This past week has been so crazy! I am glad to have it behind me.
Monday and Tuesday I had hospital orientation for my new job. Basically we learned about the company, the hospital, and hospital-wide policies and such. I have to say that so far I LOVE the company I work for. Everyone is so nice and helpful and it really feels like even though it's a huge place with a lot of employees, everyone is there to help one another.
They also have so many great benefits for employees! I've never had a job with benefits before and I am so shocked at how little I pay for amazing health, vision, and dental insurance, and how many other great things there are that I never thought about, like paid time off! I was just in awe when the benefits package was explained to us, haha!
Wednesday was supposed to be my first day of lecture but I had to miss because I HAD to be at orientation at the hospital to learn their computer charting system. After taking the computer charting class, it hardly seemed necessary to make me skip school for it, as it was mostly me working through modules I can do at home, but oh well.
I also got to go up to the ICU Wednesday for a few minutes. I sat at the nurses' station waiting for my manager to come back from a meeting and was definitely intimidated by everything going on on the unit. I just can't wait until I am trained and know what I'm doing, the period in between now and then is scary!
I scheduled with my manager to come back for my first 12 hour shift on Monday!
Thursday I had more PCT training at the hospital and learned how to take blood sugars, and then I went to lab at school and learned how to draw up medication with needles and give shots! That was pretty exciting :)
Yesterday after lecture was my first psychiatric clinical, meaning it's at a "mental hospital". I was so very excited about this clinical, but the reality of it was something I wasn't really expecting. I was just hit so hard with how sad I felt for those that are mentally ill and how blessed I am to be mentally healthy.
I don't understand why some of us go about life normally with our brains working fine and others, who are living perfectly normal lives as well, suddenly are hit with a psychotic break and can no longer function because of things going on inside their brains that are tormenting them. I hate it so much for each and every person going through it.
Last night after I got home I just couldn't stop thinking about the people I'd met. M and I went to Ihop for dinner (because it was 11pm) and all I could think about was how I get to be out here eating Ihop and going home to my nice apartment and get to go about my blessed life while they are still there at that place dealing with such terrible things.
I am happy for the opportunity to speak to and interact with and play games and do puzzles with the patients though, because I think they really liked having us there and having someone to talk to, but I definitely am seeing the world differently after being there.
Today I have to attend a 12 step program meeting (such as AA, or narcotics anonymous, or one of the many others). It should also be interesting and eye opening.
Other than that I am going to try to enjoy the weekend because next week will be even crazier and busier than this one. One day at a time!
Saturday, January 21, 2012
Saturday, January 14, 2012
project366
Days 1-13!
Baking cookies
Outfit of the day (excuse my silly looking face). M and I celebrated our anniversary this day (since we both had to work on the 4th) by going to Cheesecake Factory for lunch (yummy), going to look at engagement rings (!!), and having dinner with friends at BJ's.
I got gel nails. They were cute, but they started peeling really quickly so next time I'll probably just go for the regular manicure if it's going to last just as long for half the price.
Note left for M on his wallet on our real anniversary.
Battle scars from blood work and a TB test for my new job.
Whole day off spent trying to catch up on laundry.
Hog fans everywhere in Dallas for the cotton bowl!
Shopping for curtains.
FaceTiming with M haha. FaceTime isn't very flattering.
Shopping for "business" clothes.
Sick C relaxing on the couch.
Almost finished with my book. I'll do a review after I read the ending!
Since I only just decided I wanted to start project366, some of these may not have been the actual day I took them (oops!). I'll try to do better at getting more interesting pictures from now on haha.
Friday, January 13, 2012
Changes
Today is my last day of being employed as a nanny. Next week I'll begin orientation and training for my ICU tech job.
I still plan on helping C's family out whenever I can with odd days here and there, night and weekend babysitting, and keeping him when they go out of town, but I'm still sad. C has been such a big part of my life for almost two years now.
I've watched him grow from a tiny baby that cried every second of every day for a whole month, to a smart little boy who says thousands of words and is obsessed with his die-cast cars.
I am so thankful for the opportunity to work as C's nanny the past couple of years. It was the perfect job for me and my life at that point.
I'm also so excited for all the new things to come. My new job terrifies me, but I know it won't be long before I know what I'm doing and I'll gain invaluable experience watching the ICU nurses work.
God is in control of my life and I am so grateful of all the blessings he's bestowed upon me! I am grateful for the wonderful, fun, easy, well paying job I had being a nanny for C, and I'm grateful for the changes happening in my life this year.
I still plan on helping C's family out whenever I can with odd days here and there, night and weekend babysitting, and keeping him when they go out of town, but I'm still sad. C has been such a big part of my life for almost two years now.
I've watched him grow from a tiny baby that cried every second of every day for a whole month, to a smart little boy who says thousands of words and is obsessed with his die-cast cars.
I am so thankful for the opportunity to work as C's nanny the past couple of years. It was the perfect job for me and my life at that point.
I'm also so excited for all the new things to come. My new job terrifies me, but I know it won't be long before I know what I'm doing and I'll gain invaluable experience watching the ICU nurses work.
God is in control of my life and I am so grateful of all the blessings he's bestowed upon me! I am grateful for the wonderful, fun, easy, well paying job I had being a nanny for C, and I'm grateful for the changes happening in my life this year.
Wednesday, January 11, 2012
Midweek Randoms
M and I are terrible about eating out. Like we eat out every single meal of every day, terrible. So we both know we need to eat at home more and I've been trying to make an effort this week...
To make it more exciting, I was totally planning on making one recipe from pinterest each day this week and blogging about it but when I got home from work yesterday M had already eaten leftovers for dinner! Since I was on my own for dinner then and really wanted mexican, we just went to On the Border (my favorite! but M hates it) and he watched me eat haha. (See what I mean about eating out?)
But I did make this stuffed shells recipe found on pinterest on Monday and I think it was a hit (you know, since I came home Tuesday and M had already eaten the leftovers for dinner without me!).
Tonight I really wanted BBQ. I made some pulled pork in the crockpot about a month ago and didn't love it (I think because I didn't exactly follow the instructions on the crockpot settings and mine was pretty tough). So instead I went and bought some meat from Rudy's and I'm going to make some garlic Texas toast for sandwiches and french fries at home. Toasting bread and putting fries in the oven is my kind of cooking!
Today the new nursing students who are starting their first semester next week had orientation! As part of orientation (the best part, really), they invite current students to come back and speak to them and answer their questions so that's what I spent my afternoon doing!
I can't believe it was so many months ago that I went home from orientation terrified and wondering what I'd gotten myself into. I was excited to go talk to all the new students so I could let them know it wasn't as bad as it seems at first! I'm pretty sure I made an impression on some people and eased a lot of nerves so I was so happy I volunteered :)
After that I headed to work and waited for C's mom to bring him home from mother's day out, only to get a text saying he had what looked like pink eye when she picked him up so they were headed to the doctor instead! Though I feel bad for poor C, I wasn't disappointed to unexpectedly get the afternoon off!
I watch all the 16& Pregnant and Teen Mom shows on MTV and follow a few of the people from the shows on Twitter. One of the teen dad's new girlfriend's is going to school to be a personal trainer and started this workout blog. I did the legs/butt and abs workout this afternoon and they were HARD! I am surely going to feel sore tomorrow.
I'm trying to get back to working out so I made myself a little schedule of alternating her workouts and doing cardio at the gym (I get a free gym membership with my new job!).
I found this cute print on pinterest and made it my lock screen on my phone so I have a nice little reminder throughout the day :)
To make it more exciting, I was totally planning on making one recipe from pinterest each day this week and blogging about it but when I got home from work yesterday M had already eaten leftovers for dinner! Since I was on my own for dinner then and really wanted mexican, we just went to On the Border (my favorite! but M hates it) and he watched me eat haha. (See what I mean about eating out?)
But I did make this stuffed shells recipe found on pinterest on Monday and I think it was a hit (you know, since I came home Tuesday and M had already eaten the leftovers for dinner without me!).
Tonight I really wanted BBQ. I made some pulled pork in the crockpot about a month ago and didn't love it (I think because I didn't exactly follow the instructions on the crockpot settings and mine was pretty tough). So instead I went and bought some meat from Rudy's and I'm going to make some garlic Texas toast for sandwiches and french fries at home. Toasting bread and putting fries in the oven is my kind of cooking!
Today the new nursing students who are starting their first semester next week had orientation! As part of orientation (the best part, really), they invite current students to come back and speak to them and answer their questions so that's what I spent my afternoon doing!
I can't believe it was so many months ago that I went home from orientation terrified and wondering what I'd gotten myself into. I was excited to go talk to all the new students so I could let them know it wasn't as bad as it seems at first! I'm pretty sure I made an impression on some people and eased a lot of nerves so I was so happy I volunteered :)
After that I headed to work and waited for C's mom to bring him home from mother's day out, only to get a text saying he had what looked like pink eye when she picked him up so they were headed to the doctor instead! Though I feel bad for poor C, I wasn't disappointed to unexpectedly get the afternoon off!
I watch all the 16& Pregnant and Teen Mom shows on MTV and follow a few of the people from the shows on Twitter. One of the teen dad's new girlfriend's is going to school to be a personal trainer and started this workout blog. I did the legs/butt and abs workout this afternoon and they were HARD! I am surely going to feel sore tomorrow.
I'm trying to get back to working out so I made myself a little schedule of alternating her workouts and doing cardio at the gym (I get a free gym membership with my new job!).
I found this cute print on pinterest and made it my lock screen on my phone so I have a nice little reminder throughout the day :)
Monday, January 9, 2012
Exciting news...
Next Monday I will be starting my new job as a patient care tech in the ICU!!
I am so happy and blessed that after a lot of potential setbacks everything worked out perfectly!
I interviewed for the position a month ago (!!) but had to wait two and half weeks for my nurse manager to complete the required number of interviews for the position and then after getting it I was told my offer would be resended if I couldn't miss school to make it to orientation!
Thankfully everything is finally worked out and I couldn't be more excited (and also terrified)!
Basically I will be spending three nights a week helping out the ICU nurses and learning tons! And when I finish nursing school in December, I should be able to easily find a graduate nurse position within our hospital network.
I'm so thankful to God for this blessing and so excited for all wonderful things happening in my life in 2012!
Give thanks to the Lord, for he is good; his love endures forever. Psalm 107:1
Next Monday I will be starting my new job as a patient care tech in the ICU!!
I am so happy and blessed that after a lot of potential setbacks everything worked out perfectly!
I interviewed for the position a month ago (!!) but had to wait two and half weeks for my nurse manager to complete the required number of interviews for the position and then after getting it I was told my offer would be resended if I couldn't miss school to make it to orientation!
Thankfully everything is finally worked out and I couldn't be more excited (and also terrified)!
Basically I will be spending three nights a week helping out the ICU nurses and learning tons! And when I finish nursing school in December, I should be able to easily find a graduate nurse position within our hospital network.
I'm so thankful to God for this blessing and so excited for all wonderful things happening in my life in 2012!
Give thanks to the Lord, for he is good; his love endures forever. Psalm 107:1
weekend recap
This weekend wasn't all that exciting!
Friday I shopped for scrubs and did some organizing around the house. Our laundry/utility room shelves before and after:
Phew it feels so much better being organized! We moved in the middle of the semester so I was worrying about school more than doing a good job unpacking. Next organization project... Under the bathroom sink.
M and I had Chipotle for dinner when he got off work and spent the night watching Trauma: Life in the ER (my all time favorite show!)
Saturday we had BBQ for lunch at Hard Eight and then I went looking for curtains for our living room. I bought some a few weeks back but I didn't think about the fact that with 9' ceilings, 84" curtains don't even come close to the floor. No luck (looks like I'll have to order some online), but I did see these "wine" colored curtains and get some inspiration for our bedroom!
After shopping I had to babysit a little boy from the daycare I used to work at for the evening.
Sunday, after getting the ok from M to go with purple, I went and bought new curtains and hardware for our bedroom. Then I got home and realized the rods I'd gotten were not going to work with the look I wanted. Finally (after about 18 holes in the wall and two trips to the store!) the curtains are up! I love them, I feel like they draw your eye up and show off our tall ceilings. Here's a sneak peek: (they look way dark in this picture due to less than ideal lighting)
Our room still needs a few things to be finished, and I have a little pinterest project in the making! I'll probably do a whole post on my plans for the bedroom :)
Today I'm back to waiting for an important phone call! I'm praying it will be good news and I will be able to stop stressing (and share my big news!).
I also can't wait until naptime to watch last night's Once Upon a Time! Love that show!
Have a good week :)
ps. Sorry the pictures are small/blurry, blogged from my phone!
Friday I shopped for scrubs and did some organizing around the house. Our laundry/utility room shelves before and after:
Phew it feels so much better being organized! We moved in the middle of the semester so I was worrying about school more than doing a good job unpacking. Next organization project... Under the bathroom sink.
M and I had Chipotle for dinner when he got off work and spent the night watching Trauma: Life in the ER (my all time favorite show!)
Saturday we had BBQ for lunch at Hard Eight and then I went looking for curtains for our living room. I bought some a few weeks back but I didn't think about the fact that with 9' ceilings, 84" curtains don't even come close to the floor. No luck (looks like I'll have to order some online), but I did see these "wine" colored curtains and get some inspiration for our bedroom!
After shopping I had to babysit a little boy from the daycare I used to work at for the evening.
Sunday, after getting the ok from M to go with purple, I went and bought new curtains and hardware for our bedroom. Then I got home and realized the rods I'd gotten were not going to work with the look I wanted. Finally (after about 18 holes in the wall and two trips to the store!) the curtains are up! I love them, I feel like they draw your eye up and show off our tall ceilings. Here's a sneak peek: (they look way dark in this picture due to less than ideal lighting)
Our room still needs a few things to be finished, and I have a little pinterest project in the making! I'll probably do a whole post on my plans for the bedroom :)
Today I'm back to waiting for an important phone call! I'm praying it will be good news and I will be able to stop stressing (and share my big news!).
I also can't wait until naptime to watch last night's Once Upon a Time! Love that show!
Have a good week :)
ps. Sorry the pictures are small/blurry, blogged from my phone!
Friday, January 6, 2012
I made a new blog header today! All by myself! It feels like whenever I get back into blogging again after a break, a change is just in order. I know it isn't perfect but it's my first photoshop creation ever so I'm happy enough with it for now.
In addition to changing my header, I also updated my about me because C is now TWO years old (as of Saturday) and this week M and I celebrated our SIXTH anniversary! Crazy.
This week has been terribly stressful. I have some new and exciting changes potentially taking place in my life but this week has only consisted in a lot of bumps in the road! Everyday this week has been spent anxiously waiting for an email or phone call while I try to smooth this all out and make it work! All I can do is pray at this point!
Today I am off work so I spent the first half of the day running a few errands and trying to check things off my to do list. So far since I've been home I haven't done any of things around the apartment that I need to do though and I can't believe the day is almost gone. Yikes.
So excited to watch the hogs in the cotton bowl tonight! I'm so sad we aren't going to be at the game (when it's taking place like 10 minutes from our apartment!) but I do love seeing all the razorback flair on people's cars driving around Dallas!
In addition to changing my header, I also updated my about me because C is now TWO years old (as of Saturday) and this week M and I celebrated our SIXTH anniversary! Crazy.
This week has been terribly stressful. I have some new and exciting changes potentially taking place in my life but this week has only consisted in a lot of bumps in the road! Everyday this week has been spent anxiously waiting for an email or phone call while I try to smooth this all out and make it work! All I can do is pray at this point!
Today I am off work so I spent the first half of the day running a few errands and trying to check things off my to do list. So far since I've been home I haven't done any of things around the apartment that I need to do though and I can't believe the day is almost gone. Yikes.
So excited to watch the hogs in the cotton bowl tonight! I'm so sad we aren't going to be at the game (when it's taking place like 10 minutes from our apartment!) but I do love seeing all the razorback flair on people's cars driving around Dallas!
Thursday, January 5, 2012
playing catch up
To pick up where I left off last time around...
My car-
After A LOT of searching, praying, a few disappointments, and being chauffeured by M's parents for a month (!!), I finally found a car in September! And, of course, it was worth all the trouble because it's perfect.
I plan on driving it until it falls apart! Hopefully it lasts me quite a while because not having a car payment to worry about is such a good feeling!
Moving-
M and I moved into our new apartment September 17th and it's perfect! I love everything about living with M and I really think we made the best choice for us. I haven't been so happy with my living situation since I lived at home, roommates just aren't my favorite! (Though I did love living with my best friend for a few years in college, long term it just doesn't work out well).
Just for the sake of a picture... Our messy, no where near finished living room about a month ago.
Nursing school-
So at the end of my last post I was hoping that by this year I'd be able to look back and laugh at myself for being so nervous. I'm happy to say that's definitely the case! This past semester was definitely a lot of work, but it wasn't that bad at all! And I really liked it! I missed a 4.0 but 1.5 points in one of my classes (3 As and a B) and I'm looking forward to go back in a few weeks! Much more on all of that later I'm sure :)
My car-
After A LOT of searching, praying, a few disappointments, and being chauffeured by M's parents for a month (!!), I finally found a car in September! And, of course, it was worth all the trouble because it's perfect.
Moving-
M and I moved into our new apartment September 17th and it's perfect! I love everything about living with M and I really think we made the best choice for us. I haven't been so happy with my living situation since I lived at home, roommates just aren't my favorite! (Though I did love living with my best friend for a few years in college, long term it just doesn't work out well).
Just for the sake of a picture... Our messy, no where near finished living room about a month ago.
Nursing school-
So at the end of my last post I was hoping that by this year I'd be able to look back and laugh at myself for being so nervous. I'm happy to say that's definitely the case! This past semester was definitely a lot of work, but it wasn't that bad at all! And I really liked it! I missed a 4.0 but 1.5 points in one of my classes (3 As and a B) and I'm looking forward to go back in a few weeks! Much more on all of that later I'm sure :)
I'm back!
After the longest blog break ever, I decided I really want to make time to start blogging again!
Reading everyone's 2011 posts makes me sad that I gave up on blogging about halfway through the year and I don't have all of those memories written down.
The other day a friend asked M and I what we did for our first anniversary (five years ago) and neither of us had any idea! So I started thinking that if I really want to remember all the little details of our life I need to get back to blogging.
I do have a new blog "resolution" though!
This time around, I'm doing it for me! I want to record what happens in our lives so I can look back and remember all of this years from now.
My posts may be about completely boring things that no one cares about and not have enough pictures, but that's ok! I think I would have blogged a lot more last year had I gone with this idea. So basically this will be my diary with pictures, and I'm pretty excited about that!
So I have a lot of catching up to do, but I'll start all that on a new post :)
Reading everyone's 2011 posts makes me sad that I gave up on blogging about halfway through the year and I don't have all of those memories written down.
The other day a friend asked M and I what we did for our first anniversary (five years ago) and neither of us had any idea! So I started thinking that if I really want to remember all the little details of our life I need to get back to blogging.
I do have a new blog "resolution" though!
This time around, I'm doing it for me! I want to record what happens in our lives so I can look back and remember all of this years from now.
My posts may be about completely boring things that no one cares about and not have enough pictures, but that's ok! I think I would have blogged a lot more last year had I gone with this idea. So basically this will be my diary with pictures, and I'm pretty excited about that!
So I have a lot of catching up to do, but I'll start all that on a new post :)
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