Eight!

My baby turned 8 today!  He's growing up too fast! :(  He chose Buffalo Wild Wings for his birthday dinner, but was quite upset that they had remodeled. 

Me and my birthday boy!


Seems like he should still be about this size:

Happy Birthday, little man!

A few pics

Yesterday, I took Bella to the vet for a check up and some vaccines.  Here she is as we were checking out:


Then, I took Molly for a walk.  She always looks up at me when I walk her with what looks like a huge smile on her face.  It cracks me up!


Here's my baby girl on her way to a school dance tonight:


And here are my other two babies taken just a few minutes ago:

Awwwwww!

Getting there!

This long week is half over!  Tomorrow will be a pretty busy day.  I need to work on my paper, take Bella to the vet, my son to the dentist, and my daughter to her class at the YMCA.  Then, Friday, I'll be volunteering in my son's class all day. Of course, I have to take a kid to a birthday party on the other side of town on Saturday, but I'm hoping to maybe do some shopping while I'm out there and buy a new purse!  That always makes me feel better. ;-)

Today, I worked 3 hours this morning then came home and attempted to jog around my neighborhood with Bella.  I always do this and somehow think it'll be better each time.  Sometimes, it goes okay, but today I gave up on trying to make a good time after three, yes THREE, stops for Bella to poop (btw, she always just stops abruptly, too, leaving me to jerk my shoulder out of socket on the other end of the leash) and 2 stops to tie my shoes.  It is hard enough trying to jog with that dog as it is, let alone while also carrying multiple bags of dog crap.  She can't run in a straight line beside me for anything!  She will cut in front of me or bump into my leg.  I don't know how many times I've almost face planted!

I never seem to learn though.  I just feel too guilty to go out to walk or jog without taking her because I know she needs the exercise too.  And if she sees me getting ready, she goes to the front door all excited to go.  If nothing else, it gives the neighbors something to laugh at. :)

I did, however, jog the track at the gym yesterday as opposed to the treadmill.  I didn't have an exact time, but I came in somewhere between 38-39 minutes on my 5K.  Not great, but not terrible considering my fastest time on the treadmill to date is 37:41.  I can only get better, right?

Compliments

So, this older lady that I worked with yesterday couldn't believe that I have a teenager.  She said that I don't look more than about 22 myself.  (Ha!) Then, today, I ran into a guy I went to high school with who works at the company I was at.  He posted on my fb tonight that I "haven't changed a bit & still look fantastic". 

It's kind of crazy.  I'm not used to getting a lot of compliments, but it's nice to hear sometimes...even if they are a bit of a stretch!. ;)

Busy week

I have a few of events to work this week. (Yay, money!)  Today's event is from 11-6, so that will be decent, but tomorrow and Wednesday, they're just from 7:30-10:30 am.  It's ok though.  The problem comes with the fact that I will have to leave my house by 7 am and P will be out of town.   My oldest daughter leaves at 6:45 am, so that leaves my younger 2 to get themselves ready and on the bus 2 mornings in a row.  It always seems to work out this way when I have early events.  Fortunately, my 12 year old daughter is pretty responsible and is good at getting herself and her bother ready.  Good news is that the early events are at my "close" to home  location and bonus....they have their own Starbucks! :)

Then, on Wednesday evening, my son has his first baseball practice of the season.  Thursday evening, my younger daughter has her first iron teens class at the YMCA.  This is a 7 week class for kids 9+ to learn how to use all of the work out equipment in the gym.  After they've taken the classes, they are allowed to use the gym equipment with an accompanying adult.  She's looking forward to that.

I also need to get invitations out for my son's birthday party at the end of this month.  Better late than never, right?  Oh yeah, and I have to write a paper for school on how the ONC-Coordinated Federal Health Information Technology Strategic Plan is being implemented at my place of employment and include an analysis of my health care facility's plan, progress on this initiative in my health care facility, and my analysis of perceived challenges to patient confidentiality and patient self-determination.  Did I mention I don't work for a health care facility?  I do contract work on a per diem basis as a third party to insurance companies.  Soooo, I'm either going to have to make crap up, or hope that my teacher will alter the assignment for me.  Sigh. :/

Pity Party

I am SO very much hating my life right now.  I hate school.  I hate taking up a majority of my waking hours working on school.  I just found out today that it is going to take me longer than I'd originally anticipated to complete my bachelor's degree because I am going to have to repeat a few courses that did not transfer over from my ADN program.  I was originally thinking/hoping that I could get this done in a year, maybe 18 months max.  Now, I am looking at a minimum of 2 years.  So, it's 6 more months...big deal!  Right?  Well, right now I basically feel like I will never get this done.  I get to look forward to lots of BS dealing with financial aid for multiple schools, transferring credits from school to school, taking multiple classes at a time, and hating my life for the next 2+ years.  I just want to be done!

To top it off, I'm second guessing whether nursing is the right career for me after all.  However, at this point, I feel pretty much stuck with it.  After spending 3 years in school full time and accumulating tens of thousands of dollars in student loans, I don't have a choice now but to ride this out and finish what I started.  To find a job in a field that I might not have much interest in anymore, and deal with it for the next 30+ years until I can retire.  I basically cannot just give up now or all that time, money, sweat, and tears would be a complete waste! 

So yeah, I'm having a little pity party for myself. But it's my blog and I can do that here if I want. :P  Okay, enough of that.  Back to the books... :(

APA can KMA!

I hate writing.  HATE it!  I suck at it.  I really, really do.  Unfortunately, that is basically all this bachelor's completion program is.  Writing papers, writing threads on discussion boards, replying to other people's threads on discussion boards.  All of which have to include several references and be written in APA format, of course.  Ugggghh!  I hate this soooo much!  This might be easy for some people, but I have never been good at writing papers.  It literally makes me cry.  :'( 

On a brighter note, my 5K time today was 38:02.  I walked the first .09 miles then started in at 4.8 for  a few then bumped to 4.9 shortly then went to 5.0 and stayed there for the rest.  I hit 3.1 at that time, but then kept jogging to 3.19 just so I could say I jogged an entire 3.1. ;)  But, since I didn't notice what time it was when I started jogging, I just took the first 3.1 as my time.

I don't get it...

Yesterday at the gym, I jogged/walked a 5K in 39:09.  Not too bad of an improvement from 40:45 on my last attempt (on a treadmill).  What I can't understand is how drastically different it is, at least for me, to jog outside.  I understand that the treadmill is easier.  Obviously the "ground" is moving to help you along on a treadmill, plus there's the whole shock absorption thing they offer (and the nicer the treadmill, the easier it seems to be). 

For instance, my treadmill at home is not as high in quality as the gym treadmills, and jogging on it is quite a bit harder for me than at the gym.  Where I regularly jog 2 straight miles on a gym treadmill, I can barely make it a mile on my treadmill at home without feeling like I'm going to die.  And outside, well, I'm dying by the end of my street!  Seriously, I understand that it would be easier on a treadmill, but those are some major differences there!  I just don't get it. 

Getting my 5K on

I am by no means a runner.  However, as I've mentioned, I recently took up a little jogging.  It's not fast, though my speed is increasing verrry slowly.  I started out at a light jog between 4.3 and 4.5 mph.  Yes, that is a jog for me.  If that's a walk for you then shuttie, it's probably because you have longer legs than I do. :P

I have not been able to go to the gym 5-6 times a week, as I had been doing, due to starting back up with my schooling (sigh, that's a whole other story...I'm officially back to hating life).  I have made it to the gym more like 3 times a week.  So, not to make excuses, but that's why my progress is perhaps slower than it could be.  I try to walk on most of my non-gym days, but that doesn't really help my progress as far as jogging goes.

For the past week or two, I have been jogging at an average of 4.7 mph.  Yes, still slow, but an improvement, nonetheless.  My breakdown for today's jog is as follows (my stated distances are per the treadmill):

Walk at 3.8 mph until .05 miles to warm up
Jog at 4.7 mph for 2 miles
Walk at 3.8 mph for .2 miles
Jog at 4.7 for .25 miles  (blah)
Walk at 3.8 mph for .15 miles
Jog at 4.8 mph, and raising to 5.0 mph for .6 miles
Walk at 3.5 and slowly decreasing speed for .15 miles

So, I went a total distance of 3.4 miles in under 45 minutes.  My time at 3.1 miles (5K) was 40:45.  That is a totally sucky number for a 5K, especially on a treadmill.  But ya know what?  I'll take it.  For now.  Mainly because that is, by far, my best time. Not to mention that is something I would not have been able to do 57 lbs ago! Now I just need to work on improving that time, and perhaps more importantly, working on it on pavement so I have a shot at not making a complete fool of myself next month at the Race for the Cure!

Ah, new baby smell!

I took my kiddos over to visit with their cousins today and see the new baby.  We took over some pizza and just hung out for a few hours. 

Here are a few pics I got (btw, today is not a good hair day!) :






Cousins!

Birthdays

Yesterday would have been my mom's 54th birthday.  It's hard to believe she's been gone over 8 years now!  I still miss her every day. 

However, there was happiness yesterday because my new little niece came into the world!  After 3 boys, my bro and SIL got their little girl!  I got to see her in the nursery last night and watch her get her first bath. :)  Can't wait to take over some pizza on Sunday and get my hands on her and breathe in that new baby smell!!!!



Welcome to the world, baby girl!

Not my day

The day started out alright.  Then, when I got to my car after working this morning, I noticed a scratch along the side about 8-10 inches long.  I don't know if it happened while I was inside, or sometime in the past and I just didn't see it until today.  It's quite possible that it happened in my own garage or driveway with my kids (and their friends) constantly in and out with their bikes.



I stopped at a local body shop on my way home to get a quick estimate for the damage.  Looks like it's going to cost about $225 to fix.  Grrr!  I'm really not happy about that!  There's no way to know how it got there, either.  If it was another car, they're long gone.  If it was one of my kids, there's no way any of them would admit to it.  Either way, I'm just going to have to pay to get it fixed.

Then, as I was driving home on this lovely warm spring day, I stopped to get a lemonade from McDonalds.  Unfortunately, after pulling out onto the street, I took a drink and realized it was majorly watered down and not very lemony at all. :(  Sigh.  I was really wanting me some lemonade!

On top of that, after working out and showering and still in my undies, I opened my bedroom door to ask my oldest if she was getting ready for her orthodontist appointment, and my younger daughter and her friend were standing at the top of the stairs (which just so happens to be right outside my bedroom door...).  I just love having house guests that I don't know are here.

And now, my stomach hurts.  I just want to go lay down in bed and hope tomorrow will be a much better day!

Work

I've got a decent amount of events to work this week and next.  Tuesday, Wednesday, and Thursday, both this week and next, I'll be at the same place I've been working events the last couple of weeks.  I like this location because it's fairly close to home.  Not to mention it starts at 7:30 as opposed to 7:00. :)  I'll take an extra 30 minutes of sleep any day!  On Wednesday next week, I actually have a second event to work in the afternoon from 2-6 pm.  That will be a nice long day.  I'm not complaining though.  It's decent money and it's so easy!  Bring it!

2 Miles

While I was jogging at the gym yesterday, I got to a mile and thought I should keep going to 1.5 miles.  I'd done that once before but I have just been stopping at 1.  So I did.  When I got there I figured I could keep going so I went for 2.  And, I did it!  Woot!  That was the first time in my LIFE I've jogged 2 miles without stopping.  Maybe that's not a big deal for a lot of people but, for me, it's pretty big.  AND, I did it again today. :)

On another note, I got some new flip flops on Saturday.  It has been awesome flip flop weather lately and I needed a new pair.  The only bad thing about new flip flops is breaking them in.  The tops of my poor feet were all marked up by yesterday afternoon:
 

 They are gel filled on the soles, so once they're broken in they should be nice and comfy!

Frustrated

I would really love to be able to find a real job.  The events that I'm working are okay, it's definitely easy money.  But, they are not reliable.  I will go weeks, at times, between working them.  And recently, several of the events I'm scheduled to work end up getting "decreased" at the last minute and I'm "not needed".  This has happened at least 3 or 4 times now, including one day last week, and today.  I am still scheduled, as of now, to work tomorrow and Wednesday.  Assuming they don't decrease the staffing between now and then.  They already decreased the time by an hour.  Ugh.

It's not for lack of trying though.  I submit resumes and applications several times per week to hospitals, doctor's offices, home health companies, anything I can find.  In the past 5 months, since passing my RN boards, I've been on one interview (just a few weeks ago).  Although that interview went well, the doctor ended up choosing a nurse with 35 years of experience.  I can't compete with that!

Some days I'm fine with it, other days I get a bit frustrated that I can't find anything and worry that the longer it takes, the harder it will be to find something.  I don't know.  Oh well, I guess I'll just do my thing and keep waiting it out.  I start classes for my bachelor's completion program at the end of this month through OU.  Maybe that will help...

Yummy snack!

 
A naval orange and a bosc pear.  I was very hungry.  Now I'm not. :)

Yay me!

Last week I was finally able to start jogging a little bit again.  I hadn't really been doing a whole lot of jogging, but I would now and then.  After spraining my ankle last month, I hadn't been able to jog.  Today, after 30 minutes on the elliptical, I actually jogged an entire mile without stopping.  That's kind of a big deal for me.  I haven't jogged a straight mile since probably my freshman year of high school!  That's not all though. I could have gone longer if I'd pushed myself, but I took a break and walked 0.4 miles then jogged another 0.6.  That's crazy!  Sure, I wasn't sprinting or anything. I was jogging rather slowly, but jogging nonetheless. Woohoo!

New specs

My new glasses finally came in.  I hate waiting!  That's why I usually go to Lens Crafters and get them in an hour.  But, I decided to go to a local eye doctor that is in network with my insurance and save a little money, even if it meant having to wait a week for them to come in.  So, I just picked them up.  For some reason, the contacts I ordered at the same time (that usually come in within a day or 2) are still not in.  Methinks someone may have forgotten to order them.  Good thing I still have some.  They also didn't have a case for my new glasses and I'll have to pick one up next time.  Sigh.  Anyway, here they are:



And the side:


Like I said before, aside from the decorative earpieces, they are very similar to my previous glasses in shape and the main color is brown as opposed to "cranberry".  Apparently my prescription in my right eye changed slightly, so it will take a couple of days to get used to the new strength...

Ew, snot!

I have a head cold.  Blah!  I have felt slightly congested for a while, but last night my nose started running.  It wouldn't stop no matter how many times I blew my nose and I still feel congested.  I actually had to sleep with a tissue stuffed up my nose to keep it from dripping out all over my pillow.  I know...super sexy! 

On a positive note, I had an eye appointment yesterday and ordered some new contacts and glasses.  I like my current glasses, but they are 2 years old and have had a nice scratch across one of the lenses for a year now, and I recently cracked an earpiece.  So, it was time for new ones.  The frames I picked out are similar to the ones I have, but slightly different.  Here is a pic I found online of them (or some that are very close):

Basketball

Since last Thursday, I've been playing basketball quite a bit.  Not well, mind you, but playing.  Thursday evening was my son's last practice of the season and the coach thought it would be fun to have the boys scrimmage their parents. Well, it was me and one other mom and the rest dads against the 2nd and 3rd grade boys.  It was actually pretty fun and I even made a couple of baskets.  One didn't count because the parents were supposed to pass the ball 3 times before shooting, and we'd only passed twice apparently, but whatever.

Since then, I have been shooting around at the gym to mix things up in my workouts.  My shoulders are now really tight.  I know I don't shoot correctly, but it's just for fun, so I can make a fool of myself all I want, right? ;) 

I am glad to be done with having to drive 45 minutes each way to take the boy to practice once a week and again on Saturdays for games, that's for sure!