Nothing much going on

Not much going on lately. We're waiting to hear back from Southern but not sure when that's supposed to happen. I have such an full and unanticipated week next week, each day filled with something that I want to do less than the day before. I've got presentations and meetings of all kinds. Luckily, the following is Spring Break but still, I am super stressed about my exit exam that I've heard is more difficult than the NCLEX, plus it makes up a ridiculous 50% of my practicum grade. Ew.

Some semi-better news, I got the practicum placement that I wanted on 8 West, the geriatric and palliative care unit. Since my Mamoo died, I've had such a strong desire to care for older, dying people. Being on 8 West should either validate that or quickly change my mind. Hopefully it will do the former as practicum lasts about 1 1/2 months. I also applied as a new graduate RN at a hospital in Louisville today. I've been checking the website everyday to see if the application had been posted and my wandering mind found it today during the one class I went to.

It's going to be awhile before my mind can be at ease as I won't be able to take the NCLEX probably until June. Then we'll be in the process of moving and adjusting to a new home and job. Happily, we'll be going on a 9-day cruise with my family in July! We're pretty excited, I've never been on one before. Plus, I got a job for the summer and we'll be able to save up a lot since we'll be living with my parents. Overall, mixed feelings about the next 6 months but thankful for a sweet, supporting husband to ease my mind during the process.

It's been awhile since I've had the chance to sit down and write/reflect. I had 2 tests this week--1 on Wednesday for which I studied an entire day and didn't do so hot and the second I had today for which I studied a total of 1 hour and got a 94. What the heck. I have never been able to figure out how to study effectively.

I guess we're due for a recap on life for anyone who reads or cares:

On Superbowl Sunday I called my family last minute and asked if they wanted to come to our miniscule apartment to watch the game. My mom was hesitant at first because of the recent snow storm and she was planning on making chili from scratch, which she knew would be a little difficult in our small kitchen. My dad also forwent his HUGE screen TV and DVR to come and watch our old box TV with a digital converter box. My mom and I made chili and cornbread and set up a buffet of goodness on the coffee table Louie made in high school shop class. It was kind of cute.

We got A LOT of snow our way the past 2 weeks. Louie and I never got to "play" in the snow together as kids because he lived 10 minutes away and our parents worked so we couldn't get to one another. It was special to have our first snowy winter during our first year of marriage. Especially since it seems like less snow graces Louisville and we'll be there for at least 3 years. A few classes got cancelled so it was kind of fun. I secretly like when everyone's normal routine gets disrupted beyond anyone's control. On the other hand, it's been difficult to sit down and concentrate (hence the poor test grade on Wednesday--ugh).

Louie finally sent his application in to Southern. Now they just have to receive 2 more of the recommendations, the church affirmation form from Mt. Vernon and transcripts that we sent for a few days ago. I'm REALLY looking forward to going to Southern. The apartment will be cute, the people will be so sweet, the community will be Christ-filled and we'll get to settle down for longer than a year, and family is there so it won't feel like we're forever away from anyone. And, we're one step closer to starting a family! As of now, we're deciding it'll be okay financially to start trying for a baby once I've worked for a year but if it happens earlier than that, God will provide sufficiently for what he has given. If I had to be perfectly honest, I'd love it to be sooner than later!

I'm still trying to figure out what to do this summer in terms of work. I can't work as a registered nurse since we'll only be in Richmond until sometime in August and it takes longer than that for new grad orientation in a lot of places. My second option would be to work as a Patient Care Technician like I did 2 summers ago but the hospital where I worked then won't hire me as a PCT if I've passed my boards (which I intend to take and hopefully pass this summer). I'm guessing it's some legal thing. So, now I'm going to try and contact other hospitals in the Richmond area to see if they'll hire me as a PCT because I really want to keep up with patient care so I don't get out of practice before I work as a nurse. If none of this works out I've also asked St. Mary's where I was a PCT previously to let me help out in Nursing Administration where I worked 3 summers ago. In all of this, even if I do get a job I don't know when I'll work because at some point I'll need to study for the NCLEX, go as a chaperone to summer camp with Louie and the youth, go on a cruise (!) with my family in July, and interview for jobs in Louisville. STRESSFUL!!!!

Today, Louie gave me a sweet card and a big bar of Hershey's Dark Chocolate for Valentine's Day. He's so sweet. There really isn't anything else that I want (or that we can afford). This post is too long....

Weird

Today was just...weird--but in a good way! Louie woke up at like 4:20 this morning and I was planning to get up around 5:45 because I have a clinical that's about a 40 minute drive west. I was surprisingly wide awake and we just talked and laughed in bed in the wee hours of the morning. Cedric decided he wanted to participate in the fun and jumped on the bed with this tiny opossum filled with catnip that he absolutely cannot get enough of. He likes us to throw it so he can go retrieve and bring it back to us as a "gift". While I was getting ready Louie made us pancakes! Yummy!

I was in clinical from 7:45-3 and I made it home only to realize that it's supposed to snow possibly up to 28 inches this weekend and all we have to eat are the reject food items that we've had for months (ie. instant oats, peanut butter, pasta noodles). Herein is the dilemma. As probably mentioned before, parking is sucky on our street, especially with snow mounds left over to take up half of the spots. Louie was not into leaving and I wasn't so excited about it but I'm a food lover and if I don't have yummy food to be excited about, it's going to be a miserable weekend for me. Not to mention, we probably won't be able to get our cars out for awhile to go get groceries.

SOOOO...we thought about taking the bus so we wouldn't lose our spot but we didn't want to haul who knows how many bags around on the bus. Thus, I talked Louie into going to the grocery store, and wow, the lines wrapped around half the store! It didn't take as long as expected but a lot of the good stuff was out of stock. The best part of this story? As I was turning on our street my blood pressure rose because I just did NOT want to take our bags in and then park elsewhere only to walk all the way back. Half way down our street--what is that? OUR SPOT still available, still with outline of snow left from our car being parked there. When this happens (although when it doesn't he still obviously loves us), I have to thank God for His undeserved mercies because he could very well just have had us walk. I wanted to give him such a big high five!!!

Now for the most exciting part of the day--TV and relaxation. A new Office episode is on tonight!!

It's the easy things in life...

Today, like every Tuesday this semester, I didn't have class. I fully intended to work on a study guide for a test I have next Monday but I was way too distracted by getting laundry done, going to lunch with friend, folding the laundry, organizing important papers/documents, organizing Louie's dresser, the snow and making an actual dinner that consists of more than soup. We also took a walk at about 10pm tonight to breathe in some fresh air.....and get sleeted on.

In the past few days I have realized that quite a few things make my life easier/awesome:

First and foremost, the boy getting loved on by my best friend Melanie and myself about 7 years ago (aka my husband), did all of our laundry today! By himself. In the back alley. While I was at lunch with a friend. I can't begin to describe how wonderful it was to come home from lunch and have it done. Albeit I had to fold it all but I was happy to do it. In doing so I realized that I have had enough of Louie's clothes being squeezed into the drawers due to messiness that has accumulated over time. The fourth drawer of his 5-drawer dresser has all sorts of important papers, his teaching license, bank statements, paid bills, etc that have piled up. I decided to relocate them and give Louie another drawer for his abundance of t-shirts. With that done, I feel like a new woman.

The aforementioned friend (and first year roommate!) and I had lunch at Take-It-Away, my absolute favorite place to eat at the Corner. My usual is turkey on french bread with provolone cheese, bean sprouts and "house dressing" which is a secret concoction of what I believe to be mayonnaise, whole grain mustard and some other stuff I can't identify. IT'S AWESOME. The Sour Cream and Onion kettle chips aren't too shabby either. We had a really good time telling each other hilarious stories that have happened since we last talked, which happens to be about a year ago. We vowed not to let that happen again. (Side note: I promise we're friends in this picture but we look kind of awkward because the picture was taken while we were ice skating).

When I'm not eating Take-It-Away sandwiches I'm begging Louie to let us go to Arch's, a frozen yogurt place also on the Corner. In case you really want to know what I get here too, I'll go ahead and fill you in. It's called Magic Berry and it consists of vanilla frozen yogurt, strawberries, cookie dough and chocolate magic shell blended to make sort of a DQ Blizzard kind of thing. I'm obsessed. I've never gotten anything different. I guess I kind of don't branch out much when it comes to my restaurant food choices.

Hershey Minis also make it on my life is good list. We originally bought them as prizes for the youth at Sunday night Bible study and we keep them in the car. That worked until yesterday when I just had to have chocolate and well, I brought them into our apartment. DUN dun dun. I've had too many of the dark chocolates and Mr. Goodbars...All in all, while most of my addictions may be poor health decisions at least they're legal and yummy.

The last thing on my list but definitely a contender in the number 1 thing that makes my life easiest/awesome is Wal-Mart brand Redi Wipes. Cheap, anti-bacterial and at hand. I can wipe down a whole kitchen with these things! And I don't feel bad about using a few too many because Wal-Mart, as previously mentioned in another post, practically gives them to me. I don't know why, but our apartment gets way yuckier than I ever remember my childhood home getting.