Being a Nurse

My fundamental's teacher gave this to us on our last day of class. I don't know if she wrote it herself, but I like it either way.

Being a Nurse means...

You will never be bored.
You will always be frustrated.
You will be surrounded by challenges.
So much to do and so little time.
You will carry immense responsibility
and very little authority.
You will step into people's lives
and you will make a difference.
Some will bless you.
Some will curse you.
You will see people at their worst-
and at their best.
You will never cease to be amazed
in people's capacity for
love, courage, and endurance.
You will see life begin.. and end.
You will experience resounding triumphs
and devastating failures.
You will cry a lot.
You will laugh a lot.
You will know what it is to be human
and to me humane.

For Jaime, Pete & Hank

My step sister and her husband lost one of their babies this week. Hank was no more than 3 years old.
Some of the hardest memories I can remember are times our pets have passed away, so I know the pain and despair that accompanies this loss. There is a very big difference in having pets and being pet people. We are pet people. My dog is my family, my child, my friend, and so much more than I can put into words. Even the pets that live at my mom's house that I've grown up with are just as much my babies as Ando is. They are family and we will protect them at all costs.
Although I have lived through losing these special creatures, I have a hard time finding a way to give any comfort to friends and family that have to go through this tragedy, so I have found a poem to help me express my condolences.

Treasured Friend

I lost a treasured friend today
The loving dog who used to lay
His gentle head upon my knee
And shared his silent thoughts with me.

He'll come no longer to my call
Retrieve no more his favorite ball
A voice far greater than my own
Has called him to His golden throne.

Although my eyes are filled with tears
I thank Him for the happy years
He let him spend with me down here
And for his love and loyalty.

When it is time for me to go
And join him there, this much I know
I shall not fear the transient dark
For he will greet me with a bark.
-- Author Unknown

*The average dog is nicer than the average human. -Andy Rooney
*Dogs' lives are too short. Their only fault, really. -Agnes Sligh Turnbull
*I think dogs are the most amazing creatures; they give unconditional love. For me they are the role model for being alive. -Gilda Radner
*Our dogs will love and admire the meanest of us, and feed our colossal vanity with their uncritical homage. -Agnes Repplier
*Dogs are not our whole life, but they make our lives whole. -Roger Caras
*A dog is the only thing on earth that loves you more than you love yourself. -Josh Billings

That is my tribute to dogs. To a very special one named Hank, may he rest in peace.

The Mommy Gene

When I tell people about being undecided about having children they always either freak out or don't believe me. I just don't think I can deal with the 24/7 obligation for the rest of my life. I like sleeping in and not having to worry about anyone but myself, going on long vacations, and not worrying about baby-sitters, nap times, meal times and such. Not to mention the screaming, tantrums, stinky diapers, or the worry of illness and general child upbringing decision making. I just don't think I'm cut out for it.
However, I do have a nephew that I love to pieces. I babysat him this past Friday. I've babysat kids before of all ages, ones in diapers even so I was not worried at all about him staying the majority of the evening with me. But apparently he's teething and hasn't been sleeping a lot at night. No worries, we're having a good time. Then he needed a diaper change, he was wet, so I attempted a quick diaper change and he FREAKED OUT. He's turning and kicking and screaming and I'm just trying to get the dang diaper and clothes on him so he'll chill out. I end up doing this blindly while holding him upright to try to make him not be so sad. No worries, now he's dry and dressed and happy. My brother came to pick him up at about 11pm and Mckaius was already sleeping, so we chatted for a bit and then they went home. I thought the evening went ok. Some quality time spent with my nephew, all is good.

The next morning my brother called me and asked if I had changed Mckaius' diaper, I told him what happened and asked why he was asking. . . "Brooke, you put his diaper on backwards". Oh no! seriously? I wasn't even thinking that it was weird how the little tape things went towards his back.. oops! I was just trying to make him stop crying! I can make him happy and get him to sleep when he's cranky, I'm a nurturer by nature which is probably why I'm good at and enjoy my job, but I seriously put a diaper on backwards! That must be a sign that I am not cut out for motherhood!
My mommy gene is missing! So no more questioning me on having kids ok? It's obvious that I have no idea how it works at all!

Victoria's Secret: Tree killers

Victoria's Secret is quite possibly my favorite store ever to shop in. I love buying underwear and such. On my last visit to the store I realized how much paper they waste. They seriously fill your bag full of tissue paper! I mean FULL! How many trees are they killing?! Seriously! I bought 5 pairs of (super cute) underwear and this is how much tissue paper was in my bag, It's bigger than my head! Geez! The rest of the world is going green and they are just throwing tissue paper left and right! Now don't get me wrong, I am one of those people that likes to save things like gift bags and tissue paper to try to reuse them, but how much pink tissue paper can one person actually use? They gave 6 pieces of tissue paper, so I guess its not that much but wouldn't 2 have done? One to wrap the goods in and one to decorate the top of the bag. I think that would've been ok.. It doesn't require 6 for the job!

I just want you all to know that this in no way is going to stop me from shopping there. This is an addiction that I wont give up, I'm just saying that maybe I'll tell them not to gift wrap my undies and just throw them in the bag! Let's all safe some trees! :)

Events of Today

Today I had Fundamentals Test #5, so I did what any student does, a little cramming the night before, go to bed early, wake up, drive to test, and pray for clarity of mind. Well I'm late, I'm late everywhere I go, it is IMPOSSIBLE for me to be on time. I try, I really try but it just never happens. So I'm driving into the school parking lot and it is 8:00am, which is when my test starts. The closest spot is in BFE but I dont have time to circle the parking lot, so I park and speed walk to the testing center. No worries, students are still lined up to get into the testing center, I'm fine.

Now at this point i'm trying to stand in line, trying to cram last minute tidbits into my brain and I should have noticed that I don't know most of the people in line, but I'm trying to last minute study, so it really doesn't occur to me that anything is wrong.

Claudia, who is quite possibly the nicest lady ever, is waiting to check everyone into the test. Now I've probably taken 20 to 25 tests here, so she doesn't seem to think I'm out of place at all, but she cant find my name on her list. She says no worries, its here somewhere, go ahead into the test. So i do. I find my computer, sit down and enter the test name and password (the fact that the class number doesn't match either of the classes I'm taking doesn't really hit me because I'm in test taking mode and don't even notice. Then I enter my name, student #, and it asks for my instructor name from a list- none of which are my teachers. That's when it hit me, I'm in the wrong test! WTF! When is my test?! I got up at 7am for nothing?! SO i stroll back out to Claudia and she tells me that this is the pathophysiology test. Well I've already taken that class! My test isn't until 10am! I could be sleeping still! DAMN! And i didn't bring any study materials other than a few notes. I cant sit here for 2 hours and study these few notes, so I drive all the way home, get my book and head back to school. By the time I got back to school and looked through my notes again my friend showed up and we talked the rest of the time about her skills pass-off drama. I didn't look in my book at all!
Damn the person who decided to get us to the end of the semester and change the testing schedule on us. My Pharmacology tests were always at 10 and my Fundamentals tests were at 8. Now they have us all backwards. I think they are trying to kill us! Don't they know that we have enough on our minds! Seriously.

The irony of it all is that I try to be so organized and prepared and my very organized google calendar had the right time of the test, I just trusted my brain enough not to consult with my calendar before setting my alarm clock last night.

Then I didn't do well on my test. The good news there is that no one in my class did very well so it will be par'd and bring up all our scores (hopefully alot).

Then I went to work, I was late of course. It took me a long time to review the my notes so I know what to study more of, then to shower and eat a quick lunch (and order some tarp that Mike needed), all of which made me late to work. (As usual)
I love my job. It is a constancy in life that makes it easy. I love going somewhere that I know what i'm doing and people can rely on me. Work was good, I got off earlier than normal and Mike and I went to Costco.
I wanted root beer since I gave up caffeine, i still drink some carbonation and root beer hits the spot lately. Well, right next to the root beer was sunkist orange soda, which Mike says is gold, he loves it so we bought 2 cases. I like orange soda too! yes! More not-diet coke drinks I'm allowed to drink! So we get home with our yummmy costco pizza and are enjoying it with our orange drinks, I've drank about half of mine already when Mike starts freaking out. "This contains caffeine! You cant have any!" and he seriously takes my can of soda away. He was nice enough to go downstairs and get me a root beer but seriously? I just wanted my effing orange drink! Haven't I been through enough today to deserve one can of caffiene?!

Thank goodness the day is just about done. Tomorrow will hopefully be less eventful!