School again tomorrow

Tomorrow I have class again. It will be a lab, so I'll have to go in my uniform. I don't know how we'll get caught up on the three days of material we missed. I don't think we just get to skip the stuff. Who would want a nurse who had done that?

K is getting pretty excited about starting kindergarten next week. My schedule will allow me to wait for the bus with the girls on the first, second, and third day of school. They'll have to go to daycare before school on the fourth day of school.

Thank goodness my power came back on before classes started back up. I'd hate to have to go to class without being able to get a shower at home.

Power back on after Hurricane Irene

My power went out during the storm on Saturday afternoon. It came on this afternoon, two days later. I got a generator at Home Depot when I went Sunday morning to pick up some bar and chain oil for Mr. K's chainsaw. They actually had generators and were bringing them up to the front, one after another. One after another, customers were grabbing them up and buying them. I couldn't call Mr. K to ask if he wanted one because our phones were dead. They'd be gone by the time I went home and asked him and came back, so I just grabbed one after making sure I could return it if Mr. K was appalled by the purchase. Since I've got the minivan, I was easily able to make room for it in the back, and a couple guys loaded it.

Mr. K was appalled since he had no idea what to do with it. From talking to the salesman, it seemed like a lawnmower engine with outlets. Mr. K knows how to run the lawnmower, and I know how to plug things into outlets. Mr. K told me not to return it. He got it gas, and while I was trying to figure out what to do with it, Fred (Mr. T's best friend) and his wife, Margaret, came by to see how we were doing after the storm. Fred can fix anything pretty much, and he was able to show us how to get the generator going and hooked up to our two freezers and our refrigerator/freezer. That was pretty much all we hooked up to it. From time to time, we added the coffee maker, the cell phone charger, a single electric burner, my mom's curling iron, and we used it to recharge our portable DVD player.

So, the contents of our fridge and freezer were saved this time, unlike after Hurricane Isabel, when our power was out for six days.

Class was cancelled for today, and it is for tomorrow, too. It was also cancelled Saturday. It's a little scary because I don't think the professors will reduce the material we'll need to cover; they'll just go over it faster, and it's already too fast right now. I need to go read some stuff for class.

Hurricane

I'm not having my Saturday class tomorrow because my school cancelled classes for the weekend. I've been downloading powerpoint presentations from the class's Blackboard area, and I'm trying to get my new laptop fully charged. The professor's recommended we do this in case the power goes out. We can still go over some of the class material while our batteries last.

Since I don't have class tomorrow and the storm isn't supposed to get bad until the afternoon, Mr. K and I will spend some of the morning at his office working on the past due stuff and payroll. I hope to get it all done quickly so I can return to my classwork. I can't believe how much reading these classes require (plus viewing stuff on the computer). The nursing program also cuts off the grade of "C" at 80 %. Yikes! I've got a lot of work to do.

Earthquake

Some of this text is lifted from the Trixie Clubhouse.

I was in a computer lab at my second day of nursing school. At first it sounded like wind. Then one lady said it was the air conditioner. It got louder and the building shook. I said if that was the air conditioner, the building wouldn't still be standing. After the tremor stopped, we evacuated out to the lawn where we'd go for a fire alarm. We weren't exactly sure what to do since we had only discussed fire alarms and what to do for a tornado. No one was expecting an earthquake.

People tried calling their families while we waited, but few calls would go through. We were finally told we could go back inside, and the lessons continued.

This was the second time I've been aware I was in an earthquake. It was much stronger and longer than the first time. As far as I can tell, my home suffered no damage.

Now we wait for Hurricane Irene. From what I know of the current path, we are expecting rain more than wind, but the forecasts can change quickly. I think it is expected to get here on Saturday.

May password protect blog

I'm probably going to password protect this blog. I see from much of the on-line paperwork for the nursing program, that I pretty much can't write a word about it (not even the name of the school) on line. I can't write about anything related to patients or instructors, even if I make them anonymous. So in order to keep from slipping up, I think I'll require a password to view this blog. I still won't write about anything I believe my school's policy prevents me from discussing, but if I accidentally slip up, it won't be publicly available. That's probably the best policy.

I guess it's going to make my blog during the years of nursing school pretty uninteresting. I'll just have to keep my posts mostly about my family. Once I set a password, e-mail me if you want it. I'm sure I'll share it as long as I do not think you are from my school.

Pressure cooking a cockerel

I am pressure cooking a cockerel. We have a few extras this year from when Frenchie hatched a setting of eggs.

My mom is coming tomorrow to stay for a couple weeks, until school starts for the kids. Mr. K wants to make dinner for her. He's calling it "yard stew." He wants to use ingredients we get from our yard. I'll be donating the broth from this chicken (and probably some meat).

We'll be scavenging the garden for things like beans and tomatoes. I have Swiss chard and some burdock root. I have onions and carrots. I have a small kabocha squash (Japanese pumpkin). I have basil and thyme. He may dig up day lily roots. He's letting me use salt, pepper, and vegetable oil to put in my broth, so he'll allow a few things we don't scavenge.

Three days left

I have three days left of no school. My mom arrives Sunday to help with the kids. I went to campus this afternoon to get my parking sticker. I put that on the back of my car. It about killed me to deface my car in such a manner, but it must be done.

I'm still working my way through the list of all that must be done before my mom comes. The sheets for the hide-a-bed she will use are in the dryer right now. I got her a new towel, hand towel, and two washcloths yesterday. The ones we use aren't in good enough condition for company. I need to clear out the back-to-school stuff for the kids from my living room, where she will be staying. I don't think I'll bother with much actual cleaning unless I can get the kids to help.

I've started doing some of the reading for the first two weeks of class. We were told what that reading would be so we could get an early start on it. The kids don't make it easy, though.

Training Wheels OFF!

We took off K's training wheels on her bike yesterday. (It's about time.) She's working on getting the balance thing down. At first she had trouble getting on and off the bike without falling, but that's going much better. Her steering leaves a lot to be desired. She's hit trees, bushes, lawn chairs, and the picnic table. It's as though she's aiming for them.

Anyway, she's come a long way quickly, but she's hit a new bump in the road. She fell off the bike earlier this afternoon and landed on a yellow jacket. She got stung. Now her hand is sore and she's not so keen on bike riding.

Mr. K's Pineapple Upside down cake

Two weekends ago, Mr. K made this pineapple upside down cake in a Dutch oven over charcoal briquettes in our fire pit. It was fantastic.

I won a door prize

I won a door prize at the nursing school meeting I had this afternoon. There were about thirty of us there, and five prizes. I got one of the two nicer prizes. Mine included a stethoscope, notepads, body lotion, stethoscope tag, badge clip, ink pens, and a couple highlighters. I never win anything so it was especially nice. The girl next to me never does, either, and she won a medical definition book.

Pictures from two weeks ago

Two weeks ago, we went to Natural Bridge with J's Girl Scout troop for the day. The white box painted on the rocks marks where George Washington was surveying the area and carved his initials into the rock long before he was president.

K's favorite part of the trip was the room with all the butterflies flying around. She loved holding butterflies and having her picture taken. We also went to a wax museum and a toy museum while we were at Natural Bridge. The whole area is quite a tourist trap, but the natural bridge itself is amazing.

N hated the trip, which surprised me. He was the only boy that came, and that must have made it worse.

N, K, and I remain home

Mr. K and J went to the mountains this morning to explore a spot that N's Boy Scout troop my use for a backpacking trip this October. N did not want to go. I would have love to have gone, but then K would have had to have gone, too, and no one wants to carry her through the mountains. She's still to small to keep up.

The funny thing is that it was J and not N that went with Mr. K. She'd have made the better Boy Scout.

Almost out of time

School begins in two Mondays. I have a required meeting next Tuesday for a couple hours. I've got almost everything done except there is something called a "skills bag" that I don't have yet because the student book store doesn't have them yet. My supplies will cost well over $1200 for the term (books, uniforms, stethoscope, blood pressure cuff, background check). It's expensive but not unexpected. I'm going the cheapest way possible to become a nurse, too, by picking a community college.

My mom arrives on the 21st in order to take care of my kids for the final two weeks before their classes begin. My school begins two weeks before the kids'. I think I get an extra week of Christmas vacation in January, and I'm guessing I'll be done for the year in May about a month before they finish up in June. I'm guessing I'll take three on-line classes next summer to get them out of the way. It's possible I'll be able to knock one out next term because I think I only have one nursing class (but it's a lot of credits) next term.

Tired of "Epic"

N came back from Boy Scout camp using the word "epic" all over the place.

J is starting to use it, too, and it's driving me nuts. K is also using it and saying things like, "epic in a bottle." I think N must have taught her that.

Harry Potter

Last night I took N and J to see the last Harry Potter movie at the theater.

I have always wanted to see one at the theater so I could enjoy the special effects as they were intended. I'd only seen the first two movies on DVD, but since I've read the books at least two times per book (earlier books more times), I figured I'd still know what was going on.

I had heard the movie wasn't doing well, and I wanted to wait until the crowds would be down before we saw it. I figured enough time had passed. I was right. The kids and I were the only ones watching the movie, so we were able to talk through the movie, and J explored the theater for a bit during the showing.

It wasn't great, but I am so glad to have finally seen a Harry Potter movie at the theater. It's also good that it was the last one, or the kids would be nagging me to see the next one at the theater, and I'll pass on that. Last time we saw a movie at the theater was Percy Jackson and the Lighting Thief. Before that it was the Nancy Drew movie. I probably got one to two years or more between theater movies.