Tiring day (Ha Ha!)

Today turned into quite the day if last night wasn't enough. My Mom picked me up and took me to where my car was towed. I was told that there was a 3 hour wait so I ended up going back to my parents house. My Mom took me to my appointment this morning and while I was there, I got a phone call from the guy working on my car. He told me that the tire was unfixable and I would have to get a new one. I said that was fine and he never said anything about the other tires and I figured they were fine.

After my appointment, my Mom dropped me off since my car was done. While I was waiting to get my key, I noticed my ticket hanging on the wall with "Needs 3 tires ASAP!!" in large letters. I was upset!!! I asked them why they didn't tell me this when they called so I could just get all new tires. The guy I was talking to had just gotten there and didn't know what was going on. He said he would look at my other 3 tires before I left. We walked out to the parking lot together and I noticed right off that the tread was showing on one of the tires!!!! He told me that he can't have me leave with this tire in this condition! I would have to get back in line which would be another 3 hours. So, he told me he would put my spare tire on that wheel for me. While he was changing it, he accidently broke off the stem with the lug nut on it! I couldn't believe this! He said since it his fault that the store would pay for the repair and he would tell the manager so I wouldn't have any problems. He even told me of a shop near by that they send work that they are unable to do. He was telling me that it wasn't safe to drive with only 3 lug nuts but I should be fine just going down the street.

I get down the street and explain to the guy the details. Pretty soon he is coming back telling me that they would have to send this part out since the stem wouldn't come loose and that would take a whole day. I wasn't pleased with his attitude when I was asking about what else I could do as he just walked away from me and didn't answer me. Sooo, I called the manager at Sam's to let them know what happened and if I took my car somewhere else if they would still pay for it. He suggested me taking it to the dealer so that is what I did. Finally by 4pm, I had that problem fixed.

I headed to pay my car insurance and get a refund on my towing bill. I asked if my insurance offered any roadside assistance and I got told yes! It is already included in my insurance! I found that out a little too late! She told me that all I had to do was to call an 800 number and they would have called to find me a towing truck and I wouldn't have had to pay anything, the insurance would have taken care of the whole thing. I am glad to know this info now and have this in my car and need to get this in my cell phone. I also got me a car charger for my cell phone so I hopefully won't have the same situation with my phone again.

Then I went to Sam's to get reimbursed for the repair and I asked for the manager to start out with. He came up and was very pleasant and I had no difficulty getting reimbursed for the repair. That has been the easiest thing of my whole day! I still need 3 tires so I have to somehow get this done this weekend. I really think that the employee that didn't see my tire with the tread all worn out needs some talking to. If the customer can spot this then someone who deals with tires everyday should be able too.

I ended my day with a frozen coffee at Borders! Yum! They have changed the cafe and I really like the way the coffee taste in the frozen drinks better than I do the ones at Barnes & Noble!

I think I need to play a little bit of the Sims2 tonight if I can stay awake!

A day trip adventure . . .

My sister, nieces and I had quite the adventure today. One we really could have done without!!! I will have to start with the fun stuff first!

We all decided to go to Branson today to spend the day. We decided to go to Tanger Outlet mall, Moonshine Beach and Branson Landing. We got started a little later than we wanted but it was all good! I had forgetten to charge my cell phone and it was about to go dead. I put it on the charger for about 15 minutes to get some charge and left to pick up my sister and nieces. (That will be important later!)

We arrived at Tanger Outlet mall and hit a few shops, had some lunch and then headed out to Moonshine Beach. I must have had the wrong address when I got directions off of google and we ended up of course for awhile but got turned back around and tried to ask for directions with no success and then finally recognized a landmark from our trip last year and we finally made it! I had a spring float and I lounged in the water as did my sister and nieces. We had fun water time at the park! Then we tried to get all the sand off of us, change clothes to venture to Branson Landing.

No problems arriving to Branson Landing. We only had two hours to shop at this point. We did some fast shopping and even split up so we could each get to shops we wanted to go too. We ended the evening seeing the fire and water show and went and had dinner before starting our adventure back home. I really wanted a Gloria Jean's iced coffee but they had closed after we had got done with dinner.

Then the adventure home started and we had gotten about 12 miles out of Branson and we noticed a funny sound and I had a flat tire! Of course it was 9:30 pm, dark and didn't know how to change a tire! I have watched my Dad change my tire before but I have never done it before. I was also going downhill and it was too dark to see anything. I had only 7% battery power left on my phone!!! I do believe that I will be buying me a car charger even though I do plan to get me a new phone in December. My sister had her cell phone so we called our Mom to get tow truck numbers and which was difficult finding a tow truck from Springfield to Branson. We finally had to call her back to get a phone number for a Branson tow truck. We had good luck with the Branson tow truck and my car should be in Springfield by now in the Sams parking lot. My sister was able to get ahold of her boyfriend to come pick us up. Finally after an hour, we had someone to pick us up!

We are heading back in his "bucket" as he called it! It is an older car and has some problems. We finally got to Springfield barely when his car quit! It should wouldn't drive and was smelling of smoke! He thinks the transmission when out!!! So here we are standing on the side of the road because he wasn't able to get the car all the way over to the side. My sister wasn't able to get service in that area for some reason but I was able to. My phone stayed on long enough for me to call home again and just said real fast that we were stranded but in Springfield and needed to be picked up! I can't believe this getting stranded twice in one day!!! About 20 minutes later my Mom came and picked us up and took us all home. What an adventure!! I really don't want to repeat it again!

When we were in my car stranded the first time my sister said that the fun had ended! A few days ago I had a thought that I should program some tow truck numbers in my phone just in case but never did it. That wouldn't have done me any good anyways so now I am going to also enter the Branson tow truck number! I have towing on my insurance so this will be covered which was expensive from Branson to Springfield. My Mom is supposed to be at my house around 8am to take me to my car so I can get my tire fixed or get a new one.

I am off to take a shower and get this sand off of me!

Icky day

Yesterday I was all excited because I got my summer class finished up. I ended up not getting as much sleep before work as I had hoped but didn't feel too tired. I was planning before work to go to my favorite LSS which is happens to be closing this Sunday forever! I was shocked as they announced this on Tuesday and then closing on Sunday. I was hoping to get in on the 50% sale and when I walked in the door the line was wrapped around the store! I left as I had two more stops to make before going to work. I was hoping to get there today but I was soo sleepy that it didn't happen. I hope to be able to make it in on the last day.

The day got pretty icky when I got to work and I happened to be the charge nurse for the evening. We were actually staffed okay and I am very thankful for that. The night started out fairly good. We were getting some new admits but then admitting kept calling and kept calling. I wasn't able to see my patients as I like because of having to take all these phone calls and then assign RN and PCA's with new patients. Between 1900 and 2400 we had 10 admits! To much for 4 nurses to take care of in my opinion. We all had about 2 admits at the same time and they just kept coming. I finally said something to the girl in admitting and she told me that we were the only floor with this many beds. So that makes it okay for us too many patients at the same time? I called nursing office to let them know about what was going on and there was a nurse staying over from evenings trying to help people get caught up. He came up and helped us out to get caught up. I was sooo glad that admitting didn't call the rest of the night! We also only had 3 beds left at that point!

I think my stress from last night is still with me. I have been grouchy tonight. I called my parents to ask if they would come over and help me install this window a/c so I am not melting in my bonus room. I had called earlier in the week to ask if they would come out on Sunday so I called again tonight just to make sure that was still in the works. My Mom was asking me about Monday which I work and it would be another whole week again before getting this done if I waited and it is freaking hot in my bonus room! I can tell they aren't excited about coming over. :-P I have had this window a/c for about 2 weeks now and have been having to do homework in a room with temps. in the high 90's. It just makes me mad the attitude I was getting when I had talked to them about this earlier in the week.

I am hoping to go something relaxing tonight and hopefully get rid of this stress. I think ice cream needs to be involved! :-)

I have a plan, a european plan . . .

Sunday afternoon for some reason I woke up at 1445. Instead of trying to go back to sleep, I went to look at my travel books I got from my travel agent. I keep looking at the prices and thinking of what I would want to spend on my trip to Paris and London. I have kinda decided that I might go for 14 days instead of 7. If I go only for 7 days, then I only get about 3 day in each Paris and London. I think the 14 day trip I would be able to have more leisure time and would enjoy myself more. The one thing that stops me is it is kinda expensive!

I was thinking on the way home from Six Flags on Friday on how I could pay for my trip and came up with some ideas. Last night at work, I thought of something else that I forgot all about that would help too. I think 14 days in Europe might be possible - and get my digital SLR camera I want! I need to put these ideas down on paper and get a plan started. Then I also need to figure out what time of year would be best!

I will have to tell all about my journey to Six Flags on Friday soon! I am working on my journal that is due at 9am and have hit a slump. I am at the Mudhouse and the people sitting ( or I should say jumping) are driving me a little silly and breaking my concentration. I might have to finish my journal at home!

Day trip!!!!

Today is the day that my sister, nieces and I go to Six Flags! A couple of days ago our parents decided to go too! Soo my Dad has rented a van so we can all go in one vehicle. Our parents aren't going to Six Flags though. Or maybe they will go to the amusement park after we get done at the water park. Not really sure. My Dad loves gardening and wants to see the botanical gardens. Not sure what else they are going to do! I need to make a trip to St. Louis after school is out to have some fun!

I am excited because I found me a nice swimsuit at JcPenney's last night! It was 40% off! Nothing like waiting till the end of summer for finding a swimming suit! This swim suit has a lining in it which I love and has better support. I had bought a swimsuit at Wal-mart earlier in the week but it doesn't give me proper support and the straps seem to migrate. I could see that I was going to fight it!

I haven't gotten any homework done other than completeing the exam this week! Yikes! This is the day I was planning to get everything caught up so next week won't be so crammed with homework. I always have good intentions to get things done early but it rarely works out that way!

Off to get ready for some family fun! I hope to be able to take pictures but not sure if I want to risk losing my camera!

Downtown tax?

When I was at the Mudhouse yesterday, I noticed that the prices had went up just a little. I had noticed since my 3 month break from the Mudhouse that my normal order was just a little bit more. I didn't think anything of it. I just asked yesterday if the prices went up and I got told that the tax downtown has went up. He told me what it went up to but can't remember it now. I am just wondering what they are going to do with this little extra tax money that they are getting.

While I was at the Mudhouse yesterday, I took a picture of a light that they have hanging on the wall. It has always amazed me and has always made me wonder what it is exactly. I have always taken it to be a one eyed monster that is showing his teeth. Then yesterday, after staring at it longer, it could also be a lamp on a table. I just love art! So fun!

My Mom's B-day celebration was fun. My Dad fired up the chimnia and roasted hot dogs. We had picnic style food. It was fun! My parents have a nice back patio and with a ceiling fan. They have my old glass-top table which my Mom recovered all the chairs with a plastic topping to make them weather proof. We had yummy cake! My Mom loves chocolate cake with mocha icing so of course that is what she had for her birthday!

After leaving my parents, I went to Lowe's and got me a window air conditioner for my hot bonus room. I am looking forward to getting it installed! I am not sure when that will as I might need my Dad's help. I noticed this morning the support that I bought says that you can install it from the inside of the window. If that really is true, then I won't need a ladder. I have a small drill so I still might need my Dad's heavy duty drill! I am looking forward to cooler times in the bonus room!

I ended up waking up at 7am this morning! I have to work all night too. I still need to do my online exam but was too tired last night to do it. I have to get it done before going to work tonight! Yikes! I hope to also get a nap in. I have an appointment tomorrow at 4pm to get my hair trimmed so that means that I have to wake up early from sleeping tomorrow and then go to work. Yuck!

Happy Birthday Mom!

Today is my Mom's B-day and we are getting together tonight at my parents house. I am looking forward to it! I have a few things to get done this morning so I can relax tonight.

I only have one more chapter to do on my study guide and this hasn't taken me that long to do. Then I need to read the next two chapters in one of my books and then I can take the test. I might not take it till tonight. I also need to respond to two classmates segment 3 papers. Then I am going to hopefully get started on the journal. I might as well work on my LAST exam study guide for this class! Then I also need to get all my segments put together and finalize my research paper. I feel like this class hasn't been that hard just lots of reading. I will be glad that it will be over.

One thing on my agenda today is to find a swim suit. I might still be going to Six Flags but I need to decide today if that will work out. That all depends on how much homework I can get done today! I think I can get the majority done and get started on my journal. I got to thinking that I am going to need a swimsuit for Moonshine beach! My sister and I are going in August! Sooo, I am going to try to fit that in today, if possible! Last weekend was the sidewalk sale at the mall, so hopefully things will still be on sale!

I finally got the yard mowed last night. That is such a task! I waited till the evening and it was still 90 degrees outside! Yuck! I am glad that it is done. The clouds were looking kinda dark and it stormed shortly after I got done! I am hoping to get flowers planted today as they are dying now! I hope that will revive them.

I had better get ready for the day since I have lots of homework to do and have to celebrate later today!

Mudhouse fun

I got to the Mudhouse today and the guy at the cash register was taking my picture. I was curious what this was about. He told me that they are working on making a website and that they were just taking random pictures of people hanging out at the Mudhouse. Since I am a regular customer, he felt more comfortable taking my picture. Cool! I might end up on the website! He said he would let me know when it is working!

I am reviewing all the stuff I need to finish to get done with my Leadership class. This silly journal that they make us keep is for the birds! We have to reflect on what we learned every week from the reading. This time, we are to only reflect on the book, "Christian Reflections on the Leadership Challenge". Barf! I am not really all this fond of this book. I feel like the authors tend to repeat theirselves and I just want to tell them - alright already! I like books that are to the point and this one tries to stretch it out.

I have a research paper to finish up which shouldn't be that hard. I have written three segments and have some extra stuff to add in that I have found out after turning in each segment. One of the nursing supervisors at work helped me with giving the names of committees and printing some information from the standards manuel. I was quite excited with her help!

I have noticed since having the window shut in my bonus room that it has been hotter!!! I even have room darkening shades and keep them shut. I guess it could be worse! It isn't that fun to hang out anymore. I have a fan but it still doesn't cool it down enough. So, I think I might price about getting a small window air conditioner to help and just use it when I am planning to spend some time in my bonus room. The one a/c vent I have just doesn't seem to cut it!

Lazy Sunday

I only got 4 hours of sleep last night and feeling tired today. I have taken my shower this morning and slowly getting ready for the day. I have been working on getting my bathroom counter organized. It was getting too cluttered and I have been getting tired of the messyness. I keep all my makeup stuff in a wicker basket but it was overflowing! I am going through and throwing things away. I hope by the end of the day it will look much better!

I am going to work on my study guide for an online exam that is due by Wednesday at 0900. Since I work Tuesday night, I need to do it before I go to work. I have learned though that the study guides are the questions on the test but she always throws in some extras. If I get stumped on one, I just hope it is one of the extras!

I am off to do a little web surfing of Paris, France!

One hot bonus room!

I took the window fan out of the window and closed the window to see if that will help my allergies. I had a talk with the nurses at my allergy doctor office and they told me that the window fan was the worst thing I could do for my allergies! It was helping cool off my bonus room. I couldn't tolerate being in my bonus room this afternoon as it was 95 degrees. And currently it is 84 degrees. My allergies haven't been as bad today so that is a plus.

I have a plan plotted out for getting homework done and being almost done with my class. I was at the Mudhouse today trying to get this done and ended up getting nothing done! I had a little lunch but bit into chicken fat so that was the end of lunch. Then my sister called me on my cell phone and after we got off the phone, I ended up leaving the Mudhouse.

My whole point of getting all this homework done is to go to Six Flags with my sister and nieces this Friday. Then she told me today that she wants to stay all day and spend half of it at the water park and the other half at the amusement park. I don't have a swimsuit and don't have time this week to try to shop for one. This is always an ugly task! The one I have I left in the trunk of my car and the spandex gave out! She wanted me to drive which I don't think I would be very good with if she wanted to leave early in the morning and stay all day. One thing with working nights is the fact that I can't stay awake very well in the day and mixing a round trip 3 hour drive with that wouldn't mix. I have a feeling that I won't be going now. It would still be nice to get some of this hideous homework done!

I got home this evening and was going to mow the yard. I had a little bit of a sinus headache so I decided to lay down for about 20 minutes and had the alarm set on my cell phone. I ended up sleeping through it and woke up at 11pm! Argh! My 20 minutes turned into a 4 hour nap. The yardwork isn't done!!! I hope to wake up around 9am and mow the yard tomorrow (I guess today now!). I hate yardwork!

The more I hear about the iphone, the more I am not sure I really want one. I have been told that the battery doesn't last that long and you have to send it off to get the battery changed which is $79. I am not sure how long that takes but you would be without a phone during this time. So, I have a plan B. I have found me a phone that I hope to get this December when I can upgrade that has some of the features that the iphone has. It is the blackberry pearl. I haven't seen one in real life yet but what I have read on the internet sounds good. I should be able to get discounts on one of them! I still have a few months before I can get me a new cool phone!

I don't have anything to drink in the house and I am thirsty. I would drink water but the other day the water had a weird smell to it so I am afraid of it! My hot water had the smell of burnt rubber! YUCK! I am off to get me a cool, refreshing drink from somewhere!

Darn allergies!

I am coming to a conclusion that my allergies seems to bother me the mornings that I get up and spend it in my bonus room. I have a window fan and a regular fan to keep the temperature down. I am thinking that when I use the window fan, that is when my allergies flare up! I was doing fine until I had been upstairs for a while this morning and my allergies started bothering me. They just get worse instead of better through out the day. I am thinking I need to take the window fan down and shut the window and see if that helps the allergy situation. It might not help the temperature situation but I would rather be a little warm than spending my only day off from work - that I am not sleeping, at least, sneezing.

I am at the Mudhouse today, having a little lunch and working on segment 3 of my paper. I haven't done very well with these darn allergies! They ended up forgetting about me again and they gave me a card for a free drink. I am not sure how many of these they have given me because they have somehow forgotten me.

This morning I was preparing a meal for the crock pot, chicken creole. It called for a jalapeno chopped up. I seeded it and then used my cool new chopping device to chop it. I washed my hands real good, so I thought! I went to put my contacts in and FIRE!!!! I took my right contact out and let it soak and washed my hands a few times! I tried to put my contact back in and it was still firey soo I soaked it some more and then rinsed it quite a few times before I could put it in my eye! WOW! I didn't handle the jalapeno that much. I had washed my hands quite a bit before putting the left one in and it didn't burn. With my allergies bothering me and jalapeno in my right eye, I was looking quite blood shot!

I need to get some of this research done and then run a few errands. I am going to be banned from the public library! I noticed today when I was trying to gather books from the list on my account that I have been charged for one of them! Gotta get these books returned!!!

Travel plans

I love to travel and don't get to do it as often as I like. Currently, school gets in the way. I am hoping next summer to go to Europe, esp. Paris, France. I was planning that has my main destination. I went to talk to a travel agent last week and she gave me lots of info and I might go to Rome - Paris - France. I will have to ride the chunnel! I need to spend more time looking at them and deciding what I would like to do.

One thing I need to do is get my passport! I was told it can take 18 weeks to get a passport and that you have to have an appointment now to get your passport. I need to get this done so I am not rushing to get it.

I am excited about planning a vacation! I would also love to go to a European beach! According to the movies, they are crowded! I am not sure that is what it is really like. I also hope to have a digital SLR by then with a cool camera tote. :-) I have lots of planning and budgeting to do!

I have segment 3 to write for my paper today and then maybe I can work on my rolodex cards for a swap. I am behind on the swap because of school! I have ideas in my head, and I have the paper I want to use.

Off to the shower and maybe the coffeehouse!

Artsy evening!

It was a fun evening at the art walk! My sister and nieces went with me. Jasmine didn't want to go but I talked to her and she agreed to go with us! Yay! We started the evening out at the Mudhouse. Our entrance into the Mudhouse was a little rough. I was the last one in the door and I guess we flipped the rug over a little. I didn't even realize we did that till some guy sitting near the door yelled at me, "Hey, all 4 of you did that!". I didn't say a word to him, just went and fixed the rug. Whoa! We got our drinks and went walking.

As we started walking, I heard my name. I stopped and turned around and I didn't recognize the lady right away. She told me her name and then I recognized her! She was a patient I took care of a couple of nights ago! We talked for a little while. Her son had art in the art walk. I was kinda surprised to see her! She said she was feeling much better though!

We all walked to the square and Jasmine wanted to do what put her feet in the water fountain. My sister gave her the go ahead and she was climbing it too. I was wondering how she was staying dry. Well, she wasn't! She came back to us soaking wet! So while my sister and Jasmine sat at the square, Shilo and I went to the good girl art gallery. Such an awesome place! I took a few pictures of some of the cool stuff they had outside. Then I saw in a newsletter for the art walk that there was a poetry slam at Well Feed Head bookstore. Shilo and I decided that would be a fun event. We walked back to the square to get my sister and Jasmine.

When we got back to the square, we rode one of the rickshaw's. He said that we could all pile in and he would take us all! He said he has pulled more than just us before and did fine. So, we had him take us to the bookstore! It was a fun ride! He was a cool rickshaw driver!

When we got to the poetry slam, my favorite poet was up. He was near the end of his poem and then they had a break. I used to go to the poetry readings at Barnes & Noble. I need to check into this and see if they still do that! The last time I went to a poetry reading, no one but my favorite poet showed up! So it was a no go. We did stay for the rest of the poetry slam and it was a fun time! The last part the audience would through out words and they would take 2 words and then they would make a poem out of it. I wouldn't be able to do that! It was quite fun!

I came home and was soo tired from not getting much sleep the last couple of days and ended up falling asleep in my clothes and contacts again! When I woke up I decided to upload some photos to my flickr account and I thought it was strange that I didn't have a limit on how many photos I could upload. Then I noticed that I had a pro account! There is an option to pay for someone to have a pro account and I guess someone has paid for me to have one! To cool! I have no idea who though. I am unsure how to figure out who.

I should be getting back to bed as I have to work again tonight. I really wish I had more than one day off so I could get something accomplished!

Happy 4th of July!!

I actually have to work today which is a bummer. I had asked for the day off but so did everyone else. I do get about 5 hours of overtime so I guess that will be nice. I finally got my yard mowed today! I started it last night and finished today. While I was mowing last night, the crazy snake had to make an appearance! Two days in a row, a snake appearance! My Dad had accidently killed one earlier this year but he must have had friends. Yuck! But anyway, I need to get that crazy weedeater out and try to get it to work. It takes me forever to get it started and makes my hands go numb when I finally do get it started. Maybe I will give that a whirl when I get off from work in the morning.

I have a water line now that goes to my ice maker! WOOHOO!!!!! I am excited about this! I finally am getting some ice cubes that don't have debris in them! My Dad and I let it run before hooking it up to my fridge to get the debris out but I guess there was still some. Then last night when I turned on my kitchen faucet and I noticed that the water pressure wasn't very good as it was. This morning I barely have any water coming from my faucet! My Dad seems to think that some of the debris is now clogged in my faucet pipes. He is going to help me get it unclogged but I work to much the rest of the week so it might be next week. We will see.

I had better finish getting ready for work. I would much rather be hanging out with my family and taking pictures! I work with good people so I am sure the night will be fun! I am hoping for a nice slow evening! :-)

Macy Gray and the iphone!

Gotta love Macy Gray and the iphone!!! I did a little research today on getting an iphone. I will be eligible for an upgrade in December so I called asking what an iphone would cost with an upgrade. I learned that there are no discounts on the iphone so you have to pay full price no matter what. Huge bummer!!! I need to start playing the lottery! :-)

Snakes . . . .

I really hate snakes and I think I have somewhat of a phobia! Today I asked my Dad to help me move the dog house that I inherited when I bought my house. It seems like snakes like to sleep underneath it. While my Dad checked for snakes, I stood on my raised garden. No snakes, good! We moved it out of the way so I can mow. We set the dog house down and was thinking about where to put it. When I went back up to the dog house, I noticed the grass moving and it was a snake! I don't know what kind since my grass is a little tall but I can tell it was a snake by the slithering . . . . . . . YUCK!!!! We got the dog house to its appointed new home. My heart was racing from all the thoughts of snakes and then the appearance of one! To much excitement! Here is a link to a snake poem I found -->> click here!!!

My Dad did all the measuring he needed and was off to buy supplies for installing the water line. I am excited for him to come back today to install it! I hope that he doesn't run into any problems while installing it. I found out that my lawn mower issue was an easy fix. My spark plug was dirty and just needed a clean one! So now it starts up like a charm! It was getting cloudy and starting to rain, so I didn't get the yard mowed. I hope that I can get that done in the morning!

I always have good intentions on getting my homework done. Since my Dad was coming over, I worked on getting my house cleaned up a little. After he left, I was planning on going to a coffee house to sit and finish the study guide for this online test. I was feeling overly tired and decided to take a 30 minute nap and even set the alarm on my cell phone. I don't remember it ever going off and woke up at 9pm! Yikes! I felt like I could just stay in bed but I made my self get up. I was more like a walking zombie then. I grabbed my books and headed to Starbucks. When I got there, they were closing in 20 minutes so I did a little studying and then came back home.

I am excited for this elite DSL internet speed I am supposed to get sometime today! So awesome! I had better get busy with the rest of this study guide so I can go to bed!

Lawnmower issues . . . . .

It finally isn't raining today and the sun is out. Perfect day to get the lawn mowed! Right? I get my lawnmower out this morning and head for the backyard as it is starting to look like a jungle! I got my lawnmower started and then I got maybe 2 feet and it sputtered and coughed then died. No problem, I will restart it. Nothing. I decided to let it rest a little and work on water the garden, etc. I go to start the lawnmower again and it sputters and dies. I can't get it to start!

I called my Dad for advice to see if he can give me any tips on what I might be able to do. He suggested the air filter my need cleaned. So I went and got my screwdriver and took a look and yes, it was quite dirty! I wiped it down the best I could and reinstalled it. Still the thing sputters. ARGH!!!! My Dad told me he was wanting to come over to figure out the best way to install a water line so my ice maker will work. This is my birthday present I am getting from my parents! I am quite excited about it! He said if I couldn't get my lawnmower started that he would try to help me.

Yesterday when I was at the Mudhouse, I happened to notice that I was getting my much better internet connection than I do at home. I have noticed on my netflix account that I can watch movies from my PC but at home it says I only get a basic connection. I decided to open that my netflix account up in the Mudhouse and check the connection and it said it was a high connection. I called my internet proveder and by tomorrow - for only $5.00 more I will be getting 4x faster connection than I get now! WOOHOO!!!!! I also found out that for $5.00 less than I am paying now I can get 2x faster. They changed the pricing but never adjusted my pricing. I am glad that I called. I also will get a $30.00 credit for upgrading, a nice special they had going on. I should have it by 8pm tomorrow. :-)

I love music!!!

I have really been having fun with my Napster account today finding songs I haven't heard in a long time. I had forgotten all about the Crash Test Dummies and really loving them today! I keep finding other songs in the alternative genre that I love. The radio station that I love (Q102) has resurrection Sundays and they play older alternative songs. So much fun! I often don't recognize the songs they play so I decided to find my own today! :-)

Anyway, I am hanging at the Mudhouse now. I am having a little bit of heartburn today which sucks. I have even been taking Zantac with my Prevacid. It has helped some but it just all together sucks having Gerd! On the bright side today, my allergies are better - just have a stuffy nose which is normal for me!

I wish I could motivate myself to study better. I have only 26 days left of school for the semester and can't wait! I am looking forward to just working. I really wanted to take vacation when I was out of school but it was all taken by the time I thought about doing that. Oh, well. I am looking forward to my 3 week break from school in 26 days!

I had better get busy. I hope to get at least half done and finish the rest tomorrow.

Nice morning . . .

I am enjoying tunes from my Napster account this morning. It is raining outside and I actually got the paper today. I have had issues with the Newsleader but glad that I have gotten the paper at least 2 weekends in a row! :-) I hope that it doesn't rain all day as I would love to ride my bike and do some yardwork. The yardwork might have to wait till tomorrow as it has rained so much yesterday and in the night that there are puddles in my yard!

I get the paper this morning and I forgot all about Firefall!!!!! My allergies were bothering me yesterday. I woke up not able to breathe so I took medicine to hopefully nip it in the bud but that didn't work. I spent the rest of the day sneezing! ARGH!!!! I really hate my allergies!!!! But I think that is what made me forget about Firefall!!!!! I was planning to drive to the north side of town and try to see the fireworks and get pictures. I was disappointed when on the front page of the paper it was about Firefall! Bummer! I have to work July 4th so no fireworks for me. :-(

Last weekend I had a good plan with my homework. My plan was to work on one to two chapters a day so I wasn't doing everything in one day. Between work and trying to get some sleep, that didn't happen. I did get one chapter done so I hope the others go as smoothly as that one. I actually have till Wednesday morning to get this exam done so I am hoping to get as much as I can done today. I am sooo ready for this semester to be over with! I was ready before it even started! :-)

I have plans for the Mudhouse and some grocery shopping today. Nothing to exciting. I did finally get me an ATG gun for my scrapbooking and would really like to try it out!!! I have it loaded and ready! I need to get some of my Scrapjammie kits out!

A little sleepy . . . . .

I have had a hard time staying awake today!!! I had woke up in the middle of the night after falling asleep in my clothes and finally got back into bed around 9am and thought I would get a 2 hour nap but I woke up at 2pm with my phone ringing. My sister needed to drop something off and told me she would be there shortly. I jumped out of bed, took a shower and was all ready and dressed in 30 minutes! WOW!!! That is a record for me! She showed up about 45 minutes after calling. I was glad that I was all ready and dressed.

After my sister left, it was looking a little stormy. It did rain some and thundered and then it was just cloudy again. One of my goals today was to get my yard mowed. It is looking a little hairy! Allergies and snakes makes this job unpleasant. I can see that it isn't going to get done again today since it is almost 8 pm and I am at the coffee shop! I work tomorrow night so it might be Tuesday now.

Anyway, I was planning to go to the Mudhouse to study and was still feeling quite sleepy. I checked my email and was going to get my stuff together to go to the Mudhouse and had to lay down. I took a short nap that time - about an hour. The cats thought that was a good idea too and all napped with me. I woke up around 6:30 pm and got all my stuff together and finally made it to the Mudhouse.

I haven't been at the Mudhouse since March!!!! So unusual for me but sometimes you just need a little break. I love the artwork and the atmosphere here. It is interesting some of the things that can change in just 3 months! At the corner of one of the intersections is an apartment building now! It was an old run down gas station that wasn't open anymore and it has been bulldozed and apartments built.

Since getting my desktop, I haven't used my laptop as much. I have my headphones on listening to music and it doesn't sound as good to me. I guess since I have gotten used to the sound from the desktop with the speakers I added, the laptop sounds like it needs some bass! :-)

I guess I should be productive and get some studying done!! :-)

To busy last week . . .

I headed back to work last week after being off from 7 days and I have been busy with work and school! I get back to work and there was mandatory meetings and a staff meeting. I don't like coming back to work with all that!

Plus to add to all the stress, I had an online exam that was due last week so I missed a staff meeting to get home early enough to get that done and then the online exam wouldn't let me back in to finish it later. I had to email my instructor to let her know and the next morning, I was able to get it done but turned it in late! I am really disliking school . . . . . to much work makes me not be able to play enough!

Before going back to work, I did take an adventure to Branson Landing. Ahhhh, I just love that place! It reminds me so much of when I was in Cancun, Mexico the way outdoor shopping mall is set up. LOVE IT!!!!! I love the fire and water show that they have too! I will have to go back again one evening!

Today, after getting a little sleep, I meet up with my sister at the Snowfest. The event didn't start till 4pm so it was perfect for me working nights! The big entertainment was Andy Griggs, a country music singer. I am not very fond of country and was disappointed. I had actually never heard of him before. But, he really wasn't bad at all, and kinda cute! He even had a song that he made for me about falling for a girl with green eyes! :-) I didn't realize that he has made it big already and he was putting on a free concert! WOW! The weather was good and it was a great evening!

I came home and ended up falling asleep sooner than expected. I woke up with my contacts still in and still in my clothes around 3 am. I believe I feel asleep around 10:30 pm as I had Saturday Night Live on and next thing I know I woke up to poker!

I need to do a little laundry and then get a little more sleep so I can mow the yard and get some studying done!

Interesting day

I had my day all planned out today and it didn't work out the way I was hoping. I had woke up at 7am, had a little heartburn, too some tums, feed the cats and decided to lay back down till the alarm went back off at 9am. I somehow slept through the alarm and ended up waking up at 2pm!!!!! Sooo, I had to redo my plans. My original plan was to wake up early, plant my vegetables in my garden and to plant my flowers I had bought the day before, then get my oil changed and head to Branson Landing. So I ended up doing everything but the Branson Landing part.

I am hoping to go to Branson Landing tomorrow and to relax a little bit more. I just love Branson Landing as it reminds me of the shopping mall I went to in Cancun, Mexico. Ahhh! Paradise! I plan to bring my camera and to take some more pictures. At least now, I can wake up and head to Branson instead of having to do all the other little chores I had to do today.

One funny little thing that happened today was when I got my oil changed. I went to Jiffy Lube and ended up spending more money than I was going to but they kept giving me special discounts so I suckered into it! I got a new air filter for the price I could go out and buy one myself plus I got me new windshield wipers that are euro wipers! They mold to the windshield unlike my old ones. They are pretty cool and they told me they would last longer because of the way they are made. I also had a brake light out that they replaced for me too. So, at least these things are done and I hopefully won't need anything else for awhile.

After I was done, it was closing time for the car wash but I was able to get in right before they closed. My car hadn't been washed in a long time and really needed it! After they were done wiping down my car, they pulled it out and I had all the guys from auto magic around my car. One guy asked me if I was willing to sell my car. I told him I really liked my car and wasn't looking to sell but he kept telling me why he needed it. He kept giving me trivia about my car that I didn't know about how fast it can go and the engine. Such a guy thing! I told him if he got me an Acura RSX, then he could have it!!! :-) I told him the blue book value was around $5,000 but he wanted the black book value of about $1,200. Silly boy! I finally got to leave Auto Magic, with my car! It's too bad all those guys were so young! :-)

Since I didn't go to Branson Landing, I decided to use a coupon I got in the email from Borders for my birthday. I got a free dessert and also 15% off one item. I ended up leaving with 3 books and a magazine! I can't wait till I have time to read the books and the magazine is "Essential Home Skills". I looked at the magazine as I was sitting in the cafe and it has some great tips that will help me do some things myself around the house. I might have to subscribe to this one!

When I got home today, I saw that one of my photos had made it into the interesting photos on flickr.com. I searched and searched till I finally figured out which one it was! It was a photo I took of Felix trying to get my attention on my desk! I have included that cute picture in this post! I have gotten 20 comments on it too. It is the most popular photo so far! :-)

I had better get doing something productive, like study. :-)

A crazy birthday . . .

My birthday is almost over now. It started out good but has ended sneezy! I was glad that I woke up at 10 a.m. so I can enjoy the day. I took it easy this morning, checked out the message boards and cruised the internet for awhile.

I decided that I would go to a movie in the afternoon. I ended up going to see Vacancy. Not a bad movie, kinda eerie. After the movie I went to Barnes & Noble and got me the book, "Advanced Photoshop Elements 5.0 for digital photographers". I have the first book that goes with this book. I can't wait till I can learn how to alter pictures in a fun artistic way!

Then I picked up Jasmine from Day camp and went to my parents house. My parents are remodeling their kitchen and so my mom didn't cook dinner so my mom and sister went and got dinner. I sneezed through the whole day! I even took all the allergy medication I could when I woke up because I felt like I was going to have an allergy day.

All in all, it was a good day but it would have been a little better if I could have breathed better!

Very unhappy . . . . .

I am so displeased with my Rx plan which I am sure if anyone has been reading my blog will know this. The story isn't getting any better. I have been fighting since the middle of April to get medicine that will control my GERD. Which the medications that my Rx plan says I can take don't work. I am currently taking Prevacid and I have heartburn on a daily basis and eat Tums like they are candy. I had the gastro last week which I was told if it showed abnormalities (which it did) that I would be able to prove to the insurance that I need to be on the Nexium that I had been taking for the last 2 1/2 years which controlled my GERD.

Today, I was in my doctors office and I asked if they had gotten the letter from my GI doctor and what we needed to do for this process. I wasn't actually seeing the doctor today so they flagged him and they would call me with his response. I get called and they aren't going to even try to put me back on my Nexium. I am wondering why I had that expensive test done last week if the abnormal results aren't going to get me anywhere! I was under the impression that my GI doctor was writing that I needed to be put back on my medicine. Instead of trying to get my medicine, they have ordered a nausea medicine that is supposed to also increase the tone of the lower esophageal sphincter (LES). WTF?!?!?!??! Another thing I wonder is why didn't he start this medication when I called to say the Prevacid wasn't working in April? Why let me go for almost two months waiting to have the gastro done and then do nothing of what I was told was recommended. I do believe that I need to get me a copy of this letter and I might have to consult with my GI doctor about all of this too. I am not even sure how long I am supposed to wait to see if this medication is working.

I am wondering if I need to get a part-time job at another hospital that has a better Rx plan just so I can get the medicine I need!

School is back in session!

I wasn't excited about my leadership class after reading the syllabus. It seemed icky and kinda scary. Today after meeting the instructor and the discussion we had in class today, I feel better about it. I really think I am going to like this instructor. I hope this ends up being a good experience unlike last semester! I still don't have my books for the class but I think I have lucked out that the first thing due is a simple discussion board question and our first part of our paper. Phew! I hope that it arrives soon so I can get started on the reading!

One thing I am liking about this class is the way she is doing our research paper. We actually do 3 parts of the paper through out the class. Part 1 is due next week and it is the intro of our paper and some general questions. I am going to write my paper on floating to monitored floors when you haven't had any training in reading monitors. That is one thing that I don't like about floating - the fear of having to go to a monitored floor! I don't know how to read the monitors and I have to rely on what someone else is telling me. I have had good and bad experiences when floating to monitored floors. One good experience was that the charge nurse watched my monitors and assisted me on the charting. She was very helpful and I felt confident that the monitors were being taken care of. I have also had experiences where they didn't look after my monitors or didn't tell me what they meant. The unit I work on is supposed to be going to a closed unit to where we only float to our sister unit. That is what triggered the idea for my paper. But then we takes these parts and put them together, answer questions that has come up from the discussion board and put it together. I hope that it goes smoothly!

I have actually been cleaning tonight. I got home from school and mowed my yard and was wanting to get the weedeater out but it was 9pm soo I finally came inside. I didn't mean to start cleaning but decided to look for my super nintendo and hook it up to the TV tuner on my desktop. To find the super nintendo was difficult as it was in the extra bedroom where everything you don't know what to do with goes! I actually moved all the boxes to one side of the room and cleaned the part of the floor that was exposed. I finally found it in the closet in a box in there. I am going to have to start little by little clearing these boxes out so I can have my room back! I remember a time when that room was clean and I would sit in the floor and enjoy watching TV. It will happen once again!

Fun day with the nieces!

I had a great day! I was hoping to get up early to make Shilo a birthday card to go with her gift but since I couldn't fall asleep till 0530, that didn't happen. I woke up in just enough time to check the email, get in the shower and then pick the girls up from school.

After I picked the girls up, we had to do a boring thing and go get my allergy shots. As soon as we got done there, I took them to the park and took pictures with my parents old 35mm camera. I did order a new wide angle lens for my parents camera. I can't wait till I get it! I am so used to digital that I tend to use up a 24 count roll of film to fast! I tried to rewind the film so I could take it to be developed and I couldn't get it to work. When we got home, I got it to work just fine! Crazy! Then after the park, we went to Red Robin which is new in our area. It was a fun after the school hang-out with my nieces!

I also took my nieces to Circuit City to show them the digital SLR camera that I want for my birthday! I have been looking at Best Buy and found out that Circuit City price is $300 more! Jasmine told me that it was too big and wanted to get me a pink digital camera. :-) They were cute but I want the big one! :-)

I gave Shilo her birthday gift when we got back to my house. I was taking pictures and realized that the sun through the blinds was on Shilo's face so we had to do a redo of the gift opening! She is over reacting but it is cute! She got with her birthday money a little digital camera/video player so I got her a memory card to go with it. I guess the internal memory isn't very much so now she will hopefully have more!

Cats are cute!!!

Rawr!!!!
Originally uploaded by Knutschen

Here is a picture of Felix yawning waiting for me to focus my parents old Pentax 35mm camera!

I went and got my first roll of film developed today and some of the pictures were blurry, some clear and some has an odd color cast to it. The picture here of Felix had the strange color cast to it so I scanned it and used photoshop elements 5.0 to convert it to black and white. It made the picture look so much better! I hope to get the lighting figured out as I am sure that is the reason that my pictures had that funny color cast.

I am going to be picking my nieces up from school today and I am excited about that! This is my last day before I start school again and I can't wait to spend time with the girls! I will hopefully get some cute pictures of them! I actually have Shilo's birthday present still and I am excited to give it to her! She got her a little video/camera and she needed a memory card so I am sure she will be glad to have more memory!

I start school on Tuesday for the summer session and I decided this time to order my books online instead of going to the bookstore. It seems like they overprice things at the bookstore and I can get it cheaper online. This is actually the first time I have ordered online. I ordered my books a week in advance thinking I would have them but I won't. I ordered from amazon.com and I used the free shipping option not realizing that it takes longer to ship under this option. All of my books said they were in stock so I ordered them and thought it said I should get them on June 4. This weekend I checked my account to see if they had shipped and realized that it wasn't going to ship until June 4th!!! I have to go to class without my books and hope that the first assignment isn't to difficult as the delivery is supposed to be June 7-9. I guess if I do this again, I will either use a different shipping method or order 2 weeks in advance but that all depends on when the instructor post the syllabus. I even called to see if I could change it and my order had been processed so it was a no go. Makes for an interesting first week of school!

Allergy day . . .

Wow, I sneezed so much today. There is something in the air that I am allergic too!!!! My parents came over today and helped me with fixing the leak in my tub faucet so now Pandora can't sneak a drink! I have a cute picture of her getting a drink!

I am hoping to get a water line to my fridge so my icemaker will work. Since I have an older house, it didn't have one. :-( I had someone come out to give me an estimate which came to $386!!!!! I called my Dad to ask him if that was an appropriate price as I didn't think it was. He told me that it sounded to pricey but them told me that he might be able to do this for me if I just got the stuff for him to do it. I called a supply store and it would be about $50. Much better price!

I hadn't moved my fridge in awhile to clean underneath it so while we had it out I cleaned all the debris up. To our surprise when we moved the fridge back into place, a mouse was dead - flat as a pancake - underneath my fridge!!!!!! I am unsure how long that mouse had been underneath there but it had to be a long time!!!!!! I am not sure if one of the cats killed it and it got shuffled under the fridge from them batting it around or how this came about. GROSS!!!!!

A friend of mine called today and we went to have dinner together and then went shopping. She told me I was buying new clothes! I haven't taken the time to go clothes shopping in a while and don't like taking the time to try on clothes. I found me a couple of capri pants and about 5 new tops. I am excited to have new clothes! Having her there made it easier as she would get me different sizes if I needed it or find me new things she thought I should try on. We tried to find me some new sandels but if I liked the shoe, it either didn't fit or they didn't have it. I will have to try that another day. I kept sneezing through our little shopping experience!

I didn't get to go to the park today to take pictures as planned. It was storming and rainy all morning and then when it cleared off, my schedule wasn't clear! I am hoping to be able to do that tomorrow. I did use up one roll of film today and I am anxious to get it developed. I forget to drop it off at Wal-mart at the night drop off when I was there. That will be on my list of things to do for tomorrow as well!

Rainy day . . .

Today is the first Friday art walk but it was thundering, lightening tonight so I didn't go. Since it was rainy and I didn't have to much to do, I ended up at Best Buy to look for filters for my parents camera. I didn't realize that they came is different sizes and that I needed to bring the lens in to get a proper fit.

While I was there, I kept looking at the digital SLR cameras. They weren't that busy so the guy let me play around with them!!! I am falling more in love with the Canon 30D than I am the Nikon D80 now. It is so awesome how fast I can get these cameras to focus and it seems to take me forever to get the Pentax camera to focus. It is making me want a digital SLR camera more and more! I absolutely love the sports action feature! The Canon has a better continuous mode than the Nikon does. :-) I am hoping that it doesn't rain all weekend so I can go take various pictures around town!

When I got home, I started playing around with my camera and trying to take self-portraits. I finally was using the mirror to see what the screen looked like on my digi camera. I had a lot of blurry pictures but it was fun playing around!

I am hoping to get a little bit of scrapping done tonight or at least put some pictures with kits. My printer is acting up tonight so I am not sure if I will be able to print pictures. I have left it unplugged so hopefully it will reset and hopefully work!

Lazy day

I never really fell asleep last night. I think I might have gotten 1-2 hours of sleep. With working the night shift, I can get my nights and days mixed up easily!!!! I made it with very little sleep to my test this morning. I got all checked in, my IV started and was shortly taken to the GI room to meet with the doctor and for him to perform my test. All went well and I didn't remember anything thanks to Versed. They gave me the option to not be sedated but I opted for the sedation. The doctor talked to my Mom and I have esophagitis, hiatal hernia and had some gastric polyps. He said that he would be writing a letter to my primary doctor and then I can hopefully get on some different medicine that will hopefully control my heartburn. I guess all of this was to prove to the insurance that I really do need something other than what they are allowing me to have. I just hope this process isn't to slow!

I got home and I was still quite light headed and dizzy from the medication. I had a little lunch and was planning to do things around the house but was so tired from not having much sleep and then the medication that I finally just went to bed and slept for about 5 hours. I am still tired but feeling better! When I woke up I went into my back yard and was playing around with my parents camera. I am having a hard time getting the focus thing down esp. when your subject moves! :-) I think this weekend when I am off from work, I am going to go the park and take pictures. I want to use up this roll to get it developed to see the pictures! I am so used to digital that this is bugging me!

I am off to get my house straightened up!

Shilo's b-day!

I went to my parents house tonight and we celebrated Shilo's birthday. I can't believe that she is 12 already!!!!! She actually had her party last Friday but I was working. It seems like I always end up working on Shilo's b-day celebrations! We got together and had a miniature celebration!

While I was at my parents house I asked to see there Pentax 35mm camera. My parents have had this camera since 1982 and I remember using it when I was old enough. I have been out of touch with manual focus for quite a while and I have borrowed there camera to do get the feel of it again. It seems old school since it takes film! :-) I went to Wal-mart and got new batteries and film. While loading the film, I was looking in the wrong spot for the indicator of what picture I was on and ended up taking 8 pictures of nothing! I know now! He he! I have found a wide-angle lense and a telephoto lense on eBay for under $20!!!! I haven't bid on any yet as I am unsure how to tell if they will fit the camera or not. My parent will be over at my house tomorrow so I will have to ask them.

Tomorrow is my gastroscopy at the hospital. While I am at the hospital with my Mom, my Dad is going to help me with some yard work. Tomorrow is going to be kinda boring to me since I won't be allowed to drive. I am not used to just sitting at home!! I am hoping to get some housework done and to maybe do some scrapbooking!

Photo fun

I have been playing around with my photoshop elements 5.0 program and enjoying a new feature in this version. I am able to make panoramic pictures with ease! I took a picture of Chloe while she was napping with the panoramic assist with my camera and then uploaded them to stitch them together. I love it! I have panoramic photo paper so I can print it out. It says it it 6 in. by 21 in. which isn't going to fit on my paper so I will have to play with that to see what to do.

I worked the weekend and I was in charge. It wasn't that bad except for a little disagreement with admitting. I had went to lunch and talked to another nurse that works on our sister floor about the disagreement and she agreed that I was correct and even told me that they had a private room for this patient that they were telling didn't need a private room. Thanks to my nurse friends on our sister unit, the patient got a private room which they needed. :-) I often think placing patients and getting admitting to understand why we make some of the decisions we make can be difficult.

I have gotten my syllabus for my summer class and oh my!!!! The announcement that is posted says that it should take us 10-15 hours a week to do the reading for this class!!! I have found my books online and I will hopefully have them soon so I might be able to get organized and get a jump start on things. In less than a year, I will be done! I just keep telling that to myself!

Slacking . . . .

I am sooo glad that school is over and I survived all my classes. No more Theories and Research and no more College Algebra that I will never use again! :-) No more Nurse Ministry. I tried to resell my textbooks today and out of 6 books I was only able to get rid of 2 books! For some reason the school I go to only sells books back for one day and I wasn't done with all my classes yet soooo I wasn't able to go. The bookstore I go to doesn't always want my books as they don't use them but they normally will take my general education books. Oh, well! I need to put this money into my Digital SLR fund!

Since school ended, I have been busy with working and I did spend a day with a friend helping her out. She is single as I am and needed help with moving furniture to clean. I can fully understand her wanting help as there are times that it is easier with a second person. She even cooked me dinner for helping her and she said she would help me anytime since I helped her. I had appointments and inservices to go to on my days off this week. The only fun appointment was to get my hair cut and I have a slightly different cut! Nothing dramatic but just a little change that makes my hair lay better. :-)

The last few days I have been working on getting my scrap/computer area cleaned in my bonus room. It looks better but I still have quite a bit of work to do! I have some scrapping to get done as I have some of the new Love, Elsie line! I am excited!!!!!! I should have more time to scrapbook next week as I have 3 days off, work one and then have 5 off! :-) I have my gastro next week and will be confined to no driving for the rest of that day so I will have to scrap! The last time I had a gastro, I was woke up and was fine without feeling drowsy so I hope the same goes this time too.

I haven't been to the Mudhouse, my *fav* coffee house in almost two months! I was going to hang out there today but then decided to hang out at Barnes & Noble to see what was new in the magazines I enjoy. I did get the new Rachel Ray magazine and there are lots of yummy recipes! I got home and couldn't stay awake and had to take a 3 hour nap!

I need to get off the computer and do some more organizing!

The last final . . . . .

I am finished with my Theories and Research class and soooo glad! That was not an easy class. The instructor didn't make it any easier with those crazy test that she gave us! They were all open book but I didn't get very good scores on them and really hope that I did alright on my research paper and journal. I think I might come out with a B. :-P

I have my College Algebra test this afternoon and getting ready to get a few hours of sleep and then spend the rest of the day studying for that. I am unsure how I will do on it. She gave us a copy of an old final and some of it seems real easy and other parts, I remember doing it but can't remember how I did it! I just need to review all of that today. I just hope I don't run out of time. That has been my biggest factor this semester. There just isn't enough hours on my days off to get school work done and getting errands ran.

I am looking forward to getting my house a little more organized again. For some reason my coffee table and around the coffee table is cluttered again. I still need to come up with a daily clean-up plan to keep the clutter down. Another thing I am going to clean is my cat Felix!! He is my wild kitty and I can't take him to the vet to get groomed as he has a growling hissy fit! He had gotten some tangles because he doesn't let me brush him but I held him down and got him brushed and all the tangles out. The fur was flying! :-) The next step is a bath.

I am sure while I am trying to get some sleep, I will be doing math in my head because of my test this afternoon. I will be getting me some relaxed sleep tonight and can't wait! I haven't had any good sleep I think since March when I was on vacation. I am long overdue!

A little bit of relaxation . . . . .

I stayed up all night last night till my paper was done. I haven't turned it in yet as I am going to go back over it tonight and then send it. I also need to start on my journal tonight that is due in the morning but feel so much better after getting done with my paper. I just hope that I did everything she has asked. I get confused about all the different research designs and the different ways to interpret data. After I get my journal done, all I have left is my final in my theories & research and college algebra. My theories and research final is online and I have the test. If I get done with my journal early tonight, I will have to work on that then all I have to worry about is my college algebra test!

It has been a little warm here and my bonus room where I keep my desktop has been 97 degrees today! I can't tolerate it that long. Last night when I was trying to finish my paper, I broke down and turned the air on and it made it tolerable. Then today, the temp went back up to 97 degrees again so tonight I finally turned the air back on. That room is freezing in the winter and so hot in the summer! I normally only have a few days that it is comfortable when the weather is cooler. I am waiting for it to get cooler so I can sit at my desk to finish my homework!

I was hoping to go to my parents house this weekend, esp. today since it was mother's day. It didn't quite work out that way. Since I stayed up till 0730 this morning, I slept till 1330. When I called my sister, she had already been over there. I tried to call and nobody was home! I called this evening to wish my mom a happy mother's day.

I got out my ice tea maker tonight and made some vanilla caramel tea. Yum!!!!! I will be drinking that the rest of the night!

No work!!!!

I was excited today when I got to work. I actually got to work 30 minutes early today as I was doing errands before going to work and got done earlier than I thought. I was sitting in the report room waiting for time to go clock in. While I was waiting, someone came back to the report room and said that someone was getting a mandatory which it was to be our traveler. They couldn't get ahold of him and he was driving in from Arkansas as that is where he lives. Since he showed up and didn't want to go back home after driving 2+ hours, I got to go home!!! I was sooo excited because that is giving me the extra time I needed to work on my paper and study for finals! WOOHOOO!!!!!!!

I also had the scheduler call me today for my test and she caught me off guard at first because after she told me she was the GI scheduler she said, "You look familiar". Uhhh we are on the phone so how does she know what I look like? She told me that my picture was on file. I was beginning to wonder for a moment! That is the only bad thing about having procedures done at the hospital you work at. You see too many people that you know! The last time I had this test done, I had people come say hi to me that I used to work with that had transferred to the outpatient center.

Since I slept most of the day I am going to stay up part of the night to get a good chunk of my paper written! I might actually get to spend mother's day with my mom now! :-) I am going to attach a pic from Cinco de Mayo of my friend with the mexican band! :-)

Extremely busy

I have been busy with trying to finish up with this semester. I have a huge paper to write this weekend, my journal to do and need to somehow fit in some study time for my College Algebra final. There is probably more but that is what is on my mind currently.

I have been tagged twice this week which I will have to do that after I am done with my crazy semester!

I am still having heartburn issues and getting real tired of it. I have had this heartburn for 3 weeks now. I still haven't heard from a scheduler to get my gastro done so I can hopefully figure out what to do next. I think they are going to let my esophagus erode away. I got an opportunity at work earlier this week to talk to a benefits specialist and told him my story about what has happened since our insurance won't let me have my medication. He told me he was going to turn that in to somebody in HR and see what can be done but yet the lady he was forwarding this too never gets back with anybody. I am not holding my breath.

I am going to be quite busy in the next week and might not get back on here till after school is out. I am excited about this semester being over and having a little break!!!!!!

Party!!!

I am excited about artfest on Walnut street today and a friend just called me and invited me to a Cinco De Mayo celebration! I need to be researching for my paper but thought that I needed to have some fun!

I had a fun time at the art walk last night and glad that my sister decided to go! It was a rather fun art walk this time. They blocked off a street and had art booths down the street. I even got to meet my *fav* local artist Kristi Mashburn! I just love her paintings and she is too cool!! It got dark too soon and some of my pictures didn't turn out till I decided to switch to the night mode and then I was able to take some night pictures.

Yesterday I stopped by a photo store here that sells cameras and looked at the digital SLR cameras. I am thinking about getting a Nikon D40 or D80. He was very helpful and gave me a book to read about Nikon cameras and even hightlighted some of the features in the different cameras for me! I can't wait till I have time to figure out all the features and decide which camera will be the best choice!

More heartburn issues . . . .

I was so excited last week when I was able to get the precertification on the Prevacid. Here, a week later, it isn't working at all and I am still have heartburn and reflux. I called my doctor office to let them know of this. While I was waiting for a call back, I decided to call my prescription plan to see what can be done with this matter. My prescription plan only has generic prilosec, OTC prilosec and prevacid (after precertifiction) listed as formulary medications. When I told the lady my story and that none of these medications are controlling my gastric reflux and heartburn all she had to tell me was, "These are the only medications that are covered". When I told her that I can't have this constant heartburn without other health issues coming up and there had to be a non-formulary medication that I could take with a higher co-pay, I got put on hold. While I was on hold, my doctors office called so I hung up. My doctors office wants to schedule me for a gastroscopy with my GI doctor. I just have to wait for his office to call me now. They are unable to get me anything to help me until I can see my GI doctor and have advised me to go to the ER!!!! The hospital I work at has Nexium as the formulary. I just might go if it gets bad enough!

Unexpected news . . .

A friend of mine stopped by to visit with me the other night when I was getting ready for work. I had actually gotten ready a little early so I was able to talk to him for a bit. He is an international student and he is getting ready to graduate this month with his business degree. He told me that he has decided not to stay in America and to move back home. I was a little shocked to hear this as he has alway talked how he wants to stay here. He even has an uncle that lives here too. He has decided that it was best for him but I will miss him being here. We are planning to hang out some before he leaves. He even wants to cook me some food from his country which I think would be fun but I have to get rid of this heartburn first!!! :-) He has even invited me to visit him if I wished in his country. I think that would be fun so who knows, maybe when I graduate next year I will plan a little trip to visit. :-)