Snow Day!

After last winter, with hardly any snow, the first snowstorm of the season dumped upon us at least 8.5 inches of snow! 8.5!! It's a blizzard out there with high winds making it cold!

Of course, school was cancelled. It's great because Isaac would have had to miss school anyway. He got off the bus yesterday and complained his ears, head, throat, neck, shoulders and stomach hurt. He had a low-grade temp but we chose to call the doctor anyway. Strep throat-he's never had it before so he was pretty miserable. He went to bed at 630 last night and woke up at 730 this morning feeling better, but still with a sore throat.

The dogs are enjoying the snow. In some places, the drifts are over 3 feet tall in the backyard. They are having a ball running and jumping through it and keep sitting by the door to go out again!

Our road hasn't been plowed yet, but hopefully soon. Not that we are going anywhere! I prepared yesterday by going to the library and checking out movies to watch. We will also read some books, maybe play some air hockey, a little bit of baking and cleaning and just hanging out.

Isaac gets out early tomorrow for Christmas break. Hopefully, our plans to go to Humboldt will get carried out.

Happy Howl-a-ween!

Another dog?

Our 3 puppies.....2 labradoodles and a Great Dane

Happy Halloween from Isaac, Sophie and Scout!

The Butter Cow.....er, CY

This week, ISU celebrated the 100th anniversary of ISU football! (GO CYCLONES!)

In honor of this, they sculpted butter into the mascot, CY. 300 pounds of butter over one week....

Riding the bus into campus

I took Isaac to see it today.

Brookside Park

We stopped to play at Brookside Park today. Figured we'd better enjoy these great fall days while they last. 

some photos

Scout

Lost tooth #6

Kindergarten photo

Waiting for the hay ride to get us from the pumpkin patch

On our way to the pumpkin patch

We got a trampoline!

Fall already?

How is it that it is fall already? Seems like summer just started and here it is, half way through October!

I have been busy! October 3, I started working a flu clinic at Iowa State. I have 2 days left and I'm glad it will be done soon! It's easy and between 3 nurses, we've done around 1700 or so shots. We have 2 clinics left this week and the numbers look like right around another 500!!

Besides the flu clinic, I'm still working my weekend package job at the nursing home. I've been there over 7 months and I still enjoy going each weekend :)  During a normal week, I tend to stay home a lot and try to keep the house somewhat clean for company, LOL. Can't believe we are going into November soon!
Soon it will be time to start the holiday baking, planning, decorating...

The weather is great! October 1, Isaac had no school and he chose to go to the apple orchard in Cambridge. It was a little cool that day, but we had a lot of fun enjoying a great place.

Isaac has just started a new round of swim lessons here in Ames. It's at the Ames high school, which I had never been too. We just started week 2 and I'm debating whether to continue since he is not listening.   This Saturday, he finishes up his kids bowling league. He's enjoyed it a lot and was able to get a bowling ball through the league for doing the program.

He has a lot of aspirations: gymnastics, karate, soccer, learning to play the guitar and drums.
He's going to be Scooby-Doo for Halloween and is pretty excited.  He is still loving school and loves to ride the bus.

Until next time.....when I'll have pictures to post of Scooby-Doo!

A new school year!

Today ends the second week of Isaac's kindergarten career.

He seems to be enjoying it very much. The first week, they were out early every day due to conferences. On Tuesday, I took him out eary to go to the doctor (double ear infection), Wednesday is the usual Wednesday early out. Thursday marked his first ALL DAY experience at school.

The second day of school, he started riding the bus. The bus stop is about 4 blocks from us. I use it as an opportunity to get some exercise-for me and the dog! One dog typically goes up every morning and another (weather permitting) will go in the afternoon. He loves riding the bus!

His teacher is very nice. They actually combine 2 classrooms for different activities so he has the chance to meet all the kindergarteners.

He enjoys taking his lunch, but is eating at school too.

I hope he continues on his path to loving school. Such an important thing!

First day of kindergarten

Today marks Isaac's first day of all day kindergarten!

Our State Fair is a Great State Fair!

Sunday night, I met my sister at the State Fair to go see Miranda Lambert at the Grandstand. It was raining and cool, which is unlike any other concert weather we've had! LOL At least at the fair.

What a great show she put on! We didn't have as great of seats as we usually do, but at least we were under the roof of the grandstand and didn't get rained on during the opening act!

I spent the night at her house and on Monday, Kat, Isaac and I went back to the fair for the day. Isaac got to ride the DART bus and loved it.

We walked around, ate a lot of stuff: tenderloin, corn dog, carmel apple, deep fried oreos, cherry-vanilla coke, cherry coke, popcorn, lemonade. So delicious!

We rode the sky glider 2x, Isaac rode a camel, walked through the Varied Industries building, people watched.

Lots of fun and I was exhausted when we got home! Isaac asked to go again! Once a year is my limit!

Finally!

Finally, only 3 1/2 weeks after our original closing date, we closed and MOVED! In fact, we closed on our new house and started moving on my birthday! I slept my first night in our new home on my birthday. What a gift!

The house is slowly coming together. Everything was placed in the garage and I've been (very) slowly moving boxes into the house and unpacking things.
The kitchen and bedrooms/bathrooms were the first to really get unpacked. I guess I can't honestly say that these rooms are finished yet though! Enough to live in!

The lawn is looking great and the fence starts to go in this week. The dogs will love having the huge backyard to play and run around in! So will Isaac, once we get some stuff for him, probably next spring. We think someone stole his sandbox and swimming pool out from under the deck! Can you believe it!?

The construction on our street has really started to boom! When we bought our lot, there was nothing else planned around us. Now, there are 3 houses going up across the street and I think 2-3 to the south of us! It's busy and loud around here!

I am enjoying being able to take advantage of the weather and walk a lot. There is a pond about 1/2 mile from our house. I'll talk Sophie and Isaac. He stays at the park at the pond while I do another lap or two around the pond. It's great!

We've had a few people over now. I can't wait until I'm ready to actually cook for people, rather than ordering out or going out!

Happy 6th Birthday, Isaac!

Hard to believe that Isaac is already 6 years old! Where does the time go? Seems like yesterday we were bringing him home from the hospital and now, he's getting ready to go into kindergarten and so very brave!

This past weekend, we had a Lego-themed birthday party. Since we have yet to move into our new home, we had it at the Ogden library. (Our house is pretty much packed so there was no option of doing it here!) We had lunch and then cake and ice cream. He had a lot of fun and got some neat Lego toys.

At his 6 year checkup yesterday, he measured in at 48.5" tall and 60 pounds. 94% for height! Tall boy!

He is loving swimming, reading books, legos and our dogs...we got a new puppy, Scout, 3 weeks ago. Isaac loves him to death and was over the moon to get a puppy (younger than Sophie).

HAPPY 6TH BIRTHDAY, ISAAC JOHN!
XOXOXO

Mother's Day 2012

I spent Mother's Day at work. Although, it was great to see so many families come and visit their loved ones yesterday.

Isaac and Mark brought my lunch (Subway) and had lunch with me. That was nice.
When I got home, Isaac had a surprise for me.....a potted geranium and a bag of candy. So sweet.

At school, he made me a beautiful card and a note that says "My mother luz me" . LOVED IT!

He wanted to bring me breakfast in bed and was disappointed that I had to work. He kept wishing me Happy Mother's Day until he went to bed.

Last Friday my mom came down and Isaac and I took her out for lunch then to Reiman Gardens over in Ames. We finished up our day with some ice cream and a trip to Target.

A good weekend!

May already?

How can it already be May? Didn't 2012 JUST start??

I've been busy! I've been at my job about a month and half now. This past weekend was my second full weekend on my own.
I really enjoy it. I'm getting to know the residents, some of their likes/dislikes, habits, routines, etc. That certainly helps. All the CNA's I work with are great and have been there for a while so they are able to alert me to things that I may overlook.
The only thing I don't like is getting up so early (0415), but it's only 2 days a week.
>>>>
Isaac only has about 3 weeks of school left for the year! Hard to believe that he is so close to being finished with his first year of school!
>>>>
I've been reading a lot of books on my Kindle lately. I take it to work and read on my lunch break, which is a great way to fit in a little bit more reading in my day. I try to remember to take it with me other places, as well.
>>>>>
I am trying to get out and walk more. I walk a lot at work and take the stairs when I go up/downstairs. I need to be more dedicated!

busy.

I haven't weighed myself lately. The last few weeks have been a whirlwind and i know my food and eating habits have been very poor.

I started my new job, stress with some upcoming situations and just plain laziness on my part has equaled not great habits. I've only eaten hospital food 2 times, McD's once for work and the other days I took my lunch. I had fruit every day, at least.

Still no Mountain Dew! I mistakenly got a regular cherry coke at work last week, thinking it was a cherry coke zero.

I'm walking a lot, not only at work, but trying to walk the dog when I can too.

I'll keep plugging away!

2 months in...

So, about 2 months ago, I decided to start eating better and try to lose wait.
You can read the first post right here.

I'm down a total of 7 pounds so far. It's not a huge number, but it's a start! I'm pleased with it. I can tell in some of my pants because I've had to tighten my belt a bit! Yay.

I've been trying to walk Sophie daily, as long as the weather cooperates. Some days it's just around the block, but it's better than nothing, right? I need to get motivated and get to the Y more often.

The other day, I had an incredible craving for Mountain Dew. I seriously considered buying one. Then I told myself that I would have to start the Mountain Dew purge all over again and it wasn't worth it. So, I'm sticking to water, chocolate milk, sweet tea on occasion and diet soda. I've only had one non-diet soda this year and that was at the movie...and it was a small. As for the soda, most days I don't even have any.

My water consumption is all over the place. one day last week, I had 9 cups. The next, 2. It's hard for me to want to drink it, even with the Propel or other flavors in it. I keep pushing though.

I'm using an app on my computer and Ipod to keep track of calories and exercise. It's good to see the numbers and have an idea of the number so I can try to stay under or right at my alloted calories for the day.

My fear though, is once I have a job that my newly formed eating habits will go out the window. I'll have to ponder what type of things I could do to prevent myself from backtracking. 

I haven't allowed myself any days to just totally blow my calories. Some days, I was over but most days I'm under and I think they balance out.

Looking forward to more consistent warm weather so that Sophie and I can walk longer and further. I also will need to get the tire back on my bike so I can ride again, too!

George Strait...aka the King of Country....

What a fantastic show! It was the third time I've seen George Strait and I think this may have been the best yet!

The show was down in Des Moines this past Friday night. My sister and I went in together to get tickets for our mom and the two of us for Christmas.

Martina McBride opened for George and she was amazing! I've never seen her in concert before  and I'm so glad I had the opportunity! She can sing! And she's beautiful and seems to be down to earth and humble.

Our seats were fantastic! Very similar to where Kate and I sat for Lady A back in January, but about 15 rows closer. We were not sitting in with a bunch of people who kept getting up for beer, which was fantastic!

We've been listening to Geroge Strait forever! The man has like 60 Number One hits, so he has a lot of music to choose from! He played some of his new stuff but also mixes in A LOT of his old stuff.
I got to hear 3 of my favorite songs! My sister got to hear some of her favorites and I think my mom just loved it all.

He played for about 2 hours and it goes by so quickly. What a fantastic, awesome time and so worth the money!

job searching....

I had an interview for an RN position last Monday at a senior care facility over in Nevada.
I was pretty nervous, since I hadn't been on a job interview in over 6 years!
I'm still waiting to hear back.

I have submitted a lot of applications this last week. Some positions are at the same place so I'm able to apply for more than one job at a time, which is nice.

Today, I got a call to set up at interview at Mary Greeley over in Ames. This is where I have submitted the most applications and where I really, really want to work!

For now, I'll keep my eyes open and keep on submitting applications!

Oh my goodness, I passed my boards!

I PASSED MY BOARDS! I'M AN RN!

I'm still in a bit of shock, surprise and awe that I ACTUALLY DID IT! I was so nervous going into them.
Monday, the 6th, I left my house around 0745 and picked up my sister in Ankeny. She took the day off to head to Iowa City with me.

We stopped in Williamsburg to do some shopping beforehand and then traveled on over to Coralville, where we proceeded to have lunch at Steak & Shake. (YUMMY!) We ended up with some time to kill and found this awesome consignment store and browsed and bought there. Then the time came to find the building where I was to take my test. 

Kat dropped me off and I headed inside. I realize as I'm getting on the elevator that I had grabbed the wrong paper. Luckily, she hadn't left the parking lot yet! 

I get upstairs to the room and have my photo taken, my thumb scanned and both palms scanned numerous times. Then it was time....

The facilitator got me into the video-taped and audio-taped room and got me settled at a computer. After a brief overview of the way the test works, I went to work. 

I closed the clock on the screen as it made me nervous. I ended up answering 75 questions and my computer turned off. 75 is the minimum for the RN NCLEX exam. I was surprised and scared. 
I got logged out/signed out and called my sister to come back for me. She was surprised, as it was only about an hour and a half since she dropped me off. 


Afterwards, we drove down to the University of Iowa and drove around a bit and saw the football stadium and where the Hawks play basketball. Then we started our drive back west.
Kate and I had supper at Panera then I headed home. 


Today, I could log on and get "unofficial" results by paying $8. So, I did around 2 pm....and it showed I passed! HOORAY! Now I can really get serious about my job search!

Unsettled...

Do you ever get that unsettled feeling? You know, the one that feels like something isn't quite right in your world?

I've been feeling like that lately and I just can't put my finger on it.

I'm bustin' my bottom studying for boards (coming up soon!), trying to eat better and exercise more, get more sleep, have some time for fun. Maybe it's stress rearing it's ugly head in a different format than what I"m accustomed to.

At times, I feel somewhat restless. I feel that I should be out doing something, anything just to not be where I am at the current time (whether it be home, in the car, grocery shopping, etc). At times, I'm bored. Normally, reading is what will cure the boredom but lately, that hasn't appealed as much. Oh, I've read books, but just because.

I have plenty to do. I don't find the motivation to do it. I'm hoping once my boards are behind me, this "fog" lifts and I can get the house in order. My plan is to go through each room and clean and declutter.

This isn't depression. It's just a funk. Seems it finds me every winter...eventually. Ready for spring or better yet, SUMMER!

"I'm Just Here For a Good Time"

Last Saturday night, my sister and I went to see Lady Antebellum in concert down at the Wells Fargo Arena (Des Moines).
What a great show! I bought her the tickets for Christmas, with implied 2nd ticket being mine. We had talked about going but when tickets went on sale, their ticket service had a glitch and was showing tickets available in the 300 sections....which is like the nosebleed section. No thanks.

I was a bit bummed, but since we hadn't "officially" decided to go, I emailed her and told her those were the only seats available. She told me it was probably a glitch, because tickets had only been on sale for like an hour. So, I tried later....Section108! Much better!

The tickets came just in time for Christmas. I wrapped them up in a gift card box...then wrapped it. And wrapped it AND used masking tape to tape it all up! Needless to say, Kate was E X C I T E D!

We ate out at PF Chang's before heading back downtown to park and get inside. We parked at kate's old work and walked across the Pedestrian Bridge. A little workout as we had to go uphill...

Thompson Square and Darius Rucker (former frontman for Hootie and the Blowfish) opened. Both acts were fun and I really, really enjoyed Darius. Lots of fun and he did a few Hootie songs! Memories!

Darius Rucker!

Sisters!

Lady A was rockin'! I love most of their music so it was awesome to see. I was a bit disappointed in their stage show, as it was mostly just lights and stuff up on screen. But then they said it's their first headlining tour, so I forgave them.

The Main Act!

They rocked out! They dedicated a song to a cancer survivor, brought a little girl up on stage to sing and just rocked the house.

While our seats were not spectacular, they were pretty good. We were straight back from the stage and had a good view. (We've had better seats there, but these were good!) We had a great time!  Now we're looking forward to George Strait and Martina Mcbride in 3 weeks!

Before Lady A came out...

LADY ANTEBELLUM!

Dave rockin' the guitar

Hilary Scott