Blah

A four letter word describing psychological discontent. Blah. (as taken from "The Story of Us", a movie I watched on TV last night) Anywho, my state of "blah" is due entirely to finals. I will be taking test #1 at around 7pm, and then test #2 will be tomorrow around 1pm. There's no specific time we have to take them, just sometime today and sometime tomorrow during testing center hours. I'm surprised, I'm not even stressed. Well, a little about tomorrow's final. I can't wait until 2pm-ish tomorrow, when my husband picks me up from school and we go with our good friends to a Diamondbacks game! Although I am rather bummed that they no longer have a shot at the World Series this year (thanks Andrew for the info!). Oh well, it'll still be fun and a nice way to say "goodbye finals!!" :-)

~Abigail~

I love my husband!!

That pretty much sums it up!! You make me happy, Sweetie!! I love you! And I cannot believe our 2nd wedding anniversary is next month...

XOXOXOXO

~Meg~

Bored

Hello again! I'm bored. I'm supposed to be studying for finals, but I just can't concentrate on that stuff!! Grrr. I need a 34% on my Process final (I almost don't even want to study for that one) and a 61% on my Pharm final (because the final is worth about 50% of our class grade). So I'm more concerned about Pharm, even though I think I'll be able to get 61% without a problem. :-) I suppose I should at least review the semester's material...



In my boredom, I got a little weird. Okay, so maybe I'm always a little weird...but this time I captured it in a photo. Ha! Yesterday I was a complete bum and didn't do hardly anything and it was SO nice!! I did make peanut butter cookies, though, which my hubby has been thoroughly enjoying (and me too!). This morning I went to Sam's Club to pick up a few things and then on to Wal-Mart for a few groceries. Have I ever told you how much I love to price match?? I never do a ton of it at once cause it takes too long...but whenever we need milk or other random stuff I take a look through that week's ads and then head to Wal-Mart. Milk is $1.99 at Albertson's this week, so that's how much I paid at wal-mart! LOVE it! Hehe. I also bought the stuff to make potato soup for my hubby (he's got a cold and is home sick today). With help from my wonderful mom-in-law I was able to make a super yummy pot of the soup, and Scott loved it. :-) That's what his mom used to make for him whenever he didn't feel good, and this is actually the first time in our almost 2 years of marriage that I've made it! It was really easy and delicious! I think she makes it better though...I'll have to work on it. :-)

So now I am on the computer, with my study guides minimized and wasting time again. Grrr. As soon as I finish writing this I WILL get back to studying!!! Why does my motivation always dissappear right before finals??? It's probably because I know that no matter how much I study I will not be able to get A's at this point (trust me, I've done the calculations to figure it out!!), and I know that I'd have to do pretty badly to lose my B's....so what's the point? ::shrugs::

Okay, I suppose I'll get to it...
~Abigail~

Sigh of Relief

Yesterday went VERY well. I'm referring to the two tests I had to take, which I scored above 90% on (91% on the big test, 97% on the smaller one). I am sooooo relieved!! My teacher said that I only need a 31% on the final to pass the class. That's relieves SO much stress!!! I knew I wouldn't have to get a super high score anyway, but with only needing 31 points I could just NOT study for the final at all and probably still pass the test with a 76%!!! But I'm going to study for it because being the way I am I always want to get the highest score possible, even if I COULD get away with less. I'm funny that way. ::shrugs:: But even if I get 100% on the final I won't get an A. It's just BARELY out of reach, by like a few points. Looks like "the teacher who has never given an A" gets to keep his title for at least another semester. Drats. I won't be getting an A in my other class either, but that's another story. Her tests are just VERY hard (as in 1/3 of her tests are "select all that apply" questions and they're tricky. Ugh).

I am currently waiting for Scott to get out of the shower and ready to go so we can head to my mom's birthday dinner at Hometown Buffet (or is it Countrytown Buffet?? One of those...). After that everyone (meaning my parents, brother, Grandpa and his friend) are coming back to our house to play a game. My dad asked me this morning if that would be okay, and I said yes...although my house was in DESPERATE need of being cleaned (I haven't done any sort of cleaning beyond the basics--dishes, laundry, etc.--since the semester started!!). So that got my off my rear and I scoured the downstairs this afternoon. :-D I feel much better being in a clean enviornment. Not that it was trashy before, but things pile up and the carpet needed vacuuming SO bad!! Anyway, next week after finals I will be doing the same thing upstairs and then borrowing a carpet cleaner from Scott's family to REALLY get things cleaned. I'm excited!!

Scott's almost ready, so I'm off!! :-)
~Abigail~

Work Stuffs

So apparently work has been CRAZY lately!!! Let me give you a few statistics:
I work at Mercy Gilbert Medical Center, in Labor&Deliver/Postpartum. I am both a Certified Nursing Assistant (CNA) and a Health Unit Coordinator (HUC--fancy name for a secretary). Our unit has:
6 Labor Rooms
14 Postpartum Rooms
2 Antepartum Rooms (almost always used for postpartum)

Well, over the last few months we've had ~200 deliveries every month. With the number of rooms we have, that is not easy (they're expanding our unit, but the new part won't upen until next summer)! Last Tuesday when I was CNA we had I think 13 patients on our postpartum floor, and had overflowed 8 more postpartum patients to another floor (with our nurses, of course). It was a crazy day!! And it hasn't stopped! Apparently yesterday was SO crazy that they had to call in another secretary to help out (usually we only have one). That is huge, because they NEVER do that. And this morning I got a call at 5:58am asking me if I wanted to come in and work an extra shift as CNA because they needed two of us (and they NEVER do that either!). I couldn't because I needed to study for my tests tomorrow, but I felt bad because I can only imagine how busy it must be if they were calling me to come in as the SECOND nursing assistant!! On average we do between 5-8 deliveries in 24 hrs, but recently I think we've been doing that many every SHIFT (every 12hrs) more often than not!! CRAZY!!! September is without fail the busiest month every year.....too many people having too much fun around Christmas and New Year's, lol!! ;-) Anyway, I hope it's not as crazy when I work as HUC on Sunday...

The good news to all this crazyness is that the staff I work with are AMAZING!!! They are all experienced and take excellent care of the patients and of each other. We have each other's backs, whatever our role is on the unit. Everyone is very concerned with patient safety and satisfaction, and even though we are super busy, safety is not comprimised. Our Charge Nurses are awesome, and do a GREAT job of ensuring adequate staffing (to the best of their ability) and of keeping everyone safely afloat in the proverbial "waters" of the maternity ward, where it is SO easy to sink without good leadership. Even when the tidal waves come (you know, the 10 triage patients who all arrive at once....one complete and screaming that she needs to push, another abrupting, three with their water broken, two mid-labor, and the rest convinced they're in labor but aren't...) we don't drown (usually, lol). I love the people I work with!! :-D

If you love babies like I do, you might enjoy looking at newborn photos...you can go here to see the newborns who are born at my hospital. This is by no means all of them, I'd say about 50% of parents decide to do the photos (it's free...they only have to pay if they want to order some).

::sigh:: once again, back to the textbook...

~Abigail~

Must be nice...

I need a break from the textbook, so I'm doing a kitty post. Wouldn't it be nice to be a cat? I wonder, do they ever get bored just laying around all day?? Must be nice. :-)

Simba chillin' on the cat pole

Chloe rolling over like a dog...

I made this one my desktop at work. :-)

Simba's favorite position to lay in. Strange cat.

Watching the birds outside the window. It's fun to watch their

tails go back and forth as they follow the birds!

Chloe being fat and lazy.

Again, Simba's favorite position, lol.

One eye open to make sure I don't pull any tricks on her! Hehehe...

THE END!

(Back to the textbook...)

Stupid Bacteria...

Hello!! Odd title, I know...just my way of saying I have a UTI!!! Fun fun. Good news is I successfully treated it myself ::contented grin::. Bad news is the doctor wants me to take the antibiotics anyway ::scowl::. Let me explain (I'm going to talk about pee, so if you don't want to hear it then stop reading NOW!). Oh yeah, and be aware that I was at Family Camp from Friday evening throught Sunday afternoon....

I've never had a UTI before, but since I'm a good little nursing student, I know exactly what the signs and symptoms are. :-) My first "clue" was Friday night right before I went to bed--urgency and frequency, but only a TINY little bit of urine would come out each time...and it HURT. Same thing the next morning. So I drank an entire gallon of water, which I probably needed anyway because on Friday I had MAYBE one glass of water the entire day. So even though I drank a gallon of water Saturday, I didn't end up in the bathroom every thirty minutes. Still had the urgency (but at least I was peeing more than a tablespoon--lol), and when I did go it only hurt right at the end. Sunday same thing, only I didn't drink a gallon of water because we were driving home from Payson that day and I didn't want to be stopping every ten minutes to pee. :-D When we got home I took my temperature to make sure I didn't have a fever (I didn't feel like I did, but wanted to make sure). 97.7--perfect. Oooookay.....well since the symptoms were still there I called off of work for Monday, and bought some Cranberry capsules and juice. Monday I downed another gallon of water, probably a liter of Cranberry juice and of course took a few of the capsules along with some Ibuprofen to help with any inflammation. This time I DID have to pee every twenty minutes, literally!!! Monday evening I took my temp again (this time I was feeling pretty warm) and it was 99.3, so I went ahead and made a Dr's appointment for this morning and took some more Ibuprofen. This morning before the doctor's appointment I didn't have any of the symptoms that I'd had the previous three days (of course) and I must have done a pretty good job of treating myself because my urinalysis came back negative for a UTI. She said I must have flushed it all out yesterday and she told me I did all the right stuff (TONS of water, Cranberry capsules, Ibuprofen, etc.). But she prescribed me a five-day course of Macrobid (an antibiotic) anyway just to be sure it all gets taken care of. :-( I was trying to AVOID the antibiotics, thank you very much. And if I hadn't had a slight fever yesterday I wouldn't have even made the appointment!!!! Grrrrr! Oh well. It's a good thing I called off of work on Monday though, because there is NO way I would have been able to drink all that liquid (or pee every twenty minutes!) if I had been at work. And apparently that's what fixed me, because I haven't had any of the symptoms today.

SOOOOO, on to Family Camp!! It was SO good to be back at Mountain Meadow Ranch, and even though I was dealing with the above issue, it wasn't bad at all. Just trouble peeing, lol. I had a FABULOUS time, and I hope the church decides to go back there every year!! Scott and I stayed in Cabin #3 with his parents, sister Susan (16) and our three nephews/niece James, Katie, and Phillip. My parents set up their tent trailer right outside the cabin, so they were close by the whole weekend too. :-) Friday night we arrived at about 8pm, and pretty much just went to bed after we unloaded and set up in the cabin (I was up at 4:30 that morning for school, so I was exhausted!!). Saturday was a great day of relaxation and fun. We did a couple of scavenger hunts in the morning, and then watched the kids (and some of the adult "kids"!) play field games. I didnt' feel like running around and getting all sweaty, so I just watched and tried to read my Psychology book--I think I got through about four pages, lol. That afternoon Scott, Susan, Dave (his dad) and I all played the card game Phase 10, which took us about 2 1/2 hours. It was AWESOME!!! They were creaming me in the beginning, but I made a comeback in the middle and ended up winning the game. :-D If you've never played Phase 10 you must try it...it's great fun!! That night the whole camp had a cookout, then later on we had a big camp fire and sang some songs. Once we got tired of that, we went back to the cabin and played a couple games of Apples to Apples as a family. Sunday we had a church service, and then packed up and headed home! As you can see I did manage to get some pictures in my "historic" location by Cabin 3. :-)

Must get on to studying for my two tests this Friday....and finals are next week...AAAAAAAHHHHHHHHH!!!!

~Abigail~

Praying, Studying, Camping

Another week half gone...16 days to finals...an important decision to make. I am currently trying to make a decision concerning next semester, and would appreciate prayers on the matter. I don't want to clarify quite yet, but I assure you it's nothing bad. I have a meeting on Friday that will hopefully help me with the decision. For now, I am just praying for guidance and clarity regarding which direction to take. Studying continues (as always) and I have approimately ten chapters to read AND comprehend (two totally different concepts, lol...I wish reading meant comprehension...that would make my life SO much easier!). Oh yeah, and 65 psych drugs to memorize before next Friday's tests (yes, plural testS).

This weekend we are going on the annual Family Camping Trip with our church, to my FAVORITE place in the world: Mountain Meadow Ranch, on the Rim outside of Payson. I attended this camp through Faith Church (sister church to ours) for eleven years and have SO many good memories there. Faith Adventure Camp is one of my greatest childhood memories...I loved it so much I couldn't keep from going back as a teenager and adult. I've been so sad to have had to miss it the past few years due to summer school. :-( I may possibly start crying sometime this weekend simply because I love it up there and have missed it dearly! We are staying in my favorite Cabin: #3. I was in that cabin in 1993, 2002, and 2003. The pictures to the left are of me when I was 7 and then 17 in the same EXACT spot outside that cabin. In the first picture I am the little girl on the left, next to our counselor, and this was my very first year at camp. And then in the picture below I was one of the counselors. But these were taken in the same exact spot, and you can see the cabin number in the background directly to the right of the window. It gives me the chills, I love it there SO much. I will have to take another picture there this weekend...now its been five more years...fifteen since the first one...wow.

Well, I need to get back to reading before I have to stop to make dinner. We're having "breakfast for dinner" tonight. :-) Pancakes, eggs and turkey-bacon. Yum!

Test today!!

So it is 4:21am and I am already awake, showered and checking my email. What did I say in my post last week about mornings? Yeah. It was one of those nights last night (ha! it still is "night" in my opinion!) where I couldn't fall asleep because EVERYTHING was on my mind (particularly test stuff) and it was just too busy to fall asleep. And when I did wake up (20 minutes before my alarm, suprisingly) I felt as if it had been about half an hour and I'd been tossing and turning trying to fall asleep....not as if I had just woken up from five hours of sleep (which was the reality). I do not feel rested at all! I hope that I am able to concentrate and do well on this test today. It is imperative that I do well in order to reduce the stress of the next few weeks as much as possible! Trust me, they'll still be stressful, but it will be less-so if I do very well today. If you read this before 1pm AZ time please pray that I will have peace, a clear mind and be able to recall the information I need to!

After the test I am going to be practicing in the lab at school for IV skills check-offs tomorrow. We have to know 6 meds inside and out but are allowed to have "drug cards" to help us (2 are randomly chosen from those six tomorrow). We have to do an IV push, flush, piggy back prime and set up, and central dressing change. Not bad, but I need to practice because I've only watched them demonstrate up until this point. And I volunteered to check-off on Saturday as apposed to the 13th or 20th because I'm hoping I won't have to go in at all on those days if I just get it done with tomorrow...we'll see if I'm that lucky...:-D

Oh yeah, and my Pharm test is tomorrow, which I will be focusing on when I get home around 2-3pm today. I haven't even finished reading the chapters yet (I was reviewing for today's test!) and I need to do my outlines to help me remember the stuff....this is the teacher who LOVES multiple-multiple choice questions....which really kill me! *sigh*

You know that verse where it says God won't give us anything we cannot handle? I don't know where it is....and technically I'm putting myself through this because I signed up for it, but I know that He will be behind me and guiding me each step of the way, no matter how stressful it gets.

~Abigail~

::EDIT::

I am now home and proud to report that I got at least an 85% on the psych test!! And so far most people are passing, so maybe the class grades will go up and not as many people will fail the class! I said I got "at least" an 85% because there were 9 questions that were fill-in-the-blank style, and our teacher said that if we didn't put in EXACTLY what he "coded" the answer to be then the computer would mark it wrong so he has to go back on each person's test and adjust their scores for those problems. I anticipate that I will get 2 additional points because of that (I already know I got one of them wrong, and the other 6 I'm pretty sure I typed in exactly how he would have had them and so they're probably already included in my 85%). If I get those two additional points that will put me at an 88% for the test, and I already had an 88% test average before taking this test so essentially my grade will not change at all. Which is exactly what I was aiming for!! I was SO worried about this test. Thank you Lord for helping me to focus!! Now on to studying for tomorrow's test...

Yay for Sarah Palin!!!

Sarah Palin's speech last night was amazing!! I turned it on as soon as I got home from work last night, and caught the last half. I read the first part of her speech online this morning and it was just as good as the part I listened to. I sure hope they win, not just because they're republican and I agree with the moral issues they stand for but because I think they can actually do something to help our country pull out of this recession and finish the war in Iraq (the right way). Obama's plan scares me. He's all talk and promises (which sound amazing, I must admit) but when you look at his plans for these promises it basically just means we're going to be taxed to death and the government will have more control and say-so in our personal lives. Scary. Obama's plan is one which leads our country in the direction of a dictatorship. I'm not saying it will happen in four years, but the plan he has layed out is one step closer in that direction. It's chilling (and not in a good way!) just thinking about him as our president!! I sure hope and pray that McCain and Palin win this election!! McCain was smart in picking Palin as his running-mate because many people who were not thrilled about him are now excited to vote for him because of Palin and what she brings to the table. I was going to vote for McCain anyway, but if I had been on the fence I definitely wouldn't be any more.

GO JOHN MCCAIN AND SARAH PALIN!!!

Anxiety

Wanna hear something ironic? We're studying anxiety in psych right now (and I'm supposed to turn in a care-plan on anxiety Friday morning), and as we were going through stuff last week all of us students were nodding and laughing (what else were we supposed to do, cry?) because we could all relate way too closely!!! And you know what I just realized today?? Our finals are in THREE weeks!!! Wow. I totally thought I had more time than that. Seriously this semester has just FLOWN by. And I realize that after finals we still have a little over two months left in the actual semester, but it is all clinicals. The "test" portion of the semester will be over. We have a huge psych test this Friday, our last pharm test (besides the final) on Saturday, and then another huge psych test in two weeks on the 19th along with an insanely huge psych-med test (I have to memorize 65 psych medications and everything about them!!!) and then only one week later we have two comprehensive finals!!! Yikes. I am already wishing for September 27th to be over (our last final is that day).

I'd better pass. 80% of the class is failing right now. I'm not kidding. I have the highest grade in Process right now, and one of the highest in Pharm. The class average for each of the 4 tests we've taken is 72%. The average. On each test. Scary. 76% is the minimum passing grade. 75.9999999% is failing. I have an 88% in Process (which is the Med-Surg/Psych class) and an 84% in Pharmacology (all IV stuff this semester). I hope this weekend doesn't lower those grades..

I can totally feel the stress, and I know my body is responding to it in not-so-good ways. I may not seem overly stressed out on the outside, but my muscles are all tight and tense and I can't relax and other stuff....my cortisol levels have to be elevated, I know it! :-P

I suppose I should go study for these tests instead of creating more anxiety over them...actually, I think I'll go to bed and get some rest so I can crank out a massive review tomorrow for Friday's psych test.
~Abigail~

2nd Wedding Anniversary, etc.

Scott and I booked a room last night for our 2nd wedding anniversary next month! We will be spending one night here. I'm so excited!! It looks SUPER nice! I'm mostly excited about the pool area because most hotel rooms are all the same but this pool looks really cool! If we like it there we're going to go back this winter during the Marriott "employee tradeout", which is when the Marriott lets their employees stay at participating locations for free for 2 nights. You can go to as many places as you want, so essentially you could just "hotel-hop" for as long as you want staying in each place for 2 nights...and for FREE!! Not every location participates, but most of them do. In January '07 we went to the Tucson Starr Pass resort for 2 nights (it's BEAUTIFUL!) and this past January we stayed in Flagstaff for a couple nights. It's like a little mini-vacation and all we have to pay for is the gas and food!

It hardly seems like we've been married almost two years. It feels like MAYBE one year. I guess it's becasue we're so busy. Seriously 2008 is going by SO fast! I told Scott yesterday that it totally doesn't feel like September. I feels like it should be about June right now. I mean, I want it to go fast so I can hurry up and graduate, but I don't want time to just keep flying like this! And every time I think about my age I don't believe that I'm 22. Not because I think that's old (it's SOOO not....whoever says they feel old at 22 is nuts) but because I FEEL 18. But I've been married for almost two years, I'll be an RN in another 8 months...and 18 year olds can't say that....and I'm a heck of a lot more mature and responsible than 18 year olds (at least that's what I'm told)....so I guess I'm not 18. But it sure feels like it inside. I guess it's like my grandpa's favorite baseball hat that says "You're never too old to have a happy childhood". It doesn't matter what "number" you are, but how you feel inside. I hope I still think this in eighteen years when I turn forty!! Yikes! Lol. :-D

Yesterday I took advantage of the Labor Day sales and went shopping to fill out the "business casual" part of my wardrobe, which was sadly lacking. We really don't have money for spending right now, but we decided to make an exception and "borrow" a little from our savings account for this because I will be required to dress "business casual" for my Psychology clinicals in school for all of October....and I literally didn't have anything that would be appropriate for that (the "business casual" type clothes I had already I really would not have been comfortable in all day in a patient-care setting). I figured the best sales between now and then were the Labor Day sales, so I got permission from the hubby and took advantage of the sales. We do the same thing when he needs new pants or dress shirts for work (hit up the sales, I mean) only this time it was my turn! :-) I only spent $150 for three pairs of dress pants (that fit amazingly well! I was SO happy!), a short-sleeve "jacket", a white sweater top, four other dressy tops, two camisoles to wear under a couple of the tops, and two pairs of heel sandles (one of them was $3.99!). All in all I have four or five complete outfits for clinicals (which is perfect) and didn't break the bank to accomplish it! Let me tell you, finding pants that fit perfectly would have been worth the entire $150 themselves, but they were only $19.99 each PLUS an additional $10 off my entire purchase....so I paid roughly $53 for 3 pairs of PERFECT dress pants. Okay, I may need to hem them, but they aren't too snug or too loose (often times I am RIGHT in the middle of two sizes...super annoying) and they don't pull anywhere--they just slide right on and lay perfectly in all the right ways! JC Penny is officially my favorite store for two reasons: I continually find things that FIT me there AND the prices are unbeatable (see this post for another great bargain I found there last month!). In the end JC Penny, Kohls, Target, Wet Seal, and Charlotte Russe all contributed to the great success of my day. :-)

I need to go read my IV Therapeutics book for a test I have this Saturday. I have a psychology test on Friday, but I'm devoting Thursday to study for that one (it was supposed to be LAST Friday but it got postponed due to a testing-center mixup, so I'm already prepared for that test I just need to spend some time reviewing for it). And now on to Advanced Pain Management, Blood Transfusions, and Total Parenteral Nutrition!!

OH!! And for those of you who read my last blog and know about our stupid cat's hair-tie-eating-experience and subsequent surgery will be excited to know that we made our LAST vet payment on Friday!! YAAAAY! Now there's only $400 still on our credit card from the initial Emergency Clinic visit that needs to be paid off...but we paid back Scott's parents a couple months ago for helping us out and now we've paid back the vet, so now we don't owe any "people" just the credit card. Which DOES need to be paid off, but it's not quite the same as owing family or other individuals. I feel much relieved! (is that a proper sentence?? oh well)

A crazy nursing student who needs to study,
~Abigail~

Time For a New Hairstyle!

Okay, so I'm the worst at making up my mind about my hair. It was super super long (as in I-could-sit-on-it long) for several years and then when I was 17 I chopped it off for Locks of Love...it was still technically "long" even after losing 12 inches (a couple inches below my shoulders), but it was super short to me!

Since then I've kept it fairly long (like in the couple of pictures in the right hand column of my blog). I cut it to just below my shoulders in May '07, and now it's mid-back and I'm just tired of it being long. It's funny because when it's "short" I want to grow it out and once it's finally my description of "long" I just want to chop it off again. I told you I'm indecisive!!

Okay, so Scott and I have been watching Scrubs a lot lately, and I think I want to cut my hair to match one of Sarah Chalke's hairstyles. I've admired her hairstyle in Scrubs for awhile now and think I would like the cut...but can I cut off 6+ inches??? I don't know!!

Here are the pictures I found that I like (just different angles of essentially the same cut--I think the last one has more layers though). Eeek, I want to do it but can I cut it that short?? I just need to make myself do something new!!! Grrr!!!

Whatever I decide I will wait at least another 6-8 weeks until I need to get my highlights touched up, so I have some time to think it over...