Pulled…and some good eats!

I had my ninety day review at work on Wednesday, which meant that my “trial period” is officially over.  My manager went over the official checklist, which I personally think is a bunch of administrative mumbo-jumbo, but whatever.  My feedback was basically that I asked lots of pertinent questions (mainly because I have NO CLUE what I’m doing…shhh!), and that I’m progressing well.  I’m “where I should be or a little bit ahead, even,” per my manager.  Soooo I guess that’s a good thing?  Of course I would love to be light years ahead of where I am at the moment, but it’s only been three months, so I still need some time.

Since my ninety days is up, I can officially be “pulled” to another floor.  Basically, this means that if my floor is overstaffed and another floor is understaffed, we can be sent to a different floor to work.  While this is better than being cancelled (and therefore not being paid), it still isn’t so fun.  Annnnnd guess what?  I got pulled on my first day!  Of course. 

I was sent to a telemetry floor, so most of the patients are on heart monitors.  (We don’t have anything of that sort on my floor!)  Overall, it was fine.  But naturally I freaked out when I got there and I had to draw blood right away and I was convinced that someone was going to throw a crazy rhythm or something.  Obviously I was overreacting, but I had finally gotten to a certain comfort level on my floor, and then I was ripped out of it.  I don’t do well with that in any situation.

I broke down at the beginning of the shift, which I hate doing because I hate crying, especially in public.  One of the nurses pulled me into a supply room and told me that she wasn’t going to let anything to happen to me or any of my patients, and that I could ask her all the questions that I needed to.  Half of my anxiety is in not knowing anyone and not knowing who to go to for help, so that calmed me down.  The rest of the night was smooth sailing, and I thanked the nurse who helped me throughout the night.  She reminded me that what I’m feeling is totally normal for the first six months to a year (or two…or three…as one of the other nurses pointed out!), and that I did great and will make it with time.

I just hoped I don’t get pulled tonight!

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As promised yesterday, I have some good eats to share!  I really do love to cook and bake, especially new, tasty things!  On Monday I asked the Rocket Scientist what he wanted for dinner on Tuesday (since I had off!), and he said pesto.  The only time I’ve made pesto was when I studied abroad in Italy one summer and we received cooking lessons.  I looked up a recipe online, which turned out fantastic!  (Not that I can find it now…boo!)  I cooked up some pasta, added some asparagus, grape tomatoes, and chicken, threw on the pesto, and voila!  Tasty tasty:

Yum!  Definitely a keeper.

Post-dinner coma, it was time to cook up some dessert!  I wanted some oatmeal chocolate chip cookies, so I did some googling and came up with this recipe from Tammy’s Recipes. 

Whole Wheat Peanut Butter Oatmeal Chocolate Chip Cookies

Ingredients:

1 cup shortening or softened butter
1/3 cup peanut butter
3/4 cup brown sugar
3/4 cup granulated sugar
2 eggs
1 teaspoon vanilla
1 1/2 cups whole wheat flour
1 teaspoon baking soda
1/2 teaspoon salt
2 cups quick oats
12 ounces (2 cups) chocolate chips

Instructions:

1. Cream butters and sugars in a large bowl. Add eggs and vanilla, stirring until smooth.

2. In a medium-sized mixing bowl, combine flour, soda, salt, and oats. Add to creamed mixture and stir to make a thick cookie dough. Add chocolate chips, mixing with hands if necessary.

3. Roll dough into 1 1/2-inch balls and place on greased cookie sheets. Press to flatten tops. Bake at 375 degrees for 10-15 minutes, until cookies are browned and cooked to your liking.

SO GOOD!!!  And it’s healthy because there’s whole wheat flour and oatmeal…right??  Baking in progress:

Mmmmm cookie dough!!  I may have had a few samples…

Ready for the oven!

Final product!!  I may have eaten this entire plate that night.

Okay, I didn’t eat the entire plate in one sitting, but I could have because they were so good!!  I definitely recommend them if you need a new cookie recipe to try.  I thought that the oatmeal + chocolate chips + peanut butter would be too much of a flavor combination, but it was quite tasty.  Enjoy!