SharonBissett.com

As in breaking down the semester by week/test intervals, so as to not get overwhelmed and/or wrench your back lugging all these books/handouts around!  Seriously, the syllabus/lecture/handouts were $40 and fit in a 4″ 3-ring binder.  Yeah.  Now, it’s in 4 - 1.5″ binders (only needed 3, but it said to keep our clinical papers separate).  Much more manageable.   We have 6 books for this class, not including the reference books (medical dictionary and Lab/Diagnostic Tests w/ Nursing Implications or RN Notes!).  Thank goodness we don’t need all of them on a single day and they let us know what we need to have for the next day.   It’s going to be interesting getting through this semester…I hear it gets much better after this first semester.  At least then we won’t feel so “lost”!

Must go read/skim a few chapters and then get everything prepped and laid out for tomorrow.  Clothes, lunch, backpack, etc.  9am - 4pm this week and next.  At least today I’m not as exhausted!

Every new journey starts with a first… and today would be that “first day of” Nursing School.

And this is what I came away with.  Seriously.  Sage advice. 

And now it’s almost 7pm and I need to head to bed.  No lie.  I am exhausted in more ways than my body & mind can count.  I’ll skim the remaining chapters when I wake up at 3am!

Nursing school that is.  I’m working on my attitude and cementing my mindset.  No more doubts.  I know I can do anything I set my mind to do and I will do it to the best of my ability.  The plan has been set in motion and small goals were achieved and now it’s time for the next set of goals.  Exciting and scary all at once.

I’ve spent the last week or two totally having fun and relaxing.  Reading - for fun, going tubing on the Rainbow River, hanging with friends, riding the roller coasters at Busch Gardens, eating…eating…eating!  Now it’s time to start switching gears and getting ready for school.  Mentally, for now.  As soon as I get the green light on my sponsorship money, I can get my books/uniforms/supplies and prepare my space.  My boss gave me a desktop computer - this time for Adam…as our laptops both decided to flake out at the same time.  As long as we have internet and the software to do what we need to do, the desktops will be fine.

Here I am feeding a kangaroo, or a wallaby (whatever) at Busch Gardens last week.  So, stinkin’ cool!

Okay, back to whatever I was doing before I randomly decided to start blogging again.  I know…right?!  LOL

So, here I am…back again.  Why? Why the long absences?  Why not?  I guess for awhile it’s fine and I’m relatively anonymous…then something happens (maybe just time passing) and I feel exposed, vulnerable and too much “out there”.  So I retreat.  Do things like totally delete all my facebook posts for the past 3 months.  Make all my photos and links private.  And stop blogging.  Funny thing is, it’s because of real life events that cause me to feel “exposed, vulnerable and too much out there”.   Really, I blog so infrequently that no one expects it and quite possibly people (family mostly) have stopped checking in to see what’s new.  That’s okay…this is mostly an on-line journal or diary for me anyway.

News:   June 30th…acceptance letter from PHCC to start the RN program this Fall

July 30th…offered position with RMCBP (hospital) to begin nurse internship while in school w/ 2-year commitment after graduation/licensure

Still waiting to hear about picking back up with unemployment since the extension was finally approved.  Somehow the bills need to be paid while I’m in school…until the internship starts in January!

I’m officially giving up in the romance department.   Bad timing anyway.  I just don’t need the drama, the extra work that some guys take.   Seriously.   Should have looked for a situation like “An Affair to Remember”…you know, if you’re not with someone and I’m not with someone by a certain date, we’ll meet on top of the Empire State Building in New York City.  Then neither of us will be alone.   Or whatever crappy,  ooey-gooey, love story they want women to buy these days.  I just know it sucks not having someone to share your life with.   WARNING - Dating Rant is about to Commence!   Available men in my age range generally tend to fall into one of 3 categories:  divorced, and angry/sad/depressed, trying to forget XYZ from their past(usually have drinking/drug problem to go with it); divorced, looking for a replacement wife/mother (for kids)/mommy (for himself!) - circle however many apply; divorced, and trying to reclaim their “glory days” by getting any/every woman they can in the sack with them.   It’s damn near impossible to find a well-adjusted, mature, available man!   (You were warned!)

Busy day tomorrow - I have a funeral service in the afternoon that I’m singing at and I have to find something appropriate to wear.  And hope this sinus congestion (getting over a summer cold) is finally gone tomorrow.   Music update tomorrow…buck up the playlist for the upcoming semester, I’m going to need some fresh tunes!  Oh yeah, and maybe I’ll throw in some pictures too.   That would be nice.

Alrighty, then.  I’m talked out - it’s time to throw on a pair of comfy boxers, t-shirt and grab my book for some reading before I drop off to sleep.   Night!

Let’s see…cramming to get all my school work done before my brother came into town to surprise my dad.  He flew in Friday afternoon, so I had a bunch of work for my computer class.  We hung out at home Friday night as he had some school work to do with a deadline, watched some of his shows on the Scyfy channel, and relaxed.

Saturday morning Adam had a St. Patrick’s Day parade at a retirement community with his NJROTC unit.  He’s on the armed drill team…it was his first time, so he was a little nervous but he did fine.  I have some of it on video and a few pictures to post.   Afterwards, we headed up to my Dad’s to surprise them.  And surprise him we did!!   The funny thing is every one of the other kids called while we were there!  Donna, George and Little G came over…it was great seeing them (G just turned 4!!) though Donna did take a lot of teasing from Randy.  But that’s just his “charming” personality shining through.   Gave me a break though!   Trying to put together a Party on the Potomac this summer - hope we can get everybody there - it’d be fun to see how many people he can really fit on the boat.  Or in his house!  I think I’ll throw the extra air mattresses in the truck just in case.   We left around 6pm and headed home.  Tried to make it out to the beach before the Harley store closed, but didn’t make it.  We grabbed a couple Pina Colada’s and appetizers at the Palm Pavilion before getting some sand & shells from the beach.  Too bad it was about 50 degrees and crazy windy…but we toughed it out.

Darned time change had us up early…Randy for the airport and me for church.  Hope he made it on time, with the tube of beach sand!  Took a midterm test for my Nutrition class and got an A on it.  One down, 4 more tests this week.   Then back to church to show the movie Fireproof.  Good, good movie!  I always have good intentions for coming home and doing more school work, but usually end up reading email, talking on the phone with friends and unwinding.  Tomorrow’s another day!

Bit of a break there, found out my dad was taken to the ER and ended up having emergency surgery for a ruptured appendix!  He’s doing okay now, but is terribly uncomfortable and in his words “miserable”.  Can’t say that I blame him…he’s already had a couple minor complications, but was hoping to come home today.  I haven’t heard if that happened or not, there’s a bit of an issue with communication or the lack of it, so I’ll check in tomorrow and see what’s new.  It’s a bit late to do that and I’ve reiterated many times to call if things change, so unless I’m called I’ll assume everything’s fine.   Hopefully by the end of the week, he’ll be home and we’ll see how he’s healing by then.

Trying to get ahead of some school work so I can have the weekend free…the on-line classes at PHCC aren’t cooperating, I’m currently hung up and can’t even get to the logon screen.  Grrr.  Anyway, Adam has a parade at a senior community Saturday morning, that I plan on video taping.  Then my girls at church have practice for Easter…I run the sound for them.  Beyond that, from noon on Saturday, I’m looking forward to some fun!

Lots of things happening…hope to have an answer as to which Nursing school I’ll be attending by then.  I’ve got an Open House and an interview with the hospital Earn As You Learn program at the end of this month.  Meanwhile, I’ve got mid-terms next week  so I’m studying on my Spring Break.  Bleh.

In between the everyday cleaning, studying, and stuff that normally goes on, I’ve gotten all the embroidery handwork done on my Spring wall hanging.  It helps to unwind at the end of the day and I figure a little bit here and there will get me farther along than hoping I can block out a bunch of time to do it.  Here’s where it was last year:

I’ve also pulled the dark green ric rac stems…they just weren’t doing it for me.  I’ll put in a lighter green instead.  Next up the outer borders…and more ric rac.  I (love) ric rac!  I’ll do another photo after I get to that point.  Hoping to at least have that much done before this Easter.  I’m embarrassed to say I started this one in Feb/March 2005!  Yeah…5 years ago.  Oh, look a squirrel!  Easily distracted by new projects or priorities, I guess.  LOL.

And I found my pattern sheets for Winter Wonderland.   The next morning, I was in the shower, thinking about where that “safe place” is that I always put things.  Hmmm.   Ah ha!  Put my robe on and went right to it!   Gathered up the embroidery floss, fabrics, and put together a plan.  Given my attention span (and eyesight!) there’s no telling when it’ll be done though!  And to be honest, I do have a few other projects ahead of it.

Alright, PHCC is letting me back in, so I’m going to see if it kept my answers on the quiz or if I have to email the instructor to reset it.   Much to do…

Sh@ron

My 1st Toshiba Laptop from last night:

Yeah…once I started, I just couldn’t stop! It wasn’t really dirty, but it’s underlying problem wasn’t that it was shutting off due to overheating. This one doesn’t hold a charge, and even when it’s plugged into an outlet, it acts like the battery is the primary and will shut down after a short amount of time. I *thought* they had fixed the problem many moons ago, but after looking at the motherboard, it still looks like it needs a new DC jack - it’s all corroded. No wonder the poor thing can’t hold a charge. It’ll have to stay in pieces until I can find someone who’ll do the unsolder/soldering for me…it’s just not something I want to invest in. So, tonight I’d better get my homework that’s due Monday done before I tear into this laptop. It needs to be cleaned out because it is shutting down due to overheating…but if it’s like the other one, and the whole thing has to be taken apart to clean it, I’m going to to have to save up some patience.

Worship was awesome this morning - it felt so good to be back after a 2-week absence (tooth & head cold). We had a few glitches with the sound system, which is never fun, but we got through it. Here’s the last song we did today:

Amazing Grace (My Chains are Gone)

Imagine 6 of us singing…along with the whole congregation. It was so moving! I wish you all could be there…I even soloed on the last line. Not that I rocked it, but it was a first! Lots of those today…praying out loud after music practice and then praying out loud at the send of service. I think Pastor’s trying to push me out there to do the solo that I mentioned last year. Hmmm. We’ll see about that one!

5 Guys Burger & Fries opened over at one of the nearby malls, so I picked that up on the way home from church for lunch. Not the same as dining in…but still pretty darned tasty! Definitely, not an every week event…all those potatoes!!…but a nice treat.

Need to stop in at JoAnn’s and pick up some interfacing for a quilt top that Aunt Eileen & Gene are doing, the pattern is here:

Gene has her top done…in all blues (very frosty-looking!) and I think Aunt Eileen is doing hers in blue too. Me? I’m a red girl…love redwork! So, I need to get some interfacing for behind my stitchery panels in the center to help keep some of the thread tails from showing through that snowy white top. I’ll probably add some borders…I’m just not loving the star blocks going right to the edge…but that’s me. Gene tells us that some of those star blocks are a bugger…especially the small ones with lots of pieces. Not looking forward to those and may substitute some of my own star blocks into it.  Went through some of my fabric/bins but have realized I’ve misplaced the pattern/instructions (man, I have a lot of fabric)!  Good thing I’m not really ready to start it yet.

Okay, long day and it feels later than it is…and tomorrow is catch-up on homework day.  Though it’s supposed to be the start of Spring Break.  Ha!  What a joke…next week we have our mid-terms.  How cruel is that?!  Tests in 4 of the 6 classes I have.  Will try and head out to the beach one afternoon for a Pina Colada & a sunset…just because I can.  Have a great one people!

Sh@ron

After doing some blog hopping the past few days, I’ve decided that I want to get back to posting on my blog.  For a time, I had some privacy issues and felt a bit “stalked”.  I think after all this time, they’ve probably given up and moved on by now.  The whole purpose of having a blog in the first place was for my family and faraway friends to be able to feel connected and keep up with what was going on in our lives.  So…with that in mind, I’m diving back in.

Today, was sunny but still cool - in the 60’s.  I spent the afternoon at one of the many thrift stores in the area while Adam went over to a friend’s house.  I found a Coach purse for $10 (I know, right?  And I’m not even one of “those” women but I couldn’t pass it up…it’s near new), about a dozen PC games for Adam…3 of which he’d been asking for at $40 retail…I got all of them for $9, add in a white Cherokee scrub top (cute), a few embroidery hoops, 2 old canning jars (glass lids/wire bales), a Marimeko hot pad (hey, it was a quarter) and gee, I think that was it.  All under $30 people!  Feeling pretty good, headed over to Staples, but got sidetracked by the Girl Scouts outside of JoAnn Fabrics & Crafts.  Yeah…I bought some Thin Mints, Do-Si-Do’s and then headed over to Staples to get the thermal glue I may need for a computer maintenance issue. Then I treated myself to an early dinner at Applebee’s.  You know, I like Applebee’s…but the menu has totally changed.  No more Sizzlin’ Beef Stir-fry!  The waiter offered to “try”…but I said no thanks, let’s just leave me with the good memories of the real thing.  I had the 3-Cheese Chicken Penne - total comfort food!

I picked up Adam, who was really excited over the PC games, and we headed home.  Him to the desktop and me to set to work on maintaining the laptops.  The Dell laptop is really sick…boots up to a Blue screen.  So, I wiped it clean - back to the factory settings.  It was also missing some keys (very flimsy keyboard Dell!), so I opened up the case and put in a new keyboard (been meaning to do that for years!).   Just installing all the virus and spyware protection and the monitoring stealth software on it now.  Next up I have have 2 Toshiba’s.  One I don’t use but I’m going to open it up to see what it’s going to look like on the Toshiba I use for school…see what I’m in for!  Yikes.  It’s shutting down spontaneously because of heat build-up.  Apparently a known issue (to most people but me!) after a couple years.  So, I have to open it up and clean out the dust/build-up on something called a heatsink.  Which may involve removing/detaching it from the CPU, cleaning it, then reattaching it and putting it back in the laptop.   Might be tricky.  We shall see!

So, that’s about it from the home front today.  In other news…someone appears to be playing nice after the verbal smackdown from the judge earlier in the week.  I’ve also initiated implementing a set visitation schedule.  The boy flat out needs to spend time with his father.  Left up to the 2 of them, they’ve been getting together about twice a month for a few hours each time.  To eat.  And that’s it.  Maybe 3 overnights in the last 6 months.  Maybe.   New date to get with the General Magistrate late May/early June…so hope to have that issue resolved as the summer starts.  Hopeful, hopeful.

Thomas is about the same.  I’m not sure about his living situation.  He says he’s “not really” staying at his dad’s house, but with a friend.  Hmmm.  Okay, he’s almost 20-yrs old.  Still working at Sonny’s, still procrastinating about his GED, car still not running, but he’s considering selling it and getting something else.  Bleh.  Can’t seem to light a fire under this one and he seems to still be hanging on to some of his old bad habits…and I’m sure when questioned, it’ll be due to his hand.  Or some other major stressor.  I wish, I wish…

On a happier note…everything is still going great with Doug.  We’ll see how things play out once he gets moved down here.  He’s doing awesome in school - just finishing 3rd semester/starting clinicals and he made the Dean’s list!  So proud of him.  He works hard at it, and it shows.  He’s already applied to start school for the next level as soon as he gets this first license (June-July).  No laziness in this guy!

Okay, next time…more pictures, fewer words!  Have a great night!

Sh@ron

I’ve been blogging off and on in 2009 at my other blog, but it was just random and not very consistent.  The intended focus was going to be whatever I was creating at the moment…quilts, scrapbooking, photography, etc…but after being laid off I really didn’t have much extra time because I went right out and signed up for some college courses.  Now, with two semesters behind me, I’m even busier this semester trying to finish all the prerequisites to apply to a couple different Nursing schools in the area.  Six classes: Microbiology lecture and lab, Intermediate Algebra, Statistics, Microcomputer Applications, and the Science of Nutrition.  Whew!   I can start sending out applications in March and hope to start hearing back in June, for the Fall 2010 program.

So, I’m going to start back blogging here - one place, one site to manage.  May not be much at times.  It may be a mixture of topics - just depends what’s on my mind at the time.  Okay, that’s enough words for the moment.  Hoping to add some more photos to my blog posts this year!  Looks like I have some cleaning up to do as well…

Pe@ce…

Sh@ron

Life is too short… to live in suspense; waiting on other’s to make decisions that may affect you.

Life is too short…to not live each day in the here and now.

Life is too short…not to have beauty, joy and love in your life.

Life is too short…to always wonder, what might have been.

Life is too short…to stay standing still.

“Are you living a life of action or reaction?”

“Why be afraid of something you want?”

“Is it really always better to be safe than sorry?”

It’s time to move on, take some chances and open myself up to what life brings.  It’s about finding and maintaining balance in a life already full of change!

Pe@ce!