ADN, BSN, MSN!

So during this past year, I’ve been working on my Bachelor’s degree (BSN) in nursing at Arkansas Tech University.  It’s wasn’t hard, but just a lot of busy work!  And if you know me, I tend to procrastinate! haha, which leads me to many last minute papers!  So, as of December 17th, 2011 I am now a RN BSN! Woot!

Sometime in November, I got a letter from University of Arkansas for Medical Sciences (UAMS), granting admission to their Masters program starting in January 2012!  Woot!  I’m super excited!  I will be in the Acute Care Nurse practioner and Nurse Educator programs, with a graduation date of May 2015.  Yes, three more years of school.  ACK!  I went to the campus in November to meet my advisor, who is wonderful, and her credentials are outstanding!!!  I was like a silly school girl on campus! I hope to go back in the next few weeks and get a official “UAMS Nursing” shirt/jacket.

So, for now, I continue to work in the ICU and do house supervisor.  In January I also start to teach clinicals at National Park Community College (NPCC), where I got my ADN (Associate degree in nursing).  Remember that day?  If not ~~~~>>>>HERE and HERE and HERE!!!!!  Yes, so I will be doing the 4th semester clinicals (last semester!), which I’m very nervous about, but very excited!

 

Female Baldness

This is a touchy subject for some women.  It’s more common in men of course, and male baldness is much more accepted in our society.  But for women, it’s not so much.  Having long thick hair is considered sexy and sensual.  Millions of dollars are spent in advertisement for beauty companies, not only for hair products, but other products that promote beauty.  Google images of “sexy hair” and see what comes up.  Not a single female with thin hair. 

The only time that it seems female baldness is acceptable is in sick or ill people.  Females who have lost their hair due to cancer treatments such has chemotherapy or radiation are looked upon strong and brave.

My Mother has thin hair, so this is where I suppose I get it from.  Take a look at mine….

It’s frustrating, it really is.  I know people tell me all the time they can’t tell, they don’t notice, blah, blah, blah.  But as with everyone else who has a “flaw” (by society’s standards) it’s the first thing I notice in pictures of me and when I look  in the mirror.  

But one thing that I’ve tried, is not to let it define me.  It’s hard though.  The way that the media sexualizes a woman, it’s just crazy!   To be glam today, to be cool and to have that look, not only do you need the fake breast, but the eyebrows, eyelashes, nose jobs, and of course hair extensions.  I’m not saying that I’ll never try any of these! ok ok, yes, those are butt implants, and no, I can and will say here and now, I WILL NEVER GET BUTT IMPLANTS.  Phew, had to get that off my chest!

My hair used to be super-thick (take a look at my senior pic from high school)!  But after having my second son it started falling out in great bunches.  I was first told it was because my body was letting go of all the hormones I held onto during pregnancy, but it continued months afterwards.  After having my thyroid levels checked and seeing no problem with that, it was decided it was just hereditary.   I’ve tried all the shampoos, hair conditioners, and other products.  I know that by no means do I have hair loss to the worst extent.  Google image female baldness and you can see the poor women who have it worse than me.

                                    

I’ve enrolled in a study to grow my hair.  A little medicated foam, and hopefully soon my hair will thicken up.   Who knows.  A little cash, and maybe some hair.  And even better, some self-confidence. 

 

 

 

Question of the Day!

What does a sweet, fun gal like myself do on a Friday night?   All while kid free?

 

Yeah, be lame and make too much popcorn with her new popcorn popper.  Sigh.

 

Recents of ME!

 

Me and Other Randomness

Wow, what a whirlwind the last few weeks have been!

If you remember back on my Mother’s Day post, I had met Darren that week before.  Well since then we’ve seen each other bunches!  He is very sweet and very good to me and the boys.    And that’s all I will say about that (for now lol).

I took vacation from work the last week or so of May, because you know working two days a week is very trying!!!  My birthday is May 24th, have I mentioned I love my birthday??!?!?!  It’s just a good day for me.  My wonderful best friend HEATHER took me for a facial (ahhhhh) at Bladez (where we both get our hair done by Annette).  It was sooo wonderful!  Then we went for pedicures (oh so much needed) and lunch at Olive Garden!  She is sooo good to me!  I love you Heather!  I wish we had gotten pics of us during our spa time!

I went to Darren’s house where he had the most beautiful pink roses!  I haven’t gotten flowers in years, so they were very well appreciated!   We all went to dinner, Heather, Don, Darren, Me, Freda and Steve (Heathers Mom), and Mandie and her husband at Salsas, where I got my favorite giant margarita.  YUM!  It was fun and relaxing.  Afterwards we went to Smyleys for a few drinks and dancing.  FUN!  Y’all know how much Heather and I love to dance!  Don and I even had a good two step going!  I must be getting old because we called it a night around 1230 am!!!

 

It was really a great birthday!!!

My water heater broke    ugh.  Thanks to help from a friend I was able to get a new one sooner than I had hoped for!  You know how I love my hot showers!  lol, and clean dishes!

I have turned in my application and everything needed for acceptance into UCA MSN program.  Now I sit and wait to see what my next step is.  I’m sure I have a history class to take, which is no biggie.

I approved my divorce papers this morning, and Mike is suppose to go look at them today too.  So maybe by next week it’ll all be done and over with.

I feel like I’m in a good place.  I’ve lost a few friends over the last few weeks for reason really unknown to me, and I’ve tried to reach out to them to work things out, but they apparently they have no desire to.   I have so much going on in my life that I really don’t have time to sit and dwell on negative things anymore.  I’m on my way to being fully happy again, and I can’t wait.

Life Is Good.

 

Best Friends

 

Love This Girl!

 

This is my bestest friend in the whole wide world!  We are like sisters!  I love you Heather!

 

Mother’s Day (Weekend)

The plan for the weekend is that I was going to work my normal Saturday and Sunday night, and Mike would take the boys on Sunday to see his Mom in Louisiana.  So the boys and I spread out our Mother’s day.

 

Friday after school the boys excitedly gave me their gifts from school.  Zachary gave me a potted plant, which he painted a lovely purple color.  But of course, by the time we made it home, the plant itself had been pulled out of the pot and thrown at me in the front seat.  Nice!  Brennen brought home a lovely cook book, recipes gathered by the first graders in their class.  Each child gave the recipe and directions on how to make their favorite dish their Mother makes for them.  Here’s Brennen’s:

Brennen’s Mom

Vegetable Soup

Cut up potato, onion, green beans, corn and peas

Put these in a pan

Add water and 2 cans of soup

Cook it for 12 hours

Put it in a bowl and eat

Now, let me tell you, I don’t know when I last actually made soup, but I know it’s been several years.  And I want to you know that I carefully and lovingly cut up each and every little green pea by hand.  Here are two others I liked:

Jed’s Mom

Green Beans with Cheese Inside

Get a can of green beans

Open the can

Put yellow cheese inside green bean

Warm it up by pressing Start 1 Time

I bet Jed’s Mother uses as much love as I do as she adds cheese to the inside of each green bean.

Seth’s Mom

Spaghetti and Noodles

Put water in a pan

Add 1 cup sugar

Cook it for 451 minutes

Add the spaghetti

Put noodles on the side of it

Put tiny green stuff

Put ice in a cup to cool it down

451 minutes?  Wow.  And I’m still trying to figure out how putting ice in a cup fits into all of this.

Kids are so funny!

So Friday night I decided to take the boys to the fairgrounds where they had a carnival and a derby.  For those of you who don’t know what a derby is (I didn’t until I moved down South), it’s a bunch of cars that chase one another around and ram into each other until there is only one car left.  I guess it’s really called a demolition derby, but whatever.  I had asked Heather’s sister about the time it started, which is said 7pm.  My friend Darren came with us, and after we ate some way over priced garbage, we sat in the very empty stadium about 6:50 pm.  Yeah, the damn show didn’t start until 7:30.  No problem, except for the impatient 3, 5, and 7 year old with us.  After waiting about 10 minutes, they wanted to go.  I prefer my boys to sit and behave, but they prefer to run up and down the stairs, roll on the dirty seats, and climb the railings.  Grrr.  Finally the show started and because of the long wait, the boys wanted to go after the first heat.  But I made them see all four heats.

Then we went and rode the rides.  Holy crap.  Tickets were a dollar each and the rides were 3 tickets.  So it was $9 for each ride for us!  Ouch!  Needless to say, we didn’t ride many rides.  After a dinner at Applebee’s we went home and the boys’ passed out!

 

Saturday the boys “took” me to the movies in Benton.  I thought the bigger theater would be cool for them, uh no.  The stairs going up and down the rows were cool, grrr.  We saw Monsters VS Aliens, but only in 2D and not the advertised 3D, which as a disappointment.  I think the boys would have enjoyed it more.  Instead I spent most of my time chasing Timmy up and down the stairs and convincing the other two not to move their booster seats over and over again!

After a nasty fight Saturday night with Mike (yeah, I had his divorce papers served), I ended up having to work, as my wonderful bosses said to take the night off.  So I drove like a speed demon to Little Rock, caught a show at the Looney Bin with Heather and Lisa.  It was Lisa’s bachelorette party, they already had the passion party, then the comedy club, and then a night out on the Riverfront.   But Heather and I came back to town, and went to her Mom’s house.  Don, Darren, her Mom, Dylan, Mason (Heather’s brother) hung out, drank some hunch punch (google it), beer and some even bubbled up the jager.  We hung out in the hot tub and had a blast.   I won’t tell you who, but one of us got itchy, eyes all puffy, chewed up some benedryl and then passed out.  After some good sternal rubbing and nail bed pressing, they woke up.  lol, of course they don’t remember it.  And duh, it’s not me, otherwise I wouldn’t be able to tell you about it.

Sunday, Darren took me out on his 4 wheeler.  It was cold, wet, and not too muddy.  At one point we had to go over a creek, but there was a huge branch in the way.  Darren got off and pulled the limb back and told me to drive the 4 wheeler through the water and up the hill.  Uh no.  Major freak out.  Mind you, he had just got this thing, and if you know me, my driving skills aren’t so good.  That and I don’t know how to drive them!  He instructed me  on moving the gear shift thingy to “H” and then gas it.  Umm, where is the gas.  Oh the thumb thing on the right.  Got it.  I gunned it up the freaking hill, and damn it.  He didn’t tell me how to stop!  lmao, so I let go and put my hands in the air, and yelled , “how do you stop this thing!”  LMAO.  Yes, I now know how.  Geesh.  Of course he has told Don and Heather and the teasing doesn’t stop.  Darren made me a delicious homemade pizza, in which he buried his pieces in ranch dressing (ODD)!

That night I had to work.  It was a good night.  But I was sad that my ex didn’t have my kids call me and wish me a Happy Mother’s Day.  Oh well.

Next post, how I went to Jail on Monday Morning . . . .

 

Plan of Action

Back in the day, when I managed restaurants, we always had to have a plan of action.  Depending on what area you were a manager of depended on your plan.  A plan to lower food costs, labor costs, etc, etc, etc.

I have started my plan of action.  I filled out my financial aid information (FAFSA).  Yup, sure did!  I’ve been in contact with UCA and UAMS, and getting advice on whether I should get my BSN or go right into my MSN.  I’m excited, but afraid of the cost!  UCA tuition is $206 for undergraduate and $245.50 for graduate – Per credit hour!  ACK!  UAMS is $198 and $281, respectively.  WOW.  Just WOW.

I’m hoping to start this fall, if not January at the latest.    Wish me luck!  (OMG, what the heck am I thinking, going back to school!!!!!!!)

 

My Never Ending Drahhhhmaaaa

So in a quest to get Starbucks, we were sitting at a light, rain pouring out of the sky, and I was answering questions from my kids on why some clouds make rain and why some don’t, all the while deep in thought about divorce and custody crap.

What do I do?  I see the cars in the left turn lane drive out of my peripheral vision and I let go of the brake, rolling into the car in front of me! GRRRR.  I didn’t see damage on their car, but the officer said that I popped their tail light and bumper, and maybe scratched my car.  GRRR.  Now I have a court date and a ticket for driving to closely!!!!

 

 

 

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