i get by with a little help from my friends

Today was cleaning day at the old apartment. I was dreading this day since the day I moved in, but three of my wonderful friends (Meggan, James, and Phil) came over to help me. I wiped the smudges off walls, cleaned cobwebs, and was the general organizer. Meggan cleaned my entire bathroom and wiped down the kitchen cupboards. Phil cleaned all of the windows, vacuumed, and cleaned on top of the cupboards and behind the fridge. James ran to the store for supplies, cleaned smudges off walls, and packed all of Kim's remaining things into boxes.

So here's the nasty part...

Behind the fridge had not been cleaned for at least a year before we moved in. I know this because when we pulled the fridge out, we found old dog food on top of the fridge (we don't have a dog). There was about 3" of dust bunnies plastered to the floor. In the dust we found old cigarettes (we don't smoke and none of our friends do either), a mardi gras baby, a broken fly swatter, and a magnet and potholder that I had lost. There was a 1.5" gap between the wall and floor. Now I know where all the bugs came from!

I will be forever indebted to Phillip because he got right in there and tackled the mess! It was immaculate when he was done (minus the walls that already were missing chunks of paint). Not only should they return my entire deposit, but they should pay me for leaving the apartment in better condition than I'd found it!

I also have to thank Joe and Tony for helping me move my "beast" of a sleeper sofa (as they termed it), my futon frame, my bed's box spring, and my bed frame to my new apartment! I don't know what I would have done without their help and Joe's trailer! It took us about 5-10 minutes just to get the sofa out of the old apartment's door and I had to remover the door from the wall before it would even work at all! Not to mention the bed kept falling out as we were taking it down the stairs!

Of course I have the amazing Ryan Babbitt to thank as well. He came last Monday and spent 10+ hours helping me move most of my stuff to my new apartment. It as a good experience as a couple because it showed us how we react (and react to each other) in a potentially frustrating situation. It was fun, though. We laughed a lot of the day despite my ineptitude at moving large furniture. Good thing Ryan is a big strong man!

My friends are so amazing! I'm glad to have their help!

Jesus! Thank you for giving me such wonderful friends! I feel so blessed to be surrounded be these awesome people!

kim's wedding!

For the past two and a half years Kim and Andrew have been two of the best friends ever! I have loved living with Kim for the years, but alas, all good things must come to an end.

Their wedding was so amazing! They are obviously so in love and were so excited to get married!

I loved being a bridesmaid and joining in on the fun! I have never been one before and I loved it! She had nine bridesmaids, which the deacon thought was hilarious! He kept making comments about "the parade." Kim's comment was "So when someone has only one bridesmaid, people don't say 'I see you have no friends.'"

What an amazing day! Here's a sample! Also see pictures on Sarah's blog.

rockstar

Just saying! He's amazing! Photo credits go to Mary Pometto complements of Facebook!

Ryan is in a band called Vow of Silence and they are really good! They had a concert on Friday and I had so much fun!

first meal

I had my first meal at my new place today! It was shrimp ramen. Yum! It's been years since I've had that stuff!

Here's the catch: my things are split between two apartments right now.

Old Apartment: _________________New Apartment:
bedding _______________________pants
scrubs ________________________shower stuff
shirts _________________________bras
underwear _____________________morning stuff
dishes, flatwear __________________pantry food
pots and pans ___________________hanging clothes
cleaning supplies _________________coats
fridge/freezer ___________________food books
bookshelves ____________________plastic bags
bed __________________________pillows
couches _______________________towels
desk _________________________table and chairs

So you can see my dilemma when I had made the ramen (with the one pan I thought to bring over with me) only to realize I had no sliverware or dishes!

Sad day! Thankfully Kim was home and gave me a set of plastic silverware, so I ate out of the pot with a plastic fork. And I had to leave the dishes in the sink because I don't have a sponge or soap to clean it with!

What a mess!

moving out moving in

June 15th I became the tennant of two apartments. I am to move out of my current apartment by June 30th, and in the meantime have 15 days to move into the new one. Well....it's slow going. I find myself reluctant to move anything at all unless I know I won't need it in the near future (such as winter coats, which I surprizingly have not moved yet).


Yesterday afternoon before work I spent 2 hours moving probably about 300lbs worth of boxes down 2 flights of stairs and up 1 flight of stairs to their new home. Wednesday, I purchased a kitched table and chairs which I need to pick up this afternoon and a lovely stainless steel trashcan. Tuesday I bought three coffee tables.



It's been a great 2.5 years living with Kim (and sometimes Meggan and sometimes Chelle). I am sad to move away but excited to see where life will take me next. It's a great adventure.

playing christina

Last Sunday after Mass my Goddaughter and her older sister Libbie disappeared to the third flood playroom for about 30 minutes. When they returned, Cecilia (my Goddaughter) was sporting a very close cut new hair-do. Her mom was pretty sure who had done it, but Libbie wasn't confessing.

However, during the family rosary, when it was Libbie's turn to lead a decade, she burst into tears and cried "I pray that my mommy isn't mad at me anymore for cutting Cecie's hair!" To which Sue replied "Well, your mother Mary isn't mad at you, so keep praying!"

Apparently, she was "playing Christina" (my wonderful cosmetologist friend who happens to cut their hair as well).

For a punishment, Sue had Christina cut Libbie's hair short so she couldn't wear "pretties" in it anymore. And Christina did a great job with Cecie's hair - it looks intentionally short.

Pictures when I have the opportunity!

in charge

I have worked at Blank for a little over a year now and was recently asked to be a preceptor for a nursing student! It was a big honor for me and I am really excited about it!

Today the nursing student surprised me by showing up to work with me. It was such a busy day! I didn't even get to eat or sit down at all until two hours before my shift was over! Even then I only had a 30-minute time slot to get that done.

But overall I think it went well. She is going to work with me until the beginning of July.

So yay for being a preceptor!

how to make your lover happy

Step 1: Buy a fun cake pan


Step 2: Bake the cake



Step 3: Make a large amount of cream cheese frosting



Step 4: Frost the cake (trying not to make it look like a giant mushroom - I failed)



Step 5: Present cake to lover



Step 6: Watch lover enjoy cake



Happy 27th Birthday Ryan! You're amazing!

i had malaria?

Recently, the Blood Center of Iowa has hit critical levels in their blood supply. So, they held a blood drive and work and I decided to participate.

I made the appointment for 8:15am because I was supposed to work the night before. However, I was sent home on call at 2am. So I woke up at 7:45 am to reschedule my appointment for 11:45am and was unable to go back to sleep, so I made Ryan a birthday cake (see above).

When I got to work, I went through the screening process where you have to answer a page full of questions about your medical, travel, and sexual history, etc. When it came to the part about traveling, I had been to England and India within the past three years.

Apparently, if you've had a fever in India in the past 3 years, you cannot give blood because it's possible that you had malaria! Who knew? Since I had a temp of 102 F for 5 days, I have to wait until next June before giving blood again.

Sad day.

transient stress

I have been stressed out for a week because of what had to be done for school today:

Write clinical community assessment paper
Create a clinical project breastfeeding booklet
Present booklet to pregnant teenagers
(Answer questions about something I've never done in my life (breastfeeding)
Read 200 pages in the textbook
Study for quiz over above pages
Create a presentation on Chapter 21 and present it to class, lead class discussion, answer questions
Make muffins and chop a watermelon for a snack for my classmates
Create a rough draft of a 12-15 page paper on my clinical project for a peer to review

I think that's it. So I did everything but the last one. I figure I can email it to my peer after I finish and she can write on it then. Lots of stress with that plus clinical plus full-time job plus the rest of my life. But I did it!

Stress is so transient! I feel really happy and excited now! Go figure.

dependent

Today I realized just how pitifully dependent I am on my cell phone.

The battery was dying, so I shut it off (which was hard enough- what if someone would have called?!?). When I got home, I rushed to my charger and my phone would not charge or even turn on.

Frantically, I ran around the apartment trying different outlets, but the results were the same. A dismal black screen reminding me of how horrible my life was about to become.

Thankfully Chelle was home, so I borrowed her phone and called my sister in a panic. She suggested I try pushing the battery closer to the phone, which didn't work. I tried to take the battery out, but I couldn't figure it out. So, wise little Emily suggested I go down to the Verizon store.

At the store, my new hero was able to fix my phone. He said the battery had frozen, but he fixed it - free of charge, of course. As I left the store I blurted out "Thank you so much! You're my HERO!"

I am such a dork and way too dependent on my personal technologies.

God bless America!