Military Monday Bloghop! and Miscellaneous Monday

1. I finally caved in and took the Texas Nursing Jurisprudence Exam. It's a requirement for licensure in Texas. I could have taken it any time but I will not receive my license until I do. It seemed very intimidating because there was a "study guide" page with lotsssss of information. You have 2 hours to take it, there are 50 questions, and you're allowed to have other windows open and use the BON to look up answers. If you fail, you can take it again but have to wait 7 days.

It was all about nursing law, the NPA, board rules, etc.

Some of it was blatantly obvious. Like for example:

As a nurse, which of the following should you NOT do?

A. feed your patient lunch

B. dispense medications

C. kill your patient.

...okay not QUITE but you get the idea. Others were tricky. It took me nearly 2 hours, but I passed! One more thing I can cross off the list. Now I just need to take and pass that damn NCLEX! :)

2. We had some crazy thunderstorms last night. I love storms, but not when they rob me of my sleep. I'm working 12 hours today, which I haven't done in awhile (11a-11p)...either it won't be too bad or it's going to suck. Either way, I'm really tired.

The past 2 times I worked wasn't bad at all. I got floated to the overflow med-surg unit (which is located on the ICU stepdown but of course the overflow and stepdown don't "mix" with each other...unless you walk by and see a patient climbing out of bed or something lol). The overflow has 8 beds and usually 2 licenses (at least one RN, obviously) and usually a support. A majority of the patients were ambulatory. By the end of the evening, we had 5 patients. There was only one patient who was kind of a problem (he was climbing out of bed *AND* at the very end of the hall...I suggested moving him closer to the makeshift "nurses station" that way they could keep a closer watch on him instead of making him a sitter. It was such a long walk down to that room lol). Overall, I did some vitals...helped someone to the bathroom...pulled out some heplocks...ran some 24hr pee to the lab...and that's it. Most of it was sitting and BS'ing with the nurses lol.

Saturday I only worked 4 hours and got floated to sit with a patient, who fell, broke her hip, had it repaired, and is confused. She was a handful. Her family was very nice. The last hour was the worst, though. Very confused. Kept saying she had to go home and tend to her kids and dogs and if I called her neighbors, they can bring her keys so that she could go home and drive, etc etc. Kept trying to get out of that chair to leave. I kept advising her not to bend over because of her hip (and she was very well approaching that over 90-degree mark!) but like that did anything. She is also borderline. I kept reorienting her and trying to empathize with her her frustration for wanting to go home but can't and at one point she said to me, "you can either do one of two things. you can either SHUT UP or help me get out of here." She then apologized, but still asked me to help her get home.

Finally she decided she wanted to go on the "couch" (her bed) so I had the RN and the aide who was replacing me help her back. It took us about 20 minutes (all she had to do was take a few steps) but we finally did it, and then she started to settle down...except for screaming at the other aide telling her to "stop making so much damn noise and turn those damn lights off because I'M TRYING TO SLEEP!" and then telling her she had a pretty outfit. lol. Never worked with a borderline patient before. They can be quite a challenge.

3. I'm almost hoping I can sit again with a patient (I don't care if I'm sitting for 12 hours!) so I can get some studying done. It's crunch time! I need to pass my NCLEX on the 1st try! Everyone else I talked to passed. And I keep reading about people on allnurses.com failing 2, 3, 4, 5 and even *6* times. That makes me nervous.

4. My enhancer for my engagement ring still hasn't come in yet. Jared's told me early February. I'm getting nervous that it won't be here on time for the formal wedding!

5. I finally decided to change my earrings yesterday. I bought some cute black/silver/grey dangly ones for $4.99 at Target lol...so I went home and wanted to try them on. The earrings I had on were very comfortable, but the back isn't like your standard earring back (with that funny looking stopper to go on the post). I was able to get the right one off pretty easily but the left one was jammed in there - I thought I was going to tear my ear lobe! I definitely hurt my ear a bit trying to get that one off. I decided to not put those back in for fear of having a hard time getting them back off so I just stick in some princess cut cubic zirconia posts instead :)

MilSpouse Friday Fill-In #31/Five Question Friday!

1. Aside from no deployments, what is one thing you would want to make the MilSpouse life “perfect”? submitted by Oh How Delightful

Being able to keep our friends and family close due to all of the moving around the military makes you do.

2. Just how many peppers did Peter Piper pick? submitted by Married into Army

Probably a lot. I don't know. This is such a random question lol

3. If you could have any career in the world with nothing holding you back, what would you do? submitted by It’s My Party and I’ll Cry if I Want To

I would still want to be a nurse. if I couldn't be that, then I would be a photographer, cake decorator and a food critic lol.

4. Do you have a service oriented tattoo and if so what is it. If you don’t what would you get? submitted by The Squid’s Accomplice

I wouldn't, because I hate pain and needles and I know I would regret having a tattoo later. but if I absolutely HAD to get a tattoo, I would obviously get something Army-themed. I just don't know what.

5. Imagine a block of time has opened up in your busy day for you to take a class in anything you like. What subject would you choose? submitted by To The Nth

a photography or cake decorating class!

Head on over to Wife of a Sailor's blog to participate!

And now time for Five Question Friday!

1. Can you drive stick shift?

I can, and I'm pretty decent at it, too, I just can't "take off fast" or take off like a normal person would lol. I have to go slow. Therefore, if I'm pulling out of a parking lot or something onto a main road, I have to make sure there isn't a car coming for awhile so I can make it out on the street lol. Once I'm there I'm fine. I don't really have problems stalling, I just have problems going. And I don't clutch dance that much, either!

2. What are two foods you just can't eat?

Olives. and condiments (mayo, mustard, ketchup...YUCK!)

3. Do you buy Girl Scout cookies? What is your favorite kind?

I haven't bought any this year (I don't NEED them!) but my favorite is the Thin Mints!

4. How do you pamper yourself?

I really don't haha.

5. What is your nickname and how did you get it?

Mel. And I'm not really sure how I got it. I remember I got it during elementary school but one of my friends just decided to call me that, and it stuck. My mom will sometimes call me Missa, which I don't mind. I *HATE* the name Missy, though (thankfully no one calls me that!). My other nickname is Melosaur, and E gave that one to me. Don't remember when, maybe it was when we were watching The Land Before Time? hahaha

ATT...and cake!

I got my ATT today! Finally!! Apparently the finger prints went through this time! I checked on the TX BON the other day and saw that they received my background check so I was thinking I was going to get my ATT soon...and lo and behold, I was sitting in my class this morning and got the lovely e-mail!

I also scheduled my test. I'm not telling anyone when I'm taking it, because I don't need any false reassurance and if I end up failing, I really don't want anyone to know about it. All of my other friends have passed so far so we'll see! I scheduled my day and even though it's not for awhile, I'm already stressing out and feeling very sick to my stomach. This test will determine if I'm competent enough to be an RN. Although it won't be the end of the world if I fail, I'd rather not pay another $200 to Pearson Vue just to take the damn test again!

But now that I have a date, I feel like I can focus more. It's crunch time now!

I also sampled cake today! We went to The West Side Bakery, which apparently is the place to go in my area! They allowed us up to 4 flavors to sample. I loved them all except for the hazelnut torte with chocolate ganache (too dry, but I realize that style of cake is different than the other three)...but the almond cake with raspberry preserve filling blew me away. The two went so well together and the cake itself had a lovely almond flavor. I decided on the design:

it'll be up to a 4 tier cake (depending on how many people come) with buttercream frosting...basically what is shown above but with dark/light purple calla lily flower accents. I gave them a fabric swatch of my bridesmaid dress colors to try and match up with the flowers on the cake. The flowers in that picture are buttercream but I'm trying to see if they can do marzipan flowers instead. They said they can, I just don't know how much extra it will be. Calla lilies are less intricate than other flowers (like roses or mums) so to make them out of marizpan (which is similar to fondant) shouldn't be that much more expensive, and I'm keeping the flower accents similar to the those in the picture - so it's not like there will be a ton of flowers. I haven't decided if I want to keep the top with just flowers or some flower accents and a cake topper. we'll see. but needless to say, I am very excited about this cake!

Another thing to cross off my list :)

Wordless Wednesday

ABC survey

A. Age: 23

B. Bed size: twin bed at my apartment and full at home

C. Chore you dislike: washing dishes

D. Dogs: none yet :(

E. Essential start to your day: coffee.

F. Favorite color: purple, pink & light aqua blue!

G. Gold or silver: silver.

H. Height: 5'2".

I. Instruments you play(ed): started out on clarinet and played that throughout middle & high school for wind ensemble and played it for marching band one year, played in pit band for marching band another year (bells...I moved and this was after everyone went to band camp so I couldn't learn the sets lol), played mellophone for the last 2 years of marching band, played oboe one year for pit band (musical: Anything Goes) and played french horn another year for pit band (musical: Meet Me In St. Louis).

J. Job title: technically now a "graduate nurse" but I'm a nurse tech. I get to do everything the RN's do except assess and pass meds...and I can't do anything with central lines.

K. Kids: none. Not for awhile, at least 5 years lol.

L. Live: currently in Ohio. moving to Texas in May!

M. Mom’s name: Ann

N. Nicknames: Mel

O. Overnight hospital stays: I don't think I have ever stayed overnight at a hospital.

P. Pet peeve: ohhhh lots...people who don't perform their duties at work, dayshift nurses who think night shift does nothing except sit on their ass all night, people who always think they are right and can never admit when they're wrong, people who smack their food and chew with their mouth open, slow drivers, people who double park, people who mix up their your/you're and there/they're/their's, tailgaters, when my roommate leaves week+ old coffee in MY travel mugs and then they get all moldy and gross, people who cut me off...I could go on and on!

Q. Quote from a movie: "stay frosty" - Cpl Hicks from Aliens (I love that movie!)

R. Righty or Lefty: righty

S. Siblings: an 29-yo brother.

T. Time you wake up: depends...9-9:30am is my usual time, though.

U. Underwear: sporting some ones from VS pink :)

V. Vegetables you don’t like: mushrooms, olives

W. What makes you run late: I'm usually always on time or 5-10 minutes early. It is unusual for me to be late.

X. X-Rays you’ve had: teeth, right hand

Y. Yummy food you make: spaghetti squash with sauteed eggplant, zucchini & onions :)

Z. Zoo animal favorite: pandas!

kusudama and work...

I was browsing on random websites yesterday and came across kusudama, a type of Japanese modular origami that usually takes folded pieces of paper with the same geometric shape and they're taped/glued/sewn together into a sphere, kind of like this:

I thought it was interesting, so I learned how to make the flower. It was actually very easy, but somewhat time consuming. I used computer paper and had to tear them into square pieces. I used 5 pieces of paper and then taped them all together with medical tape lol. It is nowhere near perfect, but here is what mine looked like:

Then I was looking to see if you can make them into flower arrangements, instead of the traditional spherical arrangement, and sure enough you can!

Red/white arrangement

Pink/blue flowers

White flowers

I think these are so cool! and different and unique. I'm thinking about making these into centerpieces for the reception. It would be a lot cheaper than using fresh or even flake flowers to decorate...all I would have to do is buy some nice paper, buy some green wire or something else for the stem, maybe a spool of ribbon to wrap around the stems and maybe some pearl/rhinestones to either jazz up the petals or put in the center of each flower. And borrow a glue gun. and buy some pretty vases, which I can get for cheap at Michael's/Pat Catan's/Dollar Tree. And maybe some purple pebbles to go at the bottom of each vase. Probably be about $30 for all of them vs. $100's for fake/fresh flowers. The Galaxy already has squared or round mirrored glass that I could use. Maybe I'll put a couple of votives around the glass. And my MIL already bought ivory petals with our names and date embossed on them in purple writing. That + purple fake petals sprinkled around the table and cake table would look really nice, too.

The Galaxy has these brass lamps that they would use to decorate the tables, but honestly I wasn't too crazy about them. I'd rather use this idea. Or I could go with the very easy bowl of water, floating tea lights, colored marbles/pebbles at the bottom and put the bowl on mirrored glass with some flower petals sprinkled around. I like the first idea better. I'm not crafty, but I'd like to do something different. And these flowers aren't hard to make, they just take some time.

and a vent about work last night:

1) I hate how the dayshift NA's literally "pick and choose" who they want to bathe. we occasionally get bariatric patients on our floor and who do they always leave for evening/night shift to bathe? them. Now I don't mind giving bed baths/doing AM care. That's part of the job of an NA/tech and yes even RN's/LPN's too but 99% of the time the nurses on my floor has help from supports so of course they will be delegated. What I DO mind is when they pick and choose. They can't do that. YOUR JOB in the morning is to get vitals Q4H and to get patients up and ready for the day. Yes, I know sometimes the shift can get crazy and you can't get the whole floor done and I know some patients are off for tests all day or refuse to do anything. Well this patient yesterday told me she has been asking all day to get cleaned up, but of course the dayshift NA's didn't want to do it. They usually have more supports for day shift (a lot of times 3!) and for evenings 1-2 and for nights, lately it's been none. One of the RN's who now took a full-time position on our floor (and yay, because I love her!) asked me how long this has been going on and I told her for awhile...and she said that myself or the CN or someone should write them up for that, because they are NA's, and they can't be delegating stuff to me. which is true.

2) ...and of course while Shannon and I were in the middle of bathing this patient, I had to leave the room to grab some stuff and immediately one of the RN's asked me to get a blood sugar on this patient because she had to go call the doctor. I wouldn't have minded if I wasn't already in the middle of the something, but I was kind of annoyed because she was basically asking me to drop everything that I was doing just to get her blood sugar. Yes, she had to call the doctor. But yes, there were other RN's who are also capable of getting blood sugars that weren't busy, so why couldn't she ask them?

Other than that, work was fine yesterday. I successfully started another IV! I'll take all of the practice I can get :)

♫ i know that life is beautiful around the world ♫

Hosted by The Thrifty Military Wife. Go link up and meet new bloggers!

Last night was Linda's going away party. She is one of the RN's I work with and is leaving our unit to become a PCC (patient care coordinator) on a psych floor at a hospital literally across the street from us lol. Same company. I'm happy for her, but I'll miss her, because she is one of my favorite dayshift RN's (there are only a few haha). Anyway, one our nursing assistants organized it for her at Stonehedge, which is a bowling alley. We went in the back at this large table to order food and talk. I loved how day shifters sat on one end of the table, Shannon & I were kind of in the middle (we primarily work evenings, 3-11) and then night shifters were at the other end lol. People talked about drama, which I tried to stay out of; then Danielle, Jessica, Steve, David (all RN's), Shannon & myself decided we were going to go play some pool.

But they didn't have any pool. So we just sat at the bar instead.

And they discovered my embarrassing trait - I turn BRIGHT red when I drink. Not just a "little" red, because I know a lot of people turn red. I turn obnoxiously red. and from very small amounts of alcohol, too. I'll have a few sips of whatever and I'll start to turn red. And you can indicate how much I've had by looking at my face! It starts at the top of my forehead and starts making it's way down lol.

I also get a little "puffy" too haha.

The reason why I turn so red is because I'm 50% Chinese, and Asian people lack an enzyme to properly digest the ETOH (or alcohol, if you will). My dad was the same way, my brother is the same way and all of my Asian friends are the same way. But no one is bad as me!

Anyway, I drank half of Danielle's Mongolian Motherfucker (her and Jessica are such enablers! Jessica kept passing her's off to me too lol). I don't know what it's in it because there are like 8 different liquors but it seriously tastes just like fruit punch.

We hung out at the bar for awhile then decided we were going to go bowling, but then we met up with the other day shifters and they decided they were all leaving, so we decided to go to a bar down in The Valley instead. The bar we went to reminded me of my favorite bar in Canton called Fiddlestix (though Fiddlestix is a lot cooler :)). It was all of us + Jessica's brother and sister decided to come out. We had a fun, fun time! I haven't had that much in awhile! I drank a Leinenkugel Berry Weiss (one of my favorite beers!), Jessica bought a round of cherry bombs (which were NASTY, tasted just like cherry Robitussen...ick! I couldn't finish all of it), then had two large amaretto sours. That is A LOT of alcohol for 5'2", 110lb, 1/2 Chinese tiny little me, but I lived haha. I rarely go out and drink anyways.

This is going to have to happen more often, though :)

Jessica & Danielle want to have a fake bachelorette party and hit up the bars in Cleveland (because you get free drinks) but I'll be back in Missouri during that time spending sweet, sweet time with the hubby :) I can't wait!

the verdict...

we went to the tasting today.

I feel like such a fatass haha.

But this what we decided on for the reception:

1. baked scod with beurre-blanc and tomatoes; rice pilaf and roasted mixed vegetables

2. prime rib au jus with horseradish cream; roasted rosemary-garlic redskin potatoes and roasted mixed vegetables

3. chicken marsala with garlic smashed redskin potatoes and roasted mixed vegetables.

for hors d'eourves we are doing pork potstickers and stuffed mushrooms with Italian sausage :)

We're doing a cake tasting this upcoming Thursday, and we'll be sampling:

1. almond cake with raspberry preserves

2. hazelnut torte with chocolate ganache

3. white cake with strawberry buttercream

4. red velvet with cream cheese

:)

I'm slowly starting to knock things off the list.

I still have A LOT I need to do, though.

[] schedule a meeting with the church and plan the ceremony and all of that.

[] meet with my florist to discuss options.

[] order invitations (which I plan on doing so very soon)

[] send out invitations.

[] look for BM gifts. and a gift for my mom. do you get a gift for your mother in law, too?

[] look for reception favors, and other details (like toasting flutes, memory candle, guestbook...)

[] pay for doves (I'm doing a 12 dove release after the wedding ceremony outside...that's $225)

[] pay my final church payment (which is like $750...)

[] pay for wedding pictures (which my M/FIL might pay for as our wedding gift)

[] pay DJ

[] pay my florist

yikes!

totally unrelated to wedding planning but still very important:

[] go back to FLW to 1) see my hubby! :D and 2) do taxes.

[] get my ATT and schedule my damn NCLEX!

♫ home is wherever i'm with you ♫

Goodnight Moon is doing a music link-up! This has been my favorite song lately because it is so catchy and I love the chorus! reminds me of E ♥

Alabama, Arkansas, I do love my Ma & Pa
Not the way that I do love you

Holy roly, me, oh my, you’re the apple of my eye
Girl, I’ve never loved one like you

Man, oh man, you’re my best friend, I scream it to the nothingness
There ain’t nothin’ that I need

Well, hot & heavy, pumpkin pie, chocolate candy, Jesus Christ
There ain’t nothin’ please me more than you

Chorus:
Ahh, Home
Let me come Home
Home is wherever I’m with you
(2x)
La la la la, take me Home
Baby, I’m coming Home

I’ll follow you into the park, through the jungle, through the dark
Girl, I’ve never loved one like you

Moats & boats & waterfalls, alley ways & pay phone calls
I’ve been everywhere with you

That’s true

We laugh until we think we’ll die, barefoot on a summer night
Nothin’ new is sweeter than with you

And in the sticks we’re running free like it’s only you and me
Geez, you’re something to see.

Chorus

“Jade?”
“Alexander?”
“Do you remember that day you fell out of my window?”
“I sure do, you came jumping out after me.”
“Well, you fell on the concrete and nearly broke your ass and you were bleeding all over the place and I rushed you off to the hospital. Do you remember that?”
“Yes, I do.”
“Well, there’s something I never told you about that night.”
“What didn’t you tell me?”
“While you were sitting in the backseat smoking a cigarette you thought was going to be your last, I was falling deep, deeply in love with you and I never told you ‘til just now.”
“Now I know.”

Ahh, Home
Let me come Home
Home is whenever I’m with you
Ahh, Home
Let me come Home
Home is when I’m alone with you

Home
Let me come Home
Home is wherever I’m with you

Ahh, Home
Yes, I am Home
Home is when I’m alone with you.

Alabama, Arkansas, I do love my Ma & Pa
Moats & boats & waterfalls & pay phone calls

Ahh, Home
Let me come Home
Home is wherever I’m with you
Ahh, Home
Let me come Home
Home is when I’m alone with you

another MilSpouse Friday Fill-in!

Head over to Wife of a Sailor's blog to participate in this week's questions!

1. What is your favorite MilSpouse blog (not including Wife of a Sailor who we all love, or your own)? Submitted by Our Crazy Life.

I honestly don't have a particular favorite - I love reading all of them for a variety of reasons.

2. What are your favorite perks about your SO being deployed (we all know there are perks!)? Submitted by Ramblings of a Marine Wife.

Although we haven't been through a deployment yet, we have been separated. I would have to say my favorite thing is less laundry to do. Oh, and I eat a lot healthier, too! But don't get me wrong - I would much rather have him here than being away!

3. How long did you date your husband before getting engaged? Married? submitted by Utterly Chaotic.

We dated for nearly 3 years before we got engaged, and then we were engaged for 3 months before we got married lol. We're still having our formal wedding celebration on May 14th of this year, though.

4. What do you think your husband would do if he wasn't in the military? Submitted by Adventures of M-Squared.

My husband has a bachelor's in Political Science (which he hated haha), an associate's in Criminal Justice and a minor in Military Science. He's already thinking about this anyway once he retires from the Army, but probably law enforcement. He's an active duty MP right now (don't hate!) so that's perfect. Either that or a professional race car driver LOL!

5. If you could talk to the Secretary of the Army what is one suggestion you would like to bring to their attention in order to improve the lives of military families? Submitted by My Life as His (Air Force) Wife.

Shorter deployments (which would probably mean more frequent, but not necessarily). I do not understand why the Army and Marines have to go for so long and the Air Force only deploys for like 6 months at a time. I'm not sure about the Navy. Anyway, my SIL's husband is a USAF NCO...he deployed to Kuwait/Iraq in summer 2009 and made is back just in time for Christmas. He hasn't deployed since, but he mentioned possibly deploying again this fall/winter. That's still over 2 years of no deployment! I'm sorry, but that just isn't fair. Army/USMC averages 1 year on, 1 year off but sometimes it's not even a year off...I've heard of soldiers coming back for a few months then having to be deployed again for at least another year! They really need to consider that the wives/husbands/families of our deployed soldiers/airmen/sailors/devil dogs are greatly affected by this, too. I don't know, just my 2 cents.

I went to the local tattoo/piercing place to get...

my ear lobes re-pierced! Lol I felt so lame. I sat down and this girl next to me asked what I was getting done. She was getting a Monroe, and I told her I was getting my ear lobes haha. I had my ears pierced back in like elementary school and stopped wearing them in middle school, I think. I miss being able to wear earrings and I don't want to be like my grandma and have to wear clip ons, especially with my wedding around the corner.

I was having a miniature panic attack inside lol. Turns out, my holes never fully closed - they were still actually open, but I couldn't get an earring in there. The guy just had to stretch them out a bit so he could fit an earring in there. He said I was better off coming to him than trying to do it on my own or to go to Claire's/Icing/Piercing Pagoda with those crappy piercing guns that can't ever be properly sterilized. I had very minimal discomfort. I was expecting it to hurt really bad. I'm such a wuss when it comes to pain and I hate being on the receiving end of needles! But whatever, I can wear earrings again now, yay! And since this is a healed piercing and not a new hole, I don't have to go through the whole "healing" process. I can actually switch out my earrings now if I wanted to.

yay!

work work work. I feel like that is all I ever do! Lately I've been annoyed, though. I always seem like I'm annoyed and it seems like I complain about my job way too much, but in reality, I love my job! It's just the people I work with sometimes.

I was on my unit on Tuesday, and it wasn't too bad, but we had some incontinent patients who were a "two person job." We'd clean them up and then they would be dirty again...so we'd clean them up again. I was in a room with an NA and the door was closed. This old, seasoned RN took the TIME to FIND ME, tell me "can you get a blood sugar on the two new patients that came in? oh, and weights and vitals." I told her it would be awhile and then said to me, "well, we need you over there, not over here - tell those other nurses to get off their asses instead of sitting at the nurses station." (my floor is a long hallway and when there are two of us we just split it in half). If it was so important, why don't you just do it yourself? You took the time to find me, so you obviously had enough time to get your own damn blood sugars. and weights. and vital signs. We aren't even supposed to get any of the admission stuff because it is an ADMISSION and that is the RN's responsibility, but they take advantage of us all of the time. Even if the RN is going into the room right away, they'll still delegate the vitals. It just makes me mad because it seems like getting vitals is so "taboo" for a lot of nurses.

This RN didn't do any of her admission paperwork. Nothing. This was at 6:40pm, so yes, close to shift change, but she had time. And those patients came while she was still on the clock, so they were her responsibility. The oncoming night shifters were pretty pissed off about that. I would have been, too.

Last night the tech who I have talked about in my previous posts came on at 11pm, right when I was leaving. She was being all snobby as usual. She was trying to get hired on my roommate's floor but the nurses have the final say because they conduct a staff interview. No one wants to hire her. In fact, they kept asking my roommate if I needed a job instead haha. I wish I could take them up on that offer.

Last night a family member told me "I would like to hold all breathing treatments for the rest of the night. I think his stomach is more of a priority than his breathing." Are you fucking kidding me? Thank goodness this didn't come from an RN/LPN/MD...I would be scared. I just went along with it, because I knew if I tried explaining she wouldn't listen to me.

Oh, and a call light kept going off in a room that was unoccupied. creepy...

Premier Jewelry shipment came in!

They finally came in! Now I'm regretting not ordering more stuff haha

Verona necklace. This is seriously a chameleon necklace - it looks good with EVERYTHING. that's why I wanted it. and I think it's cute!

Cairo watch

...and underneath. A majority of their watches are bangle watches like this one. I'm not much of a "watch" person but I just love the way it looks. It's like a pretty bangle bracelet and watch in one!

Main Event. Toggle closure, and there are two holes so you can adjust the size...which is great for someone like me with teeny tiny wrists. They also have a matching necklace but I didn't buy it.

♫ sway to the rhythm of love... ♫

My favorite song at the moment.

Happy Valentine's Day, everyone!

Charming Charlie!

I hung out with mama bear again today and we went to the Cheesecake Factory for lunch and then walked around Crocker Park. They had a new store next to Sephora called Charming Charlie. We decided to check it out.

I'm in love!

They sell accessories - LOTS of fashion jewelry, handbags, wallets, wristlets, shoes, scarves, coffee mugs, even clothing! Everything is also organized by color which I love. We seriously spent like two hours in that store, they had so much stuff! and everything was reasonably priced, too. I hauled three things from the store. I'm definitely going back to buy more stuff. If you have a Charming Charlie store in your area, definitely check it out!

I bought this wallet for $12! has tons of space for my cards and comes with a checkbook cover in the same pattern. *AND* it's in animal print, which I love!

This bracelet was $14. Dark gunmetal gray chain with light/dark purple and black beads and dark gunmetal gray leaves. Toggle clasp.

This bracelet was $12. Purple and pearls. Not the best picture in the world, sorry!

can you tell I love purple? :P

Tomorrow is Valentine's Day. My hubby is still in Missouri. As much as I wanted to send that Chipotle burrito, I didn't, because I was afraid E wouldn't get it the very next day and it would be sitting at the APO or something. E lives in dormitory-type housing...a two-story building with long hallways and tons of rooms that kind of look like hotel rooms on the inside. They also have a maid service. Unless the box could fit in his tiny little mail box, he would have to go pick it up.

Since I can't spend Valentine's Day with E this year, I'm going out for a nice lunch at Luigi's with one of my nursing school buddies :)

traditions.

I love getting these red packets, even though Chinese Year Year was about a week ago. My grandma is the only one in my family who still gives them, but I guess it's still kind of cool to have that "tradition." We don't have very many traditions in my family. Red packets is one, as well as observing random Chinese customs and etiquette, such as never sticking your chopsticks straight up in a bowl of rice (E does this to me all of the time and while it doesn't offend me THAT much, I think of the others around me) and showing respect to those who have passed away by bowing at their site three times...and for the Polish side of my family, we always have the traditional Christmas Eve dinner complete with oplatek (Christmas wafers and honey, I love that stuff), mushroom/noodle soup (with these $80/lb mushrooms imported from Poland), fried cod, pickled herring (which I don't eat), three different kinds of pierogi (potato & cheese, saurkraut, and plum) and of course tons of dessert lol.

Do any of you have any family traditions?

This year is the year of the rabbit. I'm a rabbit, and I'm hoping good things will come this year (passing my NCLEX, having a successful formal wedding, getting an RN job, continuing to have a happy marriage...)

新年快樂

恭喜發財, 利是逗來!

(Happy New Year)

(Happiness & Prosperity, and more red packets, please! :D)

I saw this garter at David's Bridal today. All of the Army garters I have seen I haven't really liked but I like this one. Camo + black and the Army seal :)

I still need my "something blue" and I thought about either having another blue/white garter or even buying these calla lily earrings that have 18k white gold plated calla lilies, 12mm Swarovski crystal aquamarine flowers and cream pearls. I think they are very pretty :) Of course, I need to get over my fear of needles/pain and get my ears re-pierced :)

I also still need a "something borrowed."

my charm bracelet finally came!

(took it on my phone, but of course I couldn't figure out how to rotate the picture!)

I got it this morning and I absolutely love it! Of course if I could add more charms now I probably would because she is getting some new stuff. I suggested an Army branch insignia, but for now in this bracelet that star is representing it...and also MOS insignia. E is an MP (don't hate!) and she ordered some crossed pistols charms :) And in the future I would probably add a cadeusus because I think she is getting that one too - guess that means I'll have to order another one! ;) But regardless, I love this bracelet - especially the combat boot & flip flop :)

Go check her out on Facebook: Melissa's Marvels

So I won't get to spend valentine's day with my love this year, and it's not like we ever really did anything special except go out for dinner. I'm thinking about sending him something, though. I know he can pretty much get everything he needs on post (or off) except for one thing.

Chipotle.

I think there is a Chipotle in Springfield or somewhere in St. Louis, but according to my GPS I couldn't find one. And that's still like 2-2.5 hours away. Same with Qdoba. But E loves his Chipotle.

Sooooo I'm thinking, would it be possible to overnight ship a Chipotle burrito? I'd probably skip the sour cream and cheese, and maybe get the guacamole on the side. The guac is the best part! Since it's still cold there's less of a chance of the burrito spoiling if I ship it. I'm also wondering how much it will be. I'm so tempted to do it! It would really make him smile!

:)

Wordless Wednesday

Servicemen Sunday

I wanted to spread the word about this!

Mommy Snark has started a wonderful idea called Servicemen Sunday, a way of thanking and honoring those who are serving in our Military. This week Mommy Snark is featuring Paul, husband of Amanda at Combat Boots & Diamond Rings. Be sure to check them out!

If you would like to honor a Serviceman (or Servicewoman!) go to Mommy Snark's blog and let her know about them!

Servicemen Sunday: Paul

Hope everyone is enjoying their Sunday!

question for the MilSpouse RN's!

Question:

Do you know if military hospitals hire new grad RN's or do they prefer someone with experience? I'm thinking about applying to a hospital at our first duty station but I wonder if I should even bother? Thankfully the area also has a lot of civilian hospitals so I can always try that, too.

Premier Jewelry!

Although it was at our apartment, my roommate hosted a Premier Jewelry party. It was a lot of fun! I didn't really buy a whole lot: -

*toggle bracelet that has black and silver beads and small metal chains...sounds weird but it's reeeeeally cute and pretty! that was $41.

* a bangle watch at 1/2 price ($34.50). I'm not a watch person unless I'm at work but this one is really nice and I liked the way it looked on my wrist!

* a free necklace that otherwise would have been $39! It kind of has a purple tint to it but also other colors and it seriously looks good with any color you wear. I don't know how to really describe it so when my order comes in in about a week I'll post pictures!

Because people bought stuff and my roommate was the host, she got $500-worth of FREE jewelry. And this stuff is NICE jewelry, too. This made me want to host a party on my own so I'm going to do that on April 2nd :) Tina had a decent turn out, there were 10 of us!

I also normally don't have people over. I was thinking of doing some finger foods. At this party we had chips & dips (queso, spinach & artichoke and a taco dip) along with salsa. We made swedish meatballs in the crockpot (but just the meatballs, no noodles) with Jack Daniel's BBQ sauce and they were deeeelish. For "dessert" we had cheesecake brownies and for beverages we had lottttts of wine and of course bottle water. I kind of want to stay away from that stuff and do something a little different. I was thinking chips 'n homemade guacamole dip and maybe a homemade black bean/corn/tomato salsa but I don't know what else! So I ask you, what are your favorite finger foods for a small little get-together party? I realize this isn't until April but I'm obsessive so this will constantly be on my mind until then (thankfully I'm not compulsive! lol)

I also can't wait for my Army charm bracelet to come in the mail from Melissa's Marvels :) I ordered it with the "Army Wife," yellow ribbon, a dog tag with a heart cut out, star, pink flip flop & combat boot charms and request to do green and pink beaded accents. I'll post pictures of that too when I receive it :)

Milspouse Friday Fill in!

Join in at Wife of a Sailor's blog!

1. Since most of the country has had nasty weather, what has your weather been like this week?

It started off with a really bad ice storm that covered the streets and cars and everything (thank goodness I park in a garage!)...some even lost power, but I was thankful enough that I didn't. The terrible weather stopped two nights ago and yesterday was a nice, sunny (but cold) day and today seems like it will be the same. Currently it's 18F (feels like 5F) and we'll have a high of 31F today.

2. What is/are your best money saving tip(s)?

Save coupons and buy things when they're on sale!

3. What is your favorite vehicle you have ever owned?

I'm still driving my "first car" which is a 2000 Honda Civic EX. Can't really say much. It's reliable and pretty decent in the snow, though!

4. What is a question you would like to see asked in a future fill-in?

Favorite recipe!

5. Fill in the blank. You might be a Milspouse if...

...you have lived on your own and by yourself more after you're married than before you were married, you think being 6 months away from your husband "isn't bad" and you think being a "dependent" is anything but!

I had to work last night, 3-11p. It's always hard to go back to work when you've had like a week off! Overall it was a decent evening. I ended up sitting the last 4 hours of my shift. Why is it that they have tiny little girls like me sit with the DT'ers? Overall the patient wasn't too bad - just a few anger episodes but thankfully he didn't get combative.

Some people that I work with at times I just don't like. One of the girls I graduated with (and I don't like her, at all, for various reasons) was sitting with the patient I sat with last night. At around 6:30pm she came up to me and said "umm, are one of you coming to relieve me at 7?" and I told her I was, then she told me "k, because I normally clock out right at 7." I told her I would be in there as soon as I could.

I started 7pm vitals because I didn't want the other nursing assistant to be on the floor by himself doing them. I got through half of one side and then hastily put the vitals in the computer. It was close to 7, and this girl pops her head out and asks,

"Melissa, can you come in now?"

"I will be there in a minute, I am putting in vitals and I only have a three more to do." (I admit, I was kind of bitchy about it haha)

"Okay well I don't want to get penalized or anything...."

"I am almost done, you can wait another minute, and I'll be there as soon as I can."

I got in, she apologized for trying not to "rush" me but she didn't want to get penalized. She told me that if you don't stay until 7:25pm, you will get penalized because you only have 5 minutes before and after to clock in/out. I told her technically by right, you are supposed to stay here until 7:25pm to cover for the oncoming shift. She told me "well my manager doesn't enforce that rule." Bullshit.

This is the same girl who told my roommate, "I can't wait to be a nurse so that I don't have to clean people up or do this shit anymore."

Another nurse, who was an LPN turned RN, kind of rubs me the wrong way, too. She's just not that nice. And what really pissed me off was around 6:45pm, a bed alarm was going off, so there was a patient somewhere trying to climb out of bed. I was talking to my roommate and we went to go investigate when we heard the alarm. This RN was standing right outside of the room on her COW (computer of wheels) and said "Oh she's probably just trying to get out of bed again" while Candice & I rush in there. Patient was already up and around, thankfully not on the floor and didn't hurt herself in any way. What ever happened to SAFETY being a priority (considering the fact that physiological needs are met)? Ugh.

I have to go back to work today, but thankfully only 3-7pm. I'm just not looking forward to driving! The roads were terrible on my way home last night - very slick, and for awhile I couldn't see shit because the moment rain hit my windshield, it froze.

Now I'm looking outside my window and it's a total white-out!!

Vent.

After having to wait about 2 weeks for my background check, I got a letter from the Texas Board of Nursing yesterday stating that the quality of my fingerprints were too low to be used. Wtf! I submitted *2* copies of fingerprints, too. So now I have to go back and get them done again, send them in and wait...again. This is prolonging me receiving my ATT. I wish I could just do electronic prints (because everyone does that now) but since I'm out of state I have to do the traditional ink fingerprints. Needless to say, I'm pretty annoyed about it.

Changing the subject to something totally different...is our carpet situation. I've lived in this apartment for almost 2 years. When I moved in, my roommate Tina had a cat named Jack and my other roommate Candice recently got a kitten named Milo. Both cats were very sweet. Candice paid money to have Milo declawed; however, Jack still had all of his claws. Jack started being very bad and started tearing up our carpet. The carpet is shredded (and coming up off the floor) by the entrance of our apartment door, entrance of our kitchen, by our bathroom door and by Tina's door. There's some wear 'n tear by my door and Candice's door. Then Jack got really bad - he started pooping and peeing all over the place. In one week, he pooped 4 times and peed on one of our couches once. I know he peed again one day because I could smell it, but we couldn't locate the area where it was coming from (probably was underneath one of the couches or something). Milo then started to pick up on it. The cats peed on both of my roommates' clothes a few times...thankfully I was always smart enough to keep my door closed so I never had to deal with that problem.

Tina works at a hospital about 40 minutes away from here, and when she works she just stays at her parents' house because they live closer to her work. Therefore, sometimes Tina would be gone for an entire week and ask us to take care of Jack and make sure he is fed and everything. That would also leave Candice & I to come home to the shit and piss and awful smells and leave US to clean up after him. It eventually got so bad that we gave Tina a reality check, and also told her that if she doesn't have time to take care of a cat, she shouldn't have one. Basically, we told her Jack had to go. We tried everything to get him to stop pooping & peeing but it didn't work, and our carpet is already destroyed. We've even got wear 'n tear on our doors because the cat would keep scratching them.

Eventually we got rid of both cats. Jack went to a shelter because we couldn't find anyone to take him, and Milo went to Candice's parents' house.

Got all that? lol good. The next step is to have someone look at our carpet to estimate the COST OF REPLACING IT. This carpet was brand new when my roommates moved in and they lived here for a year before I moved in. The carpet will definitely have to be replaced. Tina said she was going to have someone look at the carpet to see how much WE owe.

Excuse me, WE?

I'm estimating probably $1000-$1500 to replace it, but then again I know nothing about carpet lol. Anyway, I really do not think Candice & I should have to pay for this carpet. Candice paid a little extra money to have her cat declawed so that it wouldn't add to the problem and I was smart enough to not get a cat of my own lol. We consistently reminded Tina of the damage in the carpet and she just blew it off and said "oh it's fine." And now it's really bad and it's going to be really expensive and she's expecting us to pay for it.

I'm sorry, maybe it's just me, but I don't think that's fair. It was her cat and her fault for letting it get so bad.

She's got a grown-up RN job now. Candice is also an RN, but she agrees that we shouldn't have to pay, either. I'm still making TECH pay. That's $11.53/hr, + shift differential because I work primarily evenings. I probably won't even have my job much longer because my hospital's policy is once you're an RN, you can't work as a tech anymore...not to mention that I still have a WEDDING to pay for. Tina is getting married too, but her wedding won't be until summer of 2012, so she still has awhile. Mine is THIS MAY.

I don't know, am I being selfish about it?

On another side note, it's a nice (sarcasm) wintery mix here in Ohio. Missouri is also supposed to get part of the storm and Eddie told me last night that he was getting a snow day today. My college cancelled classes today. I wish healthcare workers could get snow days lol.