In general, what I'm realizing is that white holidays are pretty much the norm around here. We had a white Thanksgiving, a white Christmas, a white New Years, a white Martin Luther King Jr. day, and now a white groundhog's day. Not that groundhog's day really qualifies as a holiday, but it happens to be my sister's birthday, which is DEFINITELY worth celebrating. Happy Birthday Marisa!!
Anyway, point being, it never stops snowing here. As of November, snow was the new sun. I've pretty much forgotten what warm weather is. I can't remember the last time I didn't tramp smud into my kitchen (smud=snow/mud). The Subaru is a perpetual swamp. It's getting kind of gross, to tell you the truth.
So I'm trying to adapt. I'm getting pretty good at not acting like a 6 year-old every time it snows (SO much of me just wants to sled all day and have snowball fights and drink hot chocolate; native Wisconsinites generally just appear really inconvenienced and bored). I'm starting to understand that life actually does continue even in 8 inches of fresh snow (I have to go to work?? WHAT???). Part of adapting to that aspect of it meant selling my cute little Hyundai:
And buying this monstrosity:
I have never owned a truck, I never even considered owning one, until I moved here and experienced one of the worst Milwaukee winters in recent history. I have never had so many near-death experiences as I did driving the Hyundai around town on any normal snowy day; my coworkers were genuinely worried about me and even offered to drive me to and from work occasionally in the hopes that I could avoid serious injury. So now, Matt and I are back to two cars, but I'm hoping the 'Splorer won't get too much action--just snow days and days we can't manage to carpool.
In other big news I just found out today that I was accepted into Marquette's direct entry Nurse Practioner program! It is a well-established and very respected program and I'm SO excited to start in May. It's a three year program: the first year is intensive RN training (culminating with the board exam which licenses you as a nurse, assuming you pass), and the second and third years consist of Master's level courses in whatever specialty you choose. At the end of it all you sit for and pass the national Nurse Practitioner licensure exam in your chosen specialty area. I'm not sure what my specialty will be yet; at first I was thinking acute care but since I don't have to choose until the end of my first year, I'm keeping an open mind. I'll definitely keep you updated!
Well, that's about it for today. Supposedly we could get between 10 and 20 inches of snow tonight, which would be absolutely ridiculous. I'm definitely pulling for a snow day tomorrow. :)
4 comments:
CONGRATULATIONS! I'm so happy for you that you got accepted into the program! I'm so proud of you! Also, I know owning that Suburban goes against every grain in your body; but it truly is necessary up there! I love you!
Thank you so much!! And, the monstrosity is actually an Explorer, not a Suburban, so it isn't TOO ridiculously huge. Currently it's sitting in the driveway covered in like 10 inches of snow; on days like these it doesn't really matter if you own a tank--I'm not leaving the house today!
YAHOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOO! Cait, I am so so so excited for you! What a relief/opportunity/exciting plan for the future. :) I knew you were going to get in! I hope you go out and celebrate your accomplishment. It was a lot of work! Also, my most cordial welcome to the giant car club. They're impossible to park but hey, once you start to change lanes, people get out of your way.
Congratulations - that rocks!
Holy tons of snow - sounds like you guys are hanging in there though. A friend told me it was snowing in Tuscon the other day; man, all this and the Giants win too wow!
Seriously, congrats again, that's awesome!
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