School's Out ... Kind Of.

So I'm officially done with Semester 4 of 5 of nursing school and I can give myself a little pat on the back for a job well done.

I wish I could say that I don't have a single book to crack or test to prepare for in the next two weeks, but alas, I am a glutton for punishment. I am currently training to receive my Advanced Cardiac Life Support certification. Ya know the guys that rush into a room when the Code Blue button has been pushed to swoop in and save the day? Yep, that's going to be me. I'm pretty stoked about it.

I was able to observe/mildly participate in some Mega Code simulations this morning with a group that is past all the book learning and actually passing off to become officially certified this morning. I learned quite a bit, but mostly, since I was the peon, I just came out with incredibly tired muscles from doing CPR on a dummy for a LONG time.

It's extremely exhilarating to have found my niche in emergency care. For a long time, I wanted to be Labor and Delivery and eventually a Midwife, and while I still want to do that, I think I want to save that for later on when I want to "retire." I have found that I like the prospect/challenge of anything coming through the door at any given minute and I have to rely on my know-how to treat this person.

Anyhow, time to put megacodes on hold and off to the fun and exciting life at work. :/  At least I'm not by myself.

Today I Decided Life Will Forever and Always Be Insane

So to fill you in on the last 18 months of my life:

We moved from Florida in February, 2010.

May 24, 2010 I started nursing school.

Two days later, I started working as a CNA.

Five days later, my husband and I were rear-ended by a young, teenaged girl who was doing something on her phone. Myself and the kids were fine, but due to the position in which my husband was, he sustained nerve damage in his lower back.

And since then, life has been insane. Thomas stays at home and watches the kids while I work and go to school and try to squeeze in enough time with the family so that I don't fall asleep with exhaustion and guilt plaguing me on a daily basis.

School is fantastic. I am doing extremely well, many thanks to my Heavenly Father. On a continual basis, generally when I get emotionally drained, I have to remind myself that I have done what I thought was impossible and can hold on for another [           ] months. (Only four more months... only four more months..)

I am eternally grateful for my husband who has supported me and given me the strength and encouragement that I have needed when I am on the verge of losing it, and if I do get to the point of "lost it", he knows how to pick me back up.

Then comes some perspective. I think my life is hard, and it's easy to get down on myself and try to make people pity my situation and it seems that when I am on the search for someone to take pity upon me, I find something else entirely. I find a dear friend who is going through the same school process 300 miles from her husband. I find an old high school acquaintance who has a young child with health problems. I find single parents that are trying to do the best for their children while pursuing an education. I find someone who is trying to better their life and, due to a momentary lapse of judgement, needs to put their life on hold for the time being. I find a loving and doting husband of decades, visiting his sick wife on a daily basis, knowing that days are limited.

And they are holding up far better than I think I could. They are holding up admirally.

So life may always be insane in one way or another but I have found within the past few months, I am capable of so much more than I ever thought possible and if/when I begin to lax in that thinking, I have the most incredible people around me to lift me up and support me.


P.S. Today I also decided that I will blog more often. We'll see how that goes.

I've been neglecting my blog.

So I just logged into my Google Reader to find that I have no less than 526 posts that I have not read since I last logged in. That's a bit much.

My husband and I are safely in Utah. We are going a little bit crazy right now with trying to find a job. I took my CNA course and have yet to take the state exam because I haven't studied because I have been going through the application process to get into a nursing course. I finished the application today and should find out within the next few weeks if I am accepted. If I am, I start May 24.

Everything is happening fast, but falling into place. Wish me luck and I will try to keep this updated a little bit more.

Random Thoughts for a Random Day

I haven't blogged in a while and since I have a bunch of stuff has happened.

My son turned 2. That's incredible. We still haven't had his birthday party. We were going to have it on the Saturday after his birthday, but my husband left on a last minute trip to South Florida to buy us a van (which is the coolest van ever!!) So we post-poned it for the following Saturday, but everyone was sick, so now it will be this Saturday and it's going to be a combination party for him, myself and Nana Faller.

We have a new van that is the coolest! I love it. I wish I could find my camera to take pictures of it and brag to everyone else about how my van is cooler than all the other vans out there, but alas, I am still without a camera. Maybe me losing my camera is Heavenly Father's way of keeping me humble.

I don't know how my mom did it, but 4 out of 5 of her children eat vegetables (Way to ruin a perfect statistic, Dennie). I remember growing up and being excited when we had spinach or beets with dinner. I remember the best part of Sunday Dinner (pot roast, mashed potatoes and some sort of vegetable side) was when she made green beans with bacon on top. I hope somehow that super power was sent to me and I can make my children love vegetables. I think I'm off to a good start because my two year old son will eat more vegetables than his father, but his father doesn't like corn, sweet peas or other fall-back-because-who-in-the-world-doesn't-like-these vegetables, so it's not hard to eat more vegetables than him. He has tried to pass of the fake chives in Top Ramen as a vegetable before. He will eat lima beans (yuck. city.) and asparagus though. I know, it makes no sense.

I still hate moving.

We apparently aren't supposed to have a Yard Sale before we move. One Saturday we were sick with an insane cold snap that froze the iguanas out of trees. Next time it rained and rained and rained and rained. Then we were sick with congestion and fevers. Then it rained and rained and rained and rained again. So we are 0-4 on possible Yard Sale Saturdays with only three left. This next one my husband is working so I'll be at it alone for most of the time. The next one we are probably going down to Palm Beach to visit his brother's family one last time before we leave and the last Saturday is two days before I move and the day I pick up the moving van, so not the most convenient of days. I really hope we sell a lot this Saturday or else I think we'll be moving stuff with us and selling it out in Utah.

I promise I will blog more when I am past all this moving nonsense. Until then, just bear with me.

My house has a blackhole

Let's call it Aiden, ya know, just for kicks. This blackhole has swallowed my DVD remote, rendering my husband's X Box a glorified DVD player for most of the day. It has swallowed some of my favorite not-maternity clothes. It has even swallowed about half of my left shoes, but one thing I'm super perturbed about is that it has taken in my camera. I keep telling myself that they will turn up, but that'll probably be when I pack up my house and that's not much of a consolation because I really dislike packing.

Since this "blackhole" has taken in my camera and misplaced it, I had to rely on my sister in-law's camera to take pictures for Christmas and I have yet to see them, hence the absence of a Christmas post.

It was wonderful, by the way. Aiden took time to play with each and every toy, which made it well worth the while.

So I'm just going to publish my Christmas post on Little Christmas and say I was planning on doing that the entire time.