Mmm Mmm Good!

Oops! So it's been a while since my last post. I figured I would slowly let this slip away as nursing school progressed this semester, but I will still make some time to sit down and post when I'm able. Life is crazy as usual, but thankfully I'm able to maintain some kind of balance between school, work, and marriage.

Nursing friends will appreciate the following. Squeamish friends should skip to the bottom of post for a great recipe....

Second clinical, overall, was MUCH better than the first. Minus one mishap. In the room with my patient, there was another patient with COPD. For you non-medical people, all you need to know for the rest of the story is that this causes you to cough A LOT....and it's a productive cough (yuck already). So this patient with COPD (we'll call him Mr. Makesmetossmycookies for HIPPAs sake) calls me over to help him. I happily oblige. Upon reaching Mr. Makesmetoosmycookies bedside, he hands me a cup and asks me to get rid of it because "I'm done with it." It was early in the morning and the patients had just had breakfast, and it was the glass that *initially* contained OJ. Thinking it was leftover OJ, I grab the cup (bare handed) to toss in trash.

If only it had been OJ.

Turns out, Mr. Makesmetossmycookies had been coughing up gunk into the cup. After this shocking realization, I had approximately .05 seconds to make it to the bathroom and toss my cookies. Thankfully, Mr. Makesmetossmycookies was blissfully unaware he made me toss my cookies, so no awkward moment for him.  YUCK. Had I been mentally prepared to see his lung gunk in the cup, I think I would have held it together fine. But going into the task believing it was harmless OJ only to find out that it was much more sinister was more than my already nervous stomach could take.

Now that I've officially grossed you out, lets talk food!

Not surprisingly, I haven't had much time to cook until last night. I made homemade chicken noodle soup. It just felt right since it's starting to feel like fall(ish), and it was super easy and delicious! Here we go:

2 cartons of chicken stock (I use low sodium)
6-8 medium chicken tenderloins, cut in 1/2 cubes
2 scallions diced finely
1 clove garlic diced finely
15ish baby carrots, cut into bite-sized rounds
1tbs butter
a few dashes of soy sauce (it sounds weird, but it really makes a great broth)
salt and pepper to taste

In a large pot on medium heat, melt 1 tbs of butter and saute chopped scallions and garlic until translucent. Let it brown just a little bit, then add the stock and carrots. Once boiling (medium/low heat), add cubed chicken and a few dashes of soy sauce. Let simmer for about 1 hour on low heat. Viola! Add salt and pepper to taste.

AND...if you're crazy broke like us, it is super cheap and there are plenty of leftovers to eat for a few days!

Until next time, "Happy fall, y'all!" (cue ridiculous Paula Deen accent)

Can someone please stop my head from spinning? I'd like to get off the ride now, please.

This blog wasn't ever intended to be a place where I constantly complain, but unfortunately that's kind of what it's turning into. Today has been crappy, for lack of a more inappropriately appropriate term. Most importantly, I caught news that a dear family friend was injured during a horse show yesterday and is in critical condition. Sending many, many prayers his way today, and I ask that you please do the same...

Also, apparently there are two nursing homes in Little Rock with nearly identical names, only one of them was the correct location for my clinical orientation at 2pm today. Yeah, I went to the wrong one, and ended up being fairly tardy. Not the best way to start out the semester in nursing school. To say nursing school is rough would be a gross understatement. It's not even that the material is all that difficult, but the constant juggling of a new schedule every week at different locations, projects, papers, tests, and a job (along with a personal life, or lack there of) is extremely difficult. As soon as I feel like I'm falling into a routine, a new ball gets thrown in the air.

With all of the 'bad' things going on right now, I constantly have to remind myself that even though things appear bleak, in all reality we are still very, very blessed. There are many people going through much more difficult things than I, and yet they still manage to not only cope, but also overcome.

On a more positive note, the long weekend was exceptionally nice. Trey and I spent most of our days together eating Klondike bars for breakfast and watching cartoons until noon or so (and yes, we are definitely of legal age to be married). The best way to decompress after a stressful week is most definitely acting like a 4 year old on the weekends. So with the weekend quickly approaching, go act like 4 year olds and enjoy it! Unless your in nursing school with me...then you better be studying for our test Monday!

What the...?

So Thursdays are the new Fridays...sorta. I have one blow of class (chemistry) on Fridays and work...but neither of those count as a weekday as far as I'm concerned. So yay, my weekend (unofficially) starts today! And man do I need it. You gain a whole new appreciation for weekends once you're in nursing school. And best of all, it's 3 (real) days this week!

This week as a whole, however, has been a little...off. The kind of week made up of days stumbling around at 5 AM in the dark, falling down stairs in your sleepy stupor trying to walk to your car, sitting in the wrong class, and putting your keys in the fridge when you return home from an eight hour day of nursing and chemistry classes. Yeah, it happens. I was trapped in my own home until Trey got off work because my keys were 'stolen' by our fridge. Four hours spent wandering around our apartment mumbling "What that...?" and searching for my keys in all of the various places they usually end up (I should also mention that we recently installed a set of hooks by our back door for this exact reason).  Trey comes home, listens to me whine and complain about the thief who surely must have broken in without breaking in and stole my keys, opens the fridge, and immediately begins laughing hysterically. I could lie and say that it has nothing to do with the color of my hair, but honestly that may be the only legitimate excuse as to why something so ridiculous occurred (aside from complete exhaustion). 

So that's that. Hopefully my brain can reset itself this weekend so I'm less disheveled next week.