Well, I hadn't realized I haven't posted in this blog since 2012. SO MUCH has happened since then! For one thing, I moved to Florida, and back to Virginia. Moved in my parents house for a month before landing a job in a hospital and moved to the mountains ( which, I normally hate haha.) Also, I turned 30 T_T I have been busy moving & all that jazz
FAVORITE CANDIES!
1) Sour Patch Kids ( reminds me of when I was little going to visit my Dad and he would always have some cool candy for me. My favorite was this blue gooey sugar stuff that looked like a little aquarium. Dad always bought the coolest candy. Thanks for the diabetes Dad- GOSH.) But for real, I love Sour Patch Kids, Swedish Fish & Reese Pieces. I remember going to the pool in the summer and getting an individual Swedish fish for like 5 cents and Iwould put them in the bottom of the pool for giggles lol . I also thought those long stripes were hammerhead sharks because I'm irrational like that.
2) Peppermint all the things
3) Reeses Pieces ( or anything Chocolate Peanut Butter)
4) Swedish Fish
5) Midnight Milky Ways
5 Things I Absolutely Hate!
1) BUGS ( why I love fall- Bugs return back to Hell, where they belong.
2) Potatoes
3) Mushrooms ( unless fried or wrapped in bacon)
4) Spagetti
5) Tomatoe Sauce ( Marinara, whatever. ) IF you give me the option of white pizza or Red, I'm picking the white lol
5 Favorite Bands Now, Past Present whateve
1) Blink 182
2) Black Veil Brides/ Blood on the Dancefloor & Panic At the Disco
3) VOICEPLAY, PENTATONIX, MANHEIM STEAMROLLER & HOMEFREE!
4) Toby Mac & Newsboys
5) Journey
5 Favorite Soundtracks
1) Nightmare Before Christmas
2) LaLa Land
3) Moana
4) Frozen
5) Joseph and the Amazing Technicolor Dreamcoat
5 Favorite Movies
1) Nightmare Before Christmas ( Love Zero, and I only watch it once a year TBH lol)
2) All the pirates movies minus the third one
3) Any Disney movie ever created. But it If HAVE to narrow it down....hmm... LADY AND THE TRAMP & BAMBI!
4) Fieval (Sp) Movies. Watched them as a kid and loved them <3
5) Any Christmas Movie, ELF is my favorite - I even saw it on Broadway <3
Tuesday, March 28, 2023
Sunday, September 23, 2012
A letter to my former self ( Nursing Student)
Hey there Kym! Hope life is serving you well! I am writing to you on the upside of Nursing School ( Smile that means you made it!) It was SO tough, but you buggered through it! You work at the local nursing home ( I know, hard to beleive, but its not to bad.) Let me tell you being a nurse is....ok. Its not what you expected but then agian it might be because you are in LTC and your heart isn't really there. But that's ok too! Here is my advice to you ( or others who may be reading this) on how to survive nursing school.
You are working 2 jobs ( 1 full time, 1 part-time) and going to school fulltime, you sleep in your car between jobs and you see Mom and Pete once every 2 weeks, when you actually do make it home. You barely squeak by your first semester but you make it!
Second Semester is the hardest for you. Pappy's health is rapidly declining and you go visit 2-3 times that summer to Pennsylvania.That last time you visit give him the biggest, tightest hug and kiss you can ever imagine, listen to him read you the bible, give him the card and go down to the giftshop where you will get a penn state pin and pillowcases from the hospital. Give him the biggest hug you can imagine. that will be the last time you see him , alive anyway. You are struggling SO hard with school. You are still working 2 jobs but only for the beginning of Summer. Catherine's lets you go, without letting you know ( apparently she did that to 1/2 the people that worked there, never got their last day memo either.) You barely squeak by in Pharmacology, but you make it. Med-Surge however you do not pass, you miss it by 2 points. After the Summer Semester ends ( Mid-September) You face MAJOR depression. You failed out of school, Pappy is declining and in and out of the Hospital, you are now completely jobless, your relationship is horrible ( turns out later he was just a jerk all along ;) and you just suck into this depression vortex. I would tell you things get better, but it is not for a little while
October 24th 2010 at 0500 am Sunday Morning, you get a phone call. Or rather the house gets a call on the house phone. Pappy has passed away without warning ( even though his health was declining, it was still a surprise, due to the fact that he was supposed to come home that Monday) This sends you into an even deeper depression, but thankfully it only lasts for a little while. That was the hardest goodbye you ever had to say. To this day it still makes you cry. In fact, writing this post about it makes you cry. Funny how the mind and feelings work like that. That October you and your 3 best buds have a mystery halloween party on halloween. I will never forget that and I will never forget how they cheered me up, just days after Pappy's passing. I also remember James being really nice and supportive during that time. He was ok sometimes. While you are up there you get 2 job interviews, one at Michael's and one at Kohls. You get the job at Michael's and your boss is so super duper nice and the best boss ever. Then he retired, but he totally deserved it.
Fast forward to March. Your grammy winn starves herself and is a failure to thrive and passes away. You are sad, but it doesn't really effect you to much. IT sounds mean and pitiful I guess, but the truth is its hard to miss someone who disowned you and was hateful to you the last time you talked. You forgive her now, but its hard to forget those things. You do have a pretty good time with your Dad in PA those 3 days, he seems pretty stable and normal. That's good.
In April you re-apply to the LPN program in Farmville. You wait and wait and wait and wait, your friends all get back in but you don't get a letter stating you get back in. That is until 1 week before class starts. You will THRIVE this time. You end up with a 86 in Med-Surge and do well , you are very confident and so different from last year, you instructors can see it too. You learned that the proper success is to STUDY super hard , have a good study group ( <3 Autumn & Holly Boo.) Use outside resources too! It is a wonderful thing to have a group of close friends =)
You Pass to Third Semester, by this point you are just ready to graduate and have a countdown to the day ! ( actually you have had a countdown since second semester) Clinicals are no longer Scary. Just kidding. Clinicals are always scary , but you survive! When you get into the 'real" world, you learn procedures are not really as scary as they seem in clinicals. Like now you are a peg tube BOSS! =) You have survived LPN school, ending up with a B and an A in your last 2 courses. Graduation was so super special. Grammy came down, and you started crying during graduation because of what you wore under your collar and the message you wrote . Mom and Pete took pics and taped the whole thing =) You have watched it 3 times now. It's beautfiul life.
For the NLEX, you take a break during Christmas, but you study study study study. When you are not working at Micahels you study. You use Kaplan over and over and over, find other trainers buy 3 different books. You study like a Boss ( It is well worth it!)
The Morning of NCLEX you pray , and then you talk to Pappy for a little bit ( and cry a teeny bit too.) You make Your Peppermint Mocha Coffee, leave the house at 0700 for the test at 1030/1130. You eat something, but I don't remember what. The whole way driving there you just are relaxed, calm praying, singing, doing lab values. The last thing you do is read your bible verses, say another prayer, take a deep breath and go inside the building. The only thing I will say about the NCLEX is MAN it was HARD! Your test shuts off at 85 questions and you freak out a little bit. You took it on a Friday and you have to wait until LATE monday night to find your name on the phone registry thing ( incidentally you are with your Bestie and squeal like a little girl over and over) You do not fully believe you pass until you get the paper copy in the mail, which you immediately frame. Also the NCLEX people are SCARY! You feel like you are getting ready to go to prison with all the pictures and scanning and whatnot that they do. They scanned my hand, my ENTIRE hand.
What is the moral to this letter Kym? Besides telling you your story there are some morals right? Of course silly.
1 ) Yes, Nursing school is ridiculously hard- but you DO make it through and learn that sometimes you wish you would be back there ( not for the studying part, but for the "fun" parts)
2) study study study study study study study study study study (have I mentioned study)
3) ALWAYS do your patient research for clinicals AS SOON as you get home ( then you can go to bed by 9pm and wake up bright and cheery! also make sure you know ever miniscule detail, look up labs, procedures , tube feedings etc. ( you were terrified of PEG tubes and trachs.) (you still hate dealing with trachs.)
4) Keep pushing through, you will be ok!
5) You and James breakup mutaully- you talk every now and then, it seems to work out best that you don't date
6) It's ok to be scared. I think it is a natural reaction to the situation, everyone is scared, we probably look like a little herd of deer.
7) It's ok to ask questions ( but you usually and rarely will.)
8)Stop beating yourself up for every mistake- you aren't perfect, no one is ( you will continue to beat yourself up throughout the duration of school and your job)
9) Find a group of students that you get along with, nobody else will understand what you are going through, the long hours, the frusterations, but they will. Find them, cherish them and keep in touch with them . =)
10) Find an outlet to handle your frusterations & take a day off ( or a night off, whichever you can afford) Find something that relaxes you and makes you happy.
Know that when all is said and done you will by K.Izawesome LPN and life will be peachy keen forever ever after ( HAHA who are we kidding! =) ) Stay tuned to my next post on being a New Nurse 6 months =)
<3 always
You are working 2 jobs ( 1 full time, 1 part-time) and going to school fulltime, you sleep in your car between jobs and you see Mom and Pete once every 2 weeks, when you actually do make it home. You barely squeak by your first semester but you make it!
Second Semester is the hardest for you. Pappy's health is rapidly declining and you go visit 2-3 times that summer to Pennsylvania.That last time you visit give him the biggest, tightest hug and kiss you can ever imagine, listen to him read you the bible, give him the card and go down to the giftshop where you will get a penn state pin and pillowcases from the hospital. Give him the biggest hug you can imagine. that will be the last time you see him , alive anyway. You are struggling SO hard with school. You are still working 2 jobs but only for the beginning of Summer. Catherine's lets you go, without letting you know ( apparently she did that to 1/2 the people that worked there, never got their last day memo either.) You barely squeak by in Pharmacology, but you make it. Med-Surge however you do not pass, you miss it by 2 points. After the Summer Semester ends ( Mid-September) You face MAJOR depression. You failed out of school, Pappy is declining and in and out of the Hospital, you are now completely jobless, your relationship is horrible ( turns out later he was just a jerk all along ;) and you just suck into this depression vortex. I would tell you things get better, but it is not for a little while
October 24th 2010 at 0500 am Sunday Morning, you get a phone call. Or rather the house gets a call on the house phone. Pappy has passed away without warning ( even though his health was declining, it was still a surprise, due to the fact that he was supposed to come home that Monday) This sends you into an even deeper depression, but thankfully it only lasts for a little while. That was the hardest goodbye you ever had to say. To this day it still makes you cry. In fact, writing this post about it makes you cry. Funny how the mind and feelings work like that. That October you and your 3 best buds have a mystery halloween party on halloween. I will never forget that and I will never forget how they cheered me up, just days after Pappy's passing. I also remember James being really nice and supportive during that time. He was ok sometimes. While you are up there you get 2 job interviews, one at Michael's and one at Kohls. You get the job at Michael's and your boss is so super duper nice and the best boss ever. Then he retired, but he totally deserved it.
Fast forward to March. Your grammy winn starves herself and is a failure to thrive and passes away. You are sad, but it doesn't really effect you to much. IT sounds mean and pitiful I guess, but the truth is its hard to miss someone who disowned you and was hateful to you the last time you talked. You forgive her now, but its hard to forget those things. You do have a pretty good time with your Dad in PA those 3 days, he seems pretty stable and normal. That's good.
In April you re-apply to the LPN program in Farmville. You wait and wait and wait and wait, your friends all get back in but you don't get a letter stating you get back in. That is until 1 week before class starts. You will THRIVE this time. You end up with a 86 in Med-Surge and do well , you are very confident and so different from last year, you instructors can see it too. You learned that the proper success is to STUDY super hard , have a good study group ( <3 Autumn & Holly Boo.) Use outside resources too! It is a wonderful thing to have a group of close friends =)
You Pass to Third Semester, by this point you are just ready to graduate and have a countdown to the day ! ( actually you have had a countdown since second semester) Clinicals are no longer Scary. Just kidding. Clinicals are always scary , but you survive! When you get into the 'real" world, you learn procedures are not really as scary as they seem in clinicals. Like now you are a peg tube BOSS! =) You have survived LPN school, ending up with a B and an A in your last 2 courses. Graduation was so super special. Grammy came down, and you started crying during graduation because of what you wore under your collar and the message you wrote . Mom and Pete took pics and taped the whole thing =) You have watched it 3 times now. It's beautfiul life.
For the NLEX, you take a break during Christmas, but you study study study study. When you are not working at Micahels you study. You use Kaplan over and over and over, find other trainers buy 3 different books. You study like a Boss ( It is well worth it!)
The Morning of NCLEX you pray , and then you talk to Pappy for a little bit ( and cry a teeny bit too.) You make Your Peppermint Mocha Coffee, leave the house at 0700 for the test at 1030/1130. You eat something, but I don't remember what. The whole way driving there you just are relaxed, calm praying, singing, doing lab values. The last thing you do is read your bible verses, say another prayer, take a deep breath and go inside the building. The only thing I will say about the NCLEX is MAN it was HARD! Your test shuts off at 85 questions and you freak out a little bit. You took it on a Friday and you have to wait until LATE monday night to find your name on the phone registry thing ( incidentally you are with your Bestie and squeal like a little girl over and over) You do not fully believe you pass until you get the paper copy in the mail, which you immediately frame. Also the NCLEX people are SCARY! You feel like you are getting ready to go to prison with all the pictures and scanning and whatnot that they do. They scanned my hand, my ENTIRE hand.
What is the moral to this letter Kym? Besides telling you your story there are some morals right? Of course silly.
1 ) Yes, Nursing school is ridiculously hard- but you DO make it through and learn that sometimes you wish you would be back there ( not for the studying part, but for the "fun" parts)
2) study study study study study study study study study study (have I mentioned study)
3) ALWAYS do your patient research for clinicals AS SOON as you get home ( then you can go to bed by 9pm and wake up bright and cheery! also make sure you know ever miniscule detail, look up labs, procedures , tube feedings etc. ( you were terrified of PEG tubes and trachs.) (you still hate dealing with trachs.)
4) Keep pushing through, you will be ok!
5) You and James breakup mutaully- you talk every now and then, it seems to work out best that you don't date
6) It's ok to be scared. I think it is a natural reaction to the situation, everyone is scared, we probably look like a little herd of deer.
7) It's ok to ask questions ( but you usually and rarely will.)
8)Stop beating yourself up for every mistake- you aren't perfect, no one is ( you will continue to beat yourself up throughout the duration of school and your job)
9) Find a group of students that you get along with, nobody else will understand what you are going through, the long hours, the frusterations, but they will. Find them, cherish them and keep in touch with them . =)
10) Find an outlet to handle your frusterations & take a day off ( or a night off, whichever you can afford) Find something that relaxes you and makes you happy.
Know that when all is said and done you will by K.Izawesome LPN and life will be peachy keen forever ever after ( HAHA who are we kidding! =) ) Stay tuned to my next post on being a New Nurse 6 months =)
<3 always
Thursday, December 16, 2010
Gift Exchange at Craftaholics Anonymous! :)
I signed up for a Christmas gift exchange through craftaholics anonymous :) Basically this is what you do .
You sign up on her website ( although it is closed now. Sorry!)
Then once you sign up she will send you an email with your craft partners information :)
You have until November 30th to mail out your package and it has to be something homemade :) ( ugh huge problem for me. just kidding :) You can do as much or as little as you like.
I already started on mine tonite, my person is going to LOVE me :) haha. At least their package will be smelling like Christmas .
*update*
when I originally posted this ( as in a draft ) I hadn't started my project yet. Now that it is past the deadline I have posted and mailed my package and included what is in the package :) I loved doing this exhange because it let me communicate with somebody new and let me craft whatever I wanted to , without keeping it :)
For Ashlee ( who btw makes these AWESOME bows- check her out her website is ( Insert WEbSTIEEEFCEFWFEWF)
We both share a love in the Nightmare Before Christmas- so naturally I made everything with a nightmare theme!
I made A Skeleton Sock Monkey ( To see directions how to make one yourself search sock monkey on blog )
Polymer clay Jack Skellington's with Hotpink and Black Candy Canes
Jack Skellington on spiral hill figurine
Zombie Mermaid
I also included a christmas card and a note
What are some things that excite you?
You sign up on her website ( although it is closed now. Sorry!)
Then once you sign up she will send you an email with your craft partners information :)
You have until November 30th to mail out your package and it has to be something homemade :) ( ugh huge problem for me. just kidding :) You can do as much or as little as you like.
I already started on mine tonite, my person is going to LOVE me :) haha. At least their package will be smelling like Christmas .
*update*
when I originally posted this ( as in a draft ) I hadn't started my project yet. Now that it is past the deadline I have posted and mailed my package and included what is in the package :) I loved doing this exhange because it let me communicate with somebody new and let me craft whatever I wanted to , without keeping it :)
For Ashlee ( who btw makes these AWESOME bows- check her out her website is ( Insert WEbSTIEEEFCEFWFEWF)
We both share a love in the Nightmare Before Christmas- so naturally I made everything with a nightmare theme!
I made A Skeleton Sock Monkey ( To see directions how to make one yourself search sock monkey on blog )
Polymer clay Jack Skellington's with Hotpink and Black Candy Canes
Jack Skellington on spiral hill figurine
Zombie Mermaid
I also included a christmas card and a note
What are some things that excite you?
Sunday, December 5, 2010
You're Hot then You're Cold :)
Cute Title Right! Its for my Hot/Cold Packs/ Sachets ( Multifunctional- LOVE IT)
It was super easy to make these and they took 30 minutes total!
What you will need:
Rice Stuffing Mix- which you can find here
Pretty Fabric ( I used an old sweater of mine from forever 21 ...sad day I loved that sweater :( Brown velvet fabric and an old white t-shirt)
Hot Glue Gun
Needle
Invisible Thread ( this does actually exist :)
Step 1) Cut your main fabric ( in my case it was my sweater) into 4 Equal squares 4 inches by 6 inches ( You can make it smaller or bigger depending on your need :) Trim these squares into coffe cup shapes ( do not do a handle yet) set aside.
Step 2- Take your "coffee" material ( In my case it was a brown velvet material) and cut it into a rectangle the width of your coffee cup at the top ( I then cut mine into an oval that measure the width of my coffee cup.)
Step 3 Stitch together the 2 Coffee cup sides from to pack ( or if you are like me and hate sewing and don't have a sewing machine ghot glue gun it !)
Step 4 Fill the sachet with the rice mixture and stitch top shut. add your brown fabric on top and sew it to the cup.
Step 5- Take scrap fabric and create your handle, Add your marshmallows or steam and voila! you are done! :)
To use as Hot Pack - Microwave for 20-30 seconds
To use as cold pack- Simply Throw in Refrigerator or Freezer :)
What do you like to create ?
Wednesday, December 1, 2010
Im gonna Sock Ya in the Mouth!
Ok not really, I'm a pacifist and very passive aggressive ( So I'm told) But I recently learned how amazingly EASY it is to create a sock monkey. It took me an hour to make 1 sock monkey ( which is good considering I hand Sewed it! )Here is what you will need :)
Socks ( I like the crew length or longer- it gives you more to work with.) ( I got mine in a 2 pack at walmart - the super soft fuzzy chenille socks)
Buttons for eyes
Hot Glue Gun& Glue
Felt
Accessories ( knitted scarf, hat etc)
invisible thread
needle
stuffing/batting
First you need to cut out your pattern ( I used these patterns
http://www.santaspostbag.co.uk/images/sock-monkey-main-pattern.jpg
I got my directions from
I only modified the First Direction :
To make the body of the sock monkey you take the end that is the toes and cut a straight line up the middle until you are 1/2 inch from the heel. The sock must be turned inside out . :)
2. Stuffing - cut up old nylon stockings, cotton batting, kapok, shredded foam rubber or polyester fiber. (do not use yams or other vegitables) <-- haha
CAP:
Cut off toe of the sock, leaving 1/2 inch of brown to roll for a brim. ( they used these old brown/white.red socks I used some chenille holiday socks :)
TAIL:
Cut a one inch strip, taper to end of cuff on length of front of sock. Seam and stuff.
MOUTH:
Cut the heel from the sock, leaving a brown edge around the white. Fasten on lower part of the face, whipping around the bottom; stuff and finish sewing around top. The mouth can be improved by a running stitch of either black or white across the middle.
These are the original instructions from the 1920's, once you obtain a pattern it is prety self explanatory on what you need to do :)
Here is my first attempt at a sock monkey! I made mine from Halloweentown- Nightmare before Christmas style ( and I must say I loved the outcome! I hand knitted the little scarf with my Wonderknitter- It works SO well!
Saturday, November 27, 2010
Reindeer Pin or Hairbow!
Since Initializing my 12 days of Craftsmas I have gotten a job at a craft store ( which to me is super dangerous!) I also got ANOTHER job working nites at a nursing home ( needless to say I have been busy) I decided before all the hecticities of the season are upon me to at least post my pages ( or attempt to schedule them ) Nobody is following me yet, so it doesn't really matter if I post or not , but you never know :)
Wednesday, November 17, 2010
Make Your Blog into a book! :)
so I found this site,that is AMAZING!It would make an excellent wedding, baby, kids graduation or craft book/cookbook! there is no limit to the posts you can have and it presents it so nicely! It's 24.95 for a hardcover one and 14.95 for a softcover one~ I think it is Definatly worth the investment :) I am planning on making my own craftbook for this blog! Its nice because you can edit posts so that you don't have to keep the posts that dont neccessarily have anything to do with what you want in your book :) Like a giveaway or something. Since we are in the Christmas season it would be a fantastic time to go and make or invest in updating your blog and making it into a book! I plan on ordering one for myself when I have enough on my blog haha :)
Check it out!
Check it out!
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