Nursing School, Part I

I have to apologize in advance for the quality of my writing. Right now, it's for the sake of my grade on Friday's test.

Two weeks ago, I drove through open yellow fields, dark wooded areas, and old housing developments to an unfamiliar campus. I had been there before, but only for an interview and to pay some bills. This time, I was there to begin my life as a Student Nurse. Awkwardly, I sat down with my backpack next to me while I waited for more people to arrive to this empty auditorium. Close to 20 minutes later, all the seats tucked behind the tables were filled and the hall buzzed with excited voices. With 42 people in the class, we all exchanged names twenty times, promising to remember each other's by the end of the first semester, at least... We followed outline for the day which included lunch, nursing clubs, faculty introductions, and 150 other things and finally finished at 4:30pm. By the end of the day, I was bombarded with so many silly specifics of the university and protocols, I was sure of only one thing - it was going to be strenuous.

Today, I have finished two tests, made at least a handful of friends, learned where the copier and the best printer is hiding, figured out where the best parking spots are located (depending on day), realized my teacher's personalities and how they figure into their teaching and tests (psychology, anyone?), and where to get all my lecture notes online (I would like to make my own version of Blackboard, Angel, whatever. It would be super organized and user-friendly. Thank you very much).  I have to say that although a bit overwhelming, it has been enjoyable. For once in my education, I have not been dreading what I have to learn. I might dread the test or what I think the test will be, but so far I have not felt uninterested! Can I get a hallelujah?! Seriously people, this is a miracle. I can learn whatever you want me to, but when it comes to what I want to learn - you'll get 100%. 

However, this is just the beginning... So in a couple months when I'm whining and crying about my life, please gently (or not) remind me of my undying optimism. 

Thank you in advance.

Part II continues on a day when I don't have to study like a mad woman.

PS. Should I check for grammar and spelling errors? Maybe. Will I tonight? Nope. Will I during Part II? Yes, and I probably will grieve a bit. Ah well.

Caution: Midnight realizations ahead

Life will not always happen as you wish or thought it would. 

Of course, this is a simple idea that has been preached over and over again. There are times, though, that these little gems of wisdom don't mean much to me until I experience them myself. Last night, while reading up on the realities of nursing school I thought against my personal protocol, It would have been great to attend Nursing School while we were in Boise. I try to never play the "If-Only" game with myself. "If only I would have been able to go there" or "If only I had been able to do that" or what ever the case may be. I find I just cause myself to become stuck in anger and frustration, ignoring real solutions and hindering personal growth. 

The point is, I wound up playing that game. I wound up remembering the times I played that game while I was in a specialized educational program in a small town in Idaho. At the time, I thought, If only family, friends, or Ryan could come and live here with me to keep me focused and help balance my life while I endure this schooling that is not what I thought it would be. I saw all the locals and married people in my class going home to a cute little place and a husband/family who kept them afloat. I have to admit, I was jealous of their immediate support. (I had overwhelming support, by the way, but it was 3 hours away. Still, I couldn't have done it at all with out them.) Obviously, my career took a different route than what I planned and it is totally okay with me. (Life -1, Katherine - 0)

However, on the route I imagined, I married a wonderful man. I don't know how I managed to wrangle him in, but I must have been on my A game (and that doesn't happen often). Thank goodness he still loves me despite my crazy antics, silly obsessions, and wicked hair days completely unrelated to said A game. (Life -1, Katherine -1)

Close to a year later, we are 2,000 miles away from the city that had been my home for 5 years (and Ryan's hometown). So, of course, it would have been more comfortable to go to nursing school surrounded by the family and friends we adore. But, we needed to find our place in the world, make our own path, and break away for better opportunities and career choices. It's a bit different than I may have thought 5 years ago or even 2 years ago, but nothing that we can't manage. Nothing that going home to cozy apartment and a brilliant, hilarious, handsome husband can't fix. Or homemade fudge brownies, for that matter. Just sayin'. So, bring it on nursing school in PA. (Life - 2, Katherine - 2)

I had to add this for some reason. In all it's imperfection, I just love it. (Life - 2, Katherine - 3)

WE WIN.

What can I say, I get satisfaction in the little things.

I think I lost my train of thought.

I'll admit it. Lately, food is all I think about. I've spent weeks and weeks learning to cook everything under the sun. I am soaking up everything and I can't get enough. During my studies, I have convinced myself that a garden is the only way I will be able to enjoy the deliciousness of summer tomatoes, basil, parsley, strawberries, peppers, squash, etc, etc. Just to be clear, it shouldn't come from just any garden. Those fruits and veggies better pop out of my garden. The one that I will lovingly slave over, water, till, sing to, watch grow. Maybe I should consider that I've only owned a handful of plants that I have successfully kept alive. But, I can be terribly stubborn, so I doubt my inexperience would stop me.

But, then...I'm starting a rigorous school schedule in May and gardening will be the last thing on my mind. After class, lab, clinicals, studying, I definitely won't have any time to do this. I will be living in my books and eating whatever I can manage to fit in that little pocket on the outside of my backpack (X-tra Cheddar flavor-blasted Goldfish usually did the trick). I will have no time for my ripe, delicious, plump tomatoes...Mmmm tomatoes. Juicy tomatoes. I can fit those in my backpack. I can make sun dried tomatoes every week! We could eat pounds of sun dried tomato pasta! I could make sun dried tomato pesto! We could make tomato sauce on a whim and put it on pizza! Ooooh, I could grow jalapenos and we could make salsa! I forgot to add cilantro to the gardening list.  We could sip on strawberry smoothies after we devour that salsa! I'd better start working out now before I eat myself into oblivion. Oh, I can't wait to have a garden!!...

Wait, what was I talking about again?

Farewell February!

Just a recap on February, according to the news:

• 51.5 inches of snow (for Philly, but our area got more during some of the storms) just in those 28 days
• Snowed for 86% of the month
• Only 3 entire winter seasons had more snow than we did in those 28 days 

Even though there is more snow in the near forecast - this weekend is gonna be mild, and sunny! (or so I'm told). 

Tonight, we celebrate with tacos!

The Pot for Me

Alright, someone please tell me why the one piece of kitchen-ware that I so desire is (way) over $200? 

Someday, I will make you mine Le Creuset.

No Potion

Pennsylvanians have an assortment of things they love, namely Donuts, Diners, and Hot Dogs - we call it the "Three D's". Dunkin Donuts boasts a perfect donut and coffee (they say better than Starbucks. I laugh.) . But, perhaps there is something to that because there are 33 (!!) of them within a 15 mile radius of our little apartment. Diners are everywhere, but are all the same except for the names - Starlight, Clearview, Hometown, Bear Swamp (huh?), Queen's City, Bandit, etc. The last of the D's - Hot Dogs. Here they are a meal in themselves and do not belong in stands, but in their own small restaurants. Since moving here we have both found our observation of the three D's mildly entertaining, but not this time. Not when it interfered with our annual ice cream tradition.

We were concerned we would leave empty handed when we saw the Baskin Robbins was combined with a Dunkin Donuts store. An (ahem) ethnic man eyed us as we came in and Ryan might have mumbled something, but I quickly walked passed him, keeping my mind on the prize. "Hey, do you have Love Potion 31?" He squinted his eyes and furrowed his brow, indicating to me that he was completely puzzled by my inquisition. I slowly and nicely repeated my question. The man seemed to catch onto one phrase, Love Potion, because he interrupted me and rambled on about the weather being too cold for ice cream. I could barely understand the man, but what I did understand was that we were leaving without our potion. 

I suppose I feel short changed given the options we have in our area. Are we the only ones that love ice cream? Why couldn't the Baskin Robbins store house more than 3 flavors of ice cream?  Why would BR have seasonal flavors, if they do not make it to the stores? 

BUT it's too cold for ice cream?? HUH? It is an ICE CREAM STORE. 

It's a strange, strange world people.

Fun in the Kitchen

What's worse than spilling a bottle of vinegar across the kitchen floor? Spilling *balsamic* vinegar in a glass bottle ALL over the kitchen floor. 

I have a headache. Our apartment reeks. The grout on the kitchen floor is now a lovely array of browns. Ryan just ordered pizza. Thank goodness for a wonderful husband.

Love Potion

Every year around Valentines Day, Ryan and I splurge in this amazing ice cream from Baskin Robbins called Love Potion 31. I believe Ryan's parents originally told us about it like four years ago and insisted we try it. Now, if you have the means, then we insist that you do, too.

Here's the official description:

Love Potion #31

A seasonal favorite. Cupid’s White Chocolate and  Raspberry ice creams swirled with a raspberry ribbon and loaded with raspberry-filled chocolate hearts and chocolate chips.

May I be so bold to say it is love in a pint? I am very much looking forward to tomorrow when we buy ourselves 5 gallons of this stuff. Okay, Ryan probably won't let me, but maybe if I remind him that it is seasonal then he'll agree to stock up. So, if you wanna try it, you've from February to end of March to dig in.

Of course, it can't trump mint chocolate chip, homemade peach mango ice cream (made with Philippine mangoes - the best mangoes. period.), or any type of fudgy-brownie-chocolate-type ice cream, but it won't disappoint. 

Just remember, it is LOVE in a pint.

Snoverload

It's been relatively boring around here. There is not much to report except for a couple feet of snow that dumped yesterday. From the time we moved here, I've heard so many people say things like 'There hasn't been any snow for years and years' and 'We never get any snow'...Ahem. Should I even mention that people have deemed this the winter of "snoverload" or "snoverkill?"

Yesterday, we got between 18- 22 inches of snow over about a 12 hour period. After this storm, news stations reported a grand total of 71.6 inches for the whole winter, making it the the worst winter since records have been kept (1885? 1895?). There are a couple more things that I would like to point out:

• The second worst snow in recorded history for this area was the blizzard of '96
• The third worst storm was December 2009

Let me tally this up for you. I have been (a victim?) involved in 3 out of 4 of the biggest storms/winters since the late 1800's. Yup, I was living in New Jersey during that blizzard of '96 and I certainly do remember it.

I am just that lucky, I guess.

Sigh.

At least I got to play hours of Mario Kart and other wonderfully engaging Wii games. I made a delicious Vanilla Fudge Marble cake. I drank copious amounts of warm liquids. I might have had some diet Cherry Coke, too. I cooked up some chili for dinner. I'm fairly sure there was a nap in there somewhere. Oh! How could I forget the homemade pesto pizza?YUM.

....I was going to end this on a high note, but....

The evening news just told me we are in for MORE winter weather on Monday?

I might need to go lay down now.

Dreams

In recent days, I have been the victim of strange and somewhat cruel dreams.

A couple nights ago, I was wandering through a random courtyard, when a pack of darling little puppies came romping my way.  The sloppy kisses and wagging tails melted my heart.  I spent all night playing, petting, and enjoying every furry moment. Wondering why this is cruel? You see, I love dogs. For as long as I can remember I have wanted one, but I cannot have a dog right now or in the near future. I have come to terms with this (plus, after at least a decade of intense wanting, I think I got this self-control thing down), but it appears my subconscious is toying with my emotions.  I went through the day scorning my dreams and its choice of material. It’s like if I were on a diet (hah! hypothetically speaking, of course) and I had to dream about splurging on an endless chocolate buffet. Yeah, like that’s going to curb my appetite. C’mon, have some sympathy!

The dreams continued last night, but this time I was strapped into some sort of sling shot-airplane roller coaster contraption. Everything was great except for the  lovely stomach-dropping, head-spinning, vomit-inducing, flying through the air with my eyes squeezed shut, hoping that I make it out alive part. It is just not the way I would like to spend, what is supposed to be, the hours my natural beauty grows. So, to my subconscious, I would like to make a small request: Stick to my usual dreams (gorging on key lime pies, awesome superpowers, etc) and please don’t make me plummet towards the Earth like that again.

If I had to choose between the two, well…maybe the puppy dreams weren’t that bad after all.

New Years 2009 – Times Square Edition!

Ryan and I (and our friend, Dan) rang in the new year with about 1 million others in Times Square. While I am happy that we did it, it was so stinky (as is much of NYC)  and  it continually rained, sleeted, and snowed.  We headed for our pen at about 2 pm, and after about an hour of claustrophobia (thousands of people should not be this close together on the sidewalk. period.), we finally flew through security into a pen, in which we stood for 8 hours! And then, it was like we were all penguins, huddling together to survive.  Whenever the cameras came by our station, people would wake up from their freeze and wave furiously, beaming with smiles. Once the cameras were off, it was back to survival.

The entertainment was mainly for the TV viewers, not the people who made the long trip, suffering from the freezing cold weather…oh yes, it’s certainly a facade that it’s a party in Times Square! At least, we were stationed in the pen that was right next to the main stage and could see a bit of the action. We managed to see J-Lo, Chris Daughtry, and a couple unfamiliar acts.

The final 3 minutes of the year produced such a massive buzz, people suddenly lit up, forgetting how frozen they had become over the last 8 hours, and began counting down. This was the most memorable part of the whole trip. Fireworks blasted off the tops of the buildings followed by one ton of confetti. It was magical and hands down the best crowd experience ever!

Professional Student

Yes, I am a college graduate. I believed that once I was finished it would be the end-all be-all of accomplishments. Of course, I looked forward to that last final for five years, so why wouldn't it be everything I imagined? I changed majors three or four times, attended two universities, completed about 60 finals, endured some of the toughest challenges, and rejoiced in quite a few glorious moments - all leading up to my Bachelor of Science degree.

Now, I am longing to get back to school. Perhaps, looking forward to finals is a bit of a stretch, but feeling the accomplishment is worth looking forward to. My longing will be over soon because I was recently accepted into an Accelerated Nursing program at DeSales University. Starts in May 2010 and finishes 15 months later!

Nursing? Yup, I have a good feeling about it. There are many aspects of nursing that I already enjoy (health, medicine, the body, disease, helping people) so putting it all together into application should be a natural progression. It won't be easy, but I am looking forward to the challenge and rewards! Besides, two Bachelor of Science degrees in about six and a half years? Not too shabby!