She's alive.......

Just computer-less as dust flies in my house with some wall redoing. and the library at school is closed for cleaning over break. But I'm still here!

Workin woman!

So I started my new job as a nurse at a nursing home Thursday. What a whirlwind. I've managed to not kill or harm anyone over the last four nights, so I consider it a raging success. =)

Busy busy busy......................

New weather sticker for my dear friend Polo in Kuwait before he goes to Iraq. Stay safe.

Brrr fricken brrr

So the boys and I are at my parents house and decide to go for a walk. Which consists of them taking the John Deer Jeep, and a bike. Which leaves me and potentially one other walking. Before we even got out of the driveway I had to go get another layer on under my sweatshirt. So we make it about 1/3 of a mile when I realize the batteries are dying on the jeep and we need to turn around. About 10 feet later the battery was done. So, that leaves me on the bike (which is a ten speed I got in grade school. There is a way to raise the seat I am sure...) and the two pushing Iden down the road. What a site I am sure. We got a wave and a few smiles of laughter as cars passed. I am still freezing. I need to move to a warmer climate. LOL

Yeah, that hurt.

So it was IV start day today. Blah. I made sure to drink as much coffee and as little water as possible just for the fun of it. ;)

But to no avail. I still had to do it. So I left the room for another swig of coffee during partnering up hoping to be odd man out, no luck as there was an even number of us there. Foiled again.

So my partner and I watched the first round. We had practiced on dummy arms and I was successful there, so I hoped that would continue. I decided when our turn came, I'd poke first. And wonder of all wonders I got in on the first try! Sure I tried for a vein up high for my first try, but it worked. So then it was my partners turn. I realized this as I was washing up after my success and my joy was quickly squashed. So on the bed I want. My partners first mistake was sitting next to the instructor who had sufficiently rubbed my nerves the wrong way already. She was very hands on and not letting us just do it. When I did mine, I was on the opposite side of the bed. Not my partner. So, off she goes, looking for veins. Of course, trying to be the hero, starts low, on the back of my hand, and picks a nice round rolling vein. Things continued down hill from there. I had one girl holding my other hand helping me breathe. It really was that bad. I think I have sufficiently explained my distaste for needles in posts pasts. This is why. I had to get stuck again. Uhg. This time was much better and successful at that. But crap oh dear. I don't think I'd volunteer for that again. LOL No bruises which is nice. But its still sore. Both of them. :whine winge moan:

As for me, still pretty pissy these days.

Dark....

To match my mood these days. There are times when I laugh, and I will focus on that. Thank you my friend.

I can't believe I paid for that

So, I got a couple of scholarships this year that require me to maintain full time status at school. The nursing program is 1 credit short of that. A lot of times students will pick up a PE credit. Problem is they are scheduled and my schedule for nursing does not really allow for much else. So they have added Jazzercise for a credit. I figure, why the heck not. Yesterday was my first day and I literally had sweat dripping down my face. Gross. I can hardly walk today. Yes, it was a good work out,and yes I will go again, but seriously, why must I excercise? I truely don't enjoy it. The closest I ever came to enjoying it was running on the treadmill at the Valley YMCA in Spokane. It overlooks the pool area and there were TV's all around. They were on Fox news and there was a car chase in LA going on. I ran along for the whole darned thing and didnt' bat an eye! Ah well. The things we do for longevity eh?

I have updated my weather sticker to reflect Honolulu where my mother has just landed about an hour and a half ago, and my father is scheduled to land in another hour and a half. Easier time difference to remember, but I want to be fully jealous of their weather.

Bit by bit.....

My house is getting cleaner. As I sit here. ;) This is surely the life I tell ya. And its not even my mom doing the cleaning!!! Yes people, robots have moved into my house, and I can say that I am pleased as punch, because even as Fly Lady says, even cleaning done incorrectly still blesses your family. So when my Roomba decided it was tired of vacuuming and went back to bed, and only had done about 3/4 of my living room, I was fine. Considering the filter was full, as was its dust bin, I'd say it did good. Even went under the entertainment center and behind the couch. All without me having to move a thing. Sure I had to pick up toys and bigger garbage, but heck, I'd have to do that before I vacuumed anyways right? So Scooba got to clean the bathroom first. After I watched it for a few minutes and saw that all of the dogs black hair was getting blown away rather than picked up, I decided that roomba could go ahead and vacuum the kitchen after it charged before scooba got in there. So, in the last 2.5 hours, my bathroom has been mopped, my living room nearly vacuumed, the kitchen vacuumed, and now is being mopped. The living room will be finished up here as soon as roomba is recharged. And I haven't hardly had to do a thing! Sweeeeeeet.

Another test passed!

Two tests down, a gazillion to go. Each quarter we have to take a calculations test to make sure we can still safely pass drugs since doctors don't usually write, give two aspirin and call in the morning. There is lots involved, and I'll spare ya. So that was Monday at 8 and I passed that.

Then today was our lab skills check off. You choose between 5 possible scenarios of all things learned last year and have to perform it and answer various questions for the instructor. I passed that as well! I have to go back in a few minutes to start learning about IV therapies. Theory today, and then in 2 weeks I get to start learning how to insert IV's. Wee! The down side is we practice on each other. :-/ :faintthud: If you know me at all, you know I don't like needles. Crud, I went through natural childbirth away from a hospital to avoid the stupid things. Well, there was more to it than that, point is, I don't like needles. Now I get to be a pin cushion for a class mate. Oye. Hopefully I come out of it alive. ;)

Wee!!!

Chickens are really starting to lay eggs now. Its funny, I have different sizes and different browns in my carton now. I found two in that tall grass under my kitchen window this morning. ONe was still warm. I think it was one of the hatched here at home babies. Or both, they are smaller than even Benny's, and two slightly different colors. Then the adopted chicken is laying nice big dark brown eggs. Then day before yesterday I sent Iden out to get them cause I needed them for dinner, and he brought in two, and then said there was a jiggly one that he threw out. I went out and looked and of course the chickens were devouring it. I think it was just a shell-less egg. So perhaps its just another chicken starting to lay. It looked like it was a fairly large one. But exciting! The boys have been painting on the back of the coop, and hopefully we'll get it moved into place in the next day or two and finish it up. It froze night before last, so I really need to get it done.

And I've ordered a couple of cleaning fairies. They should be here on October 3rd. So perhaps I will have a nice clean house by the 5th after they properly orient themselves???

Cleaning Fairies!!!

Favorite addiction

Its mindless, but its really quite fun!!! I have decided to start posting some of the cooler hits that I receive on my bills. I don't have a minute to do it right now, but go check out the site!!


Where's George

I'm a nurse!

I passed!! Woohoo!!!!!!! Thanks for all the prayers and support! Too bad I'm not done...... LOL

Test day!

Has come and gone. I should find out my results in the morning. They make you wait 48 hours. Uhg. The test itself was only about 1 hour long and I finished in 85 questions. It could have gone over 200 if they weren't sure I knew....or weren't sure I didnt' know my stuff. I am hoping I knew it. ;)

Couple o' pics.....

(I started this post last week.......its taken this long to remember to come back to it and finish uploading pics)

My mom made some quilts for her great neices and nephews and took pics of the boys infront of them (all sporting their new hair cuts)

Its quite comical getting a good pic of three and these are some of the cutest.





They are loveable goof balls.

And then our trip to Silver Mountain and Silverwood.

This is in Ritzville, made nearly entirely of horseshoes and chains. Iden wanted nothing to do with the idea of it all, so he stayed in the truck.







Our first stop was Silver Mountain in Kellog ID. It has an indoor water park that comes with your hotel room. It was great fun, although Iden was limited by what he was allowed....strangley enough not until about 4 hours after we'd been there though. Odd and inconsistent. But who cares, he had fun in the mean time. Two tube slides and one raft slide, and a huge play area for the kids with lots of water coming out all over. A flow rider , which Kainen is so "been there done that" with ours in town. And a great lazy river that was fun and fast moving. (pardon the old tatoos and missing teeth on various children. I asked them not to put anymore on....)

If I decide to hang out with youtube, I'll post some videos later.

The next day we were off to SilverWood Theme park and rain. Lots of rain. Because I was borrowing my moms camera, and there was rain, I kept the camera in mostly. Lets just say I was in denim capris, and was wet from the very beginning. We got in the park just after 11:30, and had dinner in the truck in the parking lot about 8. I was wet the whole time. Ah well, kids had fun right?

The first part is on the train, it was covered. LOL We passed by buffalo, teepees, and a cute show. I'll spare ya most of it. LOL You can see how cold it was after the train ride. Again, Iden was not interested in the photo op. The last pics are on the way outta the park. Boys had a blast on the roller coasters, and I think I still may have whiplash. LOL

And lastly, first day of school. Again, the silliness of getting even one good picture of three boys is lost on us all, so I tried to get a few.....melt them together in your head to get an idea of how cute they can be. ;) Kainen is in 3rd, Jantzen in 1st,and Iden is doing preschool.

'bout time!

So I finally got my ATT and I go in Tuesday the 9th! It will take at least 2 days after that to get my unoffical results, so I will post the news. So far I've heard everyone is passing. Phew!

My mom is in Oz so thats why I have the weather sticker up. So I can see what kinda nice summer she's coming into as we are forced out rather quickly.

Argh. Still waiting.

So I called to the center to find out why its been 4 weeks since I sent off my request to test and no authorization. They said they are still waiting for info from the state, which that application I sent off 6 weeks ago. So I call the state, and they had just finished my background check the day before, and said I should get my ATT by next week. Sure, I'll believe it when I see it.

AOII Alumnae Weekend

We had a blast in Lake Chelan and I can't wait to do it all over again next year!!!!! One of the fun highlights was running into Jake Harris of Deadliest Catch fame. Ryan and I are die-hard fans, so it was a treat!!! He's a very polite guy and happy to oblige my picture request. =)

Obviously not studying.....

If I have time to play on the blog. Boys head back to school next week. I think we are going to try for a day at Silverwood Theme park before then. I don't go back for another month after that. And I am STILL waiting for my authorization to test. Uhg. As far as I know, there was just one that received hers and took the test and passed. Beyond that, the rest of us wait.....

One more year done!!

Today was my last day of summer quarter, and thus, the last day of my first year of nursing school!!!

We took a predictor test to tell us the likelyhood of passing our PN boards and I got a 99% chance of passing! So unless something goes insanley askew in the next few weeks, I will be a nurse! Wee!!!!!!!!!!! I am so relieved to be done with the first year. Uhg. Now to hit the streets and find a job. Well, not the streets, but you know what I mean. ;)

2 more days!!

Ahh......only two more class days until I am done for the summer!!!! Its been such a long freeking year. Uhg. But I am done with clinicals for the summer, have one more (busy day) lecture after a test, and then Tuesday is our LPN predictor test, which tells us the likely hood of passing the LPN exam. Wee!!!!!

Kids are running around like idiots with their heads cut off, so I must dash away.......

p.s.

My rooster (Joon-since no one has ventured the correct guess, get it? Benny and Joon) has been attacking my mother now for the last few weeks. He's never said boo to me since he moved in over here. But when I got home on Friday, that evening as I was milling about the yard feeding and watering them all, he attacked me. Stinker. I yelled, hooted, and hollered and stomped my feet at that bugger. He came after me again as soon as I turned my back. A swift kick, and a warning that he wouldn't make it through the night if he did it again, and he stopped. I haven't let him out of the chicken yard since. LOL Somehow, I doubt that his little pea brain can take it all in though.....

Busy Much?

Oye. Where to start?

I have 21 chickens. Yes, thats right. I am not entirely sure what happened. I just kept coming home with them. :innocent: I have many different breeds, and finding out, that I have more cockerels than I bought. Which means I will have to bite the bullet and stock my freezer with fresh chicken soon. Boohoo. But....such is the life of a chicken mama right? Here are pictures of some of them. There are seven more that came after this batch. LOL Lets see if this slideshow works.......

As for school...thats going along nicely as well. We finished off spring quarter, and sailed right into summer the next week. I had clinicals two weeks ago in Wenatchee at the hospital. My first day was in the OR. I got to see some pretty cool stuff. The first surgery was the neatest....a nephrectomy and prostatectomy. And several other urology surgeries......on men......I shall spare you the details and let your imagine take you there. LOL The next two days, I ended up getting to hand out with that first surgery patient.

Then this last week I spent 4 days at Eastern STate Hospital. One of only two mental health hospitals in the state. Oye. Did you know that when someone pleads guilty by insanity, this is the place they go? Yeah.....some definate freaky stuff that I saw there, and lets just say, you don't always know where and when mental health issues will hit. One minute one of the patients will be sweet and kind, then the next yelling that she hates students and to get away. And its amazing to talk to some of them and they some as normal as anyone else. Sad. And there is such limited funding as well. At one point, this hospital had well over 2000 patients.....today its just over 300 and they are close to closing another ward because of money issues. Very sad. Ah well, I survived, and managed to not turn into a patient myself. The next 4 weeks will be here in town at the hospital for 3 days a week. I hear you really start to feel like a nurse after that. Which is good....considering that I can take a test and be one in about 6 weeks. Eek!

Tata for now......

Tag.....

This is my first time doing this....... LOL

Five things on my To-Do List:
1.Drink More Coffee
2. Eat my breakfast hubby is making. (its mothers day)
3. Go to Walmart to buy my mom a couple plants.......again, its mothers day
4. Go play outside in my garden
5. um......drink more coffee??

Five Favorite Snacks
1. Coffee (is there a trend here?)
2. Fondue-the white cheese kind.......with sour dough bread
3. Cadburry Cream Eggs
4. Salami
5. Iced Coffee


Five things I would do if I were a Billionaire:
1. Give back to all those who've given to us over our life time, and pay it forward. cheesy perhaps, but its the royal truth.
2. Build a huge house for us to live in
3. Hire a house keeper to clean that huge house
4. Finance a birth center for me to run
5. Fill my garage that I built with my house with corvettes. ;)

Five Bad Habits:
1. The computer
2. Ignoring the kids (see #1)
3. Demanding TV time
4. Drinking and driving (see my favorite snacks list........)
5. Yelling at my kids instead of intervening earlier.....

Five Places I have lived:
I'll list mine in order.....and then back and forth a few times inbetween.... LOL
1. Moses Lake, WA
2. Bakersfield, CA
3. Cheney, WA
4. Spokane, WA
5. Tustin, CA

Five Jobs I've had:
1. Home Interior Store assistant/cashier in Jr. High....couldn't do much, so I got to make a quilt using outdated fabric samples.....LOL
2. Doctors office assistant, front and back
3. Grocery Clerk
4. NAC
5. Pageant Helper . At Disneyland!!!

I want to know more about: ( This means you are tagged)In alphabetical order
1. Crystal
2. Kristina
3. Laska
4. does anyone else even read here? not that I know of......aside from Shannon who posted this....
5. YOU!

Whats new?

Just school school and more school. LOL

Iden killed one of the babies, so now I am back at four.....even though I bought five and hatched out 4. But the rest are getting big and are a hoot to watch. Moms are doing good too. Everyone is getting feathers in and trying out their wings.

Lets see.......oh yeah, have you heard about the measles outbreak in Grant County? Well, now I get to keep my kids home till the 20th-21st. Dates still up in the air. Uhg. So I've taken the next two weeks off of work so that R can work longer and on weekends to make up for the days I have clinicals or class. Oye. Nice. Ah well.

Beyond that, its finally warming up and I am planning on heading to the backyard to fry myself for a bit before its time to get Kainen. =)

Another one.....

bites the dust.

Kainen came in with tears this morning that one of the baby chickies was dead. Uhg. It was one of the Golden Sex Links. She better not be picking them off one by one. Either that or I need to coop the rooster up separately. Blah.

Meet yer mama cheep cheep!

Well, its been a busy week for me with clincals this week. It was a peds week, so on Tuesday I was at a developmental preschool, and then Wednesday at a pediatricians office.

Chickies were due to the feed store on Wednesday morning.....you can see my dilema.....school....chickies. So, I compromised. Took an hour lunch and got chickies at the store and home to meet mama. Here are the pics I took of that. There were 3 Auracaunas (but the receipt said Australorp, so not sure.....) and 2 Golden Sex Linked (meaning you can tell if they are a boy or a girl at birth by their color, these are all girls).







Mama wasn't sure what to think , and the babies sure as heck didn't know what to do, so they sat there and cheeped. She walzted away with her 4 babies clucking, but the new 5 were clueless. So I grabbed them all and shoved them into the coop and shut the door and hoped for the best. I quicky realized the new babies still didn't know what to do, so I opened it up and shoved them all under mama hen. Everyone seemed to stay put. So closed the door, gave some water to the rooster (no one has guessed his name yet....don't forget, mama is Benny) and went back to the clinic.

That night when I got home, I let everyone out and she seemed a bit more attending to the new ones. The golden sex links blended in well, but the black ones weren't. So, back in the coop, under mama they all went, and the roo went too.

The next morning everyone came out and she started pecking at the black ones. So I took them away from her. I was ticked. This was not in my plans. So here are the babies in their new home...in my bathroom.



Then I took everyone out for pics, and sat them next to golf balls for size comparison. LOL

Here is one of the Banty Buff Orps from Benny



Here is one of the Golden Sex Links from the feed store. They are a tad bigger than the others, with a few darker streaks here and there. A couple days older too based on their wing feathers.



And the black one



And then for some scratching time, I took the three orphans to a dirt patch with rolly pollys. It was quite cute and funny. One would grab it, run off and get chased by the other one. I could tell at this point one of the babies wasn't well.....



Shelbie was more than interested, and there were some slobbers on the babies afterwards..LOL





I took them in and fed them some worms from my vermicompost bin. THAT was hillarious. One would grab it, the other would run to it, grab it and a tug of war ensued. Never mind there were two others wriggling away. LOL

Later that night we moved them to the garage because we can't keep girl outta the bathroom and I didn't want her to get them. I realized one wasn't going to make it. I shed a few tears for sure. I felt really bad. It was gone the next morning. =( I had school that day, so off I went.

CAme home to an empty box. I was torked. Someone left the garage door open and the cats got the other two. Argh.

but now, there are three more at my moms house being fostered by her. LOL She got the last four at the feed store, one died on the way home. She's built them a box for outside trips and everything. I wonder if they'll ever come here? LOL

The other 6 out there are growing in wing feathers and so cute. They are scratching around and just a hoot to watch. Highly entertaining for me. =) My mom took her camera home so no new pics. But I'll get some in the next few days.

Two days old!

Mama took the babies out and about today. Gads they are cute. I really need to get a golf ball to compare their size. LOL

Eating oatmeal out of an oyster can. What better way than to jump right on top?





Daddy doesn't seem to mind them scurrying under him for a warm up. But I just missed the shot.



I dug up some dirt with roly polys and worms for them to scratch through.







ahh......they are so cute!! HOpefully if all works out I will be adding a few more in tomorrow after clinicals!

Here they are!

Proud mama daring me to look.....



All dry and fuzzy!



Iden helping me model .......







They keep trying to peck at her eyes....they are attracted to shiny objects, its too cute and I could watch for hours!!!

4 cheeps!!!!!!

All the babies hatched and they are CUTE and fuzzy!! I got some cute pics to put up later on. I'm bushed from a long weekend and have homework for tomorrow.

Hmm...still one cheep

But man oh man, dry , fuzzy, and cheeps when I peek. Adorable. Probably a roo with my luck. LOL

There is one egg pipped, a bit more than what it was last night....when I peeked again. ;) Since they weren't technically due until later today, I'm not too worried. But I was dissapointed for sure. I'll head to the feed store when I am done with my long day with Miss Moses Lake stuff and grab a few more to add to the nest. =) I'll post pictures then too.

Cheep cheep cheep!!!!!!

Okay, one cheep........weeee!!!!!!! Its all wet and cheepin away. I couldn't resist one last peek before heading to bed. OMG, I am so excited. Its sooo cute and looks just like mamma! Well, the same color anyway. A darker than yellow....perhaps Buff?? As in Buff Orpington? http://www.cacklehatchery.com/bufforpingtonbantam.html I am so stinking excited. I fully expect to see 4 babies in the morning. I didn't stay long enough to fully inspect what the other eggs were doing. I figured I was invading enough. But its my first hatch dang it and I couldn't help it!!!

Gardening!

So, after braving lifting Benny off her eggs, to satifsy my urge to see if there was anything going on, (there wasn't) I decided to hit the garden since it was an absolutely beautiful day. I got my onion sets planted (6 squares!!) and several kinds/squares of lettuce, a couple kinds/squares of carrots, likewise for spinach, several squares of peas, beets......whatelse.......but nearly the entire box!!!

And squares you ask?? I made a square foot garden last year http://www.squarefootgardening.com/ . While I did enjoy many things out of it, summer laziness won out in the end. LOL But I didn't get nearly this early of a start either. So we'll see where it goes. Oh, I forgot, a few squares of cabbage, broccoli and cauliflower as well.

I have seeds sprouting in the kitchen for the other bed in several weeks. our last frost free date isn't until Memorial Day in the area.....and in my little pocket, the first week of June. oye. I bet my seedlings will be dead of neglegt (I've tried fifty ways of spelling that, and they all look wrong.....) by then.

But hey, at least I'll have 8 week old chicks by then!!! ROFL

The anticipation is killing me.....

Argh. I can't seem to stop watching the coop for four little heads to p0ke out. LOL

Grrr....

So, my chick plans are falling through......

Got a call from the feed store that the ones I ordered to arrive this weekend won't be here till next month. Cancel that one.

Then my neighbors daughter called about the hens they were to be bringing me and the gal they are getting them from doesn't have any extras. Uhg.

At least I still have 4 about to hatch. The other feed store has some of the Easter Egg chickens I really want, so I'll get some after these chicks hatch out. And maybe a couple more. ;)

I've been bit!!

By the chick bug that is.....in preparation for the great hatch of '08 this weekend, I've ordered 6 foster babies for Benny to arrive within the same time frame.....if I've calculated correctly that is. She will have 6 breeds of chicks to raise by Monday. LOL I am so excited. Now to plant a pasture area for them on the side of the house. I can't wait!!! They are gonna be spoiled for sure.

Links to egg cams

So you can gain some excitement for next weekend. ;) Since I have no webcam under my chicken. LOL

http://farmcam.hobby-site.com/

http://lancaster.unl.edu/4h/Embryology/eggcamera.shtml

1 week to chickies!!

Candled the eggs again last night and you can definately tell there is something growing in there. The boys were less than interested, considering daddy had just brought them home a new game for the PS2. But I thought it was cool. Could even see them moving a bit.

Beyond that, its a nice day outside. I want to get out and enclose the other chicken coop. My former neighbor should be bringing me 3 hens next weekend or sometime. I just want it ready. Need to get some straw for their coop and nesting box as well.

Let it begin!!

So Monday started the (some say) 18 week marathon to LPN-hood. We have no break between the end of spring quarter and beginning of summer quarter. So in like........17 weeks, or 4 months, I will be far enough in my schooling to be a nurse! Oye. Odd. LOL

We had two tests on Monday, both of which I passed, and then started clinicals again on Tuesday and Wednesday. This time at the hospital here in town for me. Upside is the fact that I can leave 15 minutes before having to be there, as opposed to like 45 minutes before. When your start time is 0630, this is a very good thing. LOL The down side it, there was no orientation for some of us there. So I felt completely lost on Tuesday, but feel I more than made up for it on Wednesday. We all kept our instructor running since we can't do diddly squat without her there watching us. LOL

Today is running around gearing up for the Japan trip fundraisers for Miss Moses Lake. Blah. Not how I wanted to spend my day off, but I'll take one for the team. Tomorrow it is back to class! All stinking day. 9-4. But its pediatrics, so it should be fun. Lab on Monday, we get to bring one child with us for observing developmental levels. I think Jantzen will be my best candidate for that.

And my chickcountdown is nearing single digits!!!! Weee!!!!!! I'll candle them on Saturday night to see how they are growing. =)

Toodles!

What the sam he(( is that????

My little pixie is all white.......for a reason. Uhg. She coulda warned me there would be snow all over the place today. I just got my pond all cleaned out and pretty (minus plants of course). Had to sink my heater back in there today and everything.

Speaking of my pond, all 4 big fishies are still alive and kicking. And there are 2 babies. I thought I started the winter off with 3......but we did put that crawdad in there.....and can't find him, nor a skeleton. LOL But the ponds all clear, water lily is already starting to grow. Now just have to figure out a frugal way to get some cool pond plants. LOL

Here Chicky Chicky!

So I braved going out and checking the eggs under Benny. ( BTW, can you guess the roosters name?? I'll let you. I was totally creative too. )

I thought that I saw 5 eggs under her, but I guess it was only 4 eggs (plus the 5 golf balls I left in there to entice her into staying there). So I pulled them out. The rooster was trying to get ontop of her just to get away from me. Silly goose. This is the one that likes to attack me too. The boys and I candled them to see if we could see anything growing and we did! We saw the air sack and spider veins in all four, and we are on our way!!! Wee!!!!!

I'll do it again next Saturday night and see if we are still growin babies.

Grades posted....

and I made Vice Presidents List! Sweet! Not that I am sure what it means.....beyond the fact that I had enough credits and high enough grades to be recognized for it. ;)

Hooray! Benny is broody!!! I added a ticker so you can watch along with me. Supposed to be 21 days from setting. But I've read when you let the mama do it instead of an incubator, its a day less. So Sunday the 13th.....we shall be ready and waiting!!! Weeee!!!!!

MML 2008

Now that I am officially on spring break......I have time to upload some pics! Just from the pageant. LOL My camera is broken, so only when I get my hands on my moms camera.

Kainen was in it again......

With his 'Big Sister' Cheyenne (teen contestant) in his tshirt for production number

With the winner and first runner up for the Miss contestants
With Miss Washington Elyse Umemoto

With last years Miss winner Sara
With last years teen winner (left) and winner and another contestant
And finally with Washington Teen USA and some of the other kiddos in the pageant.

Another quarter in the books!

Today was my nursing class finals day. Sweet! I passed my final, passed my class, all that good jazz. Woot!

Now I have to catch a carpool to Wenatchee at 7:15 in the morning. Oye. Its gonna be a long day. But now just about 18 weeks stands between me and an LPN behind my name (if I pass my test of course.....)

Still holding steady at two chickens. Realized it wasn't my egg layer that got the train ride outta here. So my other one is a good broody hen, just gotta get something in there to get her broody, cause by golly its chick season and I want some! Either she's gonna hatch me some eggs, or I'll get her foster babies. We went and looked at them at the store today and they are soooo stinkin cute. They even have the ones that lay green eggs. I really want those. And then a mix of little banty's. They had lots of ducks too. I bet I could fool her into being mama chicken AND mama duck.....

Can't get the darned eggs to stay in the coop though. ThankyouverymuchIden.

I didn't want the stupid chickens anyway.

And the d$#m dog is taking care of that chicken by chicken. This time it was my egg layer. Its war. The dog will not come in the house and will remain on a leash while on my property for no less than one week.

In nursing news.....it was OR day today for my rotation. It started off with a c-section, a lap chole that ended up being cancelled when the surgeon realized that her chirrosis of the liver distorted the anatomy and the gall bladder was in the wrong spot, another surgery of a more sensitive nature that I will spare you the details on, and then another c-section. This baby was breech and man those toes were tickling his ears when he first came out. And they did a tubal ligation on her as well. I guess I never really thought about it, but fallopian tubes are really really small!

Tomorrow is short stay and I told the surgeon I wanted a redo on the lap chole. So I get to watch that! The rest of the day will be admitting patients for procedures and discharging. Well, at least watching the nurse. Hey, maybe I can do a cath?? LOL We'll see .

Menopause Jewelry

My husband, being unhappy with my mood swings, bought me a mood ring the other day so he would be able to monitor my moods. We've discovered that when I'm in a good mood, it turns green. When I'm in a bad mood, it leaves a big frickin red mark on his forehead. Maybe next time he'll buy me a diamond. Idiot.
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I thought that was just to stinking funny not to share. ROFL I really LOL'd at that one. ;)

Got my schedule somewhat for next quarter. The stink of it is we get done with finals on Thursday, and start up summer quarter on Monday! Uhg. Not sure yet where I get to go for clinicals. I am almost rooting for Wenatchee...just so I hopefully get out of going there during summer. Its 2 days a week every other week this next quarter, compared to 4 days a week , 2 weeks in a row during summer. Which could mean bunking with some class mates. I dont' particularly care for that idea..........

Good companions, chickens and dogs, do not make.

So, have I talked about my chickens? My neighbor sadly had move away to an adult family home type place and bestowed upon me her chickens that I would take care of and gather the eggs from whenever she was away. they've been living in her coop since she moved about 4 weeks ago until we could figure out something for our yard. There are 2 roosters which is too many for the 2 females (if you know what I mean). I had already picked out which rooster would be the one to go in the freezer as he was the crower and the meaner one.

Let me digress........

DH has been working at a house for the last...oh 6 weeks maybe? About 4 weeks ago a black lab showed up. The guy living on the property looked for its owner during that time. DH fell in love with her of course. Its been his dream dog for several years now. So, on Friday after noon, "Girl" came home to live with us. While in the back yard, she managed to chase off two of my cats and nearly stopped when I called her off, and did the second time when DH called her off. It was then I told him I felt I traded in my 3 cats and 4 chickens (yet to move into our yard) for his one dog. He brushed it off as me whining.

Back to the story........
Yesterday was a beautiful day and I decided that it was time for my chickens to come home. So I dragged some posts from the back and fencing and brought home a post pounder from my parents. We went over and got the coop my neighbor said we could have and plopped that down where we decided it was a good chicken home. Pounded in some posts, and I left DH to put up the fence while I went to work for a meeting. Came home to Kainen bringing a chicken to the back yard. (yes, the dog was tied up thank goodness). So it took close to 45 mintues for Kainen and I to get all 4 chickens caught and brought over to their new home. DH declared it a job well done, and went off fishing with his new dog. While they were gone, I shut the chickens in their coop for the day to help them acclimate to the area. DH came home a couple hours later to take us all to the lake for sunset. During the short 10 minutes he was home, I lost a rooster to his 'Girl'. I was ticked off to put it mildly. Somehow she made it through the fence (which was still closed) and got in the coop. Argh. So now Girl gets to stay tied up when she is in the back yard until we can spend more time dog proofing my chicken yard.

And the bummer of it all?? It was the wrong stinking rooster!!!!! Uhg.

Anywho, it shut the other rooster up, which was nice, and I still got an egg from the one thats the layer. I haven't found her eggs for over a week now at the other chicken yard. She tried to go broody on me and I wouldn't let her cause its still too cold for chicks. But hopefully around the end of the month she'll go broody again and I'll let her hatch them.

Anywho.....here's a pick of the chickens prior to their move to my backyard.

Can we have some more crowns please?

Well, another pageant is in the books. We have a couple of lovely new ladies to represent our small town well for the next year. Of course, the addition of several more crowns would make for a lot less *itchy parents. Seriously, your girl did a lovely job, just this year, she wasn't meant to win. Sorry. Gads. I just don't get how some girls survive under the pressure of their parents. I can undertand being upset, but to go around badmouthing winners. Thats just in poor taste. These parents and girls don't get to see interviews. A few of us do, and thats where things really show through and separates the competition if things are close on stage. Ah well. Such is the pageant life. If you don't like it, don't participate. You have the spirit of it all wrong any ways. Argh. k /rant.

Now I have a bit of down time aside from work for the day. Its nice to have a break. Phones been ringing a lot, so a nap is out of the question. Had a test on bones and such yesterday and a midterm in speech last night. First test I scored well on, not sure yet on speech. We'll see. I'm not sold on that class yet.

I'm just excited to go eat some sushi tonight. YUM.

More shots....

Clinicals today were in the clinic next door to the hospital since there were very few patients there. Two of the five of us were sent to hang out there. So more office visits and such. Quite different from the hospital, but I did really enjoy the different things I could sneak in on. For instance, the x-ray room was right by the nurses station, and the tech was a lovely lady who cheerfully welcomed me each time I saw her take a patient back. Got to see a couple chest xrays (these suckers pop up on the computer from the film, which is like a giant disk. So cool.) Then a kid with a hand injury, but neither of us could be sure there was a break. And then....soooo neat, a guy broke up a dog fight and really messed his leg up. He walked in there, and it ends up he has broken his tibia (the smaller of the two bones in the lower leg) at the top , closer to the knee, and its at a 45 degree angle and about 2 inches long and NASTY looking. Combined with some broken bones in his foot, made for a pretty horrified nursing student due to the fact he walked in there. OYE. I hurt for him.

And what goes on in clinics?? Well child checks. And shots. And nurses who happily hand them off to me. Luckily I wasn't around for the second one, but I did do the first little girl. 4 months old and sooo stinkin cute. Red head to boot. Had to give her four shots. Man she was TICKED off and still hollerin out the front door. It was the combo vax that did her in. Luckily I somehow managed to make that the last one. She stopped crying in between the other three. Poor thing. And me being a non-vaxer had to really tune out to the fact I was doing this and what I was giving her.

At the station I was drawing up the meds, there was a little package sitting on the counter and I couldn't tell what it was, so I picked it up and it was a plastibell. I dropped it in fear that they'd ask me to watch. Barf. I've never seen one like that and certainly not in my hand, and was very surprised at how small it was. Which makes sense when you consider how small an infants ween is. :( But I think it was just out for no reason, as I didn't see a little guy come back while I was there. Phew. I have to go back tomorrow and pray there isn't one there. I will have to politely decline AND bite my tongue all at the same time. How's that gonna work?? ;)

THE perfect food.

I swear, sushi is the perfect food and I am glad to be working in a sushi restraunt. I had a Cherry Blossom roll (no, can't remember whats in it....but there is cream cheese, and the top is covered in maguro aka raw tuna.) Its like a little bit of heaven with each bite. It took me about 5 minutes to move after I ate it I was in such heaven. Its been FAR too long since the restraunt closed due to fire. The end of September! And I have been going through withdrawls ever since. But NO MORE! Restraunt opened back up on Tuesday!! I will be working a max of 3 shifts a week. Which on clinical weeks will be pure torture....but I can do it. Its nice to have cash in the ol' wallet again.

Speaking of clinical weeks, this is one of them. And then Miss Moses Lake is this Sat. as well. And I am heavily involved in that.... Then Sunday, our group heads to the Miss Spokane pageant. So all in all, I may not be standing come next Monday. Oye. So don't be surprised if I don't show up here for a week. ;)

Toodles!

Good Day Sunshine!!!

Ah....I need my sunglasses. This is the life. The sun is shining, and its up to 19 degrees!!!

I've been busily preparing a speech for speech class tomorrow night. Decided to do it on the local part of the Miss America program, considering Miss Washington, Elyse Umemoto received 2nd runner up at Miss America on Saturday night. She's one awesome chicklet and great to be around.

We worked on setting up IV pumps in lab today, and then get checked off on that tomorrow. I hear this makes the nurses at clinicals happy, because there are lots of IV's to set up and they happily pass the buck on to us. I feel like I will be more official getting to push buttons, silence alarms, ect. ect. Silly I know. ;)

GACK!!!!!

Its been snowing for over 24 hours now and I am about to loose it. TURN THAT OFF!!!!!!

I told DH that I am pretty certain they need nurses in Jamaica or Baha California.

Could I have some cheese

with my whiiiiiiine.

Hey, at least now the weather channel says it feels like -1. Thats up 15 degrees from 2 hours ago. Blah. I told DH I can't feel my feet anymore.

Hey, at least I don't have to do laundry right? Pipes are frozen in the garage.

Oh! I have an idea, lets go ice fishing. Ha.

Hmmm....

Have I mentioned lately that its freaking cold? I couldn't even get the gas pump to work without just dribbling it in there before it would do its stupid auto shut off thing, while I am standing there, nearly frozen to the stupid pump. I can' t stand it. Its a balmy 18 degrees out there now. Frick. At least the sun is shining. Score one for the good guys.

That was a looong week.

These weeks with clinicals in them are going to be buggers. I'm pooooped to say the least.

so the pit mom delivered at 10:05 pm that night. 7 lbs 12 oz boy. Ahh....he was a sleepy fella too. Wouldn't nurse till much later the next day.

The section mom didn't nurse after we left. From the limited sign language and slow speaking (Spanish speaking) I gathered from the husband she was upset the baby wasn't getting anything because there wasn't much there. So of course you know this breastfeeding nazi gathered up some spanish pamphlets, the interpreter and marched myself in there. They took the info and next time I went in she was reading the info. There was no new bottle in there, so I was biding my time. A bit later, I had to do vitals on mom and baby, and asked/demonstrated if mom wanted to give it a go. Baby latched RIGHT on and both were content. Score one for the good guys!!! Even if she doesn't go for long, she will still be passing on some amazing gifts to her little girl each time she does nurse her. HOpefully they will continue for a while.

All in all, I was uber impressed with my 2 short days in OB. There were no other deliveries while we were there, so hopefully there will be more chances to witness a vag birth. And who knows, I still have my OR rotation, so perhaps then I will get to see another section.

I have a TON of papers to finish up. OB has the most stuff to do. Plus a test on Tuesday, lab on Tuesday, and videos to watch before that time. Oye. But heck, at least I will have a short break on Wed. and Thursday. Perhaps I can sleep? LOL

C-Section time!

Yeah, so thats what I got to watch first thing this morning!!! I really wasn't expecting that at all at 6:35 this morning. But at 8 am, a 9 lb 4 ounce baby girls head popped out of a womans stomach right before my eyes!!!

I never thought my first time witnessing a birth other than my own would be a c-section, but heck, I'll take it.

That and the fact I aced my test yesterday makes for a good week so far. ;)

Other women the nurse I was following had.... a 12 week gestation mom with some bleeding. Sent home on bedrest with a shrug from the OB. A 38 weeker being induced with #4, cause she 'can't have big babies'...mind you the biggest is 7 lbs 8 ounces. She started on pit at about 9 am...and was at about 1 cm when the OB checked her at 1:30 and maxed out on pit. Hopefully she will have delivered by the time I get there tomorrow at 6:30. I just really...don't get it. Ah well. Not my body, not my birth. Right? shut yer trap Tiarnna....

That wasn't so bad

So guess who had a snow day today?? Yeah, not me, but K and J did. lucky ducks. I think we've had more snow this winter than the last two combined, and its still the first week of the year!

But I was at class, bright and early for my calculations test. We have to take one each quarter to keep up on our math. I was glad I looked at everything yesterday, cause I wouldn't have passed if I didn't. Its funny how fast you loose stuff like that if you aren't using it....but like riding a bike, it came right back with a few practice problems.

Then it was lecture from 9-4 with an hour for lunch...and I get to do it again Friday. Minus the calc test, but adding in another class at 8. oye. But no labs or clinicals this week. I do have speech 101 Tues and Thurs nights. That will be fun on clinical weeks, when I have that from 6:30-3 on thursdays as well. Ah well, its a short quarter right?

Back to school!

School starts back up tomorrow for both me and the boys. There has been kicking, screaming, wailing and gnashing of teeth because of it. But the boys seem to be handling it just fine!

I just hate homework. I don't mind going to school....its just the part of having to do school stuff outside of class that gets to me. Blah.

I filled in my planner today with my schedule and I can hardly keep up with it. I have a nightclass (Speech 101) added in so I can for sure sit for my LPN licence at the end of summer quarter. Weird to think, that in 8 months I will be a nurse! Weee!!! (that is, if I pass.....but I will. RIGHT???)

My clinical group is in Othello, about a 35-40 minute drive from my house. Of course before dawn breaks. And its 2 days a week....everyother week. Then lab usually on Tuesdays, but some mondays this month because its a short quarter, and then class on Friday. I will usually have Mondays off...but not this month, again, because its a short quarter. :insert rolly eye guy here:. Me thinks they are just shoving too much crapola in there. Blah.

Anywho, this will certainly cut into my sewing time, as work will hopefully be starting up by the end of the month as well. I could really go for a nice cherry blossom roll right now.....yum. I will take a picture of it the next time I am blessed enough to eat it. Its covered in raw tuna....all red, hense being called a cherry blossom. Oh goodness...tummy growling. Heck, I'd even settle for a california roll at this point.

kay...that stinks....

Why does blogger have to jack my pictures up like that??????

Grrrrrr

Sewing Projects....sweet!

A friend of mine blogs on her craftiness. Princess Nimble-Thimble....she has a sew and show for her tutorials, and a contest drawing for those who post pics finished items.



That crochet dishcloth was an entry from last night, and then two more tonight !!!

An A-line skirt. I had to do several modifications, and consequently stuck it on a shelf for a few months. But in hopes of a prize, finished it tonight. I hate hemming.


Iden wanted in on it....and you can see it is an even hem on it. LOL



And then she makes TONS of these little bendy dolls. You'll have to go to her store to see what they are supposed to look like. http://www.etsy.com/shop.php?user_id=71968

I don't have any heads for this one......LOL





I put the I on it to give to Iden. Jantzen has declared them guys, not dolls, and Kainen has requested one. They are so stinking finicky and knitpicky though....I may not have the patience for more. LOL But I think iit has lots of character.......ROFL

And then.......something I have been wanting to make for years. I've had this fabric stashed away with this project in mind for oh.....nearly 4 years now? LOL I was on a roll with stuff, so kept on going. Oh, and my budding artist 3 year old took these. ROFL Nearly saying cheese. He wasn't quite sure which role he was playing, photographer or subject. LOL It was too cute.



(this is the better color showing)

Did I mention I hate hemming? Took nearly an hour for this sucker.

I have another pair nearly done.....just lost my mojo with my NYE celabratory drink. :lol:

I also did a marathon of PJ making for Christmas.....

3 for my boys, 3 nephews and 3 neices.



And then one of those nephews was born a few days before Christmas, so he got some goodies at his baby shower.

This is a swaddle sock. Just stick the kid in and viola. No more trying to fold your kiddo in there. Thank you Crystal for the idea!!!

And a little sweat suit for him....next year. Its big. LOL



And then I took him this ball at the hospital after he was born, in case he wanted to play ya know. ;)