Happy New Year...

This year should be interesting...for the first time in 10 years, I won't be in college. Don't be fooled...I've already been checking in PhD (in Public Health) programs and mom is working hard to convince me to wait at least until Fall 2009 to start. I will admit that I am having fun spending my money, and not working on homework!!! We'll see...the deadline isn't until March 15 for one place, and I'm not saying anymore until I make a final decision.

I'm looking forward to my birthday because 1) I'm going to see my favorite band ever, LINKIN PARK, with my nurse friend, her younger brother and his friend (this all happens to fall on the weekend before my birthday) and 2) I am buying myself a Coach purse. Yep, totally superficial reasons, but at this point, that's what I'm looking forward to turning 29 for and who knows what can happen in the next 2 months before my birthday. And that's all I'm saying about that at this point...I hate jinxing myself, so I'll be quiet about it.

Girlfriend is great, and I'll have pictures up from Christmas soon. She was a little out of sorts, because Mom and Dad ditched us for the week-and-a-half before Christmas and went to Hawaii for their 30-year anniversary. Girlfriend stayed with Uncle A and Auntie L for a few nights while I worked 3 nights in a row and had a day of class in there, too. Girlfriend kept saying, "I miss my whole family." Mom and Dad had an awesome time and of course, it will be necessary to post those pictures, too. The day that mom called to brag about laying by the pool when it was 12 degrees here was not the BEST phone call I'd ever gotten. :) Ha.

Hmm, I have some resolutions, but nothing I'm going to kill myself getting done. I need some time to just chill out, and we'll be doing that for a week in so Cal in March. But I have things I need to work on as well, but I'm not making a list setting myself up for failure. Anyway, HAPPY NEW YEAR!!

Christmas in Hawaii

Mom and Dad ditched us for a week-and-a-half and went to Hawaii for their 30-year anniversary. I know, how dare they?!? They loved it, and have promised that we are all going back next December. So, needless to say, we are psyched about that! Girlfriend kept saying, "When are mamaw and papaw coming back from the hawhy?" She didn't think much of their being gone and ran to them at the airport like she hadn't seen them in years. Mom and Dad had a great time, and I'm glad because they deserved the trip. :) Plus, they brought back awesome gifts! :)

**The above picture is a taste of the Hawaii pictures. It was from the Luau Mom and Dad went to on their anniversary date, and everyone thought it turned out well. More pictures later.**

Christmas is over...

and as in real life, time to take down the Christmas decorations. More later.

First Snow Day

Our first snow of the season was this past either Tuesday or Wednesday...we woke up to about 4 inches of snow and ended up with about 6.5 that day. Girlfriend played with the neighbor kids outside and she LOVED it. Problem was, I hadn't bought her snow gear yet so she got cold (seeing as how it was minus 4 then warmed up to 12 degrees during the day). Everyone else must have had the same problem b/c on Thursday when I went to buy her boots and thick mittens, there was only one pair of boots in her size to choose from and no mittens. Girlfriend loves making snow angels and she had so much fun playing with her friends! Enjoy the pictures.

More Randomness

One of my favorite Cali people sent me this, and I decided to post my answers rather than bog down everyone's e-mail.
1. What time did you get up this morning? Trick question…I got home from work at 9 am, and headed for a nap (girlfriend played in my room while I napped) about 9:30-10 and got up at 12:45.
2. Diamonds or pearls? Tough call---I just bought myself a diamond right hand ring and a set of black pearls. It’s good to be queen!
3. What was the last film you saw at the cinema? Bee Movie
4. Favorite TV show? Grey’s Anatomy
5. What do you usually have for breakfast? On a good morning, a Curves bar, string cheese and orange.
6. What kind of soap do you use? Softsoap Pure Cashmere
7. What is your middle name? Maureen
8. What food do you dislike? Beans and mayonnaise top the list.
9. What is your favorite CD? Linkin Park Hybrid Theory
10. What kind of car do you drive? Chevy Blazer
11. What characteristic do you despise? I have three: laziness, messiness and whining.
12. Favorite item of clothing? Hoodies.
13. If you could go anywhere in the world on vacation, where would you go? Where is it Vin Diesel goes at the end of XXX---that’s the place.
14. What color is your bathroom? Brown and green…not my choice right now.
15. Favorite brand of clothing? Um, not for sure.
16. Where would you retire to? Someplace warm.
17. What was your most recent memorable birthday? I was panicked about turning 25, so I would have to say that one…yes, that’s been a few years!
18. Furthest place you are sending this? Cali.
19. Who do you least expect to send this back to you? Everyone.
20. Person you expect to send it back first? Everyone.
21. When is your birthday? February 19.
22. What is your favorite scent? Mint or fall spices.
23 Are you a morning person or a night person? More of a night person which is working out well…mornings are hard for me!
24. What is your shoe size? 10.
25. Pets? One goldfish is hanging on for dear life in spite of the fact we killed 4 others.
26. Any new and exciting news you would like to share with friends? Nope.
27. What did you want to be when you were little? Lawyer. I dressed up as one every career day in elementary school.
28. How are you today? Tired, and a touch moody, but blame it on the lack of sleep.
29. What is your favorite candy? Peppermint chocolate stuff.
30. What is your favorite flower? Hydrangeas for outside, roses for other times.
31. What is a day on the calendar you are looking forward to? None to speak of…I love Christmas though. I do enjoy payday now, too!
32. What church do you attend? The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-Day Saints.
33. Favorite sandwich? Philly cheese steak—I’ll keep Joelene’s answer on that one.
34. What are you listening to right now? Girlfriend harassing me.
35. What is the last thing you ate? Chicken nuggets---it’s a sad day when you feel good about having cooked those for lunch!
36. Do you wish on stars? Oh yes, and I even –broke the wishbone with my little cousin on Thanksgiving and tried my hardest to win…we came out even although I had a TAD more on my wishbone.
37. If you were a crayon, what color would you be? Purple.
38. What is the weather right now? Cold, snowy and overcast…blah.
39. Last person you spoke to on the phone? Alisha, she was convincing me that nurses do in fact eat their young and that it will all be okay.
40. Do you like the person who sent this to you? Oh yes, she has always been kind to me and we know each other through the NOW oddest of circumstances.
41. Favorite soft drink? Diet Dr. Pepper
42. Favorite restaurant? Uno’s
43. Hair color? Brown and Blonde
44. Sibling? 1 younger brother and sister-in-law
45. Favorite time of the year? Fall.
46. What was your favorite toy as a child? Cash Register.
47. Summer or winter? See 38…definitely summer.
48. Hugs or kisses? Both
49. Chocolate or Vanilla? Chocolate
50. Do you want your friends to email you back? duh!! of course!
51. When was the last time you cried? Last Thursday…some days just suck.
52. What is under your bed? Scrubs, “lock box” with important papers, and Burt’s Bee’s Cuticle Cream.
53. Who is the friend you have had the longest? Alisha and I have known each other the longest- almost 29 years.
54. What did you do last night? Saved lives, baby! Ha!
55. Favorite room in your house? Bedroom.
56. What are you afraid of? Being alone, but yet trusting another.
57. Plain, buttered, or salted Popcorn? Not such a fan of popcorn—too much work.
58. How many keys on your key ring? 3 and a billion store keychain cards.
59. How many years at your current job? Um, 2 months.
60. Favorite day of the week? It has always been Thursday.
61. How many cities have you lived in? 12- among Connecticut, Ohio, South Carolina, Tennessee and California.
62. Do you make friends easily? I make “friends” easily, but to get in my circle of trust takes work and a long time. Thus, there are only about 4 non-family member friends in it.
63. How many people will you be sending this to? Anyone who reads this.
64. Do you like your job? Yes.

Tagged

My friend from nursing school tagged me, so here are 7 random things about me.

1. I have to look up at my reflection in the elevator mirror ceiling EVERY time I am on an elevator. Try it. Sometimes, I am non-chalant, other times obvious.
2. I pick out the banana candies from the Runts package.
3. I always wanted a job where I used a cash register, and when I finally had that chance in college, I sucked majorly.
4. I was not sick one day while pregnant with girlfriend...no puking except when I went into labor.
5. I still have a hair barette my dad gave me when I was about 4 years old.
6. I caught my bouquet of flowers on fire at my brother's wedding. My brother's friend (whom I've known for 13 years or so) said, "Sis, you're on fire." I was confused until he pointed to the bouquet burning and helped me blow it out. No major scene involved.
7. I always wanted to marry Steve Young.

"Santa said I could wear it!"

Because Santa is a slacker and left the bag from Kohl's with the Christmas pajamas in it on her bed, girlfriend found it. I thought she was being TERRIBLY quiet for awhile, and then I hear dad say to her, "Oh my, don't you look beautiful...go show your mother!" Ha ha. I had to laugh, seriously, I thought it was funny. Girlfriend promptly said, "Santa said I could wear it!!!" I told her that, technically, Santa HAD said she could wear it. So, another Christmas present down the tubes! She does look quite adorable in the pajamas.

Can you tell me how to get, how to get to Sesame Street?

I took girlfriend to see "Elmo Makes Music" at the Schott last Wednesday night, and it was AWESOME! I hadn't told girlfriend where we were going (and if you've ever had a 4-year-old you know why--"When are we going?" "Are we going today?"). Anyway, she loved it! I must say that I was a little excited to see the Sesame Street gang in person. Girlfriend had her first cotton candy, and was a fan until it got to the end where it was sticking to her fingers. Alas, we enjoyed ourselves. I think the highlight was Bert doing "The Hustle" in his white suit. Sorry the pictures didn't turn out better. Enjoy.

Breast Cancer, not to worry

So, I had my annual check-up at the end of September and just as the physician was finishing my exam, she says, "Hmm, have you felt this lump here before?" I admitted that I had, but passed it off as nothing. She was not satisfied. lectured me for not doing anything about that as a nurse (hee hee) I "KNOW BETTER" and scheduled me for an ultrasound of the left side of my chest. The place she scheduled me with was a Breast Cancer and Women's Breast Health Center---not scary, right? I took girlfriend on my appointed day and was dismayed that children under 12 aren't allowed to be in the room and that I would need to re-schedule my appointment. Okay, fine. I rescheduled my appointment. I had only told mom who supposedly only told dad b/c I just didn't want to talk about it, or get people worked up over nothing.

I went to my appointment that morning and the u/s tech did both sides just to "be sure." I figured something was up when she took an INCREDIBLY long time on one particular area which oddly enough, was not the area my doctor was concerned about. She told me she wanted to talk to the radiologist and that she would be right back. She came saying that there was an area of suspicion and that to be sure I needed to have a more intense u/s and a mammogram that day. So, while staring at the dots on the ceiling, she did her job and the shipped me over to the mammogram area. There were a ton of women in there, and all were on edge. There was one really sweet older lady who told me she would be 74 in a few days and was having her first mammogram. Then, she began asking questions: Why was I there? Did I have any children? What was wrong? Had I had a mammogram before? Then, the pivotal moment that I swear you only see on TV. She said, "You are so young, sweetheart. You have such a small child. I pray for you that everything turns out well. Your child needs to have its mother." I just smiled and said thank you b/c I really was sure that everything was fine, really I was. Then, I had the boob-smashing procedure which is actually NOT that bad at all. I then met with the Breast Health Nurse (and if ever there was a cool nursing job, that one is it) and she brought the radiologist in who said that there was an area of suspicion on my left side and would need to be biospised, but that I was young, blah, blah, blah. The nurse was overly concerned and even called me the next day to see how I was doing. Really, I was fine b/c I was unremarkably at-ease that I knew this was fine.

Anyway, my appointment was scheduled with the Breast Surgeon and I had to change it. So, I went the morning after working my first night shift. He said he was sure everything was fine, but wanted to do any u/s just to "look." When doing the u/s he said, "that looks very suspicious, let's do a needle biopsy." He asked me about 4 times if I wanted to wait and have my husband come back with me for the biopsy. I finally said (almost bursting into tears at this point), "I'm sorry, I am divorced and that was the 3rd question on the health history so I assumed you knew that." He apologized and it's not that I'm sensitive about it much anymore, but come on you asked that on the health history, I'm not wearing a wedding ring, and if after once I tell you that I would just rather have it done today, just go ahead and do it. Anyway, out came the Lidocaine and thus proceeded the needle biopsy. I'd had one done on the back of my thigh almost exactly 10 years ago, so I knew it would be uncomfortable. Anyway, he assured me that the tissue looked normal, not to take a shower and that the little metal chip he permanently inserted would not give me any trouble. I agreed to call their office 2 days later for the results. I forgot to call to 2 days later (I just knew it would be fine) and called a day after that receiving the results that it was benign.

I haven't had an experience like this since having girlfriend. I really believed and was comforted that everything was fine. It was still somewhat unnerving though. One night, I had made dinner and dad didn't eat. I thought he didn't like the look of what I had made, but the next night as he, girlfriend and I sat down to eat, he had taken an especially long time praying by himself. He told me that he had just finished a 36-hour fast for my health. That was really touching b/c I really didn't think about everyone else being worried as I was not worried. There was only one night after putting girlfriend to bed that I let myself worry. So, I prayed and I cried and I prayed and I cried. I envisioned her growing up without me and not knowing how much I loved her and did not want to leave her. Then, I got over it b/c I really knew it was going to be fine. Thankfully, for now everything in life is more than fine for she and I. Sorry for the long-winded post, but I just felt like getting that out there.

Nights, Birthdays and "Stella-kins"

Here's the report: Nights rock! The sleep leaves much to be desired because at this point, I am unable to sleep more than 4 hours at a time despite being exhausted. I love working 3 12-hour days...I love it. I love being a nurse...corny, but it is what I was MEANT to do, and there is no doubt about that. My fellow nurses are awesome about helping me understand and learn what needs to be done because school does NOT prepare you for actual nursing! :) Night shift nursing is awesome...I love it. The sleep pattern will come with time.

Birthdays: Girlfriend turned 4 a little over a week ago! I cannot believe how fast time flies. I reminisced a lot about the time surrounding her birth. Her birthday turned into a weeklong celebration because I just love birthdays that much, especially this child's birthday. She got pink Converse tennis shoes from my parents and she was so THRILLED. It was funny how excited she got. Mom and Dad took us to Annie's Cheesecake and Tea Room where they brought a cake out to her and sang "Happy Birthday" while girlfriend hid behind me! I made the Dora cake you see in the picture, and it didn't turn out too badly, and girlfriend loved it, so it worked! Girlfriend had a great birthday so thanks to everyone!

"Stella-kins": I swear to you all that I did not torture this kid...she just does not like posing for the camera. So, here she is in all her Medieval Princess glory. Girlfriend had a party at school and was so excited to announce that she had "put my mouth on the apples and water." That would be bobbing for apples. GROSS. Anyway, they also made "stella-kins" that day- translation: SKELETONS. I laughed so hard when she said that. We went to Jeff and Rochelle's neighborhood trick-or-treating on Halloween night. Girlfriend got her candy from Jeff and Rochelle and then we just walked around for the next 45 minutes or so. Girlfriend only went up to about 2 people and would just keep telling Rochelle and I that she had enough candy and just wanted to run. THANK YOU. We had a good time. Girlfriend has always been a lot of fun for me, and she is getting to an age where we can really enjoy things together.

There's the oddly put-together update...hope you are all well!

HELLO!!!!!

I realize it's been awhile since I've been around...blame it on my new JOB, baby!!! Things are going really well for girlfriend and I these days. I have my first official shift as a Registered Nurse tomorrow night. I will be working 3-12-hour days and very limited weekends (every 8-12 weeks) and my shift is NIGHTS. I am looking forward to that...there is always something mystical about the hospital at night. Yes, alot of crazy things happen, but it is good. My job is in the MIMCU and I am slightly scared to be the RN. I had a week of hospital orientation last week and that included nursing orientation where I had competencies to pass-off. Here's what I thought was hilarious: I have to be checked off on IV starts in about 2 weeks, but I am allowed to start them as of tomorrow night...wouldn't you do it in the opposite order??? Ah, well. Tomorrow starts my 8-12 week unit orientation; I am anxious to meet my preceptor. My unit director told me that Week 8 is when I'll really be freaking out b/c they'll give me my whole "team" of LPNs and Aides to oversee along with my 5-6+ patient load. I'm just focusing on tomorrow...and trying to stay awake all night tonight in order to sleep tomorrow so I'm not dead Tuesday morning!!!

New layout

I'm still trying to get everything figured out, but thanks to matiekay for the new layout!

Conference Weekend Fun

Nothing like a fall food craft to get you in the mood for the holidays!

Auntie L and Girlfriend enjoyed a good game of "bouncy ball."

Girlfriend and Uncle A enjoying some quality skating time. Girlfriend refers to her skates as "my glass slippers."

Check out my Slide Show!

Girlfriend's hair...

is slowly, but surely going to grow out. It's driving us both crazy right now, but she looked so sweet yesterday--even with the spaghetti from Uno's! :)

Another Grandma Quilt

Here is a quilt that Grandma gave to mom a few weeks ago. Now, here's an interesting part of the story...I had told mom probably a year ago that THIS quilt was my favorite and mom talked me out of it saying how the other one looked more like a grandma quilt, blah, blah, blah. Anyway, about a month ago mom told me how much SHE loved this quilt. I looked at her and said, "What?!? That is why you talked me out of that quilt?!?" She just looked at me, laughed, and said, "Oh, did I say that?" Ah well, I love mine regardless!

My grandma rocks

She can do anything. Seriously. She is one of the MOST self-reliant people that I know. She and my grandpa loved each other more than any people I have ever known. I loved how they talked about each other even after being married over 50 years. They won the "how long have you been married competition" at one of our cousin's weddings 8 years ago and when asked what made it work for so long, my grandpa quickly replied, "I don't know, you'll have to ask her, I guess."

Grandma has been rocking the quilt business lately, and she makes awesome, awesome quilts! We all (even starting before mom, I think) have baby quilts that Grandma has made for us...I'm sure she has made hundreds. She also has tons of quilts that she has made over the years (Mom told her that every quilt Grandma makes with a piece of Mom's little girl dresses, Mom automatically gets...oddly enough, Grandma "ran out" of pieces of Mom's clothes pretty soon after that). Grandma made quilts for my little cousins 2 or 3 Christmases ago (after opening his presents that year which included pajamas, my little cousin who I think was 8 at the time, went to another room mumbling that he had gotten nothing but junk...I still laugh about that!) and made quilts for my brother, cousin and I for Christmas this year. BUT, she couldn't hold out until Christmas and gave them to us at the beginning of the month. Grandma made my cousin a really pretty green one that matches her and her husband's bedroom. Grandma designed one for my brother and his wife-- an AWESOME Ohio State quilt b/c they will both be graduating from The Fisher School of Business at OSU in June and they bleed scarlet and grey. Grandma let me pick mine, and I picked the quilt above b/c I thought it looked like a "grandma-style" quilt...I even got to pick the stitching and it's a scallop design. The quilt is king-size, something ilke 96" x 96". Anyway, I'll try to get pictures of the other quilts b/c they are awesome! Girlfriend was slightly put out that she didn't get a quilt that day (although I tried to convince her that mine was for us to share and that she had 2 quilts from Grandma already), so we took a picture of girlfriend with the Strawberry Shortcake quilt that Grandma had "finished" for me, so that made her feel better. I'll put up the other pictures just as soon as I have them.

Fall in Ohio

I was going to say that I took these pictures today, but alas I took them this past Friday. I've always felt like everyone keeps dragging me back to Ohio, but it is home. It was beautiful on Friday and I absolutely love fall in Ohio. Girlfriend and I celebrated with a Pumpkin Pie Milkshake from McDonalds...it was good. This is the view from the back deck (duh, obviously it isn't the front yard, but for those who haven't been here I felt the need to clarify). It was an awesome weather day.

She works hard for the money

** Note the tongue sticking out b/c she is working so hard.**

Boards

Where to begin? Well, after much ado about nothing, I got my "Authorization To Test" from the National Council of State Boards of Nursing or something like that. Anyway, I got it on September 12, and really didn't want it once it finally came! I called and originally scheduled my test for September 25. I told Mom that and she suggested I take it sooner---I'm not sure if it was for her sanity or mine! So, I called back and changed it to September 21 at 0800. 9 days to go...I warned my family that I would be a bit mental for the next 9 days and to hang on for the ride. I had been studying off-and-on since about the beginning of August, and of course, doubted my ability. I began to hit it hard on Labor Day because I knew test day was coming (even though I hadn't scheduled it yet). I studied all that week and the next week, mostly in the evenings after girlfriend went to bed. After I got my test scheduled, I hit it really hard the rest of that week and weekend. Last week, on Monday, Tuesday and Wednesday I had help in having people entertain girlfriend during the day. I studied 10 hours on Monday, 8 hours on Tuesday and 9 hours on Wednesday. I was at the end of my rope!!! I decided that I needed a "Mental Health" day on Thursday and girlfriend and I went to story time at the library and I went to my cake deco class. Grandma agreed to keep girlfriend on Friday while I tested, so that worry was off my mind and mom "graciously" took a day off work to go with me. My freakout friend called me Thursday night to wish me luck and I guess I was so nervous that I made her even more nervous about her test. Anyway, I attempted to go to sleep about 10:30 that night, and laid there wide-awake for hours I am sure. I woke back up at 0330 and could not sleep, so I got up and watched some reruns of "Full House" and other Nick-At-Nite shows until I started to get ready at 0500. I had been somewhat calm on Thursday (minus Thursday night) and then my anxiousness came on again full-force on Friday morning. Mom and I left at 0600 (even though it only took 45 minutes to get to the test center) and we were sitting in the parking lot at 0655 after a brief stop. My wonderful freakout friend called me to wish me luck again and my dad called, too. I really thought I would have hyperemesis (hee hee) right there in the parking lot. Anyway, I decided to go in at 0705. I went in at 0705 and mom hugged me and wished me well. I went in and the center asked me to wait 5 more minutes. I tried to sit in the lobby, but ended up pacing. Then, they had me come in, checked over my paperwork, had me read all of the rules about the test (you know, like I can't tell what was on the test or anything like that) took my fingerprints, took my picture and gave me a locker to put my things in. Then, the lady at the front desk had me go to the computer room where another woman took my fingerprints again (see, dishonest people always mess it up for the rest of us) and gave me the last set of instructions. I was glad that at 0720 I was taking the test so as to get it over with. The lady gave me computer #1 and told me that she was sure since I was in so early, I would be done quickly. Huh? How does she know that? Whatever. I sit down, go through the tutorial business and then it starts. Oh my word, that was a freaking hard test. With every click, I became more scared! I didn't even realize how many people were in the testing center b/c I was so focused on my test. It was difficult. But I managed. The minimum number of questions you can get is 75, maximum is 265. If at 75 questions, the computer is like 95% certain that you passed, it shuts off. Or, if at 75 questions the computer isn't sure if you know the material, it keeps going to let you have more opportunities to pass the test. OR, if it shuts off at 75 questions, you have failed miserably. Well, guess what? It shut off at 75 questions; I thought I would faint right there when it shut off! In my mind, I was screaming, "Mother" like Kevin James and I just knew I had failed b/c it was so hard. Then, the computer asked me to take a handy-dandy survey. It took me 85 minutes to take the test. When I was getting my fingerprints AGAIN as I checked out, the lady said, "Good luck." Yeah, whatever. I called mom and whispered into the phone, "I am done." She told me that she was close and would be there in like a minute. I called another friend from nursing school and told her that I was done and that I was sure that I had failed. Anyway, mom and I went to Panera for breakfast and Mom was repeatedly reassuring me that it had to be good b/c the computer shut off at 75 questions. I needed some retail therapy, so we shopped for a little while. We headed home and girlfriend and I took Grandma home and spent the night...I needed some sleep in her spare bedroom feathertick bed b/c I hadn't slept much that week. Grandma was continually reassuring me. Anyway, I spent Saturday certain that I had failed; I went to the temple Saturday night and was just beside myself. My freakout friend called me again Saturday night and told me that she figured it would be okay. I was hardly reassured. Anyway, after church on Sunday (of course I had been checking the website a million times each day knowing that the Ohio Board of Nursing is closed on Saturday and Sunday, but hey you never know!) and finally checked the testing website. It said that for $7.95 I could see my "unofficial" results. Um, lemme think??? Yep, I got my debit card so fast and there it was "pass." I called Mom, then Grandma and then my freakout friend...still doubting it until I saw it on the website today. I had put everyone under strict orders that they were NOT to tell anyone I was taking boards until after the fact...yeah, right...everyone in Ohio knew. Today, I checked all day and then FINALLY at 4:37, it was up and life was sweet! I can't believe it's all over and done now. For anyone interested, here's the link. Now, I think I can relax and get on with mine and girlfriend's lives! Thanks everyone.

Primary Program

Today was the primary program at church and it was girlfriend's first one ever. She was so sweet. At our new ward, the kids sit up front right from the beginning of the meeting, and I didn't realize that she and I were late, well, right on time according to my clock! ;) Anyway, I walked her up front and she sat with some of the other kids and her teacher. She was awesome! Girlfriend sat reverently and would stand up for all of the songs even if she didn't know them. When it was the Sunbeams' turn, she held her picture up for everyone to see. Girlfriend did great, and it's difficult to believe that I have a child old enough for this and that girlfriend will be 4 years old next month. Time flies when you're having fun! Of course, I started to get a little teary watching her, but I maintained composure and enjoyed the program. It felt weird to be the parent...I was the only person in her fan club at church today, but that didn't bother either of us. My friend (whom I was roommates with in college for a few months) told me later, "Of course, Miss Girlfriend did great today." What else are people going to say?!? I mean, of course this child is great--she gets it from me! Ha! I just know that I'll be blogging about her high school graduation before I know it...I'm sure I'll be a mess! Anyway, just thought I'd share.

I may be biased, but...

I think this kid is so stinkin' cute! She will hardly ever let me fix her hair, thus the short hair. But we're in agreement that she's growing it out to wear ponytails. I couldn't resist and tried this morning! :)

Ouch

Yep, that's the word for the day. This morning, I got a Facial Peel from my favorite place ever and HOLY HANNAH it hurt! It's been about 15 years since I got one at the dermatologist's office, and my skin NEEDED it. I'd been sporadically getting facials and decided that 1) my skin needs the "extra" treatment that facials can provide and 2) gosh darn it, I am worth it! Ha! Anyway, I asked my esthetician-girl about 3 weeks ago about peels, and of course she was all for it! So, I got a baby-sitter for girlfriend and went this morning. I actually had to ask her to take a break for a second so that I could scratch my eye (translation: wipe the tears) and then I actually prayed that the pain would ease up. She did all of the cushy stuff and put hot acid on my face (okay, maybe not acid) and then did "extractions." That's when the tears and prayers came. Anyway, I had the huge red welts on my face and it was funny b/c the baby-sitter just looked at me like, "I don't want to know where you've been." Good grief it hurt. She wanted me to come back in 2 weeks for more torture, but I opted to wait for 4 weeks until I'm getting my hair cut and kill 2 birds with 1 stone. I may take some Tylenol before going this time!

Cake decorating 101

Oh wow! Tonight, Rochelle and I attended Wilton Cake Decorating Course 1, or something like that. I have wanted to take these classes for about 6 or 7 years now, I now know why I wanted to--this is awesome! The tips that we got just on the first night blew me away...okay, so maybe I'm being dramatic, but it was awesome. I knew the time was coming for me to take cake decorating b/c I made the lovely cake pictured here for Easter/General Conference weekend this past April and when I was taking the picture Mom said, "Are you planning to send that to the Food Network and see if they want your skills?" And then, "Why didn't you make the glaze to put on the chocolate cake first?" Um, maybe because I've never heard of that! Yes, this is why she is my mother and I love her. So, the instructor tonight showed us this totally rad tip and bag that as Rochelle calls it, "cheats." I didn't get it b/c I bought so many other things, and I would like to master the art of doing it by hand first. After I gave my little schpiel about it, Rochelle promptly said, "Yeah, I'm a cheater, and I'm getting it." Who knows? I'm going to attempt my first try this weekend with a red velvet cake...I'll be sure to let you know what the natives say b/c believe me, they will have something to say! :)

Matching toes

Thanks to an "old" friend, girlfriend and I have discovered Nick Jr. online and girlfriend loves it. She is getting more proficient with the keyboard and mouse which is so incredibly cool to witness.

Anyway...yesterday girlfriend played a tic-tac-toe game and I tried to explain that it was kind of like the matching game (Memory) that Jeff and Rochelle have this kid hooked on (we now have 3 versions of Memory, but that's beside the point). Girlfriend played it through once and about halfway through the second game, she announced "I AM DONE PLAYING MATCHING TOES!"

Dude...

I am so stressed out about this NCLEX-RN test that it is absolutely unreal! I am losing sleep, confidence and probably friends, too. On Tuesday night, I talked to my fantastically wonderful friend whom I met in nursing school; she and I are school soulmates. If that makes sense--we are almost exactly alike in how badly we would panic and think we were going to fail and then 99% of the time we were ABOVE the class average. On the standardized testing we took at the end of 6th quarter, I scored at a level that explained that I had a 99 percent chance of passing boards (and without exposing her scores, let's just say that she has just as good of a chance as myself). So, what am I freaking out about?!? Here's a picture of us (my freaking out school soulmate is in the middle and another classmate on the right) at the end of 5th quarter when life was good and boards were still 3-4 months away and Sephora made us look SMOKIN' and Mimi's Cafe served us a fantastic lunch that we were still talking about at the end of 6th quarter!!! We talked again last night, and sad to say, but the freakout session was just as bad last night as it was on Tuesday...she told me that I wasn't allowed talking about NCLEX anymore! Ha, yeah right.

As promised...

I made the changes to my long-winded post...hopefully, it's right now.

Errors

I know there are a boatload of typos and such, but just ignore those for now, and I'll fix them soon, promise.

Assess, Plan, Implement and Evaluate

These are basically the steps in the nursing process. Pardon me for being a bit long-winded here, but I need to write this for myself. I had a lot of emotions soaring through my old bones on Friday night and my memior would have been much more powerful if I had written it Friday night, but I didn't. So, I'm shooting from the hip here.

There is a picture of me (and I am on the hunt to find it to prove this point) at about 3 years old wearing a nurse outfit that I had requested from my dad's parents as a Christmas gift, or so I am told. I never really considered being a nurse until college came, and some random tests that we took at Pre-College at OU indicated that I would be good at 3 different things, and one was nursing. So, I was hooked up with a nursing professor who would serve as my academic advisor for Fall 1997. Yes, folks, you read that right. FALL 1997...it's been THAT long. Anyway, OU didn't have a BSN or even ADN program at the Athens campus, and I was hot-headed thinking I didn't want an Associate degree rather a Bachelor degree. So, I switched about a hundred times and ended up choosing Health Services Administration at the end of my freshman year. I have always felt very at-home in hospitals, and figured that this would be a good thing. And it was.

But I got the nursing itch about Spring 1999 and decided to transfer to Hocking College into their nursing program. I took some electives while on the waiting list and began clinicals January 2000. About 3 weeks into the program, I quit. Essentially, there were 2 reasons: 1) I had met S and wanted to move closer to him and foolishly convinced myself that I could get into another nursing school easily and quickly and that it wouldn't be a problem and 2) I had failed my handwashing check-off and told myself that if I was such a loser that I didn't know how to wash my hands correctly then I had no business being a nurse. Yes, there they are...those are the reasons I quit.

So, I started back at OU that September 2000 in order to finish my BS in Health Services Administration and put myself on the list to start nursing school at OU-Z September 2001.

Fast forward to June 2001 when I graduated from OU with my BS in Health--I was exhausted because this is what I did in 3 quarters:

1) Took 74 credit hours on the quarter system (20 fall, 26 winter and 28 spring)
2) Worked full-time at night as a Patient Care Assistant, worked part-time during the holidays at what-is-now Macy's and worked my part-time student job at OU.
3) Completed a 500 hour internship at Doctors Hospital North.
4) Completed a 1000 hour residency at Doctors Hospital North.
5) Commuted 1.5 hours each way to OU.

There were days that I slept maybe 2 hours, and it really was a miracle that I didn't get injured on the road. So, I just said that I needed some time off from school and withdrew from the program at OU-Z.

I moved to California the summer of 2002, and once again checked out the local nursing program there. But the waiting list was really long and I would have had to take a lot of things over just to get in, so I opted for grad school here instead. I loved it. Grad school was awesome and I loved going to Cal State. It took me a little longer than I had planned, but I finished in March 2006 with my Master of Science in Health Services Administration.

I moved back to Ohio in June 2004 and you guessed it, I looked around at the nursing school options. I'll save you the details, but I applied again at OU-Z and was accepted for Winter 2006. Given everything that had happened in the summer and fall of 2005, I had forgotten about even applying, and when I got my "Congratulations" packet in the mail October 2005, I was shocked. So, I discussed this with my wonderful parents with whom girlfriend and I were living, and they said that they would support us if I went to nursing school. The original plan was for us to only live there 6 months, but since I chose to go to nursing school we would be staying at least 2 more years. So, that was the agreement and off I went.

I remember the FIRST day of nursing school because that morning I remember being dramatic and looking at myself in the mirror and thinking, "Okay, this is IT. Last chance. I want to remember this moment because when I'm done with nursing school, I wonder how different my life will be at that point." Girlfriend was only 2 when I started and I knew that she would be about 4 when I was done; I had thought that I would be remarried (and there's a reason why, but I'm sure you all don't want the details); I was only 2 weeks post-divorce and still reeling from the emotions of that and just how would it feel to be an RN after all that time?

Nursing school, for me, was great. The days that I was getting up at 0330 for clinicals that began at 6 am were horrible. The 1.5 hour commute each way on a windy 2-lane state route was less than desirable. The teaching/learning group projects had me on the edge every quarter. I enjoyed being class president and our Program Director said on Friday night as she was handing me my Leadership award (which I need to find now that I think about it) that, "Elizabeth has displayed strong leadership with this group of students." Mostly because I was able to convince our School Director to allow us to complete our last quarter during this summer instead of taking the summer off and going fall quarter. I just did what needed to be done! :)

I had a lot of emotions Friday night. After I got ready, girlfriend decided that she wanted mom to get her ready so that I could see her. She looked like an angel and I told girlfriend that she looked beautiful. Mom said, "You girls made it." I lost it for a minute after that comment because this had been a lot of work for everyone and girlfriend truly had been a trooper for this time. I went to nursing school because I knew that I could provide an even better life for girlfriend with this degree tacked onto the others and that I would have good job stability as well. Back to the emotions: I had to keep them in check because of the whole speech and everyone was afraid that I would cry. I was determined NOT to cry. So, on my drive out to school I forced myself to listen to music that would "pump" me up.

I was so nervous during my speech that I was sure I blew through it. I was shaking so badly that I didn't put my foot all the way down for fear that my high heel would hit the wood floor and make a lot of noise! Then, I started to tear up when my name was read and Auntie L and girlfriend pinned me. I did cry when girlfriend and I handed mom the symbolic nursing "thank you" rose at the end and mom cried. But, I stopped myself.

It's done. Over. All of that work and time invested is finished. My life is not how I thought it would be at the end of nursing school, but it's great. Girlfriend was a champ and I am so glad that I was able to do this for us. Our life will be great...I just know it.

There's the whole motley crew sans Auntie L who took the picture.

There it is. That's all I'm saying about it.

Auntie L and girlfriend pinning me. When Auntie L is around, no one else matters, so it was great to have her and girlfriend pin me.

I'm really not sure what this has to do with pinning, but it looks like some fun was had on the way to the ceremony!

Pinning Ceremony

I'm just putting up the pictures for tonight...I'll add more later!

Baldies

I feel the need to get this out there: I've always had a thing for baldies. NOT the guys who try to cover it up, but the guys who either embrace their baldness and keep it shaved off, or the guys who choose to shave it off. Yes, either way I am a sucker for it. A friend in high school wore his shaved off, and I always thought it was cool, and different. These guys are two of my favorite celebrity bald guys! Interestingly enough, I am a fan of facial hair along with the baldness...if done right! Anyway, carry on...

CHECK THIS OUT!!!!!!!!!!!

This is so cool! It'll look even better one month from now, but look here! If it doesn't work, let me know!

Girlfriend's Outfit

After spending a scorching, sweltering 3 hours at Jeffersonville, I bought the first dress that I tried on girlfriend! Rochelle and girlfriend were good sports, though! I found it at Gymboree, but can't find the link to it. Today, I found the horrid, lacy socks to match the cream-colored polka dots and black mary janes to complete the look. So, that worry is off my mind! :)

Thanks to Kassie for her help with my links! Oddly enough, her advice to check out the help section worked!

Pinning Outfit Update

Well, 3 of 4 isn't bad. Mom liked everything but the shirt. So, off we went to Target again, and I was able to find one that works...I am excited about this outfit! I bought these, and subsequently will need to practice b/c I am not exactly graceful on my feet. I still need to find something for girlfriend to wear. So, Rochelle, girlfriend and I are headed here on Saturday to hopefully find something for girlfriend!

For the first time EVER...

I went to the movies by myself. I have never done this before, and quite honestly, I am not sure why. After having a lunch to celebrate the lovely Rochelle's 28th birthday (thank goodness she has caught up to me!), I thought that I would go sit in the air conditioned theater and watch HAIRSPRAY! I missed the first 10 mintues of it, so I am sure that I will just have to go see it again! I loved the original, and this one was great. I almost didn't know how to act since I was by myself. You see, usually, I am fielding questions from girlfriend about the movie we're watching or making 300 potty trips b/c girlfriend has to visit the bathroom every place that we go at least once. It was great, and then I found an outfit for the pinning ceremony, but it is pending Mom's approval! :) Now, to find something for girlfriend and decide what to say...

Pinning Speech Dilemma

So, in roughly 3 weeks I have to give the "Class President" address at our pinning ceremony b/c there was that one time about a year ago when I lost my mind and agreed to be Class President. You might not think this to be a big deal, and really it's not, it's just that I have just about had it with listening to 40+ adults moan and complain. But mom keeps reminding me that I asked for it and my fantastically wonderful friend from nursing school just keeps laughing and entertaining my complaining to her! What a great friend! Anyway, I was talking tonight to our class secretary/treasurer and told her that I just have no idea what to say but that I wanted to speak for more than 30 seconds but no more than 5 minutes. She said, "Oh yes, 5 minutes is LONG enough!" So, I took the hint. But now, what do I say?

Here we are slicked up for church. I needed a picture for our pinning ceremony slideshow and kept forgetting...it's not everyday that we're dressed up, so I finally remembered at the eleventh hour that we needed one, and mom was able to help us out. NOT, that I'm on the man-hunt, but my grandma has been giving me advice and oddly enough, I've been taking it and it seems to be working. We moved to a new ward and I told my grandma that I didn't see any single guys my age (or relatively close anyway) and she asked me if I "looked good." I told her that I thought I looked all right and she just laughed and said, "I meant, did you LOOK around the congregation!"

This is new

As everyone else says, "this is my feeble attempt at blogging." So, here I go...