You won't believe this....

I am at work. It's 9/30/09 for the record.....

AND.....

I am getting a patient in T minus 1hr. HALLELUJAH!!!

Lonely lonely blog

No one gave me any new ideas of things to love/like. Why? What a lonely little blog. :(

Things I like/love

Books:

The Thirteenth Tale by Diane Setterfield. This is a wonderful mystery for people love to read and love books in general.

The Lucky One-Nicolas Sparks. Never thought I'd say I love Nicolas Sparks, but this book is a good one to get into if you don't care to think but want to get carried away.

The local library:

We have been taking advantage of the local library lately. The girls love going there because there is an excellent kids section, complete with coloring pages, markers, crayons, sharpened colored pencils. There are low shelves full of kid books. There are walls of stuffed animals and puppets. There are two rows of kid movies to choose from. What could be better? Oh yeah, that's its all free! I love going there to grab a few recent books, a few movies that catch my eye. They even have stamps for cardmaking that you can check out, cake pans, books on tape, magazines. They host a book club I plan on joining. It's just some good ol fashioned family fun for *free*. Nice.

Blogging:

This is the perfect way to creatively express your feelings, keep people updated on your life, and take a peek into other people's lives. And it helps you keep in touch with people that live far far away! What could be better?

Internet TV: Since I can't seem to be home when I want to watch an episode of something, I love the fact that the networks put all their full episodes online. For example, there are no patients here on our floor last night or tonight. Last night I caught up on Grey's. Tonight I'll catch up on DH. Nice.

Consignment shops: DuckWorth Wearing in Ames. TOTALLY worth it if you live in this area. The clothes are nice, clean, and well organized. If I can't be shopping at KidWorks in Iowa City, this is a decent substitute. And most recently, they opened The Loft upstairs from DuckWorth which is consignment clothing for young adults. Vintage scarves, heels, jewelry, jeans, vests, etc. Cheap. Beautiful.

Target credit card: screech!!!!! Uh, really Mel? Well, I feel as though I may be going out on a limb here, but....after hearing a few ladies at work talking about the target card, I decided I would get one. Here's why:

1. I salivate at the sound/idea of Target

2. You can get 10% off often and easily. One, by signing up. Two by every 100 points you earn which is the equivalent of $100 spent in groceries, which I match easily and then some every few weeks.

3. You can use your card to pay for your stuff, earn the points, get 10% off, then walk straight over to customer service and pay it off. You never have to carry a balance. This is not a new concept, I realize. New to me though! What a great idea!!!

4. Target partners with schools. So, I could designate which school I want Target to donate to, and they donate a certain amount (that escapes me right now) to that school, a portion of what I purchase using my card. Easy way to make money for your school!

Box Tops: These are the little squares on top of many of the grocery items you already buy. You just cut them off, send them to school with your kid, and BAM! More money for school. Last year, North Polk earned over 2500 bucks to spend on the kiddos using money solely from Box Tops. Feel free to save them for Liv if you don't have kids or none in school yet. We'll take them, and we love supporting education wherever/whenever we can!

Family Video: Is this a nationwide chain, Tara? Dad? We have a new membership to Family Video. We had pretty much written off video stores after the miracle of NETFLIX blessed us all. Video stores were expensive. Like $5 a movie? Late fees? No thanks. Well, we just happened upon this store while visiting a local ice cream establishment. We picked out a few movies and went to sign up and check out. That's when we learned the real perks of this place. They have rows and rows of *free* family movies. Free workout and educational videos. The new releases are $1 for 5 nights. We get 1/2 off for the first month. 1/2 off a dollar per movie. Not bad. The kids get to go crazy picking out their free stuff, and I don't even have to limit their choices. Pretty sweet deal.

People: People are a wealth of information. I love stopping into Wal-Mart and seeing my new found friend Paula in the sewing section. She helps me pick out fabric suitable for what I want to do, find all the supplies I'll need for my project, gives me ideas on how to start and tips for not screwing it up. She tells me to bring in the finished product so she can see it. I like having that person.

The library lady talks to me about her favorite books, writing, how things get published, kids events, anything and everything. Isn't that awesome?

Steve: he knows how to fix everything. He can just look at something and fix it or hook it up or whatever. What a stud.

Well, that's just a few most recent likes/loves. What's your most recent find? Do share!

The will

I don't exactly have a green thumb. This is hard for me to admit because I really really love plants and flowers. I just don't know what I do wrong. Some people tell me to just leave them alone. Some people tell me I must water more. I don't know. I just want them to live.

Apparently, they want to live too. I have a plant in my window that was given to me by Steve and the girls on Mother's Day. Please note this was LONG time ago. Not that I'm singing my own evolving green thumb praises or anything....Anyway. The plant wasn't looking so hot in it's flimsy black plastic pot from the store, so I decided to replant it with some new soil in a bigger clay pot, and I stuck it in my windowsill. This morning as I'm sitting here enjoying the view, drinking my coffee, writing my book, I noticed that it's starting to bloom two gorgeous white flowers, and the stem holding the flowers up is reaching as far as it can to the window as if to give a kiss to the sun.

Isn't that cool, how even they reach for warmth? How even they turn their faces to the heavens? They have the will to live just like us, perhaps without the feeling or emotion that we have, but still, it's there. They've got the will to be better just like us.

Shift #3

Still no patients + migraine = me going home at 2 am. The positive being that I got to sleep last night and can go do stuff today instead of sleeping. Back for round #4 tonight! Yeehaw!!!

Night 2

Shift #2 last night-

No patients. I took a nap, read an entire Nicholas Sparks book, checked my email 47 times (send me something please), ate more food than I should have and refilled my water bottle many times with anything but water.

Really???

Please send us some patients!!!!

On to shift #3 tonight....I'm bringing board games, popcorn, and candy. I hope someone brings a pregnant lady. :)

Priorities

What your priority is, is what you make time for.

I've really learned this lesson lately. Either that, or I've decided that I must make time for things that are my priority. Time slips away.

For one, I've wanted to be a member of our church for about 3 years now. Each New Member Class Sunday, we've had plans, we've had prior engagements, we've had tired kids...whatever it may have been, we haven't done it. This made me wonder how I find time for shopping? Or working out? Or watching TV? I have time for Monday night football, and poker, and blogging, and cleaning....why not New Member Class? Because it wasn't my priority. I could have said it was, but again, what you make time for, is your true priority.

I've been thinking about time lately. Time is elusive. It slips through your fingers. It seeps through the hourglass.

This thought brought me to the conclusion that I needed to make a change. Change my schedule, change my lifestyle.

What could I do?

I want to be more active in our church. So, we made time for New Member Class. We're excited that we took that first step. Up until this point, we've been taking it all in, not giving back a thing. That will change soon.

I want to spend more time with my family. So, I'm working weekends only so that I can be home with my family most of the week. I'm working nights so I gain an extra day at home.

I want to be closer to God and go to church each Sunday. So, we're choosing church at 5 pm so we can still go to church together as a family even though I'm working weekends.

I want to support Olivia in school and be more active in her life. So, I'm choosing to pick up and drop off Olivia each day instead of having her ride the bus. It's a pain most days, but I live for the moment she turns around when she's almost inside the school door and waves. Not much good happens on the bus anyway! I also love working on her spelling tests with her at night, and listening to her read. I couldn't do that before. I either wasn't home or I was too tired to function.

I could be a sentimental idiot, (probably am), but that's ok! I've never been happier than I am this week. Home with blondie, house is clean, picking up Olivia everyday, no afterschool program, no daycare. I can BE there for once. I can spend time with God, work on my book, read to my kids. Time is on your side, if you make it that way.

I'm working to keep my priorities what I truly wish for them to be: God, family, health. Because if it were up to me and I go with what works out best at the moment, I'll sleep, eat, work, and watch TV my life away.

Um, No thanks. :)

Y Not?

Sophie and I left early this morning to go meet some friends at the park. On our way, Sophie stopped her bike when she saw a squirrel. I pointed out how the squirrel was carrying a walnut and he was probably saving up for winter. Sophie took off on her bike again and yelled back over her shoulder, "Don't worry squirrel! You have plenty of time before winter. If you run out, I'll save you!" ha ha. Our little animal lover.

I love staying home with Sophmeister during the day! We've gone to the park, signed up at the Y, shopped, played, napped, played in the back yard, rode bikes, read books, visited the library, and much more. It's a blast hanging out with her and its great to be able to get Olivia off to school and pick her up too! I have time to pack her bag and help with homework. It's just awesome! Last night we went to the Y and I joined in the kickboxing class and showed off how incredibly uncoordinated I've become. After that, we all went for a swim during open swim.

Today, I'm sore from the class, but it was worth the trip. I need to get back into shape anyway and we have fun hanging out as a lil fam. I hope to be able to go to the Y often with Soph during the day. After all, Y not? Ahem.

During the day, I've also had time to work on my book. With a giftcard to Barnes and Noble (thanks Dan & Amy), I picked up the book "Putting Your Passion Into Print", a book on how to transform your book idea into a neat published work of art. Publishing: it's the next enormous hurdle to face after I finish the actual writing and editing. This book thing is a whole lot more work that I anticipated. But isn't everything? And in this case, I feel like its more than worth the effort. I love writing, and it'd be my dream to do just that. And an even further off dream of someone actually buying and reading my writing. Phew. I'm sweating at the thought. Anyway....

Have a great day all!

Weekend update

This weekend, Steve and I finally became *official* members of Lutheran church of Hope. We love our church, and are very proud to be members.

Here are some other weekend activities:

Backyard sprinkler swinging. Does anyone else do this? Awesome idea.









Here is Olivia's soccer game. Mama Jan came up for the day and we had an awesome time!



Goaly Olivia!

Strategery

Grandma and Sophie G. (complete in soccer gear but not playing in any game).

Sophie's signature pose

One door closes....

Today was my last day in labor & delivery at main. I've spent 8 weeks there, learning how to coach moms through labor, start good IV's, resuscitate babies, pull epidurals, monitor heart tones, fix crappy heart tones, when to call the doctor, when NOT to call the doctor....that sometimes the doctor never comes! Ha! Guess I better know what to do! That's what these awesome nurses have taught me over the past several weeks. And I'm so thankful for them and this whole opportunity. I'm so thankful I have this job. Finally, something I enjoy!

If you'd reflect back on my previous entries over the past few years, you'd notice some serious struggle with my previous job. It was extremely frustrating, difficult, unfulfilling, unbearable at times. The only negative thing I can muster about my new job is that I'm tired. My feet hurt, I fall asleep BY 9 pm (because I've been orienting on days). I can barely change the laundry from washer to dryer before bed. But, it seems, tiredness comes from a good cause. Each day, I've helped bring a new little miracle into a new parent's arms, and things JUST DON'T get any better than that for me.

So, now as this door closes for me at main campus, a new door has opened at West. The new hospital is phenomenally gorgeous, the staff is great, the opportunity is endless. I'm so excited.

More than you can imagine

I just love my kids. Do you ever have those moments when you just sit back and wonder how its possible that you love them this much?

Here are a few examples:

1. Last night when Olivia asked me to put her to bed. She said, "Mom, I need you to tuck me in because I can't eat a whole zebra right now."

"Wow. You ARE tired right now! You don't even make sense anymore!" Giggle giggle with her eyes shut.

2. We told Sophie as we passed ISU that they have a great vet school and that's why they have horses. She said, (which I've told her often), "I'M going to be vet too!"

Us: "Really? Why?" (playing along).

Sophie the vet: "Because last week when I stepped on a cricket, he couldn't hop so I pulled his leg off. Now he can grow a new one."

Us: Wince. "Ah, your first surgery. Gotcha."

3. I put in a Christian CD this morning before church. Olivia began spontaneously doing interpretive dance in the living room, FULLY involved in the music.

4. Olivia this morning while watching me make coffee: "You know, I've had coffee before."

Me: "Oh really?"

Liv: "Yeah, Daddy gave it to me once when I didn't want to get up to get water."

Pause.....

"So now that I'm in first grade, I can drink it on my own."

Me: "Oh really?! You're all grown up now?"

Liv: "DUH!"

5. This is how they came up dressed this morning. Mom's scrub tops...with a requested (by them) front AND back view. Chic.


6. As we were driving a truckload of sod from Ames to home, Sophie looked worried as glancing back on the sod in the back of the pickup. Out of nowhere she screamed from the top of her lungs, "STOP!!!!!!!!! YOU ARE KILLING JESUS' CREATURES!!!!!!!!!!!!!" Quite seriously, she chewed us out, "THERE IS A WORM AND A BEETLE OUT THERE THAT YOU ARE KILLINGGGGG!!!!!!!!!!"

Sigh...

Nature lovers. Can't make them happy.

7. A Mom requested pose

And then an Olivia requested pose

A mommy requested Sophie pose

And a Sophie requested pose









Just a few out of a million reasons that I just love them more than you can imagine. That's a phrase we use a lot.

Straight haired girl syndrome

In another week, I'll be switching my schedule to all nights, and most weekends. While this might not sound like an ideal schedule, I'm expecting it will be perfect for our family. I'm excited to be home during the week to pick up and drop off the kids for school and their events. I won't miss a soccer practice or a conference anymore. I may even be able to volunteer in Olivia's classroom once a week. I've got to be honest here, I've been quite jealous of the stay at home Polk City moms who still roll up in Escalades and fur with spotless houses ready to pick up their little pumpkin no problem. I have a bit of the straight haired girl syndrome wishing desperately to be curly. But that's the way it can be right? Oh the grass is greener...yes? Perhaps no?

I don't know. But I do know that I'll be there to help with homework at night. I'll be there when the girls wake up AND when they go to bed. I think I may be heading for the balance I've been searching for for 7 years now. Just maybe!

Plus the new hospital is divinely GORGEOUS. I can't believe I get to work there. It's unreal. And to top it all off, I get to do what I love....hand beautiful babies to their mommas. What a life. I'm just so thankful.

Want:

Bruce Springstein tickets aka THE BOSS

Need: Disposable income = $90

Shoot.