My Rant on Daylight Savings Time

Once upon a time, not so long ago...I loved the night that we switched to Daylight Savings Time. You turn the clocks back at 2am, so the bars stayed open an extra hour. It was a reason to celebrate. The earlier evenings made people think about eating earlier, and so the restaurant I worked at would get busy earlier which meant more money in my pocket. For most people DST means an extra hour of sleep. But not for me. Now Daylight Savings Time means an extra hour of work. I cannot tell you how sad it is when we get to 2am and have to go back to 1am. At 2, I'm on the downhill slide of my 12 hour shift. At 1, I'm only halfway there. When it's 6am, and maintenance still hasn't fixed the clocks so you know it's supposed to be seven, anger begins to rise. WHY is it, that when we switch from DST back to normal time or whatever it's called, so many people "forget" to switch their clocks. "Sorry I'm an hour late, I just totally forgot to switch my forward". Yet after working every time change for the last 6 years (except for the year I was home with a newborn) NO ONE has EVER forgot to put their clocks back. Hmmmmm, makes you wonder. Another gripe about the time change. Kids don't get that the time changed. They still think it's 7 when it's only 6. It can take weeks to fix this. So they are waking up and want you to fix breakfast and do stuff for them, and it's time to sleep. Okay, that's the end of my rant. Sorry if I sound grumpy, I just didn't get as much sleep as everyone else did this weekend! ;)

Chump Change?

Tonight I made my sorry little attempt to catch up on the news in the world. I do this one, pathetic way. I read the four lead stories on my Yahoo home page. Sometimes, they are filled with important, relevant info. Most of the time they are not. I usually get one good news story, and a whole bunch of celebrity gossip. Tonight, the headlines were:
1. Death toll reaches 2000 in Iraq.
2. Howard Stern's replacement chosen
3. Best wireless headsets
4. Skywatchers ready for Mars

Well last week I was at the post office and saw someone with a wireless headset. It looked cool, and I wondered how it worked. (I don't work in and office setting, so I don't see a lot of cool techie toys that are out there.) So I clicked on the title and watched the video it launched. While I am now informed about blue tooth technology, I am also annoyed. The CNN reviewer went through the different models and discussed how inexpensive they were. The one that was just over $50 was described as "quite inexpensive, a stocking stuffer really". Really, stocking stuffers that are over 50 bucks. Santa obviously likes someone more than me. The one just under $50 was labeled as "chump change". Clearly, I'm not supposed to be watching this video. I am too cheap to pay the $50 insurance deductible to get a replacement phone for the one that I ruined when I jumped in the lake. $50 does not sound like chump change for a little headset. I guess for business people who use their cells all the time it is. It's just amazing to me how one person's expensive is another person's cheap. Like in the magazines when the have the "cheap buys". They show a dress that costs like $900, and then show you how you can buy it for only $285. Whatever, my cousin can find it for $13 if you give her enough time. Anyway, the video annoyed me....

last week...

Last week I tried to focus more on homework than on blogging. I am almost caught up in Algebra, and ended up doing WAY better on my Anatomy test that I thought I did. The kids didn't seem to have a million activities last week, so I focused on school.

My mom has every Wednesday off work. Usually she spends the day with her friend, but last Wed. her friend was out of town. (Bad for mom, great for me!) I took advantage of my mom's presence and went up to JCCC during the day. I NEVER go to the school during the day. I feel weird hauling my kids around campus, and I always have kids with me. So, I went up to the school to hang out in the math resource center so that I could get some free tutoring. I got hungry and went to the commons area to get some lunch. Things are so much different there during the day. Everyone is young, and I swear they are younger than I was the first time I attended the school. I also think all of the boys seemed so silly. Silly boys doing silly things to impress girls. It was funny. At one point a boy said to the kids at his table that the girl that walked by had a kid. Like, a kid! Hello, why is she at this school if she has a kid? I wanted to say, "hello, I have 3, and did you know this school has a daycare facility???" I know that really it's my own insecurity that makes me want to scream that, so I keep my mouth shut. I just keep watching the hackysackers and the boy building a big pile of leaves so that he can ask girls walking by if they want to jump in it. I wanted to jump in it. I walk by, but he doesn't ask me.

Friday I was back on campus with my son's class. They went on a field trip to see Clifford the Big Red Dog Live. Finally, I didn't feel out of place on campus during the day! I'm old.

The rest of the weekend was filled with some super exciting Labor and Delivery stories, but I will save those for people who actually enjoy them. :) Oh, and 2 girls from High School had babies on Friday. It's like a reunion everytime I work.

Magrelo Rocks!

As most of you know, my life has been a bit hectic lately. Housekeeping has been my LAST priority. But my dirty house stresses me out and makes me cranky. Sweet people like KissMe are kind and offer to clean it, but that would stress me out more. Anyway, on Saturday Magrelo and I had to take Squirrel to her JBQ match in Topeka. We came home to a room that was missing about 10 loads of clean laundry from the floor. My mom had put it all away. I was so excited! Then, on Sunday while I slept, Magrelo rearranged our bedroom, vacuumed, did more laundry, cleaned the bathroom, and did a bunch more I'm sure that I haven't even noticed. I cannot tell you how much this meant to me. I feel like I can sit and study and not be thinking about the mess around me. I finished off the evening by bribing Squirrel to clean both living rooms, so I'm actually feeling great right now. I feel like I have people supporting me and everything will really be okay. Magrelo made my day!

Hmmm, should I be worried?

We are thinking about having our cat put to sleep. He has tumors on his stomach, and is having other issues as well. Baylee used to be my baby. Then I had a baby. And then another. And then another. Baylee is no longer my baby. Just my cat that poops in the litter box that I have to clean. So Magrelo and I were talking about who would have to take Baylee for his final vet visit. At first I said he'd have to do it. But now I feel like it would be mean to have him die being next to someone he hates. So as we're dicussing this, Baylee meow's at me, and goes outside. The next day I have 3 dead mice and one dead bird on my deck. Baylee has killed mice before. He likes to leave them on the deck or front porch as a way of bragging. Usually he kills one every couple of months. Never 2 in a week- let alone four animals in one day. I've decided Baylee is doing one of two things. #1: Trying to show us that he's still worth keeping around. #2 Threatening me for talking about having him knocked off. (Kind of like the dead fish thing in Godfather.) Anyway, he did prove his worth, and now I'm going to have the tumors looked at. I've decided litter boxes are better than mice...

Oh, by the way. Chia is Queen detective and I now know what mystery Todd does for a living.

Halfway there

I've managed to live through my A&P tests and the ACT's. Some of the tests went okay. One of them- not so much.

There are two smart people in my A&P class. One is a single mom who has a job that allows her to study all day. Her ex also has her daughter several nights a week, so she has evenings free to study. (I'm bitter. I'm usually the smart one in the class. So I've come up with excuses as to why she got a 99/100 and screws up our curve in a BAD way.)

The other smart guy is the class mystery man. He comes to class straight from work. He's always dressed in Ralph Lauren or some other hobnob sort of clothing. He's friendly, quite personable with everyone. On the first day when we went around the room and said why we were taking this class, his answer was "Because the topic interests me". I do not find that an acceptable reason for taking this awful class. We asked him what he does for a living. "I park cars" was his answer. Okay, that's just annoying. Throughout the last month he has continued to tell us that he's taking the class because he lost a bet. He said it was either take this class or get breast implants for a year. Must have been some bet. Then he came to school last week in scrubs. Now he says he parks cars at KU Med. Some of the students think he's a doctor. I'm hoping that maybe he works in administration? He definitely knows the ins and outs of the hospital, so I know that he's not totally full of crap about the KU Med part. He also knew a good amount about SMMC. I hope he's not a doctor. If he's a doctor and not able to set our curve, I'm kind of scared.

So there you have it. That is the only thing I like about my A&P class. The guessing of what Todd does for a living. Quite pathetic.

Don't read this if you don't want to listen to me whine!

It's Monday and I already HATE my week. It sucks, and I want to cry. Here's my week.

Today (monday)- Study for my A&P test tomorrow. Finalize prices on stuff for the play. Oh, but wait. I woke up feeling like I got hit by a truck. So now, along with studying, I'm trying not to puke. (THANKS Magrelo!!!) I have to memorize every bone and joint in the human body. The sad thing is, that's the easy part. I also have to memorize every crevice, hole, and protuberance of each bone. That sucks! I HATE this class. I knew I would hate it and I do. I hate that if I don't do well in the class, my life is screwed for another year.

Tuesday- Study all day again. Take, and probably fail, my test. Come home and take practice ACT.

Wednesday- 8 am. Take the ACT. Are you kidding me? I've been out of high school for 10 years, and now I have to take the ACT. Again, if I do poorly, my life (and Magrelo's will suck for an extra year.)

Thursday- Try to catch up on all the Algebra I'm getting behind on. Prepare for my Algebra Exam

Friday- see thursday

Sat- JBQ Match in Topeka. Have people yell at me for being a mean quizmaster Work 12 wonderful hours after that.

Sun- sleep, wake up, take Algebra test.

I hate this semester. I'm stressed out and am sick of not even having time to put laundry away. It's out of control.

Okay, I'm done whining. Back to the bones.................

(If you see me blogging anymore, yell at me. I don't have time!)

HELP!

As usual, I have overextended myself. For Squirrel's play, each family was required to join a committee and help with planning. I picked Special Activities because it sounded easy. Now I am the chairperson, and am going crazy. The play she is in, as most of you know, is Charlie and the Chocolate Factory. Special Activities basically means ordering and selling souvenirs. The biggest problem is that there is also a refreshment committee, so ours can't be candy bars and such... I'm not creative- at all. So far I've thought of:

Those plastic bracelets that every cause has these days with C&TCF on them
Water bottles
That's it. The cast already has t-shirts. I need ideas!

Anyone???

A song for you.

My friend, Mrs. Mayhem, loves to post songs on her blog. Yesterday I had to hear one song over, and over, and over, and over.....again. As soon as monkey's awake, I will hear it some more. So here it is. (My neighbor taught it to monkey.)

Here comes the bride
All dressed in white
Where is the groom
He's in the changing room
Why is he there
He lost his underwear.

The word underwear never stops being funny to my little zoo creatures, even after saying it 10,000 times. I hope you all have the dumb song stuck in your head for days! I will.

An interesting question.

"Where do you feel most alive?" This was the question that Forrest asked our Sunday School class this week. I am very rarely at a loss for words, but this question had me stumped. Forrest talked about how he loves being around the artsy kind of people- and you could see his face light up when he talked about it. Someone else talked about being at a concert, and around the group of friends that he goes to concerts with. That's when he felt the most alive. I'm not artsy, or very musical. So when I'm around that scene, I mostly feel self-conscious and uncomfortable. I used to feel the most alive at a club, or one of "my" bars. Now, I feel like a fish out of water in that scene as well. I love being home with my kids, and I enjoy going to church. But neither one are where I feel most alive. I thought about the question all day, and I finally came up with some answers.

If I had to pick one place that I feel most alive, it would be in the middle of an emergency at work. I LOVE that feeling. I love the challenge, and the fear, and the adrenaline. Don't get me wrong, I don't like that someone has something going wrong, but I thrive in that atmosphere. I love what I do for a living. I'm even more excited about what I will do when I graduate. I love seeing someone that was soooo sick, get so much better because of things that my coworkers and I knew how to do. I feel alive when I watch Gray's Anatomy or ER. Not for the soap opera portions- but for the great brain surgery and trauma scenes. I love medical stuff- just typing about it makes me feel alive. I cannot wait until I can travel to another country that has little medical resources, and provide medical treatment to people who desperately need it. It's my passion, and it's what makes me feel alive.

Okay, so what makes you guys feel alive?