Wednesday, January 30, 2008
Tuesday, January 29, 2008
OH MY GOSH!
So my Friday test....BOMBED IT...and I'm not talking, "oh poor me I got a 90" I mean I really bombed it, I got a 78, which is still passing but with very little wiggle room (anything below a 77 is failing). It could be worse, half the class failed it and no, they don't curve.
Then I had my clinicals this weekend. 13 hours on my feet each day for two days straight. My clinical instructor is ....hmmmmm....a hard a**. I'm actually OK with that, because she's very good at what she does and expects the best from her students and I think you learn the most from people like that. I, of course, dropped one of the meds...on the floor and the look on her face...well, won't be getting a satisfactory on meds my first weekend out. My patient was great and she loved me, told me I was going to be a good nurse. Her family was awesome too, the daughters even invited me out for beer (which I didn't do -- because you're not supposed to develop a personal relationship with your patients or families -- and for someone with boundary issues...ME....I even get that....but it was nice to be invited). Here's the scary thing about my clinical...the thing that made me spray every inch of the house with Lysol (and I don't need the lecture on super bacteria now, I know, and after I tell you you'll understand why I was so liberal with the anti microbials) every other patient on the floor had VRE or MRSA. I am so going to find a place in the garage for my nursing shoes and start disrobing in there and going straight to the showers....BLEK.
And on top of it all, Isaac is sick, so I've been getting up at odd hours of the night, Jason's had to take off work, I have to read my book, snuggled next to him while he's watching Sponge Bob...so we'll see how I do on my test this week.
Even with all my complaining and my apparent academic retardeness, I LOVE IT. It's so much fun. Half the students in my clinical rotation are questioning themselves and I didn't do that once. Whew, because this is a lot of time, money and stress to wonder if I'm doing the right thing.
I need to go catch up on you guys now!
Then I had my clinicals this weekend. 13 hours on my feet each day for two days straight. My clinical instructor is ....hmmmmm....a hard a**. I'm actually OK with that, because she's very good at what she does and expects the best from her students and I think you learn the most from people like that. I, of course, dropped one of the meds...on the floor and the look on her face...well, won't be getting a satisfactory on meds my first weekend out. My patient was great and she loved me, told me I was going to be a good nurse. Her family was awesome too, the daughters even invited me out for beer (which I didn't do -- because you're not supposed to develop a personal relationship with your patients or families -- and for someone with boundary issues...ME....I even get that....but it was nice to be invited). Here's the scary thing about my clinical...the thing that made me spray every inch of the house with Lysol (and I don't need the lecture on super bacteria now, I know, and after I tell you you'll understand why I was so liberal with the anti microbials) every other patient on the floor had VRE or MRSA. I am so going to find a place in the garage for my nursing shoes and start disrobing in there and going straight to the showers....BLEK.
And on top of it all, Isaac is sick, so I've been getting up at odd hours of the night, Jason's had to take off work, I have to read my book, snuggled next to him while he's watching Sponge Bob...so we'll see how I do on my test this week.
Even with all my complaining and my apparent academic retardeness, I LOVE IT. It's so much fun. Half the students in my clinical rotation are questioning themselves and I didn't do that once. Whew, because this is a lot of time, money and stress to wonder if I'm doing the right thing.
I need to go catch up on you guys now!
Friday, January 25, 2008
Wish Me Luck, Pray for Me...whatever, any nice thoughts are welcome
I have my first Med-surg test today. Rumor has it that the average score on this test is a 68...keep in mind, in this program anything below a 77 is failing. There are three people in my class now that failed last semester (the other three that failed, decided not to come back)Needless to say I AM FREAKING OUT....here's what the test is covering:
electrolytes (normal values, what your signs and symptoms are if they are too low or high and what do you do about it)
acid-base balance
blood disorders
blood transfusions...and what can go wrong and what to do about it
Immunity, humoral and cell mediated and know all the antibodies and which ones do what...
Hypersensitivites
Autoimmune
Immune deficiencies
and
Upper and Lower respiratory problems and what to do and what to recognize.
So, around 8:30 am Mountain Standard, please please send prayers, good vibes, well wishes, Buddhist chants this way....there's only so much reading, studying, hitting my head against a wall I can do...
I'll let you know how I did later...oh, but my clinicals start tomorrow at 6:30 am....so I might not update until Monday....yeah, I got the short straw...12 hour shift clinicals Saturday and Sunday (hope God understands---I'll be doing a lot of praying, given how hard this class is, but won't be visiting for a few weeks...).
electrolytes (normal values, what your signs and symptoms are if they are too low or high and what do you do about it)
acid-base balance
blood disorders
blood transfusions...and what can go wrong and what to do about it
Immunity, humoral and cell mediated and know all the antibodies and which ones do what...
Hypersensitivites
Autoimmune
Immune deficiencies
and
Upper and Lower respiratory problems and what to do and what to recognize.
So, around 8:30 am Mountain Standard, please please send prayers, good vibes, well wishes, Buddhist chants this way....there's only so much reading, studying, hitting my head against a wall I can do...
I'll let you know how I did later...oh, but my clinicals start tomorrow at 6:30 am....so I might not update until Monday....yeah, I got the short straw...12 hour shift clinicals Saturday and Sunday (hope God understands---I'll be doing a lot of praying, given how hard this class is, but won't be visiting for a few weeks...).
Wednesday, January 23, 2008
Wordless Wednesday
napping kiddo (not feeling that great)
A match made in heaven(as I've mentioned before, fixerupper, nasty tile will be gone sometime this summer)
Tuesday, January 22, 2008
pictures to go with yesterday's post
On the way up...we were up at 5am and just got the kids in the car with couple pillows and blankets. They slept most of the way up.
0 degrees F....that was on Berthoud Pass, it was about 5 degrees in Grand Lake (a virtual heat wave) And Sitting in Silence (who is in Australia and uses the metric system...I think?) that would be -17.77777 & -15 degrees Celsius
Shoddy pictures--sorry... I'm a chicken so Jason took turns with the boys 'catching some air' in a meadow.
Don't be fooled by his grim look (he's going through a phase where he doesn't want to smile when told) the boys are toasty and warm and filled with hot chocolate and ready for the three hour trip back to the flatlands with the requisite stop to Beau Jo's Pizza in Idaho Springs. And because they have a jar of honey on each table the kids look forward to eating their pizza crusts.And and OH MY GOSH MOMENT...my mom's birthday was yesterday---I think she's now officially younger then I am, since she lies about her age, and I do not....so forgot to call her...bad daughter, bad daughter. Better go call her now before it's too late...that eight hour difference (she lives in Spain) can really mess you up when trying to call at a decent hour for both. I bet my perfect brother didn't forget...speaking of perfect brother, I finally figured out what to give him and his lovely wife for Christmas...I mean it's been so long since Jason and I were a hip, young, childless couple -- oh who am I kidding, we were never hip...So we got them beer of the month (but for only three months because, oh my gosh that could get expensive) but you get some neat microbrews from around the states. If I were a better wife, I'd give my husband that same gift...instead he got a saw. So who am I kidding the 8 hour time difference means nothing, I just suck at birthdays and holidays...again, speaking of which - a confession: perfect brother's and lovely sister-in-law's birthday presents from last July are sitting on my desk as we speak....I really do suck. Oh but, not so perfect sister and not so perfect other brother, more then likely forgot too, so if I call today I will still be among the favored....(tongue in cheek here, my mother loves us all equally).
Monday, January 21, 2008
It's offical Being Dramatic is Genetic
I come from a dramatic family...well on my mother's side (my dad did have his moments, he tried, but those firm WASP tendencies took over for the most part)....now the latin side, well drama drama drama....I'm somewhere in the middle (thus my husband's coined term of waspina)...I enjoy a good story, can even tell a good story, but I don't normally have to create drama in my own life...my job is to be the audience for the dramas created by my family (ok, mostly my sister).
Now my youngest doesn't spend a lot of time with my family so it was quite the shock when he threw the scenes of all scenes last Saturday when we went snowmobiling. We had fun the first half hour but then he got cold. I'm not without sympathy and don't mean to sound callous, but OH MY GOSH...did he need to scream all the way back down the mountain the following:
"I'M SO COLD"
"OH MY GOD"
"MAMA MAMA MAMA" (at this point beating my back with his well gloved fists --- think hysterically crying starlett and buff star in some black and white movie from the Forties and me having to stop and ask him to hold on to the heated handles so that he wouldn't fall off the snowmobile).
"I CAN'T TAKE THIS ANYMORE"
"OH MY GOD, I'M GOING TO DIE"
"I'M SO COLD"
All the above, repeatedly, without stop, for the 30 minutes it took us to get back to the rental lodge. The people there gave us a blanket, we got Isaac down to his long underwear, wrapped him up in the blanket and put him in front of the fire, where he whimpered for the benefit of all.
I got those 'looks' from the few adults around....the ones between, 'bad mom, you aren't attending properly to your very forlorn child' to 'bad mom, you aren't beating the disturbing behavior out of your child' I shrugged my shoulders to both ends of the disapproving spectrum...because one thing I've learned...doesn't matter what you do, somone's going to think you suck as a parent.
He warmed up, Jake and Jason got another hour on the snowmobile and Isaac and I colored pictures and drank hot chocolate. In the end everyone was happy and now we know two things:
1. There is a drama gene.
2. We're going to wait a couple more years before reintroducing winter sports to the youngest.
oh and to those of you who haven't been reading this blog for long...a waspina is a cross between a WASP (white anglo saxon protestant) and a Latina...I think of it as balanced.
Now my youngest doesn't spend a lot of time with my family so it was quite the shock when he threw the scenes of all scenes last Saturday when we went snowmobiling. We had fun the first half hour but then he got cold. I'm not without sympathy and don't mean to sound callous, but OH MY GOSH...did he need to scream all the way back down the mountain the following:
"I'M SO COLD"
"OH MY GOD"
"MAMA MAMA MAMA" (at this point beating my back with his well gloved fists --- think hysterically crying starlett and buff star in some black and white movie from the Forties and me having to stop and ask him to hold on to the heated handles so that he wouldn't fall off the snowmobile).
"I CAN'T TAKE THIS ANYMORE"
"OH MY GOD, I'M GOING TO DIE"
"I'M SO COLD"
All the above, repeatedly, without stop, for the 30 minutes it took us to get back to the rental lodge. The people there gave us a blanket, we got Isaac down to his long underwear, wrapped him up in the blanket and put him in front of the fire, where he whimpered for the benefit of all.
I got those 'looks' from the few adults around....the ones between, 'bad mom, you aren't attending properly to your very forlorn child' to 'bad mom, you aren't beating the disturbing behavior out of your child' I shrugged my shoulders to both ends of the disapproving spectrum...because one thing I've learned...doesn't matter what you do, somone's going to think you suck as a parent.
He warmed up, Jake and Jason got another hour on the snowmobile and Isaac and I colored pictures and drank hot chocolate. In the end everyone was happy and now we know two things:
1. There is a drama gene.
2. We're going to wait a couple more years before reintroducing winter sports to the youngest.
oh and to those of you who haven't been reading this blog for long...a waspina is a cross between a WASP (white anglo saxon protestant) and a Latina...I think of it as balanced.
Wednesday, January 16, 2008
Monday, January 14, 2008
My dad, March 1939-Jan 1988
Every year I get into a funk at the beginning of the year. Then I realize -- oh yeah my dad died(many many years ago) around this time and even though it's years and years later, there's some part of me that remembers that pain and I feel sad and grumpy and can't seem to pinpoint why until a couple weeks into January when it hits me, it rises up to the surface, I have a good cry and return to my happy self.
my dad as a small child
Shortly before he died...My dad was one of those people that most people liked and everyone respected. He was tall, articulate and uber smart...he was the kind of guy you'd want on your team during trivial pursuit, I mean he knew what color underwear Mary Queen of Scots wore to her execution (red). He wore hushpuppies, corduroy pants and plaid shirts most days. He was the typical college professor and enjoyed learning and teaching but in the same tradition he was not the most practical person....like, say, deciding to move to Greece for a semester my last year of highschool so he could write a paper on the expulsion of the Jews during WWII. He would pull us out of school on a whim to travel, or go to the museum for a new exhibit, anything he thought would enhance our learning experience. For an educator himself, he had little respect for the schedule of learning. He was an advisor at the Museum of Nature and Science so my sister and I spent tons of time there, we even got to go into some of the exhibits while they were being built and got to touch the woolly mammoths, stand next to replicas of historical figures and see what went into building an exhibit from the ground up. That was one great play area for a little kid.
As a young man
I'm lucky I met Jason in highschool and my dad was able to meet the man I eventually married. I am sad he never met my children, or my sister's children. He didn't get to walk me down the aisle at my wedding. He didn't get to see me graduate from college (the first time) or see what kind of a mother I've become or see that, like him, I enjoy learning and am returning to school later in life (although in a field he would not enjoy...he was a liberal arts guy through and through). I miss having his advice, he always put thought into a problem, he wasn't reactive (as I can sometimes be), he didn't take sides and never gossiped. He was a good guy.
This year I have lived half my life with out my dad and still I miss him.
Wednesday, January 09, 2008
this and that
Not to be outdone by Colleen and btw...who does she think she is? Superwoman? I have also made a list of my accomplishments:
I've logged in about 15 hours of HGTV
Probably just as many hours of looking up bathrooms on 'rate my space' ...come on, it's research, we are redoing our bathroom
I have 'opened' my nursing text book and have 'glanced' over a couple of the pages.
I've caught up on my favorite blogs, even commented on a couple.
I've rearranged the dirty dishes in the sink in order to 'soak' some more dirty dishes and I have opened the dishwasher in order to get out clean spoons because we seem to have run out of the ones in the drawer.
My Christmas decorations are half put away.....
So there you have it...a list of my very productive week...now go read Colleen's blog and then you can see what a real slacker I am.
I kinda feel like commenting on New Hampshire right now and how the people that live there seem to have a great bit of common sense....on both sides. But, I so don't want to get into a debate...does it really matter? 48 more states to go....I just hope they don't interrupt prime time programming again to say...2 more people just voted and the front runners are exactly the same...it's okay to wait until there's actually SOMETHING TO REPORT.
Then there's Dr. Phil and Brittany.....(rolling my eyes right now), who is the prima donna here? And then there's the spokeswoman for Jaime and Lynn (have no idea how their names are spelled and only just now realized that their names make up the name of the pregnant teen daughter...I don't normally follow this stuff, but hey it was on the news, it must be blog worthy---right?) anyway....spokeswoman, asks America to pray for the family, and yeah they do need prayers but frankly they need help of the earthly kind, preferably with a PhD or an MD behind the name of that help.... and yes they have been vilified by the media and the public because their children are acting like idiots! and it's great that daddy prays before work every day....but really should I excuse what a mess the family is because he prays? I'm all for faith and prayer, I rely on both myself...but there's also the whole take responsibility for your actions and how your kids turn out.....and as I write this, I'm saying a little prayer that my kids turn out okay because I'd hate to eat crow later...hahaha.
That was one long run on sentence...whatever
Oh my gosh, I'm having a bit of a snit....
OK, fun stuff, there was a great read in the most recent issue of Wondertime (a fun parenting mag) about moms that blog. You can check out the author's actual blog here.
I've logged in about 15 hours of HGTV
Probably just as many hours of looking up bathrooms on 'rate my space' ...come on, it's research, we are redoing our bathroom
I have 'opened' my nursing text book and have 'glanced' over a couple of the pages.
I've caught up on my favorite blogs, even commented on a couple.
I've rearranged the dirty dishes in the sink in order to 'soak' some more dirty dishes and I have opened the dishwasher in order to get out clean spoons because we seem to have run out of the ones in the drawer.
My Christmas decorations are half put away.....
So there you have it...a list of my very productive week...now go read Colleen's blog and then you can see what a real slacker I am.
I kinda feel like commenting on New Hampshire right now and how the people that live there seem to have a great bit of common sense....on both sides. But, I so don't want to get into a debate...does it really matter? 48 more states to go....I just hope they don't interrupt prime time programming again to say...2 more people just voted and the front runners are exactly the same...it's okay to wait until there's actually SOMETHING TO REPORT.
Then there's Dr. Phil and Brittany.....(rolling my eyes right now), who is the prima donna here? And then there's the spokeswoman for Jaime and Lynn (have no idea how their names are spelled and only just now realized that their names make up the name of the pregnant teen daughter...I don't normally follow this stuff, but hey it was on the news, it must be blog worthy---right?) anyway....spokeswoman, asks America to pray for the family, and yeah they do need prayers but frankly they need help of the earthly kind, preferably with a PhD or an MD behind the name of that help.... and yes they have been vilified by the media and the public because their children are acting like idiots! and it's great that daddy prays before work every day....but really should I excuse what a mess the family is because he prays? I'm all for faith and prayer, I rely on both myself...but there's also the whole take responsibility for your actions and how your kids turn out.....and as I write this, I'm saying a little prayer that my kids turn out okay because I'd hate to eat crow later...hahaha.
That was one long run on sentence...whatever
Oh my gosh, I'm having a bit of a snit....
OK, fun stuff, there was a great read in the most recent issue of Wondertime (a fun parenting mag) about moms that blog. You can check out the author's actual blog here.
And so you don't think I'm just about making snotty comments about celebs and politics....I have to relay, what I think is a cute story, about my youngest...
We passed a jeep with antlers on the front (fake, fuzzy ones for Christmas) and I pointed it out to the kids (mostly to distract them from their bickering---funny thing, I HATE the sound of bickering) and Isaac pipes up..."I know why they have those on there". Curious, I ask him why and he answered "So if the car goes off the cliff it could fly" I LOVE THE WAY THAT KID THINKS....and you should have seen his little face (through the review mirror, I was in the car), it was so earnest, so sincere....so I agreed with him.
Sunday, January 06, 2008
OOOOH....look what we did the other day. The Dainko and Dobson kiddos came over and we made candles. It was a project we found in the Family Fun magazine. You melt some wax, throw in a crayon for color and crush some ice. You pour the wax over the crushed ice and when it melts it makes this lava rock thing...very neat and the kids enjoyed it. I didn't have my camera available so check out Colleeno's Blog for more pictures (thanks Colleen for being a good mom and bringing your camera! -- it's always good to have proof for the children that I did do fun things with them) -- and aside here, we bought a fixer upper and these rooms haven't been fixed up yet...thus the avocado green wall with the framed red silk glued to it --- don't ask, I have NO IDEA what the previous owners were thinking...Oh and what a segue...my favorite new website--rate my space on HGTV.....I guess it's not my new favorite website, it's a new section of an old favorite. A friend turned me on to it and now I'm hooked.
Jason's been working on the bathroom, finally got the electrical all hooked up to the breaker box and it's not working...he says it's an easy fix....we'll see. This DIY project is a lot more involved then I thought it would be.
Other than that, not much new...2008 has so far been uneventful.
Tuesday, January 01, 2008
Happy New Year....
First off, since so many of my readers (two of maybe 4 or 5) didn't know what a butter braid was, I thought I'd link you to a description of their buttery goodness . They're really one of the better fund raiser deals out there.
Well it's the new year, what can I say about it so far? How about it's cold cold cold. We took the boys ice skating today, they had a blast. Isaac fell every two seconds and would hoot and holler with joy each time. I swear that kid did not stop laughing the entire time. Jake also had a great time. I find it humorous that the skating rink is sponsored by a nearby hospital....are they trying to drum up business?
Last night we went to a friend's house, chatted a bit and came home. We all fell asleep before midnight. In fact, Jason and I have been together about twenty-two years and maybe we've stayed up six times. But except for one year (I was in Greece the last part of my senior year in high school) we've been together on New Year's Eve (yeah, yeah, either ooh and aah or barf, it's great being high school sweet hearts!).
So, do I have any resolutions.....yeah...anything creative...no...
lose weight
get the house remodeled
get organized
be a better mom...
blah blah blah
I had ice cream, yelled at the kids and didn't do anything around the house today...so far not doing well on the resolutions...bad me
The kids are excited (and surprisingly so) about our family resolution -- no fast food for the year -- okay, Chipotle, Tokyo Joes are okay because they're relatively healthy and fresh...the main criteria is if it has a drive through (except for Starbucks, do you think I'm insane) then it's a no-go.
I have a ton of pictures to post....but can't seem to find my camera...and I can't find the cord in order to recharge the other camera so I couldn't take pictures of the kids ice skating today...see why "getting organized" is on my list!
But, just in case you think I'm a total slacker....I've been studying daily for my class that starts on the 11th. Rumor has it, that the teacher has a pop quiz the first day of class and I plan on being prepared!
HAPPY NEW YEAR EVERYONE!!!!
Well it's the new year, what can I say about it so far? How about it's cold cold cold. We took the boys ice skating today, they had a blast. Isaac fell every two seconds and would hoot and holler with joy each time. I swear that kid did not stop laughing the entire time. Jake also had a great time. I find it humorous that the skating rink is sponsored by a nearby hospital....are they trying to drum up business?
Last night we went to a friend's house, chatted a bit and came home. We all fell asleep before midnight. In fact, Jason and I have been together about twenty-two years and maybe we've stayed up six times. But except for one year (I was in Greece the last part of my senior year in high school) we've been together on New Year's Eve (yeah, yeah, either ooh and aah or barf, it's great being high school sweet hearts!).
So, do I have any resolutions.....yeah...anything creative...no...
lose weight
get the house remodeled
get organized
be a better mom...
blah blah blah
I had ice cream, yelled at the kids and didn't do anything around the house today...so far not doing well on the resolutions...bad me
The kids are excited (and surprisingly so) about our family resolution -- no fast food for the year -- okay, Chipotle, Tokyo Joes are okay because they're relatively healthy and fresh...the main criteria is if it has a drive through (except for Starbucks, do you think I'm insane) then it's a no-go.
I have a ton of pictures to post....but can't seem to find my camera...and I can't find the cord in order to recharge the other camera so I couldn't take pictures of the kids ice skating today...see why "getting organized" is on my list!
But, just in case you think I'm a total slacker....I've been studying daily for my class that starts on the 11th. Rumor has it, that the teacher has a pop quiz the first day of class and I plan on being prepared!
HAPPY NEW YEAR EVERYONE!!!!
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