Here comes IKE

So here we are preparing for IKE. Looks like we are going to take a direct hit. I have to say I'm a little excited. Remind me of that on Saturday at 2 a.m. when 120 mile an hour winds are buffetting my house and my kids are hysterical! Truly, if the eye of the storm passes over my house I will have marked a significant thing off my list of things I'd like to experience. It is op there with floating on the dead sea (done that, it was awesome) and seeing the Northern Lights (still on the list.)

These things I know are true....

1. If you are approximately 8 months pregnant and there is an able bodied man in the front seat of the car while you fill up the gas tank at Wal-mart, you are hanging out with the wrong people. (Yep, saw that...)
2. If you are trying to sell your house, comments from showings like "You were in the top three but they bought another house" don't really make you feel much better. In housing the bronze medal isn't an honor!
3. If you are the youth director at a church and you can't find the pastor's kid after a youth event, calling the said pastor (and your boss) to see if she has already been picked up is PAINFUL.
4. If you are a nursing instructor and trying to introduce the idea of non-physical discipline to a class repeatedly using words like "Violence" "Hitting" and "abuse" isn't the best way to get your point across.
5. If you are the president of a student organization and are holding your first meeting of the year, way over-buying on the lunch is a really good strategy to avoid speaking to a bunch of hungry, pissed off students.
6. If you are a twelve year old girl it is entirely possible to have a clothing crisis after spending $150 in birthday money on new clothes. (That one is probably the most bizarre statement I have in my list!!!!)
7. If you live along the U.S. Gulf Coast, late August and September are a great time to ignore the T.V. weathercasters and just look out the window occassionally. If it is really windy and humid pouring down rain you might want to get to high ground.
8. If you are a competitor to Apple, don't even try to compete with the I'm a Mac, I'm a P.C. ads. (Jerry, I love you but that was just pathetic.)

Back to School

Well, here we are..the first Friday of the new school year. It couldn't have come sooner in my opinion. I am exhausted, but exhausted in a good way I suppose. I have been in class everyday from 9 until afternoon (some days 1 p.m. some days until 5.) I have pediatrics, ICU nursing and mental wellness this semester. I got my clinical site choice which is really great!!! I will be in a precepted clinical which means that instead of going to a hospital on a certain day and time with a group of students and a member of the faculty, I will be assigned a nurse at the facility and I will work according to her schedule until I get all my hours in. I like the idea of the flexibility that offers and I know I learn really well from watching another person and asking questions.

It is funny how anxious I was all weekend about starting school. I just felt so wigged out and it showed in the way I treated my family. I was just dreading starting school again. But once I got back here and saw my friends (and I have some really great friends in nursing school) and got back in to lectures and learning about this nursing stuff I was totally energized and glad to be back. The mind is such a funny thing!!!

I think I am going to have some really good faculty this semester as well. I really like the instructors I have met so far. The instructor for the ICU class is actually from the town in New York that we visited this summer and trust me that is a very very small town!!! Pretty amazing coincidence. Compared to soem fo the instructors from previous semesters I just have a much more sincere sense that they want us to succeed and are interested in hearing us out. Everyone likes to be listened to!!!

And to end on a very happy note, I jsut found out that I passed my math test. Thsi si the pass/fail test that we take every semester. Passing is 100 and failing is anything else. It is very stressful to have that kind of pressure on a math test. This one I wasn't at all sure of after I finished it. While I was checking my work I found a huge error and that scared the pants off me about what I might have missed!!! But I passed, Hallelujah!!

I am ready for the 4 day weekend!

More pictures from vacation

Yes, we did have to eventually return from vacation. As we got on the plane from Syracuse we all said good-bye to 75 degrees with tears in our eyes. Truly this was one of the best vacations we've ever had. Loved it!!!!!!! Read a lot...if you like historical fiction check out World Without End by Ken Follett. It is the sequal to his book about building a medieval cathedral - Pillars of the Earth. It was over 1000 pages which for someone who reads at lightening speeds was wonderful. Also read a couple brainless chick books by Jennifer Crusie. Seriously brainless. Went to Niagara Falls and The Baseball Hall of Fame. Met some really nice people. Yankees really aren't all that bad. We toured William Seward's house in Albany New York. He was sec of State during the civil war and was responsible for the U.S. buying Alaska - Commonly known then as Seward's Folly. Amazing piece of history in his home. We also saw Harriet Tubman's grave and her home. That was a little sad. As much as little girl's do reports on Harriet Tubman when they are in 3-5th grade, her home is a pretty pathetically preserved place. The museum that goes with it looks like it was collected from all those 3-5th grade reports. I wonder if Oprah is aware of this????? Ate A LOT of good food including ridiculous amounts of ice cream at a little drive in right on the lake. Because of the previous, I ran a lot and on hills. Can I go back now please??????

Ah Vacation

So we are in the middle of our 10 day vacation in Western New York in an area called the Finger Lakes, about ½ an hour from Syracuse. We have a friend who has a house on a lake up here and we decided to go for it and fly up here for vacation. In Houston, it is probably 95-99 with 80% humidity, MISERABLE! I have just about had it with Houston Summers. Here in western New York it is currently 58 degrees with a predicted high of about 75. It almost makes me giddy. On the agenda for this morning…a nice run. I’ll even do hills considering that it is under 80 degrees. Beyond the weather we are having a great time. Very relaxing, absolutely beautiful countryside. Tempting to never come back.

Things I Didn’t Do Over Summer Vacation

1. Review any of my notes from any of my classes last semester.
2. Sell stuff that I wanted to sell on ebay. (There’s still time!!!!!!)
3. Gain weight (However, I am on vacation and once again, there’s still time!!!!)
4. Sell my house. Sigh….
5. Go broke on air conditioning, although it was close… (One month my bill was over $600 because I was out of contract with the electric company I had been with and my planed switch to another provider hadn’t taken effect yet. PAINFUL!!!! I wonder how that compares to home heating oil bills up here in the north?)
6. Go to the Apple store for more personal training on my Mac. I really wanted to do that. Just didn’t get around to it. Bummer…
7. Sing in the summer choir. I always intend to do that. I did it one summer and then sang with them, for the fall. It just seems like getting to church even that half hour early is almost impossible!!!

Finished Harry Potter

Sigh...I'm sad it is over. What a great read! To Harry, Ron, Hermione and the gang...Thanks for taking me along on your adventure. It was a trilling ride!!