The Girl with the Dragon Tattoo book

I loved this book!  I finished it yesterday and I have to say that it is one of the best books I have read in a while.  It kept me intriqued and fascinated.  The plot was fantastic! I would recommend this book to anyone who enjoys a good mystery.  I am really looking forward to the movie in December now.

Reading The Girl with the Dragon Tattoo

I have just started reading the book, The Girl with the Dragon Tattoo, by Stieg Larsson.  I have seen the previews for the movie and it looks good, but I want to read the book before I see the movie.  I'll give my review of the book when I have finished reading it and then my review of the movie in December.  I have a dog eared copy I borrowed from the library.  I would like to try out a reading tablet someday, but there is just something about having the book in my hand, flipping back and forth through the pages, with a good cup of earl grey tea and a throw blanket that I don't want to give up just yet. Of course the only thing I would really be giving up is the paper book, the tea and throw blanket stays!

Breakfast on the run

I am one of those people that doesn't take the time to sit down and eat breakfast before going to work.  I l have a 20 minute commute, so I eat breakfast in the car.  I started making my own breakfast burritos and freezing them.  I like them much better than store bought ones or going through a drive through, which can get expensive if you eat out everyday.

I make my breakfast burritos with lean ground turkey, scrambled eggs, chopped peppers, cheese and a little salsa.  I lay them out on a pan after rolling them and freeze them before transferring them to freezer bags, that way they don't stick together inside the freezer bag.  1 minute in the microwave, wrap it in a linen napkin (home made of course) and I am off to work.

My son will get these out of the freezer, microwave it and have it for a after-school snack. 

I make them on the weekend and freeze enough to last the week.

A Nurse in Progress

     An interesting thing about nursing, it's something that you become and that becomes you.  My experiences in nursing have changed and shaped me both personally and professionally.

     I have always loved patient care, the one on one interaction with the patient.  The team work that is involved in caring for the patient that includes physicians, staff nursed, social services and spiritual care.  The constant running from one crisis to another, trying to assuage the emotional needs of the patients and their families, keeping track of my staff, and answering the phone at the nurses station that never seems to stop ringing, but it was this stress and craziness that kept me focused and challenged.

     I love giving patient care and the personal satisfaction of being a nurse, but there have been many times that I have left work after a twelve hour shift of running back and forth between patients rooms being yelled at, cried for, and puked on.  I gave medications to thirty patients three times during my shift, and left with an aching back, sore feet, a empty stomach and a full bladder.  And that was a good day.

     Although my role in nursing has changed from direct patient care to compliance, I still love being a nurse.
One of the great things about the nursing profession is that it has a diverse amount of possibilities.  Patient care, research nursing, maternity, legal nursing, quality assurance, risk management and many more.

     Nursing is an intensive educational feat.  Anyone who has gone to nursing school can appreciate this statement.  If you can make it through nursing school with your sanity intact and your family doesn't hate you ( nurses will understand) then you have accomplished one of the hardest and most intense educational programs that a person can endure,after all, education is the foundation of the beautiful task of helping keep patients alive and moving them toward wellness or being there beside them and giving comfort care in their last days and hours of their life.

     I have been shaped and changed, both professionally and personally, by my experiences in nursing and have come to realize that a nurse is not something I became, it became me.

A green apartment

I live in what is termed a "green apartment" The apartments are very well insulated, which is great here in the south. My electric bills are a third on what they were when I lived in a house.

One of the things I love about staying in an apartment is not having to do yard work. I do not want to spend my weekend with yard work and fixing up the house. I know a lot of people really enjoy yard work, I'm just not one of them.

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Where do I put all this stuff?

Where do I put all this stuff?
The number one concern when moving into a small apartment (we moved in from a 4 bedroom house with a outdoor shed) is where to store all the things you have accumulated over the years. One suggest is to have a yard sell and sell anything that you just can't live without (or don't want to). The items that didn't sell, take to your local thrift store and donte them; not only did you get rid of unused items, but you can deduct these donatios to charity from your taxes.

How many of your kids toys do they really play with?  Give them an empty box and ask them to put all the toys they don't play with or want anymore into the box to donate to charity.  When you explain to your kids that other children who need toys will get to play with  them, they are usually eager to help. Now your kids will be left with the toys they really treasure and they will have more space in their new bedrooms.

Let's talk about the kitchen.  Seriously do I really need all of these kitchen gadgets?  My inner child screams, yes! their mine! I need them!! Once I put myself in time-out and think about it, I realize that yes, all those shiny electronic little gadgets are fun (once or twice) but how often do I really use them?  Not often enough to make me want to drag them all across town and then have to find a place to keep them in my very tiny kitchen. So I start giving away my precious kitchen gadgets. What my grown girls didn't want, I gave away.
Funny thing is, now that they are gone I don't even miss them.

Books. Boxes of books and magazines.  I confess. I love to read.  I am really thinking about getting a Kindle reader.  My reader friends who have one love the thing.  I tell myself that it just wouldn't be the same without being able to hold the book and flip back and forth through the pages, dog earing them as I go.  However, having a Kindle would be a storage saver.  I still haven't unpacked all of my books.  It would be nice to have most of them on one reader and use the space taken up with books to hide more kitchen gadgets! Just kidding.  I will have to save up for a reader, not in the budget right now. I am really looking forward to trying one out sometime.

Visit My Store for great products

I have tried to provide a variety of items in my store. New items will be added periodically.

A day at the office

I remember when I was little and would here the phrase, "your father is at the office". What a mysterious place the office seemed to me. I never got to visit my father's office until I was older but I just knew that he must be doing all kinds of fun things there, after all that is where he spent most of his time and why would you, as a grown up, stay there unless it was fun right?

Fast forward thirty years and I am at the office. I wonder if I got the wrong office when I was hired. Where is all the mystery, the fun and excitment that keeps me here from sun-up to sun-down? Is it possible that the office was more fun thirty years ago? And where is my "wife" to take care of the kids, cook dinner, clean house and carpool the kids to their doctor appointments, play dates and after school functions? Just gave away my age there uh? Wonder if I could bring my office home. I will have to work on a plan for that; a journey all in itself.

Where I really want to be is at home, being a mother. It would be nice to be able to plan a meal, volunteer in my child's classroom or maybe try to make some fancy cupcakes.
In this blog I would like to share pieces of my big life (at least I think it is) spent in a small apartment. Apartment dwelling is new for me, so I expect there to be many adjustments. Stay tuned!