It's 9 a.m. and I'm sitting here at my desk smelling the wonderful aroma of freshly brewed coffee.  It's making me hungry even though I had a glass of milk and an English Muffin for breakfast (that was 2 1/2 hours ago).  I didn't bring coffee with me because I am supposed to be going up the street with one of my young clients to get some blood drawn.

We have a rule about having blood draws once a year for monitoring purposes.  If people don't get the lab work done, we can't continue to write prescriptions for their medicines.  This young woman had some serious health issues as a child and it left her with a serious dread/fear of needles.

After several requests, I finally told her if she came up to our building one morning, I would walk around the corner with her and hold her hand while they draw her blood.  She agreed and we set the date for Monday.  Well, that didn't work out for a number of reasons.  We rescheduled for today and I promised myself a trip to Starbucks on the corner ( I love the peppermint mocha latte) after it was over.  We were supposed to go at 8 and she just called to tell me she "overslept" and will be on her way shortly.

She better.  I really want my coffee.

I hung my new wall hanging up this morning.  I had to bang some screws into the plaster (I think there might be brick underneath) because I couldn't get them to screw in using the screwdrive Pk supplied me with.  Don't tell him.  He made me some nice wire hangers but they didn't work so I just used the screws.  It looks beautiful.  My wall o'interesting things is growing nicely.  I've taken some photos and will upload them when I get home later tonight. 

For now, I'm waiting to take a walk up the block in the cold windy morning to hold someone's hand while her precious life force is taken from her body.  I have the best job.

Later........

She came around 11 and we went to the lab and she did fine.  I got some coffee from the convenience store and we walked back.  She was admiring the socks I was working on as we waited so I took the opportunity to spread the good word and gave her some yarn and some needles and some instructions on how to get started knitting.  She was happy and said she'd show me what she'd done when she came back.

And here's my new wall o' interesting things.  You can see my Hands Around The World (Kate's name for it) and my award for being Good At My Job (perhaps I should remind my supervisor of this tomorrow when we meet for supervision), my needlepoint that is a Chinese character for happiness that Kate made for me and the painting from one of my clients when she got her MFA (she's the one I gave my first Wildflowers shawl to) and my spring hat that another client made.  I've moved things around a little to make them more asthetically pleasing but basically, it's all things that make me feel good.  On the bulletin board that sits in front of my desk, I have things to remind me that I have a life outside of work and that I am not my job. 

There's a photo of my girls all sitting on Santa's lap.  It's probably from 10 years ago and I love it.  They were totally humoring me and wanted to give me a gift that would make me cry and this one did.  It's a great photo.  I have bits of paper that say things I need to rememer (such as THE WORLD WILL NOT FALL APART IN MY ABSENCE).  And there are some cards from Pk that he has slipped into my bag in the morning so I would find them.  It's little bits of my life that make me feel good which I need sometimes.

We just got home from shopping and had some cheesesteaks for dinner.  Not the most nutritious but they were certainly delicious.  The food is put away and I'm settled in for the evening.  I'm going to restart my shawl for the kal tonight.  My stitch count was off for a few rows and someone said "fudge it" so I did and then I wasn't happy with it.  I know myself better.  I should have known I would need to fix it.  I'm not in a hurry and I don't mind starting over. 

We're due for some warmer-than-usual weather this week although you wouldn't know it by how cold it was today.  Just about freezing and windy.

This was what the sky looked like when we left the house this morning.  It was such an intense blue and the clouds were pink and purple.  A beautiful start to the day.

I'll let you know how tomorrow goes.  I meet with my supervisor for my regular supervision.  I'm more than a little nervous because my imagination is working overtime.  I intend to tell him how this has made me feel and we'll see how it goes.  My last supervisor(s) were drama llamas and everything was a big deal.  This guy tends to be very low key and I actually like him as a supervisor.  Cross your fingers.