New things!

So lately, I have been so busy. That would be why I Blogged only twice in a week. But I have had a lot on my mind, that now I wanna share.


I go through this periods a few times a yr where I WANT to be busy, busy! I look for more stuff to do. I'm sure it sounds crazy to most because I'm a single mom who works full time and barely has time to workout. Ha, my mom rags me about it a lot. She, and other people, tell me to just slow down and enjoy life. Well I AM enjoying life. I ENJOY doing things that fufill me, LOTS of things!

So first, a friend of a friend had a 5 mth old chocolate lab he needed to give away. I almost got him, now I've decided not to....and NOW I'm thinking maybe again. (12pm) And now (10pm) I found out that he was adopted by somebody else who was a first pick over me. No hard feelings. I know there are tons of lovable dogs at the humane society, and I am no problem going that route when I'm 100% certain I can handle a dog. I haven't a dog for more than 3 mths since I was a kid. So I want to be very certain that I can handle all it requires. Because really, it's like having another child! So what I decided tonight, is that I'd WAIT. Wait until when? Well that leads to my next point.


So, about a few weeks ago I decided I needed to go BACK to school. I've been going for 8 yrs on and off. I completed training at a technical college when I was 19 to be a pharmacy tech. After that, I always knew I wanted more training, and I'd like to have a degree. So I thought about it for two weeks and asked some of my friends for info and insight. And I decided I'M GOING TO FINISH SCHOOL FOR THE RN NURSING PROGRAM!!!! I'm so excited! I've toyed w/ that idea for years and I always decided against it b/c of this: "What am I going to do w/ my kids while I work 7am to 7pm?" "What if they require me to work nights or weekends?" "Where am I going to find a daycare open 6am to 8pm incase I have a commute?" ALL my fears, worries, and questions held me back. So I'd tell myself I'd wait and a 12 hr shift was not something a single parent could pull off. Those are still very real, rational questions of mine. Questions I STILL do not know the answers to. However, I decided I'd listen to one piece of advice my mom constantly gives that I never take. She says "Liz, why do you worry about foreseen problems years in the future...when they AREN'T EVEN HERE YET?" Well, to answer that, it would be because I am a future-minded person. I dream of the future and live in the future in my mind. Every decision I make, is weighed on how much it is going to affect mine and my boys future. When they act up or refuse to clean up a mess they made, I think of how MY punishment and lecture to them will greatly affect the men they will someday grow to be. So just b/c it's an apple they threw on the floor in a fit, does NOT mean it's just an damn apple on the floor and they threw a fit. TO ME, it means this is an opportunity to teach them consequence, respect, and anger control. So, I take advantage of these opportunities b/c I DO live in the future in my mind and in the future, I want to have respectful, polite men who will make the world a better place and at least know how to treat women w/ the utmost respect.
 
So, I decided to go ahead and sign up for the Nursing Program and WHEN the time comes and the "possible" problems present themselves, then "I will cross that bridge when I get there." It is very unlike me. But, I think it's really the only feasible way for me to make this approach. For some reason, this feels right. I FEEL like I need to be a nurse. I love to help people, ecspecially in their weakest moments. I have an extra soft spot for children and even more for abused children. Child abuse has always been a passion of mine to fight against and stand up for.
 
So in all the thinking of being an RN in the last few weeks...lead me to think of other things. I saw this video going around Facebook about a little girl named Briana Lopez who was killed at 6 mth old. Her parents and uncle had abused her from the moment she was born. The particular night she was murdered by them, they had bitten her, thrown her across the room, burned her with cigarettes, sexually abused her, she was malnourished, etc. You can only imagine how horrifying she looked in the pictures. Only 6 mths old and all she ever knew was terror and abuse. The video broke my heart, made me cry, and has stayed with me. I set me on a path to our local children's abuse shelter. I got all the information I need to become a volunteer there. I think it's the right path for me. It's always been something I consider intolerable. Children who lived an abused life are so greatly psychologically scarred. Those scars will NEVER go away. And it takes  ALOT of work for those children to EVER believe that they are worth loving. If I had my choice to adopt a child, I'd PICK a child who had been abused over a "healthy" one. Because I would want to shower that child with love and acceptance every single day of their life an dprove to them that there are good people in the world. Ugh! It just upsets me. So...on that volunteering it'll take me about 2 mths to finish all the testing and training before I could actually volunteer. Once that's done I'm shooting for 2-3 hrs /wk on Fridays...maybe more if I just can't pull myself away from them once I get there! :)
 
Then this past Fri I was at the children's hospital that Konnor spent 2 days in back in Feb for pnuemonia...to straighten out some wonderful insurance paperwork. While THERE, I saw info on being a volunteer at the hospital. so then I went home and found it all online and printed out the info. I think that would be a great thing for me to do in the immediate future to help me see how hospitals work, how the diff staffs work together and respond to one another. A volunteer does work just under a CNA. So no nasty work they just fetch stuff and run domestic errands for the patient (water, ice, snacks, pillow, blankets, etc). But I think it'd be great for me to be IN a hospital and seeing how the flow of things are. If I had my way....I'd be a Peds Nurse! :)
 
Oh and so the best news about me going back to school is that once I looked up the pre-reqs to the nursing program, I realized I ONLY NEED 2 MORE CLASSES TO FINISH PRE-REQS. I was sooooo stoked about that. AND I have all but 1 of the co-reqs. So that is super, super exciting! Today I went to a required information nursing seminar. It was cool! All the info and questions you could get into an hour, and I felt very enlightened. HOWEVER, sucky news of the day is that the college (and their 7 sister colleges) have a 18-24 mth waiting list. Then the accelerated program I want is 16-18 mths. This process only starts after you submit your app which Ic an't do until I finish those 2 classes. (they are 2 science classes that must be taken consecutively) So the soonest I can submit my app is Dec 2010. (if I get that first science class this summer). That means it'd be exactly 4 yrs from right now before I WAS DONE! God that seems like sooooo long! But from what I've heard the waiting lists are just long HERE. In texas and arkansas there is NO waiting list. But that's what I heard word of mouth so I'm going to look into it more and see if I have any "sooner" options here in Az locally.
 
Hope all is well w/ all the bandits!!!! Oh Ps, I'm going on 8 days of TOM, very bizarre for me. (I'm on depo, noramlly no TOM). So my weight is up 2 lbs and I'm eating and craving like crazy. So just trying to focus on keeping the portions in control since the choices have been awful!!!! I'm doing my best and praying this "week" finishes and I can get back on track!
 
xoxo,
Lizzle