It's official! I am now a Licensed Practical Nurse. I don't know how... I was 95% positive I had failed the test after I took the NCLEX on Wednesday. Those questions were HARD. But I guess our school prepares us better than I'd even realized. I went to the official website this morning, searched to verify a license... and there it was: Jennifer Christensen, Provo, issued 3/27/08.
I PASSED!
Friday, March 28
Tuesday, March 25
Oodles of Cute!
(I'm actually really sad my eyes were closed in this one, but at least you can't tell when it's so small!)
I pretty much failed at photography last week. For some reason, i couldn't get the money shots I usually can with cute kids like this. But I guess their inherent cuteness makes up for it, anyway.
Thursday, March 20
Feline Discrimination
Ok, here's what happened.
We applied at this wonderful awesome place, after checking out an advertisement on craig's list. It was big and awesome and cheap and came with free internet and cable, the only problem was we'd have to move by the end of march. But i decided it was worth the sacrifice.
So we went in and applied, and found out that the free cable was probably a misadvertisement by the people who were trying to get out of their contract. Oh well, whatever, we could do without cable. So we applied, and i tried to brush over the whole cat thing, turned in our application, and found out that we have to give them $50 to run credit checks. Bwah? Ok, fine, but at least let me wait until we're first in line and somebody else won't snatch the apartment out from under me before I hand over fifty bucks... I'll call back on monday.
So the next day, I get a call, and they tell me they actually have 2 other apartments that will be available first of may. Excellent! I run in to hand them my money, finish the application, and make an appointment to meet with the manager (she likes to do this) the next day.
We go in, sit down, and one of the first things she says is "Oh, you're the ones with the cat, that's right." And proceeds to talk to us about how awesome the apartment is, what the deposit would be, etc. So the whole time I'm thinking "Excellent! The cat won't be a problem!" So we're winding down, she's giving us a sticky with the deposit amount and what we need to come in to sign contracts, and suddenly goes "Hm, now there was something else.... I can't remember... Oh yeah! The cat. You have to get rid of her." BWAH?! I whine and moan, and talk about how much i wanted that apartment and is there any way she could ask the owner and maybe we could pay a higher deposit or something? So she says she'll look into it.
I call back the next day to find out what she knows. They tell me, as i expected, the owner is ok with it, we just have to pay an extra $500 deposit. Well, ok, i think we can handle that. Yeah, it'll mostly wipe out savings, but it's SO WORTH IT!! So I'm all excited, I go in the next day with my checkbook in hand, wait around for about 15 minutes while she deals with a group of college boys and their contract signing, and sit down with pen in hand and check filled out ready to sign my contracts. She starts by reminding me that people will be wondering about me having a cat... yes, yes i know.... and i should tell them i have explicit permission.... of course..... and that i'm paying a higher deposit and rent.... yes i--wait, what? Higher rent, what now? "Oh I'm sorry, I was sure I told you on the phone yesterday, it's an extra $500 security deposit and $50 extra each month for the rent." . . .
So that's that. I told her I'd have to think about it, but i think that really pushes it over the edge. The proverbial straw that broke the camel's back.
What i don't understand is, why all the discrimination against cats? They're so clean! Yes, they may claw furniture sometimes, but they don't provide any furniture anyway, so what are they worried about? My cat is not going to take crayons or markers and write on the walls. She is not going to spill juice on the rug. She is not going to run around without a diaper on and accidentally pee on something. She is meticulous and anal about doing her thing in her litter box and covering it up with our excessively strong litter that completely masks even her scent. She is not going to be crying in the middle of the night, she is not going to be running around screaming at the top of her lungs, and she is not going to bother the neighbors, ever. So please tell me, why can we have all the kids we want in an apartment with no increased anything, but it's like pulling teeth when we try to go anywhere with our cat?
It makes me pretty mad, if you can't tell.
We applied at this wonderful awesome place, after checking out an advertisement on craig's list. It was big and awesome and cheap and came with free internet and cable, the only problem was we'd have to move by the end of march. But i decided it was worth the sacrifice.
So we went in and applied, and found out that the free cable was probably a misadvertisement by the people who were trying to get out of their contract. Oh well, whatever, we could do without cable. So we applied, and i tried to brush over the whole cat thing, turned in our application, and found out that we have to give them $50 to run credit checks. Bwah? Ok, fine, but at least let me wait until we're first in line and somebody else won't snatch the apartment out from under me before I hand over fifty bucks... I'll call back on monday.
So the next day, I get a call, and they tell me they actually have 2 other apartments that will be available first of may. Excellent! I run in to hand them my money, finish the application, and make an appointment to meet with the manager (she likes to do this) the next day.
We go in, sit down, and one of the first things she says is "Oh, you're the ones with the cat, that's right." And proceeds to talk to us about how awesome the apartment is, what the deposit would be, etc. So the whole time I'm thinking "Excellent! The cat won't be a problem!" So we're winding down, she's giving us a sticky with the deposit amount and what we need to come in to sign contracts, and suddenly goes "Hm, now there was something else.... I can't remember... Oh yeah! The cat. You have to get rid of her." BWAH?! I whine and moan, and talk about how much i wanted that apartment and is there any way she could ask the owner and maybe we could pay a higher deposit or something? So she says she'll look into it.
I call back the next day to find out what she knows. They tell me, as i expected, the owner is ok with it, we just have to pay an extra $500 deposit. Well, ok, i think we can handle that. Yeah, it'll mostly wipe out savings, but it's SO WORTH IT!! So I'm all excited, I go in the next day with my checkbook in hand, wait around for about 15 minutes while she deals with a group of college boys and their contract signing, and sit down with pen in hand and check filled out ready to sign my contracts. She starts by reminding me that people will be wondering about me having a cat... yes, yes i know.... and i should tell them i have explicit permission.... of course..... and that i'm paying a higher deposit and rent.... yes i--wait, what? Higher rent, what now? "Oh I'm sorry, I was sure I told you on the phone yesterday, it's an extra $500 security deposit and $50 extra each month for the rent." . . .
So that's that. I told her I'd have to think about it, but i think that really pushes it over the edge. The proverbial straw that broke the camel's back.
What i don't understand is, why all the discrimination against cats? They're so clean! Yes, they may claw furniture sometimes, but they don't provide any furniture anyway, so what are they worried about? My cat is not going to take crayons or markers and write on the walls. She is not going to spill juice on the rug. She is not going to run around without a diaper on and accidentally pee on something. She is meticulous and anal about doing her thing in her litter box and covering it up with our excessively strong litter that completely masks even her scent. She is not going to be crying in the middle of the night, she is not going to be running around screaming at the top of her lungs, and she is not going to bother the neighbors, ever. So please tell me, why can we have all the kids we want in an apartment with no increased anything, but it's like pulling teeth when we try to go anywhere with our cat?
It makes me pretty mad, if you can't tell.
Wednesday, March 19
Dashed Hopes
Apparently, I spoke too soon. We're not moving. We're probably going to be stuck here for the rest of our renting life.
Moving and Shaking
My husband is a genius! But of course, you probably already knew that. I'm just very proud of him right now for taking this old, busted cat toy and rigging it into an independent play thing that Whisky just adores. It was a mouse at the end of a fishing pole. Now it's a mouse cleverly hanging off the side of the stool, just out of perfect reach, so she bats at it and tries to catch it and has the whole playground of the stool to climb all over swatting at her toy. It's her favorite. She gets bored with things she has to do herself, like batting a ball and chasing after it (really, who wouldn't?), but she loves climbing in and around and all over furniture. So it's perfect for her. Way to go, brit!Well that was a lot of fluff. In more important news, we're moving!!!!! I'm insanely excited about this, Brit is mostly tolerant. Brit is mostly worried that we're using up all of our money to put down a deposit, but whatever. It's not like it'll be gone forever. And by the time we move, I will have an income again, and hopefully at least one paycheck. So it's all good.
To summarize for your reading ease, the downsides of this new apartment:
- Laundry is coin-op, so it's not free anymore
- We have to pay for gas and electric
- No cable (or at least not free cable)
The wonderful things about this apartment:
+ It's cheaper by $125 per month. Even if we were wasteful with our utilities, I doubt we could be paying much more than we are now.
+ It's HUGE! 2 big bedrooms that fit a king-size bed.... a total of 1200+ sq ft, a good 300 more than we have now
+ It's a great location- just down the street from both our schools and the highway, right across the street from the mall
+ The people there are nice and friendly
+ They know about Whisky and are ok with it, with the larger deposit, so we don't have to hide her or worry about getting evicted
+ It has a dishwasher!
+ It comes with free internet, so our lack-of-tv problems are mostly solved right there
+ The bedroom has a door :) (Silly, i know, but trust me you don't really appreciate this until you've lived without one for 9 months)
Is that enough reasons to move? I think so. Moving day will be the first of may, because I'm sure you want to show up and help. When we actually get into it, I'll take lots of pictures and post them. I'm sure you'll be shaking with anticipation....
Saturday, March 8
Round is a shape!
We went out last night with Brit's guild- basically a group of people that somewhat associate with each other on his online game, and happen to live in the same general area. There were about 17 of us, we met at Sconecutters, and headed up the canyon for night games.
It was freezing.
We started with Capture the Flag, which stopped being fun as soon as I had to chase someone. Cold air wreaks havoc on my lungs. I couldn't breathe for the rest of the night. Plus, I'm about as out of shape as one can get. We won, eventually, and tried to play The Judge.... which for me, consisted of finding a hiding place, sitting down, and chilling for a good 20 minutes. It would have been fine, but it was still cold. When they stopped the game to modify the rules and play again, I opted to go home. Being married makes you lame. We leave stuff early and think it's time for bed at 10 PM. It took me a looong time to get warm again.
Somehow, today, my legs ache something awful, from all the 100 yards i ran in capture the flag. And I feel sick. Just a terrible, icky, blah feeling, of leftover headache and soreness and exhaustion without actually wanting to lay down and have a nap. I should be doing homework. But I feel icky.
Overall, it was pretty fun. Until the running, anyway. I liked meeting all of Brit's sortof-friends and not remembering their names. I'm bad with names. But I tried. I'm cripplingly shy, but I came out of my shell a bit to joke and participate in conversation. So I think it was a success for me.
I've now run out of ways to procrastinate my homework.......
It was freezing.
We started with Capture the Flag, which stopped being fun as soon as I had to chase someone. Cold air wreaks havoc on my lungs. I couldn't breathe for the rest of the night. Plus, I'm about as out of shape as one can get. We won, eventually, and tried to play The Judge.... which for me, consisted of finding a hiding place, sitting down, and chilling for a good 20 minutes. It would have been fine, but it was still cold. When they stopped the game to modify the rules and play again, I opted to go home. Being married makes you lame. We leave stuff early and think it's time for bed at 10 PM. It took me a looong time to get warm again.
Somehow, today, my legs ache something awful, from all the 100 yards i ran in capture the flag. And I feel sick. Just a terrible, icky, blah feeling, of leftover headache and soreness and exhaustion without actually wanting to lay down and have a nap. I should be doing homework. But I feel icky.
Overall, it was pretty fun. Until the running, anyway. I liked meeting all of Brit's sortof-friends and not remembering their names. I'm bad with names. But I tried. I'm cripplingly shy, but I came out of my shell a bit to joke and participate in conversation. So I think it was a success for me.
I've now run out of ways to procrastinate my homework.......
Friday, March 7
Random Funnies
I've seen this a lot before, but I like it a lot. Especially because it's so true. They've tried to change the punchline state in some of the versions I've seen, but it's never as true as when it's talking about New York/New Jersey women.
JERSEY WIVES:
Three men were sitting together bragging about how
they had given their new wives duties.
The first man had married a woman from Illinois and
had told her that she was going to do the dishes and
house cleaning. It took a couple of days, but on the
third day he came home to see a clean house and dishes
washed and put away.
The second man had married a woman from Michigan.
He had given his wife orders that she was to do all the
cleaning, dishes, and the cooking. The first day he
didn't see any results but the next day he saw it was
better. By the third day, he saw his house was clean
the dishes were done, and there was a huge dinner
on the table
The third man had married a beautiful girl from New
Jersey. He told her that her duties were to keep the
house cleaned, dishes washed, lawn mowed, laundry
washed, and hot meals on the table for every meal. He
said the first day he didn't see anything, the second
day he didn't see anything but by the third day some
of the swelling had gone down and he could see a
little out of his left eye enough to fix himself a
sandwich and load the dishwasher.
JERSEY WIVES:
Three men were sitting together bragging about how
they had given their new wives duties.
The first man had married a woman from Illinois and
had told her that she was going to do the dishes and
house cleaning. It took a couple of days, but on the
third day he came home to see a clean house and dishes
washed and put away.
The second man had married a woman from Michigan.
He had given his wife orders that she was to do all the
cleaning, dishes, and the cooking. The first day he
didn't see any results but the next day he saw it was
better. By the third day, he saw his house was clean
the dishes were done, and there was a huge dinner
on the table
The third man had married a beautiful girl from New
Jersey. He told her that her duties were to keep the
house cleaned, dishes washed, lawn mowed, laundry
washed, and hot meals on the table for every meal. He
said the first day he didn't see anything, the second
day he didn't see anything but by the third day some
of the swelling had gone down and he could see a
little out of his left eye enough to fix himself a
sandwich and load the dishwasher.
Tuesday, March 4
New Cast!
I have a new, shorter cast, as of today. So i can actually type with relative ease and speed. It's very exciting.
Unfortunately, it also hurts quite a bit. I'm still getting used to this whole wrist rotation thing. So I'm exhausted and drugged and still hurting a little and I don't have anything at all productive to say. But I'm excited I can post (easily) again.
Unfortunately, it also hurts quite a bit. I'm still getting used to this whole wrist rotation thing. So I'm exhausted and drugged and still hurting a little and I don't have anything at all productive to say. But I'm excited I can post (easily) again.
Monday, March 3
"Husband Training"
Me: "Y'know what's kinda cute?"
Brit: "How I still somehow think I have an opinion?"
We were talking about our eventual move to settle down last night. The classic, almost overdone topic of "Where do we want to live when we grow up?" Brit opened by restating the fact that he's never moving to NJ, no matter how much I want to. It made me realize something rather shocking- I had already all but given up on moving back to the east coast. Shocking because I remember when I was little (all of 2 years ago) confidently stating that I'd be an east coast girl, no matter what my husband wanted, because of course the husband goes where his wife wants to go if he knows what's good for him. Now I'm actually married, and I find myself telling people "Yeah I'd really love to move back east, but I don't think it'll ever happen. Brit doesn't really want to."
Funny how life turns out nothing like you expected.
Brit: "How I still somehow think I have an opinion?"
We were talking about our eventual move to settle down last night. The classic, almost overdone topic of "Where do we want to live when we grow up?" Brit opened by restating the fact that he's never moving to NJ, no matter how much I want to. It made me realize something rather shocking- I had already all but given up on moving back to the east coast. Shocking because I remember when I was little (all of 2 years ago) confidently stating that I'd be an east coast girl, no matter what my husband wanted, because of course the husband goes where his wife wants to go if he knows what's good for him. Now I'm actually married, and I find myself telling people "Yeah I'd really love to move back east, but I don't think it'll ever happen. Brit doesn't really want to."
Funny how life turns out nothing like you expected.
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