Time is Flying

It is the last week before spring break...how did that get here so fast??

Let's play a little catch up.  Last post was almost two weeks ago, whoops!  We never lost power and finally the snow has started melting.  We actually had a really warm (I use that term loosely) weekend with sun, so our roads became a tad safer.  Erin and I have been joking that our street is essentially the luge and I call my car a sled.  It has been ridiculous to say the least.  Thankfully, the warmer temps and the sun have melted the ice on the roads, just huge piles of snow remain.  Good thing we may get a 1" dusting tomorrow morning.  In case we forgot the joy that is the snow.  Hopefully this is the end of this nonsense!!

So, after our week of almost no class, we are back at it.  I did actually have to go in this past Sunday for a review session.  Well, I didn't HAVE to go, BUT I knew I needed to go, so off I went to campus at 8:30am on Sunday.  It was beneficial and I had some concepts clarified.  It is hard to listen to power point presentations pre-recorded and no way to interject with questions.  Especially when we are learning about congenital malformations of the heart.  There are so many and it is all so confusing!!!!

I had my first exam in Leadership today.  I really was at a loss as to how to prepare for this exam.  I ended up doing a few practice tests and reading an article.  I didn't do that much prep work and somehow I passed the exam.  I always wish I would do better after the fact, but I will take my 86%!!  My next hurdle is my second peds exam, which is Thursday.  My stomach is already in knots.  I am doing a great job procrastinating a bit longer (as I sit here and type this post).  I have a service trip meeting tomorrow morning, then my follow-up appointment at my dentist, then home to be glued to my notes until I can't keep my eyes open any longer.

Speaking of the dentist, I had my root canal done this past Friday.  I do not recommend waiting 5+ years to go to the dentist for a routine cleaning.  I hope I never have to have a root canal again.  First of all, the cost is out control!!  (Again, thankful I am able to be back in school to get a better job that will have better health insurance) and second, that was not a pleasant dentist appointment.  It was definitely not as bad as getting all four wisdom teeth removed, while awake, but it was no picnic.  The dentist wondered how I was ever able to get my teeth pulled.  Apparently I have a small mouth.  I had no pain before the root canal, just mild cold sensitivity, and then after, wow!  My jaw ached for days, and I still cannot chew on the left side.  Tomorrow, I think I am getting the permanent filling.  I am so thankful I am able to get this mostly taken care of before my trip.  I will take the mild pain and discomfort now in place of immense pain of having a nerve exposed while away from home!

Ok, I have taken enough of a break, back to the grind. 

Snow Day #7

Ok, so this is just getting ridiculous!  We are currently getting hit with yet another winter storm.  This one promises to bring 6-10" of snow with periods of ice and sleet and 40mph wind gusts.  The poor people who lost power (for days) with the storm last week will probably lose power again.  I am cranking the heat up and keeping my phone and laptop plugged in, just to be safe.

We received an email stating that our school is allowing faculty to arrange with students, select Sundays to make up missed classes.  Fortunately I have not heard anything from the nursing school about making up lectures on Sundays!!  That would be insane!  We have the luxury of listening to our missed lectures that our professors are recording for us.  It really isn't the best situation, but it sure beats going to class in this mess AND trying to teach myself.  I do miss physically being in a lecture, as I do ask questions when I am not clear on something.  Looks like today will be filled with automated power points, and some baking :)

In other news, I finally took myself to the dentist.  It has been too long!  Apparently I have great teeth because they were thrilled at the condition of all of my teeth, except for one.  I have made it 32 years and now I face my first root canal.  Awesome.  Thankfully I am not in pain, but as the dentist said, it's a time bomb.  All of a sudden, I will be in extreme pain.  Clearly, I want to avoid that, so I am getting this taken care of ASAP.  Unfortunately my insurance covers NONE of this.  I do get the insurance rate, or discount, as they referred to it, but holy hell, it is expensive!  My goal is to get it done before I leave for my service trip on March 3.  Hopefully this is possible!

Speaking of the service trip, we had another meeting about it yesterday.  It went well.  We asked a lot of questions and got more info about what are days will entail.  I am paired up with another student and we will be teaching the importance of study skills.  Their high school drop out rate is 65%!! Crazy!  The four girls, including myself, will also be teaching about puberty, as I think I have mentioned previously.  We have to have an outline to give to our instructor by Wednesday to show what we have planned so far.  We all have said we are getting nervous because the trip is coming so fast, but once we get to the airport and are ready to leave, our instructor says we take on the motto "whatever happens, happens!"  This already lessened my stress!  We also got a little bit of money back form the scholarship we received.  That will either go towards paying off my plane ticket, OR my dentist bill.  Either way, it was much appreciated.  We also shouldn't have to pay for anything else for the trip.  Thank you again fabulous friends and family for donating to our trip!!  We are all set up to make a difference!  We are also bringing the kids t-shirts from our school, and gifts for those who are hosting us. 

Ok, time to get off the computer, make some breakfast, and then back to the computer to get going on some school work.  Hopefully we don't lose power today!!

Snow Days 4, 5 and 6

Well, I have officially been out of school more than in school this week.  We had Monday off, had class Tuesday, which was great because we were able to do our presentation.  Bragging moment; our instructor told our group we were the best presentation she has seen on our topic!  Whew!  So glad that is over and didn't have to be rescheduled.

I knew another storm was coming, but didn't really think it would be that bad.  Well, as Tuesday night went on, schools began to close.  Erin had a two hour delay, which was good because we had major ice all over everything.  She was glad to not have another snow day as they will have to make up any more days they have off, which is never fun.  I am typically off on Wednesdays, so the fact that school was closed didn't really impact me.  I stayed home and admired all the ice covered trees.  As the day went on, news reports were out that the state was declared a state of emergency and thousands of people were without power.  I cranked the heat up and plugged in my laptop and phone, just in case we also lost power.  We were the lucky ones, never lost power.  Later that day, word came out that my school lost power and heat so they closed for Thursday and Friday.  I am also typically off Fridays, but this week had a simulation lab day.  Needless to say, that has been rescheduled.  We also missed two classes Thursday, so we will have to listen to prerecorded lectures and essentially have an online class for this week.  My classmates and I were commenting back and forth on Facebook and wishing they could just make our next exam a take home!  I better not push my luck. 

I was talking to my brother today, to wish him a happy birthday, and he brought to my attention that this time off is kind of acting like my spring break.  I will be on a service trip for my whole spring break, so I am making the best of down time now.  I need to get more motivated and get more work done!  I have done some organizing, and took care of personal things, like finding a local dentist and making an appointment.  It has been awhile since I had my teeth cleaned, so of course, neurotic me, is already whining to Erin.  What if they tell me I have to have all my teeth pulled and give me dentures!?!?!  Dramatic, yes, yes I am. 

Tomorrow, my last day off (and hopefully my last snow day of this winter) will be to get my lab prep work done AND I am going to attempt to re-caulk our stall shower.  Should be an adventure!  Maybe I will post some pictures :)

Snow Day #3

Well, we got blasted with another snow storm.  This time we have about 8" of the wet, heavy variety of the white stuff.  It started out as rain and then, bam!, crazy white out for the next many hours.  I received a text from my clinical instructor (at 4:30am) telling our group clinical was cancelled for the day.  I promptly finished straightening my hair, which is what I was doing at 4:30 in preparation for my day in the hospital, and crawled right back into bed.  I slept in until 8:15!  Probably due to waking up every hour in a panic that I missed my alarm. 

Erin also had yet another snow day.  We have been lounging, watching some quality tv (The Walking Dead), shoveled the snow, and ate some yummy meals.

Banana French Toast for breakfast...

Homemade Nachos for lunch....

And I plan to make lentils for dinner.  I love snow day cooking!!

Here is a look outside...

And our poor pup, he gets so many snowballs stuck in his over grown hair.  Poor guy needs a haircut! 

Yes, that snowball fell off of Jackson.





Tomorrow, I assume we will be back in school.  I have class bright and early at 8:30, so I may leave around 6:45 to make sure I get to school on time!  I also have my group presentation in the afternoon, so that means dressing up and trudging through the snow.  Awesome.

Back to being lazy with my Erin!

What a Weekend

This weekend was packed full.  It started out with my first exam of the semester.  I spent a fair amount of time studying on Wednesday, before my parents arrived.  I also spent a lot of time cleaning and getting the house ready for their stay.  Erin picked my parents up at the airport on her way home from work.  My sister came over and we ordered in dinner.  It was great to see everyone and to talk about the next day, my sister's big defense!  I spent the rest of the evening cramming more peds info into my brain.  I was pretty nervous and not feeling prepared, but headed into the exam Thursday morning trying to stay positive.  Right after the exam, we had the review where we get to see all the answers and the rationale for each test question.  There was some drama as to how some questions were worded.  Overall, I did ok, could have done better, could have been a lot worse.  After the review, I ran outta there and headed home.  Once home, my parents and I headed to campus to meet up with everyone and make our way to the defense.  My sister's friends, my brother and his fiance, my parents and I made our way in the freezing cold, to the defense.  My sister did amazing!  She is ridiculously smart.  I couldn't be more proud of her!!  After the defense, we headed to her lab for a reception and finally out to a fantastic dinner where we ate sooooo much food!  It was great to have my whole family around a dinner table, eating and laughing.  Sadly, my brother and his fiance had to leave after dinner to head back home for work the next morning.  The rest of us headed to a bar where my sister had a bunch of friends waiting to congratulate the new Ph.D.!  I didn't last too long as I had to get up early the next day.

Friday, I was up early and headed to campus to meet my group for our big presentation on Tuesday.  It went well and we are more than ready to teach the class for 75 minutes.  Of course I will be nervous until after we are done.  After the meeting, I took my parents food shopping with me in preparation for dinner at our house with the new Ph.D., Erin, her parents and my parents.  It was a nice visit.  My parents and Erin's really get along well.  We even had a visit from Ozzie, their crazy dog.

Saturday, was another big day, up early and headed to my sister's to help her pack up and move.  It was exhausting!  Up and down stairs, packing up boxes, taking apart furniture, eating hoagies the size of our heads, and finally calling it a day.  We then all headed back to our house, went out to dinner and eventually headed to bed.

Sunday, up really early to sadly, take my parents to the airport for their early morning flight.  Thankfully, they made it home smoothly, despite the snow and ice back in Michigan.  Gross.  The rest of the day I spent with my sister, finishing up her move.  We cleaned her old room, took apart more furniture, cleared out her old house, and got everything in her new apartment.  I stuck around to help her reassemble her bed and desk and get some order to her room.  We realized this was her fifth move since we moved to Philly, so we have taken apart and put back together her bed and desk at least five times.  We are now, clearly pros.  Thanks IKEA for your easy to assemble bed!  Once she looked like she had a handle on the rest of her settling in, I headed home.  I promptly passed out for an hour.  I clearly can't hang like I used to!  My body is destroyed from helping her, my hands ache and my back and neck are so sore!  I am getting OLD!  The rest of the evening I have spent with my Erin and our tired pup.  Jax has been so sleepy!  He must be exhausted from all his entertaining this weekend!  We also have had the Superbowl on, clearly for Erin to watch and me to ignore!

Erin and I are both watching the weather updates as we are both hoping for a snow day tomorrow!  We could be getting 4-8" of heavy, wet snow tomorrow starting early in the morning.  I don't want to miss a peds clinical day, BUT, I certainly wouldn't complain if I get to lay around and catch up on school work all day ;)