Mr. Butterfly

I am happy for him. He is engaged and involved in a way I don't think I was in high school. But is it bad of me to complain that my son's social calendar seems way too busy?

Colt is involved in Orchestra - great but weekly sectionals seems a bit much.

Colt is in Key Club this year, they meet every other Wednesday after school and we don't know the volunteer events yet. I am sure there is something monthly, after all what is Key Club for?

Colt is in the Latin Club and in a position for an office - run-off are this week. The Latin Club meets every other Thursday.

Then we have tutoring, either before or after school, for those persons who need a little extra assistance or validation or social connections. I think it is a bit of all of those for Colt.

We have things at church he is active in; Altar Servers, Called By Name and now Wayfarers on the third Tuesday of each month, and Word on Wednesday, every Wednesday starting later this month.

We had to get on him last night for being a good citizen. Made me feel terrible. But he spends a lot, and I mean A LOT, of time helping other people with their homework. It is good but it puts him behind on doing his own homework and then he is up until 11pm trying to finish his stuff.  Not cool. So we set a rule, no helping other people until your homework is finished.

Now what is bad is that his mother is usually asleep at the time he is finished at school. I think I really need to work on changing my sleeping time so that I can pick him up in the afternoon. Why did I not get him in driver's ed before he was a junior?

Last night we had to sit down with all of our schedules and plot out who can get the boy from school each day. I never had to do that with Amy. Or maybe I knew that Amy would take the initiative and get home from school and then take my car to go pick up her brother from his social events at school. I miss Amy:-(

Either way, I need to get him in driver's ed and then get him driving. And then Mr. Butterfly needs a vehicle.
*sigh* if only he had wings and could really fly.

Passionate and Loving It

I was nominated for the Good Samaritan Award. I ended up being chosen as a bronze medalist.Those of us there were chosen out of hundreds of nominees for being passionate about nursing and leaders in our field. I was so surprised that I was the only only chosen from my hospital and Northwest Houston. I got a certificate of the award and a pin to wear to designate my bronze medal. I would love to see my nomination to see what got me this award. It really was a big deal, my manager and the Assistant Chief Nursing officer were there with Vernon and me at lunch.

Every year the nursing leaders in Houston review and select from these nominations to select the best nurses out there who go above and beyond to represent the soul of nursing. they award Bronze medals to the runners-up and then a Silver medal and a Gold medal in each category. I was thrilled to see one of the professors from St. Thomas University won the Gold medal for her work as a Nursing Educator. Her statement touched in that she feels her whole life has been moving to the point where she could work at St Thomas to reestablish their Nursing Program. She started as an ADN, like me, and moved on to her BSN, MSN and then Doctorate in Nursing. What an amazing woman!

On that note, let me tell everyone that I have applied for enrollment to University of Texas Arlington to pursue my BSN. I have learned that I need to complete another college math, one Government, two US History and one Technical Writing  before I get into the Nursing portion of the degree plan. It will all be online and should take about 1-2 years with working full time.

As nursing is the most trusted profession in the United States, please take a moment to go to the Good Samaritan Foundation site and donate to support such an honorable profession for other passionate nurses out there. Who knows, you might be helping me to get my BSN!

Grocery Shopping

Have you heard of the services offered in some cities that allow you to do your grocery shopping online?

I want it here is Houston.

I would love to be able to click on my favorite grocery store and indicate what I want. After all, I am pretty darn predictable with my weekly shopping. I have used the same grocery list for the past 5-6 years with very little change in the items I purchase.

We know what we like and we stick with it. It is not boring as we have a lot of variety in our diet for meals. I must say that my children and my husband eat the SAME thing for breakfast and lunch EVERY DAY. Creatures of habit here without a question.

As I type this I am procrastinating walking out the door to my local Kroger to stock up on some badly needed food for the house. Seems like I just went shopping, but alas, that was a week ago.

At least I have Colt to go with me today!!

Dreary London

From left to right: Cristina, Amy, Aaron, Phillip, and Melissa.
Cristina and Aaron don't look to happy and Philip - well, let's just say a smile is an "amazazing" happening!
It would appear that it is rainy and chilly in Jolly Old England. But Amy still has a smile on her face - they are off to Paris next.
BFND stands for the high school motto - "Bobcat Fight Never Dies"

Oh My, Oh My, I Might Cry!

18 years ago we were hoping for a miracle. Amy was in the hospital still. And we were trying to get her built up for surgery. She had her PICC line in and her feeding tube up her right nostril. She loved to rub her face against your shoulder to get the feeding tube out. She was cross-eyed from being intubated and looking up at the tube from her mouth over the top of her head. She lived basically naked except for a diaper. She had had a bath by this time, as well as the bald spot on the left side of her head was in place from a gentamycin infiltration.

Now, I prepare for her graduation from high school. She gets her acedemic awards tonight. She has had her Prom, her last Orchestra concert and her last orchestra banquet. A time of lasts and firsts and major expenses. So many decisions and so little time. In two weeks she'll be headed to Europe for a tour of London, Paris and Rome.

She is of an age to vote and to move out and to live on her own.

I only have one question - When did all that growing up happen??

Nurses Week

Thank you to my dearest sister, Theresa, who surprised and thrilled me with a note thanking me and recognizing me as a nurse. It was such a fantastic way to start Nurses Week.

We have had celebrations at the hospital and needless to say, it has been filled with food and fun. The diet is really taking a hit this week. Seems like food is a common way to say thank you.

I have been receiving links that show how great nurses are and what we do for our patients. The video is one example of how we inspire our cancer patients and how they inspire us. Truly, it is a wonderful relationship. These nurses LOVE what they do. And as you will see, the patients love their nurses.

Thank you to all those who help us nurses be who we are and inspire us to keep on being nurses!!

Old Or Young??

I cut my hair short about 6 months ago and I got tons of compliments at work about how young it makes me look. One nurse keeps saying I get younger and younger every time he sees me. Should I be flattered? How old did I look before?

My nephew asked if I was Grandma. Yes, I look a lot like my mother, especially now with the haircut, and because I don't dye my hair but my mom dyes her hair. My mom and I have been to restaurants together and they ask if we are sisters. No, doesn't bother me but is of great amusement to my sisters who are after me to dye my hair. Not gonna happen, coloring your hair is too much hassle for me. Sorry, get over it.

This past weekend we were chaperoning a retreat for 9th graders and one of the team leaders, visiting from Baylor, asked about Amy. (Amy stayed home to meet Cardinal DiNardo at Rite of Election at our church) I told him she was going to graduate this year and then off to college. He laughed and said, "Wow, I feel really old!" He is a senior at Baylor, so old, Hah! I then could not resist saying how much he had grown up since I had seen him last @ 4 years before. Then common sense kicked in for him and he said "I haven't changed that much, really."

I don't feel old or young. I feel like me. I do have aches and pain but they are in different places. I used to have a lot of back pain when my kids were little, I think from all that picking them up and swinging them around for fun. Now, it is my feet. I have grown bone spurs, small little protrusion of bone sticking out from my heel that cause tremendous pain when I get up to walk from sitting or lying down. I got new orthotics to help with the pain to the ball of my foot from fallen arches. I sometimes look like a crippled person when I first stand up because I hobble from foot to foot trying to assimilate the discomfort of my feet. THAT is when I feel old.

However, all that being said - old is over 70 according to medical standards and older is over 80. I have a ways to go.