Nursing School

Long time no write!  So I’ll catch you up.  I’m back in nursing school again! 

Mike knew he’d be losing his job at Chrysler last November so I went back to Kent State University to finish my nursing degree.  Still no job as of yet.  School is hard.  I’ve got a lot going right now.  Here’s my current undertakings:

1) My goal is to graduate with at least a 3.8 to get Suma Cum Laude.  So, Mike figured it out for me.  To accomplish this goal I can only get one B per year (3 credit hours).  The good news is last semester I made the Dean’s List and the President’s List.  The President’s List was cool to find out about.  It means that I got straight A’s with 15 or more credit hours.  I took 17 credit hours last semester!  Way too busy!  So I wanted to cut back this semester.  I’m only taking 5 classes this time.

2) I’m in the Honors College.  This fall I’m trying to take a graduate level nursing research course.  This will count towards my honors requirement.  It will also count as my senior level nursing research.

3) I’m trying to get enrolled in the BSN (Bachelors of Science in Nursing) – MSN (Masters of Science in Nursing) Bridge so I can take up to 12 credit hours while I’m still an undergraduate.

4) This Fall 2009 I’m registering for the first 2 credit hours to work on my Senior Honors Thesis Proposal.  I’ve never done a 40-60 page paper ever…so I am terrified!  In the Spring I’ll start my research and register for 4 credit hours.  Then in Fall 2010 I’ll register for the last 4 credit hours for this thesis work.  This is when I plan to do the bulk writing of my thesis.  Then, 30 days before I graduate I will have to give an oral defense of my work in front of a panel of experts and professionals.  I’m kicking around a couple of ideas.  The first things I considered is research on “how nursing job satisfaction impacts the bottom line of a company”.  I spoke to a research nurse from the Cleveland Clinic advised me that it was too much work for a one year project.  Another idea came from one of the nursing professors from Kent Main.  She said I could use her dataset from Thailand.  The study was on “Thailand women with AIDS and depression”.  One of my other professors has done research on “finding meaning in tragedy”.  The last thing I am considering is figuring out a personality test to give nurses to assist them in determining an area of specialty.

5) I forgot to mention that I plan on graduating a semester early by taking summer courses next year.  It’s a special program that you register for in your Junior Year if you qualify.  The students who have done this already said it’s really hard. So this year they are having trouble getting enough students to fill the classes.  I hope they still do it next year.

6) This fall I’m taking a really cool class.  It’s a web class on project management.  I love to organize events and projects.  So, I’m really excited to sharpen my skills.  We’ll be learning how to use Microsoft Project Management too, which I’ve always wanted to buy.  It’s really expensive, but it’s free for KSU students!  Yay, me!

Wow!  This is crazy when I read all that, but I wouldn’t have it any other way!  Go big or go home, right?  Uh, sure.  Well, actually, most days I just want to quit school and stay home with my little kiddies.  Hold them like they’re still little babies.  They’re getting big though.  There’s so much I could say about that, but I’ll catch that at another time. 

I know my school is important.  I can do it!  It’ll be great!  A year and half and I’m done!

Simplifying the English Language

Mark Twain came up with a way we can simplify English spelling. They say that English is one of the hardest languages to learn because of the multiple sounds from letters and all the exceptions to the rules. You know what I’m talking about. Read the following article and let me know what you think.

For example, in Year 1 that useless letter “c” would be dropped to be replased either by “k” or “s”, and likewise “x” would no longer be part of the alphabet. The only kase in which “c” would be retained would be the “ch” formation, which will be dealt with later. Year 2 might reform “w” spelling, so that “which” and “one” would take the same konsonant, wile Year 3 might well abolish “y” replasing it with “i” and iear 4 might fiks the “g/j” anomali wonse and for all. Jenerally, then, the improvement would kontinue iear bai iear with iear 5 doing awai with useless double konsonants, and iears 6-12 or so modifaiing vowlz and the rimeining voist and unvoist konsonants. Bai iear 15 or sou, it wud fainali bi posibl tu meik ius ov thi ridandant letez “c”, “y” and “x” — bai now jast a memori in the maindz ov ould doderez — tu riplais “ch”, “sh”, and “th” rispektivli. Fainali, xen, aafte sam 20 iers ov orxogrefkl riform, wi wud hev a lojikl, kohirnt speling in ius xrewawt xe Ingliy-spiking werld.

Yeah Toast!

My oldest daughter and all her friends are into this thing called “YOU TUBE”. It’s your videos on TV (or computer). So, people all over are video taping themselves and posting it on the internet. I think the first really funny one I saw was called “Yeah Toast”. It was hilarious! Since then I’ve watched it like 20 times! I’m like a You Tube Disciple now. Everywhere I go, whether I know them or not, I say, “Do you ever go to You Tube?” “Have you ever saw “YEAH TOAST”? Like an evening last week, my sister and I went out. We went to Chipotle’s and then to Cold Stone Creamery. While at Cold Stone, I did my thing. The girl who was waiting on us spelled out, “Y-e-a-h” and said “toast”? I said, “yeah”. And she said, “I’m gonna look it up right now in the back!” And so she did. Ten minutes later she comes back out laughing and says, “that’s going on my website!” We all laughed! And then on the way out we said goodbye to that girl, and as we were pushing on the door to leave, we turned around and yelled, “yeah toast!” To which the girl replied (even as she was waiting on other customers, “Yeah toast!!!” So funny! You must be a part of this. Click the link below to see what I mean.

Here’s what he’s saying:

verse 1: all around the country coast to coast, people always say what do you like most, I don’t wanna brag i don’t wanna boast, I always tell ‘em I like toast.

verse 2: i get up in the mornin’ bout six AM, have a little jelly have a little jam, take a piece of bread put it in the slot, push down the lever and the wires gets hot, i get toast.

verse 3: now there’s no secret to toasting perfection, there’s a dial on the side and you make your selection, push to the dark or the light and then, if it pops too soon press down again, make toast.

verse 4: when the first caveman drove in from the drags, didn’t know what would go with the bacon and the eggs, must have been a genius got it in his head, plug the toaster in the wall, buy a bag of bread, make toast.verse 5: oh wee, monsieur. bonjour. cool cat. uh huh croissante. du bagette. maurice a vaulzey. effeil tower. o wee maria. bagette vouze.

For those of you who love this, there is a live version where he sings an extra verse. You also get to see him “playing the drums” on a metal toaster with a fork and a spoon! LOL! Check it out on You Tube!

Some other funny titles totally G-rated: 1) “Charlie Bit My Finger” (A baby named Charlie with his toddler brother. The toddler keeps sticking his finger in Charlie’s mouth.), 2) “18 Wheels on a Big Rig” (This is from the same guy that did the “Yeah Toast” song. Basically, they are just counting the wheels, but they do it in a really funny way!) 3) “Iowa Interstate 80″ (This is so funny to me! It is a short song about traveling through Iowa on I-80….not much else but fields of corn!)

Other title that is PG-rated (to me) because of 2 crude word phrases in it (“frickin’” and “oh my g*d”): “Charlie the Unicorn” (Very silly and retro-looking. Two cheery, simple-minded unicorns are trying to get a reluctant, deep-voiced unicorn to go to Candy Mountain.) “Charlie the Unicorn” is funny because all my daughter’s friends are always talking like the two silly unicorns, “Charlie. Chaaaaaarrrrlie” and “Look, Charlie! It’s a magical Liopleurodon!” What’s a Liopleurodon anyway?

I didn’t know either so I looked it up! A Liopleurodon is an aquatic dinosaur (Greek for “smooth-sided teeth”) that lived in the oceans during the Late Jurassic Period. It was about 40 feet long and 25 tons! It ate fish and squids. Click here for more info on the Liopleurodon.

Moving On

I finally get the opportunity to be a “class mom”!  I’ve home-schooled my girls since they were little.  So, I’ve never got to be the class mom yet.  It’s so much fun, and I totally appreciate it more since I’m older now.  This is my youngest so in a way my life is slowing down finally and becoming more managable since there aren’t any more babies in the house.

Don’t get me wrong, I LOVED being pregnant and having babies.  That was great…for that time.  But, now I am happy NOT to be changing diapers, giving baby baths, and having to monitor their every move 24-7.  I miss it sometimes, but I don’t want to go back to it either.  I am content right where I am.  My youngest is still in the mess-making business, but she can feed, bathe and clothe herself.  It’s getting better.

I know as it starts to feel better that a new challenge will come along…like teenager-hood!  But, I am confident that together as a family with the support of my husband, we’ll make it through that stage in life as well. 

Seasons of Life

                                                    

We know what season it is by what sport our kids are involved in.  We just got out of Basketball Season last week.  Our oldest daughter is almost 5’7″ in sixth grade!  She is by far the tallest girl on her team.  She was even the tallest girl on every single team we played, minus one or two girls!  She started the season off a little shaky by averaging only 2 points a game.  By the end she was averaging almost 8 points a game!  There were a couple of times when she broke away from beyond half-court to drive the ball to the other end of the court and score with the most awesome of lay-ups!  When we saw it happen, it was as if we were watching a slam dunk!  The crowds went wild!  We are so proud of her!

This is our daughter below with her friend and our kitty.  The whole team wears their red tournament sweatshirts as a uniform.  Every time I see one of them, even since the season is over, they’re wearing it!  Basketball has been good for our daughter.  Unlike the other sports she’s played in, she’s become much closer friends with these girls.  I think it’s because they’re always together so much in games and practices.  In comparison with softball, where the girls are so spread out in the outfield and only get quality “talk time” in the dugout. 

Their basketball coach was working so hard!  He scheduled them for a ton of tournaments to play in.  I think the girls played in almost 50 games!  That’s more than the pros play!  My husband helped coach too!  Together, they coached even more than this because they coached 2 teams of sixth grade girls!  These men were dedicated! 

After Basketball comes Softball Season.  This is the one I dread the most!  These games can last for up to 3 hours…just for the actual game!  Here’s the breakdown: 30-60 minutes early to warm-up, up to 3 hours for the actual game, then 30 minutes for Dairy Queen.  That’s 4-5 hours of commitment!  Crazy!  Well, we were crazy last season because we had all three girls in the same sport, and the worst one to boot (for time commitment).  This year we’re trying to limit the girls to 2 sports each.  Our oldest does basketball and softball.  Our middle does tumbling and cheer.  Our youngest is only in soccer this year.  The good news is they’re all spead out evenly.  We’ll see what happens when they get into high school.  Because I know that track will help with basketball.  I also personally want her to play volleyball.  So, we’ll see how that goes when we get there in 5 months!  Holy cow…5 months until she is in Junior High!

So, after Softball Season comes Soccer Season.  Our youngest is playing soccer this year.  I love this sport for selfish reasons.  The whole thing only takes two hours tops!  The game only lasts one hour, plus a half hour to come early and get warmed up, and a half hour for Dairy Queen!  Another selfish bonus is that it’ll run the frantic energy out of our electric kindergartener!  Hundreds of little feet kicking at the same ball!

Next comes Cheer Season.  Which actually has a few weeks of practice before the season actually starts.  Our middle daughter had Cheer Week last week, where they learned a dance, a sideline cheer and a floor cheer.  Their tradition every year is that the girls go through this Cheer Week together and then “try out” on Good Friday.  So, now she’s an official member of the squad!  Yeah!  She is a good little cheerleader!  She was made for this!  She is so bubbly and outgoing!  She practices relentlessly!  All the time!  She is always dancing and jumping and tumbling in our living room!  The next cheerleading thing is actually the last week of June and the first week of July.  They use this time to prepare for the Fourth of July Parade they march in.   Even though they “try out” so early in the year, Cheer Season doesn’t officially start until the end of summer, late August I think.  Then, it’ll be practice five days a week with games all weekend!  Once school starts though the schedule lightens up a little.  There’s also the opportunity to participate in many Cheer Competitions .  Then, in her off season she is involved in a tumbling class to gear up for her main Cheer Season.

 Then, Basketball Season starts it all over again!  Whew!

 So, here’s our yearly Calendar of Seasons:

1. October-March: Basketball Season
2. April-July: Softball Season
3. July-October: Soccer Season
4. August-January: Cheerleading Season