Things have been busy around here, but not especially exciting. Yesterday was supposed to be my last day on mother-baby, but due to the snow, the road was closed.


So I guess I'll give a little overview of 3rd semester so far (mostly for myself to look back and read, so if you wish to read, procede). This semester has been crazy, but I have loved it SO much more than 2nd semester. I was really nervous at the beginning of the semester, not sure if I was good enough to do this, but I'm feeling much better. I had ortho-neuro (basically joint surgeries, strokes, and that type of thing). I was afriad I really wasn't going to like it, but it wasn't too bad. I could work there for a little while if I needed to. I started my first IV there and was successful. I also tried to start a second, and blew it- literally, the vein blew.
The second rotation which ended yesterday was Mother-baby/Peds. I have looooved this rotation. I finally got to see a birth on Monday. It was very exciting, and I can definitely see my self working here. It was very scary at first because this floor is almost completely different from the med-surg floors. We basically just followed the nurses and got to do a few things, but I really enjoyed it. I had one day on Peds, but it was boring after my patient left. It was kind of frustrating because of the situation and the.. well.. parent. I'm not a parent and obviously I really don't know what its like, but this was just frustrating to watch.
Next I have telemetry. I'm not really excited, but I am kind of excited because we spend a day in the ICU. My first experience in the ICU made me a little nervous, but I would like to spend more time there to feel more comfortable in that type of setting.
Which brings me to the next point... we were given the papers to sign up for our preceptorship.. I really am not sure what I should do! I have decided that I'll probably work on a med-surg floor for a while- at least 6 months to a year.
So, if you're reading, and have graduated nursing school, or just have any sort of thoughts or advice, please let me know what you think!

Option 1: Precept on the medical floor (at IMH in Laramie, to help out with a future job hopefully), get to know the nurses, floor, and how things are there.
Option 2: Do Labor and Delivery or Newborn Nursery- since I think I may someday do that.. so I have an idea what I'm doing when I get there
Option 3: Do something like ER, or ICU- places that are very scary to me right now, to see what its like and get more comfortable(hopefully) with more critical situations.

I can see the advantages with all of these, but I don't know what is best! Any suggestions are greatly appreciated!

Tonight we had Mark and Brandy over for dinner and we carved pumpkins. I tried to do a spider and ended up breaking it. Chris did a funny face. Ashley and Rodney did faces too. Brandy did minions from Despicable me. It was so cute! I should've taken pictures, but didn't get it done.. It was nice visitng with them. We also had the Halloween phantom or something like that drop some treats by. It was a nice surprise! We will have to pass the Halloween phantom on.

I can't even remember the real reason I thought to write a post, so I guess I'll end for now. Please leave comments if you have any advice about my preceptorship! (So silly, but I'm desperate here!)

here we go..

Where did the summer go? I think I just about missed it.
We are back at school now in Laramie. I absolutely love our house! I will start posting pictures as I get to it.

I was excited/scared to learn how to do IVs this week in school, but I think this will be a great semester. I was so suprised to see we start clinicals on MONDAY! Last semester we had about 2 weeks before we started so I was expecting that. We are liking Laramie a lot so far. I carpool with a girl in my nursing class, so the drive hasn't been bad. I might change my mind after Monday when we have to be on the floor by 0645! I feel like I'm kind of in the final stretch of nursing school. Its so exciting, but a little nerve racking! I am really excited for the Mother/Baby rotation. I have Ortho/Neuro first, and I'm afraid it won't be my favorite, but I will just have to see.
We were finally able to go to a Jon Schmidt concert the other night! He came here, along with his cellist Steven Sharp Nelson. I could have sat there and listened all night. I was so excited to finally be able to see him in concert. Their music and talent is absolutely amazing!
Jumping back a bit, I spent almost ALL day today going through the last misc. (annoying) boxes, cleaning the bathroom, and just getting settled in more. SO, here are a few pictures of my bedroom and bathroom :)

 View from sitting on the bed.

 View from the TV

 Looking right into the closet. There is so much stuff in there! The black cabinet thing is what Chris made my for my lia sophia shows. What a sweetheart, huh?

 View from the bathroom

Haha can you tell I just pulled the curtain out of the package? I'm hoping the steam will eventually get the creases out... and my poor bathroom is really not decorated, but that will have to wait.

I have officially decided to either 1) stop trying to pick a grey/brown paint in walmart, or 2) let someone else do the picking. I really wanted a warm grey (with a little brown in it) in the last two bedrooms we have had, with a nice light, neutral beige. Somehow, TWO times now, we have ended up with yellowish beige, and greenish grey! It doesn't look so bad in the picture, but Chris still gives me a hard time.

Lastly, if anyone ever wants to do a lia show, please let me know!



Its starting to feel like summer around here. Activities galore, busy schedules, hot dog roasts, and time outdoors. Saturday after work, I kidnapped Chris for our anniversary and we went to eat at Bear Lodge and headed over to the cabin. We were very excited to discover we didn't need the snowmobiles to get into the cabin! We spent the night and came down Sunday morning so we could teach our class. We  (with tons of help from Grandma Haskell) planned to have a surprise dinner with Grandma and Grandpa Haskell for Brad for Father's day. We had so much good food. It was my first "Haskell" dinner, and I enjoyed it very much!

I must give an explanation for the 'fishing' pictures coming also. Craig took Chris and Zac down to the causeway to go "fishing" for carp. They usually shoot them with the bow. Since Chris and Zac don't have bows, they decided a pitchfork would work just as well. Since hwy 14 is closed, a lot of people are coming off of the mountain this way. Theysaid they got some funny looks from people (out of state..) passing by.

I think one of Chris' favorite things in the summer is hot dog roasts. He loves hotdogs anyway, but a burnt hotdog is one of his favorites. We have gone out twice this summer to do hot dogs and watch the guys out at Darnell's.

Lastly, I'm asking for some help.. I got my lia sophia kit, but now I need some willing hostesses to hold a show! If you would be willing, please contact me :) (307-272-0852). If you're wondering what's in it for you, I'll tell you :D.

1) A hostess gift, from me

2) Hostess rewards: 4 Bonus Items (If its under $100, its $15. If it is over $100, the magazine will tell you how much. Basically, up to about $140 i'll say, its $20.) Its a great way to get some expensive jewelry.

3) 20% of sales in FREE jewelry. If you have an ideal party (at least 10 orders and 2 bookings), you can pay $15 and get 40% of the sale in FREE jewelry! (It adds up quickly!) For example: My sister Becca hosted a show. She got over $1,000 dollars worth of jewelry for $146.00.

4) All of your guests will be happy with the customer save plan. The special for your party is AWESOME. It will be buy one item, get 2 (most-expensive) items half-off. 

5) A fun time with friends!

  Like I said on the last post, there is a lifetime guarantee on all of the jewelry, and its made out of good stuff! (no cheapy junk..)

feel free to browse the catalog at http://www.liasophia.com/. The direct link is http://www.liasophia.us/sites/corporate/productcatalog?page=cataloglisting

 Some moose on the side of the road.

 

Grandma Haskell 

Tracey and Ashely doing the jello 

Chris and his carp 

He got it with the bow!

Craig and Zac 

Zac, Chanda, Me, Kort, and Lissa at Darnell's. 

Kortney used to love me. I went to work 3 days last week and she's given me looks like this most of the time ever since then. 

Zac, Chris, and Kortney

A person may assume I've been busy, hence the lack of a post since we've moved, but I haven't been that busy.

I am really excited though, because I just signed up to become a lia sophia advisor! I ordered my kit yesterday and I'm very anxious to get started. For those of you who aren't familiar with lia sophia, it is a jewelry company. I love their jewelry. It is a little expensive, but there is always a monthly special, the hostess benefits are awesome, it is really good quality, and there is a lifetime replacement guarantee (no questions asked). At the party Melissa and I had, I learned a lot about the company and the jewelry, which made me even more excited! If you want to check it out or learn a little more, my website is www.liasophia.com/caileehaskell.

Sadly, that is probably the most exciting thing that is going on right now. We are really enjoying being back with our families and getting the spend time with them every day!

get me out of this mess!

So, we are in the process of packing everything. I started Monday and was excited and it was nice, but now, there are boxes and junk everywhere, not to mention places that I don't even want to think about packing. We are putting our things in a storage unit here in Cheyenne until we can move into the Laramie house (while we are staying in Lovell for the summer). It has been extremely hard trying to decide what to take and what to leave. (In case you didn't catch it, things are pretty much finalized with the house :D). We are very excited to go home and be able to spend tons of time with our families and not have to leave for a while!

I just realized its been quite some time since I have blogged, so I guess I should report the end of the semester. Chris is amazing. He was working like a mad man and was taking Physics, Statistics, a computer class, and had already finished another class, and pulled a 4.0! I on the other hand was glad to get a B in nursing (and even more glad to have second semester over!) For the rest of the week I had the LPN spinoff class so I can get my LPN license and work for the next year. Chris and I are both taking a summer class. I am taking microbiology and he is taking personal health. I have really enjoyed my class so far and I love the teacher.

Since school has been out, I have enjoyed having a little extra time to make some watch bands. For those of you who don't have facebook, here are some pictures.

If things work out..

This could be our house next year! We are going in on it with Ashley and Rodney. That way, rent will be cheaper, it will be nicer, and we won't just be throwing money away. Here are some pictures (the girl and her roommates haven't moved out yet, so all of their stuff is still there). I really like it!

 Master Bedroom

Half of walk in closet in master bedroom.

 At the top of the stairs :)

 One of the other bedrooms. There is one right next to this that is basically the same.

 Bathroom right next to bedrooms.

 Living room (right as you walk in the door)

 Downstairs half bath, in between living room and kitchen.

 Laundry room. Right across from bathroom

 Kichen! I love it! (appliances come with the house.) and look at all of the cupboards! Its heaven. (especially after the ones here.. totalling like 4.)

Other half of kitchen

 
 Half of the back yard.

 Other half

Dining area right next to the kitchen with the doors to the back yard.

 
 Garage.

Master Bath.

So,that's basically it. There are some closets around and a small crawlspace under the whole house for storage :)

antsy..

I'm starting to get antsy! I only have 3 lectures left, a test, and a final. I finished my last day of clinicals yesterday and it feels so good! I am getting really anxious to move back home for the summer!

We went home for easter and it was hard to leave (as usual), but I had such a great time. Kortney is so cute and I couldn't get enough of her! Saturday, we got to Burlington at about 4 a.m. Just beore 7 a.m., I heard a few quiet knocks on the door. I had heard my Dad and Brac talking for a little while so I decided to go out. Later, we went over to Terrin's for Grandma's annual easter egg hunt. It was fun to watch the kids finding the eggs and opening them to see what was in them. This year in some of them, Grandma put a paper to go get a 'special prize'. Everyone was so excited to see how many special prize papers they had. We hung out for a while and then we had dinner. Its funny how much you look forward to family dinners when you're never around. There was so much good food there! That night, we went up to Haskell's cabin. It was very relaxing and we had a good time while we were there. Sunday morning, Tracey saw that there was water leaking by the kitchen window (because there was like 5 feet of snow and ice on the roof), so the guys went and cleared off the back side. I stayed inside with Tracey and cooked breakfast. We are excited to spend some time at the cabin this summer!

Listen to this playlist:

home stretch

Ah, I am pretty pathetic at posting, but I am so happy at this point today! I took my 4th test today (which I procrastinated horribly studying for) and I was SO nervous. There were 14 powerpoints. Yes. 10+4. They covered things from musculoskeletal stuff (broken bones, sprains and strains, osteoporosis) to heart (heart failure, CAD, hypertension, etc. ), to Parkinsons, Lou Gherig's, MS, etc, etc. I think you get the point. It was A LOT of material that was not related at all. I didn't know where to start, so I just didn't, until last night, basically. I got a few hours in this morning, but not near enough. I was terrified. To my pleasant surprise, the test was pretty easy compared to previous tests! I also scored better on this one than the last 3! I sure wish it meant I was getting an A for the semester, but I don't think that will be happening. 
I was also pleasantly surprised when I looked at the syllabus to see for the remainder of class, we are learning about mother/baby stuff! I don't know why, but I just love it..

I also discovered yesterday that I love the operating room. I was able to go observe for about 4 hours and it was so cool! I got to see a lap colectomy and an another one that was open cut involving the abdomen (looking for a tumor). It was so awesome to watch. There is a person in the OR called the first assistant that helps the surgeon do different things and they can suture (they're usually the ones that close up). I think I can see that someday in my future! Its definitely the closest I'd ever be to being a surgeon. It would be such an awesome job! I loved it there!

Speaking of school, last week Chris and I went over to UW so he could get things figured out. It looks like he will have a crazy schedule, so it makes more sense for us to live in Laramie. There are quite a few ladies in my class that commute from Laramie, so I think I will be able to car pool with them. We are excited to be close to some old friends, but we will miss Cheyenne and our friends and ward here.

Anyway, I've got to head to work, so maybe I'll finish another day....

black. white. silver. flowers.

Sorry if this gets old, but I think I will continue posting pictures of bands, even though I don't like how they look just flat. They look much better with a face and on a wrist!However, any comments (suggestions to make them look better, ideas) are appreciated!

final product..

Whenever I make something, I either love it or hate it. There's really no ground in between. If I'm not sure at first, I usually end up hating it. The first draft of this band was that way. I think it is the OCD monster in me. I have found that I am most satisfied with these bands when they at least have some kind of a pattern to them (and its much easier on my brain with shapes and sizes of the beads).

Today I ordered some new spacers on eBay today. I'm excited to get them! (Thanks Hannah for giving me some tips!!)

I'm thinking about ordering some watch faces. If anyone is interested, just let me know. I put together some pictures of some that I like or that I have seen on other people so you don't have to look through hundreds of pages of watches on this website. Just let me know if you are interested!

Watch Bands.

So, back in October,  I decided to buy some beads to make Chris' mom a watch for her birthday. I looked at one I had been given from Summer (made by Hannah Winters) and went about it. I bought more beads here and there, and then my mom bought me a bunch for Chrismas. I don't love all the bands I make, but I'm still trying and learning new things. Anyway, I'll probably post occassional random pictures of watch bands, and I'd appreciate any suggestions or new ideas. I think I need to get more chunky/big beads. That is kind of the 'in' thing, even though I appreciate a smaller, less chunky band. Hopefully as I get more beads, my bands will improve!

Here's one I made for Darcy tonight. I'm not sure I'll leave it this way- plus I just noticed the two cat's eye beads are different greens. The more I look at the picture, the more I think I need to change it. I'm just not sure how! I think I need to put some different shapes in... I'll probably mess with it more tomorrow.

Another one I made tonight.. I don't really like how it goes and I had to add the clear bead because I didn't have a bigger silver one that would fit well.

One I made quite a while ago and took apart.

I would love to hear any tips, tricks, or personal preferences concerning beaded watch bands!