Welcome Back

Long time no blog. Wow, how I have missed it so! Due to the hardest semester of my life I have had to take a short leave of absence, but Lindz-Dawg is BIA (back in action). I have been thinking about what would be entertaining to write about and the first thing that came to mind was an encounter I had with a patient my very first day of working at the hospital. It is quite humorous so feel free to laugh at me. Enjoy!

The first day of nursing school clinicals usually comprises a whirlwind of emotions. I remember feeling excited about being in a hospital, super HOT in my all white nursing uniform and white clogs, but overall scared to death that I would do something wrong. I tried to be on my best behavior, but at the same time I also tried to act like I wasn’t nervous and that I knew exactly what I was doing. Bad idea. The first patient I was assigned was an elderly man who was on so much pain medication that he could hardly tell what gender I assumed. I was assigned to a nurse who asked me to do a simple task…help him take a shower. A shower…I had this! Easy, peasy.  She asked, “Do you need any help? Or do you know what you’re doing?”

Do I know what I’m doing? The real question is, who couldn’t know how to help someone take a shower?! I answered with all the confidence in the world, “Absolutely.”

As she left the room, reality began to set in. I saw at least two IV lines going into his left arm, blood pressure cuffs hooked up on the other, compression devices on both legs, and did I mention that I didn’t even know how to lower the side rails? But nevertheless, this was a freaking shower! How hard could this be? I remember the nurse telling me that he needed a chair to sit in while he showered because he couldn’t stand on his own, so I asked the barely conscious man what chair he usually used in the shower. He mumbled something, so I looked around the room, spotted a chair, and pointed, “Did you mean this one?” He mumbled something again, which I took to be a “yes.” I grabbed the chair and placed it in the shower all ready for him, but due to the many questions running through my head and the overwhelming feelings that I had no clue how to get this man in the shower, I failed to notice that the chair I thought would suffice was actually a desk chair with leather and nice cushioning. I decided to stall and go ahead and warm up the shower for him while I thought about my plan of action, so I reached in and turned the knob. Immediatley, before I could even think to move, I was covered in water in my all white uniform (thank goodness I wore the waterproof clogs that day!).  The shower head was only half-way screwed on. After about a full 30 seconds of fiddling with the knob, I heard a voice behind me. 

“Umm, excuse me ma’am. What are you doing? First of all, you need to get that nice chair out of the shower and second of all, why are you covered in water?” 

While trying to hold back my laughter I looked up, and said, “I think you might be better at this.”

Lessons learned:

1.) Always ask questions. Never just assume.

2.) You can’t always be a bad-A. (I know, it’s a hard truth.)

3.) Never put a nice desk chair in the shower.

4.) When your patient is doped up on pain medication, don’t believe or assume anything he or she says.

I will never forget that day.

Spontaneity

Some of my favorite memories are from times when I least expected it. For instance, this past weekend nearly everyone from Auburn headed either home, to the beach, or to a wedding. Our normal summer crew (Carra, Kadie, etc.) hit the road, so I was expecting a very chill weekend full of sleeping, reading a good book, shopping online with Sarah Jane, and possibly catching up on some of my missed TV shows. Little did I know that this weekend I would be in for a treat. Saturday morning rolled around, and after a delicious meal at the Chicken Salad Chik (a request made by the boys), Joe, the master of all things spontaneous, mentioned that we take a trip to the lake. Within 30 minutes we were in the car, bags packed, shades on, and ready for what would end up being one of the funnest spontaneous trips I have ever been on. After riding someone else's jet skis, swimming in someone else's pool (they weren't home...why not?), and grilling kabobs and peaches on someone else's grill, we decided to swim across the lake and jump on someone else's water trampoline. None of this was planned, and all of this was completely 100% spontaneous. So folks, lessons learned:

1.) Grilled peaches with brown sugar and cinnammon are a million times better with a melted stick of butter.

2.) If you ever have the idea of swimming across a lake to a water trampoline, stop and rethink this idea. Water tramps are never worth the trouble. I mean come one, they barely even bounce. 

3.)  If you spend a weekend with Joe Knight you are guaranteed to eat some pretty dang good food. 

4.) Be spontaneous. You never know what kind of weekend you could end up with.

Get Yo Text On

Text messaging has really messed up the whole dating thing. No longer is a guy expected to call a girl to talk or intentionally flirt with a girl in public places. Text messaging solves all the problems. No nervous feelings or awkward moments of silence exist when texting. You never say anything stupid because you have time to think and respond extra cleverly. They can't see your sweaty palms, food in your teeth, or unzipped fly. You can all the sudden create this person you have always wanted to be because it's a text message and not a real conversation. I have even seen cases where the guy and girl are in the same room full of people "getting their text on" literally sitting within ten feet of each other. This is what text messaging has come to.

I was talking to a guy the other night who I guess just really needed someone to talk to. He voluntarily told me about his current girl problem and came to me seeking advice. Little did he know at the time, but this guy taught me a lot. He unconsciously answered many questions that I have had for a while and shined light on some areas I did not even know existed. So he was telling me how he had been talking/texting this girl for the past few months (the middle stage of dating previously known as "talking" has now evolved into "texting"). He said that he could tell she was playing games like all girls apparently do, ya know...blowing up his phone one minute and then playing hard to get the next. So, he had decided to play the games too. He told me that whenever she texted him he would purposely not respond for atleast half the day if not the whole day, and then when he finally did respond, he kept it very short with words such as "yeah," "ok," and "cool." He said that he knew this was probably driving her nuts, and it ended up working because after this very vague text convo, the next couple of days she was texting him anything she could think of trying to redirect his attention her way. He knew all along what he was doing, and his point was to try to keep her hanging on and coming back for more.

Boys, let me tell you, this was a revelation to me. This whole time we thought yall just weren't interested in us. I will admit that this strategy does work. If we text and you don't resond within the hour, our minds are automatically jumping to conclusions. We begin to wonder what you could possibly be doing, who you are with all of the sudden that has captured your attention away from our flirt session via text. We instantly make excuses like oh he probably is just working out or something and left his phone at home, or maybe he is talking to his mom on the other line. Then, we eventually convince ourselves that you must not have gotten our text message. It didn't go through or maybe we accidently pressed the end button instead of the send button. Then...you respond. Halleluia! We jump to see what it says and your ingenius plan worked. We are once again wrapped around your manly little finger.

Boys, props to you. Way to play the game so well, but I will say don't wait too long. If you don't respond within a day, we are probably going to get over you and move on to the next text-flirt session. Use your strategies wisely and don't get too overzealous.

Hint of the day: If you send us a text and we don't respond within half the day, we probs aren't interested in you or we are just interested in someone else. We are never too busy to ignore your text for too long, and if we are busy, we will pretty much drop anything to respond if you are the cute guy we are diggin.

(There are some exceptions to this such as long class hours with mean viscous teachers who would deduct points if you even brought that cellular device to class, or if we were at the lake/beach for the day, a family reunion, laying out forgetting our phone at home, etc. Use your good judgement to apply this insight.)

Lindsey's Man Criteria #2: You must love and be sweet to your momma. There is nothing more attractive than a guy who respects his mom and treats her like a queen because we all know that how you treat your momma is how you will eventually treat your wife!

Coping With Cookies

People deal with stress in many different ways. Some run, others eat everything in sight, some eat nothing at all. People resort to yoga, pilates, or deep breathing exercises. But me on the other hand...I bake. While some go to grab their yoga mats, I go to grab my spatula. If I have had a busy day full of tests or ridiculous patients, I don't even put down my bags before I go turn on the oven to 350. There is something so relaxing, peaceful, and relieving about baking. To think that you start with just some flour and sugar and then only an hour later it turns out to be something absolutely divine. It is almost like an art. It allows me a chance to escape into my own little baking world. I get so involved in the baking process that all of my days worries disappear and I just whisk them all away. Baking is my stress relief.

There are many things I love to bake, but my go to recipe has always been my chocolate chip cookies. They are little golden circles of delicious joy. They are nothing too terribly special, but my family loves them. It could be the enormous amount of chocolate chips I put in each one, or maybe it's the gooeyness of them freshly coming out of the over, but what I really think it has to do with is my secret ingredient. Toffee bits. (well I guess it's not a secret anymore!) In my opinion, toffee bits can turn a normal bland cookie into a fabulous mouth watering delectable cookie. It is what adds the "oohs and ahhs" after each bite, and what I really love is that no one ever knows exactly what that extra kick is. I always get really dramatic comments like, "Lindsey what is in these cookies?!" They can't quite figure it out, but they know there is something extra that they wouldn't normally expect in a chocolate chip cookie. It's such a mystery, and I love it! Try it for yourself. You won't regret it!

2 1/4 c. all purpose flour

1 tsp salt

1 tsp baking soda

2 sticks of unsalted butter

3/4 c. brown sugar

3/4 c. granulated sugar

1 tsp vanilla

2 eggs

2 c. (1 bag) semi sweet choc. chips

1 c. toffee bits

Add flour, salt, and baking soda in a bowl and whisk or fork until well blended. In a seperate bowl add softened butter, brown sugar, granulated sugar, and vanilla. Cream together and then mix, adding eggs one at a time. When all liquid ingredients start to look gooey, add in 1 cup of flour mixture at a time. Continue adding flour mixture into liquid mixture until all mixed together. Add in chocolate chips and toffee bits. Scoop tablespoon sized rounds onto an ungreased cookie sheet and bake at 375 (not 350 or they will be flat!). Bake for approximately 7 minutes or until golden brown. For thicker cookies, add an extra 1/4 cup all purpose flour.

A little lesson from some boys

So, last night we were hanging out and celebrating our friend "Jason's" birthday. While eating some delicious chocolate peanut butter brownies we somehow got into a discusion about pet peeves guys have about girls...or women as I like to call us. In the past I have assumed that guys don't really think that much about relationships. They don't really give a crap what we wear, what we do, or what we say. They just go with it and let the wind take them where it takes them. They aren't picky like we are, they don't over-analyze, and they don't get frustrated about things we do. Well, last night I discovered that this is a common misconception. Ladies, NEWSFLASH, guys do care, they do think about us, they do have preferences, and they do have frustrations that I think we all need to be aware of. Here are a few things I think we women can learn from:

1. Guys don't like possessive friends.

*One guy stated that it was so annoying when his girlfriend would tell him she couldnt hang out with him because her bestie got mad at her for spending too much time with her bf and not with her. "I mean chicks before...boys." Girls, chill out. You will not loose your bestie forever. Let her have fun hanging with her boy, and if she's not hanging with you its because she would rather be with her man. If you become possessive of her time she will only hang out with you due to an obligation she feels she owes to you. It will push her away, and you will end up loosing her if you don't watch your selfish behavior. It is sweet that you want to be with her all the time, but don't get jealous of the boyfriend. She will come to you when she has a problem or when he breaks her heart or when she's had too much boy time. ONLY interfere when you feel the relationship is starting to get somewhat unhealthy, such as they are hanging out 23 of the 24 hours of the day and they have been dating for over 4 months. (I believe in the first 4 months of dating it is normal and natural to want to hang out a lot). Also, if your friend has a boyfriend they have made a decision to spend lots of intentional time with him, so for crying out loud, LET THEM!

2. The Stage 5 Clinger:

*Co-dependency is a turn off and if you continue in your behavior...you will get dumped. Independence according to Michael Nunnally is "sexy." It's ok to do things on your own. Its okay to not know every little detail that your boy is doing, thinking, saying, eating, etc. Don't text him five hundred times a day, and don't post on his fbook wall with little comments every hour just so everyone knows that he is yours. Let him hang with the boys if he wants to. But I will say, if he chooses to hang with the boys every night for a month straight...RED FLAG: he's not into you anymore and a serious convo needs to happen. Also, boys you are not off the hook. You have also been know to many of us ladies to be a needy nutcase. Watch your behavior as well. You don't own all of her time, and she did not commit to marrying you. She commited to dating you. Major difference. A believe a little hard to get sometimes keeps the relationship interesting, spontaneous, and healthily romantic. Self control is key!

3. Guys like when girls act the same way to him no matter what company she is around.

* I will admit that I have been guilty of not following this rule in the past, so I am saying all of this to myself as well. It is common for girls to feel self conscious in their relationship when other people are around. It's almost like the first day of kindergarten. You aren't sure what to do with yourself because you have no idea what people are thinking about you so you decide to resort to strange behavior like playing with the fake plastic kitchen and cooking that waxy piece of fake bacon, looking like you are enjoying yourself, but really you are so terribly uncomfortable on the inside. You just want to act normal and be yourself but your thoughts focusing on others keep you from acting normal. Ladies, take a deep breath when your man is around your friends, your family, or while in a social setting. No one is really thinking that much about you or about yalls relationship. Just be normal. Be the same person you are when yall are on a date. Don't act "too cool" to be flirty with him or show him attention. Guess what honey, don't flatter yourself. The earth does not revolve around you and we aren't judging your every move. In fact, if you took a poll I think 99% of the responses would indicate that you would appear better in the eyes of others if you appeared to not give a crap what people thought about you and your man. You would not only earn respect from his guy friends and earn major bro-friend girlfriend points, but you would also make your BF feel loved. One thing you need to know about boys (and guys correct me if I am wrong) but they need to feel noticed, loved, and appreciated. They need attention and affirmation just as much as we emotional women do. I mean don't go to the extreme and makeout in the middle of skybar or recite him love poems at a party, but it's ok to laugh at his non-funny jokes, grab his hand for a slight second to let him know your glad he's there, or ask him if he wants to leave a tad bit early or stay out just a little longer and go do something just the two of you. Relationships are a two way street. You both have to give. It's not all about the take.

4. Guys don't put exclimation points or smiley faces in text messages, and that doesn't mean they are mad at you.

*My friend Bo told me a story the other day about a girl he was texting who asked him later if he was mad at her. He said no and was quite confused at why she would think that until she said, "Oh, well you didn't use any exclimation points or smiley faces in your text messages, so it sounded like you were mad." Ok, girlfriend whoever you are, come on...get real. Guys text what they want to say. They don't put extra marks in there to emphasize certain words. Don't read, "Yeah. Come over if you want." as wow he must really not want me to come over because first of all he said "yeah" and not "ABSOLUTELY!" and second of all he said "if you want," instead of "PRETTY PLEASE COME!!! :) :) :) In fact, run for your life if he does text you like this. Girls, Bo says don't read into the text messages. Whatever it says is what they mean. Don't emphasize certain words or over-analyze. What it says is what they mean. That's it.

So, this is what I gathered from some convos I have had recently, and yes, I was taking mental notes because these statements came from the mouths of 5 very respectable guys who I feel know what they are talking about. Girls, be yourself and don't try to mold yourself into the perfect girlfriend, but do know that guys do care about how you treat them and your actions. They might act all tough and put together, but they have preferences too!

Today, I became a blogger

Ok, so confession. I am "that girl that hates blogs." My thought process usually goes something like this: Why do people feel the need to post their feelings on a website, and who in their right mind would want to read those sappy, feely, emotional posts? but today while sitting through my 5 hour lecture in my Psychiatric nursing class, searching through all my bookmarked blog pages that I read on a regular basis, and thinking about all the things I wish I could tell people, I finally gave into the blog craze. Today, yes today, I have transformed myself into a blogger. Thank you blog world for the warm welcome. I'm sorry I gave you such a hard time. No, I am not extremely witty, interesting, or prophetic in my speech, but if you are bored in class or you find that there is nothing on TV, you may read my blog as a last resort. I hope you enjoy my postings that will include nursing stories, new baking adventures, and dating/relationship/boy advice...really a little bit of everything. Enjoy!