NCLEX on the brain

I am a studying maniac this week. I scheduled my NCLEX (date and time is a secret but I'll post once I pass!) and I am studying daily. I hate it. I have done over 1000 questions and am doing at least 200 every day. I have a schedule of what to do each day and I try to stay ahead. I do at least 2 hr a day off and on. It is so hard to do because hey, I am done with school. I am supposed to be relaxing and drinking margaritas and going for long walks and cleaning my house. Instead, every free minute is studying STILL!!! The kids have school today so I did do a little cleaning and the past 2 hours I have studied. I plan to go on a 3 mile jog/walk and then come home and shower. I may study some more tonight but this afternoon I'm taking off. B has a baseball game tonight and DH is heading out of town soon for a night. I am a single mom tonight. We will go to baseball and then maybe pick up fast food or something. I am up to jogging about 1.5 miles until I walk. Then I jog/walk the final 1.5 miles. So, I bet I jog almost 2 of those 3 miles. I don't ever remembering getting quite this far. I know, for many 2 miles is nothing but for a NON runner like myself it isn't too shabby. I did my 3 miles a little over 30 minutes yesterday.
I'm off to get some stuff done, and wish me luck!

The Power of Ten

The Power of Ten
Ten Years Ago I was 24 years old and planning my wedding. I was recently engaged and planned a wedding in less than 6 months. I was so very young and optimistic. I was working in Iowa and interviewing for jobs back here at home. I started a new job in Aug of 1998 and we moved here.

Ten Months Ago It was mid summer and I was working as a nursing student intern. I was working 32 hr a week for the first time after being a stay at home mom for many years.

Ten Weeks Ago I was still in the midst of my last semester of school. I was going out to dinner with friends at a really expensive restaurant (so not worth it) and trying to just fit it all in.

Ten Days Ago I was walking 5 miles and both kids were in school. I was packing for a trip to Iowa.

Ten Hours Ago I was playing with my kids in the basement. We were trying to figure out my new WII Fit.

Ten Minutes Ago I was tickling J on the living room floor telling her how much I love her

Ten Minutes From Now I will be helping J get ready for bed. We are home alone, B and DH are at a wrestling party and we left early.

Ten Hours From Now I will hopefully be sleeping soundly in my cozy bed!

Ten Days From Now it will be a Wed and I will be studying for my boards, playing with J while B is in school, and going to B's baseball game in the evening.

Ten Weeks From Now I will be completing my first week of work. I will be very overwhelmed and exhausted but hopefully in a good way!

Ten Months From Now I will be feeling more comfortable in my job and hoepfully looking into some grad schools to start part time in the fall. I will hopefully love my job.

Ten Years From Now i will have a 18 and an almost 16 year old!!! I will have been a nurse for 10 years and will have found my dream job and area of nursing that I am meant for. I will have my masters in some area of nursing and have a great job that I love with flexibility to do things I love outside of work as well. I will spend lots of time with my hubby and hopefully travel often.

Part of me kind of hopes that I might even have a 3rd child by this time but time will tell on that one. If we do have a 3rd it will not be for another year (not trying until I have been working a year) so that I get established in my work and decide if it is in the cards. I would not go back to being a stay at home mom so it would have to feel right and work out that I can work and not use a lot of child care. It depends on many things: my job, DH job, finances, how we all handle me working etc. I am almost to the point of saying 100% I am done having kids. I love my 2 with all my heart and would be 100% content forever. I do not think I would ever regret not having a 3rd but part of me would love a 3rd. I think either way I'm ok. DH is very fine with the 2 we have and at this point is not ready for a 3rd. It would take a lot of discussion for him to agree to it. If I do have a 3rd, in 10 years he/she would probably be 7-8 yr old. Part of me can't fathom starting the whole baby thing over. Choices!!!!!!

secret date

I have scheduled my NCLEX test and am keeping the date a secret. I got my authorization to test (ATT) number yesterday so I scheduled online today. Let's say I don't have a ton of time to prepare. I really want to get it over with and have it behind me so I can enjoy the part of my summer that I am not working or studying!

I am off to bed but a couple things from this week to jot down:

• J's field trip today to the farm. Beautiful 70 degree weather and lots of fun things to see.
• B's baseball game this Wed, he got 2 singles and did great. Says he likes baseball now!
• We had a garage sale this week. I got rid of lots of stuff!!! YAY!
• My WII Fit arrived and just tried it out today. My BMI is supposedly 21, and I am having fun getting to know my new little gadget. Hoping it will help me gain some strength and better posture/balance. The kids also had fun doing the balance games.
• Looked at bearded dragons today. Thinking of getting one for a pet, the kids are really hoping for this!
• Spring finally here. Sun has been out, and no longer wearing heavy jackets. Spring jackets still needed in the mornings and some days but much improvement in the weather.
• Opened up the camper last weekend. Looking forward to spending lots of time there.
• Our weekend is actually pretty open. Hoping to relax, study, read, and spend time together as a family without running all over.

Evening/Weekend Graduating Nursing Class of 2008

I am now a "graduate nurse"!! I am in the 2nd row, 5th person over from the left (2nd over from the right). Pinning was great. I am glad I did it. I will miss some of the friends I have made but I know we will stay in touch. I was really happy my favorite instructor was there (she is on sabatical this year and not teaching) and she was able to pin me. It meant a lot to me to have someone who really taught me a lot and encouraged me to pin me. I will try to post a picture of my pin (I have 2 actually) later. One is the school nursing pin and one is designed by a classmate.

On a side note (because grades are not the most important thing!) I did end up getting an A by just a few points so I graduate from nursing school with a 4.0. I am proud of that, even though it doesn't really affect getting a job. It may help later if I want to get into a masters program. But, really it was just a goal I had for myself and I almost didn't make it. My grade was actually listed as a B and I emailed the instructor to check the calculations and there was an error. I had to get 92% to get an A and I got 92.95%!! Talk about cutting it close.

DONE! And misc.

Yippee!!!!!

I am now a graduate nurse.

After 4 years of going to school every week I am done.

Pinning tomorrow night. I am going to relax the rest of the week. Then I will start NCLEX studying. I plan to do at least 100 questions a day until the test. That won't be too hard as I can do them here and there and after the kids are in bed do at least half of them each day. I can also do them while they are at school.

It still is not spring here. I wish for sun tomorrow.

I walked/jogged about 4-5 miles today. I have to see how far it was tomorrow in the car. It felt great. I actually jog now. I usually jog the first 1.5 miles then walk and then try to do some jogginb spurts the rest of the way. I still can't imagine going for 4 mile runs but maybe someday. I have been drinking lots of fluids (water and hot green and black tea) and feel like my body is getting cleansed. I feel great!

I also have tried to sign up for Blog Bots to get updates. I have not gotten any email updates yet, and have no idea why as the blogs I put in there have updated. When I changed my blog appearance I lost my blog list so I searched for them all and pasted the links in blogbots and still nothing. Not sure what I did wrong. Anyone know?

4 Hour Countdown

At 6pm I will be starting my final nursing school test ever!! I am nervous, excited, scared, happy, and grateful all at once. It doesn't feel like it is really over, I really don't know when it will hit me. I just am going to feel so weird when I am done. In some ways I will feel empty, but I have to learn to feel full with the things in my life that I do have, my kids and my husband, my friends, my home. I have to re-arrange my life and I'm so excited to spend more time with all of my loved ones.

I also am going to spend more time with myself, taking care of myself. Exercising and pampering myself every so often. Enjoying the small things in life. I am so excited about that. I will do all the things I love to do that I had to put off. Scrapbooking, crafting, changing things in my home, re-arranging furniture and rooms, painting walls, cleaning, cooking, and anything else I can think of!!

Wish me luck tonight!

Surreal

It really is crazy to me that in 4 days I will be done with nursing school. How is that possible. I have been working and working for this for almost 4 years. I have been in school for that long, studying, balancing, stressing, and hoping for it all to be over. Now it is. I can't believe it. I am not sure what I will feel like when it is done. It has been such a huge part of my life. I will no longer have to stay up late and study. I will no longer have to do care plans or write papers or do group projects or take notes and read them over and over. I will no longer have to drive to class every Mon and Wed night. I will not see the people that I have seen 2 or more times a week every week for 2 years anymore. Some parts will be sad. I met a wonderful friend in my very first class that I took towards being a nurse. It was sociology. We then had every single class together from then on. I have known her almost 4 years and I have talked with her every week for almost all of those. I have seen her at least 2 times a week. I now will not see her anymore (well hopefully some but not 2 times a week!) and that is sad. I also met so many other amazing people in nursing school. All types, all ages, everyone is so different yet we all were headed down the same path. We all wanted that RN behind our name. Some of us made it, and we lost some along the way. Some really great people did not make it through nursing school, and they had to put their dream on hold and try again next year. We may even lose more people come monday (our last test). I really hope everyone that has made it this far makes it all the way. They deserve it.