Summer Jobs

This summer I have two jobs, plasma and sewing camp.  Hey, I'm revisiting my inner college student.  I never did the plasma thing before when I was in college so I decided to give it a try.  It's actually not too bad. And it's easy money.  Next summer I will be a nurse so I won't have to sell my blood. At least not this way.  As far as the sewing class goes I am torn about what to do. I may still teach a few students, because I think that it is something that people really want. I and I actually really enjoy teaching.  So I may pick a handful of my favorite students and teach a little bit, depending on how crazy my summer is. 

 

Level 2

So.  Level 2.  Level 2 is med/surg.  So basically a whole bunch of general stuff.  Lots of diseases, lots of stuff to memorize. We also have mental health, which for me is pretty easy (because I'm so crazy).  And because I have worked in mental health and taken abnormal psychology.  The craziest thing happened though, one day in our mental health class the Dean of the department was there.  We were thinking, "dang it, is she subbing today?"  Turns out she wasn't subbing because she was going to teach the class for THE REST OF THE SEMESTER because our mental health professor quit after 6 weeks.  IT was CRAZY!

So this semester we are super busy with clinicals, learning pharmacology and doing homework, homework and homework. And lots of group projects. Bleh.   Hopefully I will survive.  There are a lot of things that are really interesting though, and I really love pharmacology.  I got to do a clinical in the OR which I thought would be really cool.  There were some things about it that were really cool- but the people that worked there were not super nice to the students.  And really, I thought it would be cooler to be an OR nurse.  Turns out the nurses just help count supplies and sponges, help with equipment (like dropping things onto the sterile field since all the other people in the surgery are all sterile).  The nurses also do a lot of paperwork.  Blah.  The scrub techs are actually the ones that get to do the cool stuff.  They get to hand the dr. the instruments and help with the surgery.  It was cool to see the process though, and see the anesthesia.   And, I got to be all official wearing the surg get-up. So I had to get a pic!

Level 2 (That means I passed Level 1)

Level 2 might not seem so great.  But let me tell you it is better than level 1!  I'm no longer the kindergartner of nursing school.  I survived the first semester, managed to eek out a 4.0 (by no small miracle), and passed onto to level 2.  We started school again yesterday.  Everyone keeps saying how hard level 2 is. I wish they'd stop.  I'd rather go along and make my own opinion about level 2.  Hearing people say it is going to be hard just makes me more stressed.  I think it is going to be fun because we get to learn about pharmacology, which I love. So far my professors all seem cool (And, I'm pretty sure I'm older than all of them.  Which is weird when you think about it, so I will try not to).  The thing I am most worried about is the increase in clinicals.  Most of them are 45 minutes away.  It gets tricky sometimes making sure everyone gets to school and home safely and to all the places where they need to be.  Not to mention the fact that we usually have to be to clinicals at 5:45 am.  This makes it so I have to get up REALLY early.   Again, I think how much easier this would be if I had done it 20 years ago.  Que Sera.  I will survive.  This semester the reward for surviving is a 4 month break for summer vacation. Lookin forward to that.

Wrap up

The summer is ending. The kids start school in two days.  We have been traveling all over the place and having a fun and exciting summer.  But the younger kids are starting to fight (all the time) and it's hard to keep kids occupied without electronic devices.  A couple of weeks ago I was not ready for school start.  Over the last couple of weeks though as the fighting got worse and the house got messier I quickly became ready. 

The sewing classes this summer were a huge hit and a lot of fun. I learned that some kids are naturally better at sewing than others- just like anything.  I guess the ones who seem to be good at it are the ones who actually take their time and try to do it right instead of just trying to get the project finished.  The kids who rush through and don't take the time end up with projects that look bad.  I'm really glad I decided to do the classes this summer. It also gave me the opportunity/motivation to sew more with my kids.  I actually got all my kids to sew SOMETHING this summer.  Ian and Adele love sewing.  Emilia and Elise don't love sewing but they did make something for their girl's camp secret sisters.  We also got to have Erica come to our house for a couple of days and we sewed with her too.  When I look back and remember this summer I will remember this as the sewing summer.

 

Trying to get the darn thing threaded.

  

And last of all, here I am doing my last (hopefully!) sewing project of the summer:  Sewing the SUU nursing patch onto my uniform.  I have been working all summer getting all my immunizations, documentation and school stuff in order.  Not to mention getting my bacterial issues under control.  Now that I seem to be free from my resistant bacteria (and after this darn cold I have) clears up I will be ready to begin the crazy new adventure that is starting in a week.  (GULP.)  I'd be lying if I didn't say that I'm a bit nervous for it all to start.  It's not so much that I'm worried about the actual school thing, I'm just worried about how I will be able to juggle it all.  My kids are in more activities this fall than last fall and I will have more credits.  I'm just trying to take it one semester at a time.  

February 12

That is the date that has been going around in my head since November.  It is the deadline for the submission of nursing applications.  I got mine turned in about a month ago, but February 12 was still an exciting day! It means that they will start reviewing applications and I should find out in about a month whether I get in to the program.  

It was kind of funny seeing a lot of people having last minute application freaking out.  There are several people in my pathophysiology class who are applying to the program.  I was overhearing people all week talking about application this and that and, "I need to pick up my photo" or "I still haven't gotten my letter of recommendation back" stuff.  I am pretty confident about my qualifications, but there is always that "what if I don't get in?" question in the back of my head.  To my advantage, some of the people I know who are applying seem REALLY immature and don't have the best grades, so I think I have a pretty good chance.  I hate waiting!

January

Blah. That is what I want to say about January.  Last year at this time I was on a cruise in the Bahamas.  Too bad I can't be there instead of here.  I have to start school tomorrow.  I'd rather be on a cruise.  I have been thinking back to last year at this time and it was right after the cruise that I decided to go back to school.  I began the kind of daunting task of trying to figure out what I needed to do to get this school thing going.  At that point I found out that it would take me 3 1/2 years to do this whole nursing thing.  It was kind of disappointing that it would take so long but I decided to just jump in and do it. And now look, in a year I have taken 7 classes, taken an entrance exam, gotten student loans (yippee), and gotten a $1000 scholarship.  I am just finishing filling out my nursing school application and I will turn it in this week.  I still have 2 1/2 years to go, and I am sure the hardest part is yet to come, but I am pretty excited at all I have accomplished and the fact that a year ago I was just starting out. 

The Second Time Around

I have actually been visited this week by my inner blogging voice (or IBV) a couple of times.  I guess I just need to write about my adventures in my first couple of weeks back in college.  At the beginning the spring when I decided to go back to college it was really weird walking around on campus talking to all the people I needed to talk to in order to get my college plan worked out.  I took several trips to the bookstore and looked at the SUU attire, thinking that maybe I should buy myself a t-shirt or something SUU ish.  I just couldn't do it!  I guess in my head I'm still a cougar and it is kind of hard to change schools.  I don't feel any loyalty to SUU yet and so it's hard for me to even buy and wear a shirt that says SUU.  I'm still getting used to it and used to the idea that it's my school.  It's so much smaller, and they seem (at times) to not really have it all together.  Trying to figure out what I needed to do to get a nursing degree was quite a task.  I talked to advisers, registrars, the nursing department, admissions people, financial aid people (over and over again).  One person would tell me I needed to do "this" and talk to "that" person, who would just tell me that that was wrong and that  really needed to talk to someone else.  It is a good thing I had several months to get it all worked out, because it pretty much took that long to know what is going on.  I have had several friends tell me the same thing so I know it wasn't just me.  There are times when I feel like I am not back in college, but actually back in high school.

I think the other thing that made it weird for me is that I'm in a different stage of life now.  I am not really doing the "student" thing, only I AM doing the student thing.  It's weird.  I walk around campus and at first it brought so many memories back of my first time around, yet, I feel so different. I feel older, not in the same place.  Not in the "it's all about me" student mode.  It was really weird at first.  And on the first day of school, walking around with all the students between classes, now that was just WEIRD.  I felt like such a lemming (again).  Before I started school I just hoped that I'd meet some people so I would "have a friend" and not just be a loner in my classes.  I didn't want to feel like that "old lady" who decided to go back to school because of a mid-life crisis or something.

I think I have transitioned pretty well.  The people in my classes are nice (some of them were born after I graduated from college, so there's that).  Overall though it has been ok, and I do have a friend.  So that's good.  One thing that is very different is that this is the first time I have been to school with  my last name at the BEGINNING of the alphabet instead of the end. I am always first!  I was always last or second to last back when I started with V.  Now that I'm an A, things are kind of nice!  The other difference is technology.  Since I'm married to a techy guy I can use the tech stuff pretty well, but there are always new systems at different places.  I've had to figure out how things work in the library, how to print stuff from the computers (why won't my prints print???!), and having the girl there look at me like I'm a total idiot.  (I told her it was my first time there and she was  NOT helpful at all. Seriously.)  And, then there's Google!  Why was Google not invented the first time I went to college!? Google is the best for help on homework!  Not to mention YouTube videos to help with hard concepts etc.  There are some advantages to going to college now.  But it's different, that's for sure.  It's a fun adventure and there are days when I think, "Why in the heck am I doing this?  Why am I here?  What did I get myself into?"  But I don't regret it.  And I'm glad I'm here. And learning is kind of fun, in between all the boring stuff and trying to balance life stuff.  But most of all, it is fun to be accomplishing something that I have wanted to do for a long time. I get so excited when I finish a class and see progress.  And in just a couple of years I will look back and say, "I did it!".

SUU campus

College Round 2 - Update

I am avoiding studying anatomy right now.  You'd think I'd be more diligent at blogging considering it's really easy to sit down and blog when I really should be doing something else.  Like studying.  Or laundry. Or 10 other boring household tasks.  I guess the guilt was just getting to me finally.

Summer update:
As far as school goes, I have finished another class, it was Biology.  The teacher of the class wrote terrible quiz and test questions and I was seriously worried that I would get the first C of my life in that class.  I studied WAY more than I thought I would for that 100 level 2 credit biology class.  It was HARD!  The textbook weighed something like 50 pounds and had 1200 some odd pages.  The course had lots and lots of biochemistry and molecular stuff that was completely new to me.  Add that to a professor who is very set on "critical thinking" which to him meant trying to trick the students and asking them questions on the test that did not resemble anything from the textbook.  I was glad to get that one done.  And I got a B+.  And it's over.

Another important victory for me happened after writing a letter to the department chair of SUU.  I wrote a letter a couple of months ago trying to see if I could take my required anatomy class online since I had taken that class in person many years ago.  I was told that I had to make this request in writing.  Also, on this letter I asked about a required human development class that I was required to take and was trying to get out of.  She answered the part about the anatomy class but did not address the other class. I called to talk to the secretary about the anatomy class having a different course number for the online class to make sure it would transfer since the one in the transfer guide had a different number. (Can't be too careful.  Everything must be documented. Too many people have been given the bait and switch deal with these people.)   I asked about the development class and the dept. chair called me back. I told her about my development classes and my Family Sciences minor and she actually said that should count for the prereq (miracle of miracles!!!)  I then immediately wrote her an email confirming all we had talked about to get the whole thing in writing.  Must get things in writing.  So, since I got that class waived, I only had to take 4 classes at BYU this summer.  I had planned to take a nutrition class but now I can take that at SUU instead of development.  Since I have a full schedule I won't have to pay extra for it.  WOO HOO.  Small victories. I have lost enough battles it's nice to finally win one.  So instead of 11 prereqs I only have 10.  And I mean classes, not credits.

So now I am working on my 4th of 4 classes which is anatomy.   I saved the best for last.  I have taken the first lecture exam and will take the lab exam on Friday or Monday.   (Hopefully they will have my favorite muscle on the test:  the tensor fasciae latae.)   After that I will be halfway done with the class.  When I get done I will have what is left of the summer (Maybe 3 weeks or something...) to relax, and I don't know, read a book for fun or something.  I start school in the fall and I have 12 credits.  I have another semester after that, during which I can apply for the nursing program.  It's pretty exciting.  And crazy.  And expensive!  But I am glad I am doing it.  It is a good goal to look forward to and I'm happy (most days) that I have gone down this road.

Long Time No See (Welcome to Crazy Town)

I couldn't even log in to my blog today at first because it made me enter my password since it has been so long!  I changed my password awhile ago and didn't remember it.  Yeah, it's been that long. So, what have we been up to these days (and not blogging about it?)

We have been up to:
Piano lessons x 3, dance lessons x 1, kids in school x 4, part time job x 1 and college classes x 2. And we just started soccer x 2 and we have been babysitting an extra kid after school x 1.  And we have Let's Play Music x 1.  And YW x 2 and scouts x 1.  And sewing classes x 2  I think that's it.  So, basically instead of blogging I have been driving around all over the place and doing homework (not housework... that's another story.)

It has taken me a bit of time to figure out what my college path will entail.  Since I am non-traditional, there are a lot of questions about the classes I have already taken, what will count, what I have to take etc.  The problem is that 1. most of the classes I have taken only count for electives so I have to re-take several classes (which is dumb) and 2.  The people at SUU don't know what to do with my situation.  Literally.  I go there to talk to *insert person here* and they say, "you need to fill out this form/go talk to someone else/write a letter/call the secretary blah blah blah...".  Then I do that and the run-around just keeps going on with the next person referring me to someone else who fills in another piece and then passes me along to someone else. It has been quite frustrating really.  I think I finally have things figured out though so now I'm on the road.  I'm actually more than just on the road. I have completed one class (a re-take actually), introductory psychology.  I did it through BYU Independent Study.  Right now I'm working on statistics (blargh) also through BYU.  This summer I decided not to attend SUU because the classes are SO dang expensive if you take them one by one. Instead I have 3 more BYU classes to take online during the summer and in the fall I will start at SUU and be ready to not have to pay for classes a la carte there.  I'm almost halfway through stats.  I will be glad for that. I don't find it to be fun at all.  And I keep thinking, "who would choose to study this for their life?  UGH!"  I have requested my 2nd exam and hope to get that taken next week.  Sometimes when I am slogging through regression lines and residuals I think to myself, "what have I done.  I'm totally crazy to be doing this".  And then I repeat in my mind what I have told myself many times:  I don't have to do it all today.  If everyday I do what I have to do "today", then in 3 years I will be done and will have conquered this.  And just in case you are wondering, next fall I am going to have all the kid stuff but I won't be working part time or doing sewing classes. That should free up a few brain cells, hopefully.