The funny thing about making plans for the future....

Well, Hello :) I promised myself I would attempt to check in on my blog once in awhile. I miss it. I miss my readers! I miss having the time to write most of all. I may have a little more time for the next couple months, so maybe I can blog a little more than once a year haha. I started my junior year for my Psychology Degree this year but I'm just not feeling it anymore. Life has changed so much since I started. So, so much of my life is different. I'm not sure that I even recognize the person that I was in 2009. I am much less sure of who/what I am now. Much less sure of my likes, my wants, my dreams. I'm not quite middle age, but since I started so early with my adult life, maybe that is exactly what is happening. Professionally, I have hit a brick wall. My current nursing license is pretty well un-usable (is that even a word??) in my area now. As an LPN, my job prospects are almost non-existent now. For one, I live in a very rural area and attempting to commute to a large city where my job prospects would be better would mean I would have to make twice what I would ever be offered just to pay for the gas. Aside from that, my hometown hospital is the last hospital, maybe in the whole area, to even hire LPN's. I could just stay where I am, but my hours have been cut to less than 24 hrs a week and still falling. Financially, my hospital is dying, as a lot of small rural hospitals are doing right now because of budget cuts and the change in the way the government is reimbursing through Medicare/Medicaid. It won't be long and my position will be dissolved all together. I was actually reminded of that this week when a co-worker was let go after 25 years of service just because of lack of funding. So, combined with lack of growth in my area of the industry and frustration at my current personal issues, Hubby and I have decided to put my Psych degree on hold. I will be leaving the workplace in January and returning to nursing school. Another 2 years of school. Yay. Don't get me wrong, I am grateful to have the opportunity, but I just don't feel like I am ever going to *not* be a student again. I made up my mind to leave the nursing field 3 years ago...I am not too thrilled about coming back into it this way. But, Mommy's and Daddy's have bills to pay. 24 hours a week is not paying our bills right now. Losing my job completely is not going to help matters any either. So...I switch majors, finish my nursing degree so that I can continue working while I finish my Bachelor's in Psych and go on to get my Master's. At this rate, I should be out of school sometime around the year 2020. That sentance made me want to take a nap. I almost cannot believe that 3 years have passed since I even made the decision to go to school in the first place. That seems impossible. But, time does what needs to do..it passes. On the bright side, at this rate, I will be graduating with my Master's in Psychology, after having also gotten my Nursing Degree, by my 40th Birthday. All I can say is that, I plan on having a hell of a party that year! I DO promise to blog about it :)

Underneath it all I'm really a 12 yr. old boy

The T-shirt below can be bought at a cool new website that I just found called BustedTees .
I am not in anyway, shape or form getting reimbursed for this advertising (hint hint guys!), I just found the site to be so hilarious that I wanted to share. Finding the site was completely a fluke by the way. I found it through a give-away blog that I follow. The first shirt below is by far the most hilarious for the obvious reason that I am a nurse, and yes most people seem to be more scared of catching swine flu than they actually are of STD's, as evidenced by the amount of them being treated nowadays. I want to buy this shirt and wear it to work...everyday. Originally I wanted to link each shirt to it's respective page, but I'm way too lazy for that. So, the link to the home page will do because they can all be found on that page.

This one is super funny for the reasons I listed above. It's my favorite and I think I will buy it!

In case you are at a sign-language-alphabet deficit, it says 'You Suck'.

Rock, Paper, Scissors...what more can I say??

This one set me to laughing loud enough to draw Hubby's attention. Shout out to my girl, Crazy Texas Mommy - this one's for you :)

I am a big enough dork to find this one to be pretty darn funny. Sad, isn't it?

Indeed, is there anything Jesus won't do?

This one is personal...I are dyslexic.

Oh snap....I'm showing my age. Insert random 'Oregon Trail' reference here.

And finally, my friends....

Thank you and Good Night :)

Pandering to the Mental Illness

I love that Blogger lets you 'pick' an identity.

When I leave a comment it asks me to pick my identity. It's my turn to decide who I am. Do I use my real name, make one up, use my URL? The options are limitless. Of course, it goes without saying that if I plan on commenting frequently on the same blog it's probably a good idea to be consistent.

Also, I can be a different person on each blog if I so choose. All roads lead to Rome as the saying goes because clicking on my name leads to my profile, which in turn will lead a curious seeker to my blog.

I am sorely tempted by the possibilities. Who doesn't want an alternate ego once in a while??

Blogging already affords the creative person with the joy of anonymity if they so choose, but allowing space for different identities really is icing on the cake.

Just one more reason I love my blog....it caters quite nicely to my undiagnosed multiple personality disorder.

Happy 50th to me :)

This is my 50th blog post.

To those of you that have been going for a while, it's a small accomplishment, but it's mine. I'm so very tired from my very long night at the hospital but I wanted to take a moment to mark this occasion. I started this blog almost a year ago, so yes in the the beginning I didn't blog very often. I started it one night well after midnight, as most shady operations start, because I couldn't sleep. I had experienced something with a patient that kept rolling around in my head. I kept re-hashing the days events and going over and over the conversation in my mind until I thought I would explode. I had also just had a conversation with a friend about toying with the idea of blogging. So, well after midnight, I found myself setting up a Blogger account. I didn't even know what to call myself. When it came time to give a URL name I balked...I couldn't make up my mind. Hence the URL: makingupyourmind.blogspot.com. Some of you may have not even noticed that my blog name and URL didn't match...no matter. By the time I figured out what to call the blog I had a couple of followers and certainly didn't want to lose them, so I just kept things as they are. Some of you know that I started blogging from my Blackberry at first and just recently have been able to upgrade to the "real" internet...hence the giant jump in activity.

I can really say that I enjoy my blog. When I started I was in the midst of some questions about myself that I have been able to answer specifically through my blogging. I was and sometimes still am trying to find myself. Not so much in an existential way as a literal, "where am I" way. Before the blog I was lost to my life in a way that was kind of sad. Lost to motherhood, even though I love my children. Lost to being a wife, even though I love my husband. Lost even to being a friend, even though I have amazing friends. This blog has helped me find out more about myself in the last several months than I have been able to find in the last several years. I have been known to post some personally challenging things, as well as some fun and light-hearted things, but I make no apologies because that's my life. Sometimes it's all fun and games and other times it just plain sucks.

Thank you to my followers, few though you may be, for joining the journey. This is just the beginning. Pretty soon it'll be my 100th post, then my 1000th post and beyond.

I can't wait :)