Sweater Season

It's sweater season again. I'm beyond excited. To celebrate my joy for all things sweaters, I wore the sweater that started my passion, to my first day of work this week. Here is the awkward picture for your viewing pleasure:

Yep, those are my husband's socks on the floor. And take a peek into my open spice cabinet too while you're looking. And basically just look around at everything else in the room but my awkward face.

Side note: those earrings are from my most recent trip to Seattle. . . blog post coming soon.

Additional side note: my butt looks really good in those pants. No picture for your viewing pleasure though. Sorry folks.

Cheap-O Curtains

So after our newly painted bedroom, I realized that our window was embarrassingly bare. Sure, the blinds are nice, but the wall needed a little extra oomph. Enter curtains.

I tossed around the idea of yellow or white curtains. Then I went out searching for curtains. Holy moly! They are expensive! Discount stores had more reasonably priced ones, but not in any color that I wanted. Enter frustration.

So I searched online for window treatments that didn't cost me my leg. I ran across the idea for curtains made out of flat sheets. Brilliant! I went to Target and discovered that since it's dorm room decorating season, bedding was on sale! $5 for a flat sheet! I snatched up two, then headed for Ross for a cheap curtain rod and curtain clips.

After washing and ironing my sheets (which, by the way, is probably the only time in my life I will ever iron bedsheets) I hastily hung up my sheets as curtains (hence the not-so-evenly-placed-curtain rings). Clearly, they need hemming, and I'm trying to decide if I want to take the lazy way (AKA iron on hem strips) or the scary way (AKA actually try to use my sewing machine and attempt a straight hem). My sewing confidence is about a 2/10. I'm gonna leave the curtains as is for now, and after I attempt to sew my Kate Middleton dress I might have the courage to hem the curtains properly.

 What do ya think? Since the curtains didn't cost me an arm and a leg, I'm inclined to switch them out with something a little more sophisticated should I see something that catches my eye. But I'm rather proud of my cheap budget friendly curtains.

Finally!

After 3.5 months of searching, 77 job applications and 2 interviews, I am pleased to announce that I FINALLY HAVE A JOB!

And these numbers were just the rejection emails in my inbox. I think I deleted a few at the beginning, but decided I should save them all to see how many applications is takes to find a job in the Portland nursing market. To say that there is a nursing shortage bewilders me.

And the unbelievable thing about this is, the job I have is only a temporary one. I'll be working for 3 months only as a computer support person when the hospital switches from paper to electronic charting. For some reason, they want RNs to teach the physicians how to use the computer charting one on one. I think it's because we speak medical jargon, so Docs don't have to waste time to explain to the IT guys what "D5W gtts TKO means".

So I will start at the end of September, working unpredictable schedules to support the staff, utilizing none of my nursing skills with zero patient interaction. Not exactly what I anticipated my first nursing job to be, but at this point I will take what I can get. Besides, I'm still getting an RN salary, and now my resume can say I have RN experience at a respected hospital, even though I didn't actually work with patients. And hopefully I can impress the physicians and other staff I work with and make them see how much they want me to work full time with them after this job ends.

We will see what the future holds, but I am so happy I have at least found a job and can do something/earn money this year! And the best part? I need to dress business casual for the job. Shopping trip after my first paycheck? I think yes! Heck, shopping trip for my first day of work? I think yes!

DIY Bible

Thanks to my good friend Alie, I have recently discovered my new favorite blog. Are you ready for it? It's Young House Love, which, I'll admit, sounds like kind of a hippy name. But seriously they are full of great ideas for DIY projects from decorating to painting, to yard work. It's a gold mine for people like me who are decorating challenged and want to make the most out of our small home.

It is from this website that I learned how to refinish furniture, as done with my coffee table, and reupholstered my dining room chairs thanks to this website's wonderful step by step instructions.

I highly recommend it for all of your DIY needs! I have literally spent hours reading up on all sorts of projects we can do, hence the lack of posts. Go check it out!