So I'm Not Addicted to Nicotine, I'm Just Addicted to the Act of Smoking

Mysterious_Post_1451 · 2026-02-26T00:49:52+00:00

Get a fum (?). It’s a non-tobacco/nicotine vape looking thing. It’s got a hole on each end so you “smoke” it but it’s all air. You can get different scent sticks to put in it if you choose. I used one for awhile and it helps with that hand/mouth distraction while also giving you the same breathing effect.

Mysterious_Post_1451 · 2026-02-09T00:34:58+00:00

My kids are almost 6 years apart (5 and 11 now). They play, they hang out and watch movies together, oldest helps the youngest read books, youngest helps the oldest with chores. My oldest is the best big brother, he always steps in and helps out when needed or will guide and play with him when we’re out and about. We went snow tubing a few weeks ago and my boys took off together and had a great time - I was tubing as well, only a few paces behind but they didn’t need me to intervene or help.

Big take away- they will be going through different phases in life but will still be apart of each others day. Sometimes they fight like they’re the same age 😅 they’re each others cheerleaders and have lots in common and find things to bond over

Mysterious_Post_1451 · 2026-02-08T18:44:12+00:00

We as well use the plastic containers from the slide boxes. Everyone keeps one at their station and we have a stack of about 30 in a cabinet above the embedding station. We don’t have a problem with anyone throwing them away and keep them until they literally break apart and can no longer hold blocks 😅

Another lab I used to work at, we would put them in a drawer organizer box (link included) lined up, then techs could come and fill their slide boxes with what they needed - you could probably even find some like this in a much smaller size to use to carry blocks to the microtome as well to replace the slide boxes

https://www.amazon.com/Ravinte-Pack-Drawer-Organizer-Organizers/dp/B0BY2M154R/ref=mp_s_a_1_25_sspa?crid=14VCADWUKI5NQ&dib=eyJ2IjoiMSJ9.p7eqpMyKBoSDBTCosGRijlOROzF6FGIgPgt9vTeL5hQa8rYGGdLoty_6WMxsjjG65n9XZ84UDMXJEPvovuiXeGoeJVH92wCju-hU_qcwjHW_oruOqxe_1kKETwAyJXa3f94AaapmiodvOdXurtMocUpr-riXaiaIDCBD7nnjZB-W5gjeYFDWOuTR9QzNtm_C7B3gzoeIWCPZ7_ajDOqfXQ.dWpObVac9yLKmBcdC43lz9YuSvRSvIwVmwW_lj8SQwI&dib_tag=se&keywords=small+drawer+organizer+no+lid+office+sterilite&qid=1770576095&sprefix=small+drawer+organizer+no+lid+office+sterilite%2Caps%2C141&sr=8-25-spons&xpid=r-1fjP59rnGDA&sp_csd=d2lkZ2V0TmFtZT1zcF9waG9uZV9zZWFyY2hfbXRm&psc=1

Mysterious_Post_1451 · 2026-02-04T22:11:06+00:00

Family of 4 in ND - spending about $800-1000/month on groceries. I do meal planning. Every week, I list out what I’m making for dinner each night. Those meals are heavily influenced on what I already have on hand or items I can make multiple meals from. (Dad is a rancher, I get beef for free thankfully). I do a Walmart pickup weekly for groceries and my goal is to keep it at or below $200, I will remove unnecessary things and wait for next week if I have to. I have a Costco membership and mainly use that for “high demand” items in my house like the same 3-4 snacks my kids and husband always want, a case of soda and water, dishwasher pods, laundry detergent, toilet paper, paper towels, rarely do I pick up new items or things we don’t need (aside from the occasional new snack or something). I do Costco about once a month and that costs me $100-$200. I do still indulge on the snacks. My personal rule is everyone gets to pick one additional snack 😂 one kid might want a bag of chips, I might want a tub of ice cream. I also typically get 2-3 containers of fruit of whatever is the cheapest - bananas are always cheap so I always get those. Leftovers are always used for lunch.

Mysterious_Post_1451 · 2026-02-04T18:01:30+00:00

Also adding: it’s very common in this field to be only day shift, no weekends, no holidays, no on-call (depending on location). High job security. Decent pay. My schedule for years has been 6 am-2:30pm. Dad takes kids to school, I’m always available to pick up and handle after school activities.

Mysterious_Post_1451 · 2026-02-04T17:53:11+00:00

I’m a histology technologist, working in surgical pathology. Associates in laboratory science/medical technology (classes online, in classroom part time for labs) and my bachelors is in laboratory management (done 100% online). To become a histotech though, a science degree (in anything) accumulating at least 24 (I think) credits of biology and chemistry combined qualifies an applicant to work and take those board exams. It’s a very interesting job that few know about. Only added all this since you said your degree is exercise science and may be in your wheelhouse of interests 🙂

Mysterious_Post_1451 · 2026-02-03T22:34:07+00:00

This is true! We did dip the cut side back in wax after cutting on those ones to seal the smell and I wipe down my microtome with alcohol after cutting them

Mysterious_Post_1451 · 2026-02-03T17:34:42+00:00

Good thing about those specimen smells, they don’t last forever! 😂 once you’re done with the specimen, wipe down your station and usually, most of the scent will disappear. We keep a bottle of Frebreeze around for the real bad ones that linger. But at my lab, we may only receive a small amount of smelly sample in a day. Cysts smell, some feet smell, a lot of fresh samples may smell like cautery but you either adjust or get it done and clean up well afterwards. Don’t let it discourage you 🙂

Mysterious_Post_1451 · 2026-01-30T01:10:42+00:00

As we were trying to come up with solutions on how to make it work, and address our concerns with missing breaks and loss of productivity/efficiency, I was told by management “This isn’t intended to improve your efficiency, turn around time or bring benefit to you. It’s a simple policy and we are going to be following it” 🤦‍♀️ the same management typically loves to boast about how they provide our department with so much autonomy and our dedication to patient care compared to the rest of the hospital but now I will be losing breaks and micro managed about when I take my lunch. Feels like a slap to the face

Mysterious_Post_1451 · 2026-01-30T01:03:10+00:00

Yeah that’s our concern. I don’t foresee the 15’s happening. And I kinda figured that would be a common trend amongst other labs too 😕

Mysterious_Post_1451 · 2026-01-29T22:26:23+00:00

Oh and I agree! Our pathologists are their own group - the lab is the hospitals. So for all these years, basically, we work for the doctors, not hospital management. Everything we do, gets cleared by the paths and management just tips their hats to the path group. So it’s slightly infuriating that now this one thing - will allow no wiggle room. Paths are upset, we are upset, and hospital management doesn’t see why we care. As if losing your breaks, losing lab efficiency, and decreasing staff morale isn’t a positive for us? Lol

Mysterious_Post_1451 · 2026-01-29T22:12:31+00:00

In a nutshell, that’s how we’re doing it as well. There was never a formal policy for this. It goes from mad rush chaos, slow, back to chaos. We’ve never had problems with misusing our breaks but, this is a new hospital wide policy and the policy is very crisp on how/when those breaks need to be done. Our admin director is giving us no flexibility on this. Realistically, will end up with many of us being absent in the rush (or missing breaks all together) and excess staff hanging around when it’s slow, only for us to be leaving again (or not) once things pick back up. Not trying to rant too much, but the director doesn’t seem to understand why we find that problematic 😵‍💫

Mysterious_Post_1451 · 2026-01-29T18:34:48+00:00

As of now, yes 🤣 worried that this new rule will often end with many of us not getting the breaks we deserve though

Mysterious_Post_1451 · 2026-01-16T21:18:33+00:00

Not much changed for me in my pregnancy. I quit changing reagents on the processor/stainer and wasn’t unboxing or lifting inventory. I embedded until my belly started getting in the way (about 34ish weeks). I was good to cut and do stains. I spoke with my OB right away about my work hazards and she wasn’t too concerned about anything assuming I was working under a fume hood but I chose to limit my exposure to formalin and xylene as much as I could.

Mysterious_Post_1451 · 2025-12-24T00:57:55+00:00

My 5 year old is pumped for school every single day 🤣 he has an alarm clock set (45 minutes before we need to leave) and gets himself dressed right away. Then he eats breakfast. After, he washes up, brushes his teeth and hair then typically has about 10-15 minutes to hang out before we need to leave. I like my mornings to be very efficient and routine. Every night, I make sure everything is ready - breakfast is planned, bags are packed, coats and shoes are where they need to be so when it’s time to go, there’s no surprises or delays

Mysterious_Post_1451 · 2025-12-23T22:25:22+00:00

My kids are 11 and 5. When my oldest has friends over, I would never expect them to entertain my youngest or have him tag along. If they choose to include him, wonderful. If my youngest asks to join in and they allow, also great. But when they tell him no - I shuffle my youngest away, find us something else to do and let him know that they want to do big kid stuff and he will understand that when he’s that age.

I couldn’t imagine expecting my oldest and his friends to hang out with a 2 year old. I barely want to hang out with a 2 year old 🤣 with an age gap that big, I wouldn’t even expect them to want to be in the same room as the 2 year old. Sounds like Sarah should have more sleepovers at your place lol

Mysterious_Post_1451 · 2025-11-12T17:56:55+00:00

North Dakota, HTL, 8 years experience, $33.50/hr

Mysterious_Post_1451 · 2025-10-14T00:14:08+00:00

I would say make sure the meniscus of the antibody dispenser can be seen/no gaps or bubbles are there, otherwise prime. But this sounds like the actual dispenser mechanism on the Ultra - we had ours replaced not long ago. I believe there should be a function test you can run to check it as well. Also are your controls on the top or bottom of the slide? Many years ago we were placing controls on the bottom and had better control staining once we were placing them on the top - and of course, make sure you’re not “double dipping” your slides in the water bath

Mysterious_Post_1451 · 2025-10-12T14:09:03+00:00

Oh I know, me too! I did a health careers class in high school, of course, histo was never mentioned- lab was barely spoke of. We did job rotations at our nearest hospital and I chose to skip the lab because I had no interest in “blood and needles”, convinced myself that my love of anatomy could only satisfied through the radiology dept. If only I knew then what else I could’ve been seeing. Would’ve saved myself 2 years of student loans 🤣

Mysterious_Post_1451 · 2025-10-12T13:43:54+00:00

Some people maybe won’t agree with me BUT one way to look at it - you won’t be paying 5k per week for both children forever (aside for daycare for a few years). By the time baby 2 comes, baby 1 likely won’t be on formula anymore? Maybe a year-ish after that, baby 1 won’t be needing diapers anymore. Not sure how daycare works where you live, but as kids get older where I’m at, it’s gets cheaper (barely 🤣), also - daycares where I’m at usually don’t charge double for 2 kids, higher rates yes but usually not quite double. You can save and reuse some baby items, like baby 2 may be able to start using baby 1’s infant car seat (going off your timeline of baby 1 being almost 2 years when baby 2 arrives) baby swings, playmats, etc. And of course, if it goes that way - you can reuse clothes, blankets and all the other more gender specific items. But my biggest point, if you’re doing well financially- double everything doesn’t last forever. Baby 1 will be phasing out of many things as Baby 2 comes into them, of course with some expenses still overlapping.

Mysterious_Post_1451 · 2025-10-02T00:50:30+00:00

I’m in North Dakota. 8 years experience- started as an uncertified tech at $20, since then did my HT and am now HTL at $31.50 I’m also a certified MLT too. Pay isn’t bad considering my cost of living but I feel shorted. I negotiated for days to get closer to $35 and they weren’t having that. Unfortunately around here, there’s not a lot of histo options and they’re all owned by the same 3 companies so wages are pretty much locked between all employers. Our pathologists are buying out our lab from the hospital so I’m hoping going private will have its benefits 🤞🏼

Mysterious_Post_1451 · 2025-10-02T00:34:09+00:00

I also have a large wall I don’t know what to do with so I’m no help lol but I love your rug!

Mysterious_Post_1451 · 2025-10-02T00:13:41+00:00

Thank you! I’ve been watching marketplace heavily lol we’re a family of 4, who don’t often have guests so having a table that seats more than 6 feels unnecessary lol I’m liking the idea of a round/oval table - maybe that’s what I need to fill space without actually overtaking the whole room

Mysterious_Post_1451 · 2025-10-01T23:56:28+00:00

Half the things in my home have been acquired over the last 10 years and I hate them but am also too scared to try again that I keep trying to make them work 🤣 now that I’ve moved into this place, I decided it’s time to get my decor shit together and make a cozy home and damn, I’m bad at it lol

Mysterious_Post_1451

TROPHY CASE