HE PASSED!

Yeah....Ken passed his NCLEX exam! He is now officially an R.N. and can start to do part-time work at the hospital. After vacation, he will call and set up orientation and all that entails. But we have a cushion now and can breathe after almost 6 years of his hard work!

In the meanwhile, he has been a darling and has been working on painting my kitchen cabinets...more than halfway done. Next weekend, we will start to repaint the LR/DR...same colors (red accent wall, white for the rest), just to freshen it up. Our new living room sofa and loveseat SHOULD be here by October, but who knows? I'm hoping before Thanksgiving.

Well, Maggie should graduate in June of 2011, then Abby in 2012. Then the Dulls should be done for a while....unless Kate goes back to school.

Enjoy the rest of the summer, folks.

Ken

Ok, today Ken was in Albany taking his NCLEX...Nursing Boards, for us dummies! He finished in just over an hour and won't know for 48 hours or so how he did. But Kate, our very own professional RN, who took them 4 years ago, said it's a good sign that he finished early. Supposedly the test takes you from easy to hard questions, and if you flub a hard one, it moves back down for several easy/medium ones...so, the longer you go, the more you have messed up?!#

Anyway, this is the end of a VERY long haul for all of us. If he passes, Ken can worry a bit less about IBM's corporate B#!@S#@% and get on with his life. He won't leave IBM...will hang in there as long as he can...but he doesn't have to worry soooo much if they do pinkslip him!

Our "long term" goal is to get Abby into college, and hopefully through it, before we have to move/change jobs/go nuts.

Cross your fingers Ken passed!

Now it's August....yikes!

OK, I really have to make a schedule to post to this thing. Another month almost has passed...but besides record temperatures here in NY, nothing much is new. Kate and Tracy had their Open House party last weekend, and Maggie flew in as a surprise...you should have seen Kate's face when she opened the door to her twin standing there!!

Abby loves volunteering in the hospital the two afternoons, and the nurses have quickly learned she is efficient and reliable and she has already done the Nursing Schedule on the computer...plus watering the patients, doing filing, running errands...she has learned the hospital layout, has yet to go to the morgue, loves the grilled cheese in the cafeteria, and all this will be for naught when the new hospital opens in September of 2011. But I think it is helping her confidence and to make up her mind of what she might want to be...all good things!

Hershey Park in two weeks, then a week to shop for school and then September 2nd is the BIG DAY! I am looking forward to more of a schedule, less driving to Middletown for me, and for cooler weather. But I don't love getting up at 5:30 am and when I get back to teaching religion, I am sure I will wonder where the summer went!

Enjoy!