I got the official TAG for the Real Moms...

Thanks to Becky of The Princess and The Peanut I have gotten my official tag for the Real Moms meme. Even though I took matters into my own hands and decided to do a Real Nurses meme, I gladly embrace this task as a Real Mom.

Real Moms:
~ hide chocolate from their children just to eat it themselves in their bedroom late at night while watching some incredibly adult TV show that 10 years ago wouldn't have even been allowed on TV at all

~ attempt to use guilt and manipulation to get their children to make them coffee and toast with peanut butter

~ always love their children, even though sometimes, they don't really like them very much

And finally, inspired by an email I received from my niece this morning....

~ real moms do yoga

Now I get to tag ........

Cammy
Christine
Rhonda
Monica and
Jacques okay, now I know he is not a real mom, but he is a real dad, and maybe we can make this meme go a little farther by including the daddies..........

Anyone else who wants to do this, just link in my comments to your own Real Moms post.....

Real Nurses

I have been touring the mommy blog circuit and there is a lot of talk of Real Moms. It is a meme in where the moms tell what Real Moms do.... I have seen some funny posts, some touching posts......I have loved them all.....but no one tagged me that I could see.......so......I decided to start my own Meme called Real Nurses..... and since I have a few other nurses who read me, I am basically tagging any nurse who reads this and wants to participate, just leave me a comment to let me know you are joining so that I can check out your answers too!

Real Nurses....

....will hug the pain in the ass family member of a dying patient for as long as they need and realize that the only reason they are a PITA is because they are scared and grieving

....will talk to the recently deceased palliative care patient as she/he prepares them for their family members to view

....can do a manual digital extraction of stool as 11:50 am, wash their hands and go for lunch at 12 noon and eat a sandwich, with their hands

You Are IT!!!!

Saturday with The Food Network and missing NewMan

I really love Saturdays off from work. My favourite part of it is watching The Food Network. I watch those shows and aspire to be a great chef....in my own home. The hours that real chefs keep are just NOT for me. But I love to watch and learn techniques and apply them to my home cooking. I have been told by more than a few people that I am a good cook. In fact, only one person ever told me, "you just think you can cook".....he does not live here anymore.....

I know it seems really odd for a woman who struggles with weight and body issues to watch hours upon hours of cooking shows. But, I have a great appreciation for good food, gourmet type food, and good wine. This is a passion that NewMan and I share, and it is really wonderful! We both love to cook. I am really looking forward to spending Saturdays and Sundays off cooking and sharing with NewMan once he is finally here with me. That day is getting a lot closer.....I am sooooooo excited!!

I am planning another trip to visit NewMan in Chicago in April. This time, I am staying for 5 days. I couldn't be more thrilled. I don't care for the airports and the flying, but, those are such small sacrifices for 5 days of bliss. 5 nights of sleeping next to NewMan, 5 mornings of waking up next to NewMan......sigh.....do I sound a little in love??? Well, I assure you, I am a lot in love.

Back to The Food Network, my other love. I have a few favourite shows. I love to watch the challenge shows, the ones where famous chefs compete at cake decorating or sugar sculpting, etc. I love Good Eats with Alton Brown, he teaches the science of cooking....I guess I am a foodie geek. I also like the Restaurant Makeover shows. Rachael Ray's 30 minute Meals is also good. I love them all. But one of my all time favourites these days, is Ace of Cakes. It is about Charm City Cakes in Baltimore, MD. The guy, Duff, is so funny, and quirky.....and he has this crew that work with him that are just as quirky and funny, and they make the most amazing cakes I have ever seen. Of course, I am watching for wedding cake ideas........

Pass the toothpicks please

I am sitting here at the computer at work. I am trying desperately to stay awake. I am really really really really really really tired.........tired of working the night shift.

Back when I first started this nursing gig, I actually loved the night shift. It is quieter, less demanding, etc.....but since my youngest child was born, I am finding this less and less desirable.

I long to sleep in my wonderful bed every night.......I long to sleep beside NewMan every night. I long to not feel in a state of perpetual fatigue. I long..... I long...... damnit.

When I had a live-in nanny, night shift was a breeze. Sleep all day, work all night, sleep all day........easy. Now I get home, have to fight to get kids out of bed, fight to get them to make their lunches, fight to get them off to school, ugh...... fight fight fight fight fight. This is really not a slacker mom's forte.

I really need to come up with some viable options to this staff nursing thing I have been doing. I need a day job, no stress, preferably without people, bleeding, puking or dying on my shift..........and still pays me the wages I am used to........

Hey! I have been critiqued!!!

Go and check out what Billy Mac had to say about me in his critique here

Now, granted, I asked him to do it, because that is how it works.......but I would hope to God he was at least being honest with his comments. He actually critiques both of my blogs there.

I admit freely that I write this blog so that others will read it. I am a firm believer in the fact that is why most of us write. To know you have touched someone else by something you have written is amazing. Whether it be to make them laugh, think, cry, reflect, even angry........it is all about the human need to be noticed and recognized for your unique qualities.

I am not a writer. I has aspired to be one at times, but I always fear that any novel I might write would read like a really really bad Harlequin romance...... My creativity is not exactly stellar, but when I write these short little articles, the observations of my weird and wild little life......and one of you says, "Hey, you could be writing about me" Or, "You made me laugh so hard" Or, "I never thought of it that way before".......I get .........well.......let's just say I get more than just a little tingly!!!!

So, I beg of you......feed this comment whore's addiction and leave me comments when you visit....even if all you have to say is, "Hey, I was here".....

I just saw these featured on Rachael Ray

I really love her show. Even if she is WAY too perky.

Now, I am sure a lot of you mommy's out there have seen these, but I hadn't until today.....I wish I had some when my babies were little.

They are called Gabbybaby T-shirts. Click the link here. I will wait here until you have read them and come back.........*insert Jeopardy music here*

Aren't they just the cutest????? This is one I would have liked to have had....

"Please don't ask my parents if they know what caused me. Trust me, they know, I was there"

What if adults wore T-shirts like that, to warn people against making rude or stupid comments?? What would be the one you would want to wear??

Can we talk about why I don't like time change??

I lived the first 35 years of my life in a place where the time never changed. Every province around us changed, the US states changed, but we never changed. I don't know why we didn't, we just didn't.

So now, my 40yr old body is waging a war against the time change. I just can't seem to do the switch. I have been doing it for a few years now, living here in Alberta, but my body still can't seem to adjust. I had trouble sleeping last night, I can't help but subtract the hour when I look at the clock calculating the "real" time in my head. It can take me a full week to make the switch.

Of course, being that I work weekends, nights, etc....I can often be found working during the time change, and since my karma is a bit of a practical joker, I usually find myself on the crappy end of the time change stick. There is nothing worse than working nights in the fall on the night of time change. Our hospital has automated clocks and when 2:am hits and those clocks roll back, every second is like another toothpick being stuck in your eye to keep it open.

The spring change, which of course was just this weekend in case you missed it, is like a bonus if you are on the night shift, but really bites if you are on the day shift. Nothing like losing an hour of sleep on a Saturday night. You tend to change the clocks early so as to trick yourself into already thinking it is later, thereby going to bed at an appropriate time so that you get enough sleep to get through your shift. That, by the way, never works.

Insomnia hit me last night. I kept looking at the clock, thinking to myself, "of course I am still awake, my body thinks it is only 11pm" "midnight" "1am" "2am"..... you get the picture.......then this morning, my alarm goes off at 6am, like usual, and my brain says......"it is only 5am".....well, actually it said, "F@#$!!!! It is 5:18 am and I missed the alarm"

Amazingly, this morning was like the first time all year that I called the kids for school...ONCE....they all got up....got dressed, made their own lunches and walked to school......ON TIME. I am wondering what my dear friend Karma has in store for me now............

Puppy Love

This is my puppy, Angus the Basset Hound.

My puppy loves me. And I love my puppy. Last Friday morning I was awoken at 4:30am to the sound of thumping from the kitchen. It only took me a few seconds to realize the sound was coming from Angus' kennel, and only a second more to realize it wasn't just his regular bumping around in the kennel. It was a rather rhythmic noise that made me uneasy. I went out to find my 65lb dog having a grande mal seizure in his kennel. I opened the cage, crawled in to keep him from hurting himself. I was pretty sure he was dying. I was crying, and wondering how I was going to break this to the kids. Then, he came out of it. He sat up, panting heavily and drooling more than usual, and looked at me with his big brown eyes and tried to lick my face. He was wagging his tail fiercely.

When the kids had left for school, I called the vet, to see what could have brought this on. She said that some dogs do this. That it could be a one time deal or the start of a problem. Her recommendation was to watch him. As long as he seemed back to normal, and didn't have any more, that there was no need to have him checked. So far, so good. No more problems that we can see. No more seizures. He is acting normal.

Sadly, this is normal for him.


This dog really loves me......just count yourselves lucky I didn't get a picture of him humping the pajama bottoms that I left laying on the floor.

Curling up with a good book.........

Someone gave my ex-husband a book. It was called Uncle John's Bathroom Reader. It is a collection of short stories, designed to be read while performing the days constitutional. What is the attraction of that, exactly? I cannot imagine needing to spend any longer than absolutely necessary in the bathroom, reading no less. My brother-in-law can actually spend an hour or maybe more (I have never really timed him) sitting there reading the newspaper. All I can think is, if it takes that long to "get the job done", perhaps you need to invest in some Bowel Buddies, (boy that link gets a lot of air time here in my blog).

This post was inspired by my friend, Jacques, at My New Life. He had an epiphany this morning. And I have one suggestion for him, WATERLESS HAND SANITIZER GEL. I am thinking I could turn him OCD with all of my stories.

Is this just a man thing?? Is it because they have all the time in the world to sit there reading?? Without the various children and pets knocking on the door or sticking fingers or furry paws under the door?? "Whatcha doin' in there, mom?????" Trying to peek under the door to see what you are doing........or in my old house, with its easily-opened-from-the-outside locks, having them just barge on in????? You do tend to just "get 'er done" and get the heck out.

I do remember a friend of mine, many many years ago, taking her Anatomy notes into the bathtub with her to get some uninterrupted study time. Problem, with all that uninterrupted time in the bathroom, she fell asleep and dropped her notes into the tub. And speaking of bathrooms and tubs and such, I am reminded of a Friends episode where Joey used Chandler's toothbrush. Chandler says that they can't share things like that. Joey argues back that they share the soap in the shower. Chandler justifies it by saying that soap by its very nature is clean. Joey comes back saying, "Think of the last place I wash and the first place you wash."....argument over.

I wonder how many of you will be throwing away the bar soap and investing in shower gel from now on?????

Lamb or Lion????

It is March 1st today, if you didn't already know.

Around here, I can't really decide if it came in like a Lamb or a Lion. It isn't so cold or blizzardy to consider it Lion like, but it isn't warm and melting and mild enough for it to be Lamb Like. I am thinking that this is a premonition that March is going to be a hum drum nondescript Month. What is your March 1st like?

I am watching a news report that is saying, "Sleep is the new Sex". Apparently a recent survey showed that an alarmingly high percentage of people would rather have a good nights sleep than have sex. I am really wondering who they asked?? I mean, I understand the mommy with a baby who, when finally getting said baby to sleep and knowing that there may only be a couple hours before baby is awake again, not wanting to used up those precious minutes doing the very activity that got them into that predicament in the first place. In my rather limited experience, I can't imagine that any man would have answered that they prefer sleep to sex...that has never been the case in my house......ever.....of course, maybe that is more of a reflection of ME... "grrrrrrr baby". And also in my experience (I know, this is way TMI), I have found that one leads to the other. Good Sex = Good Sleep. Try it....try it tonight.... (thinking I may have just gained a lot of male fans). So tell me, Sleep or Sex???

It is coming up on Easter Season again. NewMan observes the Friday Fast. I used to when I was at home with my parents...in fact, we observed it all year long. When I was a single mom, that kind of went by the wayside, since my thoughts were that we ate a lot of meatless meals all the time. I am not much of a fish person, but I suppose I will have to come up with some interesting ways to make meatless meals for Friday's during Lent for NewMan. Good thing my kids like fish. Do you fast on Fridays? Only during Lent? All year?? Any idea what I am talking about?

Another thing about Easter is the Cadbury Cream Egg. Sweet, gooey, disgusting and absolutely irresistible to me. It is what I had for breakfast this morning.........Atkins says eggs for breakfast are good...........