what goes around comes right on back.

since i ignored the fancy "$8.95/mo" blog for about seven months (i'm cringing and feeling embarrassed by my lack of "stick-to-it-iveness"), i can no longer justify keeping the typepad address. back to the freebies for me. cutting out the unnecessary, and it just feels good, i have to say.

will my gym membership be next? (it's only been a week since i've been).

we put the tree up today...the kids were all over those decorations, and they fought over two plastic candy canes all day. they both wanted the red one, though the green one was perfectly fine from my perspective. we played some elvis christmas tunes on the record player. i can't seem to find my amy grant christmas record (the first album), but now i'm wondering if i never had it in the first place? any randalls have any ideas on that one?

we will be starting our advent countdown calendar on monday, and nemo is pretty darn excited. he's already asked about doing some of the same activities we did last year. i'll take some pictures along the way.

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now, the whole farmer thing? yeah.......could i pick something any more opposite of what i am currently making money doing? definitely not quitting my 'night' job yet, but am very intrigued. i have absolutely no background in anything remotely related to farming (unless we end up raising cows and they need me to stand by while they give birth...but somehow i have a feeling they know what they're doing...). i'm not sure if i'm interested in the growing my own food kind of farming or raising animals for milk and eggs or harvesting to sell at a farmer's market or if all of this is too absurd to even continue to entertain, but i'm doing this thing now where i'm just waiting. waiting for God to show me what's next. and praying that the answer will be clear. oh, and i'm reading through exodus right now and very easily relating to the israelites and all their darn complaining. the Lord is practically dropping food from the sky in the way of blessings and yet i still complain. i need to just shut it sometimes and be grateful.

change of address...

please check out my new blog...customization in progress!

i'm doing a 2-week trial, and if i'm satisfied, i will also start a nemia creative blog...specific just to the company.

we've chosen a winner!

Congratulations to Heather H...our randomly chosen winner of a pack of custom designed holiday greeting cards!!

Thanks to everyone who took time to check out our website...and, feel free to visit the site anytime. Don't be shy! We are offering free shipping on all orders now through December 3rd...send out those Christmas cards early or on time this year!! We currently offer holiday greetings and birth announcements, but we hope to expand to many other types of invitations and special events.

We also hope to participate in future giveaways, so there may be more chances to win!

nemiacreative.com... custom photo greeting for any occasion.

Nemia Creative Bloggy Giveaway

My first participation in the Fall Y'all Bloggy Giveaway!!

This fantastic giveaway is just in time for the holidays! Send thoughtful, imaginative and truly unique greetings this season with photo cards or cardstock greeting cards from Nemia Creative.

Would you like to receive a pack of 24 cardstock custom greeting cards valued at $60.00? Here's what you need to do:

1. Visit nemiacreative.com and browse our holiday collection. Choose your favorite design.

2. Come back to this post and let me know what your favorite design is.

3. One winner will be drawn randomly Sunday, November 4 at 8P (PST). You could be the lucky recipient!

Thanks for participating, and good luck!!

By the way, check back at bloggy giveaways to enter other awesome giveaways!

i'm still here...

Although it may appear to be, the blog has not been abandoned...just on sabbatical for a bit. We've all been busy with various this and that...mostly related to nemia creative, me working night shift now, and Nemo getting into the kindergarten routine.

My plan is to post a link for a giveaway through a blog giveaway site...I have never participated, so I am going to attempt to figure out the logistics. Stay tuned.

my happyness...

thanks, mom and dad, for the movie recommendation, "the pursuit of happyness". i put it at the top of my netflix queue and watched it tonight. inspiring to say the least.

i'll admit that i'm easily impressioned by movies...i become absorbed and empathetic from the get-go. this movie was no exception. very moved by the story of this man who pressed on to make a better life for himself and his son...very moved by this level of perseverance. my life isn't so bad at all. i've never had to work as hard as he did to reach a goal. maybe i'm not reaching high enough. consistently. it's not to say that i don't work hard at what i do. but i am not facing true adversity. i am not that challenged.

i'm sure by admitting this i'm just welcoming a trial of sorts. for me, though, there's no satisfaction without growth. there's no growth without a bit of discomfort.

work, work, work...

The last several shifts at work have been money-earners. That means, when I finally come home, I say, "Boy did I earn my money today."

We had an absolutely full unit until yesterday, when the mass exodus began. 15 patients went home. That's half our unit! That's also a lot of work. I sent 4 of those patients myself...plus took care of twins, plus did baby bloodwork, plus monitored a 35-week pregnant mom, plus waded through the discharge paperwork for each mom and baby sent home (that's 8 charts), plus didn't eat lunch until about 3P...anyone feeling sorry for me yet?!!

It's days like those that leave me feeling restless for something different. My favorite way to solve the "restlessness" problem is to make a change. My favorite changes tend to be big ones. I need to learn to be satisfied with more subtle improvements. Like, why couldn't I just take up exercising? It's really good for me, I probably would have more energy to handle intense shifts and two busy kids, I might even drop those last ten "baby pounds". Or, maybe I could just pursue some additional certifications in my current specialty. If I pass a national certification exam (that the hospital would reimburse me for), I not only earn an extra $1.50/hr, but I get to sign my name: M Collazo RNC (not just RN). This is very impressive, and I'm sure I would enjoy this accomplishment. Or, I could pursue the clinical ladder in my hospital. This is a way for nurses to earn additional money by presenting proof (i.e. lots of writing) of their clinical skills and judgement. One can earn up to $4.00/hr extra. Both accomplishments and switching to night shift allow me to potentially earn up to $10.00/hr extra than my base pay. This is significant.

All I can think about, though, (and this is where the big change is) is when should I make the switch to critical care so I can start down the path toward anesthesia school? Should I apply this fall to switch specialties? Should I wait till the beginning of the new year? Maybe I should wait until we've worked through the new business for a bit. A completely new specialty would definitely consume a lot of my attention initially, and that might not be wise at this point. Lots to think about, better yet, lots to pray about. There's my answer right there. Acting on a dilemma (in this case, my recurring wanderlust/restlessness/need for change) always decreases the anxiety, so I guess prayer is a wise place to start.

Life was so much easier when I was 8...the biggest dilemma at this point in the summer was what outfit I'd be wearing on the first day of school.