It's me again!

Haha. So this semester is over (one down, four to go) and I was thinking of something that I learned in psychology. On our quizzes, we have open ended questions to answer for bonus points. On question asked what we feared (it was more in depth than that, but for my purposes it's simplified). Our teacher mentioned that one of the top three fears that women have is becoming like their mother. To me, that is so sad! I'm already like my mother in so many ways, but have yet to achieve close to what she has.

For example, our keys.



Before I knew it, I had all this crap on my keychain! But don't worry, it's still not as bad as my moms. Haha (sorry mom!).

Second, cooking. My mom is an amazing cook. She can make anything and it all tastes good (except eggplants; blech). Now, while I'm not an amazing cook, I definitely hold my own when it comes to creating in the kitchen.



Ohhhh yeah. That's steamed salmon there with rice and steamed veggies. I made it with our awesome new bamboo steamer (compliments of my family). Brandon died and cried in happiness. :)

Thirdly, reading. I must have got my love of reading from my mom because my dad doesn't read so much. If she could, I know she'd read for days on end. I love to read as well, however, I don't just read. I live books. I devour books. The world the author created becomes my own (even if only in my head). Books are amazing :).

Lastly, crafting. My mom is an awesome crafter. She makes these amazing quilts. Now, I haven't gotten to the point where I can quilt, but I did make Amanda a cool bag for Christmas.

Certainly there are a million more ways that I'm like my amazing mother.



That's my mom! Isn't she pretty :D. In the end, I know that if I become my mom it won't be so bad.

Night shifts: What they don't tell you

For the past month, I've been working three nights a week from 7pm-7am. I cut down to two, but my body is struggling with these changes.

Night shifts wouldn't be so bad if you could be asleep all during the day. Unfortunately, there are things to do like school, maintaining the apartment, grocery shopping, cooking, and maintaining the relationship with my husband. If you're single, not going to school (or taking one or two classes), the night shift is easy easy.

However, if you're like me, the night shift is more like the death shift. What is happening to my body?

First, anxiety. My body is used to sleeping during the night. When I start staying up during the night, it goes "what the crap are you doing?! It's night time!" Second, decreased memory. I used to be able to study and remember everything easily. Now it's like trying to remember things through a fog. It takes twice as much effort to put things into my brain, and twice as much effort to pull it out. With a decrease in the energy I already have, pulling out information drops down my energy even more. Third, energy loss. It would be okay for you if you got a full night's sleep the night before you had a shift, and the day after. However, that doesn't happen. In a 48 hour block, you should be getting 18 hours of sleep. With the night shift it cuts down to 14. Four hours definitely doesn't sound like much, but it is when you're experiencing it, plus it all adds up.

Fourth, appetite change and nutrition disruption. Since I've been working night shift, my appetite has shifted drastically. Each night shift I eat during the middle of the night (like a lunch if it were day). Also, I snack continuously in order to stay awake (especially at 3 am). By the time I get off work, I'm starving and ready for breakfast. Sadly, for breakfast that is, I'm so tired I skip it and go to sleep. The next day I eat when I wake up, and then it's dinner time soon. In other words, you're eating an extra meal and extra snacks. Lastly, no time for anything. My schedule is set in a way that there really isn't time for much fun. It's work, sleep, homework, school, then repeat. Decreased time also means a decrease in exercise. Lack of exercise contributes to muscle atrophy, weakening bones, weight gain, and lack of endorphins.

All in all, the night shift is not ideal for someone in school. It's time for a change.

It's october already

Woohoo! A blog post! Yeaaah....haven't been on this for a while, but it's understandable. I love to make my life complicated :). For instance, right now I'm in nursing school as a first semester-er, and it's a doozy! Not. Well, most of my classes are pretty easy, it's just that anatomy and physiology take up a lot of time. I also started working graves as a cna. I'm so brilliant, right?

The picture here is a brain ice cube in red juice. We thought it looked cool because it was like blooood.

Ahh yes, musings from my distorted thoughts. Today I was thinking that I will make another blog depicting my adventures with a soon-to-be-mine sewing machine. Then I realized that I'd anything, I'm eclectic. This applies to my tastes in movie, music, etc. Case in point: Right now, I have just finished trying out several Linux distros on my mac laptop and installing several retro gaming systems. Computer skils: check. Next, I've tried out several recipes (successfully, to the joy of Brandon) ranging from chocolate pancakes to basil chicken cocunut curry to mini cupcakes. Culinary skills: check. Also, in going to nursing school. Academic/science skills: check. Now while I'm developing all of these, I've decided to learn how to sew my own clothes. Sewing skills: not so much. Hence the desire to create a blog about my projects. Wish me luck :D

I'm turning Purple and Black

33 days!

In the past couple of days, I have managed to turn myself purple and black. First, I finally finished the invitations for the receptions. However, my printer decided to show its love by exploding black ink. Subsequently, I had black ink marks that only just barely came off. The purple came from a stamp with our address on it, where the label part kept shifting. In order to fix it, you had to move it. I, of course, decided that my fingers would work just as well. So...purple ink on my fingers.

Lastly, I have a ginormous bruise on my leg. Haha...the klutz strikes again. I was at the doctors office and was getting off the table when I slipped and sliced my leg against the metal stirrup edge. Oops.



Isn't it lovely?! It bled through my pants when I got it. I think it looks kind of like a face. When I told my dad what happened he looked at me like I was born yesterday. Also, I tried to show my little brother while he was eating, but he refused to look because "I'm eating! That's GROSS SHAR!" Ahh yes, the little things we do to torture siblings.



Why so serious?

In conclusion, I am a messy klutz. But because of it I'm great at basic first aid and cleaning :)

The Dreaded 2am

It's 2:26 in the morning. Why am I up? You wonder, as do I. The answer, simple and poignant, is STRESS.

Planning a wedding is the WORST. Seriously, why didn't we just elope? Oh, I have an answer for that. Enter: the parents. Although I blame them for this fiasco, I am grateful for all they did. This fast-approaching bash would not have been as cool as it's going to be. You win some and you lose some (cliché, I know).

For instance. Before my parents my wedding would have looked something like this:



Brandon would look so hot in a mullet. The dog would be ring bearer, of course.

Now, my wedding will look something like this:



Okay, okay, just kidding. It will be pretty and fun, etc etc.

Too bad I can't sleep and start thinking "how will we get everything over to Utah?!" or "who should I sit Mr.?/ms.? next to?" or "I still need to figure out what to store here!" A lot of times I just think, "I'm tired, can you shut up and leave me alone?"

Even as I write this, I zone out and think "what about this," and other useless questions.

/sigh

Now that it's 3 (great...bad Shar, bad Shar!) I shall try again.

49 Days

49 days until the wedding. :o So much to do so little time!

O.o

Does anyone even read this?

Today is the last day of the week...and PAYDAY! Too bad this entire week I've been sick, either from what the doctor thinks is bronchitis, or nausea that may or may not be the side effects of the medicine. Basically I am uncomfortable all the time.

Yesterday I got off work, and class was canceled, so I went to the temple. I was there for two and a half hours...there were so many people. But I got a lot of reading done, so woohooo!

I am glad that classes are almost over, but I still have my IS classes to finish, which will take a lot of time. What I need is another month where I can just work so that I can finish up my IS stuff. Too bad it doesn't work that way.

The other day I was quoted in the Daily Universe, the school paper, because my friend is in the class that writes for the paper. http://universe.byu.edu/node/1084 There's the link there, in case you didn't believe me.

I've decided that I am sick of computers, but there is no way for me to stay away from them. I use them at work, and then at home for schoolwork. There's no escape! My new plan is to go somewhere and bring my books that don't require internet use, and maybe write out essays on paper first and then type them later. All this staring at screens is making me even more blind, my glasses aren't strong enough anymore and it's only August. I won't be able to get new glasses for another five months. Lame.