Friday, February 28, 2014

7QT (Vol. 24)



So all the time I jot down 7 quick take takes in a post and then every few weeks actually post a seven quick takes post.  Not sure where I was going with this but this is what I stuck in.  "You know you go to a Catholic school when your punishment for being too loud during quiet hours is doing a holy hour for the girls of the dorm. Boy do I love my school!"  I think this was a status of a friend.  And it is true, I have heard about this happening all the time.  


Here is another one.  What Catholic Girls are Like in the Chapel.  Bahaha, so much is true.


I am also dusting off posts that have been sitting in my drafts.  Like this one about being lovely for your husband. Also a book review on Hiking the Camino.


I am about to jump into reading Dave Ramsey's Total Money Makeover  (affiliate link).  As I mentioned in my 2014 Goals (Goals update coming soon) I want to start out right when it comes to money.  I have heard so many good things about his program and I want to give it a shot.  Have any of you used his ideas.  How did it go?


I know everyone is singing the same tune but I am finally now getting to that point where I am so over this cold winter thing.  Yesterday I stopped wearing my to the knees warm winter coat.  Partially because it is dirty, thinned out, and has a hole in the pocket but also because I am just so over it.  It shall be my North Face for at least a few days despite the fact that the North Face isn't as warm .


Laura @ My Drop in the Ocean  asked me to guest post about pretty much any topic.  About a little discussion back and forth I ended up writing advice to ladies at a passionately Catholic College.  Go check the post out.


Veiling for Mass.  Sometime I have to do a whole post about how much I go back and forth with wearing a Chapel veil.  I currently don't veil but I defiantly have and continue to think about doing it.  Especially with graduating and starting fresh somewhere would be a perfect time to begin.  Jessica @ Shower of Roses wrote a post about how veiling as a Lenten Sacrifice turned into beloved devotion.  It has gotten me thinking all over again.

For more Quick Takes, visit Conversion Diary!

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Thursday, February 27, 2014

2014 Reads

In 2013 I really enjoyed having a running list of books that I read during the year.  Although I don't have a specific goal in mind this year I still want to keep that list.

If you want to check out the books I read in 2013.

2014 reads:

Follow the links for a review and affiliate links.  Any support via affiliate links would make me giddy.

1.  Hiking the Camino
2. Monique and the Mango Rains
3.  The Fault in Our Stars
4.  Total Money Makeover by Dave Ramsey
5. Someday, Someday, Maybe by Lauren Graham
6. Something Other Than God by Jennifer Fulwiler
7.  Redeeming Love by Francine Rivers
8.  Growing Up Duggar
9. Where We Belong by Emily Griffin
10. Eleanor and Park by Rainbow Rowell
11. Attachments by Rainbow Rowell
12. The Husband's Secret by Liane Moriarty
*Number 9-12 are all great fiction books that I would recommend if you are looking for a light read
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Reads 2014: Hiking the Camino

I wrote this back in the very beginning of the year and I am now finally hitting publish.  Pardon me for my tardiness.  


Another year means another book list.  I hope anyone who stumbles upon this blog or reads it regularly (bless your little hearts) isn't completely bored by my reviews.  I do it more for myself to keep a list of books I have read but I only write reviews of books I actually enjoyed and encourage others to read, otherwise I just list them in my list.  Enough of the chit chat.

 If you couldn't pick up from the title Hiking the Camino is Fr. Dave Pivonka's story of hiking 500 miles of the Camino de Santigo, also known as the Way of St. James,  a pilgrimage in Spain to the Church where St. Jame's the apostle is buried. The book makes you feel like you are having a conversation with Fr. Dave about his joys, struggles, and spiritual insights while hiking.  I am not going to even pretend to tell you how good this book is but let some of the quotes speak for itself. 

"I have heard it said that purgatory is full of people who did more than God asked of them."

boom.

"I realized that I had been going after what God wanted rather than going after God.  Christ was inviting me to surrender what I wanted to know and simply seek him, seek his face, listen to his voice.  Jesus was inviting me to a deeper union with him.  And it was there, nearer to his heart, that I would discover his will for me."

boom.

"The goal of every Christian ought to be to love more perfectly-and ultimately to get to heaven.  I want to be clear:  We are  not going to just fall into heaven.  It is literally harder than hell to get to heaven.  It cost Jesus his life to open the gates and it will cost us the same."

boom.

" 'Normal' Christian living just isn't going to cut it; it never has, and it never will.  Lukewarm Christianity nauseates God (see Revelation 3:15-16)!  Our response to Christ's call-and we each have a call-must be total, and it must be radical.  WE have to be willing to offer everything we are to God."

boom.

I actually got this book for my dad for Chirstmas and I am so glad that I did.  Read it.
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Tuesday, February 25, 2014

Never Stop Being Lovely

I wrote this a very very very very long time ago and hadn't yet hit publish.  Well ladies the time is now and I have finally hidden published.  Enjoy this post that almost wasn't.

When I stumbled upon this blog post (on Facebook maybe?) I knew I had to pass it onto my lovely readers. 

Chelsea writes on More Like Momma about becoming lovely and staying lovely.  She writes about how we as women make sure we smell nice, look good, and are charming while a nice man is pursuing us and then too often as soon as the "I dos" are said women think they can become frumpy and never put any effort into being lovely for their husbands.  Instead she challenges women to not stop trying just because they are married.  We know men are visual.  We know that they like to be told that they are appreciated and needed.  Why do so many women not find it important to look nice for their husband (at least sometimes) and show them with their actions (not just sexual, but that could work too) that they are appreciated as men.  

This article is a must check out so please hope over and read it
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Sunday, February 23, 2014

NAS: Masculinity



Who is a great example of masculinity in your life (father, brother, uncle, priest, etc)? What do you love about them?


Mmm masculinity makes my heart go pitter patter.  A strong guy--physically and spiritually.  A guy who knows how to love a woman.  A guy who knows how to be loved by and love the Lord. A guy who knows how to be a man.  One who can see the sin of Adam and the strength of Christ.  One who, by being a man, makes a woman want to be a better woman.  Mmm like I said pitter patter.  


I have been blessed to have good, not great, men in my life.  I love my dad so much.  He is freaking hilarious too.  Literally says and does the funniest things.  My grandpa was big and strong and knew how to be a patriarch.  Here at Franciscan we are so incredibly blessed with so many Friars who have laid down their life for the Church and know what it means to be a man.  Heck my classmates and peers are striving so much to be men of God.  My best friend's husband shows me where the bar is.  All these guys I talk about in my life show me the kind of guy I will marry.  A guy who will love me, cause me to be a better woman, be a fantastic father, and seeks the Lord each and every day of his life.  A real man, true masculinity, that is what I want standing next to me on the alter and walking with me day by day.    

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Tuesday, February 18, 2014

NAS: Valentine's Day


What are you thought's about Valentine's day? Do you enjoy? Loathe it? Not even realize it's a special day? Do you celebrate it in any way?

Why hello.  Do you remember me?  My name is Natalie and I blog here @Here I Am.  Long time no blog.

I am trying really hard not to use my three night shifts as an excuse, but those night shifts....they take alot out of you. I prepared, worked and recovered from them while trying to keep up with normal school work.  And then this past weekend I went home to kid/house sit.  And that bring us back to the topic at hand Valentine's Day.

For a secular holiday, Valentine's Day doesn't really bother me.  (Halloween on the other hand...) Does that surprise you?  It has never been a single lady pitty party for me but more a day to wear pink and shower your friends in gifts and such.  And my friends are so good to me.  Just yesterday I received a HUGE Valentine's Day card from the girl who was my roommate last year.  We did Secret Valentine as a household.  Our household brothers made dinner for all of us Angels (though I missed it, see kid/house sitting).  I enjoy it, I don't loathe it, and I just celebrate it with heart shaped everything, lots of pink and of course chocolate.

Quick and nothing profound but I just wanted to write again.  I am really bummed I missed out on last weeks prompt and I might just at some point have to write about it anyway.  
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Wednesday, February 5, 2014

#chroniclesofnightshift

You know that when I mentioned night shift in 7QTs I would have to give a play by play of my first night turn for everyone who didn't want to know.  In case you want to know the end without hearing the beginning and middle, I survived, including the slushy/snowy/rainy drive home.  But really you want to hear all the only mildly exciting details.  I will try to be time specific but really the times get lost in the night time shuffle.

6:30am Mass in an attempt to wake up early, tire myself out and be able to take a good afternoon nap.

8:00-11:30 Research class because every nurse becomes a nurse in order to take a good research class.  Not.

12:30pm-3:30 Take a halfway decent nap.


4:30 Shower, eat, dress, yada, yada, yada.



5:45  Leave for Pittsburgh.  Laugh at people stuck in congested traffic coming in the opposite direction.  Then remember that they get to sleep in their bed tonight, try to push this thought out of my head.  Still telling myself that it is morning.  Chugging coffee and talking to one of my best friends (with headphones, safety first) to make the drive go faster.

6:53  Arrive on floor.  Overwhelmed by the unknown.  Try to make nice with the PCTs.

7:00  Meet my preceptor, get report, lets get this day started

This is where times get muddled together.  I didn't want to watch the clock because I knew that would make the whole situation harder.  We did our assessments, figured out the care we would need to give for the night and charted.

Holy charting.  I had never actually sat down and charted everything for three patients.  I am pretty sure it took about an hour and a half and that was for charting by exception.

Then it was pain killers for this patient, zofran for another, seizure meds for the guy at the end, back in the first room for his sleeping pills, another patients IV is alarming because God forbid he bend his elbow and back for a another temp check on the woman who is spiking a temp.    Of course we had to wait for the pharmacy to bring up this med and then this one and then this one. Because by walking in a patient's room every 45 minutes we are really helping them get the best sleep possible.


Unfortunately, this is reality. We stopped at one point long enough to sit down and eat something.  I believe I ate the well rounded meal of easy mac, dehydrated peach halves, and a Kind bar.



And somewhere in there we got a new admit up from the ER.



Things got quiet for a while when everyone was asleep and it wasn't time for 4am lab draws yet. However things got interesting when some of the ladies started talking about weaves.  Guys I am the whitest white girl I know and they kept including me in the conversion as if I knew what the heck they were talking about.  Bags of weave?  Going to the shop v. your friend's cousin's roommate's best friend? 



From there things were on the downwards slid (or upwards slid depending on how you look at it).  We got morning labs, gave some early morning meds, stocked the COW, and made sure everything was charted.



Coffee involved a fine line.  Drink a cup at just the right time so that it kept you awake enough to get through the last few hours and the drive home but not enough too late so that I couldn't fall asleep when I got home.

The nurses coming on were all running a little late due to the horrible weather. There was a group of cute little nursing students who were all timid and unsure and it was really hard not to be all "senior-I-just-spent-all-night-here-taking-care-of-these-people."


I walked off the unit at 7:41.



And walked into this.  Lovely.  Pittsburgh weather at its finest. 



I grew up in the northeast Ohio and I never remember driving in worse weather than this.  Snow/slush/rain/ice.  Thank the good Lord that classes were canceled for the whole day because I really wasn't feeling the two quizzes I had. On campus I had to park in a handicap parking spot because there was literally no cleared spots. My bed was in sight.  I thought I wasn't that tired but when I woke up at 12:30 feeling as though I must have been in a coma I realized maybe I was that tired.   


I know, I know you are a better person for having been able to walk through my first night shift minute by minute, urinal dump by urinal dump (oh I hadn't mentioned that?  Patients on fluids results in lots of urinal dumps).  I survived and as I said on instagram, I feel like this first night shift award goes right next to the first shot, first birth, and first blood draw award.    And maybe, just maybe you will be lucky enough to read about another night shift in the not so distant future. 




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