Stress-out time!

Next week is finals week! I will have one final each day, Monday through Thursday. At least they're spread out a little, so I don't have to go in Monday prepared for all of them. I am going to be stressing out for the next week until these are over!!

Not only do I have to study for all these finals, but I have to write a 5 page research paper for my English class and do peer reviews for 2 other people's papers and submit feedback on their papers to my teacher. The paper is due to my peer group by tomorrow, and then my final paper as well as the feedback on the other papers is due Sunday. AAAAHHHHHH!!!

Two more weeks...

I just have 2 more weeks of school for this quarter! This Tuesday in nutrition, we are presenting our 2nd projects. Each of us was to choose a dish that relates to our culture, make it (along with the recipe and nutritional value) and bring it in to class. So, all we're doing in there is eating and reviewing for the final. I think I can handle that. :)

Just one more week of Saturday cinicals, woo! I hate getting up at 5:00 am!! Though, next quarter, I'll have clinicals 2 days each week rather than just one. That's gonna suck! Hopefully I'll be somewhere that's not 45 minutes away from where I live. That would be a nice change. Not gonna count on it though.

Now, I'm getting ready head out with my kiddos for one last trip to the pool for this summer, then home to work on some assignments for school.

Just a few more days!

The kids will be starting back to school next week. It didn't really seem like summer break to me this year. Probably because I have been going to school summer quarter. But, we didn't really do much in the way of "summer activities" like we normally do. In the past, the kids and I spent a lot of time at the pool, going to the park, etc. This year, not so much. The number of times we went swimming this summer can probably be counted on one hand. I feel kinda bad, like they didn't really have much of a vacation, but at least they had time off from school, and that's the biggest thing, I guess.

If the weather is nice on Monday, I am going to take them to Zoombezi Bay. I think it's the least I can do for them, since Tuesday is the first day of school for the girls (the boy starts kindergarten on Thursday). I really don't want to go on the weekend, as it's likely to be much, much busier. Plus, I like the idea of doing something fun with them on their last day of summer break. Fingers crossed for warm, sunny weather on Monday!

Midterms done, time for more quizzes!

Well, midterms are finally over. I did well on them all, thankfully. I actually got an A on my IV Therapy midterm, which is good, because I did not do so hot on the first quiz in there. However, the really hard stuff in there is yet to come: respiratory and metabolic alkalosis/acidosis. For some reason, I have a very difficult time grasping this, especially the more in depth it goes.

This week, I have 2 quizzes. One tomorrow in maternal/child and one Wednesday in psychosocial. I've been a complete slacker since I left school last Wednesday. Winding down after the stress of midterms, I've not done any studying and have done very bad on my diet and exercising. :(

Today, I did get back to some studying, since I have a quiz tomorrow. I also have some case studies to do for homework, due tomorrow, that I haven't started on. :o

So, I suppose I need to stop blogging and start working....cannot freaking *wait* to be done with school!!!

Ok...

Three midterms down...one to go! The hardest one! I really hope I pass it. It is worth 35% of my grade in the class. EEK!

Just wondering...

Will it ever get better? Sigh!

FML

Can't shake the funk!!

I need motivation!

I am sick of being stuck at my current weight! Sometimes I wish I didn't hate vomiting so much. :o

I also have tons of work to get done for school; studying, papers, etc. I can't seem to just sit down and do it. Then, I always end up cramming at the last minute...argh!

I have plenty of things left to unpack and put away at home too, though at least I'm FINALLY done getting everything out of the apartment and got the keys turned in today, so no more trips back there!

I just can't get motivated, I'm feeling very depressed lately :(

I'm a loser!

So, I'm not only a slacker on this blog, but also on my "weight loss" blog. And, let's face it, on the whole "losing weight" thing as well. :( I haven't updated my weight loss blog since freaking MARCH! Gah! I suck at life.

Well, I guess I mainly stopped updating because I wasn't losing any weight. Somehow I've managed to lose a couple of pounds over the last week. Probably stress related. I definitely haven't been actively trying, and I haven't been to the gym in at least a month. I really do need to get back on it. I also need to start drinking more. I think I'm likely a little dehydrated.

I have 2 more quizzes this week. One in my online English class, and one in my IV Therapy class. Both are on Wednesday, and neither one am I prepared for. I am such a procrastinator! Sigh... Well, at least if it's the stress causing me to drop lb's, then this should be another good week for it!

I'm a slacker

It's not so much that I haven't had anything going on lately, I just never feel like taking the time out to blog about them. Here are the basics:

New house- still moving stuff, still unpacking...slowly between studying and writing papers for school...still have blinds and ceiling fans that need put up, still need a fridge!! You don't realize how much you rely on your fridge until you don't have one. :(

New quarter at school- 2 weeks into 3rd quarter. Already turned in one paper, taken 3 quizzes, and gone to 2 clinicals. I won't have any clinicals again this quarter until August 15th. So, good news this quarter is I don't have to go every week. Bad news is that my clinicals (aside from the 2 I already had) will be on Saturday mornings. Early. 7:00 am- 11:30 am. At least they're only 4 hours. The first one though, I have to be there at 6:30 am. Nice.

Umm, I guess that's about it.

The weekend...

It has been a very busy weekend so far. Looks like it will stay that way too. On Friday, we dropped the kids off at my grandma's, went to get utilities turned over, closed on a house, went to lunch, stopped at a friend's house to pick up some paint supplies, then it was back to pick up the kids, stopped to buy a bunch of paint, and head to the house to start a crazy amount of painting.

There are 7 rooms that I want to get painted before moving in. So far, after spending all of Friday evening, and all of yesterday afternoon/evening there, I think 2 of the rooms are actually all the way done. Two other rooms have been started, one of which 3 of the 4 walls are done, I just forgot to buy the paint for the "accent wall", so that's all that needs done in there. That leaves 3 rooms that haven't even been started. I knew that this was going to take a while, but I figured, for whatever reason, that it would be further along by this point. Oh well.

So, now I need to get ready for church, then it'll be back to the house for yet another day of painting. At least it's good exercise!

Hmm...

I'm very sleepy. Guess I should go to bed instead of trying to think of something to blog about.

Today:

This morning, I spent well over 2 hours in the waiting room of the dentist's office with two whiney kids while we waited for my oldest to get a root canal and a broken tooth fixed. (Long story short, we were told she had this root canal done 3 and a half years ago when she first broke her tooth, and were charged for it, but it had actually not been done...we find this out when she breaks the resin off the tooth again a week ago and we go to get it fixed). Anywho, she had to be on antibiotics for a week before they could do the work today. So, silly me, I thought I would just take the other 2 kids and hang out in the waiting room. Not sure what I was thinking there...

Anyway, they told me as we were checking out that she was due to come back for a cleaning. I told them that I was also due for one and she said they had openings this afternoon. Well, that's good, I guess. Usually we have to wait a bit before getting in. So, I'm headed back out in just a few to get my teeth sparkly clean! :-) This time, I am dropping the other 2 kids off at my SIL's house first!!

Tonight, I have some family coming into town and we are having a get-together at my grandmother's house for pizza and chillin'.

One more to go...

I have 3 finals out of the way. Just have to go in tomorrow for my lab check-off final. We checked off on 4 skills this quarter: sterile dressing changes (wound care), trach care, NG tube, and foley catheter. I'll draw one of these 4 skills out of a bowl, and that's the one I'll have to do.

It kinda sucks that I don't know ahead of time which skill I'll need to do, because I can't just concentrate on practicing that one skill. I have to know them all beginning to end, and know how to properly document each procedure as well. In a way, I suppose, that is good, because I have to know how to do them all, but for the sake of studying it would have been nice.

So, once I get that out of the way I will officially be half way through the LPN portion of my nursing program! Woo!

Well, guess it's time for me to go get my sleep on so I can be ready to get this over with tomorrow!

UGH!!

I am SO ready for this quarter to be over! I hit a wall about a week ago. I have spent many hours studying in this last week and I feel like I just can't retain anything I am reading! I am in dire need of my upcoming 2.5 week break before Summer quarter starts!!!

Taking a breath

I spent a good part of the afternoon yesterday working on school work. Today, I finished up with some assignments I'd been working on and got them all submitted. Just that much less to worry about.

I also went to the pool today, for the first time (of many, I'm sure) of the season. The kids really wanted to go, as they do every day, so I took a book over and read for an hour while they swam. It was sort of relaxing...except for about the 100 times I got splashed with freezing cold water. We got back home just as Pete was leaving, with his dad, to go to PA to pick up his grandfather's vehicle to bring back to Ohio. His grandfather recently passed away, so his dad is going to either keep or sell it.

Right now the kids are outside playing, I finished my book, and I'm enjoying a few minutes of quiet. Sure, I have more school stuff I could be working on, but...nah....I think I'll just sit here and enjoy doing nothing! :-)

Cancelled

I got a call from my clinical instructor this morning just as I got out of bed and turned on my flat iron. She is sick and was calling to tell me she was sorry but would have to cancel our clinicals for today. To which, of course, I told her it was ok, and that I hope she feels better, but on the inside was saying YES! I'm going back to sleep!!

Unfortunately, I was unable to fall back asleep, because since I was awake, my daughter was apparently incapable of pulling her own hair up into a ponytail, like she does herself every other morning, and so I had to do that, then listen to my other daughter complain about how she was running late because she was waiting until the last minute to get ready, and then my son woke up.

So, now that I've fed my son and myself breakfast, and I have some coffee, I should get started on studying for the quizzes I have tomorrow and Friday...

No rest for the weary...

This week is going to be pretty busy too, looks like. I just finished with my 1st psychology assignment for this week, so at least that is out of the way. I don't have another one due in there until Sunday night, and it involves a 2 page paper, or 8 PowerPoint slides. Probably won't be terribly difficult, but most likely rather boring work and may be slightly time consuming.

I have a care plan rough draft due at my clinical on Wednesday, as well as another paper on a disease process.

This Friday, 2 other assignments are due as well. One is a case study for my pharmacology class, and the other is a group poster project that our clinical groups have to work together on. One other person and myself are in charge of making up the poster to go along with a paper on the musculoskeletal system. It shouldn't be very difficult either, but it will also be time consuming.

I've been in a funk lately, and haven't been feeling very motivated. It's really not cool! All I want to do is cry or sleep. Or, sleep so that I'm not crying. Hhhhhhhhhhh. It's frustrating. I hate feeling this way. Perhaps it's partly due to PMS (cramping and bloating is on it's way this week!), but I know that isn't my main problem. There are other factors too. But I have just got to get over it!!

...

:'(

Phew!

I'm so glad to have this week behind me! Midterms are over, I survived. I am taking tonight off...not working on any school work. Gonna maybe have dinner with my dad and the kids, and then hang out just me and my kiddos tonight. :-)

Stressed

I have been totally stressing out the past couple of weeks with school. There is SO much work and SO much studying, it's insane. I knew this was not going to be a cake walk going in, but sheesh! There are papers and care plans and case studies and quizzes and skill check-offs and registration for next quarter and MID-TERMS!!! It is never-ending!

This week has been extremely stressful. On top of all of my regular school work that needs taken care of, I have been studying for exams (one Monday, one today, and one tomorrow). I literally spent all of last evening studying for today's test, which I think actually went pretty well, and have spent all of this evening so far, studying for tomorrow's.

I know, this is what I signed up for, I shouldn't complain. It's just kinda taking a toll on me. I have housework backing up, my kids can't seem to leave me alone for 5 minutes straight when I'm trying to study, I'm biting people's heads off left and right, and, and, and....I just need a break!

I think if I make it through tomorrow's lectures and exam, I'm going to need a huge drink of something strong!!

Welp, gotta study some more, so off I go. I *really* wish I had a photographic memory!! (I also really wish I could stop effing stress-eating!) hhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhh!

Hmmm...

Had a friend from the past request me on facebook recently. We were very good friends for many years, then she met some loser and married him 6 weeks later, now he has spent all her money, left her crazy in debt, and finally has left her (so I hear). While she and this guy were together, he would totally manipulate her and keep her from interacting with any of her old friends because we were apparently all "bad influences on her". So, over the last couple of years, we have basically fallen out of contact with each other. I did babysit her daughter for a while, but beyond that, we had no friendship whatsoever. She had just turned into a completely different person than the one I was friends with.

Anyway, she asked me tonight to meet her for lunch next week. I'm a little concerned. I didn't want to be rude and not respond, or tell her no. And, I am interested to see how she is doing now and I hope she is doing well. So, I will meet her (unless she cancels, which she was notorious for doing in the past) but, it is probably going to be a bit awkward. We'll see...

Study time

I have so much studying to do! So, naturally, I'm blogging instead. I have 2 tests on Friday. One in pharmacology and one in my nursing class. For my pharm class, we are covering beta blockers, alpha blockers, expectorants, and I'm sure there are others, but I can't think of them right now. In nursing, we are going over common lab tests, and I have to know the normal values for like a million different lab tests. There is no freaking way I am going to remember all this crap!

Thursday, I will have to check off on sterile dressing changes in my lab. Hopefully that will go ok. As soon as I get that one out of the way, I need to begin looking at trach care and suctioning (yum) for my next checkoff.

Tomorrow is clinical, and I still have paperwork to complete from last week to turn in tomorrow. *sigh* At least I got my Wednesday psych assignment done yesterday, so that's one less thing for me to worry about this week.

Tonight I am watching my youngest 2 nephews for about 5 hours, so I guess I should get off of here now and get my study on!

Next week: mid-terms! Ahh!

New bike and 4 less teeth

My baby boy turned 5 on Sunday, and we had a party for him at Magic Mountain. He had a good time and got lots of nice presents. His favorite was his new bike! He calls it his "two-wheeler bike". So cute!



Yesterday morning I went in and had my wisdom teeth extracted. That was not very fun. I have been told for years, by more than one dentist and my orthodontist, that they needed to come out. I even went in for a consultation with this oral surgeon back in 2006, but then didn't end up going through with the surgery then. After having more issues with pain and swelling around the teeth, I finally decided it was time to get them out.

I went in at 7:40 in the morning and they pretty much took me right back. Once I was in the chair, they hooked up all these monitors and oxygen to me and started an IV. The next thing I (vaguely) remember was them having me stand up from the chair and get into a wheelchair where they then wheeled me out to my car. I had gauze sticking out of each side of my mouth, completeing the effect of my looking like a walrus.

After that, I remember getting home and walking inside and down the stairs to the recliner. (I was told not to lay flat, and that a recliner would be ideal.) I laid there and slept for a few more hours. I pretty much stayed in that chair for the rest of the day, except for trips to the bathroom and getting water. They actually recommended that I sleep last night in the chair, but I was actually quite uncomfortable from sitting there for so long. So, I ended up sleeping in my bed propped up on my pillows. Surprisingly, I slept pretty well.

I'm still in some pain today though. It hurts quite a bit to even open my mouth to talk. I've taken 2 vicodin since the procedure, and I'm trying to avoid taking them if I don't absolutely need to. But, I may have to take one more today and hopefully I'll be good to go.

My weekend...

Wow, let me tell you, any time your day starts off with sitting on the toilet and puking into a bag, you can pretty much guarantee it's not going to be a good day. That was my day yesterday. I spent my enitire day either in bed or in the bathroom. Not good times! I did lose about 4 lbs of water weight yesterday though. Of course, I expect those to all come back. :(

So, I missed a quiz in my lab yesterday, but hopefully I will be able to make that up next week. I feel much better today. Not great, but significantly better. I had my first 2 tests of the quarter today. I think they went pretty well, so that is good.

Tonight, I agreed to watch a friend's daughter, and I have to take my son to the first of 3 birthday parties for this weekend. He is bowling from 6-9 tonight (and I'll have to take all the girls with me too. Fun, fun). Tomorrow, I am going to a bridal shower, and my son has another birthday party to attend at the same time, so Pete will have to take him to that party and deal with the girls. Haha! :o Then on Sunday, my baby boy is turning 5!!! His birthday party will be Sunday afternoon.

Some time tomorrow, I will have to fit in buying presents and party stuff for my son's birthday. I stopped after classes today and bought the shower gift and the two kiddie birthday presents. I will also need to find the time to do my psych assignment that is due Sunday night. Ugh! My weekend is gone before it even starts!

Today in a list:

*My head is throbbing!

*I've been having the same stomach pains all day that I was having a few weeks ago

*I had a consultation with an oral surgeon today

*Have an appointment to get my wisdom teeth extracted next Monday! :o

*I started my period (I know you were dying to know that!)

*Still have to study my patient's meds for tomorrow's clinical so that I can pass them. (Of course my patient would have to be one with 20+ different meds!)

*All I've had to eat today is a handful of pretzel sticks. I'm hungry!

* I am hoping to go to bed early tonight. I feel like I could pass out now! ZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZ

I just need to do this...

AAAAAAAAAAAAAHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHH!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

Carry on.

Learning, Shopping, Gyming

Well, we ended up having clinical today. We got a new instructor, so it doesn't look like there will be any going in late or leaving very early, but I'm pretty sure it will be a good thing. The facility I am at is a million times nicer than the one I was in last quarter. Last quarter's place was a filthy, nasty, dump. I seriously didn't even want to sit down in that place let alone touch anything. This place seems very clean and actually nice, as far as nursing homes go.

We did get finished a little bit early today, which was nice. So, since I had some extra time, I stopped at the mall to do a little shopping and then hit the gym before picking up my son. :)

Spring Quarter

Spring quarter at my school officially started last week. I ended up only having to go on Thursday, though. Wednesday was my first scheduled clinical of the quarter, and the instructor cancelled because he couldn't make it, and Friday the school was closed for Good Friday.

I've been assigned to the same clinical instructor as last quarter and I'm not sure if this will be good or bad. He is a really nice and laid back guy. More often than not, he has us come in later than the scheduled 7:00 am, and leave before the scheduled end of shift. However, he's also quite unorganized and I think everyone in my first quarter group agrees that we did not receive the highest quality clinical experience with him. It wasn't such a huge deal first quarter, because we were mostly doing STNA work (such as filling ice cups, taking vitals, giving bed baths, etc.). None of us really minded missing out on some of those things, but this quarter we will be passing meds to patients along with other more in-depth nursing skills that will be essential for us to get adequate practice with.

I noticed my instructor's facebook status yesterday said that he is sick. I am hoping that he is not going to cancel on us again tomorrow!

Pedi anyone?

So, it is officially Spring, right? Which means it's time to break out the flip flops and sandals. It also means that the piggies need to be pretty. Am I right, ladies? So, I put away the darker colors I'd been using for Fall and Winter, and decided to give myself a french pedicure.

I am by no means a pro, and it always takes me forever to get them to look half way decent, but in the end, it makes me feel just a little bit better about myself, so, I endure the process. Up close they aren't so great, but from a distance, they don't look terrible.

And, since I know you're dying to see pictures of my feet (ha!)...

Ow!

I guess I'm just full of whiney lately, but my throat is hurting so bad! I really hope it isn't strep. I used to get strep throat at least once a year, sometimes more. I think my kids are carriers! The past year or two, I have been fortunate enough not to get it. I don't seem to have a fever with it, at least for now, so I'm hoping it will just go away soon. I still feel like crap though. =(

Lazy day

I didn't get a whole lot of sleep last night. I stayed up way too late reading Eclipse. Then, sometime in the night, I started experiencing very sharp, stabbing pains across my upper abdomen. It would come and go, happening a few times and then subsiding. Each time, it disturbed my sleep.

Then I had to get up early, so that I could go pick up my grandparents and take them to an eye Dr. appointment at freaking 8:10 in the morning! They insisted on stopping for breakfast at Cracker Barrel on the way home, so we did. I was still having the pains in my stomach though, so I only ate a few bites. It seemed to get worse when I ate. They hurt soooo bad! I felt light-headed and nauseous with each pain.

So, I dropped them off and headed home. Since then, I've spent pretty much the rest of my day in bed. I am still getting pains now and then, but not as often, and not as harsh, it seems. Now I'm extremely thirsty, because I haven't even felt like getting up to get water. :( I think I need to go do that now though.

One good thing about being in bed all day...I finished Eclipse and started in on Breaking Dawn!

Hmmph!

Life sucks!!

51

Today, my mom would have turned 51. I can't believe it's been over 5 years that she's been gone. I miss her so much! Happy Birthday, mommy!

Field Trip

I got out of my last class of the quarter today (which wasn't so much a class as a poster project presentation day) just in time to go pick up my son from my grandma and take him on a field trip to the Blooms and Butterflies exibit at the Franklin Park Conservatory. He had a good time, and I was glad it worked out for me to be able to take him on his field trip. Here are a few pics from today:


This is one of the butterflies we saw in the atrium. I think this pic turned out really well.


Most uncomfortable chair in the world, I would think. Covered in cactuses (cacti?).


Planting a flower


Us at the conservatory. He always makes the goofiest faces when posing for pictures. This is the best one I could get of him. :)
**(Btw, he insists on buttoning up the top button on his shirts. I didn't do that to him.)

Are we there yet? No.

I am still in need of that break. Just 3 more days of lectures and labs and 2 more clinical days left of this quarter. Next week is finals week! Then I think I have a week off before starting in on Spring quarter. A week just doesn't seem like enough time off. :( But it is better than none, that's for sure! Apparently Winter quarter was originally supposed to start a week earlier than it did, which would have given me a 2 week break. Not to mention, I could still use that break from reality as well! Sigh...

I started reading the Twilight series recently. I took the girls to see the movie and I actually really liked it, so I read the first book (which I liked even more than the movie). When I finished that, I read what is out there of Midnight Sun which, of course, is Twilight written from Edward's perspective rather than Bella's. I am so not happy that the book wasn't finished! I want to read the rest of it, dang it!

Last night, I started in on reading New Moon. I got about 125 pages in before falling asleep. I am going to read myself to sleep again tonight...and every night until I finish the book. And then, I will do it some more with the other 2 books in the series. I guess that this is the closest thing to a break from reality that I'm gonna get for now. :/

For the record...

Let me just say right now, that I never, ever, EVER want to work in a nursing home. More than that, I never, ever, EVER, EVER, infinite EVER's, want to live in one!!!!

This is not anything new. Nothing that just popped into my head recently. My mom worked in a nursing home for years when I was a kid, and I knew this then. But being in a nursing home for my clinicals, just kind of brought this all back to mind once again after so many years. So depressing! Not to mention...they smell bad. :o

Pain, pain, go away...

I just want the pain to go away! All of it. Physical, emotional, psychological, etc. Just GO AWAY!!!!!

Funky Town

I am so ready for a break! From school, from responsibility...from life! I am so tired and I can't seem to shake this funk I've been in. I try to put on a happy face and just get through my days, but I'll tell you what, it is not easy. :(

On a brighter note, I got my classes scheduled for next quarter. It is 3 credit hours less than I'm taking this quarter (which is 17). I don't want to say that it will be easier, because I really don't think that it will be, but my schedule doesn't seem so bad.

I will be "off" on Mondays and Tuesdays, I'll have my clinicals on Wednesdays from 7:00 am to 4:30 pm, Thursdays I'll have classes from 9:00 am until 2:30 pm, and Fridays classes will be 8:00 am to 1:00 pm. I'm also taking a psychology class online to keep full time status (and the financial aid that goes along with it). But, by taking this psych. class next quarter, I won't have to take it 3rd quarter, which will hopefully lighten my course load for that quarter.

I just cannot wait to be done though!

New specs!

My 9 year old daughter got her first pair of glasses yesterday. She had been having trouble seeing the board in her class at school and also failed the eye exam the school nurse administered recently. So, here she is showing off her new specs!

School Update

Well, my first official day of clinicals went pretty well. We didn't really do anything. We had to meet at the facility at 7 am. I am SO not a morning person! I set my alarm for 5:50 am. I think the last time I was awake at that time, it was because I had not yet been to sleep! And that has been a looooong time. Anyway, I ended up making it there on time. Actually, I was there before my instructor, so that's all that matters. ;)

So we got settled in there and then split up in pairs and did a scavenger hunt to find a list of things like med. carts, shower room, fire extinguishers, dining area, etc, just to get us acquainted with the building. After that, we sat back down with our instructor where he just went over the kinds of things we'll be doing while we're there. We were done and out of there by 10:30 am. Next week is when we will be getting into actually interacting more with patients, taking blood pressures, and all that.

This quarter seems to be flying by, which is a good thing, but there is just SO much information being passed in such a short amount of time, and I'm so scared that I won't remember everything I need to know! I have an exam in Anatomy and Physiology in the morning. This is the third exam for this class, and the first one for which the teacher did not give us a study guide. I hope that I can figure out what to study and get a good grade on it. I'm so nervous. Wish me luck!

Bummed!

I was supposed to start my nursing clinicals today. We all met at school this morning, had a short meeting, and then split up into about 7 different groups. Each group has their own instructor and their own nursing home facility to go to. We all sat down with our instructors and got to know them a little bit before heading out. My instructor seems like a really laid-back, nice guy. He's younger than I am, which makes me feel a little old, but it's alright. :)

Well, we got to our site only to find out that we couldn't stay! It's a little unclear to me as to why they didn't want us there. Before we left the school this morning, we were told that there were issues with one of the student nurses from our school last quarter at that clinical site and that the nurses and staff there did not want us to come back.

When we got there, the instructor had us wait outside while he talked to them. He came back out telling us that they were jumping down his throat saying that he looked like he was about 12 years old, telling him they didn't want our school's students there and just being completely rude to him. They also said that they had been cited for a few different things, and they couldn't have any student nurses in there until at least May so they could get their stuff straightened out.

So, I'm not sure if the issue is because of the student nurse from our school, or because they are in trouble for their wrong-doings. Either way, my group did get to have our clinical today. I'm bummed because that is valuable hands-on time and experience that I missed out on. They are looking for another clinical site to send us to tomorrow, which is apparently not easy to do. I really hope they find us a place and we don't have to split our group up to join other groups!

**Update: We got a new clinical site aleady! Woo!

Happy Birthday!

My baby girl turned 9 years old today! I don't really have anything else for ya, and I need to leave and take her to basketball practice, so I'll leave you with a picture I just took of me with her on her big 0-9!



I love you, baby!

Feeling the guilt

I just found out that my son's preschool is having a craft day this Wednesday, during class time, where the moms are going in to make Valentine's crafts with their preschoolers. I will not be able to go to it because I have a lab Wednesday afternoon, and can't miss it. I'm feeling really guilty and totally bummed out about it. I feel even worse that my grandma, who watches my son most days while I'm at school, cannot go in to take my place as she cannot leave my grandfather alone anymore. It breaks my heart to think of him being the only kid there without a mom or grandma to make crafts with.

On top of that, on April 8th, they are having mom's day at preschool, where mom's go in and spend the day at school with their kids. I will just be starting Spring quarter on the 6th of April, so I doubt I will be able to miss classes that day either. I feel so bad that I'm going to be missing out on these things along with, I am sure, several other similar opportunities!! (Great...here come the waterworks... sigh.)

Stupid Snow part 2!

Today I was supposed to have a test in my nursing concepts class, as well as be tested on peri care in lab. Yesterday, the teachers stressed that unless we got a level 3 snow emergency, we would have classes as scheduled and the tests would go on. They mentioned how last year during the blizzard, they had a power outage at the school and took tests in rooms with lots of windows, so the chances of us not having these tests today was not good.

So, this morning, in a level 2, I made my way to school...averaging about 35 mph on the freeway. As soon as I walked into the classroom, I was told that the nursing concepts class and test were cancelled today as well as this afternoon's lab. So the only class I had today was A & P, for which we had a guest speaker who ended up being late.

I'm a little upset that I risked my life driving into school this morning (and again driving back home) basically for nothing, however, I did not feel fully prepared for the tests today, so I am glad to have some extra study time!

Stupid Snow!

Don't get me wrong, I don't mind a little snow. It's pretty, and fun to play in, but it just wrecks people's days. It took me an hour to drive to school this morning, when on a normal traffic day, it only takes about 25 minutes. I even left a little early this morning, to allow myself some extra time, but I did not figure it would take me over twice as long as usual to get there. People freaking suck at driving! I spent the first 35 minutes of my trip this morning going a total of about 6 miles. That sucks a$$!

I finally get there, and the guest lecturer we were supposed to have today (since our normal teacher for that class is out of town this week) was coming from Dayton, and ended up not even coming in because of the snow! We ended up watching about an hour worth of very-poorly-acted-out videos circa 1985 that we were supposed to watch today anyway, after that class. But I am a little upset, because my daughters had a 2 hour delay this morning for school, and the whole way in I just kept thinking that I should have just stayed home this morning and came in for my lab this afternoon at 2:30.

Oh well, I ended up leaving after the videos and going to the gym, which I probably wouldn't have done if I had stayed home this morning. So, I guess something positive came out of it, huh?

5 years

Today marks 5 years since my mom passed away. I remember finding out the terrible news all too well. On the night of the 22nd, my younger daughter had gone sliding across the kitchen floor and fell flat on her nose. We took her to the urgent care, because we were pretty sure that her nose was broken. When we got back from there, I thought about calling my mom to let her know, but it was kind of late, so I figured I would wait until the next day to call. Sadly, I never got the chance.

Some time around 2:30 or 3:00 am, we were woken up by the doorbell being rung repeatedly along with a constant, loud banging on the front door. Pete got up and looked out the window and said "it's the police!". Our first thought was that our security system had gone off and we somehow missed it. So, he went downstairs and answered the door. Within seconds, he was back upstairs telling me that it was my SIL and her father (who is a cop and was on duty at the time) at the door and that something was wrong with my mom. For some reason, the ringer on our bedroom phone had been turned off, so repeated attempts to call us that night had failed, so they came to our house.

I walked to the bottom of the stairs, where they stood, just inside the door. My SIL said that my mom was at the hospital, and asked if I wanted to know what happened then, or wait til we got there. I said I wanted to know. She proceeded to tell me that my mom had had a massive heart attack...and she didn't make it. I remember shaking my head and saying "No, this isn't supposed to happen right now". There I was 6 months pregnant, and she was only 45 years old!

Trin's dad insisted that I ride to the hospital in the cruiser. That drive, which was actually probably less than 10 minutes, seemed to take an eternity. I sat in the front seat, shaking and trying not to throw up, as the lights on the side of the road were a complete blur to me.

Apparently, my mom had gone upstairs to bed around 10pm, and my dad had fallen asleep in the living room watching tv. He woke up and went up to bed around 1:00 am, and had found her lifeless, lips turning blue. He immediately called 911, and they tried to revive her, and continued to do so even after arriving at the hospital, but it was simply too late. I still feel bad to this day, that I did not just call her that previous night. Even if I had woken her up, I would have been able to hear her voice one last time, and tell her I love her one last time.

I am 29 years old, and there are still times when I need my mommy! She was always the person I would call whenever I was feeling happy or sad or overwhelmed. I talked to her every day. That time was extremely difficult for me, because I was devastated, and I couldn't call her and talk to her about it.

I am currently going through a very trying and stressful time in my life, and I would love to have my mom around to comfort me and hug me. I miss her SO very much!!!

Shopping anyone?

Something happened to my iphone yesterday. I'm not sure what, but I couldn't use it. It kept telling me that I had no service and that it was activating. So I stopped into Best Buy, where I got it, to see if they could figure out what the problem was and fix it for me. Of course, they couldn't. They told me I'd have to go to an AT&T store. So I found out where one was and went.

The guy there thought it was the SIM card and replaced it. Unfortunately, that was not the problem. At that point the phone was saying that it needed a repair and I was sent on my way to the Apple store. The guy there never did tell me what the problem with the phone was, but he ended up issuing me a new one. The only problem with that, is now I have to re-enter all of my contact information (hopefully I can remember everyone's numbers, or at least get them to tell me again), and I will also have to re-download all the apps I already had on my phone.

On a positive note, I got me some awesome deals today while I was out and about. I stopped in Old Navy and they were having a huge sale. 50% off of clearance items! I walked out of there with 2 bags full of stuff for $17.24! I got my daughters each a shirt, and a total of 5 pairs of pants that ended up being .48 cents a piece! Got my son a pair of pj pants for $3.49, and myself jeans for $5.49, gray cords for $1.49, and a pair of black tights for $2.24. Nice!

Of course I couldn't stop there, I then went to the JC Penney outlet store and picked up a couple new pairs of scrubs (tops and bottoms) for under $22. Not bad, if I do say so myself!

Bed baths and beyond!

Today in nursing lab, we got tested on sterile gloving and focused on patient perineal care. We have anatomically correct mannequins on which to learn. We worked in groups (because there are only 4 mannequins) and gave the "patients" bed baths. We had to ungown them, bathe them (focusing on peri care), and change the bedding all while they were laying in the beds.

This wasn't just any bath though. Our "patients" had vomit on the front of their gowns, and had also wet and soiled their beds. And, when we turned them on their sides in bed, they leaked mucus from their trache sites. Mmmmm!

I cannot WAIT til I get to go to the nursing home during clinicals and do all this on real live people! (read sarcasm here!)

Anyway, we will all be tested in our long lab next week on what we learned today. That should be great. I was nervous today just being tested on putting on and taking off sterile gloves properly! Fortunately, I did it perfectly the first time, so yay me! Wish me luck for next week!

Pondering

I just ate a bowl of raisin bran sweetened with a packet of splenda with fiber. I wonder what the outcome of that will be...so to speak.

Kid quote

My daughter was eating a banana and started talking about how they are filled with protein. So I asked her with a smirk "Do bananas have a lot of protein?" Her response: "Mommy, I'm eleven. I don't know everything."

Well, that's news to me! I thought eleven year olds indeed know everything, or at least think they do!

4 year old logic

I had the following conversation with my 4 year old son on our way home this afternoon:

Him: I want a pet. I want to get a Cat and name him Butthead.

Me: Baby, we can't have a cat because then mommy would sneeze all the time.

Him: Well, don't smell it.

Mmm...cereal!

I usually start my day with a bowl of cereal. My cereal of choice lately has been Special K Red Berries (well, ok, the Great Value brand "Strawberry Awake"). It is very delicous!


So, while walking around Giant Eagle the other day, I saw that they had Special K cereals on sale, so I picked up a couple of boxes. (Btw, I don't think G.E. even sells generic cereals. If they did, I didn't see any.) I grabbed the Chocolatey Delight, because I'm a major chocoholic!

I must say, I am not a fan of this cereal. It basically has zero flavor. I am very disappointed. I figured there was no way I could go wrong with chocolate cereal, but I was very wrong. I don't know if it has "diet" chocolate in it or what, but it just wasn't good. Maybe my kids will eat it.

I also got a box of the Cinnamon Pecan.

This one is MUCH better. I had a bowl of this for breakfast today, and it was quite delectable.

Now I need to decide which flavor to try next!

Sweetness!

I love my little guy SO much! He is rotten as can be, but also the sweetest boy ever! I was dropping him off at pre-school this afternoon for the first day back after Christmas break, and as the teacher opened the door and welcomed the kids into the classroom, he walked toward the door and stopped, turned around, and (unprompted) gave me the "I love you" sign.

It was sooo cute and so freakin' sweet! He's definitely got me wrapped around those cute little fingers of his. :)

While I'm on the subject of sweet...I saw an ad for this in my Women's Health magazine today:

Splenda with fiber! Looks interesting. I'll have to give it a try for sure.

A little nervous, a little excited!

I am feeling so many emotions in regards to going back to school. I took classes Fall quarter, but they were all online. One week from tomorrow, I will be starting nursing school. My classes will, for the most part, all be on campus. I will be going to school year-round for nearly 2 and a half years.

I'll be honest, I am nervous about going back to school! I'm worried about how I will do, if I'll make friends easily, if I'll somehow screw something up, what the eff I'm going to do with my kids over the summer while I am in school, and many other things. I am excited, however, to get this all started and over with. I want to be done with school NOW, and the longer I put it off, the longer it will be until I can finally graduate and start my career. As it is, I'll already be 31 when I get my RN. (Not that that is old, but when I think about how long I could have been doing this already if I had gone to college right out of high school...)

I'm sure it will all work out and the next 2.5 years will fly (I hope!), but I am just a bit anxious!

Time for a change...

It has been a while since I have changed my hair, and the color was starting to grow out. Fortunately, the difference between the color and my natural hair color was not drastic. However, I saw some pictures of myself that my aunt took in November and I could definitely see my roots in them. I've been wanting to highlight my hair again for a while now, and when I saw those pictures, I decided it was time. So, I bought a do-it-yourself highlighting kit and got to work today.

It was the kind where you have to put on this plastic bonnet and then poke holes in the cap and pull strips of you hair through. They are supposed to be pretty fool proof. Well, when I was done, it kind of ended up looking like I basically colored the top layer of my hair blonde and left the bottom the same. I guess it doesn't look too bad. I'll have to get used to seeing myself with blonde hair again, because it has been over a year since I last was. I'm not sure if I will leave it this way for a while, or make a call to Trinity's mom and see if she can do something else to it.

Anyway, here's a picture for your visual enjoyment...

Greeeat!

I got a call from my grandma this morning saying that my grandfather fell this morning and that he was being taken to the ER. Hopefully everything is ok.

Oops!

Somehow when I chose a new template, I lost everything on my sidebar, including all of the blogs I linked to. Now I just have to remember how to do all of that stuff again...

Merry Christmas!

This has been a very odd Christmas this year. It hasn't even felt like Christmas to me. I haven't been in a very "Christmasy" mood this year for starters. Yesterday I was super sick. I couldn't hold down anything...I had both ends going if you know what I mean. Not good times. Not at all!! So, because of my illness, we didn't make it to the candle light service at church that we usually go to on Christmas eve. I spent the entire day (that I wasn't in the bathroom) in bed. I only got up long enough to open presents with the kids, which has become our tradition.

After that, I went right back to bed. While I was laying there, I got a call from G where we decided since not only I was sick, but other people in the family as well, we would postpone our normal family Christmas day gathering to this coming Saturday. So, we started feeling a little bad that on Christmas, our kids wouldn't have anything special to do, so I looked online and made a phone call and found out that the Oglebay festival of lights was indeed going on today, so I booked a hotel room in Wheeling and we gathered our things and headed out. We drove through the light festival and came back to the hotel where I took the kids to the pool to swim while I relaxed in the hot tub. :)

Now we are sitting in the room enjoying some pizza and watching Spongebob. It hasn't been a terrible day...I am feeling SO much better than yesterday, though still not great...but it just doesn't feel like Christmas.

I'm still alive

So, it has been an incredibly long time since I have posted on here. I got involved with myspace and facebook and, most recently, twitter. So this is just one more thing for me to keep up with. But, I figured I would give a quick update in case there is anyone still out there that still ever checks in here. (Which I pretty much doubt, but it's cool).

I recently finished up with Fall quarter for school and in January, I am starting nursing school. I am very nervous and excited. I just want to get it over with and I hope to make lots of new and incredible friends on this journey in my life.

My kids keep growing and growing. My oldest daughter is 11 and in the sixth grade (how is that even possible?!). My middle daughter is 8...soon to be 9...and in 3rd grade. My baby boy is 4 and is in pre-school!

Not sure how often I will update here, but I just wanted to see if I still could...

Wow!

I've really neglected this blog lately, huh? I'm not sure if anyone even checks in here anymore. Most likely not. So here are some of the things that have happened since I last posted:

* My son turned 3! Now if we could just get him to go in the potty ALL the time, we'd be completely out of the "baby" stage.

* School has let out for the summer. The girls have been fighting a lot since they are together so much. I usually have until around 4:00 pm before I have to deal with their fighting, but not during the summer. No, now I get it all. day. long.

* My oldest turned 10!! Seriously? Am I old enough to have a child that is double digits?

* My oldest also went to camp for the first time this summer. She was gone last Monday through Friday. She had a great time.

*My son is sick right now. I took him to the Dr. yesterday after 4 days of fevers and vomiting and coughing and crankiness. She didn't do a throat culture, but looked at his throat and said it looked like strep. She started him on an antibiotic. Fun, fun!

*Tomorrow, Trin and I are taking all our kids to get their pictures taken for their great grandparents. That should be fun.

*We had the family over for a cookout on Sunday for Father's Day. I attepted to get a picture of the 5 kids together on the couch. I had a hard time getting them all to cooperate. Can't wait to try it tomorrow at the portrait studio. :-)



I'm sure there is probably more, but that pretty much sums it up, I guess. At least I posted something, right?

So busy!

Man things right now have been pretty busy. It seems we've got things going on just about every day of the week.

Monday nights, my oldest has Soccer practice. Wednesdays are my younger daughter's practice, and the girls have children's choir practice at church. I am also involved in the adult choir, and we practice on Wednesdays too. Every other week guru and I are on the praise team/band (I sing, he plays bass) so we practice Thursday nights the weeks we are on. Saturday are soccer games for both girls, and Sunday is church, then youth band practice, and more soccer games!

Shoo! The 21st of this month is going to be a mad, crazy day. The girls both have soccer games in the morning, my grandparents are celebrating their 50th wedding anniversary (which Trinity and I are planning) then, the girls have their father-daughter dance that night! So, we are going to be so exhausted when that weekend is over, that we will be ready for another weekend to relax. But, I guess that's just they way life goes, huh?

Buh-Bye, Haley!

I can't say I'm unhappy she got the boot tonight! In fact, I think she should have gone home a long time ago. I've said before that I think she does have a good voice, and is nice to look at, but I think her voice is more theatrical. She would do well on Broadway....or modeling.

Of course, Phil has been in the bottom three for several weeks now, and I have a feeling he will go home next week. And, to be honest, I will be perfectly fine with that. Just leave Blake Lewis in there, and I'll be happy!

This is why Ohio SUCKS!!

Today it is a beautiful, sunny, breezy, 80 degree day. Tomorrow, the high is 47 degrees with rain/snow showers tomorrow night! Seriously?!!!!

Happy Birthday, Mom!

So, today, my mom would have turned 49. I'm really missing her today. I am thinking I will buy some flowers and take them to her gravesite.

It really gets to me sometimes that she never got to meet my son. I was 6 months pregnant with him when she died. She was so excited for another grandbaby! She was planning a welcome home baby party for him at her house for after he was born. (Btw, thanks again Trin, for stepping up and doing that for me in her absence!) She talked about it all the time and when we would go shopping, she would look for things, and get ideas for what kind of stuff I wanted for the baby.

We had just been out shopping 2 days before she passed, and she was feeling great! Very upbeat and happy. She was often depressed because of her health problems and loss of eyesight, but she was always happy when she was around her grandkids.

So, I am just feeling rather emotional today. Missing my one and only mommy. I can't even imagine how my grandparents are feeling today...missing their one and only baby!

Parenting....

~Trying to dress an active little one is like trying to thread a sewing machine while it's running.

~There are only two things a child will share willingly communicable diseases and their mother's age.

~Cleaning your house while your kids are at home is like trying to shovel the driveway during a snowstorm.

~Kids really brighten a household; they never turn off any lights.

~An alarm clock is a device for waking people up who don't have small kids.

~Shouting to make your kids to obey is like using the horn to steer your car, and you get about the same results!

~Any child can tell you that the sole purpose of a middle name is so he can tell when he's really in trouble.

Funny!

Sheesh!

I really have no clue as to why I can't switch to the new blogger thing. I guess I have to be invited or something? Whatever. I'm still trying to decide if I'm even going to bother keeping this blog up or not. No one ever reads it anyway, or at least no one ever comments. I guess that could be a good thing, in that I could use this as a personal journal, but I still wouldn't be able to put anything I want on here, because I know that there is a possibility that it could be read. So, I'm still undecided. I may just continue to use it on occassion as I have been, but there really isn't much purpose in it. We'll see, I guess.

Club Libby Lu's

I took my daughters to Libby Lu's today to get "make-overs" for my middle daughter's birthday. They had a ton of fun! Here are a couple of pictures for ya:

Is this week over yet?

So shool for the girls was canceled both yesterday and today due to the frigid temperatures. I suppose it is just as well since they, along with my son, are sick right now. At least they won't have work for the last 2 days to make up. However, if they do not cancel school tomorrow, they will most likely stay home again. They have all been very tired and cranky today. They have been running low grade fevers, coughing, stuffy noses, body aches, the whole nine yards.

My oldest has made herself a comfy place to watch movies:


My middle daughter has been like this for most of the day:


And my son is finally asleep for the night (I hope!):


You can tell just by looking at them that they are miserable! Poor kiddos. I hope they feel much better tomorrow!

Few and Far Between

I know that is how my posts have been recently. I haven't really felt too much like blogging here lately.

Guru and I got sitters for our kiddos Friday night and went out with some of his co-workers. We had a blast and stayed out all night! I haven't done that in SO long! We got home around 5:30 am. I took a shower and went to bed just to get back up again at 8:00 to go help coach my daughter's cheerleading squad. After that, I came home and went back to sleep for a couple of hours.

Saturday afternoon, I got back up and went to my oldest daughter's basketball game. I hadn't eaten anything yet because of sleeping, so I was starving! We ended up eating an early dinner at Fazoli's. It was pretty good. We came home and I started watching a movie, but it wasn't extremely interesting to me, so I ended up falling asleep before it was over.

Sunday, guru and I were both on PT, so we were at church for both services, then we went to lunch the family for my dad's birthday. After lunch we came home and got ready to have Alex and his family over for dinner. They came over and we ate pizza and wings and hung out for a while. We rewatched some of the last A.I. and laughed at the suckiness. Good times.

That's about it. Not too much interesting stuff going on around here, hence, the few and far between.

Minivan Review

First of all, I love minivans. I always have, for some reason. When I was in elementary school, my parents got their first minivan, and I was so excited about it! I love the extra room to spread our family out and seperate the children, if need be! It's great!

I am currently driving my second minivan. My first one was a dark purple 1998 Plymouth Grand Voyager. (Similar to this one):

It was nice. It had a roomy interior, dual sliding doors, plenty of leg room in the back seats and a decent amount of space to climb into the 3rd row seats.

Our current minivan, is a 2004 Ford Freestar. Like this one, only ours is tan.

It looks nice on the outside. And even ok on the inside. However, while still having the dual sliding doors (which are nice) they are very heavy and sometimes difficult to open and close, especially for the kids. I really wish my van had the power sliding door feature!

The back seats sit very low to the floor, so if you're taller than, say, 4 and a half feet tall, it's not very comfortable! The third row seat is nice in that it folds into the floor for added room for moving larger things. But, again, it's very low to the floor, and is the same width as the middle (2 seater) seat, but has 3 seatbelts. The middle seatbelt comes down from the ceiling of the van, so if it is in use, it is kind of annoying going down the middle of the back window.

There is also a very small space in which to climb through to get into the back past the middle seat. Our 9 year old is almost too big to get back there easily.

The middle row is a bench seat (it would probably make it easier if they were bucket seats so you could go between them, but, alas, they aren't.)

Our van did score well in crash tests, so, at least that's good! But all in all, I can't wait to trade her in. I know right now, with all the negative equity, we wouldn't be able to get anything nicer. But our next one is going to be WAY better!!

Almost Time!

I'm so excited that there is less than a week left before the premiere of this year's American Idol!



I have been hooked on this show since the first season! I called Kelly as the winner the first year when she sang Respect.

Clay totally got hosed and should have been season 2's winner!

I did NOT like Fantasia at all! I hated the whole "yeah, yeah" she put at the end of practically all of her songs! Super annoying!

Carrie was a good choice for season 4. Definately her over Bo! I couldn't stand his nasty messed-up-from-smoking teeth! Yuck!

Last year, of course, there was Taylor Hicks. He wasn't my first choice for the winner (Chris Daughtry was!), but he was good. I found him extremely annoying at first with his quirky movements when he sang. He just looked like he needed to take a dump or something, and really uncomfortable. But, he stopped doing that so much, and grew on me a bit.

I always love watching the auditions. I like hearing the people that can sing really well, and laughing at the reactions of the judges to those who are tone deaf, but think they're awesome! So, Tuesday night is the 2 hour Premiere! Is anyone else going to be watching this with me?

Procedure Done

Ok, first off, I have tried switching over to the new blogger, but it keeps telling me it can't switch me. I'll have to let guru figure it out.

So, yesterday was the day I had my upper endoscopy done. I was pretty nervous before hand. I wasn't sure what to expect. I had never been put under anesthesia before, so I didn't know how I would react to it. I was mostly nervous about knowing what was going on during the procedure. Everything I read said that I wouldn't be completely out, so I could cooperate with the doctor, but would not remember anything after it was over.

Well, they gave me pain meds through an I.V. and also some med. to make me sleepy (and forget after). I think I slept through most of it, but I do remember being aware a couple of times of something in my throat and gagging! NO FUN! But, it did go by really quickly, and when I was done, I woke up pretty fast. I was very tired for the rest of the day though. I took a 3 hour nap when I got home. It was kind of nice.

It turns out I have a hiatal hernia. They also took a biopsy or two of some red spots they found in my esophogus. The Doc didn't seem to be too concerned about them, just that I may need to take some antibiotics. I'm not sure what is going to be done about the hernia condition. She didn't mention anything about needing sugery for it or anything. At least yet.

So that was my day yesterday. How about you?

Delurk yourselves!

Ok, so apparently, it did not work when I attempted to update to the new blogger thing. Guru was supposed to help me fix it, but we both keep forgetting about it when he's home. So, if I decide to keep this blog going, I will get it changed soon.

Anyway, I read on another blog today, that this is National Delurking week.



Since, I check my statcounter on occassion, I know that I still have people who check out my blog regularly. However, I haven't been getting comments. So, if you stop by this week (or ever) PLEASE leave me a comment. Even if it's just to say "HI", to let me know you were here.

I did it!

I took down all the Christmas decorations yesterday. I was right in that the living room looks so bare without the tree in there. We will have to do some rearranging of the couches to make it look a little better.

My younger daughter has cheerleading practice tonight from 6-7, which I have to be there for of course, since I'm helping coach her squad. Then immediately following that, guru and I both have to be at praise team practice from 7-9. Should be a tiring evening.

Upward games start this coming Saturday. My younger daughter and I have to be there at 9:00 a.m. every Saturday for the next couple of months to cheer. My older daughter is playing basketball, and her game times will vary from week to week. This week she plays at 4:00 p.m. So, this should be a fun season, going to and from the church at different times every Saturday.

And obviously, on Sunday, guru and I are both on PT, so we will have to have all the kids up and ready and be at the church from 8:30 a.m. to around 12:30 p.m. So, looks like we've got a busy weekend ahead of us.

2007 Is Here!

We hosted a New Year's Eve party at our new place this year! It is definately nice to be able to have the extra space again so we are not stepping on one another or tripping over something every time we turn around.

G and Trin and their boys came, my dad, and two of my single mom friends with their daughters. We had some yummy meatball subs, a cheeseball and crackers, frito scoops with my friend's homemade chili-cheese dip, and tons of other snacks! We played catch phrase, scattergories, and some cards (hand and foot....great game).

It was a good time, but you could tell we are all getting old because by 11:00 p.m., everyone was yawning and trying to stay awake. Meanwhile, all the kids were still running wild with sugar highs.

At midnight, we paused our game of cards and grabbed our glasses of sparkling grape juice and headed down to the family room to watch the ball drop in Times Square. Then, we promptly headed back upstairs to finish our game and everyone headed home.

Yesterday was a pretty laid back, lazy day. Guru had the day off and we sat at home and pretty much did nothing all day. It was great! I really should have taken down my Christmas tree and decorations yesterday, but I really didn't feel like it! I don't want to take them down. The living room is going to look so bare and simple without the decorations.

Today, I am watching my friend's daughter. I may start watching her every Tuesday, as she is in need of someone to keep her on that day every week. She recently withdrew her from a private school, because she was having trouble keeping up with the fast pace. They are living in probably THE worst school district around, so she is homeschooling her for at least the rest of this year, or until she can move to a better district. So, I would be helping her with her schooling on Tuesdays as well. Fortunately, it is all done online, so that will help.

Anyway, that's how we brought in the new year. How about you?

Christmas

We had a good Christmas. Gathered with family, ate way too much, opened presents, played cards. Good times!

Since guru got a nice bonus this year, we were able to get some things we need for our new place. We got the girls their bunk beds, so now they don't have to share a queen bed anymore (now that bed belongs to our son). They were really excited to finally get them. We have been talking about getting them bunk beds for a long time now.

We also got some new couches for our extra living room:




Probably after the beginning of the year, we will be shopping for a new computer desk and new t.v. armoire for our bedroom (right now, we're using rubbermaid tubs since our old rickety one got thrown out)...classy!

If we have enough left after those purchases, we may look into getting an HDTV. We'll see. I really want one. More than guru does. So, I guess we should leave him some of his bonus money to buy something he really wants. *Sigh*

How was your Christmas?

What's up?

Well, today, I finally got the last of our things out of our old apartment. It has been a slow process. I have a few more things I need to get put away here at the new place still though. That will be done by the end of the week (hopefully). Next step will be shopping for the furniture we need. Our problem there is finding time to do that, since guru has been having to work super late every night lately. If he doesn't have any obligations at church, he has to stay at work late. I am hoping that we will be able to go out this Saturday and do some shopping.

We are planning a New Year's Eve party here at our new place. I'll probably make up some yummy "balls of meat" and some other snacks and ask everyone to bring their favorite games. We did this a couple of years ago when we were still in our house, and it was a good time. Hopefully it will be just as fun this year.

Other than that, I am officially all done with my Christmas shopping and wrapping (well, guru still needs to get his dad's gift, and I suppose I'll wrap that for him). I even got some gifts wrapped up and mailed to my young cousins in Virginia, since they won't be able to make it in for Christmas.

So, that's what's new with me. Oh, and I also switched over my blogger to the new blogger thingy. At least I think it worked. I'm not completely sure. We shall see!

Good Weekend!

Friday night, the kids and I went over to my dad's to help him put up his Christmas tree. Our family Christmas gathering is always at his house, so he HAS to have a tree. Then, I helped him wrap some Christmas presents. This is a nice change for him. My mom used to do all of the shopping and wrapping and since she passed away he has just given us money for Christmas. Even the kids. So, at least he took the time to go shopping and pick out gifts himself this year.

Saturday afternoon, we picked up G and Trin's oldest boy and took him with our kids to my grandparents' church where they were having a children's Christmas party. We dropped them off and headed out to guru's work holiday party.

The party was fun! It started out at Dave and Buster's for drinks and appetizers and a corporate challenge. Then we headed off to Stoney River for a brief presentation on how the company is doing by the big boss, and more appetizers and more drinks and then dinner. The menu was awesome! I got a coffee cured filet (no, it didn't taste like coffee) topped with crab cakes and guru got prime rib, both with a huge side of yummy garlic mashed potatoes. We also got started with a salad (guru did not partake of that option) and then, of course, dessert was very delectable as well.

After the dinner was over, a lot of people went home, but some of us stayed and hung around the bar area and chatted. I have met a few of guru's coworkers before, but it was nice to be able to meet (almost) everyone in his office and their spouses or significant others and put faces with names I hear so much about.

Sunday, guru and I got up and got ready for church all by ourselves since G and Trin kept the kiddos overnight and dropped them off at our church for us on their way to theirs. After church, we took home the daughter of a friend of mine who's brother is in the hospital (my friend's brother, not the daughter). We took the kids to the McDonalds playplace to eat lunch and burn off some energy. We ended up staying there for a couple of hours. Then we came home and my friend came and got her daughter.

After they left, we headed over to Alex's house for homemade pizza and to put together a gingerbread house. (Is it still standing, Alex?) The kids had fun drawing on the doors and windows in icing and sticking on all the candies. His wife and I had a difficult time getting the thing to stay up. It kept collapsing.

Overall a good weekend! We definately need more like it!

Doctor Appointment

I went to the Doctor's this morning for my overall health check-up with my new family Dr. I had a complete physical done earlier in the year with blood work and everything, But since I have issues with a couple of things, like my terrible acid reflux, he wanted to see me to go over everything.

So, since I can't even miss one day of my Prilosec or I will be suffering from extreme reflux by evening, he wants me to go in for an endoscopy. That, of course, was not a surprise to me. I figured he would want me to. And while I do want to find out what the problem is and fix it if possible, I just cringe at the thought! The Dr's office is scheduling it and will call me to let me know when and where.

He also mentioned that my blood work from earlier in the year (that I was told everything came back normal on) showed that my white blood count was a bit low. He said it could have been because I was sick at the time or something incorrect in the lab, but he wanted to take more blood and test it again. So, I got more blood drawn today. Hopefully it will come back normal. I tend to worry about things like this.

On another note, one of my friends told me they thought I should use one of my Christmas picture "outtakes" as my card photo:



Yes, my son is licking his sister's face. He was pretending he was a puppy! It would be pretty funny and a pretty accurate portrayal of my kids, but I think I'll go with the first choice. :)

Second Attempt

I tried again last week to get a good picture of the kids for our Christmas card. I took about 40 pictures, but got only a few worth using. Here are the 3 finalists...





One of these will be on our card. What do you think?

Another Year Older

Well, my birthday was yesterday. I woke up to breakfast in bed of waffles and cinnamon rolls and apple juice. Then, I got presents! First was this cute little purse from Old Navy:



I had made a list a couple of weeks ago per guru's request of a few things that I would like. The purse was one of them. As a bonus, I also got a matching checkbook/wallet that my oldest daughter picked out. My younger daughter picked me out a nice basket of "goodies" made up of lotions and shower gel and things of that sort. So cute!

Then, my dad took the girls overnight. Then we took the boy to my grandmas and headed up to the Polaris area. Guru had some gift certificates for the movie theatre up there that we needed to use. First we stopped for dinner then went to a movie. Then it was back to pick up the boy. On the way home, we stopped and checked out the Picktown Lights.

All in all, it was a good day. After church today, we met my dad and my grandparents for lunch and came home. My son and I got a good nap this afternoon too! (Even though, I should have been moving boxes around and unpacking! Oh, well!)

New Bed?

Last night, I was sitting here blogging and looked over and saw that my sleepy son had found a comfy spot to go to sleep:



Then, just now, I looked over and saw this:


Who needs a big boy bed when you have a trampoline?

Scatterbrained!

Yep, that's me! Yesterday, I missed dental appointments for my younger daughter and myself. It was just for a regular cleaning, but it totally slipped my mind! I even had it written down in my planner AND on my calendar on the fridge. I guess it doesn't really do any good to keep a planner if you don't look at it! So, I had to reschedule, and they didn't have 2 appointments on the same day and same time anytime soon, so I had to schedule my daughter for one day and me for the next! What a pain!

Then, tonight, I completely forgot that I was supposed to take my younger daughter to cheerleading practice. Have I mentioned that I'm the assistant coach of her squad?! Sheesh! After a phone call reminder that I was supposed to be there, we made it there, with 15 minutes to spare. Seriously, where is my freaking brain? I am so annoyed with myself for all of my forgetfulness!

Ok, moving on... I got the pictures of our tree put on the computer now, so in case you're interested, here it is:



I don't know if our ceilings are higher in the new apartment, or if I just notice it more because the room the tree is in is so much bigger, but the tree looks so short and small! I think this gives me a good excuse...er...reason to go out after Christmas and try to find a taller, bigger tree at a discount for next year, right? And maybe some more ornaments too (looking back at the picture on here, it looks kind of bare, so a bigger tree would look even more bare).

And our stockings hung by the chimney (fireplace) with care:



So, now, if I can just get all of these boxes unpacked and everything put away, I'll be doing good.

Moved

Well, for the most part at least. We still have a few things at the other place that we need to move over. I've been taking my time this week by moving over one van load a day. Just today, I got all of the boxes we've brought in so far put up. Then, I went back over and brought another load over so there are now more boxes sitting in my living room. More for me to do tomorrow.

We still don't have our internet hooked up. There was a problem with our phone line and we had to have the phone company come out and fix that today, so now we have our phone set up, only 5 days late! We are currently borrowing a neighbors unsecured network, which is how I am able to post this now.

I did manage to get my christmas tree up this weekend. I took some pics, but I can't post them until our computer is hooked up (using the laptop right now). But, that's what I've been doing this week. I still have a lot more to do before I can finally settle in completely. We also need some new furniture for our added living room, a new computer desk, a new t.v. armoire for our bedroom (our old one didn't survive the move) and a bunk bed for the girls. My goal is to be done by Christmas! Here's to hoping guru's year end bonus is a nice one! We shall see.

Chaos!

Our home is in complete chaos right now! We are moving in 2 days and I have been packing like crazy! This is what our table looks like (and has been this way for the past week!):



The storage room is all in boxes too:



Last night, I packed up the girls' room. There was a pencil box left on their dresser, and this morning I went down to find this:



I packed up my son's room last week. That was pretty much a waste of time because, today, it looks like this:



Actually, it looks worse than it really is. Once I get all of his toys packed back into the toy box, it won't be near as bad. That is the downfall of trying to pack with kids in the house. They just go right behind me and unpack things. This happens with cleaning too. I hate spending my time cleaning a room just to walk out for 2 minutes, then turn around and go back in the room I just cleaned and find it in disarray! That just frustrates me to no end.

Anyway, it is supposed to be snowing Friday so that should make for an interesting move. Hopefully we will get it all done quickly and I can get my Christmas tree up this weekend!

Out of hand?

No pun intended. (Ok, maybe a little.) Has this whole thing with Clay Aiken and Kelly Ripa gone a bit extreme? I see Kelly's point, but is she blowing it a bit out of proportion? I also think that the whole thing with Rosie O'Donnell thinking that Kelly's remark (about not knowing where Clay's hand has been) was homophobic is just absurd! I don't think it had anything at all to do with that. I believe that it was truly just about germs. Your thoughts?

Stupid Acid Reflux!

Good grief! I miss one day of my Prilosec and by bed time, I am feeling the pain! Something is not right with me. This is not normal! I have a Doctor's appointment in a couple of weeks with my new family Doc. to assess my overall health. I'll definately be bringing this up. I have brought it up in the past. My previous Dr. said that it should definately be checked into if the problem doesn't go away.

It has been going on for years now. It seems to have only gotten worse with each baby I have had. I fear I will soon have to have an endoscopy to figure out what is causing my problems. Just the thought of having a camera shoved down my throat to view my stomach makes me sqirm! Ugh!

That is the main reason I am even up at this hour blogging. I cannot lay down. I can literally feel the acid sitting in my esophagus. It is horrible! It's bad enough when I am sitting up, let alone if I attempt to lay down. Anyway, I guess I will go give a try to sleeping propped up on pillows. I did that a lot when I was pregnant.

Thanksgiving

Our Thanksgiving was a good one. I made a corn casserole, green bean casserole, and my friend's recipe for sweet potato casserole. The sweet potatoes turned out awesome, if I do say so myself! I think I'm going to have to make that again for Christmas!

Two of my dad's sisters and their familes weren't able to make it to town this week, so we only had 22 people there (including two very cute little babies). However, they are both supposed to be coming into town next week, so we should get to see them then.

Tomorrow, neither guru nor myself have any responsibilities at church, so we may or may not sleep in. Maybe we'll make it to one of the services. Too bad this day "off" didn't come next Sunday, since we can start moving next Friday and will probably be busy with that all weekend. But, since we both need to be there next week, we'll have to take a break from moving Sunday morning.

Anyway, I'm still keeping myself busy getting ready for this move. I am anxious to get moved and settled. Usually, I get my Christmas tree and all the decorations out the day after Thanksgiving, but this year I have to wait. I'm getting ansy!

I also realize, it has been quite a while since I've posted any pictures on here. So, I will try to do that sometime soon. That is if anyone cares to see. I don't know if anyone even visits here anymore other than guru, but that's ok. I still visit all my reads. Well, enjoy the rest of the weekend!

Upward!

Well, it's Upward time again! Last night was meet the coach night. Practices start next week. I know last year I said that I was not going to coach again this year. Well, I kept my promise...almost. (Check out the last sentence in that post!)

I waited it out, even though they were announcing over and over how much they needed coaches. I decided that I would wait one more week, and if they were still in need of coaches, I would volunteer. I waited the week and by then, all the head coach positions had been filled.

However, I agreed to help my friend (Alex's wife) as her assistant coach. At least I won't be coaching alone again like I did the past two years!

Other than that, I will be attempting a new recipe for Thanksgiving. I usually make the sweet potatoes, so this year, I've decided to make it interesting! I'm getting a recipe from my friend A for her mom's sweet potato casserole that is apparently awesome! I hope I can do it justice. I'm also making a corn casserole and green bean casserole. Now I'm hungry! Just two more days!!!

OSU vs. Michigan

'Nuff said!

GO BUCKS!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

Bummed!

My oldest daughter came in earlier and told me she looked in the window of the new townhouse we are supposed to be moving to and that the new carpet they laid in there is gray! WHAT?! The rest of the apartment has a tan color scheme. There are a few different color schemes they use here and usually gray carpet goes with a darker countertop and tile.

I am kind of bummin' right now cause to me, gray and tan don't really go together. The walls in all the apartments are tan. All of our furniture and our bedding go with tan and clash with gray. I know they just replaced the carpet, so at least it is brand new. I don't know if I should call and see if they would be willing to switch it out for tan, or just let it go and deal with it.

I don't know how the carpet is going to look with the tan tiles and countertops in there. I don't want to seem too demanding to the people who work in the office, especially since my brother works here and they know that I'm his sister! What would you do?

Shopping

I met up with my good friend Sweetiepie on Saturday for lunch and some shopping. We had a wonderful lunch at Spageddies and then hit the stores! We shopped at Toys R Us, Big Lots (shut up, name brands @ closeout prices), Bed Bath & Beyond, Michaels, Old Navy, EB Games, and Marshalls.

After a full afternoon of shopping, we found ourselves hungry again around 7:30 p.m., so we headed to CiCi's for a cheap pizza buffet dinner. Mmm, Italian food twice in one day! Good thing I remembered my Prilosec that morning!

After dinner, we headed back to her house and hung out for about an hour filling in her hubby on all we did and all the great deals we found. It was a fun day! I'm definately looking forward to doing it again soon!!

Making a Move

We are preparing to move to a bigger townhouse here in our complex. We have been on a waiting list for quite a while now, and they finally have one available for us. We are able to move December 1st. I am excited that we should be all moved and settled in by Christmas!

I've been doing a lot of work around here the last few days trying to get everything clean and organized. I've made some excellent progress but there is still a lot to do! Most of the work has been the laundry/storage/play room. But it's pretty much ready to go now! I'm sure I will be throwing a ton of stuff out. When we moved from our house into here, I threw away many huge trash bags and boxes of stuff. I expect I'll be doing the same thing this time, only maybe not to the same extent.

I am really excited about having more cabinet space in the kitchen and a pantry. Not to mention we'll be able to fit more than one person in the kitchen at a time comfortably! We'll also be getting an extra bedroom and full bathroom in the new place. Yea!

Elections

Tomorrow is election day! And I couldn't be happier! I am so sick of seeing all of the "trash talk" commercials on t.v. and hearing them on the radio. And if I get one more freaking recorded phone call from a Senator or Laura Bush, I'm likely to reach through the phone and punch them in their recorded throat!!!! (In Jesus' name, of course!) :)

Trick or Treat

Well, we ended up going trick or treating in the rain. We headed over to Alex's house and his wife and I took the kids out with umbrellas. We only circled around to one end of the street and back the other side to their house. After that, we decided to go inside for a while since it was raining pretty good by that time.

A little while later, the rain had stopped...just in time for guru and Alex to take their turn out with the kids. When they got back, we had fun raiding their candy and discussing which candy bars are the best (Snickers is totally the best, Alex! Gotta have nuts in the candy bar!), and how Milky Ways are the retarded cousin of Snickers. Good times.


(Yummy goodness in all sizes!)