I have seriously thought about deactivating this blog. I don't have a lot of time these days to attend to it. Since I am no longer on night shift my life seems pretty busy. Besides, when I get home from a 12 hour shift the last thing I want to do is write. I am a nurse after all....I write all day! The other thing is I have a hard time thinking of what to say in a public forum. I guess I am basically a private person and keep most things close to my vest. This in turn can make for a "boring" blog.


I enjoy so many of the other bloggers here. I have to commend them for their ease of writing and letting others have a peek inside their minds and hearts. I love to laugh and I appreciate the humor I have read as well.

So with all of that said, I suppose I won't deactivate, but there may be long periods of time that I don't have a lot to say on my blog. I don't think it is going to make a big difference in the blogging world, but for the few that have visited I thought I should let you know.

Here is wishing each and every one a happy, healthy, and prosperous New Year. I don't believe in New Year's resolutions. I never keep them. I have made them in the past with the best of intentions, but I always seemed to fail. Like the one where I wanted to loose enough weight so I would look like Sophia Loren. It didn't work. I would have to have a lot of plastic surgery for that one. Or the one where I would stop saying so many bad words. It seemed I just said more and became even more creative with them. So no more resolutions for me...unless of course I resolve myself to failure.

If I could have one wish for the New Year, it would be to see my son. He has been in New Zealand for six years. I have lots of hugs and kisses stored up if I ever get to see him again. I can't believe he left a teenager and now is a young man. I am so proud of him. He is a caring and good son. I miss him a lot.

If I were allowed another wish, it would be for Papa John to regain his health. He is coming along and hanging in there. I admire his determination and inner strength.

If I had just one more wish, I would want peace in the world. I know that is asking a lot. I may never again see it in my lifetime. I can still hope.

May God bless each of you each day and throughout the New Year.

I have a new respect for the great white shark. No wonder they seem a bit testy. I mean if you had all those teeth that kept growing in rows and you manage to break a few or pull a few out on a daily basis...wouldn't you be just a little bit annoyed??? Talk about teething pain. They loose a tooth another one takes it's place and another one grows behind that. Now they say these sharks aren't really man eaters. Maybe we are just a test to see if we make nice objects to chew to help the teething pain????

With that in mind...let me tell you about my latest experience. I went to the dentist about a month ago with tooth pain. I have never had tooth pain. As a matter of fact, since I was 17, I haven't had any cavities. I have three fillings and that is it. So, I go to the dentist and tell him I am having pain from the back of my upper jaw to my front teeth. He does the appropriate exams and x-rays. He pokes around in my mouth and tells me he can't find a thing. He offers to give me pain medicine and antibotics, just in case. I thanked him and left his office feeling like maybe I was losing my mind. I know pain when I feel it, but I decided to take his word that nothing was wrong. I didn't get any pain pills and I didn't have the prescription filled for an antibiotic. If there wasn't anything then why treat it, right???

About a week ago I woke up with this big, huge, red, puffy, and painful looking thing on my upper right gum. I know an abscess when I see one. I am a nurse after all. So what do you think I did??? Well, I didn't go back to the dentist. I managed to make the the abscess drain...which hurt a lot! I thought it would go away...but no. My tooth really didn't hurt, but it keep bleeding and draining.

Finally I decided yesterday to tuck my tail fins and go back to the dentist. So I went and the dentist had another x-ray done of the tooth next to my back tooth on the right upper side. That is where he was able to stick some kind of pointy thing way up under my gum. He came back in to give me the news. For some reason or the other that tooth had died and there was an abscess that developed. He went on to give me my options of a root canal which would later require a filling and a crown which would cost about $1400 dollars. If I had the tooth pulled it was about $80 dollars. He further explained that if the tooth was cracked then the root canal wouldn't work and I would lose the tooth anyway. He also said that if I wanted it pulled he could do that right away. Hummmm so I contemplated my options....


It didn't take too long for me to make up my mind. That tooth had already caused me a month of agony. My mood was not improving. If I were to have a root canal and then the tooth be cracked....my mood would not be nice at all. I decided rather quickly to have the thing pulled. I have to say I appreciated the honesty and the lack of this guy not pushing me one way or the other.

Now I am ready for this procedure. I haven't had any teeth pulled since the wisdom teeth way back when. I decided against the laughing gas and told him to go for it. I lean back in the chair and he of course tells me to "open wide"....



..."a little wider please"....



He goes about numbing my gums and the roof of my mouth. Then he tells me, "now I am going to rock the tooth back and forth to loosen it" and then I hear this noise in my head like ripping meat off a bone...and there it is....the culprit in all it's glory.....


He puts this cotton thing in my mouth and tells me to clamp down...


He is as excited as an archeologist on some great find. He is jabbering on about..."look there..that is the pus pocket that was causing you the pain...and see that crack going all the way down that root"....

I am thinking boy did I save myself a load of money. Remember if the tooth was cracked even a root canal wouldn't have fixed the problem.

Now, as I sit here and feel this gaping hole....I wonder what the future will be. Will I continue to have little or no dental problems in the future....or will I have to have a whole set of new choppers???


This whole experience has given me a new and clearer perspective on the testy temperament of the great white shark. At least I have only one row of teeth to worry about!


Have a great day and don't forget to brush, floss, and rinse with a good mouth wash.

I was just talking to someone yesterday about blogging and how difficult it is for me to really open up and allow others to see the real me. I suppose for some it is easy enough to just sort of put it all out there for others to see and let whatever happens happen. My past experiences have shown me that adults although more subtle, can be as vicious as the mean kids we grew up with. So I hesitate to open my heart and feelings in such an open forum.

I think it only fair and right that I should first and foremost tell y'all I am a Christian if you haven't already figured that out. I am not a bible thumper, but don't really care if someone calls me that. I never figured that beating someone with the good book did more than cause bumps, bruises, and bad tempers. I don't think that Christian equals "no sense of humor". I find a lot of things very funny, but there is a point that I do draw the line if the humor is set out to hurt others or is really just filthy for the sake of being pornographic. Yep, the next thing I will hear is that "Bodacious is a prude..." heard it all before.

I used to be a people pleaser, but about 13 or 14 years ago I decided that it was impossible to please everyone, so I try to be what Jesus would have me be and let others think what they will. I still struggle with issues such as anger, disappointment, forgiveness of others, and just plain letting go. Yep, that's right christian's are human after all.

I can't hardly remember a time that I didn't want to be a nurse. I believed at the age of 16 that God had a calling for me to be a medical missionary....but I took the opposite road for a while. It took me many years to find the way back and realize when you don't accept what God's best is for you in the beginning....he will open another door or window if you ask. I may not get to go to a different country, but I can let the light that shines within me be an example even in a prison. Besides a prison is rather multi-national and I don't have to go far from home.

I have been married, divorced, and remarried. I have a husband who is my friend, fishing/hunting buddy, antique collector,lover of the outdoors, generally all around other half of me. We suit each other very well. It is a peaceful and easy feeling to be with him. Our children are all grown up and someday we want grandbabies!

I can be opinionated, hard headed, and unmovable at times. On the other hand I can be compassionate, pliable, and able to move over and let others have their way. I love deeply and don't use that word unless I really mean it. If I am angry enough to say something,it is hard for me to take back something I meant. So I try not to say things in anger...because words can cut deeper than the sword.

So seriously.... If you decide you like me great...if you don't that is fine too. If you want to gossip or say mean things..go for it. I don't believe a lot of what I hear anyway...seems gossips tend to gossip about each other. I haven't had any bad experiences here on blogstream as of yet. The folks that have stopped by my blog have all welcomed me with open arms and I really appreciate the welcome. However if you change your mind or if someone stops by and blasts me...all I can say is it is a public forum..do what ya gotta do. I will pray for you either way it goes. Now that was just a small dose of my serious side.


Now to lighten up a little...you may wonder what I am doing up at this hour once again...I will give ya one guess....Yep that's right the infamous dog child....Dottie May!


Don't worry about the "blue eye" effect. It was the flash....she isn't a demon dog that wakes me up in the middle of the night...no way she....or...oh my...maybe... Nah....no way...

I bet you are wondering who this old man in the John Deere cap could be? I would like to introduce you to an honorable man, Papa John. He is a self made and independent soul. At the tender age of 11 his father died and he became the "man" of the household. He became the person his younger sister and brother would look up to all of their lives. To this day his mother, who is 89 years old, will call to see what his opinion is on something before she goes ahead and does it her way. No guessing where he gets his independence.

He married shortly out of high school and raised two children with his first wife. They later divorced, but he never divorced his children. He was always there for them and they called on him often.

He married my mother in Dec. of 1985. He became my step father, but calling him that isn't really fair. He became more than that...he became my Dad. You see when my parents divorced I was 10. The man who fathered me decided he didn't really want to be a "Daddy" anymore and has had little contact with me or my brother for many years. This man stood up to the plate and did what Dads are supposed to do. He didn't have to love us. He could have just been nice and done the pleasant things to make our mother happy...but he was much more than that. He has always been there when we needed him and the words "I love you" really meant something when he said them.

I have to admit it took me a while to warm up. I was already grown up with a child of my own. He was never pushy. He was just himself. He didn't expect me to be anything other than myself. It seemed he really liked me for me. I didn't have to try to impress him and he didn't try to impress me. How refreshing!

I can recall the time I really understood how much he cared about me. I had been very sick after having gallbladder surgery. For some reason my liver decided it didn't want to work right. The big long medical term was "cholistasis". The medical folks weren't quite sure why I kept getting worse after my gallbladder was out. Lots of tests and lots of trips to the lab and hospital for several weeks after the surgery. It seemed nothing was working and the whole family was getting really worried if I was going to live or die. I was truly sick. I went to visit Mom and Papa John one morning. I kept trying to tell them I felt okay and asking if I looked any better. I could tell by the look in their eyes that I wasn't and I just broke down in tears. I began to sob. Papa John sat this grown woman on his lap and wrapped his big arms around me. He kept saying, " Now please don't cry, your gonna' make yourself sick." As he was saying this over and over...patting my back...he was sobbing too. He said, " I don't think I could stand it to loose my girl." God bless this man for healing my heart. I had needed a Dad for a long time. I don't think anyone was any happier than he was when I did get finally get well.

He deserves to be honored as my father. He has done the things any good "Dad" would do. He just had his 68th birthday on Nov.1. He has made it another year. I hope to keep him around a long time. He is fighting throat cancer. He has already battled diabetes...lost his right leg....lost his biological daughther.....lost his sister....and now is facing his own mortality. He is someone I admire for his tenacity and his zest for life. He wants to live, but he isn't afraid to die. He is a strong believer and has been saved by the grace of our Lord and savior Jesus Christ. I love him, but I know God loves him more. If you have a second, just say a prayer for him. I know he would appreciate it.

Here's to you, Papa John!!!!! Happy belated birthday and may God shower his blessings upon you! May your years be lengthened and may your health be restored.