The list continues to dwindle!

I will be the first to admit that I'm a champion list-maker.  I like to see things in print, and the satisfaction of being able to cross something off of a "to-do" list is nearly second to none.  In my world, if it doesn't get written down, it's very likely to fall off the radar.  And when that happens, I end up doing things like putting half of our paperwork in one folder and half in another (for some odd reason that I still can't explain...) so that after our last class, when I'm confident that I turned in all of the required paperwork because I'm pretty sure I had put it all in that one folder for convenience's sake, I get home and realize that I still have half of the paperwork to turn in because it was in another place -- and then I mentally kick myself in the derriere for not making a list like I wanted to do in the first place.

Before we go on a trip, I still make a list of things I need to bring.  You'd think that after almost 38 years of going places, I would have figured out the basics of what I need to bring with when going anywhere -- but I still don't feel right if I haven't made that list.  Half the time I end up not needing it anyway, but there's something in my brain that gets triggered when I see things written down.  I wish I could say I have a photographic memory, because that would've made nursing school a hell of a lot easier, but alas, I do not.  

I'm an incredible list-maker at work, too.  I heard somewhere recently that, on average, a nurse has 17 things to get done during her (or his) shift at any given time.  If I don't write down as much as possible, I'm going to forget something.  I know I still end up forgetting things anyway, but I'm 99% less likely to forget it if I've jotted it down somewhere.  There's a reason we nurses refer to shift report sheets as our "brains".  (For that reason, don't be scared if you ever hear a nurse say, "I've misplaced my brain!";  it's not an anatomical issue, it's a clipboard issue.)  Sometimes I half-jokingly think I should come up with a "brain" for home; I'd probably get a lot more done.  

My point with all this rambling is that the list on my monitor is looking pretty messy, which is a good thing!  Messy lists mean things have been crossed off.  I don't trust a nice, neat list.  That's why the one on my monitor has bothered me so much up until the last week or so . . . there were no messy scribbles on it!  But now, that's changing.  Tomorrow we're going to get our fingerprints done at the county jail, so I will be able to cross that off!  And yesterday, we made appointments for our physicals; mine is next Tuesday, DS' is next Thursday and DH's is next Friday.  DH and I have forms that need to be completed by our physicians, basically stating that we're healthy, emotionally mature and stable (uh-oh...), and that we have normal life expectancies.  We're also required to have some labs done . . . Hgb/Hct, UA, HIV, and a 5 panel drug test (for amphetamines, TCH, cocaine, POP, and opiates).  Oh, and a Mantoux skin test (which I have to get every two years [or is it annually? I don't remember!] for work, anyway.  So . . . yeah!  That will be taken care of next week.  The boy isn't required to have a physical, but we do need a note from the doctor stating that he's healthy -- so I made an appointment for him to have a physical, anyway.  

On that note . . . I'm off to mow the field, which gives me a lot of time to ponder the deeper topics in life.  If only I could blog just by thinking about it . . . hahahaha!

Until next time . . .