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Crepe Cake Recipe

I love christmas break.  I get roll out of bed at anytime I want.  I get to lay on the couch for hours watching all of my favorite morning shows.  Daily Dish, Kelly and Michael, Rachael Ray, Studio 5, just to name a few.  Today while I was watching, this recipe came on and I am SO excited to try making it.  Who doesn't love crepes?!? It is a crepe cake.

Crepes
Ingredients:

• ¾ c. flour
• 3 T sugar
• 1/8 t. salt
• ¾ c. milk
• 1 ½ T butter, melted
• 3 eggs

Method:

First you will need roughly 30 crepes about 8' in diameter. A few more or less is not going to make a difference. You can use whatever crepe recipe you love. I have one that I really like that I will include.*Note-I double the crepe recipe below for Crepe Cake-the recipe below will give you about 15 crepes.*

1- Melt butter & cool slightly
2- Crack eggs into medium size bowl& whisk till thick.
3- Add milk slowly, then whisk cooled melted butter into milk/egg mixture.
4- Sift flour, sugar, & salt together, then slowly whisk into the wet ingredients till smooth.
5- Spray a 8-10 in frying pan with non-stick spray.
6- Pour in about ¼ cup of batter into pan, & quickly turn pan side to side, allowing batter to cover the bottom of the pan.
7- Cook until the top is no longer wet. (this happens fast) & when the bottom is slightly golden.
8- Peel from the edge of crepe to turn over, & cook on other side for about 15 seconds.

Vanilla Pastry Cream-

Ingredients:

• 2 c. milk (I used 1% but I think you can use whatever milk you have for this)
• 1 T vanilla extract (I suggest a good quality vanilla here) I also think lemon extract would be amazing with the berry sauce! Anyway, back to the recipe.
• 6 egg yolks
• 1/2 c. sugar
• 1/3 c. cornstarch (I know, it's a lot!)
• 3 1/2 T butter; room temp
• 1 cup whipping cream (sweetened w/1 tbsp sugar & 1 tsp vanilla)

Method:

Bring milk almost to a boil (watch closely!) remove from heat and add vanilla extract. Set aside; about 5 minutes. Fill a large bowl with ice water; set aside. In a medium saucepan whisk together egg yolks, sugar, and cornstarch. Mixture will be thick. Slowly temper the egg yolk mixture by adding the hot milk, a little at a time and whisking vigorously. Keep adding hot milk while whisking till it's all combined. Over med-high heat whisk about 2 minutes or until thickened. (it will get very thick) Add in butter and stir till melted. It will have a nice sheen to it. Place hot pan into ice water stirring occasionally till cooled. Cover pastry cream with plastic wrap directly on top of it (so it doesn't form a skin) and chill in fridge till completely cooled. Once cooled fold in whipped cream. After your crepes are made it's time to start layering! Layer each crepe, topping with pastry cream ( about 2 tbsp of cream each layer) Continue layering until crepes are gone. Cover cake with plastic wrap and chill for a couple of hours in fridge to firm up.

Berry Medley Sauce-

Ingredients:

• 3 c. of fresh or frozen mixed berries
• 1/3 c. sugar
• 1 1/2 T cornstarch
• 1 t. lemon juice

Method:

Combine all ingredients in medium saucepan over med-high heat stirring till thickened This can be use over any cake, ice cream, pancakes, crepes!

Caramel Sauce-

Ingredients:

• 1/2 c. butter
• 1/2 c. brown sugar
• 1/2 c. sugar
• 1/2 c. half & half
• pinch of salt

Method:

Combine all ingredients in medium saucepan over med-high heat. Bring to boil and reduce heat to a simmer. Simmer for 15 minutes, stirring occasionally. I use the caramel sauce for everything!

Top each slice of cake with berry medley, caramel sauce, and some fresh whipped cream and you're in heaven!

Thanks studio 5! Can't wait to try it!

AMY's Baby Shower

This is my bestest friend in the whole entire world Amy.  She has dealt with a lot of infertility issues and asfter what seemed like forever she is finally pregnant and  is HAVING A BABY GIRL.  I am so excited for her and Jake and can't wait to meet Mya in January.  Isn't she the cutest pregnant lady ever? 

LOVE ya Ames!

Happy First day of NoVeMBer!

What a week!!! I am SO glad tomorrow is Friday, this week feels like it has gone by so s.l.o.w.

This week was just another week, nothing really to exciting happened...

Va was super easy, i only saw 2 patients and the last patient only had a few teeth so that was easy breesy.

Clinic tonight was kind of a nightmare.  ON my way to school my morning patient called and said her car was broken and couldn't make it, so I sat for an HOUR calling patients off the resource list.  No luck, I had one patient say she could come at 10 which ended up being 10:40 so we just got an OD done and sent her on her way.  Clnic ended with an easy 1B so thats about all!

Is Thanksgiving here yet?!?!


:)

PE's and Class III

I feel like I got a lot accomplished at clinic this week!  I was able to see my Class III back for the 2nd appointment to complete her treatment.  I started getting nervous when it was 1:00 and still no sign of her... luckily she still came!  I finished her and didn't miss any spots and then I got to do a sealant and pass off the diagnodent and air powder polisher PE's on Candice's cute brother.  He was a trooper to let us do so much on him.  I liked using the diagnodent and really helped when it came time to do sealants because 2 of the teeth we wanted to seal had high numbers on the diagnodent which meant decay, so we didn't end up sealing them.  Overall, it was a good productive day!

I wILL sUrViVE.

Or will I?!?!

Mock Boards are now over, so glad.. until the next one that is.  Let's just say I did NOT do so well.  In fact, I failed.  Not just failed by a little, but failed by A LOT a bit.
It sucked.
I was not stressed until I walked into clinic Thursday morning. You could honestly feel the tension in that place, it was crazy.  We had 2 hours to complete 1 quadrant (which is only approx. 8 teeth) which is totally do able. I thought...
I started by actually being able to give anesthetic!
Yes! I gave a shot!  It was amazing! And it went so well!
Then,
I started cleaning with the ultrasonic and just took my time with every tooth.  I focused first on the Lower anteriors which was a huge mistake.  This is usually a great plan on your normal mouths, but with periodontal diseased patients its not the best idea because calculus has more places to attach to on the back teeth.  LESSON 1 LEARNED
Then I went around with hand instruments including my mini gracey's.  Lesson 2 learned.  I should have used my normal gracey's that are stronger and more rigid to remove the kind of calculus that I was dealing with.
I was feeling good and even finished 30 minutes before my 2 hours was up so I could mark recession and probe depths.  I was confident.  I explored, flossed, and used my air to make sure I didn't leave anything behind.
After my patient was checked by one of the examiners she came back with a list of spots I missed, it was not a good sight.  I didn't even have time to remove all the spots... Yikes I know! I realized my exploring technique is not the best and that I need to come up on my fulcrum in order to dectect the calculus.  Lesson # 3.
 My patient told me if she had to give me a grade it would've been an A, that was the highlight of my day.  lets just say good thing it was a "Mock" Board and not the real board.  I have a lot to work on!

Struggling

Sometimes I honestly feel like quitting, I am not a quitter but some days it sounds nice!  I have been struggling the past few weeks.  I feel like I am spread so thin!  It is midterm, so of course we have 3 tests that are all right in a row.  I took the first midterm, take the 2nd one tomorrow and the 3rd one I have to take by Tuesday... Can I do this?!?!
I love and I hate school at the same time.  I think its been so good to push me and make me better, buts its so hard when there is so much going on!  Today in clinic I made a huge mistake and didn't get an OD check from my instructor and it was just horrible.  I felt so dumb/humiliated.  I know one thing though...

I WILL NEVER DO IT AGAIN.

LESSON LEARNED.

I am burned out at the moment.  We have mockboards next Thursday which I am sick just thinking about, I will be glad to get that over with!

On a positive  note...


This cute baby was born on Monday at 1:50 p.m. and is so precious!

Congrats to my darling sis!

 

We also got to partay last weekend and went to see THRILLER, It was so fun and a much needed girls night....

 

 

 

Tomorrow is our last and final Local Anesthesia lab.  We get to have 7 injections and get to give 7, better giving then receiving trust me.  After tomorrow we get to start giving them to our patients.  I cannot wait!

 

 

Until next time...

Flu bug=patients cancelling

Thursday morning I got a call from my sweet patient saying she was sick with the flu and couldn't make it to her appointment (which was in 1 hour).  I was STRESSING!  I decided I wasn't going to call anyone till at least after 8am.  I was so lucky because the first person I called said that he would come right up!  Guess who it was?!?! GRANDPA Mike from last semester!  We even got our picture together and I am so sad that I can't post it on here because my battery in my camera was dead, so I took it with my phone, but problem is....I have a phone from the stone ages! Take my word though it was cute! hahaha I love that guy!  We became facebook friends so now we can keep in touch! 

After seeing patients in the morning we had lab in the afternoon.  I learned all sorts of stuff about Blood Glucose/Diabetes, ultrasonics, saliva tests, and gracey's!  Gracey's are my new favorite things, they are amazing!  I got to use a periodontal file at the VA on Wednesday that was pretty cool too.  I also got to experience placing arestin on 2 different patients, it was so fun and so much easier than I thought it would be.  Last week was a great learning week and if I can find a mockboard patient this week will be even better!

Week numero quatro

Wow, where does the time go?!?! Honestly... SO busy!  I am loving my new chair in clinic, I get to have a window overlooking the west side of Ogden, its so pretty and makes me so happy!  I have had a lot of great experiences this week.  The VA was great and just kind of mellow and today was such a great learning experience.  I had the cutest patient this morning.  hahaha.. he was a 23 year old boy who was the BIGGEST flirt, but so fun to flirt back too.. I was waiting for him to ask me if I was married and I was dreading telling him I was.  He finally asked so uh are you married?  Not like it matters or anything, but are you? :)  yup... I am def. married.  He was fun and reminded me of why I wanted to be a hygienist in the first place.  I saw another patient this morning that came all the way from Park City and is terrified of the Dentist.  We got through an OD and he hopefully will come back to get his teeth cleaned.  I feel bad he comes from so far away so I hope I will be able to finish him completely next time he comes.  My THIRD... yes third patient ( I usually only have 2) for the day was a sweet lady and also so fun to work with.  I have been wanting a tougher patient that has a lot of calculus on the Lower anteriors and she did!  I was excited!  I whipped out the ultrasonic and used my indirect vision to get those teeth cleaned up.  It was hard!!! The calculus was in every nook and cranny, WATER was my best friend.. I scaled, then dried, then scaled, and dried I don't know how many times.  The hard work paid off because I only missed 1 spot and it wasnt even in the LA region!  Yay!! Prof Alexanger taught me how to do an oblique stroke with the SH6/7 on the mesial of the premolars which was so helpful because that is a tough spot.  What a great day!

3rd week in

Well, we have already been back in school for 3 weeks.  I feel like these have been the longest 3 weeks of my life, yet at times I feel like they have flown by!  This week was a good week.  Wednesday was good and I got to see a 1B and a class V.  I still haven't seen any class III's so I am getting anxious to find those requirements.  Thursday in clinic I saw a tough class II and learned alot about ultrasonics and how to not use them as a scaler, but to let them do the work.  My patient in the afternoon didn't show, but I was able to find another patient which I was super grateful for.  I am still slow at scaling,  I want to try and speed up my time a bit.  I feel like when I first sit down I feel so overwhelmed and have NO idea where to even start.  My cute pal Erin suggested I try starting on the linguals of the anteriors then finishing the mandibular teeth then moving on to the maxilary, so I am going to try that this next week and I will let you know how it goes.  Today we got to inject raw chicken, next week it will be eachother :)

My Ah Hah moment

Today I had a great learning day at the VA.  I  FINALLY feel like I am getting this whole teeth cleaning thing down.  As I passed off my calculus detection PE, one of my instructors taught me to "explore like you mean it".  I learned how to detect calculus and really get in there with the explore to see just where you need to be.  We also worked on fulcrums in the mouth and I just felt like today was a great learning day.  I had two great patients and am loving getting the opportunity to work at the VA.

Baby Chatham and Baby Tenley

We have 2 new additions to our family!  Heath's sister and her husband had their first baby Chatham Cory the end of April and today my brother Mark and his wife Janelle had their 3rd child, Tenley today.  We are so excited to have another niece and nephew!

Heath and I celebrated our 2nd Anniversary a day earlier just because we didn't have school/work today.  We headed to our favorite place, the Mandarin for dinner and just had a low key night.  These have been the best 2 years of my life and I am so thankful to have him as my husband!

Grandpa "Mike"

I had to write about my day in Clinic today. Our last clinic day is on Wednesday so my clinic experiences are almost finished for my first year of hygiene school!! I can't believe how fast this year has gone by. It's crazy how fast time goes by when you are SO busy!
My patient today, his name was Mike and I didn't know him, but got his name from another hygiene student. Anyway, today was just the greatest day. I am so glad that I got to meet Mike. He is so incredibly sweet and he said I feel like I have known you forever! I felt the same way. Mike is about 70 something years old (but looks like he's 50). His wife just had open heart surgery and I am sure he takes such good care of her. We instantly bonded when he told me that he goes to Dr. Christensen in Layton which was my dentist all throughout my childhood. Somehow we got on the subject of divorce and how hard it was. I said that I know first hand, but sometimes its for the best! I have been struggling lately with this whole "dad" thing recently in most part because my so called Dad just had a stroke a few weeks ago and is in a nursing home. Sometimes I think that I should care, but in reality I don't and can't force myself to. Anyway, Mike said that he would be my honorary Dad, but wait more like my Honorary Grandpa since that was more likely. Isn't that the sweetest thing?!? He gave me a hug and kissed my cheek after and he was just such a great guy! It was such a great day! I am so glad that I get to have patients that enter as strangers and leave as friends. I have the greatest job! See ya in 6 months Grandpa Mike! :)

Learning Oodles

Today was such a great learning day! I saw a class 3 patient who needed to be numbed, was pre-hypertensive, and needed to pre-medicate. All of these things together could make for a long few appointments. I decided before I even got to clinic today that I was just going to take each thing one at a time and get through as much as I possibly could. My goals were to get through 2 quads and to work on my working stroke and applying enough lateral pressure. Easier said than done. We got her numb first thing which was so helpful. We started with Extra/Intra exams and worked our way through probing then we were off to x-rays, vertical bwxs went smoothly (Scanx is so much better than schick for verticals) and OD went fast too. We had instructor Poulsen subbing for Instructor Hafen and she is so awesome! I started scaling with the triple bend ultrasonic. My patient was a trooper. We went to hand scaling to give her a little break and my graceys were my best friends today! On #19 she had a 7mm pocket and radiographic calculus. Karen came over to help me and I was so excited! I got a huge piece that came out from under the crown and i was so happy. I missed only one spot in 2 quads and it was a really good day. I learned that its all about the FUlcrUm and LaTERal pRESsurE! My fingers are tired after today and it is a good feeling!
2 More Clinic Days Till SuMMer!!!

::Feeling grateful::

I am so incredibly lucky to have so many amazing people in my life. I have been thinking about all of my friends and how much each one of them mean to me...

Let me introduce to a few of my besties, whom I couldn't live without!

Meet Stacie. We met in the 7th grade at ACYI. At first we didn't like eachother because I was had just moved in and was known as "the barbie girl". Not such a good name to be called when you don't have any girl friends whatsoever! Stacie wrote me a note and we instantly became friends. Highschool brought a lot of changes as she made Rockettes and I was a cheerleader. We loved getting our teams to be friends and even performed at a halftime football game together. We were roomates together our freshman year of college and have stayed friends over the years through all of the good times and even the bad. I love Stacie because she is such a good example to me. I have always wanted to be just like her. We can go for months without seeing eachother and when we get together, it's like we had never been apart!

Amy is next.. Where do I even begin with this chica?!? She is AmAZiNG! She is a spit-fire with a huge personality. You can always bet that hanging out with Amy will always be so much fun! I have known Ames for about a year and half. We met in August of 2010 when I started working at ABC in Providence. It was so fun being assistants together and I instantly fell in love with her always smiling face. I invited her to my house for the first time and I gave her a facial, after squeezing a zit on her face, we became besties fast. She is always giving me such great advice and is always so in tune with the spirit. I look up to her SO much and love every minute I get to spend with her. Whether its shopping, watching Bachelor, playing hair, making crafts, cooking, going to zumba and having sleepovers, its always such a blast!

Candice + fab five are last but not least!

I need to get an updated pic of the fab 5.. hahaha, the fab 5 is a joke that started when we first started the Dental Hygiene program in August. I took a picture of us and titled it that and its just kind of stuck. It consists of Laken, Erin, Candice, Cesia, and I. These girls are the BEST! I couldn't do this program without them. We get to spend 4 days a week, all day long with eachother and its the greatest. I am going to miss seeing them so much in the summer. Laken is the super talented athlete/gorgeous/smart/hilarious one. Erin is the one who takes care of us all. We love going to Erin's for parties and she is just so fun to be around. She always has the cutest little outfits and we love piling in her car and going to costa/einsteins/cafe rio for lunch! Candice and I fight like we are sisters. Hahaha I love that girl, she says the FUNNIEST things ever! She knows way too much for a single woman and her future husband better watch out :) Candice is darling. Cesia is the one in our group that sticks up for us all. She isn't afraid to state her opinion and I admire that quality in her. She hasn't had the best of luck this semester, but is such a great hygienist. I think she should be on America's next top model. She is naturally gorgeous even when her face turns bright red when she gets embarassed!

All of my friends Old and New: I just love you and am so grateful to have you in my life. It would not be the same without you.

The End. :)

Great Learning Day... I suppose.

I am getting tired of school and clinic. I had a really hard classification patient that I saw today and it was extremely hard! She was the sweetest lady and I must really wear my heart on my sleeve because even my patient asked if I was okay? hahaha the funny thing is that everyone can always tell when something is wrong with me. I need to work on that and not let my stress/frustration show. I used the swivel ultrasonic tip today since my patient had quite a bit of calculus, but I didn't like it that much. I alternated to the slimline and just increased the power a little bit which was a lot better. I only did one quad, which was fine and I wanted to just take my time and not feel SUPER rushed like I have been feeling lately. I passed off my last PE.. WAHOO and only have 1 more sealant to meet all of my requirements for the semester. I feel like a big weight has been lifted off my shoulders and only
2 1/2 weeks till summer!
cannot even wait! I learned today that I need to increase my lateral pressure during my working stroke. I am not as aggressive as I need to be. I will be working on this!

What a good Wednesday!!

Today I did sealants and saw my class 3 patient. I passed off 2 PE's and only have 1 more PE left for the semester! I can't wait to have those out of the way. Today was a good learning day. Sealants were fine because I have done them so much when I was a Dental Assistant. My class 3 was pretty easy going too, she was so nice and patient and just darling. I loved her! My probe depths were off in a couple places and I was frustrated about that. Good thing I have a whole year left to practice right?

Back to life, back to R.E.A.L.I.T.Y

Wow, today was rough! First day back from spring break. I felt like a rusty tool out of the shed. I was so out of my element. I was gone for one week, can you imagine what the summer will do to me? .... Yikes!
I struggled today. I don't exactly know what it was, but I just hated today. I got so use to not having any stress hanging over my head and then I come back today and have all of the stress about tests, **(one tomorrow I haven't even began studying for)** meeting requirements, (only 7 more clinic days left) and rushing around to get everything accomplished that I need to get done!

Will I ever be good at this teeth cleaning thing?!?!

I have asked myself this question a lot today. I just am stressed lately about getting like one on one time with an actual instructor. Yeah, they come over and check all of our work, but I wish that they would actually watch our form and our technique. I feel like I am all over the place and just have to hurry so fast to get finished! I think I am going to go meet with one of the instructors for some instrumentation 101.

Anyway, kinda feeling bummed out today... hope this feeling doesn't last...

Happy Monday!

My SISsY!

Jilly Willy came in to see me today! It was so fun to have her here and to clean her teeth! She loved my new glasses that I got and had to take a picture.. She is funny. I accidentally sprayed her with the ultrasonic, (probably due to my new glasses that are basically binoculars that magnify everything) Sorry sis. Other than that though everything went pretty good! We were able to finish her all today which was so great. Thanks Jilly for being my patient! You're the best!

My goals for today were to get my intra-oral camera PE done along with my ultrasonic #1. I accomplished my goals, but still missed 4 spots today. My neck is really killing me. I don't know if its my bad posture or what, but it kills. I used my loupes for the first time today and they were awesome at first, but I took them off half way through the appointment because they were just bugging me. I'm sure I just need to get use to them. Here are some cute pics from today:

Another day, another dollar

Today went pretty good... I dont know why, but I am missing so many spots lately.... its not even funny! My other class 2 patient came back today and he is so awesome and easy to work on. I used the ultrasonic and LOVED it! Instructor Demmings taught me for the linguals of the lower anteriors to sit at 8:00 and it worked so good! I was so excited she taught me that! My goal today was to pass off 2 PE's the ultrasonic #2 PE and the Universal #2 PE which were both a success! I went to aerobics this mornin at 5:45 so I am so beat and ready for lunch! Overall a good day, I need to work on my technique interproximal and practice being better at instrumentation.

Wednesday=BEST dAy EVeR!

Wednesday clinic was awesome! Okay, so first I must tell you about our lovely weekend we spent in the Uintah's at the Bear River Lodge cabins! :) We left on Saturday morning, borrowed the in-laws Yukon so we could haul my brother's precious snowmobiles that he so kindly let us borrow for the weekend all the way up to the Uintah's! We had SO much fun! We snowmobiled Saturday, Sunday, and went out for a few hours Monday morning. We watched movies, played games, drank hot chocolate and stayed up late! It was so fun and relaxing at the same time. it was much needed and I'm so glad we were able to do it. We made it back all in one piece....

ALMOST...

I hit a rock and about flew off my snowmobile, my back is still sore..

and we broke a piece off my snowmobile too... :( Yuck, I know, Thankfully it wasn't very expensive to repair, but I felt so awful. My cute brother handled it really well and I have got to think of something nice to do for him.

Okay, so back to clinic...

I saw the sweetest little 16 year old girl who was so cute. She was so excited to get her teeth cleaned! My goal for the day was I really wanted to finish her in ONE appointment. I know I know, how could this be hard you might ask seeing that we have 3 hours to finish. Let me tell you, it is so hard and I hadn't done it yet. Untill.... Wednesday! That's right! I finished her from start to finish and even took a Pano in one day!!! It is the greatest feeling. She had sheet calculus on the LA's which I spotted. I missed 4 teeth on my patient last week on the LA's so I was determined to not miss any spots on the anteriors this time. I was so proud because I didn't miss those spots but I did miss 2 spot on the premolar and molar. Two spots in the whole mouth.. not too bad... I'm shooting for 0 spots on my class 2 on Monday!

Shoot for the SkY

I reached my goal on Monday at clinic! I had just 3 goals in mind for the day:

1. Finish 4 quads=the whole mouth of a Class 2

2. Pass off the exploring #2 (class 2 or class 3) PE

3. Pass off the anterior scaling #2 PE

It felt so good to not only set a goal before clinic started, but to actually accomplish the goal! I didn't do as great as I had hoped with the scaling, I missed 4 spots on the lingual of the lower anteriors. My patients teeth were pretty malposed which made it extremely hard! The calculus on this particular patient was so tenacious! I used the ultrasonic a little bit at the first, but I was a little timid using it. I'm not totally comfortable with it just yet. On tooth # 15 which is located on the UL right by the parotid gland had so much calculus that took forever to get off and I couldn't even get it all! It was stubborn stuff!! It was a good learning experience though and I will hopefully do better next time.

Valentine's was so much fun. Heath had night class and didnt come home till a little after 8. I had a big dinner all ready and he brought home flowers and chocolate, the best V-day gift ever! We watched a chick flick and ate chocolate cake for dessert. We are going away this weekend to go snowmobiling which we are SO excited about!

A few kind words made MY day

Today was a good day. I started out clinic feeling overwhelmed, but by the end I felt confident. I finished my first quad of a class 2 patient today. My patient was the nicest guy ever! As I was walking him out he said to me, "You are so good, when you graduate and are working at an office I am going to follow you there". Isn't that so sweet?!?!?!

IT MAdE mY DaY!!!

I feel excited and happy! I LOVE clinic days! They are so much fun and full of so many good learning opportunities! Tommorow I get to be my peer pal's patient for her anesthesia boards..... you know what that means?! ShoTs! :( wish me luck!

Class V continued :)

I finished up my class V patient today! WAHOO!! This has been another HARD week! I know, I know, thats what I said last week but honestly... Am I cut out for this?!? Sometimes I wonder if I am smart enough to be in this program. We have so many smart, amazing, brilliant souls in our class. Today has been a good day though. I attended the Liason meeting for all the clubs at WSU representing SADHA aka the dental hygiene club and it got me super excited about all the activities coming up. I hope that we can come together and get involved and participate in our school activites. I got to clinic and got a letter saying that I get to be a TA next year for my favorite instructor (Perry's) class! I am SO excited!! Clinic was challenging but good, I missed 1 spot which is pretty good and I got off most of the tenacious stain which was a lot harder than I thought it would be. I used the ultrasonic, but still dont feel super comfortable with it. It was so neat working on my first "stranger" patient. She was so sweet and I just loved her! I am so grateful to be in this program and getting to learn so many great things not only about school, but LIFE! :)

CLASS V

Wow, it has been a LONG week (to say the least)! I honestly don't even remember who my patient was on Monday....
Oh yeah! It was my cousing Katie! I finished her cleaning in 1hr 30 mins and didn't miss a single spot! That never happens by the way so I was extremely excited! I have only passed off 3 PE's this semester and need to get my butt in gear! It's so hard to remember when there is so much going on and you just want to finish that patient in your chair so they don't have to come back again! Monday we had a going away party for one of our darling 2nd year professors. I am so sad that I won't get the opportunity to work with her. She will be greatly missed.
It has been such a LONG week seeing that we had 2 test on Tuesday. It was brutal! I did well on my Patho test, and did okay on my Perio test. Glad they are over! This week we have 2 more tests so it's going to be another long one.
I saw my first class V patient on wednesday and it was so much fun. This was my first patient that was a stranger and a lot different working on someone you don't know. It was a great experience! I couldn't believe her pocket depths! I loved using the ultrasonic on her coffee stains, but man those stains are so hard to get off! I am still loving school and getting to learn so much! It's so hard and stressful at times, but its so nice to know that we are all in this together! I love all of my classmates so much! See ya next week!

My bestie AMY

Today Amy came all the way down to WSU from Smithfield!!! I know, she is sucha great friend! We were able to scale 2 quads today which I feel happy about. My instructor didn't find any areas that I missed when she did the scale check (that was a first) and everything went great. Amy was an easy patient though. :) we were planning on going to dinner before this stupid storm rolled in so im kinda bummed. My cute brother Tom was at WSU today for the career fair. He invited me to come down for lunch and it was so much fun hanging out with him for a little minute. Thanks AMY! You are the best!

Heath

Today I got to have the cutest patient! My husband of course! :) And guess who hit a milestone?!?!

I did I did

I completed a whole cleaning! I started Heath and did one quad last semester so today was the easy part. We scaled 3 quads in a little over an hour and a half and I even used the ultrasonic for his lingual bar. I was glad to have our TA Karen's help. He had a lot of calculus behind his lingual bar and I loved getting it off! This is what I am talking about ppl! This is why I signed up for this. I love getting those big chunks of "stuff" off! Today was a great day for me. I felt good about scaling for the most part. I have a long way to go though. Instructor Hafen showed me a great way to get calculus off the retainer by doing a horizontal stroke both below and above that bar. She is such a great instructor and gives awesome feedback! Thanks Instructor Hafen and Heath for being so patient and coming at the last minute! I can totally do this! I am so grateful for today and for this milestone YAY!

Monday Clinic- Katie

Monday was my second first patient :) haha I say that because I saw Heath for one appt last semester and so, my cute cousin Katie came on Monday. I was pretty frustrated because we didn't get to the scaling part. I did complete 4 BWX's and a panoramic X-ray that I was way excited about! X-rays are the easiest thing for me. I feel lucky that I have had so much experience in them because they can be a real pain! I hope that I get faster at all the paperwork side of this. There are so many things that we have to do and write, but I have a positive outlook that those things will come with time... Staying positive!

Let the games begin

School is back in full swing! I can't believe how fast Christmas break came and went. It was so much fun and so hard to get back into the grind. I am excited to start a new year with new goals/dreams. Here are some of my resolutions:

• EXCERCISE!
• Be a better wife/friend/sister/student/daughter/aunt/etc.
• Make time for the little things in life
• keep my clothes off the floor
• Finish cleaning a patient during 1 clinic session
• Get a 4.0 this semester
• Go on a trip to somewhere sunny and warm
• Go hunting with Heath

I know, some are cheesy but I honestly love the beginnings of the New Year. I am excited to the things that this year will bring us.

Clnic started on Wednesday and we learned how to use ultrasonics. I wish I would've practiced instrumentation over the break because I felt rusty. I was excited about learning how to use these because I have seen them used so many times and it just looked so easy... it wasn't at all! It was so hard and I found myself getting so frustrated. We start seeing patients 2 x's a week this semester so we have the stress of not only having a heavy class schedule, but also the stress of finding patients. I am excited, nervous, scared and anxious all at once. Bring on this semester!