Tips for the CF College Kid

Hey y'all! So as y'all know I have been to three colleges so I kind of consider myself an expert on college. One day I may even graduate. I have had some ups and downs throughout my ongoing college experience so I figured I would share some tips for all you kids heading off to college this fall.

Chelsea's College Tips

• Do not overpack. This is crucial because your mom will be taking some stuff back home when she leaves you. Your dorm room is not that big, especially when you have to share it. You will not use a quarter of the stuff you bring, I can almost guarantee it. That cool lap desk thing? It will sit under your bed. Make sure you have all of your health stuff!
• You will not need those 50 shirts from high school. You will get tons of free shirts.
• Bring a power strip. There will not be enough outlets for all your things especially once you have your vest and breathing machine going.
• A plastic 3 drawer compartment thing will come in handy to hold all your medicines and CF supplies. If you do not have CF, it is still pretty handy.
• Use ratemyprofessor.com when registering for classes. You will know what to expect from the class and what to expect from the professor. But keep in mind just because some people do not care for a professor does not mean you will hate him too.
• Get out of your dorm. I repeat, get out of your dorm and make friends.
• If you happen to be in your dorm, leave your door open. Believe me, that is how you make friends. People will just walk into your room and BAM instant friends.
• If you go to a party, pour your own drink and watch it the whole party. Do not put it down, this even applies to just soda.
• Do not go off with people you do not know well. I know that sounds like common sense but you will meet so many people in college that you'll feel more comfortable than you should with a stranger. 
• You might decide to drink- make sure you have a friend with you.
• Stay away from smoke-no brainer.
• Be organized- you will lose stuff if you are not.
• If you have CF, be upfront with your roommate and suite mates or get a private room. This eliminates you having to sneak in treatments like I tried to do for the first few weeks. They will understand. If they do not, request a new room or sit down and talk through a solution, such as you doing treatments when she is in class or her leaving when you need to do them.
• Also  sign up with student disability services. I know it may not be something you want to do, but it is better to do it now just in case than having to do it as you are sitting in the hospital. Plus you usually get to register early- better classes!
• Make time for your treatments- its going to be hard at first. You're going to want to skip to do other things but it really is important to make time.
• Take your enzymes because the college cafeteria is going to mess your stomach up.
• With that being said, always have enzymes on you because you will never know when you will eat.
• Make sure you have lots of snacks and little microwave meals. Some dorms even have a kitchen you can cook in. You might not feel like going to the cafeteria or you may get hungry when it is closed. My roommate and I lived off CVS pre-packaged subs for a week because we kept missing dining hours. Gross- I know.
• Your roommate does not have to be your best friend but you do want to get along. I loved all my roommates. They are fantastic.
• College finals are going to stress you out but they will end and you will be fine.
• Get plenty of sleep. All nighters are not as cool as they seem.
• Bring air freshener for that shared bathroom!
• If you can avoid it, do not buy your textbooks from the bookstore. It will drain you financially. Try chegg.com, amazon.com, half.com, and other textbook sites. They are usually much less expensive.
• Also try to sell your books back to those sites or to other students. The bookstore will not give you much. After spending over $550 on textbooks, I got $30 back at the end of the semester. No joke.
• Do not sign up for 8am classes if you do not normally like to get up early. You will skip. Do not think just because you got up in high school that you will get up for that class.
• Do the extra credit.
• Keep a calendar with everything due.
• Make a schedule including treatments and medicine and such.
• It is a lot easier to be upfront about your CF with people in college. It really is.
• It is really easy to get run down in college. Trust me because it happened to me. You have to stay on top of your health.
• Have fun but stay healthy!!

All right y'all...that is my list so far. If I think of anymore I will add to it of course. Feel free to post your own tips in the comment section.

Back and better than ever (sort of)

Hey y'all! It has been awhile but I have had so much going on lately. Well y'all know I got out of that nasty apartment (Yay!), and I have finally found somewhere else to live! Its a cute little house. I am so excited. Living at home is just not for me anymore.

I also started back with school! I am taking online classes this summer to catch up but I plan on graduating in a year and a half (double yay)! I am a hospitality management major now which will help with running my dream bakery. My books were so expensive (boo college).

I'm still not feeling great, but hey feeling bad is the new normal right? I tried IV antibiotics for awhile and when I came off of them I felt so great....for a week and then I crashed. But that week was great. I went to Carowinds and could walk around without getting short of breath. I had a great time. Oh and when I first came off antibiotics my pfts had jumped way up and my doctors decided to cancel my transplant evaluation!!

 But my most important news is that one of my best friends finally had her baby! She is precious and all things great. The best baby in the world! I love her so so so much and I love being Aunt Chelsea.

I have also been crafting a little. I made a burlap wreath!

I think I have caught y'all up pretty much with my life. I know I make this promise a lot but I will be blogging more.

Coughing up blood vs. breathing

Hey y'all! I have not been feeling well lately. For the past two weeks I have been coughing up tons of blood. Pure blood with no mucus. By tons, I mean I have been filling up the bottom of a bathroom sink with it. It only happens when I lay down to go to bed. I start feeling a bubbly feeling, almost like a wheeze that is when I know the blood is coming. Then I have to cough and up it comes. I coughed up so much the other day that I could not stop and was actually choking on the blood. It was gross.

SO... my doctor decided that it might be from the Colistin I started, so she took me off of it for a week to see if that helps. She also had me stopped hypertonic saline at night to see if that helps as well.

I went to the doctor Tuesday and it is now Thursday...so after only two nights of not doing Colistin or hypertonic, my lungs are not happy. I can barely breathe. My chest is tight and hurting. I cannot imagine a whole week of this.. To be fair though, the coughing up blood did stop. I almost think I would rather just cough up blood than feel like this. Funny how that is.

If I had continued to cough up blood, my doctor wanted to possibly do a CT scan and a bronch but so far...no blood! I also had an x-ray done.

In other news, my doctor wants my decision about which transplant facility I want to use so they can set up a meeting for me to just talk with them!

New Mac!!

Hey y'all! So my Dell laptop that I have had since high school graduation has not been working very well. It kept shutting off on me at the worst times. I figured it was time to get a new laptop. I have been eyeing a Mac for some time now. I finally just got it. It was an expensive investment but I love it. It is the most expensive thing that I have ever purchased myself. It is my baby. I am so in love. Just thought y'all should know. I felt so guilty about spending so much money but I know it will be worth it in the long run! I just love love LOVE it!

Painted coolers

Hey y'all! All those who went to college in the south will immediately know what I am talking about when I say painted coolers. Painted coolers are popular in the Greek community. Bigs give painted coolers to their littles for reveal day in sororities. They can be given just as a present. But most importantly, when a frat guy invites you to a function, such as mountain weekend or formal, you paint him a cooler! I'm not in the Greek system but who can really resist a painted cooler? So far I've made two. One for my boyfriend's birthday two years ago and one for myself recently. I am currently working on another one for my boyfriend's 21st birthday. Now I would in no way consider myself an expert at this. Its pretty much trial and error for me when it comes to it. But I did read a lot of articles about it before I even attempted to paint a cooler. So I'm just going to tell you what I do and then let you see my finished cooler. I'll let you know my mistakes so you can avoid them.
Cooler painting steps: (Keep in mind these are just my steps, others might do it differently)

1. Pick out a cooler. I wanted a big one, so I picked out this one from walmart: http://www.walmart.com/ip/Igloo-48-Quart-Breeze-Ice-Chest/23735484 but I have painted a smaller one. I have never attempted one with wheels.
2. Next you need to sand the cooler really good. Some people sand it with a bigger grain and then a smaller grain. I just use one small grain and sand it all over.
3. I then wash the cooler off to get rid of dust and cooler particles.
4. Make sure you use painters tape to tape the handles and where the top opens and closes. If you paint that, it will not open. 
5. Prime the cooler. I use Krylon paint that is made for plastic this will make the cooler white.
6. I always plan out my cooler in the beginning so I know what will go where.
7. Start painting one side! (only do one side at a time) 
8. When you have painted all the sides, you need to let it dry. (I let my dry for a day)
9. Get mod podge in the screw top bottle and paint it on all over the cooler. You want to do a couple coats, just make sure you let each coat dry before the next.
10. Let cooler dry for a day.
11. Get mod podge  clear acrylic spray and give your cooler a coat or two.
12. Let your cooler dry completely before you use it.

Tips:

• Use tissue paper! Trace the outline of the image or the words you want from your computer screen onto tissue paper. Then tape the tissue paper on the cooler where you want it and trace back over the image in sharpie. It will leak through and give you the outline on the cooler for a clean image or words.
• Sharpies and paint pens work really well for small, clean lines.
• Always use a ruler for straight lines.
• Allow yourself time. Mine took a week from start to finish

Mistakes:

• Do not make your mod podge coat too thick, mine did not dry clear in some places.
• If you mess up and need to paint over, make sure you cover it up completely and give it time to dry.
• Do not freehand if you are not an artist or if you cannot write well. My computer messed up on the last thing I needed to do so I had to freehand some words. My handwriting is not neat. 
• Do not mod podge at night under a light or you will be picking bugs out of the sealant.
• Do not let your baby brother "help" or you will be repainting.

So here is my cooler y'all:

Top of cooler: (I hot glued pearls around my monogram)

Back of cooler:

Cooler front:

Side of cooler: 

Other side of cooler:

Like I said, I am not expert whatsoever. Plenty of other girls have more experience and can probably do it better. But this is my cooler and my steps. So have fun painting a cooler y'all!

If you don't like Frozen, I suggest you let it go

"Knock knock"

"Who's there?"

"You"

"You who?"

"You-whoooo big summer blowout!"

Well y'all, I won't be blogging this weekend. I am going to visit my dad. It's going to be a three hour drive there and back which sounds awful. Good news, I will be blaring the Frozen soundtrack the whole way. Just because I'm 20 and obsessed with Frozen doesn't mean anything. Its a really great movie okay? The music is awesome. Its just fantastic. I suggest seeing it right away.If you don't like frozen I suggest you just let it go (haha see what I did there?) I know all the words to every song and will sing them at the top of my lungs. No shame.

My Bucket List

Hey y'all. I thought I'd make a bucket list. Some of these will be typical growing up things (but hey I want to accomplish them before I die) while some will not be.

Bucket List:

• Go to Venice, Italy (Gondola rides, romance, the language!)
• Go dancing
• Learn to surf
• Travel (anywhere and everywhere)
• Get married
• Have kids (yes I'm boring you, I know)
• Go on a cruise
• Take pictures in every photo booth I come across
• Own a bakery
• Go on a road trip
• Go on a cute picnic
• Read every Jane Austen novel (I'm a big fan. Pride and Prejudice is my fave)
• Graduate college (haha its a struggle!!)
• Receive flowers just because
• Go zip-lining
• Own a plantation style house
• Own a real strand of pearls (sorry the southern side is coming out!)
• Live a life that everyone remembers
• Inspire someone

I'm sure I'll think of more but these are my goals so far. I might not be able to complete them all as some are out of my hands, but I will certainly try.