Diary of a Fickle White Woman

I love that word. I love how it has a standard, everyday definition found in Webster's, but also takes on so many different meanings, depending on the individual. The definition is as evolving as the process itself. For me, as many of you know, life has been on the fast track for the better part of the past year. However, that chapter has closed and I am now starting a new one. Here's a little update on my life as of late. On August 11, 2012, myself and 17 of my new brothers and sisters graduated with a Bachelor's of Science in Nursing from Indiana Wesleyan University. The 11 months of school it took to complete that degree were easily the hardest 11 months of my life. There were meltdowns, tears, illness caused by stress, and feelings of being stupid and incompetent. There were also lots of laughs, amazing friendships formed, and patient stories that not only reaffirmed my love for the profession of nursing, but also gave me a better appreciation for life. The whole gang. ...

A couple people recently reminded me that I have a (pathetic excuse for a) blog and seeing that I haven't posted anything in over 2 months, I thought I should maybe peak in and say hi. HI! Life is pretty same ole same ole, and really, do any of y'all (assuming at least a few people haven't forgotten about me) actually care about the ins and outs of nursing school? Heck, I'm not always sure that I even care. Just a real quick update: I am officially on the downward slope of school. As of the end of February, I am 50% finished with nursing school and I now have less than 5 months left until graduation. I made Dean's List in the fall (GPA over 3.5) and am hoping for that again the spring, but my grades last term weren't my best (and if I could verbalize why and know without a shadow of a doubt that no one from my school was reading, I would. But I'm not willing to take that chance. Let's just say every one in my program was ready to commit several crimes by...

It's hard to believe that 2011 is over already. The year went so fast and seems like a bit of a blur. Of course, the biggest event that happened to me in 2011 was getting accepted to and starting nursing school. Actually, that's really the only noteworthy thing that happened in 2011 haha. Here's to hoping 2012 is a little bit more memorable! Goals for 2012: Graduate nursing school Pass NCLEX on the first try and become an RN Get a job, preferably in peds Start paying off my student loans Take a trip with some friends (sometime after October, ideally for NYE) Get healthy. This is something I'm sick of saying I'll do but fail at. I need to lose a good amount of weight so I am better physically and mentally. Get myself out into the dating world. Although I say that and at the same time, I don't want a reason to stay in Indy any longer than I have to haha. Start saving money for my future. Not have a quarter life crisis. I am reallllllly struggling with the fact tha...

Oh, hello, again. Remember me? I've come to terms with the fact that blogging while in class just really does not work. There is minimal downtime, and the downtime I do have, I usually want nothing to do with my computer. I am currently off until January 10, so I do hope to blog more during the next 3 weeks, but after that, I'll be MIA for another 7 weeks. Let's catch y'all up to speed, shall we? This past term I was in Pharmacology, Maternal-Newborn (aka, OB), and Nursing Care of Children (aka, Peds). It was, hands down, the hardest term thus far. I don't know if the content was harder or if there was just a lot more work, but it was intense (and unfortunately seemed to move at a snails pace). I have no completed 3/8 terms and have only 7 months left until graduation! SO CRAZY! I did really well this term, but there were a lot of frustrations. Unfortunately, I'm 95% sure someone from the school I go to has discovered my blog and I don't want to deal with th...

To say I am behind on blogging would be a gross understatement. I have about 6 books to do a review on (from August. Ha, like I have time to read for pleasure during school), and I have an entire post to write about the latest happenings with creepy neighbor. But I'll catch you up to speed on school for now, because apparently that's all I'm really capable of talking about. I had finals this past week, putting an end to term 2. WOOOOOO!!! I'm 25% finished with nursing school!!!!! This past term was just kind of eh, for me. I really didn't find it overly interesting or exciting. I finished up learning all of my skills (I learned the first half in July) and can now give an enema, clean a wound, give shots, pass meds, administer and read a TB test, insert an NG tube, suction, etc. Basically all the skills one learns as a licensed practical nurse . I did find all of that to be interesting, because obviously it will be applied to my everyday life, and I like being hands ...

Classes started two weeks ago and a part of me just died inside at the realization that it has only been two weeks. Seriously, I could have sworn it had been at least three. Things are going well so far, I'm only in 8 credit hours, so it's totally manageable, considering in undergrad I took 15-18 every semester. Here's some bulleted updates of the past two weeks (OK seriously, it's killing me every time I write that). ~Creepy neighbor asked my landlord if I died and if she could come into my apartment and check on me. You see, I went home for the month of August to work since I didn't have school. Apparently my absence "worried" him and he wanted reassurance that there wasn't a corpse in the apartment above his. My landlady knew I was home, so she told him to let her know if it started to smell haha. Then he said to her, "Maybe she has a boyfriend and has just been with him a lot." God bless that woman for telling him that was indeed the cas...

I received my schedule for the fall, which will be broken down into two 7-week sessions. The first seven weeks I will be in class MWF, clinical at a hospital in Ft. Wayne, and a "free" day Thursdays. MW- 7:50am-9:50am Physical Assessment MWF- 10am-12pm Adult Health I M- 1:15pm-3:05pm Physical Assesment Lab T- Clinical in Ft. Wayne for 5 weeks, 7am-3pm. Ft. Wayne is over an hour drive from campus, so I'll have to wake up at 5. Have I ever mentioned how I am so NOT a morning person. And I don't drink coffee, tea, or energy drinks. Anyone have suggestions for waking up the mind & body that early in the morning? W- 1:15pm-3:05pm Advanced Principles of Intervention F- 2:15pm-4:05pm Advanced Principles of Intervention Lab. The second 7-week session I'm not sure where my clinical will be or what day, but here is my class schedule. I'm really excited for these classes: MWF- 10am-11:20am Nursing Care of Children MWF- 12:30pm-2:30pm Pharmacology MW- 2:40pm-4:40pm Ma...

Terms, that is! Last week was a crazy busy week for school- I had an exam, three quizzes, a skills competency, two projects, three comprehensive final exams, and a final skills competency- but it's all over and I am FREE until September 6th, when I start my second term. In pathophysiology, I got a 99/100 on my final, a 96 for the term. In foundations of nursing, I earned a 97.5/100 on the final, a 95 for the term. In principles of intervention, I received an 83/100 on the final, which was a pleasant surprise considering we all had less than nice things to say about the exam and my professor. On my comps, I received 87/90 points for the term, and my overall grade for the course was an 88. Two A's and a B+! I'm thrilled & hopeful that the seven remaining terms go just as well. Between now and next August, I have two 7-week terms this fall (followed by 3 weeks off for Christmas), two 7-week terms in the spring (with a week-long spring break), a May term, and two ...

Obviously since I'm writing this, I (somehow) survived the first week of nursing school. I have no doubt in my mind that this will be the hardest 11 months of my life, but I am not regretting my decision to become a nurse. Sure, I've already asked myself a billion times, "Lord, what have I gotten myself into?" or "Can I handle this?" but you know what, I'm just taking it one day at time and have confidence that God won't give me any more than I can handle. And did you notice I said 11 months? Yea, that's right. I'm doing a four year program in eleven months. The school says the program is 14 months, but I'm not sure where they get that for the cohorts that start in summer, because we all start in July and graduate the following August, so that's 13 months. And I just found out that we also have the month of August off (down time between the universities end of summer sessions and start of fall) and mid-December to mid-January off for...

Except I don't live in a mansion, I don't have an amazing pool in my yard, and you won't see the inside of my refrigerator-- or any part of my kitchen, for that matter, as I have yet to finish putting it together. BUT, you will see pics of every other room in my apartment! I'm sure it looks like I have a ton of stuff and that I probably spent quite a bit of money, but I did it all relatively inexpensively. I'm actually going to finish my kitchen and make some changes when I get back up there on Thursday, so I'll add some more pictures later in the week, but here are some shots of it as of now: This is what you see when you come up the stairs and look to the right. The couch my parents have had in the attic for years, waiting for one of us to take it. I bought a slipcover for it and some pillows and it looks totally different. That end table used to be in our sunroom and I repainted and bought a new shade for the lamp. I'm changing the decor on the wall behin...

I seriously hope writing that title gets the damn "Jefferson's" theme song out of my head, because every time I think about the fact that I am moving this Saturday, I instantly start singing the song, and I'm starting to annoy myself. Yes, folks, that's right, I'm moving this saturday. In FIVE days. I'm really trying not to have a panic attack. I went up to my apartment last Wednesday to get my keys and clean the place. You know, I kind of planned on being there for a couple hours, assuming my cleaning would just be really light, touch up stuff for my OCD self, because I figured my landlord did a thorough cleaning for me. Um, no. It was disgusting and full of the previous tenants hair. That's just all kinds of gross. My mom and I spent 6 hours up there scrubbing every surface of the place, but at least now I know that it's spotless and that it was cleaned well. Speaking of my landlord, this woman loves to talk. She's very nice and we have a goo...

I've read a few blog posts lately that have literally made me laugh out loud. I instantly thought, "Wah! I wanna be funny again!" I miss having funny stories to share with you from match.com. Or driving. Or babysitting. Or just my typical crazy antics. But the truth is, my life has been incredibly boring lately. Don't get me wrong, I still say crazy one-liners all the time (like the text I sent to my mom, "I'm pretty sure someone is man-handling my uterus,") sorry to my male readers if I just made you want to stab out your eyes and run around singing, "LALALALALALA" until the image gets out of your head. but they just aren't worthy of an entire post. So let's catch you up to speed on the boringness, shall we? I'm hardly babysitting at all. Maybe once every other week. BUT! I have a trial with a family next week and if it works out for both of us, I'll be working MWF 8-4 until July. I still have as active of a social life as som...

... without being hospitalized, it will be a miracle. I will be applying to two different nursing schools this fall (start of the program is in January). They are both bachelor's programs, one is 18 months, one is 16 months. The 16 month program has more prerequisite requirements than the 18 month program. I've met with an advisor for the 16 month program and she was emphatic that it is entirely possible to complete all of my hours this fall and be ready to start their program in January 2011 (graduation date May 2012). Since I'm always up for a challenge, and always take on more than I can handle, the following is my schedule for this fall. Note: 2 courses are only 5 weeks, 2 are only a month and online. Also, I am taking courses through two different schools and will be at four different campuses. Five week courses: Marian University Adult Programs 8/16-9/25: PSY 205/BUS205 Statistical Methods (3cr)-- Monday's 5:45 pm-9:45 pm 11/1-12/11: PSY 230 Abnormal Psychology (3...

I'm a very, very realistic person. I know when things aren't going to work out the way I had hoped and I accept it. Some people say to me, "You're usually so optimistic, why the pessimism now?" It isn't pessimism. It's reality. I just know the truth, even before it's made itself clear. Confused yet? I did not get into the nursing program I applied to. I knew I wouldn't. Not because I didn't think I was good enough for the program or because I was just being a debbie downer looking for people to tell me otherwise. In fact, quite the opposite. It sometimes ticked me off when people would say, "Oh, be quiet, you'll get into the program, I know you will!" Of course, once I told them the stupid requirements (or lack thereof) they would say, "Oh, well this is a different year. You'll be fine and get in!" Not the case. And I knew it wouldn't be the case. I was just being real about the situation. The competition was fie...

Sorry, Ian , I have to take a break from meme's. But, to anyone who wants to partake in Ian's awesome Monday Minute , go to his blog and join in on this week's very special addition. Here's a hint: it has to do with this adorable face who needs all the prayers she can get right now (she was just diagnosed with neuroblastoma, a type of cancer): So I had my anatomy II finals on Thursday and have been waiting on pins and needles since then to find out my final grade: I was borderline A or B. My grade was finally posted today and I got a 90 (a 92 is the lowest A). That's good, right? I should be proud of myself. Especially for how hard it was this semester and that I willingly admit I did not put in 100% effort (it's been a rough few months, OK? ;)). I should be jumping up and down, because that should be a perfectly fine grade to keep my chances of getting into nursing school high. Ah, but the key word being should . Let's back things up a bit, shall we? My ...

Remember this post??? Well, it's 12:45 and, yet again, I am about to pour myself a glass of wine. BUT this time, it's a celebratory glass. BECAUSE... I just retook my nursing school entrance exam and not only did I PASS all 4 sections, but I also scored a 90% OVERALL !!!!!!! This puts me in the 98th percentile! Which means only two percent of the people who have taken it did better than me!! Holy flippin' crap, I'm freakin' out!!!!!!!! I'll be applying to the program next week and will find out at the end of May whether or not I have been accepted. The program directors say that the best chances of getting into the program are to do really well on the entrance exam and to get an A in all four prereq's... I'd say a 90 is pretty damn good and I have an A in 3/4 of my classes (I'm currently taking the 4th). So while it's not a guarantee, I'm thinkin' my chances that I'll be starting nursing school in the fall are pretty good!!! Hot D...