MORE ways to help MOORE Oklahoma

In light of the recent tragedy in Oklahoma I've decided to create a post about the ways we as regular citizens can help those who were affected. Now for me being in health care I would have loved to just jump up and travel to help those with whatever medical help was needed, but that isn't always possible especially for me. So what are some ways I could help without traveling to Oklahoma? Well when I was growing up we lived in an area where wildfires were a huge concern especially this time of year and into the summer, my mom still lives there and wildfires still happen, however last summer wildfires hit closer to my home when a large one hit the mountains around a town about 1 1/2 -2 hours from where I live. At work we brought in water, food, blankets, clothes, ect to send up to the victims. Now I'm still a broke new grad so I couldn't really donate money or go out and buy a bunch of stuff to donate so I cleaned. I will be moving at the end of the summer and needed to thin out my moving load any way so I cleaned my closet and dresser out, over filling two large laundry baskets with clothes and shoes, I also have blankets and bedding that will be going with. I didn't wear the clothes any more and haven't in a while, the bedding has been in my closet for well over a year untouched, and the shoes haven't been worn in longer than I can remember. I will be taking all the stuff to my local red cross later in the week.

So what are some ways you can help? Well here is my list with ideas of what you can do.

~If you can afford it a donation of $10 will help provide food, shelter, ect to the victims. You can donate by texting REDCROSS to 90999 or call 1-800-RED CROSS, you can always donate more if you are able to.

~Donate blood! With major events like this blood and blood products become a valuable resource that is already difficult to get a hold of. With the number of injured increasing and the hospitals in the area stretching their resources they can always use blood! If you are blood type O I highly encourage you to donate blood, its highly valuable and greatly appreciated.

~Donate clothes, bedding, ect. A lot of these families will have lost everything they have that includes things like basic tshirts, jeans, jackets, shoes, socks! clean out your closet (kid's closets too) and donate things that you or your kids no longer wear, fit, or you just don't want. It can be time consuming but in the end you will feel really good and de-cluttered. Bedding you no longer need, blankets, towels, even dog beds will always be used. Remember some of these people lost everything! If you have kids that have old but still good toys those will be welcomed, events like this are very traumatizing for children.

~Donate food and water if you have a large pantry with tons of can food in it you don't really eat, donate it! Canned foods and other nonperishable (nothing that can go bad quickly like fresh or frozen foods) along with bottled water are so valuable during times like this. Gallons of water can go a long way, especially for families. Other things people may not always think of are dog/cat food, laundry detergent, diapers or other supplies for children.

~If you near the area contact the red cross and see what you can do, you can also contact other local organizations and see if they need anything. I don't live close enough to do this but if your near Oklahoma please consider this option. Sometimes its a simple as needing someone to volunteer at the animal shelter to help manage the pets until their owners can come for them or helping to clean up debris from the streets.

Remember that you don't need to do something huge and amazing to make a difference. The smallest action like giving blood can save a life, and any donation (monetary, clothing, food, blood, ect) will be beyond appreciated by the victims and the organization. If you can I encourage you to help!!

Graduation and my amazing grad cap tutorial!

I have noticed I have a very bad habit of going MIA from my blog but I am hoping that will change now because I HAVE GRADUATED from NURSING SCHOOL! I graduated last weekend on May 11th and I could not be more thrilled, needless to say it was one of the proudest days of my life. Graduating from high school is no where near the same as college graduation, your parents, teachers, and guidance counselors have a large part in your high school graduation, you have to come to school and do your homework, your parents made sure of that. In college and especially nursing school its all up to you, no one is responsible for you going to class or doing you assignments. Your teachers don't always care if your in class or sleeping off the hangover from the weekend. Nursing school is a little different, your teachers care but they are not going to hold your hand and walk you through nursing school, its more like the throw you out in the water and hope you learn to swim to shore as they stand watching and waiting with a life vest just in case you start drowning. So knowing that I completed nursing school and college earning my bachelor's degree is a pretty proud feeling. I unfortunately got sick three days before graduation with a not for forgiving cold that left me feverish, congested, and a horse voice, which was only made worse by the temperature and the fact that I was the speaker representing my class at pinning ceremony.

Even with feeling very under the weather is was so nice to enjoy the ceremonies and spend time with my family. I was so proud to sport my NMSU nursing pin at graduation and walk the stage with my amazing cap that I decided to share my cap decorating experience with you guys, hopefully it will give you guys some ideas for decorating your cap! I used pinterest a ton to plan out graduation from the pictures I took for my announcements to the way my cap looked. I created my own graduation board that you can check out for some of the ideas I used (http://pinterest.com/elliemay2/graduation-may-11th-2013/).

I started out by making a template, I just used some large sheets of paper and made an 8X8 square to fit the top of my cap, I also just made a small X cut where the button is on the top of my cap for reference. I used baby, markers, and some left over ribbon I had to make a rough idea template so I knew the direction I wanted to go in. I also made a list of things I would need including: ribbon, paper, ABC stickers, glue on rhinestones, and glitter. Luckily we have a hobby lobby here and they had all the things on my list on sale!

This is the template I made, it wasn't perfect but it gave me a direction to go in. I knew I needed to make the letters smaller on the boarder, I want the RN to be bigger along with the bow and I changed the heart between the 2013 to a lucky elephant. I did my gap in sections so it took me several weeks to complete. I started by putting down my 8X8 square of pearl print paper (found at hobby lobby) and outlined it in 1/2inch maroon ribbon. I used 1 inch bright pink ribbon to make a bow, black glitter paper (hobby lobby) to make an elephant, black stickers for the "Nurse Ellie" accented with clear glued on rhinestones, and the same rhinestones to make the "2013"

 Next I used leopard print paper (hobby lobby) to make the "RN"then I used some black and red glue on Rhinestones to outline the letters, this step took a really long time but I loved the end result.
I knew I wanted to add my quote along the boarder like in my template but I could not figure out how to do it, I tried stickers covered in glitter, printed out and then covered with glitter letters, printed letters using glitter paper, but nothing was working and I wans't getting the result I wanted. Sadly graduation got near before I could figure out what to do.

Eventually I ended up just using the same black stickers I used for the "Nurse Ellie" part an accenting them with rhinestones, I wanted glittery black letters but the rhinestones added just the right touch of sparkle. In the end I really loved my gap and was so proud to wear it, it is now preserved in a shadow box along with my pins and SNA cord that will go on my wall next to my diploma in my new apartment when I move. The quote I used was inspired by the song "Hurricane" by Dustin Lynch, had to have a little country touch in there some where, Im also in love with my mint green shoes I wore!

 I still have to wait for my diploma to come in the mail (mid June or so) but I was notified that my degree has already been awarded, I made strait As this past semester and also made the dean's list. All my paper work has been received by the board of nursing in my state and I am just waiting for my ATT (authorization to test) number so I can schedule a day to take my state board exam (NCLEX). Until then I just finished the Kaplan review course and have nearly 1500 questions in their Qbank to practice with as well as my Saunders NCLEX review book with questions. I will let you know my thoughts on Kaplan as my test day gets closer!