Finally Something New!

So whenever you talk to someone and they ask "So what's new?" Tommy's and my answer is always the same.. "Oh nothing much, just same old same. Tommy's just working and I'm still going to school.." But not anymore!! We have a few new things going on now that changes up the convo a bit :)

When my Mom would ask I would always tell her, "there will be something new when I graduate from school", so now that that has happened, life has changed! So to start off our new life adventures, you all know I passed my boards (I think I've stated that enough times!), and I got a job at the hospital! I am working on the medical floor, which when people ask what that is I tell them it's where people are just sick.. they're not going or coming from surgery, they're not in the ER, or ICU, or having babies.. they are sick, (so like when you think of a hospital in general, that's what the medical floor is :) ) So I am really excited to be working there because I am still leaning toward going into ER and trauma, and the medical floor is a great basis for going that direction! I also am very blessed to have gotten a job so soon and being able to start working and making money!! I'm working full time, but on a varied shift so I'll switch back and forth monthly, I believe, between nights and days, which will be interesting because I have never worked nights before and really LOVE my sleep!! So we'll see how it goes!



I have waited forever to have that blue RN badge!!

So that's the first new thing going on.. the second change is we finally moved into a bigger place!! Yay! We have lived in a one bedroom, tiny apartment for the last 1 1/2 years and were ready for an upgrade! I went over to one of my friends apartment one time and loved it! It was so big and spacious and had so much storage, and washer and dryer hookups!! We decided that once I was done with school and got a job we would move there... and everything fell right into place and I finished school, got a job, passed Nclex, and we went to put our name on the waiting list for these very popular, rarely open apartments, and they happened to have a 3 bedroom coming available!! Just what we wanted! So we signed the lease!

The apartment wasn't supposed to be available until the 3rd week of Feb. which is when I would be working nights and trying to pack and move and sleep.. But life fell into place once again and it became available the first week of Feb. before I even started my new job and had all the time in the world to pack and move! (In which I also had time to make these cute cupcakes for my sisters birthday.. just a quick side note and picture ;) )

 

I love to bake and just need someone to pawn it off on! Haha

So we are moved into a spacious 3 bedroom apartment with a living room the size of our whole old apartment! A kitchen with 3x more cupboards, a closet in the hall to put coats and my vacuum in so it's not just sitting in the hall, washer and dryer hookups so I don't have to trudge out to the box car to do laundry, in an actual laundry room/pantry with tons of shelves and storage!, two bedrooms with awesome, huge closets, two bathrooms (one in our bedroom), our bedroom which is huge and with an amazing spacious walk in closet, a patio for our grill and even a little storage shed!! (Sorry, a little braggy in this paragraph ;) )

 

We got moved last weekend and then I was at orientation at the hospital all week (9 hours a day in class! :( ) and barely got the house actually unpacked yesterday! It's been pretty crazy! And I'm actually excited to do laundry!! It's so much more fun when you have your own washer and dryer, in your house!

 

But that's all that's new for now!

The Dreaded NCLEX!

I started this post about two weeks ago and then things got crazy (I'll explain in the next post! ;) ), so I am barely finishing it up! And I debated on whether to post about the Nclex or not but I knew if I didn't I would forget how "fun" it was! (I kind of already have :/ )

So you know how you do something or go through something that really sucks during the time but then as time goes on you start to forget and your like ehh it wasn't that bad.. (that's why we continue to get pregnant and have babies ;) ), after I took the Nclex I was determined that I would Never feel like that about the Nclex! I would never forget how much "fun" it was! But I have.. so I'm glad I got most of it documented before I went "ehhh it wasn't that bad!" ;)

Tommy and I went up to Boise the night before since by test was at 8am, I would be totally stressed driving from Twin that early! We went to the hotel and I stayed and studied while he went to a fishing store. When he got back we went to find a place to eat and everywhere had like an hour or even two hour wait! And I definitely could not handle waiting that long when I could be studying! Major Stressor! Haha so we finally found a place that only had a 20 minute wait and ate there, it was a really good BBQ place. Got back to the hotel and practiced some final questions and went to bed... to only be awake at 3am! And not being able to go back to sleep! I really thought about just getting up and studying some more but I knew that would make me really tired when it came to test time.. So I finally got back to sleep for a couple hours. We had to get up earlier than I wanted because the hotel didn't offer comp breakfast! :( Seriously who does that! Anyways so we had to go eat at I-hop.

Went and took the test... The Hardest Test of My Life!.. while Tommy went to Cabelas. I was done by 10 so we went to the mall and walked around a little bit, but I was seriously so drained I just wanted to go home. We started on our way home stopping at a scrub store to pick up some navy blues in hopes that I passed the test and could start working :) Ate some pizza, got a rocky mt apple and headed home, in which I slept to decrease my stress level for a bit, since I had to wait 48 hours to know if I passed or not! Talk about major stress for 2 days!


This is me after the test!

So the nclex, is the state test nursing grads have to take to get their license to actually practice nursing. I think it consists of like 235 or 250 questions or so, I can't remember, and gives you 5-6 hours (I cant remember that either-I'm washing my brain clean of this experience!) But it can shut off at any question if you reach the passing mark, or can shut of at any question if you reach the failing mark.. so you can never really tell! I took the test in about 100 questions (stopped watching which question I was on after about 85) and it took me 2 hours before it shut off.............. haha that's how I felt.. but I was GLAD to be DONE!

I won't try and explain what the test was like because I have tried several times and can't.. but I'll tell ya this, it was like no other test I have ever taken before... worst test of my life... a test that made me doubt myself more than I ever have.. and nothing I studied was on it! So on the subject of doubt, the more the day(s) went on, the more I doubted myself. I told Tommy, "I don't even know if I passed" and "If I didn't pass, I seriously wont be surprised" so it was not a healthy 48 hours!

But after 48 hours of feeling sick to my stomach, doubting myself, worrying about what I would tell my new job I just got hired at, exc, exc, I was getting ready to go to the gym one morning at about 7:30 and it hadn't quite been 48 hours yet but I decided to check real quick and my results were in! You had to purchase your results if you wanted them early (totally worth it! Why have 10 days of stress?!) so I entered my card info probably about 7-8 times because I was so nervous and shaking! I finally got it entered and..

Holy Smokes! Was I sooo relieved! and happy!! I immediately texted Tommy and absolutely loved his reaction!


He was a doubter ;)

So I jumped up and down and screamed a few times and then went to the gym to get all my energy out :)

When I got home there was a knock on my door and it was no other than my amazing, amazing in-laws with a surprise congratulations gift for me! Made my Whole day!!

I was glad I passed because I did NOT want to take that test again!! And I had no idea how I would have studied for the second go round.

So there it is, in a nutshell, (A big nutshell!), documentation of the biggest test of my life before I forgot what it was like!

Sincerely,
Kylie McMurdie RN ;)