One Semester DONE!!!

 Aaaahhhh.... I love this time of year!  I love the cozy twinkly lights on the banister and the chill in the air outside!  And I LOVE that I'm finally finished with school (till January 15th!!)  What a great experience the past few months have been....   I've learned so much and know that I'm exactly where I'm supposed to be!  Thank you, Lord for blessing my socks off!!  Hey, did you notice that it's SNOWING on my blog?!?!?!  Cool, huh!

 I took all these random pictures last week when I was up waaaayyy late at night working on my final presentation.  Yes, it was absolutely a ploy to procrastinate and it worked really well.  :)  I've found my "study groove".  You know, that perfect combination of environmental factors that all have to present in order for me to have a productive study experience....  Let me explain. First, the given is that it has to be late at night when it's quiet and everyone is in bed.  I've always been a night owl and that's when i do my best work.  Next, it is absolutely vital to have great snacks.  It'll make your brain very happy and it will work much better, I promise.  So at 1:00 am I made a huge batch of Chex Snack mix, just like my Grammy makes every year for the holidays!

The next thing that I need is a comforting humming sound.....  You know, background noise!  (Like my fan when I'm sleeping....)  Something about working at the kitchen table with dishwasher running just makes for a very cozy work environment.  Really!

If I'm staying up late, I need a good cup of coffee in my favorite coffee mug!  But it's not so much the coffee as it is the CREAMER!  Yes, I know.  I might have a problem.  But what can I say?  I'm a girl who likes a lot of choices....

In addition to SAVORY snacks, I must also have SWEET snacks!  My favorites are gummy lifesavers and butter rum lifesavers!

Now I'm ready to work.....

 After an hour, I need a distraction.  I usually hit a rut about here and start to feel like I'm not being productive any more.  So how better to feel productive than to go clean the bathroom?

The productivity continues with doing a load of laundry - I got a $3 return on my investment!  (I must remember to empty my scrub pockets after work.)

And here's the thing that's been the light at the end of my tunnel for a couple months!!  We leave for Tahoe today for a wonderful 3 days together!!  I finished my presentation, got an "A", and now I'm ready to play in the snow!  My obsessive weather checking this week has shown that they got several inches dumped on them the past few days, so HOORAY!!!!  The little ones are beyond excited, and I'm ready to curl up by the fire with a FUN book!  :)  We're off to the mountains, and I'm hoping this picture didn't do them justice. 

Out With the Girls (Another Baby Shower!)

 Wow, I'm so behind on blogging!!  These are from the weekend after Thanksgiving!  The girls and I went to my friend Giulia's family baby shower in Geyserville.  They insisted  on wearing hats!!

 Giuliana with STRAIGHT hair!!!!  This never happens....  I love your curls the best! :)

 Me and my girls!

 Ni'ke practicing with Emily's camera!!

She took one sorta like this but I'm sure that one looked better!  (Now she wants a camera!...)

 Baby gifts!!

 Getting ready for some baby shower games!

Beautiful quilt, Emily and Heather!!!

Ni'ke Versus the Flagpole!!

 This past Monday, Ni'ke had a "smashing" encounter with the flagpole in the school yard at recess time!  Thankfully she didn't hurt herself worse than she did, but a bloody lip and two broken front teeth were plenty!  I took her to the dentist the next day and they bonded the back to cover the sensitive areas, she could hardly eat due to the pain from the back of her teeth being exposed!  That got her through the next couple days, and then today I took her back to Dr. Berger for some more repair.  He has been our kids' dentist for at least the past 5-6 years, and he is fabulous!  He was able to sand and shape the areas that were broken off at the bottom, and they actually look pretty normal.  Her two front teeth were very long, and they now are just a bit shorter!  She'll need braces eventually anyway, so we're just waiting for them all to grow in.

I love the screen saver on Dr. Berger's computer - it's an underwater scene with fish and a beautiful reef - he shares a love of scuba diving with my husband, which is usually our favorite topic to discuss when we're all there!

Ni'ke displaying her prize that she got to pick on Tuesday for being such a fantastic patient!

Here's a "before" picture (it's after she ran into the flag pole, but BEFORE he fixed it!)

And today, AFTER!!!  

Ni'ke doing what she loves to do - reading! - while we wait for Dr. Berger!

Practicing for Thanksgiving!

It's the season for yummy cooking!  It finally started feeling cool outside this week after an entire week in the mid-80's last week (no, not complaining at ALL!)  I just enjoy cooking and baking and find it quite therapeutic.  Not that I need therapy....  But maybe I would if I didn't bake??  Hmm, points to ponder.  Anyway, I made TWO pumpkin pies with the help of my little man, Ya'shar!  He's quite savvy in the kitchen.  It's raining off and on outside, and I always am in the mood for soup when it's rainy out, so I'm making split pea and ham soup with corn bread - doesn't that sound like a cozy, comforting meal?!

Happy Birthday, Giuliana!

This past Monday some of us girls from work got together at BJ's to celebrate Giuliana's birthday!! She's on a countdown, waiting for that sweet little baby to arrive - only a month and a half to go!  Was good to see each other since most of us have been off for a week or more. We thoroughly enjoyed our "Pizookis" (pizza/cookies!) for dessert!

Just a Friendly Reminder to "Fall Back"!!

Don't forget to turn your clocks back this weekend!!!  Daylight Savings Time is Sunday at 2:00 am!!!!

Study Break!!!!! (You Wouldn't Like Me When I'm Antsy...)

Yes, I'm taking a moment to BLOG when I should be finishing my concept analysis paper on "coercion".    That's ok, though, because I'm antsy.  And you wouldn't like me when I'm antsy. (Cue the biggest greenest picture I can find of the Incredible Hulk...  "You're making me angry!  You wouldn't like me when I'm angry..."  tee hee hee!)  ANYWAY....

This is what my kitchen table looks like at 3:00 in the morning when I'm writing a paper....  It could be worse I suppose.  (Cue the big angry Hulk SMASHING the computer.)  Believe me, it crossed my mind. (sigh) Hopefully I'll be done before the sun comes up.  I sleep better when I go to sleep in the dark.  And no, I'm not actually cramming for a paper due in a matter of hours as was once my custom, back in the 90's.  (Gee, how old did I sound there?!?!)  I have this paper AND a power point presentation due exactly one day apart in 2 1/2 weeks.  I have recently joined the "I Hate Power Point" Fan Club. Charter member, right here.  I'm trying to plan ahead, you see. I'm off work (thanks to a nursing strike at my job) so I have 8 total days off that were unexpected, and I'm trying to use them wisely!!!  If it sounds like I'm complaining, let me reassure you that - yes, I am a little bit.  :-) I can think of a gazillion things I'd rather do with 8 days off, but alas.  Here I am.  I was prepared, I have no regrets, I actually LOVE my classes and am really happy and excited that I did this going back to school thing.  (I'm just not a very patient person and would love to fast forward to 2014).

Here's something that makes me happy!  My friend Vince!!  He's the guy who doesn't care what other people think, and if it means putting on a pirate suit on Halloween and coming to work to make his patients smile, then that's what he'll do!  I totally dig the parrot.....  Congrats on 2nd place! (You're first in my book, Matie!!)

 Daryle and Ma-lak watching Game 4 of the World Series. AGAIN.  And rewinding to all the good parts!   It was a very shiny moment, listening to my husband explain the ins and outs of baseball rules to our son....

Here's another thing that makes me happy!  Ni'ke!!!!  The fashionista strikes again....  It's been kinda cold and dreary and rainy this week, so Daryle told her, "Let's just stick with jeans and sweatshirts and boots for a few days, OK Sweetie?"   Well yesterday the sun came out, and Ni'ke wasted no time appealing to her parents.  And I quote:  "So I was thinking...  It's been awhile since I went all high-fashion and I wondered if it was ok to get back to my roots?"  Love it!  She laid out her outfit, complete with underwear and hand bag and all, and I gave her my stamp of motherly approval.  Knock 'em dead, kiddo!

Back to work!!!!

The Blue Ribbons

Where do I start?  Well, first let me confess that I should be writing a paper on empirical knowledge and theory development in nursing right now, but honestly, the blue ribbons are kind of consuming my mind lately.

It's not just the blue ribbons,  but what they stand for, what I stand for, and what I feel and think about it all.  It's a bumbled up mix of emotions, that's for sure!  These are the ribbons that the nurses at my hospital have been wearing as a show of unity and solidarity during a very tense month of contract negotiations between the hospital administration and the union that represents us. Things aren't going great as we just learned that if another strike occurs (which is a very real possibility) the hospital will lock us out for an additional 2 days, for a total of 5 days missed of work.  (I'm scheduled to work 3 12-hour shifts in that 5 day period....) 

(sigh)

I'm not thrilled at the prospect of losing an entire week's worth of wages, but I can honestly say that the money isn't what's bothering me. 

It's conflict!!! 

I hate it!  It unsettles me.  It twists its gnarled fingers around my happy heart and keeps me up at night.  It's what makes me write controversial papers for my class and spout off wild rantings of how "there HAS to be a better way!!" 

It's the thing that has caused me to turn to the only place I know to find peace and comfort and answers in a time where the atmosphere if full of bitterness, resentment, accusations, and discord.  The Scriptures.  What does God say about all this???  Not surprisingly I found no mention of strikes in the Bible.....

I'm not surprised that conflict exists.  We live in  a fallen world, and our God is a war-faring God, so therefore we must be a war-faring people!  God has a lot to say about the just and the unjust, and here's what I think.  If I look around at the world and see an unjustice, especially one that personally affects me, the welfare of my work, my livlihood, and thus my family, and I do nothing, what am I really saying??

As a child, I was raised in a very pacifistic, "non-resistant" way.  My parents are/were peaceful, my father a conscientious objector to the Vietnam war.  It's where I got my "can't we all just get along?" mentality, I guess.  Unions in the midwest were seen as a self-seeking form of rebellion to the powers that be and therefore generally NOT looked upon with favor.  You don't stir the pot, cause a ruckus, make waves, or tred into waters unknown.

BUT.

I have never before lived in a place where I felt that my employers were unjust and wanted to take things from me and fill their own pockets while simultaneously telling me that they "value" me. I've never felt threatened or cheapened.  And until now,  I've never thought that my one small voice would be one that could make a very big difference in light of a grave unjustice, but I'm finding that it does....

"He that ruleth men must be just." II Samuel 23:3  

But the "rulers" of my hospital are not just!  Lord, what do I do?

"The just man walketh in his integrity."  Proverbs 20:7 

OK, Lord, I will walk in integrity! But what will happen now?

"No evil shall happen to the just." Proverbs 12:21

"Therefore take no thought, saying, What shall we eat? or, What shall we drink? or Wherewithal shall we be clothed? for your heavenly Father knoweth that ye have need of all these things."  Matthew 6: 31-32

Thank you, Lord..... Show me the way!!!

"The way of the just is uprightness."  Isaiah 26:7 and

"The just shall live by faith."  Romans 1:17


What awesome promises God fills our hearts with!!

Please join me in praying for my hospital, the administrators, the union representatives, my community, my coworkers, and my patients.  I ask for  a speedy resolution that honors the employees without compromising the establishment they serve nor the safety of the patients within.  

Miscellaneous Musings

 Ya'shar lost one tooth, shortly followed by another last week.  He's very excited and keeps wiggling all other teeth hoping to get one loose.  I think his little lisp is quite possibly the cutest thing ever, especially when he's really serious or upset about something.  "Rea, you better th-top it right now or I'm thelling on you!"

Rea is the queen of sniffing out left overs.  If Daryle and I go out for sushi or eggs benedict and bring ANYthing home, you can believe that it'll be gone within seconds of her entering the house.  A girl after my own heart - she soaks it in soy sauce....

David gave Rea this lion one year for her birthday and it's one of her most prized possessions.  It's sort of become her own personal mascot, and she dresses it up for all kinds of occasions.  This one "look" was her favorite so she texted a picture of her and the lion to David, "just so he knows I love him."

This giant human sandwich was very entertaining at 8:00 in the morning on the way to take the kids to school the other day. This marketing ploy proved very effective on MY kids anyway, since they practically threw the car off the road with all their waving and bouncing and shouting.  Yes, we like Subway.  But not before I've even had my first cup of coffee!

How cute are these two?!!?!?  This is Eli and Ava, my brother Brent's two little ones.  He and Jess texted me this on their way to go trunk-or-treating at their church.  Oh how I wish we lived closer!!!

Rea has arrived at that age where she digs through my closet and drawers (only sometimes with permission) to see what cool things she can wear to school.  I'm not complaining, I actually find it endearing and pretty hilarious....  :) This was her "fall" outfit.  What can I say??  The girl's rockin' the hat and scarf!!

 And in stark contrast, this is what her MOTHER looks like in the morning on the way to school.  Hey, it's a definite improvement over the pajama pants I usually wear....  Rea was playing with the camera on my phone while we sat at the VERY long stop light that ALWAYS catches us in the morning.  These are the very best poses that a nocturnal-I-hate-mornings-eternal-night-shifter could muster at such an early hour.  Hey I tried.
 

And on a "sweet" note, this is my husbands idea of "a little snack".  That's right.  Two cupcakes with frosting, 3 scoops of butter pecan ice cream (his favorite), chocolate syrup, chopped nuts and cherries.

Here's MY idea of a little snack....  Notice how the bag of candy corn that I bought yesterday is now nearly empty.  Sweet tooth issues running in the family????  Ya think!!!???