Pics of August

Hi Uncle Tim! Well I just found out my hubby's brother, my BIL reads this blog, to hear what's going on here (he lives in Maryland), and sadly, I am generally talking about myself! So! I wanted him to see what my man's been doing. He's keeping alive, the tradition in my family of giving your 18 yr old daughter a Hope chest/Cedar chest. It is beautiful, and he whipped that baby out in about a week.

Mammoth Lake

We also went to Bodie ghost town that was fun, on the way to the Mammoth area.

And we visited the beach of course, and frolicked there. Well Uncle Tim, I think that brings you up to speed! How are you? Do you have a facebook yet? Look us up, we all have one!

And of course hello to everyone else. I continue to job search. I have an ap in for about 15 or so jobs. My next step, other than watching and applying on line is to start job drop by's. I will first call, said drop bys to get names of recruiters before I go, so I at least APPEAR organized or semi professional. I have to tell you my mood swings have been monumental. My poor family. I HATE being in this "waiting-room". I hate not having my plans all lined up! All of the new grad programs will open in Oct-Dec. Yeah, you know 10 positions with 300 aps. Dreadful. But I will JUMP into the fray with Gusto! Or maybe just gusto.

To cheer myself up, I've signed up for a french or art class. "Or" because I am on a waitlist for them. Whichever one I can get in, I'll nab. My first choice of course would be French. I know, I know, Spanish would be more logical, but this is to cheer me, and that would do it, French or Art. I have to have something to look forward to, because the job hunt is just dreadful.

My mom has gone back into the hospital with some intestinal probs, so all prayers are really truly appreciated, thanks. I am on my way there now with a heavy heart.

Have a good weekend y'all. Let me know how the semester is for you who have jumped back into nursing school. What will you be clinicaling in? Yes, I just made up that word, and I think it's lovely. Clinicaling, or even shorter...clinicing. Yeah, I did it.

Zero

yup, a big fat zero so far in the job market. I keep hearing, "we are not hiring new grads", or the "new job feeding frenzy will begin in Oct/Nov/Dec/Jan where we will have 10 positions open for 600 applications". Well...not those EXACT words, but close enough. The job fair on Tues wasn't very helpful, but the Thur interviews (mass) was a bit more encouraging with a recruiter promising to pass my resume on to someone who was hiring. Nothing may happen with it, but it was nice to talk to someone face to face instead of miles of tapppppping on the bloody keyboard aps.

My kids have a week more to enjoy/relax before heading back to school, so they are determinedly playing hard. The hubby as well, is cycling every day, enjoying his freedom before work hits. He will have 2 classes of journalism this year. The first time in 22 yrs that he will get to teach something that is not strictly "English". I am so happy that he got it, he really needs the encouragement.

We went to the beach one day this wk. Always hard for me to pull myself away from home when I have this cloud hanging over my head of "joblessness". But once I was there, I sooo enjoyed it. It was cloudy, cool and breezy at first (which is how I love the beach), then warmed up. Perfect.

Watched "Lost in Austen" on DVD. Pretty clever even if it was a bit long. Loved all the twists, and character changes. Fun, for us Pride & Prej. fans.

Well...that's it for me, hope you are having a lovely wknd, and a great week.

The Mighty Job Hunt

Well....I've gone from living on my computer studying for the derned NCLEX, to living on it for the mighty job hunt. I finally have everything I need to fill out those bloody 4 hr aps at the ready so I can finish them in about an hr. My job experience is a joke except my teaching stint, but that was 17 yrs ago!! My last place of employment was bulldozed, so I have to say, I'm not looking so impressive on paper in that area. Oh well. I keep telling myself that if they really want me...and let's face it, who wouldn't want a nearly 50 yr old new grad????! Yep, I'm all that and a bag o chips.

So...on first impressions, there appears to be NO jobs for new grads, so....this is what I did: all the jobs I found that did not have a time frame of experience specified, I applied to. So, in the last 2 days, I've applied for about 10 jobs. I know that they'd prefer someone experienced, but I can hope & pray, right?

Well I am headed back to the gym. My back is in pain from all this butt sitting. Have a lovely wknd. And good luck to those of you who have gone back to school, have a killer semester!

Details, details on NCLEX

Well...Lorie asked for details so I'll give a few. I tell ya now, that I will sound like almost all the other NCLEX test takers. I sat in that chair, feeling absolutely happy and nervous. And I could honestly say I felt like every question could've been wrong. When I got to question 75, and it did NOT turn off, I thought to myself, "Self! you've never been at the top of your class, what the heck were you expecting??" At 85 it did NOT turn off, and I thought, yes I do believe I'll take that break that popped up on the screen. I went outside the room, sat on a chair, wasn't hungry but ate half of my sandwich anyway, staring aimlessly, took a half of my Adderall, that i didn't take earlier, went pee, breathed in and out, and went back in. At 95 questions, choomp, off it went. Kinda surprised me, I figured I would be one of the 130's question folks. So 95 could've been really bad if I just failed or not bad. I had 2 full days of going absolute bananas, and then on the third day, we were up early to leave on our vacation, it was posted. I was absolutely shocked, first, I let out a little high pitch squeal, so my husband came running to see. I just kept repeating, "oh my gosh, oh my gosh..." I didn't necessarily feel like I had failed, but I was still totally shocked. There it was in black and white, my full name with an RN after it. Absolutely shocking. I cried a little, my hubby almost cried a little, we were so happy.
so there ya go, I posted quickly on here, and my facebook, and a couple texts, and then off we had to run because they were going to pave our street, and they were waiting for us to get our trailer off the street.

vacation has been a bit weird as it's sloooooooowly been sinking in. But thanks all for your comments of congrats, it's been so strange and wonderful being on this side of nursing school. So see?? All the school does eventually come to an end, and you do get the RN, and "Poof!" suddenly your life changes so totally, and voila, you're a nurse. So now on to the job hunt. Thanks everyone you've been so nice.

I PASSED! I am an RN!!!

Praise God!!!! Thanks y'all who prayed, I'm sooo dang happy!!! Just found out this morning at 5:30am!!! Okay, gotta go help pac for a little trip!

Took the NCLEX today....

Once again, I'm waaaaiting.

Took the NCLEX this morning, and I am sooooo relieved to be done. I have NO idea how the heck I did, it's the weirdest test. Really hard, but just like Kaplan tells ya. I have to wait 48 Looooooooooong hours before finding out. I will let y'all know as soon as I know. Thanks for all your well wishes and prayers!

****P.S. I got 95 questions before it turned off. That doesn't say a whole heck of a lot though, since you can fail or pass either way. I responded to everyones comments in the comment section. Thanks y'all!******