Thankful Thursday: a no-chem week

This week, I am thankful:

for my first chemistry-free week

Still reveling in this, friends!

I have known since early 2025 that this chemistry credit was waiting for me, and it's been hanging over my head ever since. So, I feel a crazy amount of relief that it is over now.

It's a huge weight off my mind.

that my HepB paperwork is approved!

I had to submit a form saying I was in the process of getting immunity (signed by my doctor), and it sounds like now I will be good to go. Since the timeline is so tight, the BSN school says I won't even have to go get titers.

I think I probably will anyway, just to see if I am one of those non-responders. If I do not develop immunity, that would be very helpful to know in case of a blood exposure at work, as there is an immunoglobulin available for such cases.

Anyway, now I am 100% cleared for clinicals. What a process this has been!

for a free oil change/tire rotation/software update

My Civic came with a free first year of maintenance, which is actually a rather silly offer because it has taken almost a year for my car to actually need any maintenance. Ha.

But my oil did finally need a change, so I took my car in, and now it's all freshened up for $0.

My car-purchasing anniversary is coming up in December, so this is definitely the only free maintenance I am getting! For future needs, I'll go to my lovely local mechanic, because dealerships are generally only a bargain if they are free. 😉

for morning skies

I love me a morning sky.

Even when it's through a hospital window. 😉

for two vacation days this week

I realized that I had made it almost to the end of the year without using any paid time off at work. My vacation hours roll over to the next year, but my 40 hours of personal leave (basically sick time) do not. If I don't use it, I lose it!

I purposely hadn't touched it all year, just in case I got sick and couldn't make it to my shifts. But I have not had to take any sick time at all.

I talked to my charge nurse, and she said I could use some of those personal leave hours to just take some of my scheduled shifts. So, this week I used 24 hours of my personal leave. It is pretty nice to not work and still get paid (a new experience for me because until this job, I have never in my life had paid time off!)

I will still have sixteen hours of leave left after this, so I suppose I will find one more shift to remove before Christmas. 🙂

that I only have five weeks left in the semester

Five!! This is starting to feel downright manageable, especially now that chemistry is off my plate.

I just gotta keep truckin' along.

that I have some space to work ahead

My two community college classes are quite manageable, but woo, this current BSN class has a lot of projects.

For instance, in addition to the usual discussion posts and such, in the next five weeks I also have to:

• produce an 8-10 minute podcast, which includes interviewing a nurse leader
• make a career vision board
• make a 12-slide PowerPoint presentation with voiceovers for each slide (6-10 minutes total)
• write a five-page paper and use some pre-approved AI prompts for editing and brainstorming (no, I do not want to do that!)

All of this stuff is due in the last four weeks of class, but now that chemistry is done, I actually have some time to work ahead. That is a mercy because some of these projects are gonna take a while, and the directions sound pretty picky.

(For instance, I am supposed to edit out any pauses or mistakes in my podcast. AS IF I KNOW HOW TO EDIT PODCASTS! I guess I'm gonna learn.)

I do not do well when I have to produce projects last minute, so I am very, very grateful that I have time to start on all of these things now.

To close out, you know how I always say Chiquita is everywhere?

Here is an example from yesterday:

What are you thankful for this week?