Lessons From Work: Forgive and Forget

In my last post, (seen here) I told you that this summer I have learned patience. Well, I have also learned that in order to get the elderly to cooperate you must not get upset or frustrated. It doesn't do any good.

I have always had a temper. It just doesn't come out in public very often. It is a really bad habit that must change, but change takes time.

The other day, I had a resident tell me that I was a horrible nurse, and there was no way that she was going to cooperate with me that day. At first, I was quite angry and a little upset. I went home and complained to my family. I am not even in nursing school yet, and you tell me that I am a horrible nurse? That is a really mean thing to say about someone you don't even know.

After weeks of thinking about this comment (yes, weeks), I have come to the realization that she is kind of right. As hard as it is to admit, I don't know as much as I should. I am still learning the ropes here at work. I am not always sure what to tell the residents when they are upset or irritated. I guess the best thing about working at an assisted living center is that if your lucky, the residents won't remember you the next morning.

Lessons From Work : Patients is a Virtue

As most of you know, I work at an assisted living center. This summer I have the opportunity to work 11-7, three times or more a week! I love this job. My coworkers are nice and the majority of the residents are super sweet. 

I have learned a lot from these elderly people. The first thing I have learned is patience. My shift begins quite slow, I answer buzzers, and check on residents for the first 5 hours! But then the morning rush hits. This rush consists of passing pills, answering buzzers, waking residents up, doing blood sugars, weighing residents, answering questions, and trying to make the residents day a little bit brighter. As morning hits, the more work there is to do. 

(I don't really get that stressed)

 

Don't get me wrong, I like being busy, just ask my family, but I don't like waiting. As we get older we tend to do things a little slower and we learn to take time and smell the roses, think about days gone bye and old friends that have passed. 

As a young whipper snapper, I would like to walk into the room, do my job and move on to the next resident, but these men and women are teaching me patience. As I wake up the residents, they tend to move a little slower that I would like. I am learning that even though I have so much to do, the work will always be there. The residents will not get mad if you walk in a little late, and if you leave five minutes late. It's going to be okay.
Maybe taking a minute to think about how grateful we are for another day, month, or year, is good for us. 

Just thoughts from a college student.

A Weekend Without Parents

A weekend with parents - every teenage and twenty somethings dream! So what did I do? Here is just a glimpse.

I packed up all my stuff and drove to Traverse City with Star. I drove and she slept.

Nashville CMA Festival Vol. 2 - Concerts

The purpose of CMA Festival is to raise money for music programs in local schools in the Nashville area. It is also fan appreciation week! To celebrate this weekend in Nashville the big stars hold concerts at LP Field.  These concerts start on Thursday night and end on Sunday night. These concerts consist of 8 different performers with a special guest singer every night! We were blessed with free tickets so our seats were pretty high up, but we didn't care.
(This is where we sat)

 We were too happy to be in Nashville to care where we sat.

Some of the country stars we saw were:
Lady Antebellum

Taylor Swift

Hunter Hayes

Blake Shelton

Carrie Underwood

The Band Perry

Brad Paisley

Florida Georgia Line

Zac Brown Band

 
and Miranda Lambert

 

One night Stacy and I made it on the jumbotron!!! Words cannot express how excited we were.

 

You better believe we are already planning our trip to Nashville for next year!  

Nashville CMA Festival! Vol. 1 - Shopping

This summer I took my friend Stacy, to Nashville, for the CMA Festival! We were so excited to get there and see the singers, go shopping, go to concerts, look around downtown, go dock jumping, etc. Needless to say there was a lot to do!

Our shopping trips were mostly the stores on Broadway. Here are some of the cool things we found and tried on.

There were lots of boots and leather shops but I like these the most. Only $150.00.

Duck Commander had two booths there. I had to buy a cup,

 or two.

Shiny belt buckles, we tried to convince my dad to buy for himself.

 A belt for me? Only $45.00. Maybe next time.

 Over all, we loved shopping.

Getting High for Jesus

Truth be told: We didn't get high, but there were a lot of paint fumes in this little area.

This past week we had a Vacation Bible School (VBS) at my church. Our group was in charge of decorations. The first thing we wanted to do was make a castle for our little preschool children. We had tons of cardboard, spray paint, and very crafty people. We started cutting an archway. 

This was a perfect fit for adults and preschoolers. Next was to paint "bricks" and the actual archway.

We used the only kind of paint available to us that day, spray paint.

And we sprayed this,

 and this,

and this.

After the paint dried, we glued metallic bricks on the arches. Like this.

In the end, the castle was made into a 3-D masterpiece, thanks to Scott Declark. VBS went well, with only a few bumps in the road and a couple of questions. 

Thanks ladies, for all your help on this beautiful looking castle. 

Adventure to Cabela's (Wyoming Edition)

Wyoming, Michigan just built a CABELA'S! Needless to say I am just a little excited! This was the place to be, a couple of months ago, whether you are an outdoorsy person or not. 

My friends and I decided to go on an adventure to this special store. Here are some of our wild encounters.

(The crew - Brittany, Stacy, and Susan)

First we saw a Camo Grandma, blending in on a scooter. She was covered head to toe in this camo jumpsuit! :D

Brittany and Stacy wanted to be just like the guy on the cover of this box, I think they pulled it off quite well. 

Susan thought she could fit into a child-size princess life jacket.....

 

She was right.

Stacy has always wanted to swim with the dolphins, this is as close as she has ever gotten.

Brittany this was a cute outfit. (Don't worry we talked her out of it.)

Stacy's future purchase from Cabela's...

Maybe not....

Never a dull moment with these friends.