TIRED

Yes I am writing this pot at 2:15am. Yes I am at work while writing it. and Yes I am tired! I can justify writing a blog post now because all 5 of my patients are sleeping comfortably and all my charting is done and I am all caught up on everything. I wish time would go faster though. All I can think about right now is how nice my bed feels and how I wish I could be in it right now in my pajamas next to Brett! Oh, for the simple things in life. Instead, I am at work. I really don't mind working nights for the most part. I am lucky I can sleep at just about any time.

I'm going to write a story just because it is something I want to remember and this blog is part of my life so therefore I warn you now if you don't want to read an odd story, just skip the rest of this paragraph. Brett and I were driving in the car on the way home from somewhere the other night (I think we were at Walmart getting groceries) and SOMEHOW we got started talking about bowels and suppositories and enemas and what not. And we actually had an entire conversation surrounding these topics! Toward the end of it we were just busting a gut laughing at the stupidity of our conversation. What other married couple (for 3 and a 1/2 years) talks about this kind of stuff in detail?! Only someone who is married to a nurse I guess.

With his birthday money Brett bought a Nerf gun and has thoroughly enjoyed playing with that with Marshmellow. Marshmellow has enjoyed it too! He chases after the darts and then shoves them under the couch and then tries to go under the couch to get them back out (unsuccessfully). We have a video of it, but since I am at work I can't upload it. Maybe when I get home after I sleep. And I can put up more pictures of the cats too since that is the only thing we take pictures of lately.

This coming week we are going back home to Iowa! It will be good to get away from work for awhile and spend some time with family. It has been a few months since we have seen people. Sure would be nice to take a vacation somewhere warm though. Better get back to work - even though everyone is still sound asleep!

Snow

It is a well known fact in this household that I do not like snow or the cold. I mention it several times a day, including the fact that it is cold in our house. I am bundled up in a bunch of clothes and a blanket and Brett has on a t-shirt and shorts. Craziness. Today it is supposed to be a high of 38 degrees, and tomorrow a high of 16 degrees and the snow is supposed to come tomorrow. I'm waiting for a phone call asking if I can come into work because someone who lives further away cannot make it in. I should decide ahead of time if I am going to say yes or no.

This week has been VERY UNPRODUCTIVE for me. I worked Monday-Thursday night 11-7. When I came home, I would go to sleep and sleep till 9:00 that night, waking up occasionally to get something to drink or go to the bathroom. Talk about feeling like a pile. Work has just been so busy that I am exhausted when I get home. The entire hospital has been full for the past few weeks. Every time we discharge someone the room gets cleaned right away and then a new patient comes up. The floor I work on is the surgical/ortho floor so I think people are trying to get their surgeries in before the end of the year. I had a patient the other night who had surgery on her birthday! She wanted to eat real food (ribs) but we always start them out on a clear liquid diet after surgery - sorry!

Brett has 2 finals left for the semester. Hard to believe he has gone through 1 full semester of graduate school, and I have been working as a nurse for 5 months. It has gone by so fast. Sure wish I could have a full week off of work that we could spend back in Iowa with family. I just don't have enough PTO accrued to take that time off! We are going to be home for a few days at the end of the month though. Hopefully the weather is decent and we can make it there.

I think today will be spent wrapping Christmas presents, grocery shopping, picking up the house, playing with kitties and maybe a nap :)

On another note - someone is the BIRTHDAY BOY TOMORROW! Brett will be 26 years old!Happy Birthday tomorrow to my wonderful husband of 3 and a half years! In this picture he is digging the trench from the house to the garage to see why we don't have electricity in the garage. Turns out, when the previous owners built the fence they chopped right through the wire. So we put a new wire down and hooked it up and now have electricity in the garage! What a fix-it guy I have. And as most of you know he cooks too. :) The other night he made chili soup and cinnamon rolls. The chili was from scratch and the rolls were frozen, but it was all yummy! People around here don't eat chili soup with cinnamon rolls - they think it sounds strange. Must be a Northwest Iowa thing. Except now for us, it is a Central Illinois thing :)

Yup

Yes, I know I have not blogged in quite some time. It's this thing called work and life and sleep that get in the way. I'm always thinking about stuff to blog about - but seldom get around to it. Last week I worked more than 40 hours. Seems like everyone at working is calling in sick or kids are sick so they need someone to work. 2 days down this week, 2 more to go. But now, it is 30 degrees outside, the house is 62 degrees and it is time for me to crawl under the covers and sleep. I'll try to blog more later! And at the request of Laura, add more pictures. I swear I am trying to get my house clean so I can take more pictures of it to post - but it just will NOT stay clean!! Can't imagine why.

Adios.

Cooking Fiasco

It is a well known fact in my family that I do not cook much. Not exactly sure why that is. Laziness? Maybe. Fear of failure? Maybe. Lack of time? eh...probably not. :) Well tonight I was home and Brett had lab until about 6:20 or so, so I decided I would actually attempt to cook something for supper. We had some ground beef thawed in the fridge so I decided to make something with that. I didn't want to do anything taco related because we had just had taco salad a few days ago. I wasn't in the mood for spaghetti either. I started browsing the cupboards and cookbooks (the few I have!) for something to make where I didn't have to go to the store. I came across this recipe for pizza casserole and thought, hey, that sounds good and easy! I'll make that! Thank goodness I know how to brown ground beef and onion so that part was easy. As I got that started I went in the cupboard to get my macaroni noodles out and found that I didn't have any so I thought hey, noodles are noodles, I'll just use the egg noodles I have. Well the recipe called for 4 cups of macaroni noodles. I didn't have 4 cups of the other noodles but thought they were bigger so it was okay.

So I start cooking the noodles. I then look in the fridge for my pepperoni. Pepperoni, pepperoni where are you???? ARGH - I have none. I'm scrambling to think what else I could use and since you all know I am wonderful at this cooking thing - I came up with nothing. I know you are all on the edge of your seats just wondering what I did with this dilemma. I locked the cats in the porch so they wouldn't eat my food that was cooking. Then I turned the pans off and quick ran to the store to get some pepperoni. All the while my dryer was running. Smart? heh.

THEN - I get home and find my meat to be dried out and my noodles to be turned to some kind of mush. Apparently leaving them in water isn't a good idea. Who knew? Well, I put it all together in a pan anyway. Mushy noodles and all. It wasn't bad, but I wouldn't say it was wonderful either. Brett ate it, and even had seconds.

I guess if I ever decide to make food again, I'll know what to do different with this recipe! How did I draw the short stick in my family when it comes to cooking? My mom is a wonderful cook and so are my 2 sisters. Brett said practice makes perfect, so I guess this means I need to cook more huh? One meal at a time.

WHAT?

Are you kidding me? It is November? Just 2 blog posts ago I wrote that it was the beginning of October!! This means a few things: 1: time is going too quickly! 2: I don't blog near enough, and 3: Thanksgiving is right around the corner!

I like Thanksgiving. Mostly because I love eating ham and cheesy potatoes and green bean casserole and my mom's homemade warm buns with homemade strawberry jam. YUM! Mostly, I like eating those things because I am not the one that has to make it. I just enjoy. This year however, I am not sure I will make it home to eat "home cooked" food. I'll have to eat my own home cooked food, which for me, consists of mac and cheese. If I'm lucky, it is the extra cheesy kind. And if I am even luckier - Brett will cook :) Which he does most all the time anyway.

Last night we had a little fire in the backyard. We burned a few sticks and leaves (shhh!!) It is perfectly legal to have a fire in the backyard if you are cooking something, so we made smores. You just aren't supposed to burn yard waste. So it was a joyous occasion and I should have taken pictures, but I didn't. Speaking of pictures - I have been TRYING to get my house all nice and clean so I can walk through it with my video camera and show it to people who haven't seen our house. But alas - I am terrible at making the whole house clean at once. I'll get one room all nice and clean and then the next day try to do another room, and by the time that is done, the first room is messy again! Can ANYONE relate?

Happy 21st Birthday to my little sister a couple days ago! She's all grown up now and everything. Now, if only she'd act grown up. Just kidding Laura! I love you.

Parker, our little cat has become quite the monster!!! Brett ordered a pair of shoes off the internet and they came in the mail the other day in a box. Parker tore around in the box and chewed up one side. He'll run around, and then run straight in the box and duck down inside and then poke his little head up make some meowing sounds and then jump out again. Oh, the cuteness. :) Currently Brett is lying on the couch with his notebook in front of him studying. Parker just jumped up and sat on his notebook and looked at him like, "hey, I'm sitting on your notebook - what's up?" Then he'll bite the paper. Oy.

So on the 31st we had these 3 little kids come to the door trick or treating. I had thought they came around on the 30th, Saturday, so that night we hid in the basement with the lights off and watched a movie. Well, on Sunday we were upstairs and had the lights on and these 3 cute little kids came by - and I had no candy.....so, what did Brett find to give them? They each got 1 whole bar of Hershey's chocolate (the kind you use for smores). Those lucky kids.

I'm off to ride my bike before it gets too cold. Maybe I can get Brett to go with me. Fat chance though!

hodge-podge

I don't often write very much because when I do think of something to write it is usually just a short little comment and I don't have a huge story or anything to write about. So, my posts often end up being a hodge-podge of random different things that have been going on. I think this is going to be another hodge-podge post.
Work: still going well. I'm pretty much working Monday-Thursday nights either 11-7 or 7p-7a. Which means I sleep during the day and really don't accomplish much at all! It is kind of frustrating because I want to do all this stuff around the house but really have no energy because I just want to sleep when I am not at work. Ugh - something has to change.
School: Not much has changed for Brett at all. School is still going well. He did really well on his second biochemistry exam which he studied a lot for! I am proud of him!!

The weather around here is really beginning to look like fall. The trees are just GORGEOUS. Right down the street there is this tree with bright red leaves - wish we had one of those in our yard! Our sugar maple in the front yard is starting to turn yellow with a little bit of red. It is really pretty too. Of course, we've got a bunch of leaves on the ground too. We raked the front yard yesterday and put all the leaves to the curb. On Mondays the city comes by and vacuums them all up.

The other day we were at the grocery store and Brett and I were commenting on the people around here. Brett then said, "every time someone says "I'm sorry" or "excuse me" I want to ask them if they are from Iowa." HAH. Basically - people around here are not like people in Northwest Iowa. Not that people are mean here - they just are not as friendly and humorous as those in Iowa.

Well time to attempt to be productive today. Brett made a fort for fat cat. He likes to be in small spaces. Have a wonderful day!!

arrgghhh

Some people just drive me nuts! Ya know, I think I am going to take my dad's advice from now on: just assume everyone you meet is stupid until they prove you wrong, then you won't ever be disappointed. Right dad? Ugh - time for bed after a night shift at work. More later.

OCTOBER!

I can't believe it is October already! We have lived in Illinois for 3 months already and time has just flown by. I am off orientation for work and this coming week will be practicing as a nurse on my own! That is so crazy to think about. I am getting used to working the night shift though. It is a good thing I don't really have any problem sleeping during the day. If I am tired, I sleep! Currently while I am typing Parker is attacking my feet. He just pounces and grabs the whole foot. It is hilarious. We turned the heat on this morning. 61 degrees in the house was just too cold, even with blankets piled on the bed! I am thankful that we have a house with heat.

We live in an interesting neighborhood. Next door we have an old couple that we think goes to bed around 7:30 each night. Across the street we have a family that is very boisterous, to say the least. At times I think they make more noise than the frat houses down the street! And then there are those frat houses. On Friday we received this note taped to our front door stating that one of the frat houses was having their annual hog roast on Saturday night and would have a live band until about midnight. If we should have any problems with the noise, we were to call the phone numbers listed (instead of the cops basically). Around 10:30 last night we walked uptown to get some fresh air and just be outside. We made fun of the college girls running around in short little dresses complaining of being cold. I think it was about 49 degrees out at that time last night! Then we stopped at CVS pharmacy on the way home and thought about buying a snuggie for those college girls to keep them warm. hah. Quite the entertainment for us!

Time for a Sunday afternoon siesta!

Tragedy

I suppose it really isn't a huge tragedy, but for me it is. See, I have a fairly new car. It's only about a year old. I also have this large ugly tree at the end of the driveway. Today, the tree and the car met. This was not, however, a nice meeting. We have this steep driveway that curves a little bit. I am used to backing out of the driveway one way, when I go to work. Well, today I was heading the other direction and it is more difficult to back out correctly in this direction (at least for me anyway) without scraping the bottom of the car (or the sides!). Today was a day I did not back out correctly. The front right side of my car sustained damages. :( They are fixable. I came back home and through tears told Brett what happened. He wasn't one bit mad. He just took a look at it, got down on the ground and got some tools out to pop the dent out, and said he was glad I was safe and did not get hit by a car zooming past as I was backing out.

What a tragedy.

Tonight begins my first of many night shifts at the hospital. In some ways I am glad because I am not a morning person and I do not like getting up early, but in other ways....I am not a night person either! I just like my sleep! I have started working out more though, so I am hoping that helps my energy level and I will not be so tired all the time.

That is all.

Ho hum

It seems as if all I write about lately is work and the house. Well, in reality, that is all that has been going on in our lives lately! I can't believe it is Friday the 10th of September. Last week I worked Thursday, Friday, Sat, Sunday, & Monday. I had Tuesday & Wednesday off, then worked Thursday & Friday (today). Work has just been CRAZY lately! We are really busy and I have stayed late the past 2 days. I still love my job and have surprised myself how I am able to stay calm at work when there are 50 million (yes, I said 50 million) things to do. I think the craziness of nursing school has allowed me to adjust to times of high stress and having many things going on at once. So, thank you nursing school at NW for preparing me for the stress of actual nursing :) I feel well prepared. Hah!

I have a little tangent to go off on now too.... I am tired of these college students not paying attention while either a) driving, b) walking across the street or c) biking on the road. Didn't your mother ever teach you to look both ways before crossing the street?? Don't you know that the don't walk sign means DON'T WALK!!??? And how about looking for oncoming traffic before recklessly backing out of your driveway and almost hitting me??! Yeah, I'd appreciate it if you would put your head back on your shoulders and start paying attention. Thanks.

We are still making progress on the landscaping. On the front/side of the house the red paver bricks are all in place. In the backyard in the way back corner the spot where I am going to plant flowers and plants has bricks around it. We need to find some cheap mulch too. It is coming along! The grass is growing too and it looks really good. We will probably have to seed more later, but what we have so far looks good.

One random thing: I was thinking last night about differences between Brett and I during supper. We had spaghetti. I am used to serving the noodles and meat sauce separate. Brett grew up having them mixed together before serving them. So, last night as he put the pan on the table he says: "We're having it Carol style tonight." (for those of you who read this and don't know, Carol is his mom). So, we compromise.

Tomorrow we have a neighborhood association picnic. We are invited. I think we will probably go. We live in the "Old North" neighborhood. It is a historical district so there are rules and such for what you can do to the outside of your house as far as looks, etc. They want to preserve the historical feel of the neighborhood. There are many older good looking homes - it's fun. We have had the windows open and the air off the past few days. I love waking up in the morning to a fresh cool house.

Alright, enough randomness. Time to eat! Thanks to all of you who read and comment on my blog. I hope you enjoy it!

Days like Today

It is days like today (frustrating, exhausting, troublesome, long) when getting a hug from your 93 year old little old lady patient who is sad that I won't be there tomorrow to take care of her make it worthwhile. It is days like today when I thank God for giving me the strength to make it through and for giving me what I need to be a nurse and take care for others when they are sick. It is days like today when I have a patient who tells me to keep my wonderful attitude and not become a grumpy old nurse that make me smile when all I want to do is cry. It is days like today when a patient I am taking care of actually knows where Orange City, Iowa is and has been there allows me to form a trusting relationship with this patient and is worthwhile!

At the end of this frustrating, exhausting, troublesome and long day - I still can remember why I decided to be a nurse - and that is all I need at the end of the day.

Where the green grass grows

The past week has mostly been spent at work and Brett at school and watching our grass grow. It really is coming along, with the bluegrass parts just starting to come up now. We gave also started the landscaping on the front of the house. We are using the same red paver bricks. The other ugly square looking blocks are what used to be around the house. We are just about finished with that part. Then we have to do around the tree in the front and the "flower garden" in the back. I think I might use some of the old bricks to go around my compost pile in the back. While working on the bricks yesterday, I was noticing the basement windows looked really ugly as well. I asked Brett, "what would it take to put new basement windows in?" He replies, "take the old ones out and find new ones that fit in that space and put them in." Well of course that also takes money. Mostly the windows are ugly because someone was priming and painting the wood parts and got it all over the window part. Stupid. Anyway....I got out a razor blade and started scraping off all the paint. Boy that was a lot of work for just one window. A few more windows to go and that part will be finished. Then I'll wash them all, clean the inside, make new curtains for the basement, and voila....new windows! It already looks 10 times better with the paint scraped off! A few more plants around the outside and it will start to look pretty good!

On a side note - if you are reading this and have cats, DO NOT feed them human food. We are never feeding our cats human food ever again. They both puked it back up today. Disgusting. At least we have wood floors and not carpet. Don't worry, I did not include a picture of the cat puke.

This next week I start my orientation on the ortho side of the floor - mostly dealing with hip and knee surgeries. Then, after September 26, I will be on my own. I found out the other day that I am not working 3, 12 hour 7pm-7am shifts per week. I am working 11p-7a, 4 days a week, with the possibility of maybe more. I'm disappointed about this new information but told my charge nurses I am willing to work whatever basically...so hopefully now that they know that I am willing - the opportunity for more hours will arise. My holiday is Christmas this year. So I go to work at 11 Christmas Eve and get off at 7:00 Christmas Day morning. Not sure what my schedule is like around the holidays besides that though. After 4 long days of work this past week, having 3 days off is nice. I really have been having a hard time getting motivated to clean or organize though. Maybe tomorrow will be better. It must be because I have been reading a really good book from the library. I've been sitting outside of the deck next to our pond enjoying the breeze. On tomorrow's agenda - find a chiropractor so I can stop being in pain and make my headaches go away and buy stamps so I can pay bills!

Normal Adventures

One new exciting adventure to us here in Normal happened tonight! Brett starts graduate school tomorrow and we decided he needed a haircut. We borrowed Josh's clippers and I gave it a shot. We've been married for 3 years and I have never wanted to cut his hair. Either he has gone somewhere to have it cut or his sister Cindy has cut it. I've just been too afraid that I would mess it up. Brett gave me confidence though and said that if all else fails - we'll just shave it all off! Turns out I didn't do too bad of a job.



The last 2 pictures are the after shower pictures. Doesn't look to shabby if I say so myself! In other news - big cat has begun to chase around the little cat which is quite a sight. He'll try to hide around the couch and then pounce a little. I think this is good for fat cat because it gives him some activity and will help him loose a little weight. :)

Brett had his orientation day for graduate chemistry students on Friday. It went really well and he met some nice people. He has class Monday, Wednesday, Friday and then will teach lower level labs a couple days of the week. It will be interesting to see what our schedules will look like once I start working nights. Good thing I can just about sleep anywhere or anytime, even if it is light out. At any rate, I am excited for him to start school and start doing something he enjoys! Until next time!

Yardwork!

Here is what we have done yesterday and today. We started out yesterday by using this machine to tear up the yard. It was in really bad shape and there was no way we were just going to dig up the whole thing with a shovel and a rake. This took Brett about 3 hours to do the whole backyard. Then I raked up all the leftover junk and grass. Then, we watered it a bit to settle the dust. Then, we planted grass seed and fertilizer. Then, I raked the whole thing again. After that, we set up the sprinklers to water and watch it grow!!! We also had some edging bricks and put them around the trees in the backyard and around our pond. Also, in the back corner where I am going to plant some things eventually. We are going to put more around the front of the house later and replace the ugly things that are there now! The pictures are out of order, but you get the general idea. It is too much work for me to put them in the right order. I'm tired out :) Hopefully the grass comes in and we have a beautiful lawn! It already looks much better to have it evened out and not huge holes and then patches of grass and patches of dirt. Yay for homeowners!

Niece Natalie!

2 posts in one night! I was reminded that I had written earlier about having a new niece but did not post any details...so here they are!!

Natalie Jean was born at 3:27pm on August 8, 2010. She weighed 8lbs 9oz and was 21 inches long. Beautiful baby!! I tried to put pictures up, but they are in the wrong format - need to get some other ones from Rebecca to post! Until next time.

Thoughts & More

Today was another day at work for me. It was a good, busy day for me, and also provided me with some thoughts. So far in my life I have never had a patient die that I was taking care of (even while working as a CNA). Honestly, I am not looking forward to the day that happens to me. Today I had a patient that was not doing as well later in the day. I was provided with the opportunity to use my critical thinking skills and do some assessments and call the doctor and tell him what I thought was going on. The initial response I got from the doctor was that the patient was just a mess. My thought: "I DIDN'T ASK FOR YOUR PERSONAL OPINION - YOU ARE THE DOCTOR, LET'S DO SOMETHING!" It made me upset. I've always thought of my patients as human beings created by God for his purpose. They are not just "things" we are "figuring out" as health care professionals. It may have been true that the patient had a lot going on - but that doesn't mean we need to throw our hands up in the air and do nothing. Anyway - the doctor eventually gave me orders and we worked on getting the patient back on track. I could definitely tell the difference between the doctor coming in for a few minutes to just look at the patient and taking the time to talk to the patient and family.

This also provided me with thoughts about how I will handle patients dying while I am taking care of them. It is not just the fact that a person is dying - it is the fact that I have formed a relationship with this patient and the family members and have gotten to know them. I wonder if I care too much as a nurse and get too involved? I know it is good for my patients, it lets them know I care and helps them trust me, but it may not be good for myself emotionally. I guess I will just have to take that situation as it comes to me. I truly enjoy caring for others and it frustrates me when I cannot make their hurt go away or things are not going as planned. Part of that is probably my organized personality, wanting to make everything right and part of that is my caring attitude and not wanting my patients to hurt. I enjoy what I do, but I am learning it is not always easy.

I've been reading 1st Peter lately several times over. One verse that I have been reading over and over again is 1st Peter 1:7, "These trials will show that your faith is genuine. It is being tested as fire tests and purifies gold - though your faith is far more precious than pure gold. So when your faith remains strong though many trials, it will bring you much praise and glory and honor on the day when Jesus Christ is revealed to the whole world." For me these trials lately are represented by difficult things I go through at work, either dealing with patients, a diagnosis, doctors, or coworkers. Through these trials, my faith is made stronger as I daily rely on God for all my needs and turn to Him with everything. I hope to bring honor to God at work, even if I am going through trials.

Lots of deep thoughts for today. I had more, but now I don't remember. Hah. One lighthearted thing to end before I go eat my chocolate banana cream pie. :)

Brett and I have been married for a little over 3 years and it was just today that we found out that all this time Brett thought I did not like Sunny D, when in fact, I really like it! We had a "I can't believe this!" moment tonight in the grocery store. He's never bought it before because he thought I didn't like it and thought it was bad for us (which it probably is, but it still tastes good!) And I really do like it! We're looking forward to the future of learning more about each other and our likes and dislikes!



A blog post wouldn't be complete with out a picture of Marshmellow and Parker! Enjoy!

Saturday...

I just got home from work and I am exhausted. I was there at 6:40 this morning and it literally wasn't until 1:00 that I stopped and sat down. I only had 3 patients and one of them went home around noon, but I was super busy for some reason! I did a lot of new things today including giving blood to a patient. I just felt kind of unorganized and not on top of everything. I had doctors giving me orders and patients telling me they wanted to go home, NOW, and so on and so forth...the life of a nurse. :) I am sure I will get used to it, but today - I am tired.

Later tonight when it is not so hot, I plan on getting started on my couch potato to 5K run plan. Time to go run for a minute! Hope I don't pass out...wish me luck. Short post for today - time for a nap or something.

Cats & Projects

It seems like the only thing I can think to write about lately is our cats. They just provide so much entertainment for us. One of their morning routines is to "fight" with each other. I have a video that Brett taped which is hilarious.
You can see that occasionally they will stop for a minute and just lick each other. Or Parker will kind of back away a little and then pounce. I tried to upload the video to here, but it did not work. I'll have to figure that out and try again later.

Work is going really well for me and I still love my job. Getting up at 5:20 in the morning is a little difficult and after 3 days in a row I am pretty exhausted. I didn't do a whole lot today and took a nap too. Since moving into our house we have done a few projects. Brett built a little shelf in the laundry room from some wood that was left in the basement and garage. He fixed the gate to the fence and put a new lock on it. Now it actually swings shut and is level. We also had quite the project redoing our tub/shower in the upstairs bathroom.
Brett actually did all of the work on the demo of the bathroom. I worked everyday for those 2 weeks. When his parents came, Bob helped put up the walls and caulk around the edges. It is all finished now except for all the edging around everything. So now we have a working shower and tub and no water in the basement!

This is how Brett got the tub home from the store. I still can't believe he did that!

Our current project is working on the lawn/landscaping. The previous owners had 2 large dogs. The last picture is where their big dog fence used to be. There is just a bunch of junk and dirt there that we are working on leveling out and are going to plant grass there. The other two pictures are right by the deck. Since the gutter was a little saggy, the water just poured out the side and would wash away the dirt on the inside of the fence. So, now that the gutter is fixed (thanks Brett!) we can work on the lawn. We basically are digging up spots where there is just dirt and leveling stuff out to put down mulch or grass. We also took out some stupidly placed bricks and are going to put them other places. This morning when Brett went out to work at 10:00, it was just about 90 degrees!!

That is about the sum of our projects so far! Oh, we also took off the door and frame to the basement. It was kind of annoying and all beat up by the previous owner's dogs. Okay, enough for tonight!

Home Sweet Home

After a long weekend of driving 1400 miles, we are home! We went to Kansas this past weekend for a wedding of one of my Spare cousins. It was great to see family and catch up with people we had not seen in awhile. Our cats are just as adorable as they were when we left and were excited to see us when we came home. Or maybe they were just excited to get food.

The wedding was good and sweet. I broke my sunglasses while in Kansas, so I had to get new ones. I have really sensitive eyes and need to protect them from the sun. The sunglasses I had before were old and scratched and I always thought they were a little crooked. However, when I tried on some new sunglasses they too were all crooked on my face! Turns out, I have a crooked face!!!! It was quite a hilarious moment. Anyhoo - I got a new pair of sunglasses that are snazzy and I like them.

Also - I am an aunt again!!! Rebecca had her baby today. I will wait to share the name and other details until she has a chance to let more family members know. I'm so excited!!!!!!

Tomorrow is Monday and another day at work. Bring it on.

Nothing New

Nothing new has really happened since I last blogged. The kitties have been getting along wonderfully and provide many laughs for us. We went to Petco to get some more cat food and I picked up a book about training your cat. As I was skimming through the book I came across a section that said if your cat is doing something wrong, yelling, charging, swearing, etc, at them does not do any good. Whoops....there goes that for me! Instead, they said you are supposed to hiss at them and spray water at them because that is what cats do to eachother when they are mad. They hiss and spit. So, the next time the cat tried to get on the table while we were eating, I hissed, and the cat ran away. Hmm...turns out the authors of this book might have known a few things. So if you need a laugh today, picture me hissing like a cat - good times! Today when I got home from work after another successful day I took a little nap with Parker. He cuddled up right next to me! He has not done this before and does not really like to be next to you if you aren't scratching him and such. We have taken a TON of pictures of these cats!!! I could fill a whole creative memories album with just cat pictures probably :)
Marshmellow cleaning Parker and Parker pawing him like a little kitten paws his mom when he is nursing. I think they really are friends!Taking a nap together.


Napping with Parker after a long day at work.

I realized the other day that ever since we moved to Bloomington-Normal about a month ago we have not left. I'm used to driving 30 minutes to work and driving 15 minutes to Walmart, or going to Sioux City or Sioux Falls to go shopping or out to eat. Now we have all that right here. It seems strange though to think we have not left the same city in a month. Tomorrow however we are leaving for Kansas to go to a wedding. It will be fun to drive and get out of town for awhile. It will be a short trip because we are leaving Friday and coming home on Sunday. I have to work Monday. Time to get packing and get ready to leave!

Introducing.......

Life sure has changed around here for us lately! We have added 2 new members to our family. 2 cats. That's right, cats. I wanted a little puppy, but the shelter we were adopting them from only had larger dogs. So, we settled for 2 cats. I wanted a kitten and Brett wanted an older more mellow cat. We adopted a 22 pound cat named Marshmellow, and a little orange kitten named Parker. They are so much fun! We have taken a ton of pictures of them so far and we have only had them since yesterday (Saturday). They are our "children." Brett went and got them while I was at work on Saturday and when I got home they were both scared and hiding under the bed and the table. Today however, they are out playing in the living room and being friends and "fighting" with us. They have provided many laughs for us! I have some pictures of them too!This is Marshmellow (and yes it is really spelled that way)

This is Parker. He is about 4 months old, and it is difficult to get a good picture of him because he is constantly on the go! It is hilarious to watch him go flying around the house and then slip as he goes around the corner.

At first I was concerned that the 2 cats would not get along well. However, we have proved that they seem to get along just fine. Except when Parker gets a little too excited for Marshmellow, then Marshmellow gets grumpy at him. They are our new entertainment!


They are friends though! And they both know how to use the litter box. We will see what we have gotten ourselves into!!

Blessings

I've had a lot to think about lately, in a good way. Wednesday this week I was orientating with a secretary on 6 West Surgical (the floor I am working on) and I was quite discouraged after the day was over. As I was thinking later I wondered why I was so discouraged. I figured out it was because I had no patient contact that day as I was just sitting at the desk putting in orders and answering phones, etc. It was not my idea of a good job. Thursday and today (Friday) were much better days for me. Thursday was a 12 hour day at the hospital and was also my first official day as an RN. My nurse that is my mentor/preceptor is AMAZING. I feel so blessed that I get to learn from her. She is always looking for new things for me to do and learn from. Today I took out an NG tube, a foley and a JP drain! Also, Thursday I started an IV on a difficult patient on the first time. My nurse was quite impressed with me, and it felt good to accomplish that. On Thursday my nurse was just going to kind of have me follow her around and see how things worked, etc. Early in the morning though I think she realized I was fairly competent and she let me do a patient assessment and do everything for that specific patient. Otherwise, I just kind of did random things that day and was not very organized. However, at 3:00 when the other shift left, we picked up 2 more patients. I took over one of those and was able to use my "relationship development" step of the nursing process to form a great relationship with one of those patients. :) It made me remember exactly why I became a nurse. I also learned more of the paperwork and charting that day which was good.

Friday, (today) was an 8 hour shift, and definitely felt much shorter! I took one patient all on my own and it was a good feeling to see my name next to Nurse: on the marker board in the patient's room all on its own! I even ventured to call 2 doctors to get orders for my patients. That was the first time I had done that, and it was nerve racking! I had everything written down that I wanted to say and the chart open by me. When I hung up I realized it was not as bad as I was expecting. Good thing I had 2 good doctors to practice on first. And neither one of them had accents that were difficult to understand!! I again feel blessed and feel as if God is watching out for me and protecting me as I serve Him in taking care of patients.

Another kind of funny story. As I was asking a patient for his full name and birthdate before I gave him medications, he gave me a strange number. I asked him, "that was not your birthdate, what was that?" He replied, "my phone number in case you want to call me later". I literally laughed out loud. He was an 86 year old man. I feel blessed to be able to share laughter with my patients.

Today was also another first. At the hospital, we tape our end of shift reports for the next shift to listen too. I taped my own report on my own for my 1 patient. It felt good to accomplish that! I realized my voice sounds funny on tape though. I know this is a really long post, but I just have one more story. As I was reflecting back on the difference between Wednesday and today I remembered the relationship between the tech's (CNA's) and the nurses. I heard several of the techs complaining or venting about being really busy and the nurses not helping them out. So today, I saw the opportunity to make up a bed for a patient and gave my own patient her shower (which the tech's usually do) and made up her bed with clean sheets. It was amazing the appreciation that I received from the techs. Even just those little things helped them out just a little bit and made their day just a little easier. I feel blessed to share what God has given me.

The last few days have been ones of blessings. I feel blessed that God has placed us where He has and that we have a wonderful place to call home and that God is providing for our every need. Life is good.

Little of this, little of that

Ho hum, it sure has been a while since I last wrote anything. A few things have happened. I finished my last week of classroom orientation at the hospital, got my first paycheck as a nurse, worked on the bathroom, and found a very dead mouse in the basement. Like so dead it looked crispy. Yuck. News on the bathroom: we got a new tub and walls, and they are in and sealed. Everything is clean and white. The only thing that needs to happen is some trimming/edging put up around the tub/shower.

Our new furniture arrived on Saturday as well as Brett's mom and dad. I LOVE our new high top table. I'll have to take some pictures and post those here. Our couch, loveseat, oversized chair and ottoman came as well. I believe the color is beach bronze, or something like that. basically a cream color. It looks good with the dark floor and dark molding in the living room. And, a cute accent rug to match :) It is starting to feel more like home now.

While Brett's parents were here this past weekend we rode bikes, went out to eat, the guys played golf, went for walks, explored uptown Normal and did some fixing of things around the house. It was fun to have some company.

Today Brett and I went to uptown Normal for the Farmer's Market. It was quite smaller than I was expecting, but I did find some peaches to try! They aren't quite ripe so i think I'll wait until tomorrow. However, I learned my lesson from last time I bought peaches - I will not put them in the fridge. Some lady was handing out coupons for free iced tea drinks at a store called The Garlic Press. I hadn't ever been in there, so Brett and I both went and got an Iced Tea. I added a good amount of sugar to mine, and it was delicious. I officially love that store too. There is a restaurant part of it, where you can get like sandwiches and soup and drinks, etc, and then a store part. The store part has kitchen stuff and cards and gifts, and much more. Lots of expensive things too! We walked out of there without buying anything, although I wanted to.

Then we went down the street and went to this bakery. They had the CUTEST little fruit pastry/pie things. They were in these little 1 inch pie tins. It was a crust with some filling and fruit. Kind of like fruit pizza, but fruit pie. We each got one, and I think I'll be back there for more sometime. YUM! Wish I would have had my camera with, because they were so cute!

Tomorrow I work orientating with a secretary so I can learn all the computer stuff, and then Thursday and Friday I am on the floor as a nurse! I am excited but yet quite nervous all at the same time. I am actually responsible for the lives of people now. Craziness. This is now the longest blog I have written, and it doesn't even have pictures - how boring. So I'll add one of Sarah's dog we have been watching. His name is Max and we have fun with him. Oh! That reminds me! We were looking at animals on the Humane Society's website. They have this cat that you can adopt who is 22 pounds. His name was Marshmellow. hah. We laughed at his picture. I want a dog, Brett wants a cat. We will see! Until next time!

It must be Monday

You know it might be Monday if I had to wake up at 5:00 this morning so I could be punched in at work by 6:45. I ended up being 15 minutes early. That is 15 more minutes I could have been sleeping. Next time, I'm sleeping till 5:15. Today I spent 8 hours watching patient's heart rhythms and interpreting them. I am glad I am a nurse and not a monitor technician.....

It also must be a Monday if both Brett and I got injured with the bathroom renovations. Brett was working on something while I was at the hospital and he jammed a screwdriver into his hand. Later, when I got home from work, I was in the bathroom talking to him about stuff and I bumped the hammer sitting on the sink and it fell and gashed the back of my heel. I cried, it bleed. Speaking of bathroom renovations, I am going to try to add a picture of what we have been working on. And when I say we, I mean Brett. Because you know, I'm a working woman now!

This picture is from the beginning of the renovations. I'll post more later! Time to go file papers in the office!

Lazy Saturday

Last night I had this big list of things to do today - and so far, I have not accomplished much! Taking care of a big house is time consuming. I have 4 plants and am struggling to keep them alive. Before we moved, my mom rescued one of my plants from its death bed. Apparently I wasn't watering it enough. It had gotten so dry that when I did water it, the water just ran right out the bottom. Good thing we don't have kids yet, since I can barely manage to take care of my plants!

I think I pride myself on being organized - Brett might even call me obsessed with organization. However, if you would currently look at my house, it is far from organized. But yet I do nothing about it - except just stare at the piles of things that need to be put away and will them to grow legs and put themselves away. Things I have accomplished today: taking a bike ride with Brett, taking a nap, watching tv, and finally putting away the rest of our clothes from the move. In the process of doing that, I filled a laundry basket of clothes that need to be taken to the laundry room and washed. Instead of just bringing the basket downstairs and putting them in the washer (which would take probably 2 minutes) I just sit and think about it and rationalize to myself why it would be better if I washed the clothes tomorrow. Oy.

Now, on to being productive! Or, maybe just making lists of being productive....

I am new to this whole blogging thing and am not sure that I am entirely going to follow through on documenting our lives and the new adventures we are going through. Since I spend a significant amount of time reading other people's blogs I have decided to create one of my own - you know, if people don't already follow me on facebook! :) Who knows, this may be just something that I write for myself and others will not even read.

This blog will hopefully document our lives in Normal, Illinois as homeowners, a nurse, and a graduate student!