Week #33

Hey all! How was your weekend? Mine was pretty good, mostly so because of the weather, except for that crazy severe thunderstorm with hail I drove in on Friday! At least it was warm!

Day 225: Today, Phil and I went for a walk around his neighborhood then went bike riding with his nephew! It was a beautiful day as you can see from this picture with the blue sky and pretty spring tree!

Day 226: This is my favorite gummy bear, the clear or pineapple one! Yes, I had gummy bears today! Yum!

Day 227: So I worked at the dentist office again today for the hygienist that hurt her shoulder. I have never worked at or been to a dentist office where they wear the surgical hair nets, but that is what I have to wear there! Too funny!

Day 228: It was gorgeous out today, so I worked out at the Y and at the park! I walked 2 miles and took a few pictures along the way. I would have ran some, but my ankle was hurting and I feel weird running around so many people right now. I still feel like I have some work to do before I get to that point. Here is a pic I took while there, tulips are one of my favorite flowers!

Day 229: I got to work again today too, at the same office. After work, I met up with my friend Rachel to go Zumba! Obviously this isn't a pic I took, but I didn't have my camera on me at the time! Forgive me?

Day 230: Today was just one of those days where it felt like everything went wrong! I woke up early (for me) today to go meet one of my friends for lunch. I called before I was getting ready to leave the house and he said that he didn't feel good, so that ended that. I then decided to do this extravagant online thingy for a certain place that wants me to do temp work for them - it took way too long and all the pages took forever to upload. I then needed to get my TB test read for same said temp job and had to wait an hour because they were way under-staffed, and it only took them 2 seconds to look at my arm and say it was negative! When I got home (mom had driven me before) and was getting ready to leave in my car so I could go to Phil's for the weekend, The Mole (my car, pictured) didn't start. So I ended up taking mom's car and having to drive in the severe thunderstorm with hail in a car I wasn't used to! Then my day got significantly better cause I got to spend it with Phil :-)

Day 231: This day was much better than the last, except that Phil was starting to experience some tooth pain with a tooth that he is getting pulled this upcoming Tuesday. We had gone to Lowe's and to eat lunch with his mom and grandma, then we went shopping for me some wedding shoes and to look at some possible wedding invitations. I didn't find any shoes, but I found these invitations at Target that I like a lot!

I hope this week goes well, and that Phil can get his tooth pulled ASAP cause it is hurting him so much! I just want him out of pain!

Have a great week everyone!

An Annoyance & Resolve

So Monday night, I was watching The Bachelor on the TV upstairs in our house. It was over, so I was going back downstairs carrying some munchies and my phone in my hands. As I was coming to the last step, I look out the window and get distracted by yet another snowfall when I myself start falling, due to too many steps left when I only thought there was one. I land on my right ankle and down I go. Pain ensues. Crying starts. Stupid snow! My first reaction was to call Phil, I tell him what happens and start sobbing into the phone. He wants to come over, but I don't let him cause it was snowing outside and dark. I tell him I'll call him back.

I am all alone. My parents are away for a week, lovely. Good thing my aunt and uncle live just next door so I call them up. They rush over with their spare key and help me assess the damage. A LOT of swelling. I feel nauseous. They help me to the couch where I prop up my ankle and apply an ice baggy. Oh man it hurts! I told my aunt and uncle I didn't want to go to the hospital and would wait til the next day to see how I felt.

I find out that not having crutches is TERRIBLE! I hopped around the house on my left leg all night, and sometimes crawled on my knees just to get another baggy of ice at 4am. Thank goodness the bathroom is like 5 hops from the bed! This is all on the main floor of my house and my bedroom is in the basement. So I stayed in the guest bedroom. I went to the doc, got some x-rays, it is only a sprain thank goodness, then got the crutches which are pretty bad too but not as bad as none.

The sprain will have many annoyances: pain from both my right ankle and my left thigh from hopping (good thing I've been working out!), not being able to keep up with my running (which I got up to running a mile recently!) and *hopefully* won't interfere with possible job offerings which I'm supposed to find out really soon. This week I also had a "To Do List" of cleaning and running around doing errands, both of which isn't possible cause I can't go up and down stairs and I can't drive my car with my left foot without scaring myself.

Resolve: It had been 2 years since Phil proposed to me. Didn't plan on seeing him this day cause he works, but he took off at lunch to come help me out. He brought me food (I'd only had a banana all day), he got some much needed items for me downstairs out of my bedroom and bathroom - including my toothbrush and books to read, and he actually helped me into the bathtub because I was feeling pretty nasty (hopping around can really work ya out!). This gave me a glimpse into our future when we are old. It was a little awkward but sweet at the same time. But mostly he was there for me for company and hugs. I think he may be off the hook for Valentine's Day :-)

Sorry about the long post on my ankle. It is all I am thinking about since I'm here alone moving from the couch to my bed and to the bathroom. Better posts to come!

Week #20

The first week of the new year ended up being pretty eventful...

Day 134: My parents made a huge pot of beans and some other fixins and invited the rest of my family over for a New Year's feast! It was quite delicious, but I don't think I've been that full in a really long time.

Day 135: I decided to get out my new sewing machine this evening. To tell you the truth, it kind of intimidates me! This is a pic of my new sewing box I got with it!

Day 136: Today I had an interview and got to wear my new suit jacket. I think the interview went pretty well except that they dwelled on the fact that I don't have much experience. I tried to let them know that I don't know how I am going to get the experience unless someone gives me a chance to prove that I can do the job. Not too excited if I get it since it is about an hour from my house, would have to hurry to find an apartment a little closer, and it only pays okay (because of my lack of experience, according to them). I do need the job, money, and experience badly though.

Day 137: The nephew of my old babysitter, Anna, emailed me today to tell me Anna wasn't doing very well. We went to visit her and it was sad cause she isn't the old Anna I'm used to seeing. This is a pic of my 3 grandmothers, Anna is in the middle with me on her lap.

Day 138: My mom, maid of honor Sarah, and I went wedding dress shopping today! It was a lot of fun but felt very strange trying on the dresses. The girl that was supposedly helping us didn't do a very good job. I felt like I was being rushed and she didn't care about me finding my right dress, just trying to make a sale for herself. This pic isn't the dress I liked the best (I didn't buy anything today), but this is the dress Sarah liked a lot. I didn't like it because of the tulle and the fluffiness.

Day 139: Sarah and I got to hang out again today since she was still in town. We went to eat at Cam's Ham, one of our favorite places. Then we went up to the mall to look around.

Day 140: Phil and I went to eat at Bellacino's for the first time and it was pretty tasty. I found it funny that there were so many of these lights all grouped together in a small area.

Well, that was my week! It was busy, but I got a lot accomplished. Hope you all have a great upcoming week!

Week #3

This is Week #3 of my Pic-a-Day I challenged myself to for my 28th year. To see previous Pic-a-Day posts you can go here!

Day 15: This was one of those glorious days you get at the end of the summer that feels like autumn is right around the corner! Phil and I drove around the back roads around where he lives with the windows down and listening to live music on the radio (oxymoron, I know).

Day 16: Labor Day! Phil and I decided it was a good day to wash our cars at his house. Rain-X is wonderful!

Day 17: My new alarm clock! Those bright blue numbers were super bright and lit up my whole room in the dark! I'll get used to it soon, I hope.

Day 18: This is the new toilet my dad got: "Two Flush Options" (!?) "Liquid and Solid" - sounds so gross, but it interested me... guess that's why he got it.

Day 19: Made some shish kabobs Thursday night! Pretty delish if I do say so myself.

Day 20: This was the day of the Coal Bowl, held this year in Huntington. I did not go to the game, but watched on tv from home and made an assortment of screeches and groans towards the players like I was actually there. Marshall pretty much kicked WVU's butt, and in the last few minutes and OT of the game WVU won. My rant is that there are so many Marshall fans that are only fair-weather fans, that only like MU when they win. But I bleed green people and was surrounded by WVU fans for 3 years and still a Herd fan! What I don't get is that there are people who grew up in Huntington and were fans all throughout their life, but then went to WVU and magically switched teams! How can you not root for your home team??? Anyway, Marshall did a great job against this big team and gives us hope for a win down the road. Thank you for listening, or I guess reading.

Day 21: Saturday Phil and I went to the Ashland Mall. While in a store Phil pointed out this sign. I don't think that it is a good deal for a hat to be 12.99 originally and then marked down to 12.99... hmmmm

Hope you all had a wonderful week!

Third Time's a Charm!

I've been bad! It's been over a month since I last posted and I am lucky you all haven't left me yet! For that I'm grateful.

I'm going to try and give you a summary of what has happened since I last posted, but I'm sure I'll leave things out and will make more posts on them when I remember.

• After I came home from the beach, it was crazy trying to find a board patient (again)! My friend who I though could do it, couldn't because of work. So, when my parents returned from the beach they helped me sooo much by making calls to friends and even going around town searching. My own dentist even let me use his dental office to screen patients I did find. Luckily I found a patient only 2 days before I had to leave to take my board! Not only did I have to find a patient for the 3rd time, but I also had to travel and take them to South Carolina where the exam was held. I don't know how I could repay my parents, dentist, and board patient for all the help they gave me!
  
• I passed! The third time definately is a charm! I was slightly embarrassed by the whole board fiasco and definately felt like I let my parents, Phil, and myself down by having to take it so many times. I'm just glad it is over and I can move on with my life!
  
• Relaxation - needed this after all the stress!
  
• I now needed to apply for my license since I passed the board. This required getting a physical, 2 letters of recommendation from (preferably) dentists from WV, get a wallet-sized picture of myself, fill out a form, get it notarized, plus write them a $60 check... like they need anymore of my money!
  
• I updated my resume, printed it up, and mailed them out!
  
• Fourth of July Weekend: this weekend was much needed cause I actually finally felt like myself again. After all the stress of boards and being back home again, it was nice to hang out with Phil's family and my own with no stress involved!

Now the waiting begins...

I did get a call this morning from a dentist I sent my resume to for a temporary job today cause her hygienist was out sick. Unfortunately, I couldn't do it since my license has not been sent back to me in the mail. This was promising though, but no $$$ yet!

You can also look over to the books I've read this year (on your left) to see that it has been updated! My friend Jennifer over at Crazy Shenanigans has peaked my interest with the books by Sherryl Woods! I'm into the Chesapeake Shores Novels right now. Check'em out!

Oh and here is the only picture I took while I was in SC for my boards! I took it for Phil, but I'm afraid I gave him a not-so-good idea for his own car...

Thanks for stickin' in there with me for this long process, and for this disjointed post! I will try very hard to update more than I have been!

Just venting a bit...

My life seems totally upside down and sideways and longways and slantways and any other way you can think of! Anyway, I really wish I could just start the year over. I would definately take going through the whole last semester of school just if things just went the way I wanted them to. Two months ago everything was perfect to me in my own little world, then it all came crumbling down. This was the time I was looking forward to the most (graduating and going home) and all I am now is confused to what has happened.

I really am being a huge baby over all that is going on. I feel sorry for myself, and I hate that. I am feeling rejected, overwhelmed, and that the world is ganging up on me. I just need to get over it. I need to breathe, stay positive, and know that everything is going to turn out okay.

Thank you for listening, or I guess reading. I just needed to get it out there for now... and that I can't get this stupid nail polish to come off!

Graduation Here I Come!

Today was officially my last day of school EVER! For the two whole ridiculous finals I had, I got 100% on both of them. Too easy, I'm tellin' ya!

Graduation is in 11 days! Woo hoo!

Phil and his parents are hopefully coming up this weekend to help me move alot of my big things out of the trailer with their truck. I'm hoping we'll go do some shopping first and take our time. I don't get to see his parents too often since I'm stuck up here and when I get to go home, my parents try to steal as much time as possible.

Since Friday my mom is officially retired! So it's kinda like my mom and I are graduating together! haha

The weekend after next is my graduation! Then the weekend after that one I get to go to the beach with my parents and Phil! I cannot wait to relax!

Update: My formal was so much fun! I feel like everyone was pretty much drunk the entire time, but it made for some good stories later on! haha The Purple Jesus drink we made was really good, but sadly I didn't snap a picture of it! Here is a picture of me and Phil in our masquerade masks I made instead:



And here's a picture of me and my six lovely DH friends before going to the formal:

Now I better go pack! Have I told you how much I can't wait to get out of this town???

What I wanna go do is go buy Anoop's CD that comes out tomorrow!

No More Drama Please!

I am getting ready to graduate for the last time ever! Thank goodness for that cause I don't know how much more I can handle! This round of school was especially hard because I had already been through 4 1/2 years of college, had been on a 2 1/2 year break from school, and was in a class with 21 other girls! No boys at all.

I really dislike the drama that can come from so many girls. I have 6 friends that I'm closer to than the rest and there is still drama in that small of a group! I am ready to get away! I am excited to finally leave Morgantown and begin the rest of my life! The sad part really hasn't hit me yet that I am leaving my friends. I figure it'll hit me on graduation day (May 15th) or after I have been home sitting on my butt for a week or two with no friends to hang out with.

I may or may not go to Charleston and back on Wednesday to screen a back-up patient for my board exam. I have not been able to get ahold of this patient so that is still up in the air. My actual board patient that I have had for the last month told me last week that he wasn't sure if he would have to work the Friday of my exam! WTF!? So I offered him money for the time he'd be missing work and he told me he'd let me know Monday. Then I called him back today and he said it was cool and could get out of work that day! He seriously made me hold my breath for the last 4 days! I just hope it will all work out! I guess the offer of money was good enough. I need some good in my life right now in the form of my board patient showing and finally passing this time! Then maybe I can be happy & sad about graduation with no nervousness in the way!

Drama! Drama! Drama! I cannot wait for it to end!

My Worst Break-up Ever

I have been a little preoccupied lately. A very big event happened in my life this past Saturday, and it took up most of my time and thoughts preparing for it: March 13th, 2010 was the fateful day that SRTA broke up with me.

Let me give you a run-down. SRTA stands for Southern Regional Testing Agency. Instead of having a National Clinical Board, someone has decided to divide all the states into their own testing regions, and they even overlap states to make it more confusing. Anyway, I decided to take this test with the mindset that if I ever moved away from West Virginia that it would be somewhere to the warmer South. Like you all know, I was pretty worried about my patient showing up for the test and qualifying. These were my main worries… And here is how my time spent with SRTA was like a relationship:

• A relationship starts off with a hope, just like me preparing for this test and hoping for success for my future career.

• In the beginning of a relationship there is always a little worry that the guy doesn’t like you as much as you like him. This is like my worry that my patient wouldn’t work out.

• In a relationship, there should be butterflies in your stomach whenever you see that special someone, just like I had on my “date” with SRTA that March 13th.

• In a good relationship there are times when there is smooth sailing and everything is happy, as it was when my patient arrived the day of the board exam AND qualified!

• In a relationship there are ups and downs. One such down in my relationship with SRTA was that I had forgot to fill out part of a form, but it was nothing that I couldn’t apologize for and correct. And this had no bearing on my final score.

• At the end of a date in a relationship, there are those butterflies and questions like “Did he think it went as well as I thought it just did?”. This is how I felt after my clinical board.

• There is a time in a relationship where you are comfortable with the situation and who you are with. After I took the clinical part of this exam, I also had to take an electronic portion. I came out of this part thinking it was ridiculously easy.

• In a not-so-good relationship sometimes the person leads you on. Monday morning I checked my SRTA account to find out I had a big ole “PASS” typed out on the screen before me. This just confirmed my previous feelings of comfort.

• In a relationship you can be dumped. This is what SRTA did to me Monday evening when I found out I failed my clinical portion of the exam. My heart was broken.

This is me after I found out SRTA dumped me. Like what I've done with my hair?

• At the end of a relationship you can be sad and sometimes mad at who broke up with you. I was mad! I feel like SRTA lied to me and about me, and also sold me false promises of hope during my time with it. I was also sad because all the hard work I put into the relationship was now null and void. I talked to my girlfriends about this exam and they backed me up like good friends do. There were 6 of us in the same relationship and SRTA broke up with 4 of us and kept its 2 favorites (sort of The Bachelor-ish). We came together and shared our stories after the final rose, I mean after the exam was over. It makes me feel better to know I have people to go through this with me, but that also makes me feel really bad cause I don’t want any of us to fail. We all are good at what we do and can’t help that the judges grading us couldn’t see the same thing. It doesn’t help that I added up my score and found out I got a 74.75%, only 0.25% away from passing. Another girl got the same score, which makes us a little skeptical.

So now it’s time to start a new relationship with a SRTA in a different school. I have to pay another $915 (ridiculous! SRTA is only dating me for my money!) not to mention go through the turmoil of finding another board patient that would be willing to come to WVU to be screened and then be able to go to Bridgemont Community & Technical College in Montgomery, WV on April 30th. And so my life continues to be stressful for at least another couple months, and I feel bad for Phil having to put up with the moods I have during this process. He’s a trooper though, and at least I know he is my everlasting relationship.

Sink or Swim

It all comes down to this: I have my clinical dental hygiene boards coming up (March 13) and have less than 2 weeks to find a patient, and hopefully a back-up patient as well. These boards are super expensivo, meaning $1,040! And if don't find a patient, or have a patient that doesn't qualify, then I lose all that money and have to figure out how and where I'm going to take the boards again and pay the money again. They are so hard to find a patient for because there are so many requirements needed for the patient:

1. They cannot be allergic to Latex.
   
2. If they need to take a pre-med before having their teeth cleaned, they have to bring in a note from their physician.


3. They have to have most of their teeth with no extensive periodontal problems.


4. They cannot have a lot of cavities.


5. They have to have so much tartar on their teeth in just the right places.


6. The patient has to come in to be screened (once), come in early in the morning on a Saturday and be able to stay for an extended period of time for the actual exam (twice), and finally come in again for me to finish cleaning their teeth if they want (three times, I'm out).

So I've been trying my hardest to find this diamond in the rough with no avail. It doesn't help that it keeps on snowing here! *Patients hear that snow is coming and cancel their appointments days in advance.* I feel like I'm living in a frickin' snow globe!

On a more optimistic note, Monday is the start of a new week and [hopefully] the start of good things to come! And when I have this all over and done with, it's smooth sailing to graduation!

If anyone is around the Morgantown area, hasn't had their teeth cleaned in awhile, and can come see me in the next 2 weeks, let me know! And a big thanks to my friends and family who have been trying to help me out! You have no idea how much it means to me!

Going for the Gold

I haven’t blogged for a while, but during the whole snow-in I blogged a lot so I figured I am even. I have been sorta busy the last week. We had a stupid Dental Law Exam yesterday. And I am probably calling it stupid because I failed it the first go around, but it was stupid. It was a free exam, as in no money needed, except that since I failed it the first time and had to pay $20 so I could take it again. I could take it again immediately after I failed it. I could look at what answers I missed (I missed 3 that were true/false), then take the same exact test immediately after. I passed, of course, the second time but they got my damn money. Roomie and I thought we deserved a pedicure after this stupid exam. Now I have pretty purple toenails with a flowers on them. It’s nice to know that something so simple can make me so happy.

As you can see I changed my layout. Thanks to Miranda for giving me the html for the 3-column design! I changed my background too. Thanks to Jennifer and Angie for leading me to it! I have always thought that I wanted to learn how to quilt. I LOVE QUILTS! My great-great grandmother had made me a quilt when I was a baby and Phil’s grandmother quilts all the time. Maybe I’ll ask her if she’ll teach me. I think it would be better than my attempts at knitting. I only knitted ¼ of a scarf then lost interest and forgot how.

I went home last weekend and went bowling for a family birthday party. This was a new experience to bowl with the family because we usually just sit around, eat, and play board games. My 2 ½ year old cousin is getting so big! Everyone was around eating birthday cake when she says “I am so happy to see all of you today!” and then preceded to say everyone’s name! Too cute! It’s not like Phil and I get to see her very often so when she said our names ,with no prompting, it melted my heart. Valentine’s Day was great too! Phil went the “semi-homemade” route like I did and put together a picture album of picture of us together. He also got me the book “Animal Farm” (one of his faves) so I could read it too. I had painted him a mug at The Wow Factory with fishes on it. And I put a little furry little “Luv Puff” stuffed animal inside.

So I have been watching very little of the Olympics. Every time I turn the TV onto the channel, it is going to a commercial. And me hating commercials most of the time (thanks to at-home TiVo usage) likes to turn the channel and watch multiple shows at one time. So by the time one show grabs my attention, I forget about the Olympics. I did watch all of the opening ceremony. KD Lang was Awesome with a capital A. And I loved the tree scene with all the people dancing. I have caught a few curling “matches” but have not been able to figure out the scoring or anything. I refuse to look up the rules because I like trying to figure it out. Info Tidbit: The 2002 Winter Olympics is where I first heard Josh Groban sing and have been hooked ever since.

Roomie and I watched “The Hangover” for the second time on Thursday. That movie cracks me up with everything that each character says. This makes it one of my favorite movies of all time. I still wanna know where the chicken came from. We rented “The Time Travelers Wife” at Blockbuster yesterday and watched it. It was soooo good! It got kinda confusing, but in a good way that keeps you thinking. Tonight we watched “Julie & Julia” and I loved that movie too! It is what inspired me to blog right now! We are watching so many movies now because I brought my DVD player from home!

I think that is all I had to catch up on… I’ll need to remember this for next time and won’t make my posts so long! Have a good week!