Well, we weren't allowed to do the co-president thing, so I decided to be the Treasurer. Counting money is something that I can do! It's not something I often do -- But that's another story ;)
So I have been crazy! This junk does not let up! They keep cramming and cramming us - I feel like I'm going to poop a list of the steps of assessment in the nursing process. I haven't took my nose out of the books unless it was to change a diaper, straighten my house (there's a difference between that and actually cleaning), or show my kids and husband that I am still alive and still do love them. I can't figure out how but somewhere yesterday, after making 160 notecards and having my family over for lunch, the 20th cup of coffee actually did it's job and I got 3 loads of laundry washed dried and folded. How's that for an accomplishment? I won't say that it's put away yet, but hey I'm trying.
Today I went to lecture, got one of the three labs done for this week, did my communications paper and submitted it, and did my written medical terminology paper. This is how my days are now. That was just my day too - Now I have to get out my text book and start reading for Friday cuz we start new material. Oh and did I mention that J's away in Louisiana til Friday on a job site? Oh yeah, this is just how I function best. Throw a couple of Harley-won't-go-to-bed nights in there and I have a recipe for the nut house :)
There was a girl today that was so nervous about everything and I'm all like - She needs to calm down. Everything's fine!!! Have a glass of wine (Works for everything Lamaine)! After she left, me and one of the other girl's were like "What's she so worried about? This is hard but it's not like it can't be done" Well, we sat there for a couple of beats and she took her calendar out. We started looking at beyond this week and next to see what's in store. Ummm... now I know why she was hyperventilating. She actually was forward thinking. She saw that in the next few weeks there are one to two projects due every week on top of clinicals and on top of lectures and on to of exams. Have you ever passed by a cop speeding and had him pull out behind you? You know that feeling in your tummy that says, "Well, I'm sorry to inform you, but now you're officially fucked." That is exactly what happened to me sitting at that table and staring at a calendar that reminded me of flashing lights.
Gotta get my nose back in my books now.... Maybe if I keep going I can bullshit my way out of a ticket. My chest certainly isn't going to help me with that one anymore ;)

BTW - If anyone was wondering I'm not going to say lots of blessing because I used the f word, referred to poop and boobs, and I think I threw a bullshit in there too. Wouldn't wanna be a hypocrite now. Gotta keep up the integrity

FUN WITH A DUMMY

Hey! So I've been up since 5:15 this morning and it's now 11:50. I have to get up at the same time tomorrow and be in the lab. I haven't stopped running or reading or taking care of the rest of my crazy world! So what better time then spilling it all out here in my blog that I found out does get read by my girls @ my old work and a couple of my friends. Gotta love the loyalty!! :)

So here's the thing. The dummy's look like men. But when you pull back the blanket it's a vagina. Pretty real looking, too. And not that I'm judging the people that want to look like men and have womanly parts (?) but on a dummy, can we get one that's like neutral? Come on - There's people like that everywhere! You can go to Walmart and find someone that you can't figure out if it's a girl or a guy. Any Walmart - Anywhere in AMerica. I can guarantee it. So why can't we have dummy's that are like that? End rant.
We had to do a bed bath on the shim dummy. With the vagina that should have been a penis. It would have been easier if it was a penis, you know. And we video taped it. You gotta see this - It's freakin hilarious! We had to stop and redo it at parts so when I re-watched it, I would say put up the bedrail - Then I put the bed rail back up. I would say "I'm going to wash my hands now.... and it would take me a full minute to get back in the frame. And I wasn't even actually washing my hands.... Very funny stuff :)
Just got done my reading for the week! Yay! I finally caught up haha! The next step is to get next week's assignments done. Then the week after is clinicals. I should know by Friday where I'm going to be. I thought it was def Psych ward for me, but now it's all messed up. I think that they don't quite know what they're doing either, to be honest. You would think that they haven't been doing this for over a hundred years! Yes over a hundred years. So you would think they would be able to organize a class right? Nope. And double nope for organizing how we're doing our labs. We went up and down between three levels today five times. For an hour here and forty minutes there. Then back down again. I think they're trying to slim us down. Thinning the herd LOL
K - I'm done blowing off steam now I need to get some sleep. I'll post Friday where my clinicals are. Lots of Blessings ~ Mary

Oh yeah and I'm trying for co-president of the class with one of my clinical girls. Let's see how this one pans out ;) I should put a poll of when ya'll think I'm going to fall over and pass out. Can't stay there for long, though. My lab partners would get my BP and start a saline drip! Then it's back to getting some more enema training LOL!

First Week of School - Completed!
I am officially done my first week of school and I must say that it was a lot harder than I thought it was going to be. I have been reading these textbooks non-stop for a week now. When I'm not in class, I'm either reading or listening to my recordings of the lecture! They say that the first two weeks are very intense and they are not lying. I thought it might just be me, and asked the people in my class. The consensus being that it is very extremely and totally overwhelming. Well, at least I'm not the only one LOL!
I am on my way to my sister's house to hole up in her basement to do most of the reading for next week, I hope, and have her watch my kids. That way, I can crawl out - play w/ Har and LJ - then crawl back in. I won't have to feel like I need to do a load of laundry in between. I was so excited that we had four days off in a row, but then yesterday me and the two girls I'm paired with have signed up for a video for Tuesday. That means I have to go in anyway :( Well, looking at the bright side, it might be three days of reading textbooks, but it is three days off!
Happy Labor Day to all! Rest and Relax for me OK?!
Lots of Blessings ~ Mary

Orientation



So The second and third day of orientation were good! We met and had a luncheon with our "Big Sister" so we could get an idea from the students point of view how it was going to be. I think the concensus was that it's "the hardest thing you'll have ever done and you'll never see your family or be able to work when you're doing this." So I guess it's gonna be hard haha.
We got a tour of the hospital and we got to see all of the units. We'll actually be going to the O.R., which should be awesome! I have to admit this is so different from my desk job, I was a little shocked at being there. It's like I was in someone else's body. Have you ever had that feeling like you just couldn't be where you were? That's what happened. Well, anyway, it was pretty cool after that wore off. The rest was pretty much how to handle stress, how very very hard it was going to be, and introductions to the NURSING 131 class. That was interesting. We found out that we'll have either Tuesday or Thursday off. One day a week. The rest we'll be working our behinds off :)
So I got all my stuff @ Walmart today - pencils, pens, all that fun stuff I need. I also got a voice recorder for the lectures. I have big plans for that thing. I hope to walk on the treadmills while listening to it. It will be such a big letdown if it's not as cool as I"ve made it out in my head to be. Now I'm taking a break from the last 100 pages I have to read of my Fund. of Nurs. It's very hard to read, not at all like the A & P books I'm used to. They had pics and diagrams - very up to date. This is up to date on material only. It's taking me so long to get through it. Well, partly that and partly because the kids were nutty today.
We went to the beach for Family Beach Day yesterday and they got all exhausted and haven't been themselves all day. It was Har's bday yesterday and James' is tomorrow. The day was great! They had a blast in the water, Har ever went out really far with me and jumped waves. James stayed up at the beachfront. Then they went on all the rides at the pier at Seaside and we all had dinner. It was a great day, all in all. Sometimes I can't believe how blessed in family I am. Well, better get back to the reading. I've procrastinated long enough. Lots of Blessings! Mary

Here We Go!

Well, a lot has happened in the last couple of days. One of them being that I am now unemployed :( My last day at work was Friday and the girls threw me a great cake party and luncheon. They know me so well, they had pizza and wings. What more could a girl ask for?!?!? I will mis my Refund Unit girls so much! Hopefully they stop by here and catch up with me. They were great at venting and being girl's girl's. If you don't know what that means, it's when women don't get catty with each other, they build each other up and make each other feel good about themselves. I can't tell you how many times I talked to those girls and felt a million and a half times better about whatever it was that was buggin me. I will miss them very, very much.
The next day, Saturday, was the kids birthday party. Har and LJ had sooo much fun! All their cousins were there and they had cake, balloons, toys -- In other words, they were in heaven with the angels for a half a day! They each had their own cake and each got sang Happy Birthday to by the whole room. Their immediate family from both sides came. I couldn't handle inviting any more people, the house was bulging at the seams as it was :)
From that point on I was non-stop studying. I took some time off to hang out with my niece and nephew who are only down once a year yesterday, and then I got right back to it. I stayed up until 1 in the morning last night preparing for orientation today and had to be up at 6. Everything was in order and I was set to go!
So this morning the alarm went off and I got ready and got the babies ready. Off we went but this time when I dropped them off, it was different. I wasn't going to work, I was going to school. And man was I freaking out. I couldn't describe why it was different, it just was. I was five minutes late getting there, for those of you who know me that is great! I walked in and I heard this loud rumbling. I went to the auditorium and no one was in there, so I followed the noise. I walked into the classroom and it was like a different world. About 40 people were milling about talking and asking questions. The room seemed like it was buzzing. I was so excited! I've been going to school for two years, but this was it! This is what I was waiting and praying for! There were a lot of people there. Some I knew and most I didn't, but it really didn't matter. We were all in the same boat. It was all new and you could tell we were all nervous. The day went great - It was fixed with speaker after speaker. We had lunch in the Cafeteria (nice by the way) and got our own lockers and mailboxes. I was so happy to be there, it kind of felt like a culmination of everything I worked so hard for, all the paperwork and classes, I was now a nursing student. And we looked like it, too. When we walked around the hospital in packs, it was laughable. We should have been wearing huge signs that say FRESHMAN STUDENTS HERE -- PLEASE DON"T GIVE THEM A NEEDLE YET!!!!! LOL
All in all, it was a great day and I can't wait to go back tomorrow. There will be a luncheon where we'll be paired up with a senior and I'll just bet the person I get paired up with is 19. I just bet haha. Well, I have to get the kids into bed and start reading my assignment for next week. Lots of Blessings ~ Mary

This is the Reason

I hope everyone's week is flying along. Mine surely is. Everyday this week I've been so busy that I haven't really felt the weight of leaving work. Until I just packed my desk up. I am LEAVING my JOB. I have empty drawers and all. I'll truly be a 27 year old college student. Ugh. Why was I such and idiot when I was 18?!?! I soooo should have done this back then. Now I have to put my family at financial risk. I guess hindsight is 20/20, though. So there goes my desk job and here comes a full time student nurse :)
Well, the family from Alabama is here and they are great! I met J's cousin for the first time and she is so nice. His uncle is a riot, too. It'll be sad to see them go.
I have Har and LJ's B-day party this weekend. I haven't been able to concentrate on it so it's a thrown together thing. It'll be great though. The kids just wants cake. Har keeps askin "Is it today?!" She doesn't have any concept that it's this weekend. I just can't believe my babies are going to be 3 and 2.
I looked at pictures of LJ in the incubator in the NICU the other day and started to tear up. He's so big and strong now! It's amazing how such tiny babies have such big wills. J was remembering his breathing, how he used to have a completely caved in ribcage every time he breathed out and then it would expand out so big, all for one breath. It was so rapid, too. We thought he might not make it. Now he's healthy as a horse and is running and learning and so loving. When he's not saying no to us, of course.
I wanted to devote a little about LJ's NICU stay because it solidified my choice that I had already made, going to school for nursing. When I first went into the NICU I was by myself and that nurse was an angel beside me. She guided me to look at what the numbers on the machines were and how he was good and what was bad, instead of the lifelessness of my pneumonia plagued 6 hour old baby. She told me what the tubes and IV's and wires were, instead of treating me like I couldn't handle information. When I found out that LJ couldn't be touched, she snuck a couple of moments where I could hold his hand, easing the agony that I had sitting next to him. She shared my sentiments that a mom needs to touch her baby and every baby needs a mother's touch. She gave me enough to survive on. In the following days when I visited all the time and called when I wasn't there, the nurses never complained or sounded bothered. That was so comforting to me, after all, they had my baby boy. They gave me hope and comfort and told me it wasn't my fault, which I desperately needed to hear. Those things are why I want to be a nurse. I've been on the other side, now I want to help people going through those moments of helplessness and of feeling completely lost.
After retelling that, I think I'm ready to pack up the rest of my desk now. Have a great night.

LAST WEEK AT WORK

Hey all!
This is my last Monday at my job before I start school. I am so excited and so nervous at the same time. I was at my sister's house helping her move this weekend and I didn't get a lick of studying done. We have family from Alabama (who I am ecstatic to see BTW) up all week so I am going to have to squeeze the studying in around visits.
I started on the abbreviations from my medical terminology and I really think I'm reading Greek! Some look so innocent on the notecard and then you turn it over and it's a word I can't even pronounce. I had one card that said - ABK. I was trying my hardest to come up with something that would fit those abbvs., arterial blockage maybe? Then I flip the card over haha, Amputation below the knee. I can pronounce that one but it took me by such surprise. Amputation below the knee? Are there that many of these that they need an abbreviation? That's what I'm dealing with in my future career. Amputations. I get squimish over big pus filled pimples and now I'm going to have to see something that requires a ABK. That's probably going to be worse than a pus filled pimple.
The other day a woman at my work had one of these nasty pus-y things on her side that was hurting her really bad and she came to me and said, "Aren't you going to nursing school? Could you help? I can't get to this thing and it really hurts." Well, I'm all - Of course I can help! Don't you know who I am???? Please come over here and let me see and I will magically make it disappear because I am the best nursing student in the universe!!!!!
Well, she came to me alright and showed me a nastyness on her side. Eww. I have now already convinced her I would take care of it. She showed me the needle she had for me to work my magic on her and I nearly swooned. Yep - Swooned like in the old days where you put your hand on the forehead and look up at the ceiling. Well, it all ended up good, I fixed her up and off she went. I won't mention that she had to do the squeezing. I was NOT getting hit with whatever was coming out of that thing! Double Eww.
I tell you this so you understand that next week I will begin my nursing school and will not be dealing with minor pus things on someone's side. I will be dealing with big ABK's. Now if you excuse me I'm going to crawl under my covers now. So much for super hero nursing student.

Update on the gardening - We have a lot of tomatoes and I haven't made sauce because I'm too busy. They're starting to go bad. I remembered that I didn't like radishes after the first batch came up. The corn is very tiny. The pea plants died (although I will have to tell about my ten beautiful peas that Har, LJ and I ate. They were quite yummy). The container I planted the cucumbers in is too small and I have no cucumbers to pickle. My last and final hope is my green bean plants. They just flowered so the green bean should be next. I'll cross my fingers that one of these damn veggies actually goes right.

I think I will try again next year and be a little more organized - How did I know this was going to happen :)

Also, I have changed the name of my blog in order to chronicle my nursing school adventures. I'm giving the address out in an e-mail so people can hear what I'm up to for the next two years when I start ignoring calls. I also made some changes like adding a button click thingy on the bottom of the blog where people can subscribe. If you click on it you can access it quickly. Cuz I know how ya'll can't wait to read my posts.

In honor of my first posting under my new name I would like to give you a glimpse of what must be completed BEFORE I get to orientation on the 21st.

Five hundred pages in Fundementals of Nursing
14 chapters in Math for Meds
Medical Terminology book
One math test
One medical terminology test

Did anyone catch the medical terminology book? THE WHOLE ENTIRE BOOK --- This is before the semester even starts! Oh crap, making tomato sauce is sounding extremely fun right now. I think they're trying to kill us.

Well, the anniversary party turned out great - There was lots of food and fun. It was a surprise to my in-laws and they had many people show up to celebrate them. The day before it Jamie decided to fix the dining room. He went nuts finishing it and didn't have time to put the last stuff up.. like the light or the last coat of paint. So it was half way nice. The front porch I straightened and Jamie just pulled the curtain down over it anyway. The yard was fine... James and I mowed it on the riding mower, which turned out to be very fun! Now I can forget all the stress of it and actually say it was fun and it was enjoyed by everyone. The food was delicious! We had pulled pork, meatballs, macaroni and potato salad, and hots dogs and hamburgers.
Now I'm focused on getting my nursing school started - August 15th is my last day at work and August 19 is my first day starting at SF nursing school. YAY! I got my uniform - which also had my stethescope and shoes in with it. Everything fits nicely and I am IN LOVE with my stetescope! Har and I were like I was one of her playmates! I would listen to her heart and then she would listen to mine - It was very cute! Gotta get back to work now - Bye!

Oh my God - The anniversary party is in three days. I had to take off work Wednsday and Thursday and my house still isn't up to par. The porches are cluttered, the garden sucks, and I still have so much to cook. Oh crap!
I was so exhausted all week. Monday I was up cleaning til 11:30, Tues I was up til 1:30 in the morning, Wednesday I redid James' room (so cute by the way), Yesterday I got fitted for my uniform for nursing school, and tonight I have to paint. Tomorrow Christy is coming over and we're all teaming up to finish the house. I think I just might lay down on Sunday night and never wake up!
I'm so stressed I can barely feel - anything! Boy I hope this goes off w/o a hitch because if one person says anything about my house, I'm sending them to Jamie and saying "Talk to Big shot construction man over there. He can do a railing and make a new porch, and refinish a whole dining room. It'll be done in no time"
And what makes it worse is my mom-in-law thinks I'm crazy for doing this and really wants to say "Maybe you shouldn't have a picnic with your house like it is." But she has no idea I'm doing it for her and dad.
Anyway, I'll do another disaster post when I get back on Monday. Wish me luck :)

It's been a hectic past couple of weeks and has no signs of slowing. Last Thursday I went to a concert - Pearl Jam - who I loved when I was younger. I found out I was old. There were about a trillion teenagers there that were annoying me, I had four beers and got drunk, the music was to loud, I had to pee so badly I made Gina pull over to the side of the road, and woke up with the worst headache I've had in a long time. It turns out that if you relax for a little while and settle down with your family, having "fun" kind of sucks. I had an alright time but they didn't play enough good music for me to really get happy and I missed my kids.
Plus, I had to wake up the next morning, after driving around Camden until after 1 in the morning trying to get home, and leave for camping. I wasn't even packed! I was a wreck haha. I packed like I was leaving in a week. I would put a couple of things into the suitcase, then lay down. I would grab the toothbrushes, then lay down. It was aweful. Syd came in and was all -- "Are you OK?" I was all - "Oh yeah, just the music was to loud and I have a headache from that." I could feel my nose growing as I said it but I couldn't very well say, "Well Syd, I once drank rum for a whole week in a row in the Dominican Republic on my honeymoon and had not a slur but nowadays I can't have four beers without falling down the steps and splitting my head in two with my own two hands to get the heart that's beating in it, out." That wouldn't have worked quite so well as the music being to loud or set as good an example.
Well, what really snapped me out of it was the coffee J got me and the Motrin 800 I took before leaving. :)
I did get packed and out the door. We took the extended version of the trip as we always do when I am following my father. The trip should have been about an hour away - It was only twenty miles from Atlantic City - but my dad got us a little lost. So we drove - then drove - then drove again until we arrived at the state park two and a half hours after we left the house. Jamie came down Saturday and brought relief for Syd in the way of my niece Amanda because you know, camping is so boring and there's no ipod or tv. All in all we had a wonderful trip. It was relaxing when the kids weren't screaming or falling - side note James almost fell into the fire, he's OK but very scary stuff right there. It was calm and lots of food and lots of family. So good, almost to good. When you get home from something like that, it's disappointing. Back to the grind, back to the cleaning, back to planning an anniversary party at my home for Sunday. I guess it's like coming back to the loud music of home instead of the peacefulness of the forest. Although one day I will long for the loud music that I have right now. My children's screams and giggles and laughs. That's the music of my blessed life. I love camping and I can't wait for us to go again. :)

It has been so long since I last blogged, I don't even know where to start... I have two beautiful babies (well, they'll be two and three in a couple of months) and a wonderful stepdaughter. Harley is growing up so quickly - she's smart and funny and the perfect little helper. James is SUCH a boy :) He's rough and tumble, a go-getter, and extremely persistent. He is also the most adorable little boy I've ever laid eyes on! He is just getting into the sentence stage and can't quite annunciate the way Harley did, but all in all he understands everything that she did at that age. They play and get along great most of the time - and I mean MOST of the time being maybe 10% - the other 90% of the time they both want the same toy and are screaming at the top of their lungs. All you mothers out there with one baby or toddler - don't even complain or judge for that matter. Once the second one comes along - Boom! - A whole different ballgame. So when you see me at the store looking quite unwashed and far from the calm, perfect, patient mother you are (which I used to be too) keep it to yourself, please. Lest I will sic these children of mine on you :)
Seriously though, you moms of toddlers that are close together know what I'm saying. It's hard being everything to everyone. You have to spread yourself thin trying to make sure everyone is totally loved and mannerful and not biting the child next to them. It's a full time job in and of itself. Speaking of full time employment, I work for the Motor Vehicles in Jersey and I will be quitting in a couple of months to start school to become a nurse. Actually, Ive been going to school full time and working full time since James was first born. Talk about spreading yourself thin :) But I've come to the point where the classes are all during the day and i won't be able to work while I go to school. So this should be a big change, a nervous stressful oh my god what am i doing change. But we're doing it and stickin' it out. So I thought what better way to rid yourself of fear than writing it all out on the internet and get it off my chest. So I should be back here a lot.
In all my willy nilly free time I have taken up gardening. I planted a whole packet of tomato plant seeds and guess what, I've got a whole lot of tomato plants lol! I have 18 of them to be exact. I also planted radishes, corn, cucumbers, carrots, peas, green beans, and lima beans. I planted them all on the side of my house and the kids like going out and checking them every night. So, I've decided since I have to leave behind my steady paycheck just as food prices are going to soar from flooding and jignormous gas price hikes, I am going to make my own tomato sauce. Tomato sauce and maybe pasta, too. That way I can freeze it and save lotsa moolah of food. Hmm, there's probably going to be some good posts from that I can feel it. I figure I can freeze the peas, green beans, and limas. I can pickle the cucumbers. I'm not quite sure how the radishes and carrots are goingt to come out, though, so I'll keep updating.
In two weekends, we're having my entire in-law family to my house to have a 40th anniversary party for my in-law parents. We have so much work to do on the house it's really not funny. I have to paint and fix and organize. Hmm, I think there'll be some good stories from that too. Well - Gotta go back to the craziness and actually live the life I have :) Lots of Blessings