smil_ING's Xanga

President Obama for change and....hope??

Fri, 23 Jan 2009 22:23:31 GMT

*Warning: Graphic Pictures in this article of an aborted child.*

I am very upset today- well actually for the last couple of days over what is happening to the USA. Now I know there are a lot of people who don't and won't agree with me on these issues, but I feel compelled to write about these things.....these are issues that will affect millions of people.

1. "Obama signs death warrant for Guantanamo" In one of his first moves as president, President Barack Obama signed an order for the closure within the year of the Guantanamo Bay prison. Also, "The order also orders the CIA to close all its existing detention facilities abroad for terror suspects - and prohibits those prisons from being used in the future."

And, the order "required all U.S. personnel to follow the U.S. Army Field Manual while interrogating detainees. The manual explicitly prohibits threats, coercion, physical abuse and waterboarding, a technique that creates the sensation of drowning and has been termed a form of torture by critics."

Oh, and, "The administration official said Obama's government will not transfer detainees to countries that will mistreat them, including their own home country."

Ok, wait a second....these are TERRORISTS we are talking about! Have you forgotten 9/11?

These are people who HATE America, and who want to kill us! This is not crazy talk- this is proven fact!

Say what you want about George W. Bush and his war on terror, but he kept the U.S. terrorist free since 9/11.

So basically, what we are supposed to do with known terror suspects is treat them gently and kindly ask them to give us information about terror organizations. Great plan! Especially considering the fact that the al-Qaeda is specifically trained to withstand interrogation methods that we use. Oh, and you know what terrorists do to innocent reporters, don't you?

By the way, one of the men released from Guantanamo Bay prison a year or two ago is now the "No. 2 of Yemen's al-Qaida branch." But let's make sure we treat them with the utmost respect and niceness!

2. "Obama signs order reversing abortion-funds policy" This breaks my heart. Abortion is the murder of innocent people. Yes, people. Not only that, but we are in the middle of a um, very large recession, and now our tax-payer dollars are going towards "giving federal money to international groups that perform abortions or provide information on the option."

This is one of the millions of babies killed by abortion-

Only partial birth abortions are prohibited in the United States, which means that at any point in a pregnancy, a mother can "choose" to kill her baby. No one should be able to "choose" to kill an innocent human being. Look at this picture! This is a BABY! Not a fetus, a person. Approximately 50 million (!) legal abortions have been performed since the Roe v. Wade decision. This is a genocide of children.

And now, even in the midst of economic turmoil and thousands of people losing jobs, let's not be selfish!!!! Let's make sure we are funding the mass murder of innocent people in other countries.

It makes me physically sick. Dear Lord, open our nation's eyes!!

Steelers!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

Tue, 20 Jan 2009 12:01:29 GMT

i just have to let you all know that i am a major, die-hard steelers fan, and THEY ARE GOING TO THE SUPERBOWL!!!!!!!!!!!! AND THEY WILL DOMINATE! i just hope hines ward can play...and i actually don't work superbowl sunday, so YEAH I'M SUPER EXCITED!!! ok, enough psycho ingrid now....signing off...

p.s. Our trip to Panama was amazing, as was Christmas with my family. More updates to follow, if anyone cares.

We wish you a Merry Christmas and a happy New Year!

Tue, 23 Dec 2008 18:10:50 GMT

Ahhhh, I love Christmas- it is my favorite holiday!! Nathan and I had the best Christmas last year, so we are really excited for this year. Tonight is our special Christmas with just the two of us, and then we leave tomorrow to spend the rest of the week in Indiana!!!! I am sooooo excited to see all of my family!

Anyway, Nathan has been very funny....and strict....with my presents this year. I guess last year I "spoiled" it for him by looking, poking, and shaking my presents. So this year, I am under strict instructions to not even come close to my presents....don't touch, shake, move, poke, or anything. YIKES!!

Oh, and also, we got George a stocking of his own. It's small and sparkly. He nearly jumped out of the water when he saw it. He also has candy canes hanging on the side of his bowl. which he is salivating over. However, due to the economic condition of the country, we think we might save money by not buying him a present....poor George. On the bright side, our love is much more important to him.

Here is our Christmas picture.

I hope you all have a wonderful Christmas celebrating Jesus' birth most importantly, and enjoying family!!!

Happy Birthday!!!

Mon, 17 Nov 2008 20:24:52 GMT

I stole this idea from my sister, but it's a great idea.

Happy Birthday to my husband of 13 months!!! It is Nathan's 30th birthday today, and I just have to brag about what a wonderful guy he is.....This year of marriage has been the best year of my life. I have the most wonderful husband, best friend, and soulmate I could ever have dreamed up. God has blessed me beyond anything I deserved. Nathan, thank you for being a man of God, and being patient, kind, loving, romantic, strong, understanding, faithful, funny, and the list could go on and on....

You light up my life. I hope you had a wonderful birthday weekend and that we will celebrate many many more!

I don't have my camera, so here are a couple of older pictures of Nathan.

Blabber....balderdash, brewer's, and bff's

Thu, 04 Sep 2008 21:20:24 GMT

Hey! I have to tell you guys a funny story...ok, maybe just funny if you were there...

Nathan and I went to my parents' house the other night for dinner. After dinner, we played Balderdash. Balderdash, if you have never played it, is a game in which you take really obscure but legitimate words in the English language and make up definitions for them. Then, all the fake definitions get mixed up with the real one, and you try to guess the actual definition.

Well, here are two words that were pretty stinkin' funny.

1. Mahoohoo (mu hoo hoo): My definition was- mahoohoo: the sound a cow makes when in pain.

It really isn't that funny but watching my little brother laugh until he cried when reading it was!

2. Orlop (or laup):

Nathan wrote- orlop: The alternative to burning down a tree. For example, "Burn down that tree, orlop off all its branches!"

I still giggle and giggle when I think about that.... What a dork! Ok, so we're all weird.

Anyway...A month ago, Nathan's job took us all in a big bus to a Brewer's game. It was so much fun, and the Brewer's skunked whoever they were playing (I think it was Washington). Anyway, here are some pictures.

TAILGATING:

Nathan's big boss Jeff, and his wife, Michelle.

Nathan's other boss, one of the vice-presidents, Andy grilling. We tailgated once we got to Miller park.

It was really good!

Playing games, and helping one of the kids with her game (it was, of course, basic engineering).

And then........Go BREWER'S!!!!

The Brewer's won 7-0, I think.

And a couple of weeks ago, I had a night out with a couple of my very dear friends, Rachel and Molly. They are both going to college, and we wanted one last get-together. We actually had a slumber party then, and poor Nathan had to fend for himself, which turned out to be another funny story.

Anyway, the next day I got home, and Nathan called me from work, whining, "You can't ever do that again!!!"

I said, "Why??"

"Because it was just sooo awful!!!"

I laughed at him- why is that any different than when I'm gone at work three nights out of the week? But it was really cute and sweet, and I did feel bad.

Ok, I'll cut the mush. I hope to get some pictures from the camera of some of the things we did this summer- tons of stuff. And yes, we found the camera!!!!! Thank you God.

Read at your own risk (it's scarily honest and a little gross, too)

Tue, 19 Aug 2008 20:53:39 GMT

I am now famous. My autographs are going for a couple of hundred on the internet....but for you guys, I may be able to hook you up with courtesy John Hancock's. Yes, that is me on the end in the green, looking angelic and nurse-y.

Now, in case you think that I was placed on the billboard in our little town of 5,000 for actually being a poster child of nursing greatness, think again. This actually has nothing to do with our nursing skills and everything to do with promoting the program listed on the bottom that I am currently attending as a result of a push by the Rural Health Coop in WI to address the little problem of, ahem, new nurses starting out bright-eyed and then burning out and quitting, exacerbating the nursing shortage. (Very long sentence) Anyway, I do appreciate the program. It is very educational and encouraging and all of that, but... let me introduce you to the inner workings of a RN mind.

I say “a” RN mind instead of “my” RN mind because I think our coping mechanisms are pretty much similar. Ok, maybe there are some saints who never resort to these methods, but I am not one of them.

First of all, please believe me when I say that I love my job. I feel called to work as a nurse, and it is what I want to do right now. I pray for my patients, and taking care of people comes naturally to me. I do feel compassion for the many sick, sometimes dying, sometimes demonized people that I see.

That said, I (and I’m sure pretty much every nurse) can only take so much before resorting to one of two coping mechanisms.

The first is humor, which to non-medical people does not seem like humor at all but rather the disgusting workings of twisted minds. For example, after caring for a man for three nights straight with legs that had skin literally rotting on them and drainage soaking through his dressings onto the floor, so that the stench stayed in our nose all night and we had to wear booties in his room, do you blame me and the rest of us for resorting to humor, disgusting as it may be? It’s that or not have the guts to keep going into his room. When he came in, he had cat hair and feces embedded into his legs, and they had to cut dead skin off his legs, and the pads of his feet were black. Yes, this kind of thing happens in America, in the 21^st century. He also had yeast in every skin fold, as he was morbidly obese. So our humor consisted of joking among ourselves about the cream of wheat or cottage cheese discharge. Gross, yes.

We joke that we are all colonized with MRSA, a sometimes deadly bacteria that is rampant in hospitals and nursing homes. We joke that we will have DNR (do not resuscitate) tattooed on our chests. We joke that if we ever get to the point where we obsess about our bowels every waking hour; we just don’t want to live. We hand out “golden enema” awards. We say LPN stands for “licensed pee-on nurse.” You get the idea.

The second is flat out cynicism, as in, “Oh he thinks he’s having a heart attack again?? He just ate one too many burgers.” Or “oh she’s rating her pain as 100 out of ten after 10 mg of Morphine?? She’s laughing with her friends- no way is she having that much pain!” Some of this cynicism results from what we call “frequent fliers” or the drug seekers we see all too often. Does this mean we don’t treat them? No. But it is really hard sometimes to be objective and nonjudgmental. We’re human, too.

Sometimes I get so depressed; I don’t want to go back to work. I know that’s wrong. When I get home from work and go to sleep, I often end up dreaming about work and wake up tired. My husband and I are praying that I can be content with my job, and lean on God in everything.

So there you go. I am not a “great” nurse. But I work hard, and honestly care about my patients. And often, it’s very rewarding. Right now, we have a patient who is terminally ill, but she is one of the most peaceful and caring individuals I have ever seen. She is a Christian, too. The way her eyes light up and the way she says “I’m so glad you are my nurse tonight,” does my heart a lot of good. It’s encouraging and I hope I encourage and bless the patients I take care of.

Wow, that’s out of my system now. Don’t worry, not every post is this dramatic and scarily personal. I have some updates about George and a character named Boo the Butthead coming up soon!

Oh and by the way, I am thinking about applying for an Emergency Room position. What can I say, I am a glutton for punishment. What do you think? Should I? My fear is, can I handle it? I've always wanted to work ER, so I will probably bite the bullet....maybe.

Coming soon...

Sat, 16 Aug 2008 05:59:45 GMT

Hey guys, I just thought I should let you know that a proper update is coming very soon. I promise.

I'm sorry its been so long, and I haven't commented on your blogs in ages.... We no longer have wireless internet at home, and our summer has been so BUSY! Just like you guys.

Oh, and I lost the camera....(well, technically, we don't know who lost it. But since I'm notoriously scatterbrained, the consensus of all is that it was...me). Of course.

George's Near Death Experience

Thu, 08 May 2008 20:02:49 GMT

The other night, we almost lost George. It was traumatic. Our kitchen looked like this:

Dust was flying everywhere, and Nathan and Jasen were working very hard to get our kitchen ready for our new appliances to be delivered. I haven't had a stove since we've moved here and have been existing on cold cereal, peanut butter toast, and the occasional microwave scrambled eggs that I've learned how to make! Quite the accomplishment. Anyway, unnecessary tangent.

So the men have been working late, and in all the hustle and bustle, I forgot to check on George until very late Tuesday night. The poor little guy was floating near the bottom of the tank, not moving, and appearing tangled in the roots of the plant and rather lifeless. Of course, I sort of shrieked, and Nathan came running over. We tapped the bowl, and George didn't do his normal jump and dance routine. Meanwhile, Jasen is helpfully remarking, "I think he looks dead."

I finally picked up the bowl, and George moved! Rather briskly in fact. I think he was just sleeping soundly. Even so, I was going, "I don't want George to die!"

Nathan says, "I don't want George to die either!!!" We decided his water was getting much too green, and besides, I was worried about George breathing dust. So we made an emergency run to Kwik Trip at 11pm in the pouring rain, and got George distilled water.

He is doing much better now. In fact, he's quite chipper. I got him a new vase twice the size of his old one, and he has fresh water. He likes it, AND

I think he likes me now.

The end.

New addition to the family

Mon, 05 May 2008 22:26:48 GMT

Meet George.

George Greenstein. To be exact. He was adopted last week, and although a little shellshocked for the first couple of days, he is quickly becoming secure in his new home. Secure enough, to become a bit sassy. He spit the food we gave him out after the first taste. We decided we would use the age old strategy of, "when the kid is hungry enough, he'll eat."

George keeps me company during the day. However, I think he has bonded much more with Nathan.

Must be a guy thing. Oh, and I'm not a horrible parent just because his water is a little murky. Our water is chlorinated, so I have to distill some more water before I can change his.

Anyways, case in point for George liking Nathan more than me. Last night, I had to work, and this is what was going on while I was gone:

Nathan said, "I wore my headlamp in the kitchen late at night, and George thought I was an angel! He almost pooped his fish bowl."

Then Nathan told me that this morning George was in a funny mood. "I changed some of his water for filtered Brita water, and he was joking around talking with a spanish accent insisting that I call him Horehay. It was very funny. Don't forget to tell him goodnight."

So I get home from work, and do that very thing. "Goodnight George!" (while blowing kisses). What do I get? George very deliberately turned and swam the other direction, waving his tail fins in my face. I think he's still mad at me for forgetting to get a babysitter the other night.

What should I do?

Our New House!!!

Fri, 25 Apr 2008 21:05:42 GMT

Yes, we bought a house, and we move tomorrow!!!! This week has been crazy busy between working and spending every spare moment at the house. It's a small starter home, still in Richland Center. It does have a mostly finished basement so that adds more space. It has three bedrooms and one and a half baths. I'm so excited, and we've been working really hard on it, painting. It's only ten years old, so it is almost no maintenance, which is what we were looking for right now. An older lady lived there before who took very good care of the house, and she landscaped beautifully in our small yard. It's going to be so pretty!

I will put up before and after pictures as we go, but here are a couple of the outside:

And here is the cutest picture of my husband ever!!!