A Post for November

I almost got away with not posting at all this month! Big surprise I know.

Things have been busy as ever. I am still working 3 jobs, still going to school, and still just overwhelmed with life in general. Blah, blah, blah.

Today is my first day off since Halloween. I have had nothing to do all day and I really do feel guilty. Oh well. I work this weekend, so that should help make up for the guilt of the nothingness in my life today. I am not sure why I feel a need to ALWAYS be doing something, but I do.

We have a ton of snow up here from the blizzard on last Tuesday. That was actually really neat to experience. It went by really fast though.

B has been doing well too. He is at work, for the stupid sales today. Poor boy had to be there at 4:30 this morning. I was smart. I stayed in bed. I tried my hardest to sleep in but only made it to 8:15. I would have loved to have slept until 10:00 or so. That just didn't happen.

In other things... I have a new niece! Her name is Daisy. She is Hillary and Max's newest edition. She is absolutely beautiful in every photo I have seen. I would have liked to have come down to meet her in person on the 24th, but we were unable to afford the trip.

I really don't have anything else to mention. I wish I lived closer to my sister, well, closer to anyone really. I am having a very down day, most likely because I am alone. I need a new scene. Up here in Smithfield is beautiful, but I really have no friends. It is just me, B and the dogs. I love this tight little circle that we are, but I want something more I guess. And on this note, I am leaving before I get too friggin' desperate sounding.

Hope all is well with everyone!

Perhaps I Just NEED to Vent!

So I knew that working three jobs would be a little bit insane. I was just not expecting this.

On Tuesday I started at my third job and they told me that they would call me and tell me where to go for training today, as I would be training on actual home health visits. I told them that I could start seeing patients at 2:00 PM and they said that they would just tell me where to be at 2:00 when they called.

I received no phone call.

So I showed up at the office of my new job at 2:20 because I didn't know what else to do. Right upon walking in I was talked to as if I were just to know to show there. I did some over the phone training with a very sweet gal who just assumed I was in the loop.

Apparently I was assigned a patient today, and I needed to be to her place like 20 minutes before showing up at the office. Hmmm, I was just a little aggravated. I explained to the sweet girl that I was told nothing. She understood. While talking with her she informed me that I needed to pass off on how to draw blood... ON MY NEW BOSS!!! Just a little bit intimidating.

All these things could have been mentioned and better planned out on Tuesday, but what do I know? I am just the new person.

After having gotten off of the phone, I then was informed of another patient with a blood draw order that I would need to go and see. Of course I couldn't do this until drawing my bosses blood.

Luckily, I got my boss on the first stick with a completely retarded blood collection kit. Then I was sent up the hall from my office to do a blood draw and an assessment. Of course all of areas assessed on the patient need to be charted on a document that is entirely foreign to me. I did my best, but boy do I feel dumb.

First patient, able to get a flash of blood, but the darn vein kept rolling. After my 3rd attempt, I threw in the towel on the blood draw. I did the assessment, but I know I will need some corrections made, at least I would expect it.

2nd Patient.

Went to her apartment which is at Terrace Grove, where I work most of the time. Of course her granddaughter is there, and she didn't have to leave, she decided to stay.

No pressure right?

Assessed, got the blood. Turned blood in to the correct lab, but I was 15 minutes after the doctors are not in their offices. Darn it!

I will get to follow up on that blood draw tomorrow at Terrace Grove, which will be good. But my goodness, whatever happened to my training? I just got thrown in which I suppose is good, but I also should have been done at 4:30 PM, didn't finish until 5:30 PM, Don't know how to bill out all of my time to get paid for it all, and I missed my 5:15 PM workout.

Things are going to get better, right?

I know they will, starting new things is just so hard sometimes!

Oh yeah, then I called my sister to vent and... my phone died.

Bummer.

I Must be Crazy!

So I got a third job. Blog posts will be few and far between, but I will post.

I hope all is well with everybody!

Hat Season and School!

Things here in Smithfield have been pretty chilly and wet! I am both excited for fall to come and sad to see summer leave. Oh well.

Lately things have been going just fine. I love this time of year because it is time to make hats for winter! I love to do this. B wants me to sell them, and I am happy to do so, but I don't have a lot of people asking for them.

Nonetheless, they are a blast to make.

Here are my latest:

I was really excited about the brown and green hat, but I made it a bit too small. I will have to find a friend with a small head to have this one. It looks like a swim cap on me!

This pink and green beauty is the perfect size. I do think that having both a ball and a flower is a bit much, but what do you think? It is cute either way, but I think one or the other... not both!

The little pink number above was made for my friend to give to her friend who is having a baby girl. I love the big ball on top. It turned out very cute!

I plan on making many more hats!

School is going wonderfully! I am so very grateful for my stepmom Bonnie who loaned me some money to pay for my tuition. Thank you Bonnie!

My class, excuse me, my LAST class before I get my bachelors degree is called Children in the Middle Years. I have only 2 books. Here is one of them:

I have to write 4 reflection papers on this book. I think I may post the true reflections on my blog. My other is a boring text book. So far, the 'Best Friends, Worst Enemies' is not so bad. There are some stupid analogies, but oh well.

Funny story that kind of relates to my book. I was reading it last night as I was waiting for an aerobics class to end, my class was next. As I sat there reading, other girls began to show up for the 7:30 PM Hip Hop class. 3 in particular sat close to me. They began to talk as if I wasn't there, of course, I listened in from time to time.

It came out in their conversation that one of them was the instructor. She said to the her friends "It is kind of a drag to come here on Wednesday nights and hang out with a bunch of people who can't dance." I glanced up from my book, then went right back to reading.

I paid no attention to my book after that because all of my insecurities about the fact that I can't dance were hot on my mind. I started to reassure myself that I could just fit in amongst the crowd and she wouldn't know that I would be that person who couldn't dance.

Well, including her two friends, there were 7 of us there. So much for blending in. I thought several times to just abandon ship. I stuck it out though. I am so glad I did. I laughed at myself and I had a blast! Oh and I learned a new hip hop routine! It is a way cute dance and I was able to do it. Not as quick as the other 6 girls who showed up, all of them younger than me and all of them with little hot bodies. On second thought, I guess I did blend in!

Well that is my life for now. Hope you all are doing good!

Some Wonderful People who are GREAT Friends!

This weekend was very memorable. We had a great time. On Friday, we hung out with Brett and Stacey. We ate dinner and that was about it. Called it a night after dinner.

On Saturday B and I were worthless. I got up and did my visit and then I came home. We just watched programs all day. We drove into town once, and then came home and fiddled with the watering device in our front bushes. After that we watched a movie called 'Adventureland'. I loved it. It was pretty darn funny.

Sunday was absolutely wonderful. We reconnected with our friends Bryan and Stacy Hansen. We haven't seen them since like 2007. It was so nice to reconnect. They are the type of friends where, even though 3 years had passed, we took up right where we left off, as if only a week had passed.

We had lunch at The Beehive Grill. It is actually owned by the Moab Brewery and should have been called that as well, but the owners understand that Cache Valley citizens would most likely not support a business with the word 'brewery' in it.

(I learned that fun fact today!)

We didn't take photos in the restaurant as we were eating, drinking and catching up. It was so nice to see them. They have a 2 month old baby girl named Ada. I feel like she looks just like her dad. She and Bryan have the same eyes, in my opinion. B says, 'she looks just like a baby'. He is so funny. I love that man.

Below is a great photo of me lovin' on Ada. When I finally got the guts to hold her, she was a little cranky, but still adorable nonetheless.

She eventually warmed up to me and we snapped this photo that I didn't rotate before blogging. I even got her smilin' a little bit... okay, it was probably Stacy who got her to smile. She is a doll!

Then B got the guts to hold her and just look at how cute they are!

AND... he liked holding her too! That smile is proof positive of him liking it!

We wanted a photo of all of us together, so we tried out our timer. In this first pic, there was no flash due to the windows behind us. Oh... and my big fat head got in B's way. He mentioned this as we were waiting for the timer. We all laughed and laughed!

Take two... better, but still awkward.

Our neighbor Stacey (of Brett and Stacey) was kind enough to come over and take this much better photo of all of us!

Stacy and Bryan, we had a wonderful time with you guys and cannot wait to see you again!

We love you guys!

After they left, Stacey (neighbor) stayed and we watched 'To Catch a Predator' that show on MSNBC. Those guys are creepy! That was fun.

Today has been interesting. It started out just fine. I got up and went to work my 12 hour shift. All was well until about 11:00. My kidneys started to ache and I started to chill, no fever though. I went home early and have had a pain pill and a heating pad on and am feeling much better, but that was really odd. I am sure that I am fine... but I thought I would tell you my odd illness.

Things are great... hope they are great with everyone else!

Birthday!

August 24th was a great day. We celebrated two birthdays: B's and Gordon's. We had a lot of fun. I went and did my home health visit. When I got home, I wrapped B's presents and set them up on the counter... no... I didn't take a photo... but you will not be let down... this post is still full of photos!

The dogs had hair cut's scheduled and just look at how handsome they are!

While the dogs were at their appointment, B and I ran some errands. This included going to USU and getting me set up for fall semester. We now just need to scrounge up tuition money. It is such a good feeling to be getting my degree done!

After that, we picked up the pups and went home. We did some laundry and B did some boring office work. We were just killin' time until our neighbors Brett and Stacey got home. They were at work and we wanted to go to dinner with them. Once they got home the adventure began.

Below is a photo I took of B once we got in the car. Girls ride up front and boys in the back. I thought this photo was funny!

We then just started to take photos of random people. Though the photo below may look innocent and random, there is a funny story.

The people in the car are strangers to us. They didn't notice us until the flash of the camera. We were all laughing, and then Stacey noticed that the dude in the back was angry and mouthed the phrase "what is wrong with you guys?" at her in an angry/mad face.

This made us laugh more, which in turn upset them more. Oh well.

The photo below is of Brent, a Cache Valley cycling icon. He is mentally challenged, but very accomplished and independent. He worked at USU for about 30 years and can still be seen riding his bike, all throughout the valley, ALL year long. We like Brent. He was the torch bearer in 2002 when the Olympic torch came through Logan. Brent makes your day when he honks his bike horn, smiles and waves at you.

And now... the birthday dinner!

We went to Happy Sushi. It is yummy and expensive... but most importantly... yummy.

Below is the Sake we ordered. How cute are those little cups and that little poorer?

Here we all are, so happy!

Here is our pretty sushi! All of it was fantastic, and that even includes the yellow tail (chef's choice) and the albacore tuna that are on the far right. That is considered the real sushi, not in a roll. I was apprehensive to try it at first, but it was indeed good. The tuna had more flavor. ALL of the rolls were fantastic!

Below here is the noodles we ordered and split. They were super good as well! (Super Good!)

The after dinner photos start now! Below is B and Brett. I just love those guys!

We stopped at Sweetly Divine (a pastry shop) to get dessert on the way home. Below is the cannoli's. I love those, and that is what I got. The finger belongs to Brett.

This is just a view of some of the many divine treats you can eat at this yummy shop. They are super good! Right Hillary?... Super Good!

On the way home B decided to take a photo of my head.

I then turned and smiled at the camera. Not my best photo, but good enough!

The birthday was fabulous. We had a blast. Our friends Brett and Stacey really are some of the best friends we have. It is so nice to have such wonderful people to share your life with. I just love them!

Now, onto today. I went to work (of course). I worked 13 hours today. After clocking out, I went to the gym and did Zumba! Stacey came with me. We had a lot of fun. I have noticed though, my skin on the underside of my foot is having a hard time toughening up.

I have literally danced my skin off!

Totally worth it!

Hope all is well with one and all!

What We Are Up To

So I lied... below is the only photo I took of MS Tour. This is after the race and once we got back to our car. We were riding up to the car and I told B "We've got to get at least one photo!" So we did.

I have been kind of a butt hole lately when it comes to taking photos. I didn't take one single photo of my brothers and their families when they were up here that weekend either. I just have been a nit wit.

Instead, I never miss a photo opportunity when it comes to bacon!

Yeah, I cooked turkey bacon yesterday and didn't burn it at all. We made savory breakfast sandwiches and boy were they yummy.

We made them again today and they were even better.

In my little world of crochet, below is a dinosaur that I made a while back. This is not my pattern. I have a blast finding other peoples patterns and botching the work to my best abilities!

Here is a black and white dog, much like my brown and... uh... brown dog! A sweet little lady that I take care of has ordered one of these dogs. I have got to get hoppin' on makin' it!

So now it is time for you to be prepare of a bloody carp fish photo. I have not blogged this and B caught this big fish back in like June or something. He is a big ol' fatty.

Look at that fish!

And again.

I put these here now because I have got to brag about B. He is so wonderful! I wish he knew that to it's full extent. He and our friend Brett are quite a pair. They were going bow fishing quite a bit at the beginning of the summer, but then, we got busy and bow fishing got put on the back burner. At least they were able to catch this big fella before they stopped going.

I love B's face in the pic where he is holding this big fish up by a rope. He is such a cutie!

It is B's birthday tomorrow. He is going to be 31. All morning long so far I have been pinching him, tickling him, bugging him and telling him that it is the last time I get to do this to a 30 year old. He just laughs it off. He is one in a million.

I am a lucky lady.

Right now, we have no idea of what we are gonna do for birthday celebration, but something fun!

It was also my friend Stacey's birthday on Friday (the 20th). We went out for appetizers and drinks at Cafe Sabor, then it was our first time with sushi for dinner. We went to Happy Sushi. Luckily Brett, Stacey's husband, has eaten there before and he is quite daring with sushi. He even ordered the real stuff, not just a roll.

We really do have a wonderful friendship in Brett and Stacey. They are fabulous people of which I am so happy to know.

We are also looking forward to seeing our long time friends Bryan and Stacey. They live in Escalante now and have been friends with us for quite a while. They have a new baby girl named Ada. She is absolutely beautiful! We are hopefully going to get to see them this coming weekend. I can't wait! I will bring my camera and I WILL take photos!

Other than that, life is pretty good. It is boring, but that is good.

I should be starting up with school again here pretty quick. Cross your fingers and hope that I get into the RN program, I am applying in September! Holy Moly, that is soon!

Love you all!