Year of Projects: Week 23

    I've done absolutely no knitting this week.  I did a little bit of mending though.  A thread in my first Turnstile had gotten pulled.  I think a cat claw did it.  I had put it away and not worn it all last season, so I finally sat down and teased the threads back into place on both sides of the snag.  Turnstile is an infinity scarf/cowl that gets knit in the round, then the ends get grafted together.  It makes for a nice warm and versatile scarf.  I liked this one so much a made a second. 

Before:

After:

Its not perfect but its much better than it was before.  I think a wash and block will make it completely un-noticeable.  I wore this scarf this week.  We did get that snow storm.  My home in Carthage got snow on Monday, so if I hadn't left early I would have had to drive through it.  Syracuse got the storm Tuesday.  Driving into my work site Tuesday was a little hairy.  The visibility was terrible and I was skidding alot because the tires on the Tundra are bald.  My Highlander got fixed on Tuesday.  It wound up being a quick fix and not too expensive.  So Adam (my husband) drove down Wednesday and switched vehicles with me.  He also ordered new tires for the truck and they'll be put on this upcoming Tuesday.

    In other news, I heard back from all my perspective employers and I've taken the offer from Carthage Area Hospital.  I start the onboarding process tomorrow.  I'll officially start with them on December 19th.  The hospital is only 5 miles from where I live, so no more driving 80 miles to my contract job.  The offer from CAH was substantially better than any of the others, including the two from hospitals in Syracuse.  I'm nervous to be starting a new job but I'm really looking forward to being home every day for the kids and cats.  Traveling was an amazing experience, one I really needed.  A year ago I was very burnt out and frustrated with many aspects of this career.  I expect those things will resurface over time in a permanent position.  Healthcare in general is... difficult in this country.  I'll keep it at that for now.  I could devote an entire blog to just how broken the US healthcare system is and that's not fun to read about.  

Speaking of reading:  

    I've lost count on how many books I read this week.  I finished The Curse of Shadows and Thorns.  It was amazing.  Its the first book in The Broken Kingdoms series by LJ Andrews.  I immediately started the next book in the series which is The Court of Ice and Ash.  This continues the story between Elise Lysander and Legion Grey.  At some point during the week I saw a post on one of the Facebook Medical Technologist pages I'm a member of.  A fellow MT wrote a book and was thanking everyone who had read it as it was doing well on Amazon.  I read the teaser for it and instantly put it on my Kindle Unlimited list.  I paused the fantasy series and started reading her book on my dinner break.  Its called Tales From Transfusion:  The Outbreak.  Its by Marlene Tower. 

The dedication page had me hooked.  I read the entire book that night after work.  It was enthralling.  The basic premise is this; its about several Blood Bankers who work at a very large hospital in Texas when a zombie outbreak occurs at the hospital.  No, I don't generally read horror, but this was from the perspective of Med Techs so of course I'd give it a try, right.  The humor, snark and cursing were perfect (and accurate.)  The descriptions of the myriad of personality types you'll find in a lab were perfect.  The explanation of normal work performed by blood bankers was in depth without being overbearing, so I think people outside a laboratory or even outside healthcare could enjoy reading this book.  It was a roller coaster of emotions and reminded me of so many experiences I've had over my nearly 20 year career.  I do plan to do a separate blog post about this book, with spoilers, so I can talk about some pivotal points in the book.  I thoroughly enjoyed this book and will be promoting it as much as I can.

    Once I finished this book I went back to the Broken Kingdoms.  I finished Court of Ice and Ash this morning and started the third book in the series: Crown of Blood and Ruin.  I'm really enjoying this series.  There is some great banter between many of the characters.  The story is engaging.  This series is fairly low on the spice level, but the connection between Elise and Legion is very strong and the few encounters we get between them are subsequently steamy enough.  

    I think that's about it for this week.  I was going to sew the liners for my Sackets Harbor Mittens, but I ended up reading instead... oops.

Until Later.  Happy Crafting!

-Q