Marley and Me

What an awesome movie...I cried through the last half, and at first I didn't realize it was a true story, but its clean and so sweet. If you love dogs, then you got to watch this movie.

it should be illegal...

These are my own original thoughts. I come up with most of them during work. I'll add on as necessary.

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It should be illegal to be such an ass at your daughters wedding that you break her heart.

It should be illegal to talk on your cell phone and drive at the same time.

It should be illegal to be completely able to go outside and smoke while you're a patient in the hospital, but then expect your aide to give you a bath.

It should be illegal to ask for nausea medication, and then accept your plate of food full of steak, squash and ice cream.

It should be illegal to sell bikinis above a certain size .. such as size 14.

It should be illegal to have your crack dealer come visit you in the hospital.

It should be illegal to allow children into a hospital.

It should be illegal to tail gate. (o wait, it is. SO GET OFF MY TAIL!)

To all the truck drivers out there: I CAN SEE YOUR MIRRORS, SO WHY CAN'T YOU SEE ME????"

It should be illegal to diss on someone else's presidential candidate and not be able to take it on your own.

random thoughts

So the other day, while Nathan and I were driving back to Chattanooga from Texas, we stop at a gas station to get some taco bell for supper. Since it was a Taco Bell/Pizza Hut Express, the prices were like, three times as much as normal, so I decided to forgo a drink at Taco Bell, and get a much cheaper one at the gas station. I headed over to the soda fountain and filled up an odd sized cup (22 oz, not 24 oz. Thought the price sign was quoted for 24 oz. I think they charged me for 2 extra ounces ...), and then headed to the check out. The girl at the register barely looked at me as she rung up my soda, and bruskly told me "Dollar Nineteen." She was looking at someone else while she was talking, so I pulled out a dollar and a quarter, and laid it on the counter. She turns around and sticks her hand out at me, so I pointed to the money and said "You said 1.19, right? Well there's 1.25!" She just looks at me and holds her hand out still, and I look right back and say "There's your money!". I was about to just walk away and leave the change, and she opens her mouth and says (with the biggest attitude) "Pick the money up and put it in my hand!" I look at her incredulous. Are you serious? You can't pick the money up off the counter yourself? At first I thought maybe her hand was paralyzed or something, but her fingers were moving, so I knew that couldn't be it. I just stood there, my mind whirling. Then she says it again, with her voice raised. "Put the money in my hand! God, don't you think it's rude to put it down on the counter?????" I scooped up the money with one hand, because my other hand was full of my taco bell, wallet and drink, and dropped it into her hand, replying "No not really." So she pulled out my receipt and my six cents and carefully laid them on the counter, and said "THERE! DOES THAT MAKE YOU FEEL BETTER???!" I just looked at her again, with this really curious look on my face, and scooped up my money and went on my way. I'm confused though -- what makes someone so anal? I mean, it's not my fault that she's stuck working at a gas station in the middle of nowhere in Texas. There's a community college somewhere around, if she wants a better option for her life. So don't take it out on me --- THE CUSTOMER, who is offering you money, which helps YOU keep your job!

Which brings me to another thought -- My brother-in-law told us about how stores in Florida are now putting PICTURES of the money that a customer is supposed to receive in change on the screen of the register, so that the cashier knows exactly how much change to give back, you know, in case they can't count and all. So imagine you're paying a twenty dollar bill for something that cost 11.65. The screen would pop up with a picture of a five dollar bill, a picture of 3 one dollar bills, a picture of a quarter, and a picture of a dime. Wow, I feel really safe knowing people who can't count are checking me out at Wal-Mart and running my credit cards and checks. I mean, shouldn't that be a requirement for becoming a cashier? "O, you can't count? Well, goodbye. There's a street-sweeper job available next door I believe." O right, that would be politically incorrect to do, and we might offend some poor soul who was too lazy to learn his times tables.

Which brings me to another thought -- This country is going to politically correct itself right into oblivion. Seriously. It's so idiotic, some of the things they make people do nowdays to be "PC". And even they are realizing how dumb they are. All this global warming crap, and we've had the coldest winter in decades. States were breaking cold records left and right just before christmas, so now, ooooo , it's a climate change. No duh -- the climate changes at least four times a year. Lets see, spring, summer, fall and winter. Just get over it, Al Gore, and try to lower your own energy bill. You know, an investigation was launched into Al Gore, and they found that he pays over 16,000.00 a MONTH for his mansion's energy bill. That's right. Now don't get me wrong, I believe we should take care of the earth and protect it. God put Adam and Eve in the garden of Eden to care for it, and he in no way said "just do whatever you like, who cares about the garden". But when you care for the earth at the expense of the humans ON it, then I have a problem.

Ho Ho Ho!

it's christmas eve and i'm sitting by the fireplace, watching my brother-in-law try to fix the tv. we were planning on watching the movie surf's up, but found out that dish network wasn't working properly, so decided to try to fix that before putting the dvd on. it's quiet here around the house, except for dylan running around with his little golf clubs, madly hitting plastic golf balls all around the house.

it's peaceful here, and i'm sleepy now. i finished drinking hot chocolate a few minutes ago, and that set my body clock to sleepy-time. we went to santaland tonight, which is a christmas light show that you drive through. it was fun to see all the bright lights, and listen to the christmas music playing through the speakers. we got to ride on a trailer pulled by a tractor and freeze in the fresh air. =) anyway, right now, the boys are immitating jimmy stewart in the movie "it's a wonderful life", and we're all just hanging out.

i'm so surprised at how quickly christmas has come this year. this previous year has flown by so fast. this time a year ago, i hadn't yet started the nursing program at southern, and i was scared to death about my upcoming classes. here i am, a year through, with only one year left to go, and i'm anxious to finish. i'm surprised at how well i've done, considering my schedule and how busy i stay. i'm pleased with my grades though, and love learning the new things i'm taught.

anywho..those are just a few of my thoughts regarding the past year. here's our christmas picture from this year. Hope you enjoy it.

The adventures of Mighty Nurse

Here's a comic strip I drew based on true events in my nursing class. enjoy!


___ ok let me add an addendum to this. This didn't actually happen in my class, because we would be sued if it did. However, a classmate asked it if would be appropriate to use fruit juice in an IV line for a client who was hypoglycemic and not alert enough to just drink the cup of juice. Forget having an already prepared dose of glucose, otherwise known as D50...let's be creative here !!!

the outdoors are truly great

Nathan and I just got back from a weekend camping trip, and I feel more refreshed and relaxed than any weekend of sitting around watching tv could ever offer. Besides, there's nothing quite like hot dogs roasted with just a touch of dirt, smoke and ash mixed in.

Camping really is a cheap vacation, and if you bring along a pretty good airbed, it's comfortable too! Unfortunately our queen size airbed was just a little larger than the tent door, and it took quite a bit of grunting and shoving to cram it through. And before you make a smart comment about blowing it up ONCE it's inside the tent, there was no electricity nearby, and we had to carry it over to the bathhouse, blow it up and then carry it back. Apparently our electrical outlet that plug into the cigarette lighter in the car is not made for blowing up airbeds. haha.
Saturday night was a flash back in time though. As I was making Ramen noodles, I looked around and we were surrounded by fireflies. I haven't caught a firefly since I was probably four years old. It was so fun to chase them around and try to grab hold of one. Next time we go camping, I will bring a glass jar along to keep a few in and watch them glow for a while. I tried catching a picture of them glowing, but they never would light up at the right time.

Camping is such a great family activity -- it really brings everyone closer. State parks don't charge too much to rent a campsite, and it supports the great outdoors. So next time your bored and want a cheap way to relax, go tenting!

Life is wonderful

I'm more and more impressed every day with the importance of enjoying every single moment of life and making the most of every memory and time with loved ones. I had a patient die recently, and though I'm getting used to taking care of dying patients, it never gets easy to see death slowly, painfuly take over life. Thoughts race through your mind as you see the last few breaths fade away --thoughts that this person was once a vibrant, beautiful life who loved and was loved. My patient that died was completely alone, except for the nurses taking care of her. I found her still -- the nurse had checked on her only 5 or 8 minutes before and she was still breathing, shallow though it was. Her son refused to visit her once she came to our floor, so for two days, she laid silently in her hospital bed, fighting for air. They say hearing is the last sense to go before you die, and it breaks my heart to think of that poor old lady laying there hearing no one nearby. No family to cry over her, no son or daughter to hold her hand, or tuck her blankets tighter around her, or brush her hair back from her face.

I don't know what the circumstances were surrounding the family -- what hard feelings there were that hadn't been let go, or what caused the son to refuse to see her one last time. But it really made me think about my own life. Whatever hard feelings I might harbor towards someone, family or friends -- they are so insignificant in the grand scheme of things! What grudge is worth holding onto when life is never guaranteed, and something could happen to any one of us at any time? Every day that we stay angry towards another person, it becomes just that much easier to not make amends.

I just want to encourage everyone to live life for every single day. It's not worth getting angry over small things. Life is so amazing and wonderful, don't waste a minute of it!