Wrapping up the year!

Well, as hard as it is to believe it is time to say goodbye to 2010! I can't believe it is already time to ring in a new year! A lot has happened this year that has influenced my life. I started the new year with my second semester of nursing school. I absolutely loved it! Despite my previous thoughts I actually liked Mental Health. I learned a lot about addiction and how it impacts people's lives and families. It is a difficult thing to deal with. I also loved my Med-Surg. rotation where I was finally able to get into the hospital and really work with patients. I learned a lot about myself and how much I love this career! I had amazing teachers who I still go and visit! This semester also brought a lot of craziness in my personal life. I helped out at the scene of an accident, had to rouse a drunk guy out of our apartment, and grew closer to my little sister.
Over the summer we decided to rip up my mom's kitchen and remodel it. It was fun and very different. It looks amazing! We went to L.A. this summer for Dana and Wes's wedding. It turned out beautifully and Dana was so happy walking out of those temple doors. We got them all moved in and they are doing well.
This fall I moved back to Twin Falls to start another semester of school. In the nursing program here the third semester is considered harder than any other physically, mentally, and emotionally. I can attest that it truly was, but can now say that I conquered it! We learned a lot of difficult, but interesting topics including more fluids and electrolytes, cardiac, and neuro. I got new roommates this semester and love it! It has been 100% drama free! I am still living with Tara, and have a few others with similar backgrounds to us. Clinicals this semester were so fascinating. I took three patients a day this time around, went to the GI lab, surgery, cancer center, peds, and the ICU. I also started my first official IV on a really difficult poke! Definitely a high point! This semester I have also dealt with my first stomach ulcer, concussion, and brokenbone. If you know me well, which most of you do, then you won't be surprised. I am a spaz, a clutz, and a major worrier!
So, as I ring in this new year with my crutches and cast, and all of my job applications; I say thank you to the great people in my life. Thank you to my awesome friends who stick by my crazy ADHD self and do not judge me! Thank you to my family who have always loved me and been my biggest cheerleader! Finally, thank you to my Heavenly Father who has blessed me more in these last few months than I probably deserve! He has been a great strength to me. Stay safe this year and live life to the fullest.

Well, I made some resolutions for this year and now it's time to see how I've done...........

I am still not a sewer! I haven't been too great of a blogger, but I do worry less. I think I do anyways! I have worked very hard this year to be a positive person in most every situation! Hope you all did okay with your resolutions, you'll have to wait a few days to see my new resolutions!

It's that time of year again!

I apologize ahead of time for the rant..............

Holy smokes! It is that point in the semester again.... the point where you just want to quit and say, "I shall now embrace my future as an underwater basket weaver". I always thought I would be great at that (except for the fact that I panic when I have to hold my breath underwater). Okay, so maybe nursing school isn't so bad (although I sometimes feel like I am holding my breath underwater)! We are at that pivocal point where your professors throw as many assignments and tests at you as they can to 'build character'. Well, the deadlines are quickly approaching and I couldn't be more happy for Thanksgiving break, a.k.a. the downhill slide point! Dana will appreciate that my 12 pack of diet cherry pepsi is down to 1 now! Thanksgiving will be great tho! I love it! My mom makes a great meal, we get to spend time together, oh and we are going to see a young little wizard and his friends! Woot Woot! Well, here are some pictures of me and the roommates for anyone that cares.... and by that I mean the family! Haha! Hope you are all doing well, I apologize again for the rant!


This is a waterfall here in Twin Falls. You can't tell from the picture, but you can actually walk behind the waterfall! It's pretty fun!
This is me and Tara the day that we took my family to see the alligators in Hagerman! They have a farm with actual alligators!
This is a crazy girl who is about ready to finish her concept map, teaching plan, plan of care, and med sheet!

A new project!

School is going well. We have 5 school weeks left until the semester ends and 19 school weeks until graduation- but who is counting?!! I just got a bunch of pictures back from Walmart and was trying to figure out what to do with them. My roommate Alyssa has hers set up all cute and fun, but I couldn't figure out what I wanted to do. I went through my box of crafts and remembered that I had a bunch of frames that I had collected from trips to DI. I decided to just tape the rest up on my closet doors. Well, here's how it turned out.

That's right I have reading glasses!

So, a little known thing about me......I wear bifocals. That's right folks, since I was 23 I have been wearing bifocals. I only wear them for reading and for driving in the dark, but I do wear them. I have always been a little embarassed by this fact. I have 20/20 vision, but my eye muscles have difficulty focusing when they need to strain (ie. darker rooms or night). Well, when I moved to Twin this semester they got lost in the move. Being the poor college student that I am I just tried to get by without them. It just wasn't working with all of the reading I am required to do so I went to Walmart today and got myself 'reading glasses'. Oh yeah, they're pretty hot!

Well, here's an update on school:

I am halfway through my third semester out of four in the nursing program. It really is as bad as everyone said it was! Haha! It is teaching me discipline and structure. It is also teaching me gratitude and trust in my Heavenly Father. I have had to depend on him more this semester than I have in most years of my life. Instead of doing several care plans during the semester we do mini plans of care every clinical day. Here is a part of the journal entry in my last plan of care. It pretty much sums up my rotation of clinicals this first half.........

"This rotation I was able to start my first real IV, help with an NG placement, care for a patient’s NG, watch surgeries, care for the cutest little kiddos, and improve my assessment skills. I have cared for families who were difficult, families in need of education, and those in need of support. I have learned a lot from my patients and their families this rotation. I learned to slow down, take time to listen, treat them with compassion, and listen to what they aren’t telling me. I have had some easy days, tough days, silly days, and sad days, but each day has been a learning day."

I hope that you are all doing well. I am loving fall just like I always do! Enjoy the picture with the old lady reading glasses!

May 13th, 2011

So, it's the beginning of third semester! That means I am half-way to graduation! I am so very excited. I got to spend the summer back home in Sugar City and had quite the busy summer. We remodeled the whole inside of my parents' house. It was hard work, but it turned out so nice! We also got my sister married (1,000 miles away), and managed to still have some serious fun! This semester is supposed to be ridiculously busy and harder than the rest and so far it has lived up to that reputation!!! A few of you have asked if I have had any new projects. Here's some pics of my room............
My sister bought this large mirror at a thrift store here in Twin last year. I already had the table and decided it would make a great little vanity. Unfortunately I broke the glass a few days before I moved back here. :( That's the same bench I found at DI last year I just reupholstered it.

I told my mom last year that I needed a book shelf to store all of my nursing books. She found this one at D.I. almost immediately. I forgot to take a before pic, but it was just plain, unfinished wood, so I gave it some pretty black paint and some distressing.

I love this new bedding. It is kind of different from the stark white I had going before!

Picture Vomit!

I finally found my card reader so here are the pictures that a few of you have asked for. I threw in a few of projects I have worked on recently. So, here's an update for anyone who cares! I am finishing my second semester this coming Tuesday. I have one test and two finals left! I am finishing my term as Vice President of our chapter of the Idaho Student Nurse Association. I am going home for the summer and taking some online classes. Things are pretty good, can't complain really!

Decor Blues!

So, have you ever gotten half way through winter and decided that you were just bored with the status quo decor? Well, I am right now. I decided a few weeks ago that I was ready for a change. I spend a lot of time in my room studying and writing papers, but I thought that maybe if I changed things up a bit, I might enjoy it a little more. My old decor was nice, but I am going for a little different look now. I've got it almost done, but I decided no pictures until I'm done! School is going great. I am loving Mental Health. It's definitely different from Med-Surg and so I sometimes struggle with the information, but it's good. This next weekend my parents and Nate are coming to visit and I am so very excited for that. I get to show them around my neighborhood now! Then after they leave I have 36 picture frames to spray paint for Dana's wedding!!! That's alright I like crafting! Hope things are going well for all of you!

Here's a few pictures of what my room looked like before..............

They're Coming to Take Me Away, HaHa!

And so begins the Mental Health rotation. I went into this semester completely unsure of what it would be like. Do people wander the halls mumbling in their straight jackets, or screaming out from their padded cells? I was pleasantly surprised to find that there are none of these things here this semester. These are people who have hit a wall and need to learn how to get over it or work around it. They are people who need someone to believe they can succeed and to teach them the tools they need to do this. I am actually getting a bit excited about it. There are still some serious diseases that I will be working with, but it will be interesting to hear their stories and find out just how much they are like you or me, but with a little bigger burden to carry.



I am also taking a class for my own pleasure this semester. It is an in-depth class that takes you through assessments head to toe so that when I hit the Med-Surg floor in March I will feel like a pro with my patient! Okay, I will probably be way nervous, but I think it will be a great help!!!

It's a New Year!

Well, 2009 started out a little rough, but it ended so very well! I really can't complain about any part of 2009. I am thinking that 2010 has a lot of potential. We'll have to wait and see I suppose. Well, I have never in my life had any New Year's resolutions, but I think I have a few that I would like to try out this year!

So here they are in no particular order of importance!

1- I want to become a better blogger. I vow on this day to blog at least once a month. I am not guaranteeing that they will be anything that anyone else will care about, but I will blog about something every month.
2- The next one is one I have wanted to do for over a year now, but I finally have all the resources I need. I recently inherited my mom's old sewing machine and want to learn to sew. If you have any tips I'd sure love them!
3-The last one is a big one for me. Anyone who knows me really well, knows that I am a horrible worrier. I worry about everything and everyone. It also leads to me meddling or as my sister likes to call it- "shrinking" other people. So, I am also vowing to relax just a bit. I know I won't be able to totally stop worrying, it is just who I am.

So, does anyone out there have any resolutions they want to work on? Do you have any advice for me on completing mine? Let me know, I'd love to hear them!

Update

So, I am still among the land of the living! Nursing school has not gotten the better of me yet! Well, first semester is over now and I am onto second semester now! Mental Health and Med Surg here I come! I am actually loving school for the first time ever in my life and I am even doing really well. I am keeping busy with school, work, and ISNA. Well, since I last posted I have done a lot. I am still loving my apartment and roommates. I decided recently that since I am going to be living here for a while then I ought to decorate the place a bit more so I like it! I am loving the bathroom now! The holidays have now come and gone. Thanksgiving was spent in California this year. My grandma who has been valiantly fighting cancer for over a decade now, finally lost the fight on November 8th. Luckily my mom was able to be there with her and my dad was able to be there for my mom. Christmas was a much happier time. I was able to go home for two weeks and spend some much needed time with my family. It was great. I made and ate yummy food, played games, watched movies, and even painted my mom's room for her. I also came home to Twin with my mom for a ladies weekend. That was so great! We shopped, played, I cut her hair and we just enjoyed having some fun together! So, for Christmas we wanted a tree in our apartment, but I absolutely loathe real trees and couldn't justify buying a fake one so we decorated my little craft trees! Here are some pictures of the apartment and trees. Hope you all had a great holiday season!