No one wants to go to fright farm with me, and I have to say that I am not too pleased about it. This is not something that you can do on your own. Well, actually you could, but why would that be fun?

We may be getting a doggy. Not sure, yet. It's mostly jack russell terrier with a golden color, but we'll see. She's a big love bug I hear, and Russell's mom and dad are waiting to see if anyone claims her. It would have to be on a trial basis first to see if we have enough time for her, and also to see if Gunther gets along with her okay because he's still number one.

I seem to be pretty miserable these days, but I'm just trying to get through it. On any given week I am working up to 50 or so hours plus class, so I'm very grouchy. I think all this stress is giving me some female problems, so I need to make an appointment and get myself checked out to make sure it is indeed stress and not something else.

Heroes is the best show EVER! Love it!!

I'm already getting excited to shop for Christmas presents. I have bought one, and then some partials. Is it too early to be thinking this much about Christmas? I think I love it even more this year because I should be done by that time!

Andrea has been wanting me to update FOREVER, but I just have no time, and when I do (rarely), I don't really feel like writing. Things have been going well. Had a slight pregnancy scare...well, not really, but brushing my teeth has been making me gag and sometime puke a lot, so I decided to go ahead and take a test. Doesn't hurt, right? So, I peed in a cup, dipped my stick, and put the timer on three minutes. Russell stood in the living room, eyes wide open. "Is it done, yet? Is it done, yet? Is it done, yet?" Long story somewhat short - it was negative. Obviously. But, this experience made us realize that if we were to be pregnant, it wouldn't be a terrible time for it. I'm almost done with school (until masters), and I already have a job at the MICU/SICU at WVUH, so everything would be okay. This, plus working on Maternity, has brought on lots of pregnancy and baby dreams. I want one bad, but I can't have a baby right now. I'm not ready. We're not ready. I still need some us time first.

School and work is okay. I stay so busy that I barely have time to wipe my own ass, but so far I haven't had a mental breakdown.

I think I'm going to decorate for Halloween today, which can only mean..............HALLOWEEN VILLAGE YAY!

Okay, I think I'm done talking now. Sorry Andrea.

Things have been going pretty good round here. I'm doing my ICU rotation right now. Next week is my last week. You see some neat but sad things around there. I applied for it not too long ago. They are hiring a lot of people right now, and they just hired 3 new nurses that are graduating in December, so it looks like I have a shot. I also applied for a night job on maternity. I really don't want to work nights, but if it's the only way for me to get in there then so be it. It would only be 3 nights a week anyway, then I would have the rest of the week off! I also got into the maternity unit for my leadership rotation (200 hours worth), so that gives me a better shot than what I have before. My preceptor on the floor can pretty much make or break me, so I'm hoping all goes well.

Russell is loving school. He has four classes now, and he is also teaching 2 biology 115 labs for some yummy money. He's doing really well. Him and some of the other people in his class have a lot of study group sessions because the classes he is in are incredibly hard, and the teacher in the statistics class skips things, doesn't explain, and goes way too fast, so they pretty much have to teach themselves.

I applied to work in telemetry at work. All you do is sit there, look at monitors, call nurses, and then do whatever the hell else you want to do...like homework, listen to loud music, or play on the internet. I've been talking with the woman that's the head of it about switching there, and she's going to set me up with an interview. It pays a little less, and I will have to pay a little more for benefits, but we have the money right now, and it's so worth it. Being a CA right now is terrible. We are overworked and not appreciated at all. Switching to a nonstressful job right now would be right up my alley seeing as though I also have to do around 24 hours a week of clinicals plus work. One week that I have scheduled, I am doing 28 hours on maternity and 24 hours for work. That is just not right, lol.

My house needs cleaned. :(

Well, I thought I should update now that Russell is officially back into school. He's getting his masters in environmental microbiology, and he's taking Agricultural Biochemistry 610 and Statistics 512! Not to mention he has to start his research. His research has something to do with finding a new and more efficient way to store spores. As of right now, they use liquid nitrogen to freeze and store them. Since 911, they have apparently been more strict with what you store liquid nitrogen in, so these containers are VERY expensive. So, it's Russell's job to find a new way to do this. Awesomeness. Everyone keep him in your thoughts because it's gonna be rough. :)

i miss harry potter, and i think i'm going to have to read the last one again...i'm reliving the old ones through rusty!

rusty is supposed to get his acceptance letter in the mail soon soon so he can go become an official student.

i love 300. i have watched it twice now, and i could probably watch it every day...blockbuster can kiss my ass for not having any when i went there.

the rain is nice to hear, but it better go away for when we go camping.

the red goldfish has a hole in his head now. i brought her and professor snape back from some nasty ich, but now she has the hole in her head. i have moved her into rusty's tank and plan on starting antibacterial treatments tonight. too bad my nursing skills cannot help me here.

i love being off work and school. very good feeling.

the water has been brown and smelly. i think it is clear now so i can wash my smelly clothes and dishes...horray.

So I totally just spent $400 at Wal-Mart yesterday. We have to use our discount while we still can, lol. I bought shit tons of camping stuff. We're going to have so much and just be able to RELAX! We also bought some saw stuff to fix the floor with.

Today starts my 5 days of total hell - day 1. Argh! Why can't it be day 5!!? I just want this shit to be over so we can go to Ohio and not think about work and hardly think about school (except for revisions to my paper and making my poster for my presentation).

I have car news, but no time to talk about that.
I also got some new fishies and will post some pics later. But they are doing great. We have a black moore called professor snape, and we have another one that is orange and white...we've been calling her red, but no technical name, yet.

Harry Potter was great, but even though the epilogue is what I would hope for, it was still kinda cheesy. Oh well.

Getting ready and off to work!

I forgot to mention that Russell got an estimate on his car. $3700 dollars ($500 of which we have to pay for our deductible). We were going to take it to this body shop up here, but the guy was really flaky and wanting the phone # to our bank and everything, so that's a big fat NO! We're going to try to take it to Pletcher's instead before we go on our trip...someone we can actually trust.

My car gets dropped off on Monday to get fixed. Hopefully all will work out well with that.

I made pepperoni rolls yesterday...mmm they were good. It's been a long time since I've made them, but they were still as good as ever! Yum.

Oh, and if the claims guy had any doubt that we hit a deer even though there was deer hair everywhere, we found deer shit stuck to Russell's grill when we pulled up the hood...LOL!

The claims guy also cut his finger on Russell's car. :( Does our insurance cover that?? lol

YAY MY TANK IS FINALLY CYCLED!! It has taken like 2 months, but well worth it! The only problem is that we're going to be gone for a while coming up, so I don't know if I want to get fish, yet. Especially to leave them alone like that with no water changes or food so soon after getting them. We'll see I guess.

I am very annoyed these days.

Russell and I have been shit on a lot lately. We've both been doing a decent job keeping each other sane. I have a feeling that something really good is coming our way. Maybe we can laugh about it later.

School is almost done for the summer. I'm really looking forward to some time off. Too bad I have to work three 11am-11:30pm shifts in a row to get that time off.

I just bought a $40 NCLEX study book. I'm really finding out how much I do not know.

Gunther licked my eyebrow today.

I really want to have a nice bubble bath, but I am out of bubble bath.

I mowed the lawn yesterday and felt really good about it. It looks nice.

I am very displeased with Harry Potter. The movie was so off from the book that I could not even enjoy it. Don't the author's have to approve these scripts?! I could go on and on and on about what was wrong with that damn movie. Maybe another day.

Russell's poor subaru...

This is what happens on a foggy Friday the 13th. Notice the deer hair?

Watching Life as a House was a great experience. A movie hasn't made me cry that much since The Notebook. I don't know how to feel about it, though. Would it be better to have someone die hating them and never actually knowing them, or to get to know and love them, and then they are gone forever? That's a tough one.

It really brings up not so good issues with me. But, I still love the movie. Sometimes, whether you like it or not, you just have to let yourself think.

Finally took the subi to see how much it would cost to fix the oil leak...

$1600

Umm, yeah. That's a hunk of change right there. So we went and spent $35 at applebees to make ourselves feel better about it. lol

Everyone needs to go watch The Life of David Gale if you haven't already! Awesome movie.

The wedding was good. They were so cute. My bridesmaid dress was a little big on me, so it made me look bigger, but all is well. We all got our hair fixed really cute. I missed being able to dance with my Rusty, though.

School is coming close to the end for the summer. Very excited about that. It's scary to think that I'm going to be a nurse soon.

Well, I'm off to watch some tv, then going to Wal-Mart to shop and have dinner with Rusty. Making another surprise pit stop before that as well.

Maybe I'll post more later.

finally bought a new pair of glasses...should get them in a week

had to buy pasties for the wedding *shiver*

something borrowed is super good...almost done reading it

already bought something blue for when the other one is done

harry potter comes out soon and i can't wait

russell cutely played with my hair as we went to sleep last night
i love it when he does that

i have dead silence on video...i'm almost too scared to watch it

transformers was good and russell and i liked it
i was good and didn't eat movie popcorn
although i ate at cici's but i was still good and ate reasonably within my points system
i've lost more weight, but i'm not going to say how much because it's not weigh in day

i have to work 11a-11p tomorrow, and i am not happy about it

I went to student health to try to figure out my sleeping-don't-want-to-do-anything problem. They took some blood. My CBC was good, and I wasn't going to find out the TSH until today. Well, it's supposedly in the normal range, so that rules out the thyroid. She seems to think that it's because I'm burning out and doing waaay too much. She wanted to put me on antidepressants, but I'm not going to do that. I don't want to have to take a drug to make me feel good, so I'm going to try other things:

• Having bedtimes again.
• Taking time for myself without work or school or homework or housework.
• Setting an alarm if I take a nap.
• Continuing my weight watchers with drinking lots of water.
• My daily vitamin.
• Walking and/or swimming.
• Spending time outside with lots of deep breaths of fresh air.
• Cooper's rock with Russell when we have days off together.
• Writing more on here to try to hash out my issues. A "journal" if you will.

I may add to this list, but this is my reminder I guess. I haven't figured out the bedtime yet, but maybe I should just gradually decrease it instead of trying to cut staying up late cold turkey.




I got my ear pierced....the tragus which is the little flappy cartilage thing that is right next to your cheek. My camera is dead right now or I would take a picture. It hurt like a bitch, but I like it. It's not nearly as sore as it was before. I was having a really bad day when I got it done, and I thought that a piercing pain would make me feel better (if that makes sense to anyone other than me), but it didn't. I do feel better now, though. Not great, but it's better than shitty.

SLEEP

I've known for a while that I sleep a lot, but lately it seems to be more of a problem. I'm ALWAYS napping, and that's all I think about is "gee, when I get home I am going straight to bed" no matter what time of day it is. even as soon as I get up, I look forward to my nap. I just woke up from a 4 hour nap. I decided I'm going to start keeping a sleep log, and if it starts seeming crazy then I am going to go see a doctor about it.

Everyone is always telling me it's because I work so damn much, but is it really? After I took that big nap, I logged my first days sleep, and it's only 10.5 hours for the whole day. That's not so crazy. I logged what I slept last night, and it was 1:30am-8:00am...6.5 hours for the night. And that's more sleep than I usually get at night because I typically have to get up earlier than that. I am not a morning person at all, and I'm not the kind of person to run on low hours of sleep either. I'm hoping that this is the only problem I have (although I hardly exercise and I am currently working on my diet...stress I cannot change). If I can get out of this nap funk, then maybe I can start getting the hang of going to bed at a decent hour. This is a hard task because Russell normally stays up until 3:00am anymore because that is the funk he is in. I don't like his funk because I like going to bed with him, but he can't really go to bed any earlier than that because he'll just lay there. He doesn't have to get up early like me anymore. I need to quit trying to stay up a little later with him and give myself a bedtime or something. Gosh, I hate that. I like staying up later. :(

But, I'm going to have to try something. *shrug*

If anyone has any suggestions, I would love to hear them. Really.

STIR CRAZY!

I have really been getting stir crazy lately. It has been 2 years since I have had a vacation. I think I'm damn due. I haven't been working my ass off for nothing. I think I am very deserving of a vacation. And it's not just that. I want to get out and do things more. I want to go out on a boat, go fishing, swimming, camping, to our cabin, to the beach, to amusement parks, biking, walking, etc. You name it, and I want to do it...minus going to the bar. I want to have a picnic outside. I want to breathe fresh air and see pretty nature things. I'm so tired of Morgantown. I want Russell and I to do all these things together, but it's so hard with our schedules the way they are. I want to go fishing and swimming every damn day. I want to grill hotdogs on our cool rock on the lake like we had done so many years ago. I'm tired of wasting my life away inside all the time.

This swimming every day thing could be a bit tricky since I refuse to wear a bathing suit in public. I'm supposed to get my weight watchers stuff in the mail next week sometime, and I am excited to get started and lose weight. I have done it before, and I can do it again plus more. I already have my game plan, and I refuse to let it not work. I may love food, but I want to love my body more. Everyone send me good thoughts every once in a while to keep me going strong because once I get started, I don't want anything to sidetrack me. I have a shitload of clothes that I want to wear that I will not or cannot where right now because of my size, and I cannot wait until I can wear them again.

In other news, the aquarium is almost ready for fish. I'm soo excited to get my babies. Soon soon.

OH, and the three year anniversary is this Monday. We'll mostly be celebrating Sunday, I think, because I have class from 9-5 on Monday. We haven't decided what we're going to do yet, but I definitely want to do something.

3 years married.
8 years together.
Sooo happy with my baby. :)

You might be a nurse if...

1. You avoid unhealthy looking people in the mall for fear that they'll drop near you, and you'll have to do CPR on your day off.
2. It doesn't bother you to eat a candy bar with one hand while performing digital stimulation on your patient with the other.
3. You've had a patient with a nose ring, brow ring, and 12 earrings say "I'm afraid of shots."
4. You've ever bet on someone's blood alcohol level.
5. You plan your next meal while performing gastric lavage.
6. You believe every waiting room should have a Valium salt lick.
7. You have your weekends off planned a year in advance.
8. You have ever had a patient control his seizures when offered food.
9. You know it's a full moon without having to look at the sky.
   

Lots of stuff

I realize I haven't posted in forever. Oh well.

Some things that are going on:
School starts back on May 21. They are killing me. They make plans at the last second and ruin my already made work schedule, and my life. Damn them. You probably won't even know I exist over the summer because I am going to be that busy.

Do you remember sometime in March when I got my tetanus shot, and it went all crazy so I had to go to the emergency department to have it checked? Well, they actually tried to bill me $90 for it. $90 for some dude to look at my arm and poke it a few times in less than a minute and tell me to take some damn tylenol...wow. So I had to go through a lot, but now employee health (the place that gave me the shot) said that they are going to take care of the bill....GREAT!

The school is giving me almost $5000 loan that I never accepted for summer school. I only need like $1700 of that. I thought about just sending the rest of the money back so I don't have to pay for it later, BUT now I'm thinking about other uses for it. We need to get our holes in the kitchen and our almost hole in the bathroom fixed. I am also going to need a vacation at the end of this summer. I am trying to talk Russell into taking me to our cabin in the Smokey's for some love in the hot tub and Dixie Stampede among other things. We'll see.

Russell's sister is having to have surgery soon. They found a tumor on her ovary. :(

In other news, I told Russell I either want a baby or a dog...preferably a bulldog. He seems tot try to be ignoring me on this topic. We'll see how that goes also.

Fish tanks are still not even close to being ready. I am very angry about this and about ready to just throw in some fish anyway! Damn it. that big beautiful tank is going to waste.

I want to go out to eat today. I wonder if I can talk Russell into it. We may go see Shrek 3 tomorrow early. Maybe. We're also having a cookout/in tomorrow night. Russell is trying to make some gourmet burgers, but alas a couple of our guests do not like onions, so there goes one of his favorite ingredients. I also bought beer. We never have beer in this house mostly because we don't like it. I may try one.

And now I'm thinking even more of getting fish now. The only downside to that is I will have to change out large quantities of water every day instead of once a week. I do not like that. 29 gallons is a lot of water to be bucketing every day.

We watched Eragon last night. Good movie. Can't wait until the next one even though I really didn't want to watch the first one, lol.

Six Feet Under is the shit. We watch is together almost every night. :) We get it from Blockbuster total access which I highly recommend. We were getting netflix, but we can get twice the amount of movies for the same price. Good stuff.

Birthday is coming up. I am off work the whole weekend, but Russell has to work. The bitch wouldn't let him have it off. Well, too bad because I am making him not go! Bwahaha. lol Mom also wants to come up, but I have no idea what we're going to do, yet. Maybe go to Kennywood? Hmm. That is a thought. Or maybe good food somewhere. I did buy a new snazzy dress to wear somewhere, so maybe.

Russell is still sleeping. I need to clean. I cannot clean while he is sleeping. Well, maybe I can start on this far bathroom. Yes, that sounds like a plan. Buh-bye.