Someone parked their brand new 2010 Mazda 3 Sport in my driveway. What's that? Oh! haha... My bad. That's my car!
Someone parked their brand new 2010 Mazda 3 Sport in my driveway. What's that? Oh! haha... My bad. That's my car!
Halp! I needs a tissue! :(
The last half of this month, I have had a heck of a lot of shifts! I was pretty darn happy with that. I was enjoying my one day off and preparing to go back to work for another 4 days before having my 5 days off! Score! And then, BAM! I get nailed with a pretty silly illness. I think it's a cold... A bit of a harsh cold.
I called in sick, fully expecting to go back the next day. Next day comes, and I'm suddenly taken over by an overwhelming feeling of drowsiness and weakness. I called in sick again, fully expecting to be in the next day. I wake up today -- day three of what would have been my four shifts, and I can't talk! Auhg! My throat hurts something awful right now and I have a really gnarly cough. I tried calling in sick, but I know I'm letting my boss down a lot this week. There aren't a lot of back-up LPNs for this particular shift, but... Hell. I'm sick. It's not like I can really help that...
I left a voicemail... I wonder if she'll be able to understand it through the random voice crackles, and high pitched whines made by my frail larynx. :P
In the meantime, I've been working on my first knitted sweater! I'm guessing it will take me another month to finish since I usually only work on it during days I don't work.
After many years of the over-sized, orange-tinting, battery noming digital camera, I finally broke down and bought a new one. I didn't research too much, I just looked at the size and the price. I managed to get the $160 camera for $89.00 thanks to the amazing price matching service provided by the website NCIX.com, which is a Vancouver-based business.
I have ordered two complete computer systems through NCIX in the past 10 years. (Yeah, note to self: dust out your PC tower every once in a while so that you don't set your video card on fire again... Good times.) They provide excellent customer service, great pricing, quick shipping, and awesome return policies. Nope, this isn't a paid blog post or anything like that. I just like spreading the good word on companies I <3
The only issue I have so far is that the camera's software is severely lacking. There isn't a way to resize your images through their software. As much as I love to keep original pictures in 9 trillion pixels by 10 billion pixels, I like to be able to resize some so that I can upload them online for my website or to send through email to relatives. Luckily, I've recently found this website that allows you to resize images quickly and easily (http://www.shrinkpictures.com/resize.php)... Though, it's just one image at a time. I won't complain! It's a free service :D
WOW! Maybe adding the recipe will help you out. haha, woops. Here's the recipe for Hearty Breakfast Cookies :)
I'm really sorry if you're allergic to peanuts! I've been making all kinds of peanut butter based cookies lately. I made these breakfast cookies last week and they were just delicious. I cut down on the sugar, of course... No one needs that much sugar :P
They are filling and have a really good balance of flavors so that there's no overload of sweetness or peanut butter.
Give them a try :D
Oh my gosh... I can't move. I am never, ever baking these cookies again. I made enough cookies to completely fill a giant freezer bag and it lasted my family and I barely 24 hours. I hate to admit it, but I probably ate 95% of them. They were so good. Never making them again.
I spent today scrubbing my car until it sparkled inside and out. There was a lot of sap on it, so my arms are quite sore from the elbow grease that was required. Darn white cars. I have a few new job applications to hand out despite my having 17 shifts next month. As much as I enjoy my job, working on a dementia unit is incredibly hard and demanding. I need a balance of normalcy in my work life.
That said, I'm trying to get back into knitting as much as possible. I want to finish the sweater I started and then forgot about in December/January. I'd like to be able to have it finished so that I can start a new one for my daughter for her birthday, which is coming up in June.
I finished two months of the Tetracycline paired with Benzamycin (a topical gel that lives in the fridge, containing erythromycin and benzoyl eroxide). They both worked pretty well up until the last week. During the last week, I broke out in about five nodules. It was working so well, too. Oh well...
I wasn't really using the tetracycline properly, anyway. I had to eat something with it or I would throw up as I always did whenever I tried taking it as ordered -- 1 hour before food or three hours after food, never within a close time-frame of diary/calcium-rich or iron-rich foods.
The benzamycin gel worked alright... I really hate that it creates a large dependency on consistent use. You skip a morning or a nightly application and you will break out, without a doubt. When you are on a flip-flop schedule like mine, you can't really work a product like that into your schedule very easily. Not to mention the severe drying it does to your skin, the fact that it bleaches all hair it comes into contact with (eyebrows, surrounding hair line) and it discolours most fabrics... Uhg. I don't want topical solutions anymore. I'm sick of them and how much they limit lifestyle... I won't even get into the time I tried camping and came home with a polka-dot face, ha.
So now... I'm getting myself back onto the health wagon. It's time to stop eating junk food and restart taking my main vitamins; vitamin E and vitamin B (complex). I'm on day three of this, so we'll see how it goes. I want to exhaust all methods, even though I've tried most of them before. Last, last resort will be acutane which I would really love to avoid.
Been keeping super busy at my new job! Wahoo. My only complaint is that the location isn't unionized.
Now, where the heck did Kinda Car Sick go?? I loved that blog *cry* Especially after Sara posted her lovely staff infection. Come back, lady!
In the knitting world, I'm currently working on my very first sweater. So far, I only have about 3 inches of 1x1 ribbing done. I'm using the pattern, Carona, though I will alter it slightly to make it londer in the body as well as the sleeves. I love sweaters that stop half-way down the bum since it's a good length to avoid the "constantly pulling my shirt down" syndrome.
I got my new blackberry in the mail. I love it so far... I'm easily amused, though. I spent at least an hour in bed last night at around 5:00 AM playing the texas hold'em game on it. If you haven't guessed, I have been doing a lot of night shifts lately so sleeping normal hours is next to impossible.
I'm about ready to take a nice long bath with my two new BeautiControl products -- not kidding you. I effing love the Fango seaweed masque. The way it smells, the way it feels, and how it leaves my skin after I'm done using it makes me crave using it :x I pair it up with my other favorite poduct, the Luxuries of the Sea bath soak which has an aroma that compliments the masque very well. This isn't a plug, I swear haha I can't make money from this stuff online! I just love it :( A lot. A lot, lot, lot.
I have my licensing exam in two more sleeps. I'm super nervous... Halp!
Oh, PS. Although tetracycline is absolutely kicking my butt to the curb with its nausea-inducing tendencies, it has done a wonderful job clearing up my skin. I haven't had a new break-out for two weeks. One and a half more months left... Sweet jebus.
First post of 2010, holy toledo!
Roger's is having a massive sale on some of their smart phones in an attempt to rid their old models in stock. I took advantage of this and locked into a 3-year contract with no setup fee for $1.11. The data plan is a little more than what I was paying, but well worth it in the end. I've been looking at smart phones for nearly two years now and wanted this particular type of phone for the past 4 years. Well worth the wait, or so I hope!
That said, I hopped onto Etsy to take a look at what neat little trinkets I could buy for my new phone... I decided I had spent enough this season so far, but did a little browser shopping anyway. Some shops I enjoyed were:
I think I'll pimp out my cellphone as a reward when I knock off the first $1k from my credit card :)
Quick look of the past month: Christmas, knitting, new job, new dog.
I got my first job at a non-unionized location. There weren't a lot of people hiring when I was looking for work, so I accepted the first job offer that I recieved. The pay is the same as unionized facilities, the staff are amazingly nice, and the place is well kept, so I'm pretty darn happy with the place! I've already learned a bunch since I started two-three weeks ago. I'm still on the hunt for some work in the hospital as well as more casual positions.
I want work in a hospital because I get to utilize all of the skills I've learned in school. In long term care facilities, there aren't many opportunities to perform skills outside of morning and night-time care, the occasional stoma-related care, and the far-and-few-between catheter insertions and irrigations.
The nice thing about working in a long term care facitity is you get to learn all the resident's quirks, likes, and dislikes, plus you get to meet the families and create a relationship with them as well. They put their trust into you as a nurse and you get to give them updates on their family member. This is especially true for dementia units.
I managed to finish my very first pair of socks. I ended up finishing two pairs for Christmas -- one for my mom and one for my brother. I'm now going to start a pair for my daughter, since she's been asking me for a pair since forever :(
I got a new dog, but I won't go into too much detail about that since this update is long enough as it is. Wheeler, the new dog, is a beautiful mutt. He's a cross between a bernese mountain dog and a golden retriever... The perfect blend. A family dog with a docile temperment crossed with a snow-loving cuddler. Wheeler has fit right into our family and it is just amazing having a dog in the house again :)
I've been batteling with nodular ance since I was 21. In fact, I started breaking out shortly after my 21st birthday. As I've mentioned in the past, nodules are a step down from cystic acne. They are essentially the same thing, though they are smaller than.
When I first went to my doctor about it, I had already gotten to the point where I didn't want to leave the apartment for any reason. I was even embarassed to be around my family with the harsh looking break-outs. Not only are they an eye sore to look at, they are very painful and can sometimes be so deep that they cause numbness and facial swelling. Awesome stuff!
Anyway... For the first year and a bit, benzoy peroxide seemed to work pretty good, but I got the occasional breakout regardless of my religious face washing twice a day, application of benzoyl, and following that all up with a special formulated moisturizer. It left me absolutely paranoid of people touching my face at all and bleached each of my pillow-cases.
Then I tried going vegetarian, even went vegan for a while. I kept a great diet with no processed sugars in it for many months before I fell off the wagon and none of those changes to my diet helped at all. I tried supplements such as Vitamin E (helps complexion for sure), vitamin C, even the birth control pill all in an attempt to stop these constant break-outs.
I tried the oil cleansing method which helped reduce the number of breakouts, but didn't completely get rid of them and actually caused me to break out with pimples (white-topped comedomes) as well as blakc heads.
I tried quite a few other things. In the end, I had to come to the realization that these are not generic acne -- they can't be stopped alone. Off to the doctor I went for an Rx for Tetracycline. Finger's crossed!
There is ittle information out there on nodular acne and I look forward to sitting down and writing up a good informative article for those of you suffering from it, be it it through a friend, family member, or personally.
I've been pretty relaxed since I finished school. I'm spending most of my days writing out resumes and cover letters and applying for jobs here and there. I actually just started applying for jobs yesterday and managed to land an interview which went quite well. I hope that I can get that job since it is with VIHA!
I'm thinking about writing up a resume tips and tricks page... One of the most common questions I've heard from newly graduated nurses is "How I do I get work/write a resume without any experience?" Well, the answer is pretty simple... Write a skills-based resume, not a chronological one. Always write a cover letter - call the place ahead of time and get the name of the person you're aplying to. "To whom it may concern" isn't a very nice way to start a cover letter -- it shows that you haven't put any time into your application and you're there for the job alone, not for the actual facility.
Anywho! I am going to be passing out my applications all day tomorrow, so wish me luck!
I saw this fabulous webpage on reddit and had to pass it along. It is a wonderfully illustrated page outlining interesting facts about coffee -- its origin, how it works in our bodies, and other interesting things. Find out where the nickname "Cup of Joe" comes from:
Happy Halloween!
We won't be trick or treating! :( We were debating whether or not to hand out candies because the news (ha, media...) Told me not to! haha
Anyway, we took advantage of Thrifty's Food delivery service so that we wouldn't but the community at risk for infection. We were looking at Quality Foods, but I read that they don't deliver on weekends. Thrifty's to the rescue once again :P The delivery guy was super, super nice -- asked him just to drop the stuff off outside and we would grab it ourselves. He made a few jokes and all was good.
I'm so sick of being house-bound, I finally emptied out our old fridge (got a new old one from my mom when she moved), unplugged it, then took downthe cupboard above it (it was atiny fridge, we need the space for our new fridge to fit in). I gave the floor a quick towel-down, now I'm waiting for it to dry. I'll give it a quick sweep, then a good mopping, let it dry, then put the new fridge in place!
I also went on a bit of an energy bender in the bathroom and scrubbed the soap scum off of our double-sized soaker tub. Having a tub that big is more of a pain than it is a luxury... Especially with the jets that can get gross *shudder* I've decided that Tuesdays are Tub days -- weekly tub scrubbing shall ensue.
I remember Saturdays were going to be something else, but I forget now... Saturday... Saturday... Oh nuts. I hate forgeting things. Especially when I remember that it was awesome haha
If you think you are sick, STAY HOME.
So the other week, my boyfriend's coworker was diagnosed with h1n1 (confirmed case). Friday, my daughter gets a cough and a very sudden fever, stuffy nose, sneezing, lethargic, etc. Two days after that, my boyfriend gets a very sudden cough and fever onset as well. He ended up calling 811 - the magical hotline we have here in BC which is manned by nurses -- at 3:00 AM while I was sleeping :P He waited on the line for one hour before being able to get through. The nurse on the line said that he was one of the first person to call in with a probable cause of concern and said that it was almost definitely the h1n1 virus.
Sudden cough and sudden onset of fever is how the h1n1 usually begins. Other symptoms include fatigue, muscle ache, sore throat, headache, decreased eppetite, and a runny nose. Only sometimes will someone with the h1n1 virus get nausea, vomiting, or diarrhea.
If you have h1n1, some things to watch out for include shortness of breath, chest pain, bluish or grey skin colour, bloody (or other coloured) mucus, sudden diziness or confusion, severe vomiting, high fever that lasts more than 3 days, low blood pressure, and relapsing symptoms after a day or so of being symptom-free.
People at risk of developing complications include children under 5, pregnant women, sufferers of heart disease, kidney disease, diabetes, asthma or other chronic lung diseases, liver disease, blood disorders, severe obesity, immunosuppressed persons, and those with neurological disorders.
This virus is a little more harsh than the normal flu since a seemingly healthy person can go from mild symptoms to quite severe symptoms in a matter of hours or days. It is also more harsh because it is spread through the air as respiratory precautions (simple breathing can spread it) rather than droplet (sneezing, coughing, etc.) like the normal flu(s). Of course, it still has the same rules -- wash your hands, cough and sneeze into your sleeve, stay home if you are sick, stay home if you are sick, and... Stay home if you are sick! Stay home until you have been symptom-free for 48 hours.
I finally finished the book "My Sister's Keeper."
I'm pretty sad that it's over! It was a very good read. I found it a little strange at first. The writing style took a while for me to get used to, but it was a very emjoyable style once I got used to it.
The ending shocked the heck out of me and I was a little upset that I was at work and not at home when I finished it. I wanted to bawl my eyes out! haha I recommend this book to other moms and dads. I'm not sure if it would have the same effect on me if I weren't a parent. To be honest, I never imagined love so strong until I had my daughter.
There are a few other books out there by the same author, so there's a good chance I will be picking those books up! Right after I finish the Twilight series... My mom and sister suggest that I read them :P
I did my first night shift yesterday on the Rehab unit. It wasn't too bad. I was pretty tired at the end and had a rough time driving home, but it was manageable.
We did hourly rounds, updated the MARs, stocked carts, and did patient care as needed. I ended up doing my first solo catheterization, which went pretty smoothly.
Catheterizations are such a simple skill, but there is a lot of technique behind it - mostly with regards to maintaining sterility. There's also some dexterity required, since once your positional/stabilizing hand touches the patient, it can no longer be used. It's game over. you're left with your other hand to insert the catheter (without touching anything outside of the field, which includes the patient) and inflate the balloon if there is one.
I'm off for another night shift!
Tendinitis is severely underrated. It hurts a lot! I currently have it in my right rotator cuff as well as my righ elbow area. It makes it hard to lift things, or even take a sweater off. It hurts when I lay down in bed at night. Strange stuff! I just ty not to use it as much as posible and it usually resolves itself within a few weeks.
So I have been using the BeautiControl Skinlogics Clear line of skin care for 2.5 weeks now. While my skin isn't clear yet, I've had barely any nodular breakouts -- two. Usually it's one new one per day. Definitely an improvement! I have also been divulging in microderm abrasion (also from BeautiControl) once per week. I look forward to Thursdays knowing that it's a microderm abrasion night, haha
I have been trying out new products here and there. So far, my favorites are the Skinlogics skin care line, the Sugar Cookie (limited availability: just for the holidays!!) collection which includes body wash, butter, instand manicure hand scrub, lip scrub, lip conditioner, and extreme repair hand moisturizer; I also have fallen in love with most of their make-up products. I especially love their shadow control cream (in toupe) and Spectaculash mascara. Lip Apeel is of course a favorite of mine, as is the Spa Detox collection :P
Heck, I just love everything they make. They really do make amazing products.
Felt good to rant, I won't lie!
I'm going to go to the funeral on Thursday and worry about my practicum hour issues later. I doubt any school would let me fail because of a death in the family.
I've only lost two people in my life. The first person I lost was my Grandma. She and I weren't buddy/buddy close, but she, my mom, my sister, and I often went out for lunch together. I'd see her two-three times each week. Christmas, birthdays, Halloween, etc. all involved Grandma. Losing her was losing the back bone of my extended family. It was losing Christmas - losing birthdays, losing all special events. Losing her was the hardest thing I have ever gone through. She passed on October 14, 2007.
The other person, obviously, is my Grandpa -- other side of the family. I only saw him a few times each year growing up because he lives on Salt Spring Island. His health was constantly going downhill, but losing him was still a shock. He passed away October 15, 2009.
I will be hiding under a table on October 16th, 2011.
