Summer!!!

May 14 was my last day of school and man does it feel good to be done. I only have three semesters left!! After school got out I immediately went job hunting and basically got a job that day at Cracker Barrel. I worked at one in high school and love their country store. I will be doing retail. The down side is I have already spent almost $150 for uniforms. Ugg!!
Anywho, last week I got to spend some time in El Paso with mom and it was such a nice break! I even talked her into buying a kiddie pool for the back yard. Ghetto, but great. It's soooo hot there!
So, now I am back and I start work tomorrow. It will be nice to have a change of pace after a long school year.

Four more tests left!

I searched online for a picture to go with this heading. After typing in "test taking stress" this was the first picture that came up. Just thought I'd share the randomness of my online searching.

My First Blood Draw!

A few weeks ago I signed up to help with blood draws for cholesterol testing at a local hospital. We were told that we would be taught how to do it there, but as that day got closer I started to freak out. I even went to speak to one of my teachers to ask if I would get in trouble if I did not go. She said no, but I sucked it up and decided I could a least go and watch. After seeing the instructor do it and then one of my classmates I was all over it. I only got to do one person, but it was a lot easier than I thought and so much fun. I have even been inspired to take a phlebotomy class this summer. Can't wait!

What's left of me...

I know I have not posted in a while about school, but things have been so crazy and they are about to get worse.
I just finished four weeks of clinicals at a long term care facility. It was a lot more fun than I thought it would be. Other facilities I have been in are not the cleanest, they smell like urine, and the employees were not very nice. This one, however, was amazing. It is run by an order of nuns known as the Little Sisters of the Poor. It was a great experience, but I realized how much back breaking work CNAs do. I would have to say my favorite part was getting to administer medications to the residents... and walking around the place with my stethoscope around my neck making me feel very official.
I now have four weeks of school left, six tests, three reports, two care plan concept maps, one presentation, and two simulations labs to finish. Needless to say I am very tired and am trying my best not to fall victim to burnout. Looking forward to a summer of reading, traveling, shopping, crocheting, and of course working.

Happy Birthday Rachael!

Ok so your birthday is not until tomorrow, but I will be busy and I did not want to forget to post this picture!



I had to share this one too. It is my all time favorite picture of Rachael because of the look on her face as Daniel fears for his life in her arms! ahahahaha
Of course the look on John's face is equally creepy as he strokes his baby brother's head. How did he ever survive?

....Oh wait I forgot this post was about Rachael not Daniel. So...here is one more. Enjoy!

I heart CROCHET!

About a year before I graduated from BYU-Idaho I got one of my roommates to teach me how to crochet. It took me forever to learn but she was very patient with me. I made a baby blanket and it was so lame because as I got better the blanket got tighter. Now it just looks stretched out on one side. I then started to make a new baby blanket, because I have ADHD and I never thought I could do a bigger one. Five years later I finally finished it! It looks pretty good too I must say, but now I have decided I should go all the way and make a big blanket for myself. I purchased 13 things of yarn and I only hope I figure out I need more before they discontinue the pattern. Don't worry in ten years I will be sure to post the finished product!


This is the blanket that took me 5 years. In my defence, I did not have it with me the year and a half I lived in Hawaii. Cute!

Ready...set...bring it on!

Saturday, February 27 I got a call from mom about the earthquake in Chile over night and that it was supposed to trigger a tsunami that would head for Hawaii. I looked it up on the internet and found that there was an earthquake in Japan too. Fortunately, the tsunami did not materialize but it got me to thinking that I have never made the time to put together a respectable 72 hour kit. I started to make a check off sheet and ordered a few cool things online. The crazy thing about it all was the next day in church no one brought up the subject of these earthquakes, but there was so much talk about physical preparedness as well as spiritual. Creepy!

This past weekend I also decided to dedicate one of my cabinets to food storage. As I was doing this the thought came to me..."what happens if a meteor hits my apartment while I'm gone? There goes my food storage"...or "what if the second coming happens before I get to use my food storage?" Of course I know that the main point is that I am doing what the Lord has asked me to do and I feel really good about it.

I am almost done getting everything I want for my kit, including some MREs from mom. Tonight I went and bought a huge backpack to put it all in. It's way cool and even fits extra clothes. I'm ready!

(On Monday, March 8 there was an earthquake in Turkey too.)




The finished product.


My favorite purchase tonight!

My First Kate Spade

With the arrival of my big fat tax return and having a stressful time at school I decide to treat myself. I could not think of anything I really wanted when, just for fun, I ended up on KateSpade.com. I have always wanted one of her bags, but they are pricey. So, it would be just my luck that they were having a sample sale that week! I got this bag for a discount of more that 50% off with only $5 shipping!!! It came today. After years of dreaming I finally have a Kate Spade and I LOVE it!! Thanks Uncle Sam!

Project!

I have never been very good at keeping a journal, even though I like the idea of being able to look back and pass on my adventures to others. So I have decide to be like my sister and print out my blog. I am so excited, but it's taking forever to print. It will be worth it though and when I am done I am taking it to the UPS store to have it spiral bound. This is also why I have momentarily changed my blog title since I have not been a nursing student till recently.

I am also doing this because in January I was called as first counselor in the Young Womens. I did not complete my Personal Progress so I am taking the opportunity to do it now and lot of the work involves writing in a journal. So hopefully I will be able to stay on task and you get to see me bloom into a bright young women...or at this rate a bright middle-aged women. HA!

The saga continues....

I have been in the nursing program now for five full weeks and I have to admit I keep going back and forth..."this is so much fun"..."what the crap did I get myself into?" So much reading, homework, and dare I say it...fast food! As I continue to teeter on the brink of insanity here is what has happened in the past three weeks:

Week 3: In lab I learned how to give a intramuscular and a sub-dermis shot. Sub-dermis shots are for things like TB testing. We practiced on hot dogs and I got some pretty decent blebs (pockets of the medicine under the skin: a good thing). But, alas...hot dogs aren't even close to being like human flesh and I injected my partner a little too deep. Not that badly done but, in my defence every time our teacher would observer a student administering the shot other students would swarm. Pretty nerve wrecking if you ask me. I did, however, do a fine job on the intramuscular shot. Which I think is more important considering I will have to do those more as a nurse. When it was my partners turn to give me a IM I freaked. I am not scared of needles, but knowing this was her first time I really lost it. My teacher was telling me to calm down the whole time. Once it was in and I realized, of course, it did not hurt I was all cool about it. Like I knew all along she could do it. HAHA!
After lab I got to give the H1N1 vaccine to two people. One the nasal spray and one via IM shot. Both way cool but, the pressure was on giving the shot because I got stuck giving it to a second semester nursing student who felt the need to comment on everything I did. I informed him that I was told to do it a certain way and he was a little butt about it. I hope I am not like that as I progress through the program! FYI: dont' be a butt to someone who is about to give you a shot.

Week 4: My first two tests were this week and can I just tell you I thought my brain was about to bust out of my head. It does not mater what the subject is I always freak out before the first test in a class. "What is the format?" "How detailed is it doing to be?" "What happens if I have to go to the bathroom?" You name it, I worry about it. All is well, although I really need to stop reading into the questions and stop second guessing myself.

Week 5: I was tested on performing a full body assessment in lab on Tuesday. I had been practicing on Rachael (a good sport) and felt pretty ready. I remembered all the important stuff and passed. Word! I have to admit I questioned my career path when I was looking up peoples' noses all day and realized "it's gonna get worse than this."
Did you know that no matter how clear you think your nose is there are still things "hanging out" in there? Things that come out of the nose: my archnemesis.