I am going to try and blog about my life as a travel nurse. I may fail, but I'm going to try!
My to do list includes [but is not limited to] the following:
-get a vehicle
-move out of my apartment
-portabalize myself
-pay mom for cell phone bill and cancel my insurance
-change mailing address
-officially go on-call at my job
-get over my cold
-enjoy the rest of my summer in Portland
How I feel:
-awesome.
-nervous
-sick [URI]
-awesome.
Where I want to go:
-Colorado
-Austin, TX
-New York
-SUMMER 2012 OFF!!
- ...just about everywhere.
Okay, gang. just got a call from a recruiter and I'm gonna go work on things to do!
Wish me luck!
Tuesday, July 26, 2011
Thursday, June 18, 2009
i know, i know
I know it has been so long since I posted... but nothing is new
I'm unemployed.
No job prospects.
And somewhat depressed about the fact.
That's my situation at the moment, folks.
wish me luck.
I'm unemployed.
No job prospects.
And somewhat depressed about the fact.
That's my situation at the moment, folks.
wish me luck.
Thursday, May 21, 2009
NCLEX: the test from Hell
*note: my last two posts refer to gods and hell... which is not a reference to the movie "Angels and Demons" which I have no desire to see.
I did it. I took the mother flyin test. and it humbled me so strongly, I believe I collapsed on myself and am now a black hole of self-doubt. Of course, that means I passed (final results still pending - I repeat, no confirmation of a pass yet!!!!). Confusing? Let me explain how the test works.
You start with a question that is at passing level. If you answer it right, the next question is harder. If you're wrong, the next question is easier. Kind of like Goosebumps (remember those books?!). Then, when you exhibit a consistent right/wrong answering pattern (get 1 right, get 1 wrong, get 1 right...etc.), then the whole test shuts off. The minimum amount of questions you can get is 75. I got 77. But... I would say that roughly 40% of the questions were on drugs I have never heard of, surgeries I didn't know existed, and disease complications that are so rare, they aren't even mentioned in the small print of the test books... you just have to know that maybe it COULD happen.
lame.
I guess though, hard questions = doing well.
For "doing well", I feel like hell... that rhymes. maybe if I fail this test, i could be a poet instead....
I did it. I took the mother flyin test. and it humbled me so strongly, I believe I collapsed on myself and am now a black hole of self-doubt. Of course, that means I passed (final results still pending - I repeat, no confirmation of a pass yet!!!!). Confusing? Let me explain how the test works.
You start with a question that is at passing level. If you answer it right, the next question is harder. If you're wrong, the next question is easier. Kind of like Goosebumps (remember those books?!). Then, when you exhibit a consistent right/wrong answering pattern (get 1 right, get 1 wrong, get 1 right...etc.), then the whole test shuts off. The minimum amount of questions you can get is 75. I got 77. But... I would say that roughly 40% of the questions were on drugs I have never heard of, surgeries I didn't know existed, and disease complications that are so rare, they aren't even mentioned in the small print of the test books... you just have to know that maybe it COULD happen.
lame.
I guess though, hard questions = doing well.
For "doing well", I feel like hell... that rhymes. maybe if I fail this test, i could be a poet instead....
Tuesday, May 19, 2009
Dinner of the Gods
...and amazingly enough, of the skinny goddesses too!!! Seriously, though. This is 1. healthy 2. easy, 3. amazingly delicious 4. not boring and ordinary 5. low-carb for those of us who's husband's are going low-carb after 3 pm.
This dinner involves three EASY parts, and thus will be graded all together as one "recipe"
Healthy Scale: 9
Yummy Scale: 10!
Filling Scale: 9 - only because I wanted more sausage
Difficulty Level: Easy, Easy, and Easy
Time to Cook: ~15 minutes
Dish One: Garlic Sautéed Green Beans (5 minutes)
you will need:
-a handful of washed, fresh green beans (frozen would work too, but... fresh is better)
-a pan with 1cm of water on the bottom
-1 tbsp. butter
-dash of garlic salt (yes I am aware that I use garlic salt in almost everything.)
how you do it:
1. easy, put beans, butter, and garlic salt in the pan, cover, and steam for 5 minutes
2. eat
3. love
Dish Two: Sliced Sausage (3 minutes)
you will need:
-sausage of your preference, sliced (mine was packaged pre-cooked - if you are getting raw sausage, cook first, then slice and fry)
-1 tbsp of oil in the bottom of a pan
how you do it:
1. easy, oil in pan, lightly fry both sides of sausage.
2. eat.
3. love
Dish Three: Mango, Avocado & Sunflower Seed Salad with Raspberry Vinaigrette Dressing (4 minutes)
you will need:
-mango, peeled, cut into chunks
-avocado, peeled, cut into chunks
-sunflower seeds (or any nut, really)
-spring green salad
-raspberry vinaigrette dressing
how you do it:
1. throw all of the ingredients on a plate; mix
2. eat
3. love... well. first be a little unsure if putting the avocado (which IS a fruit... right??) on the salad was a good decision or not, then keep chewing, and realize the smooth and oddly-not-out-of-place flavor brings out the sensational "twang" of the mango and raspberry dressing, and feel that the avocado is the perfect transition into the nutty taste that comes at the end of the flavor rainbow... THEN love.
Oh my flippin' gosh. so good. I know the salad sounds weird, but you HAVE TO TRY IT. it is SO good. I ate dishes 1&2 first, because the heat and saltiness and deliciousness are so good, I couldn't stop eating them. (also, I was a little afraid to try the salad). But, it was perfect, because the salad is sweet enough where it's almost its own little dessert, and you don't want to stop eating that either. Plus, switching back to the strong and consistent flavors of the beans and sausage would totally ruin the whole palate experience.
seriously. eat this dinner.
Monday, May 18, 2009
Dinner Recipe! "Jamba-liar"
Why is it called Jamba-liar? Because, I was in the mood for what I thought was Jambalaya, but when I went to look up a recipe, all the recipe's for Jambalaya were nothing like I thought/wanted. SSOOO, I thought, screw you recipes. I'm going to make my OWN Jambalaya... This recipe is Jamabalaya-inspired, but if you call it Jambalaya, you're a liar.
*all scales below are 0-10
Healthy Scale: 5
Yummy Scale: 9
Filling Scale: 8
Difficulty Level: Medium
Time to Cook: ~2 hours (give or take 45 minutes?)
you will need:
-1 cup of pearl barley
-1 cup of wild rice
-1 cup of brown rice
-lots 'o' water
-extra virgin olive oil
-dried basil (to taste) - 2 tbsp?
-chili powder (to taste) - 3 tbsp?
-Seasoning salt
-one or two other spices... I didn't really keep track... just kind of went by what smelled like it would go with Jamba-liar...
-Sriracha Sauce! - a little to a lot, depending on how spicy you like things
-Sausage, cut up
-Shrimp
-minced garlic
-1 onion
-1/2 green pepper
-1 can of diced tomatoes (and sauce, but seperate the two)
-patience
-the ability to wing it because aparently I can't remember what I put in it, or how much...
how to do it:
1. fill one pot with water, and put all the rice and barley in it. I don't measure proportions of rice:water, I just boil the rice till it's done, then strain it. I know that's a weird way to do it, but it makes the rice a lot softer, and mixes it together well.
2. Once cooked and strained (about 30 minutes to cook the wild rice), then put the rice in a pan with the oil, spices, and sriracha sauce and stir fry it. It took me about 45 minutes to do this, because I boil my rice, but if you cook rice like a normal person, it should take much less. I just kept stir frying and adding things til it tasted spice, and yummy
3. now, while you're stir frying, you dice the onion, pepper, and sausage, throw them in a skillet with the garlic, tomatoes, and shrimp - do this about 15 minutes before you're done stir-frying the rice.
4. Mix the two together.
5. eat.
6. love.
so, I know how crazy/incomplete this recipe is, and I don't really expect anyone to actually try it... but it was good. and if nothing else, you can read this and be jealous of the fact that I got to eat it.
Sorry for the recipe tease, but GOOD LUCK if you DO try it! You won't be sorry! :)
*all scales below are 0-10
Healthy Scale: 5
Yummy Scale: 9
Filling Scale: 8
Difficulty Level: Medium
Time to Cook: ~2 hours (give or take 45 minutes?)
you will need:
-1 cup of pearl barley
-1 cup of wild rice
-1 cup of brown rice
-lots 'o' water
-extra virgin olive oil
-dried basil (to taste) - 2 tbsp?
-chili powder (to taste) - 3 tbsp?
-Seasoning salt
-one or two other spices... I didn't really keep track... just kind of went by what smelled like it would go with Jamba-liar...
-Sriracha Sauce! - a little to a lot, depending on how spicy you like things
-Sausage, cut up
-Shrimp
-minced garlic
-1 onion
-1/2 green pepper
-1 can of diced tomatoes (and sauce, but seperate the two)
-patience
-the ability to wing it because aparently I can't remember what I put in it, or how much...
how to do it:
1. fill one pot with water, and put all the rice and barley in it. I don't measure proportions of rice:water, I just boil the rice till it's done, then strain it. I know that's a weird way to do it, but it makes the rice a lot softer, and mixes it together well.
2. Once cooked and strained (about 30 minutes to cook the wild rice), then put the rice in a pan with the oil, spices, and sriracha sauce and stir fry it. It took me about 45 minutes to do this, because I boil my rice, but if you cook rice like a normal person, it should take much less. I just kept stir frying and adding things til it tasted spice, and yummy
3. now, while you're stir frying, you dice the onion, pepper, and sausage, throw them in a skillet with the garlic, tomatoes, and shrimp - do this about 15 minutes before you're done stir-frying the rice.
4. Mix the two together.
5. eat.
6. love.
so, I know how crazy/incomplete this recipe is, and I don't really expect anyone to actually try it... but it was good. and if nothing else, you can read this and be jealous of the fact that I got to eat it.
Sorry for the recipe tease, but GOOD LUCK if you DO try it! You won't be sorry! :)
The epitome of a perfect day
Today is what you call a perfect day, in my book. And, since two of my three faithful readers aren't here to experience it, I will tell you how amazing it is.
First of all, the temperature is around 78 degrees. A couple lazy, fluffy clouds are rolling around in the sky, and an occasional kiss of wind will gently graze your cheek. Not so hot that wearing jeans would be uncomfortable, or sitting in the grass having a picnic would be unbearable. Just right.
The wine-colored clover fields are a burst of almost misplaced color in a tapestry of lumpy green hills. Dark evergreens stubbornly refuse to join the gaiety of the kelly green oaks around them, standing alone with old mossy beards in fields of daffodils and grass.
The shy spring blossoms that eagerly exploded with the first sun of spring are still hanging around; pinks cherry trees, purple clumpy flowers, and the brilliant rhododendrons of every color loudly stake claim on the passerby's full attention.
Every leaf is so honestly optimistic and glad to be bathing in the warmth of spring, it gives the most sincere color it can muster.
The freshly tilled chocolate fields emit a fruitful glow, having been just turned upside down, the dirt clods stretch their cold backs to the sky.
The sounds is of tractors humming, birds socializing, and the leaves thrilling in a foreign warm breeze. The smell is so naturally intoxicating, the heated earth pumping the air with the aromatic energy that spurs spring on.
The cars in parking lots have their windows cracked; drivers trying to spare themselves the choking heat that only our 4-wheeled, portable ovens can muster on such a lovely day. The grocery store is leaking inexpensive produce with every shopper that goes out the door. Workers straining to try and restock the oranges - consumers grabbing the juicy orange globes faster than they can be replaced.
This spring day is the one we hope to see repeated all summer. It is the sheer positivity of the natural world that makes it so intoxicatingly blissful. Everyone wants to be outside in it.
I am quite literally eating a bowl full of cherries, and I cannot find anything more fitting to end this post, than to mention the very last cherry in my bowl. Too much energy for one skin, it broke the cherry-society rules and burst into two. A double cherry to epitomize my very thoughts and feelings of such a perfect day.
First of all, the temperature is around 78 degrees. A couple lazy, fluffy clouds are rolling around in the sky, and an occasional kiss of wind will gently graze your cheek. Not so hot that wearing jeans would be uncomfortable, or sitting in the grass having a picnic would be unbearable. Just right.
The wine-colored clover fields are a burst of almost misplaced color in a tapestry of lumpy green hills. Dark evergreens stubbornly refuse to join the gaiety of the kelly green oaks around them, standing alone with old mossy beards in fields of daffodils and grass.
The shy spring blossoms that eagerly exploded with the first sun of spring are still hanging around; pinks cherry trees, purple clumpy flowers, and the brilliant rhododendrons of every color loudly stake claim on the passerby's full attention.
Every leaf is so honestly optimistic and glad to be bathing in the warmth of spring, it gives the most sincere color it can muster.
The freshly tilled chocolate fields emit a fruitful glow, having been just turned upside down, the dirt clods stretch their cold backs to the sky.
The sounds is of tractors humming, birds socializing, and the leaves thrilling in a foreign warm breeze. The smell is so naturally intoxicating, the heated earth pumping the air with the aromatic energy that spurs spring on.
The cars in parking lots have their windows cracked; drivers trying to spare themselves the choking heat that only our 4-wheeled, portable ovens can muster on such a lovely day. The grocery store is leaking inexpensive produce with every shopper that goes out the door. Workers straining to try and restock the oranges - consumers grabbing the juicy orange globes faster than they can be replaced.
This spring day is the one we hope to see repeated all summer. It is the sheer positivity of the natural world that makes it so intoxicatingly blissful. Everyone wants to be outside in it.
I am quite literally eating a bowl full of cherries, and I cannot find anything more fitting to end this post, than to mention the very last cherry in my bowl. Too much energy for one skin, it broke the cherry-society rules and burst into two. A double cherry to epitomize my very thoughts and feelings of such a perfect day.
let's get some shoes.
So I had these shoes. They fit perfectly, were a great height of heel, and were the only pair of super cute brown shoes I've found. UNFORTUNATELY, one of the buttons on the side that held the trendy cross strap in place popped off. This happened over a year ago, and finally, today, I got around to fixing them.
First, I had to find new buttons to sew on. It is right about now I wish I had a camera and pictures to show you each painful step of this process... but I don't.
I found these really vintage cute buttons that were made out of brown leather (just like my shoes!) and lo and behold, there were two of them in a giant sea of unmatched buttons! Fate!!!
So, with my dream buttons in hand, I got down to business on the first shoe. After about 15 minutes (yes. that long), I felt really good about the sewed up little strap and button. They loooked great! better than the original! I walked into the other room to show dad.
me: "Hey dad, look, I fixed my shoe!"
dad: "Looks great (looking at the computer)"
me: "Thanks! Now I just gotta go do the other one"
dad: "Or you could just leave it like that... no one would notice the difference"
(ummmm... yes they would)
So, one down, one to go. Easy peasy. Well, the old buttons were held on with a metal ring, so I got out the scissors and cut the metal (cheap metal! no wonder they broke). I begin to sew the other button on, when all of the sudden, the little leather hoop that I was working with cracks and falls off! DAMN YOU VINTAGE LEATHER BUTTON!!!
So, I look for another pair of brown buttons I could use. None can even compare to the ones I had originally picked. And, I can't find a match.
Now, how to make this old, crumbling leather button work? I see a safety pin to my right - hmm, the ring at the end will be perfect. I'll just cut it off and drive it in to the button and vwa-la.
I go out to dad's garage and get the wire clippers, cut the safety pin, get some needle nose plyers and a hammer and center the newly made button ring over the button. Several uncoordinated swings later, I have a cute leather (crumbly) old button with a newly fashioned ring! sweet.
Now, to soldifiy the ring in place, I need glue. Krazy glue. I find some, and of course, the spout is hardened from the last time it was used. Off with the old head, and one straigtened paperclip and a lot of shoving later, I have a new hole! Unfortunately, the glue is old, and is the consistency of slightly warmed tar; and in the efforts of squishing the goo out the paperclip-made-hole, I shove my nail through the glue container. krazy glue everywhere. damn.
grab paperclip, damage control. Somehow, through all this, I nimbly glued my metal ring to the leather button. I also got glue all over my fingers, fumes in my eye, and a little glue on my upper lip (I don't know how).
But, now my button is drying, and the giant glue mess is all cleaned up, and after 15 minutes of sewing, I am sure I will have a brand new pair of shoes to wear!!!
Industry... meet fashion.
Now, onto converting a pair of too-short jeans into shorts, and using the scraps to fix up some other paire of holey jeans.
I don't think I'll ever throw clothes away again.
First, I had to find new buttons to sew on. It is right about now I wish I had a camera and pictures to show you each painful step of this process... but I don't.
I found these really vintage cute buttons that were made out of brown leather (just like my shoes!) and lo and behold, there were two of them in a giant sea of unmatched buttons! Fate!!!
So, with my dream buttons in hand, I got down to business on the first shoe. After about 15 minutes (yes. that long), I felt really good about the sewed up little strap and button. They loooked great! better than the original! I walked into the other room to show dad.
me: "Hey dad, look, I fixed my shoe!"
dad: "Looks great (looking at the computer)"
me: "Thanks! Now I just gotta go do the other one"
dad: "Or you could just leave it like that... no one would notice the difference"
(ummmm... yes they would)
So, one down, one to go. Easy peasy. Well, the old buttons were held on with a metal ring, so I got out the scissors and cut the metal (cheap metal! no wonder they broke). I begin to sew the other button on, when all of the sudden, the little leather hoop that I was working with cracks and falls off! DAMN YOU VINTAGE LEATHER BUTTON!!!
So, I look for another pair of brown buttons I could use. None can even compare to the ones I had originally picked. And, I can't find a match.
Now, how to make this old, crumbling leather button work? I see a safety pin to my right - hmm, the ring at the end will be perfect. I'll just cut it off and drive it in to the button and vwa-la.
I go out to dad's garage and get the wire clippers, cut the safety pin, get some needle nose plyers and a hammer and center the newly made button ring over the button. Several uncoordinated swings later, I have a cute leather (crumbly) old button with a newly fashioned ring! sweet.
Now, to soldifiy the ring in place, I need glue. Krazy glue. I find some, and of course, the spout is hardened from the last time it was used. Off with the old head, and one straigtened paperclip and a lot of shoving later, I have a new hole! Unfortunately, the glue is old, and is the consistency of slightly warmed tar; and in the efforts of squishing the goo out the paperclip-made-hole, I shove my nail through the glue container. krazy glue everywhere. damn.
grab paperclip, damage control. Somehow, through all this, I nimbly glued my metal ring to the leather button. I also got glue all over my fingers, fumes in my eye, and a little glue on my upper lip (I don't know how).
But, now my button is drying, and the giant glue mess is all cleaned up, and after 15 minutes of sewing, I am sure I will have a brand new pair of shoes to wear!!!
Industry... meet fashion.
Now, onto converting a pair of too-short jeans into shorts, and using the scraps to fix up some other paire of holey jeans.
I don't think I'll ever throw clothes away again.
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