Go, team, go!

Today, I need to do some running around to get my oldest ready for her trip to Florida tomorrow! She's going with her high school band/color guard to perform in the half-time show of a bowl game. She is really excited. I had really wanted to go as a chaperone, but at the time of signing up months ago, I was thinking and hoping I might have a job by now that could prevent me from going. However, I do not, and after going to the parent meeting about the trip, I really wish I could go! It sounds kind of fun! But, it's too late now. (Not to mention, it would be another $1000 for me to go along!) I hope she has fun! I'm glad she gets to go. They are taking a charter bus and the drive is nearly 20 hours! She is one to get car sick, so hopefully she will be in a seat near the bathroom! ;)

Grrrr!

Can I just say...I HATE carpet with a red-hot fiery passion! After about 6 months since having my carpet professionally cleaned, it was about 5 and a half months past due for another cleaning. So, yesterday, I decided to rent a carpet cleaner and do it myself to save a few dollars. Obviously, it didn't do as good of a job as having it done by a pro, but it was better than not having it done at all. All the effort of it (moving rugs and furniture around, hours of drying time, keeping kids and pets off of the wet carpet) and not two hours after returning the cleaner, mud had been tracked in onto the carpet and Bella had diarrhea. Sigh! I'm not sure why I even bother, really.

Movie Date

I'm getting ready to go on a date with my little man. We're going to go see the new Alvin and the Chipmunks movie. I am totally going to sneak in an apple, some grapes, and a SoBe water for my movie time snack. Don't hate! ;)

Love my Bella Boo!

I had a little bit of excitement while out on a walk with Bella tonight. As we were walking around the neighborhood, we passed a house where a man was standing on the porch messing around on his phone. We got about 2 houses down when Bella started walking almost backwards beside me. I turned around to see what her deal was and the guy from the porch was about 4 or 5 sidewalk squares behind me. As soon as I looked at him he asks "he won't bite, will he?". Well I wasn't about to say "why no, strange man walking uncomfortably close behind me, my dog won't bite you", so I just said "ummmm, I don't know. Probably not. But I don't think she's too excited about you walking so close. We'll just go to the other side ".

Usually, she is all about people and gets super excited to see anyone new that might pet her or play with her. This guy obviously made her uncomfortable by walking up so close to us. She didn't growl at him or anything, but she was also not bouncing around, pulling to get to him for petting, or wagging her nubby with excitement. She was just plain staring him down.

I know it's not likely that this guy was out to attack me. Once we had crossed the street, Bella kept her eye on him and he did hurry down the street to his car. So I'm sure he was probably just genuinely in a hurry to get somewhere and was completely unaware of his creeper-like actions. However, it did give me some comfort to know that perhaps Bella isn't just all-trusting with everyone she meets. Even though I know it is highly unlikely that I will ever be attacked while walking in my neighborhood, it makes me glad to have her with me, especially when I walk at night.

Christmas Card

I haven't gotten any professional pictures taken of all 3 of the kids together in quite a while. I had wanted to do that this Christmas, however, I let time get away from me. So, I attempted to take some myself with my non-professional grade camera. Anyway, here are some outtakes from my little photo session:


Girls arguing, son crying.


One good, one red-faced, one teenage attitude


Good, good, aaaand Bella just licked my daughter's face.

Here are the pics that ended up on the Christmas card:






Green-eyed dog pic ended up the smallest on the card because there really wasn't much that I could do to fix it.

And the card:


(I know it's small, but I couldn't get a good picture of the card and the one from where I ordered them was only this big.)

Banana "ice cream"

So, maybe I am late to this game, but I just found this out. You can make "ice cream" with just a banana! What? Yeah, just peel and slice a banana, put it on a plate, freeze it for 1-2 hours, then throw it in the blender and viola! Banana ice cream! I tried it out today and it actually worked. Not to mention, a very tasty treat and great alternative to actual ice cream. Yum!

Christmas Cookies

A group of my friends met on Saturday to bake Christmas cookies and hang out. It has been a long time since we have all hung out together. Unfortunately, I had to decline joining them because my will power is not strong enough to actually NOT eat said cookies. :( It would have been nice to see them all, but I knew I wouldn't be able to go bask in the smell of cookie deliciousness and not partake.

They were, however, kind enough to make me a cookie and text me a picture of it:


Nom Nom Nom!

B-Ball

My son had his first basketball practice tonight. He was excited and nervous to start since he has never played before. He was worried that all the other kids would be good and that he would be the worst player on the team. Well, there's only been one practice so far, but that doesn't seem to be the case. I'm pretty certain he is not the only kid on the team that has never played before. So, that's good for him (and his confidence).

I had to remind him several times to pay attention to the coach because he can be easily distracted, (I have NO idea where he gets that from...), but hopefully he will enjoy playing! And, I'll be honest, I hope he doesn't suck too bad at it. But, my hopes are not terribly high, at least for his first season. My oldest didn't make a basket during her first season until the very end of her last game. But, by her third season, she had become quite a good little player and made nearly all of her shots. Honestly, she was basically the best player on her team. So, here's hoping! :)

No work!

Well, this stinks! I haven't worked any events since the week before Thanksgiving. I'm pretty bummed about that. No work means no money. :( So, what have I been doing with my time? Well, besides a lot of sitting around, I have applied for multiple nursing jobs, nearly completed my Christmas shopping (mostly online), and started reading The Hunger Games. According to my kindle, I am almost 80% through the first book. I had heard that these books were good, and I must say I am enjoying this one.

The weather has not been incredibly conducive to walking lately, either, which is also a bummer. I'm considering bundling up and putting on rain boots and walking outside tonight anyway!

Hungry!

I am SO hungry today! I ate breakfast and lunch, but I just want to keep eating!! :( My stomach keeps on growling! I'm trying to fill up on some water for now. Must...resist...temptation....

More School!

Ugh! I cannot wait to be done with all this! It seems like I have been going to school forever (even if I have been out for the past 5 months)! I never had that sense of relief with finishing up my ADN program because I knew all along that I was not done, but would need to keep going to get my BSN.

So, the past couple of weeks, I have been doing a lot of research into the different RN to BSN programs out there. Right now, I have it narrowed down to the school I went to for my ADN (as they just started a BSN program) or Ohio University. I checked out several other programs besides these 2, including OSU, Grand Canyon University, and Indiana Wesleyan (to name a few), but it comes down to these for the following reasons...

If I go to my previous school: 1) I don't have to worry about courses not being transferable and having to re-take courses. 2) They already have all of my information, making this process that much easier. 3) It is 100% online. 4) There are no clinicals involved.

If I go to OU: 1) It's cheaper. 2) People have heard of OU, making it more respectable.

Cons of my previous school: 1) It costs more 2) When people ask where I went to school, the most common response is "where's that?"

Cons of OU: 1) Possible issues with transferring courses. 2) Science courses are not available online, so I will have to take those at another school (CSCC) and transfer them in. = Pain in the @$$.

So, all in all, I am hoping for the OU option. In the end, it is going to come down to whether or not my classes will all transfer in. I refuse to retake a bunch of courses. One or two, I would consider, but any more than that, and I will likely go with my previous school.

Fingers crossed!

PS: Filling out FAFSA sucks!! :(

ONEderful!

I don't really blog about this subject on here (I have a separate blog for it), but today I weighed in at a weight that I have not seen since January of 2010. In this case, that's a good thing! Still far from where I want and need to be, but it is an accomplishment. One that is still in progress, but this happens to be a decent mile marker, so I thought I would post it here since this is the blog I use the most.

Now I need to keep on keepin' on! Go me!

Road Trips!

My 2 friends and I had a good time working yesterday. Even more so after working when we stopped at some outlet malls to shop on our way home! It did, however, make for a very long day. I had to leave my house at 7:45 am to drive to a friend's house, which, with traffic, ended up taking me an hour! We left there around 9:00 to head out on our 2 hour journey to work a health screening. When that ended at 4:00 pm, we stopped and ate dinner then headed to the outlets. We shopped there until around 8:30 and I finally got home around 10:00 pm.

Today, I worked an event from 7:30 am - 12:30 pm. When I got home, I got a call basically begging me to switch my event tomorrow (about 45 minutes from my house) to an event that's 2.5 hours away. I will again get extra money for drive time and mileage, and someone else will be riding with me to make the trip seem to go a little faster and split gas money with. Bring on the road trips! Nothing like getting paid to drive! :)

Yay!

After not working any events last week (not for lack of trying on my part), I have 2 events scheduled to work this week so far. Tomorrow, I'll be working at an event a little over 2 hours away. Fortunately, they pay extra for drive time as well as mileage. Even more fortunately, I'll be riding with 2 friends from nursing school who also work these events. Today, I was asked if I could work an event in my area on Wednesday. Of course I jumped on that! Seriously, this is the easiest money (not to mention the most per hour) I have ever made! Bring it on!

Can't get this song out of my head...

Never mind, I'll find someone like you
I wish nothing for the best for you, too
Don't forget me, I beg, I remember you said
Sometimes it lasts in love
But sometimes it hurts instead
Sometimes it lasts in love
But sometimes it hurts instead
Yeah

Aww

Bella laying with me this morning! :)

Trick or Treat

My babies in their costumes tonight:

Zombie bride


Darth Vader


Not-so-thrilled "pup"kin

Ew...

Ever cough and have snot fly out of your nose? No? Just me? Ok, well, that's the kind of day I'm having. Blah!

I wish I could just get over this nasty cough already! My chest hurts. :(

Loelsh, RN

This came in the mail on Saturday. Looks good on paper! ;-)

Long Week!

First thing Monday morning, I took the nursing boards. I thought for certain I was failing and left feeling very much less than confident. As of Tuesday, however, my nursing license is now active! I am officially a registered nurse!

A friend of mine started working for a health care company that goes around to different companies all over to do health screenings(height/weight/BMI, blood pressure, cholesterol and glucose readings) and she gave me the information. So, after finding out my license is active on Tuesday, I sent out an email. I heard back from them immediately and was able to go in and work a health clinic on Wednesday! How crazy is that?!

It is per diem, as needed. So, not a full time job, but it is something! And, it gets me some experience to put on my resume. I worked again this morning, and am scheduled to work 3 days next week, so far.

I have been working at a major financial institution that has several different large locations around the area therefore requiring my company's services over several different days and weeks. I'm pretty sure that we will be working at one particular location through the end of November. So, hopefully, I will be able to work it several days a week and save up some Christmas money and some good work experience!