Just a thought...

You should enjoy going to work. Or atleast not dread it.

I'm glad that when I'm a nurse I will like my job and not dread going in.

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

9 1/2 hours later...

As stated in my previous vlog (aka video blog) Mom, the sisters and I all went Black Friday shopping. We were out of the door at 4am (Yes Holli and Lisa it would have been sooner had I not been waiting to upload the aforementioned video that by the way was having major issues). The things I do for my people in blogland. :)

So our first stop was JC Penney. I wasn't really looking for anything there and all we ended up buying were a pair of slippers for mom for Christmas. We were really waiting for the rest of the mall to open. Everything in American Eagle was 25% off before 11a or something and Gap had a great deal of buy one sweater get another one FREE! Holli and Lisa were tickled to death. I of course was excited, but as always walked out empty handed. :( I am seriously not meant to shop for clothing under pressure. I can barely buy clothes under normal conditions. Oh well, the girls got something and we moved on to American Eagle. Again, I tried to buy a sweater. Again, I walked out empty handed. :( So I gave up on sweaters the rest of the day. After the mall it was about 5:50a and we headed over to Target which opened at 6a.

Oh my word.

I should have taken a picture or done video of where we had to park and just the parking lot itself. Who am I kidding, I should have shared with you the monstrous LINE we had to get in. Ridiculous! If you live near me you will appreciate it when I tell you that the line started at Target's doors and went all the way down to Big Lots. And it wasn't just an ordinary single file line. It was five people deep! I don't know how many times Lisa uttered the words, "this is nuts!". It indeed was quite insane. We finally get inside at 6:04am and there were already people checking out! Are you joking?! How can you get what you need and already be checking out in all of FOUR minutes?? That is true power shopping.
Holli and I split off in two different directions to get to the dvd's. We are seriously certifiable. I somehow got there before her and I kept saying "oh my. oh my." under my breath as I looked for her and fought through the crowd. I remember as Holli darted off I looked back at mom and said, "Either you run with me, or I'm leaving you behind." Haha. Forget the motto "Never leave a [wo]man behind". I darted off and forgot all about her until I emerged in a haze a couple minutes later. Anyway... back to the madness in the dvd section. Holli was looking for a tv show on dvd (Psych) because it was only $8 or something crazy like that. Well I'm pushing through people and she finally comes up next to me so we're quickly scanning the dvd's for the box set. The fear of someone potentially finding it before you is unnerving. I finally spotted it and snatched it up. The last one! Hooray for me! If there was room I would have done a victory dance. :) So Hol turns around and spots another tv show box set. She turns to me and says "Is this one on sale too?" I turned back and saw that it was, also spotting there was one box set left of season five, and I knew she was by 20+ of the 4th season (the exact seasons she needed). She quickly grabbed a 4th season one and said "Are there any 5th season?" (I kid you not this next part happened in slow motion for me.) I turned back to that lone box set I had seen just seconds earlier and instead of no one being in my way just before, two women were in front of me. In a split second I was trying to figure out how to crawl over them and get that last dvd that we wanted. As I'm trying to reach through I was praying just then that God had birthed me with go-go gadget arms. My arms were too short! I didn't even have time to push through them as I saw an older woman reaching for it. In my head I'm thinking "Nooooo!!" She leisurely picks it up and shows the person she's with. Then she says, "Is this it?" I'm praying, "Please say no. Please say NO!" Alas, it was the one... for her and I. (Resume normal time). I turned to Holli and screamed, "Someone took the last one! These women wouldn't get out of my way!" Of course it was a dull whisper compared to the crowd. We battled our way out and I was overcome with defeat. Why had I not grabbed it when I had the chance?? Sadness. Atleast she got the other two box sets she wanted. Still, I will remember this for many Black Fridays to come.
After that I was in serious need of coffee and food so while Holli waited for Mom and Lisa while I ran off for sustenance. All I have to say is thank the man who decided it would be a good idea to put a Starbucks in Target. Bless him! I stood in line for 10 minutes or so and when I finally got all of our drinks and cranberry bliss bars (Yes folks, they are back for the season! YUM!) I waited by the door for the rest of the fam. We were out of there and on our way to our car by 6:35a.

Next stop... Kohl's. Oops... too busy. The 4am crowd was still there. We'll come back....

Off to Bergner's we go! I really don't know what we were looking for there either. Nothing really. My mom ended up getting a work gift exchange present, a new iron because ours is about to kick the ol' bucket and we also got some kitchen stuff for mom (all for Christmas of course). Holli got a pair of pans and I got some new sheets.

(Waiting to get into New York and Co at 7:45a. The sun is still coming up!)

New York and Co was next. They had sweaters and pants, Buy one get one 75% off. Mom got four sweaters, Lisa got two, Holli got two, and I got two long sleeved tees. Atleast I left this store with some new clothes. This store was presented with musical entertainment. I got HORRIFIC hiccups in this store. I was so embarrassed! I was trying to muffle them with my scarf, but they lasted for close to 10 minutes and they were so LOUD! I was glad when we got to leave that store.

(We really put Lisa's car to the test. Verdict: Adequate, but not ideal for Black Friday shopping)

(Mom and I huddle in the back seat, halfway through the madness.)

Next...Pier 1. Mom got something to sit on her dresser in her room, Holli got Christmas deco to sit on her entertainment center and a very fuzzy blanket for her couch. I didn't get anything, but I really didn't want anything from there anyway.

Next... Berean. I got a book. Mom got Lisa and I some cd's for Christmas and Holli got something too I think, but I don't remember what exactly.

By this time we were VERY hungry. I think it was almost 10a by then. We made a pitstop at Panera. Sadly their soup was not ready for the day. :( I was so looking forward to it too. I settled for a 1/2 sandwich and a small caesar salad. After we were recharged we headed to Kohl's. The parking lot was still incredulous, but atleast the 4am crowd was gone (atleast I hope they were gone by then). We weren't there too long, but Mom got some socks and shirts for Dad and gift for a friend, Lisa got two pairs of shoes, and I got a fleece blanket. Off to Kmart in our town...

Nothing much to be said about this. Lisa got a few little things for Christmas gifts, mom finally found a table runner and napkin set she was looking for, and I left empty handed...again. I really was looking for a wireless mouse today, but no such luck. I thought it was on sale somewhere, but I couldn't remember where. Bummer...

Then we went to Bergner's...again. We looked around for what seemed like forever and all we ended up getting were these cool airtight containers and gloves for Holli. Nothing else.

Sears here we come! Turns out they don't sell computer accessories (which is why we went in there), so we promptly left.

By this time (which was after 1p) home was calling my name. We had been at it for 9 1/2 HOURS! That's more than some people put in a work day. Exhaustion was setting in and we were all ready to call it quits. Holli and Lisa dropped Mom and I off at home, helped us in with our bags and left.

I had to go pick up my car (because it got new tires) and then Mom and I went to wish my grandma a happy birthday and give her the birthday gift we got her. Then, back home which is where we end this story. :) You're all probably exhausted now. Well let me tell you... living it is even more exhausting.

So now you can say the four of us are just a few among all the "crazies" out on Black Friday. We found good deals though, and we had a great time together, so that's all that matters. :) Who knows... maybe we'll do it again next year....

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

Certifiably insane OR tradition?

Guess what we're doing today?

I'll let you know how it went later...

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

No rush...but could you hurry up?

I have never been more ready for Christmas than I am this year.

Christmas is my favorite time of year by far, but this year it will be a little different. This will be the first Christmas in years that I haven't had to think about going back to school come January. Of course I'll be thinking about employee orientation and 12 weeks of training, but none-the-less no more school. Honestly, what will I talk about once school is finally over? :)

Tomorrow is Thanksgiving. A time to be thankful and be with family. I've been listening to Christmas music for a solid two weeks now, but tomorrow is nothing to gloss over. It's a day to ponder what we are thankful for, and although I am more than ready for Christmas I will do my best to put that aside tomorrow and enjoy myself before things get really crazy.

Have a wonderul Thanksgiving!

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

So close to the finish line...

That's right folks, I'm back from Chicago! It went by fast, but I'm glad that we're back and so close to being done. I've been working on my remaining assignments that are due by next week, and I'm hoping to finish my last paper EVER by Tuesday at the latest. I want to be able to enjoy Thanksgiving. Then I have to work on Friday. I've been going back and forth whether or not I wanted to, and I've decided that I could use the extra money, and hopefully it won't kill me. :/

Anyway, we had fun in Chicago. The play was AWESOME! The Melting Pot was SCRUMPTIOUS! The shopping was ENJOYABLE! Haha... I really didn't need to make that in caps, but I was on a roll. :) Ashley was a very good driver, and it was a perk to find out that our hotel and the theatre were in the same block. They were actually only a few steps away from eachother, so we didn't have to worry about getting a cab or anything. We only had to take a cab to the restaraunt and then we ended up walking back. It was SO COLD! I thought my face was going to freeze in place. I'm glad I had a scarf and mittens with me. I forgot my hat in the car, but my hair did a pretty good job of keeping my ears covered. There was a mishap with our room so we were left with a king sized bed and no cot. So what did we do??? We all slept in the bed of course. It was actually big enough to allow for all three of us in it, so it wasn't a big deal. I think we were all so tired it didn't matter. Saturday was a gloomy day to begin with, and we were out of the hotel and on the road to the mall by 9:15. We shopped until about 1p and then ate lunch at the Cheesecake Factory. We got home around 5:30p. It was a very fun vacation and we've decided that we need to do it again soon. Preferably when we all have a little more money because we'll be working. Ha!

Here are a couple pictures. I didn't take a ton because the girls had their cameras too. I'll post with some of there pics when I get them.




And last but not least...the Countdown...

One Presentation
Two One Exam.
Three Finals.
Two One paper.
400 NCLEX/MedsPub questions (approximately)
Two One shift left of work on 2400.
One girl's weekend
Two One more MOPS until graduation.
One concert.
One retreat.
Five Three weeks until Graduation.
Four Two weeks until finals.

Well, better get back to work on this paper. Ugh! Am I done yet???

Until.....

A Brief Return...

I know... it's been a week since I last posted. If you knew my schedule right now you would know why blogging has been pushed to the way side.

This week I have a test every day that I'm at school. How insane is that? It's not finals week! I'm stressed out (shocker, I know) and me saying "If I can just make it through this week" is not sounding so comforting anymore. I have FOUR weeks until graduation, and it can not come soon enough!

The weather is getting colder by the week. Fall is fading and Winter is starting to show itself. Can you even believe that it is the middle of November??? Thanksgiving is next week! It will be Christmas before I know it, and I haven't even started my shopping yet.

Lately I've been feeling pretty gross, so I'm hoping that my body can hold off on the whole getting-a-full-blown-illness thing until after graduation. Ha! As if I have control over that.

Well, I need to get back to studying. I have one more section I want to go over again before I go to bed. Pray this week goes quickly for me. My reward is a girl's weekend in Chicago, and I can hardly wait to just get away and do something fun.

It will probably be another week before you hear from me, so hope everyone is doing well and preparing for Thanksgiving. Any scrumptious recipes to share? :)

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

Nearly Wordless...

Here are some pics from my photo session (courtesy of the amazing Tara Picken who endures cold, wind, and snow for me :)). I feel comfortable sharing these b/c I've already seen a semi-finished copy of my invite. So...enjoy the pics.......

(Trying my hardest to balance on this darn log. What you aren't getting to see is the pic of me saying "Holy Crap!" as I almost fell off. Yup, it happened folks.)

(Just sitting on a rock...practically curled up in the fetal position. Ha!)

(I don't look awkwardly twisted at all in that chair. Good job photographer! :))

(I like to title this pic "The Really Bitter Wind...and the Willow")

(This took about 1000 kicks to get this pic. No joke. A lot of hard work went into this. Who knew kicking leaves would be so hard?)

(Just smiling)

(Trying to keep my hands warm.... and do you see the flecks of snow on my jacket?! It's not fuzz..it's SNOW!)

(Just standing among the leaves.)

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

Not a creature was stirring...

Well... it's 7:15 and I'm babysitting. I was actually here at 6:30a. I was the only one up at my house this morning. Mom and Dad decided to take a vacation day since they are off for Veterans Day tomorrow. Of course I'll be in school, so no day off for me.

The kids are still sleeping, so after I post this I'm going to get started on some work. Hopefully they sleep for another half hour or so. Then I could get a good start on this journal/paper thing. My last one!!!

It's a nice feeling to being getting closer to the finish line. I am officially finished with Meds Pub. Woohoo! Now all I have left is my NCLEX questions for this month. It will be a sweet day when I don't have to do NCLEX questions anymore either. :P

Well, I should get to work before the children wake up.

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

(Not so) Amateur Photo Session: Take 2

Well my second and last "photo shoot" for my graduation open house invitation was this morning.

Yes, this morning.

The morning where it was bitterly cold and windy, and oh, did I mention SNOWING!

The four of us girls (Me, Hol, Lis, and Tara aka the photographer) were freezing our hind ends off! It was supposed to be a Fall-esque photo session, but instead it was more wintery. Brrr!

My new profile photo is one of the pics Hol took during the session. Pretty good, huh? :)

Tara is now going to work on my invitations. They are hopefully going to be two-sided. They will most likely be distributed the week of Thanksgiving, so either look for them then or in the mail shortly after. I'm super excited to see how they turn out! Tara is just kind of doing her own thing with it. She asked me a couple of things, but I trust her, so she's going to handle most of the details on her own. Bless her!

I don't have very many pics at the moment from this morning, so if I get anymore I'll be sure to post a few.

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

The Countdown Continues...

One Presentation
Three Two Exams.
Three Finals.
Three Two papers.
600 400 NCLEX/MedsPub questions (approximately).
Four Two (maybe one) shifts left of work on 2400.
One girl's weekend.
Two more MOPS until graduation.
One concert.
One retreat.
Six Five weeks until Graduation.
Five Four weeks until finals.

It's getting closer!!!

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

Blech...

That's how I feel right now.

Blech.

I'm getting to that point in the semester (or rather my life) where I'm feeling like a puddle of goo. My brain can't take much more, and I know it has to because the big cahuna of tests is coming up. The NCLEX...dun, dun, dun!

Tonight I wrote about 50% of my paper that is due Sunday. I already had a third of it done, so tomorrow morning I just need to finish up the last little part and then start my proof-reading. I usually read through my papers 2-3 times just to make sure I didn't miss anything. Then I need to start gearing up for my next test that is a week from this coming Tuesday. Last exam before finals!! Ahh!!! Well, I guess that's not entirely true. In two weeks I have to go to the community college and take the HESI, which is basically a "pre-NCLEX" test that will give our instructors an idea on where we are, and whether or not we will be successful when we take the NCLEX after graduation. I took this test two semesters ago, but this time it's for a grade. :/ Eek!

Well, I'm exhausted and since I have to work tomorrow at 3p and I plan on getting up a little early to finsih my paper I should get to bed. This happens every semester. In the last few weeks I hit my point of exhaustion and I end up going to bed before 10p every night. Last night I was in bed and asleep at 9:30p. I wasn't feeling very well and so I called it a night. I didn't feel too refreshed this morning, but who really ever does when it's only 5:15AM?!

Hope everyone has a wonderful Friday! It's supposed to be kind of chilly. Gotta love this Fall weather. :)

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

I did it...

Did you?

Did you have to wait long? I was in and out in 5 minutes when I went at 4p. Thank goodness! It would have been less than 4 but the little old lady who was marking my name off was hard of hearing so the lady who gave me my "receipt" was yelling MEGAN (LAST NAME) !!!
Poor little lady. She said, "I'm sorry. I don't hear very well." Ya think?? She was cute though, and I wasn't in a terrible hurry so it was fine. Anything interesting happen when you went to the polls today?

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

New extended family...

I don't know what is up with my family lately, but it seems like everybody wants to get a dog. My Aunt just bought two little Shitzu puppies (which she should get sometime next week), and my cousin bought a huskie/border collie mix last weekend.

Hol and I went to meet Cali and she is quite adorable! Just thought I'd share some pics of her. :)

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