I forgot to mention... I’m a Nurse!

I just realised I never posted about my RN exam and my wonderful passing grade! Although, I seriously doubt anyone who follows my blog is unaware of this fact since I’ve been shouting it from the rooftops for weeks now. :-)

In other news, our wedding is 8 weeks away and I am so happy we decided to move our reception from our backyard to an indoor venue. Given the stat of our backyard currently, it was a very wise decision, as evidence by the pictures below:






These days, it’s all wedding talk, all the time. Things are really falling into place, though and we seem to be crossing things off the massive to do list every day. If you know me at all, you won’t be surprised by the fact that we have a website... check it out at pierre-danielle.com.

Work is also going really well and I love what I do every day. Sure, I still come home exhausted and complaining on some days, but I think that’s just part of any career.

I guess that’s it for me, these days. Just thought a quick update was in need.

Bride Knows Best

Mr Perfect headed out with his Best Man to do some shopping this week to find the perfect tux for the wedding. He quickly found out that not all grooms have the luxury of an opinion. While describing to the saleswoman what he wanted in a tux, she casually mentioned he would need to check with me regarding colours. Mr Perfect reiterated that the decision was all his. The saleswoman laughed at this notion; “your groomsmen need to match with the bridesmaids”, she added. Mr Perfect was adamant: “no matching.” Even his Best Man wasn’t on his side: “I really think you should check with Changa on this one, he insisted”. Mr Perfect came home, thinking he might have dreamt that I was such a forgiving and liberal bride. Well, Mr Perfect was indeed right! No matching with the bridesmaids and yes, he does have the final say on what he wears to his own wedding. Gasp! Can you imagine? A groom actually deciding what he wears to his wedding? Bridezillas around the world are having a collective conniption at the thought!

Of course, it does help that he didn’t have any wild notions of wearing a camo tux or a 1970’s inspired baby blue suit!



As well, I already knew what he wanted was pretty much what I wanted... but that’s beside the point. :-P

Oh the irony

Since we’ve decided not to have our wedding reception in our backyard, I’ve had to shift my “theme” to fit the venue. When I was working on the backyard idea, my general theme was paper lanterns and fireflies. Well, I’m not sure that really works in the new setting, so I’ve decided to change things up a big. The new theme is peacocks... yeah, I know, it’s a bit weird. It was the only way I knew to tie in the colours I wanted to use: green, blue and brown. The irony is, I hate birds! I mean I HATE them and they scare the bejesus out of me! Oh well, as long as I don’t have any live peacocks at the wedding I should survive!

The other ironic thing is, the reception is now being held at the Local Press Club. The only thing I hate almost as much as birds is the media and now my reception is taking place at their “home”. Hah! Actually, I don’t think journalists really hang out there anymore, so we should be safe.

Updates All Around

There are lots of updates these days do I figured the best way to tackle them was with a Méli-Mélo post.

Changa and the RN Exam
I wrote my exam on Wednesday. It was brutal and exhausting, but at least it’s done for now. Now I have 6 weeks to wait and wonder. Actually, I’m not stressing about it at all. There is nothing I can do for 6 weeks so I might as well not stress about it until I get the results. If I fail, I’ll cross that bridge when I get to it. Besides, I’m fairly certain I scored somewhere between a 40% and an 85%. :-P

Changa and the meds
If you’ve been a regular reader, you’ll know I was diagnosed with depression (dysthemia) 15 years ago. I’ve been on my current meds for 7 years. Wow! That’s a long time. Anyway, my doctor has decided to switch my medication since there is no evidence that the ones I currently take wouldn’t have an effect on a baby should I become pregnant in the future. *Sigh* It is quite scary to think I’m going to be switching my medication at a time when I’m experiencing a high level of stress. It’ll take months to complete the switch since I have to taper two different meds, one at a time and then slowly integrate the new med. I could put off the switch until my job is more stable, but why delay the inevitable. I’m also going to do acupuncture in the hopes that it will balance out the bad effects of the transfer. Wish me luck cause I know I’ll need it!

Changa and the new job
I’ve completed my two weeks of orientation and Monday I start working on the unit. It’s scary and exciting! I still can’t believe it’s actually here. I think it’s going to take some time getting used to the idea that I’m a nurse. Wow.

Changa and the Wedding
We’ve decided to forgo the beautiful backyard reception I had dreamt about for a more practical option. I was quite disappointed in the beginning, but I’m starting to warm up to the idea and the wheel of creativity is churning! The backyard reception would have been wonderful, but the logistics of organising said reception plus a backup reception was getting to be too much. I would be essentially planning too receptions with the guarantee that one of them would not happen. We had tough of renting a tent, but if it rains the entire month of May, no tent will help with the marshland that our backyard will become! So, I think we’ve settled on the local press club. It doesn’t have the wedding-y feel I was hoping to avoid and is different enough from your typical hall or hotel ballroom to make me happy. It also means trimming the guest list will not be as stressful. We’re also meeting our potential officiant next week and we have a general direction for the bridesmaid dresses. Yay!

I think that’s it for now. :-)

Why am I cleaning out my purse?

I’m pretty sure I was studying, but now I just finished cleaning my purse... how the heck did that happen? Let’s see...

Step 1: Studying
Step 2: Reviewing info on liver function and liver diseases
Step 3: Reading that there are 5 different types of Hepatitis (Hepatitises?). I had forgotten there were so many varieties
Step 4: Wondering which Hepatitis immunization I have
Step 5: Checking my immunization record which is in my wallet
Step 6: Realising my wallet is a mess
Step 7: Going through the papers and reorganising my various cards
Step 8: Incessant need to blog about it

Seriously Changa; FOCUS!



At least I got in a good two hours this morning before the cleaning incident. It’s time for my lunch break anyway.

Stress is exhausting

This is the conclusion I’ve come to this morning. I’m exhausted... and I think it’s because I’m stressed. Yesterday I spent a better part of the day studying and last night I think I could have gone to bed at 7:00 pm. It’s not the studying that’s so awful, it’s the pressure of passing this damn CRNE (Canadian Registered Nurse Exam). It’s just an exam… upon which my salary, my time, my future and quite possibly my sanity depend on. Sure, if I don’t pass I always have two more chances to take the exam… only the next round is the first week of June... a few days after I’m getting married! Ugh. I don’t think I can take another 4 months of studying! :-( Also, when I get stressed about an exam, I tend to avoid the books. I realize this is the ridiculous strategy in the world, but the more stressed I get, the less I want to study. The less I want to study, the more stressed I get. It’s one big vicious circle.

Add to the exam, the stress of organizing a wedding. Actually, the organizing part isn’t as stressful as the nagging mother. I’m trying not to think of the things that need to be done, but my mother sure is! Friday she insisted we go see bridesmaid dresses after I told her repeatedly that my bridesmaids won’t be wearing typical bridesmaid dresses, but I finally gave up. Sure, there were some nice dresses, but not what I was looking for… and certainly not the budget I had intended. When she asked the salesman how long it took to order a dress, he said 4 to 5 months (the wedding is in 4 months). My mom laughed and sighed heavily. I know that nervous laugh of hers… it’s intended to say: my poor disorganized daughter has left everything to the last minute. I shot her a look that could have set fire to her eyeballs and I’m pretty sure she felt the burn. It wasn’t my intention to do so, but I do not need the pressure she is putting on me. I don’t think she has any idea how big this exam is! You would think she could shut up about the wedding for another 10 days, right?

I just hope the stress diminishes after this exam… but I get the feeling it isn’t. They say your first year of nursing is one of the most stressful experiences someone can have. Great. At least I’ll be getting paid, right? Sure! But I don’t get a full paycheck until March… and I have to start dishing out scary amounts of money to pay back student loans… and then there’s this wedding thing we have to pay for and I think I’m hyperventilating again! Ugh

I thought writing out my stresses in my blog would be cathartic, but it’s stressing me out even more just thinking about it all. I need to go study now… or cry… I’m still not sure which to do first.

Falling Down Blue... or Yellow

Mr. Bentley has had quite an adventure last night. Unfortunately (fortunately?)I wasn’t privy to the ordeal, but Mr. Perfect gave me all the details. It all started after we went to bed. Bentley had gone outside as he always does around 10:00 and we went to bed around 11:00. He started crying not to long after we headed upstairs. He doesn’t cry anymore except in the morning when he has to go. It was odd that he was crying, but Mr. Perfect was watching TV and we figured he could hear it and wanted to be with us. When the crying didn’t stop after the TV was off, Mr. Perfect went downstairs to investigate. I quickly fell asleep as soon as the whining had stopped.

The next morning I headed downstairs around 5:30 to let the dogs out. When I arrived in the kitchen, all the chairs where at the opposite end of the kitchen and everything that was on the kitchen table had been moved. After bringing the dogs back in and heading back to bed, I just had to ask: What the hell happened last night?!

Turns out our dear Bentley had peed in the kitchen. But it wasn’t a little puddle... it stretched from one end of the kitchen to the other! Since our freakin’ house is crooked, it definitely emphasised the spread of the pool. At first, Mr P. (er, Mr. Perfect) couldn’t see the extent of the puddle, but as he made his way through the kitchen he saw it went on and on. Of course, Bentley followed him as he walked right through the puddle. I’m actually surprised I wasn’t awakened by Mr. P’s swearing at this point. Hah! Of course, Mr. P tried to get him to not walk in the puddle, but as he did, Bentley lost his balance on the slippery floor and splat right in the pond! Now, I must add, that Bentley slips and falls every other day and it’s a big ordeal each time because he has lots of trouble getting back up... think Bambi on the ice pond:


It’s actually quite the sad sight. So at this point, not only has he fallen in the pee, he’s flailing about trying to get up, creating a splatter on the walls and on Mr. Perfect. Hah! At this point in the story I’m laughing so hard I can barely breathe! Mr. P helps Bentley straighten up and he immediately runs to his bed, spreading the mess even further. So, around midnight last night, Mr. P. ended up washing the entire first floor... and this morning Bentley got his first bath. :-)