What's new...

Breakfast before we left Florida

I thought I would do a post to let you know what was new in my life.  For starters, I went down to Florida in July with my sister, her two children and my mom to see my brother, Kris and his family.  I haven't seen him since I was in high school and we've never met his wife or his three children.  We had a wonderful time. 

Giordano's, where we first met Kris and his family

I am also going back to school this fall to finish my BSN - Bachelor's in Nursing.  I am taking Intermediate Algebra class and a basic computer class.  I had forgotten how expensive college can be.  The algebra class I am taking as a review because I haven't taken algebra since I was in high school...and that was a long time ago.  I have to take Statistics for my degree and it relies heavily on algebra.

I am a little bit excited to be going to school again and a little anxious at the same time.  I go to see my councilor on Monday to see what classes I need to take to finish.  I know that I was only three or four classes away before and I hope that it is still the same.

I am enjoying work.  I like working at the hospital that I currently work at.  It is refreshing to actually work and get a steady paycheck.  I looked at my taxes for this year, however, and wasn't too happy.  They are outrageous!  Hopefully, I won't have to pay too much and will get some back.

My colleague, Kilah and I put in to go to a seminar in Las Vegas in October.  It would be so awesome if they sent us to that.  We are anxiously waiting an answer.  My boss was the one who suggested it to me.  He has been to this seminar before and says that they are really good.  That helped Kilah's boss in making the decision to let her go.

Otherwise, I am going to a seminar in September that is put on by a local hospital.  It is on Cardiovascular Care.  That is one thing that I like about nursing - you have endless opportunities at continuing education since it is required to renew your license.  As far as I know, there is only one required subject for Michigan and that is pain.  You have to have one credit in pain.  Other states have different required ones.

So many things have frustrated me lately.  Number one is my house.  I am tired of it.  I am tired of doing renovations and things.  It is tiring and endless.  It seems that I will never get to the point where I will get to do the things that I enjoy with it.  Now, we need a new septic system.  I knew this was coming, but never had the $6000 to get it done.  I need to get it done because even if I were to sell this house, I would have to replace it because our current system would never pass inspection.

There are other things that frustrate me, but I won't go into them on this blog.

I've been reading a lot on the internet about your identity and how important it is to keep it personal.  I have been trying to follow some of the recommendations I've read and hence, I am thinking of making this blog private.  I will let people know before I do.

Me, Ilana and Jamie

The picture on the left was taken in our rental house in Florida with my mom's camera when she left it out.  You can kinda see my braces in it.

My braces have been going well, I guess.  I get put into the SureSmile system in late September.  They said they would do that when my treatment was half over.  If that is the case, I am ahead of schedule.  It has only been four months since I got them on.  I've noticed a drastic improvement in my teeth.

Well, I guess that it all for now.  I will try not to make it so long between my posts.  Sometimes I just don't know what to post.

Here is a photo of a calendar that we have at work that I liked.

Will the rain ever end?

Okay, it has been raining, raining, raining...and we haven't been able to start anything in the yard yet because everything is flooding. (The rain has been good for my fruit trees, however, and the blossoms are pretty!) My mom wants to 'till the garden a couple of times, but hasn't gotten the opportunity yet because of the constant rain. Our yard is a soft, wet yard, anyway. We have gotten all kinds of things stuck in the yard...trucks, backhoes, etc. One thing that is going for us is at least it is not snowing! I had to laugh because my sister Jennifer said "April flowers bring May showers" because we are wondering when it will be over! The forecast isn't looking so good!

I have worn my pedometer at work this past week or so and the average that I walk in a night is 8 miles when we are busy (which is like 95% of the time) and 3 miles when we are not. Both of them are not too bad. No wonder my feet hurt when I get home!

I must say a thank-you to Busi, a fellow nurse who works on nights with me. I had an interesting experience last night (Wednesday) where a pain medication rolled off the counter and into the trash in the med-room. (It was in a tube.) Busi helped me find it in the trash can. Luckily, they had recently emptied it. Now that's teamwork!!

Physical Therapy is going well and I have noticed some increase in strength in my back. Kudos to Courtney and Lyn for helping me.

This week I start my chemotherapy class so I can be certified to give it. I am kinda excited and nervous at the same time. It's something new, but there are a lot of good people on the floor who can help me out. I was going to sign up for a statistics class this term, but I just cannot afford it right now. I have to work on getting my house ready for winter. (I know it's crazy to already be thinking about winter, but it takes so long to remodel!)

Tomorrow, we are off to Wal*Mart again because mom needs to buy new wipers for her truck that she got at the slasher sale. She really hasn't been able to drive it because the wipers have no rubber and it has been raining ever since. She got a 1991 Ford F-150 that runs really good.