ODDLY SENTIMENTAL

Wall Ball and Badly Drawn Buildings...

2011-05-09T20:57:00.000-07:00

A few weekends ago, I went on a daddy-daughter date to Wall Ball, which is an art event featuring over 50 artists where you can actually watch them go through their process of making art. I was quite giddy as I walked around and got to talk to different artists. I loved seeing the different techniques that they used, was in awe of the ability of many, and had a few "dude, I can totally do that... why am I not doing that!" moments that has encouraged me to do more. And, of course, I had the best date ever to share this experience with! My dad and I brainstormed on different art pieces I could make...

Here's a guy working with glass... A friend and I will be taking a glass class soon (*squeal!*... similar to one heard from jr. high girls when they see Justin Bieber...)

I liked this guy. He adds robots to all of his paintings, made me smile...

And this guy was doing all this beautiful engrave work. Quite jealous of his mad skills!

I'm all about supporting local artists, and I bought this sketch/watercolor piece from Jenn Carter. I thought it was quite cute :)

But my favorite artist in the St. Louis area will always be my brother. This is a charcoal sketch he had done for me as a gift. He's so talented :)

After checking out all the art, I decided to make a painting for my dad. I'm not going to go through the whole process of how I made it, cuz a lot went into it, but here's brief overview.

My dad had a blue print of the Beaux Arts Building that he had worked on. I made a quick sketch of the building from their website:

Then I pasted the blue print of the building onto a canvas,

Then painted...

The red is overlay of letters is the first initials of everybody in my fam. This isn't my usual style, but it was fun to try something new!

And I shall end with some Sultans of Swing... this song reminds me of riding around in the car with my dad as a kid... always makes me smile when I hear it :)

I'm pissed off... I mean 'on'... :)

2011-04-11T20:24:00.000-07:00

In clinical, I was making my rounds, hopping from room to room to see what my students are up to. As I was about to exit one patient's room, there was a person in front of me trying to get into the bathroom to empty a container of urine and put dirty laundry in the hamper. As she struggles to open the bathroom door, amber waves of urine crash against the sides of the container, and I had a quick thought that this isn’t gonna be good. The urine splashes out of the container, and right onto my jacket… onto my face… and into my left eye! Bagaughspshhfa! Luckily, I maintained my composure and dignity (which was quite an accomplishment with pee on my face, I must say, so here is me patting myself on the back! *pat-pat*... good job, Erin...), and rinsed my eye out quickly and talked to the appropriate people at the hospital and the university to follow appropriate policy. Found out that I now have to rinse my eye out for about fifteen minutes cuz a quick rinse isn't good enough… yeah…

The eye rinse at our work is pretty much a HUGE bottle of sterile normal saline, aaaaaaaaand it had a ton of dust that had collected on it, which normally I would find that rather gross, but considering I just got pee in my eye which is even grosser, I just found it disheartening.
“This is what I’m suppose to use?!”
“Well, at least it’s not expired!” said one of our fabulous nurse managers who was helping me out; she poured while I held my eye open over a sink (we're all about teamwork at my job! :). But we could only pour a little bit at a time cuz every time she poured the solution on my eye/face, I couldn’t breathe! I have no idea why! I felt like I was underwater! It was very traumatic! And I have this sneakin’ suspicion that she rather enjoyed it (just kidding, she’s wonderful! :). I laughed and said, “I feel like I’m getting water-boarded! I tell you whatever you want! Mother’s maiden name?! Social security number?! It’s yours!” We finally got a good system down where I was able to get an adequate amount of oxygen while having my eye cleansed. By the end of it, I was more composed and am a stronger person for it… tried to convince her I could try to become a marine due to my ability to tolerate water-boarding… She told me that they would break me into two… probably… but a girl can dream, can’t she?

Along with the comforting act of getting my eye flushed, I got to go the emergency room… due to policy… double yeah… and got to sit there for a couple of hours for them to tell me that I did what I needed to and I can go home, and I need to keep an ‘eye’ on it (bahahaha! I crack myself up!). Oh how my life is so exciting!

Shop Stop: Willow Lake, T.F.A., and Roots

2011-04-10T13:02:00.000-07:00

On Friday, my dear friend, Jen, and I went to some of our favorite antique/vintage home decor shops all around the St. Louis/O'Fallon area. And all of these spots are definitely worth checking out!

Our first stop was in O'Fallon, MO: Willow Lake Home Decor! Oh how I adore this shop! And how I adore the owner! She integrates the old with new- takes antiques, mingles them with new products and creates beautiful, harmonious living spaces. She has such a great eye for decorating, and she places clippings from decor magazines to help you visualize it at your home. You have to walk around the store three times so you don't miss anything cuz she has sooo much packed in the store. Bonus: everything is really reasonably priced- yeah!

These goggles were rather tempting for me! But I resisted... for now :)

Our next stop was in the Tower Grove area: T.F.A., Jen's favorite place! T.F.A. stands for 'The Future Antiques' (aren't they clever? :), they specialize in 50s/60s decor. Amazing vintage chandeliers, furniture, clothing, and dishware (*love the dishware*)! Some of their stuff is a little pricey for my liking, but you can haggle with them a little. You will also have a lot of "OMG, my mom/grandma had this!" moments :)

I loved these letters, kind of hard to tell in the picture but they are angled, not flat... and they were not for sale... booooo!

Our last stop was in Maplewood: Roots! Ya, we get around :). This is another place I like to go for decor ideas, and the ladies who work here are so sweet! Everything is fairly priced and they have some rather unique items. This is also a media-mixing/jewelry-making/steampunk-loving dream store! They have antique/vintage game pieces, flash cards, watch faces/gears, and other awesome randomness to make beautiful art with. Also, if you are looking for antique sign letter (plastic or metal), this is the place for you!

And here are my finds for the day!

I got this antique typewriter at Willow Lake. I had bought it to go on my antique desk that I use as an end table, but it was too big, so currently it's hanging out on my coffee table. I put a page from a children's book in it to add a little somethin' somethin'...

I got this cute little red crab from TFA. He is actually an ink well (shell pops open), and he is currently 'sunning' himself by my flowers until I find a more permanent spot for me...

And I got a bunch of vintage flashcards at Roots. I currently do not have time to make something with them yet, but here is a little picture word-play for you :)

Day of Art with Erin: snazzy jewelry holdin' frame

2011-03-29T16:30:00.000-07:00

On Saturday, we were graced with snow yet again, but instead of letting it get me down, I pulled on my Uggs and headed to Home Depot to work on a project that I have been thinking about for quite some time but has been neglected due to lack of motivation and uncertainty on how I wanted to execute it. I have been wanting to make a jewelry holding frame cuz I haven't found anything that I like and all the jewelry I wear regularly ends up hanging out on my dresser. Embarrassing, I know...

So I found these wonderful aluminum sheets at Home Depot that are perfect for what I was looking for. I also got a 10X20 inch floating glass frame from Gordmans, cuz they're cheap. This is a quick, easy project, took me less than a hour. Enjoy!

The supplies you will be needing:

decorative aluminum sheet

picture frame (I prefer floating glass frames)

metal clippers

marker

1. Remove the back of the frame (while listening to Damien Rice :)

2. Remove the glass from the frame

3. Trace glass with a marker onto the aluminum

4. Then cut along the line...

5. Place aluminum in the frame

6. Replace the back...

7. Then hang it all the wall

8. Add some S hooks for hanging your necklaces

5. Add some jewelry and you're done!

And to not deceive, my dresser is still a mess, but not with jewelry :)

Day of Art with Erin: Cork Board Collage

2011-01-18T20:03:00.000-08:00

As a New Year resolution, I am attempting to do something once a week to express myself artistically*. I had a rough start with that yesterday, but was happy with my results by the end of the day.

My sister and I went to the mall for make-overs; she is wanting to become a make-up artist (and she is fantastic!), so we are starting to scope out other people's handy work. My sister had hers done by a chick at MAC, and ended up 'mouth-dropping' gorgeous... I, unfortunately, got mine done at Estee Lauder. I got the 'romantic' look done, not realizing that 'romantic' was the politically correct term for 'lady of the night'. After receiving many 'offers', I wiped off all the eye make-up. Nice to know that I would do fair with that back-up job...

Things continued down hill as I was shopping at Hobby Lobby. Hobby Lobby has these glass display shelves when you first walk in, where merchandise is sectioned off by themes. I was looking at a display shelf that had a cute '@' cork board, along with some vases, glass plates, and bunches of fake grapes on it. As I picked up the '@' sign, to my dismay everything... yes, EVERYTHING, fell off the shelf! I felt like a little kid getting catch touching something I shouldn't as everyone in a 30 ft. radius stared at me... smooth, Erin... A guy who works there was too kind as he tried to convince me that this happens all the time and helped me clean up. I do, though, give myself 2 points for not actually breaking anything.

Luckily, as I started working on my project, things got better. I was wanting to put up some cork board in my office, but had been unhappy with what I have found, so I decided to make a 'cork board collage' to add a little extra 'umph' to my office.

I started out by measuring and cutting the cork board to the sizes I wanted.

Once done cutting, I arranged them into a design I liked.

Then I painted all the cork boards white...

Then painted simple, repetitive designs...

Hang them up and viola! Cork board collage!

All that is left to do is put it to good use...

Here's another view of my awesome workspace... I love it... I'll give you a better tour some other day :)

*this was carefully worded so I can be rather liberal with it... :)

Boys will be boys... except when they act like girls...

2011-01-15T14:22:00.000-08:00

At the hospital this past week, I was working with a bunch of teenage boys. For many people, such an experience would be described with many explicit words, but I love it. You never know what is going to come out of their mouths, and as long as you have thick skin and a good sense of humor, it's usually entertaining. Here are two conversations I had with them this week...

The boys were inquiring about my 'stalkers'. 'Stalkers' is a term that one of the patients had coined to describe my nursing students, since they follow me around all day. School time tends to be the guys' favorite time of the year... it's not every day you get to have a cute nursing student waiting on you, hand and foot.
Pt. 1: "Can I get a cute, younger one?! I didn't get any last semester..."
Pt. 2: "Man, don't rule out the older ones... I had an older one who gave me an awesome back massage with my bath..."
Pt. 3: "Ohhh, I want a younger one who gives good back massages!"
Way to treat my students like pieces of meat, ordering up what you want... as least it's a good bargaining tool to get the guys to do what I want ;)... boys...

Then the following day, our conversation took an interesting, unexpected turn:
Pt. 1: "Hey Erin, let me look at your ID." It has my picture on it, and my hair was long at the time of pic was taken. "I definitely like your hair shorter."
Pt. 2: "yeah, your hair was freakin' long, and though it was really pretty, I like it a lot better this length..."
Pt. 3: "yeah, me too! It's really cute! How do you get it to be sooo shiny?"
Um... that was... odd and unexpected... Shocked, I laughed and told them thanks. I was tempted to ask them if they wanted 'manis' and 'pedis' later and we could discuss the recent celebrity break-ups (Helllooooo, Ryan Reynolds), but I didn't want to hurt their male egos.

Here are a couple of my pendants with a boy-ish charm theme from my etsy shop, Oddly Sentimental Designs.

Freudian Pictionary...

2010-11-18T09:49:00.000-08:00

I have never really conquered the skill of talking and writing on a board, though it is something that I do on a regular basis. I have awful handwriting, especially when I'm writing fast and talking. I can't write in a straight line, it always takes a detour downward at the end of my sentence or calculation. And I always have to step back a couple of feet after writing a lot to see if it is legible or makes sense. Unfortunately, I took my scribbling errors to a whole new level this week...

I was explaining how positive pressure works in an IV, which can be created by clamping the tubing while flushing the line or with positive pressure caps that are placed on the extension tubing (if this doesn't make sense to you, no worries... understanding this concept is really not relevant to the story). Some of my students were struggling with getting the concept, so to help them out I drew a picture of it.

"Here is your IV catheter in the vein..." (drew a catheter sheath on the board...)
"and when you clamp your line while flushing, it gives an extra push to the fluid, creating this little 'bleb' at the end to prevent anything from backing into the line..." (drew a 'bleb' at the end of the catheter...)

I stepped back from the board to look at my picture and 'oh my goodness'...

"Yep... I definitely just drew a penis... let's go ahead and erase that!..."

I think a couple of my students peed on themselves from laughing so hard! Thank goodness this is at the college level and I don't have to worry about letters from parents...

And now for some Salt-N-Pepa... I so could have been a back-up dancer in this era...

Day of Art with Erin...

2010-09-16T13:41:00.000-07:00

I have been running like crazy for the past month and decided to do something that I love and have not done for about a year: paint (Instead of grading papers and working on my lecture and, well, you get the point...)!!! Come, join me as a go through my process for a piece I have been wanting to do for a while. I just got a new comforter set and now I have a color palette to work with. Sweetness!

First off, I started by taking a picture of a fake flower that is in my bedroom...

Then I drew it onto an overhead projector sheet (while listening to Mumford and Sons)...

Next I used the overhead projector to sketch the flower onto my canvas...

Painted the background with acrylic paint and a floating medium to give it a more watercolory-texture and blotted with a paper towel...

With acrylic paint and floating medium, I heavily painted the flower and stem, causing it to drip...

To add a little more detail, I added some white circles using caps of some of my bottles...

After the paint dried, I used a brown (really wanted to use black, but couldn't find it) paint marker to outline the flower...

Tah-dah!!! I think it may need a little something more, but this will do for now...

Bedroom before...

Bedroom after!!! Much better... I think I need some new throw pillows, though...

Also, yesterday, I chopped off about 7 inches of my hair and highlighted it for the first time (working on being more high maintenance :). So here is my farewell to my hair:

Dearest Hair,

Let's be honest, we both knew this day was coming. Don't get me wrong... we had good times and I cherish the time I spent with you... and I will probably be regretting this in the weeks to come, but I need to move on. I think we should go our separate ways for now. Maybe down the road, when I have had some time to grow, we could be together again. But till then... Sincerely, Erin

(brain injury) kids say the darnedest things...

2010-07-29T19:35:00.000-07:00

It was a rather rough day at the hospital where I felt like I couldn't get on top of my work for the life (well, more like sanity) of me. But luckily on days like these, I receive little reminders of why I love my job. I was helping my CNA with morning care on a patient of ours who had had a brain injury and can be really combative (I always get the combative ones, one of the downfalls of being nice and patient). As we were lotioning the patient (ya, that might sound weird if you're not medically inclined, but trust me, it's completely normal!) with some Bath and Body Works stuff that smelled like grape SweetTarts that her parents had brought from home and the patient started to lotion my arm and then went for my throat! Much to my surprise and relief, she just desired to lotion my neck and nothing else. I laughed and asked her if she thought I was looking kinda dry, she casually replied, "Nope, just helping you out so that you smell good when the boys try to neck with you". I almost lost it! Obviously, she knows something I don't and she was just try to help a sista' out! Thank... you...? :)

Picture of the week: why can't we all just get along?

2010-07-06T19:10:00.000-07:00

Those who are too smart to engage in politics are punished by being governed by those who are dumber. ~Plato

We passed these benches in Massachusetts while heading to Rockport, to which I replied, "oh my gosh, we have to stop!!!" And I'm so glad we did. I could go into a deep convo about how politics is tearing our country apart, and how it's more about being a celebrity than doing what's best for our country, but I'm not that kind of blogger. This made me laugh. I don't know if it's because someone actually put forth the effort to separate the two or the fact that there is a ridiculous amount of bird poop on the democrat bench. America, may we be united again some day.

On that note, here are a couple of 'inspiring' necklaces I recently posted on my shop, Oddly Sentimental Designs. Both of the descriptions on the shop have an inspirational theme to them, which is something that I feel is much needed right now. Hope they make you smile!

Shop Stop: The Augusta Emporium

2010-06-20T13:37:00.000-07:00

Ty and I took a day trip to Augusta, MO to visit one of our favorite antique shops, the Augusta Emporium. Tyler found this place while cruising down Hwy 94 to wine country, and the lady who owns it is from Colorado (Tyler's stompin' grounds), so they have fun chatting away about outdoorsy madness while I shop away. The prices are great (sometimes I don't think she realizes that she has some awesome finds for indie-artsy folk) and carries unique treasures.

I love how she decorates and displays her goodies. These birds made me smile and now looking at them, I should have brought them home with me!

These yellow metal chairs are adorable! I picture them at home in a garden full of bright, colorful flowers with eclectic, bohemian treasures.

This owl reminded me of something from an Anthropologie catalog. I took him home with me...

She also carries a large collection of vintage games. I made this mixed media piece with some pieces of a game I bought there.

But some of my favorite finds there are her collection of tin containers! I lately have been experimenting with them to try make jewelry. Here is one of my 'upcycled' necklaces I made from a candy tin with birds on it that I had bought there. I made it by cutting the tin, hammering it into a form that I like, soldering the sides, and using resin and floating a piece of paper with 'love' for a shadow box effect. It was a lot of effort, but I'm really happy with the results. There are more pictures of it available on my Oddly Sentimental Designs page.

hot diggity dog... with clams on the side...

2010-06-15T18:59:00.000-07:00

A few weeks ago, I went on a much needed trip to Boston to visit my friends, Becky and Eric (... and company). One of the things that was on my Boston To-Do List was to have a hot dog from Boston Hotdog Co. in Salem. Unfortunately, paying taxes was not high on their list for this year and they were closed (the following is a picture of Eric embodying our frustration...excellent work).

But not easily disheartened, we journeyed to the far lands of Rockport to feast of hot dogs at Top Dog, which is quite possibly America's favorite hot dog (according to their site and from personal experience). I found their menu rather entertaining, using different dogs to represent what is on the hot dog, because that is exactly what I would do if I had a hot dog stand, so I felt an instant connection. I, also, felt as if they knew exactly what I would want, because the day before I had mentioned that hot dogs and mac & cheese was a fabulous combination, and Top Dog just so happened to have the Golden Retriever, which is a hot dog with mac & cheese on it. Genius! Of all the years I have been eating hot dogs with mac & cheese, I have never thought about putting the mac & cheese on the hot dog. It is so simple, yet so brilliant! Bask in it's glory:

But Top Dog is not just famous for their hot dogs. They make amazing clams as well! And they batter and fry them in front of you, making it fun for the kids... and myself...

So, if you are in Rockport, and you want so fabulous food that will give you heartburn later, check out Top Dog... and tell them 'Erin' sent you... they will have no idea what you are talking about...

Friday of Awesomeness...

2010-06-10T20:10:00.000-07:00

My dear friend, Josh, called a few weeks ago and asked my if I wanted to go on my favorite radio talk show with him... I think my reply was something oh, so mature and classy (*code for screaming like a jr. high girl at a Justin Bieber concert...*) and I agreed to join him. We were on a segment called 'Stump the Studio', where people call in with trivia questions about movies and music and try to 'stump' the hosts and whoever their guest were for the day (aka- us!). Josh's specialty topic was M.A.S.H. (which he totally rocked!) and mine was Will Ferrell movies (in which I got 2 out of 3, 'A' for effort!). It was a freakin' blast! I was so nervous! All of my cleverness and sarcasm was gone! And I totally knew the answer to the question I missed, but my mind went blank! But it was so much fun!!! Though Dave wasn't there (sniff, sniff), I got to meet Tom, Max, and Klose and they were such cool guys! I wanted to give Tom a hug, but I refrained, instead I bought them all donuts for National Donut Day. Max, in an email to Josh, said that I was 'beautiful and charming'... awww! Thanks, Max! If you want to check it out, follow these instructions (very complex :) :

1. Go to the Dave Glover's website
2. Click on 'Podcasts' on the right
3. Click on the podcast '6-4-10 DGS Hour 2'
4. If you don't want to listen to the whole hour, you can skip to 08:40, and that's when Josh and I join in for the rest of the hour.

Enjoy!!!

Picture of the Week: A Tail of Two Dogs*...

2010-05-14T11:58:00.000-07:00

Coming this Halloween to a theatre near you...

Two friends...
              “We’ll be friends forever, right?”- Yoshi
              “Forever and ever!” -Jenni
Torn apart by one mistake…
               “Why did you have to do it, Yoshi?! Why did you have to poop on the carpet?!”-Jenni
                “You have no idea what my life has been like! This is who I am!”- Yoshi
One dog must make the decision between love…
                “I thought we were family?!”- Yoshi
And law…
                “I’m sorry, Yoshi, but I have to do this…”-Jenny

I love the remorse on Yoshi’s face! T-man and myself stopped by the pet shop and found a bunch of clearance Halloween costumes for dogs. We thought it would be funny to get the girls coordinating outfits. We found cop and prisoner outfits for Jenni and Yoshi. Unfortunately, the only size that fit Bell was a lobster, but she does make a cute ROCK LOBSTER!!! “There goes a dog-fish, chased by a cat-fish…”

*Get it?! A tail?! Bahaha! I digress…

I did it again...

2010-05-12T16:38:00.000-07:00

I just graduated with my masters and it has been a painful, but rewarding three years! I was looking over my past posts; it can been over a year since my last post and scroll down a couple more posts and there is me graduating with my BSN (the pictures are almost identical except for I have a hood this time! That made me smile :).

Where do I go from here?
Well, currently no where, which is kind of nice. I'm taking a break from school and will pursue my PhD at a much later date. But as for now, I will continue to teach and work in the hospital, two things that I have come to love dearly.

What shall I do with my free time now that my life is not consumed with school work?
I'll do what I have been putting off for the sake of school:
-Work on my art and my online shop (currently, I do not have anything posted so don't get too excited!)... and learn to sew... I have never learned to sew...
-Hang with my hubby and rediscover 'us' (poor man has been neglected while I was in school).
-Finish decorating my home.
-Read... for fun... any suggestions?
-Blog. I'm hoping to make this a regular thing again. I like writing my own history.
-Volunteer.
-___________ (fill-in the blank)

"In three words I can sum up everything I've learned about life-it goes on...."
-Robert Frost

Now, on with life...

Say what?!

2009-03-02T06:24:00.000-08:00

Possibly one of the weirdest things anyone has ever said to me:

"Erin! I stuck a probe up _____'s butt and now I can't get it out!"

Yep... that was unexpected... but then again, looking at who it was coming from...

Wanna be...on... top?...*

2009-01-30T15:00:00.000-08:00

With much encouragement over the years, I decided to try out for America's Next Top Model before I'm out of the age bracket. It was quite the experience. They allowed about 175 girls total try out. When I first got there, there was about 50 girls ahead of me in line. But over half got cut before we got to meet in front of the judges (not tall enough, too old, too young), and I was number 22. The crowd was for the most part what I had expected; girls in their late teens/early twenties freaking out, wondering if the pants they wore made their butt look big as they apply their lip gloss for the 12th time. We had to fill out a 15 page questionnaire. The question that freaked out most of the girls was "If you could be in any political office, what would it be?" Every girl that I talked to put secretary of defense, so they could stop the war. They asked me what I put, to which I replied "I see myself more as a lobbyist for something that was important to me than holding a political office." "Would you, like, answer phones?" But all the girls I talked to were really sweet and extremely nervous, so I did my best to entertain and encourage as we waited our turn. In groups of 10, we were brought into a practice room to prepare us for what was next. We did practice walks and poses, and we were told that we would be asked a question like "why should you be America's Next Top Model?" and "what's your best model feature?".

So when it was my turn, I went into the judges' room. There was three judges behind a table, a guy working the camera, a guy with a mic, and a girl who opens the door. I walked in, gave the judges my photos and questionnaire, introduced myself, and did my walk and poses. Then the guy handed me the mic for me to answer my question.
"What are the craziest things you have ever done?"
Thank God! Not a lame question! "Things or thing? Cuz I've done alot!" Here's me stalling to think of something quick...
"Just one would be fine."
"In high school, I played a lot of sports, and when we went on tournaments, in our free time, we would play games and dare each other to do dumb stuff. During our one volleyball tournament, we were stopping at Wal-Mart and my friends thought it would be funny to ask some random person how to use a tampon. I grabbed a box and walked up to a lady to was stocking a shelf and said, 'um... I have a question... this is kind of embarrassing, but... (I started talking really fast and hammed it up) I'm on a volleyball tournament and we wear those really tight shorts and I started my period and all I have are pads but I can't were those cuz it looks like I'm wearing a diaper so I need to wear tampons but I have no idea how to do that... could you help me do this?' I hand the box to the lady who looks at me with her mouth open, 'well...' I grab her by the hand and started walking towards the restroom, 'just come with me to the bathroom and show me how to use these things... it would really help me out!' The lady stood there, dumbfounded, 'um... i think there are instructions in the box...' 'Thank you so much!' And I grabbed the box from her, gave her a big hug and walked away. All my friends were rollin' in an aisle near by."
The judges were cracking up. I gave the mic back to the guy who said that was one of the funniest stories he has ever heard at one of these things. Unfortunately, I didn't get a call back. Sorry I letcha down, guys... at least my husband thinks I'm beautiful (sniff, sniff)...

*I'm glad that the sexual innuendos of their opening song are very subtle...

I’ve lost my skills…

2008-05-27T16:28:00.000-07:00

Sooo, I use to rock the “opposite sex” skills and was quite clever in my come-backs, but since I got married and I predominantly work with women, I have not used those skills much and the following incident shows great decline in my ability.

There is this guy that works at Maryville that I have had a “school girl” crush on from the day I stepped on campus five years ago. (Yes, Tyler knows and we are working through it. ;) Though we have shot each other glances over those five glorious years, we have only spoken to each other twice. First time was in the cafeteria and it was pouring outside and I was completely soaked from head to toe, and he sarcastically said “It’s a little wet outside,” and I cleverly reply, “… yep…” and walked away. Unfortunately I didn’t redeem myself in our second encounter.

Once again, we bumped into each other in the cafeteria. He was in front of me in line to pay and after paying, he went to the other side of the cafeteria where they make specialty foods. I headed in the opposite direction where they have to usually cafeteria food. I was using the plastic picker-upper thingy to get a hamburger, and unaware that he got in line behind me, he scared the crap out of me as he asked if I have ever tried the turkey burgers. Being completely caught off guard, I threw the picker-upper thingy in the air and it landed about two feet away from me. Unfortunately, my humiliation didn't end there. Acting ever so nonchalant like throwing plastic picker-upper thingies was a norm for me, I picked it back up and replied, “no… I prefer hamburgers…”
“Really? How come?”
“I like that they’re…uh…[loss of words, think of something quick!]... meaty…er…?”
"Oh..."
What the heck was that?! I like hamburgers cuz they’re meatier?! Sounds like a bad pick-up line; Yeah, I like them meatier, I’m a girl who can handle a lot of meat, if you caught my drift… After saying that, I just kinda paused in disbelief that those words came from my mouth, put the picker-upper thingy back, avoided eye contact and walked away. Real smooth, Erin… real smooth…

Penis theft panic hits city...

2008-04-24T09:57:00.000-07:00

My sister wrote a blog about this article, and I had to share! It's so freakin' funny that I had to look up the article to make sure it's legit; here's the link. The last line of the article is perfect!

Penis theft panic hits city...

By Joe Bavier, Wed. Apr. 23

Police in Congo have arrested 13 suspected sorcerers accused of using black magic to steal or shrink men's penises after a wave of panic and attempted lynchings triggered by the alleged witchcraft.

Reports of so-called penis snatching are not uncommon in West Africa, where belief in traditional religions and witchcraft remains widespread, and where ritual killings to obtain blood or body parts still occur.

Rumors of penis theft began circulating last week in Kinshasa, Democratic Republic of Congo's sprawling capital of some 8 million inhabitants. They quickly dominated radio call-in shows, with listeners advised to beware of fellow passengers in communal taxis wearing gold rings.

Purported victims, 14 of whom were also detained by police, claimed that sorcerers simply touched them to make their genitals shrink or disappear, in what some residents said was an attempt to extort cash with the promise of a cure.

"You just have to be accused of that, and people come after you. We've had a number of attempted lynchings. ... You see them covered in marks after being beaten," Kinshasa's police chief, Jean-Dieudonne Oleko, told Reuters on Tuesday.

Police arrested the accused sorcerers and their victims in an effort to avoid the sort of bloodshed seen in Ghana a decade ago, when 12 suspected penis snatchers were beaten to death by angry mobs. The 27 men have since been released.

"I'm tempted to say it's one huge joke," Oleko said.

"But when you try to tell the victims that their penises are still there, they tell you that it's become tiny or that they've become impotent. To that I tell them, 'How do you know if you haven't gone home and tried it'," he said.

Some Kinshasa residents accuse a separatist sect from nearby Bas-Congo province of being behind the witchcraft in revenge for a recent government crackdown on its members.

"It's real. Just yesterday here, there was a man who was a victim. We saw. What was left was tiny," said 29-year-old Alain Kalala, who sells phone credits near a Kinshasa police station.

(Editing by Nick Tattersall and Mary Gabriel)

Maybe it's our marriage...

2008-04-18T09:57:00.000-07:00

Last night, Tyler and I woke up around 4am-ish to our house shaking (by the way, I'm married now, I'll blog about that some other time). In a surprisingly calm and chill-lax manner, this was our following conversation:

"Hey... is this an earthquake?"
"No... couldn't be."
"How are you so sure?"
"It would be a lot stronger."
"Nu-uh! Earthquakes have different levels, you don't even feel some earthquakes."
"...Nope..."
"How do you know? Have you ever been in an earthquake?"
"... no... but I was in the movie Tremors..."
"...maybe it's our marriage..."

We both laughed, made some jokes about Kevin Bacon and our marriage being on shaky ground, and then went back to sleep. We had a 5.2 earthquake. Really not as exciting as I hoped one would be. I don't know what people from California complain about... whooses...

Nurses don't make good public speakers...

2007-06-24T20:39:00.000-07:00

One thing that really sucks about nursing is the fact that even though I graduate with a nursing degree, it doesn't mean that I am a nurse. I first have to pass a test that was made to break the spirit and denounce your knowledge. Luckily, I passed! Two points for me! And I love my job! Two more points, and with a total of 4, I'm having a pretty good day!

But I remember a day this past semester that wasn't so good. Our professors thought it would be a great "learning experience" if we went to Nurses' Lobby Day in Jefferson City (which is couple of hours from St. L). That also happened to be the day there was that huge blizzard, and unfortunately we were already down there when it started ("fortunately" the school paid for a hotel for us, but that's a different story... nursing students are crazy...). The day consisted of getting tons of free stuff from nurse recruiters (yeah!) and sitting and listening for hours to different nurses lecture about the importance of being involved in government and different bills they were wanting passed related to nursing (nah...). But I realized something that day: nurses don't make good public speakers. What were they wanting passed? I don't remember. But I do remember two things said that day by two different speakers.
~"Everything that happens in life is controlled by the legislators; everything from what happens in your bedroom to what you put in your mouth..." I was taking a sip of water when the speaker said this, and I about spit it everywhere and died laughing! And my friend looked at me and said, "dude, did she just say that?!" Our government is a lot stronger that I thought! The speaker was trying to emphasis the importance of government on our everyday life, but I think someone should have proof-read through her lecture notes. And linking those two situations was not a wise choice; it leaves a lot open to interpretation...
~"Now don't put porn on that." A different speaker says to a student as she hands the student a 1 gig zipdrive prize for answering a question or something. This was done in front of about 500 people at this event, including some Amish people. The look on the student's face was priceless and the whole place was quiet. I, once again, lost it! It was so wrong, yet so funny!

Here are some pictures, once again, from grad. My older sis took these; they made me laugh.

Here's me saying, "See those obnoxiously loud people waving and acting like the paparazzi with the cameras? That's my family."

About to head down to get my diploma...

After I got my diploma...

Not paying attention during the ceremony now that I have my diploma...

Me, rocking out the graduation...

I finally freakin' did it!

2007-05-28T20:56:00.000-07:00

Many of you may be wondering "what happened to Erin?" due to my lack of blogs. But no worries, I still here and I still care. I was just finishing up my last semester. After seven long years of undergrad, I am finally done. Well, with that phase, at least. I'm going back for my masters in Nursing Educations, so soon you can call me "Professor Erin". But for now, I gladly respond to "Nurse Erin". I got a job working part-time at Ranken Jordan, which is a non-profit childrens hospital in St. Louis, and I will be working with kids that have long-term problems. Also, I will "probably" be working part-time at Maryville University as a clinical assistant, educating and testing nursing students, and it pays for my masters (woo-hoo!). It's a "probably" because I have to pass boards before they can say I have the job; so keep your fingers crossed! It's kinda corny, but I get so excited telling people that I am a nurse when asked about my occupation. Hopefully I'll still feel that way years down the road!

You may be wondering, "why Erin, are those cords you are wearing?" Yep, I belong to Sigma Theta Tau, International Nursing Honor Society. I joined so I could look smart.

Opened eyes are so overrated in pictures.

Why the thumbs up? I graduated cum laude and I won the "Excellence in Nursing" award. All that butt-kissin' worked!

Here's me shaking the hand of some guy I don't know, who I guess is important to my school in some way. I could really care less, I just want my diploma and not fall like the girl in front of me did... tee-hee-hee...

easily distracted...

2007-01-17T17:59:00.000-08:00

I decided to start my Spring cleaning early in hopes to encourage warm weather to head our way. Unfortunately, it brought an ice storm instead... sorry St. Louis, my bad... I'm quite the pack-rat, so I was rather proud of myself for throwing out/getting rid of a ton of crap that I won't need when I move (for those of you who don't know, I'm moving to Boston in September. Surprise!). The cleaning process always takes longer than it should cuz I get distracted by art books, photo albums, notes/cards from people that I love, essays that I have written, shiny things. I came across this reply to a letter a friend had sent me. The P.S. of the letter had asked the question, "How come cows don't fly?". This was my reply. I don't know where I come up with this crap. It's one of those "shake my head in disgrace" moments, but it still made me laugh. Enjoy.

Reasons why cows don't fly:
1. It would be harder to get milk due to the fact that the cows would be flying south for the winter. And we would have to resort to goat's milk or soy milk.
2. Trees and telephone wires are not that strong.
3. If cows could fly, pigs would want to fly, too. And if that happened, many unlikely things would start to happen. Example- guy asks girl, "want to go on a date?", girl replies, "yeah, when pigs fly."
4. The "cow" scene in Twister wouldn't be as funny.
5. Car and home insurance rates would increase. Think Windex commercial where the crows fly into the glass windows. Think hail damage is bad? Well, cows don't leave a simple mess that a car wash would fix...

Day of Fun at the Sculpture Park...

2007-01-05T00:03:00.000-08:00

Kim (my lil sis), Jon (Kim's boyfriend), and I went to the sculpture park a few days ago. It was a good time; we took over 60 pictures, many are freakin' hilarious. Here are just a few pictures from our day. Enjoy.

Isn't my sis a little cutie?

Me and Kim doing our mock version of Britney Spear's perfume commercial. Sidenote: we didn't plan the whole "hand over mouth" thing; great minds just think alike. Kinda scary...

A random pole in the park... but I made use of it...

It's one of those "easier to get in than out of" situations...

I hit my head for this shot. It wasn't worth it.

Continuation of "Day of Fun at the Sculpture Park"...

2007-01-03T07:59:00.000-08:00

There is an old proverb that says, "Keep your eyes on the sun and you will not see the shadows." It's probably cuz you go blind. Good idea, genius...

My impression of a groundhog. I did see my shadow, so that means that global warming is taking place. Isn't that how the story goes?

Me and Kim, trying to be "one" with the art.

This... is me...

We were pretending that we were getting attacked by the branches... but I was never good at pretending... looks like I'm laughing... but I tried really hard...

In memory of Papa Z

2006-12-17T21:17:00.000-08:00

Thursday morning around 1:15 am, my grandfather died.

As a child, I was terrified of the man; he was so big, distant, and he smelled funny. But after my grandma died, he moved in with my family until he had to move to the nursing home due to health problems. Life was aggravating, but always entertaining when he lived with us. As pissed off he would make me at times, I cherish the moments he lived with us because I got to know him, laugh with (okay, sometimes at) him, care for him, and learn from him. I wanted to share some of my favorite "grandpa" stories. There's a lot, so sorry for the mini-novel.

- My grandpa was a sweet old man. But that was a different story when he was on steroids. My sister and brother-in-law were visiting grandpa at the hospital. The nurse went up to them and said, "boy, your grandpa is ornery."
"Why do you say that?" my sister asked.
"I went into his room, and he was lying there naked with his sheets ripped off the bed. He had taken off all of his clothes, unhooked the monitors, and took out his IV. When I asked him why he did that, he replied, 'I thought you needed something to do.'"
After hearing that story, my dad told us a story about what grandpa said to him about a year ago when grandpa was on steroids. They were arguing cuz grandpa wanted Dad to get a car so he could drive again (grandpa couldn't drive, he couldn't even work the coffee machine and we put directions on it: "grandpa, push the green button"). Of course my dad said "no". In anger, grandpa said, "those kids aren't all yours." That's low, grandpa, real low...
-Grandpa had a hard time differentiating reality from fiction when it came to what was on TV. Once he was disturbed by this shark documentary he was watching. "I can't believe they let the shark eat those kids! How can they sleep at night?! That is unethical..." That 'documentary' was the movie 'Jaws'.
-My grandpa would go to my little sister's softball games. At one game, my parents kept on asking him if he needed to use the restroom cuz he had a couple of beers and, well, he has an old man's bladder, but he kept refusing. When he finally couldn't hold it any longer, he hopped up and hurried towards the restroom (and when I say "hopped up and hurried towards the restroom", I mean "a thirty minute process of repeated attempts to get out of his chair and slowly shuffling towards the parking lot"). Since the restrooms were too far away for him to make it in time, he took a detour through some parked cars and, well, relieved himself on someone's car. I wonder if he attempted to spell out "wash me" on the side of the car...
-My grandpa loves his alcohol. He had a fit when Sara said that she didn't want alcohol served at her wedding. While living with us, we tried our best to control this habit by giving him non-alcoholic beer instead of the real stuff. My dad felt kinda bad about controlling this area of grandpa's life, so he once bought him a case of real beer along with the non-alcoholic stuff. My gramps got so offended. He handed my dad the bottle of real beer and said, "don't buy me this stuff anymore. I don't want no woman's beer!" He interpreted the "don't drink if pregnant" label as "this beer is for sissies!". And there was this one time I was visiting him in the nursing home. “See all these bottles here (points at the pile of Coke bottles on his dresser)? I drink about two a day, but they are not strong enough to knock me off my feet. The nurses bring them in everyday for me.” He thinks its beer. My grandpa has struggled with alcohol his whole life. Kudos to the person that convinced him that Coke was beer.
-Gramps was an expert at ticking off my dad. In the car, he was like a little kid with the power locks and windows. Lock, unlock, lock, unlock, up, down, up, down, down, doooooowwwn, lock, up, unlock, up, uuuuup, down, up. My dad would make his 'pissed-off' sigh and would lock the controls for the windows and and lock. And at home, grandpa would try to fix the VCR by shoving screw drivers and butter knifes in the video slot. He just didn't understand why the VCR wouldn't play DVDs, even though we showed him multiple times where the DVDs went. He 'fixed' about 4 VCR/DVD players. My dad's a good man.
-My grandpa talked a lot about his time in the marines. He talked about how he was an island spotter, which is the guy they drop off before everyone else to scope the place, and how he was on a one man submarine, and how he was a bomber pilot. Also he shared how he lost his teeth because he was saving a guy who was injured, and the area he was in got bombed and the back draft of the explosion knocked out his teeth and he didn’t noticed until he was eating ice cream back at the base. And his swallowing problem was due to the fact that he got shot in the neck while saving my dad in the war(I don't know how that works, but that's what he tells me). Sounds impressive, huh? None of those stories are true. It was the same stories over and over again, but I’ve gotten really good at pretending that it was the first time I have heard them. Every time they change a little bit, but the over-all themes stay the same. I kinda viewed him as an exaggerated version of many of us. Many people become heroes in their own minds, and have a hard time finding fault in choices they have made that have had serious consequences. But I must admit that I love his stories, and knowing that for the most part, they are not true. It kind of reminds me of the movie ‘Big Fish’. Why correct him? Does it really matter? Let him be that hero.
- And, of course, there's naked stories. And I was only one who got to experience them; aren't I lucky? My grandpa sometimes wasn't "all there". He was usually fine, but every once and a while he has a "bad" day. Example, one day when I came home from school, he was wearing four shirts, his belt was twisted to the side, and his hair was disheveled. I asked him if he was hot, to see if there was a logical explanation for the shirts, then I pointed out that he was wearing four shirts, counting them for him (to get him back in touch with reality), then asked him if he needed help with his shirts, then I also helped him fix his belt. I'm used to this kinda stuff from work and school, so it was no big deal. But one morning, I had been busy running errands and doing stuff around the house. After putting my laundry away, I ran down stairs to make myself some lunch. I turn the corner, and there grandpa was, standing at the food pantry in his robe wide open, exposing his, um, "manly glory". I quickly turned around and headed back up the stair. Didn't know how to handle that one. I mean, it's not the first time I've seen, well, you know, cuz at both my school and my work I've seen it all, but it's different when it's your grandpa... at home... in front of the pantry... blarf. I decided best not to confront him about his lack of clothing, making both of us uncomfortable. "Um, hey grandpa, do you realize that your, uh, is, uh... it's not really sanitary to uh... would you like a hot dog for lunch?" Yeah, it was just easier to go back up stairs. I lost my appetite, anyway. Once, I was visiting him in the hospital and I was in my scrubs. When he saw me, he knew he knew me but couldn't quite put his finger on it. Noticing my nurse attire, his eyes lit up, and he ripped off his blanket and gown, and yelled, "ya wanna see my penis?". No, not really. Ends up he was having a problem understanding what a catheter was and why it was in him, and I have since had a problem with my sleeping.

I might not have gotten to know you as well as I would like to, but I will always cherish those last couple of years together, Grandpa. I love you, I miss you, and I look forward to seeing you again someday.

Erin's Picks of 2006: Most Creative Free Stuff from Hospitals

2006-12-11T14:49:00.000-08:00

One of the greatest benefits of being a nursing student (okay, it's the only benefit) is all the free stuff that we get from the hospitals. Usually it's pens, notepads, cups, bags, magnets, and pizza parties. But every once in a while, the recruiters get a little creative and try to provide something more memorable in hopes to increase your interest in working for their hospital. Some hospitals get it right, like Barnes-Jewish who gave us $50 certificates for a local mall and recruitment dinner that this beautiful mansion downtown. Others... well... they try hard. Here is this year's "Most Creative Free Stuff from Hospitals."

In runner-up, we have Missouri Baptist with 'gourmet microwave popcorn'. Maybe they are trying to come across as a 'fun' or 'a-maizing' place to work. Haha! Get it?! 'A-maizing'? Maize being corn? See how I messed with the words there? Aren't I 'punny'? Okay, maybe not... moving on...

And in first place, we have SSM Health Care with, yes, a teacup. I laughed so hard when they gave these cups to us. I guess they are trying to reach a more sophisticated, older crowd. Now, I would understand a coffee mug, but a gold-brimmed teacup with SSM's logo on the side that comes with matching saucer? They should fire the guy who thought it was a good idea to mix advertisement with china. I can't wait to use it at my next tea party...

Erin's Picks of 2006: Best and Worst Concerts

2006-12-07T14:18:00.000-08:00

The year is coming to an end (Thank God!), and so much has happened but I have been too busy to share. So, to wrap up the year, I have decided to share with you "Erin's Picks of 2006" (I know, I'm a word-master). Most of this will be stuff that I wanted to write about but just didn't or things that I think are worth repeating. Enjoy.

Worst Concert: John Corbett at Bottleneck Blues Bar. "Who?" you may ask. He refers to himself as "Johnny C" (um, sorry, you are no Johnny Cash), but you may know him as Ian Miller in My Big Fat Greek Wedding. I had a friend call me up who had an extra ticket and asked me to go with her and her sis. I'm so glad I took her up on it. I laughed so hard. Poor Johnny...

His lyrics (which he proudly said he wrote himself) were really deep and touching. Here are some memorable ones:
-"I don't have a nickel to my name but I've got lots of Cash." As in Johnny Cash, how clever...
-"This is the backdoor to my heart" Should I wipe my feet?
-And my favorite: "You can throw away those g** d*** birth control pills." What? Did I just hear that right? Um, I don't know how to take that. Are you more for natural family planning?

Before the concert started, we were talking about how he was dating Bo Derek and all the movies he had been in. Then in the middle of the concert, he said, "We're a bunch of single guys, and we are HORNY! Maybe some of you fine lookin' ladies can join us back at Motel 6..." First off, what happen to Bo?! Second, way to stay classy and not seem desperate, Johnny. Third, "fine lookin' ladies"... we were the only females there who haven't gone through menopause and no one there compares to Bo. Fourth, Motel 6? Yeah, right. Your music career may not be going any where, but I think you did make some money with your acting career.

This was the line before the concert. Notice: only one man among a sea of soccer moms. Must have been a designated driver... poor guy. But I can't say the women were well-behaved. All throughout the concert, they are yelling at him to take his clothes off, grabbing at him, and trying to dance dirty. The whole time I'm thinking, "she's my mom's age..."

Here we are excited before the concert, pointing out his picture. Life was so simple then.
I must admit, I came with high hope, so I did set myself up for disappointment. I mean, he is very talented; always playing diverse characters. Like in "My Big Fat Greek Wedding", he played the romantic, understanding, always forgiving, all-around nice guy. But then as Aiden in "Sex in the City", he plays the romantic, understanding, always forgiving, all-around nice guy. And how could I forget his exceptional performance as Pastor Dan in "Raising Helen", where he plays a romantic, understanding, always forgiving, all-around nice guy. And not to mention him as Lars Hammond in "Serendipity", where he tried something different by being the romantic, understanding, always forgiving, all-around nice guy. If only all of us could be so talented...

Best Concert: Jason Mraz on Fourth of July Eve under the Arch. I have listened to his CDs (thanks, Alaina!), and I thought, "well, isn't he clever?". But in person, it's a whole new level of brilliance. His singing and guitar playing is far better in person than on his CDs, which I find to be quite an accomplishment since it seems like all of today's singers have voices that only seem to be perfect in the studio. On top of that, he is an amazing performer. He's up there goofing off, doing the robot, dancing, making jokes; his personality really comes out. And what a beautiful man. I was in awe. Here are some pix. Check out his blog on myspace. What a clever little man.

Fairwell, ICU...

2006-10-25T21:20:00.000-07:00

"... but Mary quietly treasured these things in her heart and thought about them often..."
Luke 2:19

After hearing from the angels and seeing baby Jesus, the shepherds told everyone about their personal encounter with Christ. Mary saw all of this, and stored the beautiful memories in her heart. This is one of my favorite verses.
I have recently quit my job in the ICU due to my busy schedule. This is kinda out of my comfort zone, but I wanted to share some of my encounters with Christ that I have quietly treasured in my heart and have thought about often. I have learned so much about life, death, and love while working there.
-I was going into my patient's room to do an assessment; he was an elderly man who was on meds to keep him sedated and he was intubated, had all possible IV fluids going, had a foley in... it was like a maze of tubing, wires, and what-not. His wife and daughter were in there. His wife was this frail, little old lady in a wheelchair who didn't fully comprehend what was going on. While heading out the door to take his wife home, his daughter said, "They have been married for over 60 years, and whenever one would leave the room, even if it's just to go to the restroom, they would always give the other one a kiss. Isn't that just the sweetest? Well, I'll get out of your way so you can get your work done."
Well, I couldn't just let them leave and break tradition. "Wait a minute! Why should today be any different?" The little old lady's eyes lit up. I lower his bed, tried to move all the tubing out of the way, and cleared a little path for the wife. We helped her out of her wheelchair, and helped her slowly shuffle over to her husband. She leaned over him, rubbed his chest and said, "Hey Handsome, are you going to wake up for me? No? That's fine. I love you..." She gave him a kiss, smiled at him, then smiled at me, and we shuffled her back to her wheelchair. Then the daughter smiled at me with teary eyes, which of course, made me teary-eyed.
-Everyday, this elderly gentleman came to visit his wife. He would stay there from 7 in the morning to 7 at night. He was rather reserved, didn't care much for conversation. But every morning, he would show up at 7 sharp, in his red cardigan, waiting by her door until you waved him in and he would nod his good morning. I would peek in the room after I left, because I knew what was next; he stands by her bedside, brushes the hair from her face, whisper sweet nothings to her, and kiss her forehead. He did this everyday for three months til she died.
-The most beautiful and peaceful death I have seen was when these two daughters let their mother go. As she laid there struggling to breath, her daughters told her, "We love you so much, Mom... but Jesus loves you more... and He's ready for you to go home... it's okay to go." Within minutes, she was gone.
Life truly is short and is beautiful; use your time wisely. Death is sad, but does not have to be horrible; don't be selfish, and know when to let go. Love is the greatest gift that God has given us; give it freely to others.

Trouble follows me everywhere I go...

2006-10-06T22:27:00.000-07:00

And I thought last Friday was exciting...

After class, I stopped at McDonalds for a bite before running various errands all over St. Louis. I'm next in line at the drive-through, and I'm flippin' through my cds, deciding what to listen to next, then there was this horrible, burning smell. I look up and there is all this smoke surrounding my car! A bush behind the intercom had burst into flames! I pull up to the intercom and the lady said, "Welcome to McDonalds, can I help you?"
"Yeah... um... I'm not sure if you are aware of this but... the bush behind the intercom... is on fire... and could I have a 10 piece chicken McNuggets meal with a Powerade. Thanks."
About 8 people came running out with buckets of water and hoses to put out the flames.

Never a dull day in the life of Erin.

We're number one! Go Missouri!

2006-09-29T17:06:00.000-07:00

Fact for the day: In 2004, Missouri ranked #1 for meth lab incident in the nation with a grand total of 2, 788, beating out Iowa who only had 1,335 (losers!). And we are also leading the nation in meth lab seizures. Two points for Missouri! Which leads me to this story...

I pull into my subdivision and, much to my surprise, the road to my house is almost completely blocked by a swarm of vehicles parked outside my neighbors' house; three cop cars, one white van, two other cars, a mini-van, one truck parked in their driveway and one truck in their grass, and a black SUV parked in the grass in front of my house. I squeeze my car around them and park in my driveway. Five cops are standing in the midst of the cars, all wearing bullet proof vest with "POLICE" written across the chest. Brief history of my neighbors: a grandmother, mother, and daughter use to live there, but the grandmother moved to Florida, I think, and left the house to her daughter, who let her boyfriend and company move in. There is probably 8 people living there now; all lacking hygiene and good manners. My sisters and I have been victim to many a cat calls from the inhabitants there. My family refers to that house as the "white trash" house, or "honky house" if you prefer. Anywho, I walk over to the black SUV, and yelled to the cops, "Excuse me, can I ask you a question?"
"Sure, come on over!" one yelled back.
"Um, is there anything I should be concerned about?"
The cop laughed, "well, not really, maybe the black SUV parked in your front yard..."
Ha...ha... courtesy laugh...
Just then a canine unit showed up. And me being the street-savy girl that I am, put two and two together. Way to keep Missouri #1! Eat that, Iowa!

Boston: great place, ever though their baseball team sucks...

2006-09-22T21:35:00.000-07:00

A few of months ago, my friend, Becky, and I were having coffee. She had recently been to Boston, and I had mention that I would like to go next time she went. Well, she held me to it. This past weekend I went to Boston for the first time with Becky, to visit her boyfriend and company. And while there, we went to one of Cade and Becky's friends' wedding and good times were had by all. Here are some pictures from our trip:

Here is Becky, Cade (Becky's boyfriend), Art (the groom), and me. Tempting? I know we are...

Here is Anisha, me, and Becky in front of an old church. I learned many biblical golden nuggets while in Boston like, "Blessed are those who hear the word of God and go on their merry way." (Thank you, Mr. Preacher on the street corner; the world is a better place because of you) ... I just realized that Becky wrote the same thing on her blog under the same picture... but I'm not changing it...

Dude, are you checking out my @ss?

These cannolis stole my heart...

Dancing at the wedding. Things were going great until the Cha Cha slide came on and everyone stopped dancing cuz they had never seen/done it before, which blew my mind cuz I've been doing it since high school. It was quite the disaster, yet very entertaining.

Arty and Jeff... had to be there...

Ivy in Boston

Our reenactment of the Boston Massacre

That's me in the TV monitor on the right. I thought it was a cool picture... mad props, Cade...

Cade and I duking it out with little boxing toys. It was a tough fight, but he let his guard down, and I came in with a quick jab and it was over.

2006-09-22T13:24:00.000-07:00

Here I am shaking my groove thing on the dance floor at the bachelorette party...

I'm sitting on the lap of the chick from Bewitched... it probably would have been a better picture if you could actually see her...

More wild dancing...

About every morning I got face... unfortunately it was Dizzy. Here is us getting caught in the act...

It's nice feeling desirable...

Becky and me

Never have been a big fan of flying. Kinda makes me nervous...

I got a lot of booty in Salem.

Becky's attempt to try out for the Village People...

I got really close to my new friends in Boston. Here's me helping Leann put a fake tattoo on her breast for the bachelorette party. It was a good bonding experience.

I can't wait to go back...

I witnessed a car accident between two parked cars...

2006-08-26T14:23:00.000-07:00

My mom and I were visiting my grandparents in Lake of the Ozarks. While there, we made a stop at Walmart. We got our stuff, went back to our car, and Mom started backing out, and didn't see this car that was pulling out behind us. "Mom! Watch out for that car!" So, she stopped and we started laughing and cracking jokes about it (side note: my family jokes and teases about everything, so if you ever come and visit, consider yourself warned). We started making our way outta the parking lot, and this Mazda Miata was cutting it way across the lot. Teasing my mom further, I told her to watch out for that car, too. We started laughing again, and tried to take a peek at the driver who was not really watching where he was going. Much to our surprise, there wasn't a driver in the car! "What the?! Stop the car!" I hopped outta our car and took off running after the member-less Miata. At first it was rolling slowly, so I was going to try to jump in it and put on the brakes before it hit anything, but it picked up a lot of speed and my better judgment (a.k.a. "Mom") told me I better not try. That poor little thing smashed into the side of this huge pick-up truck with a boat hitched to it. It was horribly hilarious to watch. I went in and told the Walmart people, so they can alert the drivers. The Walmart workers laughed so hard that they almost peed in their pants. I'm guessing that the owner of the Miata was a girl (I'm envisioning someone Paris Hilton-ish) cuz there were bags from girl stores in the back... and she didn't know to put the emergency brake on when parking a stick shift. I forgot to leave my info for witnessing the accident, and asked my mom if I should go back. "Why?" she asked. "What are you going to say... 'I witnessed the accident between the two parked cars'?"

Pictures of the Week: Vitamin D, please! The sequel!

2006-08-13T12:28:00.000-07:00

This is the car we rented when we were down there. It was kind of a tight sqeeze for five girls to get into, but we made it work. Okay, that's not true. When heading back to our car after a night on the town, we noticed this eye candy. The owners happened to be walking behind us and overheard us talking about the car, so they let us sit in it.

One night we went to this Middle Eastern restaurant. Jenny's friend, Natalie, has an uncle that owns two yuppy restaurants there. We also befriended Natalie's cousin, John Paul, who happens to be the manager of this restaurant. JP hooked us up with hookas (the bong-lookin' thingys) and this expensive bottle of wine. Thanks, JP!

Here's us again at the same restaurant. Joining our crew is Al (middle, back), Aaron (right, back) and JP (middle, front). Al is a paramedic-firefighter I met on the beach who showed us around town; sweet guy with a great heart. Aaron was our waiter at the restaurant who is working on starting a ministry using sailing to help troubled teens develop relationships and build teamwork and communication skills. JP is the manager of the restaurant; he's very funny and is possibly one of the nicest guys I have ever met.

Here is Heather and I smoking hookas. It's a middle eastern tradition. Don't worry; it's completely drug-free. Mine is flavored like fruit and mint. It reminded me of Alice and Wonderland. I tried to make rings with the smoke, but failed. But it was fun making smoke come outta my nose.

Um, let's just say that I'm a multi-tasker...

Through Al, we met his friend Scott, who was a generous guy who spent the day with us and let us use his kayaks and snorkeling gear. Here is me kayaking. It was amazing. I went out so far that you couldn't see the bottom of the ocean anymore, which kinda freaked me out, so I headed back towards shore a little. Kayaking made me want to live by the ocean.

Here's me wasted, cuz that's what you're suppose to do on vacation. My mom said it would have been more convincing if the cork was off the bottle... dang it...

Me and Jen in the backyard...

Me and Jen on the counter of the house we were at...

And here we are at this French restaurant. Feeling adventurous, I ordered something that I had no idea what it was. It was the best food I had ever had; I just wish I could remember what it was! Joining our group for the night is Natalie (third from the right). She is a friend of Jen's who lives in Florida. She is such a kind and encouraging person, and I was so glad to get to know her. The whole trip was amazing. We met great people, ate exotic foods, and laughed our butts off the whole time. We are already planning our next trip...

Pictures of the Week: Vitamin D, please! (Florida pictures)

2006-08-12T19:16:00.000-07:00

Well, a few weeks ago, I got to go to Florida on vacation. Here is me sitting on the beach. We were in a residential area, but everyone could tell I wasn't from around there; I was the only person there who was whiter than the sand. I just keep reminding myself that I am going to have great skin when I'm older...

Here are my beach bunny friends: Tracy, Mallory, and Heather (from bottom to top). Love these ladies! One week, one house, five chicks, not one single fight, hurt feelings, or any whining! Who knew that was possible! It was the best vacation I had ever been on.

As you can see, the sun and myself got along great... as long as I wore 50 spf, a shirt, and sat under an umbrella. One day when I was sitting under the umbrella, I was reading "Blue like Jazz" and was so into it that I didn't notice that my foot and knee cap were no longer under the umbrella. They got so beet red; my foot is still burnt and my knee is the only tan part of my body.

Here's me and Jenny about to catch some waves... actually we stole this boards from some guys on the beach and took pictures with them so people will think we are cool.

Here is my "Baywatch" impression.

Jen and me posing...

Jenny and me in the airport before our trip. I was so freakin' nervous about flying. My favorite part of this picture is the guy in the background picking his nose. Our flight back was, well, interesting. There was A/C problems, so the inside of the plane was dripping. They actually suggested over the intercom that if you have an umbrella, feel free to use it during the flight. I about died laughing! I started cracking jokes about how they were going to pass out complimentary ponchos, and have slip n' slide down the aisle. Bah-ha-ha! Okay, maybe you had to be there. Everyone around me thought it was funny...

Um... we had a lot of fun...

Here me with Mallory, Tracy, and Jen.

Picture of the Week: No butts about it...

2006-07-17T15:54:00.000-07:00

While leaving my gym after an afternoon of strenuous exercising, I saw this sign outside. Since I had been working out really hard (in addition to weights, I did 7.5 miles on the bike in twenty minutes; when I hopped/fell off the bike, my legs gave out on me -slightly embarrassing-, which made my sister die laughing, but then she did the same thing when she got off; serves her right... jerk...), I decided that maybe this was just what I needed. It did nothing for me... maybe I didn't use it right... I always skip reading the equipments' instructions at the gym...

Picture of the Week: Dirrrtyyyyyy!

2006-06-15T18:28:00.000-07:00

Arizona has tons of mountains and there was these areas on the mountains for semi-trucks to go if they pick up speed and are unable to slow down or if they lose control. Most of these stops had signs for something like "runaway trucks", I don't remember; it's not that important. But only at one stop did they have this sign, which made me almost pee in my pants laughing (please pardon my jr. high boy moment). I really debated about showing this picture, but it's too funny not to. Take it for what you will. I'm not going to say anything...

Photo of the Week: Well, if it makes you feel good about yourself...

2006-05-31T20:12:00.000-07:00

Sorry for my extended vacation from blogging; between my "Tour de Friends" trip and me currently working two jobs that are awesome but physically (and sometimes emotionally) draining, I haven't much time or energy to write. Buuuut, I'll try to be better in the future. Now for the picture of the week... I didn't take it. I found it on the internet, but it went along with something else I wanted to talk about. I just didn't want to mislead anyone, so no complaints or comments about that ;)

My little sister and her boyfriend were down at the Loop (my favorite St.Louis spot), and she saw this interesting sign. It was a flyer for volunteers to join the squirrel patrol. Don't believe me? Call this number: 314-398-1777. Trust me; it's worth it. I called it about a month ago, and it was trying to make motorists more aware of squirrels and rabbits while driving. But it's voicemail message is different now, and it gives some great suggestions on helping our fluffy-tailed friends... which means that this is an ongoing, active group (I wonder if they have monthly meetings and what issues they try to tackle)... and I can't help but wonder if this is honestly they best they could come up with. Squirrels?! Not "let's collect clothes for poor people", or "let's visit old people in the nursing homes". No, those are too cliche'. We need something more cuddly. Well, there are already groups for the animals on the endangered species list. How about squirrels? I guess there is some squirrel crisis that I didn't know about. While doing research, I found out that there are a lot of squirrel activists out there and there even is a National Squirrel Awareness Week in October. Oh, well, if it makes you feel like you're making a difference...

Picture of the Week: Walgreens DOES have everything!

2006-05-08T18:40:00.000-07:00

On my way to drop off one of my clients at her activity center, I saw this sign and first it flashed "AARP applications inside", then the above, then "Wonderbread, 3 for $8", then some other stuff, and I was like, "did that say what I think it said?" So on the way back, I pulled into the parking lot and about peed in my pants from laughing. I wonder what the story is behind it. Do they really have chicken poop and why. I like to think that some guy got fired, and he changed the sign and rigged the computer so that no one could change it. Oh well, it's nice to know that I no longer have to drive out to the country to get my chicken poop, Walgreen has it...

Picture of the Week: Dirty Cubs

2006-05-04T17:16:00.000-07:00

Lately, I have had a lack of desire to blog, but I have been having great fun with my digital camera. So I have decided to start a "picture of the week" series. We will see how long this will last, considering that I am going outta town for the next two weeks.
I took this picture at the Cards vs. Cubs game. It's hard to believe that we lost that game, since the cubs seem slightly "distracted"...

Rejected!

2006-04-18T14:24:00.000-07:00

While having lunch with my school friends, some girls were giving advice to another girl about what to do when a guy you are not interested in wants your phone number and he won't take "no" for an answer. Much advice was given but this one was my favorite- the "rejection hotline". It's flippin' hilarious! Give it a try:

1-248-262-6861

Tattoos and pregnancy tests...

2006-04-04T18:45:00.000-07:00

This year I came up with the best April Fool's joke... and it totally flopped. It's sad when you put a lot of effort into something and it just doesn't work out. In my nursing program, there is a lady who is about 7 months pregnant. One day I was thinking, "wouldn't it be funny if I got her to take a pregnancy test for me and I can play a little trick on my dad..." I wasn't going to do it, but my mom convinced me otherwise. She even bought the test for me. We also got my other sisters involved. For the past couple of weeks we have been complaining of back pain, nausea, not "feeling right" to build up for the day. Then I got the girl to take the test for me. She so funny; she came back from the bathroom, yelling "it's positive! I'm having a baby!" Which threw off everyone in my class cuz they're like, "um, you're 7 month pregnant... and you're just realizing now that you're having a baby?..." So anyways, I have the bathroom all set up; the test sitting on top of the toilet, the pregnancy test box kinda peeking out of the trashcan. Does he see it on April Fool's day? No. It was driving us all crazy. He didn't see it till Sunday night, when my sister was coming out of the bathroom and he was heading up the stairs. He was giving her a good night hug and saw the box in the trash can. He was like, "... who needs a pregnancy test...(smirk) I know my girls better than that... good try..." and then laughs. It was heart-breaking. Great idea and great effort, but wrong people and wrong timing. Darn us for having such a good relationship with our daddy...

Onto more exciting news, I finally got my new tattoo! It almost my tattoo's five year anniversary, and to celebrate I decided to give it a make-over...
Old tattoo. Not the greatest; one of the wings is bigger than the other one...
Tah-dah! New tattoo! It looks great in person, so be sure to check it out when you see me next. The guy who did my tattoo, Jeremy, was amazing... and really funny. I highly recommend him.

Why I love spring...

2006-03-28T12:12:00.000-08:00

Sorry if you are expecting one of those girly "why I love..." blogs, but I'm not that kinda girl, nor am I that kinda writer. Sure, I like flowers, sunshine, and flip-flops, but I got something better in mind.

I'll be honest; I'm having a really, really bad day. But one thing brought a smile to my face, and about made me pee in my pants. It's absolutely horrible. I shouldn't think it's funny, but I can't help myself.

Every spring at Maryville, geese decide to make all of the entrances of the buildings the place where they want to nest. And since our school is very "mother nature" friendly, there are entrances blocked off so that the geese can lay their eggs there and there are signs up telling students to use other entrances. But college students could care less about the geese and their procreating... but the geese are very good at teaching us a lesson. Majority of my classes are in this one classroom and outside the classroom is a nest and a main entrance to the building. Of course, I pick a great seat to be able to view all the action. A couple come walking towards the building. The goose flies right at their heads; they go diving in the grass. The goose is not discourage, he continues his attack by following them and pecking at them as they crawl away. Victim number two of the morning: girl on cell phone ignores signs and bright orange fence. Goose attacks, and she takes off running and screaming and finds refuge in the building. It was great. I was taking a test, and I had the hardest time concentrating, cuz all during class I heard cries of terror coming from outside. I (and everyone else in my class) was giggling the whole time.

And that is why I love spring...

New Orleans Pictures, The Sequel: Things Just Got Messier!

2006-03-23T20:26:00.000-08:00

Well, I got some more pictures from my New Orleans friends. Once again, pleas ignore the little intermission between my two picture posts. You could use that time to use the bathroom, fix your hair, get a soda. Enjoy.

Here is the main room of the warehouse that we cleaned up. There were two buses, to vans, a couple of old cars, and a lot of crap to clean out of this place. And it really stunk and it was really dirty, but it was fun. I almost punched a girl in here... but that's a story for another time.

A house hit by the storm.

Here's me and Brett tearing down the walls. I don't really know what I'm doing in this picture. Kinda looks like I'm grabbing my boobs... but I'm not. I think I might me dusting myself off. I don't know.

You can kinda see a line that goes around the house from where the water was; it was very noticeable in person. The water was at that line for quite some time. It so hard to imagine...

Um, here's me on a toilet in the warehouse. Don't worry; I cleaned the seat really good, and, no, my bare-butt is not touching the seat.

Due to lack of running water, we got to use these... yeah... Three of us girls were working at the warehouse by ourselves when these were dropped off, so we were the first to use them. They actually smell pretty good when no one has crapped in them yet.

Here's our group before a meeting on what we will be doing this week.

There are a lot of street artists in the French Quarters; here's one guy's work. I thought it was a cool picture.

Here's where we slept. 200 people in the tent. And the cots were really squeaky, so things were kinda loud at night. But it really wasn't that bad. Well, it kinda sucked when it got really windy, but the tent held up pretty well.

Here's most of our group by the Subway that was in the warehouse.

2006-03-23T19:25:00.000-08:00

Every night, we had intense gaming. Here we are playing some hardcore catch phrase. Always a good time.

There were random cars and boats everywhere. See the "X" on the house? At the top is the date the house was checked for bodies, on the left of the "X" (behind the tree) is the animal body count, and on the bottom is the human body count; luckily, there was none at this house. But could help but look at the "X" on all the houses when you drove by.

Here's me showing the bull who's boss... him. But at least I stayed on for longer than eight seconds...

Here's us on the food line. We were having rice and smoke sausage (blarf). I have no idea what I'm looking at. I would make up songs to entertain everyone as we baked in the sun. It was good times.

Here's a house that hadn't been touched yet. We went exploring... okay, trespassing. They had an indoor pool, and it's water was completely black, and their hot tub was floating in the pool.

Here's French Quarters, pretty much untouched by the storm.

Here's me and Ben, my new buddy. He's a good sport.

Here's our group outside of our tent.

Yet another house.

And us working on the bay. This area was covered with all sorts of junk.

Well, I hope you enjoyed; the sequels are usually not as good as the originals, but I hope this one broke that stereotype. I don't think there will be anymore pictures, but there is always the possibility that this could turn into a trilogy...

EnaMan and the Cooch Delivery!

2006-03-16T13:23:00.000-08:00

It's amazing how much can happen within twenty-four hours...

My dad and his volleyball team were celebrating their state victory by getting my dad a tattoo (he told them he would get one if they place at state) and going to a River Otters (minor league hockey) game. It ends up that it was colon cancer awareness night at the game and there was a guy dressed up as a six foot enema, and they passed out a stuff character named "EnaMan", as shown in picture above. I came home from working the night shift and was like "what the crap (tee-hee-hee) is this?" How horrible... EnaMan; protecting the world from his colon-congesting nemesis, the Constipator. Honestly, who thought this would be a good idea?

And for the next part, I will be talking about something really gross, so if you can't stomach blood and guts, I don't recommend reading the rest-seriously. I got to see both a vaginal and a c-section delivery last night. It was amazing. First I saw the vaginal birth. It was a young girl, and she did such an amazing job. They need me to hold one of her leg up while she pushed, so I was right there. It was gross, it was amazing, it was freakin' awesome. But after she had the baby boy, I almost passed out, not from the grossness of it but because it was so hot in there and I think I locked my knees and kinda stopped breathing while she was pushing. So I had to sit down and then have someone walk me outta the room, which was kinda embarrassing. My guy buddy came rushing out of the room, picked me up and asked me if I was going to die and if I was okay. Once he realized I was fine, he teased me mercilessly the rest of the night. I'm never going to live it down. Then we got to see a c-section, which was even more awesome. Here's the gross stuff; they cut a slit in her stomach and then rip it open. And when I say rip I mean they grab the sides, put their back into it and pull. It was unreal; surgery stuff is crazy to watch. Then one nurse had a glove on that came up to her shoulder and went through the woman's vagina while two doctors pulled on the baby from the cut they made. It was so cool! They let me help out with some stuff; I got to do the arterial blood gas of the ambilical cord and help unhook stuff. I was on cloud nine! As of today, I think I want to be a Labor and Delivery Nurse Practitioner. But that could change by next week when I see something else real cool. And of course, I had another dream about having a baby; it seems to happen everytime I have L&D clinical. Oh, yeah, as for the "cooch delivery"; I was talking to one of the women I work with (who is kinda ghetto, and freakin' hilarious cuz she doesn't have the greatest vocab.) about what I got to see. She said, "yeah, I got to see my niece's delivery by cooch last week..." I died laughing! Cooch delivery; is that the technical term?

New Orleans Pictures, part 1!

2006-03-11T13:04:00.000-08:00

Do to technical difficulty, I had to put my New Orleans pictures in two posts, so after looking at "New Orleans Pictures, part 1!", please proceed to "New Orleans Pictures, part 2!" Sorry for this inconvenience.
Thanks for all the prayers. Other than a ton of bruises, I did not get hurt. It was an awesome trip. There were about 1500 college students down there last week. At our camp was about 300. We got to share 8 showers total (four for girls, four for boys), and about 12 porta-potties. We stayed in this huge circus tent that held about 200 people. And the food... well... it was edible. I felt pretty old; one of the girls that went asked me if I spoke at her school when she was in junior high (I was a sophmore in college then), and another girl asked me if I spoke at a girls conference she went to (that was while I was at Lincoln). We would joke about my age all week; example, they wouldn't let me have any Trix... cuz Trix are for kids, not old farts like me. But I had a blast. We helped gut out houses and a warehouse, we worked at the camp that we were staying at by cleaning and serving meals to the homeless/poor people in the area, and we helped clean a college in New Orleans. Here are some pictures. Unfortunately, they are not in the order that I put them in, so they kinda jump around from day to day.

On the first day down there, we had off and got to sight-see in the French Quarters. This is all of our butts. I'm second from the right; the really skinny one.

On night, some of us went to Bourbon St. after working. We went dancing; being the goof that I am, I broke out into the "running man", and the dj saw me and got the whole bar cheering "go white girl, go white girl, go" which, of course, encouraged me to free style. It was freakin' hilarious. Then at this other place, we got to ride the mechanical bull for free (thanks to the cute brunette on the right in the picture). And the girls behind us had to pay. Ba-ha-ha! I had always wanted to do that; it was really fun and I actually was able to stay on for a long time.

This is me and Amie at Applebee's.

Here's me ganking a sign at the warehouse that we were cleaning out. Don't worry, I asked the guy who owned the place if I could have it.

Big trees like this one were down everywhere down there.

Here's me gutting a house.

Here's some of the stuff that we gutted out on the first day. You can't really tell, but I have a layer of dry wall dust and other crap in my hair which made me look like I had gray hair, which led to more old jokes.

Here's some more gutting. The water line went up to about the door frame, so almost everything was ruined. We were about to find some photo albums and paintings that were not damaged. As silly as is sounds, that would be one of my greatest concerns if my house was flooded.

Here's me once again tearing up the place. I had to tear through 3 layers of dry wall, these little wooden slats, wall paper, and plaster. It was ridiculous. The kitchen was work (that's the picture up above). It was wall paper, on top of dry wall, on top of this thin cardboard type of stuff, on top of about an inch of wood, on top of the little wooden slats. It took forever to tear it down.

New Orleans Pictures, part 2!

2006-03-11T10:32:00.000-08:00

Now for round 2.

A lot of the houses in New Orleans looked similar to this. It was amazing all the damage that was done. Every single house down there needed to be worked on. Stores were ruined. There were boats in yards. Cars were sprawled everywhere. It was heart breaking.

Here's our daily attire for working on the houses.

Here's a balcony on Bourbon St. in the French Quarters.

Me after a day of work, covered in dirt.

Cleaning on the shore, showing off my guns.

Here's some of the group on St. Louis St. in the French Quarters

After Ellie and I pretended to flash for beads on Bourbon St., Ben decided to go all the way. This guy cracks me up.

Getting some beads on Bourbon.

Our group in the French Quarters (I'm in the middle on the top row).

Amie, me, and Hillary.
If I get some more pictures from others, I'll share. It was an awesome experience; I hope to go down again. But I'm definitely glad to be back home; sleeping in my own bed and not sleeping in the presence of about 200 people in a tent that could possibly blow over from the strong winds, getting to use a bathroom with running water, and getting to use make-up and a blow dryer. I have lots of funny stories, and got to see God do great things, but it's too much to blog. So if you want to know, give me a call.

Sure, their E.R. is okay, but their popcorn is amazing...

2006-03-02T11:20:00.000-08:00

One of the perks of being a nursing student is that all the hospitals in the area come and try to recruit you... and bring lots of free goodies. We get candy, cups, pens, note pads, bags, and even chapstick. But my favorite, so far, is:

I leave for New Orleans on Saturday. I'm so excited! I don't know anyone on the trip, so hopefully I'll be making some new, cool friends. Pray that I don't get sick or hurt (I have no health insurance). When I get back, I post some pictures. Have a great week!

So, who got to rub a uterus today?

2006-02-24T13:24:00.000-08:00

I know what you're thinking: "what the?!" During post-conference of my labor and delivery clinical on Wed, my instructor asked us that question. The funny part was that she was being serious; it was hard for me to not bust out laughing cuz it's an odd question, even in the nursing realm. I thought it would make an appropriate title for today's post.

I had a dream on Wed. night that I was pregnant. It was one of those dreams that felt real. Not only was I pregnant, I was a surrogate mother for Janet and Chad. Janet and I were shopping, and bumped into Chad who was working at Express at the time. I decided this was a good time to give some patient education; I showed them how to find the head of the baby by pushing on the stomach and then find the back and legs and stuff. Chad thought that was weird and he didn't want to try it. And that's all I can remember. So now I'll try to figure out what it means: um, I just found out that Chad and Janet had their baby, I was holding babies at clinicals that evening, I just learned how to feel for the placement of the baby, and I like shopping? But I have decided that that is the last time I let my nursing buddies convince me to go out for a drink after clinicals.

I love it how things work out...

2006-02-21T12:33:00.000-08:00

Other than just celebrating the death and resurrection of Christ on Easter weekend, I'll be celebrating the births of Erin (that's me) and Heather Hall. My birthday is on Good Friday, and Heather's is on Easter. We have been trying to plan a weekend of festivities that could accommodate my lack of funds. I'm very excited to say that we will be staying in Chicago for free (Yeah for Heather's connections!); I just found out a little while ago so the excitement has not worn off yet. Now we can spend our money on something other than hotels! We're going to try to find a salsa or swing dance to go to, but if anyone has any suggestions on where to go in Chicago, let me know (icks-nay on a cubs game, I have no desire to be nauseous on my b-day).

Oh, happy days...

2006-02-16T17:34:00.001-08:00

Today, I'm on cloud nine. The last couple of weeks has been very trying, but I feel like God decided that I needed a little break today. Here are the things that made me smile today:
-I had an awesome interview this morning for my hopeful internship this summer in the ICU. The head nurse of the floor and I really hit it off and we ended our meeting with her saying that she can't say that I have the job (that's human resource's job), but she can say that she really wants me to work for her and she thinks I'm adorable. She said that this summer, I would get to use my CPR skills when someone codes, which happens often cuz it's the ICU, and I might get to see them crack opens someone's chest if they crash, and I might get to see some surgeries like open-heart; freakin' sweet!
- I was tutoring today in the academic lab, and there is this one guy who also tutors that reminds me of Napoleon Dynamite. He always smiles at me and says "hi", and I say "hi" back. But today he was especially smooth. He was smiling at me and went to sit down in a chair. He put is his hand on the armrest of the chair and sat down; unfortunately the seat of the chair was on the other side of the armrest. His butt hit the ground, and his legs went flying in the air. My voice cracked as I asked him if he was okay cuz I was trying not to laugh. He pops up and says, "I'm... I'm okay... just embarrassed... I thought the seat was there... um... but it's not..." Poor guy...tee-hee-hee...
-I'm going to New Orleans for spring break to help with Katrina relief. I'm so excited! It's been such a long time since I have done something like this and I really miss it.
-I received a letter today from my school saying that I am one of five out of all the nursing students chosen by the university to be eligible for this special Nursing scholarship for next year. My first thought: I know I am not one of the top five grade-wise. It must have been my sparkling wit and my wonderful personality that won someone over (you like me, you really like me!). Either way, I felt really honored. I hope I get it; it would be great to not have to pay for next year.
-And last of all, I got my haircut! Sure that was actually a couple of days ago, but it looked really cute today. Here's some pics:

Sight is not highly over-rated ...

2006-02-13T10:11:00.000-08:00

Have you ever had one of those "how could I have been so stupid" moments?

The other night, I was working an over-night shift with Sherri*, the night nurse. Now Sherri is an elderly woman who is not the most tactful when confronting people (she has started a fight with every nurse at my job). Many people may describe her as being the grouchiest person alive, and that she loves to point out the bad in any good situation. Most people avoid her. But I see her as a savior, showing me the ignorance of my way.
So we were making our rounds, turning and changing clients. I was lifting up the client while Sherri was straightening the bed pad, and the client poked at my eye. Luckily I closed my eye in time, but in shock, I said, "oh".
"What happened?" Sherri asked.
"D. almost poked me in the eye. But I'm okay; no biggy. Besides, sight's highly over-rated, anyways," I replied with a smile. For those of you who don't know me well, I say "____ is highly over-rated" to show that what just happened in not that big of a deal. Example, I have a roommate that didn't shower much, and we would joke around about how showers are highly over-rated, both knowing the importance of good hygiene but neither one of us caring if she showered or not.
"How can you say that sight is over-rated?!"
"Sherri, I'm just kidding..."
"Well, that's not something to joke about!" She said, and then decided to give me a ten minute lecture about why sight is not highly over-rated. Here are some key points of the lecture:
-You wouldn't say that if you were blind.
-How would you explain "sight being over-rated" to a blind person.
-You wouldn't be able to do anything if you were blind, like drive, or be a nurse, or look at people...
-There are lots of blind people out there who wish that they were in your shoes, and you could care less if you go blind. "Think about it, Erin, think about it."
"You're right, Sherri. I'm sorry." I've learned a hard lesson... some people don't get sarcasm.

Surprisingly, Sheri and I get along great. I find her pessimistic mood entertaining, and even though she may not verbalize that she care, she would give you the shirt off her back if you needed it (but she would complain about it;). And I've been able to make her laugh a few times, but, man, it takes a lot of effort...

*name has been changed to protect the nurse's privacy, or to save my butt just in case she was to stumble upon this blog, which I seriously doubt she will cuz I don't think she even know what a blog is. I'll give you a hint, though, in case you're curious; it rhymes with Sherri.

Lay off the steroids...

2006-02-11T16:13:00.000-08:00

My grandpa (the one that lives with us) is currently in the hospital. He's been having a hard time breathing, which is weakening his heart, and they found a spot on his lung (possibly cancer). So whenever you think about it, pray for him. And to help you remember to pray for him, here are a couple of humorous grandpa stories...

My grandpa is a very sweet old man. But that's a different story when he is on steroids. So these stories are not representative of how he usually is...

My sister and brother-in-law were visiting grandpa at the hospital. The nurse went up to them and said, "boy, your grandpa is ornery."
"Why do you say that?" my sister asked.
"I went into his room, and he was lying there naked with his sheets ripped off the bed. He had taken off all of his clothes, unhooked the monitors, and took out his IV. When I asked him why he did that, he replied, 'I thought you needed something to do.'"

After hearing that story, my dad told us a story about what grandpa said to him about a year ago when grandpa was on steroids. They were arguing cuz grandpa wanted Dad to get a car so he could drive again (grandpa can't drive, he can't even work the coffee machine and we put directions on it: "grandpa, push the green button"). Of course my dad said "no". In anger, grandpa said, "those kids aren't all yours." That's low, grandpa, real low...

2006-02-06T10:25:00.000-08:00

It's been one year since I have started my job at the Re-spite home. I got a raise; yeah, now I'm almost making as much as I did at the bank. Most of you probably don't know what my job is. Usually I say that I would with people with developmental disabilities with their daily activities... and I wipe a lot of butts. But since it is my one-year anniversary, I shall go further in depth in my job description so you can better understand why I love my job so much. I work at a home that has two ladies that live there, and then other clients that only stay for a short time, like a couple of hours or for the weekend when their care-takers or family need a break. Their disabilities could be minor like Down's syndrome and they can do most stuff on their own, or they can be severely handicapped and unable to communicate or walk. I'll use fancy titles to make my job sound important:
-Culinary artist: I prepare dinner for about 6-18 people, depending on how many clients we have. Many of the clients have special diets, or need their food cut a certain way, or have their liquids at a certain consistency, so it is my job to make sure that all of those are correct so that no one chokes and dies, or has an allergic reaction and dies. Also, I help feed some of the clients. Once I accidently made a client I was feeding laugh, and I ended up being covered from waist up in chocolate pudding. I learned my lesson to not crack jokes at dinner.
-Personal trainer: In the summer, I'll swing with the younger clients, and play baseball or football with the boys. One of the boys is 6 yrs. old and his chin comes to about my knees; he's so cute and tiny. We'll play football with his brothers for hours. I'll let him tackle me, and if he has the football, I'll pick him up and carry him across the field. I also help one of the severely disabled ladies with her arm exercises. I put those Hulk gloves on her hands and let her take "jabs" at me. She moves extremely slooooow, so it doesn't hurt, and she gets the biggest kick out of it.
-Housekeeper: I do a lot of cleaning. Pretty much everything gets bleached everyday. I do the dishes, clean the kitchen, do the laundry, clean the bathrooms, sweep, mop, freakin' everything.
-Stylist: when the ladies that live at the home go out for the evening, I do their hair and make-up. Also, I'm kinda in charge of taking the ladies shopping. The ladies at work tend to buy them old-lady clothes, like kitty-christmas sweatshirts. But I get them cute clothes that look less "disabled" and that will get them attention from the boys at the dances. They love it.
-Day spa specialist: This is the best I could come up with for the dirty stuff. I help with a lot of showers and I change lots of Depends. One of my friends and I always joke around about how I have seen more "man parts" than any virgin should. I also have a lot of stories that I could share in this messy area, but I'll resist.
-Best friend: This is my favorite part. I'll watch Wheel of Fortune with the clients, go the movies, go shopping, go out for dinner, play games, do stupid stuff to make them laugh, rub their backs when they can't sleep or don't feel well, snuggle on the couch, go to dances, read them books at bedtime, give them kisses, anything to make them smile.
I love this job. The people I work with are great, but if I go into that this blog would be freakin' huge. I laugh all the time at my job. I do great impressions of all the clients. Even when things go wrong or things are really "messy", I still can't help but smile. If you ever get the chance, I highly recommend working with people with disabilities. It will definitely change how you view life.

Man, looking over my job description, I sound like I'm in housewife-training... I'm just lacking the marital "benefits"...

Erin's Guide to Dating, Chapter 1: What Not To Say On The First Date

2006-01-31T11:22:00.000-08:00

I'm sarcastic. I grew up in a family where if you said or did something stupid, you would get made fun of for it. It's a riot; you should see us all together, we have so much fun. The ladies at work call me "smart @ss" (in a loving way, of course), but I prefer the term "quick-witted". But luckily I'm pretty good at reading people, so I know when to keep my mouth shut. But even though it's very rare, sometimes my mouth can get me in trouble...
My friend had set me up on a blind date. I went to his house to meet him (okay, normally I would not meet a guy at his house when I don't know him, I'm smarter than that, but it was a three story, old house in the city and I really wanted to see it), and he was giving me the grand tour. His place was very masculine in the decoration, except for this girly pink vase with dragon flies on it. We had been talking on the phone for a little over a week and I feel comfortable with him and he has a great sense of humor, so I took this opportunity to make fun of his choice in vases. His reply: "That was the last gift I gave my mother before she died last summer." Don't worry... I'll show myself the door...

I'm ready for Spring Break...

2006-01-25T20:14:00.000-08:00

Alas, I am now in the thick of a new semester, which means I'll probably be blogging less but I'll try to keep up. Though I don't feel like going into what I am studying, here are some random stories that apply to my classes or clinicals:
-In my Maternity Nursing class (a.k.a.- Labor and Delivery), we learned how to figure out the Estimated Date of Birth. From that calculation I figured out that I was probably conceived on July 4th. I guess different people show patriotism in different ways...
-In my Nursing Research class, we were asked what we think would be good research questions. Mine was, "do sexually active homosexual men have more heart problems due to Vagus stimulation?" I know I'm weird, but stick with me here. One thing that I have learned is that you can't argue morals with liberals, so I try to find more logical ways to argue my beliefs. You know how some Old Testament laws protected the Israelites from sickness and stuff even thought they did not know it at the time. Well, what if homosexuality is a health risk? You have to be careful who you give an enema or a rectal temperature to due to stimulation of the vagus nerve, which slows down the heart and has the possibility of even stopping the heart. Please don't make me explain it's connection to homosexual males. The best part, though, is that my teacher loved the question, but she was curious about one thing: how would I do the research. Any volunteers?
-In Labor and Delivery clinical, one of my peers is extremely book-smart but she kinda lacks common sense. A group of us were looking at charts, discussing our patients, and answering questions on this worksheet. I said, "This question says, 'was this a spontaneous or an operational delivery?' My child was a spontaneous operation." She perks up quickly and gasps,"I didn't know you had a baby!" We all died laughing. She joined in a couple of minutes later when she figured it out.
-I'm a tutor at school. But since it's the beginning of the semester, no one needs tutoring yet, so I just sit in the office and do my homework or help others with little tasks around the place. Yesterday, I read a book outloud for a tape recorder for a blind girl at our school. First of all, I suuuuuck at reading out loud. And since the book is about social research (not my area), I messed up a lot of words. It took me a hour to read about 7 pages, cuz I had to keep starting over. And the book kept on bringing up sexual stuff. For example, it talked about social myths that people believe, like masturbation will make you go blind. Kind of a double whammy: being recorded talking about sexual stuff and saying a blind person that masturbation will make you go blind. But that's not the worse part. The chapter tells the reader to "look" at something about 5 times. "Look at the book and describe..." "How would you describe the person's reaction in this picture?" Even though it's not my words, I couldn't help but feel horrible telling a person I knew was blind to look at something...

Unlucky in Love

2006-01-20T20:55:00.000-08:00

Pink and red hearts seem to be stalking me. They're everywhere, which means that Valentine's Day is coming. And though I have been single the majority of my life, I really enjoy Valentine's Day. My family is a big gift-giving family, so we take advantage of any time we can splurge on others. Every year I give out Valentine cards, so if you would like to show off that someone thought of you on V.Day, e-mail me your address (redz31@juno.com). You won't be disappointed. A couple of years ago, I sent out Justice League cards with stickers, and last year I sent Knock-knock jokes where you had to scratch the card to get the answer. They were pretty sweet.
But in light of V. Day, I thought it would be fun to talk about what some might consider to be the most effective way to communicate interest to the opposite sex: the pick-up line. Some pick-up lines are very smooth and effective, and others are flat-out ridiculous. And for the longest time, I didn't believe that they actually existed... until I worked at Northwest Plaza (which is the ghetto-est mall in St.L.), and especially when I worked at VS. People there took pick-up lines to a whole new level. But most of those were pretty racy and are only funny when said, not written, so I won't share. But I will share some lines that always make me laugh when I think about them:
-I had this key chain that was the shape of a toilet, and in the toilet bowl was lipgloss. One of my guy friends asked to use some, and he pressed too hard on the lipgloss and it smeared everywhere. With the smile, he said, "aw, man, I ruined it. I guess I'll have to take you out to dinner." It totally caught me off-guard. Two points for creativity.
-And sad to say, this is a line that I have used, cuz sometimes smiling, tossing your hair, and laughing at their jokes aren't enough: "you can ask me out on a date if you want to." Actually, I have used this line twice, and it has a 100% success rate, so I recommend using it very sparingly, ladies.
So if you're unlucky in love and the thought of V. Day coming up has you down, keep your chin up, send flowers to yourself but claim they're from a "secret admirer", and practice your pick-up lines. Who knows, the right line could land you a date for Valentine's Day.

2006-01-15T21:31:00.000-08:00

Tonight at work, we were watching "Pretty Woman" after we got everyone to bed. And, well, it made me think about prostitutes. I wonder what their lives are like. No, I'm not looking to change my major again. I'm tempted to "hire" one, take her out to dinner, and interview her. Don't worry, I won't. I have no idea where to find one. But I would ask her about her life. What was your life like growing up? What did you want to be? If you could do/be anything, what would it be? What's your typical day like? How do you feel about life?
When I worked at Victoria's Secret, one of my co-workers was a stripper. She was not the brightest, but she was incredibly sweet. She lived in the projects, had two kids. When applying for the job, she had "not so professional" clothing on, but my boss looked pass that, saw how great she was, and gave her a job. I enjoyed working with her. She had a hard time acting appropriately around guys, not that she didn't want to, she just didn't know how. And she really wanted a real job, and be a good mom, but it's hard to give up that line of work because it pays well and it's hard to find a good job whose pay is comparable. But she was trying, working part-time at VS, for a little over minimum wage. I wonder how she's doing.
While driving home from work, I pass this closed-down hotel, with a closed restaurant attached to it. Wouldn't it be awesome to turn it into some shelter for prostitutes, strippers, women out of prison who need help getting back on their feet, battered women, teen moms, and their kids? And open the restaurant, and the women can work there, to get some work experience and some money, so they can get a real job. And get them enrolled in a nearby community college to also get them some education under their belts. And get them connected at my church, which is freakin' huge, so they won't feel awkward as they might feel if they went to a smaller church and everyone would know that they were new.
I love that God gave us the ability to dream. I have no idea where God is leading my life, whether I'll get to do great things in the lives of thousands, great things in the lives just around me, or great things in His eyes alone. But I love to dream about it. Sometimes I struggle between my dream of being a rockin' wife and an awesome mom, and my more humanitarian dreams, cuz I don't see how they fit together, but I try to let God worry about those things... try being the emphasized word. But it cool to think about how God can use you, with your unique gifts and talents, and other things that are unique to you. The possibilities are endless. Thankfully, I'm young, and, hopefully, I have a lot of life ahead of me, cuz I have a lot of dreams I like to accomplish. But I'll concern myself with the details later. As for tonight, I'll dream.

Your lips say "no", but your eyes say "yes"

2006-01-09T20:23:00.000-08:00

This past weekend, I went to visit Heather. I came bearing Christmas gifts, and one of the gifts was a book called "The Art of Kissing" by Hugh Morris. When I saw it in the store, I had to get it for her cuz I knew it would make her laugh. The book was written in the 1930's, and since it was about 40+ small pages with illustrations we decided to read it out loud. Different topics covered: why people kiss, approved methods of kissing, preparing for the kiss, how to approach a girl, techniques, how to kiss girls with different-sized lips, different kinds of kissing, and many more. The book is geared towards men since they are to be the "aggressors" and it gave a lot of step-by-step information. It was freakin' hilarious and lead to many discussions, giggles, and stories of past experiences. Here are some of my favorite parts of the book:
- "Seat the girl against the arm of the sofa so she cannot edge away from him when he becomes serious in his attentions... (as he make a) gallant attempt to adjust the cushions behind her, he manages to insinuate his arm, first around the back of the sofa and then, gradually, around her shoulder. If she flinches, don't worry. If she flinches and makes an outcry, don't worry. If she flinches, makes an outcry, and tries to get up from the sofa, don't worry. Hold her, gently but firmly, and allay her fears with kind, reassuring words... However, if she flinches, makes an outcry, and starts to scratch your face then start to worry or start to get yourself out of a bad situation. Such girls are not to be trifled with, or kissed... in most cases, (they) still believe the story of the stork which brings babies because of the consequences of a kiss." Gotta love the "no means yes" method. Guys, if a girl tries to get up from the couch when you are trying to kiss her, I recommend letting her go. It's not a good sign; don't wait for the face scratching. Do you remember the old Disney cartoons with Goofy following the instructions of the narrator, but he keeps screwing it up? The whole time we were reading the book, I was thinking of that.
- "... next step is to flatter her in some way. All women like to be flattered. They like to be told they are beautiful even when the mirror throws the lie back into their ugly face..." Man, that's kinda harsh (but funny). The book goes on to give actual detailed step-by-step instructions, like starting by smelling her hair and whispering sweet nothings into her ear (example, "your hair smells like heady wine"), kissing/nibbling her ear and neck, working your way across the jaw line, then making your way to her lips. Then it went on to list about six or seven different kisses in great detail. Our conversation went something like, "yeah, done that, done that, what the heck?!", "That's ...weird...", "man, my lip was swollen after that", "if a guy did that, I would be like, 'what the heck are you doing?'", "he really thinks that what a girl would think?", and "awwww, that's so sweet". We were rolling the whole time.
-Since the book was written in the 1930's, we were not sure what some of the words meant and other words are used differently today. My favorite example was when he talked about how kissing under the mistletoe was about the only time it is okay to kiss in public. He added, "For then you can seize hold of the girl with impunity and smack her to your heart's content without being socially ostracized for it." I don't think I need to explain why I almost peed in my pants when I read this.
All in all, I give the book two thumbs-up and recommend getting it (it was really cheap); it's somewhat informative, very entertaining, and extremely hilarious.

Extreme Makeover

2006-01-05T22:15:00.000-08:00

My sister has been wanting to give me a "makeover" for quite some time. Not that she thinks that I am ugly or that I am doing something wrong, she just want to experiment on me (she secretly wants to be a make-up artist) and maybe make me look more my age and not like a jr. high student. Here are some before and after pictures. Let me know what you think...
My "before" picture. As you can see, I'm not very happy with my current look...

My "after" picture. Wow, I look like a whole new person. It's amazing what a little make-up will do. It was quite the adventure: I kept on blinking while she was doing my eye make-up and she reassured me that she won't poke me in the eye and that she has done this tons of times, then a few minutes later she stabbed me in the eye with the mascara wand. Now I can't see out of my left eye. Oh, well, sight is highly over-rated anyways. And no pain, no gain, right?
And here's my "a little after the after" picture (and, no, I did not go tanning; my sister didn't use the flash). I might have the "look my age" part down, but I'm still working on the "act my age" thing...

Happy Anniversary, Mom and Dad!

2005-12-31T15:57:00.000-08:00

Here's a little background info. My parents were high school sweethearts. They met in geometry class; my dad sat in front of my mom. They got married a couple of years after they graduated high school. They have four wonderful children (the third is truly exceptional). Growing up, my mom was not close to her brother, so she was determined to make sure that didn't happen to us. When we were kids, she made us play together, which we hated at the time, but now I'm grateful cuz my brother and sisters are among my closest friends. About seven years ago, my parents opened up our home to my cousin and got custody of her (my dad's sister's daughter). She went from an ackward kid to a beautiful young lady, whose still kinda ackward ;) . Then about two years ago after grandma died, my parents asked grandpa to live with us (my dad's dad). He's very entertaining... and aggravating. My parents have been married for 33 yrs. Since it's their anniversary, I decided to tell you about how great they are.
My parents both came from not-so-loving homes, but they became Christians about 23, 24 years ago and decided that their children would be raised differently. I thank God when I look at their families and see what my parents have come from and how God has changed them and how they have rose above that. They work so well as a team, each bringing different strengths to the relationship. My dad is so funny, hard working, and wise, and he is great at giving hugs and kisses, and letting us know how much he loves us. If I need dating advice, or need a shoulder to cry on, or need my car fixed, or if I want to build something, my dad is one of the first people I go to. He always tells me I'm his favorite, and even though he tell my siblings that, too, I can't help but believe him. My mom is so selfless and never complains. Though she isn't the greatest at verbalizing it, she's one to show her love through action. She does so much for us without expecting a "thanks", and majority of the time she sees the need and does it without being asked. She has always put us (her family) first. I have learned so much about selfless love and contentment from her. She is always encouraging me to achieve my dreams, and she really believes that I can do anything. I love it when I walk by her room and hear her praying on the phone with one of her friends for us. Sometimes I just sit on the steps and quietly listen, and smile.
I also love how my parents love each other. My dad buys slurpees for my mom almost every night (she loves them), and my mom always laughs at his jokes, whether they are funny or not. They tend to show their love for each other through the little things. Occasionally, they sneak a kiss in front of us, and we tease them, but I love knowing that they are still romantically in love. They truly enjoy each other's company; my dad has told me that he can't wait for us all to move out so that he can enjoy growing old with his wife.
So congrats, Mom and Dad. And thanks for showing me what the good life looks like.

A Tree-hugging Christmas

2005-12-24T21:35:00.000-08:00

"If you want that 'fresh pine' scent, buy an air freshener! Let the trees live"

Last year 23 million Christmas trees were sold during the holiday season. It's sickening. Did you know that 1 acre of pine trees can supply enough oxygen for 18 people? This year I encourage you to let the trees live. Here are a couple of suggestions from the Sierra Club (some environmental group):

-use storm-downed branches or drift wood to decorate your house with instead of the traditional Christmas tree

-celebrate Hanukkah instead of Christmas because it is more "earth-friendly"

Actually, this is my family's Christmas tree. It ends up that the Christmas tree holder had a big crack in it and had been leaking water on our carpet for the past couple of days, so my dad put it in the front yard while he went to get a new holder. We had a lot of friends and family visiting that day, and I was asked about six times why our tree was in the front yard. At the time I had no idea why, so I told people it was on strike. The sign made it more convincing. When my mom saw the sign, she gasped and asked me if someone was taking our tree away. I laughed, reassured her that no one was taking our tree and that I was just messin'. My favorite part about the picture, though, is our gnome giving the 'peace' sign in the bottom left corner. I didn't notice him till now.

Wedding Bells and Beer

2005-12-18T19:57:00.000-08:00

One of my nursing school buddies, Jackie, got married yesterday. For a wedding, it was pretty fun. I think my favorite thing about the wedding, though, was the gifts for the guests. Most people go with chocolates to show their appreciation to the guests for coming to their wedding. But that's not Jackie and Darrell. To them, nothing says "thanks" like a beer cozie.

My Manic Moment

2005-12-15T18:25:00.000-08:00

"The diagnosis of a manic episode or mania requires at least one week of unusual incessantly heightened, grandiose, or agitated mood in addition to three or more of the following symptoms: exaggerated self-esteem, sleeplessness; pressured (hurried) speech; flight of ideas; reduced ability to filter extraneous stimuli; distractibility; increased activities with increased energy; and multiple, grandiose high-risk activities involving poor judgment and severe consequences such as spending sprees, sex with strangers, and impulsive investments." (APA, 2000).

After the last couple of days, I decided to do a little self-diagnosis. Hopefully, you can relate, and if not, either empathize or keep your mouth shut. Yesterday, I woke up around 7am, got my oil changed, got emissions test done on my car, went to the chiropractor, got a safety test done on my car, went to Michael's and Hobby Lobby (I had to get supplies for my jewelry show on Thurs.), ran to work to drop something off, came home, got chewed out by my mom about something I didn't even do (menopause and holiday season don't mix well), had dinner, then worked on making jewelry until about 3am (and while making jewelry, I watched America's Next Top Model, dumb but entertaining). All day, I'm my happy self, a little excited and anxious about my show. Woke up today around 7am, had a meeting at working, had two messages from my mom about something I forgot to do, ran to Wal-Mart looking for jewelry tags (not there), they directed me to Jo-ann Fabrics (not there), who directed me to Office DePot (bingo), ran home, mom's on my case about something else and this time I snap (honestly, my mom is amazing, but the holidays are stressful for her, and it usually doesn't bother me when she gets irritable, but today I'm very "on-edge"), got last minute stuff ready for my show, went to my jewelry thing (made $242 in 2 hours, whew-whoo!), went back to the oil place cuz my oil was leaking, picked up some dinner (this was the first time I had eaten all day), went home, unpacked from the weekend, did laundry, talked on the phone, and am now writing a blog. And on top of that, throughout the day I received/made about 25 phone calls. And boy, did my mood fluctuate today; I really, really tried to be in a good mood, but everything was ticking me off. So, I would say heightened or agitated mood with symptoms of sleeplessness, pressured speech, reduced ability to filter extraneous stimuli, distractability, and increased activities with increased energy. And I thought this was going to be a relaxing Christmas break. A few more days like this, then you'll have to give me some Lithium and call me crazy.

sweet freedom

2005-12-08T11:44:00.000-08:00

Finally, the semester is over! I'm done with finals and ATI testing for now. This has been the freakin', longest semester I have had in my six years of college. I have a whole month off; no tests or lectures, no getting up early for clinicals, no bathing dirty, old men. I'm so ready to graduate; I'm getting too old for this. But I've learned a lot of cool (and not so cool) stuff and had some great experiences this semester. I learned to give meds, shots, IV, enemas (yeah, that was fun; large woman hadn't crapped for three days, boy she ate a lot of corn), insert catheters, gave bed baths, got yelled at by anxious family members of a patient, got to watch my first endoscopy/colonoscopy (and I noticed the first polyp before the dr. did, pretty exciting, he gave me bonus points), do wound changes, worked with isolation patients, used "therapeutic communication" with psych. patients, helped with activities in the psych. ward, and learned a lot about different illnesses/diseases and psych. disorders. Man, I love this stuff! I also had some 'I'll treasure this moment forever' experiences, but I think I'll keep those to myself. It's hard to explain how God works on your heart when you are helping someone so fragile.
Plans for Christmas break? Hang out with friends that I have unfortunately neglected all semester, go out dancing, pick up extra hours at work, try to get a job at Children's Hospital, possibly go to Chicago with some friends, sleep, pick up my guitar again (it's been collecting dust since I started nursing school), paint, make/sell my jewelry, re-vamp my blog, hang out with my fam, and enjoy my momentary freedom from books. But currently, it's snowing outside, and I feel a snow angel coming on or possibly some sledding...

beware of the lady in red...

2005-12-06T09:19:00.000-08:00

I consider myself a mild-tempered person, not much really gets to me. And I'm not one to use my blog to complain about crap. But yesterday I almost punched a lady in the face. Here's my story...
I went to Target to pick up some tiolettries that I was out of, and I paused at the make-up section to waste time and put off studying for my finals a little bit longer. Though I never wear it, I checked out the lipsticks cuz they were on sale and decided that maybe it was time to open my make-up horizon, and I have a formal dinner this weekend, so why not. I found two shades that I liked, but to see the color better, I did what all girls do, I opened the container of the lipstick. It... it was beautiful. As I put the cap back on, a Target lady came up to me.
"Give it here."
I was shocked, "Excuse me?"
"Give me the lipstick; you opened it and now we can't sell it. So give it here."
"But I'm going to buy it..." as I hand it over.
"I don't care. Give it here and give me the other one, too."
My jaw dropped. It makes me think of a jr. high kid chewing gum in class and the teacher comes over and makes them spit it out in her hand. People were staring at me and I was so embarrassed. Stupid lipstick nazi. I'll be honest, I was tempted to open more just to be a punk, but I resisted. Darn morals.

Oh, the horror...

2005-11-23T13:30:00.000-08:00

As most of you know, my grandpa lives with my family. Since he has moved in, life has gotten even more interesting, but yesterday something disturbing happened that I must share...

My grandpa sometimes isn't "all there". He is usually fine, but every once and a while he has a "bad" day. Example, one day when I came home from school, he was wearing four shirts, his belt was twisted to the side, and his hair was disheveled. I asked him if he was hot, to see if there was a logical explanation for the shirts, then I pointed out that he was wearing four shirts, counting them for him (to get him back in touch with reality), then asked him if he needed help with his shirts, then I also helped him fix his belt. I'm used to this kinda stuff from work and school, so it was no big deal. But yesterday...

I had been busy running errands and doing stuff around the house all morning. After putting my laundry away, I ran down stairs to make myself some lunch. I turn the corner, and there he is, standing at the food pantry in his robe wide open, exposing his, um, "manly glory". I quickly turned around and headed back up the stair. Didn't know how to handle that one. I mean, it's not the first time I've seen, well, you know, cuz at both my school and my work I've seen it all, but it's different when it's your grandpa... at home... in front of the pantry... blarf. Besides, confronting him would make us both uncomfortable. "Um, hey grandpa, do you realize that your, uh, is, uh... it's not really sanitary to uh... would you like a hot dog for lunch?" Yeah, it was just easier to go back up stairs. I lost my appetite, anyway.

It's here!

2005-11-17T11:27:00.000-08:00

Yeah! I have a car again! I'll get some pictures up when we get our computer back; it's at Notebook Hospital, it has a virus. So till then, I'll entertain you with some random posts. Today's topics: My favorite words.
1. Fluctuate: To move now in one direction and now in another; to be wavering or unsteady; to be irresolute or undetermined; to vacillate. In high school, one of my friends got on this kick of expanding her vocabulary. Everyday she would learn a new word and we would use it as often as we could. Fluctuate was our first word (and our last, she only did it for one day, I guess you could say she fluctuates a lot). It was an interesting day and you can use that word in a lot of situation (it's very discriptive of women), but I have never forgotten the word and it has remained one of my favorites.
2. Plethora: State of being overfull; excess; superabundance. I had an English teacher that would use this word all the time. In return, I used it in every paper I wrote in her class, which she acknowledge with a smiley face and I got A's in her classes (Sucking Up 101, by Erin Ziegler, man, I'm good). I really like to say the word. It makes me feel like I have a plethora of knowledge.
3. Canaliculi: small, microscopic canal between various lacunae ( it's tiny canals in the bone). I like this word not so much for what it means but cuz how you pronounce it. "Can-I-lick-you-lie". It brings out the jr. high boy in me. My lab teacher at Flo Valley said it, and a bunch of us died laughing, but unfortunately he didn't have a sense of humor. Can I lick you lie...tee-hee.

# 5, but still alive

2005-11-08T12:05:00.000-08:00

This is the first time since my semester has started that I have actually had time to waste to right a blog. I'm having a hard time concentrating, though, cuz I'm in my school's computer lab and there is a large group of foreign exchange students in here and their instructor is yelling at them, telling them about how other people in the lab are working hard to get school assignments done in here and they are being distracting, yelling at one for looking at the internet instead of doing the assignment, and lecturing another about St. Louis is not a country... and I'm sitting here giggling. Glad she's not my instructor.
Anyways, exciting news with me. My beautiful, red truck that I have had for a little over a year is no longer with us. It was my first car that I had that wasn't made in the 80's or had over 200,000 miles on it ; it's year was 2001 and had a little over 56,000 miles when it happened. On Friday, I didn't have clinicals so I decided to run a lot of errands. After filling my tank, I decided to head to Jack-in-the-Box for lunch, but I never made it. A 72 year old lady hit me in a head-on collision. I spent the next 3-4 hrs. in the ER with a neck brace on, strapped to a board with oxygen tubes up my nose. Don't worry about me. I had fun joking around with the EMTs, doctors, and nurses (an EMT apologized cuz he had to feel my chest for pain and possible fractures, I told him it was no big deal, it's been a while since anyone has felt my chest). I'm okayish. I only have minor stuff: scratches on my neck, sore neck and back, bruised knee and butt. But my poor baby didn't make it. She's totaled. Which makes that #5. I have been in five car accidents where I have been hit and it wasn't my fault. They are, in order:
1. Rear-ended in funeral procession line by someone not even a part of it (she was trying to cut through). Damage: over $1000 in car repairs. The lady have a false info, but they tracked her down, and she claimed that I was driving slowly and was making frequent stops. Hmm, wonder why.
2. Hit a six-point buck. Not really my fault; it jumped in front of me.
3. Hit by a drunk driver. He took off, I chased him down and got his license #, but he skipped town.
4. Rear-ended on the highway. Car in front of me stopped, so I stopped, but the car behind me didn't.
5. Freakin' old lady hit me head on, cuz it's hard to see a red truck in the middle of the day, I guess.
Luckily I have never been seriously injured, but, man, it sucks!

Eat Beef. The west was not won on salad.

2005-09-19T10:41:00.000-07:00

This past weekend, I went to visit my friend, Heather, in Morton, IL. While heading out to Morton, I was rocking out to Jimmy Eats World when I noticed that the car in front of me had a bumper sticker that changed my view on life. It said, "Eat beef; the west was not won on salad." All these years, I thought salad was a national hero, but I was terribly wrong. It was beef! Maybe I missed that in my history class. If someone could explain that to me, it would be much appreciated.
Anyway, I had a great weekend; I sold $110 worth of merchandise at the festival there, got to hand out with Heather Hall and Matt Crossman, made some new friends who are going to come down to St. L and go swing dancing with me, played an intense game of Taboo that was boys vs. girls...and Dwayne, rode some rides at the fair, talked to some carnies (they were pretty nice, and most of them had all their teeth, but, man, they'll talk your ear off), and much more. Good times were had by all.
But I must admit, the ride home was rough. First off, I didn't want to leave. Second, gas in Morton is $2.77/gallon and I needed to fill my tank (in St.L, gas is $2.56/gallon). And lastly, I killed 4 butterflies while driving down the highway. I diagnosed the butterflies with bipolar disorder; I think they are struggling with suicidal thoughts due to winter coming, maybe they need to be put on Lithium. Or possibly it was a dare gone wrong. I don't know, but hopefully it will help other butterflies in the future.

Erin's Moron Moment of the Day

2005-08-26T08:10:00.000-07:00

I wrote a blog the other day but lost it before I was able to post it so I have been rebelling against blogging for the past couple of days, so sorry for the lack of posts. To make up for it, here's something moronic I did yesterday. I would like to blame it on the fact that I have been sick because I tend to do stupid stuff when I'm sick, but you can be the judge of it.

While driving home from school yesterday, I decided to call my friend, Nate, to see if he wanted to go out with our buddies from school that night. I got his voicemail, so I started to leave a message for him, "Hey Nate, Erin doesn't have to work tonight, and I think Jackie's free, so ya wanna do something tonight?..." At this point, I was at a four-way stop, and a car pull up at the intersection at the same time as me. We both wave at each other to go, then we both inched forward at the same time. I start laughing, then started sayings things like, "Oh, go ahead and go... it's okay... no, you go first." After getting the stop sign situation fixed, I continued driving and began to wonder why my phone was by my ear. "Oh, crap...um sorry Nate. I forgot I was on the phone...um call me later. Bye." I wish I could see the look on his face when he got the message. I'm always making fun of him, so I guess I've given him an opportunity for payback.

Here Fishy, Fishy

2005-08-16T08:04:00.000-07:00

This past week, my friend, Jenny, and I went to go visit my grandparents in Lake of the Ozarks. I was planning on starting my new blog out with pictures of Jenny and I wearing bikinis and driving the boat in hopes that it would bring more people to my blog, but we didn't get to drive the boat (my grandma didn't want me to, maybe because I've totalled two cars, I don't know). We went shopping most of the time, but for a change in scenery, we decided to go fishing...

This little wormy was coiled up around my finger when I first started taking the picture. I flipped out after the flash bc (as you can see), he almost made it in my mouth.

Yeah, I put the worm on the hook myself. And I also put the bobber on myself. I'm a hardcore fisherperson. And within two minutes, I caught a 4lb. 16in. catfish. Yeah, I'm that good.
Unfortunately, I didn't know how to get the hook out of a catfish without getting stung and neither did Jenny. We have only been educated on handling bass and blue gills. We started walking around the complex hoping to find someone who could help us out (my grandparents' condo was quite a ways from where we were fishing), but not too many people were out around 11:30 p.m.

After walking around for about 10 mins., Jen grew some balls, and decided to get the hook out of the fish. I assisted by pinning the fish down with the net and pole. But unfortunately, the fish was stuck in the net. It took us about another 10 mins. to get him out.
So, finally, we were able to continue our fishing. We ended up not caughting anything else that night, but we had a great time talking and goofing off.