Back to the Blog

Up until a few days ago, I had literally not posted on this blog in eleven years. So much has happened since then. I feel compelled, inspired by myself and some of the blog posts I recently went back and read, that I need to be blogging, for posterity's sake. 

I gave my parents Storyworth for Christmas a couple years ago, and my father's stories were amazing, my mother didn't really participate, but my father bought in all the way. I want my kids

Mom Shaming at Christmas

I've come across several posts on social media advising, "Before you share your extravagant Christmas tree pictures with an abundance of gifts, consider how it might impact others." I disagree; share your pictures, share your reality, regardless of its appearance!

All the pictures I share reflect my personal experiences. The Christmas of 2009, with gifts from the Dollar Store, was particularly challenging. However, it taught me the joy of buying presents there. This year, there are numerous Dollar Tree puzzles for my youngest under our tree, along with a few stocking stuffers.

I've had Christmases funded by donations, especially in 2011 and 2014, as well as ones where I could do

Winds Of Change ...

Sometimes patience is good. Sometimes recognizing small blessings, small miracles, the wonderful little good things in life can make all the difference.

I am having an amazing  week.

It's the little things. Last Thursday my work called and told me I would have no hours this week, I was actually okay with that because I start nursing school next week and it would give me some decompression time, but then low and behold on Sunday I was rescheduled for a forty hour week, which is also awesome because this is my last chance to work a forty hour week until the end of the semester.

Did I mention, I love my job?

I started going through my reading assignments for my nursing classes (the ones that have to be done before class starts), and it's all review information, it just feels like I'm in the right field, I'm doing the right thing, this nursing school thing is going to be okay.

I won a minor victory with my ex over a schedule conflict with my oldest daughter, which was a victory for her not me.

I was pulled over because my license plate tags were expired and the officer let me off with a no proof of insurance ticket, that can be easily taken care of. He said it was

The Toxic People That Bring Us Down ...

Recently I tried to erase someone out of my life in every way that was possible to me. After I went through and deleted almost one hundred people off my Facebook page I realized I was a happier person and then finally this one person crossed a line with me for the last time. I deleted her from every aspect of my life I possibly can and I refuse to interact with her unless I absolutely have to. Amazingly, it seems like once I got rid of all that toxicity, all that negativity I felt better about life in general. ... but ... I still feel the need to do the cathartic thing and get rid of it all, so here it goes.

I have written a few blogs about the Lemon Man's aunt, mostly on my old blog, but I brought one here for back story. Then there was the whole part where she let a fourteen year old bring drugs with her to our family vacation.

But there's more to it than all that ...

The first time I knew she had burned me was a long time ago, when I first met her. This was back when the Lemon Man and I were still defining our relationship. Which as corny as it may sound, was a lot like Matthew McConaughy and Jennifer Garner in Ghosts of Girlfriends Past. It was there, it was always there, but he had things that he wasn't sure about, and honestly a single mom with three kids isn't exactly a bachelor's first choice. There was an "us" there just wasn't a defined, legal definition "us." Anyway, there was this nurse ... this nurse that took care of the Lemon Man's grandma after her horrible accident,

The Welcome Mat ...

Part of my job is to set up patient rooms for the patients we have coming the next day. Without putting too much information out there, I think (for the purpose of this blog) it's important to the story to explain a little about who our patients are and where they come from.

The unit that I work on has the number one doctor in her field in the world and the hospital I work at is also a globally rated facility for the care of certain conditions. The unit I work in is particularly special because of who we treat. We treat patients that have been diagnosed with a certain, rare, strain of bacterial infections that include a few really well known (but rare) infections and some that aren't well known, but all in the same bacterial family. The idea is that the patient comes and stays for five days and in those five days they are given very thorough testing, both traditional and nontraditional, and amazing care from doctors and nurses that specialize in exactly what is wrong with them. Often they

Um, So You Didn't Tell Me They Had Drugs ...

Back when we went to Lake McConaughy (you know our amazing vacation from hell), there was another story that happened that I feel the need to put in writing.

The entire time we were at the lake the Lemon Man's sister (who is fourteen if you don't remember) was frantic about the cowboy boots she left at the Lemon Man's house before we left. Another friend that was coming later was supposed to bring them, but forgot them as well, so she never got her cowboy boots. I didn't really understand why she would need boots on a beach, or why she was so upset, but a few months later I found out why.

Several weeks after we came back I found out from the Lemon Man's cousin that both he and the Lemon Man's aunt knew that the sister and her fifteen year old friend had marijuana ... and it was hidden in the cowboy boots.

The cousin and the aunt are regular marijuana users, everyone knows this, apparently