tired trip home

Tragically Hip

And Amy Coots!

Hey look Jennica it's Jen Miller at the Saquatch festival!

Check out the Sasquatch boots (and hat)

Enjoying the sun and friends

In grandma's driveway at the beginning of our journey

Sasquatch music fesival: Gorge, WA

I saw all the bands I wanted to- it rained a bit on sat followed by 15 mins of large chunks of hail!!! so after that everyone went back to their campsite (another half hour walk one way) to get changed and they stopped the concerts for about an hour. We left around 1 am and the last band was still playing. I enjoyed Sufjan Stevens, Ben Harper, the Tragically Hip, Iron and Wine and many other bands. Jake and i both got a bit sunburned- and he snored all night so I had a hard time sleeping. He got a speeding ticket on the way home- lucky for him the officer was fair and only wrote him a ticket for going 5 miles over (he was going 20? miles over the speed limit). Grandma bought all our groceries and even gave us a HUGE bag a salt water taffy. Some guy walking by our blanket asked if it was for sale?! we offered some to him. Grandpa paid for my gas on the way home too -they are such generous grandparents :) I still am baffled that in a crowd of around 20,000 I still bumped into my friend Melissa at least 3 or 4 times, then we set up our base blanket space so everyone could join up with us throughout the day.

Ok - so if you really need to laugh copy and paste this link: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=dMH0bHeiRNg

ok so I can relate with Almost all of these:

You Know You're A Student Nurse If...


...your books require wheels

...you use a paper towel to turn off the water faucet after washing your hands--even in your own home.

...you know the exact location of every coffee shop within a 5 mile radius of your clinical site.

...bandage scissors are the only scissors you use.

...everyone, including complete strangers, tells you about each and every ache, pain, sniffle, and lump they have.

...when you tell a man you meet for the first time you're a nursing student, you're expected to laugh hysterically when he asks you for a sponge bath, as if it was the most original and wittiest thing you've ever heard.

...you realize that the sponge bath joke IS the wittiest thing you've heard in awhile.

...you are not allowed to talk about your school day at the dinner table.

...you know it's possible to squeeze 6 people into a car to ride to a clinical site an hour away.

...your favorite dream is the one where you ask the nursing instructor what each and every side effect of a medication is and cheerfully write up an unmet objective if she misses one.

...you've woken up with a stethoscope-shaped imprint on your cheek.

...your family members must have a fever of at least 105 or be missing a limb with active bleeding in order for you to miss class/clinical.

...you replaced sleep with coffee and Red Bull.

...you seriously consider using the lecture on sleep deprivation to support a disability claim that will buy you one more week of study time before the next test.

...you have no problem discussing sputum and bowel movements at lunch.

...you can almost SEE the germs on doorknobs and telephones.

...you get excited when someone says there is dressing change or a catheter to be done.

...your Christmas list consists of: NCLEX books, drug flash cards, a new stethoscope, and maroon scrubs.

...you car resembles a medical library.

...you use a penlight to get around the house when your electricity is knocked out.

...you know that one shot of tequila equals 45cc

...you find yourself subconsciously giving your family and friends nursing diagnoses.

...you are convinced you have every disorder you study, including all psychiatric disorders.

...you believe that a large bag of chocolate is a reasonable nursing action for Ineffective Coping Skills.

...you use aseptic technique to open a piece of flat cheese

Ok- so I have been reading "Wild at Heart" by John Eldredge in defiance that "that book is only for men" plus the fact that I really like the front cover and the title and my brother in law owns it and left it behind and as I read it I am finding little notes and underlines stuff that really helps me understand who is he:) So- I have slowly read through but not consistently, however, I found the last chaper to be especially helpful for me and all women out there. I actually thought to myself as I read it "is this not a chapter taken straight out of the book 'Captivating'? Anyways her is some good stuff from page 182: "Just as every little boy is asking one question, every little girl is, as well. But her uestion isn't so much about her strength. No, the deep cry of a little girl's heart is "Am I lovely?" Every woman needs to know that she is exquisite and exotic and chosen. This is core to her identity, the way she bears the image of God. "Will you pursue me? Doe you delight in me? Will you fight for me?"

and before that on pg 175: speaking to men: "The whole crisis in masculinity today has come because we no longer have a warrier culture, a place for men to learn to fight like men. We don't need a meeting of Really Nice Guys; we need a gathering of Really Dangerous Men. That's what we need...We need a band of brothers willing to "shed their blood" with us."

One last thing to leave the ladies with : pg 184 "And let me tell you, a hesitant man is the last thing in the world a woman needs. She needs a lover and a warrier, no a Really Nice Guy. "

Pictures of my parents brand new house in Penticton. So beautiful- and the weekend was sunny and nice (from Sat afternoon on). I went to the Penticton Vineyard and they were celebrating 20 years as church. Good cake, and I got to reminise with some people that I knew from youth conferences at CBC in Regina (Sandra (the redhead)- she is married and has 2 kids with another on the way- she says hi Hil :) And Phillip Magnus who is now the drummer there and he and his wife have 2 kids- we use to say he looked like Larry the cucumber from Veggie Tales- in the nicest possible way!)

Jacob Hoggart is everywhere!!

Okay I don't know why but it seems that when I was shopping there was this tatoo'd guy walking around the mall- and I am thinking 'who is this punk?' he was actually quite funny to watch - very animated- and then I got a closer look- and all be it was Jacob Hoggart from Hedley and Canadian Idol! So, that was a while ago- now today I go to my favorite store- Mac station- and I am inquiring about my computer being serviced there- and who do I see walking out of this sweet sporty looking black car? Jacob H...with some very interesting new tatoos since the last time I saw him- anyways so he is now shopping at my favorite store:) Sweet JH is a Macintosh computer fan!! That makes me so happy because I love Macs, my dad loves them (he is the computer teacher at his school and a regular subscriber to the Mac magazine too). Oh and did I mention my sister and brother-in-law, me and cousin all have the same ibook computers!!! Yeah- we do- So that's my story goodbye

Keegan -- [adjective]: Smells like teen spirit 'How will you be defined in the dictionary?' at QuizGalaxy.com

Here's a flashback to summer of 2004- I travelled to help teach English in the Czech Republic. Then I was off to Austria, Italy and France with Stephen and Justin. I just got the pictures back today.

Our czech team from south abbotsford church

A fun little game/drama with other people's hands behind us (fun entertainment for the Czech's)

This is what happens when there's no more seats on the train- hide out in the luggage rack! JK

Stephen on the ferry in Venice

Touring the islands around venice via the ferry

Stephen taking out some moola

Our hotel is on the right

Where am I now??? Take a guess..

This me in the Jewish ghetto part of Venice

This is me in a park in Venice

Stephen and I having dinner in Austria. Man is he hot- to think I travelled to 5 countries with him!

On Wednesday- it was a reunion for all us Grant East girls as Ruth was in town visiting (she lives in Alberta with her husband now). So we went to Milestones, followed by Afterthoughts (yummy)

Here is how I spend my day today- driving to White Rock (I took the one while driving! I didn't publish any pics of the beach as I have in previous posts (from my last trip there)

Ok - at Darla's request here is the low down on consolidation practicum (final 2nd yr nursing practicum): Well I am sure we were all more scared that we should have been because after one grueling year of being pushed, stretched now 3 of the 4 insructors are on contract (meaning they are nurses from the local hospitals who have decided to teach ). There is a real lack of nurse's educators right now (and nurses in general). Anyways- our instructor is great because she had last semester's surgical group at CGH- and she works there so she can bring us in more smoothly (I think so). The RN's and LPN's are really nice (that I've worked with) and now on with what Ive done: Well, I have done lots of iv meds (from last semester and during this rotation)- unfortunately for the first time ever I have been having trouble with air and occlusions in the iv lines (this means that the pump won't run until i fix it and it beeps and beeps I jsut want to scream!!). So, that's my learning needs from last week- but the other students and my instructor have been really good with helping out (I also had a very emotionally draining pt who made it hard to concentrate). Other skills: I pulled a JP drain out of a lady's neck (she thanked me), I removed one saline lock and one iv (I'm an old pro at that now). Also, I have been getting to know the different charting too- at CGH they use care maps for some of their patients (like a flow sheet that has indicators for each day post-op and your chart variances for anything abnormal). Oh- and the post-conferences have been a gong show- we could't book a room all week- so we were meeting in the LOCKER ROOM/LUNCH ROOM- needless to say those meetings didn't last too long and not too much discussing going on with some housekeepers eating their lunch around the corner. Overall- consolidation is amazing, I love it- but i do look forward to being done on May 18th!

Lisa and her latest edition: Joel!