My tail's draggin'...

What a week! Monday I was supposed to be in lecture (we were polishing our EKG skills this time around) but the hospital that has hired me for their internship in Labor and Delivery wanted me there to do an orentation. So I arranged to attend my EKG lectures with the evening class at the nursing school and toddled off to my orientation.

It was rather boring as orientations go - security, benefits, information technology, cultural diversity, etc. The differences were really cool, though! This lasted two days (Monday and Tuesday) and each day began with prayer. At one point the hospital chaplain came in and spoke to us about the mission of the hospital and the fact that we needed to embrace that mission - the mission? "To extend the healing ministry of Jesus Christ". At the end of the second day we all trooped down the the beautiful chapel and he led a mini service of commissioning to all the new hired employees. I am not personally Catholic, but it was REALLY cool! His prayers were genuine and heartfelt and I was amazed at the presence of the Lord in that place! At the end of the service he got a small crystal bowl filled with pins of the hospital logo - blessed them and then gave one to each of us with a personal word of blessing - again, not what I am accustomed to in my Nazarene church, but a really neat thing nonetheless!

During this orientation I was given a work schedule and informed that I needed to attend a computer training session for the week. So I finished basic orientation on Tuesday evening and then had to be at the hospital at 7 AM on Wednesday for orientation on the floor! I put in 12 hours yesterday doing that and I came home totally whipped! This morning was my computer training until noon and then I have to do another 12 hours in on floor on Saturday - after that I will work each Wednesday and Saturday from 7PM until 7AM. I am hoping to get some study time in in the middle of the night when all my patients are asleep. Maybe that is a dream, but I can hope, huh?

Tomorrow is my "day off" and I have clinicals for school! I will be in the Endoscopy unit again. I need to finish a care plan for my patient from ICU, but can't seem to dredge up the energy for some reason! Have I mentioned lately that I am SO ready to graduate??

Hope you have a wonderful weekend - I am still hoping to find time soon for a trip to find bluebonnets...

...and Spring Break ends!

We decided it would be fun to take the kids to SeaWorld. Great idea...BAD day to do it! It was apparently the last day of spring break for every person in the entire United States and many foreign countries! I spent much of my day in a line! It took over two hours to get food for lunch and we had to wait over an hour to get into the stadium to see Shamu and then RUN to get seats! Don't you think with all their sophisticated equipment for ticketing etc they would get to some point where they would just say "So sorry, we are at capacity for the day" but I guess the price of a ticket is more important!

Melissa and I mostly waited holding seats for shows - I have discovered that the rides were much more fun about 20 years ago - or at least my memories of them (what few I went on at that time) were more fun. Now it just seems like a great way to get whiplash - and a sore throat! I have never enjoyed heights - now I just HATE them! Anyway, it was a real blast to watch Melissa - she was so enthralled to see the dolphins, the beluga whales and the killer whales. The Viva show is done with acrobats and the dolphins, belugas and synchronized swimmers. Melissa sat there with the biggest smile on her face. When the synchronized swimmers starting doing their thing she was just awestruck - "Look, ballerinas in the water, Mommy!!" And she can't stop talking about "Shampoo" - (Shamu) All the waiting in line did pay off and we had excellent seats for the show featuring Shamu and she had a really good view. I had more fun watching her face than the whales!

Needless to say we were quite shattered when we got home around midnight. The children did seem to enjoy themselves. It was only a few dollars extra to get season passes so we did that - that means we get to go back - but you better believe I'm gonna do my best to NOT go on such a busy day!

I got the official call on Wednesday to come sign my contract for the internship so it is all official now! I am so thankful to have it all signed and set up. So many in my class are still looking or waiting - I love knowing where I will be and am so thrilled with what lies ahead in Labor and Delivery.

My sister Karla has a really interesting blog (you can click on it over to the right there (called "Roads to Everywhere") and she had posted a really funny memory of when we girls were much younger. It had a neat ending this week - the memory has to do with a singing trio called "The White Sisters" (go read it - it is really fun!) anyway one of the sisters contacted Karla this week - how cool is that? This group remains my all-time favorite close-harmony group and it was just a true delight to hear that they are still around (they were popular with us in the 60's and 70's).

Well, I better get the remaining two kids to bed. Andrew and Brendan have special premission to stay up to watch "The Sound of Music" but it is very nearly over so I need to start herding. Have a wonderful Easter and remember HE IS RISEN!!

Spring Break Begins

So now it's Spring Break for the children! I am researching hotels etc. for the end of the week for San Antonio and Seaworld. I think the kids will enjoy that and hopefully the weather will be good.

We had a class meeting today to elect people to put our pinning ceremony together - and I was elected! I think it will be fun - maybe? At least if I have some input I can't complain if there is something I don't like, huh? The pinning is a week before our cap and gown ceremony for graduation. It is in a church and involves a "lamp procession" with the Florence Nightingale pledge - and of course the pinning. We ordered our pins today. Last week my honor ropes and stole arrived from Phi Theta Kappa so it is really starting to feel like graduation is near!

Last night I realized that I had a term paper due this morning - and I hadn't even started! I was VERY thankful at that moment for the internet and a connection into our school library and the nursing periodicals I needed. I got it done and turned in on time - the girl that carpools with me was just amazed that I could get it done. She said she struggled with hers for weeks! I asked her if she was a reader. She said she was not. I told her that was the reason - that started me thinking about growning up with a very big love of books and reading in general. When all else failed there was always an outdated encyclopedia in the bathroom to peruse! I think this has given me a really big advantage in school because I do find it relatively easy to write papers and essays. So a gi-huge-ic thank you to my Mother and Daddy for instilling in me a love of reading!

It has been a bit disjointed around here the last few days. Andrew left on Friday night for a ropes course retreat with the teens of the church. Brendan and Jamison had a sleepover at our church with the children's department - they made salvation bracelets and then went to a housing development to pass them out and play with the children there - they are training them for missions early! So last night we only had Melissa here at home with us - that felt really wierd! Missa enjoyed her Daddy's undivided attention thoroughly while Mommy worked frantically on her paper!

I am excited to be planning to go on a Work and Witness trip to Hattan, Sri Lanka in August with a team from our church. This is the first trip I am aware of from our church that has had a medical team going, and I am going to get to go as an RN! I attended a meeting yesterday but only found out that we won't know much about the medical team or what we will be doing for a few more weeks. I am still excited!

Interview today...

I got the call yesterday... Could I come in and talk with the director of Labor and Delivery? Of course I could! So this morning I went to my top-choice hospital and interviewed with three different people in the L&D department. I told Randy "I have never been high enough on the totem pole to get interviewed by multiple people before!" It seems like every job he has ever had he does mulitple interviews and now that he is director of something-or-other, he is part of that process. But never having a license or degree before, I have always just been interviewed by the person over whatever job I was in, and that was it!

Okay, have I strung you out long enough? I GOT the INTERNSHIP!!! I am so excited! The director also said I should plan to go ahead with any vacation plans I already had made - this means I still get to go on the medical missions trip to Sri Lanka in August - and we hope to take the kids to DisneyWorld this summer! I just love the department. She took me on a tour and it has the latest and greatest in equipment. The best part is that it is a Christian hospital! I literally had to sign a contract that states that the mission is to "extend the healing ministry of Jesus Christ" and I would do everything in my power to further this mission. I just love the wonderful way the Lord has put pieces in place to put me in such a great fit!

Melissa is doing well enough to drive me crazy now. She is feeling much better and getting into everything! She told me a bit ago that she needed to do a "collage" -and asked me what I wanted in my collage! Her vocabulary just blows me away!

The cutest thing: on Sunday Jamison earned a Ty Beanie Baby from Sunday School. He came home with it and promptly ripped the little heart-shaped tag off - I don't think he every subscribed to the whole "great investment" rumor on the things! ;-P Anyway, Missa found the tag on the coffee table and Randy caught her with it stuffed up under her shirt. He asked her what she was doing and she told him "It's a heart, Daddy! And see...(opening it up) you can open it up and JESUS is inside! Here, you can try it!" You just have to wonder what goes on in those little minds, huh?

Tomorrow we have tickets to the world-famous "Houston Livestock Show and Rodeo"! I have gone a time or two in the past, and it is always interesting. I am going with two girlfriends from church. I think it will be fun - I guess we will see. Anybody know anything about Toby Keith? That is supposed to be the entertainer for the night. I'll check back in and let you know what it was like. For now... have a great night!

Missa's Braids

Ta Da!

Gotta love that smile!

I have always loved messing with hair! When I was still in high school, I begged Mother to let me cut my brothers' hair - and finally got to! In college I was a cheap haircut for a lot of the guys - they never were interested in me other than for my scissors - but that's another story entirely!

When I was in fifth or sixth grade I taught myself to french braid my own hair. Mother always did it before then but don't you know four heads of long hair kept her busy? So I learned to do my own. I did eventually learn to french braid on others too and over the years I have gotten to do the "first braid" on many a little girl. Mainly because I would spot them with hair that was "long enough" and beg the Mommy to let me try! So over time I have held many a squirmy little girl in my lap and succeeded in scraping shiny little locks into braids. Sometimes with better results than others!

As an aside here, I wonder how many of you have heard moms say "I can't DO my daughter's hair - she won't let me!"? This drives me nuts - I really want to say "Which one of you is the parent?"! No, Melissa doesn't always enjoy me doing her hair and she does fuss sometimes, but I simply do not give her a choice! (And she really is pretty good about it most of them time - she is pretty accustomed to it I guess) I waited too long for a little girl to take her out of the house looking like a ragamuffin! I figure if "people of color" can braid little girl's hair in dozens of braids, the least I can do is a pony tail or two!

Well, this weekend I realized it was time for Missy to have her "first braids"!! Armed with a Disney Princess DVD, spray detangler, a comb, and a lot of patience (can we say chocolate?) we set out to do the braids! Yesterday they were a mite crooked and since she wasn't feeling great, I didn't redo them. But this morning, we did it right! I liked putting the rubber bands higher up close to her head so the ends would curl.

The butterfly's are part of my little girls accessory line I have been doing - I have them in pink, yellow, orange, lime green, purple and aqua. They acutually look better on two "puppy dog tails", but this one matched and I put it in. Let me know what you think!

Another "Sick Sunday"

A Pair of Beaded sock just for fun! A Mommy Bracelet of "right angle weave" with Swarovski crystals and pearls"

Pinky Puppy Bracelet

Santa Girl Bracelet

I know, I know!! Can you stand it? TWO posts from me in less than two days?? What HAS gotten into me?

Weeeeeelllll, Melissa kept me up most of the night with her seal-bark cough and I am exhausted! Randy was going to stay home with her today since I stayed home with Jamison last week, but I think by the time I finished giving medical instructions to him, he was a mite intimidated! So here we are! She is begging to "go make faiwies" which involves plopping her 42-lb self on my aching lap and going to http://www.disneyfairies.com/ to play! She loves this activity - you can choose hairstyles, clothes, etc in all sorts of colors and styles for your fairy then print her off in a multitude of fun stuff: stationary, cards etc. The problem? She can spend literally hours doing it!

So the cabin fever continues... I should study, but I am rather burned out on it and since this coming week is my spring break, I keep telling myself that I am due a break. What I really need to do is clean house, but what fun is that?? Oh okay, it IS pretty cool having everything pretty and spotless.

I have recently started a new chore schedule for me and the children. I have enjoyed watching all the Dugger family movies on TLC - and am so impressed with how well organized their home is for having so many people living there. While I am not quite ready to convert a bedroom into a community closet, I did feel like I could try a few of their ideas. So we had a family meeting (I used the HATE these when I was a kid - it was always fine, but I guess I was always afraid I was the one in trouble!) and discussed the need for better organization and cleanliness in our home. Everyone was on board with the idea so I made up a chart with three "jursidictions" (a Dugger term) for each child. Andrew is responsible for the 1st floor living room, the formal dining room, and the guest bathroom; Brendan keeps the dishwasher unloaded, keeps up with the game room on the 2nd floor and keeps his bedroom up; Jamison is responsible for the boys bathroom, the bedroom he shares with Andrew, and keeping the kitchen table cleaned off; Missa does her own bedroom, the hall, and helps Mommy. My jobs include my bedroom, the kitchen, and meals (and everything else). Randy does the lawns, the cars, and the garage. This pretty much covers the house. So far it is really working well - Randy takes everyone who has done their jursidictions to the library on the weekends - they all work hard for that one. We also have other surprises in place for when they complete their chores.

I have tried lots of other chore stuff in the past, but with so many of us and the kids at so many different stages, it just got too complicated and we would give up. This is very simple. I have a chart on the fridge with each child's three jursidictions listed by their name and shaded in that child's favorite color for easy reference. We are slowly working through the house deep cleaning each room one at a time. Once a room is cleaned thoroughly, the child assigned to that room is expected to keep it clean.

Okay, that is way more than you wanted to know - as you can tell, I am lonely and bored today! If you have stuck with me this far, bless you!

I am going to add some photos of some of the bracelets I have made for all who are interested. Let me know what you think!

Saturday, March 8

What a week! Jamison woke up croupy last Saturday and was home from school all week. The doctor thought he had pneumonia so we were doing nebulizer treatments every four hours. By Friday he was doing enough better to be bored with home and Mommy - and quite frankly, I am getting cabin fever! But he finally sounds much better so it's back to school for him for one week (the week after is Spring Break!).

So we spent this morning at the church doing registration for our Upward basketball program. This has been an incredible outreach for our church and Randy and I have been involved since we started the program several seasons ago. Randy is one of the co-directors for the basketball program and last fall we started a cheer program to go along with the basketball - and guess who is director of that?? You got it! I just can't say no! Since I have to do so many community service hours for my degree, I can kill two birds with one stone.

When we got up this morning Melissa informed me that she was "not feeling well"! I am afraid our three-year-old is a bit of a hypochondriac! I usually respond by asking her where she hurts and normally she can't really answer me! This morning she couldn't really answer me but she asked if she could have a "bweaving tweatment". She has seen Jamison getting his all week and is just fascinated! I told her she didn't really need one and we set off for the church. We got home around 2:30 and I laid down with Melissa for a nap - and guess what? Yep! Melissa just woke up from her nap sounding like a freight train hauling up a steep mountain! The good news? Next week is my spring break. The bad news? I have cabin fever!!

I got a phone call yesterday from the hospital where I hope to do my internship in Labor and Delivery and the Newborn Nursery. They would like to hire me for a position as a tech/unit secretary on nights "as needed". This is exciting because it will only be for the time between now and graduation (EIGHT weeks!) and it puts my internship application to the top of the pile! Randy and I actually think nights will work well for us right now because I can sleep while the kids are at school and be here when they get home for homework etc.

I have been making hairbows, hats, beaded socks and such like in my spare time. I know, WHAT spare time? I must confess that the housework often gets put off in favor of crafty things these days! I have to spend so much time studying and doing school work that the crafty stuff is a great stress relief for me. I have been making bows shaped like the Disney princesses. I found the designs on ebay and bought the patterns - when I started making them I wasn't really that crazy about the face that the designer had so I covered a small button with the same ribbon as the skin color and used that instead. They are really cute! I will try to post a photo of the pattern - you can imagine a small button instead of the ribbon loop they use as the face.

My friend Sandie and I have been selling beaded socks - she teaches at a private school and the parents are snatching them up like crazy. I don't know a total count of how many we have made, but I would estimate around 90 or 100. We are thinking we may just keep building our inventory and try to do a craft show this fall. I don't know if we will, but for now it is fun and keeping me sane!

I need to go sort out some supper for the troops...