We got the house inspected yesterday, which was interesting to say the least. I guess it't interesting to examine parts of a house that you didnt know existed until they have to inspect it.

Everything turned out great, except for a few minor but important things. The main drain line for the house has a small leak over the water heater area in the basement, there is an electrical outlet that needs to be rigged to trip properly in the upstairs bathroom, a wire needs to be take off of a single breaker (because there are two wires on one breaker), and the downstairs bathroom has a leak leading to the downstairs shower. Really minor things, but big hassles if they break and big risks for health if they do so.

So, we're in the negotiating process of fixing them/having them fixed by the current owners and we'll see where this goes. We're still set to close on the 28th of March, barring all major catastrophies.

That's all for now, really.

We put our bid in today,(clarification: ON THE HOUSE ON MERLE HAY-in Beaverdale practically) and it got dismissed right away. We (by we, I mean I) thought that it would be thrown out because it was very low compared to the assessed value of the house, and the asking price.

So it turned into a bidding war, to which the guy put one last offer out and said if that didn't work then he would see what the open house yielded tomorrow. To me, those were the words that set things into motion. I didn't want this house going to anyone else but us. I love it, more than I could ever say in fact.

So, I talked Thune into what the guy asked on our third try. He's asking $109,400 (originally it was an asking price of $109,900), and he's paying closing costs. Which, really isn't too bad. Every house in the area is assessed or listed at way more than that. So, we're not compltely thrilled with the negotiation process, but we used the realtor that was also selling the house so whatcha gonna do I guess.

We take possession and close on the house on March 28th, and I think will make our first mortgage payment in May. So....it's pretty exciting, yet a little scary because it's a big move.

Now to just furnish the place...hehehe :)

Yay....we loved the house. So, tomorrow we're putting a bid in for the house. Cross those fingers for us! It's amazing, and I can't wait to see what happens :)

Mortgage update...

We spoke with the mortgage lender, and go pre-approval. That's really the first step, so now we just have to find a house that we'd like. We are going today to look at house at 1710 Merle Hay Road (south of Hickman, so it's residential) that has been totally redone and is only $1000 more than the previously mentioned house. It's awesome inside, so I think we'll probably be choosing between those two homes. I think....We've looked at about 5, and these two are the ones we agree are the best deals, so we'll see how that works out.

It's been fun working two jobs, and having to keep up with all of this stuff, lemme tell ya.

Anyhow, that's all for now....just crossing fingers we can get this all figured out sometime soon :)

This pretty little thing is what Thune and I have been working on for the past week or so. We decided that we're tired of renting, and rather than sign a lease again at the place that we live, we would just start looking for a house. our lease is actually not up until May, but we're very actively looking anyhow. We've pretty much set our hearts on this one, it's a cute little 2 bedroom, one and a half bath ranch located just off of Douglas, not yet to MLK and on the other side of Plaza Lanes. The street is actually called 27th place, but it's nestled in just off of where Douglas turns into Euclid. It's a great deal, in pretty good shape and really only needs a resurfacing of the hardwood floors and paint to cover the crazy purple on the walls. We're very excited, needless to say. We're meeting with the mortgage guy on Wednesday, and hopefully we can get these wheels a 'turnin :)

If you want to actually look at the house, I couldn't find it on Prudential's website, but did on Des Moines Register's real estate section. It's 3521 27th Place.

Sooo.....the title of this week is learning experiences. Example A: last night at work.

I've been a nurse for less than a year. It'll be a year in May. I've been taking care of post-surgical patients for the entire time. We get a few medical people, but mostly they are all joint issues and after they come back from surgery. IE...mostly healthy.

This week I started taking care of an elderly man who had fallen at his care facility and broke his hip (probably the most common thing that happens in people of that age). His family had decided to go ahead with surgery to fix the hip, and then decided the evening before surgery to not go through with it. He had heart problems, and a pacemaker/defibrillator in place, so he had chronic health problems including dementia to the point of not knowing what in the heck was going on, or able to take meds or anything. Monday he slept most of the night and I just gave him pain medication to keep him comfortable and non-combative. He did have a sitter because he was trying to pull out his IV line, and was just generally disoriented.

I get to work Yesterday (being Tuesday) and the family had decided that they wanted to do Hospice care, which we don't offer at our hospital. They have to go to a seperate place for that, usually Taylor House or Kavanaugh House-both in the area. They had decided to do that, and was supposed to go there sometime today most likely (Wednesday). I had casually asked the nurse in charge of the hospital what I was to do in the case that this patient passed, because I knew that he was a no-code, meaning no CPR was to be used to resuscitate him.

A sitter was still in the room, and comfort measures were going on to ensure that he was comfortable. The family had further decided to disable the part of the pacemaker that generates a shock to restart the patients heart in the event that it stops. The doctor comes and does so around 3:45 (mark that, 45 minutes after I got to work). At around 4:15, the sitter comes running out of the room saying that she had looked over and found him not breathing. My heart jumps out of my chest, into my throat and I immediately called the nurse in charge of the hospital to initiate the chain of phone calls that have to be done. Remember, I've NEVER done this before.

I call all the doctors, the medical examiner (because he had fallen), the admitting office, Iowa Donor Network, and various other people (think around 20 phone calls in 10 minutes), and get everything squared away. They had pronounced him dead at 4:50 pm. It was literally a whirlwind of an evening. I never thought that in a million years this guy would pass during my shift, never. I had asked because I'd rather know what to do in the situation than not, but still.

The family was just absolutely astounded that all of this had happened. They left about 10 minutes after the pacemaker had been readjusted, and I had to call them back and give them the news.

So, the evening was just a mess as you can all probably imagine. I've never felt so much remourse for someone who's almost a complete stranger. He went from being my hip fracture patient who was confused to my completely still patient who passed away in the matter of an hour and 20 minutes. I was literally blown away,a nd still am to some extent. I know that I'll get through this, because it's my job to and I'm prepared for things of this nature in my schooling-but it's just mind blowing that things can change so rapidly in the course of a little bit of time.

I know it was God's plan, and I'm glad that he's comfortable now. I just hope that the family can have a sense of peace in knowing that they did the right thing, and knowing that I cared for him just as much as they did at that particular moment.