High and low of my day!

Happy Monday to all! My high began with an awesome workout that left me feeling energetic and positive because I am starting to see and feel results of my workouts. I actually fit into a pair of capris that I haven’t been able to fit into for 3 summers!
Here is a list of my workout for the last week:
Monday August 15, 2011: 3.26 miles = 5.26 km
Wednesday August 17, 2011: 3.15 miles = 5.06 km
Friday August 19, 2011: 3.18 miles = 5.13 km
Monday August 22, 2011: 3.5 miles = 5.6 km
I have been working out three times a week at the rec center. At home I do crunches, pushups and different exercises that uses my own body as resistance. I also have been working out to my Biggest Loser Ultimate workout for XBox 360. It’s great because one day I can choose to do  a workout or the next day I can do yoga. You have so many options with this workout, not just doing the same old exercise over and over like normal DVD’s. I had to quit WW when I decided to quit my job so that I could go to school fulltime this semester (14 credit hours) but I am still loosely following the point system. All in all I feel good, I actually love working out and I bought myself a pair of Asics running shoes  in fuchsia to keep me motivated!  They were on sale for $60 but normally sell for $100. Yeah sales!
My low of the day is when I received my criminal background check that I requested last week as part of my requirements to do clinicals. All was good until I got to the page where it shows the names under my social security number and there are three names THAT ARE NOT MINE! Some asshole has been using my ss# since 1992 under 3 different names and addresses. So all I can say is thank you very much dickhead Juan for using my number causing me to spend the last 5 hours online checking all three credit reports and on the phone with the CR police, Federal Trade Commission and the SSA who by the way are morons. The woman on the phone at the social security office told me that the individual using my number most likely doesn’t realize that he’s using the incorrect number. He might have written down a wrong number or something that could explain the mistake! Was this idiot serious? How do you use the same number since 1992 and not realize that it’s not your number?  I think I would have slapped her if I had been at a SSA office and she was trying to feed me this bullshit to my face! Seriously, how stupid did she think I was. I have enough work experience in currency exchange to know how many SS#’s are being used fraudulently!
All in all I am doing everything I can to cover my ass in the event that this person adds something negative to my report and that’s all I can do at this point. I felt like sending a letter to all three addresses on the report and telling him “I know where you live, so stop using my ss#!”. That would be funny but the addresses are probably just as fake as his name. *sigh* Oh well, guess what? I am not letting this bother me. It WAS my low but I am back feeling happy and positive. One of my favorite songs is from “Suicidal Tendencies” called “You can’t bring me down.” I live and love that song!  Today is the first day of my CNA  class so off I go to print my syllabus and schedule! Have a great night!
Tamara

To do this, to do that….

My to do list has been so full lately. I had my CNA  orientation on 8/10 and left so overwhelmed. I have been questioning my decision to go to school to be a nurse. All sorts of questions have come to mind almost on a daily basis like “Can I handle the job? Can I handle all the gross things that the human body is capable of doing? Am I compassionate enough?” and on and on. Well one thing that has helped me through this doubt was talking to my family doctor. I didn’t just see him to get his advice but during a recent appointment to get my first Hepatitis shot I told him I was doubting my decision to be a nurse. He told me that he has doubted his decision to be a doctor so it’s completely normal. Hearing that helped me so much just knowing that I am not the only one who questions whether or not I am making the right life choices.
After that talk it seemed like a weight was lifted off me and I was able to get to the task at hand or the many tasks at hand.  Registering for classes have been easy up until now. But taking a CNA  class has so many requirements! Here’s my list:
1. Get Titers for chicken pox and MMR – DONE
2. Get 1st of 3 Hepatitis B shots. Shot 1 – DONE ($136.00 a shot if not covered by insurance)
3. Get TB test – and go back in 72 hours to have reading – DONE!
4. Get Flu shot – waiting for shot to become available ($25.00)
5. Take BLS – CPR for Healthcare workers – Scheduled for 8/20
6. Buy scrubs and nursing shoes. ($60.00 for scrubs and $120.00 for nursing shoes) Getting next week while in Denver.
7. Buy Stethoscope and Gait Belt. ($40.00) – Bought pink Stethoscope ( one must have a splash of color, right?) still need to buy a Gait Belt.
8. Criminal Background check – sent in application and waiting. ($69.00)
Jason and I went to ACC yesterday to pay my tuition because we thought it wouldn’t be covered by financial aide but it was!!!! All of it was. I was so stressed about that because of all the costs I have taking this class but I could have kissed the financial aide guy when he told us it was covered by loans. Had I taken the same class at CCD (Community College of Denver) I would have had to pay out of pocket for everything. Thankfully I received a few grants this semester along with my loans and will have enough of a refund to cover all the above mentioned costs and then some!
I also picked up my parking pass, all my books and a new Nurses Aide ID for clinicals.   As long as the criminal background check comes in by September 10 I will be fine but if it doesn’t I won’t be able to take the course until next semester. Basically all of the list above has to be done, documented and turned in by September 10 or I have to drop the class and take it next time around. Very strict, no ifs and buts or maybes about it! I have done everything I am suppose to so I am not stressing about it. A week ago I was totally stressing about it. Unfortunately that’s how I roll. I stress out first then once that ends I take care of business.
In other news related to school, I quit my job.  My schedule was suppose to be from 7 pm till around 12 – 12:30 but over the course of the year that I have worked there I can count on one hand the times we actually got out on time. My last 2 shifts were suppose to end at midnight but got out at 4:00 and 2:30 a.m. I’d go home and sleep till noon and half my day is over before I pick the kids up and getting back on a normal schedule is really hard for me. I am not in my 20’s (or even my 30’s) anymore and I don’t adjust well to change! I stay up later than I should and have a hard time getting up to take the kids to school so I decided to quit. If the pay was good it might be worth the trouble but it’s not.  Plus it was bothering me to leave the boys before bedtime, having Jason take them to school and not seeing them again until they got off school the next day. Once I told them I was no longer going to work they were all so excited! Made me so happy to know that they want me home.
Anyhow, I am excited about this semester even though it is full. Taking the CNA  shows me that there is light at the end of this long tunnel and it won’t be long before I can apply for nursing school! Along with my CNA  classes I am taking which starts on 8/22 and ends in December I am taking College Biology and Math for Clinical Calculations. In all I am taking 14.00 credit hours this semester. Wish me luck, cause I think I am going to need that and some extra energy!

I have let too much time pass on this blog again!

In the end this will probably be a very long post since I haven’t been on my blog since April! The last thing I posted about that was going on in our lives was the new house. We ended up moving in at the beginning of June and within the first few weeks the house was flooded by a freak accident with the hose in the back yard. Apparently Jason left it on, just a trickle and overnight it built up in the hose until the hose burst, shooting the water onto the sliding glass door that leads into the kitchen. Unbeknownst to us the sliding glass door seal is broken which allowed all the water to pour into our kitchen onto the wood floors, into the air vents that run into the air conditioner and heating unit in the basement which was flooded  and since we just moved in, the basement was filled with BOXES that got soaked.
While it wasn’t  anything that was life-threatening it was devastating to have this happen to our new home. The air conditioner was damaged and also some heating elements in the heating unit which had to be replaced. The wood floor was also ruined. The water damage left it warped and the padding underneath absorbed a lot of the water so mold was a huge concern even if the floor looked dry so $2,000 later  for the insurance deductible we now have new flooring which is beautiful and we were able to choose a color that matched the cabinets a hundred times better than the dark wood floors that were originally there.

 Later in the month we had a number of days with severe wind and hail and since  June happens to be one of the worst months in Colorado for hail and wind damage our roof was damaged. Yeah.  So now we need our roof repaired except that claim is considered a separate insurance claim and since we just bought the house which includes closing costs and  already paid $2000 for the water damage  we have yet to fix the roof. Which brings me to present day which is mid September. Hubby thinks it will be an easy job of replacing a few shingles here and there except at the moment we have NO health insurance because he got laid off from his job September 1st.
The last three months have been the most depressing and trying months of my life in a very long time. I have tried many times to stop and remember that we are all healthy and relatively happy so this is not a big deal, right. But it is,  when we moved out of the rental we were to receive a refund on our deposit which was $1,600 which would have helped pay for the water damage and we would have still been able to have someone replace our roof.
Well the ASSHOLE Mike who owned the house decided that because there were a number of scratches on the front of his stainless steel refrigerator  (kids were playing with learning magnets the very first week we moved in which caused the scratches) so he took it upon his ASSHOLE Mike self and went out and bought an entire new replacement refrigerator. Never in my entire life as a renter has someone done this to me. I think had we taken him to court we would have won but in the end I hope karma gets ASSHOLE Mike and it bites him in his cheap ass! He was going to charge me for that crappy plastic shelf liner that you buy at Walfart to protect your shelves, most people put it in and after being used throw it away before a new tenant moves in. Right?  Apparently he was going to keep it in the cabinets even though we had lived there for two years and I am sure it got dirty from the dishes or food items that were in the cabinets and all. Unbelievable. 
This is the same ASSHOLE Mike who flooded our basement TWICE ruining half my wedding keepsake box and the second time almost ruining Christmas because he flooded the laundry room doing work on the pipe.  The Christmas presents were hidden in the basement directly under the pipe he broke. Did he once apologize or even offer to pay for damages? Not once, that’s what upsets me about all this. Also when we moved in we had to stay at a hotel for 3 days because he decided to tear out the kitchen flooring and leave us without a floor or a kitchen for 3 days. Did he once offer to pay for food, hotel or even a discount on our rent? Of course not. But ASSHOLE Mike goes out without even telling us that we were losing half of our deposit so he could go out and buy a new fridge.
Sorry, I am over it. I am moving on. I just needed to vent here, my space which loves me regardless of how whiney and  depressing this post just happens to be. But come on, you have to admit that we have received the shit end of the stick lately. Things have to turn around. And believe me we have been trying. I am still working part time at the school and have applied for over 15 jobs with not one response and hubby has been sending our resumes with only one response that hopefully turns into a job!

I am still in school taking three classes this semester. Two that are required for the nursing degree and one that I have to take for work, don't get me started on that subject! Ugh!  Depending on how long Jas goes unemployed I will most likely have to stop school and get a fulltime job.