Sorry, I've been in the TANK

What a crazy last two weeks it has been getting used to working a REAL job with real hours that I don't create to work around my social life. I've already put in 78 hours since the 22nd (8 days). Work has been intense. The first week was such a bore as I sat through 4 days of classroom lectures with power points and annoying people that love to ask a ridiculous amount of personal questions to the ones putting on the class. Or the ones who have an example to share with everyone about every topic we discussed. I think there were a couple of times I slept with my eyes open or maybe was having petit mal seizures as I was staring off into space (ok not really). After my long week of lectures and computer modules I spent my weekend at Southwind, a Young Life camp in the Ocala National Forest about 50 min south of Gainesville. At Southwind, I carried a walkie talkie and keys again as camp nurse. It was quite different than how it was this summer at Sharptop. I think I administered a few Ibuprofens and some bandaids, nothing too difficult. After a long sleepless weekend of fun and friends I started my first day on the unit of the Burn ICU working with my preceptor. I've already been incredibly blessed this week! Not only do I have a preceptor that is extremely cute, bubbly, and gets my sarcasm w/o getting offended by it, she also is very grace filled. News flash, I'm not perfect. Especially at my new job that I know hardly anything about. I mess up a lot and have so much to learn. Lacey (my preceptor) has been very patient with me and doesn't try to pass me off when things need to get done. She'll slow down and actually teach me what she knows even if it takes 2 or 3x longer than it would take her if she did it on her own, especially in the tank- the hydrotherapy showers for the dressing changes we have to do daily. I'm so thankful for that. Somehow, I didn't notice that when I set my alarm clock for work each night that it wasn't set for each day of the week, just specifically Thursday and Friday which was silly because I'm not working those days this week. My alarm clock did not go off Tuesday morning and this morning. Miraculously I woke up 15-20 min before I needed to be at work. Good thing I live less than 3 miles from the hospital! Today, Lacey noticed tears in my eyes and my nose all red and asked me, "Are you about to cry!?" I was SOO tired today that I was to the point of tears. I managed not to cry thank goodness because that would have been embarrassing! Things I'm looking forward to this weekend: SLEEP, studying burns (so I don't look like an idiot on Monday), visiting good friends in Tallahassee for Octoberfest weekend at the Hammonds, and a little bit more SLEEP! More updates soon on the many things I get to do as a new burn nurse. Thanks for all of the support!

Domestically Challenged

Brooke's Baby Shower

Some wouldn't or maybe even couldn't imagine I could be so crafty. In fact most might even go as far as saying I'm domestically challenged. I have been working on a quilt for my friend Brooke's new baby girl. It isn't finished because the trim had to be ordered and hasn't come yet for me to put it all together yet, but I had to have something for her to unwrap at the shower.Once completed I will post a better picture of the quilt I made for EJJ (the initials of the new baby girl!) I also baked for the shower, everyone was in awe of my new skills.

A new obsession

After being home from camp for just over a month, I have found nothing productive to with the time when I'm not working or sleeping. My time has been spent trying to beat Chris James on bejeweled on facebook or reading about the new gossip in hollywood. Lady Gaga is a freak and Kanye West is a jackass. Serena Williams makes me laugh, and I'd be scared of her too. I am not that concerned about Patrick Swaze, Farah, or MJ. When I die, I'm sure there won't be some huge tribute to me on TV. That being said, my time has not been put to good use. So after hanging out with Aly monday I have decided.. I'm going to be crafty! Not maliciously crafty, but rather Betty Homemaker crafty. I have taken up a few hobbies. Etsy has been around for quite some time now and has not been a new discovery for me, but definitely a new obsession. I have spent endless amounts of time looking at things on Etsy that I KNOW that I can make. I was going to post some pictures of just a few things that I have started and some that I have already made. Some of my friends say they just never knew all of this creativity was inside of me! Others are just jealous. Ok, not really. Lyndsey my roommate has also been inspired and has made many decorations for our new appartment. I love having an engineer for a roommate because she is very creative and will draw things out exactly (in the paint program on the computer) before making them! Tomorrow's project..silhouettes of our heads (all the roommates- Lyndsey, me, and my brother Robbie)on black cork boards. Should be interesting and fun to make! Why did I become a nurse? Answer: To support my new hobby of making things!!! Good thing my new schedule at work is 3 days on 4 days off! Get ready Etsy here I come!

Seek, Knock, Ask

For the past 3 to 4 years (I can't keep track anymore) that I have been attending St. Andrews there is one lesson that I always appreciate learning again. Though I've heard it a hundred times before it always takes one more time hearing it for my heart to receive and understand another peice of that lesson. Seek and keep on seeking! Knock and keep on knocking! Ask and keep on asking! Do this and the Lord will bless you. It took 5+ months but it finally happened! I GOT A JOB! I have become quite discouraged due to the hard process of finding a job and the many rejections time after time. I was so tired of hearing people say to me, "You're a nurse and you can't find a job? I thought there was a nursing shortage! Shouldn't you be able to find a job anywhere!? You must not be looking hard enough." I was almost sure that if I heard it one more time I just might slap a'ho. Haha! Not really but it was frustrating for sure! I went in on Thursday morning for my 10th interview. The 5th thru the 9th I had just not put in my best effort. My heart wasn't in it, and many people kept telling me it just wasn't the one God wanted for me. Number 10, however, felt different. I was very excited, nervous, and unsure of myself at the same time. I was preparing in my car for almost a half hour what I was going to do if I was rejected yet again. To my surprise the interview went great! They liked me and I loved them and that was that! So the adventure begins. I will be starting work on the 20th of this month on the Burn/Plastics/Neuro unit at Shands Hospital. The next 12 weeks of my life is going to be chaos and fatigue but can I just say how THANKFUL I am for the opportunity to have that chaos and fatigue! God provided in just the right time and with just the right job for me! More updates soon. I'm sure I will have tons of fun stories to tell you about.

To sleep or not to sleep?

It's almost 4am. WHY AM I AWAKE!? It's often that my thoughts are running a million miles a minute right when I should be sleeping. It doesn't help that I had 12 hours of sleep last night. Some of that sleep was recovery sleep from yesterday (Tuesday) when I woke up sick. I have a job interview at 10:30 this morning at Shands on the cardiac unit for day shift. It was supposed to be Tuesday but I had it rescheduled. Do I bother going to sleep? Do I stay up and get some things done that I've been wanting to get done? If I go to sleep now (by some miracle), then I will have to get up in about 4 hours or so. After my interview I will have a friend visiting, and at some point need to go to work. I think my best bet is to sleep as much as possible during the day tomorrow after my interview and work night shift 7pm to 7am. I never have had an easy time sleeping since high school. When I am stressed I have an even harder time! I think I should try sleeping pills but have always been too scared to use them. Something has gotta change. I can't live like this forever.