Check, check, and check!

This past weekend was crazy busy. I don't know what I was thinking when I scheduled all of the things that I did. I have to turn in my paper sometime in the next couple of days, get through another clinical day, put the finishing touches on my management presentation and then work on Friday night and I think that I may actually be able to enjoy the rest of my weekend. It's been awhile since I've been able to do that.
Today I was with the EP Fire Dept. I was doing the ambulance ride along portion of clinicals. I was bored out of my gourd for 7 hours and 15 minutes of the day and then the last 45 minutes we got our first call and I got to go. It wasn't anything serious, but we had to transport someone to the hospital. Atleast then I was awake. I seriously could have nodded off a couple times throughout the day. I'm not used to getting up at 5a and then not doing anything. I need to keep moving if I'm gonna keep my eyes open. Everyone was really nice though, so that made it good.
Things are starting to draw to a close with school. I paid my $300+ for graduation/NCLEX, so that was kind of painful, but atleast it's one more thing I can check off of my list. Speaking of list....

Two One presentation.
Three Two Exams.
Three Finals.
Four Three papers.
700 600 NCLEX/MedsPub questions (approximately).
Five Four shifts left of work on 2400.
One girl's weekend.
Two more MOPS until graduation.
One concert.
One retreat.
Seven Six weeks until Graduation.
Six Five weeks until finals.

Things are moving along quite smoothly. As long as I can get through my management presentation this next Tuesday it should be smooth sailing. I can't wait until the calendar moves to November! It's been downright chilly out in the morning and although I love it, I'm pleased that these last few days of October will be sun-shiny and "warm". Quite frankly I just want to turn the page on my calendar. My October was so busy that it gives me a headache just looking at it.

Well, I should really look over my paper again before I hand it in and put some last few things in it. I'll be so happy tomorrow afternoon. I just want this week to be over with already. I'm exhausted!

Until.........................

Posts Up!

My Reba/Kelly concert post is up as well as the Extreme Makeover Home Edition guest post from Holli and Lisa. Check 'em out!

Until................................................

Tag! I'm it...again!

My good friend Robin has tagged me again. Here it is...

Here are my random/weird facts:

1. I hate to see other people embarrass themselves. In fact, it embarrasses me to see them embarrassed. I always cover my face with my hand.

2. I was a pretty ridiculous hockey fan for about 3 years. Would never miss a local game.

3. I can't stand children singing in "adult" songs. (Example: The end of Casting Crown's Slow Fade.) I know I have that song on my playlist but, I just skip the last 15 seconds. The rest of the song is good...

4. I have an impeccable memory. I can remember things from when I was a toddler. My family always used to joke about how good my memory is, but they love it now when they need to know something that their feeble memories could not hold on to. :)

5. Having my feet touched by strangers weirds me out. Pedicures are not likely in my future. However, I would totally be up for a massage... weird, I know.

6. I check my calendar about 50 times a day. Even if I checked it 5 minutes ago, I check it again. I have a constant fear of forgetting something or overlapping appointments. Ha!

7. I tear up at the slightest things. I never used to do this. I'm going to be a fountain of tears in my job I think. Haha! Oh well, that's compassion right? I guess that's not so weird after all....

More posts to follow, but probably not until later this afternoon. oh, and I'm well aware that I didn't do the last two parts of this tag. Guess I don't follow directions too well. :)

Until......................

"Unknown Precipitation"

That's what the Yahoo! Weather button says.

I'll tell you what it is.... it's windy and little flecks of SNOW! That's right! You heard me correctly! SNOW! I saw it with my own two eyes on teh way home from work. Craziness!

BTW, I drove by the Extreme Makeover Home Edition house and it is so bright on that block that it looks like daylight. No joke! The poor neighbors that have to sleep on that block.

Oodles of pictures and stories from this last weekend. Some hints... Hospitality, Delayed, and Bob the Builder. :)

Until.......................

Guest Post: Extreme Makeover Home Edition Experience!

This post is from Holli and Lisa who got to help out during EMHE's visit to our town. This is their experience with pictures taken by Dad. Enjoy!

From the mouth's of the babes that experienced it...

We arrived at the park for check-in at a little after 3:00. The website said for volunteers to arrive 30-45 min ahead of time. So, of course, we were a little earlier than that. They couldn’t actually check people in until 3:30. We stood in the heated tent with Enoch, the security guard. He was trying to get the masseuse to give him a massage. She was there to give the workers at the site massages if wanted. He just went up to her and autographed her shirt. She didn’t ask him to. He was cute though so she didn’t mind. This is where we met our soon-to-be new friend Gerry.

After we checked in we got on the bus about 3:40 and our driver took us right over. There were about 15 of us. There was a masseuse, a set of twins, an electrician, a guy who was just happy to be there, a Bradley graduate and a girl who thought the Bradley graduate sounded way too smart.

So, we arrive at the site. We start walking and we hear cheering from the crowd. Who might it be? Dad and Mom. We were walking with the twins and had to explain those were our parents cheering. Once we got by the house we didn’t see anyone to direct us so we asked someone what we should do. They said I don’t know, look for someone in a yellow shirt. Didn’t find anyone in a yellow shirt so we just started unloading hardwood from the truck and took it to the basement. After a couple trips we got pulled to the backyard to help unload deck material. Then reload the wrong deck material. Back to unloading the truck. Holli’s hard hat would not stay on her head. She would walk by someone carrying her box and say “Hi, can you catch my hat, I’ll be right back for it.”



After we finished unloading, we went in the house and stood for a little bit because there wasn’t anything to do at the moment. Then we got sent to the garage to sweep it out so we could move the extra trim out there. After a couple trips of moving trim we were setting a load down and hear “Hi Ladies!” We turned around and there is Michael (the designer) in a chicken/bird costume. We follow him in the house to get more trim and they are filming a scene. The crazy, aggressive lady we were with was ready to just barge on through the camera crew. We waited for a minute but then she took off so we followed. After that we kind of lost her and watched them finish taping Michael’s scene.

(Way to go Dad! This wasn't even zoomed in!)

More standing around. Talked with Gerry a bit and she mentioned that Rib (hottie designer) signed her shirt. Well, we had seen him standing in the garage so Holli said “Lisa, let’s go.” Holli went up to Rib and whispered “Can we get your autograph?” To which he said, “Sure” and pulled out his Sharpie. Back in the house to wait with Gerry.

Then we went with our other friend from Washington whom we forgot to ask her name. We cleaned up wood shavings in the laundry room from the holes they drilled in the cabinets for the knobs.

Next, is the exciting part. We were standing there…again and one of the “men in black” came up to us and asked if we could come help him with something. Of course we went with him. Much to our surprise he wanted us to film a scene with Didi (designer). As we were waiting, Didi came with two guys she had grabbed and said she thought it would be funnier with two guys and a girl. Holli said “Ok, well I’ll do it.” Lisa was left on the cutting room floor before she even made it on film. (Sorry Lisa!) After several takes, Holli emerged from the room. Watch when the episode airs to see if she made the cut. (Do not be alarmed when you see her in the hard hat. It was a sight.)

Meanwhile, the rejected Lisa was sent to Production Road by a producer to take a package to the third trailer on the right. She completed her mission with honor.

Holli found Lisa carrying a ladder in the house to Ty’s secret room. Holli followed. Lisa was assigned to help clean in that room and Holli was assigned to stand guard of the door to make sure it stayed shut. We met several nice people in that room. No sign of Ty though. He was off filming a “move that bus” scene in another city.

Our shift ended and it was time to go. We said goodbye to our new friends and went to the food tent to eat dinner. As we were walking it started snowing. Crazy!

It was a wonderful experience. So glad we got the opportunity to do it. Tune in to see if we made it on national TV as Aunt Betty hopes we do. It should air in December or January.

Until................................

Reba and Kelly...dog tired and waiting

So we had spent Friday night and all day Saturday at Ladies' Retreat and then the three of us being the crazy sisters that we are, headed off to "Po-dunkville" for the Reba McEntire/Kelly Clarkson concert. This probably wasn't our smartest idea ever, but we missed their concert the first go around, and didn't want to miss it again. The drive there was a little over an hour and a half and it felt like most of our drive was spent sitting still in traffic only a few blocks away from the Center.

The concert was set to start at 8pm. We got in our seats at 7:50p. We sat and waited. And waited. And waited a little bit more. At about 8:20p a man came over the loud speaker and informed us that the concert was going to be a little delayed (uh, yea..ya think!) because Reba's plane was delayed. She was still in Minnesota! Kelly was in the building, but seeing as it was the '2 Worlds, 2 Voices Tour' it wasn't going to happen without the other half.

The new start time was set for 9:15p. I thought Lisa was going to fall right out of her chair. She was hoping it was cancelled so we could go home, Holli and I were praying it wasn't because we really wanted to see them. So, we did what anyone in this situation would do to keep busy. That's right folks... we pulled out the Sudoku! Lisa was fading fast and nobody was too happy about the extended wait. Plus, there was a creepy older woman in front of us who just kept turning around and staring. At one point I heard her tell her husband "I'm watching the people come in." She said it in a slow creepy way though. *Shudder* Why must we always get stuck by the nut jobs?

Finally, at about 9:25 the lights went down and the crowd cheered. The concert was beginning...

(Guest appearance by Melissa Peterman aka Barbara Jean from the Reba tv show)

Here's a little video that I took. Sorry it's so shaky. My arms were tired, and I had to hold the camera over a bunch of people's heads.

Until.....

Senior Project: CHECK

Well, the week is done for me. As I type this I was all of a sudden overwhelmed with fatigue.

Today I presented my senior project after clinical. Talk about nervous! We had to wait an entire day before presenting. That's just not nice! I was within the time limit and should have my grade by the weekend... I hope.

Two One presentation.

Three Two Exams.

Three Finals.

Four papers.

850 700 NCLEX/MedsPub questions (approximately).

Six Five shifts left of work on 2400.

One girl's weekend.

Two more MOPS until graduation.

One concert.

One retreat.

Eight Seven weeks until Graduation.

Seven Six weeks until finals.

Now that this big hurdle is over I can move on to papers and my last presentation. The weeks are winding down and graduation is creeping closer. The excitement is building!!

This weekend is Ladies' Retreat at church. I'm going to try and cram in as much work as I can in the next 22 hours before I leave, so that I don't have to worry while I'm not home working on school work. My goal tonight is to do more NCLEX questions and knock out 80% or more of my paper that is due in a week and a half. Not sure if it can be done, but I already have 40% done, so it shouldn't be too difficult... I hope.

Well, I better get to work. Hope you all are staying dry on this rainy Fall day. :)

Until........................................

Wild Week ahead...

I should be studying right now, but obviously I'm not. I have my second complex test on Tuesday and I'm not really prepared. Of course I will be by the time it rolls around because I have the rest of the day today and Monday, but right now I'm not prepared.

This last week was insane. I was up early every day, and up late every night. Come to think of it I've been up early the last 13 days. No wonder I'm tired. I finally finished my senior project. Woohoo! All I have left now is make a few notes for myself and then present on Thursday. Please be praying for me at around 2pm on Thursday. That's when I present. :

I'm in awe of the beautiful weather outside. Yes, it can be a little chilly at times, especially with the wind, but the leaves changing is just gorgeous. I'm ready for this weather. As much as I love summer and the chance to go to the pool I love this time more. All you need are a pair of jeans and a sweater or sweatshirt and you are good to go. So cozy!

I was looking at my calendar today (well, I look at it multiple times a day, but that's beside the point) and I can't believe how fast these last 9 weeks have gone. It doesn't feel like that many weeks have gone by, but sure enough we are in the last half of October and awaiting Halloween to come and go. I have so much left to do for school, but once this week is over I'm sure it will all fly by even faster. Anyone want to write 3 papers for me?? Two of them are partially started. Any takers???

Well, I think I need to get back to work. I think a little bit of caffeine is in order first though.

Hope you all are enjoying this lovely Fall day and not stuck inside like me. :/

Until...........................

Let the countdown begin...

Two presentations.

Three Exams.

Three Finals.

Four papers.

850 NCLEX/MedsPub questions (approximately).

Six shifts left of work on 2400.

One girl's weekend.

Two more MOPS until graduation.

One concert.

One retreat.

Eight weeks until Graduation.
Seven weeks until finals.

There is a light at the end of this tunnel. Even though it's still just a speck right now.

Until......

On the mend...

Well, she turned a corner. I guess a few doses of Benadryl did the trick. Whatever she had a reaction to must have gotten out of her system. All I know is that it made me itchy just looking at her. She was biting and scratching a lot last night. At one point I noticed a little bit of blood on her fur by her neck. Yup... she had scratched herself a little too hard.

Thankfully she is much better now!

No more bubble wrap!

Until...........................

Benadryl is wearing off...

Look at her poor eye! Plus, her nose and her mouth are all red. We don't know what to do with her. However, if she still doesn't get any better she will be making a trip to our friendly vet tomorrow morning. :(

Until..........................

Dog Allergic Reaction & Morning Scare!

Poor Sydney!

When I got home from school today this is what I saw.

Doesn't she look horrible??? She looks like she has bubble wrap under her fur!

My dad isn't sure what happened. He can't remember when she started looking like that, so she could have been bit by something or gotten into something outside. We've got her on Benadryl and she is looking a little bit better now. She just has red, tired eyes now. :(

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

So this morning.... yea, that was fun.

My mom left around 6:15 for work and I got up to get ready for school. To my knowledge I was home alone. I started getting ready. Did my hair, changed my clothes, put my binder in my bag, then headed upstairs for a quick bite to eat and make some coffee. So get upstairs, flip the radio on and start making breakfast. About 5 minutes later I hear the bathroom door creak slowly shut. Yea, it was like right out of a horror movie. So I stand there for a second and listen. Nothing. I move closer to the bathroom and stop. Listen. Nothing. So I look over at the counter and see my cell phone and my keys and think, I could run for it if I needed to. Then I think to myself, The bathroom door has shut on it's own before. It's probably just the wind. ....Is it even windy outside? No, it's not.

My fight or flight response was just kicking in when I heard it... the toilet flushed. *sigh* I'm pretty sure a burglar would not be flushing the toilet if they were trying to be covert. So I head over to the back door and look into the garage... Dad's car is still here.

Now that my heart was beating 10x faster than normal I went back over to the sink when my dad came into the kitchen. I told him he had scared me half to death because I didn't know he was here and he replied, "I have the week off." Yea, I got that now Dad.

Needless to say I didn't need coffee to wake me up anymore, but I took it to school with me none the less. It kicked in about 11:15 when I was trying to write down things for my test next week. I was so jittery my hands were shaking like leaves. I think that probably had something to do with not eating very much this morning. Something about being scared half to death really decreases your appetite.

Anyway... hope you all had a good day!

Until..............................

Tag! I'm it!

So my friend Robin tagged me and although I'm not quite sure what the exact rules are I'm doing it. I know... shocking! I guess you're supposed to post the 6th picture in your Picture File. Well, that's about as non-descript as you can get, and since my pics are categorized by the day I download them onto my computer I just chose whichever day I wanted and picked the 6th photo from that day. Make sense?

Anyway.. here's my pic...

Now it's your turn. If you're reading this and you have a blog, post your "6th pic" and then leave a comment for me so I can come check it out.

Until..........................

St. Jude & New Wheels...

Yesterday morning the three of us girls headed out bright and early for the St. Jude Wellness Walk at Tower Park in the Heights. Lisa's work was one of the teams represented and Holli and I went along. The walk started at 8am (yuk!), but registration started at 7 and Lisa had to be there at 7:30a (double yuk!). It was a gorgeous morning, so that was nice, but it was still a bit too early for me. The walk was 3 miles long and it took place along Granview Drive. It was an awesome view to see all of the leaves changing and not to mention the houses (whoa!). The hills about near killed me though. My legs are aching a little today because of it. We had a pretty good time though, and got some exercise too!

(I was one of the people drawn to win a raffle prize!!! A St. Jude notebook with a 2005/2006 calendar in the back. You would have thought they could have ripped that out before giving them away. Oh well... paper is paper.)

After the walk we went car shopping for Lisa. She decided that she wanted a new one after her current one was "making road noise". Plus, she had already paid it off, so isn't that about time to get a new one. I mean, you can't be without a car payment for too long. :p She ended up settling on a Ford Fusion. While Lisa, Hol, and Dad all went to do negotiations, trade ins, and all that other stuff that involves buying a car I came home and worked on some things for school and got changed for our movie that night.

All in all it was a pretty good day... that is until I got an email from my manager. She scheduled me for a ton of days in the next month that she did not discuss with me first. This is after she "berated" me for calling off yesterday due to having to work on my project and such and too much other stuff going on. She told me to "look ahead at my schedule more carefully so we could avoid any other bumps in the road". Excuse me, but how am I supposed to make sure we don't have any "bumps in the road" if she doesn't talk with me about the days she's scheduling me for??? Luckily, I was able to work all of the days but one. That weekend I am going up to Chicago with some girlfriends to see a show and just have a girl's weekend before things get crazy with finals, graduation, and NCLEX.

Anyway, you don't want to hear about my work woes, and trust me I could go on forever about how upset I am. I hope everyone is having a good Sunday! I'm off to eat lunch. Homemade chicken pot pie! Yum!

Until..................................

Show me that smile again...

...don't waste another minute on your cryin'....

Do you know what that's from? You guessed it! It's the beginning of the Growing Pains theme song! Do you remember that show? The Seavers: Jason, Maggie, Mike, Carol, and Ben (and Chrissy in the later seasons). That Mike...what a heart throb! ;)

Speaking of Mike aka Kirk Cameron, did you know that he's in a new movie that just came out in theatre's last weekend? It's called Fireproof.


Even though I'm not married, it was a very good movie. It was funny, heart wrenching, and was applicable to anyone I believe. I thought it would be cheesy, but it ended up being really good. For a low budget film I thought it was very nicely done. You all should check it out!

After the movie Hol, Lisa, Jenn and I went to T.G.I.Fridays. The food wasn't too bad, but I was getting tired so I wasn't feeling as hungry as I had been during the movie. We had a lot of fun tonight though.

Well, I'm super tired, and think I should get to bed early tonight so I can be coherent enough for church and school stuff tomorrow. Hope everyone has a wonderful rest of their weekend. Btw, what is up with this summer weather??? I thought it was Fall?!?

Until..............................

Eye spy...

Ok, so a couple days ago I noticed that my hurt when I rubbed it, so I looked in the mirror and saw this....



What is that??? At first I thought it was a stye, but a stye is usually located at the base of an eyelash and this is inside my eye. It only hurts every once in awhile when I squint or touch it (which I've been avoiding at all cost the last couple days). It's a little swollen on the inside too. Today it feels much better, but is still red.


I know, you are probably thinking "You're the nurse, you should be able to figure out what it is." Well, I'm stumped. I vaguely remember "fishing out" an eyelash a couple of weeks ago, but wouldn't that have irritated it far sooner than just a couple days ago?

If you have any ideas let me know. As of now I'm not touching it and have not been wearing my contacts. :( It's so hard too since it's been sunny outside and I want to wear my sunglasses.


Until............................

Seriously, essay??

Who gives an essay test anymore?? Nobody! That is except for my management class. Ugh! Not my idea of a good time, that's for sure.

Besides my totally horrible midterm today in management things haven't been too bad. I've been working my behind off every Friday for school. I'm hoping that this week I can get a big chunk of my senior project out of the way. Since there is no clinical this Thursday I should have more energy to work on my powerpoint and such. Thursday instead of clinical a bunch of us are attending a nursing conference. It's over at 12:30 and then Robin and Ashley and I are hitting Chili's for lunch and Panera to take our Perspective's online midterm. I can't believe that it is time for midterms already. How insane is it to think that in just 9 short weeks I will be a graduate (that is of course if I can pass my management class).

I'm feeling very wiped out tonight, so I should get going so I can use my remainging energy on school stuff. Hope everyone had a good start to their week!

Oh, by the way... have you noticed that the leaves have started changing color?? :)

Until......................

Do you know what today is?

Well, if you don't know I'll tell you.... It's my blog's One Year Anniversary!!!!

That's right! I've been blogging for a full 12 months to the day! I can't believe it! It's gone by so quickly. My life has changed so much, and yet in other ways it feels like it's stayed the same. Over the past couple of days I've been looking back at my old postings (in between studying of course). I've come a long way from here. I decided to pick out a few to re-share with you all.

So let's look back on some memorable postings shall we?

Here's an informational post.

One that will make you cry.

This will make you laugh after you've cried.

This is a dreamer post.

Childhood memories... you gotta love 'em.

Here's one that will make you nostalgic.

If you're in the mood for a little praise and worship make sure you revisit this post.

Kid's are hilarious!

And lastly, this was a first for me (and hopefully a last).


Thanks for reading and commenting over this last year. Here's to many more in the future!

Until......................

Study break...

There's nothing like a pumpkin chocolate chip cookie and a glass of milk to give me the energy to push on and study more management. :)

Thanks Hol! Love ya!

Until...............................

Small Wonders...

This morning was the 2nd Annual Small Wonders Miracle Walk for the NICU. Wow, that's a mouthful!

This year the attendance more than doubled!!! Hopefully next year will be double what we had this year. :) By that time I'll be an RN for the NICU.

The sisters went with me. Not quite sure if they wanted to, but they did none the less. Robin and her fam was there of course since their kiddos were in the NICU and Ashley and her boyfriend were there as well.



It was a gorgeous day outside to walk along the riverfront. The walk was a little shorter than last year, so it only took us about 25 minutes to actually do the walk. We've been very lucky to have two gorgeous days in a row.

(The 3 Muskateers aka 3 future NICU Nurses!!!!)

Well, I really must go study for management. I'm quite tired from my long day, but I atleast want to get a little work in. I'll be back later this weekend I'm sure. :)

Until...............................

Closet Makeover...

Let's start off by saying THANK YOU DAD!!!

My wonderful Dad put an organizational system into my closet this morning, and I'm thrilled!! All of my clothes now fit on one side of my closet. The other side needs work and looks horrific right now, but hey, I'm a little busy with school. I'll start organizing that side when I get through this management midterm. :/

Here are the pics.....

(Before)

(After)

Until................................

Mama Leigh Ann said there'd be days like this...

Well, my last day of ICU clinical (Can I get an amen?) went MUCH better than yesterday. I actually got report! Imagine that! I also talked to my instructor and she assured me that she didn't think I was an idiot, and that I did fine considering what I was given. *Phew* Now I can move on...

Today I saw my summer extern preceptor on my way to lunch. I love Sheila! She was fantastic! She recently went to a doctor's office to work, but we're keeping in touch. I got to tell her that I got a job and we chatted for a few minutes. It was really good to see her since I haven't seen her since the end of July. She is the best!

This weekend and next are going to be SO busy! It's a little ridiculous at how much I've got on the calendar. Actually I think that October might be my busiest month thus far. This could potentially be an issue considering the fact I have a huge midterm, another exam, and a senior project due this month. Ahhh! Tomorrow is going to include a lot of caffeine combined with a lot of studying for management and working on my senior project, plus 4 hours of work, and possibly watching a movie with the sisters.

Well, I have a lot to get done and so little time to do it in. I actually didn't do anything last night (*gasp*), even though I had planned to work on my senior project. I crawled into bed at 8 o'clock and watched tv until 10 and then lights out. I was exhausted. Running around like a clueless idiot all day really takes a lot out of you. :/ Anyway...not dwelling on it anymore. I hear the dog going crazy upstairs, so that either means someone is home or she got a hold of a sock. *rolling my eyes* I must go investigate.

Until.................................

Because you had a bad day...

I think this song is my anthem for the day.

I felt like I was off my game from the minute I got in my car to head to clinical this morning.

Boy was I right.

Even the Fall-ness of the day couldn't help me. :(

Off to do work on my senior project and study for management.

I'm tired though.... we'll see how long I can work without hitting my head on the keyboard.

Until...............................