Happy Decemeber 1st!!

Can you believe it’s December already?

Between Mary’s Birthday, my sisters Birthday, work, class, then Thanksgiving, and now with Christmas coming it feels like I have been in a whirlwind the last few weeks.

Mary’s Birthday was a blast and everyone had a great time! Thanksgiving, although we had a great week together with the family, went so fast, almost too fast! It’s a good thing we have more time together over the Christmas/New Years Break.

My brother bought Sam another turtle while he was home over Thanksgiving so we have a new addition to the family. The turtles name is Oscar and he is adjusting very well. My son is constantly playing with him and we take him everywhere we go in my purse!

Mary and her Ballet class are putting on the annual holiday ballet recital next Wednesday so that should be fun! I have been making costumes like crazy and should be done with all of them this weekend.
We put the tree up the Friday after Thanksgiving but I always like to take the kids to get a special ornament that they pick out each year. My mom was sick last week so I am hoping that she can come with us this weekend.

I always enjoy my classes. Adora and I have met 1 other student taking the same class we are. We also have 2 more new people coming over for a study group on Friday so our group is growing! We are thinking about doing a cookie exchange if we have the time.

I thought it might be a good idea to get some money saving tips for holiday shopping and some recipes for baking over the next few weeks for the holidays listed here. So look forward to some great tips over the next few weeks!

Happy Birthday Mary!!!

Today is Mary’s Birthday!

Wow we have a lot going on today! I have to get stuff ready for the party so I’ll share more about the party tomorrow. I just wanted to post a quick Birthday message so she can see it on the internet!

Happy Birthday Mary! 

Happy Birthday to you

Happy Birthday to you

Happy Birthday dear Mary

Happy Birthday to you!

Holiday Planning

I’m not really sure what is going on here but I had a post that I was trying to post yesterday and it didn’t seem to work!  So here I go and am trying again!

My goodness how time flies! Have any of you started to get ready for the holidays?  It always seems like there is so much going on over the holidays.  I’ve started planning but have to get everything finalized this weekend.  I have a big family and I’m waiting to hear back to see what they are doing, how many I am going to have for dinner and who is coming when, are they staying a month or a week, etc.  If I don’t hear back by everyone by Saturday you know I will be on the phone calling everyone!

My neighbors already have their Christmas decorations up!  I could not believe it!   I still have my pumpkins outside, but they are festive I think they go with Thanksgiving.

I need to start my holiday baking soon.  Does anyone want to start a recipe exchange?

My sister is having a birthday the day after thanksgiving.  Since all her friends from out of town will be back home for the holidays were going to take her out to dinner.  We usually celebrate her birthday with the family on Thanksgiving and the Birthday cake along with the pies is usually what’s for dessert.  It’s easy to have the whole family together on a holiday, that way my other sister and brother who live out of town can celebrate with us  I’m not even going to start thinking about it until after the party but that’s also on my to do list for this weekend.

My daughter has another Ballet show coming up and we need to start to get costumes together.  The dancing staff is meeting with us on Monday and we’ll probably have a few costumes to start sewing soon.

This week is going pretty well for me having to get together a party for tomorrow.  I got a lot done last weekend so only have the living room to decorate and set the table for.  I like to have a few snack trays sitting out, healthy snacks of course, but I can get that ready right before people start getting here.    We did all the grocery shopping last weekend so we are set with the food, I pick up the cake on Friday afternoon, and I picked out some cute ballet part themed cups, plates and napkins.  I wrapped up the angel for her but plan to give it to Mary in the morning so she can set it next to her cake.

Sam, he is so cute, he wants Friday to be his birthday too!  I always get him something small, but his birthday is not until January!

Steeler Sunday was not fun at all last week! The Steelers lost and that was just a horrible game. I have no idea why they played so bad.

I have to run, I’m late for getting started on my classes.

 

 

Countdown to Mary’s Party

Mary is going to be 8 years old next Friday! I just cannot believe it! They grow up so fast!

Every year I like to have a special little birthday party for her.  This year most of my planning I got done in the car to and from work.  Although it’s not finalized yet I am ahead of me schedule!  I really thought I wasn’t going to make any headway until the weekend but YIPPEE!

She loves her ballet classes and loves all her friends from Ballet so I invited all 5 of them over as well as some of the neighborhood kids over.  We will probably have a house filled with about 15 kids and their parents but it will be fun!

She loves ballet slippers so I ordered a pink cake designed in the shape of a ballet slipper. It’s so cute, I just saw the blue print today and l am probably more excited than she is since it’s a surprise and I can’t tell her yet!

I plan to pick up some ballet related stickers, pencils and stamps to give out as favors.  I was thinking about putting them in a pink satin bag that I have left over from her ballet recital.  Her ballet teacher and the rest of the parents had so many of them I just saved the left over’s and I am happy I did now I don’t have to spend money on them!

Another special little thing I like to do is get an angel with her age on it. It’s a porcelain figure that my mom use to get me when I was younger and have carried the tradition over to her.  She loves them and has them on a shelf in her room.  Every year the angel has a different dress and her hair is a little longer than the year  before.  You can see the angel here at Ruby Lane except she will be 8 not 9.

I already rearranged my next Friday RN TO BSN study group with Adora to Saturday for next week.  Adora understood and her kids are invited to the Birthday too!

Classes are going great and I can not complain.  We are learning a lot about health care and insurance and the topic I was learning about last night was about controversies around the development of health insurance.  It’s a lot of information to take in at times but I love the fact that I can go back in case I need to hear it again.  Being a nurse already some of this information I am already familiar with but getting ahead in my career I am learning more about each area.

Adora and I are getting together tomorrow for our weekly study session and we are meeting with another woman that is taking the online rn to bsn program.  I am excited to meet her and anxious to hear how she likes the classes so far.

Work is going good, although we do have many people coming in with the flu.  WE had a new girl start the other day; she seems to be doing very well especially with the older people so Margaret and I may move her over to another department.

My Yellow Lab needs to get to the vet so I need to get going.  Just wanted to wish everyone a happy week and it’s almost FRIDAY!

Happy November

Happy November 1st! Wow does time fly! Can you believe it is November already??!

I hope everyone had a nice Halloween! I hear our night shift had a crazy night last night! That’s Halloween for you!

I just wanted to let everyone know that I am guest blogging on the Be Positive Mom and you can see my interview here .

It’s a wonderful blog inspired by real stories of working moms! Make sure to stop by!

Have a great day!!!

Happy Halloween!!

I hope everyone had a nice weekend and having a great Halloween!! I didn’t know what category to put this blog post in since its pretty much a little bit of everything from the weekend!

Halloween

Halloween falling on a Monday made for a fun weekend! My mom and I took Mary and Sam trick-er-treating while my sister handed out candy. I love to see the costumes and can still see them walking from house to house.

We went on a hunted hayride this weekend. I had called ahead to make sure the event didn’t have anything too scary for kids so we wouldn’t have nightmares. It was a lot of fun, they had a lot of activities for kids, and the kids had a blast and have been talking about it ever since!

I hear Charlie Brown’s Halloween special is going to be on tonight! I haven’t said anything to Mary or Sam incase I heard wrong but if it is on they are going to be soo excited!

I make it a tradition, like my mom use to do, to bring home pumpkin cookie with orange icing the day of Halloween. They love it as much as I do! I just picked up a box of them so I know they are going to be happy! I make sure to pick up a few for my mom and sister since they love them so much! It’s just like when my sister and I were younger and we eat the cookies with some milk!

If you can believe it, we are already planning next year’s Halloween costumes! Sam wants to be Spiderman and Mary wants to be Willa from the Saturday morning cartoon Willa’s Wild Life. We go through this every year, by next Halloween we will have already changed our minds a million times, so we will see.

RN to BSN Study Session

My study session that was scheduled with Adora on Friday was productive. We spent 2 hours going over notes from last week’s classes.

We are very curious as to where this course is going and what we are going to learn in the next few weeks.

My School Instructor got in touch with me today to see how I was enjoying the class, if I had any questions, and just to see how things as a whole are going. I had nothing but good things to report and was on the phone with her for about an hour. She is a very nice person. I like the fact they call to see how smoothly you are getting through the material and the course is going for you.

Another reason I like the online course Unitek College offers is with a regular brick and mortar school all the time that students are off for Holiday Break. Some schools have from Thanksgiving to January off other schools have the first week in December to the middle of January off. That’s a lot of time off from school so I really like the fact that my courses aren’t on hold for almost a month. Maybe the instructor won’t be able to grade the tests right away but I can understand that.

I was very excited to hear that Adora was at the school the other day and met another student who is taking the same class we are. She started the course a few weeks after us but we may just get together and meet sometime.

STEELERS

Those who know me know that I am a huge Pittsburgh Steelers Fan. For those that don’t, I bleed black and gold! I have been a fan since the 70’s although I was very young at the time. I can remember my dad hanging signs for the Super Bowls and always remember that no one watched anything else besides the Steelers on Sunday. My mom, sister and I have since relocated, but have never missed a game and still hold his Sunday Ritual hosting a Steeler party every Sunday!

What a great game yesterday!!! Ben Roethlisber, at times, makes me very very nervous, but our Offense and Defense Rocks!

Mary

Mary’s Birthday is the 2nd week in November so I am starting to get ideas together. I was thinking maybe a birthday party with her friends from Ballet class. I’m still brainstorming so nothing is set in stone yet, but it’s on my to do list to finalize by the end of the weekend!

I have to get a few things done before I start classes so I have to get going.

Happy Halloween!!!!

We decided on costumes!

First, I just want to thank everyone that has written in and sent me well wishes for passing my test! That was so sweet of every one of you!  Thank you!  It means a lot!

Yes, we finally decided on costumes!  Thanks to my dad we are HUGE Pittsburgh Steeler Fans!  Although we live out of the state my mom, sister, and a few friends get together on Sundays to watch the games.  My son Sam decided on Sunday that he wants to be Brett Keisel, #99, from the Pittsburgh Steelers.  I LOVE Brett Keisel and he is my favorite player too! Although I love the beard I would really love it if he grew his hair back!  Please Brett Keisel grow the rest of your hair back!

My daughter Mary has decided that she wants to be a nurse like me. I cried, I thought it was so cute!  I think we may just have another nurse in the family and I couldn’t be more thrilled!

Since the costumes are pretty easy this year I don’t need to worry about getting costumes put together!   HUGE Stressor lifted off of me!!!

We have 2 dogs, 1 Lab and 1 Shepard, that I call my black and gold dogs.  The lab is gold and the Shepard is black so every Halloween we dress them up in Pittsburgh Steeler Jerseys!  This year I have a Steeler collar for each of them too!

Oh and the pumpkins, Mary just wanted her name carved in the pumpkin.  It was going great until I got to the Y and messed up.  Thank goodness for the other side of the pumpkin!  Sam just wanted 99 (Brett Keisel Jersey number) carved in his pumpkin so that was easier for me than carving Mary’s name and I didn’t mess it up!

Tomorrow I thought of some fun things to do with the kids such as bobbing for apples and going on a hayride.  We don’t care for the haunted houses, I don’t like being scared and hate when people chase you!

Work is going well, but Margaret has been out sick all week. I am worried about her but it’s nothing life threating so that is a good thing, she is just sick with the flu.  My daughter and I took her over some homemade soup last night.

I’m getting together with Adora this evening for a study session.  I am also going to try and get her to guest blog here so keep your fingers crossed!

Happy Halloween and have a great weekend everyone!  Don’t each too much candy!

Icecream with Sprinkles

I heard from Adora and was thrilled to hear she passed!  We made good on our promise and went out for ice cream yesterday!  We took our kids so it was fun for all of us!  My daughter and I always get ours with sprinkles and I found out that Adora’s 2^nd child loves sprinkles too! I know I sound excited about sprinkles but it’s the little things in life that make me very happy! My daughter told the man at the counter that we were celebrating mom passing school!  Although I have not passed the whole program yet I thought it was cute!

My kids have not decided what they want the pumpkin to look like yet so we have a pumpkin that is ready to go just waiting for a face.  I hope that they come up with something easy that I can create!  We are so indecisive we haven’t made up our minds on what everyone wants to be for Halloween yet.  One day they want to be one thing the next we have changed our minds again so they only have a few more days If they want me to make them a costume that will be done by Halloween!

I already started getting back into my next course Economics in Healthcare.  This is the 2^nd course in the semester and then I will be done with the first term already!  Wow time flies!  I started last night and I’m pretty sure I will do well in this area.

Adora and I made this month’s schedule for our study sessions and are going to meet once a week if we are able.

I have to help Mary with her homework before classes so I have to get going!  I hope everyone has a great rest of the week!

I PASSED MY TEST!

Guess what everyone?! I heard back about my test!

Can I get a drum roll please……………………………I PASSED!  I studied like crazy for that test, I AM SO HAPPPPPPY!

PRETTY DARN WELL  for completely teaching myself.  Of course, Adora and I studying together helped greatly but you have to want it bad enough to attend the online classes.

Wow, I was nervous there for a while that I might not hear until Monday and that would have driven me crazy!

I was worried about a few of the questions on the test but I guess I shouldn’t have been, I really knew my stuff and this proves it.

I have to get back to classes either tomorrow or Sunday but I am celebrating tonight!  What a way to end a week!

Hopefully I’ll hear from Adora soon, I’m hoping she did well and I can’t wait to get that ice-cream!

Have a great weekend everyone!

17 Days Until Halloween!

Since I took my test yesterday, I am taking a much-needed break from classes today.  After all that studying over the last 2 weeks I think I deserve it and so do my kids!

Halloween is one of our favorite holidays around here!  Today after work, the kids and I went to get our pumpkin.  We usually get a few small ones that we can paint; my son and daughter love that almost more than carving the pumpkin.

With the larger pumpkin, I usually let the kids decide how they want me to carve it.  Last year they wanted me to make the pumpkin look like Sponge Bob, it was difficult but with some creative thinking, I added a hat, some legs, painted a carrot yellow for the nose and even painted the whole pumpkin yellow.

Although I hate taking the seeds out, too slimy for me, I love to roast them so we just put them in the oven.  The kids are still deciding on what design they want for the pumpkin.

I am so excited, I should be hearing about my test soon!