Friday, September 25, 2009

Ode to the Stay-At-Home and Working Moms

I've been "off" for a few weeks now. Graduation came and went, the NCLEX has been conquered, Colorado wedding complete. So time to just sit back and relax right? Um, not so fast. I have been busier this week than ever before and it gives me such a greater appreciation for all the moms (and dads) out there who are running households. I have 24 kids. They are grown, which means they can dress themselves and generally feed themselves. Although sometimes feedings happen at 3am which automatically negates all teaching on clean-up that has previously occurred. Even when feedings happen at normal meal times, my kids drop crumbs, chunks, liquids that dry or congeal on the floor. But I love them.

This week has been especially busy for some reason. I had a meeting at the school of nursing Monday morning, hit the gym, took my computer to get fixed again, meeting with our caterer to discuss how things are going and to make changes in our meal plan, come home, unload the dishwasher, take out the trash, take out the recycling, clean up lunch that was left on the counter - pack it all up, throw away undesirables, clean out the refrigerator so the new food fits, get the Dustbuster out to pick up crumbs, put away pans left out from late night brownie baking, change a light bulb, squeeze in a load of laundry including all the dishtowels that were crusty with leftover chili from the day before, and test all the smoke detectors for inspection.

I thought the rest of the week would settle down but then the A/C on the 2nd floor went out so the repair man came at 7pm, right as I was supposed to be at happy hour with my new kickball team. The squirrel in the attic on the 2nd floor is scratching like crazy so it's time to have him removed. Call friends who might know how to build a trap and then just give in and call Critter Control. "There are bugs in my room!" Call pest control to get rid of stink bugs. Oh and we need toilet paper, but I can't be at Sam's club buying TP when I have to be at home waiting for the pest guy and a phone call from the city inspector. Unload the dishwasher, clean up lunch, dinner, and late night snacking. Then the caterer emails one of my collegians to tell her that he is only providing 1/2 the amount of BBQ he donated for their philanthropy event this weekend. So I put on my running shoes and go down there, all sweaty, to let him know that Indian giving for Charity events is completely unacceptable. I am a very protective mama bear and you better not cross my girls! He agrees to be a decent human being and apologizes for his "brain fart."

Get car inspected. I was sure that this would result in an absurdly expensive repair of some sort, but to my delightful surprise, all it needed was a $1.00 light bulb. I'll take the win. Social dance - finish off the rumba with the random people in my class. That story deserves its own blog post. Kickball happy hour, clean out the fridge again. Bake and decorate cakes for birthdays and baby showers. Buy gifts for baby showers. Plan surprise birthday party. Arch's with girlfriends. Ahhh. And they have grasshopper flavor. The best part of my week! Gym, dishwasher, sweep, pick up cups and cans in dining room. Go to the bank, cook macaroni and cheese dinner for 24, chaparone date function (ok that was last week), drive girl home from date function due to fight with drunk boy, dance it off at zumba, 6:15am cycle, wipe down counters, fix ice machine, sam's club run for aforementioned toilet paper, cleaning supplies, and miscellaneous house supplies. Sort mail, fold blankets in tv room, pick up shoes left in tv room, investigate leaky shower, research and purchase liability insurance.

I'm not complaining. I love this life. I signed up for it and it gives me great joy. It just makes me realize how much it takes to a)run a home b)raise children and c)balance your life. I'm hoping that I can manage to do "C" when I start work next month. In the mean time, here's to all you homemakers and working parents out there. Your kids really do appreciate all that you do even though they don't say it!
I know it's been awhile since I returned home from an awesome trip to Colorado, but I've been mourning the loss of all my pictures from the trip and thus have delayed this blog post. Some fluke accident fueled by a computer that has been causing me headaches for months now randomly deleted all of my pictures. Lost forever. I guess that's the tragic flaw of the digital world. Thankfully, it was a wedding so lots of people took pictures of the weekend. I have lost everything prior to the wedding, but that just means I'll have to plan another trip to Colorado to redocument everything!

A little background...I flew out to Colorado for the wedding of Katie and Steve Nauman. I lived with Katie for two amazing years in Denver and when I moved east to begin nursing school, she moved west to San Diego to be in the same city as Steve. You've seen pictures of my trips to San Diego for vacation and the bachelorette weekend...is it coming back yet? Anyway, they are incredible friends and have inspired me to do so many things that I may never have tried - like cake decorating, running, making check box lists, fixing things myself, and generally being more adventurous. I was Katie's bridesmaid for this wedding and I couldn't have been more honored to stand in support of this couple. I've been in weddings before, but never have I had such a strong friendship with both the bride and the groom. It's really amazing to understand the love between these two from seeing it first hand, not just hearing about it from my girlfriend. So, cheers to Katie and Steve, may you have a long and fruitful marriage! Love you:-)










Monday, September 21, 2009

I'm a Nurse!

As of 9/9/09 I am officially a registered nurse. What a stressful process, but all of the hard prep work paid off and after only one and a half hours of test taking torture, I was licensed. Now, time to play!

Monday, September 7, 2009

This weekend was a pretty big deal in Charlottesville. Tribe alumni arrived on Friday night for the football game against UVA on Saturday. The Women's 4 miler was held at foxfield Saturday morning. One of the best tailgates of all time took place Saturday afternoon and then the division I AA CAA W&M Tribe beat UVA that night. Wait, there's more. Sunday Polo was in full swing and the weather was perfect. Somewhere along the way someone introduced me to Firefly which might be the most perfect beverage I've ever had. I'm still recovering and trying to figure out how to recreate such a perfect weekend more than once a year.








Summer Cakes

Here are the cakes I decorated this summer. I'm still an amateur at best, but I love it!

Mom's birthday cake - a triple layer!
Baby shower cupcakes


A "thank you" cake of sorts for the nurses at the hospital

Welcome cake for the DG alumns from Roanoke College who held a reunion at the house this summer

Get well cake for a nurse battling breast cancer

My final cake decorating class masterpiece!

Cake for Jim's visit back in May. He's a Steeler fan - I added the UVA Scott Stadium touches as a Virginia football fan


Birthday cake for one of my house girls

First birthday cake of the fall - two house girls celebrating birthdays

Just a practice cake for the 4th years who lived with me last year. Includes peanut butter whoppers with chocolate/chocolate layers.

My cousins bridal shower cake. First attempt at fruit filling

Summer birthday cake for one of the girls who moved in this fall

Wednesday, September 2, 2009

This may be bad luck, but I am hoping it will give me the boost of confidence I need to get through the next few days. Back in May, after I accepted a job on the Labor & Delivery unit at UVA, I ordered a fleece with the unit logo and my name on it to wear when I am running errands in town or freezing at work because everyone else is hot blooded. We had the opportunity to have the jackets embroidered so I chose to do just that. It felt weird to write L. Baskette, RN on paper and I even asked another nurse if it was okay to order the jacket with "RN" even though I wasn't licensed yet. She said "yes, of course," so I went for it. I picked up my jacket last week and have toyed with the idea that maybe if I wear it in the days leading up to my big NCLEX exam, I'll have increased confidence going into the test. Some suggested that I even wear the jacket to my exam and just tell everyone I'm there to take it again for kicks. I'm not sure I should push my luck that far, but it is fun knowing that I have this cozy gift waiting for me to wear with pride as soon as I get past that pesky exam!