Friday, March 28, 2008

Girl Moments

I have found as the end of school nears, I am prone to "Girl Moments." I think it is the stress and long-term tired I have going on right now. Girl Moments are really foreign to me as I am not the cry or emotionally out of sorts type of female. Mind over matter!
But a week ago, there I was, not being able to sleep and very upset.

I think as you near the end of something you have worked really hard at; school, a new job, marriage, kids leaving for college; your psyche senses the change. Change brings new horizons and the unknown. I think the "new" flushes out some insecurity or trepidation of finishing the "known" and the "Holy crap!!" of starting something new.
Hence, the Girl-ness.
I am better now and don't feel quite so upset. It is just time to live in one place, have one thing to do for a living and find a routine again.
As the light grows brighter at the end of the tunnel, closer is the end of one journey. The light is another journey about to begin.
Holy Crap!

Sunday, March 23, 2008

Accomplishment

This weekend, I helped move my mom and sister into a new rental property. My mother's condition had deteriorated to the point that living alone was no longer a good idea.

We got my sister moved from her place (and out of the situation) in a couple hours. My mom took a little longer as there were a few more items of furniture and LOTS more clothes!

I cannot really verbalize how proud of my sister I am. She has made a decision to leave the worthless individual she was involved with and pursue a better life.

She has also chosen to step up to the responsibility of helping care for my mom. No simple task.

Her accomplishment of will is extraordinary. She chose to have a better life and step into the unknown because it had to be better than where she was.
I am so proud of her.
She did it.

All of my siblings and I are are universally supportive. She will be successful, I have faith.
It will take a while to settle into a new routine, for her and for mom. But it will be beneficial for both.

Way to go Sis!!

Friday, March 21, 2008

Spring Break is almost over...

Today is good Friday and the end of Spring Break is looming! I have one more assignment to finish and ALL of my assignments will be done and turned in for the rest of the semester!!!

This is very exciting!
I have been busy, busy this week with all that, getting my mom and sister ready to move tomorrow and working. The week has flown by! As the end of school is in sight, I have a sense of impatience that got to me a little this week. I am very ready for the nomadic life to end. It is strange what you miss; routine, your stuff, cooking, cleaning house.....I'll never gripe about cleaning again. I miss keeping a house and everything that goes along with it.

Although really busy, it was a tough week too. Of course the end in this case justifies the means, but the means is getting really, um, stale. I just keep telling myself it will be over soon.
And it will.

It's good for more than you think!!

This is a fun article in Women's Health, which is one of my favorite magazines. It's about weight loss tips and how the more sex the better. I can't think of a better way to lose weight! I also read in Playboy last month that it is estimated that over 40% of marriages are sexless marriages. No wonder lots of people are overweight, depressed and angry. It's all just a vicious circle!!

Laughter, friends, lots of sex and organizing your life so that it is happy is the way to go! The first three are the major part of the last one! Go home and get it on with your significant other, call your friends to keep up and go work out! WooHoo!

Friday, March 14, 2008

Dolphins Saves Whale and Baby Whale

CNN has a story of a dolphin in New Zealand assisting a stranded whale and her baby to safety!!

Very cool!

Thursday, March 13, 2008

Spring Break!

As of today, I am officially on Spring Break! I have all next week off and my hope is to get the rest of the semester's assignments done and turned in. I also hope to sleep A LOT. The irregular schedule I have to keep between work and school is wearing me down, especially since the Camp Summit Plague still pains me. I just can't get rid of the cough, or the nasal congestion.

Anyway, the ToDo list for now until next Sunday is thus:
  • Taxes
  • Lecture questions
  • Modules finished (3 is almost done, then 4)
  • SL project turned in (this is the assignment associated with Camp Summit)
  • Work
That is my list, very do-able in fact. After spring break, it is three more days of clinicals, 60 hrs of transition to nursing and then two tests. Then it will be OVER!!

I can then study for the NCLEX and (please, oh please) pass it on the first try. Wow, after that, the internship starts and I get to do only one thing professionally again.

Friday, March 07, 2008

Camp Summit Lives On...

Every single one of us who went to camp Summit have come down with some awful bug. I am so tired of being ill. I am on the mend, but all of us who visited germ mecca contracted some awful thing. Presently, most of us are on the mend, myself included. I do still get tired really easily, but it is improving.

Just goes to show how important daily, regular hygiene is. That was herd immunity I don't have!!

More rest, more fluids...(does that include vodka??)

Sunday, March 02, 2008

A Weekend at Camp Summit

This past weekend I was completing my service learning project for nursing school. This is basically 20hrs or more of community service. I and several of my fellow nursing school students chose Camp Summit to do our community service at. This is a camp for developmentally delayed or mentally retarded people. This weekend was adult weekend so the age range-chronologically that is- was 18 to 65 years old.

First of all, this is a very “outside the box” excursion for me. Admittedly, I am not so comfortable with the mentally retarded or otherwise “off” people. There are people who are much better at than I am. My ex-husband being one of them.

At any rate, the weekend was a good experience, even if it is one that I am ever so glad is finally over.

I came away from this weekend with a new and permanent appreciation of the fact that all my neurons are properly connected. I am equally thrilled that all my friends’ kids have their neurons properly connected.

This is a gift that we take for granted most of the time. Again, our health is something we take for granted because it has been here so long and we have never been without it.

Let me tell you, there are people who have never had a normal day in their lives.
Nor have their parents.

You could see the tired and lifetime of tired in some of the parents’ eyes that came to drop off kids. Then there was the group homes – homes where those who have no one and live in a group environment. This made me sad in lots of ways.

This weekend raised many questions for me personally; what is the reason for some of these people living among us? It is so difficult for them to be here, why are they still here? How will these people finally die? This question was especially prominent for those who are violent when you try to care for them. Right now, they are young and relatively healthy. Later, when old age kicks in, languishing in a bed or wheel chair can be truly awful.

Many difficult ethical questions coursed through my mind, and still do. The biologist in me says some of these people should never have made it out of the hospital. Just because we can save lives doesn’t always mean we should. The human in me says they have something to teach and we have something to learn. The logical person in me asks why are we doing this? To what end will this serve?

I don’t have answers to all these questions, or maybe not a lot of answers I am willing to post without explanation, but I think the answers to these questions will continue to evolve.

After all, the mind and the parachute are alike in their function; both work best open.