I'm a genius. A tired genius.

Well, after much harassment from the parental units, the general consensus is that if I'm gonna have a blog, I need to write more often- so here goes, but it's hard! Man am I tired! I am still having a rough time adjusting to working life. The alarm goes off WAY too early, and when I get home, I'm beat! And that's just been 8-5! Tomorrow I have my first 7-7:30, so that might be rough! Last week was spent mostly in various forms of orientation class-much of which I have sat through before. I also spent a few hours a day on the units, which were pretty great. My department, "OB Services" is made up of Labor & Delivery, Post-Partum, Newborn Nursery, and Antepartum. They are split between the 10th and 11th floors, which makes for some back and forth, but really good views (as far as central Illinois scenery goes). My favorite day thus far has been in the nursery (duh). I got to take some first pictures, give first baths, and help with a circumcision(yikes!). The past two days were spent in Fetal Monitor training. Turns out I'm pretty great at fetal monitoring, and I got a perfect score on the certifying exam this afternoon! This was only really surprising because apparently I had some bad shrimp at lunch and kept having to excuse myself from the class during the afternoon...yuck!
And no, I didn't break six thousand laws by photographing a patient- don't worry, I just stole this off Google to give an example of the awesome sort of things I get to do at work! Yay!
The house is fine, I still think it's adorable. Tonight though, when the folks were here for dinner, I kept smelling a strange odor...like...pee...large smelly quantities. We all sniffed around, but were unable to locate the origin. Luckily, I purchased a pretty fancy alternating scents hot oil diffuser (read: air freshener), so I think the mysterious pee smell is gone-or at least masked by the stench of "morning walk and cleansing rain". Anywho, assuming I survive my first 12 tomorrow, I will be sure to fill you in! I got my first (emailed) pay stub today, for last week only, and I laughed out loud at how much it was! Working is pretty SWEET!

A Working Girl

So much has happened! Be prepared for a lengthy post! Over labor day weekend we went to IKEA and I got a couple finishing touches for the house...and by a couple, I mean a lot!
I got a bunch of frames, and blew up some pictures that Emily and I took. Here are a couple of sunset scenes over the bed...peaceful!
The living room! I hung the curtain rod all by myself with my new (old) power drill--THANKS GRANDPA!!! Also I am attempting to keep fresh cut flowers and some plants alive...we'll see how that goes...
The living room from the other side: I got the bookshelf on the right at a garage sale, and hung the light over the table on my own too! Also in this shot you can see the small dresser I got for $5 at another garage sale at the end of the hall that I am putting sheets and towels in.

This is another shot of the office: basically the same, except now I have a large laminated world map to make it feel more office-y.
Also, small details make me happy. Case in point, I have these hooks on my porch...which would be ideal for hanging plants on, except that would mean more things for me to have to keep alive, so instead, while at a fun antique sale down the street, I got this (middle) $35 very old lantern for $2, and hung it on a hook. Without knowing it, a collection was born! Soon after another was purchased at IKEA (the one on the left). The third was $3 at Meyer in the off season garden section. So now, I collect lanterns! (If you have any to spare, I have at least more hooks!)

Anywho, after all this fun house stuff, last week I wrapped up my job at Parkland and my nannying gig, and yesterday, I became a full time member of the working world (with benefits)!!!
While I was right about the majority of yesterday being boring (because I have already attended "welcome to Carle class" twice), I am having a GREAT TIME! It turns out that 4 other girls from my class at Parkland were also hired to the OB unit, and I really like all of them. There are 3 other girls who also seem very nice joining the OB team. We all went shopping after work for our infant stethoscope and some "nature themed" scrubs (our new dress code). The most exciting thing I found out yeasterday though, is that I might not be stuck on the night shift- in fact my boss said it may be 6 months to a YEAR before (if) I'd have to switch over! YAY!!! I get to have a life!!! Tomorrow I start actual nursing orientation, and next week I go to fetal monitoring class. I will be on the unit (wither in Post-Partum or Newborn Nursery) by Friday. This is it folks: I'm legit:

Bad News Bears

Last night, it would appear that I had another furry (albeit dead) visitor. After 3 weeks with no signs of anyone, there was a mouse in the trap in the kitchen this morning. Probably because it got cold this weekend...so there may be more to come. Not Cool. If only it were as cute as this:

Not much news

Well, as predicted, I don't have anything too interesting to write about, but a few little updates:

1- Last weekend I got up super early and went garage sale-ing. It was kind of exhilarating and I got some great stuff! I came home with about as much as I could cram into my car--a small green dresser (for towels and linens), a cool metal wine rack, a side/end table with magazine racks, and also a large bookshelf that didn't fit in the car but had to be delivered. The best part about all of this? I paid less than $20. TOTAL. Garage Sales are awesome!

2- Wednesday night I cooked dinner for mom and dad at my house. There was a minor incident involving some burnt cheese and copious amounts of smoke, but the good news is, my smoke detector does indeed work! I made potatoe and parmesean encrusted tilapia and it was pretty darn tasty! I am looking forward to hosting more dinner parties in the future!

3- Last night we had a torrential rain storm- I think it was between 3 &4 inches in a very short time! My coworker got caught in his car in a flash flood, totaling the vehicle, but he's ok, thank goodness. I stayed up long enough to determine that the gutters on my house are pretty much useless, to feel lighting quite possibly strike the lightning rod on top of my roof (or at least somewhere WAY too close for comfort) and to notice that the roof was leaking once again. This time it was over the sink so I didn't really care and went back to sleep. Notified the landlords, so maybe I'll be getting a new roof sometime soon!

That's all for now...more later!

Not much

Not a lot happening here, just waiting for my job to start. The good news is, that after grand total of 4 mice, I haven't seen any (dead or alive) since last Wednesday. The last to commit suicide didn't go down without a fight! He bled all over my floor first, and I found him with his little feet sticking out from under my stove. Not cool. Bad news: after a particularly powerful rain today, there appears to be a puddle in the utility room. A bucket has been placed and the landlords have been notified. It is only a steady drip at the moment. Clayton (the man who fixes things) says they knew about the leak, but thought it had been fixed...so he's gonna come over tomorrow to fix it. He said something about how it probably was just a shingle that got knocked loose in the storm. I'm not so sure. There are some bulging ceiling tiles that would suggest there is more than one shingle loose. We'll see. Don't expect to see much more from me for a while, my life is pretty BORING for now.

Little Ward- the world traveler

Today we drove to St. Louis, and put Emily on a plane to Africa. How did my little sister get so brave? It was hard to see her go, but I am so excited for her! She's gonna have amazing adventures and we'll see her in December. Four months is not that long, right?

Houston, we have a PROBLEM

This morning, I discovered that my house had a visitor while I was sleeping. A four legged, beady eyed, grey, squeaky visitor. That's right folks, I had a mouse (or more likely, mice). The clues have been evident for days, but didn't really add up until I found the droppings this morning. It started with a pan of brownies, covered with tin foil on my stove. A few times this week, I came into the kitchen to find that the tin foil was peeled back a bit in the corner. Blindly, I thought nothing of it, replaced the tin foil, and continued about my day. A few times when I have been sitting in the living room watching tv at night I've heard a strange noise come from the kithcne or utility room. I just figured it was a new place, and I don't know it's noises yet. And a few weeks ago, when I was over here one night painting my bedroom, I heard a strange chewing/scratching noise coming from the ceiling. I freaked out a little, but convinced myself it was just a squirrel on my roof eating a walnut. I never heard any more chewing, so I forgot about it. This morning, the tinfoil was peeled back, and there were droppings on my stove. I spent the rest of the time I was supossed to be using to get ready for church wandering the house, searching for other evidence. After church, I came home, and set four traps. Tonight when I got home, DEAD MOUSE. SICK. I put on a glove and threw it in the trash, screaming to mom on the phone the whole time! I also set poison bait all over, so if he has any friends, hopefully they will all DIE! I do not want any mice around my new beautiful couch!