Weekend in Atlanta!

Me and Morgan went with some of his family to Atlanta this weekend for a little mini vacation before I have to start work on Monday{Tomorrow}. In Atlanta we stayed at the "W Hotel" It was so nice and Very Modern! That was the first time I had ever even seen modern style. It was so neat! lol Anyways, on our first night there we ate at Legals Seafood. I ordered a steamed lobster and they brought me a WHOLE lobster...head and all! I had to ask the waiter how to eat it! haha The next day{Saturday}, we went to the Atlanta Aquarium. I was definitely a little kid with my jaw down to my chest in Awwwh! If you have never been, You need to go! Also inside the aquarium we went saw a 3-D show and walked through the Titanic exhibit which was really neat! After that we went to the Coca*Cola factory. That was a lot of fun to seeing how coke is made and bottled. At the end of the tour we got to try all kinds of different soft drinks from all over the world. My favorite was one from Thailand called Fanta-Apple-Kiwi! MMmm! I wish they made some of that here in the U.S. :) We had so much fun and I really cannot wait to go back one day. Atlanta is a lot of fun!

Our super modern room!

My Whole Lobster! It was SO good!..as soon as I got rid of the head! Ick..

At the Aquarium

Coca-Cola Factory! So much fun!

P.S. WORK STARTS TOMORROW! YAY!

Just a day at the park.

I have felt bad for Lucy and Molly lately. They have not been outside much in the last couple of weeks since I was studying for NCLEX and the weather has not been so great. :( So for the last 3 days we have been going to Pratt Park in Prattville to get some exercise and mingle with ducks :) Behind the park there is a decent sized creek where people can go swimming{when it is warm} and bring their dogs to play in the water. The last couple days that I have taken the dogs to the park there have been a lot of people there. But today when I went there was hardly anyone at the park. So I brought the dogs down to the creek and let them off the leash to swim and run around. Lucy LOVES water so as soon as I let her off the leash she was fully submerged in the water! I thought Molly didn't like water so I did not expect her to get in, but she did! She was a little bit weary at first, just watching Lucy go swimming, but then she just went right in like it was nothing! haha It was so cute to see her go swimming for the first time. They had so much fun running and jumping in the water. The water levels were up in the creek after all the rain we have been having so it was pretty deep in some parts and there is a current, so I got a little bit scared for them at times. About half way through their swim I realized I didn't bring a towel with me! I had to let them air dry! :) Here are some pictures from our day. I hope you enjoy!

Lucy swimming!

Molly watching Lucy. . .

Molly swimming!

Having Fun!

Air Drying!

Sun Bathing :)

By the way. . . me and Morgan's family are going to Atlanta this weekend for a mini vacation before I start work on Monday! We are planning to go to the Aquarium there. I cant wait! I will post again on Sunday when we get back!

xoxox

Lynda, Morgan, and the Pups!

I am an R.N.!

Well last night I was still "going crazy!" I was so tired and wanted to go to bed early so 8am would get here this morning even quicker! Just like Christmas when you are a kid. lol The thing was that I could not bring myself to actually go to bed. I was too nervous to lay down, so I cleaned the house, did some laundry, washed the dishes, and took a shower. I also was checking the Alabama Board of Nursing website religiously! Just in case they decided to update the results early! I was literally going NUTS waiting! No one should ever have to wait 48 hours to find out how the rest of their life is going to play out!...Anyways, I finally did fall asleep around 1:30am and woke up at 7:20am to Morgan's alarm clock.. My first thought was, "Crap, I am not going to be able to fall asleep again for 40 more minutes. So half asleep I checked the website anyway. Its was there! I passed! YAY! So now I am a Registered NURSE! I am so happy to not ever have to take another test ever again! It feels so good! I seriously thought I failed, and I passed. I cannot be happier right now.
Tonight, Me and Morgan's families went out to dinner at Longhorn steak house to celebrate. It was so much fun!
Thanks to everyone who prayed for me and "my nerves" lol
Love you all!

L. Garner, R.N.

This is ME Geeking OUT. . . Hopefully over nothing!

I took my NCLEX this morning! I got a good night's sleep and even ate a little something for breakfast. I wont even try to explain to anyone reading this the way the morning went for me while I was actually taking the test, but I will say that right now I feel like PUKING and cannot wait for Saturday morning at 8am to get here. That is when my results are posted. 75 questions is the minimum that I could have taken and 260 is the maximum. The test determines how many questions you get by the way you answer the questions. The test cuts off after you have "Proved" you can be a safe, effective nurse or when you show that you cannot be a safe, effective nurse. The test cut ME off at 90 something. I don't even know the exact # that it cut me off at. I just know that right now I am freaking out because...I really do feel like I FAILED!....What's new! We will see on Saturday!...:(

Job Update

As you can see from my earlier blogs, it has been a little bit difficult for me to decide where I would like to work! lol I decided late last week that I really needed to re-visit the labor and delivery unit at Baptist East in Montgomery since my first experience wasn't at all what I expected. So today I re-met with the nurse manager and I must say that it was a much more pleasant experience. This time I did not feel rushed and she actually took the time to go over the computer system with me. She showed me all the rooms and talked about all the equipment. She even introduced me to some of the staff and they were all so nice. I really liked was I saw!
I will say that even before I went today I had already decided which job I was going to take! I spoke with one of my friends that works in L&D and she was so honest with me about the unit. She didn't sugar coat anything! She definitely played a huge role in my decision and after visiting the unit today I can officially introduce myself as the NEWEST staff member of Labor and Delivery! I start on March 23rd with 2 weeks hospital orientation, then I start 13 weeks of orientation on the unit. After 13wks of orientation I will be working night shift {all by myself}. I am definitely not a fan of the "uniform" {I have to wear light BLUE} lol. So much for all the scrubs that I already have...NONE of which are Blue...:) oh well...
Anyways, please keep me in your prayers. I take NCLEX on Thursday...bright and early in the morning! And I am sooo nervous! I will hopefully find out on Saturday how I did on the test. I will write again then.

Lynda

Decisions, decisions. . .

This is going to be a long one so be patient :) . . . So today I went on two more interviews and I must say they went SO much better than the very first one I had last week. They were both at Baptist South in Montgomery and they went VERY well!!

The first one today was for Pediatrics and the other was in the Emergency room. Like I said before, I just have never really thought about doing anything other than labor and delivery, but after today's interviews that may have all changed and not for the reasons you may think.

My first interview was at 1pm and since it is a big hospital I decided to get there early. I got there (early like I said) and the nurse manager was not back from lunch yet so I was asked to wait in the "play room." I took one look at the little 2 year old size chairs and decided to stand outside the play room instead. After all I was wearing a dress. haha. In the time I was standing there, about 5 nurses came up to me and asked if I had already been helped. That alone was impressive to me! The woman interviewing me for the pediatrics position was your typical peds manager. Very bubbly, talkative, approachable, and so kind! She wanted to know EVERYTHING about me! She asked me almost everything about being in the military, when I was married, where I see myself in 5 years, and why peds? After this, she told me everything that I could have ever wanted to know about the unit and more. I can tell you that I was incredibly impressed, not just with the unit, but with her and her staff as well. She then gave me the tour of the unit and talked to me the whole time. It was just so different from the very first interview that I had. It actually felt like she wanted me to be a part of her unit and not just a person to fill an open position. Then after 50 minutes, when the interview was over, she actually walked me down to the Emergency room and introduced me to my second interviewer! How amazing is that!

The emergency room nurse manager was just as great as the peds nurse manager. She told me that as soon as she spoke with me yesterday on the phone she could see my smile and knew right there and then that I was going to be just what she wanted for her unit. Then she said "So tell me about Lynda?" haha. I loved that. After I told her about me, she told me about the unit and the staff and actually referred to the unit as a "family." That was really nice to hear too. She also gave me a tour of the unit and almost everyone of the staff members said hello to me. Again, so different than the very first interview I went on! Then she told me that she was going to put in the recommendation for hire to the nursing recruiters as soon as possible because she knew I was looking at other areas of the hospital and she really wanted me to come work for her. I have not received an offer yet, but do anticipate one very soon.

As soon as I get home the phone rings and it is the nurse recruiter with job offers! She offered me the L&D position at Baptist East that I interviewed for last week and the Pediatrics position at Baptist South. I told her that I was really not ready to make a decision yet and would still like to go on some more interviews so she said that I can just let her know in a week where I stand. :)

Now, for my dilemma . . . Like I said before, again, and again . . . I have ALWAYS pictured myself working as a labor and delivery nurse, but after comparing the interviews I had today to the one in L&D last week, there really is no comparison. I want to work somewhere where I feel wanted and I just did not feel that there. The nurse manager in L&D really turned me off from wanting to work on her unit and that really is sad, because I only met with her one time and maybe she was just having a bad day that day, but still . . . first impressions are everything! I know a few people who work there and I think I have already picked their brains for just about everything L&D related, but I would still really like to talk to them and see how she is on more of an everyday basis before I completely rule this out. My heart is very torn right now for what to do. She definitely did not turn me off of L&D by any means. If I do not do L&D soon, I will one day. . . after all it is my dream job! :)

Thanks for reading! Pray that I can make a decision soon! Also please pray for me because I take my NCLEX on March 12...NEXT WEEK! Agghhh! lol

xoxo
Lynda

SNOW!!!

Sorry I am just now writing about this past weekend. Its has been a crazy few days around here. Well we had some pretty crazy weather around here this past weekend. It started out beautiful on Thursday in the mid 70's and then turned to tornado weather Friday and Saturday with a lot of heavy rain and lightning. Then on Sunday..SNOW! It was amazing how the weather changed so fast! That's Alabama for you! :)

Sunday, March 1st . . .
Morgan and I woke up around 7am and opened the blinds to a winter wonderland. The look on Lucy's face was PRICELESS! She perked right up and started whining and wagging her tail. It was so cute! Molly had no clue what to think, she just looked at Lucy like "whatcha lookin at?" So we hurried up and put on some sweatshirts and shoes and headed out side.

The puppies LOVED the snow. They immediately started playing and eating it. haha! We stayed outside for about 20 minutes before deciding to come back in and drink some HOT chocolate. It was such a wonderful relaxing morning. We then loaded up the pups and headed to Morgans parents house to have a little breakfast and play in the snow some more :) At breakfast, Cadi and Natalie {Morgan's younger sisters} came up with the wonderful idea to attach a pool float to the four wheeler and have Morgan drive us around over the snow! There were a lot of wipe-outs and I think we all have a few bruises we could talk about, but luckily no one was hurt, and we all had so much fun!

It was like a blizzard sometimes!

Snow Flakes on my nose!

Molly taking a much needed puppy break inside while we all played in the snow. She was watching us out the window while we rode on the float :)

So much fun!! This was Morgan driving, Cadi on the back of the four wheeler and Natalie hanging on for dear life to the float.