I hate being allergic

In case the three people who read my blog didn't know, I have
allergies. My allergies are year round allergies to most things
growing outside, most things inside, and most animals. I have been
meaning to see an allergist my doctor reccomended for at least 4
months. Now that we have a cat, I am miserable and the OTC allergy
medicine isn't cutting it. I called Friday and made an appointment.
I'm looking forward to feeling better, however, I have to be off
medication for seven days! I can take bennadryl until 48 hours before
the appointment, which means I cannot have ANY medication at all after
Tuesday at 11am. OH MY GOODNESS, I am going to DIE. I didn't sleep
well last night because I had a hard time breathing. I cannot imagine
how I am going to survive until my appointment Thursday at 3pm. Please
come to my funeral if I die. It would make Matt happy. Actually, my
death may make Matt happy. His five year plan is for me to die and he
get remarried. I keep threatening to live, but my allergies may do me
in yet. Keep your fingers crossed.

School

I pay huge amounts of money to Graceland University. I am getting a great education. The staff are very knowledegable, I enjoy my classmates, and I enjoy my clinical experiences. BUT, both last week and today our school has been whored out. For the past two weeks Childrens Mercy has rented out space in our school so that we have had to be shunted to a different classroom. We pay way too much money to be kicked out of our classrooms, especially during test time. This morning when I showed up for my test I couldn't even find a place in the parking lot to put my sexy yellow car. I had to park across the street. It was not a far walk at all, but it is the principle of the thing. I should be able to park in my own school parking lot and the Children's Mercy nurses should have to park across the street or other places. Anyway, it just makes me annoyed that we have to be displaced for someone else. I graduate in a few short months, and then it will all be over. I'm sure I can last until then.

Holy Hades

I moved from Houston, TX to Kansas City, MO to get away from the
horrible humidity. I spent almost 12 years of my life in the heat of
Fort Worth, TX. I am used to 100 degrees in the shade, its the
humidity I hate. When I moved here I didnt realize that the Midwest
would have such humidity. It was 97 degrees today with awful humidity.
Why bother to take a shower when as soon as you walk outside you will
be drenched with sweat? As soon as possible I am taking my little
family and moving somewhere without humidity. That is all.

BLS

BLS is a cross between a BLT and BS. Not really, but it sounds good.
For those of you not in a healthcare field BLS is CPR. Its actually
Basic Life Support for health care providers. The difference between
BLS and CPR is that one is for people in the health care industy and
one is not, and they teach us to give rescue breaths and check for a
pulse. Regular CPR just teaches chest compressions and the heimlich.

Anyway, to be in nursing you must have your BLS renewed every two
years. Graceland offered a class the Thursday before summer classes
begain and I signed up. One of the major drawbacks of not working
right now is that I had to pay for my BLS class but the hospital
offers it for free to employees. Anyway, the point is I forgot to go
the Thursday before class started. Instead, I went tonight and had
class in the lobby of Midwest Urology. I was almost an hour early, but
that is my own fault. It was two hours long, which was really good,
plus I remembered how to do it from my last class, so I was confident.
We didn't even have to take the written test because he said we looked
tired and it was 8pm. The best part of the night was when I whacked
the infant dummies head on the chair in front of me. The second best
part was the making out with the plastic head and torso. That is all.

Things I Had Never Done Before

Last night, July 5, I went to my friend Dave's sisters house. They had
a fourth of July celebration a day late. They live out in the country
and have few neighbors, so they bought lots of fireworks. I grew up
and have always lived in the city and have never shot off fireworks.
We always went to a city display and never bought our own. I had a
blast last night. There were little fireworks, medium ones, and huge
box ones that sent ten or twenty in some kind of order from one fuse.
We were out there for at least three hours with fireworks, and I never
got bored. Will wasn't so sure and played in the car mostly, but maybe
he will have more fun next year.

I also shot the gun that Brian, Dave's brother, is holding in the
picture. Brian is in the Navy Reserves and is home because he was shot
in the head by a mistly plastic bullet during a training exercise. He
brought his guns home and he and Howie, his brother in law, and his
wife shot guns while we were playing with fireworks. I stopped blowing
things up long enough to miss the target several times with this gun.
It was awsome! If I play my cards right, maybe I will be invited next
year too, and can blow stuff up and shoot guns again. All in all I had
an awsome redneck fifth of July.

The Rain Thwarts Family Plans

Matt and I have talked about going to the drive in for at least a
month now. My friend, Dave, Will, Dave's grandma, and I went to see
Indiana Jones and Iron Man last month and we had fun. It doesn't start
until 9:10pm, but you get two movies for $8, and Will was free. Plus,
Will and the movie theater don't mix well. So Matt talked me into
going to the drive in tonight, even though I have four hours of
pediatrics class tomorrow at 8am.

Tonight about 7pm, after I spent three hours studying, the whole
family went to sit on the porch and watch the rain. The weather people
kept saying it was going to blow over, so at 8pm Matt and I ran to the
car with Will because it was pouring down rain. We actually pulled off
the road because the rain was so heavy we couldn't see. We waited for
a few minutes and then continued on our journey.

We got on the highway in the right hand lane. It was still raining but
had let up considerably. I was checking my email on my phone when Matt
said "crap" or something related. I looked up as Matt slammed on the
breaks and saw the huge to of a tree in our lane. That really scared
me and I urged Matt to go home. We pushed on however, and soon reached
the drive in, which was lit and said open. Since the box office didn't
open until 8:30 and we were a bit early, we drove to Wendy's for their
new frosty shakes. By the time we went through the drive through and
went back to the movie, the drive in was closed. We don't know if they
lost power or just gave up, but after all that, we didn't get to go to
the drive in. We rented Jumper from the local McDonalds Red Box and
went home. Oh well, at least it was an adventure.

Today I ....

Today I realized that most of my blogs are about Will, school, or
Jasper, the new kitten. This blog is about two of those things. I say
that so if you want to quit reading now, you can.

This morning, I had my first pediatric nursing class. I felt dumb,
through my own fault and no one else. I asked clarification on the
sylabus a couple of times and i was the only person to ask any
questions. I just felt dumb, but my questions were valid.

Today I took William to the park. I felt cooped up and needed to get
out of the house. As a busy parent, it is easy to stay inside and let
Will play while I do homework or housework. It is sometimes difficult
to remember that kids need to get outside, run, and play. Will had a
great time at the park. I tried to remember that as a toddler, he
needed some independence. I tried to let him play and only intervene
when he pushed or hit (which was more often than I want to admit).

The park where we were also has a water area with fountains to run
through. About 8pm I trotted Will up the hill to the water park. All
the bigger fountains had turned off and the big kids had come to the
slides, so Will and I went to check it out. Our previous attemptsat
getting Will to run in the fountains was not a success. I was
concerned that he wouldn't like it and needed to check it out because
my friend Dave invited Will and I to go to a water park with he and
his niece and nephews. I wasn't going to pay for a water park if Will
didn't enjoy the free park. He had a fantastic time. He ran in and out
of the water, stepped on the water spout, and giggled the whole time.
The above picture is Will running into the water. So cute.