Thank all of you ladies for the well wishes!

My sister and her baby are doing fine....however my sister is still trying to grasp the concept that my husband and I do have a family, jobs, and responsibilities of our own and simply cannot abandon them to come to her aide constantly, nor has she grasped the concept that while we would be happy to babysit sometimes, we WILL NOT babysit all of the time. She's having a rude awakening that when a baby comes you no longer are able to go out and do everything that you once did (parties). I'm not too worried about it though. Things will work out because they have to.

I'm enjoying my new job as a PCT, however I feel demoted somewhat. I get paid the same, but I know how to do so many things and I'm so used to doing them, but I'm extremely limited on what I can do as a PCT :(

Well, you just remember that you have an Ole Miss Theta alum right here on the board :) I pledged in the very first pledge class after the charter class, back in 1979. We were the only girls on campus without a house those first few years. I think Theta is one of the largest groups at Ole Miss now, and of COURSE the very very best, in my totally biased opinion! It was a wonderful experience and really helped make me the person that I am proud to be now.

She certainly did choose two schools at the very polar OPPOSITE ends of the spectrum, didn't she?

Sorry for the late response. I've been working for the last 5 days straight and I have not had very much personal time! Haha. Yes, actually, I believe so. At least as far as recruitment goes. When I was applying to college I applied to three mainly because I knew where I wanted to be, but wanted open options. My sister, however, was only interested in these two. She LOVED Dallas, but had to prioritize. I can totally respect that. I'm sure Dallas is beautiful, but I am happy she's staying close. I, too, owe so much to Theta. I went through a lot in high school. To me, college was my break. I loved school, I loved being active, and I loved my friends. I lost a lot, but Theta gave me so much to fill those gaps. I have always thought the smartest decision I ever made was signing my bid card. Six years later, I cannot imagine life without Theta.

One thing I stand strongly beside. No matter where a girl pledges she will get so much out of it. That is solely based on "what you put into it is what you will get out of it." I love Theta and am completely biased, but if my sister pledges any of the other 8 houses there, she will be happy. I think of it this way. We go through recruitment in groups, but we are by ourselves. Throughout the week, we make so many friends. We go to the parties and we fall in love with certain houses or A certain house. At the end of the week, we have our home and look around to see the other girls that we thought were so amazing and they have found their homes. Shortly after graduation, my best friend from childhood was killed in a car accident. All of my sisters stood by my side. My aunt died a couple of days later, and my sisters were still there. Through all the things I have been through in the last six years, Theta has always been there. I know that wherever my sister may go, her sisters and mine (or ours) will be there if that dreaded day comes. Not to mention all the excitement and the good times, of course.

Well, I must get to bed. I hope you ladies have all had another great weekend and have an amazing week!

This weekend I went through an impossibly hard break up...the kind that feels like it's taking over my whole life. Today, work is the last place in the world that I want to be and I can tell already that this week is going to feel long...

I'm so sorry ThetaDancer :(

I know it doenst feel like it now and it wont for quite sometime, but this too shall pass.

My last break up before meeting my husband was terrible.....i lost a lot of weight (too much really being that i"m 4'9 and at the time prior to the breakup I weighed 105 pounds), spent most of my nights crying rather than sleeping, and for the msot part didnt leave my house for a month except for school.

It jsut takes time. I didnt think i'd find anyone else honestly and even began making plans for a travel nursing career and adopting a child of my own convinced I'd never get married and would miss out on motherhood. Then a year and a few months later I met my husband. Two weeks later we became a couple and the rest is history. I was even more blessed because he has three children that I now have as my step children (though I love them like I gave birth to them).

Just hang in there. I know what I'm saying sounds like a bunch of crap and blowing smoke but the pain will pass. .....:(

My first baby started 1st grade today! :)

I am very sorry ThetaDancer. I sympathize with you. I know what pain feels like, and I definately don't wish it on anyone else. I wish I could give you a remedy for a broken heart. Time heals all wounds. It just feels as though time is in no hurry.

I hope you find your peace and courage through this, darling, and I am sending Theta love your way.

Thank you so much Thetaprincess and DominoTheta...it feels like the loneliest feeling in the world, so it means SO much just knowing that other people have experienced this before and have gotten through it.

And Janerz222...congratualtions! That is very exciting news!

That so wonderful!!!! I hope your baby enjoys the first grade as much as I did!!

My oldest step child started high school last week and he loves it so far....already has himself a girlfriend :)

I'm sorry too! I know the feeling...spend some time with really good girlfriends, who remind you about true friendship and love. It helps!
TLAM,

blackngoldengrl

My mother says I was such the little heartbreaker in 1st grade. Haha. She says I came home every weekend with a new boyfriend to talk about.

Ah. Well, ladies, have a SUPER week. Only four days left of it!

Well my life right now can be summed up in one phrase, " As the world turns these are the days of my life."

Atleast once a week I feel like pulling my hair out!

My youngest two step children have soccer practice every day with games being usually on Saturdays but occasionally both saturday and sunday. My oldest step son has cross country practice every day where he is running daily 5k's if not a little bit more than that with atleast one meet each week (usually on saturday's the same time as soccer games so my husband and I have to divide up the carpooling and game watching in order to get it all done).

Then all three of our dogs according to the vet have to have their teeth cleaned and two of them have to have atleast one tooth pulled this time. Normally this wouldnt be too bad cost wise if it were one dog, but it's a major expense with three.

Then I've taken initiative and formed a study group with some of my fellow nursing students where we each assign each other a part of a lecture or content area and we teach the others in the group about it as a means of helping each other understand all of the concepts. So in addition to my group studying work, i also recopy my notes, do the readings, do learning objective study questions, drug calculation practice questions, and make flashcards for terminology (this alone makes me want to pull out my hair but if i dont do it then I wont be successful in class).

I still work at the hospital as a tech but only for one 13 hour shift a week which exhausts me in addition to trying to keep tabs on my sister's situation. To make a very long and complicated story short, the apparent father of her baby who has been nonexistant to this point has decided to bring his abusive self and his equally crazy family back into her life and is causing trouble on such a scale that we (my dad and I ) have had to hire a family attorney in order to get things worked out in this mess.

:) While all of this is going on my Lil sis is getting married in two weeks and we are trying to plan our second annual casino themed party in October.

And my mother wonders where all my free time has gone :)

Anyone else feel like pulling their hair out? :p

ThetaPrincess24, sounds like you've got your hands FULL!!! That's probably an understatement in every sense of the word.

Test time!
 

Well I have my first exam of 2nd year coming up on Monday. Immunology.
I must say, it has been very interesting, but still-who wants to study?!

I suppose I shouldn't complain, seeing as how it is my only responsiblity in life right now...I can't beat you ThetaPrincess!:)

I studied it no where near the scale as you have for medical school, but I have enjoyed studying immunology in nursing school :)


Good luck with your test. I had my first test of the year last week at it went well.

I like my life eventhough it keeps me quite busy. I knew what i was signing up for when I got married :) I just like to complain or vent occassionally :)

It's perfectly fine to vent. If we didn't, where would it go?

I'm sure glad you all liked Immunology...probably my LEAST favorite subject in paramedic school. Pharmacology was a lot of fun though. I think my favorite class was Cardiology.

I learned more about pharmacology this past summer as a nursing extern(seeing how different classes of drugs interact with other drugs, reacts with different age groups, and about drugs in general) than I did in an entire semester of pharm. I think it was because my instructor was in the process of doing her doctorate dissertation in addition to working full time, being a full time mom of 7 year old twins, etc. I think she was just a little bit uptight :) She did receive her doctorate this past summer and people in her class now report she is much more laid back, which is lucky for them because she about killed us! :) Cardiology is okay. I got floated to work in the cardiac intensive care unit yesterday, wasnt as bad as I thought, but my heart still lies with orthopedic patients :)

LOL! I have got to admit orthopedic patients are NOT my favorite.

It IS cool to actually get some field experience in seeing drugs like you said. It was so cool to me to be able to see what would react with what and do what...It's also amazing to see how many drugs we can't give the elderly because it might drop their heart rate or blood pressure or whatever else it may do to them.

Ah, well. Emergency Medicine is where my heart lies. I know its years down the road, but I would LOVE to work in the children's ER...

Children's ER.......I wouldnt be able to do that. I LOVE kids and I LOVE my pediatrics rotations but any procedures that make them cry I couldnt handle that or just seeing them cry because they are so miserable from diarrhea. I watched a circumcison today in clinicals in the neonatal nursery and cried along with the baby boy :) I'll spare you all the description of that here, but I dont get where that doesnt hurt them.....good thing they dont remember that! :) It also pains me and makes me furious to no end when children come in and they have been abused. I also took care of two newborns today, one of which we didnt think was going to make it because they were born addicted meth. I also consider that abuse. One baby, the mother had left the hospital on friday and she hasnt been seen since. That baby doesnt even have a name :( They should shoot the mother when they find her. :(

I know how you feel! It just breaks my heart in a million pieces to have to remove them from a house because they have burns on them from where their parents have punished them with a lit cigarette. When they get in the back of the ambulance, they are just so helpless. It's painful to think someone would do that to a child that can't defend theirself or chose what happens to them. Heartbreaking. I agree with you that children being born addicts is also a form of abuse. Most of those cases don't end well or last long.

Everyone has been so quiet! I'll try to start things up again.

Have you all seen this video. I got a chuckle out of it.


http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=xmJNwvkBSCU

I got a chuckle out of it myself!!!


Things are okay around here. We looked at a house this week that Paul liked, but I didnt like it. It didnt have a basement. It also would need a lot of repainting and I'm not a painter either. :) I'd rather just wait until we have enough to build a house that we like instead of settling for one that already built that needs work.

I did very well on my exam yesterday. I'm glad i'm doing well in this class. It historically has a 70% fail rate. There are 55 in my class now. I already know a good chunk that are still doing poorly after this second test. I hope they are able to get themselves out of their hole and atleast pass and that I myself can keep up the good work.

The youngest two kids started school chior last week and already my daughter has been chosen to sing in a special performance. The youngest son we've really had to get on him lately about his homework. The rule is he cannot go outside and play unless his homework is done first, so he rushes through it, and then does a sloppy job, so we have to make him redo it. The oldest son, just got a grade report and he's got all A's at this time and we are very proud. He's still running 7 miles a day with his cross country team. The other two are still playing soccer as well.

I'm excited that my Theta chapter is having a reunion next month. It's for Thetas that were there in the late 70's and early 80's. I asked the coordinator of the reunion if I could still come as well to meet other alumnae and to put faces with names that I know from being the local alumnae chapter corresponding secretary. They said for me to still come because the more the merrier :) So I'm going to a couple of their activities.

Aside from all of that we are in the process of planning our second annual casino party, decorating for fall/halloween, and already started xmas shopping. Our sisters are done(his and mine make 3), our mothers are done, 1 neighbor and two friends are done. My husband is half done unknown to him :). Now we have one cousin, three more friends, our dads, our three nephews, 1 gramma, and our three kids left :) Basically xmas gifts and holiday decor for the current season and early xmas is where my paychecks are going lately :) I probably should cut back on the decor, but I come from a long line of "decorating fools" for seasons and holidays and ESPECIALLY Christmas, so it's hard not to keep the decorating tradition alive :)

I talked to my mom for a long time this morning and she said she's already started HER christmas shopping. Talk about being prepared. Everybody at work is already counting down shopping days till christmas. It's not even halloween yet! Man, this year has FLOWN by.

BTW, I thought that was a cute, creative video. I love "If Theta was a letter of the alphabet...what letter of the alphabet...would THETA...be?"

"Um, Theta IS a letter of the alphabet."

Love it. Those girls looked like they had fun making that!

Well, hope everyone is doing well and I hope you all have an amazing weekend.

Thanks for posting that video! I thought it was really cute.

I'm also glad to hear I'm not the only one who comes from a long line of "decorating fools" ;) Haha, I feel like my paychecks lately have been going toward things for decorating too, and I'm also proud to say that I've gotten an early start on Christmas shopping.

Things have been going pretty well here. Trying to stay occupied, and fortunately things at work have been pretty busy lately, so that keeps me focused.

Aaaand, I know some of you already know this, but I wanted to post here that over in the recruitment forum, there's a brand new Theta! She was a legacy through her mom, which is also very exciting! Hopefully she'll stop in here soon and introduce herself, but I wanted to make sure you all knew the exciting news.

Hope things are going well for all of you!

I thought the same thing! I wanted to post my congradulations to her over here, but I thought I'd give it time to see if she'd introduce herself! I'm so exited for her. I LOVED my new member period, and how COOL is it to be sisters with your mom! My mother is greek as well, but we don't share Theta. Here comes some wishful thinking, but when/if I have a daughter...

Theta love!

This week spelled another week of drama for ole Mary :)

Last Saturday was horrible, HORRIBLE day at work. Litterally every fifteen minutes someone wanted on bedside toilet or on the bedpan. We had one lady with alzheimer's(bad enough because that in itself is a horrible disease process) that wanted on the bedside toilet constantly and then she'd forget why she wanted on there. So because I was dealing with her and others like her, none of my charting got done, so I had to work an extra hour and a half to get it all charted. Then Monday i drive an hour and a half to clinicals only to get told that clinicals were being cancelled so i had to turn right around and come back (so I wasnt happy about getting up at 3:45am to get ready and get there on time and then turn around and come back) so I come home and take a nap only to be awaken by my mother being hysterical. Wasnt out of the ordinary for her but she was going on about my sister's latest actions/sayings which did seem out of the ordinary so I told my mom to stop that and I'd go and see my sister (not expecting things to be half as bad as what my mom claimed). Well they were pretty bad, so we go to UK's ER for a psych evaluation regarding severe postpartum depression for her which we waited in there for 8 hours leaving at close to 1am for them to tell her that they dont have any beds for her at UK but she can go to the psych unit at a hospital in our hometown 2 hours away and she was expected to go there immediately. Well lucky for me, her friend had come up that afternoon to take the baby back to our hometown with her to take care of while my sister got treatment, so my sister just rode with her back to our hometown. But I had to get up 6 hours later to get ready for class, class again on thursday, I worked on the cardiac care unit on friday (whiel I was busy it was a welcome change from the week prior). I went to our hometown yesterday morning to see my sister and the baby and she's doing much better and the baby is doing well too so that's good. They will be releasing my sister sometime this week I think, though she wants to stay in our hometown rather than coming back here. Taht is basically my week in review :) I went out with my friend Michelle on tuesday night because I needed to get out for a bit so that was enjoyable. Today has been enjoyable as well. My husband and I started the day off at a gun show, sold the handgun we wanted to sell, he bought an airgun, then we left and went to a farmer's market, washed my car, bougth a battery for his car, went to walmart, and then went to change the oil in mine. We then came home and piddled in our garden. We're just now pulling up our carrots and THEY ARE HUGE!!!! :) Other than my two mile walk in the neighborhood today, that's pretty much it :)

Now that everything is off my chest I think I'll go and study some nursing stuff. Hope everyone is doing well :)

Sending you lots of hugs Mary! That's an awful lot on your plate!
I'm glad that things are starting to look up, and I hope they continue to get better. :)

Well, my sister's bid day was TODAY!!! I am so exited for her. She got a bid from her favorite house all week. She is a brand new Pi Beta Phi! I am sooo happy for her. Our mother is a Pi Phi as well and she is just ecstatic. We had several other girls from our hometown going through. I am still waiting on the results from those girls. I only wrote 4 recs for girls at Ole Miss this year and I'm hoping we can get at least one Theta out of it! Hope all you ladies had an amazing weekend!

Ladies, it's been so quiet.

Mary, how is your sister and the baby doing?

Now that it's November, the holidays are really starting to set in. I'm actually ready for Christmas music.

Everyone have a great weekend.

My sister and her baby are doing much better now! Thanks for asking. They are actually coming over here this evening. She now knows the importance of taking her medications on schedule and not skipping doses. She still has a logn road to go therapy wise but things are much, much better than what they were.

I've still been buying xmas decor to enhance or indulge rather my decorating foolness habits :) I'm ready to get all of my decor out and start listening to xmas music too :) We built our first fire of the season over the weekend, but unfortunately it has warmed up again so it'll be another week probably before it's cold enough again to build another. We and our dogs LOVE fires in the fireplace :)

Yesterday was an exciting day for me as it was election day. I like politics a lot and felt that Lexington was in dire need of a new mayor so I waited in line for an hour to cast my vote. Luckily (and finally!) most of Lexington agreed with me as we got a new mayor and by a landslide!!! :) National elections well that didnt go as I would've liked but I guess that is another debate for another forum :) I hope i get done with school soon so I will have time to join a local chapter of republican women. I love politics :)

My kids are still doing well. Kelsy and Charlie the youngest two have finished outdoor soccer and begin indoor soccer this week(once again on two different teams which makes things crazy at times). My oldest son PJ has finished his cross country season with a personal best and will begin indoor track next week. Both the youngest two are still doing school choir as well.

Nursing school is still going fine. I continue to see and do new things each time I show up this rotation which is excellent. The only downside is I have had a paper due each week. This week I turn in my last one thank goodness!

My husband recently changed jobs laterally in his organization and unfortunately since taking that job last month he's been gone for the past two weeks to two different places and only home on the weekends. Next week he's going somewhere else and will be traveling again the week after thanksgiving. I dont like all the travel and being away from him so much but I keep looking at hte brightside of gaining frequent flier miles/points to help us take a cheaper vacation next time :)

Hope all of you are doing well.

Gah! I'm so out of it, it's been a while since I posted here!
Well just a quick "hello"-it seems you all have been busy/stressed/running around/ living life!

I attended a really nice Theta get-together tonight with the local alumnae. We had one "new member" haha. Great food, conversation, and of course-sisters! I marvel at the fact that we share a common bond but never really knew each other until now...it's like we have a big secret that's really special and we're the only lucky ones there to know about it. You know?

Also, a couple weekends ago I went to Homecoming. I must say that the girls stepped up their recruitment efforts and went from 14 to 26 girls who were initiated this past weekend! I met some of them, and I heard that they are great! I also met up with my little and grand little for dinner, (which was delicous. Thetas love to eat!) and then spent some time in our local watering hole for drinks and dancing. Ahhh college life...! :D

anyway, back to the grind! pathology of the brain!

WEll today has been an interesting one my sisters......Today in my last peds rotation I took care of a 14 year old boy who had been shot in the foot with a rifle at close range by his 10 yr. old sister. The mother said the sister shot her brother in the foot because "he was harrassing her barbies." He's darn lucky he's keeping his foot! And with that I'll say no more about it.

My daughter has started chess club at her school in addition to her indoor soccer, school chior, and school orchestral/violin. My youngest son has started a fitness club at school in addition to school choir and indoor soccer. My oldest son starts indoor track here soon.

We put up the Christmas tree yesterday and all of our holiday decor. I still have some decor coming this week by UPS and the outside could use a few more lights I think :) All of our presents to this point that have been purchased are wrapped and under the tree. More still needs to be bought and we are already spilling presents over into a pile in the corner next to the tree because they all will not fit underneath it.

Today I'm getting exicted because I'm buying my gift for our adopt-a-family at christmas with Beta Sigma Phi. I got the 9 yr. old little boy. This is a homeless family of 5 so I'm really excited about it this year. He wants a kids trivial pursuit game so I plan to get that for him here in a bit today.

Other than the above, work totally stinks and I'm glad that Christmas eve will be my final day of work atleast until summer :)

Hope you all are doing well and that everyone has a happy and safe Thanksgiving!

I hope everyone had a great Thanksgiving. I was thinking about indulging. I hate to admit this, but I do not own a badge ring yet. I also really love that imperial onyx crest ring. Looks like I'll be getting myself one or both for Christmas.

I hope that everyone had a good Thanksgiving Holiday weekend. I've been busy lately and things appear to be picking up even more.

I went back to my parents in Iowa for Thanksgiving, which was nice for the weekend, even with the long drive. Then on Sunday I came back to Michigan to attend CLW for the chapter that I advise. I'm excited for all the incoming officers, this is always such a fun time of the year for a chapter, IMO.

Starting today I'm teaching a class at work and continuing that through next Wednesday. Friday I'm taking a work related exam in the afternoon. But the bigger news is that Friday morning I'm interviewing for a huge promotion that if I get it, will let me relocate closer to Iowa. I'm so nervous about the whole process.

And then last week, my sister found out the gender of her baby that's due in mid-April. She's having a girl! I'm so excited!!!!:D I love all three of my nephews all dearly but I think it'll be fun to have a little niece to spoil for a change. My godson Ethan (he's three) was a bit disappointed when he found out. He had wanted a baby brother. My sister told him he was going to have a sister and he said, "Aw." Then he asked, "Will it still be a baby?" My sister replied, "Yes, a baby sister." Then he said, "Ok, as long as it's still a baby." I guess maybe he was more concerned that he wasn't going to get to be big brother to someone.

Well, last night was the Debutaunte Ball announcing the 2006 debutauntes, and I was very pleased to see that TWO Thetas were in the mix. Out of 26 girls, I was very happy to see our girls representing well. They looked beautiful in their gowns.

Also, the Chi Omega local alumnae chapter's Wine and Cheese party/fundraiser went very well. I'm not sure how much money was raised, but it was a pleasure to attend and the donations at the door were very generous.

Today I passed the HESI mid-curricular exam for my nursing program YAY!!!!! This means I dont have to take the test taking strategy class next semester (required of all those who dont pass).

Oh my gosh... I haven't been on here in ages. I'll contribute. I've just been elected the newest Ritualist for my chapter, and I'm SO excited. In other news, I've been accepted to my summer field camp (I'm a geology major and it's required to do a field camp in between your junior and senior year) through James Madison University in VA. So I'm going to Ireland on May 18th to hike around mapping for 6 weeks. I'm super excited because I don't get to study abroad during the regular school year. I guess that's it for now.

Theta Love and Mine
Brit

I'm so excited for you that you have been elected Ritualist. I wasnt able (due to time) to try for Ritualist in my chapter. I pledged as a junior and only had time before going alum to have one office (scholarship chair) and I wasnt experienced enough to be ritualist. I'm glad you are super excited about it! I'm envious of you that you are going around Ireland in May!!!! We hope to go there in a couple of years so let me know everything you do, what your recommendations are etc etc :)

Hey!
I'm new to GC and I am so happy that we have our own little area! Anyway, what's new in my life...Our finals week starts next Wednesday so, I'm studying up for that. Otherwise, we did installs this week and I am the new Ritualist for Upsilon Chapter (LoggerTheta - Congratulations to you!) and I'm incredibly excited about the whole thing. That's my life right now - I hope that you're all having a wonderful holiday season.
Theta love and mine,