Anybody out there??

Well, I see it has been 2 years since my last blog. I doubt anyone will be reading my update but I thought I would post just to see.

In my last blog in blogworld, it looks as though I had taken a couple more classes. Now that it is Feb 2008, I have finished all of my pre-req gen ed classes. My application for the RN program is turned in (a year later than originally planned) and I am awaiting a yea or nay as to whether or not I am granted an interview. I finished my classes with a 3.0 GPA, which is less than I was going for but that was before my entire world changed in Aug 2006.

When I last blogged, I was still working for the Shawnee Mission School District as a cook. I got my CNA certification in the summer of 2006 & decided I needed to do something with that so I wouldn't lose my certification while finishing up my classes. In August 2006, I was hired by the largest independently owned medical group in the Kansas City metro area, College Park Family Care. I went from working 25 hours a week, to 50+ hours a week & had taken 12 hrs that fall semester. I was quite overwhelmed so needless to say, school was slowed way down after that semester. But that is all behind me now, and I am working as a medical assistant for one of the busiest docs in the group. We have 7 offices and will be opening a specialty office later this year which will house our Neurologist, Orthopedics, Pain Specialist, surgical specialsts, and some of our PT's. I am hoping to change pace & become the primary assitant to one of our new Nurse Practicioners soon, & if I do get into the RN program this fall, I hope to continue working for College Park.

I just wanted to say hello to Blogworld and am hoping that someone will drop by and read my update.

In the meantime, I will leave this with you.................Are you a good person? take the test at http://www.mrdbc.org/


until I blog again...........

My every other month or so posting

I'm beginning to think that maybe my postings will happen every couple of months!! Ha!

So much has happened in the past few months! First of all, my Comp 1 instructor messed up on my final grade and quickly corrected it to an A!!!!!!!!!!! I guess my writing wasn't that bad after all. So my GPA went from a 2.6 to a 3.07!! I am taking a business math class and a public speaking class this semester and so far, they are a breeze. WHEW!!

Our health did not hold up well in January. Jeff had pneumonia, Kyle had an upper respiratory infection and fluid in his ear and I got the flu along with the upper respiratory stuff. At least the 3 of us were all home on the same 4 days so no one had to worry about driving anywhere but to see the doctor's office. Nicole did come home one of those days early, but she did not end up getting what we all had. Kayla won first place on being the only healthy Culbertson during January!! Remind me to get my flu shot next year. UGH.

Jeff has a internationally published photo now!!! A lady from our church found the perfect place to put up a billboard in the Kansas City metropolitan area. It goes perfectly with all of the controversy surrounding the state of Kansas in regards to our science standards. The first link below is the web address you are directed to on the billboard and the second link is an article and picture of the billboard itself featured on the Answers In Genesis website!

http://www.scienceprovesit.com


http://www.answersingenesis.org/docs2006/0126kansas.asp


Until I blog again......

It's almost Christmas!! Here's my letter...haha

Time has flown by so fast this year and it's hard to believe that it's almost over. Christmas is upon us and I don't even have my tree up. It's gonna be the tiny one this year since we are almost out of time.

School went well for me for the fall semester. I ended up with a C in my Chemistry class and a B in my Comp 1. Oh well, I have never claimed to be much of a writer. I really have a hard time getting all my random thoughts to come together and keep them from wandering once I start writing. Therefore, I believe that's what dropped my final grade in Comp 1 to a B. I had to write a paper in an hour......yikes!!!

As for Chemistry, as difficult as that class was, I am glad to have tweaked a 76.5 out of it. I am proud of the fact that I got an 84 on my final. It helped to cover my disappointment over my last 3 exams. I probably could have done better, but I passed and I am moving on. I am taking a math class and Public Speaking next semester. I really hope to get A's in both of those classes to bring my GPA up.

My family is all well now. We had a pretty rough year. I never realized how close to death Jeff was when his colon burst back in July, but I am thankful that God used that situation to bring us even closer together. I also got some nursing experience out of it to put on my resume when I apply for the Nursing program in Jan '07. I have talked with a counselor about my test anxiety and my anxiety about even getting into the nursing program. He is a wonderful Christian man and used Biblical counsel when we met. I will continue to meet with him weekly for a while when the spring semester starts and he told me to not worry about getting into the program. He said if my determination is strong enough, I will get in. My determination is strong, it's my grades that are my biggest concern but like I said, Chemistry was the class I was the most fearful of, and it's behind me now.

Jeff had his second surgery in September and is doing great!!! We are careful to watch his diet and we are both working on losing weight. Mine is coming off about a lb a week but that's ok. I know to lose it and keep it off, it's got to be a slow process!!!

Kyle has been very involved with the drama department at school this year. He was the sound crewhead for Aida and was cast in Midsummer's Night. Since his grades are feeling the crunch of his dedication to drama, he will be backing off for the rest of this year. He's halfway through his Jr year and it's a weird thought that he will be a Sr soon. I, of course, have not aged a bit......COUGH!! He is not driving on his own yet, but he is hopeful to take driver's ed soon. (So am I, yet not.) Grandpa Fowler has found a car and is fixing it up but Kyle is gonna have to get more hours at work (hard to sell ice cream when it's 10 below outside) or find another job if he wants to be able to make a car payment and insurance. Real life is starting to rear it's ugly head in this young 16 1/2 year old's life!!

Kayla and Nicole on the other hand are in their final year of elementary school. They have both grown so much, neither one of them look like an 11 year old. Kayla has passed me in height, (hush, I know that's not much of an accomplishment) anyway, she is 5'5" and she is really getting a kick out of "looking down at mom"!!! Nicole is just happy that she is now 5', but she is still growing and I am sure she will pass me by this coming summer. Both girls are still loving school and making A's & B's. Boys are getting more interesting to them, but we ain't goin there!!!! Dad is pretty strict in that aspect and boys are not allowed to call...YEA DAD!! Though the girls don't get it.

Hope this post finds you all well and ready for the New Year!!

Have a BLESSED MERRY CHRISTMAS and a Happy New Year!!

Until I blog again...........

November already???

Wow, Thanksgiving is almost upon us!!

My 44th birthday came and went. No, I didn't meet my goals from last year but I am going to school and that is accomplishment enough for me right now.

I am almost through with my Chemistry class. I believe I am doing fairly well in it, though it has been VERY tough.

I was fully expecting to be able to post more often and write more interesting posts from my Comp 1 class but I have been so tied up with my Chemistry that Comp 1 is the least on my to do list. I have a solid A in that class but have my major research paper to get written this weekend. UGH!! Not only that, but I have a unit exam on Monday for Chemistry. Guess what Janice will be doing this weekend?

Hope everyone has a great Thanksgiving.

Until I blog again........

Ahhhhhhh Fall

It's one of those cool, crisp, autumn days here in the heart of America! I love those kinds of days.

As much as I love summer, swimming pools and working on a great tan, I must say that Fall is my favorite time of year.

I love to watch how God paints the tree leaves. My childhood home had some of the most beautiful oak & maple trees. We had acorns galore all over the ground and the leaves would turn deep reds and oranges. I think my favorite site in the fall is the sharp contrast of a deep yellow hue of leaves against a wet, deep blackish brown tree trunk. The leaves are starting to fall from my neighbors tree. It is right over my driveway, so every morning as I leave for work, I leave a trail of flying leaves behind.

Though I know that "death" is imminent for the leaves, I love to see the beauty before they fall & are gone for yet another year. I know full well, that Spring will once again bring them back with the full blooms. The most awesome thing about it all is that God is in full control of all of this and this happens simply because it is pleasing to Him. I for one am thankful that He shares it with us.

Fall is also a bringing in of the holiday's. First my parents anniversary, which tomorrow will be 49 years!!! Happy Anniversary Fowlers!!!! Next is my birthday, then Halloween followed by Thanksgiving which ushers in Christmas, the time of celebrating my Saviors birth!!!

It's a happy, cool, crisp, wet fall day!!!

Until I blog again........

Will I really need to know this???

As I have stated in a previous blog, I am going to school. Hopefully to become a nurse. That is my goal. I am trying to take all the "other" classes that the nursing program at Johnson County Community College requires along with the Nursing classes. My plan is to get all of the "other" classes out of the way so that when I am accepted (notice the positive outlook) all I have to concentrate on are the Nursing classes.

My biggest fear is that when I take Anatomy & Physiology, it will be much harder than this Chemistry class I am taking right now. Which brings me back to the title of my blog today. While I am finding this class QUITE challenging, I still love the challenge. I guess I have always loved a good challenge but boy oh boy, my brain is on overload.

In the past two weeks we have been on the subject of organic chemistry. While I do like it because I am a visual learner, there is sooooooooooooooo much to memorize. I know I have a handle on how to tell the difference between a Constitutional Isomer vs. trans-isomer vs. cis-isomer. But the problems comes in how to name them & to know the bonds, where they bond, how they bond & whether I have them numbered correctly either from the left to right or from right to left. See that all depends on which combination of bonds adds up to the smallest sum....

If anyone ever asks you how many bonds a carbon has, well you tell them FOUR!!!

Other than that, oh yeah, I have to memorize when to name the atom with an -ane, -ene, or -yne ending. But wait, there's more, there's the -yl ending too. Oh and I can't forget the prefixes......arghhhhhhhhhhhhh

I'm sure at some point this will come in handy, but right now the big picture is fairly blurrrred with the 1-ethyl-2,5-dimethyl hydropropane...or is it cyclobutane? Wait, that's not ethyl or methyl after all...silly me, it's tert-butyl!!!

Will I really need to know this???

Of course, If I want to pass that test tomorrow!

Until I blog again.........

What can I say?

I finally decide that I am going to make a comeback and be a regular blogger once again and viola life happens all over again.

While I have been keeping up somewhat to some of my blogroll friends, my never-a-dull-moment life goes on.

On 9/16/05, I went to get the girls from soccer practice and as soon as I had gotten there, one of the moms came running up to me and said "Nicole is on the ground screaming her head off". So I ran down to see what happened and she had twisted her ankle pretty bad. So off we went to the urgent care center. 3 1/2 hours later, they were still uncertain as to whether it was broken or badly sprained so they sent us on our way with an air cast & told us if it didn't get better over the weekend to call the dr. Duhhhhh ok, here's my $40 and thank you very much. So I called the drs office on Saturday morning they said to bring her in and they would look at it. $20 for an office visit and they sent us over for more xrays. The radiologist said it was fractured & the dr called back and said make an appointment to see an orthopedist. Since Jeff was getting ready to have his next surgery, I was going to be off that week anyway so what the heck. Took her to the orthopedist and he says "Well, I'm not convinced that I'm seeing the fracture that the radiologist saw, if she can't walk on it by this Sunday, come back in and we'll xray it again." Duhhhhhhhhh ok, here's another $40. Sunday comes along and she's doing better, walking albeit very gingerly. 3 weeks later, it's still a bit swollen and most of the bruising is going away but we have 2 more weeks till we go back to the ortho.

Two days later, Kayla wakes up with a strange looking bite on her shoulder. My first thought was a brown recluse spider. It was warm to the touch & grew a few centimeters throughout the day. I opened it up & squeezed out some stuff out of it & put some antibiotic ointment on it and within the next 24 hours it was well on it's way to going away. Yea!!!!!

My hubby had a colonoscopy on 9/19/05 which came out pretty good, they removed a small polyp and the results were benign!! Then he had his surgery to reattach his colon on 9/20/05. The dr was able to do the surgery laproscopically (Praise the Lord!!) however, his recovery was not as good as hoped. He ended up in the hospital for another 6 days, but we finally got him home and he is doing much better now. The school district had originally given him until 10/4/05 to return to work on the F.M.L.A. but there was no way that was going to happen as he hadn't even had his follow up with the surgeon yet. They extended it to 10/10/05 so he goes back tomorrow. Thank goodness they gave us a few more days. Not sure what we would have done if he lost his job over this.

The same Monday that Jeff had his colonoscopy, my mom fell while going out to feed her cats. She broke 3 or 4 bones in her left hand & had to have surgery where they inserted 6 pins.

Those soap operas aint got nuthin on me baby!!! Ha ha ha I'm not sure if this is all because I said I want to be come a nurse but it hasn't thwarted me one bit. My chemistry class on the other hand........... Actually, I'm finding that I am quite the geek. I LIKE chemistry. It is very hard, especially with my ADHD, my family & their woes and working on top of it all, not to mention my Comp 1 class. But, Lord willing, I will prevail!!!

Until I blog again....................