My Life as a Student: Freedom!!!!!!!

That's right all. This student nurse is off for 4 weeks, and it's going great so far after a rocky start.

Finals "week" was preceded by social function weekend and as little studying as possible. A Christmas party, a dinner with friends- I was tired and not feeling well by Sunday. I'm out of "social shape." Somewhere around Monday morning I was able to settle down and start studying. By Tuesday afternoon, I was trolling the instructor's offices in an effort to bug them while I avoided studying. As I finished my pharmacology final that day, I came to the realization that I effectively over-studied the entire semester for that class. I studied half the time I usually did for my quizzes and still managed the same grade I got every week. Sigh.

Next was my mental health final, which I studied the perfect amount for. We have this book for the class and she pulls like 10% of the questions on our quizzes and tests from it- it's like free points! Afterwards, we unlucky souls that still had a gerontology final at 5:30 went out for snacks and not-studying. I am sad to say that I reluctantly gave money to Chronic Tacos by ordering nachos. I've always said there's no way in holy hell I would ever set foot in a Chronic Tacos establishment because:
a) It's called CHRONIC Tacos for god's sakes- as in, light it up and pass it to the left!!! Yoooooooo!!
b) They have a nautical star in their logo. Nothing is more unexplainably "hip", "punk", "rock" and obviously original like a nautical star. 2 out of 5 people under the age of 25 in south Orange County have this permanently etched on their bodies, which they will totally still love when they're 50. Or so they think.
Anyway, it was an artery clogging wad of tortilla chips, melted cheese and beans. And it wasn't even soft nacho cheese- it was microwave zapped grated cheese. All for $4.79!!!!! Their only redeeming factor is that they have Orange Bang, the frothy orange whip drink that I could drink until I'm a diabetic.

And then it went downhill. My gerontology final was a wreck. A 100pt. final that IS my grade (4 ten-point quizzes do nothing in the face of this test), and I walked out with at least 16 questions circled- my way of knowing that there is a good chance I'm going to miss those. I cried on my drive home. See, I have to pass this class with a grade of 75% or greater THIS semester or I don't go on to second semester. I managed all A's, and yet this 1 unit class could hold me back. Not the ending to the semester I forsaw (is that a word???)

Well, last night was redemption. She posted grades and I passed. NOW I can celebrate. Which I have done by cleaning out my study. For any future house guests, fear not the room is now clean. The rest of the house will follow.

Now for fun stuff- I get to brag!!!!

This is half of our new backyard- just in time for 40 degree nights!!! That misty object to the right is a firepit, it does a wonderful job of sending heat straight up instead of to the sides. Don't tell the Tall One that.

This is part of my garden. In my deepening quest to be a closet hippie, I am trying to grow our lettuce for salads. Look at it all... Above are some herbs. To the left will be radishes when I learn to vanquish whatever keeps eating my seedlings. And I find the jackhole who keeps using it as their cig butt catch tray.

Lettuce to the left, broccoli to the right, herbs above. The blank space will be carrots, once they sprout big enough to leave the indoors. They're so cute.