I'm not usually a very vivid dreamer.  I dream, yes, but they're normally forgotten by the time I'm drinking my first cup of coffee.  Nightmares are very uncommon - as far as I can remember, the last time I had a nightmare that caused me to wake up screaming was back when I was a teenager and still living at home.  Last night, though, I had a VERY strange dream.  It started out with my being Harry Potter, and I was being pursued by Voldemort.  In the middle of that d...

I had first written this in response on another thread Link but decided that the subject deserved an entire article instead. When Dave and I first got married, he was an Airman First Class - just two ranks above Airman Basic, the lowest enlisted rank of the Air Force.  I was pregnant with our second child, and we already had an almost-two year old.  I wasn't working, so we relied upon his income to feed, house and clothe all three of us.  Needless to say, we cou...

Dave, the boys and I went on a 'Beginner Kayak and Canoeing' course yesterday. It was organized by the local YMCA and the Outdoor Recreation office, and it was really very cheap - just $14 per person for 6 hours out on the lake. I was really nervous about it; I've never canoed or kayaked before.  It's not something that my parents exposed me to - my dad would get sea-sick walking through a puddle.  The closest we came to kayaking was when we went out on one of those pedal-bo...

My daughter is in love. She's been 'going out' with this boy for almost 2 months now (which, as you may know if you've got teenagers of your own, is quite a long time!).  They met over three years ago and have been friends the entire time, but his parents moved to a different school district shortly after that and they didn't get to see each other every day anymore. They did, however, keep in touch via the internet , phone calls and the occasional meeting, but there wasn't any spark of r...

I have a test at school this afternoon.   I have to give my lab partner a full bed-bath.  Then, when I'm done and my tutor has graded my performance, I'll have to lie in the bed and let my lab partner give ME a bed-bath. Oh joy.  I guess it could be worse; I could be giving a bed-bath to someone who has Alzheimer's or an other form of dementia and who has decided that their bowel movement is something to play in.  That happens a lot, actually.  It's a common ...

I was talking to my tutor today about the opportunities that are available to me now that I've placed my key in the door to nursing, so to speak. I have to say that from where I stand right now, they seem endless. LPN. RN.  Nurse Practitioner. Midwife.  Nurse Educator.  In a hospital.  In a nursing home.  A rehabilitation center.  For a hospice.  In a birthing center.  In people's homes.  USA.  UK.  Central America.  South...

Yeah, I said caramel apple pizza.  Don't turn your noses up, it's not what you think - there's no tomato sauce involved, although there is some cheese. Ok, here's what you need: 8oz cream cheese (one whole block of Philly or Cooper will do) 1/3 cup caramel apple dip (can be found in the refrigerated section of the produce department) 1 14oz pizza crust (Boboli or some other brand; any kind of pre-baked crust will do) 2 large apples (I prefer a Gala, Jonagold, Jonathon or Gran...

I always thought that the cover shot of a magazine should make a potential buyer want to snatch it up off the shelf; that it should be of the VERY BEST item that magazine has to offer. It should be titillating, exciting, enticeing, even. So why, then, does the current issue of Knit1 magazine look like this: What in the name of all that is holy is THAT?????!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!  It looks like a baby-poo green helmet made out of cheap-o cheesy chunky acrylic yarn with a silve...

My son turns thirteen tomorrow.  Thirteen.  He's a teenager now.  That blows my mind. He's gone from being a fuzzy-headed little baby to a toothless, tow-headed kid (toothless because he tried to ride his little brother's ride-on ambulance down the steps, knocking his front teeth out) who had an angelic little grin and who wanted blue hair so badly he agreed to take a shower every night (it was spray-on color: he got his blue hair and I got a clean kid), to a raven-ha...

My dad always wore a hat.  Always.  Winter or summer, rain or shine, when he went out he had a hat on his head.  Every single time. SInce he died last year, mum has steadily given away his things, either to us kids or to charity shops.  There are, however, a few things that she's hung onto; that she simply wasn't ready to get rid of just yet. One day last week she and I were chatting about things in general, and she mentioned that she was going to have to get rid of dad...

I grew up in a little village in rural Oxfordshire, about 15 miles from the city.  It was a small enough village that everyone knew each other; each person had a role to play and each child was literally raised by the whole village.  We had an attorney living down the street, an accountant next door to him, a retired district nurse (who happened to be my mum's best friend and who played a large part in my childhood), a farmer, a policeman, a baker and a butcher - but no candlestick mak...

My arms are aching from the HepB and tetanus shots I got this morning, and when I came home I found Grace had chewed Dave's new ball cap, the checkbook and a ball of my yarn. But I'm still smiling.  I'm still happy.  Wanna know why? SHE SAID YES!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! My doc said there wasn't any reason for me to NOT go into nursing and signed off on my physical exam.  As long as my background check comes back clear, I'll be graduating in December. I was awake most of...