Miscellany | 3 bites, Snoopy badge, and more
Just a few quick random things from me this morning!
Realization: I can eat three egg bites
I've only had the actual Starbucks egg bites one time, but since they came in a serving size of two, I had automatically been heating up two for my clinical breakfasts, along with a piece of toast and some fruit.
But this was not keeping me quite full until our lunch break, which is a good six hours after my breakfast.
And then I realized, duh, I could eat three. Ha.
Just because Starbucks serves two at a time, it doesn't mean I can't serve myself three. Why did I even think "two egg bites" was some kind of rule?
So I ate three before my last clinical shift, and I am pleased to report that it was smooth sailing until lunch. Yay!
The extra ten grams of protein seemed to do the trick. 🙂
School Inventory: what's left
Humor me while I list off what I still need to do to graduate:
- Exam 4
- ATI pharmacology exam
- ATI comprehensive exam (4 hours!)
- Remediation bullet points for both ATI exams
- 6 days of clinical (three weekends)
- a concept map presentation on renal disease
- Finish my SDoH project, participate in an online discussion about it, and have a debriefing session about it at school
- Cumulative final exam
So, four exams, some clinical days, and several projects stand between me and graduation.
The most pressing thing right now: studying for exam #4, which is on Monday.
This will be my very first cap and gown
Yesterday I walked to the college bookstore to pick up my cap and gown for graduation. Since I was homeschooled and didn't do all the regalia when I graduated (kind of silly to do if you are a class of one!), this will be my first time.
Not everyone in my cohort is bothering to walk for the graduation, but I most certainly am. I can't miss the chance to wear a cap and gown!
And besides, I have put in so much work to get here, I feel like cheerfully walking across the stage.
I kind of want to try on my cap but I'm gonna make myself wait until I am well and truly done with school. 😉
I bought a Snoopy badge holder from Etsy
We knew this was going to happen sooner or later. 😉
Right now it's on my school badge, but I will move it to my hospital badge once I graduate.
And that's all from me for today!
But I want to know: have you ever had a realization (like my Starbucks egg bites one) where a solution was so simple that you laughed at yourself?
Tell us about it. 🙂
Really excited for you, Kristen! We're all cheering you on and looking forward to your graduation- you're gonna rock the cap & gown just like you've rocked nursing school!
Here's a funny little story, sorta like your egg bite realization. When my husband and I were newlyweds long ago, we were given two matching sets of flatware (each was for service of 8). I figured with just two of us, we only needed to open one set. The second set could wait till our household grew. Well, somehow with just two of us we still often found ourselves needing to wash forks, knives, and spoons when we reached into an empty utensil drawer (in hindsight I guess with two people we probably weren't running the dishwasher very often). Anyway, after a couple years of this, I pulled out the second full set of flatware and added it to the rotation. The look on my husband's face when he realized there was a second full set in storage all along! LOL!!! We still laugh about it.
Haha yes this is exactly the same feeling; like DUH why was I doing this the hard way???
@PD, we have had a lot of similar situations with stuff for kids. When it finally occurred to me that we could just buy extra bottles, sippy cups, etc instead of constantly needing to wash the few we had, it made life so much easier!
@Carla G, I swear the best purchase I made in my life was getting three extra bottles when my second was a few months old. I could wash bottles and pump parts every other day if I wanted instead of having to do it every day. Glorious.
@hp, YES. The pump parts! Just a constant battle
You're sooo close!
I’m cheering you on as I work to finish classes this year, too. 26 days, but I will not wear a cap and gown for this one. I have a lot of papers due, not a lot of exams, which is good since tests are not my strength.
I think I prefer papers too! You feel more in control of your grade, whereas an exam feels more like a crap shoot. Especially a cumulative exam….you never know what tidbits from the semester they will pull out.
I’m glad you are walking at your graduation. I did not when I graduated with my Bachelor’s or Master’s degrees and have always regretted it. My dad had recently passed away and my mom was ill, so it seemed as though nobody really cared. My siblings weren’t interested in going to the ceremony. I should have gone just for myself, but I thought seeing all my friends with their interested parents would make me sad.
As to your question, I have a large house with lots of storage. For years I boxed up all of my holiday decorations each holiday and hauled it all to my basement, only to get it out again and sort through it the next year and move it to the appropriate room. One year I decided to just keep all decorations in a cabinet in the room where they would be displayed. So all kitchen decorations got a spot in the kitchen, living room decorations got a cabinet there, etc. It was so easy the next year to just put everything out right in the room where it is stored instead of hauling and sorting. This works because I have a lot of storage and I tend to put decorations in the same place every year. I also use them year after year without buying much new stuff each year. So simple I wonder why it took me so long to discover!
I then started doing that with cleaning supplies. So I keep a set of all supplies I need in each room. No more running to the laundry room to get cleaning supplies to clean all of the other rooms. It works for me!
Oh I like how efficient this is. A perfect way to run things if you have sufficient storage in each room.
@SueW, I like that idea a lot, especially for cleaning supplies, and especially-especially as someone who dislikes cleaning...anything that makes it a little easier will help me!
@Meira@meirathebear,
I second that, and that's why I put cleaning supplies upstairs as well as downstairs, in both bathrooms, under the kitchen sink and in the laundry room. If it is right there, I will use it. If I have to go get it, I'll put off the cleaning.
@SueW, I do the same with cleaning supplies, as well as with basic hand tools: I keep a hammer, a pair or two of pliers, and a few screwdrivers on each floor.
@A. Marie,
That's so smart. I do the same thing with scissors - a pair in the living room (in an end table drawer), in the bathroom - for cutting off those dangling plastic clothing tags and opening impenetrable plastic packaging, for example - a pair with the wrapping paper, several pair in the kitchen.
@SueW,
I'm sorry you did not walk at your graduation due to the factors you mention. I can say, it feels even worse if your non-supportive parents attended, and then acted like it was a huge chore (my dad even said something along the lines of, "well, we've got that over with" :-0). My then-boyfriend didn't want to attend, but decided to show up at the last minute, hung over. My siblings all lived out of town, had small children, etc., and so could not attend. I was the first of my siblings to graduate from college, so I thought it was important to walk - in my case, not the right decision.
@Liz B.,
I keep so many pairs of scissors in the house, plus a pair in the car, that there has been some whispering in the family that I might need to be watched. 🙂
@JD,
Lol! Just don't sneak up behind you in the dark.:-)
@SueW, just ask me how many pairs of scissors I have around the house. There are 3 in the kitchen alone and that doesn't include the poultry shears.
@Liz B., I'm cheering you on for graduating from college and taking part in your ceremony, even though you don't know me and it's years later. Huge, life-changing, wonderful accomplishment.
@SueW,
After 13 years of marriage I came to the same realization about cleaning supplies lol makes cleaning the bathrooms a breeze when I don’t have to go look for what I need and then back downstairs to put stuff away
@Liz B., I am sorry you don’t feel better about it. I participated in mine, a joyful celebration with my friends and teachers, even if my parents were not very interested. It meant a lot to me, a symbolic close to an important chapter of my life.
@BJS,
Thank you. That means a lot. <3
@Kristina,
I appreciate that, thank you. I'm glad your graduation was a joyful celebration. I didn't really have any close friends at that time in my life, and the few tenuous friendships I'd made in my classes all fell apart, so none of us celebrated together. I didn't know any of my teachers or profs. It was sort of hollow.
@BJS, What a sweet message.
Holiday Decorations don’t have to be strictly for holidays …
When my daughter was a toddler she found a bunny garland she loved in the Easter clearance section. It was just cute pastel bunny cut-outs and nothing specifically Easter, so I decided to buy it for her for a bedroom decoration. She used it until this past year when she turned 10.
About three years ago, I decided Christmas lights don’t have to strictly be for Christmas. I keep out a few strands as my “happy lights” during those cold dark dreary days of winter. One strand sits on the top of my mantle, and two in translucent colored vases in my kitchen and dining room table. They definitely help me get through the post Christmas season depression.
@JenRR,, I forgot to add … Congrats Kristen on your first graduation walk with your cap and gown! As a snoopy fan, I also love your Snoopy.
@JenRR,, I love it when people leave twinkle lights in their trees throughout the winter months. It is magical.
@Bee, I feel the same way. It’s extra dark and cold-feeling when the Christmas lights outside go away. Our neighbors keep their white window candles up for the extra gloomy month of January when they remove their outdoor lights. I love it.
@JenRR,, I also keep lights all year round. My sister comes for sleepovers and her set are red, used as a night light. I keep regular white lights outside all year as well. We moved a couple of years ago so I am still figuring out where best to keep them.
Snoopy for the win!!
Your username always makes me smile! 🙂
You are such an impressive lady! I admire you and you persistence to overcome adversity! Congratulations on your graduation!!!!
Thank you!
Why yes, yes I have had such a realization. Big one, too.
Roommate uses a lightweight TravelScoot scooter when he drives somewhere, keeping it in the trunk of his Sienna. Problem is, the trunk is high off the ground. On bad days, he can't lift it that high. Then he has to reach up to close the trunk and hobble all the way from the trunk to the driver's door, which is tiring under any circumstances.
The Big Realization is that if we removed the driver-side middle row seat, he could keep the scooter there. Much lower to ground + right next to drivers seat = more independence. No brainer!
Why did it take us so long to think of it?!??
I have a Sienna too so I'm trying to picture this. Is the back trunk mainly a problem because of the deep well? I can imagine that making it really hard to lift something heavy out.
@Kristen, for the roommate, it's the distance from the ground to the "trunk" floor. Not so bad taking out the scooter, never good putting it on. The distance from the ground to the floor on the body of the van is about 2/3 lower, making it feasible for him to do more often.
Oh yes yes the deep well. Hard to lift heavy things out of it!!
Super excited for you! In case you try on the mortarboard and hate it, there's a way to craft the head covering with a headband that makes it much more comfortable (in my opinion). If you feel like that might be an issue, you may want to give yourself time to try it on (briefly!) to test it and see if you need any alterations.
Oh, that is a good point. Maybe I will take out of the package then!
Yes, and this is super embarrassing. I have a small recipe book that I purchased over 20 years ago. It's for handwritten recipes (pages have sections for ingredients, method, cook time, etc.) and it came with dividers like (main dishes, appetizers, beverages, etc). I filled up some of the tabs, but other sections were practically empty. So...I actually had the thoughts "I'm going to need another one of these binders" and "I need to find more recipes for these empty sections" before it finally dawned on me...it's a spiral binder. Just open it up and move blank pages to the full sections. Duh.
I blame it on my generally compliant and rule-following nature. The pages came evenly divided amongst the sections and I didn't feel like I could mess it up. Or something.
@Lauren, this sounds so much like me. I think there is a good reason why this recipe book pages are in this order.
Kristen, I love the Snoopy badge holder. I hope we'll get to see a photo of you in your cap and gown. I'm sure I speak for your commentariat when I say we are so proud of you!
For a long time I refused to use the communal microwave at work because most folks don't clean it after they use it and it's absolutely filthy. I was always bringing a cold lunch and often wished I had a hot lunch, especially in the winter. Hot food is very expensive to buy near my office. One day a colleague mentioned that they used a portable food warmer when they had to spend a whole day in the hospital with a loved one. It suddenly dawned on me to buy a mini crockpot food warmer that works perfectly!
Oh yes, I will for sure share a photo when I graduate. Cap-and-gown-Kristen will make an appearance. 🙂
@Kristen, C&G Kristen may get a round of applause so loud they may hear it in outer space!
Awww. I doubt a single person at my school has this number of people cheering them on. I am a lucky duck. 🙂
Regarding Kristen's reply below (I think only so many sublevels are allowed in the comments section): and a huge round of applause for the whole class!! We are in desperate need of HCPs nowadays, and you all are doing what is needed and useful in the face of what can be very challenging work demands.
Congratulations! But I would try on the mortarboard, just to make sure it fits.
I only wore my high school cap and gown, I think. I don't think we had ceremonies at the junior college, and the ceremonies for FSU took 3 and more hours for each student to have only about 15 seconds onstage, so I skipped it.
I have had so many "duh" moments, but right now I can hardly remember any! One I can remember is that I always would put off vacuuming upstairs, because I hated lugging the vacuum up and down the 19 steps. My husband retired from his job in Jacksonville, where he'd had an apartment, and we brought all his stuff home. I was actually going to sell his vacuum at a yard sale until the light bulb went off and I put his vacuum upstairs.
Oh, wait, I thought of another. When I needed to replace the 25-year old freezer in my laundry room, I kept looking for one the same size - an upright, only 24" wide. It juuuust fit between the deep sink and the water heater. I spent so much time looking for a 24" wide upright freezer that no longer seems to be made. At the same time, I had our 25-year old former kitchen refrigerator that was 31" wide sitting on the opposite wall, between some shelving and the sweep of the back door. It's embarrassing to think how long it took me to realize that 20"-24" wide apartment-sized refrigerators were readily available, as are 30" and wider upright freezers, and all I had to do was switch their locations.
I love the Snoopy badge holder.
@JD, you've inspired me to find somewhere to store my second vacuum (I own an Oreck XL and a Eureka Mighty Mite) on the second floor. My office might get cleaned more often if I did this. 🙂
@A. Marie,
It's a game changer!
You could also make your egg bites half-again as large and then you could still cook 12 at a time (enough for 6 days)!
Yeah for walking! I walked with my 11 and 9 year old cheering me on in 2001 after going back to school. My similar realization since I don't do well ear my breakfast early was I can eat my lunch in stages, or rather have a bit of food about 11 when hunger does kick in, and eat as normally planned with coworkers on office days.
Congrats Kristen! I am a long-time reader (started way back in 2010 eek). It has been inspiring, hopeful, and redemptive to watch your journey from afar. It's weird to say probably, but I am proud of you.
As a long-time high school teacher...make sure you hang up that gown and do something to get out the wrinkles (steamer, low low low iron with a damp towel, etc.) prior to your commencement ceremony. You'll be glad to not have the fold creases in your photos!
Way to go Ms. Frugal Girl, RN!
Oh, that is a good point. I will hang it up and dewrinkle it before the big day.
And it is not weird to say; I have an acquaintance on Instagram who was a homeschool mom and became widowed. She went back to school and got her CPA license and I told her so many times how proud I was of her. So I understand how you feel. 🙂
@Kristen, also think about shoes and what you’ll wear underneath your gown. As a long time graduation platform person, we spent a lot of our downtime checking out everyone’s footwear. I’m proof positive you wouldn’t wear some of the more interesting combinations I’ve seen!
I can already tell you: it won't be high heels. I hate wearing heels!
I can't wait to see you in your cap and gown!
I love the Snoopy badge holder.
This is so exciting and I am DELIGHTED you are doing the cap and gown. These "little" moments represent so much and why not celebrate as many things in life as possible.
Yes. To me this feels momentous, so I want to walk. 🙂
You're getting so close!! I'm cheering you on from the sidelines.
Mine was that organizational solutions don't have to look nice to work. My organizational solutions will never be Pinterest-worthy but they totally work for me.
-I use a Google calendar to organize absolutely every single time-bound thing I do (work/school, social, when-are-the-Jewish-holidays, vacations, everything)
-I use a draft email to keep a running list of the things I need to do
-at work, I make a daily paper list with every single meeting and patient-related thing I need to do (down to, like, "See Jane Doe, write note, update family") and I keep it until the next day, when I make a new list and transfer over everything that isn't done
I wish I made beautiful journals. I have a love/hate relationship with tech and I love analog things. But I am absent-minded and in the throes of parenthood; I cannot be relied on to carry a notebook around with me.
@Meira@meirathebear,
I also keep a paper list, but I keep mine in a spiral bound notebook. However, I don't re-write what I didn't finish the day before. My to-do list just continues on and on and on.
@Meira@meirathebear, I, too, use a draft email for my list of things to do. I also use it to document time-sensitive things, things to acquire, and cash I've used (to add to my credit card and auto-debit expenditures). I started doing this after the free Notes app I was using became a monthly subscription. Nope, not going to fund that, so I just copied/pasted everything into an email and never looked back.
I also have a draft email to which I attach important documents. I don't trust the Cloud and an external drive would be destroyed along with my laptop in a tornado, house fire, etc., so this way, I have access to my important papers no matter what device I have.
@Bee,
I do the same. We have a bazillion little spiral bound notebooks, so I'm well supplied. It's small enough to keep in my purse, too.
@Meira@meirathebear, on a slight tangent (re: organizational solutions not looking nice to work): We move about every 3 years due to my husband's job. When his work moves us, we end up with a lot of moving boxes. We've been reticent to buy heavy furniture until he retires due to consistent bangs on the walls with moving and because we have to move ourselves sometimes. So when we get that batch of moving boxes I save some for making myself clothing organizers and for nightstands (which I cover with a pretty cloth). If it goes in a closet or can be covered up and useful as a light surface to hold things, I'm at peace with it until the big "R" comes.
How exciting to have your cap and gown! The next month will fly by. Your readers will all be at your graduation in spirit.
I do think that most of us have a tendency to continue to do things as they have always been done. I have gotten busy many times and have had trouble thinking outside of the box. I am always happy when I find a better way such as buying a dustpan that attaches to a broom handle.
For years, the very frugal me had an old dustpan with a round handle that was constantly being separated from my broom. Nearly every time I swept, I had to look for it. Since the dustpan was functional, I didn't see any reason to replace it. When my old dustpan finally cracked, I was delighted to find the newer ones would attach to the broom. Brilliant! They are always together now. Why didn't I know this was available before?
@Bee, some of those round-handled dustpans have hollow handles. You can invert the dustpan and drop it onto the handle of the broom.
Walking in your cap and gown…. I have goosebumps thinking about it. I believe it’s because we all traveled every step along with you. You were so generous to include us in the highs, the lows, and all the rest of the journey. I became invested in your success and for sure want to see you walk!
Yes, by the time I graduate, you all will feel like you have gone through nursing school too! lol
Thank you for supporting me. <3
Oh, you mean the day, two years after starting my new job, that my work laptop had a touchscreen?
Haha yes, yes, this exactly.
My husband returned to school at 40 and he had never “walked” for a graduation either. It was such an amazing time for him and I know it will be for you as well! What an exciting time!
Awww, I can imagine how happy he was!
I have been "curating" my wardrobe for years leading up to retirement. I only want what I love in my closet. So clothes that are 'second choice" have been donated. We have a cabin. I was actually purchasing clothes so that when I go to the cabin I don't have to pack anything. "DUH" bring the second choice clothes to the cabin. Sheesh!!!
Hi Kristen-you are so close! Re: graduation, I was wondering if your nursing program has a pinning ceremony? Mine did, and I’ve been to at least one other pinning ceremony for a friend graduating from a nursing program from a different school than the one I attended. I graduated with my BSN and didn’t ‘walk’ at graduation - I attended a large school and I knew it would be tedious for all involved-but we did have a pinning ceremony for our nursing class and I was very involved in that (I was on the planning committee) and that was a wonderful event with just our nursing class and all of our families. I’ve been under the impression these pinning ceremonies are pretty common, but then, I graduated over 20 years ago and perhaps they have fallen out of fashion. I’m so glad you’re walking and celebrating this amazing accomplishment- I’m sure your friends and family will be happy for the opportunity to cheer you on!
We do! The pinning is just for the RN/LPN students, and the graduation is for the health sciences department as a whole.
SO EXCITING you care almost there. I feel your happiness through this post. Congrats to you!!!
Cap & Gown Kristen! A whole new character we have not yet met - I like her. Congratulations - this is very exciting! I wholeheartedly encourage you to be as obnoxious as possible with the picture taking and take lots. I don't think I have pictures from my graduate school graduation and I wish I did.
Unnecessary rules that you don't realize are unnecessary? I lived alone for over a year before realizing I didn't have to close the bathroom door. When we first transitioned our daughter from her crib to a bed, she would wait for us to come in and get her before getting out of bed. Seeing a friend tearing a paper towel in half because she only needed a little bit? Mind blown.
It feels VERY strange to not close the bathroom door, doesn't it?? Even when Zoe is gone, I still find myself shutting it. lol What am I doing, protecting my privacy in front of Chiquita??
@Kristen, there is no privacy from cats. I gave up that idea when DH's and my first cat, Mr. Pumblechook, decided his favorite play area was the (empty) bathtub.
Also, Mr. Pumblechook was named after a minor character in Charles Dickens's Great Expectations. When the older of DH's two favorite nephews was reading Great Expectations in high school, he couldn't figure out why Dickens had named a character after his uncle's cat. 😀
@Kristen, even funnier was the time when we were three roommates and one bathroom. Even if all three of us were in there using sink, toilet, shower, the last one would shut the door.
@Kristen,
If I DARE to close the bathroom door, my cat jumps on top of the laundry hamper lid (it is hard plastic and sits in bedroom right next to the bath door) and paws constantly at the door handle of the bathroom. He is offended that I closed the door keeping him out!
I am working away from home three days a week for the first time and was initially assembling most of my food on a week-by-week basis. Deciding to purchase larger quantities of shelf-stable or long-lasting products (e.g., ultrapasturized milk, seltzer, etc.) has greatly reduced weekly food prep. Also, I am intentionally planning what to eat with this in mind and therefore might opt for apples rather than bananas in season.
I organized my kitchen utensil drawer by the color and/or material of the item. Like all the red Tupperware brand stuff together, all the wooden utensils together. It looks better and makes me happy.
We definitely want cap & gown photos!!!
I promise to deliver. 🙂
I am so proud of you! Almost there!
You know what you just made me realize… at my graduation almost 20 years ago my entire family walked out before I walked across the stage because of A Political statement one of the speakers made. No one I loved watched me cross the stage. I’ve been a bit bitter about it ever since, I’ve been bitter about that. What you’ve made me realize is it doesn’t matter! I got my degree for ME and i walked across that stage for me. It’s time to let go.
Well done YOU!!
Oh my goodness, yes! I'm nodding so hard here. I would 1000% walk across that stage even if not one person came to my graduation. I am doing it for me. 🙂
But also, I am so sorry that this is the way your graduation went.
Do you plan on decorating your cap??? Maybe a Snoopy theme??
Congrats!!
That didn't even occur to me. Hmm. I think I will ask my classmates if that is a thing at my school!
@Kristen, start a trend!
@Kristen, invite a Woodstock motif 🙂
I did not walk my first degree. I didn’t see the point and I was busy having fun elsewhere…it was a huge class and I knew almost no one. My second degree, that felt special - I was an adult, I’d worked really hard, and it was a really small class. Had I known in advance that it was a unique school and involved not only cap and gown but a velvet hood, a parade (not kidding…they closed a street for us) and shaking hands with royalty (she was the college’s patron) before getting that diploma, I’m not sure I’d have mustered the courage to do it but I’m glad I did. My mom was there to see me walk and she was incredibly proud.
@Jules the First, ooh, who was the royal patron??
@A. Marie, Princess Margaret. She was lovely - very personable, good at small talk, really put everyone at ease. Little did I know this would be the first of many royal encounters (until they made it part of my job, I did not know that “protocol officer” *was* a job, and I certainly didn’t expect to be the one doing it…I no longer have responsibility for that, thank goodness, but it was quite the experience for little old me!)
And now you can put all that is left on one, 8 bullet list! I imagine it's going to be so exciting as you see that list shrinking even further.
So glad that you are walking for your graduation and doing it for you. As a COVID graduate, I realized how important ceremony is to me, even if it seemed really silly and useless before.
I'm president of a Women's Art Group. Each season we have six presentations related to the Arts, and then we take a bus trip to see something interesting. This year's trip is to the Charles Schultz Museum. Even though I've been there before, I'm bummed to have to miss it. However, I'm missing it to travel to CO to see our granddaughter's school play. I think Charles Schultz would approve. BTW, it's in Santa Rosa, CA. I know your family occasionally travels to Tahoe. It's a long-ish side trip, but I think you'd absolutely love it.
My most recent a-ha! moment involves homemade pizza dough. (Thanks to you for the inspiration.) We keep our heat low in the winter, and our countertops are cold. I was having trouble proofing the dough in a reasonable amount of time. When tidying a cabinet, I found one of those Sharper Image mug warmers. I think I got it at a thrift store, and never really used it. The lightbulb finally went on. It works perfectly to warm the dough. I had to play around with it to make sure it didn't cook the dough, but it works like a charm now. Hooray for homemade pizza dough!
Congratulations on your almost-here graduation!
Ooh, that is a smart fix. I often have put bread dough in a very very slightly warmed oven (like I turn it on for a minute and then turn it off) to help it rise in the winter. A 65 degree house is way different for bread dough than a 75 degree house!
@Dicey, I used to live in the Napa Valley, 25 years ago, and love the Charles Schultz museum! Kristen definitely needs to go! If I was wealthy, I would send her as a graduation present!
@Susan M.,
(Oops…)
When I was a girl, we lived near Santa Rosa and I used to take ice-skating lessons… With Charles Schultz’s two daughters! I never met him, but I did skate with his daughters. I am still a huge fan of Snoopy.
Someone came and got me at the lake and stuck my cap and gown on over my swim top and cut offs and pushed me onto the stage. I was barefoot and said a few woo-hoo let’s all go to the lake after I had diploma in hand.
At one point I worked in admissions and graduation of a university and couldn’t believe how expensive cap and gown and fees were. I never did the cap and gown thing again. So expensive.
I didn’t know my car had heated seats for 2 years.
Luckily at my school, the graduation packet is only $33. Not too bad!
Wow, you are SO close. I know it seems like you're trying to eat an elephant, but as the saying goes, "one bite at a time". I know you will pass everything with flying colors, and the NCLEX too.
I did not go to my college graduation because I had already moved to another state and started a job, but when I got my doctorate I went, expecting it to be boring like my high school graduation. It wasn't, it was SO much fun. An hour before the ceremony I was cleaning my toilet and realized that even with a doctorate I was still going to have to do that! LOL. Nevertheless, it felt really good. A huge crowd ( many of my friends) came to cheer us on and made us feel so good about accomplishing this--I did it while working two jobs, having 1 young child to start with, and a (surprise) baby in the middle--and . . . I was 42 years old!!!. I hope you really enjoy your graduation ceremony.
The Starbucks egg bites are actually pretty filling to me, but maybe your homemade ones are not as dense. The Starbucks version are made using sous vide, and and I really love the texture. You can also get less expensive versions of egg bites at Costco and Trader Joe's, but the texture is not as nice. They are certainly more frugal than Starbucks!
I've made baked ones at home, but I don't like the texture (the egg part is kind of chewy). Instead, I have a recipe to make them in my instant pot (steamed, not sous vide) and they have a very similar texture to the Starbucks egg bites. I really like my steamed homemade ones. I suppose you could make them without an electric pressure cooker by steaming on the stove top, if you have a round pan for the egg bites (mine is silicone).
If you ever make it to northern California (San Francisco area) my town of Santa Rosa--about 1 hour north of the Golden Gate Bridge--was Charles Schulz's home town for most of his adult life. We have the Snoopy Museum dedicated to his work, and next door is Snoopy' s Ice Arena which he created to share his love of ice hockey and ice skating. Every 4th grader in our town is treated to ice skating lessons for their PE, and "Sparky" hung out in the ice rink's Warm Puppy Café at his reserved table when he was in his working years--people could go up to him to say hi! Next door to that you can see Charles Schulz's office where he drew his cartoons. There are also artist-decorated sculptures of Peanuts characters all around town. So if you are a die hard fan, put our town on your bucket list.
Did your home recipe have a steam bath in the oven? This recipe has you put a pan of boiling water into the oven while you bake the egg bites, in an effort to imitate the sous vide effect. But I don't know how similar it is!
Duly noted about Santa Rosa. 🙂
As a professor I love when my students graduate because I get to put their PhD hoods on them. I know what it took for them to get there and am so excited for them like they are my own children. This May I am hooding my fourth student and I finally decided to get my own regalia since I have five more students in the queue so hopefully will be able to hood all of them in time.
Congratulations! And yes, you must absolutely walk!
Not the same level of intensity but I went back to school at age 41 for equine science (horse studies). The only program in northern Illinois was being cancelled at the end of the next spring term, and when I saw that on a local equine online forum, I literally called my husband and said “I am going to be busy for the next 10 months!” Joined the summer class a week in, then did 17 credits in 9 months while still working full time!
We were in the barn working with the horses T-W-Th every week - some were very cold nights in winter! - but it was so fun and immersive :). Two of the classes were individualized study - the college tried to tell me I could just substitute a general Intro to Accounting for Equine Business (no, you actually cannot …. bless their hearts!). I think they approved all my requests because you do not mess with a middle-aged woman who is living out her best horsey dreams, and who works for another nearby college so clearly knows the correct terminology and hierarchy .
None of my classmates were going to walk - I said “Oh hell no - if they are cancelling our program, then we are going out in style!” One of the girls collected all our gowns and caps, and we all groomed and shined up the horses and had a cap and gown photo shoot with them. We went out for a class dinner the night before, and on graduation day, we all attached Breyer Stablemates mini horse figurines (thanks to my daughter’s vast collection!) to our caps - totally against the rules but what were they going to do … cancel the program? 😀 We ended up sitting directly behind the board of trustees for the college, who looked at our caps, asked about the horses, then said “we didn’t know we had an equine science program here”. I replied, “Well, you don’t anymore because y’all voted to discontinue it after today”.
My husband and daughter were my only family that came - my parents and brother did not attend. They never understood my “horse thing”, and have no idea that I have been on the board of directors for our local horse club and state horse council, and state equine promotions board; coordinate national disaster response teams that deploy for hurricanes, floods, and wildfires; attend national conferences on agriculture and animal emergency response; have trained first responders, veterinarians, and animal control officers on technical large animal rescue; and help coordinate and host a global animal disaster management conference.
It has taken me 50+ years to figure out that we need to do what makes us happy for ourselves, and while it would be nice for those we love to encourage is and celebrate with us ….. if they choose not to, it is 1000% their loss, not ours.
Sending hugs to everyone who has not had the support and celebration they deserved for all their hard work <3
Two things- I had a squeegee with an extremely long handle, which made it good for reaching windows outside, but bad for indoor use. I had just decided I would have to buy a second, shorter handled squeegee, which I purely hated to do, when my brother came in and pointed out that the handle telescopes down.
Second- the realization that someone else’s poor opinion of me does not define me. This is helpful because I work in a very high conflict field and it is basically opposing counsel’s job to have a poor opinion of me.
This is just like the way you can go to the store and try on 3 different dresses, one might say size 2, one might say size 4, and a third might say size 6. But they are all actually the same size, and so are you. Nothing about you changed based on what the dress tag says.
YES to your second one.
Also a very important thing to remember as a blogger because there is literally no way to please the internet. I just have to be me, and I don't need to try to be different to placate the people who don't like me.
Hi Kristen! I have a late entry comment here. I highly encourage you to try on your graduation cap ahead of time. In fact if you go if you search online, you will see that a lot of graduates decorate them for the Big Day. Maybe that would be something fun for you to do, to recognize all that you've gone through to get to this day. So proud of you!! <3
Update: I tried it on! It fits! It has a partially elasticized section so it actually fits pretty snugly on my head. Yay!
Thanks to your link to the egg bites, I now make a modified version in a rectangular casserole dish - I found that method quicker and easier than bothering with the muffin tin (I don't have a silicone one) . With 5 eggs and bunches of veggies plus the cottage cheese and some sprinkled cheese I have a solid 3 breakfasts ready to warm for a quick breakfast.
We're all so excited that you're so close to graduating! By all means you should attend the graduation, though, where I live (Texas), for nurses the pinning ceremony is almost more important than the graduation. They get to choose who pins them, and it's a very special thing. Soak it all in!
I love the selfies you take. You look so at ease in them, natural. I am unable to ever attain that so good for you. Thumbs up!! Congrats on the cap and gown and your excitement in it. 🙂
Congrats on cap and gown! Good idea to unpack and de-wrinkle gown; also air it out . Check hat fit. On the big day, remember academic regalia is formal. My husband, full professor, is required to wear regalia several times a year, per college rules: black pants and shoes, white shirt and conservative tie under the robe and hood. Photos of students, usually simpler gowns, look better with formal wear under them too. US schools have fun with the traditions, but it is still formal wear.
I noticed in many homes in Sri Lanka, where we lived for a year as Fulbright scholars, many families had beautiful big photo portraits of their university graduates, fully robed. They were in more prominent spots than wedding photos! Please think about a portrait photograph, a lovely gift for your children and for your home.
Here's one big "duh" that affects our health tremendously. We have the Original Magic Wand (big hand-held vibrator). We've had it for, I don't know how many years. I don't know why we bought it or why we haven't used it in years. Now that we're much older, we discovered it is a Godsend for aches and pains, particularly neck and back muscles. I use it on my hubs every morning, starting at his neck all the way down to his SI joint. If he happens to be grumpy that morning, the vibrating wand literally changes his entire attitude, from grumpy to cheerful, loosens those cramping muscles, and he feels like a "new man", he says.
Why oh why haven't we been using it all this time???
I used to shake a three hole punch over a garbage can to empty it. I then saw someone take the thing off the bottom and I thought of, look how they improved those only to find out what everyone (but me) has always known, they have always been made that way!!
Good luck on the home stretch! I have a random question: do you have any suggestions for gifts for nurse grads?
I have a friend who is graduating this month after switching careers and I’m so proud of her! Would love to send something useful/helpful 🙂
You have earned the right to walk in graduation. Enjoy every single moment of it!
A few months after my oldest was born, our shared little hatchback car couldn't get up the unplowed street to our house. And I had to get out and trudge through the snow with a baby carrier. Plus the passenger seat was all the way forward to accommodate the huge car seat. We went shopping for a new car and kept trying to find one that could fit our car seat and have leg room. For whatever reason, this car seat was huge. And then on an off hand comment, the salesman said he'd throw in a new car seat if we opted for this one car that I liked but wanted more room from. And it was like, DUH. Why am I basing an expensive purchase on a $100 car seat? It'd be cheaper to get a car seat to fit the car we wanted. I was just so in on this sunk cost of a car seat!