Scalpal please....

After years of schooling and several office jobs, I realized that I was completely unqualified for anything that I actually want to do. I didn't want to get stuck in another administrative/secretarial job, hating my life and wishing I could do something different. So instead, I quit my horrendous accounting job, and decided to look into nursing schools. I ended up taking a Certified Nursing Assistant training course, and passed my state tests a few weeks later. Then I took a Phlebotomy class and learned how to draw blood samples.

But as I started looking for jobs, I found that most of my options as a CNA were in nursing homes and long-term care facilities. But on a whim, I applied for a Medical Assistant job at a place called Peak Otolaryngology. With a lot of luck, and as a huge blessing, I got the job.

My first day was Thursday, and I have realized that taking a chance and doing something completely different has been one of the best decisions I've ever made. I only have to work 4 days a week, no weekends, no holidays. My benefits are paid for in full by the clinic, and I get free lunch EVERY DAY. Plus, if the physicians are done for the day, the medical assistants are done for the day. On Friday I got off work at 3:45. And they buy all my scrubs for me. It's amazing. Plus, it's a huge step above being a CNA, and it's the most incredible training and experience that I could get. I'm learning how to do CT scans, process blood samples, assist during surgeries, give allergy shots, etc. etc. And now I actually get to do something all day that doesn't make me want to shove a pen in my eye and throw my swivel chair out the window.

It's been amazing already. And now I can start nursing school part-time, and still have a full-time job. Perfect.

In my pretty garden, the flowers are nodding

We planted our garden!! It's like having a new pet. I have never been so excited about a patch of dirt. But it's so cute and I am staring at it all the time just waiting for it to grow. We had a huge windstorm the other night that I thought might threaten our hopes of living off the land. But it was all okay in the morning. I'll post pictures once it all comes up, and looks all adorable.

Mommy Dearest

As a Sociology major and a sometimes avid volunteer, I have seen my share of family situations. Learning about the family in my upper-division Sociology classes sometimes left me feeling hopeless. Studying about divorce rates, single moms, abandoned children, broken homes, abuse, poverty, abortion, and on and on, I have at times begun to feel like there is no one left in this world that values the idea of a loving and stable family.

Then I realize how ridiculous it is for me to feel that way.

I was given the best family in the entire world, and especially the best mother. I never had to walk home from the bus stop into an empty house. Whenever I got sick, my mom was the one picking me up from the office at school. During the summer she would jump on the trampoline with the sprinkler under it, and during the winter she helped us build the perfect sledding trails. Our mom was not a "stay-at-home" mom. She was out with us constantly, letting us fulfill every crazy dream, from dancing to plays to soccer to violin to swimming lessons, and All of my childhood is bursting with memories of love and kindness. I have never heard my mother yell, and I have only been spanked one time that I can remember. And believe me, I deserved it much more than that.

My mother is not only wonderful to her children, but to every person around her. I have never seen her pass up an opportunity to serve. Where many people would overlook someone in need, my mom seeks them out. I have seen her ease people's burdens, and give genuine, unselfish love in places it was never experienced before. Even though her own life has seen heartache, trouble, and need, her ability to give no matter how little she has is miraculous. Her faith through every trial has constantly made mine stronger.

David O. Mckay said,
"Motherhood is the greatest potential influence either for good or ill in human life. The mother's image is the first that stamps itself on the unwritten page of the young child's mind. It is her caress that first awakens a sense of security; her kiss, the first realization of affection; her sympathy and tenderness, the first assurance that there is love in the world."

There is a song we used to sing in church when I was little that goes, "Mother I love you, mother I do. Father in heaven has sent me to you. When I am near you, I love to hear you, singing so softly that you love me too."

Mom, I could never be grateful enough that I was sent to you.

I hope you know you're my favorite thing about the West coast

I'm just going to ignore the fact that there is a several month gap in my blogging schedule. It's been chaos, plus the fact that I haven't had internet since the beginning of March. And that's an equation that means blog=low priority. But we're back in business! Rather than bore you with an inordinately long post about the last little while, here are the top five things that have happened to me:
5) I got to see my Jilly Bean for the first time since December!!
4) I moved to a new apartment to escape from my estranged (and possibly mentally disturbed) roommate
3) I received my Utah state Certified Nursing Assistant license
2) I am potentially getting a job as a Medical Assistant
1) I got married.

Yeah, kind of a big deal, that last one there. =) And it's been bliss ever since.

The one thing I didn't include in that list is the thing that makes me sad every day! My darling friend Rachel is in Italy for five weeks. And as exciting as Italy is, her being there means she is not here, and it means she is not with me! But I'm soooo happy for her. And I cross my fingers every day that she is meeting a hot Italian man and having an exciting fling in the most romantic place in the world. Some people think Paris is the most romantic place in the world, but they're wrong. Anywhere in Italy is the correct answer.

In other news, we moved into a cute little house that has a huge yard. Yeah, we're in the basement, but the yard is still ours too. And there's this little patch of dirt in the back that's all grown over with weeds, and it's apparently been a dumpster for the last few residents, i.e. broken windshields (???) and a refrigerator. But being the "nester" I am, as my sister deemed me, I am turning it into a garden. I've been having visions of The Secret Garden, when they bring the old man in and it's this paradise filled with gorgeous flowers and birds and all that. Really we'll probably grow a pumpkin and some corn. The pumpkin being to fulfill my love of Halloween, and my fantasy of owning a pumpking patch later on down the road. Hopefully the blazing hellish Utah weather won't burn up all my dreams of living off the land.

I'll post wedding/Honeymoon (Washington D.C.) pictures soon. When we get internet and I don't have to use the computer lab at UVSC anymore. =)