So You Want to be a Nurse

Now that I've been a nurse for a little over a year now I feel very qualified to speak on the subject of being a nurse. ;) So you want to be a nurse? Here's what you should know beforehand.

1. It's gross.... Don't ever underestimate the grossness of nursing. On that same note though, you work past it. You get better at handling the smells and the disgusting sights of "who knows what that is!" I wasn't always able to handle it and still some smells make me want to join my patient in puking but it does get better. 
2. It's inappropriate... As a shelter homeschooled child I was shook out of my innocent world by the nursing profession. I've gotten a LOT more at ease with a lot of situations and don't blush nearly as hard as I used to (I'm a really bad blusher) but let's face it... it's still awkward. There's definitely nursing humor which is pretty much never appropriate so learning how to handle that has been an adventure. 
3. It doesn't just take a caring personality... It takes determination and a lot of support from your family. However, please don't go into nursing unless you have a caring personality... I know nurses that aren't very caring and let's just say they shouldn't be nurses. 
4. It's stressful... You come home drained and emotionally exhausted. In just one shift you can have one patient crying on your shoulder, one patient giving you a hug and then one patient hitting you... and then if you're really lucky one patient doing all of that.  You never know. 
5. It's terrifying... Having a person's life in your hands is scary and that never gets old and really never should. 
6. It's worth it.... It really is. As crazy as it is I love it. Every time a patient tells me thank you I forget about the other patient that just shouted at me five minutes before. 

So you want to be a nurse?

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It's Monday! Making a Social Life

So I've been out of nursing school for several months now. During nursing school I had basically no social life. I studied and in my spare time I read, watched TV shows or spent time with my family. That's all I really had time for while I was in nursing school. Now that I'm out of nursing school I've realized that I've forgotten how to have a social life. So slowly but surely I've been working on building relationships with friends, purposely taking the time to hang out with people and going to events. For an introvert that isn't always easy but I have actually really enjoyed being able to spend more time with people. Sure I have my patients to talk to but there's a world of difference between talking to my patient while changing their depends and talking with a friend over coffee.... trust me.

Anyways.... reading.

Finished this Week

• None, but I picked up some longer books right now so that's part of it. 

Currently Reading 

• The Swiss Family Robinson by Johann Wyss (re-read) (audiobook)
• The Leaves of Grass by Walt Whitman
• Institutes of the Christian Religion by John Calvin

Coming Soon

• All The Light We Cannot See by Anthony Doerr- I really am going to start this one eventually! 
• Mr. Knightley's Diary by Amanda Grange
• Little House in the Big Woods by Laura Ingalls Wilder (re-read)- Ashley's Laura Ingalls Wilder blog party this past week has really made me crave a re-read of this classic series! :) 

Reviews Posted this Week

• Henry Tilneys' Diary by Amanda Grange
• Messenger by Lois Lowry
• Son by Lois Lowry

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It's Monday! NCLEX!

Years of school have lead up to this moment. Sure I passed nursing school but I don't get that coveted RN title until I pass the NCLEX. Today I'm taking it. No pressure... ;)
Oh, and I got the job I really wanted working on a med-surg floor! Of course that's contingent on my passing the NCLEX. Again... no pressure.... ;)
I'm sorry I didn't get an It's Monday post done last week but with being out of town it just didn't happen. So this is an accumulation of the past couple weeks. :) I'll have reviews out for the books I've finished hopefully soon but I've been busy with studying so I haven't gotten them done yet except my Little Women review as I needed it done by the end of May.

Finished in the last two weeks

• Little Women by Louisa May Alcott (re-read) (audiobook)- Long car trips are great for audiobooks! READ MY BOOK REVIEW HERE. 
• Gone With the Wind by Margaret Mitchell- About nine weeks too early for the read-a-long but I got done with Little Women on the way up to Michigan so I read Gone With the Wind on the way back and finished it just a couple hours after getting home. That book was gripping for reasons that still confuse me. It's a complicated book. Full review hopefully coming soon once I have more time. 
• Big Red by Jim Kjelgaard (re-read)- It was fun to re-read this. It's a classic boy and dog story. 

Currently Reading

• The Valley of Vision
• Swallows and Amazons (re-read)

Coming Soon

• Barnaby Rudge by Charles Dickens
• How Green is My Valley by Richard Lewellyn 

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Graduated from Nursing School!!!!

Yesterday, after two too many years of nursing school ;) I finally graduated from nursing school! It's been a long road and you all, my poor blog readers, have had to hear me moan about it all this time. ;) I'm so thankful to be through it but I am also so thankful for the invaluable education and life lessons I have garnered from it. Next is taking my state boards, aka the fearsome NCLEX! So my moaning isn't over yet. ;)
Here are some pictures of the joyous occasion though!

Having a drink after finding out we passed with
my amazing nursing school friend April. We
couldn't have made it through without each other.
And yes that's A drink... mixed with orange juice no less! 

My little siblings and I before the ceremony! 

My parents and I. :) 

That's my Dad. ;) 

Thank you everyone for cheering me on through this nursing school marathon! It's been crazy fun! :)

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Bout of Books- Day 1&2 Updates

I've been a little behind with the Bout of Books updates but I'm catching up! I had this little matter of a final that heavily influenced my future and work so I wasn't really having time for blogging. I did have time for reading though. :)
Oh, and yes, I PASSED NURSING SCHOOL!!! I'll be graduating at the nursing pinning ceremony on Thursday!!!! More details and fun pictures then. :)
So far for Bout of Books I've read:

• Gone With the Wind- Six chapters
• Little Women (audiobook) (re-read)- 1 chapter
• Zlateh the Goat and Other Stories- COMPLETED
• When Shlemiel went to Warsaw and Other Stories- COMPLETED

Pretty good so far! The two last are children's books so were fairly quick reads but I'm still proud of myself. ;)

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Exciting Thoughts (Bookish and not so Bookish)

I had a pretty great week and you'll see why!

1. First off, remember how last week I complained that I wasn't able to see that birth? Well this week I got to watch my very first birth via C-section!!!!! :) :) :) I'm still giddy about it. :) Just about the best moment of my life. I'm not a very emotional person (meaning I'm not prone to crying) but I did tear up and had to catch myself. The best part was the dad told me that he could tell I am going to love my job when I'm a nurse. I'm glad that my enthusiasms showed through my introvertism. :)
2. Nothing can really top that one but I need ten so let's keep going! NEXT WEEK IS SPRING BREAK!!! That is pretty exciting except that we have a test the Wednesday after so I can only let myself relax so much. 
3. I did get started on The Children of Húrin this last week but I'm not too far yet.
4. So guess what? We're taking those photos a THIRD time today. It's actually kind of funny. I don't really mind as it's not like I'm getting much studying done today... all I can think about is the break. 
5. The weather here in Kansas is AMAZING!!!! It was up in the seventies a couple days ago and it is in the sixties today. I've got some great walks in too. 
6. My dad brought me grapefruit fruit cups the other day. He just saw them at the store and knew I'd like them so he got them for me. :) I have a wonderful dad. :) 
7. I had a dream last night (oh no a dream story!) that I was pregnant, went into labor and had a baby all within the space of about an hour. All I can say is that if my labor will be that quick then I'm all for it! Anyways, that just goes to show that I am a little obsessed with childbirth at the moment. 
8. I'm getting this urge to re-read the Harry Potter series for some unknown reason. I've probably re-read those more than any other series... except perhaps the Redwall series. It's odd because they really aren't even in my top books list, but I just enjoy reading them as they are an easy read. 
9. I watched the third season of Sherlock last weekend. It was okay but I didn't enjoy it as much. That's just my opinion though so don't quote me on it. :) 
10. I've been having a really great time talking to my brother this morning. We don't get as much time to talk anymore because we're both so busy with school. However, I implanted myself by him while he was at work this morning and we had several laughs, which are sometimes hard to extract from him... he's more introverted than I am. We keep the library fun. :) 

Linking up with Bookishly Boisterous. 

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Giveaway Winner!!!! (and a little life)

There's talent... and then there's talent. Me, I've got the latter. This morning for breakfast I made a smoothie and there was spinach in it so it ends up kind of looking like puke, which doesn't bother me. However, when I'm "talented" enough to dump it on my white scrub top... well...
I didn't let that dampen my absolutely amazing day at nursing clinicals today though. I got to watch my very first birth via C-section today and it was an absolutely magical experience! Today was the best clinical day I have had yet. I'll even admit I almost cried several times today. Hearing a baby's first cry just about did it.
However, I'm sure you're far more interested in the winner of the giveaway for a handmade beach bag! So I'm very excited to announce that Andrea Stoeckle!!!! and I recommend you check it out. I'll be contacting Andrea and she'll soon be getting her handcrafted bag. :)
Thank you to everyone who participate and I hope to do another giveaway sometime in the near future. The weather is amazing right now in Kansas and I hope you are enjoying equally splendid weather. Have a great day and God bless! :)

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Thoughts: Bookish and not so Bookish

I keep trying to change up the names for these posts that I do weekly but I'm really having to get creative. :) Anyways, this week I'm linking up once again with Bookishly Boisterous to give you ten bookish (and not so bookish) thoughts. Enjoy!

1. I got to FINALLY see the movie of The Book Thief this week and I really enjoyed it. There will be a full review of it soon (hopefully) but for now my thoughts are that it is one of the best book to movie adaptations I've seen and not necessarily because it is so perfectly honest to the book but actually partly because there are parts from the book it left out that I'm glad they did. Weird I know but this is Lois we're talking about. ;)
2. I had a great clinic week for nursing school this week! One of my best yet. :) Obviously I can't really say what made it so great, HIPPA laws and all but just know that it was great. :)
3. I have an iPad now! Kind of... It was one my parents got from my grandmother after her stroke as there were apps to help post stroke patients but because of how the stroke affected her body they weren't helpful. So it's been laying around our house since. However, my nursing school has moved towards eBooks so I asked if I could use it and so now I'm using it! :) Unforunatley I can't post blog posts from it. :( My brother informed me I expect too much from my electronics. Maybe...
4. I am almost, almost, almost done with the Mary Poppins books. If you missed it yesterday, here's my review of them. I've really enjoyed re-reading them. 
5. I'm also enjoying reading War of the Worlds. I've only seen an older film version of it, which I enjoyed so I was interested in reading it. So far, the book is quite different from the movie. 
6. I've become more diligent about listening to The Warden. I've started trying to listen to it in the car, which is a little difficult if you're zipping down the highway at 70 mph but I manage. I should check audiobooks out from the library instead of trying to listen to them on my phone but you know I'm not that smart. ;)
7. I've been enjoying the Quizup app a lot. I mostly do the Lord of the Rings or Disney. I'm at the Dúnedain level right now and use the user name "Eowyn sister-daughter" in the Lord of the Rings. :) I feel very geeky. :) 
8. It was warmer earlier this week, which was AMAZING... but then yesterday it dropped back down to frigid weather. :( I want summer... I love summer. Well actually I like spring the best weather wise but then I have finals and I DON'T like those. 
9. Yesterday I did a photo shoot for a magazine. I'll bet you didn't know I was famous? ;) Well I TOTALLY am.... not. It was for my college's quarterly magazine and they wanted pictures of a nursing student and one of the students organizing it also works with me at the library so that's how I got picked. :) It was fun though. :) They took pictures of me in my scrubs and then in normal school clothes. I had to stand in the exact same position and hold myself the exact same way for both pictures as they are going to use half of each picture to combine them and make one picture. :)
10. And last but not least, I'm tired... still. Remember how last week I said I was tired, well that hasn't changed. It's what nursing school does to you. :)

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Ten Bookish and not so Bookish Thoughts :)

Today I'm linking up with Bookishly Boisterous with some bookish and not so bookish thoughts. :)

1. I am so relieved to be done with my first test of second semester nursing. I stressed out over it more than I have stressed out over a test since Anatomy and Physiology (my long time readers remember how I used to stress out about those). However I'm done with it now and I did alright. If you want to know a few fun facts about childbirth I'll be happy to supply. :)
2. I got two snow days this week, which really messed up the school schedule but was good for getting studying done for aforementioned test. I seriously did study most of the time and did not go out in the snow at all. That was more due to a hatred of the cold than a love of studying. 
3. I discovered I actually can read multiple books at a time successfully despite always having thought I couldn't. I had four books going for awhile and then three and now finally I'm at an easy two. However, I foresee myself getting up to four again in the future. :) 
4. I've decided while re-reading the Mary Poppins books (after being inspired to do so prior to watching Saving Mr. Banks) that while the movie of Mary Poppins is good, it doesn't nearly capture the imagination the books inspire. I know those are children's books, but let me tell you they are good children's books. A sure way to tell a good children's book is to come back to it when you're an adult and still enjoy it. 
5. I've decided, though I have not yet quite finished it, that I like Ender's Shadow better than Ender's Game... though they are both good. 
6. I learned how to put an IV in today! If you catch me staring at your veins, don't be alarmed.... I'm imagining sticking a needle it. ;)
7. I started listening to an audiobook of The Warden on Sunday. It is the first in the Barchester Chronicles. I had already read Barchester Towers, which actually comes after it, and I had always wanted to read The Warden but never could get ahold of a copy. That's where free audiobooks come in handy. :)
8. I may or may not have had multiple geeky conversations with my mother about her pregnancies in the last few days.
9. Labor and Delivery is definitely the specific field in nursing that I'm leaning towards right now. However, I have yet to have clinical experience with it so I may change my mind. 
10. I might (Lord willing) be going on a short term mission trip to Puerto Rico for a week this summer. I'm very excited as I've always wanted to go on a mission trip to a Spanish speaking country so I could practice my (limited) Spanish as well as be able to serve the Lord in a foreign country. 

Have a fun week! My school week is over now. :) 

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Monthly Resolutions- February 2014

January went by really fast but also really slow. However, it's now February which means school starts really picking up! Fun!

Read or Re-Read Five Books

Last month I listed which books I wanted to read that month and we know how that turned out. So.... what I'm hoping to read/re-read this month is Ender's Shadow, Mary Poppins in the Park, The Swiss Family Robinson, The Wind in the Willows, and The Children of Hurin. I also started listening to The Warden last evening via audiobook but I'm thinking that will take longer than a month to listen to. We'll see how it goes! :)

Memorize Scripture

Next up are verses 3-4 of Psalm 31. Hopefully these will be as easy as the last two verses. :) 

Pray Daily

Same as last month.

Do one crochet project

I doubt I'll have the time this month to go overboard and crochet fifty hats... okay it wasn't fifty, but it was a lot! 

At least two blog posts per week

Sometimes I do more, sometimes I do none, but I'll at least try for two blog posts per week. :)

This month will be quite busy enough so I'm not getting fancy with my goals. My clinicals for nursing school start up in a little over a week. I'm very excited for this semester of Pedes and OB. :)

Lois Johnson, avid writer, tea drinker, and reader but first and foremost, avid Christian.

Goodbye First Semester of Nursing School!

I know that I woefully neglected my blog past week but I was incredibly busy preparing for my nursing final and my Grandma ended up in the hospital as well (she's fine now). However, I am very happy to say that I am finished with my first semester of nursing school! It's been a really crazy semester and lots of fun but I am so glad to be done. There's so much that I want and, more importantly, need to get done before school starts up again and I'm guessing that I'll be lucky if I get half of it done judging from past breaks. I spent yesterday afternoon after my final watching a lot of Doctor Who, as I had stopped two weeks ago after the end of the fifth season so I could focus on studying. Today I managed to not wake up until about 1:30… I didn't set my alarm and when one lives only with a sister who works until midnight so naturally sleeps in always, you can sleep for a very long time. Who knows how much longer I would have slept if my sister hadn't woken me up. Because I slept away valuable Doctor Who watching time, I have only been able to watch two episodes today so far. Instead I have been doing the many dishes that accumulated whilst I was studying, cleaning up my room, and doing laundry. There's so much more I need to do besides that but I'll get there. I have family coming on Friday so I have to get my house all spiffed up before then.
I'll just close with a little list of things I want to get done over the break. :)

1. Write on my book… because I have not done any writing since starting nursing school. 
2. Read a lot… because I should and because I'll have the time, and most importantly BECAUSE I LOVE READING!!!
3. Finish all current episodes of Doctor Who…. because I'll have the time, and because it's awesome. :) 
4. Crochet something… because I'll have time. 

Notice how those all are "because I'll have the time"… yet I imagine that despite my having the time, the only one that is for sure going to get done is the Doctor Who one…. :)

P.S. If you haven't liked my blog's Facebook page be sure to do so! The link is in the bar on the right hand side. :)

Lois Johnson, avid writer, tea drinker, and reader but first and foremost, avid Christian.

Report Card- November 2013

It was a really crazy month for school, with three tests and another one to prepare for right at the beginning of December. However, I made it through the craziness without completely losing it. So did my resolutions get completed amongst all of the hecticness? Continue reading to find out. :)

Read the Johns, Jude, and Revelations

Completed! Now that I've finished with the new testament I'm not sure what I'm going to read next. Probably Proverbs or Psalms, or maybe both… at the same time! ;)

Read or Re-Read at least 10 books

After I finished Wives and Daughters. I did a marathon reading where I read the last quarter of
it in one afternoon… which was no small chunk. 

I read A LOT to get this goal completed. However, I did complete it! I read The Practice of the Presence of God  by Brother Lawrence, Freddy the Pied Piper and Freddy the Cowboy by Walter Brooks, Hunted and Harried  by R.M. Ballantyne, The Pursuit of Holiness by Jerry Bridges, Praying Successfully by Charles Spurgeon, Wives and Daughters by Elizabeth Gaskell (Started in previous months but finished this month), and The Innocence of Father Brown by G.K. Chesterton (Started in previous months but finished this month). I re-read Frank Perretti's This Present Darkness and Piercing the Darkness. I recommend all of those books, especially Wives and Daughters. If you've seen and enjoyed the mini-series based off the book, you'll want to read the book too. This is actually only these second time I've made a goal of ten books for the month and made it. 

Write a blog post per week

I overachieved on this one. That's okay though, y'all just love reading my blog posts anyways that you liked having extra ones… right? ;)

Pray Daily

I did the worst on this I've ever done since making this goal. I'm not sure there were more than a handful of days that I prayed. There were really no excuses and I need to get my act together about that. 

Study

In some ways I think I did really well on studying in other ways not so much. For my last unit test I think I did okay studying on. For my pharmacology test, I think I did great studying on! There was a lot of pressure with that test though as there were only 25 questions and I had to get a 75% or better or retake the test until I did. If I couldn't pass the test I didn't pass the class. Oh yes… and I had to know 50 drugs… six facts about each drug… for a total of 300 facts. Thankfully though I passed the first time. 

Memorize some scripture

Nope. I kept reminding myself, and then forgetting over and over again. I had so much else to cram in my head though that maybe it just wasn't a good month to add this in.

So so this month. 

Lois Johnson, avid writer, tea drinker, and reader but first and foremost, avid Christian.

Monthly Resolutions- November 2013

I have two tests this month! One this coming Monday and one right after Thanksgiving (if ever I am a teacher I will NEVER do that to my students). Prayers appreciated! :)
So resolutions!

Read the Johns, Jude, and Revelation

Read or Re-Read at least 10 books

Why so many? Well way back in the day (otherwise known as the beginning of the year) I made a goal on Goodreads to read 50 books… I have currently read only thirty so if I want to complete that goal I need to read twenty more books… ten this month and ten next month. It's really just a simple matter of mathematics. ;) The math may be simple but me reading that many books with this busy of a schedule isn't so simple. However, that's what I'm going to have to do so bring it on!

For fun, I made a deal with two of my little siblings this evening. They each picked me out a book to read and I picked them each out a book to read and we have until next Saturday at midnight to complete them. It really just started out as a ploy to get my sister to read a harder book but it turned out giving me two books I have to finish by the end of next week. Not hard books, but still. To make sure we actually get it done, if you don't finish your books, you give the other person a pack of gum (we're kind of gumaholics in our family so gum is our currency of choice). 

Write a blog post per week

Pray Daily

Failed last month but doing it this month. I remember last November and I've seen it popping up this November too people were daily posting things they were thankful for on Facebook. I want to incorporate that into my prayer time as well… taking the time to thank God for all he has given me. 

Study

Two tests… I've got to study. :)

Memorize some scripture

I'm thinking Psalm 31 but I'm also thinking that there is no way I'll get the whole of that memorized in a month… so my goal is at least to get started on it… a few verses or something. 

No free time this month!
Linking up with Keli at She Learns as She Goes. 

Lois Johnson, avid writer, tea drinker, and reader but first and foremost, avid Christian.

Monthly Report Card- October 2013

It's been a crazy, long yet short October. Yesterday was Reformation Day. Normally my family would have a cookout and read the story of Martin Luther but it's been raining for the last few days so that didn't happen. However, we were able to watch half of the movie Luther instead. Does your family have any Reformation Day traditions?
So resolutions…. yeah…

Read through Philemon, Hebrews, James, and 1&2 Peter-A

Yes I did! I had a freak out moment where I thought I was supposed to get through the Johns as well and started reading 1 John but then I looked at my resolutions again and realized it was not so. :)

Read or Re-read at least three books-A

Achieved…. just barely. I read The Pursuit of God, The End of the Third Age,  and Mere Christianity. If you know anything about those books you'll know they're very skinny short books. Kind of wimpy reading this month but at least I read! HOWEVER, do not underestimate those books! They were all very good, especially The Pursuit of God. I highly recommend it. 

Write a blog post per week-A

Achieved! Probably not very interesting posts but one can't ask for everything now can they?

Pray Daily-F

When I say F I mean F. It was a failure in the highest extent. Need to whip that goal back into shape next month!

Study!-C

I don't feel like I did so well the first half of the month but the second half I did better. I had a conversation with my tutor from A&P/Microbiology/Pathophysiology (best tutor ever) and she told me more or less I needed to get my act together and work harder if I wanted to do well. I needed that. She's the best. :)

Stay more organized-A

I think I did quite well with that. I have some gel pens now that I have way to much fun using to write in assignments and stuff in my calendar. :) 

Keep up with my Spanish-C

Okay… I ended up stopping getting the Spanish devotionals as they were beginning to clutter up my inbox as I never had time to get to them. So not so good. Maybe someday when I have more time (like that's ever going to happen). 

Not too terribly this months for goals but room for improvement. It's been incredibly busy and I really didn't make it any better by deciding to start watching Doctor Who (which is amazing and you should become obsessed with it too). However, I made a very mature decision to not start the next season until my next test is over… which is this coming Monday so I really don't have to wait that long but it seems like a long time to me. Does anyone know the Doctor Who withdrawal symptoms? I'm pretty sure I'm experiencing some… anxiety, depression, moodiness…. ;)

Lois Johnson, avid writer, tea drinker, and reader but first and foremost, avid Christian.

Happy and Hopeful

I was thinking about writing a negative post about all of the things wrong with the world right now... not just my little world but the world in general... you know what I mean. However, I figured since there was enough negativity going around without me contributing I'd post something happy and hopeful. :) So since I normally like to think about the negative things in life, I'm going to counter that by posting five positive things going on in my life right now (besides the "still alive", "have a great family", ect. ones). Comment on what is positive in your life right now!

1. I have a really great prayer group that meets weekly that has not only helped me with prayer but also just support and friendship. After our hour or so of prayer we will talk afterwards, catch up on how we're all doing, talk about books, movies, ect. and I absolutely love it! It's a really great time to just wind down as I spend some time with God and then some time with my fellow Christians. 
2. I didn't fail my return demonstrations (have to do it in front of a teacher) for NG tube insertion and catheter insertion. For me that's a big deal as I always think I'm going to fail everything. 
3. I can now drink my coffee black. For me that's positive as I never used to and I would dump a heart attack's worth of sugar and creamer in it. No more! That's what being an nursing student does to you... I want every spare centimeter of my cup to be full of pure black coffee.
4. I have an electric blanket to snuggle up in at night. Since I'm always cold this is very important to me as it is absolutely frigid in my house every night.
5. And finally but certainly not lastly I JUST STARTED WATCHING DOCTOR WHO AND IT'S ABSOLUTELY AMAZING AND EVERYONE NEEDS TO WATCH IT!!!!!!! :)

Lois Johnson, avid writer, tea drinker, and reader but first and foremost, avid Christian.

A Little Bit of Everything (Especially Memes)

I know you were concerned that I wouldn't have a blog posts this week and that therefore your week would be woefully incomplete! I didn't want your week to be woefully incomplete so I am giving you a blog post. :) As mentioned in the title, this blog post will just have a little bit about everything (especially memes). So brace yourself!

School

Not going as well as I want it to but it's going. We started clinicals recently and I'm surprisingly really enjoying them. I am giving you some nursing memes today that are pretty good. :)

Tea

As I mentioned in a previous post, I've kind of been in the tea drinking mood recently. I bought some tea actually... haven't bought any in awhile. I now have two different chai teas (one black and one green), an herbal ginger tea, and a blueberry acai green tea. They're all really delicious! I also have some tea memes for you! 

Blogging

You may have noticed I added a whole bunch more tags to my blog posts. This is for two reasons, one to make it easier for y'all to find a post on a specific topic, and two, I'm given to understand it increases blog readership if you have a bunch of tags as the tags are used as keywords in searches... or something like that. I even have a blogging meme for you today! 

And just a couple more random memes to brighten up your day! :)

P.S. Notice my new blog layout? How do you like it? My brother is taking a HTML CSS class and he put the border around the date header. By the time he's done with his class I'll really have some fancy stuff on here. :)

Lois Johnson, avid writer, tea drinker, and reader but first and foremost, avid Christian.

First Week of Nursing School

In my Butler Student Nursing Association shirt.

In my scrubs that I will
wear for clinicals.

School and my first semester of nursing school started this past Monday and oh my has it been an experience! First off, I can't believe I am FINALLY IN THE NURSING PROGRAM!!!! Sorry, my enthusiasm just spurted out of my fingertips. But seriously, it is such a weird feeling to know that I am really in the program and well on my way to being a nurse. It has been quite time consuming so far and I certainly haven't found myself with spare moments yet. When I'm not in class there are power points to listen to or text books to read and of course if I finish up with those there is all of the extra credit work that I know my grade will need. My first test is this coming Tuesday! (insert panic attack here) Hopefully I'll do alright on that. :)

It is odd not having several classes to balance my time between. I am so used to having several different teachers, several different groups of students, several everything. Now, whether I like it or not, I have the same teachers and the same students (the students for the next two years!). Thankfully though I like my teachers and fellow students. I imagine I'll have a lot more adjusting I'll have to do in the future as the nursing program goes on.

So far I am learning about the basic nursing process, ethics, terminology... all that fun stuff. About mid September I'll start my clinicals (insert another panic attack here), which will be a very interesting (definition of interesting is up to you but I think you know what I mean) experience.

I'm still working at the library but only twelve hours a week thank goodness! I don't know what is going to happen when I am done with nursing school and I have to work as a nurse and leave the librarian profession. Shriveling up and dying seems likely. Don't get me wrong though, I think I'll like nursing. If I didn't think I would, I wouldn't be going to school for it. But I love my work, I love my bosses, and it will be sad to leave. Once a librarian always a librarian I say!

So who else has started school? Is it fun? Challenging? Boring? Comment below and let me know! (notice how that rhymed? Yeah, I'm just clever that way. ;))

Lois Johnson, avid writer, tea drinker, and reader but first and foremost, avid Christian.