Hello from a refreshed me!
A no-school weekend
Well, hey there, everyone!
You guys. I had a weekend with no work shifts and no studying to do and it was SO NICE.
I got the non-school parts of my life in order and I feel so much more peaceful now. Yay!
I got my house cleaned up.
I paid bills and did some blog-related tax stuff.
I did all my laundry.
I got all my pre-work for Pediatrics done and submitted (it's ungraded stuff, so no stress.)
I bought symphony tickets for some upcoming concerts.
I used my real camera!
I scheduled my work shifts for the next two pay periods (and that takes me to the end of the semester!)
I went to the gym.
I went for some walks downtown.
I guess it wasn't an entirely school-free weekend because while I was driving to and from the gym, I did listen to some pediatrics podcasts from Straight A Nursing.
Because we know I can't resist the urge to work ahead a bit. 😉
Mainly, I felt the freedom of having no exams hanging over my head!
My life is anti-routine at the moment
On one of my walks this weekend, I listened to Laura Vanderkam's podcast with Cal Newport.
As they discussed their routines (things like setting aside a particular morning each week for a certain task, or setting a hard and fast quitting time), I was struck by how little this advice applies to me in this particular phase of life!
With normal college classes, you can settle into a routine. But there is not a single week of nursing school so far that has been the same.
Which means I never get into a groove.
Basically, I live my life seven days at a time. I map out a week at a time on my planner, putting in lectures, labs, clinicals, and exams, plus Zoe's work schedule and mine.
Then I figure out where I can fit in walking and working out. And things like studying and blogging just happen whenever I have time. Honestly, they fill in most of the cracks.
My routine-oriented self loves the idea of doing particular things at particular times every week. But for right now, I have to be flexible.
For example, sometimes I get to the gym at 6 am, sometimes I go in the afternoon after clinical, sometimes I go mid-morning, sometimes I do an at-home workout...it just depends on what's happening that week.
If I got hung up on the belief that predictability was necessary for productivity*, I'd be screwed right now.
But I do hope that once I finish school, I can find a groove with at least a little bit more predictability. 🙂
*to be clear, I don't think Laura/Cal are trying to say it's necessary, just that it's helpful. And I do agree.
Get 25% off Knix this week!
This week, you can get 25% off your first-time purchase at Knix by using the code Ambassador25.
Knix makes period underwear and also regular undies. They're also the company that makes the thigh-saver shorts I love for wearing under summer dresses.
Click here to see all the underwear options they offer.
The bikini style is my favorite for both regular and period underwear.
And if you want to buy a set of period underwear to get you started, click here to see all the sets Knix offers (all of them are cheaper than buying the items individually.)
I wrote a post about period underwear a while back, but I included the Thinx brand in that one, and they have since had a lawsuit over their products containing PFAs. So, I would stick with Knix instead. The post I wrote might still be helpful if you are trying to learn about period underwear, though!
Don't forget to use the Ambassador25 code before you check out; it doesn't automatically apply through any of these links.
A Knix P.S.: I have tried some of their bras, but as a rule, I don't like the way they fit me. Click here and look at her right boob (on the left side of the picture). The same thing happens to me with most Knix bras, and I kinda wonder if their designs just work better for people who have had fewer birthdays and/or have not breastfed any babies. In other words....a higher level of firmness. Heh.
I spoke some Spanish to a patient
I introduced myself, told him I speak a little Spanish, and asked him if he speaks any English. (He said no.)
His family members were there most of the day to help translate, but I still did manage to say a few things directly to him in Spanish, and it was correct enough for him to understand. Yay me!
My 600+ days on Duolingo are doing something for me. 🙂
Annnnnnd now I'm on to peds
As you read this, I'm probably at pediatrics orientation.
The few days of a break were lovely, and I don't really feel like diving back into school because I know these eight-week classes are all-consuming.
But I'm reminding myself that in just eight weeks, I'll be done with this semester. Then I get a five-week winter break (woohoo!), and after that, I only have one more semester to get through.
I can do this.
Of course, you can do this! You are doing it, you will continue to do it, and we all know you'll do it successfully. Kristen, you have no idea what an inspiration you are!
It is really weird that Knix is using that photo to sell their bras- it really doesn’t look like it fits the model correctly.
What do the thigh saver shorts do? Is it just so you can do cartwheels without concern of passersby seeing your underpants? And do they stick to dresses? You know how unlined dresses stick to tights or pantyhose and then you need a slip? Can you wear the little shorties without a slip?
@Tarynkay, it reduces upper leg chafing when your skin might be sweaty/ sticky.
I know! But I did feel validated when I saw that photo, like, oh, it's not just me!
And yes, like Kim said, the thigh saver shorts keep your thighs from sticking together in warm weather.
@Tarynkay, I buy slip shorts from Walmart or target. They don’t stick to your dresses and they keep your thighs for rubbing and they keep my kids from exposing my too much if they lift my dresses. I love them.
@Tarynkay, it's the sweaty thigh chafe they guard against.
@Kristen, I also feel la tad more modest with a short on under a dress vs a panty. I have 2 pair for under dresses.
@Tarynkay,
When I was in grade school I knew a little girl who always wore jeans and cowboy boots under her dresses. I never knew grown women were wearing shorts under dresses. I will be looking at anyone in a dress differently from now on.
@Faith, My daughter was a ballet dancer and she wears dance shorts under her dresses.
@Tiana, I'm probably telling my age, but when I went to school (all 12 grades and 1 year of college - the year that changed), all girls were required to wear dresses to school. It was helpful in grade school because I loved playing on the "tricky" bars. (Ha, ha! As I write this, I realize how strange/funny "tricky" bars sounds. Why did we call them that? idn)
@Joan, I attended an all-girls Catholic high school, and we had to wear uniforms (really strange ones) that were dresses that went no higher than the knee. Instead of slips, most of the girls learned quickly to wear men's boxer shorts underneath--so much more comfortable!
Kristen, you've got this! It sounds like nursing school is close to being all consuming but you will survive this one 8-week session at a time. I'm glad you had a weekend to recharge.
You can do this!
I like Knix bras for just out running errands, feeding the ferals and so on. I have issues with textures in my clothing so no hardware bras are great. When I dress up I wear different bras. I also have a bikini of theirs which is also very comfy.
Woo hoo you are getting so close Kristin! Great job! Glad you got a weekend to catch up.
Yes, I have no doubt you can do this. With freshly laundered clothing, a clean house (for now . . .), and a bit of sleep. Onward!
That photo of C with the tail curl in the sun is so wonderful. What a perfect moment in time capture of a cats personality!
@Britta, I also loved that photo and the one of the front door with the wreath! Beautiful!
@Britta,
....the curl of the tail.....the light through Chiquita's ears!!!
@Liz B., I want another cat...
@Dicey,
We have two, but yeah....would love another!
It won’t be long now! It’s amazing how much you are able to fit into a day. You are proof that predictability and productivity do not necessarily go hand in hand. Good luck with Pediatrics!
thanks so much for the knix link. i will have my daughter zoe check it out. also love the chiquita photos. glad you are doing so well after all the difficulties of the past few years.
you deserve the best of everything.
I'm glad you got a weekend breather to catch up! Hope you enjoy your peds stretch!
Yes, Kristen, you can do this! You’ve been “running your race” so well and I’m cheering you on to reach the finish line with grace and strength!
So glad you had a relaxing weekend!
I know you were glad to have a weekend without a test hanging over your head! And what good weather to have such a weekend in! I took a little time to relax on the porch this weekend and soak up the quiet. I wish everyone in the southeast could enjoy their homes in peace and quiet, but that's going to take years.
Thanks to the security installed on our work computers, I can't follow your links, but talking about the Knix bras, I had looked at them before, but to me, most of them looked like glorified sports bras. They don't seem to follow any of the "This is how to tell you have a proper fit in a bra" guidelines that I've known and used successfully. But hey, one of my girls wears them and likes them. They just aren't for me, especially at that price.
I see Chiquita had a busy weekend of posing. She's a natural model.
Silly fact: In high school, my daughter and her classmates were given aptitude tests. Hers came back that she was suited to be a model (she's 5'2"), an agricultural inspector (?), or a skidder (heavy logging equipment) operator. We still get a laugh out of that.
@JD, Hmmm... Maybe at 5'2" she could be a catalog model. Posing as an agricultural inspector. Standing next to a piece of heavy logging equipment... What is it she does in real (reel?) life?
@JDinNM, Ha!
When you're tall as I and my kids are, people nag you about being a model. I was even scouted once as a teenger. But I just didn't wanna. My grandmother, who worked for Sears, wanted to submit pix of us kids for modeling. The answer was yes but my mother said no. Last thing she felt like was toting four kids around the city if one of us got a modeling job.
Now I feel like quoting Luanne from King of the Hill: "Models are the happiest people in the world!"
@JDinNM,
In real life, she is a supervising editor for the state legislature. Someone has to write, re-write and edit all those state statutes, and the office where she works does just that. (Just for the record, her job requires an English degree, so there ARE a few jobs other than teaching that require those degrees.) And she's a mom to 4 kids, so "zookeeper" should have shown up on her test results.
I like your suggestion, though. 🙂
@Rose,
Not only was my daughter never asked to be a model, she wasn't even asked to be an agricultural inspector or a logging equipment operator. I guess she missed all her callings, ha.
@JD, It's pretty hard to compete with the glamour of being a logging equipment operator, though.
@JD, I love hearing when my fellow English majors are gainfully employed :')
@JD,
What a wide range of occupations your daughter was matched with! Lol. I don't even know what an agricultural inspector does...guessing they inspect commercial farms, dairies, etc. to make sure everything is being done according to the appropriate laws? Now I'm curious. 🙂
@Rose,
I, like so many teen girls back in the 70s and 80s (and maybe today, who knows) would have LOVED to be scouted for modeling. Alas, I was not tall enough, not pretty enough, not in the right place at the right time, etc. And, yeah, no way would my parents have been able (or interested) to drive me back and forth to wherever I needed to be.
A friend of mine did do some modeling back in the 80s for a local department store.....she's still gorgeous after all these years...we laugh at her big hair. 😉
@Liz B.,
As I understand it, they inspect the products, operations and processing of agriculture. It doesn't sound like a fun job, to be truthful.
@Liz B., I was so jealous of Brooke Shields who is a month younger than I. I wanted to go to Studio 54 so badly but my parents wouldn't let me (of course) and my father was the bouncer so no way was I getting in.
I later on interviewed her for some Hamptons magazine I wrote for and she is really sweet. And still so gorgeous, like she's a member of a different species.
@JD,
I agree. I imagine people who do that job NEVER eat bologna or hot dogs. 🙂
I wonder what combination of answers makes one well-suited to be an agricultural inspector!
@JD, heavy equipment operators in most states make good money. And remember petite clothing lines need models!
You CAN do this!!!
You're doing so well! I'm so glad you got a few days to recharge.
I love that picture of Chiquita looking behind her. Her tail looks like a question mark!
You can do this!
I have to run off to an appt and may comment more later, yet I wanted to jump in now with this part of my comment.
You're really making progress! Congrats! It won't be long now before you're Frugal Girl, R.N.
BTW, I loved the flower photos.
@Fru-gal Lisa, Half of me loves her blog for the images she captures alone (and the other half for the inspiration).
@Fru-gal Lisa, I loved all the photos from the "downtown" walking tour. I didn't realize how much I missed the morning walk pictures.
WOW I am soo excited for you..am reliving my nursing school days as I read your posts.I also went to a community college for my first degree in nursing (went on later, to become a Nurse Practitioner, with education paid for by employers,mostly.)I believe the community colleges give the very best in education and clinical experiences!!My instructors happened to mostly all be retired military nurses!And they sure did put us through their paces.I am so grateful for my education!!!
YOU ARE GOING TO LOVE PEDS. It isn’t just about caring for sick children.It’s about the FAMILIES. I loved nursing the family..as you know, moms and dads with sick children can feel pretty frantic and you end up caring for ALL OF THEM!! And, children tend to get better quickly, when you pack them all up to go home after a bout of RSV, it is very satisfying— I never did work peds oncology or anything more serious, I am sure that is an entirely different scenario.but general peds was one of my favorite rotations. I chose Labor and Delivery but I also floated to peds on an regular basis in my general nursing career.
I also scheduled my life around school when I went as you do.. one week at a time is enough!! You are almost at the finish line!!!!
GOOD LUCK with the new rotation, before you know it your break will be here!!
A productive weekend feels soo good.
Your real camera is in full evidence here, as is your Duolingo work.
Taking the time to learn Spanish when you have Everything else to do (plus still recovering from a contentious divorce) is a big measure of your kindness and compassion that already is serving your patients well. Impressive and inspirational.
You will go far in your field.
Well, I do just a TINY bit of Spanish every day; just a lesson or two. But it does add up over time. I may take it more seriously once nursing school is done!
You are such an encourager; thank you!
@Kristen, We all here say that about being frugal: the little things add up. True in many areas!
Glad you got some much needed rest & reset.
Pediatrics will fly by & you'll do great! Winter break will be here before you know it.
Don't forget to put in your schedule to vote in 2 weeks on Tuesday November 5, unless you do early voting or absentee ballot (to return). And enjoy the sunshine. 🙂
Good for you using your Spanish! It is less commonly spoken here (Canada,) and I have a vivid memory of trying to do a neurological exam on a Spanish-speaking woman in the emergency room. I used Google Translate and asked a lot of yes/no questions. The whole exam was done using the words "Copiar? Mas, mas, ok." She was a very good sport about it all, and since then the hospital did get a translation service that's available overnight. But until they got it I used Google Translate text-to-speech a LOT.
It's funny, I seem to be in the small segment of the population who finds plain ol' underwired t-shirt bras comfortable. I tried all kinds of contraptions when I was pregnant/nursing and ultimately the most comfortable solution was just to buy the same bra I always get, just a size bigger.
Call you "Butter", because you are on a roll!!
Great photos today.
How very hopeful —8 weeks of peds, 5 week break (FIVE??!!I), and one more semester. Feels really quick, but maybe not so much to you.
Yes, winter break is five weeks! Perks of being a college student vs. a k-12 student.
@Kristen, Love the College perks….for you and….our DS1 is a College professor. We love the awesome breaks between semesters (so he can visit us at length with our sweet granddaughter and his lovely wife—and pup!)
You're amazing Kristen!!! You've got this. Easy peasy.
So glad you had a few days off. I admire how you prioritize self-care so that you can function optimally when there's a lot to do and a lot of stress.
I highly recommend a medical Spanish class. It will help a lot throughout your nursing career! Attitudes have thankfully changed. In the "olden days" there were nurses who said "why don't they just learn to speak English?" (UGH!) Now people understand that's not OK. People in medical crises are not in a position to try to learn a new language. And the "good nurses" know that even trying in another language helps build rapport so you can really treat the "whole patient".
Would you show us your planner? Even just a dummy page to keep your privacy, it would be interesting to see how you do it. Is it electronic or on paper?
Agreed on that attitude. It's the same type of, "Well, they shouldn't have smoked." or, "They shouldn't have been sedentary." or any number of other dismissive attitudes. At the bedside, none of that matters; we are treating the patient as they are, right now, and we should be asking, "How can we best help them?"
When we are to a point of discharging a patient, we can refer them to health promotion services (or even English-learning services if they wanted, I suppose) and we can do health teaching, but when a person is sick, that is most certainly not the time!
I use a paper planner; a super simple one. But yes, I can take a picture of a dummy page and show you guys!
It won't be long before you are telling us you passed your NCLEX!
Hopefully within the year!
You are killing it, Kristen!
Your 600 day streak is incredibly impressive. As busy as you've been and you've not missed a day? That is dedication. I'm also using Duolingo for Spanish and am currently on day 92 and maintaining that has been a struggle at times.
Chiquita is such a cutie.
Come work in IT. Your nursing school schedule is an actual schedule. While you schedule work shifts, you get to pick the time. No idea if your work life will include scheduled on-call weeks. Or calls when you are not on-call (it happens).
There are certain professions that never will be 8 am to 5 pm, Monday thru Friday.
Upside, you're children, for the most part, are grown. That does allow you concentrate on your studies/work shifts. I have a better half who is a gem - cooks, grocery shops, cleans, helped his aging parents, has helped mine (as well as elderly neighbors and a couple of my elderly relatives). You're flying solo. I agree a tidy house is good for one's mental state (trust me, I had piles after my mom passed away). But remember these words of wisdom from my late mother - if you don't move anything, no one will know you've not dusted.
For you, home stretch, light at the end of the tunnel that is not a freight train. Despite being a female with kids, the ob-gyn rotation would have been my very, very, very least favorite. But as in IT, there are jobs that someone has to do.
@Selena, ugh YOUR children.
Am I seeing a bit of feline bias? Or is the other not a fan of publicity?
Well, Shelley is Zoe's constant companion and Chiquita is mine. Soooo....I take more pictures of Chiquita!
If you peeked through Zoe's camera roll, it would be the opposite situation. 🙂
You’ve got this! So glad you had a weekend to catch up with home life and to relax a little. Hopefully you will breeze right through the next 8 weeks and be able to take a nice vacation during the winter break. In the meantime we will all be here cheering you on!
I, too, am in an unscheduled, unpredictable time in my life so I get it. I much prefer routine but right now it's not happening. I struggle with it a bit but just have to keep going. I was explaining to my husband that I always feel a "day late and a dollar short" but he is the opposite of me so he just doesn't get it. I am so happy for you that you could play catch up and get organized - I never thought that would be my dream but it is right now. (Hopefully this weekend for me!)