School Confessional (ahem, Progress Report)

ME: Too bad my girlfriend won't let me practice on her.  A lemon just isn't the same.

CK: My husband won't let me either.

ME: Did I tell you that I accidentally stuck myself practicing IV lines at home?  It's those twisty tops!

CK: Me too!  I was changing a filter needle.  But mine was right before skills testing.  I had to go hide in the bathroom 'til the bleeding stopped.

ME: My girlfriend told me the trick is to "twist, don't pull."  Should I be jealous that our classmate LT  has a diabetic cat?

CK (shaking head): Nursing students.

Gave my first shots this week! To an actual patient (not the girlfriend, or anyone's cat)!

It's like I'm 18 years old and a college freshman all over again

What I need is some coffee and vitamin C lozenges, what I *want* is dark chocolate and alcohol.  Meanwhile, Dee has a frozen pizza baking in the oven.

Even though I've done it a million times, I hate moving

And I now realize that moving during Finals, during the very first quarter of nursing school, in the dark and pouring rain, was probably the.worst.idea.ever.

There are few people who give me Tonya Harding fantasies

--aka, I'm tempted to give them a swift kick in the ass if not to the kneecaps.  Sadly, sometimes one of those people is my mom.

DEE:  Is everything OK?  What was she calling about?

ME:  The usual.  Mom wants to move into an apartment already.  She's tired of being at [treatment facility].  She's also complaining that Philip [lawyer and family friend] charged too much for her case.

DEE:  Did you remind her that your uncle's divorce lawyer quoted 20K to handle all the medical and legal stuff?

ME: I tried to talk about everything that she has going for her.

DEE:  What'd she say?

ME: She told me, "Well, I guess I can be thankful that I wasn't run over by a car today."

DEE: You should have told her that the day ain't over, and she's lucky she's not standing in front of your car right now.

ME:  Ha.  Right, merry thanksgiving to everybody.

When the time for a haircut sneaks up on you

I agree, Dee needs a haircut.  Me too, although I think the resemblance to musical sensation MacKenzie (on The Voice) is cute on her.

Hear, hear! Harumph.

I wasn't kidding when I complained the other day after clinical about hearing loss (something I've worried about for awhile). Now I'm concerned that I'm missing out--on murmurs, bruits, rhonchi, the list goes on. Someone suggested an upgrade to a Cardio II or III stethoscope.  Both are pricey, but I may just have to suck it up; kind of like investing in an extra strong pair of designer glasses.  Either that or shell out money for a hearing test.

In other news, I've been active about expanding my cooking repertoire (working my way up to actual Filipino dishes).  Baby Bro and I always had fun making dinner for the family back in the day, and I feel like getting back into the swing of things in the kitchen.  Tonight, I used my handy dandy crockpot to braise some Country-Style Pork Ribs in Ginger Ale & Hoisin Sauce:

http://thekeenancookbook.com/dinner/braised-country-style-pork-ribs-in-ginger-ale-hoisin-sauce

I changed the ginger ale to ginger beer (because, big surprise, we had a bottle on hand in the fridge) and also substituted pearl onions for scallions (the scallions at the island grocery store were looking a little sad).  The ribs still have a few more hours to slow cook, but they're producing beaucoup yummy smells throughout the house.

Tis the season for...death by pumpkin?

OK, I think I need to cut back on the pumpkin treats (except maybe for pumpkin ale, it's not technically a sweet).  All that spiced sugar must be going to my head because I suffered a lovely case of stupid this week and ended up studying the WRONG FRIGGIN'  SECTION for the exam.

Uh huh, instead of studying abnormal sleep patterns, I somehow decided to study tube feedings (which won't be tested until the mid-term).  Needless to say I panicked when my classmate started quizzing me about sleep disorders on the morning of the exam, and I realized that I had completely forgotten to review the notes from that particular chapter.  Thank goodness my classmate was kind enough to go over the the outline with me (and that I had at least attended and supposedly paid attention during the Sleep Lecture).  I owe said classmate lunch--but am electing for running to the convenient store for a hasty Amazon card while I focus on getting my shit together.

Visiting ghosts and ancestors, if you're listening, I didn't think this was going to be a cake walk.  If it's alright, I don't need any more April-Fool-ishy scares over the next 24 or so months.  Thanks and happy halloween!