Comment on my muffins....

So a few weeks ago I was at work (night shift of course) and I was reading my most recent copy of Runner's World (see above). Since I'm all about trying new healthy recipes I was reading an article that had a few really good recipes to try. One of them was for muffins. These muffins are great-they are made with applesauce and whole wheat flour and you can add in whatever you want as far as nuts and fruit go. I opt to not add anything but cinnamon, which is great. Tastes like fall. And you can make them in less than half an hour-including baking time-which I just did while watching Biggest Loser. Anyway I feel all kinds of homemaker-y when I make my muffins. They also had a great recipe for fajitas with lime and cilantro. My faves.

Since I know that everyone will want to make these muffins I've included the recipe. Or you can find it in October's issue of Runner's World, p. 44.



**Liz's Muffin Mix**

2 cups whole-grain flour

1 tsp salt

1/3 cup brown sugar

2 tsp baking powder

1/2 tsp baking soda

2 eggs or half cup Egg Beaters

1 cup skim milk or soy milk

1/3 cup applesauce, regular or flavored, such as blueberry or pomegranate

1/2 cup chopped nuts, or dried, fresh, or frozen fruit

Preheat oven to 425F. Fill a muffin tin with 12 paper muffin cupts. Mix the first five dry ingredients in a large bowl. Slightly bbeat the eggs. Mix in the milk and applesauce. Add wet ingredients to the dry mix. Stir until just combined, sprinkling in the nuts of fruit. Spoon into muffin cups. Bake for 15 to 18 minutes or until muffin tops are golden brown.

Calories per muffin: 230, carbs: 46 g, Protein: 4g, Fat: 3g

Comment on my job skills.....

So I have been working at my job for over a year. Go me! They say the first year is the hardest but I didn't think it was as bad as I expected it to be. Maybe that's because I love my job or maybe doing hours in the NICU during school helped-I don't know, but it's been good.



Now that I've been here long enough AND hit certain education requirements I can precept-and so I am. I've wanted to precept since I started because I want people to have a good orientation experience just like I did. Granted, I still have so much to learn and this precepting thing is definitely going to teach me more than I can teach someone else but it's a good experience.



I started precepting a new grad last week. She's so much smarter than me, I think what I'm going to be teaching her is that it's ok to ask for help, which is what I'm doing, all the time, during our shifts, double checking that we're doing things the right way. I've also been reflecting on the things that I am comfortable doing now that used to freak me out back in the beginning-so I decided to make a list:



1. I no longer go to work in fear of what assignment I might get

2. I can get report without needing to write down every little thing-therefore report goes a lot faster

3. I can give report without having to refer to my sheets constantly

4. When an NNP asks what I think we should do, I can answer and sound like I know what I'm talking about (at least in some situations )

5. I can give a bath in 5-10 minutes (not an hour like it used to take)

6. I understand what the vent settings mean

7. I can turn an intubated baby's head without the help of an RT

8. Suctioning is not as scary as it used to be.

9. I still hate flushing Anderson tubes because gastric fluid mixed with mucous makes me throw up a little in my mouth.

10. I'm not scared to change lines even though I hate to do it

11. I love to do new and post-surgical admits-it's a great adrenaline rush

12. I'm not afraid to advocate for my patients

13. Bagging a baby isn't as scary as it used to be, but it's still one of the rare times that I may swear at work (that can also happen when I find out I'm on the code team and well, there's a kid going on ECMO who is close to coding, or when a kid turns her head and her trach falls out, or the ENT doc is at the bedside to intubate and I keep dropping the suction catheter on the floor and having to get replace it with new ones, I mean no big deal)

14. I love drawing blood off of an art line-it's kind of fun

So anyway that's all for now until I can come up with more stuff, maybe when I'm actually a grown-up nurse and can take oscillator kids or something.....

Comment on my new NICU 'calling'.......

So a couple of weeks ago I was working a lovely day shift (my fave!)-towards the end of the day our NICU director, Susan, comes to my bedside and asks if I would take on the role of being the employee recognition/morale person for our unit. My job is to help improve morale. I guess the powers that be have taken notice that I love my job.

So apparently there's a lot to this, I got a huge bag from the last girl who did it with this gigantic binder and some other interesting morale-boosting toys in it. I still need to figure out what exactly I am doing but I think it will be fun. It kind of feels like a church calling, therefore we've been referring to it as my NICU calling. I have decided that Jane is my first counselor, and maybe Daisy can be my 2nd counselor-but I haven't told her that yet-haha.

So we had our summer picnic last weekend and Jane and I made an appearance and took pictures, and I put together a bulletin board in the breakroom so everyone could see the pictures. It was pretty fun. I don't usually enjoy work parties but it was fun to see everyone and their families and their pets.

Anyway if anyone has any ideas on how to improve employee morale let me know. Basically all I can think of thus far is bulletin boards and food nights :o).

Comment on being on call...

I was on call last night-which meant that I was paid like $1 an hour to spend the night doing this:

Comment on why I'm sad summer is over/why i'm happy fall is coming.....

So right now I'm currently experiencing conflicting emotions. I've had a fun summer that went by way to quickly. In some ways I'm excited for it to be over, but I feel like I didn't have enough time to enjoy the usual summer activities like spending quality time at the pool or hiking in the mountains. Yet I love fall and I'm kind of looking forward to that as well. And so, I decided to create the following lists to help me work through my feelings:


Why I'm Sad Summer Is Over:

1. I love when I leave work at 7:15am and it's warm and the mountains look so beautiful and I can roll down my windows, open up the sunroom, and turn up the music. It's so great!

2. Sleeping with my window open

3. Laying out at the pool those three times-or the beach-I mean I got a really great tan this summer

4. Running outside in the A.M.-it really only happened in L.A., Pocatello and Star Valley this year when I was off work but it was great

5. The sun setting after 9pm-I think it makes night shift feel shorter

6. Vacays! It was crazy going somewhere every month and in a way I'm glad I'm not going anywhere for awhile, but I miss L.A., Vegas and NYC. Those were good times.

7. Barbequed hamburgers and hot dogs-my fave summer food

8. Kenny Chesney in concert-I'm already excited for next year. Let's be honest-I was excited for next year the second the last concert was over.

Why I'm Looking Forward To Fall:

1. The yearly fall Park City trip-Baja Cantina, caramel apples at Rocky Mountain Chocolate Factory, the crisp feel of the air-I don't think it gets much better

2. The new fall tv season-hopefully there isn't any kind of striking going on so we can get a full season of The Office, ER, Gossip Girl, Bones, etc. I think I may need tivo

3. Fall clothes-more importantly-long sleeved t-shirts, sweatpants, polar fleece

4. The fall leaves-although thanks to the Corner Canyon fire we won't get too much of a view of them this year


5. Getting back to a regular schedule

6. My little bro coming home from his mission in the Philippines

7. That crisp fall feeling in the air

8. My cousin Jamie getting married-that will be a lot of fun-congrats Jamie!

9. Gas prices falling because the oil companies aren't trying to make a huge profit on summer travelers.