Tuesday, August 24, 2010

WHEW!

Today was a big day. I took the PANCE (Physician Assistant National Certification Exam) which will give me a license to actually work as a PA. It is a forever long, 6 hour 360 question test. It’s broken down into sections of 60 questions that you have 60 minutes to answer, 6 times. Yeah, it was a long day. And it started with them making me empty my pockets and turn them inside out. I had to put my chapstick in my locker and put the barrette and clip in my hair before I went in. Had to take off my watch, and take the hair elastic off my wrist and put it in my hair! Not even that could be on my wrist. So I walked in with all three things in my hair and promptly took them out and set them on the desk. But I least I had them. It was crazy! The good news is I had 45 minutes of break time to take whenever. I started at 11:00, and took the first two sections back to back, then took a 15-minute snack and bathroom break. I went back, took sections 3 and 4 without a break and by the 4th hour of testing my head was swimming. I took a 25-minute lunch/rest/bathroom break and headed back to start hour/section 5. After that, I took my last 5 minutes to run a lap around the building and gear up for my last section. Then, WHEW!! I was done! I thought I would feel some great relief when I was finished, but I didn’t. Maybe when I find out I passed it will come.


I came home, my awesome sister-in-law Denise, who watched my kids had dinner ready and we all sat down and ate, then the kids and I watched the first part of Holes. Michael was busy with wedding stuff again tonight. He works all day at Curtiss Wright, then comes home and does wedding stuff. Thankfully he has now hired two very competent girls to help with wedding planning and that hopefully means things settle down eventually.

In other news, I’ve applied for a few jobs. The one I’m most excited about is at the Solitude ski clinic. That would be awesome! It’s a full-time, fully benefitted job, but seasonal. I’ve also applied with some agencies and got a call today about some openings out of state. I don't know, we’ll see how it all works out.

Zander started school yesterday and has Mrs. Baumgardner (Mrs. B) as his teacher and likes her. He seems pretty happy about school right now. That makes me happy. He's still the tall, skinny kid he's been still landing >97% for his height. And he's smart as a whip.
Keagan is itching to go to preschool and I’m itching to get him there. He's so ready to start having structured learning and play with friends his age. He always plays with Zander and his friends, which usually works out well, but I'll be happy when he's with his peers. It will happen eventually.
Sadie is getting as big as ever, starting to say new words and make new sounds. Tonight she told me that a frog says “bi-bi-bi” (like rib"bi"t) and that a cow says “moo”. She also likes to dance. Any time music come on she starts waving her hands and bouncing. She is so stinkin’ cute.

Now I’m ready to get me some ice cream, turn on a movie for me and just relax the rest of the night. Or maybe I'll sit here and read blogs. Something I haven't done forever.
And here are some recent pictures just for fun because everybody loves pictures!
Later!
On afternoon when we were swimming in our little pool. I don't have pictures of the kids in the water because I have to be there with them...=)
Some other lovely nature pictures. I love to take these.

5 comments:

Jessica said...

yay rachie! way to take - and pass, i'm sure - the exam! no more crazy student life for you. now you can dial down to the only mildly crazy life of wife, mother, and PA. enjoy!

marinda said...

Congrats Rachy!!!! You did it!! You're done! I can't believe it. It seems like yesterday that you started even though the time did not go by slowly while you were in it. I'm so proud to call you my sister, you rock! And your kids are so stinkin' cute as always!! Love ya!

Suzy Q said...

Good Luck! We know you'll pass.

I swear I know the name Mrs Baumgardner. How old is she, where's she from, where else has she taught?

Jody said...

Congrats on finishing school....that test sounds brutal but I am sure you did great!!

Nate and Marci said...

Rachel...we are so excited for you. It seems like yesterday that you had just started and we were talking about how long two years seemed. Now you are done and Nate is halfway done with medical school. This is truly something to be proud of. YAY!