This post is part of "Hi/Lo Thursday" on the Riggs Family Blog. Check out their blog to read everyone else's "Hi/Lo" posts and get your link on their site.

HIGHS!!!

I finished my last FINAL today! I am FREE for the summer! I am a year closer to being a Doctor Deciduous Heather (PharmD). I am so happy!

My Rock is another step closer to his goal. More on this top secret mission later as information becomes available.

I planted tomatoes this week! Also, a ton of flowers! Have I mentioned that I am so happy it is summer-time!?

LOWS!!

My family is in the midst of major financial hardship. Please pray for reprieve for them all soon. Financial troubles are such a strain on day-to-day life. Things will look up soon for all of us, I hope.

My Sun has come home several days this week very down. He says his classmates make fun of him. He has had a tough year, and I just pray that things will get better, and he will learn how to handle negative comments from his peers and see them for what they are.

No other major lows here, we are very blessed indeed.

Flowers, Pharmacy, Finals

Well, Next week is FINALS! It is do or die time. All my work leads up to doing well on my finals. I have two days left to prepare for a 16 week long cumulative Pharmacology class. YIKES No worries.....SO, ask me what I am doing today....Am I spending my time wisely, not procrastinated and doing the work that is required to make an A on Monday morning???........well, um, YES, kinda.....

In an indirect kinda way that is...

Did you know I love this flower?

Peppermint Vincas

They are soooo pretty when they start blooming, and they grow fast, love the sun, and the key for me is: They are VERY hard to kill. Absolutely essential.

But, did you know.......
The VINCA flowers are used to make an anti-cancer drug? WOW~ I did not know it until last week either.

Evidently, they are used as a plant alkaloid base and the active pharmaceutical ingredient of the flower is used to cause a depolymerization of the microtubulins in the cell cycle specific M phase of mitosis. So, um.....it basically messes up the (cancer) cell's ability to reproduce, grow, and multiply.....

Whoa, that is cooooool. These pretty thangs will be scattered around our front door by the end of the day.

I also visited the prettiest nursery yesterday and walked around aimlessly with my very wise best friend from school~ well, let's not be coy, she is a straight-up genious and knows so much about so many things. We were walking around and she was spouting off the common name and sometimes the latin names (seriously?) of all the flowers, and all I saw was

"oh, that is a pretty white one. I like the yellow one"

~ lol. So, she points out one and says, "That is Foxglove".

I recognize Foxglove.

So, did you know........

Foxglove is also an alkaloid product whose active pharmaceutical ingredient is digitalis. It is used to make an anti-arrhythmic drug used to prevent and basically controls weird heart beats in cardiac patients. The drug is called Digoxin! You've heard of it, huh?

Whoa, that is soooooo cool.

This one is also going to be gracing my front door steps.

So, indirectly, today as I am playing in the yard, ahem, I mean as I am working hard planting flowers, I will IN FACT be studying. For Pharmacology. Pharmacy school-focused even on this gorgeous Saturday. Seriously. I promise.

Does my procrastination sound adequately justified to you?

Hey, I know finals are coming up, but it is 90 degrees here in sun-shiney rural heaven, and I want to spend it outside.

So, shoot me.

This post is part of "Hi/Lo Thursday" on the Riggs Family Blog. Check out their blog to read everyone else's "Hi/Lo" posts and get your link on their site.

HIGH:
Last day of P2 classes
Husband getting good new about a potential future career change....stay tuned!
My Dad turning 65 and being in durn good health <3

LOW:
McKMama and Stellan's hospital stay just got a little longer~Continue to pray for them!
My Sun continues to struggle at school. Bullies suck! Praying that my "promise" that 5th will be better actually comes true.....

Last Day of Classes of my P2 year!

OMG, where has the year gone? It really has flown by! I have been so busy, and I have definitely learned a ton! Each week I have gone from exam to exam...crisis to crisis~ do or die time every week--the "exam marathon year" is aka the P2 year. Truth be told, I have been tuckered out for a few weeks now! We have had ~30 exams in 15 weeks! I still have 4 exams to go in a span of 5 days of class!

Lord, be with me! I can't do it all by myself. Thank you for seeing me through so far!

But, it has almost over....

Sigh.................................and breathe!

I am so tempted to start relaxing now......

Plant flowers.

Lay in the sun.

Ride bikes with the kids.

Go to the library.

Plan the up-coming sunshiny weekend.

Sporting the care-free ponytail.

You know........just easy.

Summer.

Lackadaisical. Yeh, I LIKE that word.

Well, lackadaisical...might be a stretch...but I will definitely have the chance to relax, slooooooow down some, plan the day as it happens, sleep in, be bored--even perhaps a few moments where I have nothing to do....what a privilege!

Work? Did my guilt-ridden conscious just whisper the word, WORK, in my ear?...Get back, satan!

YES, I will be working! I am working as much as I can in May...the difference with work is that you can leave work at work!

What a privilege!

School is the dragon

........that is constantly breathing down your neck, glaring at you from the desk with all the powerpoint slides invading your dreams like fire from their mouths, consuming your thoughts, when you are trying to relax, trying to be normal....trying to just be! But, NO, school is a consuming process, and this year has been that x10.

But today is the last day of class. The dragon is going to be banished to his cave until mid-August....and I will be breaking out my blue jean shorts....putting away the hairdryer and sporting my summer look....

~jeans shorts, tank tops, flip flops and wild summer hair=Summer!~

AHem, Except when I am at work... of course.

Back to dream--

Yep, that is basically what I plan to do......aside from working in May, doing my hospital rotation in June at the Rex ER (!!!!!), and then studying the whole time for the TOP 300 exam (more on that beast later!)......yes aside from all that.....

Summer is almost here. Happy dance. Time with my sun, my flower, and time doing whatever we want to do. They have been so great this year....understanding when I had to study, when I had to get up early for a 7am exam and NOT be there to help them get ready for school. They have been wonderful. My Rock has been my lifeline....along the way he has kept me in line, helped me focus on the goal, reminded me of what is important along the way.
He has been....my rock. Period. Priceless.
I Can't do it without them, am doing it all for them.
My family. <3
Thank you.

My sister.
Thank you.
You know who you are.
:)

And, now we ALL get a break!!
A reprieve, a moment, a glimpse of tranquility......

My kids and I are ready!

So a week from now......

Easy, breezy, beautiful, summer girl! Not-so-deciduous, Heather!

Reality= I must study hard for the next week, finish strong. But I can see the sunshine at the end of the tunnel. So happy to be one year closer to my goal. Dr. Deciduous Heather, PharmD, MSCR.

So happy.

Praying for Stellan

I am wearing my orange and praying for Stellan today. Right now, he is recovering and will be in the CICU through the night. Pray for a good night for him, that the partial ablation will take care of the SVT, and that he and MckMama will get to go home very soon on oral meds/no meds at all! Praying......

Things that make me happy.....

I have not posted in way too long! I have been thinking about my blog though, and I am making a special effort today to just post something simple. I love this time of year~!

Understandably so....with my deciduous nature and all. My flowers are blooming, the green is coming back in the background of everywhere I look, and the sun is shining in....deep inside....

Reminds me of a song..."Let the sun shine in.....face it with a grin....open up your heart.....

Did I mention I LOVE this time of year?

Here are a few things that simply just MAKE ME HAPPY

.

*Dogwood Blossoms*
White ones....

And pink ones too.....

And GOOD Indian food~

Yum, Chicken Tikka Masala~ My true love affair with Indian food has just begun, and I want to try it all! We love it~

Garden grown tomatoes from Gabby's garden. I can't wait for a whole summer of tomato sandwiches.




And trips to the beach~Myrtle Beach, Cherry Grove.....sunshine for hours....sand, salt, sun. I love it. Can't wait to go at least 7 times this summer...




SO, while I am busy getting through the last few weeks of this semester, I will be thinking of the things I love, looking out my windows, basking in the promise of a break from the PPT presentations on drugs, mechanism of action, adverse side effects, drug-drug interactions...blah blah blah...and KNOW that there is a promise of the things I love in the near future. I love this time of year. It pushes me onward to finish strong and feel good about another year DONE. One year closer to Dr.....H H K.......

Wow, she even looks like me... lol ~

So, looking onward, looking forward, to spending the summer with my children, eating home grown tomatoes, going to the beach and relaxing with my family.......gotta love Spring, as she carries the promise of what is to come in the SUMMER!

And my flowers are slowly returing....

Dormant Deciduous......until Novemeber or so.