Blog posts September 2009

Disorientated

I feel so darn disorientated! I woke up at 8:00 this morning and didn't start shift until 3:00 PM. By the time the half-way mark came on our measley 6-hour-long shift, I was ready for a nap! Now, 5 hours later, I am just fully exhausted but my mind is just getting ready to start the day!

No matter. I have a lot of stuff I can dive into to keep me entertained. I can't remember the last time I've uttered the words "I'm bored." There's always something to do. Knitting, browsing the Internet, watching TV, cooking, cleaning, baking, researching, running, walking, planning days out, and so forth. There's always something to do. I enjoy the times where I sit on the couch and think "Yeash... I have nothing to do... " I find it incredibly relaxing. I love living life in the medium-fast lane. Always busy with something and if I'm not, I find something to busy myself. Maybe that's another reason why I joined BeautiControl as an Independant consultant.

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Wrapping Up Practicum

Alright, so maybe it's "almost" wrapping up practicum. Today is the very last morning shift I have for this practicum. Thank goodness. I don't mind getting up early in the morning, but I do start to mind it when the sun decides it's too good to rise for me until after I'm already on the road. Getting dressed in the dark kind of bites!

I also seem to have a major issue with my iron levels which tend to taper off an incredible amount each month. No, it's not "TMI," I actually get borderline anemic and it makes me overly tired and my brain gets frazzled. I can't wait for tomorrow - I'm sleeping in! Well, I'll sleep in until 7:30, then I'll say good morning to my daughter, then slink back into bed for another hour or two until it's time to get up and get ready for the 1400 hrs start time for the first of my last two evening shifts :D

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Important Questions to Ask Yourself

Ask yourselves these questions, courtesy of Zen Habits.

1. Who do I love, and what am I doing about it?
 
I love my daughter and I tell her several times a day. I show it in my actions and let her feel loved. I love a lot of people, but my daughter is my everything.

2. Am I pursuing my dream, or is fear stopping me?
Fear is stopping me. I stay positive in day to day notions, but overall I feel like I'm in a life that I don't have a lot of control over. Regardless, I try my darnedest to start each day on a positive note.

3. Am I doing something that matters?
Absolutely. Motherhood, continued education, nursing (school). 

4. What am I doing to help others?
As a nurse, upon graduation, I will be helping others in many ways. I offer support and a listening ear to my friends and family... Even strangers when they need it.

5. Am I as good a person as I want to be?
No. I have very high expectations of myself and I don't feel like I can ever be as good a person as I want to be. I'm slowly growing to like myself and get to the point where I can actually say that I would be friends with myself if I met me.

6. What am I doing to live life with passion, health and energy?
I never hold back what I'm feeling inside. I tell at least one person when something is bothering me. I try to be physically active and I try to eat healthy, but I'm not perfect :) 

 

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OCM - The End

As I mentioned in previous posts, I stopped using the oil cleansing method. It stunted most nodules (cysts) from forming, however, it left my skin looking very unhealthy and it gave me a lot of white heads -- something I don't normally suffer from. In the end, I tried using a scant amount of oil, I tried steaming more, I tried washing my face with water afterwards, and so forth. It just wasn't working out. I hated how lackluster my skin was looking at the end of two weeks.

I usually stick with facial cleansing methods for 3 or more weeks before I throw in the towel or decide to keep going, but this was just getting to be too much. My face turned more red than it ever had from angry breakouts and it was just becoming painful... It was like trading the painful nodular acne for pustular acne. Nodules hurt like heck because they are so deep, but the pustular (white-heads) hurt because there were just so darn many of them.

On the brighter side, I found out that olive oil works incredibly well as an eye makeup remover. It takes waterproof mascara right off!

Right now, I've started the "Detox" kit I got from Beauti Control - it was actually a free gift for hosting a party. I was ridiculously relaxed lastnight after following the Detox kit steps -- make your tea, put on your mask, pour your bath with the bath oils, etc. I ended up in the bath  -- which smelled fantastic -- sipping on tea and drinking My Sister's Keeper, which I received from my mom on my birthday <3

In the end, the bathtub felt buttered up from the oils, but my skin felt amazing and so did my soul. I can't wait for tonight when I get to do it again :)   It also has a foot cream and a body cream, which also smell amazing.

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Beauti Control

Last night, I hosted a Beauti control party. This is the second Beauti Control party I had been to and finally decided it was time to become a Beauti control consultant. I always enjoy the Spa Parties and think they're super fun. I also love the products they have and figured it'd be a nice excuse to host more parties.

I also ordered their acne line... Even though I have one week left of the oil cleansing method, I am throwing in the towel. I'll post specifically on the OCM later on. I'm excited to try out their acne line, though I won't receive it for a few weeks.

As a gift for hosting the spa, I received a warm/cold neck wrap, a warming face mask/wash, and a detox kit. The detox kit is for your skin, not your "internals." The detox kit is a trial size and includes enough product for three nights. The kit has a detoxifying bath soak, detoxifying clay masque, detoxifying body cream, detoxifying foot cream, and three bags of herbal tea for further relaxing.

Can't wait to start that skin detox! Lord knows I need it, haha

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Daily Gratitude

What are you grateful for? I am trying to remember to post something that I am grateful for each and every day. Join me on doing this! It helps put me in a good mood and reminds me of how well off I am, no matter what my bank account is telling me :P

Join me on twitter (NurseJoc) for a daily gratitude! I'll help you start off:  "#gratitude Daily Gratitude... I am grateful for ____"

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Wound Care Courses and LPNs

I am very interested in getting into wound care, but due to my experience with some RNs and the general attitude towards LPNs, I'm almost determined to not become an RN... At least not for a long time. It bugs me that people still fail to realize that RNs and LPNs are not stages of nurses. They are two completely separate nursing types with two different scopes of practice... They should not be compared to one another. One is not lesser than the other.

Uh... Back to my point! I would love to invest myself into wound management as an LPN. There are a few courses I will be qualified to take once I am finished my schooling. Have any LPNs found that courses on specialties like wound care management make them more appealing to employers at all? Is it a worthy investment, or should I just focus on getting all the practical experience I can get and look into courses further down the road?

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Oil Cleansing Method... Doing it Wrong?

I've been using the Oil Cleansing Method for nearly two weeks now... I have days that are just awesome, but I also have days that are just terrible. Today is one of those days. I woke up to a few painful spots on my face, whiteheads galore, and even a numb area on my chin. Yep. My acne will actually give me numb spots because of how deep it starts.

I had really, really high hopes for the oil cleansing method. I think I made a mistake by doing it every night. I'm now going to start doing it 2-3 times per week. On days that I don't clean it with the OCM, I'll use the cetaphil cleansing bar -- it's a non-soap that is non-comedomegenic.

On a brighter side of things, I actually haven't had a big issue with nodules since starting the OCM, sans the one that is cutting off sensation to a small area on my chin. There is a smaller-than-normal one starting on the side of my nosal bridge, which is pretty painful.

I still have high hopes for this one working. If this fails, the next step is oral antibiotics (nope, not acutane).... I'd like to avoid those as much as possible, since I'm a regular blood donor, but I will be selfish about this if I need to be! It's painful, darn it.

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Oil Cleansing Method

Yeash, how long have I been doing the oil cleansing method? I think it's been 11 days... Almost two weeks! Wow! It's going pretty good. I've learned that I started off using wash clothes that were WAY too hot for the steaming step. This created blotchy red skin, since I was burning myself without realizing it. Even though your skin won't tell you it's burning, you're still at risk for damaging it. Woopsies!

I've adjusted how I manage the cleansing method. I'll go into more details later, but I wanted to post something before I headed off to practicum just because I hadn't really mentioned anything about the OCM lately. I've had one single nodule break-out since I've started, which is pretty significant since I usually have one or two breakouts every other day. A few nodules were even surpressed and reverted back. I had one holy mother of all nodules on my chin that lasted three weeks which has finally gone into remission.

I'm not in love with my skin, but it's starting to look a lot better so I'm pretty darn happy!

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Practicum is Going Well

I can't believe it. I only have 6 days left of practicum! I get to go to maternity tomorrow... I have my fingers crossed for seeing a vaginal delivery. A c-section would be awesome to watch, but I'd prefer to see a mom go through a delivery she has planned for. Unless it's a planned C-section... Obviously :D

I was on the pediatric floor on Sunday, but there wasn't a whole lot that happened there. I got to freak out a mom by gearing up for droplet precautions (booties, bonnet, face mask with an eye shield, gown, and gloves). Apparently, the "droplet precaution" sign at her door was there just for safety measures. The little kid actually didn't have anything that warranted droplet precautions to be taken. Sorry, mom! Didn't mean to scare you like that, haha. Luckily, the little kid didn't mind one bit.

I'm on a medical-surgical floor now, which is nice. I had a very pleasant patient today. Aside from a few organizational issues due to being on the floor for the very first time, my day went very well. I got a few new skills in and I'm pretty satisfied with the quality of work I did on and for my patient.

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Time for Socks

It's about time I've sat down and really finished a pair of socks. I have started about 3 or 4 socks, only to frog them a few inches in. For some reason, it's just never been very comfortable to knit a pair of socks, but I've found a pattern that I think I can stick with. I'm about 25% finished the first sock and I casted on yesterday, so I should be good to go!

I'd really like to be able to make nice socks, since I know that it is what I want to do for my Dad's Christmas present. I never know what to get him, but I think he'll appreciate the humor and effort of a hand-knit sock from me! We make jokes about my Irish grandma giving socks and soap each year (I don't mind! It's very practical). She's a hard core knitter and so I think the hand knit socks will make for a great gift for a guy that I never know what to get!

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OCM Day 7?! Wow!

Alright... So tonight will be the seventh time I've cleaned my skin with oil. So far... No new nodules forming under my skin, and a few of them actually reverted. The bad side is that my skin doesn't look terribly healthy. It's not that it's greasy looking or anything, it's just missing a certain luster about it. Maybe it's just the terrible diet I've been eating lately - nothing but junk!

I have had a few small white heads pop up, likely because I'm not spending enough time steaming and removing the excess oil.

All in all... I'm not really sold on the oil cleansing method. I said I'd do it for 3 weeks, so I will continue to do it for 3 weeks. It's pretty good and it's cheap to do, but it's definitely not perfect!

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Save On Foods... Thrifty's...

Man, I hate this store. I hate it! But I keep going there out of convenience. Specifically, the one in Parksville. It is constantly bombarded with fruit flies. I don't mean just a few fruit flies, I mean I picked up a plastic case of strawberries to look at the freshness and I saw about 4 fruit flies squirming around inside and a cloud of fruit flies appear out of nowhere when I lifted it up. *shudder*

This isn't terribly out of the ordinary for this store. I also had a cashier ignore me on many occasions while checking out so that she could chat with her friends.

I've lived here for a little longer than a year and I've already accidentally purchased 6 expired items. One that stands out in my mind rather well is the Kashi cereal I purchased that was 6 months past its expiry date. I didn't realize this until I bit into the awesomely stale square of yuck.

Call this a rant if you will, but boo. Sometimes I'll have great experiences there, sometimes they are just aweful. The Save On Foods in Nanaimo is just awesome, on the other hand. Their produce always looks fresh and the employees are usually quite friendly.

Thrifty Foods in Parksville is an A++ store. I love going there. They have the freshest foods I've ever seen, a great selection of meats and cheeses, it's almost always spotless looking, and their employees are just amazing. I love that they always give my daughter a sticker at the checkout... Not to mention their awesome "half" carts. I wish I lived closer to Thrifty's than to Save On, haha

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Knitting Update - Onto Scarves

I finished the fish hat the other day and am now resuming a scarf I started making earlier this year when we had a freak snow storm in the middle of March... We don't get a lot of snow in this area.

The fish hat came out pretty well. I haven't done the eyes just yet -- I don't have supplies for it yet. I'll estimate that the hat took about 4 half-days of solid knitting to complete. It was super easy and I'd recommend it to anyone that is a beginner right now, looking to try something in the beginner-intermediate category. It knits up quick and the end result is pretty darn cute!

Now, I am onto the scarf whose pattern can be found here. It's called the Tweed Scarf and it is a little difficult... Mostly, because there are so many changes in the pattern that my mind often gets lost in it. I'm also not sure what the writer means by "(Begin first repeat here)" but I have been making my way through it, regardless.

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Oil Cleansing Method Day... 2?

So today is the third day since I've cleaned my face with anything other than soap paired with harsh chemicals. I'm really apprehensive about posting anything terribly positive... Because I don't want to jinx anything. I have 3 current nodule break-outs on my skin, which are from last week. I had two forming on Sunday when I started this and today, one is completely gone, and the other is small and not red. The pores on my nose look amazing.

I found out that oil is great at removing water-proof mascara! Fabulous :D

So far, I'm pretty content with it. I feel as though my skin is less oily during the day. Usually come afternoon, my skin is incredibly greasy and oily looking. Yesterday, it wasn't too bad at all. It was still kind of oily, but not nearly as bad as normal.

I'm trying to take daily pictures so that I can put together a neat little collage when my 3 weeks is up. I missed last night's photo because I crashed pretty hard after my daughter was in bed. I had only received 2 hours of sleep the night before and was back on my feet for most of the day in light of practicum.

I'm pretty happy with the OCM so far... I just hope that my skin continues to adjust to it like it has been.

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101 Things to Do...

I started a list of 101 things to do in 1001 days. A friend linked me to a website showing this off and I thought it would be a fun thing to do, so I started my own list... I barely got past 50 things before my mind went completely dry of ideas, but I will add to it whenever something new pops into my head.

Check it out for yourself and try to make up your own list. I will link you :)

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Oil Cleansing Method Day 2

I've only washed my face with oil once, but this is technically day two. Last night, I did the oil cleansing method for the first time. It was definitely not what I expected. My face was not oily at all at the end of it, which was just a complete shock to me even though I read about how that is expected. It's just weird to think that you're putting oil on your face and yet your face doesn't get oily.

This morning, I woke up and splashed some cool water on my face and patted it dry. That's a bit of a step up from the 30 minutes I used to spend washing, waiting 10 minutes, applying benzoyl peroxide, drying for 10 minutes, then applying moisturizer.

My face doesn't feel that bad today. I thought it would be greasy feeling, but it's not much different than normal for me... It still gets oily/greasy near the end of the day. This is just the second day, so the nature of my skin has not yet changed to accommodate this new style of cleansing.

I'm really antsy to see how this will work out!

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The Oil Cleansing Method

Today marks the first day of the oil cleansing method. What is the Oil Cleansing Method? It's not to be confused with "Oil Pulling," which is a very strange act I've come across today while researching the OCM.  The OCM is a method of cleaning your face without using harsh chemicals, soaps, or other things of such.

I'll give you a little background on myself. I had relatively clear skin all through high school. I'd have a single break-out each month for obvious reasons (hi. I'm a woman, have you met my endocrine system?) But other than that, flawless skin. Fast forward to my 22nd birthday, I'm greeted with a nodule. The next day, two more nodules. The next day, a few more. It got to the point where my entire jaw line and down my neck were filled with incredibly painful nodules.

Nodules are kind of like pimples/white-heads, but they never make it to the surface. They stay under the surface and are very painful. If you accidentally bump one, it will continue to give you a sharp, stabbing pain for a few minutes after the impact. This kind of acne is either rare or is understood. It took me a while to find the name nodular acne on Google. It is ranked underneath cystic acne and is considered mild-moderate acne. Some websites show it as a mild cystic acne form.

This is a self diagnosis, if you couldn't tell.

I ended up getting a prescription for Clindoxyl gel, which dried the heck out of my face and made me break out intensely for the first few weeks, but I stuck with it. I told my doctor I would use it for the full 3 months before I gave it up. As luck would have it, I started seeing noticeable improvement 2.5 months into it. I weaned myself off of that prescription and started using Benzoyl Peroxide from Acne.org. I should mention that I use Cetaphil cleansing face bars with this.

A year or so later, after enjoying clear skin, my face slowly started breaking out again. For the past 4 months, I've been using Clearasil's pads with salicylic acid in them. This didn't seem to improve my skin at all. I'm fed up with harsh chemicals that bleach my EYEBROWS and my pillow cases. Enough is enough.

I've spent the past week research the Oil Cleansing Method and today... Today we dine in glory *evil cackle* Not really. Today, I start the "OCM". Here's what I do:

  1. Have a blend of 30% castor oil, 70% olive oil (or any other oil you may want to try... Google it first!)
  2. Massage the oil into your dry skin for a few minutes
  3. Take a STEAMING hot cloth (don't burn yourself) and place it on your face.
  4. Relax. Let it sit there for a while. Let the cloth cool down to room temperature.
  5. Rinse the cloth like heck, massage your face again.
  6. Make the cloth hot again and put it back onto your face and relax.
  7. Gently wipe the oils off of your face with the cloth.
  8. Repeat steps 6 and 7.
  9. Splash your face with cool water.
  10. Pat dry
Tada! I'll post before and after pictures in about 3 weeks... If the results are positive. Ha!

 

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Colds For the Lose

I had the worst sleep I've had in a long time last night. My nose woke me up quite a bit - sneezing, sniffling, one heck of a sore throat, and the inability to breathe through my nostrils. I'd like to send out a thank you to my baby sister for this cold. I'm honored. Actually, it's my daughter's inexperienced hand washing while she and I were at my mom's house on Monday.

fish hat - almost doneI hope this cold does not last very long... Not only is it incredibly uncomfortable and sore (ow! I can't eat!) I have practicum on Sunday again. I actually ended up missing practicum yesterday because my daughter was so sick and half-way through the day is when I got slammed with the illness. My daughter seems to be doing better than me, thank goodness! Poor girl.

 

On the brighter side, I was able to work on that fish hat a bunch yesterday. I'm at least 80% done now. I'm just doing the tail, then have to work on the details such as the fins and the eyes. I'm quite pleased with how it's coming along. I can't wait to be done it so that I can move on to making hats for my two nephews... Their hats will be a bit of a challenge, since I'll be creating a pattern just for them. I have to incorporate mighty machines into their hats, otherwise they simply won't wear them (of course!)  They truly are their father's sons hehe

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Revisit: Fish Hat

Fish hat knittingI mentioned Christmas before, but holy cats! I somehow lost track of how close it is to Christmas... Well, in my mind anyway. I like to make most of the gifts that I give, so I try to start early (read: summer). So far, I've only started on one present... The fish hat for my younger sister. I had started a hat for my older sister, but frogged it because I was using the wrong yarn/gauge. It was HUGE! I'll start over :)

Do you buy most of your gifts or make them? I used to buy each gift until I found myself without a job one year, asked everyone to not get me anything and I baked them all cookies... I felt terrible for only being able to make cookies. The following year, I re-took up knitting just as a hobby and ever since then, it's been a bit of a tradition to make the women of my family slippers. I've yet to find a decent slipper pattern for a man or a boy -- if you know of any let me know!

I spent most of this long weekend stripping off wallpaper, washing walls, spackling, sanding, and painting our living room. I'd like to note that my daughter spent the night with her grandparents, hence me busting out the Bananatini Vex. I'm happy to say that the walls are done after two full days of hard labor being put into it. I even stayed up until 2:00 AM last night in order to finish it... Since it is actually physical work, my body was energized and awake until 5:00 AM. That would have been okay if my daughter hadn't woken up at 7:30 AM. Ack! No sleep for this mama. No real surprise there, eh? :P

Truth be told, my daughter is amazingly fabulous at sleeping.  Man, I love her!

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