Dane Cook at the Spokane Veterans Memorial Arena

Went to Dane Cook tonight with Josh S. and his friends Heather and Alexandria. It was fun. We had floor seats. They also had large screens located above each section. The stage was set in the center of the arena so the comedians walked around in a circle. There were three opening acts. Chris Army, Ben Glieb from Chelsey Lately, and Al (something). The show was funny. Unfortunately Spokane had some rude patrons who tried to charge the stage. One guy made it onstage and the other was actually stopped. Dane was none too happy with the Arena's security. Hopefully he will still want to come back to the city some other time. I didn't sneak in a camera, but my friend's little sister did so I have copied her pics from Facebook so I could have some memories for here. (Thanks, Emily M.) After went and had some food at The Max in Spokane Valley before heading home.

Thanksgiving cupcake

So I was overly ambitious this Thanksgiving and thought I could make 24 of these cupcakes. I made only the one. They were very complicated and had too many steps. I was just too busy with school, work, and being sick. Maybe next year if I feel like buying all the supplies over again.

Eye See with my one Eye......

So I had Lasik surgery on Monday, November 8th by Pacific Cataract and Laser Institute. I wasn't scared or nervous mostly excited. The experience in itself was not bad though not pleasant. I felt like I was rushed into the surgical room. They barely let me lay down and rearrange a blanket that I was using before they started working on my eyes. They started with the left eye. The part I was most nervous about was them placing the contraption that holds your eyelids open. That part wasn't too bad. It was when they were placing the microkeratome that cuts the flap on my eye that was very uncomfortable. He kept placing it and moving it and had to try a few times. The sound of the thing cutting my eye was also louder than I expected. They then placed the cutter on my right eye and cut it. This time it took less placement. After the right eye was cut the surgeon commented on the hinge and the two doctors said something I couldn't hear. They then used the laser to do the right eye after flipping back the flap. It was quick. Then they went back and flipped back the flap on the left eye and did the laser. When this was done they placed protective contacts in my eyes. I asked the surgeon "What about my hinge?". He said that nothing was wrong with it and that it was perfect. I was then basically rushed out of the surgery room since they had more people to do. My mom drove me home and from there it was drops, drops, and more eye drops on a schedule. My mom was there to make sure I got all my drops in as I was tired since I had done the surgery after having worked the night before.

The next day was the post-op. So here is the bad news. The left eye is great, but the right eye has an astigmatism due to the hinge on the flap and some epithelial cells that are sitting there. My eye is blurry. I can't see close or far with it. Very frustrating and upsetting. I just paid them $2800 for one good eye. So we scheduled another appointment for the Thursday.

A few days later on Thursday I went back in. After taking the various pictures of my eyes with some pretty interesting machines I was told that the cells were going away and that it was getting better. This was good. Make another appointment for Monday.

Monday came and I went yesterday for another appointment. More cells were gone and I was very slightly better. The good news is they can give me a contact as a crutch while the right eye heals and we wait to see if it corrects itself or we will have to do something else to fix it. The bad news is that it will take at the very least 2 months. Not the time frame I was looking forward to, but hopefully with this contact it will be easier to read and do homework again since having one good and one bad eye makes them fight each other. In fact I am typing this post with it looking blurry.

Finally today I had an appointment with my optometrist, Dr. Gruver. My fourth eye appointment in a week. He ordered me a contact with more strength. Of course, he also looked at my eyes. He dyed one yellow too. I looked like I got in a fight with a highlighter and it won. So at this point I am waiting on my contact to come in and waiting on my eye to hurry and heal. Hopefully it will heal into good vision and I won't have to do anything else. Just gonna have to wait and see.


It was real fun having everyone look at me funny when I went to Les Schwab to get some snow tires.

Halloween Cupcakes

I made the cutest Halloween cupcakes. They are little monsters. I love this cupcake book I have it has the cutest ideas in it. These are little green one-eyed monsters and spiky orange monsters. Way easy to make. I am taking them to work tonight.

Got Chips?

I can't think of the year I started, but I now make salsa once a year. Why only once a year? Becuase it is always in a very large amount and I chop all the tomatoes by hand. No pureeing. My salsa is chunky. I also have never measured the amount, but this year I paid attention. I made 2 gallons! It took me three days to make. I got started late the first night and quit when my hand got tired. I finished everything the second day and realized I had forgotten to buy the cilantro, and on the third day the cilantro was added and it was placed in jars.




Good thing I have people waiting every year to eat it cause I like salsa, but would be sick after eating all this.

1 Semester Down 3 to Go

So I finished my first semester at WSU online last night. I actually didn't have to finish at midnight, more like 10pm. This gives me about a week till I have to start again. Guess I better get packing to move. I will still have work at Riverview, but this next week I will be starting my actual shift of 10pm-6:30am. Guess we'll see if I can do those weird hours. Apartment pictures to come if I can get my keys on Monday and get started.

Job (s) and beginning of moving out

So I have been doing more training at my first nursing job. I did a couple evening shifts. It has been good. Worked with a nurse named Jessica. She was nice and helped me learn a couple things. Now I kinda know what a day shift feels like and some evenings. After next week I will be onto my actual night shift.

During all this my old job at InCyte Pathology also called me and asked me to help them cause they are a little behind. I decided that I could give them some hours even though I had planned the days off my other job to work on papers and projects for my semester at WSU. So it has been fun seeing people again and nice just doing a job that I know. The extra money will also come in handy for moving out which I am now planning for May 10th.

I am just cramming a lot into the next few weeks and this month. The new car, new job, end of a semester, and now moving. Crazy I know. I just have to make it through next week I think and then it will be a little better. I can hope anyways. A teacher moved up the due date on two projects by three days so she has totally messed up my schedule I had planned to get everything done. We'll see if I can do it.

Well here is a floorplan, though a couple things are different. They don't have a breakfast bar in these ones and the master bedroom has a bath and not a standing shower now. I will post more pics later when I get some cause the website is down.

New Car Finally!!

So I finally found myself a car. I have been looking for a few weeks to no avail since I sold my Honda. I tried buying cars off Craigslist. That never panned out. Either they had sold the car or it was a rebuilt title and the bank won't finance those. I was searching for a Nissan Altima 05-06, or a Jetta, or a Mazda 3 or 6. The Altima being my top choice. While I was searching Craigslist my dad had his car salesman guy who can go to auctions and look for what we want looking for a car for me. It wasn't really working out though. He did finally find a Jetta that I wanted him to bid on so I got all the paperwork and check from the bank with the expectation that he would win the auction. We were outbid. I felt like an idiot bringing the check back to the bank and basically decided I was done with the car auction search process.I also had found a great Altima in Beaverton, OR, but could not get a hold of the guy. He did finally answer his phone. It was sold. I went back to Craigslist and found two Mazda 6's that I liked. I had seen them earlier, but decided I didn't want to pay that much. I called them. Both had sold. I then saw an ad for a Jetta at the Nissan dealership and went down to basically buy it cause I like the price. It was of course sold. The dealer did not have a 2006 Altima and of course tried to sell me a 2010. I told em I would think about it. Still no car. I decided to search Spokane for an Altima and came up with the George Gee website. They had two Altimas. YAY! Then after looking more I found out they were both in Pasco, WA. I decided to call and get some info. Well at this point I was quite sick of the car search and like what I saw. Basically bought the car over the internet and had them drive it up to Spokane to me. There were a few problems here and there with the interior/exterior, but overall I am quite happy with it and fixed most of these problems by going to Spalding's and getting some pieces and parts. Anyways here are some pics. I got a 2006 Nissan Altima 2.5 SL. So it has the heated seats and styling that I wanted. I am happy with it and hope to drive it for some years to come.

First day

So I sorta had my first day today. I shadowed/helped a nurse named Teresa on the 6-14:30 shift. I kinda got to see who some of the residents were and pass some meds. I totally need to take more time to look up those meds though. It wasn't as bad as I thought it would be and I think that I will be able to do my job just fine especially since my shift will be more "quiet" with it being while everybody is in bed at the time. So I will do a couple more day shifts, move to some evening shifts and then onto my night shift. Also it is so weird cause the NACs do so much that we were doing in school. I feel like I am sorta doing nothing but giving meds and a couple small treatments.

Anyways the search for a new car is still on. I test drove a 2006 Nissan Altima on Friday after work and really liked it. The only problem being it was from New York and the engine had signs of corrosion. Also the dealer did not want to negotiate with me at all really. Otherwise I liked it. Could have left with it for 12500. I called the car guy my dad has looking for me at auctions and he sorta threw a fit about wanting to get me one so I am giving him a chance though he has not come through for me as of yet. Basically if after next week he has nothing I am probably done and doing whatever I want. So I was going to buy an in between car, but since I cannot find anything I like for a lower price I am at this point going to buy something I do like for more money and drive it till I decide I don't want it anymore, which with me can be a while unless the car goes to crap which spending this much I hope it doesn't. Anyways I hope to be driving a 2005 or 2006 Nissan Altima soon.

success!

So I finally got a job. I will be working at Riverview. I can't decide if I like the hours or not there are pros and cons for it. I am working 10:00pm-6:30am. Gonna have to get used to that. Getting to start at around the $25 I was thinking though and made 8 hours worth of pay for four hours of videos this morning. Well it is going to be interesting that much I know. Hopefully I will make it. I think I will, but there is always that thought you know, of something going wrong. The nights shouldn't be too bad with the patients sleeping. It will just be the falls, night delerium, and the deaths. Anyways gotta start somewhere ya know.

As for the car the search goes on. The guy I was basically going to buy his Jetta from sold it before I could look at it. He said he couldn't show it till a certain time so I was waiting and he said he sold it. Jerk. Now I am back to square one and sorta scrambling for a car. I have been looking in lots and having Paul our car guy look at auctions to no avail. So the search continues and I am still in car limbo.

Bye Bye Car :(

So I sold my Honda Civic yesterday. It was a bittersweet moment. I had the car since summer 2003. It made me some friends and memories. It also got me around pretty well most of the time. I was just finally done with all its little quirks and repair problems. It had started to leak oil and smoke while it burned out the tail pipe. It only did it for less than a mile, but still. It was just one more thing. I am ready for a car with AC, power steering and some decent cup holders. Heated seats would also be a nice upgrade. Anyways I sold it to a girl in Lewiston. I am sure she got a deal out of me getting the mounted studded snow tires, extra bumber, and the subs and amps with it, but she gave me $3300 for it (with a promise to send another $200, so we'll see). I am ready for a new car now. Nothing like the fancy luxery cars that I look at yet, but something newer and hopefully more reliable and less quirks. Bye little car I will miss you.

Update, school, job, and family tree

Well thought I better give an update. I am five weeks post-op today. Doing well. I have what I think is my last post-op appointment tomorrow. Next week I am supposed to be able to put my arms up and start doing arm exercises if I want as well as wear underwire bras. I have to go bra shopping and start trying on my clothes to see what I am keepig or not.

I am also still job searching. I think I have put out around 45 applications without the hint of even an interview. It is very frustrating especially when I am not used to this kind of job searching. I had no problem getting my last two jobs.

I am also about one month away from completing my first semester with WSU to get my Bachelor of Science in Nursing degree. Not sure if I will be taking 6 or 8 credits for summer. Probably 6 since it is a shorter semester. I will be taking three more semesters with either 6 or 8 credits to finish my last 20. Should be done May 2011. I have to take at least 6 credits at a time to get the financial aid. Just starting taking out loans I am going to have to pay back. That is somewhat disappointing, but I know that most have a lot of debt to pay off already so I am actually doing rather well in that arena. Just need that darn job to start paying things off and of course buying things too. :)

Yesterday I also started to work on a family tree. I have been wanting to do this. I really am pretty ignorant when it comes to family. Being in my Plateau Tribes Indians Health class has also made me decide to do this so I know more of my heritage. It is definetly going to be quite a project, but hopefully interesting at the same time.

Finally, I am working on selling my car so that I can get something newer. Nothing too exciting just something I am having problems with here and there and something that I can own and not pay payments on. This way when I get a job I can worry about paying Josh back, school loans, buying furniture and such, and moving out.

I should also mention that we have been watching a Boxer named Lilly for someone my dad knows. She has definelty grown on me. I will miss her when she leaves on April 3rd and goes home wherever that may end up being.

Well that's all for now.

Post-op

So I am almost two weeks post-op. Josh was able to get the money for me and I liked Dr. Karp so we went ahead and I got the surgery February 15th. It has been somewhat difficult. The surgery went great I just can't do anything. I have a 5 lb. weight left limit and can't lift my arms above my head. I can't use my chest muscles to do things either like push myself up. I am very lucky to have my mom here to do basically everything for me. The most annoying part is not sleeping comfortably. I slept in the recliner part of the couch until two nights ago. I am a side sleeper so it has been difficult. I think I slept the best last night. Overall it has gotten better, but I can't wait to feel like me again and can do what I want. It is still weird to look at myself too. Still not used to them. I can't wait till the swelling is all gone and I can go looking for new bras and clothes. But until then it is just a waiting game and doing the exercises I've been given.

It's about time

So I have been sorta working on a little project over the last month. It's something I have basically always wanted and I am like 99% sure I am getting it now. On January 6th I went and got a consultation for breast enlargement. So I pondered it over some more and went back and forth in my mind. I talked to Josh about how I would pay for the surgery. It is the best time after all. I don't have a job to try to take time off of and I am taking classes online so I don't have to go to school. The surgery for the first consultation with Lynn Derby will cost $6400 with everything. Josh has decided to help me pay for the surgery by taking out a loan that I will pay him back when I do get a job. He wants me to get a second consultation so I am going Friday to talk to a Dr. Jeffery Karp. I wanted this surgery ASAP so I can get to healing and such in case I do get a job in the next month or two. With Dr. Karp my surgery can be as soon as February 15th. Unfortunately, if I had called Dr. Derby's offce in the morning instead of the afternoon I could have had the surgery date of February 9th. Otherwise all they had available is March 2nd. I really don't want to wait that long and am hoping I like Dr. Karp so I can get the Feb 15th date. I did however, put down a deposit to hold the March 2nd spot just in case. So at this point I am excited and just waiting to see.

NCLEX-One is all it takes

Yeah so I actually passed my NCLEX!!! I am now offically going to be a licensed registered nurse in the state of Washington.

NCLEX take 1

So I guess a lot has gone on since I posted last. I still don't have a job nor have had any interviews. I applied for others like dialysis clinics and vascular and general surgery at SHMC. HFH got back to me and said they filled a position I applied for internally. So no luck on the job front yet.

I have found out that Brandon S. will be coming to Spokane for a few weeks before he goes to Everett. That is something to look forward to. Kinda been in a blah down mood the last couple days. Today didn't help that.

I took my NCLEX licensing exam to become an RN today. WOW. worst test of my life. I basically knew nothing about almost all of the questions they gave me. There was a drug question about every 3-5 questions. I suck at drugs and don't know why they expect a new nurse to know information about drugs they haven't worked with yet. We are expected to look them up when we don't know what they are before we give them. So we should be able to during the test. Anyways there were also questions about a bunch of procedures that I hadn't heard of either. Long story short I am about 99% sure that I failed the test. Not in one of those "oh I failed" feelings where people actually did good. I don't see how that could be when I knew nothing about the test. I basically got all 75 questions about stuff I had never heard of. 75 questions is the minimum amount you can get. The computer can go to 265 questions. It determines as you go. It gives you a question. If you answer it correct it gives you a harder one. If you answer it wrong it gives you an "easier" question. It goes about this and shuts off when it has determined whether you have passed or failed or you have reached 265 questions or gone past your 6 hour time limit. Mine shut off at 75 and i felt clueless the whole time. I FAILED.

Ok, so I won't technically know till about Saturday, but I hate to say I am pretty glass totally empty at this point.

In other news.....I am officially a Washington State university student. I am taking 10 credits online. Four classes. N360, N365, N405, and N478. I am actually pretty overwhelmed already. I guess I am just have to really work on not procrastinating cause if I get behind in any class during and given week I will be screwed.



So on that note I better get back to trying to finish up the third class' week's assignment so I can work on the fourth class' assignment. Lots of reading and posting and figuring out APA formatting to do.