Monday, December 31, 2007

Fun weekend


My nieces spent the night last night. We have been having fun times together! I took them last night to play with a pug puppy so they can see the type of dog I want to have! We also went out to dinner. I had gotten up to early and was sleepy! After we got home, we watched a little TV and I had to go to bed! I feel like that tonight too! I know it is my night shift schedule that makes me tired after getting up early.


Then also on Sunday, my Dad installed my new faucet in my bathroom! I guess this was the orginal faucet from when my house was built in the '50's. The nuts and bolts and whatever other pieces goes with a faucet was all rusted together. He ended up taking my sink out of the cabinet to finish it. I am loving having a faucet that actually works! :-) But then later in the evening after my nieces and I had been in the bathroom using the faucet, I decided to but everything back underneath the sink. There was a puddle of water and I could see water just slowly leaking. I but a plastic bowl underneath to catch the water.


On Monday, he came back over to finish up some things he was going to do to the sink and then also was planning to fix the leak. So far, so good with the leak. I have kept the bowl underneath the sink and it has been dry. I had some build around the faucet that my Dad told me was lime build up. I got my lime away out and let it soak and was able to scrub it off! My sink looks so much better around the faucet too. I would have done that a long time away if that is what I knew that was!


Then my nieces and I left to go play card games at the Mudhouse and we also played the new electronic monopoly. I was about to fall asleep! So we left about 5pm and went back to my house. I needed a nap before staying up till midnight! I had woke up at 6am and but lunch in the crockpot and then made crepes for the girls for breakfast. I am looking forward to the rest of the fun tonight!!!

Thursday, December 27, 2007

Merry Christmas!!!


I hope that everyone had a Merry Christmas! Mine was pretty good. I did wake up on Christmas Eve feeling icky. My nose wouldn't stop running and I was sneezing my head off! My nose was all red by the time I got to work that evening. I did get to spend time with my family at my Grandma's on Christmas Eve. That was a fun way to start my day out. I even got to play with some new puppies that my Aunt and cousin have! They are adorable!!!


Work wasn't too bad. Our census was low and we only had one admit during the night. Of course, everything happened around 4am! I was rushing around trying to get things done and patients needing assistance. I had made sure to have everything done to hopefully leave on time but didn't get out till 0750 that morning.


I rushed home to freshen up and load the presents in my car and headed to my parents house. When I arrived, my parents were making waffles for breakfast. It has made me want a small waffle iron! Then we opened presents. I was real excited about getting a new bathroom faucet! Mine is old and I keep having to replace parts on it so I decided to ask for a new one for Christmas. My parents are coming out soon to install it for me! I can't wait! I also got a tripod for my camera, Will & Grace season 2, Bourne Ultimatum, Betty Boop socks, Coca-Cola cup dispenser for my kitchen, and a pug figurine! I had to go play with a pug again and I can't wait till I can get me my own pug! They are sooo adorable!


I have had a good holiday and enjoying my break from school. I have kinda wished I had taken some vacation during my break from school so I can get more done. I do have a three day weekend coming up so I hope to be able to get something accomplished!

Friday, December 21, 2007

Getting things done!


I finished my Christmas shopping today! I am sooo glad as the traffic is horrible! It takes 2-3 times to make it through a stop light. If you happen to go through an area with lots of shopping, expect delays. I am glad that I did survive!


I am a little sleepy tonight since I have been up since 0400. I had to take a short nap and then got up and made the cheese ball and peanut butter balls. I ended up making 2 cheese balls. It wasn't my plan but when I taste tested the first one, I got too much hot sauce!! So I had enough ingredients to make another and it was much better. Just a hint of flavor! Yum! I just hope everyone at work likes it!


One thing I still need to do is wrap gifts. I still would like to send out Christmas cards but haven't quite gotten to that! I did buy stamps tonight so I could. I need to at least get cards out to the people that have sent me cards and hopefully to the rest of the people on my list. I am sure my address list needs some updating. I got some really cute cards this year and want to send them out!!!


I had a good day and got lots done. I just can't wait for a day that I don't have all these errands and appointments so I can spend a day being creative in my scrap room! I need to get my scrap room a little better organized so I know where things are. I hope in the next week or so I can do that!


I got my final grades for this semester and I got an "A" in Old Testament and also in Community Health! WOOHOO!!!! I am excited to be a 4.0 student this semester! I am excited that my LAST semester is coming up! Then my next goal is to learn more about photography and how to use my fancy new camera!

Wild week!


It has been crazy this week. It started on Monday when I couldn't stop sneezing. I got up earlier than usual that morning and went and upgraded my cell phone. Now I have a Blackberry Pearl. I have been really liking it so far. I have learned how to sync it with Microsoft Outlook which is awesome!!! Then that afternoon, I had an appointment to take Chloe to the vet for her yearly checkup. I couldn't stop sneezing but wanted to finish my Christmas shopping and get presents wrapped. I came home and fell asleep and the later part of my day didn't get done.


I worked the next night and ended up oversleeping for my shift. I had slept so much that I was surprised that I did that but my allergies were bothering me. I guess my allergies were requiring me to have more sleep than usual. I guess they didn't miss me to much as they didn't call me until about 40 minutes after I should have been there! So I got up and rushed to get to work. What a way to start out my shift!!


Wednesday, work was insanely crazy!!! We kept getting ortho patients so they must have been full on their floor. I had this cute little lady that had a hip repair. She had an ortho infuser -something I have heard of before but never had to use before!!! So, I got a crash course on how to use it and all was good. Then this cute little lady was getting a roommate which one of the other nurses was taking care of. This new patient had an attitude and went and told my cute little lady that she was bugging her! She hadn't done anything!!! We had to move my cute little lady for her safety! She was smoking in the bathroom and being verbal to the staff that we ended up with a few security guards to get her under control. Things finally did calm down but I was ready to get off from work that morning!


Thursday, not much happened other than sleeping. I was hoping to get my allergy shots but I was too tired. I plan on getting that done today but I have to be their before 1100. They are closing early for Christmas. Today, I have an appointment this afternoon and I also hope to be able to get shopping finished! Tomorrow at work, we are having a little Christmas party so I am going to make peanut butter balls and a cheese ball. I have never made a cheese ball before and was going to buy one but I was told it was easy to make. I am going to give it a try! I have lots to do today. I just hope I can stay awake since I woke up at 4 am and couldn't sleep anymore! I wouldn't mind having some fun time hanging out at the Mudhouse if I can fit that in!

Sunday, December 16, 2007

Day of relaxation!



I have been looking forward to these two days off from work. I really don't have anything planned but the biggest excitement is that I don't have to worry about what I need to be studying for class this week! I can just get up and do whatever comes to my mind! I love those days as they are few and far between anymore.



Last night at work, I ended up getting floated to the cardiac floor. I had written a paper last summer about non-telemetry nurses floating to telemetry floors. While doing my research, I ran across an article that discusses this very thing. It stated that the nurse that floated to a telemetry unit is held responsible for what happens with the telemetry monitors - even though you weren't able to interpret them. So, ever since writing this paper, I have brought this up every time they try to float me to a telemetry unit. They tell me that they will make sure the charge nurse is aware that I am unable to read the telemetry monitors. I have been lucky that the times I have floated to a telemetry floor, the nurses have been good in taking care of the monitors for me. The unit I work on was supposed to go to a closed unit and only float to our sister unit but that hasn't happened and not sure if it ever will. I did have a good night and worked with good people on the cardiac floor. I might have picked up some knowledge on reading some of the strips.


I have been enjoying reading the book, "A Lifetime of Secrets" and I am almost done! I actually will try to put it down before reading to much so I will have more to read later! I am addicted to this book. I want the other three!! I received an email from Borders that I can get 40% on one book over $20 so after getting a little nap in, I am hoping to get me the first post secret book! It is a little over $20 so it will fit that criteria! Yes! More secrets are posted on the blog today.



I am off to get some sleep!

Friday, December 14, 2007

Winter vacation


I finished my final yesterday. I read everything on the subject list he gave us and then even went through all the quizzes and started reading all of them. I hope I did okay but when I got the test, I realized I should have read into these subjects a little further! I really hope that I did well enough that I get to keep my A. I am glad that this semester is over and I have 6 weeks off from school! I do have my history correspondence course that I need to work on though.


After school and standing in line forever to sell my books back, I went to do some Christmas shopping. I got ideas from my parents on what they wanted and got my dad's shopping done yesterday. I was feeling quite tired and decided to finish the rest later. I had went to bed late and set my alarm to wake me up early to finish studying.


I also decided to go to Borders yesterday and got me the book, "A Lifetime of Secrets" by Frank Warren. I have learned that their are 3 other books that I would like to have in this series. I have something fun to read for a while! It might not take me that long to read this since it is a book of postcards. It makes me want to make me an artsy postcard!


I ended up driving by Petland again yesterday and had to stop to play with a puppy! They had another pug! I sat and played with a pug puppy that was 8 weeks old! It was cuter than the first one I played with. He wanted to play! He kept grabbing at my clothes and tugging at me. Then he would back up and jump at me and bark! Ohhhh, little pug was so adorable! I told them up front that I was to busy for a puppy right now but I wanted to hold it! She didn't hound me as much as the first time I went in. I am excited that I have found me someone that works on another floor at the hospital that raises pugs! Someone that used to work on that floor took me to introduce me to her and she gave me her phone number! I am excited to get me a cute little pug next Spring!


I had plans when I finally got home to watch National Lampoon's Christmas Vacation, wrap presents and get ready to address Christmas cards. I was falling asleep every time I sat down that I decided to lay down. My nap turned into about a 4 hour nap! So, I am hoping to re-plan this for Sunday. I will hopefully not be so tired!


I need to get a little nap in since I do work tonight. I have been watching my DVD collection of Three's company on my laptop all curled up in my warm bed! Three's company is my all time favorite show! Will & Grace is 2nd which I am working on owning the whole series of it too!

Wednesday, December 12, 2007

Silly, silly day!


I tried and tried to sleep last night without any luck. My nap that I took yesterday was just enough that I couldn't fall asleep. It being cold in my house doesn't help the situation!!! It always gets worse at night even though the heat is on. I am soo ready for spring!! Actually, winter doesn't even start till next week!


I had two doctor appointments today. One of them was my hand specialist which he told me that my finger was healing okay. He feels like this bump is scar tissue but if it is to grow any, I am to see him again. I have the movement back in my finger so he was happy. I don't have to go to therapy. He gave me some tips on how to lessen the scar tissue and to also help with the swelling. I can go see him again in 6 weeks if things haven't improved.


My second appointment went good. I found out the results of the lab test I had done yesterday for the wellness program at work. I am glad that my total cholesterol is 116!! The last time I had it checked it was 109. My only problem with my cholesterol is my HDL's which are always low. I worked so hard with eating right and working out and they went from 24 to 31!!! My dad has the same problem. My fasting glucose was 91. Phew! I was happy to hear the results. I kept having dreams about getting crazy lab results because I hadn't had it checked in 3-4 years.


I decided after all these appointments and before I started studying, I would go to Barnes & Noble. Oh my! I think everyone took off from work today to go to Barnes & Noble! It was crazy! I just wanted a particular magazine, I found it and then left. It is just crazy every where with the holiday coming up. I am ready for traffic to return back to normal!


I am back at the Mudhouse getting ready to study. I am tired! I tried to take a nap in between my appointments today but I kept waking up! I was afraid that I was going to sleep through my alarm. I hope to at least get the rest of my studying done and hopefully sleep tonight and be fresh for my final! I am not sure what I will do after I get done with school tomorrow. I will have to think of something fun to do!

Tuesday, December 11, 2007

Secrets . . . .


The other day at work a girl was talking about a website about people's secrets. When she started talking about it, it sounded like a book I had seen before called Post Secret at Barnes & Noble. I have now found out by the website that their is more than one book about secrets. I now want to find this book again for some nice calm reading after finals. It will be a nice interesting read.


I finally did get some studying done tonight. I was all motivated after taking a nap this afternoon. I have been able to have two bowls of soup today but I don't want to push it! I actually still have half of my second bowl of soup in the fridge from the Mudhouse. Maybe by the end of the week, I will be back to normal! The Mudhouse is always busy near the end of the semester with everyone going their to study. I was able to find a table but not able to plug my laptop in so after 1 1/2 hours it dies . . . . . I did all the things that I have been told by the computer geeks on how to lengthen my battery life. I was told that I should get 5 hours of battery life. I learned that you can't run anything on your computer to get 5 hours of battery life so I find that is false advertisement! I did get quite a bit done before my laptop died and plan to do some more before going to bed tonight. I also figured up that all I need is a 69% on the final to keep my A!!! That would be awesome! If I can do that, then I would be a 4.00 student this semester! WOOHOO!!!!!

Wellness Program


I signed up for the wellness program at work. I wanted to last year but they were only taking a certain amount of participants and they had gotten the maximum amount last year when I made it to the benefits fair. This year they were taking anybody that wanted to be involved. Yay!!


This morning was my fasting labs for my cholesterol and fasting glucose. I haven't had these done in a few years so I am curious what they are! The last time I did get these done, I was working out with a personal trainer and watching my diet. I was told that I can look them up at work. I don't work again till Friday. I have only had a bowl of soup for the last 48 hours that I was able to keep down. I had quite the headache this morning!!! I still have a slight headache but it is feeling better. They took my measurements, height, weight, B/P, body composition and lab work. I am supposed to make another appointment to discuss what is available in the program. I think this will be a motivator for me to get myself back into shape! I need to get over this stomach flu thing and finals before starting to get back into the gym!


I was sooo hungry after not eating for so long. I am not feeling so good after eating . . . yuck!!! I have lost 8 pounds since Sunday with this stomach virus that I have had. I have got to snap out of this as I have to study for my final that is Thursday! I have gotten sick at the worst possible time!

Something exciting!


My Community Health instructor finally finished grading everything and my final grade is a 93.05%!!!! Finally, just enought over 93% that I got an A!!!! I really hate the grading scale they have us use. I also found out last week that the ASN students get to use the standard grading scale of 90% and above is an A. So I don't know why BSN students are using the grading scale of 93% and above is an A. I am glad that I did the extra credit as that is what put me over just enough to get the A. :-)


I have been sick since Sunday but I am feeling much better today. I have slept so much that I haven't been able to sleep all night though. Sunday I went home from work and felt fine. I woke up with a stomach ache. I got a drink of water and went back to bed. When I woke up I felt better. I started getting ready for work and had a bowl of cereal. When I was in the shower I wasn't feeling so well and lost everything in my stomach! Yuck! It was 1730 and it was too late for me to call in so I went ahead and finished getting ready for work. When I got to work, I was having muscle aches and was running a temp of 100.6! Soooo, I was doing my best to make it through the night and took some Advil to help with the muscle aches and get my work done. I decided to tell the charge nurse that I wasn't feeling well. We were having a nurse come in at 2230 and didn't qualify for 4 nurses so I was able to go home when she came in. I was soo glad because the Advil wasn't working very well and I was feeling quite icky!!!! I went home and took more Advil and was glad to get to bed for awhile! I am feeling better but not back to normal yet.


I need to get studying for my Old Testament final!!! I have figured up that if I didn't take the final that I can still pass the class. I want to keep my A if all possible. I just hope that I am able to get my studying done for the final. I hope to be able to hang out at the Mudhouse today to get started and hopefully almost through the list of subjects that he has given us to help us study. I hope after this week is done that I will be able to concentrate on my History correspondence course! May can't get here soon enough!

Friday, December 07, 2007

Change of plans


My main goal today was to study for my final in Old Testament. It is now almost 1700 and I am finally getting ready to start! The only thing that has went has planned today was me waking up fairly early. My original plans today was to wake up early and be at the Mudhouse by lunch time to start studying. I had checked the Mudhouse website to see the soups they would have and they had posted that the Mudhouse was closed but was hopefully to reopen at lunchtime. I went ahead and got in the shower to get ready for my day. While I was in the shower, my nurse manager left me a message reminding me about some mandatory education that I needed to sign up for. I went to my work website to see when I could sign up for this education and the only day that I was able to go was today. I was glad that I had gotten up early as I needed to leave in 2 hours to make it to the inservice. I am glad to get my last bit of education done for the year!!


I changed my plans to have lunch at Big Fat Burritos and then head to work for the inservice. I walk into the main doors and they are selling cute webkins and dolls in the lobby. I decided that I would need to check this out after my inservice! The inservice was 2 hours long and very boring but glad to have it done! I also got some business taken care of in Human Resources and got my TB skin test read. I am officially up-to-date with all my yearly stuff!!! I have worked hard on not having my name show up on the end of year list for education that still needs to be attended. This mandatory education, they decided we needed this by the end of the year in October.


After my inservice, I went and found me a stuffed pug and kitten and I found for one of my nieces her Christmas gift! I now have both nieces and my sister Christmas gifts but I need to get my parents something. I have asked them for ideas and I guess they are thinking of it!


I guess my change of plans worked out since the Mudhouse didn't open up today till 1630 for a reason that is unknown. I am just glad they are back open!!! I am now sitting at the Mudhouse enjoying a Frozen Mudturtle and getting ready to start looking up the subjects that will be on my Old Testament final. It is kinda dark and cold where I am sitting so I am not sure how long I will stay here! It is nice for a change that the Mudhouse is calm and kinda quiet. Normally this time of day they are busy.


The weather here has been quite cold. Yesterday when I was driving to school it was sleeting. After class, it was freezing rain! Today has been cold and it is now raining. There has been talk that another ice storm may be coming. I really hope that is incorrect!!! I can't take another ice storm!!!!! I will have to get me a beach house for sure if that happens again!


I am looking forward to my appointment to see my hand specialist next week. My finger is slowly getting better but their is a bump on my finger similar to what I had before the surgery. I am hoping that it is just some swelling as my finger is still swollen. I am really not sure and will feel better after he takes a look at it.


I saw my GI doctor earlier this week for my follow-up. Everything has been the same but the insurance won't pay for me to have the medicine that was working for me. So he told me with my erosive esophagitis that I would qualify for surgery. When this all first happened with my insurance, I had the thought of this surgery he was recommending but then we started getting patients on our floor with post-op complications from this surgery. I told him that I wasn't quite to that point yet because of what I have seen in patients that have had this surgery. I really hope that my insurance changes but that will be another year.


I am ready to turn the Napster tunes on and get some studying done!!

Sunday, December 02, 2007

Santa!!

I almost missed taking my cats to see Santa today. I wasn't able to sleep last night and finally fell asleep around 6 am. I had my alarm set for 9:30 am and thought that would be enough sleep. I guess it wasn't as I slept through my alarm and happened to wake up at 2:45 pm!!!! Santa leaves Petsmart at 4 pm so I jumped out of bed and got in the shower! I was ready to leave with all three cats by 3:30 pm!

When I arrived at Petsmart, Santa wasn't sitting in his chair. It was 3:45 pm so I asked it the pictures with Santa was until 4 pm and they told me yes. One guy told me he would have to get changed into the Santa suit as Santa had to leave early. Phew!!! I was beginning to wonder if I dragged my cats across town for nothing! It all worked out good. They have changed to digital and then had a portable printer that they printed the best print with. I hadn't paid attention that Santa's eyes were closed or that the background wasn't centered! This was the only picture that all my cats was actually looking at the camera, so I went with it!

Then we did a little shopping! I ended up finding a cat bed that was normally $24.99 for only $6.25!!! So awesome! I have had Chloe and Felix taking turns tonight sleeping in the new bed! I also got some Christmas cat toys and other new cat toys for them to enjoy. When we arrived back home, they got some Kitty Kavier! They are such good kitties! :-)

I decided to go to the Mudhouse tonight which was like a Madhouse!!! He He!!! There was only one table open and it was the table that sits six people. I sat at the very end and still was able plug in my laptop. All was good. I shared my table with other people that couldn't find a table either. I was hoping to get some of these subjects looked up that my Old Testament instructor gave us for the final. I had typed up all these subjects and then my jump drive went crazy and wouldn't save and then my computer wasn't recognizing it! I restarted my computer and it was being recognized again but everything I had typed was gone!!! I was glad that I hadn't gotten that much done. I started saving on my hard drive plus my jump drive just in case. I finally left as I was sitting at a table without light. It seems to get busier near the end of the semester at the Mudhouse as everyone is starting to study for finals!

I came home and finished decorating my tree, and fixed some dinner for the week in my crock pot. I just can't wait to have three days off in a row later in the week! I get the rest of the subjects that will be on the final this Thursday so it would be nice to get the first half done and only have to worry about the second half next week!

Saturday, December 01, 2007

Kitty talk


Tomorrow I am taking my cats to see Santa! I know they are very excited! I even got them some Christmas things to wear. I got one a collar to wear that has white fur type with red jagged velvet type material with bells on the end. I also got a Christmas hat and reindeer antlers! The trick is getting the hat and the antlers to stay on! I wanted three of the collars but they only had one. :-( I am excited to see how this turns out!


The schedule for work was finalized yesterday. I was trying to get Christmas Eve and Christmas both off so I could spend time with family. When I last talked to my NM, she told me at that time that I was off both days but she might have to change it. She was waiting for the CREW nurses schedule to be done before finalizing it. Well, it turns out that I do have to work Christmas Eve and be the charge nurse at that!! I was disappointed!! I have missed the last few Christmas Eve gatherings at my grandma's and really wanted to be there this year. All I have to say is . . . . . . . whatever . . . . . . .


I am off to try to get my bonus room a little organized. I can't seem to get things done when there is clutter around me . . . .