E.R. in the E.R.

Come on, you’ve gotta admit that’s clever! Well, maybe I should explain first.

On Wednesday night, I was steaming some vegetables to have for dinner that night. I was trying to use the lid of the pot to help strain out the water, and I thought I’d let most of the steam out already, but as I tipped the pot and lifted the lid, all of the steam came in direct contact with my left thumb. I managed to hold onto the pot while screaming in pain, and immediately applied cold water for the rest of the evening. I kept expecting it to kind of “stop hurting so much” after a while, as most burns do, but it didn’t. It kept getting later and I kept applying cold, and it felt just fine, but any time I removed the source of the cold, within 15 seconds I was in unbearable pain. I knew there was no way I’d be able to sleep, so I sucked it up and went to the E.R. Get it now? My initials, the emergency room – just forget it.

Anyway, after two hours of waiting, the doc took a look at it, smeared some cream on there, bandaged it up and sent me on my way. The stuff worked miracles, because I haven’t felt it since about 20 minutes after putting it on. It never blistered, and feels just fine now. Anyway, that was a little adventure and a valuable lesson about the temperature of boiling water and skin contact. “Consider of it, take advice, and speak your minds” Judges 19:20.

But the big news here is that I started my job this week! I’m glad the first week is over, because that’s always the hardest. Day one was mostly paperwork and lots of meetings and introductions. It helped that I volunteered there, because I remembered most of the students’ names, so that made it easier. The rest of the week was work, work, and more work. I get my own office, which is a first ever, I love my boss and coworkers, and I have fun with the students. What I’m most excited about is that there’s a lot of variety in the work. We work alongside the men, teaching them skills in carpentry, gardening, landscaping, janitorial, food service, and other areas, and we also put together these “kits” for schools or other organizations with activities to help them learn teamwork and trust and stuff. So there’s a lot of variety, but that’s also one down side – I don’t really know what to expect yet. Any day I could be doing just about anything.

Another big plus is that it’s about 50-70% casual, because we spend a lot of our time outside. We’ve got meetings every day, but most of our stuff is hands-on, which I like.

I’ve also been recruited to help teach a Tae-kwon-do class, as well as be on the research team, which will all be lots of fun! So there’s a lot going on, and I’m very excited to learn the ropes a little better.

Kira taught in Relief Society today on a talk given by Elder Faust (on “forgiveness”) in this last General Conference. She did a lot of preparation and perspiration, and it sounded like it went very well. She’d love a phone call if you want the details on that. She’s just a little worried because the presidency has had their eye on her for a while now and this might give them some ideas.

Nursery was hard without her. Don’t ask.

We’ve both been feeling Avey moving around a lot lately (well, she more than I). She’s growing all the time, and Kira’s tummy is attempting to make way. Sometimes she’ll be in with a client, trying to listen calmly, and she’ll get an elbow in the kidney or something. Still, she tries to remain collected and ignore the little person living and jumping around inside of her and be professional.

The heat’s been getting worse, and is hard enough on me, so I have a hard time imagining how Kira’s doing. We went swimming yesterday for a while and that did us both wonders, but the life lesson we regretted to remember was that we eventually have to get out of the pool. Such is life. More to come…