Monday, November 29, 2010

2 weeks! Happy Belated Thanksgiving!

December 16.
December 16.
That is the day that I am FINISHED with my LPN year of nursing school! WOW! It's 18 days away!

I have a lot to get done between now and then. Today, I just finished a massive paper, along with submitting 3 online assignments. Glad to get all those out of the way!

We're getting pretty excited in class, although our stress levels are through the roof right now! SO CLOSE!

Thanksgiving break was good. We had a total of 6 days off, since we did not have our Wednesday class and we never have class on Mondays! What a much needed break! Wednesday, Isaac and I hung out. Thursday,we stayed home due to Wed's weather. I cleaned house and did laundry. That night, I headed to Ankeny to be ready to Black Friday shop with my sister.

We went to Jordan Creek Mall at Midnight. MIDNIGHT! It was crazy busy, but fun. I'd never go out at midnight again but now i can say I have. We shopped and shopped. We were back to her place by 0630 and sleeping by 7! It was pure craziness on our part!

The weather keeps flip-flopping so you never know what's happening. It was 53* yesterday, 49* today and supposed to be 30* tomorrow. Crazy Iowa weather!

Got our Christmas tree up and decorated. Isaac is pretty excited! He also got a little tree for his room and is enjoying that too!

Wish me luck (and sleep!) these next couple weeks! Lots to do!

Sunday, November 14, 2010

4ish weeks!?!

I can't believe that it's almost time for LPN graduation! Hard to believe! We have 3 weeks left of clinical with about 4 weeks left of classwork. Whew! This next month is going to be BUSY!

Classes are going well. I'm doing well in my coursework, which is a relief. This semester, the grading is a bit higher, as you have to maintain an 80%, rather than 78%, to pass. We have a test of somekind on 16 December that is sort of a pre-cursor to boards and is a good indication of how you will do on your boards. What a way to head into Christmas break!

I've enjoyed my clinical rotations for the most part. I've done pediatrics and OB at Mary Greeley in Ames, spent some time at Boone County hospital and one of the nursing homes there. This past week, my group is back at Mary Greeley to finish out the semester. What a diverse group of patients/clients I've had! I've learned lots of new things and seen things I've never seen before.

Around the homefront, things are going ok. Last weekend, both my guys were sick. Mark was first. Sunday afternoon, Isaac went to lay down since he felt tired after riding his bike and playing outside in the morning. By about 1230, he was throwing up in his bed. So not fun! That continued with even the smallest sips of water. Later, the diarrhea kicked in and by about 5-6 pm, we were getting worried about dehydration. After a call to First Nurse, we headed to Ames to the ER. They gave him some meds, which allowed him to keep Pedialyte down and prevent an IV for fluids. Very relieved! He stayed home 2/5 days last week since he wasn't feeling so hot.

Northern Iowa saw snow yesterday, but we only had some rain, high winds and an occasional snowflake.  I'm not looking forward to winter and the snow.

Today, I'm baking and putting stuff in the freezer. 3 loaves of banana bread at this time, contemplating chocolate chip cookies and peanut butter cookies. We shall see.

Isaac had a good Halloween. He actually dressed up and wore his costume (Black Spiderman) to go trick or treating this year. On the 30th, we walked all over town here for 2 hours. He got gobs and gobs of candy. As we were walking, "Mom, my legs are tired" LOL It was fun. Sunday night, we headed to Boone. My intent was to hit some friends houses and then come home. Well, we spent 2 hours in Boone too! More candy and quite the tired boy. He literally fell into bed that night.

Isn't it hard to believe that Christmas is now less than 6 weeks away? Where has 2010 gone?  Crazy! We need to get through Thanksgiving first. I have 6 days off, due to the schedule! Awesome! DMACC is closing early on the Wednesday before, so rather than have 1 1/2 hours of a 3 hour theory class, there is no class! Obviously no class Thursday or Friday, but Mondays are my usual day off. 6 days! YAY!