I started back to work last Friday and then on Monday was my first day of third semester. It’s been a long week. Monday we had a lecture for Med-Surg, which is my five-hour lecture class. The material doesn’t seem hard, it’s just having the time to study with everything else going on. All the class build up on each other, so this class is building up on my Health Assessment and Intro classes. Tuesday, Wednesday, and Thursday were all clinical related days. We had two days of learning new skills and then Wednesday was orientation to the Med-Surg clinical, which I have first. Finally, Friday was my first OB(Babies) lecture and the first part of my work hours.

I’m working five hours on Friday and five on Saturday. I had to cut my hours down because I didn’t want to spend my weekends working because I don’t feel I’m as productive at studying for a variety of reasons. It’s not really fun to stay later on a Friday or get up early on Saturday, but we need the money, so I am just dealing.

I learned a lot this week, but I am still feeling unprepared for this coming week of actually being in a hospital. I’m sure that uncertainty will ease over time, but hopefully this weekend will give me some time to prepare and review.

P.S. – I dreamed that I was trying to check out a book from a weird library and was told I couldn’t, but the librarian slipped me the book, and I woke up crying (one minute before my alarm went off). Yes, I have weird dreams… analyze it for me.
P.P.S. – How was your week?

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Speaking of work, my shift changed. I will be working 7-11 A.M. for the rest of the summer. I am still not sure what possessed me to pick those hours, but I can’t really change them now.

Let’s see, what has happened this past week? Well, I ordered my bridesmaid dress for Trina’s wedding! It’s the first time I’ve ever been a bridesmaid, so I’m super excited! Thankfully, I planned my wedding so I feel like I’m better equipped to be the best possible bridesmaid than otherwise. I know how stressful planning a wedding is and if you’re also dealing with bridesmaid issues, well, that’s no fun. So I’m hoping I help relieve her stress and not adding to it. I think I love the dress. Granted, I’ve never been a bridesmaid before so I have the naive-ness that I will wear the dress again, but I honestly think I might. I have very few formal dresses and the material makes it more formal, but less bridesmaid-ish. I don’t know, but I could see myself taking it for a cruise. Also, the way it’s made I could easily wear it when/if I ever get pregnant. So that’s a plus, because I wouldn’t want to have to buy a formal dress just for pregnancy.

Trina also bought her dress. I was with her the first time she went to try on dresses and you guys, I teared up when I saw her in the dress. I just knew it would end up being the one, but of course, she had to decide for herself. She tried on several pretty dresses, but this dress was made for her. I don’t know how else to describe it. Being in David’s Bridal to try on bridesmaid dresses reminded me of the other times I’d been in the store. Although I bought my dress at the Hickory Hollow store, the one in Murfreesboro is actually the same store staff, but they moved. So I ended up having my alterations done at the Murfreebsoro store. I was also there with my parents when my sister bought her wedding dress. So every time I’ve gone, my family has paid the store money in some way, hah.

It’s interesting though, the dress Trina bought was not the first she tried on, but it was one from the first day she tried on dresses. Did you know the majority of brides end up with the first dress they try on? I think my wedding dress was the third or fourth I tried on the only day I went dress shopping. My dream dress was more of a puffy princess type, and it ended up not being what I’d imagined. I also tried on a strapless dress, against many years of bad feelings toward them. Actually, when I was a senior in high school, my parents took me to fancy prom dress shop. The woman who helped us took one look at me and knew my size. She told me that a strapless would not look good for my figure, because of my chest size. So I’ve always stayed away, but I tried one on for kicks. Yeah, not a fan, still.

So I’m excited for the fall, because my best friend is getting married! I was thinking over the weekend how nice it will be to have more married friends to hang out with on occasion. I’m so excited for Trina and Kody, their whole lives are about to change!

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Post tags: bridesmaids, wedding planning, work

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Let’s just say that I’ve been very busy. School is in full session, meaning that from now until May I have a test nearly every week, except for one week around spring break. So basically, I’m having to read for class, study, learn skills, and try not to go insane. Plus, I’m working 19 hours at the lab so you know my time there is pretty much useless. It’s so difficult to get any school work done while there because I will inevitably have to answer a question or do a task. I’m not complaining because my job provides half our income, but it’s frustrating to get caught up in work and then be interrupted. So I try to avoid doing school work at the lab as much as possible.

This week in lab we learned a lot and I’m beginning to feel overwhelmed. For example, catheters and wound care. I went through the motions, but it’s not memorized yet, so I’m freaking out about the skills check off that will happen in a month… eep!

Other than school and work, I haven’t had much time for a personal life. Last weekend we went ice skating with Kody and Trina and it was a lot of fun! Trina was the seasoned skater, although she claims she felt rusty. Gray was apparently a natural, going around and around at fast speeds. It took me most of the hour we were there to get my bearings and figure out how it differed from inline skating. I’d go again, but only if I knew they’d recently cleaned the ice. It was horribly marked up, making it very difficult for a beginner to skate.

I had Gray video me because I wanted to remember my first experience in ice skating.

This weekend has been less exciting so far, thanks in majority to the fact that I’ve been studying. We had to run some errands this afternoon, and it was so gorgeous outside… I seriously wanted to go to the park and skip out on studying. Instead, I had to pick up some items for nursing school like some new shoes… yay for comfortable shoes for lab/clinical!

Speaking of lab, I really am enjoying it so far and I can’t wait to get to clinical.

I think this semester will be challenging but awesome.

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Post tags: double date, ice skating, kody, Nursing School, Trina, work

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Today is our last day of work/school for the summer, although Gray will be doing some work for the next two weeks while I sit at home and catch up on television. Ahem.

I can’t believe that the summer is almost over and in two weeks I will be back in school full-time. I am sort of glad that I won’t be able to do an externship next summer because I think I will want a final summer to relax and enjoy life before the real world comes. Of course that might include a job, but I don’t think I’ll mind. In some ways I’m not ready for school to start back and others I think it will be just fine.

Some big changes are on the horizon, just hope I can handle them without freaking out too much.

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I haven’t posted all week long because this was my last week of h***. Aka, school week of craziness.

I survived!

I had a Micro lab practical on Wednesday and my Nursing final on Thursday. I’m not sure about the practical yet, but I made a B on the Nursing final and thus, an A in my class. Woohoo! I was joking yesterday about how sad it would be to fail the 1 hour nursing class when we only get one class to fail in nursing school and I still have to go through A LOT.

Anyway, that’s what has consumed my time this past week. Last night Gray and I sat down and watch a MOVIE together. This is not that exciting to anyone else but us because we haven’t done it in forever. At least not at home without each other being on our laptops. Ok, so I used mine for the last fifteen minutes. Really, it’s because I was dead tired and almost fell asleep and there was still about 30 minutes to go in the movie.

I will say that the movie (Up, btw) was really sad and made me cry, but the ending was better than I thought. 5 stars for Pixar!

We’re going to see A Christmas Carol this weekend with our free movie tickets. It’s going to be awesome because Jim Carey is Scrooge.

Let’s see, what else… OH! I am going this afternoon to take a class and get CPR certified, woohoo! All I have left to finalize for nursing school is the following:
- Have final fall transcript sent to school when grades are posted
- get CPR certified
- get titers re-drawn (must be AFTER Dec. 30)
- get physical
- submit results from titers to Accusource.
- purchase malpractice insurance from school

It’s really not as much as it seems because I’ve done so much of it already. We do orientation the day before school starts.

I also finally registered for classes and signed up for hours at work. I will be in class M-W and I work M-Saturday. So, only one full day off, but I will say two of those days only have one hour of work, so I’m not sure how much they truly count. I am signed up for Pathophysiology, Health Assessment (with lab), Health and Gerontology, and Special Topics: Spirituality.

I am pretty excited, but I still need to finish all this paperwork and pass Microbiology, eep!

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Post tags: college, finals, Nursing School, work

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School has been going pretty well. I had my first test today and I was stumped. It was an accounting test and my balance sheet wouldn’t balanced even though I check and doubled checked my math. I have no idea what I did wrong so I guess I’ll have to wait until Monday.

School is actually feeling pretty breezy compared to the spring semester. Perhaps because I am actually staying on top of homework and studying. I’ve been pretty consistent at having all homework done before I get home and that makes SUCH a big difference in how I enjoy my night.

Along with school, work hasn’t been too terrible. I’m tired of getting yelled at by students for doing my job, but I’ve come to accept I can’t change the policies or their attitudes.

Remember how I talked about vaccinations? I get my titers tested today and then go from there. The process to get my vaccination records was the most frustrating thing ever. SERIOUSLY.

Secretary: Hello, MTSU Health Services.

Me: Yes, I need your fax number to fax over my vaccination records.

Secretary: Says number slowly to me.

Me:  Ok, do I need to Attention the fax to someone specific?

Secretary: No, that’s it, bye. (basically, not entirely correct)

Me: Ok…

I then dialed up my old doctor’s office and gave them the information. I also asked that they leave a note indicating that the records were for me, under my married name since the records are currently under my maiden name. She was confused but said ok. Well, I called Health Services back to let them know the records were under my maiden name.

Secretary: Hello, Health Services.

Me:  Yes, I just asked my doctor to fax some records over to you guys and they are under my maiden name and I’m doing this for nursing school.

Secretary: Well, if they aren’t Attentioned to Nursing we will throw them out.

Me: Ok.

EGHAD. Seriously, how disorangized is that and it’s a doctor’s office!! Needless to say, we had the doctor mail me a copy as well in case it screwed up somewhere at Health Services, which it probably did.

I am SO ready for this weekend and my plans are the following:

Tonight: watch Friends and Lost. Finish Glee episode I missed… and sew!

Tomorrow: More Lost and maybe some True Blood… sew.. study… sew… study… go to Sophie’s birthday party.

Sunday:  church, relax, study, and sew, and study.

Oh and sleep. <3 <3 <3 weekends

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Post tags: accounting, Nursing School, vaccinations, work

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I’ve decided to host one for Halloween and I’ve picked one that happens to have a lot of “monster” type characters, I figured those would be the easiest to get cheap costumes around Halloween.

So far things are going well, the hardest part is getting people’s schedules lined up, thank goodness I have a lot of friends because I am having to go down a list.

I’m also trying to make my Halloween costume. That’s right, make. I’ve wanted to be Dorothy from the Wizard of Oz for years but the costume was so expensive! Of course making it will be pretty close, but I think I’ll end up saving some money in the long run. Gray and I went to Hobby Lobby tonight to find a pattern and I got lucky! It actually came in a set of five Halloween costumes for girls, both little and big. I sure hope I have a daughter someday to put some of these others into good use.

This week has been going by fast, probably because it’s only a four day week. Today turned out to be much better than I thought it would be. Although Steve Jobs did not announce a new iPod touch with camera (bummer), I did win a 4GB flash drive and I did my gram +/gram – stains perfectly in lab! Last week’s lab was pretty awful, I sucked at what I was doing, but today I got it right! Yes! I also had to call my old pediatrician today to try and get my immunizations records for nursing school. I can’t believe that in three months I will know whether or not I got in for the spring semester!

On a sad note, a co-worker has the H1N1 virus which means it’s probably a matter of days before I get infected. Maybe there will be mercy on me because I’ve already had the flu once this year… maybe. Of course there was the one time when everyone got sick at Encounter except for Lory and I, basically. I remember that we covered ourselves in hand sanitizer because Gray and Meghan were both sick. haha The good old days.

This weekend I plan on working on my costume and going to the state fair, hooray! We went ahead and bought cheap tickets and the ride wristband from Kroger. Last year we only spent a hour at the fair because we ran out of money… it was a bummer because the rides are so much fun! We’re going either Friday night or Saturday during the day, depending on the weather. We’re also planning on going to the football game… MTSU vs Memphis. Not to mention, we’re signed up for A-Team (sets up church and tears it down) this Sunday.

When did I get such a busy social life? I don’t ever remember being this busy in the spring. Oh well, I like it when the weeks fly by.

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Post tags: college, dorothy, football, Halloween, Memphis, micro lab, microbiology, mtsu, murder mystery party, the tennessee state fair

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I’ll start off with school. We’re both back in school and my life is gone. Seriously, it just left and said, “See you for Christmas.”

Anyway, my schedule is pretty packed. I leave for worked around 5:45 a.m. and come back home about 4-5 p.m. everyday. I pretty much don’t want to be social because I need some Becca time these days.

I’m working 18 hours a week and taking 12 hours. Gray is working 20 hours and taking 12 hours as well. However, he only had four classes and I have six. My classes: Intro to Accounting, Pilates, Microbiology, Micro Lab, Into to Women’s Studies, and Professionalism in Nursing. I like my classes so far, but I will be doing a lot of studying, esp. in Micro.

This past week has been quite straining. On Monday the lab closed because the cleaning people had put something in the carpet that was making everyone sick. I was constantly coughing and sneezing. An industrial hygienist came to look and gave us a really weird explanation about it coming from the elevators. It did not. On Tuesday we closed down so that new carpet could be put down in the main lab. This made everything MUCH BETTER. ON Wednesday they finished the offices. Yesterday it was all nice and smelly good. Seriously.

Other than all of that, I’ve had to deal with some pretty horrible people. We’re supposed to enforce student ID swiping to get into the lab. We do this because student fees pay for our lab to run and so only students should be let in. We don’t have access to look up information, so if an ID doesn’t work, we can’t prove they go here. It’s very frustrating to deny someone and have them get upset about something I don’t control. You wouldn’t try to go to a concert without a ticket and expect them to just let you through the gate.

Anyway, for the second time in the past eight months I had someone ask to “See my  manager.” I laughed inside when they were told THE SAME THING I TOLD THEM.

The joys of working in a job immersed in customer service.

So, I know I didn’t post about my weight loss this week. I gained about two pounds, but I just started a weight training challenge, the EA Sports Active 30 day challenge to be exact. It involves a LOT of muscle training so weight gain is inevitable. I am also in a Pilates class so hopefully I will become fit and fierce this semester. I like having a class like pilates because I know fit working out in my schedule on a weekly basis, it’s great!

Let’s see, others news… we got rid of the gigantic TV we got off of freecycle and bought a brand new HD TV from Sams. We also re-arranged the living room and it actually looks nice! We will be adding a small bookshelf to keep school books on, but other than that, our living room looks much less cluttered, yay! The new TV has been great and a nice treat to begin the school year. We also got new health insurance for Gray and myself. I was 0n BCBST and Gray had none, so now we’re both on the school’s plan. Their plan is SO much cheaper. 

It’s been neat to go through and mark off bills as well, we were able to pay off a credit card completely so now we’re working on paying off the other one. I’m not completely against credit cards, but I do think you shouldn’t use them unless you can pay them off immediately. This means, using one to pay for gas and going home and paying it off. Otherwise you can wind up in trouble. We’re also building up a savings account because the main reason we used credit cards in the past was because the car broke down or something similiar and we had no savings or extra money. It’s a nasty blackhole to spiral into and I’m glad we’re that much closer to being out!

I’ll post pictures of the new living room arrangement as soon as I can remember. Right now this semester is already kicking my butt so I have a lot to adjust before I can go crazy.

The good news about this week was I saved almost $400 on school books by renting from chegg.com. I even found a promo code where I got free shipping! It’s even cheaper than buying books used, so I’m pretty happy and so is Gray.

This entry is scattered because I really didn’t want to write up different ones to tell you everything, like how we went to a bajillion stores before we bought the TV. sigh.

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Post tags: EA sports active, hd tv, re-arranging, school, tv hd

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We went to campus today so I could print off my schedules at the lab. I looked at Cummings Hall, the dormitory I first lived in on campus, and found it pretty deserted for opening day. However, it was raining when we went. It’s so weird to think that six years ago I was a freshman on this very campus and I had not yet met the people I consider to my best friends. How far I have come in those six years… I have a degree in Communication and I’m now married. It’s surreal.

I was printing off my schedule when a new student asked how to use the printers. I felt myself smiling as I told him how and realized how often I will hear that question in the coming weeks. I can only hope my patience holds out as I explain again and again how to use the software.

There have been some changes in our lives the past week, changes I won’t talk about until official, but let’s just say that God is in control and he knows where we are meant to serve him and is making possible these changes. We have been asked to serve at church in different way than I ever expected to, more details on that once I’ve experienced the change.

In many ways I feel as though I am a freshman once again because I’m going through school and I don’t really know many people in my classes. I’m not afraid of the new semester, just curious to see how it all works out. I’m a perfectionist and with that comes fear that I can’t make everything perfect.

I look forward to Monday as it brings a new chapter in my life, one that I have been resisting because it didn’t make sense to go in that direction.

Well, that direction, although scary, is precisely where I need to be, right now.

I’m fully OK with being uncertain because I know it’s where I’m supposed to be.

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Post tags: college, mtsu, nursing, school

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Thursday morning I experienced something rather frightening at work. A co-worker was drunk and being unruly. That is pretty much all I can say about it, but for a while I was really scared and at the same time, I wanted to punch him for making sexist remarks. We ended up calling campus security and well, that’s all I know about the situation.

I had to go to class after that incident and I was still a bit shaken up from the experience. Luckily, we are so far ahead in class that she let us go early! Also, I got my lab practical grade back and I got an A! I have my second lecture test on Monday and I’m not feeling good about it yet..

The only other semi-exciting thing in my life right now is my mini herb garden. I recently transported the plants into their own pots (aka empty coffee containers) and now I’m just waiting and watching to see if they’ll survive the move.

I hope everyone has a great weekend and Happy Father’s Day to all you dads.

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Post tags: a&p, Chile, college, gardening, herbs, work

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