Imaginary Sunshine

You blink, and it’s 2018.

Michelle — Wed, 24 Jan 2018 02:19:28 +0000

Yeah, I’m pretty much over the idea of regularly blogging (here, anyways). I’ve been regularly publishing reviews over on my tea website – One More Steep – if anyone wants to follow me there. I also regularly share photos on my personal IG (@chelleshocks) and on my tea blog IG (@onemoresteep).

I don’t feel like I’ve done a lot lately. I work full time as an RN, and on my days off it’s a fairly regular routine of recovering for working nights, laundry, grocery shopping, spending time with Clay/family/friends. I’m looking into going back to school, but I’m mostly still trying to figure out what I want to do with my life and what I want to be when I grow up.

Clay and I have talked a lot lately about buying a house with the help of experts from https://webuyhousesinatlanta.com/ site and saving up for that, so right now I have a lot of personal finance goals that are primarily to do with that. Saving up for a house down payment, saving up for a wedding [1. No engagement ring yet, guys. Sorry to disappoint], and saving up for trips/vacations.

I did go to New York City back in October, and I haven’t really go through my photos yet. I went with my sister J, and I had a lot of fun. We hit all the big tourist spots (the Metropolitan Museum of Art, the Museum of Modern Art, the American Natural History Museum, Central Park, the Statue of Liberty, Charging Bull/Fearless Girl…) and so much fun shopping there. I actually went to NYC for BlytheCon as it was being held in Brooklyn last year. This year it’ll be in Los Angeles, but I won’t be attending because I’ll be a bridesmaid (!) instead on the exact same date.

I think I’m going to try to blog more than once a quarter here, we’ll see how it goes.

Inadvertent Medical Issues

Michelle — Fri, 07 Apr 2017 02:33:36 +0000

I’ve been on vacation this past week and it has been marvelous. I took in a Whitecaps game (they won 4-2 and were playing against LA Galaxy), got my hair colour refreshed with a teeny tiny trim, and also got my regular/routine optometrist appointment in.

At which point my optometrist went “So, do you have a family history of retinal detachment?”

Excuse your face? (Not what I actually said. What I said was more of a “No……. Why?!”)

He told me that he was going to make a referral to a specialist, which would probably take about a month. I got a call the next day to let me know about my appointment. So less than 48 hours from my ‘routine’ optometrist appointment, I was sitting in the really nice waiting room of who is my ophthalmologist. After the longest wait ever, I got drops put in for dilation, got my vision checked, got my retina looked at by two different ophthalmologists. Officially, I had two holes in one of my retinas, and then I was told that they could fit me in that very day (less than 5 minutes later) for the laser surgery that would help ‘seal’ the holes. Umm, okay. So I signed some consent forms and then got the laser treatment and was on my way.

Can I just say how awesome healthcare is in Canada? Specialist appointment with two different doctors, plus the laser surgery (day-of, due to the risk of retinal detachment if I had waited) – completely covered by MSP (which my employer pays for/tax payers/me) so there was $0 out of pocket costs to me. I had zero symptoms and honestly no issues with my vision (besides the fact that I still need glasses, it wasn’t that kind of laser eye surgery) post-surgery, aside from the severe discomfort that comes from getting ones pupils dilated.

I’m so thankful that a) I thought to make my optometrist appointment early on during my vacation and b) the specialist had an opening so soon!

I chatted with my now-primary ophthalmologist about it and retinal tears/holes in someone my age are very rare for someone who doesn’t have a very high prescription for corrective lenses, and also someone without a familial history. So I’m just… terribly unlucky? But lucky that my optometrist did catch it and send me off to someone who could fix me. I was the youngest person in the waiting room by a several decades, so it’s not something that’s common at all. On the bright side, it was caught before I had an actual medical emergency on my hands as a retinal detachment could result in permanent vision loss if not operated on very quickly. I feel like I need the shooting star and rainbow because the more you know.

I sure know how to have fun on my days off from work…

It’s March Already?

Michelle — Fri, 10 Mar 2017 18:59:59 +0000

So the ‘blogging more here’ goal is not panning out very well. But elsewhere it hasn’t been too bad.

I’m working away on my goals of saving up for my NYC trip, as well as general savings – except now those general saving goals have more specific monetary amounts and purposes in mind. $200,000 towards a house and $30,000 towards a wedding[1. Not engaged yet, but we decided to both be saving for it.]. With those goals in mind, I’ve been picking up extra shifts here and there. Because I’m already full time, any extra shifts are automatically double time – and I’ve even managed to pick up a few shifts at triple time. My goal is to do 1-2 extra shifts per month. I was originally thinking 2-3 extra per month, but some months it gets a bit difficult with the fact that I just don’t want to and I want to have something that resembles a life. I’m hoping to do 1-2 this month, and then a few in April since I have time off (and no plans to go anywhere – yet). The extra money is nice, I shuffle it away into savings as soon as the direct deposit hits. Out of sight, out of mind.

I will also be halfway to my 6 month emergency fund goal this month. Because of the stability of my job, I’m not sure if I want to continue padding the emergency fund or not. I may shuffle extra money towards my other saving goals in the mean time since I don’t really need a full 6 months at this time – this will probably change when a house is actually a reality, or when I have children – mostly because emergency house expenses are just so much more than my current expenses are at this time.

As for my eating out goals/budgeting – so far so good. I’ve been keeping at or just under $100/month on eating out, and I’ve managed to keep my grocery budget pretty much on the nose. I budget $150/month for groceries and household goods (household goods being things like: shampoo/conditioner, toilet paper, cleaning supplies, etc.), and have been pretty good on it. It was like the ultimate adult realization when I came to terms with the fact that if I don’t do the grocery shopping, there’s nothing eat. I have a tiny pantry stockpile of food for when there’s nothing fresh in the fridge – so like boxed dried pasta, jarred pasta sauce, canned tuna, condensed soups and the like. I also only buy meats now when it’s on sale, invested in a box of freezer bags, and portion things out. I could spend more on eating out or groceries, but the saving goals are more tangible to me now that there’s an actual purpose behind it and I’m far more focused on that. I figured as long as I eat well, that’s what really matters.

Works been going pretty well. Still striving to find the balance between work-family-friends-hobbies, so many hats to wear, so little time.

Bye 2016; Hello 2017

Michelle — Wed, 04 Jan 2017 03:20:58 +0000

It has been a really long time since I last blogged. Life and other things got in the way, but hopefully I’ll make this a regular habit again (maybe, sort of).

A recap of 2016:

I bought my very first car (a 2016 Mazda3 Sport/hatchback) – in March
I got a full-time permanent position, complete with benefits and pension – in June
I moved out of my parents home for the very first time – in July
I got better at budgeting (I’ve been using YNAB4 since 2015)
I told my parents about Clay (loooooong overdue) – in November
They seem to like him! – still accurate

Goals for 2017:

Read more and craft more – I focused a lot on work/my career in 2016. It’s time to spend some time on me on my days off.
Eat better – I’ve decided to cut out fast food for the most part. I tend to go through the drive thru on my way home from work at the end of a set of shifts. I’ve decided to eliminate that, as well as solo fast food eating. I’m hoping to cut my restaurant/eating out monthly budget/limit to $100/month. In 2016, I averaged $150-200/month in this category. I’m getting more into meal prepping/planning, so I’m hoping to continue this trend.
Exercise??? The development that I moved into has great amenities – it includes a yoga studio and a fitness room with equipment. I’m hoping to utilize these amenities since I already contribute to it (via strata).
Save with purpose – I have a trip planned for October this year that’s to NYC and will be quite expensive. I also have other vacation days booked off already, but I’m not 100% sure if I will be going anywhere or just enjoying time off work.
Save more generally – my financial goals this year are to finish squirreling away money for my emergency fund (4-6 months of expenses) and to start saving for a future house down payment for down the line (most likely by 2019).
Blog more – this goes for blogging here, as well as on BlytheLife.com and OneMoreSteep.com (my Blythe/doll blog, and my tea review blog).

Twenty-seven

Michelle — Mon, 07 Nov 2016 08:05:22 +0000

I wrote this a couple a days ago, as I wanted to reflect a little bit on the whole turning “twenty-seven” thing. That and I have to work a day shift on my actual birthday – which means waking up early and then going to sleep early because I’ve got a day shift the next day too (lame).

This will be the first year that I have a permanent full time job, which is pretty exciting. A lot has changed in the last year. I changed jobs (casual to full time, different hospitals), I bought a car (and now have a lovely monthly car payment), I moved out of my parents’ house, and I’m doing okay. It’s weird having a job and an income now because it means that I have money that I can use to buy things, and can afford (in theory) to go places. Or something like that.

Over the next year, I’d love to do a few things:

Continue with the saving for what I’m very generically referring to as The Future. This is primarily Future Home/Real Estate Purchasing. Because apparently that costs money $$.
Finish funding my emergency fund. I started this earlier this year, my goal is to reach 6mos of expenses and I’m currently halfway there.
Go on vacation. I have one trip planned (not booked) for New York City next October, and I want to include seeing a Broadway play in that as well.

Still have some growing up to do (although apparently I’m an adult now, who knew?), but we’ll see what the future holds. I do have some goals/things that I would like to do before I turn thirty, but I think I’ll save that for another post.

That Work-Life Balance

Michelle — Mon, 19 Sep 2016 21:36:36 +0000

Gone are the days of balancing school-clinicals-life – now it’s the work-life balance and striving to be an adult (or something like it). I have a fairly regular schedule as I typically do four days on, four days off. Occasionally I have anywhere from 5-7 days off between sets of shifts (and I’m a-okay with that!).

Day 1 off from work: I get home, shower, eat, do laundry, sleep until noon, throw my clothes into the dryer, sleep some more, wake up to fold clothes, and relax.
Day 2 off from work: grocery shopping, regular shopping, hang out with friends/family/boyfriend, and relax.
Day 3 off from work: same as day 2 (mostly, maybe less shopping or no shopping at all), and relax.
Day 4 off from work: prep/cook for all of my meals for my days at work, portion them all out accordingly, relax, and go to sleep early because 6am wake-up calls always come early.

Most days, I love my job. Being a nurse is awesome, and I generally like my patients. Some days, I question why I spent 3 years of my life going through nursing school. It’s a mixed bag of feelings on some days, but I think my general feelings on it is that I love being a registered nurse. I’m not 100% sure how long I’ll stay at my current position and what paths I’ll want to take to further my education (but the goal is to further my education). For now, the unit that I’m on is a good ‘stepping stone’. I get to practice a lot of skills, I get to do a lot of things, I get exposed to a lot of different disease processes. And I get to make a difference in peoples’ lives, whether they realize it or not.

One Year After Graduating

Michelle — Sun, 19 Jun 2016 19:00:34 +0000

I graduated (officially, with the fancy piece of paper) from nursing school on June 19th, 2015 – and a lot has changed since then.

The media talked about a nursing shortage before I applied for nursing school, and they talked about a nursing shortage while I was in nursing school, as well as talking about a nursing shortage after I had graduated from nursing school. And there is one – just not for new graduates.

There’s a nursing shortage for specialty trained nurses (perioperative/OR nurses being the big one) – but not for newly minted Registered Nurses who don’t have any real nursing work experience. I started applying for jobs probably around mid-February to mid-March in 2015. I didn’t get my first interview until August 25th – which I failed miserably at because I didn’t know what to expect. I didn’t get my second interview until September 25th – which I rocked because I did know what to expect. My official hire date was October 19th, 2015.

It took what felt to me to be a really long time to get a job. In reality, it was 199 days from graduation to the first day that I was getting paid as a nurse (orientation).

It was a very long 199 days.

Luckily for me I lived at home (rent free – still do!) with my parents, who don’t expect me to contribute to room and board. I knew someone who was looking for temporary help and I wound up with a temp job for 4 weeks, which really helped with the perpetually dwindling bank account. Prior to starting the temp job, I had less than $200 left in my bank account. Every time I had to take the bus, or pay for anything, I’d be thinking to myself if I really needed X, Y, or Z because I really didn’t have that much money at all. Being that broke really sucked and I greatly appreciated the fact that I live at home rent free.

I paid off my student loans (I had $0 in loans from my first degree, a BSc that I graduated with in 2012, and a little under $16k from my BSN) by January 2016. I paid off $8k with a bursary I received from school, and I borrowed the rest from my sister so I wouldn’t accrue interest on my debt – by January I had paid off the Bank of Sister.

In March 2016 I bought my very first car. It makes life so much easier in terms of getting to and from work (10-15 minutes driving versus anywhere from 40 minutes to 1.5 hours of public transit). Aside from my car (which I love, because car), I have no other debt.

Since November 2015, I’ve been working as a casual employee. This means I do not get medical or dental benefits, I do not get pension, and I do not get paid vacation. This also means that I do not have a set schedule, I get a lot of short calls for shifts and occasionally I do get shifts in advance so I’m not always scrambling to get ready for work and have developed a routine of prepping meals that get put into the freezer because I just never know when I’m going to be working next. I work all shifts, of varying lengths (8 hour or 12 hour shifts).

I started applying for full time and part time positions in May because not enough people were taking vacation (or calling in sick)! As a casual and being not that high on the seniority list, it meant that I did not get a lot of prebooked shifts in May. It’s stressful when you don’t know yet when you might work again. It’s also stressful to always be ‘ready’ to work because it means you may have to cancel plans last minute. I had an interview on May 25th for a permanent position, and I found out on May 31st that I got it! I accepted the offer. It took me seven months and twelve days to go from my first day of orientation to getting a permanent job offer.

I started two days ago, on June 17th – my first day of orientation. Tomorrow (June 20th) until Thursday will be my four orientation shifts. Hitting the ground running.

In the 366 days from graduating with my BSN, I went from unemployed and broke to casually employed to hitting milestones that others have reached long before I had (e.g. buying a first car!) to getting a permanent nursing position, complete with benefits and pension. I’m incredibly excited to see where the next year of nursing will take me!

Night Owl Lifestyle

Michelle — Fri, 04 Mar 2016 06:41:31 +0000

Life has been… routine? Monotonous? March is looking up, in terms of work. There was a lot of waiting by the phone for shifts in January and February – but I already have over half of March filled with shifts, which is pretty exciting. Every day is different, and it is weird having a Thursday be my Sunday and a Friday being my Monday in comparison to other people. I can say that, because I had four days off from work, and then I’m working four days in a row – yay?

I’m currently squirreling money away to buy my first car which will be pretty exciting. I’m starting the process of doing research on cars ,planning to buy car from www.conklintoyotasalina.com/used-inventory and making appointments for test drives. Getting some reliable transportation will be much better than a two hour transit commute from work to home when it would be a 10 minute drive otherwise.

But work has been good – and keeps me busy! I have a lot of evening and night shifts scheduled for March, so it’s a good thing that I’m generally more of a night owl than a morning lark. Nights appeal more to me than the rush-rush-rush of day shifts. There’s a nice stillness about leaving work when the sun is just starting to rise – that and I greatly enjoy eating breakfast before bed.

2016

Michelle — Fri, 08 Jan 2016 03:57:22 +0000

I’d like to be a better blogger, keep a better personal blog when it comes to things that happen to me and in my life. Since my last entry (Remembrance Day), I started working (finished orientation, did some buddy shifts) and I’ve been doing shifts without a direct mentor since early December. I worked pretty steadily in December, and now in January I’m waiting for the phone to ring for shifts. Life’s been pretty good though, one of my goals for 2016 is to find a work-life balance. Trying to make the most of my days off from work by spending time doing things I enjoy (hobbies – knitting/crocheting/baking/dolls) and spending time with family and friends.

First big purchases post-being-hired will be a new cell phone (I’ve been eyeing the Samsung Galaxy S6) and a car (no clue which one yet, but will likely be used). That and to get a line (part time or full time) somewhere for some better financial stability over being a casual employee.

Fingers crossed!

A moment of silence.

Michelle — Wed, 11 Nov 2015 19:11:00 +0000

It’s the 100th anniversary of In Flanders Field, a poem composed by Lieutenant-Colonel John McCrae (1872-1918). It’s sobering to recall the words, which I still know by heart, when thinking about WWI and WWII and all the other conflicts and wars that have followed since then. It’s important to me, and to many other Canadians, to take a moment of silence to honour those that gave their lives and those who had dedicated or still dedicating their lives to the armed forces. The reasons why I wear a poppy – even if I keep having to buy a new one because mine falls off.