Comment on strange attractions

So my cousins and I send out group emails daily, discussing the events of the day or what-have-you. A week ago or so Steff and Lisa were talking about how the morning radio show they listened to were asking listeners who they were strangely attracted to. For instance, I am strangely attracted to GOB from Arrested Development, because I think his pants hang very nicely (see pics above). Anyone else out there have someone they are strangely attracted to?

Comment on 5 minutes in hell.....

Friday night Lisa and I went to a tri-stake activity. One of our callings is that we are reps for the River View Young Single Adults. There was a dance in the gym-I was not prepared for that. If I had known I don't think I would have gone. Anyway in the church gym there was well, a DJ, and some flashing lights, and well, like 30 people standing around. I immediately felt sick and was like seriously-I'm not going in there. I don't do dances anymore. It pretty much ended for me before my mission. Actually church dances ended for me in high school. Albuquerque dances were great-lots of people-our friends were the dee-jays and they played great music-I mean it was fantastic. But that was like 12 years ago team. That time for me has passed and I accept that and that's part of me knowing who I am now and what I will and won't do, and apparently, I won't do church dances. Period.

Comments on 100 random things about me

I got this idea from Marie's blog and I was getting ready to go to bed and I thought of all these things I could say and so I thought hey-I have to work tomorrow night so there's no reason to go to bed now. So here goes-

100. I get easily sucked in to real estate shows on HGTV

99. The year I graduated from BYU-although at my 30th b-day party/get-together i told people i graduated in high school in 99 (obviously they didn't know i was 30, it was a see-crud)

98. Sometimes before I go to bed I dab on a bit of my favorite perfume just for fun (currently DKNY Be Delicious)

97. I eat the same breakfast every day-Oatmeal Squares in the blue box ($2.78 at wal-mart)

96. Raw beef smells like human blood so I don't like to cook it.

95. I sweat like a large man when I work out.

94. The year I graduated high school-I don't often admit this :o)

93. If I could spend all day reading my favorite books without feeling lazy I would.

92. I still wear my retainer every night (or day) to bed

91. The year I graduated high school-I don't often admit this :o)

90. I have high cholesterol (256-i'm not even kidding) hence the eating of the oatmeal squares for breakfast, and the oatmeal at lunch when I work.

89. Diet cherry coke with limes (real ones) is my absolute favorite thing to drink

88. I don't enjoy going to movies as much as I used to before my mission

87. I own about 10 books on marriage that I collected in the pre-mission years-why? I don't know, it's kind of embarassing.

86. I feel very self-conscious most of the time, and it keeps me from doing a lot of things I want to do.

85. I don't think my job scares me as much as it should (well, today anyway).

84. Although I hate my age, I also like it, in that I'm more apt to not be willing to do things I don't want to do just because everyone else wants to do them.

83. I plan on attending the new X-Files movie wearing my 'Scully' jacket (long and black my friends).

82. I get homesick for Utah even though I live here.

81. Burger Supreme is my all-time favorite out of all the greek-owned hamburger places here in Utah

80. I have 2 cars just because I can't bear to part with my Saturn-it's my first car I ever bought and paid for all on my own.

79. Seriously, part of the reason I became a nurse was influenced by my love of ER. No joke.

78. I was saying 'seriously' on my mission thanks to Danny Young who said it all the time, that's like 3 years before Gray's Anatomy came out. They stole that word from me.

77. I really grew to like living in Pocatello.

76. I miss nursing school sometimes, mostly I think I miss my BFF Becky-we were together all the time through all the torture of school. It really bonds you together. I still think there's some people from our class who don't know who was who. Plus there's something to be said when you can tell each other you're being a brat and still be on speaking terms the next day.

75. Another reason I became a nurse-I love scrubs. Plus guys in scrubs are hot (NTF).

74. One of my biggest fears since I was a little kid is that I wouldn't be able to get pregnant and have a baby. Kind of weird for a 10 year old.

73. I miss my family a lot, all the time. Especially my brother.

72. I still have my VHS recordings of Felicity season 1 because they lost the rights to the music when they put out the DVD's and I love the original music and I can't part with it.

71. Cafe Rio Salads are better than Bajio's and way better than Costa Vida.

70. When I go to restaraunts I tend to order the same thing-I rarely branch out-I don't want to be disappointed.

69. I'm a serious homebody and I accept that about myself.

68. I'm very outgoing at work, but a completely different person at church-aka I don't really talk -it's weird. I think I expend all my energy being outgoing at work.

67. I feel like I have to compete with most people, although I generally try to suppress that feeling.

66. Ben and Jerry's Chubby Hubby is my all-time favorite ice cream. Still. I just re-discovered it and it's responsible for lots of extra treadmill time.

65. I hate keeping junk. I get mad at myself when I do it.

64. I have not yet subjected myself to tivo-I know, it's shocking.

63. I love Gain detergent. Emilee at work introduced me to it when I accosted her asking what perfume she was wearing-turned out, it was just laundry detergent. No big deal.

62. Some day I want to live in Boston.

61. I was attacked by a large dog when I was like 3, it's one of my earliest memories-therefore, I don't do big dogs.

60. The first night of the year that i"m able to sleep with my window open all night long is my favorite night of the year. If that makes sense.

59. When I first was allowed to drive by myself (I was able to pick up my sister from her typing class) I would always play Bryan Adams 'The Boys of Summer" with my windows rolled down. Every time.

58. When I was younger (like middle school) I was obsessed with The Judds.

57. I used to work with a guy who absolutely could not get passed the greatness of the music of the 80's. I thought that was weird. Now I'm the same way about alternative music from the 90's :o).

56. I'm still trying to lose the weight I gained when I decided to serve a mission and let myself go and continued to let myself go during the mission. Seriously it's a problem.

55. Speaking of pre-mission issues, I chopped off all my hair-literally-went from hair halfway down my back to like 2 inches long in a felicity-esque way of trying to regain control of my life. Issues.

54. Despite my short hair serving a mission was the best thing I could have every done-I think it was more for me than for the people I served.

53. Before we moved to Albuquerque when I was 6 my grandma and grandpa Carson made me learn how to spell it-I think of that every time I go to write it.

52. I always set my alarm for a good 30 minutes before I have to get up to allow for time to press snooze.

51. Although I think Gold's Gym is a conspiracy I've been a loyal member off and on for years.

50. After working for a dermatologist I'm scared to death of tanning beds, but that does not keep me from laying out by the pool-in SPF 50.

49. I can't wait to be warm again! This has been the snowiest winter of my life.

48. I am paranoid of bad breath-therefore I always chew gum-Dentyne Ice-Artic Chill-the black package. Always.

47. I like watching people and trying to figure out their lives.

46. Really, there's something cool about working in a hospital like Primary Children's. It's pretty sweet.

45. My favorite thing about myself: My hair. I've been blessed.

44. My next favorite thing about myself: My eyes, I have my grandpa's eyes-we all do. (Bev told me that once-very cool). Except for DJ. He has my dad's eyes. So by we all I mean my mom, my aunt, my uncle, most of my cousins and Jenna.

43. Holding babies has always been one of my favorite things. I have the touch. My mom even told me.

42. I don't understand cats-good thing I'm allergic to them.

41. It takes me at least an hour to get ready for bed. It's one of my least favorite things to do during the day.

40. I hate having a tv in my bedroom, and yet I keep it there.

39. I like quiet.

38. I still love Dave Matthews. If I get married I really need someone who will take me to one of their concerts.

37. I can't wait for The Hills to come back.

36. One of my favorite t-shirts is an Olympus High basketball shirt I stole from one of the elders, I'm wearing it right now.

35. I'm the only one in my family who hasn't been on my dad's Harley.

34. I miss popcorn and cheese. And fried ice cream from El Azteca.

33. Reality Bites is still one of my favorite movies to quote, although nobody I know anymore actually knows any of the lines, which makes it not as fun to quote.

32. I can't wait for Thursday night's Lost.

31. I still remain a loyal watcher of ER even though I admit it's getting kind of old (did I really write that? )

30. I think I have finally outgrown the Real World.

29. I have golf clubs-they are purple.

28. Part of the reason I like to run is so that I can say that I'm a runner.

27. The other part of the reason I like to run is that it requires discipline and makes my legs look cool when I walk. Not that I show off my legs.

26. My family calls me 'stumps' as in short legs, that would be why I don't like to show them anymore. Thanks guys.

25. I go to church and meetings and church functions because I love the gospel and it's where I'm supposed to be to show the Lord my obedience to Him, not just because everyone else is doing it.

24. I've changed since my mission. Sometimes I don't know who this new person is. I should probably figure it out.

23. I love baseball hats (especially my boston hat) but since my hair is so thick I feel like it floats atop my head, and that's a problem.

22. One of the things I look forward to the most about the writer's stike ending should be new episodes of Grey's Anatomy, but really it's new episodes of The Office.

21. This is the age when I really thought I was officially old. My best friend growing up, Korinne, kidnapped me and took me to Mesquite for the weekend along with her sister and her sister's best friend. That was so much fun.

20. I love Jimmy John's subs. The #4, easy on the mayo, no lettuce. It was a staple on surgery days at the dr's office.

19. I loved doing title inspections. No office, no phone, just me and the saturn on the open road, looking at houses.

18. I always sign my name, Jennifer J. Mills. Sometimes I forget I'm not at work and add an 'RN' on the end of that.

17. This is such a cool age there is even a magazine for it.

16. I have worked at 3 pizza places: Little Caesar's, Domino's and Dion's.

15. When I got accepted I wanted to work at the BYU Bookstore because in high school my favorite book was Michelle and Debra by Jack Weyland, and Michelle worked at the BYU Bookstore. This is not a joke, that was my only reason for working there. For 5 years. Apparently I am very affected by media.

14. I love freshly picked green beans that you have to snap-they taste so good and have a great earthy gardeny smell.

13. I love to drive at night with my window rolled down (in the summer of course).

12. Although everyone in Pocatello (my friends that is) loves Mama Inez for mexican food, I beg to differ and prefer Senor Iguana's. In fact, we went there so much that it got to where I didn't have to ask them to make me flour tortilla chips-i would walk in and they would automatically say we're making them for you. You gotta love small town restaraunts.

11. The age I was when my bro was born. Some of my favorite sayings of my little bro's :'I have all kinds of time,nothin' but time.' 'I know all about it', 'I'm all over it'...man I miss my brother. Seriously he comes home in november. That'll be pretty freaking amazing.

10. I still call jamba juice 'zuka juice' and every once in awhile i'll take it way back and call it 'blenders'

9. One summer my dad used to literally drag me up the trail up rock canyon like every day. I hated it. Now I love it.

8. I used to think that my personal journal should be an open forum for thoughts. Now that I go back and read those thoughts I find them embarassing, and I wish I had stuck to safer topics like the weather. I kind of feel the same way when I look at byu pics with my hair dyed red-seriously, what was i thinking?

7. I am a proud member of Netflix.

6. I bought my ipod this summer 2 weeks before the new ones came out. When I saw the new ones and found out I could buy an 80gb for the price i paid for my 30gb, I was ticked. I found my receipt from Best Buy and took it back. They totally did the exchange and said i was lucky I kept that receipt. No kidding. Best decision I ever made man.

5. The age I was when my sister was born. Her name is Jenna. My name is Jennifer. Her birthday is June 9th. My birthday is June 12th. Her initials are JMM. My initials are JJM. I think it's weird. Good thing we're BFFS.

4. I am very disappointed at this next line-up for Dancing With the Stars. I was expecting Donny Osmond to be on it so I would really have something to complain about. Oh well.

3. Whenever I look at the clock at work and it's 3am I think 'it's 3am I must be lonely'-20pts if you can name that song.

2. I love giving nicknames to people, or code names if you will, especially at work. It's kind of fun and makes talking on our Vocera's interesting.

1. I decided to blog as a way of recognizing the fun things in my life-I think it's working! Yea Team!

Comment on a night shift (the first of many)

So I just want to point out that I've been awake for almost 24 hours. I woke up yesterday afternoon (Saturday) at 2:30pm, and it's now 1:30pm (Sunday). I'm laying on the couch (futon) with my legs propped up on the back of it trying to drain the fluid from my puffy 'i worked 3 nights in a row and drank way too much diet coke' feet. I'm also sorta watching HGTV because they have all of these great real estate shows on and I love real estate shows-it keeps me up until the wee hours of the night more nights than I can count. But lets start at the beginning.

Last time I blogged I was preparing to start my first of 3 nights in a row. This is not a big deal because I often work 3 nights in a row. I just started a night 'agreement' (not a contract) to work 2 nights and one day a week, at the end of 16 weeks if I have worked my obligatory 2 nights/week I get a bonus. It's pretty sweet for me since well, I was not doing well flipping back and forth. I feel like I've written this all before. I think my heart is fluttering around, too much caffeine. Anyway so I like my night shifts-and here's why-

Night shifts have a different feel than day shifts. Day shifts are busy because you have kids going for surgery (since we're basically a surgical NICU) or for studies or radiology stuff or whatever, and traveling with these kids isn't easy. And you have the entire care team coming around to each bedside. The care team consists of the attending, the residents (they travel in swarms I'm not even kidding), the NNP, the dietician, sometimes OT/PT, sometimes Social Work. And then you have people coming to work with the kids, plus parents coming in, and then your roommates have stuff going on and so you help them too and it makes for a busy day but it goes by fast.

Nights are a little slower. Well, it feels slower because there aren't so many people running around-there's only 1 attending, a couple of NNP's, and the residents are usually only running around in 2's rather than swarms. And unless your kid is going for emergency surgery or is a new admit needing emergency surgery, there's really no traveling. You can be busy just keeping the kid alive if he's really sick, or keeping him happy if he's irritated, and that can be crazy, but the biggest challenge is staying on top of your A-game when your body knows it's not natural to be functioning at all hours of the night.

We can do some fun things on nights if we're not running crazy. University Hospital (which we are connected to via a glass walkway) has a Starbucks that is open 24/7-it's kind of fun to walk over there and get a drink (nonfat steamer for me please) at 3am (I haven't been able to do this for awhile but it's a fun time). And then if you have friends working it's fun to go to lunch together and talk about the latest britney escapades that are being hashed out on CNN. And of course when the crying gets to be too much you can go visit your friends in other rooms to get a break. Usually around 4am it gets hard to be awake but we work through it.

These last three nights have been pretty fun. Thursday night there were treats at the front desk, and I gave in and had yet another sugar cookie, plus Rachel gave me sugar cookies for working for her and Jane gave me a little goodie bag with one of her homemade oreos in it-and seriously at 5am I had a sugar crash. I need to control it. Emilee worked that night so that was fun-we got into a rousing discussion with Matt during our lunch about....well I don't remember what it was about but I know that I was all kinds of worked up. Friday morning the drive home wasn't too bad-I didn't kill anyone in my sleepiness, and I watched Lost when I got home. And still managed to work out Friday afternoon.

Friday night Jane was supposed to work but she traded to work Friday day since they were short, and so I was bummed because we have fun working together. But my spirits were lifted when Stacey came walking towards the elevator after I clocked in, and Stacey=diet coke run early in the shift. This was followed a couple of hours later by lunch, where I was talked into sharing potato munchers or our friendship would end. Potato munchers are something everyone loves, they're these fried things and the inside is hashbrown with velveeta cheese. I'd never had them before because I'm anti buying food at the hospital because I don't want to be eating grilled cheases every night, which is what I would eat, if I bought food. Back to the munchers-they tasted really good and I thoguht it would make me sick (my usual night shift meal consists of oatmeal, yogurt, string cheese, and sugar-free pudding, and an apple for the 5am energy drop), but it didn't.

Saturday morning

Comment on Valentine's Day

So today is V-Day, which really doesn't affect me in any way except that I spent my nap time (I have to work the night shift tonight, friday night and saturday night) lying on the couch (i.e. futon) watching one of my fave eps of The Office (the one where Jim comes in dressed like Dwight "Bear Beats Battlestar Galactica") and eating v-day candy given to me by Lisa and my aunt. Of course there has also been the v-day build-up where I decided it would be fun to make sugar cookies and give little bags of sugar cookies to my work friends, which is kind of fun. Reminds me of the days back in elementary school where you had to make the v-day mailboxes and get the valentines for everyone in the class. And then you would put conversation hearts in the little cards and you made sure to specially pick out the conversation hearts for your boyfriend in class. At least I always did :o).





Anyway the making of the sugar cookies requires a big build-up on my part. I've always made chocolate chip cookies and it's only in the last couple of years that I've started sugar cookies thanks to Steff's fantastic recipe and Grandma Mills' frosting. I find that sugar cookies takes a couple of days to do-one day to actually make the dough (which I did Sunday night while listening to Sarah McLachlan and the Indigo Girls which made me all nostalgic). The dough chilled on the deck all night and most of the day on Monday and then Monday night I rolled out the cookies, Lisa was in charge of the frosting. It was pretty fun. We put it all together while watching October Road, which is a great show that has great music. They used to play a lot of music from the 90's which I really enjoyed, they are kind of getting away from that but the music is still good. Anyway I put the sacks together and used the cards I made on Super Bowl Sunday. It was pretty sweet.




**My hair might be a little bushy in this pic, I have since gotten my hair cut-thank goodness!**

As I mentioned tonight I have to work which doesn't bother me to work on v-day, the only thing that bothers me is that I will have to watch the latest episode of Lost tomorrow instead of tonight, but no big deal. I'm going to show my v-day support by wearing pink scrub bottoms and a brown shirt. I'm all about dressing up for the occasion. Happy Valentine's Day Team!!!

**The finished product**

Comment on The Shirtless Wonder

So Monday I had off, and so did Lisa. This was fun for me because well, I usually have days off during the week but everyone else is at work, so I'm by myself, which I don't mind but sometimes it gets a little boring, and since my mom is the only other person who I know is home, I end up calling my mom seriously once or twice a day, depending on how many comments I have that day. But I'm totally digressing...

Anyway Lisa and I decided a good idea would be to go and see Fool's Gold. Note: Bad Idea. We went to the 12:20 show (the earlier show was for some mom's movie groups, and we did note the number of minivans in the parking lot). So the theatre which was huge consisted of me and Lisa, and a couple of grandma/grandpa couples, and some middle-aged guy by himself which is fine, yet kind of weird because what was this guy doing at a chick flick by himself? But back to the movie: basically we paid $5.25 to see Matthew McConaughey (sp?) run around with no shirt, which I can see for free on E!. It was seriously no shoes, no shirt, no problem, but not in a hot Kenny Chesney kind of way. Now even though I think M.M. is hot (sorry I didn't want to have to try and spell his name again), it was grossing me out that he was running around with no shoes, and that reminded me of Britney Spears running around in gas stations with no shoes on which is disgusting, and why does she like to have the papparazzi around her so much and has anyone put her on lithium yet and apparently the movie wasn't holding my attention enough so I could think of these things. Also-note to anyone who wanted to see this movie-it's PG-13, without the olbigatory 'f' word, but there is a chica who flashes her boobs, yes, that's right, i guess they were substituting frontal nudity (brief of course) for the ultimate swear word (don't worry mom I will send a letter to the movie rating people).

**The Shirtless Wonder in full glory**

Ok, so enough on Fool's Gold. So after the movie Lisa and I hit Rustler's Grill-which is a new grill place off 106th South, and it's kind of like Bajio's or Cafe Rio in that the menu is small and they make your food right in front of you and then you go and sit down and eat it. But it was really good. The fries were amazing and the hamburgers were really good and I didn't eat another meal the rest of the day because it kept me pretty full.

After Rustler's Grill we went to Old Navy and then to Target-where I went to get ribbon and ended up with a dress, butter, Ben and Jerry's Chubby Hubby, Valentine's Candy, a magazine, toilet paper, and I can't remember what else. The checkout guy was funny because I told him that I went in to get ribbon and after he rang it up he said well, your ribbon came to $62.86 or whatever it was. It was kind of funny. Anyway that was our day-it was pretty fun. It was nice to go out and just do fun stuff on a day off of work rather than my usual work out, go to the store, etc. And the weather was nice, spring fever is definitely hitting. And with spring fever usually comes spring shopping-I don't think my budget can handle it-I need to control myself......

Comment on being artsy

So I have never been one for arts and crafts, in fact I did a few crafty (or artsy as my boss at the BYU Bookstore called it) things at church activities but let's be honest, they sucked and ended up getting taken away to DI, or the garbage can, whichever was most appropriate.

So now I live with Lisa and well, she's very artsy. She takes after her mom (my dad's older sister). Seriously Lisa has the knack for decorating, creating, displaying, what-have-you, everything that I lack in the 'making a home a home' department. Basically Lisa has decorated our apartment, which is a good thing because I don't know how to decorate. I have contributed a second-hand entertainment center, a clock (which was given to me by my BFF Becky), and a picture I purchased in Seattle. That's about where it ends....

until now.....

Introducing (drum roll please).........

My Decoration!!!!!! Ta Da!!!!

You may look at this as just 3 hearts sticking in a piece of wood, but I look at this as a new era in my life-the era where I can learn to tap my inner martha and create decor in my own home. Very exciting. Thanks to Lisa and a shop known as the Wood Connection, I am enjoying making these little crafty things. And, since there's a writer's strike and Lost is the only thing on tv, I have all kinds of time to do things. It's very exciting. Now I'm not really sure about the random pink heart, I think I probably should have done all 3 red, but I'm still working on learning these things, and they may need little rafia ribbons tied around them, but for now I feel really good about it.

Here are a few other artsy things I have done:

I painted a magnet board that I can put pictures/momentos in, as soon as I take some pictures (hence the new camera)

I painted my toes-in a lovely shade of "Linkin Park at Midnight" ala L.C. from "The Hills"

haha

And I arranged some flowers too:

Well that's all for my decor for now. I think I've decorated myself out until summertime. I should probably go to the gym and workout now or something......

Comment on the Super Bowl

So my first comment is simply this: I changed the name of my blog from Jen, RN to Jen has a comment because well, I always have comments and I like to make them, and it seemed appropriate for a blog where I will make comments. Sometimes it takes me awhile to be creative. Anyway last night was the Super Bowl, which everyone knows. I heard it's the 3rd biggest eating 'holiday' of the year. That's pretty appropriate. Due to the snow (see pics from yesterday's blog) Lisa (my cousin/roommate) and I were not able to make the trek to her parent's house to watch said game, so we stayed at our apartment and marveled at the snow. What was amazing is that we came out of church-the snow wasn't falling, the sky looked ominous, but it didn't seem too bad. We got into our apartment and literally within minutes it was as if a blizzard had descended. Out of control.

So back to the Super Bowl. I was rooting for the Pats, not that I follow NFL football or anything, but it goes back to my New Hampshire days and my friend Mike who has been a loyal supporter of the Pats even when they sucked. So therefore I have always supported them even though I don't know what I'm talking about. We had the game on, but I started making valentine's cards and was so engrossed in it that I didn't even notice that the scoreboard and that the Pats were in a serious situation. Anyway long story short-you all know what happened, the Pats lost, I felt bad for Mike, and for the Pats-it would have been cool for them to go 19-0, or so I've been told. Maybe they'll have another chance next year....

More Snow? Are you kidding me?

So apparently the weather reports were correct, and we were hit with yet another storm. I have lived in Utah for a lot of years over my lifetime but I don't remember being hit with so much snow in such quick succession. I think we've had snow at least once a week since I can't remember when. The first pic is our parking lot-my CR-V is the last car on the right, not that you can tell since it's covered in snow. This 2nd pic is the tree outside my bedroom window, which looks pretty sweet I think. Anyway I had to purchase an SUV to be able to travel to work in such weather, the sporty saturn just wasn't cutting it. I love snow, I just think hey, it's February-isn't it about time to have this stuff melt? Just throwing it out there......

In a sleep-deprived haze I begin this blog.....

So at the end of 3 night shifts in a row, after only a few hours of sleep, I was sitting on my couch (read: futon) and playing around on my computer and I decided to sign up on facebook, then I decided a good idea would be to start a blog. I mean I'd tossed the idea around for a few days not thinking I'd actually go through with it, but lo and behold here I am. So this blog is basically created out of exhaustion and a desire to just throw ideas out there. I have a lot of things that float around in my mind and what better way to get them out than on the internet. So here goes-it's a good time for all of you reader(s) I'm sure. Anyway my ambien is calling and I need to get some sleep. Till next time......