Head....Hurts....Ouch

I woke up (forcibly mind you) with a headache and a fever. Once up I noticed I was achey all over. Eeeewwww. I hate being sick. I'm really bad at being sick. Mostly I just lay around and sleep, waking only for the necessities and to take more medicine. Speaking of which.....

Some Things Just Suck No Matter What Kind of Spin You Put on Them

So I had to drop back a track in my nursing program. After I had one tire blow out on my truck I ended up needing new brake pads, rotors and calipers for my front brakes. I didn't have the money for that plus tuition plus textbooks so....... no school for me this quarter. Let me explain, for those of you not involved in a structured clinical program, what that means. Unlike other degrees, one cannot simply "take a quarter off" and then jump back in the next quarter where they left off. You have to get the entire staff of the School of Nursing involved. They have to save you a clinical spot and give you a new counselor and make sure the admissions team knows they will be admitting one less (sorry but I'm sure you'll get in next time) applicant for the new class. It's an embarrassing mess (yes, I asked my parents and no they cannot afford it either.) Once that is all said and done you have to wait until the clinical rotation you were either in or supposed to be starting comes up again. In my case it was Pediatrics and Obstetrics and it won't be up again until January of 2010 (the next Winter quarter). Nine months away (approximately). I will be taking some non-clinical classes between now and then to stay up with that but to say I've been a bit of a funk is a dramatic understatement. I've been in this field long enough to know I'm suffering from depression. Sub-clinical yes, but depression nonetheless. Knowing this I have purposefully made an effort to do non-pharmacological things to get out of the funk. I've been getting on the treadmill with increasing regularity. I'm back on a low-carb eating plan. I've got a (basic) list to follow every day that reads:

1. Get out of bed.
2. Get dressed in clothes other than pajamas.
3. Shower.

Like I said it's a basic list. I fell into the trap of WoW too and today I decided to make a concerted effort to stay away from WoW because it is the mother of all time suckers and motivation suckers. Today so far I've done steps one and two but not three because I'll be getting on the treadmill before too long. I've also read some very entertaining blogs about life in Scotland (*sigh* soon, it will be soon) and am planning on getting started on finishing a pair of socks I started around Christmas. Speaking of Christmas... it's time to get started on my Christmas knitting or I wont ever be done. It's raining all week here so I can't start on the soap making yet but that will be before too long also. It's also my 30th birthday this week so I'm trying to decide on my birthday present to myself. I've pretty much narrowed it down to the new Blackberry Storm. I've played with one a few times and each time I like it more. We'll see what the week has to say about it though. Also, since I've still got my book list from this quarter I'm planning on purchasing one of my textbooks each pay period and getting started reading according to the syllabi's so I can really have the material down pat come Winter quarter. You don't want to half-ass it when it comes to kids and neonates. Well, that's about it for today. Now that I have more time on my hands I'll probably be updating more frequently. I may even sit down and get back to work on my podcast. One never knows.

My shrinking butt and why I sometimes feel bad for celebrities.

So I upped my treadmill workout to 45 minutes today and , DAMN it felt good! I could literally feel the fat on my butt melting away. Yay! But then again, it never belonged there and frankly the nine years it's been there just has been nothing but a pain. So buh-bye. Now, on the the celebrities thing. I seriously do feel bad for them sometimes. My latest "celebrity sympathy earner" is Robert Pattinson. He plays Edward Cullen in the Twilight movies and the poor bloke just was NOT prepared for how famous he's become. I mean he can't even get a haircut without the whole world going apeshite. Apparently the hair he has when he plays Edward is actually marketed! Who markets a hairstyle?????!!!! Please people, it's just hair! So poor Rob went and got a haircut and pissed off a nation of teenage girls who just can't accept that just because he plays Edward does not mean that he is Edward and therefore does not have to keep the same hairstyle for eternity. So here he is with Edward hair:


And here's the infamous haircut:

I think he looks smashing. Very sexy Rob, don't worry about it.

Twilight and I make a Hat!

My oldest son turns nine on the nineteenth. He's been after me since November to see the movie "Twilight" because that is his big thing right now. Edward Cullen is his hero and after borrowing the first book to see what the big deal was about (and to verify it was suitable for him to read) I ended up getting the second, third, and fourth books and finishing them that very weekend. It's a pretty good little saga. Not classics material but good, fast, and pretty satisfying. So I took him to see the movie yesterday and it was not bad. It varied from the book, as most "movies based on the book" do, but I enjoyed it. I plan to purchase it when it's released to DVD next month. It has also reinforced the need for me to drop about 140lbs. (It was a bit of a squeeze getting into the chair at the movie theatre.) So for Valentines Day I asked my hunny to move my treadmill into the living room so that I have no excuses to NOT use it. Right now it's in the bedroom and since we moved the dressers around, I can't bring the belt down to use it anymore. Makes it too easy to just say no to working out. Not good. *sigh* Back to grindstone. On the bright side, I made a hat!

Midterm Update

We are officially halfway through Winter quarter and I'm up to my eyeballs in studying and careplanning. Had the first of the tests last week. Got a 78 on one and at 98 on the other. (What the hell happened there?!?) Have another test this week in Nursing Research. THAT's gonna be a toughie. I love my teacher to death but this is THE most boring subject I have taken in a loooooong time, and I'm in day one of my six day straight stretch at work. That is sooooo wrong. I'm the ONLY person of all three shifts who has to do six days in a row every other week. It's enough to give me a complex. It would be easier if my primary coworker wasn't just this side of an infant in his behavior. To say he throws temper tantrums would be a stretch, but his passive-aggressive behavior is more annoying. For example, he doesn't like to work while he's there and he manifests this by trying to conveniently disappear at every interval he can. I've seen him leave to take a stack of papers around the corner to the south station and then follow one of his many "buddies" around chitchatting while said "buddy" stocks linens in the patient rooms. This takes a good twenty minutes each time. His bathroom runs make me think to suggest he needs more fiber in his diet considering how very long it takes him to "go." He even had the audacity to decide he was going to call off on a Saturday night because he was upset that I had called off the previous week due to an injury. I knew he was planning to because I'd overheard him when I left that morning. I mean really. At least I quit my job at the restaurant. Yes Mom, you and Dad were right, it was too much to be doing. I know you told me so. I love you too.

A Bit of an Update

Yes, it's been awhile. I know. I've been a little busy with the three jobs and school starting back this week. Understandably, I'm a bit tired. Ok....I'm a LOT tired. And I really wished there was some way to do this without sacrificing time with my family, but alas I've yet to find it. My kids are really great about it. I am so blessed. My kids, my parents, my husband, my job(s), my schooling. Not everybody has the support system I have or the brains to handle the craziness of my life and still pull an "A" average. If I can just figure out a way to get running back into the schedule I'll be good. I have an idea but it'll mean sacrificing a bit more sleep but in the long run (no pun intended) it'll be better for me.

Still waiting on Him. Patiently

So far I haven't heard back from any of the hospitals regarding my resume with exception of one form letter stating that my resume was not selected. I know what the problem is going to be for this round. I'm overqualified to be a PCT and since I've been in the field for almost six years now, my paygrade is on the upper end of the scale. Something will come through though, I just know it. If it doesn't though, I'm prepared for that too. My gig in the ER isn't bad, I'd just prefer to work three twelves instead of five eights. I'd also prefer to use more of my nursing skills than just phlebotomy. I'm good on the phlebotomy. Really. If I could actually be starting the IVs that would be more helpful but Miami Valley Hospital's policy doesn't allow the phlebotomists to start IVs. It also doesn't allow those folks with the training for it (student nurses, paramedics, etc) to start IVs unless they are working in that capacity for the hospital (So all the student nurses and paramedics working for the lab but who aren't working for the hospital can't start the IV even when it's obvious that we could do it faster and with better accuracy than the nurse who is trying to start it.) I can't tell you how many times I've been asked by the nurse to start the IV "Just this once, I promise I won't tell." Well at least I have my interview set up at the restaurant on Monday. That is some good news as long as we can get the babysitter issues straightened out. That is another reason the three twelves would be better than the five eights. It's easier to find a babysitter to cover the shifts. Faith. I have to have faith. On the flip side.... have you seen the video for Devour by Shinedown???? All I can say is DAMN. Hot boys rocking hard. Can a girl ask for more? Ok, maybe seeing a little more of the tats and less of the hair. Btw speaking of tats, check out Nick Perri's:
Damn.