Tomorrow, Tomorrow...

I'm so excited, yet pretty darn nervous at the same time. I'm so in love with the idea of having this tattoo, but I'm anxious to see what design Apryl has come up with. What if I don't like it?! I have to love it in order to place it on my body. I want this beautiful piece of art so badly. It will mean so very much to me, but it has to be exactly right. I'm so eager to see what tomorrow brings! My appointment is at 1:00 and will likely take 6+ hours (I've made a mental decision to get it all done at once). Afterwards we're headed to our friends Robin and Jake's place for a Mexican Fiesta!

HUBS BIRTHDAY!

Yup. Today Mr. Oprie turns 25. He's a quarter century old, folks!

Last night, for birthday dinner, this wife made swordfish. Aww yeeeeah. I'm told it was really good, too! Success! Then, I made his favorite cake for the big day. The cake was a big ego boost for me because it came out of the pan perfectly!

Spice Cake

Best wife award? Maybe?

If I Had To Guess...

...I'd say your weekend was far superior to mine.

Womp, womp.

Work sucked HARD, yo. At least it got progressively better with each day...I guess???

Friday--Hell
Saturday--Purgatory
Sunday--regular ol' hellish work day

The plus side: it's done, over, finished (until Wednesday, that is). Also, I got paid. Psh, that hardly makes up for it. I should get paid triple time for the hours I put in this weekend.

I won't bore you with the details, but if you were wondering whether two of my patients required sitters for suicide watch, one required manual catheter irrigation every couple hours and one of the crazies (I apologize for lack of better convenient term) necessitated a police escort at discharge...I will assure you all that was, indeed, a part of my splendid weekend.

I cried a lot and I vented to Phill with lots of, ahem, choice language. But seriously, no pity party for this girl AT ALL. I'm proud of myself. I really accomplished a lot this weekend that went WAY above and beyond my regular call of duty. So, go ahead, Alyssa.

PAT YOSELF ON THE BACK!

**Friday = Tattoo Day!

Wanna Hear Some Exciting News?

Yes! All thanks to my parents, Phillip and I will be flying home to the Midwest for an extended Labor Day weekend at the end of the summer! I'm so excited! This Fall is going to be wonderful! In August (ok, still actually Summer) we're heading up to Sedona for an anniversary vacation. Then, we leave Aug. 31st for our Labor Day vaca. Finally, Phillip's family is visiting us in October! I'm so jazzed!!!

This is My Husband

The picture quality may suck, and Phillip might look angry as hell, but check it out: He's eating a carrot. Is this normal for you? This was never normal at my home. My husband takes a carrot out of the fridge, peels it, and just eats it. No cutting or shredding involved. Odd.

He's a keeper =)

Weekend WrapUp

It's been so nice to have a full weekend off work. I can't remember the last Sunday I was actually able to spend at church. It was nice to go to main service, then jr. high service this morning, and high school tonight.

We're still finishing up settling into our new home. We both agree that we really love it here. I'm super glad we moved.

How sweet is this little puppy of mine?!

We ended up having an inpromptu date night last night. First, we went to dinner at the Elephant Bar since I had never been and we had a coupon. Then, we went to Castles & Coasters for some putt-putt. I sucked majorly awful. It was disappointing. Then, we topped the night off with some glorious frozen yogurt. Delightful =)

Castles & Coasters

 

 

I had more pictures from last night, but my computer ate them.

Well, goodnight all. I'm proud to say that it is only 10:53 and I am retiring to my bed! Thankfully, I have yet another beautiful day off work tomorrow, but I'll have to get some ACLS studying in at some point for my renewal course on Tuesday.

PS--12 days til T-Day {Tattoo Day!} Let the countdown begin!

Settling In

The heat and the new move have been hard on this man.

:-) He's cute.

So, we did, in fact, get all moved in on Friday! It was rough, but we got the job done, with much thanks to our friend Lorelle. We've moved many times before, but for some reason this one took a real physical toll on my body! I ended up leaving work early Saturday because my whole entire body ached severely and I was exhausted due to NO sleep. I didn't get to bed til about 12 or 1 and then couldn't sleep at all due to Margot barking and mosquitoes. I was so happy to be rid of them since moving to AZ,  but now they've found me again. There's more grass and trees at this complex so...there you go.

We love our new place, though. It's much more spacious and nice. We'll be posting a video tour once we get everything stowed away and the decorations in their place. It was fun last time, right? Right.

Phill's a happy guy today because he got a new bike! The poor guy has been left with my old crappy bike since his was stolen last Fall and I got a new one for my b-day. He's been really wanting one especially now because our new home is just down the street from the church so he would be able to just ride his bike rather than drive to work. He found it on Craigslist and he's pleased as can be. 

It's Movin' Time, Folks

It's that time of year again! It's the annual move your crap time! Ugh, I hate that this is an annual event. One good thing about moving is that it gives me an opportunity to go through our crap and get rid of the excess. This time around there's not as much excess, though, since we did SUCH a major upheaval before we moved out here. Yay for less-frivolous living!

Friday is the big day.
And then I work Saturday and Sunday.
Stupid.

Debbie Downer

Just call me Debbie.

This is us today.

Also, I found this unposted video from several weeks back when I was less 'downer-ific'.

**Take Note**

Since I live in the Phoenix area, I felt obligated to do this simple act and try to help this poor girl and her family. I read of this first at The Doe Or The Deer who has a personal connection.

Anything you can do to get the word out, would be greatly appreciated.

CLICK HERE for the Facebook page that was made.

*This is from the  FB note:

My Step Daughter is Missing

My stepdaughter Breann went missing on the morning of Thursday May 26th.    She was dropped off at Prescott Valley High School but did not attend school that day.  It was originally thought that she ran away because she was upset about an upcoming family move, but we are not positive that she ran away intentionally.   She was reported to have been picked up at Fry's in Prescott Valley by a male with blond hair driving a red pickup truck sometime after school on Thursday, but that is an unconfirmed report.   We have received several false leads from her friends, but so far none have been reliable.  The Prescott Valley Police Department is doing VERY LITTLE to assist her mother and step father, due to the fact that she was originally reported as a runaway.  

The duration of time that she has been gone, combined with the lack of support from law enforcement, have been incredibly sad, frustrating, and scary.   I can only imagine the fear her Mom is experiencing right now.  We appreciate the love/support/offers of help received from friends and family.   We ask that you please take the time to pass along this information, especially to those in the Prescott or Phoenix area.   There is a $5,000 reward for any information leading to her safe return. 

Home Sick, or Maybe Just A Sick Mind

Apparently, today is a day full of missing home for the strangest reasons--and it's only 12:33PM.

The first reason isn't strange. Mama called :-) I love my mother so much. It's funny how nearly every little girl {I think? Maybe I was the only evil daughter} is all "I'm not going to be anything like my mom {and dad} when I grow up!". Guess what, folks?

I'M HER.

Proud of it :-)

Reason #2--The guy at the gym before me was watching ESPN and it was a show all about the Pacers vs. Knicks showdown of '94 and '95. Ok, I was in elementary school at the time, so I had no clue any of this was happening. I wouldn't have really cared even if my 3rd grade self knew. Today I cared. Today I briefly became a huge Pacer fan and I was proud to saw I'm from Indiana. 

Except for the part when some fans had posters about hanging Spike Lee. HEAR ME INDIANA: I know you love to show the Confederate flag bumper sticker on your tractor, but you were never a part of the Confederacy. Please leave your stupidity aside. 

*Haunting side note: Did you guys know Marion, IN {yup, where I went to school and received my diploma} is the site of the last confirmed lynching of blacks in the Northern United States? Horrid!

Ok, I got a bit sidetracked. Anywho, reason #3--While browsing Facebook I see pictures from Huntington North High School's graduation. I teared up. Please refer back to the top where I said I am my mom. Point proven. Bless you, school of my youth!

PS--Thank you for all your kind thoughts, words, and prayers in regard to my last post. It was all-in-all a crappy sort of day for me and I was spiraling down a path that seemed to have no end in sight. Now, my husband is home, life is back to normal, and I have my head screwed on straight. Yes, all those things are technically still realities, but I know that midwifery is my passion and that I want to pursue OB experience prior to school since the finances for school aren't really available right now. It's all good and I think I'm just more content knowing that there is, in fact, a plan in sight. Plus, it helps knowing others are backing me up and showing support. You guys are amazing.

Who Needs a Career?

It's probably not a huge surprise to most of you reading that I have been wanting to make a transition in my career. This Med/Surg {According to this article, I'm, apparently, the "faint-hearted"} business is seriously wearing on me on a daily basis.  I have to really pump myself up and say desperate prayers on my drive into work every day in order to just get through it. Each day is a hit or miss. Some are good, many are really busy but tolerable, and {too many} some are just downright awful. The problem is that even the "good" days, aren't really good. I have no passion for my job. I do not enjoy it and I can guarantee I'm not working to my best potential because this is not where my strengths lie.

I want to be a Certified Nurse Midwife.

There are a couple problems:

• School--I'm terrified to go back to school. Also, more school means more money and another commitment. Basically, I'm a scaredy-cat.
• I have no Women-Infant experience, so what if it turns out I don't love being a Midwife? What if I'm pointing myself in the wrong direction?
• I've yet to find a way to be able to get this experience. There are few positions of this nature available here in the West Valley, and I'm pretty hesitant to even go for them because I'm afraid that, working in a hospital setting, there will be certain aspects of my job, particularly if I scored a L&D position, that I wouldn't agree with. For example, {I'm speaking in generalities, people} I'm against labor induction. Of course, there's a time and place, but it is WAY abused. Also, I think women should be active, not sedentary on a hospital bed, during their labor. Furthermore, they probably shouldn't be lying flat to deliver a baby at all {unless that's the position that seems to suit the laboring mom best}. Geez, I could go on and on, but that's really not the purpose of this post...
• Being a Midwife entails much more responsibility and autonomy than what is presently expected of me. In truth, this sounds amazing, but the thought of it being a reality is so God-awful terrifying. There's so much pressure and I'm not sure I would be successful, you know? In fact, the more I think about it, the more it truly frightens me.

I really dislike my current job, but it's so difficult to even consider making a change. Does any of this many a bit of sense to anyone?  Goodness. Trying to wrap my mind around all of this right now is almost making me want to cry!

Life is just so tricky. I know I've said this before, and I'm certain I'll say it again, but it sure would be nice if God would give me a pretty little road map for LIFE.

Any advice?

What's Happening, Hot Stuff?

So, here's the low down of my week thus far:

Phill's gone and I had Monday, Tuesday, and Wednesday {today} off work. Therefore, it's been a nice a female cuddle frenzy. Actually, I'm pretty proud of what I've accomplished in my time off without Phill because usually I'm such a lazy bum. I worked out ALL 3 DAYS! And we're talking good workouts, guys. Sweating hardcore. I told Phill I might want to look into running some 5Ks {approx 3ish miles. totally doable! right?!} and then possibly, potentially consider a mini-marathon...in the way distant future maybe. This is me not wanting to commit to it because it's scary and I don't want to officially make it a goal because if I do and then never accomplish that goal, I am then a failure! I'm total lame sauce.

Do I same lame sauce a lot? I think I do.

I also did some packing this week. I promised Phill I would try to get the ball rolling since we realized before he left that June 10th is way the heck closer than we both realized! So, our little apartment is now smaller because there are boxes and suitcases everywhere filled with all our junk. I'm please with the amount I got done in such a small amount of time, though.

Also! Today I had my tattoo consultation with Apryl at 27 Tattoo. I told her what I was thinking, showed her some things I'd found to illustrate what I was wanting, and we bounced a couple ideas around. I really, really love the ideas she came up with and I have full confidence that she's going to come up with the perfect design. What pleased me the most {SO much} was having her say, more than once, that the type of art and design that I want is what she really loves to do. She actually said this {Yeah, you're still stuck with 'this'. Secret, secret!} is one of her favorite things to do.

I found today to be another proud moment for myself. I was pretty nervous heading in to the consultation just because I wanted to make sure that I got my point across so I could ensure the perfect design and something I will love for all time, but at the same time I didn't want to come off, I don't know, ridiculous somehow. I'm not artsy and creative and I have very limited exposure to the tattooing world, so I wasn't entirely sure what to expect. I was afraid that I would be expecting, and demanding, maybe the impossible? I'm not really sure how to word it, but Apryl easily put my nerves to rest. She seems confident and excited about this endeavor, so I have no reason not to feel the exact same way! And, guys, I really am SUPER PUMPED now. So...I put my deposit down and have an appointment for July 1! We tried to get it sooner, but it seems the scheduling gods were against us for the month of June. Plus, this works out well because Fridays are Phill's day off and this ensures he'll be able to be there like he wanted {July 1 is a Friday}. I'm desperately hoping to be able to start and complete the tattoo all in one day, but odds are I'll end up needing to book a separate appointment to finish it. Apryl estimated this tattoo would take approximately 6 hours or so. She said that with larger pieces people usually are able to tolerate 3-4 hours of work at one time. Of course, many others are able to go longer, but I have no idea what my tolerance is since the little tattoo on my foot took a whopping 5 minutes from beginning to end! Now, don't worry. Just because I use terms like "larger pieces" and "6 hours" does NOT mean I'm covering my whole face and chest with ink. I'll let you know that this tattoo is destined for my upper arm and the amount of time will likely be longer than similar designs simply because of the style and detail I want.