In our family, I'm usually the one getting hurt - and often at very inconvienient times. However, today it was my husband's turn, and he managed to score the most untimely injury yet. He tore his ACL during a fight (sanctioned) at Phoenix Raven school.  Just how bad the tear is remains to be seen (he's in the ER now awaiting the results of an MRI).  One thing, however, is clear: no Phoenix Raven for him.  He can't complete the last 4 days of the training.  If it's ...

My mum flies home today after a three week vacation here with me and mine. It's been a wonderful time....I don't want it to end.  I don't want her to go home.  I don't want to put her on a plane and have the big Atlantic separating us again.  I don't want to let her go. I'm not going to let her go.  We have re-established the mother-daughter relationship again; we've re-connected in a way that I wish I had the words to adequately explain....we're close again, and I refu...

I've gone crazy.  Completely crackers.  Lost my mind.  I'm an utter lunatic.  I've been bitten by the sock knitting bug.  Mum bought me a pretty spendy sock knitting book, a very comprehensive one that allows you to customize patterns and make socks to fit their recipient.  I'm making a made-to-measure pair of socks for her as a 'thank you for buying me the book and look at how I'm using it' present.  Actually, I'm feeling pretty guilty about bloggi...

If I've done this right, you should be able to play the clip of me and mum seeing each other for the first time in 11 years.  It's not much; Dave wasn't as on the ball with the camera as I'd hoped and the lack of sound doesn't do much for the ambience (although you can hear me starting to cry at the sight of her), but you still get to see my big ass. This is us at the top of the Arch last week: Mother looking out the window at the Mississippi below: This us cramme...

Mum arrived safely - 3 hours late, but safely nonetheless - and it's been go go go since then! Thursday morning we were going to stay home to help her get over jet lag, but she said she didn't notice any and wanted to go out - so we went to the mall and then to that behemoth flagship of modern American consumerism, Wal-Mart Supercenter.  She was aghast not only at the size of it, but at the prices too.  Not WAL-MART prices, prices in general.  Take today, for example: she bough...

I was going to say that not much has happened around here since I last wrote, but that's not true.  Things have happened.... For instance, my patient upset me.  Notice I said patient, in the single tense, not patients, which would include the Mrs of the couple.  She's more understanding.  The Mr is the one who both upset and pissed me off a little.... ....he knows that I'm going to be taking some time off when my mum comes to visit.  He's known since I first starte...

In 20 days, my mum will be here for a three week vacation.  I haven't seen my mum in an obscene length of time; this visit is far too long overdue and is much anticipated.  I'm so looking forward to just hanging out at home with her, watching her interact with her grandchildren as she gets to know them up close and personal.  It's going to be a wonderful opportunity for everyone.   My dad won't be there in person, but he will certainly be there in spirit.  He's ...

...since I wrote an article.  I haven't had the urge or the need to write; my creative urge is being satisfied elsewhere - and I've been really fucking tired.  We got new living room furniture, and I've been making some American Primitive art pieces to go with the new furniture.  It's looking pretty good - I'll take some photos this weekend and post them so y'all can see what I've been doing. I worked 13 days straight a couple of weeks ago.  I didn't do it for the mone...

Today was day three of my new job, and I have to say that I am absolutely loving it. My patients are absolute joys to be around.  They've been married for 65 years, which just blows my mind, and are the sweetest, nicest people you'd ever want to meet.  They both have a progressive neurological disease and whilst he manages to get around the house ok, she needs a lot of help.  He mostly needs supervision; someone around to make sure he takes his meds when he's supposed to and do...

I wish that you could hold my heart in your hands.  I wish that you could see the love contained within it, that you could see the color of that love and feel it's warmth and know that all of it is for you. I wish that I could make you feel the way I feel.  I wish that I could make you feel the way my heart leaps in my chest when you look at me, how it races when you speak my name. I wish that I could have you know how it feels to love you......and to be loved by you.

I've made a pair of sock monkies.  I've called the boy one Spanky - and if you need an explanation for that name then I don't think you should participate - but I can't think of a name for the girl one.  You can see my kind of humor coming through with the boy monkey's name, and I'd like to continue that with the girl one. Help me name my monkey, JU, and I'll see if I can't come up with a little knitted something as a prize!

I've been saying for ages that I love the hospice work I'm doing, but that I wished I could find a way to make it a paying gig. Well, I've found a way.  Sort of, anyway. I've got a job.  It's with an extended care agency, and I'll be doing much the same thing as I do with my hospice patients (my assigned patients, not my vigilance patients).  I've been assigned to a married couple in a little town near here, and I'll be at their home from 8am to noon, Monday to Friday. They ...

I got called out Friday night to sit vigilance with a patient in their home.  Whenever I sit vigilance I ask myself (when it's all over) if I made a difference, and whilst the answer is always "yes", sometimes the difference is small or minor. This time, though, the difference was clear.  It wasn't minor and it wasn't small, it was huge.  Had I not been there Friday night and all day Saturday, things would have gone in a totally different direction.  This time the answer w...

Well, last night wasn't as bad as I anticipated.  I slept pretty well, and didn't wake up once because my ear hurt.  This morning it was a bit swollen, but some ibuprofen helped that out.  I soaked it in a sea salt solution, then cleaned it with a q-tip and some anti-bacterial soap.  Washing my hair in the shower was an experience; it got caught up around the bar and I had to use Dave's shaving mirror to untangle it properly. It's throbbing slightly now; I think that's...