I've made it to week four of nursing school.
So...yes, it's a lot of work. Yes, it's hard. But it's not really THAT bad. I spend a lot of time complaining about it, as Porter can attest to. But it isn't that bad. It's doable. I'm still figuring out how to study for it, and what methods work for me.
Today I'm home with Aftasie and I was going to take her to the baby storytime at the library, but she went down for a nap shortly before and I don't have the heart (or guts!) to wake her. :( Next week, I guess. In the meantime, I'm going back to studying so I have something done when she wakes up, and then we can go shopping :)
Tuesday, January 31, 2012
Sunday, January 29, 2012
Sewing and Weightloss.
Sewing.
Today is my homework day. On the days I'm home with Aftasie, I hardly get any done. I usually have a few HW projects planned for naptime, and the rest of the time I try to do projects or play with her. Sewing, for instance, takes a lot less concentration than homework. So this week I did two projects. A cape/hat and a gnome hat. They both turned out OK. The cape is double-thickness, and I wish I had time to put together a tutorial because it was so easy and it works perfectly with a medium-sized sweater. The gnome hat was a little more freestyle and I didn't really know how to edge it, how to make the brim. It ended up turning out good, but I kind of wish I had made it double-thickness too. I also made a pair of woolen pants for her that need some altering -- they're too big. But this post is because I really want to sew today and I'm not supposed to! I mean, imagine all of the things I could make! Bah.
Weightloss.
As some of you know, I gained almost 70 pounds with Aftasie. I lost weight at the beginning, from nausea and vomiting, and then ate, and ate, and ate. So I was hovering near 192 when she was born, probably a little more due to last minute water retention. And I'm only 5'4"! After all was said and done, I settled at 172. I thought it would come right off. Haha. Not. At the end of the year, I decided I really needed to do something about it and I was going to try eating(snacking) clean again (IE, lean protein and complex carbs 6x/day). I found a website by one of my favorite exercise/eating gurus, Skwigg, that is called Happy Eaters and posted about my wanting to get back to clean eating. In reply, most of what I got was "clean eating is a scam!" I discovered that there is another way to think about eating! Now I hate to sound all revolutionary and all, because that hardly ever lasts, but I think I could do this. In fact, I think this is how I ate before I gained all of my weight, when I was still a teenager.
So, basically I don't eat anything unless I really want it, and I don't pig out at meals. I snack if I *really* want to, and I eat chocolate, drink beer, eat vegetables, fried foods, restaurant food, coffee with cream, etc. And I've lost 8 pounds in about 3 weeks. Yes, I am hungry between meals! Yes, I sometimes skip breakfast! But I don't think there is any other way for me to do it. Do I really want to cut out the cream in my coffee so I can have more for breakfast, or so I can have a snack? No. Do I want to swear off chocolate? No. Do I want to cut out carbs, and eat no-fat? No. Do I only want to eat egg whites and protein shakes? No!!!! I'd rebound from that with a huge pig-out fest.
I'd rather have three (or two) squares with butter and bread than choke down fatless, proteinacious food 6x/day. And I will totally skip ice cream for a drink, or not have dessert if I ate a lot of supper.
I could totally eat this way for the rest of my life. I know that I can have delicious food for supper, or have a bagel for breakfast, or a big pasta dinner. I know I can have cake (or ice cream!) and eat chocolate and peanut butter every day. I can eat whatever Porter cooks for dinner without worrying about how fatty it is, or how much I'm eating (though I try not to overeat and eat past full). I just eat less for lunch, or eat less the next day and it all adjusts out to eating at a deficit.
I mean, think about it. If you want to lose weight and still be happy, do you cut out the chocolate, or do you cut it in half? If you cut everything you're eating in half, you'd lose a ton of weight. I would never be able to last on drastic "I can never eat that again!" And also, maybe instead of cutting down half, cut down a quarter. Just a little bit off of all the food you eat *will* result in weight loss.
Oh, and I haven't been working out. I know I should, but I "don't have time." I choose to do other things at the moment. This summer maybe I'll do more exercise. But only if I really want to. I want to be in shape so I can move properly. I get heart palpitations now if I move too much! Eep.
If you're in the same position I am and want to lose weight, try two things (I'm going to keep these in mind too!):
Today is my homework day. On the days I'm home with Aftasie, I hardly get any done. I usually have a few HW projects planned for naptime, and the rest of the time I try to do projects or play with her. Sewing, for instance, takes a lot less concentration than homework. So this week I did two projects. A cape/hat and a gnome hat. They both turned out OK. The cape is double-thickness, and I wish I had time to put together a tutorial because it was so easy and it works perfectly with a medium-sized sweater. The gnome hat was a little more freestyle and I didn't really know how to edge it, how to make the brim. It ended up turning out good, but I kind of wish I had made it double-thickness too. I also made a pair of woolen pants for her that need some altering -- they're too big. But this post is because I really want to sew today and I'm not supposed to! I mean, imagine all of the things I could make! Bah.
 |
| Pink cape. It can go under her jacket so there are no open spots. |
 |
| With the brim back. It was hard to get good lighting! |
 |
| You can see how the brim is tacked up for a few inches on the sides to keep it out of her face when down. |
As some of you know, I gained almost 70 pounds with Aftasie. I lost weight at the beginning, from nausea and vomiting, and then ate, and ate, and ate. So I was hovering near 192 when she was born, probably a little more due to last minute water retention. And I'm only 5'4"! After all was said and done, I settled at 172. I thought it would come right off. Haha. Not. At the end of the year, I decided I really needed to do something about it and I was going to try eating(snacking) clean again (IE, lean protein and complex carbs 6x/day). I found a website by one of my favorite exercise/eating gurus, Skwigg, that is called Happy Eaters and posted about my wanting to get back to clean eating. In reply, most of what I got was "clean eating is a scam!" I discovered that there is another way to think about eating! Now I hate to sound all revolutionary and all, because that hardly ever lasts, but I think I could do this. In fact, I think this is how I ate before I gained all of my weight, when I was still a teenager.
So, basically I don't eat anything unless I really want it, and I don't pig out at meals. I snack if I *really* want to, and I eat chocolate, drink beer, eat vegetables, fried foods, restaurant food, coffee with cream, etc. And I've lost 8 pounds in about 3 weeks. Yes, I am hungry between meals! Yes, I sometimes skip breakfast! But I don't think there is any other way for me to do it. Do I really want to cut out the cream in my coffee so I can have more for breakfast, or so I can have a snack? No. Do I want to swear off chocolate? No. Do I want to cut out carbs, and eat no-fat? No. Do I only want to eat egg whites and protein shakes? No!!!! I'd rebound from that with a huge pig-out fest.
I'd rather have three (or two) squares with butter and bread than choke down fatless, proteinacious food 6x/day. And I will totally skip ice cream for a drink, or not have dessert if I ate a lot of supper.
I could totally eat this way for the rest of my life. I know that I can have delicious food for supper, or have a bagel for breakfast, or a big pasta dinner. I know I can have cake (or ice cream!) and eat chocolate and peanut butter every day. I can eat whatever Porter cooks for dinner without worrying about how fatty it is, or how much I'm eating (though I try not to overeat and eat past full). I just eat less for lunch, or eat less the next day and it all adjusts out to eating at a deficit.
I mean, think about it. If you want to lose weight and still be happy, do you cut out the chocolate, or do you cut it in half? If you cut everything you're eating in half, you'd lose a ton of weight. I would never be able to last on drastic "I can never eat that again!" And also, maybe instead of cutting down half, cut down a quarter. Just a little bit off of all the food you eat *will* result in weight loss.
Oh, and I haven't been working out. I know I should, but I "don't have time." I choose to do other things at the moment. This summer maybe I'll do more exercise. But only if I really want to. I want to be in shape so I can move properly. I get heart palpitations now if I move too much! Eep.
If you're in the same position I am and want to lose weight, try two things (I'm going to keep these in mind too!):
- Do not eat anything you do not really enjoy. No stale chips or junk that you don't really like. For instance, I ate some Cheezits this week, but I would not eat the stale pretzels, nor would I generally eat pretzels because I don't really love them. Save it for a piece of dark chocolate. And then break off as much as you want to eat before you start, and then just eat that much. No more. Enjoy it! You're eating chocolate! Don't worry about being deprived, because you can eat chocolate again tomorrow, and the next day, and as many days as you want to eat it on. But just eat a little.
- Ask yourself repeatedly during your s-l-o-w-l-y eaten meals whether you're still hungry, and when you are pleasantly full (not stuffed!), stop. Just stop. If you are worried about being hungry later, take one or two more bites and then stop. Then don't eat again till the next meal. Unless you have some kind of metabolic issue or are already seriously starving, you won't die from hunger. I promise!
Saturday, January 21, 2012
Seven Months!
Aftasie is seven months old today! Hard to believe how fast time goes.
Happy birthday Aftasie! :)
Tuesday, January 17, 2012
So...First Week, Check.
The first week of school has come and gone. I've met all my teachers, got all my syllabi, etc. Let me tell you, I'm sleeping a little better this week!
Besides the stress giving me a bit of insomnia, Aftasie has been sick and waking every hour. I exaggerate not :( But for the past two nights she's slept for a few hours at a time, which is wonderful. Last week I think I was just surviving on coffee and nerves.
I was fortunate to find a few night classes this week, and I actually only have one class that's MWF, which is pathophysiology. The nursing classes are once a week Monday (two-hour lecture), Wednesday (a six hour lab), and Friday (two-hour lecture), and a bible class Monday night for 2.5 hours, and a nutrition class on Thursday night for 2.5 hours.
Nursing school so far has been LOTS of reading. Lots of it. Now, I'm a happy, fast reader. I'm really grateful for that, because I only have so much time to spend on it. The big question is going to be how much I need to retain from the reading. Our teachers have said they'd give us a study guide the week before the test, because they do not expect us to perfectly recall hundreds of pages. The reading, for the most part, is actually interesting, so I feel like I'm not doing enough when I read it and am enjoying it. But we shall see!
Another part is countless assignments. Watch this video, write a reflection, do this case study, do your certification for clinical requirements, practice your skills, interview someone, etc. OK, so they're not countless, but it seems like there are too many to keep up with in my head. I've resorted to computer scheduling, since I am going to have my computer with me most of the time.
Speaking of computer, all of my books are on my computer. That is pretty cool! I also have the hard copies, and I prefer reading from them, but it's great to be able to take all of my assigned reading with me from all of my textbooks.
I finished the week (or started the next) with a little car incident. I left Porter and Aftasie at home to drive to the next town over and do a little shopping and stop in at a friend's house. I was feeling really happy to just get out of the house by myself. So, I had the radio going, blah blah blah. The brake lights came on. I pulled into a gas station and parked. The car wouldn't start again! Checked all the fluids, plugs, etc. Nothing wrong. I got a jump, started driving home, and I realized my hood wasn't secured properly, so I put on my flashers and slowed down and looked for a place to pull over. I pulled onto a road and stalled! Right about 2 feet away from train rails! In the middle of the road. It wouldn't go into neutral for anything. I called Porter, did a few things to no avail. I ran to a house further down the street, really worried about the train coming, no answer. Ran to another one and interrupted a big family gathering, apparently. Three guys came and jump started the car three times, and each time they took the cables off it died, till the battery was completely dead. And still stuck in neutral (I even had them try :P ) So, I called 911, first of all, because I realized that the train would probably have an accident if it came down the rails, and secondly called a tow truck. It turned out fine (the police didn't even come! I called them back when the tow truck came and they said it was fine to leave as long as everything was OK. Haha), but I waited for almost an hour outside and when all was said and done, it took me three hours to get home and my fun afternoon was over and ruined :( But you know, I mean, it does give you a little thrill to pay the bill for a tow truck, doesn't it? :P
Hopefully it's just the alternator or maybe even just the battery. And I found out from the tow truck driver how to get the car in neutral if it's stuck. He was a cool guy. Told me about a practical joke played at my college about 15 years ago. Some guys carried a car into the auditorium and took off a tire. And put smelt on the lights! Haha. I laughed ;) I wonder who got expelled...
Anyway. That's it for now. I'm so busy you can't count on any regular updates but I will write from time to time :)
Besides the stress giving me a bit of insomnia, Aftasie has been sick and waking every hour. I exaggerate not :( But for the past two nights she's slept for a few hours at a time, which is wonderful. Last week I think I was just surviving on coffee and nerves.
I was fortunate to find a few night classes this week, and I actually only have one class that's MWF, which is pathophysiology. The nursing classes are once a week Monday (two-hour lecture), Wednesday (a six hour lab), and Friday (two-hour lecture), and a bible class Monday night for 2.5 hours, and a nutrition class on Thursday night for 2.5 hours.
Nursing school so far has been LOTS of reading. Lots of it. Now, I'm a happy, fast reader. I'm really grateful for that, because I only have so much time to spend on it. The big question is going to be how much I need to retain from the reading. Our teachers have said they'd give us a study guide the week before the test, because they do not expect us to perfectly recall hundreds of pages. The reading, for the most part, is actually interesting, so I feel like I'm not doing enough when I read it and am enjoying it. But we shall see!
Another part is countless assignments. Watch this video, write a reflection, do this case study, do your certification for clinical requirements, practice your skills, interview someone, etc. OK, so they're not countless, but it seems like there are too many to keep up with in my head. I've resorted to computer scheduling, since I am going to have my computer with me most of the time.
Speaking of computer, all of my books are on my computer. That is pretty cool! I also have the hard copies, and I prefer reading from them, but it's great to be able to take all of my assigned reading with me from all of my textbooks.
I finished the week (or started the next) with a little car incident. I left Porter and Aftasie at home to drive to the next town over and do a little shopping and stop in at a friend's house. I was feeling really happy to just get out of the house by myself. So, I had the radio going, blah blah blah. The brake lights came on. I pulled into a gas station and parked. The car wouldn't start again! Checked all the fluids, plugs, etc. Nothing wrong. I got a jump, started driving home, and I realized my hood wasn't secured properly, so I put on my flashers and slowed down and looked for a place to pull over. I pulled onto a road and stalled! Right about 2 feet away from train rails! In the middle of the road. It wouldn't go into neutral for anything. I called Porter, did a few things to no avail. I ran to a house further down the street, really worried about the train coming, no answer. Ran to another one and interrupted a big family gathering, apparently. Three guys came and jump started the car three times, and each time they took the cables off it died, till the battery was completely dead. And still stuck in neutral (I even had them try :P ) So, I called 911, first of all, because I realized that the train would probably have an accident if it came down the rails, and secondly called a tow truck. It turned out fine (the police didn't even come! I called them back when the tow truck came and they said it was fine to leave as long as everything was OK. Haha), but I waited for almost an hour outside and when all was said and done, it took me three hours to get home and my fun afternoon was over and ruined :( But you know, I mean, it does give you a little thrill to pay the bill for a tow truck, doesn't it? :P
Hopefully it's just the alternator or maybe even just the battery. And I found out from the tow truck driver how to get the car in neutral if it's stuck. He was a cool guy. Told me about a practical joke played at my college about 15 years ago. Some guys carried a car into the auditorium and took off a tire. And put smelt on the lights! Haha. I laughed ;) I wonder who got expelled...
Anyway. That's it for now. I'm so busy you can't count on any regular updates but I will write from time to time :)
Sunday, January 8, 2012
Classes Start Tomorrow!
Tomorrow will be my first day of nursing classes. I will be wearing a uniform once a week (to clinicals) and I'm ironing on my arm patches and hemming my pants today. I could have done it weeks ago, but where's the fun in that?
I had a dream about my first day of clinicals. I've had dreams of the sort plenty in the past - missing class, not knowing what to do, etc. This time I couldn't remember my instructor's name, and we ended up in a dimly lit room of two drunks who were throwing up all over the walls and throwing their (filthy!) diapers toward me. I asked my instructor what to use to wipe down the walls and she said "Oh, use paper towels I guess."
Hilarious (kind of).
I bought my books. We were required to buy a package of books that come in e-book form, with a hard-copy option. It was only about $100 more for the hard copies, and I like paper, so I got them. It came to $706 with shipping. I have one other book to buy for a non-nursing class (nutrition), and would have had to buy a developmental psych book, which, presumably, would have brought my total for books up above $800. Yikes. I have to remind myself that all of this is towards a purpose. The other day I realized that when I'm done with the next two years I'll have a college degree and be able to become an RN. That's pretty crazy. Sometimes I just get lost in the process, and think my job is just to make it through. I'm actually getting something out of it!
I am amazed at how much I have learned and will be learning. It seems impossible that I could be a nurse. It is so complicated, and there are so many things a nurse needs to know and be able to do. How will I learn in just two years how to do it? I suspect that I will not come out a nurse, I will come out as someone ready to learn from the job how to do the job. Of course, I will know things, but I don't think I'll be a nurse yet. Maybe I'm wrong, though. I guess I'll find out!
So...after tomorrow, four more months to the semester and then summer. Four months seems like such a short time! Aftasie is already 6 and a half months. Everything is going so fast.
I had a dream about my first day of clinicals. I've had dreams of the sort plenty in the past - missing class, not knowing what to do, etc. This time I couldn't remember my instructor's name, and we ended up in a dimly lit room of two drunks who were throwing up all over the walls and throwing their (filthy!) diapers toward me. I asked my instructor what to use to wipe down the walls and she said "Oh, use paper towels I guess."
Hilarious (kind of).
I bought my books. We were required to buy a package of books that come in e-book form, with a hard-copy option. It was only about $100 more for the hard copies, and I like paper, so I got them. It came to $706 with shipping. I have one other book to buy for a non-nursing class (nutrition), and would have had to buy a developmental psych book, which, presumably, would have brought my total for books up above $800. Yikes. I have to remind myself that all of this is towards a purpose. The other day I realized that when I'm done with the next two years I'll have a college degree and be able to become an RN. That's pretty crazy. Sometimes I just get lost in the process, and think my job is just to make it through. I'm actually getting something out of it!
I am amazed at how much I have learned and will be learning. It seems impossible that I could be a nurse. It is so complicated, and there are so many things a nurse needs to know and be able to do. How will I learn in just two years how to do it? I suspect that I will not come out a nurse, I will come out as someone ready to learn from the job how to do the job. Of course, I will know things, but I don't think I'll be a nurse yet. Maybe I'm wrong, though. I guess I'll find out!
So...after tomorrow, four more months to the semester and then summer. Four months seems like such a short time! Aftasie is already 6 and a half months. Everything is going so fast.
Monday, January 2, 2012
One Week
So, there's one week to go before school starts up again! It is very exciting and daunting. I was just looking at my schedule and it really is not so bad.
I was pretty inspired to blog earlier but then something came up and I had to shut my laptop for a minute, and now I don't know what I was going to say!
I just finished Crime and Punishment. I loved it. I don't know what it is about Russian novels, but they're something I really enjoy reading. The pages just slip by and I hardly notice. I hardly notice I'm *reading*. I really want to read Brothers Karamazov, which will probably not happen till next winter break! (Who knows?).
Aftasie is busy being a cutie. She had been going to bed early until we started all sleeping in for a few days! I just couldn't bring myself to get up a 7:30 when I know that soon I'll *have* to get up earlier than that. But I am getting up at that time tomorrow, whether Aftasie is asleep or not, and I'm going to do some noisy chores if she doesn't get up soon after! ;) She is busy at the moment pulling her whole box of toys (on the couch) over. It's still full of toys! The big cardboard box is one of her favorite things to play with, even though it's as big as she is.
Speaking of news, I'm supposed to send out Christmas cards/letters. Eep. I feel less motivated as time goes on, and I'm starting to feel a little embarrassed to send them out. I already have the envelopes addressed, even! I just need to finish editing the letter and print them out.
I was pretty inspired to blog earlier but then something came up and I had to shut my laptop for a minute, and now I don't know what I was going to say!
I just finished Crime and Punishment. I loved it. I don't know what it is about Russian novels, but they're something I really enjoy reading. The pages just slip by and I hardly notice. I hardly notice I'm *reading*. I really want to read Brothers Karamazov, which will probably not happen till next winter break! (Who knows?).
Aftasie is busy being a cutie. She had been going to bed early until we started all sleeping in for a few days! I just couldn't bring myself to get up a 7:30 when I know that soon I'll *have* to get up earlier than that. But I am getting up at that time tomorrow, whether Aftasie is asleep or not, and I'm going to do some noisy chores if she doesn't get up soon after! ;) She is busy at the moment pulling her whole box of toys (on the couch) over. It's still full of toys! The big cardboard box is one of her favorite things to play with, even though it's as big as she is.
Speaking of news, I'm supposed to send out Christmas cards/letters. Eep. I feel less motivated as time goes on, and I'm starting to feel a little embarrassed to send them out. I already have the envelopes addressed, even! I just need to finish editing the letter and print them out.
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