Oh motrin how I love thee.
I could start off this far beyond due blog entry talking about my latest battle with The-Tonsil-Who-Will-Not-Be-Named. Who has teamed up with The Cold to lay me low for the last two weeks and is now going into round three aka "Antibiotics!" I could, but I'm sick of whining about it.
I love Christmas. I've been pinning Christmas crafts and recipes and gift ideas since August , just counting down the days until I could officially get into the full swing of things. And now that Thanksgiving is just around the corner I've made the leap. Now I know normal people leave the fall type decor up until after Thanksgiving but since this year I will be working Thanksgiving and then leaving the next day for NY I figure I'm allowed to go a little nutso.
So I've starting ordering gifts and organizing lists of things to do over the next few weeks in order to get everything done in time. Mostly I'm just letting myself over to the joy of the season since joy has been hard to come by over the last few years. This year it seems as if half the people I know are welcoming little loves into their homes (or are at least warming up to do so shortly!) and I know I've had babies on the mind but I try to remind myself to appreciate what I have and enjoy quality time with the family I do have. Jim and I will have another happy year with our fluffy babies and maybe this time next year we'll be looking at cradles and nurseries.
Tuesday, November 20, 2012
Sunday, March 18, 2012
Contentment
This was a gorgeous weekend. I'm feeling quite proud of what Jim and I accomplished. Yesterday I went shopping with Beth and managed to score $256 worth of clothes for $40 bucks because of coupons and a leftover giftcard from Christmas. Then we headed over to RandE's for dinner and some down time with the munchkin. She's a cutie, I'm excited for when I get done with orientation because I'm helping out with munchkin sitting during the week.
I wrapped up my first week of orientation on Friday. While it was a long week of computer training, policies and procedures and several classes I'd already taken as a PCT it was also incredibly satisfying to swap out my PCT badge for an RN badge and strut the halls in my navy scrubs. I'm very excited about my first day on the floor tomorrow with my preceptor. CC is a fabulous nurse that I've worked with several times before and I'm honored to have her as my teacher for the next six weeks. After that I switch off day shift to the evening shift for six more weeks with a new preceptor and then hopefully I'll be comfortable enough to go free.
I wrapped up my first week of orientation on Friday. While it was a long week of computer training, policies and procedures and several classes I'd already taken as a PCT it was also incredibly satisfying to swap out my PCT badge for an RN badge and strut the halls in my navy scrubs. I'm very excited about my first day on the floor tomorrow with my preceptor. CC is a fabulous nurse that I've worked with several times before and I'm honored to have her as my teacher for the next six weeks. After that I switch off day shift to the evening shift for six more weeks with a new preceptor and then hopefully I'll be comfortable enough to go free.
Monday, March 12, 2012
Goals: big and small
I've been thinking about the plans I had for my life. I get swept up in thinking of the things I should have accomplished by now and forget about all the things I have been successful at. So this is a post that's a bit self serving. An ode to myself, a little reminding of where I've been, what I've done and where I want to go.
What I've Done
Things On My Current To Do List
What I've Done
- Got my bachelors degree, complete with honors in Anthropology
- Survived nursing school
- Passed Nclex and officially became a Registered Nurse
- Married the man of my dreams
- Moved to a new state and got our own first apartment
- Got a job as an RN!
- Rescued a gorgeous dog
- Succeed as an RN
- Travel outside the United States
- Buy a house
- Start a family
- Buy my grandparents property (or at least assure it stays in the family forever)
- Sell my artwork
- Be healthy!
Things On My Current To Do List
- sand/prime and repaint my goodwill sideboard, my old storage chest and possibly the old dressers
- Finish diy-ing a pseudo kitchen countertop / portable island and put in upper cabinet for more storage
- Put together wedding centerpieces
Hang king size sheet as wall curtain to conceal odd offset window- put together concept board for living room and fix it
- figure out dining room / aquarium / elliptical room (oy)
First day of work!
First day of work as an RN tomorrow. I'm thrilled and nervous all at once.
Although somehow the thing I'm most worried about is traffic... oh I-95 be gentle.
Although somehow the thing I'm most worried about is traffic... oh I-95 be gentle.
Wednesday, February 22, 2012
Saving our cents and maybe making some new ones!
I hate getting to the point of reorganizing the house where I have to wait for Jim to get home because I cant drag furniture all over the house by myself. Well, I can, but my landlord frowns on me scratching up the hardwoods and chipping paint off all the door frames. Poop.
On the plus side our closets are cleaned out, the office is almost ready for our new full sized sleeper sofa, the turtles have a nice new heat lamp and the elliptical is assembled. Yay!
We've been wanting to get some kind of guest bed situation in the office since we moved in but it was never a urgent enough thing to warrant actually jumping and buying something. It's still not urgent but we finally bit the bullet and got a sleeper sofa. We've been debating for months about a sleeper vs. a futon vs. a day bed with a pop up trundle vs a plain ole twin size mattress. The problem is we want the room to have a dual purpose as a craft room/den/office and a guest room (is that like a quad purpose room?) and it's just not that giant a room. So we eventually ruled out the trundle and twin because they are just beds in the room and cant really be used as anything else when we don't have company. (Plus a twin is too small if we have a couple visit and a trundle + pop up turns into a king sized monstrosity in an already cramped room.)
So all of that narrowed it down to a futon or a sleeper. The problem with both of those being size. We have a niche in the den that is 74" wide or so with the trim and baseboard heater, most sleeper sofa's and futons that we had found being wider than that (think 82 to 92".) So it just doesn't work. We finally came to realize we needed a full size which would give us something under 70" wide and still be enough room for a visiting couple to sleep on.
That finally being decided I noticed a flyer on the counter for Pilgrim City Furniture's big President's day sale... And due to the fact that we are preferred customers (we bought our couch and loveseat there two years ago and LOVE THEM!) we were eligible for an extra $50 off the 50% off sale! So Jim and I scooted off to the store for a quick gander at their digs and managed to find one piece that peeked our fancy.
It was a light mocha colored microfiber full size sleeper. We were shocked at how comfortable it was since most sleeper's we've sat on tend to feel like... well... a sleeper sofa... hard, lumpy and unforgiving. But this one blew them all out of the water. It was marked $689 down from $1,378 and after talking with our friendly neighborhood sales man we found out that this particular sofa was recently discontinued from this particular store's line which means we would have to order direct from the manufacturer and wait 30 days. Of course, my head heard discontinued and went *bing* discounts! So we nudged el salesman to find out if we could just take that trusty old floor model off their hands at a further discount from the already reduced 50% off. Turns out it's always worth asking! We got an extra 10% off bring it down to $551 plus the $50 off coupon means we got a $1,378 sleeper for $501!! That's saving $877!!
So, that being all said I have to shuffle around a bit of furniture to make room for our new and wonderously discounted sleeper sofa. Anyone care to come for a visit we now have somewhere for you to sleep besides the couch!
In other good news, my boss emailed me this week to let me know that she got a position approved and wants me to come in this Friday to meet with the RN recruiter then herself to fill out paperwork. She has to post the position for a week since I'm not technically an internal candidate anymore (per diem's don't count apparently) which means I can officially apply to it next Friday, but considering she told me she wants me to start on the March 13th orientation class I'm pretty dang sure I'm in! So yay!
On the plus side our closets are cleaned out, the office is almost ready for our new full sized sleeper sofa, the turtles have a nice new heat lamp and the elliptical is assembled. Yay!
We've been wanting to get some kind of guest bed situation in the office since we moved in but it was never a urgent enough thing to warrant actually jumping and buying something. It's still not urgent but we finally bit the bullet and got a sleeper sofa. We've been debating for months about a sleeper vs. a futon vs. a day bed with a pop up trundle vs a plain ole twin size mattress. The problem is we want the room to have a dual purpose as a craft room/den/office and a guest room (is that like a quad purpose room?) and it's just not that giant a room. So we eventually ruled out the trundle and twin because they are just beds in the room and cant really be used as anything else when we don't have company. (Plus a twin is too small if we have a couple visit and a trundle + pop up turns into a king sized monstrosity in an already cramped room.)
So all of that narrowed it down to a futon or a sleeper. The problem with both of those being size. We have a niche in the den that is 74" wide or so with the trim and baseboard heater, most sleeper sofa's and futons that we had found being wider than that (think 82 to 92".) So it just doesn't work. We finally came to realize we needed a full size which would give us something under 70" wide and still be enough room for a visiting couple to sleep on.
That finally being decided I noticed a flyer on the counter for Pilgrim City Furniture's big President's day sale... And due to the fact that we are preferred customers (we bought our couch and loveseat there two years ago and LOVE THEM!) we were eligible for an extra $50 off the 50% off sale! So Jim and I scooted off to the store for a quick gander at their digs and managed to find one piece that peeked our fancy.
It was a light mocha colored microfiber full size sleeper. We were shocked at how comfortable it was since most sleeper's we've sat on tend to feel like... well... a sleeper sofa... hard, lumpy and unforgiving. But this one blew them all out of the water. It was marked $689 down from $1,378 and after talking with our friendly neighborhood sales man we found out that this particular sofa was recently discontinued from this particular store's line which means we would have to order direct from the manufacturer and wait 30 days. Of course, my head heard discontinued and went *bing* discounts! So we nudged el salesman to find out if we could just take that trusty old floor model off their hands at a further discount from the already reduced 50% off. Turns out it's always worth asking! We got an extra 10% off bring it down to $551 plus the $50 off coupon means we got a $1,378 sleeper for $501!! That's saving $877!!
So, that being all said I have to shuffle around a bit of furniture to make room for our new and wonderously discounted sleeper sofa. Anyone care to come for a visit we now have somewhere for you to sleep besides the couch!
In other good news, my boss emailed me this week to let me know that she got a position approved and wants me to come in this Friday to meet with the RN recruiter then herself to fill out paperwork. She has to post the position for a week since I'm not technically an internal candidate anymore (per diem's don't count apparently) which means I can officially apply to it next Friday, but considering she told me she wants me to start on the March 13th orientation class I'm pretty dang sure I'm in! So yay!
Wednesday, January 18, 2012
Life in general
My NCLEX is one week from today (that's my nursing state boards for you non-nursing people out there.) Which means that my fingernails are in ruins, my personal hygiene has gone out the window (hello sweat pants!), I've become a nocturnal hermit with a nursing book latched to my hand and my anxiety level is steadily climbing. But it's almost over :)
Nothing is official at work yet, which adds to the stress, but I'm trying not to think about it too much since it's been the boss lady coming to me about a job these last few months so I don't think that's gonna change any time soon. I just have to believe I made it this far and things will work out in the end.
Married life has been fantastic. Granted, being finished with school and on a study-cation has meant that Jim and I have spent more quality time together in the last month than we managed over the last year. But it's been good, I'm relishing sleeping in and crafting and trying to enjoy the tranquility since I know once this test is out of the way I am back in the working world. Jim and I have been keeping around the house and staying low key due to finances but it's been nice spending time with our kitties and big fluffy puppy.
Friends recently had a beautiful little baby girl so whenever I'm in need of relaxing baby time I've got an open invite to come snuggle. They certainly don't seem to mind having "nurse laurel" so excited to help out. I've been on the baby train pretty hard for the past six months or so (btw, congrat's Meg on impending mommyhood!) but know it's not the right time for us so I'll just relish spending time with my friends cute kiddos for now. Hopefully in the next year or so things will change but I am trying to relax and not push things. With turning 27 around the corner I'm hoping to start things off right.
Nothing is official at work yet, which adds to the stress, but I'm trying not to think about it too much since it's been the boss lady coming to me about a job these last few months so I don't think that's gonna change any time soon. I just have to believe I made it this far and things will work out in the end.
Married life has been fantastic. Granted, being finished with school and on a study-cation has meant that Jim and I have spent more quality time together in the last month than we managed over the last year. But it's been good, I'm relishing sleeping in and crafting and trying to enjoy the tranquility since I know once this test is out of the way I am back in the working world. Jim and I have been keeping around the house and staying low key due to finances but it's been nice spending time with our kitties and big fluffy puppy.
Friends recently had a beautiful little baby girl so whenever I'm in need of relaxing baby time I've got an open invite to come snuggle. They certainly don't seem to mind having "nurse laurel" so excited to help out. I've been on the baby train pretty hard for the past six months or so (btw, congrat's Meg on impending mommyhood!) but know it's not the right time for us so I'll just relish spending time with my friends cute kiddos for now. Hopefully in the next year or so things will change but I am trying to relax and not push things. With turning 27 around the corner I'm hoping to start things off right.
Tuesday, January 3, 2012
Christmas
The second Christmas without him was easier.
I didn't keep expecting him to come down the hallway wearing his Grinch teeshirt, I didn't try to look over at him so we could share a quick eye roll at someones bad joke, or share a quick laugh at Mom for being scatterbrained about something silly. It wasn't weird that he wasn't sitting in his chair with tea or orange soda, with the house smelling of cigars.
We bagged up the wrapping paper without him telling us to. Mom stocked the stove and walked the dog and carved the roast. The family talked and laughed and ate and no one mentioned him.
The second Christmas was easier.
But I miss him every day.
I didn't keep expecting him to come down the hallway wearing his Grinch teeshirt, I didn't try to look over at him so we could share a quick eye roll at someones bad joke, or share a quick laugh at Mom for being scatterbrained about something silly. It wasn't weird that he wasn't sitting in his chair with tea or orange soda, with the house smelling of cigars.
We bagged up the wrapping paper without him telling us to. Mom stocked the stove and walked the dog and carved the roast. The family talked and laughed and ate and no one mentioned him.
The second Christmas was easier.
But I miss him every day.
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