Blogging Again :)

Well I looked at my blog the other day and saw that I hadn't blogged since November?? All I can say is that I was so burned out after finals and then getting ready for Christmas, I've been busier then a one armed paper hanger! School starts again on Jan 5th! I think I'm rested up enough to get going again. Christmas was really nice. My sister Robyn and her family came despite weather challenges and Zak and Kat managed to get here too. It's normally a 2.5 hour drive from PDX to here but with all the snow and ice it took Zak and Kat about 7 hours. Robyn and Mark left Cor A'delene at 8am and about 8pm they were stopping for the night in Oregon City! It was just totally crazy weather wise here before Christmas. I've decided I will never complain about rain again as long as we don't have snow and ice. Here are a few pictures of Christmas.


Zak, Kat and Rachel. It was really nice to have all 4 of my kids together for Christmas :)

Zak and Kat are a very cute couple!
This was a few days before Christmas. It was beautiful down at the river with the snow in all the trees and on the bank.

The cats seemed to like the snow almost as much as the dogs.
Ok, no one liked the snow as much as Haley and Maddie! We played in it alot for a couple days!
This was a lot of snow for us and it stuck around for days!

Whimsical Winter QP

Jenni aka Chaos Lounge gave me permission to make a quick page with her latest kit Whimsical Winter. I used the basic page that I posted last night, but you can do a quick page with the mirror effect I had used, ( I least I don't know how ), so I put a frame in. I can't wait for winter so I can get some new winter pictures to use with this kit. You can see lot's of other LO's with this kit on Jenni's page and get the kit too. You can download the quick page here.

Week 7

Well tomorrow starts week 7 and I'm still kicking! Today I spent most of the day trying to get started on my paper on schizophrenia. I had to do some reading and research first. Then it stopped raining and the dogs insisted I take them for a walk. Then I had to do laundry and Lucy's boyfriend came over ( that's a whole ball of wax I won't go into ), but I don't leave them alone much. Anyway, 4 more weeks and I get a few weeks off and it will be only 2 quarters until I'm done with school!! Oh, I also had my 2nd test Friday and managed to pull off a B. No more tests until finals, just numerous papers to write! Friday was Rachel's birthday. We went to lunch and shopping after class. Then Saturday night she came into CG and we all went to pizza for dinner. It is so hard for me to believe I have a daughter 25 and Zak will be 27 in January. Where does the time go.
I have scrapped a bit. I did this page with a picture of Haley playing in the snow last year. I had to get this kit when I saw it. It's from Chaos Lounge and you can find it along with a freebie on her blog here. I just learned to do that mirror technique :)

I did this page with the free get from digitalcandy.ca That's little Audrey at the pumpkin patch!
Here are some pictures I took of the animals a couple weeks ago when we were having warm fall weather. Lately we're having not really cold, but wet fall weather. This is little mister Bubbles after he'd been running around on the hill with the dogs.
Here he is getting ready to jump out of the ways as the dogs come running at him. He's so funny. He jumps out of the bushes at the dogs and try's to get the ball before them, but has to jump out of the way as they will run him over if he's in their way.
Here is Haley and Maddie playing on the hill. Haley tries to get the ball and Maddie tries to stop Haley from getting the ball. It works for them. They've become great friends. Maddie got fixed last Thursday but is feeling much better now.

Week 6

Ok, it's week 6 of my last year of Nursing School and I'm still alive :) A little stressed ... but still kicking! I think my mistake was that I thought this year was going to be easier because no more patho or pharm. Little did I know that they would fill up Chronic Nursing with LOT's of reading and writing and adding care plans to clinical. It takes me about 3 hours to do my prep for clinical the night before.
Besides school things are good. Lucy finished volleyball and signed up for basketball. Practice starts the 10th of this month. Little Alex is doing good in school. The funny thing is he likes his algebra class better then his introduction to gaming class. He's looking at taking a drawing class this next quarter.
I have done a wee bit of scraping :) This is Wynnie and Audrey at the pumpkin patch and Wynter turned 7 last week! The kit is by the Digital Candy Sweet tart team @ digitalcandy.ca


Little Lucy dressed up a a guy for Halloween. Well at least for school she did. Halloween night she dressed up as an 80's girl. She went out with some friends and then they came over here and watched *The Strangers* Why anyone would want to watch that movie is beyond me! They were out there with the surround sound going and then I'd hear them all screaming! I used Julia Makotinsky's Spooky Town for this page.
Little Alex got dressed up as a pirate and went to a party! I think he wishes he lived in pirate times!

1 down, 2 to go!

Well I made it through the first 3 weeks! On the one hand it's going by fast. On the other I'm so sick of going to school I could pull my hair out! I mean think about it, this is a 2 year program. I started this back in fall of 2003! It's a good thing I didn't realize it would take me so long or I probably wouldn't have done this and I'm soooooo glad I did! I don't think most people know that you have to have all your pre req's out of the way before you can even apply to the nursing program and then the number of people that apply is so much larger then the slots to get in the program you have to have really good grades. I will graduate June 13th, 2009 :)

We had our first test Friday. I got a B so I can relax a bit now. I will admit that once you're in the program you don't have to chase the A's anymore and I don't. That kind of stress is bad for your health! Clinical this quarter is actually much more stressful then the book work. We are expected to be able to actually do nursing care! The pressure is on. I had my OR rotation this week so I didn't do patient care. I got to observe several surgeries and follow a patient through to PACU (Post Anesthesia Care Unit). This was so intersting. I got to see an aortic valve replacement. I shadowed the circulating nurse who goes to get the patient from the SPA (Surgery Prepation Area) SPA sounds so nice :) The curculating nurse does the safety check to make sure we have the right patient, makes sure all the paper work is done, brings the patient to the OR, stays with the patient while the Anesthesiologist is preping the patient and getting them under and then prepes the patient for surgery. All open heart surgeries go to ICU after surgery, so I got to go up there too! I got to see a vaginal hysterectomy done by the doctor who did mine a year and a half ago. That was really intersting too. The most interesting part was following this patient to PACU. Being a PACU nurse seems really interesting too and if I ever have to have surgery again I'll be talking to the PACU nurses to decide what surgeon to use. They see all the patients afterward and know what surgeons have the least complications.

I haven't had time to do much scraping :( but I did this page last night of Lucy going to the Homecoming dance last month. I used a kit called Girly Doodles by Julia Makotinsky. You can find it on the Little Dreamer site.

Week 3

I can't believe this is week 3 already. We oriented to the Neurology floor of the new hospital last week. I was on the neurology floor of the old hospital last year when I first started nursing school. It's a very busy and interesting floor. I think it will be even more interesting now that I can actually do more patient care. This week for clinical I am on my OR rotation. I am very excited to do this. I don't care that I have to be there at 6:30am ( which means I'm up before 5am). I am hoping to get to be in the OR for an open heart surgery. I feel like I may be very interested in OR nursing, but I don't know the logistics of it. When I'm working I'm hoping to work hours that will go along with having a daughter in high school. This Friday we have our first test of the quarter too. This is going to be a very busy week. I don't think I'll have time to scrap any pictures. Hopefully I'll be able to get out and take some. It's really looking like fall and I'm dying to get some pictures of it. I did scrap a bit last week. This is a page I did with the pictures of my little Alex on his first day of college. So far he's doing well in his classes. I used ChaosLounge Fall Leaves to do the page.



I also did this page of Wynter and Audrey. I love this picture of the girls. I used the Kickin up the Leaves kit from Gina Marie Huff of Weeds and Wildflowers. I hope everyone is enjoying the change of seasons!

I'm not the only one...

School is rolling right along. I'm already stressed and notice I'm up late doing homework. Seems I was just saying that I thought this quarter would be very doable *sigh* Only 9 more weeks after this one though :) We spend this clinical week going over skills and getting signed off on dosage comp tests. I found out that I'm getting an OR rotation week 3 too! I am very excited about that. I will get to observe at least one surgery! I can't wait. I was not the only one in my household to start college this week. My little Alex is carrying 9 units this quarter too. His year of working at Mcky D's and Burger King has convinced him something better must be out there. Here's a picture of him leaving for his first day of college. I'm hoping I can find his first day of kindergarten picture so I can scrap these together. He didn't want to smile so he looked away because I was trying to get him too.


Here is a picture of Lucy and her friend Celeste after they got ready for Homecoming dance at Celestes house last week. I'm hoping I'll be able to scrap these soon.
I did scrap a page last night. This is my little Wynter Rose. She is enjoying 1st grade this year and is in the GATE program. She is such a little doll and so smart! I used Chaos Lounge's Candy Jar 24 to do this page. You can find it on her page here.
She was nice enough to let me make a quick page as a freebie too! You can download it here. I'm off to bed, school tomorrow!

A student I am again!

Well tomorrow morning it's off to school for me. It seems like the summer has gone by sooooo fast! On the one hand I'm eager to get back and get this last year of nursing school finished and on the other hand I sure have enjoyed my summer with no school! June 13, 2009 I graduate! For right now I just have to get through the next 11 weeks. I have learned to take this one quarter at a time. I have reading to finish tonight for my first day tomorrow. I have to go a bit early to buy Alex's books. He's starting school tomorrow too! He's carrying 9 units and of course still flipping burgers at BK. He seems eager to go and I have hope that being on a college campus will motivate him. We went last Thursday to get our books ( I had to buy 2 more this year ), but his weren't in. I have to remind myself that he's an adult now (legally) and I'm not going to ride him about school work. I'm paying for this quarter and if he passes and wants to continue I'll pay for next quarter, but I told him if he doesn't pass I'm not going to keep shelling out the money.
Last Friday was homecoming for Lucy. I went and watched the parade. It was fun. Small town so they closed main streat down for the parade and ralley!. This is a page I did with a picture of Lucy and her friend Kyle. I used several kits by Julia Makotinsky: Happy, Cute as a Bug, All about photo's and Funky Frames. Unfortunately out football team lost the game Friday night, but everyone had fun anyway. Lucy went to the dance Saturday even though she hadn't felt well most of the day, something about a dance made her feel better later :) I'll post pictures of that later.


Here's a page I did with pictures from the previous game. I used Kim B's CU grab bag and made everything match Lucy's school colors. I'll let you know how my first day goes :)

Canning

Today I spent most of the day canning tomatoes! I'll be doing more tomorrow too :) It's feeling so fall like now I had to get my decorations out and do some fall/halloween scrapping. I just got this kit called Spooky Town by Julia Makotinsky of Little Dreamers and pulled up these pictures of Lucy last Halloween when she was working as a" scarey clown" at the Haunted House. This was her first job. Unfortunately I don't think we're having a haunted house this year, they tore down the building they used and are just putting the finishing touches on a Walgreens. The leaves are from Julia's "One Fine Day" kit. You can get both kits and check all Julia's other kits at Little Dreamers here.
This is another page I did with Julia's kit. That's my little Wynter Rose in 2005 when we first moved here. I took her to the pumpking patch at Shady Oaks. I wish I could get her here again this fall and take her again.

Julia was nice enough to let me make a quick page with her kit. If you like you can download here.

Weekend Events

I use to think that when my kids were teenagers I won't be as busy with them. WRONG! but it's good :) Lucy had an all day volleyball tournament on Saturday. At least this time it was here in CG at her high school. She had to be there at 8am and didn't get done until 6pm! I was back and forth between the house and school. I'd go watch her play, then back to the house to play with them dogs and make sure they weren't destroying the house! The Lady Lions did good in the their tournament. Lucy's had a cold and lost her voice. Poor thing was sound asleep on the sofa before 9! Not how she would have said she wanted to spend her Saturday night, but with 2 games a week, tournaments almost every Saturday, school work and of course Friday night football games, I was surprised she made it past 8:30 at all. This coming week is Homecoming, that means lot's of school events, parades, football and of course the DANCE! Hopefully I'll get lot's of pictures.
Today I spent the day canning pears and picking tomatoes. I'm thinking of trying to can them myself tomorrow since I have to have my car at the dealer after I drop Lucy off and they'll have it most the day. Sounds like a good day for touching up my roots :), canning and cleaning. Look, I got her to smile for this picture!

She played in every game, only sat out 1 play of one game and slide for several plays. Thank goodness for knee pads.

Lucy has lot's of school spirit and painted her face with school colors for last Fridays game. All the animals had to check her out when she got home.

I did manage to scrap a bit. This is my grandfather, grandmother(that I saw in Seattle in Aug), my dad and aunts and uncles as kids. I wanted to scrap this picture in a vintage, fall theme. I like the way it turned out. I used parts of my Oregon Fall kit and made a few new things using Kim B's CU grab bag. It's a great grab bag and so full of stuff I will be playing with it all for months to come. You can find it on her page here. I made a quick page out of this page. You can download it here.


I also uploaded the 2nd QP I made with Jenni's End of Summer kit. You can download the page here. You can also find the whole kit at Digital Candy.

Well I started getting ready for school today. I printed off the syllabus for the up coming quarter. I hope I'm not speaking too soon, but it seems like a totally doable quarter! Last year for the last 2 quarters we had 3 classes plus 2 days of clinicals in the hospital. I will just have 1 class this quarter: Monday and Friday from 10am - 12pm and clinical on Tuesday and Wednesday from 7am - 1:30. There will be lot's of reading and studying of course. Clinical seems like it will be more intense, no more holding our hands through procedures, but I'm feeling pretty good about it. ( Notice I say this now, hopefully I won't be whining in a couple weeks) The worst part will be having to be at the hospital by 7am. That means I'll be up at 5am and on the road a few minutes after 6am. I was spoiled this summer getting to do my co-op at the hospital here in CG. It took me less then 10 minutes to get there.

This weekend is going to be busy. Lucy has a tournament tomorrow and my mom should be back from vacation ( her and my stepdad took a cruise to Alaska). We have TONS! of tomatoes to can! I did make a quick page today though :) Jenni (Chaoslounge) said I could give the layouts I did with her Summers End kit away as quick pages. You can find the whole kit at Digital Candy or visit her blog Chaoslounge. You can download my quick page here.

Oregon Fall PT 2

I have a couple pages that I did with my little fall kit I made :) I did this kit just in time, the weather is turning here. Today it was only about 70 degrees. I love fall! I need to get my butt in gear though and get ready for school to start for me. I think this year will be very manageable. I should still have time to scrap now and again, walk the dogs, run Lucy around and even clean the house! This first page is a picture of Wynter and Audrey from their trip to California. Aren't they just the cutest! Most of this page is in part 2.

This is a page Meg did with part 1 of my kit. I think Meg is so talented and should do more pages.

I did this page with a picture of Alex chopping wood last fall, before I got the electric log splitter. Fall seems so outdoorsy to me.

Here is the preview for part 2. You can download it here. Enjoy!

Shopping

School is back in full swing and Homecoming is the 27th of this month. This of course means that I had to take Lucy shopping for a homecoming dress and shoes. She was worried that maybe I had things around the house to do, so she did volunteered to just go with some friends if I gave her my credit card. Personally I think there was a better chance I'd pull my finger nails out with pliers! We went Sunday and had a good mom and Lucy outing. I'm not one who enjoys spending the whole day shopping. I got lucky and Lucy found her dress and shoe's at the same store. Notice the shoes! I can't remember the last time I walked around in heels like that! Lucy is hoping she won't fall and break her ankle at the dance. It would totally put an end to her volleyball season!

It is beginning to feel like fall here even though it's been really hot. Too hot! I'm getting eager for cool crisp morning and cooler evenings. It was pointed out to me that I didn't give Jeff credit for stacking the Oak in my previous post :). Anyone who knows me knows I didn't stack the Oak. It is stacked way to perfectly!I think it would stay up in a huricaine! You have to be a pro to stack like that! I did stack the other wood all by my little ole self! It is stack pretty darn good, but not like the oak. I did have time to scrap after stacking mine though :):) Speaking of scraping. Here is a page I did with a picture of my dad at his marina. The kit is by Trish Heffner.

I know I said I wasn't going to do much designing recently, but let's face it, it's a little addicting and apparently I'm not ready to give up yet. Soooooo.... I have started a little scrap kit for fall. It will come in a couple parts. You can get part 1 here. I'm calling it Oregon Fall, mostly because I live in Oregon and the name Fall Surprise was already taken, a couple of times!! Part 2 will be posted in a day or two. ( I do have to make myself stop playing with my PSP and wacom tablet and do more housework ).

Just a quickie

Just a quick post to say I am completely done with my co-op now! I think working at the hospital here in town was a great experience. I'm thinking that I will probably try to work at both the big hospital in Eugene and here in Cottage Grove when I'm done with school. Now just to get through one more year!!! School will start for me on the 29th. In away I'm excited but I've also enjoyed my leisurely summer :) It will be great to finish school and be able to work as a nurse! Lucy had a volleyball tournament all day in Junction City (about 45 minutes from here) and I spent the morning there. Tomorrow we're going to the mall to look for homecoming dresses. I think someone needs to open up a dress swap shop for these girls. They have to have new dresses for these things, so they end up with all these dresses only worn once! Anyway I'm off to get some shut eye for the big shopping day tomorrow. Here are some frames I made the other day. There is a fall paper included too. You can get them here.

I have wood! and alittle freebie

Look at all my wood! All that wood you see in the first picture I split with my wood splitter and stacked myself. Ok, one day I made Alex help me for a bit, but he's not into splitting wood like I am so I didn't make him help me the next day! That stack you see is 3 deep! It's all wood I got free too. I am in wood heaven! Hopefully I'll be able to use the wood stove for most of my heating and keep my gas bill down this winter.


This is my electric wood splitter ^. Last winter I had to stop burning because my arm hurt so badly from splitting by hand.


The wood in this picture is oak that I bought and came split already. Oak burns hotter and slower then soft wood, but both burn and heat.



This is a page I did with a picture of little Mr. Bubbles laying on the dogs new bed. It's a HUGE, soft, fluffy bed that the dogs love, but when Bubbles lays on it to sleep they lay on the floor next to him. The swirls are from Scrappy Blue Stone. The rest is from Lily Design Studio at http://liliapetkova.blogspot.com/ She has a couple of really beautiful kits there.

This is a page I did of my little Lucy and her friend Lexi with a little kit I made myself. I really don't know how much designing I'm going to do. It's very time consuming and I find myself reading how to make things and not scraping my pictures as much. There are a lot of really great designers out there who's kits I just love. I did make some frames today though that I'm going to post tomorrow :) Digital Scrapping is very addictive I've discovered. If you would like this little kit you can find it here.

Volleyball

The Lions(Lucy's high schools sports team name) had their first home volleyball game this evening! You can tell she's feeling much better :) Lucy loves playing volleyball and luckily gets a lot of play time. It was so hot in the gym today though! I think we need AC or at least to open those doors!




Lucy has a great serve and is often rotated so she serves a lot!

This is my first try at uploading some video. If it goes good I'll upload more :) Here she is serving!