Mama said there'd be days like this

How's your day going? I spilled a bag of pee all over a carpeted floor before 7:00 am. The rest of the day decided to follow suit. I'm going to climb back in bed until the girls get home and hope Friday afternoon is a little less humiliating.

Adrenaline Rush

I'm in the middle of my third week of clinicals, which for this quarter is in adult rehab. This means we're working with a lot of elderly clients recovering from surgery or other health problems--they have been discharged from the hospital, but aren't quite ready to return home. Things have been pretty mellow in the "neighborhood." (That's what we call it. They do everything they can to keep it from feeling like a hospital). Mellow has been a good pace for learning the fundamentals, so I've really enjoyed it.

But today I was assigned a new client. She had some serious wounds and I got to observe the nurse doing dressing changes. Seriously fascinating stuff. And then unexpectedly, she had some complications related to other health issues, and things went from mellow to hopping pretty quickly. My "shift" passed in a flash. Now I cannot wait to get back tomorrow, and I'm really looking forward to clinicals next quarter which will be in a more acute setting. As much as I've enjoyed school so far, this was the first time in school that I've experienced the rush of adrenaline that I used to feel when I volunteered in the ER many moons ago--the rush that initially attracted me to nursing.

And that little rush is going to make the 10 hours of "care-planning" I will be doing for the rest of today worth it.

Halloween

I feel a little sad writing about this, because I don't want it to be over. Not so much because I love Halloween, but mostly because I'd been looking forward to it for weeks.

Last week got pretty hairy for me at school between studying for exams and doing my first complete "nursing care plan" which I'm certain will be the bane of my existence for the next two years. I missed Madeline's pumpkin carving party on Thursday night because I was knee deep in trying to finish it for my 6 am clinical. Then the next day I missed both girls' class parties because of that clinical. Luckily, Kolby took them to the pumpkin carving party, and then made up for my absence at the school with pounds and pounds of candy when he took them trick-or-treating at Microsoft after school.

Kolby and I went to a neighborhood Halloween party Friday night. It was a little lame. I mean I was a little lame. Snuggies were the best we could come up with for costumes. And they were so comfortable that I decided it was time to go home and go to bed at 9:30.

However, I was really just catching up on sleep for the part of the weekend I was looking forward to. Jeff and Sara, friends from Portland, came up to visit so they could trick or treat with us. Milo and Robin came up from Tacoma to join in as well. This was the first weekend since I started school that I completely ignored school obligations and relaxed. And it was heavenly. I made soup and bread for pre-trick or treating, and breakfast casseroles for in the morning. We sat around and talked, read gossip magazines, and played games. The kids created animal shows and counted their candy.

These are the only pictures I took of the girls in their costumes. I don't know how that happened. You can't even see the cute tights and glittery shoes they dragged Kolby to Target to buy for them so their outfits could be complete. (i.e. just like the ones in the picture on the packaging).

Milo and Robin win for the best costumes.

And Lily brought her furry friend Zoe to keep the kids entertained all night and take the pressure off the kittens.

It really was a perfect weekend. I need another one on the schedule to look forward to.

Real friends don't google.

In early October Kolby spent a week in LA shooting a couple of Bing ads. If you haven't seen them already, here's a glimpse at his latest campaign.

You'll poke your eye out

Madeline's big class pumpkin carving party is tomorrow night, and she had some ideas about what treat she wanted to take. Specifically, cake balls made to look like eyeballs.

I set her to work, all by herself, making the cake. This was her first solo journey in the kitchen, and she did a great job. (She tried to be nonchalant while I took photos, but she never stopped smiling the whole time.)

Then we made the frosting and rolled out the balls.

Today we dipped them in white chocolate and then....we were stumped. The frosting I planned to use wouldn't stick to the chocolate. We ended up melting more chocolate and then dyeing it to decorate them.

Madeline is beyond excited to show off her handiwork at the party tomorrow.

Who's yo mama?

A few weeks ago we watched our friends' kids while they spent the weekend in the San Juans. Kolby and I overheard this exchange as the kids were playing.

Madeline, daughter of a student nurse, "I'm a pregnant Golden Retriever and my name is Sara and I have four puppies growing in my uterus."

Emily, daughter of a therapist, replies, " I don't want to be a Golden Retriever. Golden Retrievers are so passive-aggressive."

The Monster Mash

So the yearly dilemma....what to be for Halloween. We have a neighborhood party on Friday the 30th that we need to dress up for, and I know what I want to be, but locating a pair of rollerskates is proving to be more difficult than I expected.

The other idea I have is going as Octo-Mom--sweats, big lips, and eight babies.

Or there's always Kate. Maybe I could talk Kolby into going as my Jon. I suggested it, but he said we'd need to find him a girlfriend for his costume to work.

So what this means is that I'm going to be scrambling the day of the party to throw together a costume. Unless one of ya'll has a pair of roller skates to lend me.