long time..

One of these days I am actually going to be good at keeping up with this blog thing. Synopsis of the semester... not to bad. A lot more busy work and group projects but I don't mind because it helps the grades out and I feel more productive when I can cross off of my to do list. I pretty much just have two unfinished assignments, and 5 exams left! So the countdown begins until December 17th. Unfortunantly Abbie has to stay behind, I just simply can't afford to take her. If I get caught it is just to expensive. On the other hand Howard is very excited to have her for 3 whole weeks. Plus Abbie will have Isabel, Reis, Raegan and the whole rest of the Vernon clan to keep her busy. I especially think Isabel will run her ragged. Better stop procrastinating and get some research done for my intervention plan. Next I will post some pictures from Thanksgiving, which was fun and relaxing with a little school work thrown in there.

Summer

Hello all. It has been a while since I have updated but I am currently in the middle of my clinical rotation. The rotation is in an outpatient orthopedic clinic so far so good. I only know the grade of one of the two classes I took this summer, which is an A! I hope I will know the second by the end of the week. I am officially going to Wa August 3rd- 18th and I am going to try and see everyone but we know how hard that is. Howard will be in Wa the 14th - 18th. I wish we could spend more time but maybe in December I will be able to stay longer. Love you all and I will post pictures later.

May 2009

Hello all... I have not updated in a while so here I am to update you on my life since last time. I am officially a SECOND YEAR OT STUDENT!! I did it passed the hardest year so hopefully from here on out I won't have to worry about grades. My new goal for grades is to get B's and A's, no more C's for me! The hard sciences are out done, now it's more therapy and interventions.
I just finished a 10 day break and am now back in summer classes for four weeks then another week break then we get to do four weeks of clinicals then a month break! I am doing my clinicals at Central States Orthopedic, it is an outpatient facility. It will be interesting because I am not sure what OT's do in this area but that's one of the reasons why I chose it. My two summer classes are Movement Science I and Contexts for occupational performance. I am glad because in the contexts class we don't have any exams, we have three large group projects. The cool thing about this class and the projects is we get to go into homes and public places to assess and recommend changes and modifications the facility/homeowner could do to allow better access. Movement not so sure but I only have one exam and two projects. I am fairly confident in my abilities to make B's in both classes.
During my break Howard and I went up to St. Louis for a friends wedding. The picture above was at the top of the arch! We had a great time in St.Louis. We also toured the Budweiser plant, it was really neat and actually smelled really good. We also went to a Cardinals game, they lost but it was still fun! I then came back to Tulsa for a few days, spent time with Lindsey, Jackson and my roomies. I finished the break in Fort Smith and at the farm, which is always fun. Oh yeah, can't forget that I caught 6 fish!!
That is my news for now, I will try to be better at updating my blog. Much love,
Emily

Tests and storm

Hello.. so this second round or Neuro and Ortho tests did not go as well as the first round. I am still confident that I will get the grades I need to succeed! It is just frustrating to not get the grades I think I deserve for how much time I put into studying. I am just going to tweak my studying and do better next time. I only have one to two tests left in my classes!!! The semester is almost over then I get to do clinicals this summer. I am doing my clinical at an outpatient facility called Central States Orthopedic. I think it will be a good experience, I haven't had and outpatient experience especially in orthopedics plus it is only a few miles from my house.
So we had a quick severe storm and I took a video so I hope you can see it and enjoy. Gotta love the Oklahoma crazy weather.

Love Emily

Mexico and Snow

So Mexico was beautiful and very relaxing. I got some color but I actually didn't get burned!! I enjoyed seeing the beautiful blue water and white sand everyday. I was able to go on a seadoo ride which was a lot of fun. I went with my 3 OT friends from school, Casey, Jill and Rachel. We were there for 3 nights and 4 days which actually a good amount of time, I think by the time a week went by I would get a little stir crazy! But we stayed at an all inclusive resort called Riu Yucutan in playa del carmen mexico. I was safe and had a great time.

I am now back and into the swing of things but it is SNOWING like a blizzard!! Which is not fun, pretty but not in March. Other than that I am getting ready for the end of the semester have a test Monday and then one every week until the end of school. School ends May 14th.

He is HUGE!! Linds, Jackson and I went out for brunch on Saturday

Las Vegas

So, one last update on a test. I got a 96% on my foundations of OT test!
Howard and I went to Las Vegas this past weekend and had an awesome time. There were a few mishaps. We went on a battery search party for my camera, and then we missed our connecting flight in Denver so we had to stay in a hotel on Sunday night. I also have a little head cold which is never enjoyable.
We did have a great time despite these few flaws. On Friday we just walked around our hotel, The Stratosphere. They had an amazing observation deck of the entire strip. Our hotel was on the north end of the strip. The south end is where all the famous casinos are located.
On Saturday I made a list of all the free and cheap stuff to do and see. So after Howard's meeting we walked the strip. I don't think my feet have ever been so tired. We didn't walk the whole thing but a lot of it. We rode a roller coaster inside the Circus Circus Adventuredome, which was fun! Then a little after that we caught the strip bus that took us down to the start of the south side. We stopped at the fashion show mall, this mall had all the expensive brands like Dolce and Gabana, Saks Fifth etc.. We took a picture in front of the Wynn hotel, walked inside the Palazzo Casino. This is where we got some new batteries. Howard said that was the 'real deal' Las Vegas casino. It had a million machines and tables with chandeliers etc... Then we went into the Venetian where we saw 'moving' statues! We saw the Treasure Island pirate show, the Mirage volcano, the Bellagio dancing fountains, the Paris hotel with the Eiffel Tower. Then we were so hungry we stopped and ate at Panda Express under the Flamingo hotel. I know fancy but we were famished. We walked a little more after we ate and then got on the bus back to the hotel where he had free tickets to an impersonating show. The show was pretty good, there was Elvis, Rod Stewart, Christina Aguleria, Tim Mcgraw and Micheal Jackson. We were going to go downtown but were so tired we went upstairs and went to bed.
On Sunday we woke up and took a tour of the Hoover Dam! This was very fun and interesting. Until you see it in person you have no idea how huge it is. We got to see inside and then went on the observation deck. They are building an overpass over the Colorado river and let me just tell you no one could pay me enough to be that high in the air. After the dam tour, the driver was able to drop us off at the MGM. The night before we weren't able to go that far. We saw the Lion habitat that is inside the casino. The MGM was a really awesome casino. We saw the New York New York hotel, which is humongous. Walked around some more and then caught the bus back to the hotel. We had a little bit more time so I played $20 of Howard's money :) in Blackjack and won $35!! I almost lost it but then I got on a good streak of 21. Now I can say I won money in Vegas.

Good exam week

This week has been long but successful! I had a Neuroscience exam on Monday and I got an 84%! I took a Ortho practical yesterday and passed, it is only pass or fail. I took the Ortho lecture today and got an 82%. I am so happy how this semester has started out. I have a test on Wednesdy but it shouldn't be to bad. I only got 3 hours of sleep last night but I am sleeping in tomorrow!! If I continue to be rewarded with my studying I may just keep doing it,haha. Anyway, I have had a huge studying week, nothing really exciting but wanted to let you know how I did. The only bad thing that happened was today after our exam we had our Media lab where I am making a jewelry box and I was making the lid today and the walls of the box completely broke off. My project could not be saved ;( I almost started to cry because I was really excited about it but I said just do something else not so elaborate. So I made a plac with a saying " live life to the fullest" I will take pics and show you later. Love you all
Emily

School has started!

Hello all. It has been a little while since my last entry but I have been busy with school starting. the first two weeks were a little wacky. We went to OKC the first week for a day and participated in a career fair where I won a rolling back pack! I kind of look like a dork using it but I love not having to carry around all my heavy 'equipment'.

The second week we had 2 1/2 days of ice closure so that didn't help get into the swing of things. So last week was the first real/full week. And to make things better I have my first exams next week.

I have Neuroscience on Monday, a Ortho lab practical on Thursday and the Ortho lecture exam on Friday morning. Man, it is going to be a fun couple of weeks, haha. I am trying to keep up with all of the material and readings but they have piled it on us, especially my ortho class. Last week we had to read about 200 pages. I had to skim most of them highlighting the stuff I thought I should go back to before the test. This week is better, we actually don't have any reading.

I do have a really fun class called Media for Occupational Performance. It is where we learn how to take arts and crafts and use them therapeutically. We are currently doing ceramics. We have to make two items. My first one I am working on is a jewlery box. I am really excited about it! I will have to take pictures and so you the results. The second item is going to be a candle holder, I think. This class helps me take my mind off of other things for a little while, which is good for more balance in my life.

I am also going to take a riding lesson as part of this class and go with a friend to her brothers ranch to get more experience and then we have a presentation on how we could use our new skill and adapt it to future patients. This really shows what OT is all about. The ability to take something fun, inspiring, and desirable and to use it to motivate the patient to progress in their rehab. I really am enjoying the OT classes, I thing this is what I am meant to do.

This weekend I went to Fort Smith. Howard, Abbie and I went hiking aroung the farm. We hiked for a good hour. We went all the corners of the farm. We even crossed a creek and went up a fairly steep rock bed. Abbie even hiked with us, off of her leash! She did very well with staying close and listening. She even got a drink from the cold creek.

We had a couple of mishaps along the way. We had to hurdle over a small barbed wired fence, Howard fell on some leaf fallen rock , ouch, and we got the explorer stuck in a little bit of mud. But all in all it was an awesome morning/early afternoon. Then I had to get back to studying, bluh.

Unfortunantly the weekend is over and time to get down to business. I have made falsh cards for all of my Neuro notes and just need to go over them a few more times. Then going over ortho key points and I am ready for the exams!! I will let you know how I do.

New haircut

Classes started up again today and I got a new haircut and highlights before my first class. It is pretty blonde but I really like it. She added layers to the top so it laid better and and grows out evenly. Today I had my Orthopedic lab and Neuroscience lecture. We didn't do anything extensive but I think it will be an interesting semester. Tomorrow I have my Foundations of Occupational Therapy lecture and lab. On Thursday we have to go to Oklahoma City for campus swap since we have two campuses once a semester we have to go to the opposite campus for meet and greets. We also have a career fair in OKC so we wont be back until 7pm on Thursday. Thursday is going to be a really long day, we are leaving the Tulsa campus at 7:30 am. Next week is back to the normal schedule; I have an 8 o'clock class almost everyday but it will be good to get into a routine. Hope all is well.