I Am Queen Ruler of All

Ok, that's just in my head, but I deserve it. I checked on my final semseter of nursing school grades and I got 3 A's. One class has not reported yet, but I only expected one A, so I rule all. Also, All of our Christmas presents are purchased and wrapped. (I'm still working on making yours Suzzanne, so it doesn't count because I'm making it.) I also got our Christmas cards mailed today and I got Suzzanne's birthday gift and Mom's Christmas gifts mailed.

(I NEVER get any of this done until way later.) It must be mentioned that Matt did most of the Christmas shopping. However, I wrapped everything and decorated our house for Christmas. Ok, so if i'm the Queen Ruler of All then Matt is the King Ruler of All. I have to have a King. Will is the Destroyer of Worlds.

There is a Light

Yes, everyone. There is a light at the end of the tunnel. I finished one of my finals for nursing school. I have one on Wednesday then I am finished for the semester. I have three weeks of internship in January and then all I have to do is take the NCLEX (state boards). OH MY GOODNESS! I guess soon I'll be an RN. That is scary.

And last evening it started snowing like crazy. I was hoping that our final would be moved to another day and school would be cancelled. No such luck. Once I got here this morning I was glad that school was today and that I could just get it over with. I was not going to spend any more time studying. Actually, the final was easy. Maybe I even pulled an A in the class. Probably not, but maybe. Sometimes wishes come true.

Movie Obsessed

My son is OBSESSED with Disney movies. I admit it is my fault. Since I am in nursing school, it's easy to put a movie in for Will while I am on my way to school and Matt is still asleep. His favorite was The Lion King. He watched it at least twice a day. His nana has purchased lots of little Lion King toys including Simba, Nala, Mufasa, Scar, a hyena, and Will's favorite, Zazu (whom he calls E-yo).

In attempt to get Will to become less obsessed with the Lion King I accidentally got him hooked on Hercules. He calls it Her-key and it is so CUTE when he says Her-key. It took me a while to figure out what he was saying. You know school is coming to a close when your 2 year old watches Hercules three times in one day and watches Beauty and the Beast once. In my defense, I was tired and took a nap once and then needed to study (which I am not doing right now).

My next plan is to get him obsessed with Beauty and the Beast, Aladdin, and Mulan that way we have several movies to choose from.

We read to Will also, and play with him, so it's not like he only watches movies, but it sure seems like it sometimes. Oh, he also loves to take a bath, usually for at least 30 minutes. Crazy kid!

Today's ICU Experience

This morning I went to my last day of clinicals today. I got to the hospital at about 7:15am and loitered for a while. I got report from my nurse and his trainee (an RN but new to the hospital). We went in a little before 8am to assess the patient. He was intubated but responded to the nurse talking to him. Just then, he another nurse came and said he was in Ventricular Fibrillation (V Fib), which is a heart rhythm that is not life sustainable for long. He had a pacemaker, and before she could finish telling us that, he got a shock from his pacemaker and was fine. He then went into V Fib again, and we started chest compressions and got the crash cart, only for his pacemaker to shock him again. He came back the second time but was not able to respond to the nurse. By this point, the code had been called and about a million doctors and doctors in training arrived. The third time he went into Asystole, which is no electrical activity in the heart and is not shockable, so his pacemaker didn't shock him. The doctors in training all took turns doing chest compressions while the nurses pushed meds like crazy. He got mag, epinephrine, and a couple of other drugs. This went on for 30 minutes and the doctor finally stopped the code and called the time of death. Before all this crazyness happened, one of the million doctors called the daughter and told her she should come to the hospital. By the time she got there he was dead, but she didn't know he was dead. It was bad. She got really upset (and rightfully so). I felt so bad for her. It was an interesting experience and not quite as horriffically scary as I expected. Not the best way to start a morning, but whatever.

Will

Every time I turn around, Will has gotten bigger or learned a new word or something. My baby is growing up so quickly. This is a video I took of him a month ago or so. It was after Halloween and I got him to go through some of his favorite words.

Illness + Test don't mix

Nursing school is winding down. I had a 20 page paper to write this weekend and a test to study for, plus a few miscillaneous projects to finish up. I have two finals in a couple of weeks and one more paper to write and then the semester is over and I get to be an RN. However, I found this weekend, as I got sick on Friday night/Saturday morning, that trying to cram for an exam and illness don't mix. I took my test at 8am this morning, and I entered the classroom with my own special box of Puffs to use. In the silence of the test taking, the only noise was an occasional sniff from other classmates and the honking of me blowing my nose EVERY TWO MINUTES. As soon as I walked into the room to take the test my nose started running worse than ever. I also started coughing during the test. It was insane. My friend Nicole said that she really had to try hard to not laugh during the test because my nose blowing was HILARIOUS. It was just annoying to me. Next time I am sick and having to take a test, I think i'll call in dead.

Man, I Stink

Ok, I know what everyone is thinking "Why doesn't she take a shower?". I don't stink in a physical way, I just realized that I haven't blogged in over a week, and I think that is stinky. In my defense, I don't have much exciting to talk about. I don't even have any cute new pictures of Will. I have two full weeks left of classes before my semester is over, so mostly I have been trying to write the papers I need to write, and study for my tests so I can pass and become an RN.

As a matter of fact I just finished the STUPIDEST paper I have written in my whole school life (including grades k-12 and my first 5.5 years of undergraduate school). The sad thing is the paper can't be more than 20 pages and I am afraid that it will be more than 20 pages before it is all over. It is a group paper and there are four of us working on it. Only two of us have finished our parts, and it is 14 pages. Oops. It is a Community Survey. We had to choose a community (Prairie Village, KS was our chosen community) and then answer all these STUPID questions. Here is a small sample of the stuff I just wrote about: discuss the role of environmental sanitation department, list three leading industries, what is the unemployment rate of this community, describe the types of housing in this community, discuss currrent redevelopment plans in this community. What does any of that have to do with nursing school? I did the stupid project and don't feel it helped me in school at all. I just wasted 3-4 hours of my day that I could have used to study for my critical care test. I think i'll go study for my critical care test now. Wish me luck!

Random

This morning I was cold. I get dressed in the closet because Matt is
sleeping and I'm trying to not wake him up and be rude. I put on a
sweatshirt that isn't terribly cute while trying to decide what to
wear. I ended up wearing the less than cute sweatshirt because I was
too warm to change. It made me laugh. That is all.

Will's 2 Year Check Up

So Will turned 2 almost a month ago. He had his 2 year checkup on Tuesday. Oh My Goodness. It was a DISASTER. Will was so cute at first, but he wouldn't stand on the scale long enough to get his height. He weighs 32lbs. Super awesome boy! When we went to the room and he had to get measured he kicked and screamed. You would have thought someone was killing him. I was so embarrassed. Then he had to get undressed to see the doctor. His new favorite word is "NO!" He yells it and usually hits you when saying it. Needless to say I got hit lots on Tuesday. He did well when the doctor looked into his ears (surprisingly) but once she tried to take off his diaper to check his femoral arteries and see how his penis looked, he FREAKED out. He thrashed and screamed and he almost kicked the doctor in the face.

When the girls came in to give him his shots they said "He's so cute and so loud." They could hear him screaming and thrashing out at the desk. Then we had to go get a lead level drawn. Some other people in the lab waiting room just cooed over how cute he was. The lab draw ladies, however, had heard about his ability to kick and scream. It's like he was infamous. He just cried and cried and cried during and after they took his blood. The good thing was he fell asleep in the car on the way home and had a two hour nap.

The craziest thing was that the nurse was concerned about his weight. He had only gained 6lbs in the last 6 months. She said he was only in the 85th percentile and was concerned that he wasn't eating three meals a day at regular intervals. Either she had never had children or her kids were older and she blocked out memories of her children at 2. Toddlers eat whenever they are hungry or whenever they want. Will almost never eats three meals a day, and he is very much not on a regular eating schedule. Also, kids don't gain 12lbs a year, so there is nothing wrong with Will only gaining 6lbs in 6 months. I know a girl at school who's 4 year old daughter weighs less than Will.

The terrible twos have hit. He can be so ornery. It's a good thing he's so stinking cute!

Root Canal and other Daily Things

Today I started my day off with a 9am root canal. I went to see the dentist this summer sometime (or maybe it was even earlier in the year - I know it was 2008 for sure though) and he told me I needed some fillings replaced, etc. He submitted the work needed to my insurance company and I got an estimated statement of $300 for my part of the bill if I got all the work done. Matt and I consulted and decided I would wait until after school was over to get my teeth fixed because of the money commitment. That backfired. I began having some pain a couple of weeks ago and figured out I had an infection in one of my teeth. I got an antibiotic from the dentist, went to see him, and was referred to the endodontist for my root canal. I am TERRIFIED of the dentist and any procedures that might take place in the dental chair. I was not excited about the root canal, but i'm not crazy enough to think that my tooth will get better.

The dentist put some topical numbing stuff on my tooth and gums before he inserted the needle into my cheek for the local anesthetic and I thought that was mighty kind of him. That did not stop me from freaking out though. When he turned the drill on, I started to cry. It was very odd. They put this plastic covering over my mouth that I assume was open at the back so he could get to my one tooth without the others interferring. Maybe it was to keep the tooth dust from going down my throat. All I know is that "balloon" covering my mouth combined with the sound of the drill freaked me out. I didn't cry long and I didn't hyperventillate, so that was good. However, I did leak a few tears before I got myself under control. I even got to see the root that they pulled out. It was COOL and tiny. Way more tiny than I could have ever imagined. The whole thing only took about 10 mintues once he started drilling. It wasn't too bad, although I hope I can avoid another root canal in the future.

I do get to have a return appointment on December 5th to put in a permanent spacer where they took out the root. They put in something to sterilize the area for now since I did have an infection in there earlier. Then they will put permanant place holders in and my main dentist will cover the holes with something more permanant too. The whole process is three visits. I could have taken care of this all in one visit if I had just gone back to the dentist earlier in the year. I have learned my lesson. Oh, and the root canal costs about $1000. However, the antibiotic and Motrin 800mg that I got from the pharmacy today cost $0.78 together. That was so cool. The pharmacy lady told me how much and I said "For Real?" It was pretty funny.

I ended my day today by being inducted into the International Honors Society for Nursing called Sigma Theta Tau. It was a neat ceremony and it didn't last too long. Oh, and the snacks afterwards were great. They had fresh fruit skewers that were awesome. I didn't realize you could get watermelon and pineapple that tasted so good in November.

The middle of my day today was spent studying, napping, and watching The Lion King with Will. He loves that movie and goes around saying "Duba" which means Simba all the time. If he dosen't have his Lion King book he gets really upset. He actually watched The Lion King twice today. I'm such a bad mom. I put Will in front of the TV and turn on a movie he likes. This morning Glen Beck, an LDS conservative talk radio guy, was talking about how we need to turn off the TV and spend time with our kids. Obviously I didn't take his advice today. In my defense, I had lots of homework, some of which I got done while Will was watching The Lion King the second time. The first time I laid down for a rest while Will watched the movie. The second time he sat next to me on our bed while I did homework and he colored and watched it. There was some child/parent interaction. I even danced with him during the Hakuna Matata song. That boy loves to dance.

Politics

I am a bit disappointed in our nation as a whole, but I cannot say that I am very surprised. I wish President Elect Obama all the best and pray that he will lead our country in the way it should go.

What I am pretty upset about is the political reporting of last night. It was barely 10pm here in Independence and the polls in California had just closed and were not even reporting yet when the Associated Press (liberal hacks) announced that Obama had won the election. I'm fine with him winning the election, but don't declare him the winner at 10:02pm when we all know that if McCain had been ahead at 10pm the liberal media would have NOT declared a winner until all the votes were in from every state. I GET SO MAD when the media reporting is OBVIOUSLY and blatently left wing. They were smiling and almost celebrating at 10pm. I realize that they were correct and that Obama won but I think the media should wait a bit longer before declaring a winner. They gave Ohio to Obama when only 12% of their voting places were even reporting. It just makes me mad.

WARNING* the following thoughts mix religion and conservative politics.
On a different note, Matt and I were talking about how I was sure that Heavenly Father wouldn't allow our great nation to fall apart and be destroyed. However, I had a thought about the pride cycle that happens so often in the Book of Mormon. Maybe even though there are righteous people in America pride is a bit out of control and we need to be knocked down a notch. 9-11 only brought our nation back to Heavenly Father for a year or two. Maybe we need some hard times and not as good leadership to remind us who is in charge and to get us back on the track that as a nation we need to be on. The thought I had in the shower this morning was that maybe this is just a sign of the second coming getting closer. All I know is that I will feel much better when I graduate and have a job so we can get a years supply of food going. I don't want to be caught unprepared for the disasters ahead.

Maybe there won't be any disasters and President Elect Obama will be the best president we have had in a long time. I can hope, but I don't have much hope. I do know that I will support my political leaders, ones I voted for and ones I did not vote for. As Article of Faith 12 says "We belive in being subject to kings. presidents, rulers, and magistrates, in obeying, honoring, and sustaining the law." I will pray hard, keep my nose clean, and wait to see what happens.

Halloween

Our Halloween was not nearly as exciting as my friend Suzzanne, who is living in Nottingham, England right now. William and I went to Boo at the Zoo on Saturday the 25th. He dressed up as Darth Vader and carried his Darth Vader head as his candy catcher. It was WAY cute. It was kind of crazy though, because there were bees everywhere at the entrance of the Zoo. This little kid got stung on the face by a bee. It was crazy. This is Will blocking the way of the kid who got stung.
William was really tired and so I gave him his binky to calm him down. We waited for Donald and Michelle at the front entrance. This is Will sitting with his Chewbacca and his binky waiting for Donald and Michelle.
When they got there, we went into the zoo and hung around in line for movie passes waiting for Matt. They also had chocolate milk and milk nog, so we got some. If you have never had milk nog, it's half egg nog and half milk. I like it better because it isn't as heavy.This is Will with his chocolate milk mustache.

When Matt got there we went to the parade. All the kids lined up and marched to some music. It was soooooo cute. Matt and Will got distracted by the sea lions who's enclosure they were supposed to be marching around, so I didn't get any pictures from that, but it was still cute.

We just wandered around going to the tables that had candy. Will tried to say "Trick or Treat" but it came out "teet". It was cute. The zoo had a haunted pirate ship in the old gorilla enclosure. They really went all out. It was very cool.This is the entrance with a skeleton. This is the shark on the haunted pirate ship who has a skeleton in it's mouth.

We stopped to pat the Buddha's belly and pose with him.Will patting Buddha's belly like Daddy showed him.
Will posing with Donald and Buddah. You can't tell, but Will is folding his arms just like Donald.
On our way out of the zoo we stopped by a table that had a warthog painted behind the table. Will ran over to it and called it "Pum" because it looked like Pummba from The Lion King. It was so cute.

At the exit they had tractors that kids were pedling. Will was too little to be able to pedal the tractor himself so Matt and I took turns pushing him around. It was pretty hard because you had to bend over so far plus you had to steer while pushing. Will enjoyed it though, so that is all that matters.After the pushing and trick or treating it was time for a snack. Even Darth Vader has to have a snack. Darth Will had juice and a candy bar. It was the only time I could keep Will's "hat" on because it was too big and had no way to stay on his head.
This is Darth Will wiping his face after his snack. Just because he is a super villan doesn't mean he can't be clean, right?
On Wednesday night we went to my in-law's ward's Trunk or Treat. My father in law went way crazy and decorated his truck to the hilt. It was so awsome. He was the only one that got crazy. There were only two other cars that bothered to do any decorations at all. Maybe Dale will have inspired others to decorate next year. I guess we will see.
This is the driver of the truck.

On Halloween night Will and I picked up my friend Dave and drove out to his sister, Trisha's house. Trisha has three kids, the youngest of which thinks Will is his best friend. We went Trick or Treating with them. I left my camera at home that night by accident, so I don't have any pictures of the event. Dave's mom Patty took her camera though, so I bet I could get some from her.

After the first few houses Will got the hang of it and didn't need me to hold his hand. He would run up to the houses with the other kids and elbow his way to the front of the line. A couple of times I thought he was going to go into the houses, he got so close. He and Brady (the three year old) ran around through the neighborhood. After a while Will wanted to eat candy and wasn't as interested in getting more candy. He was so overwhelmed, but it was great. I hope we can go next year too.

Will's Second Birthday

This year, on October 18, we had Will's birthday part at Deanna Rose Farmstead (just like last year because it's free and fun). We ended up with a big group. My friend Dave brought his sister and her three kids so there would be kids closer to Will's age than just us boring adults. My mom was in town so that was great too, because she missed Will's first birthday. My mom, my sister-in-law Meghann, and I got to the Farm about 11:30 am and the part started at 1pm. The reason we got there so early was that we wanted to get a place to sit. Last year there were tons of people having parties and this year there were less picnic tables to have a party on so I wanted to make sure we got a good spot. We really didn't sit very long after decorating before people started arriving. This one family was looking for a place to sit and their youngest kid thought our cake was cool and tried to grab it. I yelled at him and scared him. I didn't mean to, but we put lots of work into that cake and I didn't want it ruined by some kid I didn't even know.

Will got lots of cool presents, including a guitar, a piano, Abbie Cadabbie and Elmo dolls, and Star Wars toys. His favorite toys right now are the Star Wars ones. He calls Chewbacca "Gaca" and R2D2 is "2". It's really cute.This is the Leap Pad my mom got him. Abbie and Elmo. He loves them soooooooo much.
The Star Wars Toys. You can't really see them but there was Darth Vader, Boba Fett, A Storm Trooper, Yoda, R2D2, C3PO, and Chewbacca. He has only managed to lose the Storm Trooper so far.

Update

I just wanted to thank you Matt, Rhia, and Alison for your support.
Everything worked out well. Now all I have to do is graduate!

Life

Sometimes life bites you in the butt when you least expect it. Back in 2003 I did something very bad and had to be fingerprinted by the police. I moved to Omaha, went through the difficult repentance process and moved on. The prosecutor decided not to press charges or whatever, so I never went to court or did jail time. I was able to go back to the temple, I met Matt, got married, had Will, and started nursing school.

This semester I am taking Critical Care as one of my last nursing classes. I ended up in the group going to the VA medical center for Critical Care clinical. As part of the VA orientation you have to get fingerprinted and they do an extensive (it turns out) background check. This "thing" in my past popped up. They apparently called the school. I had to have a chat with the Human Resources director of the VA and as of Friday he is probably going to give me computer access to the VA.

I got an e-mail from the assistant dean of the nursing program at Graceland and the title was "meet". First of all, I think that is a rude title. That isn't the point though. The point is that she wants to meet with me at 7:30 Monday, before class. I think Graceland University got it's panties in a wad because their background check didn't turn up anything bad about me and now the VA is telling them there is something wrong. My first thought was that I am going to get kicked out of nursing school three months before I graduate. I hope not, but that is my big worry.

The seniors had a "How to fill out your paperwork for your license" class a week ago or so and I realized that the State Board of Nursing was going to need a letter about the previous indiscretion before they would grant me a nursing license. I don't have any worries about getting a nursing license because I think my explanation will be sufficient. If not, I am willing to go and talk to the Board face to face and explain everything so I can be a nurse. However, If they kick me out of school I guess a nursing license is a moot point.

Why do things you have repented of and put in your past have to reach up and bite you on the butt every once in a while? I know it's a learning experience and the Lord doesn't give you more than you can handle, but I'm feeling a little overwhelmed.

Oops, I DId It Again...

What's the saying? Something about doing something more than once, shame on me? Well, shame on me. After Will's birthday party on Saturday (picture and blog to follow later) my mom and I were unloading the car and Will locked us out. I forgot to unlock the door because Mom was standing in the door with Will. Then she came out to help and Will shut the door on us. I called Kathi and she came and saved us. It was funny, but way embarrassing. I won't (hopefully) be doing that again. Here are some pictures for your enjoyment (Will wasn't nearly as cute this time because he was inside playing with his new birthday toys and not worried about Mommy and Grandma at all):

How Will Locked Me Out

William and his book on the inside.


This is a story about a mother named Emily and how her son William locked her out of the house. Emily promised herself that she would never get locked out of the house. Emily and her husband Matt have a house with a front door that locks behind you. You never have to get out your key when you leave. You just pull the door shut and it is locked. That is great when you have your hands full and are trying to get out the door. Emily found out that it isn't as great when you have a son who discovered it is funny to shut the door when Mommy is outside. This is Will and the cat Jasper on the inside while I'm on the outside.

Emily usually remembers to turn the lock so that it doesn't lock when you shut the door if she is going outside when Will is inside. However, yesterday Emily was on the phone and in a hurry and forgot. Will's shoes had mud on them that needed to be scraped off before Emily and Will could go get icing for a cake, deliver the cake to Relief Society, help set up the Relief Society dinner that the cake was for, and then go visit her friend Michelle who just got out of the hospital from a tonsillectomy. Emily was outside scraping the shoes when William shut the door and ran off. Emily remembered that she didn't have her keys with her. Thank goodness she was on the phone. She called Her mother-in-law three times without an answer. Then she called her sister-in-law, who also didn't answer. In desperation she called her husband in tears. Matt called his mother and she answered and said she was on her way. In the mean time, Will brought books to

Emily and she read them to him through the front door.
45 minutes later help arrived and Emily was rescued, was late to Relief Society, but enjoyed a great evening at her friend Michelle's house. Emily learned a great lesson.

The moral of the story is don't be on the phone when you really need to be paying attention, and never, NEVER underestimate a two year old.
This is Will reading to me.

Why Group Work Stinks

Today, in my community health class, instead of having a lecture with
notes we did group work. Sometimes I like group projects. When we have
something like a health fair it is nice to have several people.
However, when you break up the info in class to make us do your
teacher job, I just don't learn. For example, today we were put into
groups and given some objectives and we had to find the info and then
present it in class. This is why this stinks:
1. I'm not getting paid to do your job
2. I only learn the things that I looked up
3. The info presented is not exciting and I have a hard time focusing
4. I'm going to have to look it up on my own later because it is going
to be on the test
5. The info comes (often) from
books that we don't have and so I can't look up later what I didn't
understand

If group projects are necessary, please don't use other books that we
don't have access to later for study. Use the super overpriced books
we had to purchase for the class. And please tell us what you are
going to test over.

Can you tell I'm frusterated? This happens often and I don't learn.
Today we were given questions and had to choose the objectives to
cover and then find the info. The problem was several people choose
the same objectives and others were not covered, but we are
responsible for the info. Grrr.

Some Videos of Will I Found

I found some of these old videos of Will I tried to post to blogger a year ago or so. I thought I would try again since I read the tutorial this time. Wish me luck. This first video is Will at age one or so. He is eating a kleenex. Stacie, my sister-in-law, was living with us and it is her cat you see.

The second video is of William's first birthday party. It is his first cake eating experience. Enjoy!

I Hate Politics

I'm not sure if I have blogged about this before, so I'm sorry if this
is a repeat. Before I got married I was a registered voter who was
conservative in my political views. I voted for Bush twice and was for
Bush Sr when we had a mock election in junior high.
I never really paid attention to local politics and didn't usually
vote in the local elections.

Then I got married. I should have paid better attention to the signs
of political knowledge and awareness in Matt, but I was blinded by
love. That's my story and I'm sticking to it. The point is that all I
listen to in the car with Matt is conservative talk radio. I even
enjoy it. I like listening to Rush Limbaugh, Glen Beck, and local guys
Shanin and Parks and Chris Stegall. The problem comes when I get
freaked out because of all the junk that is going on. I used to not
know about how our country was falling apart, but now I know and
knowledge isn't always the best. I worry more about my family, our
finances, and the state of our economy and country. These truly are
the last days and I worry we are not ready. Knowledge is power, but it
also brings fear and worry. Sometimes I wish I didn't know.

NICU

I was at clinicals last week and was assigned to the NICU or neonatal intensive care unit. I don't like ICU so was not real excited about my assignment, but I went because it would be an interesting learning experience (plus, sometimes in Maternity there isn't much to do. At least I would have something to do). For HIPPA reasons, I won't tell you what hospital I was in, what day it was, etc, but I can tell you it was a neat experience. I saw two emergency C-sections. One of them scared me because the baby was not doing well when it came out. It's heart beat was 8 and breathing was 3-4 or so (a baby's heart beat should be 140 and breathing 30-40). I thought the baby was just dead. Thanks to modern medicine and amazing nurses the baby lived. They brought the baby around and got it's heart rate up, but the breathing wasn't great so they had to help it through a c-pap (what Matt used to help him keep breathing due to sleep apnea). It was possibly one of the scariest and most heart breaking things I have ever seen. The baby wasn't moving, was very floppy, and was blue all over. I thank Heavenly Father for modern medicine and the miracles it works every day. I told the nurse later on that they had saved the baby's life. She said that she doesn't really think about it that way, she's just happy when the babies start to breath again. I'm so glad I am studying to be a nurse. What an awsome thing to be able to save peoples lives.

I HATE FLEAS

That is a terrible statement and I am embarrassed to even have to say it. I have fought the desire to blog about the flea infestation in our home until a woman at school and I were talking about it this morning. She has fleas in her house too and is fighting hard to get rid of them. Our cute kitten (who is just a big cat now) came with fleas when we got him. We waited to treat him because we didn't know how old he was and you can't treat a cat under 12 weeks. When I took him to the vet to get fixed and declawed, they treated him because he had fleas. The treatment didn't kill them all, but helped. Then a couple of weeks ago I noticed that he had LOTS of fleas and it grossed me out. I didn't want to snuggle with him because he was nasty. So, I bought over the counter flea ointment for the cat and put it on him. It didn't seem to help but I waited a few days.

Saturday I had enough. I bought flea dip for the cat and flea spray for the house. Oh my goodness, the spray for the house was $8.00 for one can. Being cheap and on a super tight budget I only bought one can (I regret that now). I bathed the cat, stripped all the linen from the beds, sprayed everything down with flea spray (I needed more for a second spray but only had the one can) and washed everything we own. Last night I was sitting on the bed and a flea jumped on me. I just about screamed. I just want to burn my house down and start over, but I don't think that is the best choice. Jasper still has fleas and so does our house. I feel like I have fleas crawling all over me. I actually killed two that were on me today at school. GROSS!

My classmate, Lori, told me that warm soapy water in a bowl will attract them and kill them. Others have just told me that I'm going to have to call an exterminator. Matt thinks we should wait for the freeze, but will that really kill them in the house too? HELP ME. Any ideas would be welcomed.

Cruising With Hospice

Wednesday I went out with a hospice nurse. It was part of my community health clinical rotation. I cruised around with a hospice nurse and army man, let's call him "Bob". We visited a home in downtown KC, where Bob said seeing lots of cops around is good. I was surprised that the home we visited was nice and clean. I know that sounds terrible, but we were in a neighborhood where not everyone took care of their yard and some of the houses looked ready to fall down. The family had a pit bull who loved Bob but growled and barked at me. I have often thought that dogs could smell people who don't really like dogs. I don't hate dogs, they are just not my favorite animal. Anyway, it was an interesting visit. I learned that being a hospice nurse is more about coordinating care than it is about nursing. We helped put a lady into respite care, which is where the patient goes to a nursing home or someplace for a few days so the family taking care of the patient can have a break. It is a great service, but took up most of the day with phone calls and paperwork. It was crazy. However, after cruising around with hospice for 8 hours, it may be something I would like to do someday. That is all.

3 Things

The Rules:List 3 joys, 3 fears, 3 current obsessions/collections, 3 surprising facts and then tag 3 other people. Leave a comment of the people you tag so that they realize that they have been tagged.

3 Joys: 1. The light at the end of the nursing school tunnel. 2. Spending time with my fantastic family, Matt and Will. 3. Putting Will to bed and finding quiet reading time.

3 Fears:1. William getting sick or hurt. 2. Dying young and leaving my family behind to mourn me. 3 . Not graduating or not passing the NCLEX (nursing boards).

3 Current obsessions:1.Stephanie Meyer books. 2. Reading. 3. Blogging and reading other's blogs.

3 meaningless/unknown facts:1. We took William's pacifier away a few days ago and he is doing fine. 2. I want another baby so bad I can hardly wait. 3. I cannot decide what nursing specialty I want to go into. I'm so conflicted and undecided I can't stand it.

I'm not going to tag anyone, but if anyone wants to fill this out anyway, feel free.

Glasses vs. Contacts

I am one of those people who has worn glasses or contacts ever since I can remember. I don't know how old I was when I got glasses but I was eight when I got contacts. I was the coolest chick in school for about a week because I had to go take them out halfway through school for about a week so my eyes could get used to the contacts. I have worn gas permeable (or hard) contacts since I was eight. This is just plain old boring me with my contacts in:

On Tuesday I was taking my first Maternity test of the summer (it was a multiple choice test, not a test on how good of a mother I am or how good a pregnant person I was). In the middle of the test my right contact started bothering me so I took it out, gave it a spit shine (which you should never do - bacteria you know), and replaced it in my eye. However, the replacement move didn't work so well and the contact fell on the floor. Oops. Remember, this is in the middle of a test. So what did I do? After searching my seated person (including down the front of my shirt), I got on my hands and knees and searched for my contact. The crazy thing is my instructor never even noticed I was on all fours on the floor during the test. Way to proctor the test and make sure we aren't cheating. Anyway, I didn't find my contact so I finished the test without it. Then I called Matt, woke him up, and had an argument (which everyone still taking the test heard - oops). He came up with my glasses and flashlights to look some more after the test was over. We didn't find it. The carpet in the classrooms is this weird print that is made to not show dirt, etc. Needless to say, it also doesn't show lost contacts very well. So, I got to wear my glasses:

My first plan was to wear my glasses until I graduated from nursing school in January, got a job, and had money to pay for a new eye exam and new contacts (because we are broke right now). However, after two days of wearing my glasses and a HUGE headache from them, my mom called and asked me what I wanted for my birthday. I told her my sob story and she offered to pay for my eye exam and new contacts. God Bless my mom. She is a lifesaver and a saint. Today, when we got out of 12 hour clinicals after 6 hours (a whole different story) I made an appointment at Wal-Mart and got my eyes checked. Bless the doctor's heart, she gave me a disposable pair of soft contacts in my prescription to last me until they can get my contacts ordered. They are my prescription but do not correct my astigmatism (whatever that is). However, my headache is gone and even though I cannot see as well with the soft contacts as with my gas permeable ones, it's still better than glasses. Apparently my glasses are a bit too strong (thus the headaches). I did learn one interesting fact about my eyesight today. I am a -10 in my right eye and a -8 in my left eye. I have crappy vision, even for a nearsighted person. I'm happy with the soft contacts for now, but am excited that I get my regular contacts in a week or so. I promise to try real hard not to lose a contact for at least a year :)

Les Miserables

So, Les Miserables came to Kansas City. We heard it was coming several months ago and made the decision we were going to go. Matt took time off work so we could go on a Saturday and I bought tickets (the cheap $9 for 11 people). Let me back up. Les Miserables played at Starlight Theater which is an outdoor theater in Kansas City. I love going to Starlight because they have cheap tickets, good musicals, and you get to sit outside under the stars and appreciate what God has blessed us with (stars, bugs, etc).

Our Les Miserables tickets were for Saturday September 13th, 2008 (this past Saturday). When I bought the tickets over a month ago I didn't know Hurricane Ike would be attacking Galvastin and moving our way. We had tornados in the KC area on Friday night, the 12th, and it has rained in KC for the past seven days or so. Our friends Donald and Michelle, along with Donald's mom decided not to go to the show Saturday. Starlight's policy on cancelling a show for rain is that they don't. Unless there is a tornado or something, they don't cancel. They will postpone a show for an hour, and then after the hour, they will think about canceling. Matt and I made sure we each had a raincoat and we bought four $0.99 ponchos and we went to Starlight. It wasn't raining when we got there and it hadn't rained most of the day so I thought we were ok. Boy was I wrong. We handed out all of our ponchos to our family who came but didn't bring rain gear (except umbrellas which are not allowed during the show). It rained lightly during the first act. Intermission was fine (and the funnel cake was great) but during the second act it rained like crazy. They never did delay the show or anything because it was just rain, but many people (including my sister-in-law and her boyfriend) left because it was raining so hard. Matt and I were soaked because the ponchos we were going to use to cover our laps were given out to others. However, it was totally worth it. The show was FANTASTIC. I had seen it once a long time ago in Dallas and it was just as wonderful as I remembered. I even cried, although it has been years since I cried while listening to the music. I would do it again in a heartbeat, rain and all.

Word World

My fabulous husband blogged about Sesame Street and how it's gone down hill since his days (because he's so old). That got me to thinking about the PBS shows William and I watch in the morning. I love this show called Word World. Will likes it too, but I just think it is genius. All of the animals are made from their name. For example, sheep is made from the letters SHEEP. The barn where sheep lives is made out of the letters BARN. Here are some examples since it really is hard to explain:
The show is totally cool. If anyone has small children at home and haven't watched this show, I suggest you check it out. http://pbskids.org/wordworld/index_flash.html.

Oh My Goodness

This is a school blog, so don't say I didn't warn you. Today we had
Community Health class and we spent the entire two hours talking about
all of our clinical rotations and projects we have to do. TWO HOURS!
We have a paper on a community that can be no more than 20 pages. At
first I thought that was a joke, but after talking about it, I'm sure
it will be close to twenty pages, and that is working in a group of
four.

We also have to go to an elementary school wellness/nursing day, a
nursing day at Graceland (we ate presenting things at these), two days
with hospice, one teaching day at a senior center, and one 8 hour
community service project of our choice. I'm so overwhelmed! We also
have papers and assignments IN my three other classes. I love school,
but thank goodness I only have four and a half months left. More than
that and I would just give up!

Midnight Sun

I am very surprised that none of my friends have blogged about Midnight Sun, so I am going to go ahead. First, I would like to say that whoever leaked the manuscript to begin with should be shot! Maybe not killed, but definitely shot. I was not going to read the half a story because I was sooooo upset. Then my friend Suzzanne asked if I had read it and we got to texting about it and I had to start. I LOVED it. Seeing things from Edward's persepective helped bring the whole series together. I understood why he did what he did in New Moon (I still don't like it but I can understand it better). Alice makes me laugh! So does Emmitt. I don't like Rosealie, but then I never did so that isn't any different. Jasper is the only one that I still don't quite understand. Oh well. We can't have everything, right?

I finished Midnight Sun and it was so unsatisfying in it's lenght that I had to read Breaking Dawn again. Oh how I love Breaking Dawn and the whole series. Apparently the Twilight movie has jumped into the November 21st spot vacated by Harry Potter, so we get to see that sooner. I cannot wait for the movie. I am so obsessed with the books it's sad. I really want Stephanie Meyer to finish Midnight Sun because I NEED it. (I'm so needy!) I hope all of you loved it as much as I did and hope she finishes it soon. You can't let one stupid person keep you from doing something you love. Even if she doesn't finish it now, I cannot imagine her never going back to it. It will call to her and she will be compelled to finish it (I hope).

What I Learned In School Today

My current nursing class is Maternity and Woman's Health. Today we
talked about the labor and delivery process. It was very interesting.
We watched a video showing a c-section and a vaginal birth. The baby
that came out vaginally looked fake. The delivery just didn't look
real-it was cool but freaky.

That isn't the thing I learned today that was interesting to me today,
however. Did you know your pelvic bones have a shape that makes
delivery of babies easier or harder? I didn't until today. This new
information led me to think about my own pregnancy and delivery. I had
a C-section and I always assumed that it was decided because my labor
that they were trying to induce wasn't progressing. Now that I have
more information, I'm wondering if I have a funky pelvic bone that
isn't as conducive to vaginal delivery. I wonder if they took a look
at Will's head size ((which is large) and that with my pelvic size
Made them decide: 1- to try and induce labor and 2- to have a C-
section if I didn't progress within a certian amount of time. The
option, after trying to induce labor for 2 days was c-section now or
later.

Another thing I learned today is why women who have c-sections usually
have them with all their kids. I won't go into gory details but it's
dangerous and babies as well as moms can die and it may make mom not
able to have kids ever again. I think I'll stick with the c-section
and let go of my dreams of normal delivery. I don't want to die, lose
the ability to have more kids, and I sure do t want my baby to die.

The Beginning of The End

It is official, Ladies and Gentlemen. Today is the beginning of the end, or at least that is what I am calling it. Today I went to the first day of class in my last semester of nursing school. Well, actually I went to the Matriculation ceremony, where the Juniors are welcomed into Nursing school, and to Senior orientation where I learned about my books being online. I'm way excited about my books being on my computer and online. I can put a search topic in and it will search all my nursing textbooks because they decided to allow us to have ALL our textbooks from my whole nursing career. I think that is great. I am totally pumped about the study advantage this will give me (I'm such a nerd).

Right now, while I am waiting for my books to download, I am blogging rather than studying for tomorrow's Maternity class. What a way to start the semester! Go Me.

Hygiene Kits

This morning at 11:02am (don't you love modern technology that can tell you the exact moment you received a phone call?) I got a phone call from a member of our Relief Society Presidency. She told me that the Kansas City metro was going to have about 1000 refugees from Louisiana beginning this afternoon and they were collecting hygiene kits this week to hand out to those who ran from the hurricane (i'm so out of touch I didn't know they evacuated because of a hurricane). I made a list and decided to go to the store Tuesday and get a few things to add. Then the Bishop announced in church that we were only supposed to get our hygiene kits together but we were not asked at this time to donate anything.

This was news to me. Not the part about not donating our kits, but that we were supposed to have hygiene kits in our 72 hour kit at home ready to go at a moments notice. Obviously we don't have all our ducks in a row, but we are working on it. I knew we should have things like deoderant and toothbrush/toothpaste I just didn't realize there was a hygiene kit we were supposed to have. Sometimes I feel so behind.

Anyway, in RS today we were told that they were collecting hygiene kits and the Bishop had been fed misinformation about collecting the kits. I am going to go Tuesday (because that is when I get money) and get stuff not only to donate but also for us. Then we will have Water, tuna fish, a first aid kit, and a hygeine kit in our incomplete 72 hour kits. I really should get cracking on those, huh?

My Stephen King Affair

I realized it has been at least a week since I have blogged. That got me wondering what actually has caused the lapse. Was it because I didn't have anything to blog about? No, because Will and I have had many adventures over the past few days. Maybe my days have been so full of life before my last semester I have totally forgotten? No because I have commented on my friends blogs and kept up to date on reading them. The answer must be that I have been so obsessed with Stephen King that I have not taken time to do anything else. King has this Dark Tower series that has seven books. I started reading them when I was in college the first time (around 1997 or so) and was totally hooked. I cannot recall when my love affair with Stephen King actually began, but it must have been in late high school because anything creepy used to totally freak me out and I wouldn't watch or read anything like that. Actually, that isn't true. I used to read Christopher Pike when I was a kid, so I guess creepy things were interesting to me. I went through a phase where if I hadn't read or seen it already, and it was creepy, I wouldn't watch or read it. Silly I know, but it's true.

Somehow, in my college years, I got over that fear. It must have been a combination of dorm life and Rhia. Rhia and I went to see The Blair Witch Project together in the movie theaters. Remember that? It gave me a headache but I was freaked out until the end. The end left me cold. Anyway, I digress. So, I became obsessed with these books, The Dark Tower series by Stephen King. The first book, The Gunslinger, was published in 1978 for the first time. However, King had been working on it since his college days. It's an interesting story of how he found these books and characters and wrote them over a span of at least four decades. I borrowed the books from good ole' SFA's library one at a time and devoured them. The first four books had been published by then, and I read them all. I also bought them as I found them at the book store. I am pretty sure I bought the first three books used. I had to wait, with the rest of the world, until 2003 to read the fifth book, but after that, King finished them right in a row and the seventh and final book was published in 2004.

Sorry the story ended up being so long. The point is that I have begun reading these books again and Matt is right, I am obsessed. He has called me an addict at least three times since I started reading the books again. I am halfway through the third book, The Waste Land. If anyone out there is a Stephen King fan and has not read these books, I highly recommend them, but the recommendation comes with a few warnings:
1. These books are addictive
2. There is plenty of bad language, so if you don't like bad language, don't read them
3. There is also lots of blood, guts, and gore (which I really like), so be warned.
4. These books are highly disturbing (as Stephen King can be) and I have had one huge nightmare so far. Oh, and they really arn't for Sunday reading (which probably means I shouldn't read them at all, but let's face it, i'm not that strong)

School starts again Tuesday and then I cannot be quite as obsessed as I would like to be, but we all have our trials, right?

I just found a website for these books. It is http://www.stephenking.com/DarkTower/
Check it out.

Our Omaha Vacation

Since very few of you are interested in a play by play of The Ware Family trip to Omaha, NE that happened over Tuesday and Wednesday of this week, I'll give it to you anyway, but in numbered format to make it easier to skip over.

1. We got up out of bed, got dressed, went to the gas station, and got on the road.

OK, for real now. The condensed, numbered Omaha vacation:
1. Drove to Omaha. Stopped outside of Nebraska City where William entertained himself in some cars at the gas station.
2. Had lunch with Suzzanne and walked around the Old Market for a while.

3. Went to dinner at The Amazing Pizza Machine where we had pizza, played games, and had way too much fun.
4. Wednesday morning. We sat around until 1pm or so and watched TV/ Movies and took naps. It was awsome. Oh, and William Discovered the joy of the guitar. He was playing and singing for us. It was awsome!

5. We went to Target with Suzzanne so she could get her new glasses (which took waaaay too long) and then went to visit our friend Shawn Harwood. She is so pregnant she's going to pop any day. It was great to see her and visit for a bit. Her son was so cute.

6. We were going to have dinner at this place that we had seen on the TV show Diners, Drive-In's, and Dives. It looked fabulous but was closed. Turns out it is only open for breakfast and lunch. We will have to check it out some other time.

7. We ate at a Mexican restaurant in the Old Market and then went to the Gene Lahey (sp?) mall and sat enjoyed the outdoors for a few minutes.

8. After it began to get dark, we decided to go back to Suzzanne's house where she made chocolate mayonnaise cupcakes to celebrate my dad's 65th birthday. See previous post for pictures from that event.

9. Thursday morning were un-tearful farewell's as Suzzanne was going off to work. It was the last time we will see her until she gets back from graduate school in a little over a year. We had a great time in Omaha and will miss our great friend Suzzanne.

Happy 65th Birthday Dad

For those of you who don't know, my dad died on August 17, 2005. A few days ago we...... what do you do when you remember somebody's death day. You don't really celebrate, but I can't think of a better word. You get the point. ANYWHOO, yesterday was my dad's birthday. August 20th. He would have been 65 years old. Matt, Will, and I were in Omaha visiting our friend Suzzanne who is moving to Nottingham, England in four short weeks for a full year to go to grad school. In honor of my dad's birthday, Suzzanne made cupcakes. She made chocolate mayonnaise cupcakes (totally awsome) and orange cream cheese frosting. It was a perfect celebration. Dad's favorite color was orange and one of his favorite people, besides me, was Suzzanne. I miss my dad, but he would have appreciated the celebration!

Family

In our little group of friends we talk about the family we choose rather than the family you are born into. I love the family I was born into

and I love the family I choose.

I even love the family I married into,

but sometimes I just want to leave it all behind and live on a deserted island just me and my husband and my beautiful son for a couple of weeks. Doesn't that sound great?

I love my family, but they sure do drive me crazy. Why can't everyone be exactly the way I want them to be all the time? Why can't I be the way I want to be all the time?