There was no running and no brussells sprouts made...

 

Because we were out CELEBRATING!!!! I passed my test! Whooo Hoo!

I have been studying for a cardiac arrhythmia test that the floor I work on (not even part time - mind you) mandates all their nurses have certification for. The test is supposed to accompany a 6 week class that you learn, from a teacher, how to read, interpret, and treat cardiac arrhythmia's. The class is only offered every Monday from 1pm to 3pm. Since I work full time elsewhere, I refused to take 3 hours of PTO to drive across town to take this class in the middle of each Monday. Maybe if it were earlier or later, I could have taken the class and then come to work late or gone home early, but right in the smack middle of the day? No, thank you. My only option was to attempt to test out of the class.

Of course I learned a lot of this stuff in nursing school, but for the last 7 years (WOW!!) I have not even looked at an EKG strip, let alone try to interpret one. The floors I have worked on in the past, have only had remote monitoring, which means that the patient has a monitor on, but there are EKG Techs in another part of the hospital monitoring them. If something went wrong, they simply called the nurses and we informed the physician if something was of concern. I won't bore you with the details, but I always knew if someone was running a safe cardiac rhythm and when they weren't, and that was all that was really important. The floor that I am working on now has the monitors on the floor. Even though they are still being monitored by EKG Techs as well, the nurses are supposed to have the same amount of certification so that we can read them if needed (like we have that kind of time?).

The test was extremely hard and it took me just under 2 hours to complete 35 questions. My eyes burned and my neck hurt from crouching over that test and trying to count squares that are no bigger than the tip of a ball point pen. But it is over, and that is just another thing I can add to my resume. I am pretty proud of myself for doing so well and self-teaching a very difficult topic. I have always hated school and I am a horrible test taker. My anxiety level gets so high that I feel sick and get my thoughts confused. My teachers in college could never understand why I would do so poor on my tests, but in clinical rotations, I knew the information like it was second nature. I am so much more comfortable at the bedside than I am in a classroom. Kinda strange...

Anyway, when I got out of the test, I called Mike and we decided to go out to eat since it was almost 8. And, I wanted a glass of wine to celebrate. :) We met at a new restaurant downtown called Cantina South, since we had a restaurant.com coupon. When we eat out during the week, we try to only go to places that we have a groupon, living social, or restaurant.com coupon. We would rather save our eating out money for places we want to go on the weekends.

This place was pretty good. It was definitely a much more formal Mexican restaurant and the prices were a little high. We decided to get a few appetizers to share instead of getting meals. We wanted to try so many things and we figured that was the best way to get a taste of several items. We shared some chicken nachos on blue corn chips, Flautas de Pato - which had pulled duck breast, and Hongo Choriqueso - which was sort of like a skillet queso with chorizo sausage.

Everything was really good, except I wasn't a fan of the Hongo. I just didn't like the flavor. But, Mike loved it, so it may have just been me. We each had a glass of red wine and then headed home for some pumpkin ice cream. I was really wanting some frozen yogurt, but there are NO frozen yogurt shops in the downtown area or in East Raleigh... get it together, Raleigh!

This morning I woke up to gross, wet, and chilly weather outside and was in the mood for some hot oats. I made some pumpkin oats with maple syrup and chocolate chips. They were just what I was looking for. I don't know if I have ever posted my recipe for pumpkin oats, but I listed it below. I have done a lot of tweaking and eaten a lot of horrible tasting oats before coming up with this great mixture. And it is sooo easy!

Hot Pumpkin OatsServes 1
1/4 cup old fashioned rolled oats
1/2 - 3/4 cup skim milk
1/3 cup pumpkin puree (take it from me, pumpkin flavor goes a long way)
Pumpkin Pie Spice (or nutmeg and cinnamon) - to taste
Toppings:
Dark Chocolate Chips - to taste
Maple Syrup - to taste


Place all (except toppings) in a pot and bring to a boil. Once creamy and soft, serve with some maple syrup and chocolate chips (or any other toppings you may want).

That is it! Very simple and sooo tasty.

Tonight, Mike and I are just taking it easy. We are heading to Greenville for the ECU game in the morning, so we plan on getting some things done tonight and relaxing. We haven't had a free Friday night to relax in a long time. I hope everyone has a fabulous weekend!

P.S. - I apologize for my AWFUL pictures. The easiest way for me to document my food, upload the pictures, and get them on the blog is to use my 3G iPhone... you know... the original? The camera sucks and the phone is pretty awful being 2 years old. I am HOPING... hint, hint, my wonderful husband will get me that fancy new iPhone for Christmas...or just for a fun Happy Friday gift... I won't hold my breath. Until then, you will just have to deal with these horrific pictures. :) 

Yesterday's Stats:
Breakfast - Overnight pumpkin oats with skim milk, pumpkin puree, oatmeal, chocolate chips, flaxseed, pumpkin granola
Lunch - leftover turkey burger with jack cheese on a sandwich thin and 1/4 cup pinto beans
Dinner - see above
Dessert - pumpkin ice cream (1/4 cup)

Calories 0 - I had to kind of guess since my dinner was not in my calculator, but I did well all day, so I had a lot of room. 
Sodium (-) 329
Protein (-) 1