Jeans Success

As I posted/ranted about last week, one of my summer challenges had been finding new jeans. The Ann Taylor petite skinny jeans that I wore about 3 times/week were veering dangerously close to the stage where they would get holes in embarrassing places, and one of my pairs of Chico's jeans had faded from dark navy to light/medium blue, gotten baggy-ish, and had paint stains.

Before I went to Macy's today, I had tried on jeans at Gap, Chico's, Sears (including Kardashian jeans), Old Navy, Nordstrom Rack, and even K-Mart.

At Macy's, I tried on stuff from Levi's, Not Your Daughter's Jeans, Else, and one other brand. For a while, I had avoided the NYDJ brand out of principle. Perhaps it was ageist of me, but since I'm too young to have a teenage daughter, the thought of owning NYDJ jeans was more embarrassing than having Kardashian jeans. But my mom thought that the NYDJ jeans would fit me, and since she is the sewing/clothing expert in the family, I decided to try them out.

Shopping as a Teen and as a 20-Something

I have many alternately fond and terrifying memories of experimenting with fashion and makeup as a teenager. My best friends in middle school, who were far ahead of me at this, were always letting me in on the unknown (to me) rules of Girl World. One of these rules was that you could not "preview" an outfit at school the day of a dance. Your dance outfits were apparently supposed to be kept secret until sundown. But they gave me these tidbits of advice, most of the time, in a supportive manner. At least as supportive as 13-year-old girls are capable of being.

Unpacking at the House

 By the time I arrived at the house on Friday, the movers were almost done loading the boxes in the house. This meant I got to help my sister-in-law unpack the kitchen stuff, so I organized the dishes and mugs on the table and let her decide where to put them. The house has a huge amount of cabinet space compared to the old apartment, so fortunately we weren’t worried about having enough space, just how to use it best.

            By the end of the evening, we were sitting around the table with a friend of my brother and SIL’s, drinking beer and alternately discussing the fate of the world and what show(s) Big Bro and SIL should start watching (Mad Men, and possibly Game of Thrones).

Halfway Through Class #3!

(Warning to the squeamish – includes my account of placing a catheter in a mannequin for the first time).

            Friday was a very big day for the family. My brother and SIL moved into the new house. They hired movers, which took away one of the most difficult pieces of moving, remarking that this was an important new level of adulthood: hiring movers instead of asking friends to help in exchange for pizza.

            While Big Bro and SIL oversaw the moving process, I took my first closed-book exam at Villanova. It was going to happen soon enough, but it ended up being a lot less stressful than I thought it would be.

            Right now I’m taking Nursing Process, which covers a lot of basic nursing skills, like giving medications, bed baths, transfers, and urinary catheters. Yes, catheters.

Physical Assessment Lab Final/Uniforms

This week was the second week of Physical Assessment. We spent Monday-Wednesday learning pulmonary and cardiovascular assessment, and musculoskeletal/neurological assessment. So far, so good. I keep reminding myself that listening to heart/lung sounds on a (very) healthy 20-something is very different from hearing them on a very large, or very old person. (The more tissue you have around your chest, the fainter your heart/lung sounds).

Today was the lab final, which went well in the end (got 48/50 points), even though I was nervous about it going in. The way it worked is that my lab partner and I went into an exam room, and I logged into the computer in the exam room. Our lab instructor, who was in another room, told us she was ready. Through a loudspeaker. Depending on your metaphor preference, it was like the G-d voice or Big Brother. Instead of watching over my shoulder, she watched me via two cameras in the ceiling. What was odd was that I didn't feel self-conscious about being watched during the exam itself; hearing the G-d voice was a little startling.

After the lab final, I went into another room in the lab/clinical practice floor to buy my student uniform. The pictures of nursing students on my school's website featured people in pinstripe oxford shirts and navy slacks. I was less than thrilled. I didn't want to press slacks or wear a button-down shirt tucked into slacks. Button-down shirts, especially unisex ones, just don't work for my body type.

But the uniform has apparently been updated. Now we wear navy scrub pants, a navy t-shirt with our school's seal on the sleeve, and a white short-sleeved jacket with the school seal that looks like a less formal lab coat. I was pleased, once I finally found pieces in my size to try on. The uniform people brought a range of sizes (XS-XXXL), but most of the girls who came from the morning lab section were sizes XS-M, and some were XXS, so trying to find a small in anything was chaotic. But I ordered two elastic-waist cargo scrub pants (I have a drawstring pair of scrub pants from Brandeis Chabad, and think the elastic waist fit me better), two t-shirts, the white jacket, and two name pins (in case one gets lost/broken. And in a few weeks, I'll be signing my name with VUSN (Villanova U. Student Nurse) after it, which is pretty exciting.

House Weekend

In terms of nursing school news, my Physical Assessment class is going very smoothly. My lab partner and I aced our vitals midterm (we had to take each other's vitals - temperature, blood pressure, pulse, and respirations). The next day, I aced my lecture midterm and then had lunch with a dear aunt. Brother and I had dinner at a charming bar a few hundred feet away from the apartment. I was told that Magners cider is a "girly" drink. I reminded Big Bro of one of my favorite mixed drinks, Cranberry Vodkas, which I think are clearly in the top five of girly drinks.

Moving day is fast approaching, so I helped my brother with some packing Friday night, and Saturday we put down primer in my future room (he did the tape and tarp). Brother, SIL, and I went to Lowe's to get some more painting supplies and pick window treatments (there are lots of windows in the house, and many of them are very tall). My favorite quote of the evening: "we will keep the blinds [in the basement windows] closed FOREVER." (Emphasis added).

This morning through this afternoon, the three of us primed the guest room (on the same floor as my future room), and then painted my room and the guest room.* The paint for my room looked light, light blue on the chip, but ended up a darker cooler than expected. But it was a beautiful color, so I don't care. Likewise, the light green for the guest room looks more yellow on the walls than on the chip, but not in a bad way, so we are considering both paint jobs done.

Tonight, we're getting falafel and frozen yogurt for dinner, and then watching Coming to America at the apartment. I'm excited.

* = To be accurate, Bro and I painted my room; Bro and SIL painted the guest room while I ran out to get my groceries.