Daffodils and other nonsense

So daffodil debacle...there's this place outside of Little Rock called Wye Mountain...I'm not sure why it's called that because it's definitely not a mountain...I don't even know if it qualifies as a hill. There's probably some sort of significance behind it, but I haven't taken the time (and probably won't) to look it up. Anyway, our little Arkansas book talked about how in the spring, there are thousands of daffodils blooming there. So two weeks ago, Simon and I planned to go check it out. It was a bad day from the start...it was cold and there were random patches of rain, I was tired and irritable, and I read the directions wrong on how to get there...driving us at least 30 miles out of our way, because once you start going the wrong way on the interstate, there's no turning around until you get to an overpass with an exit attached to it. So I'm cursing (probably saying shit a lot), and Simon is sitting supportively in the passenger seat, probably wondering how I could have been idiot enough to read the directions wrong. So by the time we get turned around I'm so irritable that I don't even want to see the damn daffodils. So we went home for a few hours to see if it would quit raining. It kind of did...so we got back in the car and headed out to Wye Mountain once again...this time in the right direction. We were about 2/3 of the way there when it started raining again (shit). But it wasn't raining too bad, so we pressed on. We got to Wye Mountain, and there really were thousands of daffodils...it was so pretty! It got out my camera to take a picture of Simon and some of the flowers, and my camera wouldn't turn on. Dammit all to H-E-double hockey sticks, I never put the battery back in it after I had charged it. So there we were, in the middle of a field of daffodils in the drizzling rain with no film. So we got in the car and went home. Fast forward two weeks to this morning...we got up early (after I hit the snooze 4 times) to make another attempt to see the daffodils with our friends Suzie and Matt. It's cloudy, but thankfully not raining. We get out there...AND...most of the daffodils are dead. So we took a couple pictures with the dying blooms and drove back home. Apparently a good experience with Wye Mountain just wasn't in the cards. And then I proceeded to make 18 cups of rice.


I hate the post office. You want to know why? Of course you do. Actually, I shouldn't say that I hate all post offices, just the one that's within walking distance of my apartment. First of all, they don't have one of those automated postage thingys that weigh your package, calculate the postage, print you a stamp, and provide you with a place to deposit the package. So quick and easy! You're instead forced to wait in line for the one teller that's working...all the while the second teller stands there in the background drinking her giant pop from Taco Bell...hop on a register why don't you? Otherwise hide out of sight from the long line of disgruntled post-office patrons who think you're lazy. If you're taking a break, please don't do it where we can see you...waiting in line is all the much more irritating whilst watching someone that could help you just stand around and gossip to the person that IS working...thereby slowing them down. The only envelopes this post office has to choose from when mailing a package are the military envelopes (which would be helpful if either my mom or Dana were in the military, but they're not) or flat rate envelopes, which I have issue with. I'd rather not over-pay on postage to send my mom a souvenier tshirt from Oklahoma. Maybe I'm just cheap, but I don't see the sense in over-paying for something, particularily when I have to wait in line for a half hour in order to do it. So I left. This is the second time I've walked out of this particular post office without mailing anything.

On the walk home from the post office, Simon and I were discussing all the ways that we use the word 'shit.' And surprisingly enough, I never use that word to describe poop. Shit is an expletive, not an excrement. Although, in some cases when describing a particular bathroom blow-out (someone else's, NOT my own), I will use the word shit for dramatic emphasis. Saying, "there was SHIT all over the wall" sounds so much more dramatic than "there was POOP all over the wall." But poop and/or shit on the wall rarely comes up in conversation...well...I shouldn't say rarely, because I talk about poop all the time, but not always in relation to it being on the wall. It turns up in all sorts of other places though. For instance, the other day I stepped in Cooper's poop. It was a somewhat poorly lit morning, I was tired, and really wasn't paying all that much attention to where I was walking. And the stupid thing is, I was watching him poop, and thinking all the while to myself, "I need to make sure not to step in that when I walk back this way." And what did I do? I stepped in it...with flip flops on, which made it all the more disgusting because that meant the actual poop was REALLY close to my bare foot. Sometimes I'll use the word crap, but that's usually at the end of a 12-hour shift when someone loses their bowels in their bed at 6:55, which is 5 minutes before I'm supposed to leave...example: don't you love it when someone craps their bed 5 minutes before shift change? The average bed change in the case of a code brown takes at a minimum 10 minutes, so you can see the issue. Not that I have issue with the actual cleaning up of the poop (crap), it's just the timing that's so poor. I'd have to say though, if I crapped my bed at 6:55, I would appreciate someone being in there at 6:56 to wipe my dirty bum, whether that makes them late to getting home or not. So yeah...I really got off on a tangent there. What I was getting at, is that I don't use the word shit to describe poop. I guess that's all I was trying to say. Shit is quite versatile though...it can be just about anything.

I've got 5 shifts left here in Little Rock, and I have to say, I'm going to miss it here a little bit. Little Rock itself is nothing I would write home to mom about (even though I do), and I wouldn't recommend it for a vacation, but the surrounding areas are so pretty and Arkansas itself has a lot to offer, especially if you're the outdoorsy type that likes throwing the tent in the trunk and the canoe on the roof and driving to any number of state parks and rivers to play around in. It's pretty here too...all the trees are flowering right now, the daffodils were up (story regarding daffodils to follow), and all the other little flowers around are starting to bloom. The trees are starting to get leafy, but the grass is still brown, despite warm weather and a decent amount of rain. I'm told that the grass is a certain variety that stays dormant until the temperature is consistently around 70 or 80. Being from Minnesota, I found it so weird that it could be so warm and the grass was still brown. Now it all makes sense. This trip has also been one of the better ones for my social psyche. On the first day of orientation Simon and I had the pleasure of meeting a few like-minded individuals that we hang out with at least once a week, if not more. Last night we had a "cleaning out the cupboard" dinner. We've resolved to buy nothing but produce from here on out and to make due with what's in the cupboard. Last night we had spaghetti with wheat noodles, green beans, several different varieties of beer, and snickerdoodle cookies. It was good! I'm guessing that the fare will start to decrease in structure and palatability as we get to the end of the week and into next week and start to run out of options, but that's what the Chinese place down the road is for. :) We still have a few places that we need to eat before we leave...The Whole Hog-for BBQ, the Flying Fish-for catfish, and Kobe-for sushi. Today I made 18 cups of rice...hahaha! That ought to sustain us for the week and through the weekend. I love rice.

Ice cream and other ramblings...

I have fallen in love with Coldstone ice cream. Prior to moving to Arkansas, I had had Coldstone maybe once or twice...I found the ice cream to be a little full of stuff and a little too expensive for ice cream. I was always happiest with plain old cookies and cream ice cream. Then we get down here and my friend Suzie's husband LOVES ice cream. Coldstone is like heaven for him. So we were out one day and he kept talking about Coldstone, so we went. I got this awesome ice cream called Mint Mint Chocolate Chocolate Chip...it's fantastic! Mint ice cream with fudge, brownies, and chocolate chips in it. Not sure why there are two Mints in the title, when there is only one mint in the ice cream, but I'll let it pass this one time. In any case, it's fantastic, and I find myself wanting it everyday. Last night Simon and I went to get some (after already buying ice cream at Target...that's so we have ice cream to eat when Coldstone isn't open), we stopped at Coldstone. As per usual when going there in the evening, about 5 high schoolers sprinted in the door ahead of us, adding to the line of 5 that was already in there. I wanted to wait it out...so we did...until the high schoolers decided they wanted to try samples of every single flavor. Are you kidding me? They should have a line for people that already know what they want so they don't have sit in line behind idiots that just want to eat free ice cream. That's my thoughts on it. Maybe I should suggest that on their website. Or here's a thought, if they don't know what they want and need to browse the menu, maybe they shouldn't be in line. Apparently I get a little cantankerous when something comes between me and my ice cream. So...we ended up going home and eating the ice cream that we bought at Target. It wasn't Coldstone, but it still hit the spot.

I have also found love at the little Chinese place down the street. It's within walking distance, which I think seems dangerous...although we have yet to walk there. Hmmm. Simon has their phone number programmed into his phone so we can call for take-out no matter where we are. Their lo mein is the best I've ever had. It's made with the flat pad thai noodles instead of the usual spaghetti-type asian noodles...not sure if this is the difference or not, but it definitely helps. It's just so tasty!! The only gripe I have is there aren't enough vegetables in it, so we have to pay extra for them to add veggies, but it's well worth the expense. We ate lo mein on Monday and Tuesday evening for dinner. Last night we took a break and made chicken cesaer salad (I cooked for the first time in what feels like ages), but I still wanted the lo mein anyway.

I'm having one of those days where I want to take all my dogs to the pound. Actually, it started last night when they all decided they didn't want to poop and pee on the same outing outside. I don't usually enjoy spending time outside with them in the dark (especially when it's cold and windy), so I appreciate it when they get out, do their business, and we can go back in. Last night, they were being very uncooperative. After much swearing and near shrieking at Brie (which, by the way, doesn't help...I know this but do it anyway), I finally took her off the leash (which we're not supposed to do at the complex...I miss my fenced yard and apparently, so does she) at which point she promptly pooped. She also has this thing about being overly selective about where she wants to poop...as if one section of grass is better for pooping than another. However, after we got back inside, I noticed she still had poop on her bum, so I had to go about the disgusting task of wiping her butt. Yes, I wiped my dog's butt. I had to do it again this morning too, which I was none too pleased about. It's so nasty! And lately, Brie has had this obsessive thing about licking her paws, and the sound of it drives me up the wall...it's like someone grunting and snorting whilst stirring a giant pot macaroni and cheese right next to my ear...that's about the closest approximation I can come to when it comes to the sound. It's nasty. I'm about a half hour away from getting her one of those cones to wear around her head so she can't lick them anymore (PetSmart doesn't open until 9). Cooper woke me up about every hour last night, probably because he had to poop because he didn't to it on one of the three outtings last night, and I refused to take him out. That's what he gets for not going when he was out...unfortunately I appeared to be the one that suffered the most from that little lesson. And then Lady...when it's just me taking them out, she doesn't like to walk on the same side of me as the pugs, so she relentlessly wraps the leash around my legs trying to get way from them. It's nothing short of annoying, and she always does it at inopportune times...we're walking up or down a hill, we're walking up or down a curb, we're walking up or down the stairs...I think she may be trying to kill me. Ugh...it's days like this I really wonder the logistics of having three dogs...or any dogs at all.

The Little Rock drivers continue to infurriate me. The lack of blinker usage is a daily irritation that brings to the brink of road rage almost instantly, particularily when I'm anxiously trying to make a left turn, and some douche bag is driving somewhat slowly in the right lane--not slow enough for me to turn in front of him, but slow enough for me to question if he might be making a right turn--and then puts his damn blinker on as he rounds the corner. WTF?? What's the point of using the blinker once you're already going around the corner? That doesn't help anyone...that's like protecting yourself in the event of an accident..."but officer, I had my blinker on." I feel like making a giant sign saying, 'is your blinker broken?' to hold up whenever I see someone not using their blinker, but then I thought about it and realized that I would be better off just writing it on the side of my Jeep since I would be holding the sign up at a constant, leaving me to drive with only one hand and compromise my own usage of the blinker. It's a daily struggle.

I still have yet to get the scooter out. The 10 feet I rode it prior to the Phoenix trip is the longest distance I've ridden it. I don't even want to ride it around the parking lot as the idiots driving in the streets somehow also find their way into our parking lot. Whenever I think of driving my scooter I have images in my head of me getting mowed down by some idiot motorist. Not exactly a vote of confidence. I used to think that Iowans were the worst drivers (sorry Suzie and Matt) but I have since realized the error of my thoughts and now know without a doubt that Little Rock drivers are the worst...to date.

The other night I was in and out of a coma on the couch, and was frighteningly awaked to the worst thunderstorm I have ever experienced. The thunder was rolling, the building was shaking, and having just been suddenly awakened, I thought there was tornado out in the parking lot and that the building was collapsing. I really did. It was so loud! I've never in my life heard thunder that loud. Had the sirens been going off warning us of a tornado, we wouldn't have been able to hear it. The funniest part of the whole thing was that after the giant boom, Simon came tearing out of the bedroom in his underpants. He didn't think it was a tornado, but he figured that I probably would so he came out to check on me.

I still continue to check the MLS listings on the houses in Minneapolis. I don't know why I do that, I guess I just really miss owning a house and I also really enjoy house hunting. Maybe if this whole nursing thing doesn't work out I can become a realtor. Although, the market already seems to be saturated with realtors these days, so I wonder how much business I'd really get. Hopefully someday soon I'll own a house again...preferably with a fenced yard so I can avoid all the crap with my dogs not wanting to take a crap...they can just stay outside until they go, even if it's in the rain and it takes them a half hour.

I'd like it to be known at this point that Brie has been licking her feet this whole time (it's been a half hour)...and I've also been yelling at her this whole time. It's a battle of wills at this point.

Simon and I have been making good use of our Arkansas travel book (thanks Franko!) and have been getting out and doing some sight-seeing. We went to the Old State House yesterday which is the oldest capitol still standing west of the Mississippi...or maybe it's east of the Mississippi...I don't remember...it's one of those. :) The travel book talked about how there was this John Barelycorn exhibit that talked all about Prohibition and how to make moonshine, but when we got there we realized that the exhibit was closed. :( The rest of the State House was interesting, but we were disappointed that we didn't get to learn about the moonshine and whatnot. We also went to a cotton plantation with Suzie and Matt last week, and it was very interesting. We thought that we were going to learn about cotton plantations...how they worked, tools they used, farm labor, etc...but it was more of a tour of all the furnishings and things that were inside the plantation house. Our tour guide was this flamboyantly gay little man who still lives in the house...it's safe to say that most of the things inside the house are at least 100 years older than he is. He was polically incorrect (he's definitely from the Deep South and is proud of it), and since we were thrown in with a group of high schoolers, he had us stay up near the front of the group by him so he could whisper things to us that weren't appropriate for the ears of the young ones. It was a great time. He invited us to come back out to have dinner with him sometime...I can just about imagine how lavish that little set-up will be. He has his own chef on the premises (who also doubles as his clock, his calendar, his secretary), and a few other people that work for him as well. I'm looking forward to it. We're going to go to the zoo today, and maybe a bike ride with our friends Liz and Mark. One of the things I've definitely enjoyed the most about this Little Rock assignment is the people that I've met. I always meet people during orientation, we exchange numbers and say we'll call each other, but then we never do. This assignment has been so different...there's a core group of us that try to make a point to get together at least once a week, and it's been so much fun. I miss having a group of friends to hang out with on a consistent basis, and sometimes the lonliness of being a traveler makes me really homesick, but this assignment has been so much better in the friend department. I've only been homesick once...but I do think some of that might be in part to PMS...hahaha! Things are always more depressing that little bastard is on the horizon.

One thing I've also found interesting here in Arkansas is a lot people frequently reference "The War" and who really won. It took me a beat to figure out that they were talking about the Civil War, and not the war going on overseas. I've been called a Yankee a time or two (in jest, of course) and once a person finds out I'm from the north, they usually tell me that the South really won the war. They seem appalled when I tell them that we really don't talk about the Civil War in the north...outside of history class and whatnot. Prior to yesterday (at the State House) I couldn't even remember what years the Civil War took place. In talking with some of the black people that I work with, segregation is still very real down here, and I feel it in some of the attitudes of the people that I work with. Not that people are ever rude to me unnecessarily, but I can definitely feel some very big chips on shoulders, more so than I ever felt when I was in Minneapolis. Some of them actually seem a little suspiscious or taken aback when I take an interest in them or their culture. It's too bad. I guess in the north we're given a false sense of the progress that we've made since the 60's. Although, I do think some of it is perspective, so I try to keep that in mind.

So...that's the scoop from my end at the moment. Simon and I are hoping to head to the East Coast after this assignment is done. We don't have anything booked yet, but our wonderful recruiter is working hard for us once again, trying to find a good fit. We'd love to go to Boston, but pretty much anywhere in New England or thereabouts would be fine with us. I keep finding that I have more and more friends out East, so it would be nice to have the chance to visit them. I've been finding that with travel nursing, I travel to lots of different places in the country, but I don't ever really go anywhere to visit people. Weird, eh? I travel for a living but I don't take vacations. During the time off between assignments, Simon and I try to hunker down and visit friends and family in Minnesota while trying not to spend too much money. We seem to forget that we need to take vacations every now and again to preserve our sanity. We'll have to try to be better about that. I'd like to get to Ireland and somewhere in the Carribean in the next year or so (I'll have to find my passport first...I seem to have missplaced it). Other than that...if Brie doesn't quit licking her feet I'm going to throw her out the window...this is what my day is shaping up to look like. Bummer.