Work Guff

My Christmas wish for you is that in these festive times you can see past pain, hurts and troubles to reach out your hand. I pray that your hand will give hope to another as you reach out to help.

My Christmas wish for you is that all that you do, albeit the same as any other day, that it will be done with appreciation for all that you have that others may not. I pray that you are enveloped in joy as you serve others.

My Christmas wish for you is that you take the time to love someone else that you find hard to love. I pray that in doing so that you feel loved for just being yourself too.

My Christmas wish for you is that you can consider others with a higher regard than yourself. Then, when you arrive home safely after your celebrations, I pray that you can bring thanks to God that no one lost their life at your hands that same night.

My Christmas wish for you is that you can share the spirit of Christmas in special ways with those who see you in a faceted way. I pray that your life is a testimony of love to work colleagues and clients, to playgroup mums and to the barrista at your local coffee bar.

My Christmas wish for you is that as you contemplate the year ahead that your already laid plans clearly seen as wise or unwise. I pray that all fear, angst and stress be replaced with empowerment, encouragement and, above all, peace.

With love at Christmas

When I was pregnant, my midwife would ask me how things were going. I'd give my summary and comment that it was 'generally quiet'. Her response was always, "Quiet is good."

Well, I have completed my training at my newly acquired job and have had my first 'real' shift as a casual employee just today. It was quiet and productive which is great. Quiet means that no residents had any accidents or became unwell.

Yesterday, apparently was a different story. One of the village residents rang the main building complaining of chest pain. The ambulance was called and in less than 5 minutes both the contacted staff member and the ambulance were on her doorstep.

Unfortunately, it was not as simple as getting her monitored and off to hospital. No, whilst getting started one of the ambulance officers vomited and went downhill herself quite quickly. So the ambulance officer requested another ambulance for the ambulance officer as well as support for the elderly patient.

Meanwhile, another staff member was working to the northern end of the grounds. He glanced out a sliding door and witnessed a street attack on a young man. As he stepped out the door, he watched the youth pull himself off the concrete expecting the offender to lay into him once more but instead as he made his presence known the offender moved away.

Our colleague went to the aid of the young man and walked him all the way home. The only indication that he had left the grounds was a single occasion of eye contact he had with the CEO. I can say that trust is a foundation of this workplace and no issue was had with the departure from work and only an explanation after-the-fact was expected. I appreciate knowing this.

Back on the southern side, in the village, more green-uniformed young men in their 20's turn up and take the respective patients away. We have not yet heard about how the resident is going. We won't know about it until they discharge her. Our thoughts are with her.

It was a day of excitement but the reasons for it were not desirable. For this reason, I like quiet days like today. Quiet is good.

So, it has been decided...

..after going on a long fitness journey that has included everything from yoga and pilates to weight training and boxing, I have decided to get myself qualified as a pilates instructor.

I haven't worked out all the in's and out's of how this can happen yet. So far as I am aware there is only one qualified place to gain instruction in Adelaide and I am not sure if I have to do my 'hours' there or whether I can do them elsewhere. I guess I'll find out that later!

More news as it comes!

Yes, it's true things have been quite busy around here. We have had a big change of pace and I am gearing up for a huge change to my lifestyle. For the first time in a number of years I have found myself writing job applications and reviewing my CV.

The nett result has been a job offer in a retirement village. I have my first training shift on Monday and I hope that the couple of shifts I may get each fortnight puts us in stead for the bills that we are expecting when PJ Bear starts his diagnosis process.

I will do my best to keep blogging - it just may be a little more sporatic.

One of the things about having a blog is the need for regular contributions. The interesting part about Egg Splatter is that it is a conglomeration of blogs on one site to spread the burden from one person to many.

In theory, this means more regular blog posts with a lower burden on contributors. Yes, in theory...

These past few weeks business has been chaotically busy at best. I am lucky to have found the time to scratch, at best, and Husband@Work has been just as busy. If it weren't for the meeting of toes in bed at some point during the night I would be sure we wouldn't know each other had 'knocked off' for the day.

Of course, it must be the season for it, maybe even the pre-pre-pre-Christmas rush that has also taken out my co-contributors too! A few have half written ones hiding out the back waiting to be finished off. Some will, no doubt, also be backdated so watch out for that too. We have all had our distractions of one sort or another.

Clearly, I have been so busy that I have not had time to splatter eggs for a few days and it is affecting my sleep. I hope that some writing will ease that and my bed and an accompanying set of toes will help rectify this.

So much for the theory of shared blogging!