Friday, June 30, 2006

Life is Good!

I've been in my new position (I hope it becomes permanent) for a couple of weeks now. I've also been taking classes for the paralegal course. I'm loving both of them!

I work from 8 a.m. until 4:30 p.m. and was in classes from 6 p.m. until 10:00 p.m. Monday through Thursday. I tested out of my BUS105a keyboarding class (at app 65 WPM, I have two more, BUS105b and BUS105c. I need 55+ WPM in BUS105c to get an A. So all I have to do is maintain this speed to get an A in all three classes) on Thursday so I only have to go from 6 til 8 on Tuesday and Thursday. Now I have time to study for my Wednesday classes on Tuesdays.

When I worked nights I was always exhausted. I never got fitful sleep, when I WAS able to sleep. I was always depressed. I really didn't like my job. I NEEDED something new. Something to look forward to. Now I have it! I actually look forward to going to work now. And I REALLY look forward to going to class.

I always liked school. It was the only time I was able to be around children my own age when I was young. We lived in the country and my sister and brother were a lot older than me. So I had no one to "play" with. That was back when children actually went outdoors and played. I also loved going to highschool. I had been out of highschool 10 years before I was able to go to collage. I loved that too! I have always enjoyed learning new things. I wish I had taken more classes over the years.

Now that I am working days, I should be able to start Body for Life. I should be able to workout 5 days a week if I'm lucky. I won't be able to go to the gym, but I have weights, bench, stationary bike and treadmill, here at home. I bought protein powder and protein bars a couple of weeks ago. I have my old diet plan, I can use also. I start out on Atkins and slowly work into Body for Life. I don't want to have a weight gain when I start eating carbs again. I'm already drinking my water.

I had Word when I took a nine month computer course a few years ago. So the wordprocessing class isn't very challeging. That's ok though. I haven't used some of the bells and whistles in Word in quite a while. And I've even learned some things I didn't learn about in the other class. I've made a list of a few of the keyboard shortcuts and I'm trying to use the keyboard more. I think it's more efficent than the mouse. My instructor said I should become Microsoft Office certified. She said I already know alot about it and it wouldn't take much to learn the rest. I'm seriously considering it because it could mean more money when I go to work as a paralegal.

101 Things Update:
#60--I made the Butter chicken last Sunday. It was ok....nothing special I could taste. So, I probably won't be making it again. #1--The most important item on the list....so far I'm getting an A in all 4 classes. This is soooo important to me. I know I am capable of getting that 4.0 and the honors certificate. It will be more difficult this time because I'm working. I didn't have to work when I went to nursing school or the computer course. #14--I have a few of the quarters. I just have them in a jar though. I need to get something to display them in. #48--Get on a regular sleep schedule-I will mark this as completed if this position becomes permanent. I'll know in a couple of months. #83--Do a plot analysis on a movie-I'm going to change this one to get Microsoft Office certified and put the anaysis on my next list.

Saturday, June 17, 2006

The Weekend

I'm enjoying my weekend off. I can't remember the last time I had a weekend off. I'm really gonna enjoy these new hours.

I got up early Saturday morning and went to Joann's Fabrics. I got a Doll Reader magazine and a couple of patterns. They had Simplicity patterns on sale. I used my 50% off coupon on the magazine. I didn't find any fabric I really liked on first glance. I didn't have time to browse. I had to get back home for a mini-physical for some insurance I'm getting.

So this woman comes to my house to ask a few medical questions, get my BP, weight and draw blood. She looks at my arms and asks me if "they" use a butterfly when "they" draw blood. Now, I have vessels the size of a water hose, no one EVER has difficulty getting my blood. I don't know what she did but, it hurt like a bitch when she took the "needle" out. Now I have a HUGE dark purple bruise (okay, hematoma)on my left arm, and it hurts a LOT when I straighten my arm.

This morning I went to my sister's house for a while. I tried to get her PC unfrozen. Rebooted several times, but it still came up on the same webshots pic. No desktop, no task bar. It didn't freeze until she downloaded one of my pics I had displayed on the webshots site. It's an old PC, with Windows 98. I loaned her a laptop.

101 Things Update:
#98 I spent a few minutes picking up pots and putting away the hoses so the front yard doesn't have the PWT (poor white trash) look as much as it did. I've got to get measurements next weekend and make a graft to plan out the landscaping.

#78 I will learn more than 50 new words with this paralegal course. So, I'll mark this "in progress".

I'll try some of the recipes next weekend. Butter chicken and maybe Crème Brulee or Tiramisu. I might make some bath bombs too!

Tuesday, June 13, 2006

Tiny Rant

Question #1. Why do women spend so much time sewing beautiful garments, then when they post pictures on pattern review, don't put on shoes? It takes only a few seconds to slip on an appropriate pair of shoes and makes the whole outfit look better in the pic. It isn't like they are modeling swim suits or beach wear. Some of them have on very pretty "dressy" dresses. I can't believe all these women are making some sort of "statement" by being bare foot. I can understnad when the children aren't wearing shoes, heck, sometimes it's difficult enough to get them to even put on the clothes.

Question #2. Why do women spend so much time sewing beautiful garments that aren't flattering to their body?

Question #3. Why does this even bother me? Have I been watching What Not to Wear too much? Am I too critical? Is it just me? I dunno. Sometimes I just wonder what people are thinking when they get dressed. (Yes, I know that was more than one question.)

OK, OK. I know I don't always wear the most flattering clothes either. But how flattering can scrubs be? I wear them almost 100% of the time I'm awake. I was hoping to dress nicer for class, but I don't have time to change after work. So....it's scrubs for class too.

Exhausted

Last Friday night at midnight I received a call from the director of nursing where I work. She asked if I would mind changing positions, from floor nurse to doing "MDS-es" i.e. "paperwork", on a temporary basis. One of the coordinators is going on maternity leave, I would be replacing her, and the other one is going to another facility. I've done this before and it's a lot less stressful, so I jumped at the chance, plus it's M-F 7-3. So, I worked the 12 hour night shifts on Friday, Saturday and Sunday. Twenty-four hours to recover. I woke up at 4:30 this morning totally exhausted. As though I hadn't slept at all. And my paralegal class was to start tonight.

Class was canceled due to Alberto. Why on earth? It didn't come anywhere near us! Just a little wind and rain....yesterday!

So now, I'll have less time to study and work on my 101 things (and my 43 things, which is a condensed list). But, the absolutely BEST PART is that I'll have every weekend off!!!! I'm sooo looking forward to that after working almost every weekend for the past four years.

Friday, June 09, 2006

SWAP.....Again

I've been putting line drawings of the patterns I want to use in my SWAP on my website. It's just very difficult to decide which ones to use. Which ones that would be flattering on my body shape. Which fabrics to use with the patterns. What colors to use.

After I decide which ones I definitely want to use I need to alter them so they will fit properly. I don't have any TNT, tried and true, patterns that have already been altered. I haven't sewn clothes for myself since my weight gain. It's going to take a while to get the clothes made. I won't have as much free time as I used to have.

I could try shopping again, but I'm still stinging from the disappointment from the trip earlier this week.

Wednesday, June 07, 2006

Disappointment

I went clothes shopping today. First, at Penney's. It's interesting, I stepped into the larger sized department and the clothes became dowdy and appeared to be designed for much older women with NO fashion sense at all. I tried petite's for trousers, but no luck as they don't have my size.

Then I go Macy's. SAME THING. I get off the escalator, a turn to the left and there was BEAUTIFUL tiny clothes. A turn to the right and I was in polyester town. Seriously tasteless clothes! A person would think that Macy's would have something in larger sizes that was stylish. As I was leaving, getting off the escalator, I saw beautiful business suits, stylish with gorgeous lines, but none in my size.

Off to Lane Bryant.

What happened there? I admit it's been a while since I've gone clothes shopping, but...honestly. I couldn't even FIND a dress trouser there. It was all summer styles. Gauzy and floaty, tanks and halters. Nice clothes, but not suitable in my mind for school and eventually working in an attorney's office.

I gained some weight, but I didn't lose my fashion sense. So, I am very disappointed.

Tuesday, June 06, 2006

Pics

I made pics of the front yard. It ain't pretty. But it can be with a little landscaping. The pics have been posted on my webshots page.

I'm thinking I should shop at nearby garden centers, instead of from catalogs. Centers nearby should be knowledgeable about xeriscaping also. I've got an image in mind.

I prefer plants to flowers. So I want plants with colored leaves. There are some beautiful plants with colored leaves. I'll try to post pics of the plants I'm thinking about later. I need to draw a grid also. So I'll know exactly where to plant each plant.

This could be a cute little house with a lot of work. The only problem I have with it is that there aren't enough windows. It's kinda dark. Oh, and nothing, but nothing is standard. I think the elderly man who live here must have done most of the work on it himself. When we moved in I was able to scrape at least 10 distinct layers of paint off the kitchen window sills. There were more. Apparently, according to a neighbor, when he painted, he painted everything, inside and out. There were shades of yellow, white, pink, blue and I know there were others.

Orientation

I went to orientation last night. My class is now going to start on the 13th. One of my instructors works for the attorney general. This is going to be an interesting course.

101 Things Update:
I converted one, that's it, one, CD since I started. I figure if I can do 4-5 a week I should have them done by the end. I need to get started scanning pics again. Got to get them on webshots and burned to a cd. I also need to get the ones on my digital camera organized. I haven't started my one pic a day for a month yet. I'm still doing a crossword puzzle a day. I have a stack of them I've saved.

Later today I'm going to take pics of my front yard to document the changes as I landscape it. There isn't a lot of grass due to shade trees. Last year my ex-husband decided to have someone do the yard work. They used a weed whacker on what little grass we had and killed most of it. He had the trees trimed earlier this year. So now we have sun. I'm researching xeroscape plants so we can have a green yard with little water needed. We always have water restriction every summer, making it difficult to keep things green here. I think I'll use the pics and document it on my website, as one of the pages (# 12)

I got an Altoids tin from one of my co-workers for an altered art piece. Also two small "BBs" I want to use on it. I haven't decided the theme, but I still have a lot of time.