Veterans Day
Another year to say thank you and to post my favorite picture of my dad.
To all who serve. Past, present, and future. Thank you.
Monday Was A Good Day
Two quick pics to keep this site interesting and I am going to get ready for work. Monday was a good day for my viewing numbers–Thank you all for following me!–and it was good for life in general. I felt very good and healthy. Very glad to be alive and thankful for life and family and a job that allows me to have days off during the week. Living the dream, for realz. Haha. Anyhoo, I also managed to accomplish most of my list goals, including shop for food for the fam for the rest of the week while I am at work, and laundry. Sort of. It’s not piled up on the floor, so it counts. I had a hawk in the backyard, first thing, yesterday morning, 7 AM. A hawk. Just sitting there, on the ground, under the bird feeder, scaring away every other species of wildlife in the area. No joke. Not one other animal-like creature, be it bird, squirrel, butterfly, chipmunk, rabbit, etc…, was in my yard the entire time the hawk sat there. And it was very quiet too. No sounds. Not even bugs and insects dare make a peep when the top-of-the-food-chain predator for our little suburb decides to pop a squat after a long night of hunting or whatever it was doing. Of course I got pictures. About 100. Wait until you see them! This is the enticing, hanging story line, that I am using to bring you back tomorrow. I have to sort the pics and pick out the non-blurry ones. And I truly do not have time. As usual, I am pushing my “wasting” time into my actual “need to go” time. If it’s a good night tonight at the old general store, I will post them later, if not, then in the AM when I crawl out of bed. This is the nice time of year for weather around here so everyone enjoy and I will be back. Later.
Awkward Transition. Back To The Random and Irrelevant. Without Comment If I Can Keep My Yapping Typing Fingers Silent.
But see?? I can’t NOT write something. I just made the title longer. I have a disease. And a free space that allows me to say as much or as little as I like. And it’s never “little”. Or less. Every time I really find myself going on and on here, I remember a moment from my other life, when I had an office job, and I had to actually type memo’s and e-mails and crap (so missed sometimes that I can’t even believe I ever wanted to have a different job, like, a specific kind of job, that you could put on a coffee cup—you know, those mugs that have sayings on them that kids buy for their parents on Mother’s Day or Father’s Day, “I Love A Nurse” or “#1 Nurse”—what a load of horse crap! I miss the train. I miss sitting on my butt for most of the day. It’s true I guess, we are never satisfied. Poopy American ideology. Digressing…running off the rails here…I think this is enough extra thinking for a parenthesis. Even my side thoughts are ridiculous. Did you even remember we were in a parenthesis? Why do I want to keep typing the word “parenthesis”??) Anyway…old job…memo’s…e-mail…I had to write them…and I sent out some really big, long thing and one of the receivers sent me back a critique of the e-mail/memo, without actually commenting on the content, that I should try and keep it short, and with bullet points, because no one is interested in reading a novel about kitchen supplies or office equipment. Good observation and helpful feedback (this is what the bosses call “constructive criticism” I believe) but some times, some things, require a long worded paragraph or five, to get to the meat of the matter.
This particular post today though, is not one of those times. This is just me with too much time (and an apparently super-functioning italics key) (more parenthesis) (sick I tell ya!) and no good way to transition from touching family post to a giant pink elephant wearing glasses. I have given up on any kind of theme to this blog (that description word is for my cousin Lorraine–blog–yucky word–we need to invent a new word to call this ridiculousness) or any kind of continuity. It will just be random, as usual. Back to the business of silliness and bird pictures.
Andrew is still out there saving the world one push-up and airplane jump at a time, and I am staying at ground level, typing and entertaining, with the occasional nursing care interventions and strategies thrown in, that I have to call my job now. We all got our thing going here. The world keeps spinning. Time is a ticking. Think global. Act local. That’s the theme I guess over all. The world is bigger than one person. Really too big for one person. You have to have back-up. And a place in the scheme of things. Or at least the desire to have a place. And a good plan to get you there. The bigger picture is waiting. Draw yourself in any way you can.
Well, that kind of worked out all on its own. Not a bad way to wrap this up.
Hmmm. Satisfied face. (Stevie, that’s for you.) “Turtle Face” if you watch New Girl. (Nick makes “the face” all the time. I will find a good picture and post it asap. It’s funny. You probably make the face all the time in your life too and don’t even realize it. Once you become “aware” you can never go back. Fair warning.) And if you already know what I’m talking about, give me a shout out. In fact, send me a pic of that face, of yourself, a friend, a stranger, or anywhere else you see it. Hmmm. Double satisfied face. I feel a new category coming on…an exciting new feature to head into winter with…a theme if you will…I will stop now….
So there you have it. Without comment. Later.
It’s All About The Family
Even if I don’t do anything else today but this, I will consider it a superior day off. This is my cousin and her beautiful family. They have graciously allowed me to post their picture and talk about them today. That would be Linda to the left (she comments quite hilariously from time to time, as you may have read here if you follow along this little bloggy thing, and/or actually read the comments) and her hubby Chris to the right. The girl in front is their daughter Meranda and the boy in the back is their son Andrew. It’s not really fair to call them “girl” and “boy” anymore as they are now grown adults and living their own separate lives. The way you do when you have awesome parents to raise you and send you out into the world equipped with the knowledge and skills you are going to need to battle on through, and the security of knowing that no matter what happens in this life there are people around who will always have your back and guide you safely home if ever need may be. And that’s a good thing.
My family spent Saturday night hanging out with this family, and all my other family, to wish that man in the back a safe goodbye from our little corner of the world and into the wide open spaces of everywhere else. Andrew is leaving on a plane today and heading to Georgia, where he is going to become a soldier in an easy 15 week program we like to call job orientation. Yeah right. Look at that beautiful boy with that gorgeous curly hair. Tomorrow he will be bald and uniformed up, in the company of a hundred other beautiful sons, from all over America, running running running running until he’s too tired to even eat or sleep, and then running some more. The ultimate goal here is to jump jump jump jump. Andrew wants to fly. But not in the plane. He wants to soar into the sky as high as the machinery can take him and then leap out into the open blue and let the winds bring him safely back to earth. Airborne but rock steady. We raise these kids with our best ability to dream as big as they want, go forward as far as they can, and rise as high as their minds can ever imagine. But we usually like to keep them on the ground. Safe with us. Safe with family. Safe with friends. Just…safe. But when we do get that rare chance to see a sweet little boy turn into a strong young man, well, it’s really hard to try and hold them down. You just have to let them fly. And you have to trust that they will come back to you.
I feel so lucky to have been able to be there on Saturday to say goodbye. And to wish Andrew well on his journey into the clouds, and above and beyond, but still on the ground. (I hear there might be some sort of daily exercise routine that encompasses calisthenics and trail walking. Like a vacation spa! They even feed you for free!) Ha ha. I have to joke somewhere because sometime it’s necessary. And that’s who we are. Anyway, good luck and god speed, to someone who is already fit to live in this world quite successfully, but will return as the new and improved version of the extraordinary young man he already is. Take as much care as you can. Keep your feet clean and dry.
Love and more love to all.
Chris and Linda, you guys did really really good. Your kids are awesome. Period.
And then, THREE MONTHS later…
Yada yada yada. I’m back. Just like that.
Let me explain. No. There is no time. Let me sum up.
Still dealing with the poop and the pain on a daily basis. It has been 5 months now and I believe that I am finally settling in. Relaxing. Using the skills and critical thinking tools I was armed with from the start. They said it would all make sense. They said it would get “better”. And it has. It is. I no longer go into panic mode every day at 2 pm when I am about to walk through the doors of hell and into the fire pit. It’s not hell. It’s my job. And so far it’s good. And from what I have been reading from some of my fellow classmates who have been working in various other locations, my job ain’t all that bad. Plus, I lost 30 pounds! Bone. Ass. (!!) Seriously.
The kids are great. My son graduated, as scheduled, from the 8th grade and is now moving onto high school. We had him a little party two weeks ago that I think was an awesome success. Most of you all were invited. And most of you all came! He had a blast and was super thrilled to see how many people would come over to our tiny little house and pack in and eat every last scrap of food, including the cake (a full sheet). And then stay through the ever hilarious, gods of weather, thunder and lightning show and torrential downpour of rain that we hadn’t had for over two weeks, but picks our party night to decide that the clouds are full enough.
The next day, we wake up to a burst water pipe in the front yard. Flowers and landscape timbers floating all over the front. A giant mound of grassy water bursting through the ground. Like a giant pimple on the day of the big prom. But we had our moment. One day earlier and all would have been lost. I still cried though. I pictured the sidewalk gone, the driveway gone, most of my front grass…it truly looked like water was pouring out from everywhere.
But in the end it was just a few hours with no water and no toilet, some splattered mud, and 100 degrees of fun for the village workers who fixed it asap. Luckily for them we had cases of water chilling in the backyard coolers. Now I just have one, big, muddy spot near the front of my grass where it meets the sidewalk. And two, square, bracer divots where the back hoe sat digging up the nearly perfect lawn that my son had been working on all spring.
Next up, football training camp. For the boy. Not me. It has already started and ended for the first session. Those first few days were not good. Lots of work. Lots of drills. Lots of getting knocked down. The mandatory vomiting due to extreme physical exercise that one is unprepared for. Could never be prepared for. But now I think he likes it. He’s part of the team. And the team is good.
It also helps that he’s the second biggest player on the whole team. Freshman and Varsity. Respect for the linemen. Especially when they get right back up and don’t complain. Plus, they get free lunch! Football player perks! FYI…that, above, is a good illustrative picture and an excellent book for teenage boys. Read it if you want a fast story with humor and drama and sports. Young adult is the way to go lately and I am not the only one that thinks so.
But I digress. Moving on…
The girl is just as cool as ever. An awesome little chick that is fast maturing from girl to teenager to young adult. Transitioning this year from 7th grade to 8th. Last year of Jr. High. Of course she’s in the NJHS, (National Junior Honor Society), and they had a great ceremony at the school to celebrate the smarticles of all these hard working kids.
And did I mention FIRST place, OVERALL, at the Science Fair this year? Yep. First. Place. Over. All. She’s interested in her friends, boys, clothes, hair and makeup, but still found the time to go hang with her aunty and her bestest cuz Elexa for a week, just because she hasn’t been there since spring break, and she missed her!
Good kids I got, for real. As for today, this very minute, they are gone from me again. As they do every year, they have left for Kentucky, with their dad, to visit their grandma and stay for the week over the Fourth of July. They left at 10:30 am and the house is quiet. The way it used to be, before the BF, and after my little ducks would leave the pond for a long trip somewhere else. It’s non-stop, fishing, swimming, and boating, on the lake or in the pool. I don’t expect to hear from them because the days blend when you are on that kind of vacation. Plus they’re 13 and 14. They go where the day takes them. But they have technology now and pictures will be posted. So we can all follow along. Yoodle yoodle yoodle yoodle! Live action!
Oh yeah! I almost forgot! Another tree limb fell in the back yard! You can see it in the picture hanging on the phone line.
And here you can see it denting the metal table we have on the patio. It pretty much fell straight down into the yard from the tree. Luckily we were able to move it ourselves and get it off the AT&T line. The real tragedy would have been losing internet access. And that is no lie or exaggeration. Ipods and XBox really don’t work very well without it. Our whole life revolves around those wireless connections. But we still need the wire outside to connect us. The tree did pull it down pretty low though. AT&T came out and pulled it up tight, just in time for the party. And one of the BF’s friends came and removed all the extra stumps and wood logs we had lying around from the last year. It’s scary empty in the back. And it’s weird not to have the constant reminder that we live with these insidiously malevolent trees that decay from the inside, but attack on the outside. No warning. You can see how sunny and pleasant it looks in the picture. Because it was. You hear a loud boom. A rattling jangle of metal. A heavy thunk. It’s not even windy. Whatever. Pick it up. Move it to the back. Plus, it’s the perfect opportunity for your son to use the chain saw for the first time. Yes. He was super excited. Yes. There are pictures.
And because I just scrolled through all my pics in the last few months…
A random crawfish strolling across our back patio. Big too. Don’t know where he came from. Don’t know where he was going. Haven’t seen another one since. I might have even already mentioned him. If not, there you go.
Mother’s Day.
Found money. Seriously. We found this 100 dollar bill folded up, laying on the ground outside of a store in the parking lot. Most money we have ever found in our silly game. (Street Money. You can click the link to the right or this whole sentence, and read all about it.) For the record, we did go back and try to see if anyone had lost any money. Nope. Ours to keep. I promised it to the kids, to split, if they would remove every single weed from the bricks on the back patio in preparation for Mason’s party. They did. In fact, they removed every single paver and brick individually, weeded all around them and put them all back in place. In about 4 or 5 hours. Money. The great motivator.
The Avengers!
Best red blend and white blend. Ever. And I don’t like white wine. Never drink it. Tried it on a whim because it got reviewed deliciously. Not even going to explain why. Just buy them and try them. Good price too. Less than 15 dollars. You will not be sorry.
As for me, I thought I would finally catch up here. I don’t have time to really do anything any more because my work schedule is shit. 3-11. Not conductive to a social life. You work, you sleep. You go back to work. If you make the effort to get up in the day, you will be tired by the night. But you really won’t. You get that second wind. And because you stay up those few hours after work like you would if you worked in the day, the hours eventually start to run into each other and you spend your day off sleeping until noon. Or later. Then the only thing you can do is play phone games (highest score for me so far!) and watch old re-runs of shows you used to love and try to take back the life you once had.
So, I couldn’t help but wonder, am I going to wrap this up or keep typing like I have nothing else to do?
Truth is I do have something else to do. The BF has booked us a nice hotel room away from our town and made reservations at a restaurant that we have never been to. We have a birthday party, with drinks, to go to after and then, who knows? He is out with his friend test-riding a motorcycle trip right now in preparation for the 4000+ mile motorcycle trip they are going to take at the end of the month. And I promised I would be ready by 3. I am lucky. For the first time since I started this job, I have had two, whole, glorious days off, that I got to spend, every minute, with my kids. And soon I will have these two more, glorious days off to spend with the BF. And I have received the ultimate gift of 4 whole hours, of pure alone time, smack dab in the middle of a long weekend off. The house is clean. The dishes are done. The beds are made. The laundry is washed. And dried. Folded. And put away. My overnight bag is already packed. The flowers are watered and weeded and dead-headed. The grass is cut. The sky is blue. The sun is shining. The birds are singing. (And happy and fat with lots of food available in all the feeders.) My legs are already shaved and my hair is the perfect color. Finally. Let’s just type this last sentence and go hop into the shower.
That’s the motorcycle. Which just pulled up and is my cue to really put this thing to bed so I can go have a nice night out on the town. “Out on the town.” That’s funny sounding right? Kind of old fashioned.
And for those playing along with my TV/Movie reference game, I’d like to thank Seinfeld, The Princess Bride, Call of the Wildman, and Sex and the City. There’s another one in there, I think, that I cannot place. I even called my girl for help but she’s already on vacation time and the connection was lost. It’s kind of funny how in this saturated media world we can never be sure anymore if our words are even our own.
Anyway. Hopefully. This post, after so long without, will bring me back to every day. I have been taking pictures and keeping a list of ideas and things to write about this whole time. And I’m telling ya’, some of it is pretty good. And some of it is a lot of birds. I am still obsessed with getting pictures of all the birds that fly into my backyard. Cardinals, hawks, woodpeckers, mourning doves, red-winged blackbirds, hummingbirds, and this year, we have blue jays! I’ll try to minimize the pictures of the sky though. The kids have already told me no more sky pictures. No one cares. It’s enough. And be funny. Funnier. Only the laughs. So here’s to turning a new leaf while still hanging off of the old tree. Birds. Lots of birds. Sitting.
And in the sky.
I hope you enjoyed today and will continue to follow again through the summer and beyond. I appreciate all my readers for hanging through the flood and the drought. This is me, in my life again. I mean, it’s the same life as before, but with better time management. Have a great day and night wherever you are and whatever you are doing. Stay safe. I will talk to you. Later.
L.
Friday the 13th
That was a fast week. We’ve been baking out here in the Midwest for the last few. I’m breaking on the P90x for today. I was up too late with the kids watching meteors. Shooting stars all over the sky. We were out at about 2:30 a.m. and seeing them pretty regularly. So fast. It was clear and dark, even with the other house lights around. It’s worth it to stay up because there’s just so much beyond our little world and the kids need to see for themselves. It’s hard to understand the vastness of space from books and tv until you see a flash and streak of light across the sky and know that we are in the middle of a moving universe.
But I feel loopy enough. I caught back up with my days. 31 for Core and 32 for Kenpo. I was feeling worn out and lumpy and had to push play and push through. I am thisclose to real, off-the-knee pushups. That Core dvd is killer. I don’t know if it’s because of the recovery week that my arm muscles feel stronger or because they just are. Either way, I was feeling good. Then I Kenpo’d in some tight running pants and my belly was looking kind of flabby. I could let it all hang or suck it in whenever I’m standing. Sometimes you just want to push it out and let it go! That’s when I knew I had to take the pics again. So I did. You really need to see the progress from Day 0 to Day 30 to Day 60 to Day90. I was skeptical, as usual, because I have no intention of ever letting anyone see these pictures. I hate looking at them. But I did and I do see some changes. Subtle. A little less hang here, a little more indent there. An actual horizontal dividing line on my upper arm from the muscle area and the fat area. I’m hoping for bone show but I’m not there yet. At least you can see that there is something underneath all that skin besides fat and cellulite! Yay!
But the pictures were not enough to make me put the Yoga in and get sweaty. I wanted to take a nice long shower and get dressed. I had alot of house things to do and school stuff to finish. Speaking of, I have all my books now for fall! Very exciting. After yesterdays workout I took the kids for the final school shopping blitz. Supplies, clothes, books (mine), and backpacks! Done done done. I have heard over the years that kids get more expensive as they get older but I didn’t believe that either. Well, it’s true. It’s not crazy expensive, but it’s not dollar-store-bargain-bin.
Well I just got word my tree is about to come down in 45 minutes so I have to go get some money to pay the people. And I have to read that damn motorcycle book again and answer the back questions. I have a test to take tomorrow if I want to get my license. Step 1 of 2. Then I have to pass the drive test. Nail bites!
Alright enough. I really have to go. I’m going to make myself sick worrying all over again. I should lay off the coffee. I think it’s giving me the shakes. I’ll be back. With pics. Later.
A breather….
OMG! I hate to be such a loser….but this semester is kicking my butt. I’m fine in grades but weary with the work. I want to be in my job. I know that’s not possible yet, but everyday I feel like I am earning more coins, leveling up, familiarizing myself with things that made no sense just 5 weeks ago.I liken it to driving. Every time I leave my school, my hospital, my classroom, I think about driving the car on the way home. When I was sixteen it seemed so foreign and difficult to do while doing anything else! My grandma would drive with the tips of her fingers barely on the wheel, moving stuff around in the seats and reaching behind her while talking, adjusting the radio and dangling a cigarette out of the corner of her mouth (I have never smoked, but I so badly wanted to be able to do just that. I don’t even understand the mechanics that were holding it there, lit and burning and smoking into her face and eyes. How did she ever drive like this?? and no seat belts either! Amazing.) These days I can talk on the phone (try not too though, but I could) yell at the kids, change the stations…barely even think about the rules of the road and the traffic and the lights. I just know. I’ve been doing it for a long time and I just know. I am anxious to see how my children will do and so excited for them and all that stands before them. Driving is just one tiny thing in a million things that they have to look forward to and I want to be here for all of it.
But that is really off my track already, and I don’t have alot of time. My breather spaces are short. My clinical day is done, but I have skills and a test to prepare for next week. Quote time: The days are long but the years are short. My days are not short this time around. They seem way too fast and without alot of night-time. I am awake more than I am ever asleep and I never catch up. Summer. I will sleep in the summer. So here is what I have to say for today.
So many things are happening everyday in my small, small, world that aren’t worth the air waves it takes to move this stuff around. And then there are so many things happening in the BIG world that I can’t even post about without crying and because I don’t have the words required to convey my thoughts. Haiti…death in a big way, on a grand scale, pulling the world together in an effort to make any kind of difference at all. And across the big lands…the Olympics…life in a big way on the grandest scale, pulling the world together to watch and wonder at how there is no difference when you run at the highest levels. It’s still all luck and chance and the right place and the right time with the right people and the right equipment to keep a dream alive or crumple it in defeat. I know that the skill is there. I know the years and training it takes for some of these athletes to get in the position to just try. But all the training in the world can’t help if the mountain shakes unexpectedly or the land just drops. One small bump. If you can’t keep your balance, it’s all over.
The thing I like the best in any tragedy and any victory is that everybody, every single person sharing the experience, cries and laughs and cheers with the heartbreak AND the victory. People try to help when they can, and not make it worse, if that’s possible, when it matters. It is my absolute favorite thing about the human race. We do come together when we have to. And we have to. We just really do. I always said I would want to live away from all the people, but you can’t really “live” without all the other people. Otherwise, it’s just you. One person, alive, living. If there is nothing else, there’s really just, nothing. Another lesson learned through better living. Ha. That was a little joke because this quick post took a real serious turn and I want to get on FishWorld! (What?? I know. I hear you. It is pathetic.) Just living life!
So anyway, I just wanted to acknowledge the world out there for a few minutes. Haiti, the Olympics, Captain Phil Harris passing away(sadsadsad), the SuperBowl and New Orleans (Yea!!), Chicago, my new friend Merianne and my old friend Beverly (Hey ladies!!), my family and all the kids we know, the BF’s family and his cousin Scotta still fighting the bad blood and staying hilariously upbeat about it (she’s got a website too, trying to pass some time—you can check it out—www.thepapergal.com—and I’ll get you the background info as soon as I can do it justice—newsbreak–I’m going to post the whole note she sent to me right below this one) all the good stuff and the bad stuff and the ridiculous stuff me and a thousand other “bloggers” like to write about. Did you know that Angelina Jolie has a new hair style?? And that Conan O’Brien grew a beard?? I did. But I haven’t had time to give you my opinion. And now I won’t. I missed Valentine’s Day too. VD as all us “older” students say and laugh our butts off. Venereal disease is not funny, but it is funny that people say VD for Valentines’s Day. And venereal diseases are now STD’s and the hilarity goes on and on…so you see where MY head is at. I don’t even choke anymore! I aspirate! Pretty funny huh??
I am ending this here. I stopped with the facebook jewel game that was keeping me up at night, but I swapped the addiction for a bunch of cartoon fish in a virtual fishtank, so I have to go feed my fake fish to grow them big enough for me to sell and buy more. Gotta level up! I think I’m like 26. That’s nothing in the fish world. I’m just a guppy. So I plan on a few more posts. I have found alot of change….in case I didn’t already tell you, we have had several mini-storms of snow in the past few weeks, and at the same time, someone must have dumped a cup holder full of pennies into the parking lot at school, and I have been finding them in giant clumps (like dumped out rock salt) on the ground. So, they’re pretty dirty and salty, and there’s alot! (Just one last little thing regarding my age…I originally typed in that previous sentence, “someone must have dumped an ASHTRAY full of pennies…” and I realized that some people might actually be confused on how an ashtray could have gotten into a car! All you oldies like me, think about it now for a second before you poo-poo me. When was the last time you SAW an actual ashtray in a newer car?? They don’t put them there anymore. Our kids will never know that it used to be an actual feature of a car! Isn’t that hilarious? Don’t you feel old?!?)
OK, I’m REALLY leaving on that. Enjoy what ever you do in the next few days,weeks, months, years of your life…I’m in Chicago. It’s Thursday afternoon and 41°. I haven’t gained any weight lately and I feel pretty good. I hope the same for you!
And pictures. Pictures make it better. Peace.
And since I’m posting…
Let this be my personal little reminder so I can bring you all the news that’s fit to print. Ha. That’s why I have my own personal web blog here, so I can put whatever I want out there and no one can tell me it’s stupid. Well, you can tell me it’s stupid but I don’t have to approve the comment.
Looking back on some of my other stuff…I have music, sushi, exercise, mysterious dish soap in a bowl on a table, quotes, words, commercials we like, Pat Tomasulo stuff, Germany, pie!…
This is turning into a grocery list. (It’s all for you sister…haha) Speaking of groceries, I was supposed to go get some—all part of the healthy eating initiative I started again—but, alas, the internet got me and it’s too late to go out and then make something. We’ll just have to get something from the fast food world. Darn. I will be running again tomorrow so it should be fine. (I ran yesterday–3 miles! I just wanted to put that out there! And I’m falling in love with hard boiled eggs again. Gross.) I also need to get to the laundry, another plan for the day since I am not going to study, but that didn’t happen either. Interesting note about the jeans I have on. I noticed that all of my pants are getting kind of snug (hence the new plan) plus, my scrub top is getting a little too scrubby and snuggy, so I start working out and I swear, my pants feel even tighter! What the?? Oh well, my son is hovering over me to finish this up because he can’t do his homework in a timely manner when that tv is on…so I better go. Sixth grade should only be done once in your life…
SuperFastUpdateForTheSeventeenPeopleStill
Following This Mess…Even though there is NOTHING new to read. I mean, I like my writing style, and I think that I am pretty interesting, and there is alot of stuff in past posts that you should totally check out…but I am straying off my original path here….
Since I had a comment (thanks Jesse!) I thought I’d throw down a few words and let the last of November fade out with a quick update.
This is week 15 out of 16 in the nursing program. Two more weeks and a Final. I am hanging in there to say the very least. My grades are fine, but the stress is going to give ME a disorder. I have dreams every night about what I read (tomorrow is ostomy care so…maybe I should just stay up…)
Nutrition has been the focus for the last few weeks…it is interesting and VAST. I cannot dream about vitamins and beriberi and rickets one more night! I used to laugh at my ex-father-in-law and his beriberi comments as excuse to call in sick, but not anymore. I thought he was making it up! It’s not as funny when you have to actually know what it is!! And then identify it in an application question about thiamine or niacin or B6 with staggering walk and mental confusion….see?? Remember in Down and Out in Beverly Hills when Nick Nolte grabs the grapefruit off the tree and says, “Don’t want to get scurvy!” He’s not kidding. Same thing. I see this learning-stuff everywhere! It’s terrible!
However, it has made me more aware of my diet and my family’s diet, and guess what?? It sucks. We are flabby and unhealthy. We eat poorly and we don’t exercise enough. So, I am inviting you, along with me and the kids and BF, to jump on my bandwagon. Check out this site:
Go to the My Pyramid Tracker portion of it and start calculating that food and energy. Let’s really do something next year for our health. I mean, if it really blows that bad you can always just quit and eat chips and junk again!
It’s a cool site, really. Very helpful. All about the food pyramid and guides for healthy choices. It takes some time and effort to make it work for you, but believe me, I had to use it for a graded assignment and I spent lots of time, back and forth, tweaking the thing. My family can testify to the choice words I may have uttered (shouted screamed yelled) but in the end…Pass. Satisfactory.
Also in honor of better health, I started running again. I stopped after the 5 Mile. Ran every few days to weeks, but nothing in the last month, until Saturday. Do I pace myself? Take it slow? Easy? 30 minutes, maybe a few miles? Oh No! I go full out five mile run for 65 minutes. (Not a great time, but let’s see how long any of you would do after a month break) And then to top it off I go do some sit-ups and arm exercises. You know, gain all that fitness back in one giant shot. HA. FAIL.
I can barely walk 2 days later. Stairs are excruciating, especially down. Why is that? I should probably know huh? Oh well, we ain’t on muscle disease and disorders yet…I blame my sister Amanda. We were supposed to be running together but she got all preggers with another kid and now we can’t do that. Thanks alot babymaker. Heehee.
Anyhoo, that’s all for now. I have to go back to studying. The ball keeps rolling and I like to stay ahead of it. Check out that site. Check out my stuff and stay tuned! I have some really awesome playlists to catch us all up on. Perfect for getting back into shape with and just rocking out. (Rocking out…what a nerd!) I also found more money! Nothing spectacular like twenty bucks, but change and stuff. Also we have sushi pics (I know there is at least one person out there who likes to look and tell me what I’m eating! Thanks to you-know-who-you-are!) And what else…I think I have Challenger pics and some other stuff on my phone that I can’t think of right now. You know me. I’ll get all the useless info out there for ya. I’m a giver. I also have some serious stuff too…for real. I wish I had enough time to do it justice. I will in about three weeks. For now, let me just say:
Good luck Scotta! You are the bravest woman I know! Keep fighting the good fight and do not lose that sense of humor. You rock! We are sending out all the love and strength in the world to you!
Alright. I have to attach some kind of pictures because these are just too many words. Talk to you all on the other side.
You have to ask yourself, "What could this be?? And why did she post it??" Best guess gets a shout out...and an explanation to follow later.
I should not be here. And, belated, posted, birthday wishes.
I should be doing mad blood pressures and apical pulses.
Another week of school, another set of tests and skills! Today is the written. Complete. Passed. Still in A category. It is only fourth week though…I feel good and I love this stuff! Tomorrow are the skills. And a mini-written test. That was a surprise, but I am prepared. I got pulses down. Blood pressures can be tricky, especially if the equipment is bad or I make a sudden move! All the noises blob into one big bump! And that ain’t right!
At any rate. Yesterday was the sissies B-day!
Happy Birthday N.!! (Sorry you had to be lumped in with my news!)
I have two sissies. This was the closer-aged one. The whole family was there for the par-tay and the whole family let me practice squeezing them and pulsing them. Sounds so dirty and yet it was not. I think I did pretty good considering the noise level (loud) and the activity going on around (crazy loud) and the participants unwillingness to be quiet and calm for one minute in a row! Love!
It all worked out perfect. The real world is not quiet and willing to sit still for me. And it makes me better(?!?) TBD.
Here’s a picture of an Oscar, probably wishing for freedom (or death). Fish are calming.
just shy of pretty 