Another birthday come and gone...

Wow, I can't believe I haven't written on here since September! LOL! Oh well. Not a whole lot happened in October anyway. Just worked & went to a Halloween party at my husbands' friends' house. It was fun. Lots of drinking, laughs, & craziness! Now, it is November, almost halfway through it actually. Yesterday (the 11th) was Veteran's Day, as well as my 32nd birthday. I had so much fun last night when I went out to Club Rodeo, here in Wichita, with my hubby & friend Lynn. I met up with another friend, Naomi, and she ended up buying me a Double Jager Bomb, which probably woulda knocked me on my ass, had I not already had a couple of beers. LOL! It was good, but I could definitely feel it by the end of the night (along w/ the 4 other beers I had. LOL). My husband's friend, Joel, works as a bouncer at the club, and he got me & Lynn the okay to go sit atop the bull riding ring while the cowboys rode the bucking bulls. It was freaking awesome, as I have never been that close to a rodeo bull before! Man, it was one of the best birthday celebrations I've had in a long time & I can't wait til next year! Haha! Now that my birthday has passed, I can look forward to Thanksgiving & Christmas! I can't wait for them to get here. I love the holidays, and even though my hubby is not that big on them (never really has been), I am getting so excited that I'll be able to start buying and putting up Christmas decorations soon! I also can't for the first big snowfall of the year. Hopefully it'll wait til after Thanksgiving to show up though! LOL! Well, my brain is starting to go to mush, so I think I'll end this here, but I just wanted to drop y'all a line & let ya know I'm still alive & doing well! :) Take care & stay safe!

Later gators,

*Jolene*

New beginnings...

New beginnings is the title of this entry, and it definitely is for us! We finally did it. We have moved! After almost two years in that old place, we are now in our new place. :) I'm so flippin' happy! We moved into our new apartment on Thursday, the 15th. It only took us 3 hours to get everything loaded, driven to the new place, & unloaded...thanks to the help of two friends of one of Travis' other friends. It was awesome to be done so quickly! I was just so happy to get out of that mobile home park (or as a friends' husband calls it "tornado target") & into our new place! We have a one bedroom apartment in the city, right smack dab in the middle of everything. And I love it! The location of the apartment is awesome. I am only about 10 minutes away from work (I guess that could be bad, too, huh? LOL), and only about 10-15 minutes away from all the fun stuff to do in town....well, at least along one of the major streets in town that is. LOL! Seriously though, there is a Barnes & Noble just across the street from me! OMG, I am in HEAVEN w/ that! Hehe! :) My hubby is in heaven, what with all the restaurants surrounding us, even though I told him that we need to stop eating out so much.....yeah, like that's gonna happen now! Haha! Seriously though, my husband and I are so happy to be where we are. He's even closer to where his friends live, so that makes it even better for him. Plus, we don't feel like we live in the boonies any more. I'm just excited to have a new (nice) place to decorate! Ah yes, I love decorating. Hmm, maybe I should've gone into Interior Design instead of Nursing? Nah.......I don't think I could decorate for others. Just myself. LOL! Back to the subject. This one bedroom apartment is actually huge, compared to others that we've seen, so we have TONS of wall space to work with. Which means photos, photos, photos galore! :) We even have our own "private" entrance. I put that in parenthesis because you walk in our front door & have to walk up a flight of stairs to get to our living room. LOL! The walls around the staircase though are going to be plastered w/ photos though, so it's nice to have that! My husband has actually already started to put stuff up on the walls, so I need to get my shiz together & start coming up w/ ideas! :)

It is also finally beginning to feel like Fall! The leaves have begun changing colors & falling off the trees, the weather has officially cooled down (seriously, it was like 50 degrees the last 2 days!), and the state fair is in full swing! I absolutely LOVE Fall. It is one of my favorite seasons during the year. I love the colors, the smells, the holidays, the sports (hello FOOTBALL!), and the fashions! I mean seriously, can it get any better than jeans & hoodies!? I absolutely love throwing on my favorite pair of jeans & my Nebraska hoodie when I go out about on the town or to visit friends. I also love being able to sit in my home, with the windows/doors wide open, letting the cool air flow its way into my home. Especially since that cuts down on the electric bill, which makes my hubby happy! ;) As a matter of fact, I'm sitting in my living room right now, w/ my sliding glass door open (screen shut) letting the cool air flow in. I just wish there was a little more of a breeze than there is. Oh well, I guess you can't get everything you wish for. Hehe!

Well, I think that's all I have to post for right now! I'm going to go and finish watching the rest of my football game (GO HUSKERS!), but I will post again soon! I hope y'all are doing well & enjoy the Fall weather!! :) Take care & stay safe!!

Later gators,

*Jolene*

A Lot On My Mind

The title of this blog says it all. I have a lot on my mind & I just don't know where to start. Everything is starting to get jumbled up in my brain & I'm starting to get depressed again. And not just a little depressed, a LOT depressed. To the point where I don't even want to get out of bed. But, I have to because I have to go to work, so we can afford the move in 12 days...and even that is starting to look like a challenge. My last paycheck was about $200 less than we were expecting, so now we will probably have to drop off part of the furniture package we have on hold for the move, and will probably eat Ramen noodles for 2 months. I'm just so frustrated & upset. I want to punch something. I want to break something. I want someone to hurt as much as I am right now (physically & mentally) that I am picking fights with my husband just so I can scream at him, in hopes that it makes me feel better. Yeah, I'm a great wife aren't I? (said sarcastically) I just don't know what to do anymore. I feel like I'm rolling downhill w/o anything to stop me from hitting that rocky bottom at the end. That's the part that just makes me want to curl up under the covers and never show my face again. I hate this. I really do.

I also hate the fact that I'm feeling jealous of some of my friends. College has started back up for the year, and some of my best friends are back hitting the books again, moving further along their paths to their futures, which are definitely looking bright for them. I am happy for them (really, I am), but I wish I could be doing that too. Yeah, I managed to get a start on my "career" but it looks like I may be stuck where I work for quite a while, as I can't afford to take the next step (LPN class) to further it along. Even if I was able to get a grant or loan or something like that, it wouldn't be enough for me to be able to take this class. Plus, I can't afford to take the time off of work to take this class, so yeah, I'm in a lose-lose situation right now. God, I'm going to be 32 years old this year, and I'm just starting my journey toward becoming a nurse!? What the hell was I thinking!? I can't do this. I'm going to be like these ladies I work with, and be a freaking CNA for 20 years. I definitely don't think I can do that. Hell, my body is already telling me that this is something it can't/doesn't want to handle...and if I can't handle this, how can I handle being a nurse? I really messed up with this career choice, didn't I? I feel like such a failure. Here I am, going to be 32 years old in just a couple months, and I have nothing but a CNA license to show for it? Hell, I don't even have kids yet & probably won't be able to for another couple of years, because, yeah, you guessed it, we can't afford it right now. I know, I know. No one can really "afford" to have kids & if you tell yourself you'll have them when you can afford to, you'll never have kids. Well you know what, if it was meant to happen, it would've happened already. I might as well give up that dream too. Hell, I might as well just give up on all my dreams and face reality. Which is, I'm not going anywhere for quite a while, so I might as well get used to it. I guess the only thing I have to look forward to is this move to a new place, and even that is beginning to weigh heavily on my thoughts..........

Sorry for the break...

Hello all!

Sorry it's been so long since I last wrote, but so much has happened over the last month, that it's hard to keep up with everything. LOL. I guess the biggest thing would be that I passed the state board and am a Certified Nurse Aide. Yay! I was so glad to get that card in the mail....I think my hubby was even prouder. LOL! :) I am actually currently working as a CNA too. A couple days after I got my certification, I applied at Life Care Center of Andover (KS) and got an interview! :) The very next day I get the call that they would like to offer me a position with their facility. I was so happy, as my old job was coming to an end very soon, so of course I accepted the offer! I have been at LCCA for about 3 weeks now, and it's going alright. You definitely don't realize just how much CNA's actually do until you start working as one! It's a lot of hard work & you better make sure you are in shape for that! I sweat so much at work, I'm surprised I don't come home soaked to the bone. LOL! My feet & back however, are still getting used to this new career choice! It's been a lil over a year since I last worked on my feet for 8 hours at a time, so yeah, my feet are screaming at me by the end of the night. Most days my back is ok, but then there are some days that I swear I won't be able to straighten up it hurts so bad! The nursing home that I work at is pretty nice, but there are some things that could be better. They are still completely understaffed (CNA wise) so we definitely run our butts off when we are working! Most of the residents are nice & easy to help/get along with, but then there are those that are stubborn as mules & will drive you up the wall! But, I guess that's probably everywhere. LOL! But, things are going well & I'm starting to get used to this new career, so that makes me happy. :)

I guess the next thing would be that my husband and I will be moving on September 15th. We found an amazing apartment complex that we REALLY like & have put down a deposit to hold the apartment for us. The apt complex is centrally located to everything, and is actually only about 10-15 minutes away from my work, depending on traffic. I love the fact that right across the street is a Barnes & Noble! Hehe! There are also some restaurants within walking distance, which is awesome. I can't wait until we move. We are even getting brand new furniture from Ashley Furniture! We have picked out a new couch, chair & ottoman, coffee table, & side tables for the living room, & we will have a new mattress & box spring for the bedroom. I can't wait to get them, but we won't until we move in. Makes no sense in bringing the new stuff to this "dump" that we are living in right now! We are also probably going to buy a new dining room table & chairs from Ashley Furniture after we move in. Luckily, it comes with amenities (fridge, stove, & dishwasher), so we don't have to worry about bringing anything from our current place to the new place. We'll just have to buy a new microwave, but that's not too bad! I'm just really looking forward to decorating the new place. I love doing stuff like that & have lots of ideas! We will even have a Bed, Bath, & Beyond across the street from the new place, so um, yeah...I'm going to be there A LOT! Hehehehehehe! :)

Well, it's getting late & my brain is starting to shut down, so I'm going to end this here, but hopefully I'll post again soon! I hope y'all are doing well & I'll talk to you soon! Take care & stay safe!!

Later gators!

*Jolene*

What a (wonderful) day!

Well, this morning was the CNA state board exam. It was 100 questions long & I have to say, some of the questions were weird!!! LOL. I think I did pretty good. I know I missed 2 for sure, and probably 3 or 4 other questions, but I believe you can miss up to 30 questions and still pass the test. I'll find out in 4-6 weeks how I did...hopefully it won't actually take that long. A lot of people I've talked to have said they found out their results within 10-14 days of taking the test, so here's hoping that'll happen with me! *crosses fingers* The test was in Emporia, so my husband offered to drive me & my friends/classmates up there. It was definitely an interesting trip up there, and the trip back...OMG, I think my husband was screaming "HELP ME!" on the inside! LOL! One of the girls that rode up with us, ended up riding back home w/ another classmate of ours, so it was just me, my hubby, and my friends Jessica & Shelby. And oh my, was that a fun trip home! I don't think I have laughed as hard as I did on that trip home in a LONG time (seriously, I had tears streaming down my face & my head was pounding). OMG, the conversations we had! We are ALL over the place! For instance, we'd start out by talking about burping/belching & slowly progress toward the different kinds of farting & then talk about puking, and whatever else would pop into our heads. It was HILARIOUS!! I have actually dubbed Shelby, Jessica, & myself the new Three Musketeers. :-) Hehe! It was definitely fun & I can't wait to get together with them again soon (just the 3 of us-sorry baby!) and hang out. All in all, it actually turned out to be quite a wonderful day (beautiful weather out too) and I was sorry to see it end, even thought I knew it had to eventually. I even got to meet my husband's cousin, Abby, for the first time since I got together with him (almost 10 years ago) and she was pretty cool. Didn't get to spend much time with her, as I had to take the test & then we left for home shortly after that, but it was still nice. She's a sweet girl & hopefully my hubby & I will be able to go up to Emporia again sometime for a longer visit...and maybe to use her pool before the summer is over. ;-) Haha!

So again, today was a wonderful day & I look forward to many more fun memories like this one in the future...until next time, take care & stay safe! :-)

Later gators!!

*Jolene*

I survived :)

Well, I did it...I survived my CNA class! :) Yup, today was the last day of the class & after a month (well, 20 days), it was bittersweet! I was happy that the class was over & that I passed it (with a 98% no less!), but I will miss seeing some of my classmates every day during the week. Luckily, I have their phone numbers & hopefully will be able to keep up with them on Facebook. My instructor was awesome too! Her name was Chung Martin, and she made the class so enjoyable! She was "strict" in her teaching, but she still made the class fun & we definitely cracked up a few times w/ the stories she'd tell us! :) Plus, on this last day, she brought us donuts, so that was AWESOME! Hehe! :) I'm just glad that I don't have to worry about going to school during the morning/afternoon & then having to go to work a couple of hours later, come home, and try to find some time to study before falling asleep & doing it all over again. LOL! All in all though, it was a good experience & I'm just ready to get the state exam out of the way. It is next Tuesday, so I still have a week to wait & study my stuff some more, but I'm certain I'll do fine. I just want to get it done & get that certificate in the mail, so I can begin a new chapter in my life! :) I'm just so proud of myself & my other classmates, especially one of my besties, Jessica, who took the class with me. She did so good & I'm so happy for her! Can't wait to see her start a new chapter in her life as well! :)

Well, my tummy is starting to growl, so I'm going to go and grab an apple or something to eat, and I'll post again soon. Until next time, take care & stay safe!! :)

Later gators!

*Jolene*

It's been a crazy, LONG week

Wow...it is Saturday & I survived my 1st week of my CNA class. And what a week it has been! Not only do I go to class Mon-Fri 9am-3:30pm, but I also work Mon, Weds, & Fri 5:30-9:30pm, so that makes for LONG days...plus, I have to find time to study in there! Granted, I can study on my days off of work (Tues & Thurs), but on those days, all I feel like doing is going home after class & take a nap! LOL! However, I don't, as I know that I won't be able to fall asleep that evening, so I just suck it up & HOPE to get some kind of studying done. LOL. I guess I can sleep in on the weekend...which is exactly what I did today! Although, I did wake up with a stinking migraine, which was NOT fun. Hopefully that doesn't happen tomorrow!

Anyway, as I said this was my first week of the CNA class. We have been doing a lot of book reading, video watching, and some lab work. We have learned how to properly turn a person in their bed, how to properly make the beds, how to use the mechanical lift, how to assist a person using the gait belt, and how to move them out of bed & into a wheelchair/onto the toliet. It's actually a lot more information to keep in your brain then it sounds like, but I've enjoyed it so far. We have clinicals in about 2 weeks, where we will go to an actual nursing home/assisted living facility (not sure which it was) and work with actual nurses & actual residents, so that's definitely going to be interesting! We will be split into Group A & Group B, and go on opposite days, so hopefully my friend, Jessica, who is taking the class with me, will be in my group. We don't know what group we'll be in yet, as our instructor hasn't assigned them yet. LOL. But, we will only go to clinical 3 days a week, so we actual get 2 free days during the week, which will be AWESOME! :) I just hope I don't screw up during clinicals, as this will be a big part of our grade to pass the class. *fingers crossed* We took our first quiz earlier this week, and I passed it with a 98%. I got 1 question wrong...which upset me, because it was the first quiz and we'd had a review just a few minutes beforehand. I mean, c'mon brain! REMEMBER STUFF!!! Our instructor even mentioned to us that the quizzes/class will get tougher as we go on, so I'm like CRAP!! I know that I just have to believe in myself & believe that I'll do well, but some days it's just so hard to believe that...especially when I'm completely exhausted from lack of sleep. I swear when this month is over, I am going to sleep for another month! LOL! I honestly just want to get through this class & get the state exam over with & find out that I pass & be able to start working as a CNA. Especially since my current job is on the line, as the position I have will no longer be available come August 23rd. Just another thing I have to worry about, huh? I try not to think about it, but it's always there in the back of my mind. Oh well, guess that's life, huh? :)

So again, I managed to make it through my first week of CNA class, and I do look forward to the next 3. I know they will go by fast & it'll be over before I know it, which will suck cuz I won't get to see one of my besties every day, but in the end, I'll feel very accomplished & that's what counts, right? :) And speaking of accomplishments, I think I'm going to end this here & go study my book & workbook while I have the chance. So, until next time, take care, stay safe, & I'll talk to you soon! Later gators! :)

*Jolene*