My husband Chase
My Aunt Vickie and me
My mother-in-law Karla and me
Mom, Me, and VickieI was just informed that the 'comments' section on my blog wasn't letting anyone leave comments. I think I have fixed this now! :)
I love days like today. It is sunny and beautiful and so you open all your windows, play outside with your dogs, and go for a motorcycle ride... well, that's what I did anyway :). Last night Chase and I put a pork roast in our slower cooker with red potatoes, carrots, celery, and onion. We added one cup of water and the seasoning we wanted and let it cook on low for about 10 hours. It is a really good meal not to mention very simple and little clean up. You can use the drippings to make a gravy. Try it sometime!
I saw this ring online and just fell in love. I decided to do some price checks online and in stores to price the kind of ring I want and this one has won against everything I have looked at and it's.. mostly.. in my price range. Before I saw this ring, I signed up for about 4 extra days of work where I get time and half plus an extra $5 an hour. This might just be my Christmas present for myself... This cool thing is that we need a lot of extra shifts covered at work. I firmly believe in working hard for something you want and I am definitely prepared to work hard for this :). I'm still on the fence though. I don't usually buy things for myself.
I cashed in my "WOW'S" at work and got 2 free movie tickets!! Chase and I will probably go see 'A Christmas Carol' tonight with some friends- Aaron and Traci. I'll let you know if it's good!! I hope everyone has a great Friday evening!
I have to throw a shout out to Megan Burges Photography! She is a-maz-ing. She doesn't just take pretty pictures of people.. She creates art. This kind of creativity just amazes me. Some of her photos creep me out (lol) but most are just a beautiful interpretation of her surroundings. She also does weddings, engagement/couple, headshots, family, and senior photo shoots. Her web address is www.meganburges.com and you can also check out a lot of her pics on facebook.
"There is only you and your camera. The limitations in your photography are in yourself, for what we see is what we are."
--Ernst Haas
I made this Key Lime Pie tonight and Chase just looooved it!! I wanted to share because it is simple and easy and tastes sooo good. Hope everyone had a great Halloween!
You will need:
1 cup of fresh lime juice
1 tablespoon of lime zest
1 14oz can of sweetened condensed milk
1 package of instant vanilla pudding
1 80z tub of cool whip
1 10in graham cracker crust
Mix the condensed milk, lime juice, and lime rind together. Then whip in the vanilla pudding mix and let set for 5 mins. Then fold in the cool whip and spoon into graham cracker crust. Chill in the freezer for a couple hours and then it should be ready to serve. You can continue to keep it in the freezer (I personally like it better in the freezer- its thicker that way) or keep in the refrigerator.
Enjoy!
We saw these plants all the way to Flippin today!! They are beautiful! I could sit and take pics of them for hours. They are a vibrant red and white!
The red barn was a perfect match!
My baby! He is amazing. He has started studying hard for his upcoming Registry (state test for Rad Techs). He will do great!
Betcha he is looking at his iphone... :)
My family is going to get tired of seeing me in this hat but I just love it lol
What a beautiful fall day! Chase took these pics of me at the overlook in Flippin today. We have the day off together so we have been running errands and playing around. I look forward to my days off from work because he is so much fun to be with. I love my baby!
I had to share this!! This is my father-n-law Tad and my husband Chase. Without thinking, they sat on opposite ends of the couch, had a coffee in one hand, and they other hand in busy working the laptops. So cute! They are so much alike. They were probably chatting with each other on Facebook lol......
I went to my Mom's the other day and went with her to walk the dog. It was such a beautiful fall day so I had to take pics of the gorgeous flowers!! I love spending time with my Mom. I love her to pieces. She is always honest, extremely giving, and fun to hang with. I don't know how I got so lucky. She has worked hard her whole life to provide for her kids and I can't tell her enough how wonderful she has made my life. Big kisses, momma!
My favorites are the burnt orange color. Sooo pretty.
1.The goofy dog waking you up in the morning.. and when you close your eyes and try to ignore her you just KNOW she is staring at you lol
2. People that are two-faced. Just be honest. It makes life so much easier.
3.People who have to stand right up next to you in line.. hellooo personal space, bubba
4.Trying so hard to eat healthy and exercise and then stepping on the scale and you haven't lost a single pound.
5. Going in a room to do something and forgetting what that something is!
6. Telephone sales people.. enough said.
7. When ppl don't say what they mean. Please.. I don't have fragile feelings. Just spit it out.
8. Undisciplined children.. we still want productive members of society, right?
A hand full of days ago I blogged about a patient of mine that was really sick ("Another day at work.."). Well, I found out yesterday that he died at about 9 am that morning. I left at 7 am. I was so upset when I was told. When I entered this profession I really didn't think losing a patient would effect me this personally, but it does... I have rebounded though. You can't come to work each day and still be bogged down by yesterday... One more night of work and then I am headed to the beach. I will relax and let the stress of the job roll right on off of me!
I have a teenage brother and a teenage sister-n-law and I am definitely a sounding board for my mom and mother-n-law about all the trouble these two manage to get in... (I am exagerating a bit about my sister-n-law.. not so much about my brother. That boy tracks down trouble and then jumps in...) I found a cool website that listed some Mistakes Parents Makes With Teen Discipline and I thought I would copy and paste some of them. They are as follows:
1. Lack of consistency – While all children need consistent discipline, it’s even more important for teens. They get frustrated when a behavior is acceptable one day and not acceptable the next. The established rules need specific consequences. Realistic and consistent consequences demonstrate a “real world” view for teens. Creating house rules with consequences, then responding appropriately, provides all children with security and direction.
2. Punishing in anger – Sometimes parents only punish once they have reached the end of their patience. In reality, this allows teens to misbehave for a period of time before suffering any consequences. Not only is this confusing, it can also lead to abuse. Dealing with a teenager emotionally often produces dramatic immediate effects, but ultimately it creates a communication wall in the relationship. Consistent parenting, as described above, prevents punishing in anger. Stepping away from the situation to recover emotionally also proves helpful.
3. Irrelevant punishment – Whenever possible, the punishment should be reflective of wrongdoing. For example, if a teen returns home after curfew, limiting his nights out temporarily would be appropriate. A teen that doesn’t complete school work might be required to miss a social event to complete the work.
4. Accepting any behavior because of age – While it is a scientific fact that teens undergo traumatic emotional and physical changes, that fact should not be an excuse to be allowed to behave inappropriately. Often, teens who are allowed to behave badly do not grow out of that behavior as adults. Character is character at any age. Behavioral expectations should be related to what is right, not the age of the child.
5. Being a friend rather than a parent– Teens usually have more than enough social outlets. They need boundaries and safe, secure situations in which to grow. You are the provider of both, and when you act like a friend, your teen will lose security. Teens who view their parents as authority figures and providers are more likely to be close to them in adulthood.
6. You become the enemy – At times, you may feel like the enemy, and your teenager might actually refer to you as such. No matter how hurt you may feel, it’s important to remain the one person who consistently stands by your teenager. Friends and teachers will come and go. You will always be the parent. By establishing rules and consequences, you’re the one person in your teen’s life that holds him accountable no matter what. Even if we don’t like authority figures in our lives, they typically establish order and security.
7. Lose your sense of humor – It’s not funny when your teenager messes up, particularly when you’re left to clean up the mess. Losing your sense of humor won’t help. It may not seem funny at the time, but most challenging situations can eventually be viewed in a comical way. If your teen feels comfortable laughing and joking with you regularly, he’ll also be more likely to listen when you get serious.
8. Stopping your teen from failing at all costs – Some of life’s greatest lessons result from failing. Parents who micromanage their teens because they are afraid of their teen failing prevent their child from developing important life skills. As much as you don’t want to have to discipline your teen, letting him fail and living with the consequences can teach him more than your chosen punishment.
9. Several teens expressed that they want their parents to be parents. When the roles in the household become skewed, confusion and chaos soon follow. Teenagers with younger siblings tended to feel that their parents maintained their essential roles, while the youngest children and only children found their parents more likely to blur the lines between friend and parent. Teens who described their parents as tough disciplinarians also expressed feeling loved in the process.
Now that my teenage years are behind me (barely!) I can see the relevance of the advice above. I can also see how it's easier said than done!!
Pensacola is about 10 hrs away from Mtn Home and enjoys water from the Gulf of Mexico
I'm so tired. At work last night, I got a patient from another floor about midnight that wasn't doing very well and needed to be watched a little closer. He looked SICK. I hadn't seen someone who looked this miserable in a long time. Fastforward about 5 hrs later- we get his morning lab results back and his labs were a lot worse than they had been just a few hours earlier. He was sick to his stomache and vomiting. He was in renal failure. The color of his skin just didn't look right.... I called the doctor, received orders, carried them out... But when I got off this morning at 7 am I really felt like I didn't do a darn thing to help this man. He was still as miserable as when he arrived. I left feeling just awful. Anytime a patient goes bad on me, I always feel like it is my fault and that there was something I should have done to prevent it. I know this isn't rational.. but that's just how I feel. I think that is the hardest part of being a nurse. Sometimes I go home and just cry because I want so bad to make it better and I can't. It hits me hard and I take it personally. I will think about this man all morning.. I will worry about him and hope that he is getting better not worse.. I will lay down tonight and still be going through every scenario in my mind and hoping I made the right decision.. No, not the right decision-the BEST decision. I have come to learn that often there are many right decisions but you have to choose the best one. Sometimes this is a hard job.
I just have to brag on the new camera a little bit!.. The first pic you can just barely see the coin tossers in the middle of the field. That was just a normal pic where I was not zoomed in. The second pic is zoomed in on the coin tossers in the middle of the field. The zoom on this thing is incredible!
There is nothing like a hometown football game! Yesterday was the Bombers first home game of the season and my brother is a starting Senior so Chase and I were there to cheer him on. It was P-A-C-K-E-D. We were playing the Harrison Goblins (a big rival) so both the home and visitor stands were full.
The cheerleaders did a dancing routine before the game started. They did a good job cheering on the crowd!
I loved watching the two boys walk out to the coin toss holding hands. It shows unity. (Can you tell I'm from Texas?? I think the love of football is bred in us.) I actually don't like football games on TV and don't have a fav professional team but I love being in the stands and watching a game. The energy and excitement are contagious.
My little bubba is #12. Go Justin!!!
Such a cutie!
Thanks to Chase's excellent driving skills and Gertrude's great navigating capabilities (hehe) we made it to my grandma's!
I loooove her home. It is gorgeous! G-ma picked up some BBQ from Benny Bob's and we ate lunch and visited.
This is Maw Maw. She is my great grandma and the one I was really looking forward to seeing. She is a wonderful woman and has such great stories that she loves to tell. And I could not blog about her and not mention what a wizard she is in the kitchen!!!! I can not put into words how good her cookin' is. My top three favs: her sweet cream corn (and I am talking corn she shucked herself), her sweet potatoes on Thanksgiving, and her most famous Peanut Butter Cake. To put it simply, I love her!
We also got to tour the funeral home that my grandparents own. It has been up and running for about 16 months now and this was the first time I had got to see it. It was so cool to see my family's name on that sign!!
I didn't any pictures of the inside but it was beautiful! They really did a great job of making it warm and welcoming for grieving families. In Chase's words "it was kinda creepy to be in funeral home hanging out but it was very pretty" lol
Yesterday, Chase and I went to see my Grandma who lives in Blytheville, AR in Mississippi County. Talk about leaving the Ozarks!! The roads are straight as an arrow and there are rice and cotton fields for miles.
