Oh the horror

Last week was a nightmare.  Looking back on it, it seems to have lasted forever.  I had two exams on Monday, another on Wednesday, and a validation on Friday.  I spent all weekend studying, and then all week studying for my validation.  Validation is when you are given a scenario that you have to perform in front of your professor.  The scenario will have specific lab skills like taking a nasal culture, taking a patient's blood sugar, etc.  This was our last validation before our clinicals start.  I was mega stressed from all the tests and then from practicing the scenarios.  Of course I got the hardest one and I made a complete fool of myself.  My lab instructor must get a hoot out of watching all us crazy birds try to do skills while stressed and nervous.  My scenario included putting on PPE (think Ebola and protecting yourself from contagious diseases), changing and packing a LARGE pressure ulcer (bed sore), and putting on bilateral restraints.  The pressure ulcer was huge and it needed to be irrigated and packed and measured and bandaged.  Ugg.  And all with my PPE on.  It was a disaster.  I won't tell you about every detail but I'll tell you about my fabulous start and you can use you imagination to picture how the rest went.  The order for putting on PPE is gown first, then face mask, then gloves.  And before all that you need to wash your hands.  So, I put in my gown and then my gloves.  Then I realize that I forgot to wash my hands so I took the gloves off and washed my hands.  Then I put the gloves back on.  Then I realize that I need a face mask so I have to take my gloves off again and put my face mask on, then the gloves again.  Except then I realize that my mask is tied so tight I can't open my right eye.  But to adjust the mast I have to take my gloves off again, so I decide to just do everything with one eye partially closed.  Fabulous.

And that was just my first five minutes.

The important thing here is that I passed.  It was just pass/fail so no grade or anything.  Nursing school is stressful!  Not only is it a bunch of exams, it's a bunch of skill tests too.  It's never ending.  And we are already getting ready to register for next semester.  Where has the time gone??

This past weekend we took a break and went to Baltimore ZooBoo!  So fun!!  We took my nieces too and they had a blast.

They dressed up in costumes and we walked around the little Halloween fair where they had arts and crafts, candy, jumpy-towers, and food.  Then we took the little shuttle to the actual zoo part and looked at animals.  The zoo just opened a new pinguin exhibit that was so fun.  The kids loved it.

They stood there and watched the pinguins swim by over and over again. Then we headed to see the polar bear and the chimpanzees.  And then that was about it.  The zoo closed at 4pm and we didn't get there until 2ish so we didn't have much time.  It was perfect though because the kids were getting tired.

The weather was perfect though and since we are members it doesn't cost so we don't care so much that we were only there for a couple hours.

I also accomplished my one goal for the weekend.  Clean out the sink drains.  Yes.  Disgusting.  When we moved into this house all the drains were clogged and it took forever for the water to drain.  I hated it.  We bought some natural drain-o and some real drain-o, but nothing worked.  I realied that I was actually going to need to clean them out.  Which is gross to me.  Especially since it had been clogged for a while so who knows what was down there.  So, I YouTubed how to do it and I did it.  I didn't take pictures because it was too gross but I was pretty pleased with myself.  I had to unscrew things and take pipes apart and drains apart and put it back together...and clean really gross sludge.  But now the sink drains so well!!  And I am so happy!!  

So that was my weekend.  And the last week.  Nothing too exciting.  Friday is Halloween and my mom made Evan the cutest costume in the world.  You will want to check back here and see it.  He cannot get any cuter!!

Hope you are having a great week.  

What things have you learned through YouTubed??

 

Another random post

I'm sitting here on the bus with some time to write but I don't actually have anything to say.  Pretty much my entire life is taken up with school but I'm kind of tired of thinking and writing about school.  And you must be tired of hearing about it!  However, then I have nothing to say.  Or so it feels.

I could talk about the weather.  Happy Autumn!!  Well, today it's in the 70s so it doesn't feel to fallish, but the leaves are changing and it's raining.  Figures, since I am wearing a long skirt and ballet slipper-style shoes that will get soaked in the rain.  Completely soaked.  I am hoping that by the time classes end the rain will have passed.

This past weekend we went to the pumpkin patch and picked out a baby pumpkin to bring home.  It was fun.  I met my sister and her kids there and the kids went to the petting zoo and played on the numerous playground-type structures.  It was a bit of a fortune though.  I haven't decided if we are going to decorate a pumpkin.  Evan is too little to really remember and has no idea that he is missing out.  We'll see.  Carving pumpkins is not my most favorite activity.  I haven't uploaded my pictures from the pumpkin patch yet, but as soon as I do I will share them...because they are adorable.

These days baths for Evan are few and far between.  If he's dirty he tends to get a shower instead, with mommy or daddy, because it's a lot quicker than giving him his own bath.  This past week I got home extra early and decided to let him play around in the tub.

He had a blast drawing all over the walls with bath crayons.  His drawings are still there because I haven't washed the tub yet....  In the morning I open the shower curtain and am startled until I remember.

Ivan is counting down the days until we go to Vermont.  It is hilarious.  He is super excited to go and insists we are staying for two whole weeks.  We will see about that.  Evan is super excited too.  I am not excited about the car ride because Evan has not been an angel in the car these past few weeks.  I might cry if he yells "No" the entire 10 hour trip!

Ok, this was the most random post.  Maybe one day I'll get my thoughts together and wrote a post that makes sense and is fun for you to read!

Random Musings

I have a bunch of blog posts that I have started and not finished.  I start them on the bus, get tired, take a nap, and then never find time to finish them.  So, I thought I would give you an update in bullet form!  Let's hope I publish this....

* Our car is finally fixed and passed the state inspection.  Yes!!  It cost an arm and a leg, but it's done.  I really hope that it lasts for a few years and that we didn't just put thousands of dollars into a car that is going to break again in five months.  My husband is happy because he was really scared for a while that it was going to be broken forever and that we would never find an exhaust manifold.  Surprisingly everything went well and we have a car still.  Good stuff.  Our mechanic is AWESOME!

* All we eat these days are eggs and beans for dinner.  I make a big pot of beans on Sunday and then we refry them and eat them all week with hotdogs and eggs.  The hotdogs are probably a bad choice but they are humane certified and the only ingredient is beef, no filler.  So I imagine them like a hotdog-shaped hamburger.  Right?  For some reason our grocery bill hasn't changed though and I can't figure out why.  I am going to really have to look at what we are buying and see how many things are just wants instead of needs.  I don't feel like we buy a lot of wants though, so we'll see.

* I finished my first round of exams.  They were ok.  Nothing to call home about but good enough to keep my scholarship.  It is really hard trying to find time to study.  And there are so many things to do, my planner is overflowing.

Yesterday I studied for four hours in the afternoon but all I did were a few homework assignments and a paper.  I didn't even get that much time to do any real studying.  Very frustrating.  I try to stay at school to get extra studying done and that works but there is always more to do.  Here is the view from the library...my second home. 

* Evan and I went on a hike on Saturday and had such a fun time.

He got to pick the trail we walked on and the entire time he picked up rocks so he'd be ready to throw them into the river when we got there.  I told him a million times we couldn't go IN the river, but he still asked over and over again.

I did let him throw rocks though and before we left I let him wash his dirty hand off...although not before he stuck his sandy hand into his mouth.

Then we raced back to the car.  If we don't race then he meanders for so long we'd never make it back and our car would be locked in the parking lot.  He also found a hiking stick and carried that around on the hike back to the car.

* It is cold already.  This morning waiting for the bus my toes froze.  Boo.  I am not ready for the cold.  Evan is excited that he gets to wear his new winter pjs from MImi.

He loves them.  This weekend I changed his clothes and got out all his winter stuff and pack away his shorts.  I left a few short sleeve shirts out and two shorts but that's about it.  The highs are in the 70s this week but the lows are in the 30s so it is cold. 

* I made a really yummy cinnamon-swirl banana bread.  We had a bunch of extra bananas and so I figured banana bread was in order.  It is pretty tasty!  It was my latest Pinterst find.  I can't figure out how to put links in these blogs posts that I do on my iPad so you will just have to do all the  work yourself.  My Pinterst page is www.pinterest.com/mapleandmud, so feel free to visit and find the recipe!

Ok, that's about all!  Thanks for sticking around, even when my posts are so sporadic!