Catch-up day

Today was one of my regular days to work, but there were 22 RN's on the schedule and they only needed 16 since there were several empty beds. So, I got to be put on call today...and since it is 2pm and I haven't gotten a call, it looks like I'm going to have the whole day off!

I used this much needed day off to catch up around the house (laundry, cleaning floors, cleaning leftovers out of the refrigerator, etc.). I was also able to go for a run (3 miles today), and get caught up on entering my patient information for this week's clinical hours. So, now all I have to do this weekend is study and enjoy a couple days off (this Saturday is my first Saturday off since December 20th...whoo hoo!).

We are going to have some visitors this weekend. Ryan's parents and his sister and her boyfriend will be here. Speaking of Ryan's parents...Ryan's dad, Bobby, asked me to run the Disney Half-Marathon with him next year in January. Of course, I was up for the challenge and for my first trip to Disney World! We are already registered, and I am so excited!

As for my side of the family, we are waiting anxiously and impatiently for Clara, my sister's second baby, to arrive. She is due Feb. 2, but baby Clara is already 7lbs 7oz on ultrasound, so labor will be induced if it doesn't happen on it's own by the due date. Check for more on Kim's blog, "Family of Four" (link on the right column).

School is going pretty well so far this semester. I am learning a lot in clinicals. I learned to suture on an eggplant (no human yet), I've taken off a few ingrown toenails, learned a few tips on how to soothe a screaming child after their well child checks (one good way is to hand them back to mom ;)), learned that some people will never take their medications correctly, no matter how many times you explain it, and yesterday, I drained a staph abscess...learning something new everyday!

Ryan's 27th!

Here are a few pictures from Ryan's 27th birthday celebration:

The Birthday Boy:
Yes...this would be the dogs eating cake and ice cream...not my idea.




The following is the absolute best card possible from me to him...couldn't have fit us better. Front of the card:

Hehehe....now let's zoom in on the "Honey-do" list:

I loved the card way more than Ryan did, but hey, I got a laugh out of him ;).

Happy Birthday Ryan! You are loved more than you know!

-Melissa

School Days....

Today is the first official day of the Spring semester (my final semester of grad school..God willing). I was excited and ready to get started, or at least I thought I was...As I stared at the course agenda for the semester, I began to develop a plan, then a headache. Then, about an hour into my "pretest" for a review class geared to prepare us to take the certification exam required to practice as an NP, I decided I would have been just fine for another month or two without having to revisit my life as a student. The pretest was difficult and discouraging to say the least and only magnified the amount of work I will have to put into my studies this semester while somehow managing to work, stay present in my marriage, and take care of the house and the dogs, oh and take care of myself to keep from going crazy. But people do it all the time, right?? Surely I can too. Only 4 months and 2 days til graduation!
-Melissa

Happy New Year!

We hope everyone is having a great new year so far. We didn't have a big celebration, but watched football and the ball drop at a friend's house, then headed home (I was exhausted from being at work all day). With the talk of resolutions all over the place, we (well mostly I, but Ryan hesitantly agreed) thought about something that we could do together during this very busy 4 months looming in front of us. I found a 5k and 10k (3.1 and 6.2 miles) race on May 2nd in Pensacola that we could run just one day before our 1 year anniversary and at the very end of my time in graduate school..two great accomplishments. Since I run 3-6 miles on a regular basis, I am looking forward to it. I'm hoping it will keep me on track during these cold, dark winter months when I don't want to get out of the house. Ryan on the other hand, has bad knees from football, and has never been able to stick with running for long, so this will be a challenge. We will see how it goes in working him up to 3 miles, and if he's still going strong, we will shoot for the 10k. I hope everyone will be encouraging us to stick to it, so we will have yet another accomplishment to celebrate come May 3rd!
-Melissa