ANOTHER UNUSUAL CHRISTMAS

This year Christmas was quick and sweet! I worked the third shift, 12 hours that evening, so we gathered at my sisters for brunch, opened gifts and quickly hurried on our way to the next house! Adam my youngest spent the first Christmas Eve night with me since he was four years old! He had always stayed with his Dad and then came to my house on Christmas Day
This year we stepped up to video web chat with family on the west coast! We all enjoyed being able to see each other in our living rooms and kitchens with all the decorations and Christmas goodies around!
And seeing the newest great grand children were an extra treat for us all!

DEATH OF A MARRIAGE

As I laid here trying to nap because I'm working my 3rd shift tonight, things raced through my mind, and one was why my marriage was destined to fail from the beginning!

This was going to be until death, I was determined to make it work, in spite of all criticism from family and friends! I'm not the reason it failed, it was circumstances beyond my control! It was five family members who died over a period of four years, the four years of my marriage!

They say when crisis hits, how you handle it determines whether it drives you closer to father apart! We had one after another, CRISIS, DEATH OF LOVED ONES! It drove us away from each other, our friends and family and away from God!

We should have been clinging to God, to each other and to family and friends! But we didn't and then it happened!

It wasn't my fault he turned to someone else for comfort, for happiness apart from each other! I believed if I had not worked as much, been a better wife, he wouldn't have left me for someone else!

But, it wasn't my fault! I know that now! The pain is still there, only a year being apart, but still fresh in my memory!

My life isn't over! God answers prayer, He gives us strength and healing to our pain and grief!

Now I will focus on the gifts that God has given to me! My huge and loving family, my children, my friends, my church family and my wonderful fulfilling career!

God is my strength and my present help, my redeemer, my Savior!
Thank you Lord for being with me, and with teaching me and blessing me everyday!

INVASION OF THE STINKING ALIENS

Returning home from vacation by taking the red-eye flight across the states from California to North Carolina, one thing besides the cheap fare that you don't receive from flying, and especially on the red-eye flight (which means flying after midnight) is not a lot of sleep!! Coming home after an extended vacation the thing you want the most is a good nights sleep!
So returning to see family at home and that includes your pets, you don't expect or anticipate new house guests! And that's what I encountered my first day home, the invasion of, not body snatchers, or pesty mice, but the invasion of the STINK BUGS!!
I was not sure of what kind of species they were at first, I was too busy catching and disposing of them in a frantic rush!! Don't get me wrong, it's not that I don't love all of  God's creatures, but these ugly, flying and mostly stinking bugs, are not my favorites!! And especially not stinking up my home!!!
I did inform my landlady, which she stated that "they had been invaded also!" And after telling her the major invasion that had attacked me and my pets, she quickly came to my rescue!! She brought me, not bug spray, or an exterminator, but the hand held vacuum to quickly suck up the creatures and dispose of them in the trash! Well, I resorted to my technique of catching them and smashing them in toliet paper and sticking them in the dog's stink pail!!
Just as I finished that last paragraph, one of those pesty stink bugs flew down to the curtain above my computer and landed where I could see him! And as quick as he landed I jumped up to grab a napkin from the table and made a daring swoop to catch him before he flew away to another spot! YEA!! He's captured and put with the rest of the bugs in the stinky pail!!

Watch The Lonely Forest - Turn Off This Song and Go Outside on MTVMusic.com

Watch The Lonely Forest - Turn Off This Song and Go Outside on MTVMusic.com

Reflections of Motherhood

WEDDINGS ~ TRADITIONS

Weddings are one thing besides being a nurse that I can say I know something about! There are many ways people have had their wedding! There are big and little church weddings. There are weddings on Valentines Day on top of the Empire State Building in New York City! Weddings in the court houses all over the country. One I witnessed was my son Justin and his wife Krissy's wedding in the court house in downtown San Fransico, CA.
There are weddings in yards and  flower gardens. There are weddings jumping out of a plane, coming down a water slide, and riding in a train!
Weddings can have a wedding planner, a wedding singer, or even a wedding crasher! But one thing for sure if the Bride and Groom want their wedding to be unique, they can plan it anyway that want it to be! If you want Elvis to marry you then you can go to Las Vegas and marry in The Chapel of Love!
If you want your wedding to be according to your family belief and religion, then you can follow those beliefs and traditions according to your family heritage!
Just recently I went out of state for a wedding for one of my family members! The happy couple decided that they would have their wedding according to the beliefs of the church they belong to!
Only rules or laws that govern a wedding are what your state or county says about a marriage license. But the when, or what, or how can be up to the people involved.

PEOPLE AT THE AIRPORT AND ON THE PLANE

If you've ever been to the airport, or even had the opportunity to fly anywhere, you've noticed how many people you see that are there for maybe the same reason you're there!
Recently I was on a flight waiting to taxi to the runway to take off, and I was noticing the different dress that the other passengers were wearing.
You've got the business attire people, with suits, ties, dress shoes (polished of course) laptops, iphones, blackberrys, etc!
One particular female passenger had her pink slacks, with these fancy hose with pink flowers, and her black patten shoes! Hadn't noticed or even kept up with the latest style on dress shoes to know that they were back in fashion. Maybe I need to ask my high school friend Janice who definitely knows about shoes!
The other group of passengers were like myself, with casual attire, jeans and a comfy shirt. The passenger that was seated by me on my first flight was in jeans shorts, t-shirt and a ball cap! He smiled when I first came to my assigned seat and put my larger bag over the bin above us. Then I slid my laptop bag under the seat in front of me! I didn't really look to see how old he was until the end of the flight. And to my surprise he wasn't a young guy but somebody probably middle age, or older!
Now the last group of passengers that I need to mention are the families with small children and babies! You can never miss that babies and young children are on your flight! The constant sound of babies crying, screaming are a constant reminder of what you (if you once had young children on a flight) use to have to tolerate, no that's not the word, maybe endure, trying everything you possibly can to rock, sing softly, feed or walk up the aisle if allowed, to keep the peace for the rest of the passengers and crew!! Now if you have a breast feeding infant, it very easy to shut the crying up, and I'll leave that to your imagination!

Airports and Learning to Wait

If you've ever flown anywhere on a commercial airline, you know how it feels to wait! If you're not a patient person before flying you'll learn how to be after flying a few times! Now if you're the person who's always running late, getting to the airport right before time to board. God help you, you love the intensity of walking fast, no maybe almost running to get through security, which is imposible to do, being in a hurry, cause the TSA workers will definitely slow you down.
I can't be that person, I've got to be early! That's my life, BE EARLY! So sitting for hours at the gate waiting to board your flight, reading your email, texting friends, calling friends and eventually hoping your battery on your cell doesn't die!

WORKING ON HOLIDAYS

It Labor Day 2010, and I'm up very early because I'm having to work, just like many holidays in the past!
Being in the medical field does not give you the freedom to always take holidays off! The incentive our employers give us is the extra pay, time and a half!! Those four words, ring in your ears, time and a half! The benefit this time for me is I'm only working two days this week, and I REALLY need that time and a half. 
So, those two days and one being a holiday will mean a better check, even though a two day work's check will be very small after taxes and all the other they take out Plus when health insurance comes out too, maybe there will be enough of a check to post to my checking account, but I doubt!
But the trade off is I will be taking a mini vacation that will be something that's worth taking time off from work!

FUN AT WORK, CAN THAT REALLY BE?

In order to keep up with the modern times of computer use, I decided it's time to start my own blog site! So, since I'm not a new mother like my two niece's Kelly and Krista, and I don't have an exciting job like my son Justin, traveling the US with American Idol auditions, I'll blog initially here on what I do best, work as a home care nurse! But as my title announces, I sometimes can have fun while working, though I still strive to be the best nurse I can be!
Having fun at work to me means dancing and singing with my patient as we perform her passive range of motion. There's nothing in the rule book of nursing that says exercising can't be fun! My patient smiles when we sing along to CMT channel of country videos she adores and attentively watches when she happens to be up in her wheel chair and in front of the TV, positioned so that she can see the screen.
The other fun thing that happens is when the "Mom" of my patient is in a happy mood, and she needs to talk about her new boyfriend, and the plans she has made with him for the weekend! And as the discussion precedes more deeper, even though I'm still checking my patient, charting on the things I need to write on at that particular hour of the day! Of course never straying away from my job as the "Nurse" for that shift!
So even if your day may be long, 10 hours long, you can still make it fun for your patient, her mom and yourself by being creative, lend a listening ear and discerning eye to the needs of the whole family!