I better write all this down RIGHT NOW while I'm thinking about it.
Today was my first day of core nursing classes (the ones that really count!). It was also Gabe's first day of daycare!! Turns out Mother Nature has a sense of humor and the wind chill was below zero when we left the house, oh so early, in the morning.
We did get out the door only to forget Gabe's boots, which didn't matter because it was too cold to play outside at daycare but still bugged me. We got Mike dropped off at work and headed to campus. I got a good parking spot (benefit of being there at 7:30). I hauled my backpack, laptop bag, Gabe, his snowsuit, and his backpack all inside the school.
I dropped him off and he barely said bye to me! He was the first one there so he went off and was busy playing right away with all the cool toys.
Then I skedaddled to my first class, Pharmacology, which was at 8am. I get there and we sit around for awhile and at about 8:15 another instructor comes in and apologizes that we were supposed to get an email that there was no class today, that it starts NEXT Wed. Grrr!! So now I have 2 hours to kill on campus while I wait for my next class to start. It was a long two hours.
The next class is Nursing Fundamentals, we get settled in, do the obligatory paperwork, and jump right in. It was an alright intro and seems like it could be interesting. It is basically a theory class about the profession of nursing (subtitled "How not to get sued" by me).
I am done at noon and head over to the daycare to pick Gabe up. When he sees me he immediately bursts in to tears because they were just starting lunch and I interrupted him LOL!! There were three other kids there at that point, two girls and a boy. They all waved and said hi. I did finally get Gabe to calm down and we took his lunch to go.
At home he tells me that it was a boring morning because he was by himself for most of it (I think the other kids came around 10). He did enjoy playing in the muscle room, where they play when it is too cold outside. He waffles between telling me he's glad he went and wanting to never go back again!
Monday we do it all over again, but only for the afternoon since there was a last minute schedule change by one of my instructors :/ So we'll be on campus together from 12:30-4 and then head right to pick up Mike.
I have about 115 pages to read this week for Fundamentals, my online Psych class will probably start posting things tomorrow or Friday. So I'm off and running! Although I won't really be running because my backpack weighs a ton and is already stuffed to the max!
Wednesday, January 18, 2012
Monday, January 9, 2012
(not)refried bean burritos
Yesterday I posted the (not)refried beans and today I am posting to show what I made with them!
I made little freezer packs to take to class with me for lunch. The tortillas I used are quite small so I put 4 into a package.
Ingredients, I didn't take pictures of the package of beans full, sorry. There are also other ingredients in the recipe which I linked back to yesterday too! They are DELICIOUS!
Then I set up a little assembly line and put 1/4 cup of beans into each burrito
I added a dash of cheese (less than 1/4 of a cup, just a sprinkle really), and 1/4 cup of beans was a LOT in this size tortilla. I might go up a size next time but I like the idea of eating a lot at lunch (4) and feeling like I splurged instead of eating one big burrito LOL.
Then I rolled them up and put them into Ziploc bags. I labelled each bag with the contents, date, and nutrition info I like to keep track of. Each pack of 4 burritos is 350 calories and 20g of protein (for ALL 4 combined!!)
I only had one package of tortillas, and I made a double batch of beans so I had leftovers. I took them and put them into ziploc bags, wrote the date, the size of the package (2 cups) and nutrition info for 1/2 cup of beans (60 calories):
I lay them nice and flat (helps to keep the air out too) and then freeze them like that. After they are frozen you can stand them up if you need to in the door of the freezer. I did have another cup and a half left over but I put them in a bowl in the fridge for lunch tomorrow ;) I couldn't resist!
These beans are super tasty and WAAAAAY better than anything you're going to eat canned, and better for you. Total time I put in today to portion and package everything up was about half an hour. I'm not going to say my calorie counts are perfect but they should be close, and everyone's recipes will vary depending on exactly what you put into your beans and what burritos you use. So make sure you figure it out if you need to be counting calories.
I will definitely be making these beans and the burritos again! Thank you so much to Budget Bytes for paving the way for these recipes!!
I made little freezer packs to take to class with me for lunch. The tortillas I used are quite small so I put 4 into a package.
Ingredients, I didn't take pictures of the package of beans full, sorry. There are also other ingredients in the recipe which I linked back to yesterday too! They are DELICIOUS!
These beans are super tasty and WAAAAAY better than anything you're going to eat canned, and better for you. Total time I put in today to portion and package everything up was about half an hour. I'm not going to say my calorie counts are perfect but they should be close, and everyone's recipes will vary depending on exactly what you put into your beans and what burritos you use. So make sure you figure it out if you need to be counting calories.
I will definitely be making these beans and the burritos again! Thank you so much to Budget Bytes for paving the way for these recipes!!
Sunday, January 8, 2012
Food I made!
I got all crafty (can you be crafty with food?) this week. I've found some recipes I just must try this week before I go back to class next week. So today I made (Not)Refried Beans. They turned out marvelous! They are tasty, I had to taste test to make sure, and look delicious too.
Tomorrow they are going to go into some tortilla shells with a little cheese and then get frozen in two packs for my lunches for at school where I can pop them in the microwave. I actually got the idea from another post by Budget Bytes where she made freezer burritos with store bought ingredients, so I figured I'd do it with homemade beans (which are SOO much yummier!) and next time I might even make the tortillas myself from one of her recipes too.
Freezer Burritos and the Low Fat Flour Tortillas for next time. So tomorrow I'll make my burritos and have tasty healthy lunches. The tortillas I'm using are only 80 calories for 2 of them and they are whole wheat. I'll add a little sprinkle of Mexican Style Cheese and be good to go for only about 300 calories for two of them.
This week I'm also going to make my own English Muffins for breakfast sandwiches too. I need to be prepared with foods for the weeks ahead when I'm going to be busy, lazy, frazzled and unable to think ahead well enough to make healthy tasty meals!
I admit I go in spurts with trying new foods and recipes but since I'm on an upswing I figure I better take advantage of it and make as many things as I can to stuff in the freezer! If you have any great recipes or blogs about food shoot them my way and I'll see what I can do. I've already sampled Skinny Taste and she's fabulous, OBB is another one that I've tried a few but not many from, so spam me!
Tomorrow they are going to go into some tortilla shells with a little cheese and then get frozen in two packs for my lunches for at school where I can pop them in the microwave. I actually got the idea from another post by Budget Bytes where she made freezer burritos with store bought ingredients, so I figured I'd do it with homemade beans (which are SOO much yummier!) and next time I might even make the tortillas myself from one of her recipes too.
Freezer Burritos and the Low Fat Flour Tortillas for next time. So tomorrow I'll make my burritos and have tasty healthy lunches. The tortillas I'm using are only 80 calories for 2 of them and they are whole wheat. I'll add a little sprinkle of Mexican Style Cheese and be good to go for only about 300 calories for two of them.
This week I'm also going to make my own English Muffins for breakfast sandwiches too. I need to be prepared with foods for the weeks ahead when I'm going to be busy, lazy, frazzled and unable to think ahead well enough to make healthy tasty meals!
I admit I go in spurts with trying new foods and recipes but since I'm on an upswing I figure I better take advantage of it and make as many things as I can to stuff in the freezer! If you have any great recipes or blogs about food shoot them my way and I'll see what I can do. I've already sampled Skinny Taste and she's fabulous, OBB is another one that I've tried a few but not many from, so spam me!
Tuesday, December 27, 2011
Gabriel Micheal turns 5!
This is the first birthday that has made me teary. He's a BIG kid now, not a baby, not a toddler.
Because of Christmas craziness I didn't get this up and posted on his birthday but I want to make sure it's safe somewhere.
He loves Cars the Movie stuff, Transformers, puzzles, drawing and he would eat cheese in a tortilla or on bread forever if I let him. He loves to rough house with Mike. He loves to play with trains on the floor and make up stories and carry around baby animals with names like "punkin" and "batty" (both are beanie baby bats) those bats only eat ham and candy (only if they are good of course!)
He is a funny and smart little boy. He learns something new every day and he still wants to snuggle and give hugs and kisses to both Mike and me. He's just an amazing kid. He's as stubborn as the day is long, but he's also so sweet and still wants me to kiss boo-boos.
I just can not believe that he's five already. I swear it feels like we just brought him home from the hospital. I just can not believe he's so big, he's such a tall kid, and such a handsome kid. I am really proud to call myself his mom.
He loves his new Leap Pad Explorer Tablet that he got for Christmas and Mike and I love seeing what he's taking pictures of and making videos of each day too!!
Because of Christmas craziness I didn't get this up and posted on his birthday but I want to make sure it's safe somewhere.
He loves Cars the Movie stuff, Transformers, puzzles, drawing and he would eat cheese in a tortilla or on bread forever if I let him. He loves to rough house with Mike. He loves to play with trains on the floor and make up stories and carry around baby animals with names like "punkin" and "batty" (both are beanie baby bats) those bats only eat ham and candy (only if they are good of course!)
He is a funny and smart little boy. He learns something new every day and he still wants to snuggle and give hugs and kisses to both Mike and me. He's just an amazing kid. He's as stubborn as the day is long, but he's also so sweet and still wants me to kiss boo-boos.
I just can not believe that he's five already. I swear it feels like we just brought him home from the hospital. I just can not believe he's so big, he's such a tall kid, and such a handsome kid. I am really proud to call myself his mom.
He loves his new Leap Pad Explorer Tablet that he got for Christmas and Mike and I love seeing what he's taking pictures of and making videos of each day too!!
Thursday, December 15, 2011
Things come back around
Today I'm watching a Greys Anatomy rerun after painting ornaments with Gabe and its the episode with the quote "If today you become frightened instead become inspired", and I thought I LOVE this quote. I have loved it since I heard it the first time.
So I thought about it again and I thought that quote is important. That plus a post about arriving in Holland made me want to write about it again.
Here is the Holland piece:
c1987 by Emily Perl Kingsley. All rights reserved
I am often asked to describe the experience of raising a child with a disability - to try to help people who have not shared that unique experience to understand it, to imagine how it would feel. It's like this......
When you're going to have a baby, it's like planning a fabulous vacation trip - to Italy. You buy a bunch of guide books and make your wonderful plans. The Coliseum. The Michelangelo David. The gondolas in Venice. You may learn some handy phrases in Italian. It's all very exciting.
After months of eager anticipation, the day finally arrives. You pack your bags and off you go. Several hours later, the plane lands. The stewardess comes in and says, "Welcome to Holland."
"Holland?!?" you say. "What do you mean Holland?? I signed up for Italy! I'm supposed to be in Italy. All my life I've dreamed of going to Italy."
But there's been a change in the flight plan. They've landed in Holland and there you must stay.
The important thing is that they haven't taken you to a horrible, disgusting, filthy place, full of pestilence, famine and disease. It's just a different place.
So you must go out and buy new guide books. And you must learn a whole new language. And you will meet a whole new group of people you would never have met.
It's just a different place. It's slower-paced than Italy, less flashy than Italy. But after you've been there for a while and you catch your breath, you look around.... and you begin to notice that Holland has windmills....and Holland has tulips. Holland even has Rembrandts.
But everyone you know is busy coming and going from Italy... and they're all bragging about what a wonderful time they had there. And for the rest of your life, you will say "Yes, that's where I was supposed to go. That's what I had planned."
And the pain of that will never, ever, ever, ever go away... because the loss of that dream is a very very significant loss.
But... if you spend your life mourning the fact that you didn't get to Italy, you may never be free to enjoy the very special, the very lovely things ... about Holland.
I find that quotes tend to pop up right about the time I need them, just like Mish had happen to her recently too! So while this quote is about having a child that's different than the one you envisioned I find it works for most things in life that come up and DRASTICALLY change your destination ideas. I know that I've posted about the Greys Anatomy post before, here, among other quotes that inspire me. So sometimes we don't end up where we expect to, and sometimes the road is tough, and sometimes we don't even get to the destination we expected to, but what I have learned is that most places are nice places even if they aren't what we expect. I can find a way to live in many places, I can find ways to THRIVE in places I didn't expect. When I am scared, tired, unsure, or just plan done I remember many of these quotes and I keep going. I just keep going. JUST KEEP GOING!
I think that quotes showing up when you need them, be them bible verses, from a movie or a show, or a story from someone, or a post on a forum, they come up when you need them most.
So I thought about it again and I thought that quote is important. That plus a post about arriving in Holland made me want to write about it again.
Here is the Holland piece:
c1987 by Emily Perl Kingsley. All rights reserved
I am often asked to describe the experience of raising a child with a disability - to try to help people who have not shared that unique experience to understand it, to imagine how it would feel. It's like this......
When you're going to have a baby, it's like planning a fabulous vacation trip - to Italy. You buy a bunch of guide books and make your wonderful plans. The Coliseum. The Michelangelo David. The gondolas in Venice. You may learn some handy phrases in Italian. It's all very exciting.
After months of eager anticipation, the day finally arrives. You pack your bags and off you go. Several hours later, the plane lands. The stewardess comes in and says, "Welcome to Holland."
"Holland?!?" you say. "What do you mean Holland?? I signed up for Italy! I'm supposed to be in Italy. All my life I've dreamed of going to Italy."
But there's been a change in the flight plan. They've landed in Holland and there you must stay.
The important thing is that they haven't taken you to a horrible, disgusting, filthy place, full of pestilence, famine and disease. It's just a different place.
So you must go out and buy new guide books. And you must learn a whole new language. And you will meet a whole new group of people you would never have met.
It's just a different place. It's slower-paced than Italy, less flashy than Italy. But after you've been there for a while and you catch your breath, you look around.... and you begin to notice that Holland has windmills....and Holland has tulips. Holland even has Rembrandts.
But everyone you know is busy coming and going from Italy... and they're all bragging about what a wonderful time they had there. And for the rest of your life, you will say "Yes, that's where I was supposed to go. That's what I had planned."
And the pain of that will never, ever, ever, ever go away... because the loss of that dream is a very very significant loss.
But... if you spend your life mourning the fact that you didn't get to Italy, you may never be free to enjoy the very special, the very lovely things ... about Holland.
I find that quotes tend to pop up right about the time I need them, just like Mish had happen to her recently too! So while this quote is about having a child that's different than the one you envisioned I find it works for most things in life that come up and DRASTICALLY change your destination ideas. I know that I've posted about the Greys Anatomy post before, here, among other quotes that inspire me. So sometimes we don't end up where we expect to, and sometimes the road is tough, and sometimes we don't even get to the destination we expected to, but what I have learned is that most places are nice places even if they aren't what we expect. I can find a way to live in many places, I can find ways to THRIVE in places I didn't expect. When I am scared, tired, unsure, or just plan done I remember many of these quotes and I keep going. I just keep going. JUST KEEP GOING!
I think that quotes showing up when you need them, be them bible verses, from a movie or a show, or a story from someone, or a post on a forum, they come up when you need them most.
Monday, December 12, 2011
Done with the fall semester!
I made it through one more semester! I am officially done with the fall 2011 semester. A semester of intro psych (which sucked and I'll avoid that instructor like the plague) but I got a B-, Health psychology (which I love that instructor) and I got an A, Medical Terminology which was easy peasy and I got a 97% in LOL, also Modern Cinema which I'm still waiting for a final grade, I'm thinking B+ or A- depending on the paper grade.
The REALLY good news is that I have registered for all my core RN classes. I am all set to take the really hard ones and the ones that really matter starting in the Spring 2012 semester. I have all my classes at Mequon campus and New Castle as my first clinical location. YAY! Everything is close-ish to home!
I am still working out childcare for Gabe (EEK!!!!) but I'm hoping things are going to fall into place and we won't have to worry about it too much. I will be at class/clinical 4 days a week and my Dad will watch Gabe on Weds so at least that day is taken care of.
I am excited, nervous and terrified right now of the future 4 semesters but I also know this is what I want and I can do this. It will be hard, there will be days (weeks) that suck but I can do this!! This is not a punishment, I want to do this. I want to be a nurse!
Christmas is around the corner which means so is Gabe's birthday. Hopefully I'll have a few posts between now and then, and you'll see me in early January before I disappear again too. I'm going to attempt to be better here even during the spring because I know I won't remember this journey if I don't write stuff down!
The REALLY good news is that I have registered for all my core RN classes. I am all set to take the really hard ones and the ones that really matter starting in the Spring 2012 semester. I have all my classes at Mequon campus and New Castle as my first clinical location. YAY! Everything is close-ish to home!
I am still working out childcare for Gabe (EEK!!!!) but I'm hoping things are going to fall into place and we won't have to worry about it too much. I will be at class/clinical 4 days a week and my Dad will watch Gabe on Weds so at least that day is taken care of.
I am excited, nervous and terrified right now of the future 4 semesters but I also know this is what I want and I can do this. It will be hard, there will be days (weeks) that suck but I can do this!! This is not a punishment, I want to do this. I want to be a nurse!
Christmas is around the corner which means so is Gabe's birthday. Hopefully I'll have a few posts between now and then, and you'll see me in early January before I disappear again too. I'm going to attempt to be better here even during the spring because I know I won't remember this journey if I don't write stuff down!
Tuesday, November 1, 2011
School decision
After I received the acceptance letter to Cardinal Stritch I also received an acceptance to MATC. I was thinking "CRAP! now I really have to decide what to do?!"
Mike and I really sat down and talked things through and he is the most wonderful, amazing husband ever, and assured me that we would do what needed to be done no matter which school I chose. Knowing that he supported my decision really did help me and make it easier to decide. After lots of thought and consideration I've decided to stay at MATC. The price tag is definitely a big deciding factor, plus I've been receiving more grants which makes it even better. I know that I don't have to work full time while in school and end up having some left over money to pay bills and things while in school. Plus leaving school with less debt is something that I really need to consider. Both programs are good and both give me my ADN which allows me to take the NCLEX and become an RN. I'll worry about my BSN later if and when that matters. MATC's program is 4 semesters long meaning I will finish in the December of 2013!
I am excited to have made a final decision! I am still nervous and worried and everything else. There are still some things that I need to do before I start with those classes in January but I'm on my way. Now I'm on a mission to find even more scholarships and grants to pay for school!
Wish me luck, remind me that I'm not crazy, that I can do this with a child and a husband and a life. Remind me that I WANT this when I complain and I think it's too hard and I'm too overworked. Remind me that being a nurse is something that I KNOW I want. Remind me that I can do this, please. I'm going to stumble and I'm going to need my family and friends to keep me standing!
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