Sorry for the Delay…

Life has been so crazy these last few months. I’ll try to give you a quick recap!

January: Last semester of school starts. One course will be done by beginning of May and the other two in the middle of July. This month was full of studying, both for school and my RD exam, and it paid off. I am now a Registered Dietitian! Finally! The job hunt started… Also, our bottle baby Annabelle went home to the farm. But it wouldn’t be long before we had more babies at our house.

February: School work. Job hunting. Read an email from an organization I belong to (St. Louis Dietetic Association), found a job posting for a Registered Dietitian for the Monroe County YMCA. PERFECT! Called immediately, got an interview that afternoon, had the job by 5pm! SWEET! Well, the guy who hired me resigned 4 days after hiring me…. I have only participated in a few events at the Y so far but I am always on call and still an employee. Job hunt continues… 

March: School work. Job hunting. Lambs are born!

March continued: We ended up having 5 lambs here at one time. Bottle feeding 5 lambs? Not easy! Good thing there was a stay at home mom for a while (me). One evening my Aunt Tammy called and said there was a job posting in the North County News for an RD at a nursing home in Waterloo. For real? I have never, ever seen an RD position posted in the NCN! She cut the ad out and put it in my mailbox the next morning. As soon as she brought it, I emailed my resume in. I didn’t hear anything for about 2 weeks, but I had spoken with two people who work there and they had given me some information about the job. Thursday March 10th, 3:45 pm, I get a call and it is the administrator of the nursing home. Interview is set for 9 am the next morning. I quickly updated and reorganized my portfolio and do a quick brush-up on geriatric nutrition to prepare for the interview. Friday March 11th, 9 am, my interview lasted 2 hours!!! It was the best interview I have ever had. Same day, 3 pm, got a call from St. Elizabeth’s about an RD position I had applied for about a month prior. I basically had an impromptu phone interview that lasted about 20-30 minutes and was told that I would be contacted by the manager next week for a formal interview. I was so nervous the rest of the weekend I could barely sleep. Monday March 14th, got a call from St. E’s, had an interview lined up for Friday. Little later, got a call from the YMCA and had an interview lined up for Wednesday. I had applied for the Fitness and Sports Director position there (the position of the guy who hired me but quit). I was feeling great! Two interviews lined up in one day?! Then about 4 pm, I got a call from the administrator of the nursing home and she wanted me to come in at 9 am the next morning (Tuesday). Sure thing! That next morning I was offered the position at the nursing home, which is called Oak Hill and it is located across from The Ridge golf course in Waterloo. And of course I took it! I am not only their only Registered Dietitian, I am also the new dietary director! This job comes with A LOT of responsibility but I absolutely LOVE IT so far! Everyone has treated me very well and I am getting to know a lot of the residents and my employees. I never pictured myself working in long term care, or in a clinical or food service setting, but I am learning to love it! Plus, it is not far from home which is easy on the gas tank. Also in March, Craig switched companies and now works for Dieker Terry out of Marissa. His good buddies Luke and Hattrick also made the big move, and they are all still on the same crew. I think this is going to be a good company for Craig to work for, and I am glad he finally found a company that actually cares about their business and their employees!

April: School work continues, but on top of working full time, it is not easy! I admit that working full time and getting up early every morning was definitely a wake up call! I love to sleep in! I need to enjoy it before we have kids! My little cousin Emma had a birthday in the middle of the month. This girl LOVES horses, and my father in law has horses, so I invited her out to take a ride on George’s horse Cash on her birthday.

Little brother Jack wanted to ride too!

Also that day, Craig was loading up dirt from his dad’s farm to put into our garden beds. Craig built four 12’x4’ raised beds for our back yard. We turned one whole side of our back yard into a vegetable garden. The area used to be a play area with a swing set (I was told by neighbors) and it was covered in mulch. But that was a few years back and the mulch has decomposed and the whole side of the yard was full of weeds that we just mowed over. Here are a few pictures of our yard transformation:

May: School work! I am finishing my masters through University of Alabama, which is in Tuscaloosa, which was devastated by a tornado April 27th. The campus was not hit but was without power for several days. Six students lost lives in the storm. As a result, operations were suspended and final exams (which were supposed to be last week) were cancelled or postponed. If you were satisfied with your grade as of April 27th, you did not have to take the exam. Well I had an A, so I was satisfied. The footage and pictures from that tornado are horrifying, I hope I never have to go through anything like that! When it finally quit raining and I had the extra time, I was finally able to plant veggies! Some very nice people (Ryan Devall, Grandma Kay) gave me free plants/seeds so I only have spent about $12 on this project. The wood for the beds came from my parents barn, dirt from my father in law, trellis and tomato cages came from my parents, and I bought a few plants and seed packets. This year I am trying to grow tomatoes, cherry tomatoes, cucumbers, zucchini, potatoes, jalepeno peppers, bull horn peppers, green bell peppers, two types of lettuce, edemame, and three types of green beans. I am still trying to find space for some sweet corn, acorn squash, and sweet potatoes, but I have a little bit before they need to be planted. Here are a few pictures of what it looks like now (well almost, I have added a few more plants and a pole bean trellis):

We are filling the gaps with mulch next weekend, so it will look more complete. Can’t wait to see how it looks!

Well, that is the four months in a nut shell. Hope I didn’t bore you too bad! Hopefully have some more updates soon (yeah right…).