baby-free Friday night and all of Saturday. This is a rare occasion. After making the food for the big #1 birthday, we went grocery shopping for all the little odds and ends. Finally after that was done and we were all packed up and ready to go home we decided to see a movie. I truly miss being able to just "see a movie", I remember when my husband and I were dating we saw a movie at least once a week. So seeing a movie is a favorite pastime which we don't often get to enjoy since having our daughter. We decided to see Old Dogs, although it was a really corny, mushy movie, it had a lot of funny moments and left us laughing out loud. Afterward we went to our favorite place-Renzos. They make the best pizza turn-overs in the world. Overall Saturday was a wonderful day, and it was really nice to reconnect and spend some quality time with my husband, who I don't get to see all that often despite living together (since we spend so much time buzzing around the apartment and taking care of our daughter).
Sunday was the big day. It was my daughter's first birthday party. We set up and argued over decorations and table placement...but in the end it looked amazing. The food was all set up and the tables were all ready...the decorations were on the walls...everything just turned out perfectly. That is until people started showing up. There ended up being around 50 people there. Since none of my family or his RSVP'ed I wasn't expecting that many people. We had just enough chairs for our family, but many of our friends had to stand. Luckily we had enough food for everyone! After everyone ate and we passed out cake for everyone my husband suprised me with a gift. His coworker puts dvd's together filled with pictures, and he had her put together a dvd of our daughter's first year. It brought tears to my eyes...although I wasn't too happy about the "hospital pictures" and of our daughter all naked and goopy. But alas it stays true to the events of her first year. After wiping the tears from my cheeks my husband set up the pinatta for the kids, which they liked, and Julia opened her many gifts (with the help of some of my friends). The party was soon over and after hours of cleaning and packing things up, we spent another couple of hours unboxing all the toys so she could play with them the next morning. Did you ever wonder why toys are packaged the way they are? Now, logical would tell me that they are packaged so tightly in order to prevent theft and product damage. But, is it really necessary to zip-tie every single corner? Getting into a toy is about as difficult as getting into a cd--if not worse. Don't even get me started on the hard plastic enclosures, while toys do look pretty in them, they are almost impossible to get out of them. It probably took us longer to open the damn things then it took to shop for, buy, and wrap them...
On a good note, it's my last day for the semester, have a wonderful holiday season everyone. :)
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