Vacation time is here

I'm finally on vacation for real. I worked Saturday night until 11:00 then headed for Kentucky. When some of my coworkers heard I was driving all the way to Kentucky after work, they were rather alarmed. I told them that it really shouldn't be a big deal. I'd be there by 2:00 a.m. and I've been working until at least 3:00 a.m. for the last two weeks so my body is used to being up that late. They hadn't really thought about it that way but agreed I was right.

Of course, today I'm dead tired. You can't just come in at 2:00 in the morning and go to sleep. Sharon and I talked for 2-3 hours before we could settle down so it was a little hard to get up and go to church. Kris and Jo were already sleeping when I got here. Kris was a little peeved that we talked without her presence. It's a sister thing--you have to know everything that was said.

I've been totally enthralled by my niece who is a lot more responsive than when I saw her soon after she was born. I think 6 months (almost) is the perfect age. They don't have a fear of strangers and they coo and smile and just make you feel all warm and fuzzy.

As is normal with my family, our topics of conversation touched on the macabre. In particular, we discussed making wills in the event of our deaths and who would get custody of Selena should her parents expire. So now I must make it a priority to make a will because one never knows. I might not have a child for whom to arrange custody, but I do have my house which is as close as I get.

On my way up here last night/this morning, I got so totally sick of Christmas music. I've been listening to mostly Christmas music on my long 12 hours per night at work mixed in with some Josh Groban, Il Divo, Oprah, Who Wants to Be a Millionaire, Jeopardy, the news, and an occasional ESPN broadcast. So when I saw a highway sign about calling 511 for travel information, I did. I amused myself for about 45 minutes going through all the menu options for Tennessee then being transferred to the Kentucky system and going through that menu. I finally wearied of that and returned to Christmas music for the last 10 miles or so.

I'm already being bombarded with e-mails from next semester's professors, and I just can't make myself pay any attention to it. I've come about as close to being burned out as is possible without actually burning out. My favorite classmate told me she's come to the point where she just no longer cares about her grades as long as she passes. I must say, I'm almost there. Who wants to go to grad school anyway? I doubled my total number of B's this semester and I can't do more than just a minor wince.

As embarrassing as it is to admit, I actually developed hypertension this last semester. I decided I'm not invincible and my professors are right--it's just not healthy to work more than 20 hours (if that) while going to nursing school. Not that I can do anything about that for right now, but I do concede their point. Maybe with my reduced caffeine intake and my increased (hopefully) sleep time, I can push the BP back to a normal range for a couple of months before it gets crazy again.

Sigh of Relief

Yes, I've been missing from the blogging world for a while. I've been in survival mode and blogging just wasn't on my list of survival mechanisms. The last two weeks have looked something like this--

Last regular exam on Monday; 2 finals on Wednesday, 1 final on Thursday, 1 final on Friday, and the last final on Monday; studied all night Tuesday and Thursday nights. God bless the UTC library for staying open all night during finals! Barnes & Nobel is a wonderful place to study since it's fairly quiet and you have Starbucks right there. I've turned into a caffeine junky. Has anybody tried the gingerbread latte? I highly recommend it.

As you can see, my world has been a little stressful. But I'm finally through finals. It's a relief, but the most relieving thing was coming home to find that my grade for the OB final was FINALLY posted. It's like one of my classmates said--" Have you ever known a grown woman to cry over a stupid test grade?" My whole class has been very worried about that final. Some even cried after we took it. It was that bad. And our whole semester rides on each final. I've never been so ecstatic over a B. My standards have definitely lowered.

On a brighter note, I got two unexpected scholarships in the mail. I was speaking to one of the professors after class one day about the schedule for next semester. It turns out that I will have two days which will interfere with my work schedule. One day I'll just have to go in to work late, but the other day involves 12 hour clinical which makes work impossible. It's a bit worrisome since we've been having overtime for months and months now and their not very lenient with letting you have off. I don't know how it will work out. So she told me the director had just told her that she had some money available if she knew of anybody that needed it. She gave her my name and I got it. I'm also in the running for a scholarship that I applied for recently.

And most exciting of all, one of the professors came into our class the other week to find out if we were interested in doing some clinicals in Jamaica either next summer or fall. We'll be working in a clincial attached to an orphanage. Am I interested??? Maybe just a teeny, weeny bit!!!!

Oh yes, I'm also working 12 hour days, 6 days a week now--3:00 p.m. to 3:00 a.m. Thank God, I only had my last final to deal with since the hours increased. I guess I'd better get at least one useful thing done before I go to work again. And I haven't even thought about Christmas shopping....