Saw the play last night. Didn't really know what to expect (even though it's the story of Beauty and the Beast) because I hadn't heard that much from those involved in it. Was it worth my $6? I would have to say yes...it was enjoyable, the cast did a great job, and the moving set was pretty cool. It was really short though and would have been even shorter if they hadn't sung Disney songs at the end while the grotesques danced and pranced about. I heard there were supposed to be pyrotechnics but they didn't go off last night...at least we didn't know during the play that we were missing them!! Most of the dialogue is done in rhyme which is unique...at times it reminded me of reading a Dr. Seuss book. Anyway, if you haven't seen it yet I recommend you do and since it's short you can't use the excuse that you have too much else to do!!

Props to Megan and LaVaughn- the green and burgundy grotesques- for their dancing and prancing; Lindsey for doing the beast's makeup and Mark for an excellent peformance of musical selections from Disney's Beauty and the Beast!!

I've been told that my blog is boring. So, any ideas of what I could do to make it more interesting? I'd love some suggestions!

hmm...maybe if I blogged more often my posts wouldn't be so long...

it's snowing again and has been almost all day! It's a winter wonderland and is pretty much the perfect frolic weather! (maybe a little too chilly with the wind chill) Of course it would snow again right before the weekend...at least this way I should have time to enjoy the snow. Yay!!

In other exciting news my recruiter came today and gave Nikki and me our orders. Ensign Fisher and I will be going to Officer Indoctrination School on August 15th...will graduate on September 17th (at least they say we will!) and no later than 10 days following graduation we have to report to Naval Medical Center, Portsmouth, Virginia. I am also assigned to the Fleet Hospital which is a mobile hospital that can be deployed any where in the world for up to 6 months. I'll have 4-6 months of internship when first getting to NMCP so I definitely won't be deployed before that time. And from what I understand they aren't deployed all that often but I guess I'll have to see! :-/ Sounds exciting now and I think will be great now but will it be so great when I have a family? But who knows when that will be so for now I get to imagine all the cool places I might get to visit!

And finally, Kim did teach today and did a wonderful job describing pediatric syndromes to us. She still has some pain below her right scapula and is doing PT for that. But we praise the Lord that she's able to return!! Continue praying for her!!

I had a much better night in the PICU (even though they hid the pizza and Melissa and I didn't get any of it!). I can't go into details about my patient because of an annoying thing called HIPPA but he was a cute little guy who had a loving and pleasant family. He had an interesting condition and so I learned quite a bit. If nothing else, my time in the PICU is teaching me a lot about different diseases/conditions that I've never heard of! I really enjoyed taking care of him and wouldn't mind taking care of him again tomorrow...but instead I have to sit through hours of class instead. :-(

But the highlight will be the return of Kim!! I talked to her on the phone tonight (thanks to Dr. Baker!) and she's excited about returning, teaching and catching up on all she's missed. But continue to pray for her as her body continues to fully recover and as she returns to teaching and doing clinicals.

These are my wonderful teammates with whom I get to spend springbreak!

Marcee Hart
Bryce Bahler
Susan Bosworth
Andrew Brown
Jenni Delk
Lisa Keim
Catie Walker

The team is co-led by Marcee and myself!

Well...despite some dire warnings about road conditions we still had clinicals and discovered that the roads were pretty dry and definitely not slippery...at least on the way to Children's. It was snowing on the way home so the roads were a little snowy and slippery but not too bad. We were close to a snow day but it didn't quite happen.

I was in the PICU tonight which was pretty slow considering it's an ICU! My patients didn't really require care beyond monitoring and assessments/vitals every 2 hours. They were interesting cases though and I learned a lot in that sense. My nurse was really nice and I get to work with her tomorrow so it should be another good day. And maybe it will be more exciting!? Sometimes I wonder why I always feel so bored at clinicals...should I be trying to do more? My nurse was just sitting around so I am not sure what else I could have done. I want to make the most of my time at the hospital but I am not sure how and often feel that I am wasting my evening. :-(

We had our second "shepherd's team" meeting tonight. We have plenty of outgoing people on the team this year so our group has bonded a lot quicker than we did last year! We played fun ice breaker games tonight, did some paperwork, prayed and drank hot chocolate. Looking forward to the actual trip and working with the residents at Shepherd's again! I've enjoyed the other 3 trips I've taken so I am sure this one will be just as enjoyable!

You know, we really are pitiful. We are college students...seniors even...and we are hoping for snow days!! Shouldn't we want to go to clinicals (or class) and learn as much as possible? Hmm...sounds good but the answer is no! This is the last time in our life (at least for us nurses) that we'll get snow days!! So, I for one will continue to act like a kid and continually check the weather report and cancellations just hoping that maybe we'll get a day off!!!

"Tonight. A chance of rain this evening. Then freezing rain and sleet late. Lows in the lower 30s. Some ice accumulation possible. Southeast winds 10 to 15 mph. Chance of precipitation 90 percent.

Tuesday. Freezing rain and sleet in the morning. Changing to snow by afternoon. Snow accumulation 1 to 3 inches. Some ice accumulation expected. Early highs in the lower 30s. Temperatures falling into the mid 20s by afternoon. Southwest winds 15 to 20 mph. Chance of precipitation 90 percent."

Hmm...sounds like it's going to be dangerous to drive tomorrow. Who thinks we should have clinicals cancelled so we don't wreck our cars and injury ourselves?

We had a guest speaker for class this morning. She's an Army nurse who specializes in burns. Quite interesting though the pictures were a little graphic. The better part was at the end when she switched from her "teacher" role to her "recruiter" role and provided our class with pizza and pop and told us how great the Army is. Very good speaker because if I hadn't already sold my soul to the Navy I would probably sell it to the Army instead! :-) But I don't really have an option any more but that's ok cuz the pizza was good!

One more class to go and then we're free!! And I have a small parcel at the PO...wonder what that might be...

No big surprise but we actually have class and chapel today. How come we still have a normal schedule when Antioch, Kettering College of Medical Arts, Sinclair, Southern State Comm. College, UD, Urbana University, Wilberforce, Wilmington College and Wright State all either have delays or are cancelled? Is it safer for us to get to school than it is for them? I might fall down on a slippery sidewalk! Can't we just have a day off? Guess not!

I've added a comment link that appears at the end of each post, so, those who are not familiar with blogs, please comment on things I say! Hopefully it actually works cuz doing this is really stretching my knowledge of computers! :-)

Please bear with me as I figure this blog out! :-) Anyway, it's been snowing...a lot...and it's really exciting...at least the little MK child in me is excited! We're at a level 2 snow emergency right now so maybe classes will be cancelled tomorrow...2 years in a row would be amazing! That would be wonderful, though who knows how we'll make up the 3 1/2 hours of class we'd miss. But a day to frolic in the snow would be fun, wouldn't it? :-)

A shout out to mcKraigster for encouraging me to start this blog. Maybe someday I'll have a blog as cool as his and kev's