Tuesday.

I am writing this post while watching American Idol from tonight that I have DVRed (is that even a verb? It is now, lol). Today I had class, way for finishing up our liver lectures, I am about sick of yellow people and ascites. I went straight from class to get my hair cut, oh how I love Ciao Bella Salon. All I did today was get it trimmed up, I am trying so hard to keep it long. I every now and again get the urge to cut it short, but I resist. Just being able to tie it up when I'm running or in the hospital makes my life much easier.

When I got home this afternoon I took a bitty nap and then headed to Shelley and Bill's to hang out with Max since they are in Disney for the week. I did most of my case study while hanging out with her and then putzed for a bit. I came home, had Moses dump an entirely full bowl of water all over the kitchen...thank you sir Moses. I also uploaded all my pictures from this weekend and I will post them below. I guess that is all that I have going on. I might skip my urinary lecture tomorrow and get an outline together for my test this coming Monday...we'll see. Anyways, here are some pictures.

The first set is my Jackson boy when I was watching him last Friday night. He is such a sweetheart! I love him!


Then, without further ado...here are some pictures from my fabulous birthday zip-lining!

Birthday!!

It's my birthday!! Well, yesterday was my birthday but I am one of those people who thinks April is my entire birthday month. :)

I am going to give a super quick synopsis because I have major studying to do.

Friday night, I started celebrating by spending time with the boys. I had a great time. Like I wrote earlier, Brooke took the big boys out for a bit and the baby and I got to just spend some time together. We had so much fun and had a long bath time so he played and we practiced kicking. He had fun. I had fun. (I have some cute pictures that I will post tomorrow). Then the big boys came home, the baby was in bed and I gave the big boys a bath and played some Mario Kart with them. We had fun, I had fun. I then spent about an hour and a half just hanging out with Bill when he got home and we just chit-chatted. It was nice, I miss being able to just talk to him and Shelley. I miss them.

Then Saturday morning I drove down to Orlando. Phillip and I had a wonderful day. We got there and headed to lunch together and to the mall. Phillip got me some super cute flip flops from J.Crew, panties from Vickies, a new running shirt and running hat from New Balance. We just enjoyed spending time together. As soon as we got home it was a turn and burn, we had to get dressed to meet him parents to go to Macaroni Grill. It was nice to spend time with just Phillip's parents, just the two of us and the two of them. After dinner we headed back to Jessica's house and played taboo, it was fun. We had fun together.

Then Sunday...we went Zip-lining. It was awesome! I can't really describe it, I'll post pictures tomorrow. Yay for birthdays!

Saturday...actually Sunday.

Today was a tough day. It is late and Phillip is asleep next to me with Roman in between us, little stinker. I am surprised he is even still in town after how rough this day was. I'll start back 24 hours ago.

We had gone out to dinner and bowling with our friends. When we got home, Phillip had been driving, I got out of the car in the driveway, because we pull in so close to the side that it is hard to get out the passenger door. Well I got out, and was shutting the door, the window had been open about an inch and I guess as I was shutting the door, Phillip was closing the window which my index and middle right finger were in. OMGoodness, it hurt so badly. I screamed and hit the floor so fast. I basically cried for the next 45 minutes because the pain was really that bad. Finally I turned on the TV, because if it was quiet the pain was intensified and fell asleep before Law and Order was over.

I woke up this morning, pissed at the world. It was just one of those got up on the wrong side of the bed kind of mornings. My fingers were still throbbing, I was hungry, I had to rush out to get to see Coop at soccer, etc. I couldn't get my pants fastened so I woke Phillip up and asked him, then he made some comment about me needing to buy bigger pants, which because I was in a bad mood I took offensively. Then I stormed around the house, asked him to help find my car keys, yelled at him when he was standing there with them because I couldn't find socks, etc. I left being a jerk and called before I got out of the neighborhood to apologize.

I then went and saw my boys...I <3 class="blsp-spelling-error" id="SPELLING_ERROR_2">olds play soccer is an experience in and of itself. There were a lot of tears for the players as they got tired, or another kid got the ball, or when they were told not to touch the soccer ball with their hands. It was amusing.

Then Bill and I and the boys headed to target. I wandered with them, each of the big boys picked out a present, then we both checked out and I headed to PetSmart. I visited with Gail for a bit, met some of her new dogs and just had a nice chat letting her know that I would come by on Monday to visit with her after class. Woo-hoo! :) Honestly though, since her dad has moved in with her she has been so pleasant, it has been wonderful.

Then I got home, was in a fine mood, kissed Phillip hello, took the dogs outside, then Phillip asked me when the face of one of my kitchen drawers had fallen off...huh? Um, never. Well I gave him attitude because for whatever reason I was convinced he had done it. It was basically all down hill this morning since I woke up. to quickly summarize the rest of the day. We didn't talk through lunch, fought while folding laundry, I then went to bed because my belly hurt and he took a nap also. He woke up and we fought again because I was frustrated he was standing there staring at me while I was cleaning. He left the room, I followed, we fought some more. He left and went out for a bit. We apologized over text message and then he came home. For whatever reason he was still upset, came home picked a fight with me and then it exploded.

Now we are ok, we've gotten over it, but I just hate days like this. Ever since his Dad has gotten sick things have been different between us. He understandably has been weird. He has no patience, and for those of you who don't know me well, I am someone who you have to have patience with to be friends with. He gets angry so much more often, basically his fuse is just that much shorter. We are both trying and Lord willing tomorrow will be a better day. We are going to relax and head to the garden festival at Kanapaha, I'll try to remember to take pictures. That place is beautiful. Well I'm off to bed, I can't figure out if that is Phillip snoring next to me or Super, so sleep is calling me name!

Do any of you in blog land have any suggestions on how to deal with this? Any tips on getting along with your SO? How about dealing with a person who is so emotionally fragile, because I feel like I am always walking on egg shells, and it is so hard! Any suggestions would help and be greatly appreciated.

Introducing Super...

Introducing Super...

I had always grown up with dogs, but when I was first able to get a pet (which I did as soon as I moved out of the dorms) I thought that a dog would be too much work since I traveled every other weekend, I decided to get a kitty. I got Moses before I even moved into my first apartment and then Maximus 4 months later. I only lived in that apartment for 7 months before I decided that I really hated Jacksonville and moved over to Gainesville to start my prereqs for nursing school. I moved in on a Wednesday and that Saturday I went to PetSmart to pick up some things, of course I went on the same day adoptions were held...not a good idea.

Well walking down the isles looking at the dogs I saw a beautiful Saint Bernard laying looking pitiful in a crate. I asked if I could take her out and visit with her. She was sweet and big and just so beautiful. When I got into the interview process, I found out that she was abused, a bit dog aggressive, loved cats--especially kittens, picky about men, 5 years old and a couch potato. I decided that she would be a perfect dog for me, only catch was that my parents specifically told me not to get any more animals. I talked to the woman, Gail, who ran the rescue, she told me that whenever I went home she would be happy to babysit her or if I needed anything not to hesitate to call. I handed over my $100 check, and happily went home with my beautiful Super Sadie.

I decided that the smart thing to do was just not tell my parents about her...yes, that was smart (not!). Well about 6 weeks after I got her, my little sister (16) at the time decided to run away from home, she left Fort Lauderdale and headed to the panhandle to visit her boyfriend. As soon as my parents realized this at 0600 they hoped in their car and headed after her. The only real problem with this plan was that they decided stopping for a night in Gainesville would be a good plan...CRAP! They got up there for lunch time, we were all sitting at McCalisters and I just blurted out, "I got a dog." My parents' eyes both got big and my Mom asked "what kind?" "A Saint Bernard," I replied. My Dad apparently found that amusing, "Seriously, the biggest dog possible?" They got over it and everyone loves her.

But that was Super's introduction. Super is now 8 and a half years old, as beautiful and sweet as ever.

Quick, quick, quick!

I am going to just post a quick update and will post more later on since it's SPRING BREAK!

Last night I went to the digital photography meeting, it went well. March's assignment is "Nightlife," I posted a few shots up from NYC. (They are ordered from my least favorite to my most favorite.) I have every intention of shooting some nightlife stuff when I am home on break. My camera will not feel neglected after this week.












Today I had my OR rotation. I thought it was pretty boring, but I guess it isn't for everyone. I saw two total knee replacements, it is definitely a brutal surgery. Note to self (or all of you), avoid having a total knee replacement if at all possible. It was an excruciatingly long day, I couldn't sleep last night, but up for about an hour at 4 something and then my alarm went off at 0600. I went through the normal routine, including a bagel stop, and headed to the hospital. I was there from 0730 until 1500 when I got out early. The nurse I worked with today wasn't thrilled to have a nursing student at first, but she warmed up to me (thank God, could you imagine a 7 and a half hour day with someone who wanted nothing to do with you?). After that it was a mess, getting to PetSmart to get my cat food, to head home to pick up the dogs and feed the cats, to then head back to PetSmart to drop off the Super and get on the road. I didn't get to Orlando until 2030. I sat in traffic for who knows how long because I was bright enough to decide to leave GVille the same day everyone else left for Spring Break...not so smart.

Anyways, I'm here. All is good, I am heading down to South Florida tomorrow morning sometime and will enjoy a very nice week with my family.

Clinical Day 5.

I have stayed home the last two day from school because I felt terrible. I then started to feel a bit guilty about missing two days of lecture, but I woke up this morning feeling SO much better; therefore, missing class...definitely worth it. I really enjoy clinicals, I feel like without question I learn the most while I am there, and today I get to take on 2 patients again like I was doing last semester. I'm excited about that.

We had been told last week that Phillip's dad (Wilson) would be having surgery on March 11. Based on this surgery and treatment plan for following the surgery he would have a 30-40% of being alive in 5 years. We were as expected so very excited. Phillip and I had talked about how with those statistics Wilson would most likely be here to see us get married, he might even be able to see us have our first baby. We were so excited. Well last night we found out that he is no longer a candidate for the surgery. The physician from Texas called and said that another biopsy's results came back showing that he does have biphasic mesothelioma. There are two different types of pleural mesothelioma, there is epitheliod and then there is sarcomatoid, then you have biphasic which basically means both. In finding that it is biphasic, it determined that he is no longer a candidate for the surgery because the cancer is too agressive. Needless to say, this news just killed us. It was like Phillip said, a swift kick to the gut. Now we are basically going through the same grieving stages as we already did once before, we've basically had the rug pulled out from under us.

I need to head out and get ready to get ready to go to clinicals. Scrubs are drying and I need to jump into the bath, then I have to head to the mall to get Z some new gator pjs and I guess I need to go get another freaking pen light. How the heck have I lost another one? I guess I really am just that good. :)

More later.

Try again...

Ok, I am really going to make an effort to get multiple posts up a week. My goal is...3, yeah I think three sounds reasonable.

School is going well. This semester is going fast, there is just so much going on. We have an exam every other week, we have two clinical days weekly, NPR, papers, med days, then there are lectures, labs and check offs. Oh the joys of nursing school. Honestly though, I am really enjoying myself. I am on an oncology floor this semester, which is ironic considering what happened this break (I'll give a quick synopsis on that later). This week I will start taking on two patients and have been apparently receiving compliments on my work, this time it most recently came from the charge nurse I took report from last Friday. Hey, I'll take it, anything to boost the moral is always appreciated. I actually have a nice relaxing week this week. I had 3 hours of lecture on DM today then I watched Jodi's kids for 4 hours or so. Tomorrow I have 3 hours of class, then a NSA meeting followed by nothing, Wednesday I have only 3 hours of lecture and that's it! Yay. Of course Thursday I have clinicals from 1300-1900 and then Friday clinicals from 0700-1300.

This weekend I am heading to Orlando...again. I will have spent 3 out of 4 weekends in the last 4 weekends there. But, this weekend is special. Aside from of course the ever so exciting studying for my Wednesday test, we are going to see Sister Hazel on Saturday night! I can't wait. We desperatly need something fun to kind of lift our spirits.

So, here is the quick synopsis of winter break. Phillip's dad was admitted to the Hospital on Dec 11, after passing out the night before. I then had my final on Wednesday, on Friday we found out he had cancer then on Sunday we found out it was terminal. Phillip and I flew up to Michigan that next day and spent a week with them. We basically helped around the house and get things together, to close up the house and move them to Florida. Then that Friday we left Michigan and drove to Tennessee where we spent 2 nights checking on the property and the status of the house, then finished the drive to Florida on Sunday. Needless to say, we stayed with his family for the holidays. I saw my parents for a day, which sucked, but it is understable why we stayed with his family. Ever since the dx our relationship has taken an obvious backseat, but we need your prayers. We were in such an amazing place before all this, and now we are just hanging on by a thread. We are going to make it work, because that is what we do, but if it could be a bit easier that would be wonderful. Oh yeah, and for the icing on our cake, while my parents were in NC (with Caity for Christmas) and I was in Orlando, we get a call on the 23rd that Yori is sick. Don't really feel like getting into it, but Keri and Oscar took her to the vet that night and Jim put her down. It was terrible. Don't get me wrong, having 14 years with a golden is amazing in every sense, but it is always sad. Keri's cousin Sarah then brought Rummy up to me the next day and she spent the holidays with us until my parents drove back down. .

Little update on the kids, everyone is doing wonderful! Roman is happy and healthy. He is a continuous light in my life. He is just wonderful. Super is doing great. I can tell she is starting to move a bit slower, which is sad, but she is still full of life. Moses, oh Moses, he is my little fatty who loves me, Maximus and Kiwi (most the time) everyone else, whatever in his mind. Maximus is my scaredy cat, but a sweetie. I wish I could see him more often, but I value every time he comes up for some loving. Kiwi is such a little trouble maker. She is into everything, picking on Gibbly, tearing through the house, etc. That is just Ms. Kiwi. Revol and Gibbly are both sweet as pie. They are just little love bugs, they like to snuggle up, make pancakes and purr. Love it! Needless to say, the kids are great! They make me smile.

I guess that's it for now. I'll be back (at least twice again before the week is up)!