Update!

The hole in the ceiling is almost covered!!!

All that's left is to fix the vent tubing that his hanging!

So, another trip to Lowe's for Doug =)

Then the fun part begins...sanding off all the popcorn ceiling and repainting the ceiling in the kitchen!

Anyone want to adopt me until the repair is over?!?

I hate all the dust and filth in my house!!

But a HUGE thanks to my wonderful husband who has worked so hard and quickly to repair it for me!  I would surely be living in an aquarium if you hadn't fixed the leak!

Love you!!!

Kindred Connection

To join this week's Kindred Connection, head over to Windy Poplars website!

This week's question is:  

What made you want to start your blog?

I started my blog after my friend, Jenny, sent me her sister's blog The Daniel's about their cute family.  

I thought that would be a great way to update the family on our little life!

After high school, Doug and I both went away to college and finally made our home together in Columbus!

We are about 1hr to 1 1/2 hrs away from our family and we don't see them that often so I decided to do a blog to update them on what we're up to!  

I'm sure it will be more exciting once we have kids but right now it's about jobs, family events, and our fur babies!!!

The best thing about Tuesdays...

is being able to have the day off!!!!  

It was so hot and sunny out =)  

I sat outside and had some sweet tea and read a book from my favorite author!  

A perfect afternoon!

My garden oasis thanks to my husband's wonderful green thumb!

So, all day I pretended to be at Sullivan's island =) 

We leave for the beach in South Carolina in just 45 days!!

The start of a "relaxing" weekend...

Doug and I both have a 3 day weekend so on Friday, we decided to head to Abbey's to help out with her garage sale!  We brought a few things and made $3 woohoo!  We left shortly after lunch and headed home.  We took a nice long nap since it was raining hard.  For dinner, Doug decided to make homemade pizza!  Yum!  We were finishing up dinner and watching the Office season 2 on netflix when we heard running water.  I got up to see if I left the sink on when water hit me on the head.  I looked up to see a huge leak in our ceiling and a steady drip running into the sink.  I freaked out and started yelling "there's a leak in the ceiling!"

This was about 8:30pm.  After Doug started to rip the ceiling open to find the cause, we thought it was from our roof.  There was a vent pipe right where the leak was so Doug went up to the attic and found that there was water around the vent in our roof.  We then took out the medicine cabinet in our bathroom and saw that there was little beads of water running down.

But, it didn't seem like enough water to make such a mess.  In the mean time, I called the emergency number for our condo association and called Doug's dad to figure out what to do.  I don't handle these things very well *lol*  The condo ppl said that they would come on Saturday after the rain stopped to get up on the roof and fix the leak.  I was ticked off since we had a running stream in our kitchen.  I thought they should come RIGHT NOW but I guess that isn't how they do it.

(not sure were his safety goggles are)

So, then we decided to try shutting off the main water valve.  We noticed the stream was less once the main water was shut off...DANG IT!  Sadly, we came to the conclusion that it was from a water pipe and not from the vent like we thought.  I am going crazy and seeing the dollars add up in my head.  I then called the condo ppl back to tell them it wasn't from the roof and that it was from a water pipe.  He said he will still come over and fix the roof since there is still water coming in.  Doug started making the hole bigger to find the source of the leak.  Finally, we found the source of our leak!!!!

By this time, it was 11pm so we couldn't fix it.  We had to shut the main water supply off until the morning. For some reason Doug went down to the basement bathroom and ended up finding leak #2!  We found where the roof leak was going to and had a nice little puddle of water on the floor!

 The next morning, I woke up to Doug washing his hair in the tub with water he boiled from the tea pot on the stove and then we has off to Lowes.  He came back and fixed our leak!!!  Yeah!!!  Doug, the tool man Barker!!!

(the small white pipe attached to the gray pipe is the new fix!)

Now, we are left with a giant hole in our ceiling!  If you don't look up or sit on the far side of the couch, you don't even notice it!  So, we are pretending nothing is wrong!!!

Doug's parents are coming up next weekend to help us dry wall and patch the giant hole!  I can't wait for my kitchen to be back to normal!!!

My first day on the floor

I survived my first day yesterday!!!  It was a long day but it went pretty quickly considering it was for 12 1/2 hrs!!!  I'll take that!  I didn't do much, just had a day of shadowing the nurse to see how she does things.  We had 4 patients and only 1 stayed the whole shift.  We received 2 new admissions and others left for tests, one was discharged, and one went to surgery and will stay in recovery.  It was not too crazy!  I'll take that as a first day! =)

I work Wednesday and Thursday this week and will be off until Monday!  Not bad!  I did however know that I require coffee in the morning and cozier shoes *lol*  My little crocks just do not cut it for 12 hrs!  Once I get the paychecks flowing again, I'm going to get a cozy pair and some new scrubs! It's also FREEZING on the south side (our floor is broken up into 4 sections).  We share the south side with CACU and those are patients getting ready for the cath lab from outpatient.  Those women are menopausal.  We tried to raise the temp and they freaked out saying not to put it higher than 65 degrees!!!!  OMG, I'm going to be an ice cube!!!

I will be with my permanent preceptor tomorrow and will probably get my first patient.  I'm excited to get more hands on!!

A way to relax with good company!

Abbey hosted this month's scrapbook get together and we had a great time!  The food was yummy and the company was great!!!  My best friend came to scrapbook with us and it was so nice to spend an afternoon with her!!!

I survived my first week!

One week down of training and at least 11 more to go =)  This week was full of classes and on-line training and a big assessment test!  BORING!!!!!!!!!!!  But the week went fast!!!  Everything went well! My assessment test that tested my critical thinking, I tested in the "acceptable" range.   So I do not need to be fired (just kidding) or be put in any "extra" classes!  She said I was right where I needed to be as a new grad!!!

Next week...****so excited**** I start my three 12 hr days!!!!!  I go up to the floor and will work 7am to 7pm!  I will start out as shadowing and my educator said that I can jump in at any time and start working as a nurse!  I will be on the floor until the 2nd week of June and then my internship classes start.  I will take classes for a few more weeks to really get acclimated to being a RN.  I will switch to my hired shift of working nights (7pm to 7am) the week of June 27th.  So, in the mean time, I'll be on days!!

So exciting!!!  I can't wait to get my hands dirty and work as a nurse!  My body and mind is just not meant to sit at a computer 8-5pm five days a week!  I need to be up and running!  =)

First day as an RN!!!!!!!!

Today was my first day of Ohio Health orientation.  I was so excited that I didn't care about getting up at 5:55am to get ready!   I have been waiting for this day for a LONG time and to have finally reached this goal is one of the best feelings ever (besides marrying my best friend!!!).

Orientation was like all other orientations.  Go over the mission statement of Ohio Health, talk about benefits, and do those every so annoying "meet and greet" activities where my anxiety levels increase b/c I know no one there!  Ugh!  First day of school all over again!  I was, however, the only RN at my table and it felt FANTASTIC!!!

The orientation was at a conference center in Dublin so I didn't have to travel far.  They provided breakfast, lunch, and an afternoon snack.  All of which I ate like I was anorexic because (those of you who know my fear of eating in front of people and the dreaded "buffet style" meals) I am just very uncomfortable eating around people I do not know!!  I almost didn't eat breakfast at first but I knew I would either pass out or you could hear my stomach growl throughout the whole room so I decided to bulk up and eat something anyways!!

The day flew by so I think it was a success!  I have tons of paperwork and benefits stuff to figure out.  I now have my big girl job so I have to "plan for the future" and make smart choices now so that I have a nice retirement!!  All of which are a foreign language to me so I will become best friends with the benefit support staff!

Tomorrow starts my nursing orientation.  I'm excited for that and to begin my 12 weeks of training!!!  I'm a bit nervous but super excited to finally be a nurse!!!

Happy Mother's Day!!!

"Happy Mother's Day" means more

Than have a happy day.

Within those words lie lots of things

We never get to say.

It means I love you first of all,

Then thanks for all you do.

It means you mean a lot to me,

And that I honor you.

But most of all, I guess it means

That I am thinking of

Your happiness on this, your day,

With pleasure and with love.

Nurse's Appreciation Week!

Right now there is a nurse helping a woman become a Mom, a nurse holding the hand of a dying man, a nurse inserting an IV in a child, a nurse listening to an Alzheimer's patient tell a story, a nurse missing her family while caring for yours. In the minute it took you to read this, nurses all over the world are saving lives.♥ It's Nurse Appreciation Week.

Jenny's Graduation Party

Last night, we had our first reunion as RN's at Jenny's graduation party!  

It was so much fun!

Their beautiful patio and yard!

The cake was amazing!!!  Jess did a great job!  The cake had cool whip icing so it was so light and yummy!

Here are your new RN's

The gang all together again!!! =)

These are some of the most amazing people you will ever meet! 

I'm so blessed to have met them in college!

Hocking Hills

On Friday, Doug and I decided to get away from it all and go hiking at Hocking Hills!  It was the perfect day for it.  Not too cold and not too hot!  Also, the places were not that busy so we were able to really take our time and enjoy the scenery!

Doug being silly!

I didn't realize until after I jumped across and finally got to the log, that it actually rolls!!!

I did it =)  Doug had the camera ready to take pictures if I fell in!

During the hike, we came across this old bridge to get to the top.  It was so scary!  It's just suspended on the cliff and if you look down, you see the ground really far away!  Once we quickly reached the top, I checked my pulse and it was 126 (mine normal runs in the 60's) *lol* I am so afraid of heights.  Doug was behind me going, "move faster" haha

Once we reached the top, the next step was to climb these many steps to get to the top!

Cedar Falls is so pretty!  

Doug trying to jump rocks to get closer!

Lovers!

Hocking Hills is just so beautiful!  If you have never gone, I highly recommend you going!  We went to Old Man's Cave, Cedar Falls, and Conkle's Hollow!  

So beautiful!  We plan to go back in August for Doug's Birthday!