Ever heard of Chaos Theory?

Work has been rough since my return from vacation. All the covid-19 restrictions on visits and passes  and cancellations of school and outings for the kids at the hospital have left them bored and angry and since they have a lot on their minds already (it IS a psych hospital after all), having a lot less to motivate and take their minds off of things has... well lets just say things are a little more chaotic than normal.

Luckily, this is my weekend off. The quarantine could work in my favor here and give me every excuse to recuperate at home, take it easy, and get back in a good headspace for the upcoming week. So far it's been pretty good and, oddly enough, dinosaur themed as if it were planned by a 9 year old boy (are they still into dinosaurs??).

It started last night. I finally watched Jurassic Park and was able to check one more movie off of my "OmG YoU HaVeN't SeEn ThAt MoViE?!" movie list (it's long). I was not disappointed and am now a little bit in love with Jeff Goldblum.

With that still on my mind, I decided to do a little sewing today and made this sweet pin (see my last one here):

It took an age to get that T-Rex skull to look like a T-Rex skull but I'm pretty pleased with how it turned out and I'll be sporting it soon. I felt like it was a pretty good message given our current circumstance so it seems especially fitting to wear now. 

After I was finished and in that in-between-activities limbo, I was suddenly struck with the strong urge to go out since I'm not supposed to go out. I settled for a walk and ran into these little dudes along a row of bushes on the side of a house:

More dinosaurs!

As I rounded the corner I was confronted by the sight of a woman hanging out of her open front door looking at me. I suddenly became super interested in checking how many minutes I had left on my podcast (the Hidden Brain episode "Don't Panic!") so I didn't make further contact but I suspect she saw me lurking on the side of her house and did not approve. Why put interesting things if your yard if you didn't want people looking at them?!

Anyway, I found another excellent thing on my walk:

Working at a hospital has become especially stressful. Aside from the added chaos mentioned above, it's a little scary just waiting to see if someone is going to get sick here. If my coworkers get sick and our already too-short staff pool becomes even fewer, I'll be force to work 16 hour days often if they can't find enough staff for the next shift (we're required to maintain a certain staff to youth ratio at all times). I'll be drawn pretty thin until I get sick myself, and I will then inevitably pass the virus on to my fiancé. I don't even want to think about what will happen if the virus gets to the kids. 

It all could certainly be fine of course but the myriad of possibilities constantly hanging over my head has my nerves a bit jangled, making it more difficult to deal with the "regular" stress at work. Seeing things like this make me feel a little better though. It also serves as a little reminder that I have it pretty good. Work may be stressful but at least my job is secure and I'm making money and able to pay by bills. Not all people are so lucky right now. 

I'll adjust to the new circumstances eventually. In the meantime, days like this will help with that. Hopefully tomorrow is just as relaxing. Stay safe (and inside!!!) everyone!

Oh, and back on a lighter note: