Friday Fripperies/Moron + Water Edition.

Today was chill. The temp went all the way down to 84 degrees. More than 20 degrees less than Wednesday. Three cheers for Mother Nature.

Hip hip..............

HOORAY!

Hip hip...............

HOORAAY!

Hip Hip.................

HOORAW!

Yeah, I know. Kinda boring here today.

Sleep, reading, and trying to keep the Pupples entertained. Methinks some people should NOT buy puppies when they have absolutely no clue as to the time and responsibility involved...(KOFF) my son (KOFF).

It took several days of prolonged heat warnings but we've had several heat related deaths. Add those to the many drownings in the past week. I believe there have been six.

Note to folks who might drown cuz they are stupid~~~

Do not go tubing down a river where you cannot see the many logjams that may turn the tube upside down and catch you underwater where you then die because

a)you cannot swim well as well as you thought you could

b)the water is in the hypothermic range or

c)you get jammed up underwater stuck by the massive jumble of logs of the aforementioned LOGJAM!

I am so serious. The majority of people who drown in this area do so because they have forgotten how to think if they ever knew in the first place. Like the ones who are drunk.

"Hey, I'm gonna go swimming in this lake where it is 45 degrees cuz I am drunk and I am a MORON!"

"Oh wait, I forgot to say it's after midnight and we're in a place where no one will hear my pathetic screams before I go down for the last time!"

"I was on the swim team back in '85. I'm gonna swim that one mile to get to the other side of the lake!"

Fool, 1985 was over 20 years ago, you cannot swim that far, the water is 40 degrees under the top foot where it is 60 degrees and you will go down within 10 minutes. Happens to several people w/o working brains every single year.

"I've got an idea! Let's jump off this empty train trestle into the river(with the strong current I cannot see and do not remember is there)!!!"

Whoops, there goes another one....

You'd think people would know better, but they don't.

Makes me wonder sometimes why we try so hard to save them....

Sweating

Steaming
Sticky
Slippery
Sweltering
Sultry
Scorching
Scalding
Searing

The heat broke today.

If you think 95 is more bearable than 105.

I, myself, freaking detest hot weather.

I have spent the past day and a half trying to sleep away the discomfort.

At one point the Pupples was sleeping on my head!(like that helps)

Yes I am cranky, nasty, and feeling kinda mean.

That's what happens to me in this kind of weather. It's the reason I left California. The reason July and August were unbearable in MI. It's the point where we bough a large AC unit that could move from room to room just needing any window to vent out from.

My $660 dollar AC until failed me.

It couldn't handle the truth, uh wait, I mean the heat!

Never ever buy a Sharp* brand AC unit if the temperature in your area reaches over 80degrees.

Two more clinical days left. The two theory finals and I am fini with the LPN program. The state will allow me to schedule my state boards aka the NCLEX-PN test.

Funny. I never thought I'd get this far. Most of the year has been difficult. Emotionally difficult. Physically draining. Frustrating.

HELL YES I am proud of myself.

What have you done in the past year that you are proud about?

The Heat is On

I need to be in a very COLD place like Chilly Willy in my picture. He's from an original Bugs Bunny cartoon in which Warner Bros. made fun of Bogart as a depression era poor man who kept popping up to ask, "Hey buddy. Could you spare a dime?"

Hahahaha. A dime. Oh my. Too freakin' funny when our national debt is in the trillions....NOT! :P

The entire area of Western Washington is under a heat emergency. No kidding. Into the 90's today and even hotter through Friday...........UGH.

In the lovely North West we are used to temps in the high 70's during the day and down to mid-50's~low 60's at night. The cool down at night is what saves us, that and the lack of high humidity.

WHO AUTHORIZED THIS BLASTED HEAT WAVE??

I want a name and a number. I have some serious harassing and bitching to do!

On a slightly lighter note, I was on the new area of the hospital for clinical today. It was sloooooooooooooow. Which used to be unusual. The recession hits the health care industry too.

There have been many staff "adjustments" at this medical center. Staff is lacking happy campers. High nurse-patient ratios makes for cranky, uncohesive workers.

BUT HEY~4....4....4 more clinical days, yeehaw.

Prayers my friends for a lovely family I know who just lost their older daughter, after 4 years, to ovarian cancer. She was in her 20's. Cancer sucks. Big time.
Miss M, you are in my heart and my prayers.

Love and positive vibes to all! Send ice cubes to me please c/o overheated Janice, SE King Co., WA State.

Frustrated

This is a temporary layout. I suck at fixing this stuff. I am just making myself annoyed so I will mess with this when I have more time, more energy, cooler weather, and hopefully I'll be in a better mood.

I hate hate HATE hot weather. If I have to work in the older section of the hospital this week I will be even crankier than I am now. There is essentially no A/C and we're supposed to hit triple digit heat....

Right in time to take 2 patients all day long. And I thought I was sweaty last week.

Nothing like 20 degree temperature changes to me feel like crap.

I loathe sweating.

I don't sleep well.

I get heat headaches.

PLUS:

I have a paper due Tuesday based on my time on Mother/Baby and the mechanisms of attachment, what affects attachment positively and negatively? Blah, blah, blah.

Group project Wednesday.

Hmmmmmm, any planes out of Seatac going to the North Pole today?

I Think Blogger Broke My Blog/Fear of Failure

My layout is all whacked up. I see the left half of my blog as usual. The right half is BELOW the left half.

SAY WHUT?


I have no idea why this is happening but it's bugging me.

The other day I spent my clinical hours in postpartum.

I held the sweetest newborn (24hrs) baby girl while the nurse did a heel stick. That baby girl did not even wake up.

Because I think I am a baby whisperer....

I can calm down babies efficiently and easily.

Maybe they can feel my love for them.

Maybe the fact I am calm and relaxed when holding them, they can sense it.

Maybe I'm delusional.

Either way, I was so excited to smell that newborn smell again.

Such perfect little beings are newborns.

Each spectacular in their own seperate ways.

There's a place close to where I live where drug babies go after their initial stay in the hospital.

I hear they're hiring.

Drug babies usually scream in a high pitched way much more piercing that a normal newborn.

I am not sure if that would bother me.

The thought of checking out the place is circling in my mind.

Assuming I pass the freaking boards aka NCLEX-PN.

We were required to take a pratice version at the school tech center.

The first time I took it....

I stared at the computer screen gape-mouthed like a fish caught on a hook.

DAYAM. 85 questions.

50 of which I had absolutely no idea what they were asking.

Seriously.

11 months of cramming medical knowledge in my head and I run into all kinds of info they apparently forgot to teach us.

I had a 49% correct rate.

I had to take it five time to pass with the req. 65%.


ME!


FIVE TIMES!


I almost plotzed.

Right there.

In the tech center.

Lord, I need some major help here.

I will be spending the time between graduation and the date of my boards studying my ass off(approx. 6 weeks).

Who knew I was so frickin' stupid?

I have been tagged with "The Honest Scrap" award from KLS and I now must do the following:
1. “The Honest Scrap” award is not one to hold all to your self but it must be shared!
2. First, the recipient has to tell 10 true things about themselves in their blog that no one else knows.

A. I refuse to eat fishy smelling fish.
B. I read through the entire children's section of our library by the age of 11.
C. I was incredibly boy crazy from ages 12-24.
D. My mom was a grammar Nazi and I have to bite my tongue to not correct folks.
E. My fellow nursing students think I ask too many questions in class/clinicals.
F. My left hip is stiff when I get off clinical and when I sit too long(old woman here).
G. I could be a much better friend than I currently am.
H. I never feel 47 years old. I'm stuck in my 20's, late 20's but 20's nonetheless.
I. Every now and again, I remember exactly why I fell in love with spouse.(shhhhh)
J. I would still be having babies if it had been in any way possible.

3. Award blogs I love this award. Smoochies.

Now for the lucky bloggers I award this to:
Just Nikke
Wishing and Discovering
The Bell Pages
Seismic Twitch
Summer's Nook

I received this award from Living Dead Nurses Psycho Ward site. MUCHO THANKS and the great thing about this award is all I have to do is pass it onto other favorite bloggers.
Here are the rules:
Rules:

1) Accept the award, post it on your blog together with the name of the person who has granted the award and his or her blog link.
2) Pass the award to 5 (changed it 15 is too many) other blogs that you’ve discovered. Remember to contact the bloggers to let them know they have been chosen for this award.

Here are the lucky bloggers:
Half-Past Kissin' Time
Just My Life
From The Planet of Janet
Speedcat Hollydale Page
Boy Crazy

Love all your blogs and you!!

Back to studying up for Mother/Baby stint tomorrow!!!!!

HOT Tuesday: WHERE?

Where is the weekend? It's only Monday and I need it to be Friday. Where did the ok Monday go to be replaced by the stressed out, switch to hospital clinicals, do research the night before, sweating like a pig without mud, dog is acting psychotic Monday. ARGGGGGGGGGGGGGGGGGGGGGHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHH.

Where did my sanity, efficiency, calm attitude go? It went when the weather hit the mid-80's with no end in sight. Janice detests hot weather. The area of the hospital I'm in is extra hot.

I feel like I'm walking a high wire over a fire pit.........

I wear scrubs to clinicals. I had to change into 2nd pair cuz I became a sweat machine. More laundry.

Where should I live............SIBERIA I think.

Not crazy pupples is try to hump me....not what I had in mind EVER!

Where: perhaps I need to go live with monks in high cool mountain retreats?

North pole? I am not my best in heat on top of heightened stress level from nursing boot camp hell.

I wish you all much better wheres...tell me your happy calm wheres or wears.

Check out other HOT posts at HOT Home!!

Saturday Snippets

I received some very interesting comments about my pain post, here and on Facebook. Anonymous brought up a good point in the comments here about chronic pain. People with chronic pain should be under the care of a primary care provider.

To clarify, I feel people with migraines/back pain/recent injuries that do not have a PCP, should ask for a referral from the Urgent Care or wherever they are seen.

I, in no way, suggest anyone use the ER for illnesses or events that aren't emergent. Here in the US too many people use ER's for their primary care providers and that is not what the system was designed to treat.

Personally I only use an ER if my son comes home accompanied by a Seattle firefighter with a concussion from passing out at a concert from the heat, stuffiness. Yes, that did happen and no my son had not taken any drugs or drank any alcohol. I've also used our local ER when my boys have broken bones after normal urgent care/PCP hours. In one memorable visit, I miscarried in the waiting room and the only reason I went to the ER was that my doctor advised me to go.

Doing clinicals in ER/Urgent Care have given me a view from the other side. Personally I have not run into any drug seekers, just folks with broken hands, road rash, several RO MIs, altered elderly folks, and suspected flu patients. I've also witnessed traumas that were sent to a Level One Trauma Center. Scary stuff. I have heard about power tool accidents, sawed off fingers, lawn mower encounters, and other blood ridden visits but have not dealt with any myself.

My favorite thing to do in ER is tetanus shots. I love giving a good deltoid injection. I'm mean like that. :)

Oh and several psych situations where one on one coverage was needed.

I avoid ERs for illnesses. I try to get into my PCP. Not always possible so I do hit their urgent care center. Which is excellent and uses LPNs. (Yeah for LPNs)

Pupples has more than doubled in size and has become stealthy. I think I'm alone and wham! Pupples runs into my feet. Scares the hell out of me! He can be extremely amusing as when he attacks his tennis ball. He wrestled with it for 10 minutes today. Too silly.

The average temperature in July is 70 degrees historically. This July...80's, damn 80's most of it. This is the Northwest. Give me my cool weather and rain, now please!

I've been feasting on cherries, apricots, blueberries, and presliced fresh mango. Our fruit season is short but fabulous. I've been slipping and chowing some Ben & Jerry's as well. Cuz it's been hot. That's my excuse and I'm sticking to it.

I will have some homework to do tomorrow. I'll need to brush up in my skills as I start back at the hospital on Tuesday. So much for low key at the psych facility.....sigh.

What have you been up to this weekend?

The Contradiction When It Comes to Pain

Yesterday, Suldog brought up an interesting point in my comments section. He asked me to advocate for patients in pain to make sure they received adequate medication to relieve their pain.

In the midst of the Michael "I took 47 types of drugs at once after using aliases and my employees to procure them for me." Jackson media hype, there is an issue everyone doesn't talk about. People with true pain that need painkillers, not for a high or to resell them, but to adequately function in their lives.

I ready many medical, nursing, ER blogs where I hear about frequent fliers and docs who over prescribe pain meds just to get rid of them.

I suffer from migraines. I do everything in my power to cope with the pain w/o meds. I use ice packs, aleve, caffeine, sleep, and anything that might short circuit the harsh pain that comes with a migraine. When I do go into a doctor to get some pain relief I get THE LOOK.

You know THE LOOK. The one where they look at you like "Come on lady, stop being a baby, you do not need pain meds."

The LOOK that lacks empathy, sympathy, trust, and believability.

The LOOK that brands me a pathetic faker.

Just because many drug seekers lie to receive narcotics, I do not. If I go to the doc/urgent care I am in serious pain. I am not lying.

As a matter of fact, I hate demerol, morphine, stadol, and several others that make me puke endlessly and/or hallucinate. Vicodin does nothing for me. No pain relief, no high. As far as I know no pain killers have made me euphoric.

After my c-section they wanted to put me in a morphine PCA. I flatly refused. I ended up with Toredol, one hell of an excellent drug, and percocet PRN q 4-6 hours. I was fine with that, just fine. Again, no euphoria with percocet either.

Many of us regular people with pain issues cannot get enough meds. The doc will give a script for 10 pills. This is ok for me but those with back pain, neuropathy, and other unrelenting life shattering pain, it is not enough.

I hear about docs who prescribe whatever a patient wants.

In 47 years, I have never met any doctors like that. Never.

The contradiction and/or quandary for those of us in health care is how to quantify pain.

The problem for those of us with migraines or chronic pain, the lack of working pain killers is that we get labeled. We live with pain daily or weekly.

I feel Suldog had a point. With all the painkillers out there, no one should have to suffer needlessly. I can also see the ER/doc/nurse point of view.

My opinion: We need a better method than the pain scale to assess pain. We need doctors and nurses who do not automatically assume someone with a migraine is a faker.

What are your thoughts?

A Basic But Important Medical Principle

As a nursing student I occasionally get medical questions from friends, both off and on the internet.

As an almost nurse I cannot diagnose anything. That is a job for doctors. It's not in the scope of my practice and I did not attend 4 years of med school plus 3 years of residency.

Several of my favorite internet friends have had surgery in the past 6 months or so. From our "conversations" my stubborn friends do not rest long enough and have some difficulty following their pain meds schedules.

Rest in extremely important after your body has gone through an invasive procedure. I mean c'mon! They sliced ya open. It's a big deal even if it's a small surgery. Rest and good nutrition are critical for a good recovery.

Now for pain. Doctors do not prescribe pain meds after surgery to keep you quiet or so you won't bother them.

Doctors prescribe pain medicine regimens after surgery to help you heal. If your body is spending all it's energy fighting pain it will not have the proper energy to recover and heal. Parts of the healing process will break down.

You will not get addicted to your pain meds if you take them as prescribed. It's the morons who take more than the suggested dosages that get addicted.

It's critical to take your pain meds when they are prescribed. This will keep your pain levels down to a manageable level. This will keep break through pain to a minimum. Ultimately this will decrease your post op pain to a level where you won't need the major painkillers anymore.

If one is not consistent when it comes to the timing of the pain meds one will have more pain and complications. This is fact. Many studies have been done to prove this.

After any surgery take it easy, follow your post op instructions~we nurses write them for you because we want you to the best possible outcome not just cuz we be bossy(we are bossy, part of the job).

REST. No super mom or super wife or super worker complexes. Just calm and quiet. Take the meds as ordered including antibiotics or ABO in chart talk, eat well when you are hungry and before you know it, you'll be feeling like yourself again!!!

Got it?

GOOD.

Love all my internet sisters and friends and Uncles. Grinz.

Ten More

Ten more clinical days. Then finals.

and BAM!

Graduation.

I can handle 4 more weeks.

The early wake ups are exhausting, thank goodness for naps.

It feels like there is this big blank void after Aug. 14.

Only the shadow knows what will happen then.............

I've been in school for four years....I won't know what to do if I have nothing to study for.

Time to move to a different stage of life.

Tell me your thoughts about this change. :)

MOTHER (biting my tongue hard!)

My spouse needs a job. He's been out of work for over 7 months now.

Soon, I will be locked up in a rubber room at the Institute for the Criminally Insane.

He's always here. When I go to clinical. When I come home. Every darn day.

I'm having fantasies of getting a humongous box, drugging him with Xanax, putting him in said box then Fed-Exing him back to his mother!!!! (This is the lest violent of my imaginative thoughts)

I've been working extremely hard for the past year in the boot camp they call nursing school. That place where they layer new heapings of stress upon you every single day. He thinks I should still be doing the grocery shopping......

Say, WHAT the hell?

Let me repeat myself~I'm in nursing school fulltime, he's unemployed and I should stop by the store at 10p.m. on my way home from clinical cuz I'm so energized after spending 6-9 hours at the hospital.

Another fantasy includes tomahawk throwing against a backdrop with said spouse tied to backdrop ala Johnnie Carson.

He will never get it.

I thought maybe he could be re-educated now I fear that is an impossible task for a man with no empathy. A man who shows eight hundred times more affection to the puppy than he ever did to me.

I am sitting here wondering why my head has not literally exploded.

Thanks for letting me vent, whine, whinge, whatever you'd like to label it.

How was your day?

If I Only Had a Brain...

I've had the song from the Wizard of Oz on my head for the past hour or so. It reminds me of the Pupples. Sometimes he is silly, sometimes he needs a clue.(Hmmm, sounds like other men in my life)

I aced my patient presentation/project. YEEHAW. I was up until 12:30a.m. finishing up. Worth it except for waking up at 6 freaking a.m. This days schedule is exhausting me.

For my age, I feel really good about my learning capacity and my observations about my project patient. I caught some aspects of his multifactorial diagnoses no one else had observed.

The facility I have 3 days left in is very nice to nursing students and are kind enough to explain policies, procedures, etc. very thoroughly. They do not get annoyed when we have questions either!

Since we're at a psych facility I feel more comfortable as psych is a subject I love and one that comes easily to me. I have seen some behaviors I had never seen before. Not to sound voyeuristic, but it's fascinating.

Because patients wear street clothes and this facility is "their home", I am still working on learning names, rooms, simple diagnoses, and repeating behaviors. It's like a moving jog saw puzzle with several pieces missing. LOL.

Tomorrow I will taught how to do medicaid assessments. woo frickin' hoo. Not my favorite thing, I think I'll live.

My favorite thing is giving shots. I love shots. Cuz I'm twisted like that, muahahahaha.

Sunday Nursing School Blues

Is it too much to ask to wish my spouse would theoretically treat me this way?

Please forgive my whining, I feel so alone when it comes to the stress that come with nursing school especially at my age with 2 sons and other stressors.

Thanks for reading!!

You've Got A Friend

When your down and troubled

And you need a helping handAnd nothing, whoa nothing is going right.

Close your eyes and think of me

And soon I will be there

To brighten up even your darkest nights.

You just call out my name,

And you know whereever I amI'll come running, oh yeah babyTo see you again.

Winter, spring , summer, or fall,

All you have to do is call

And I'll be there, yeah, yeah, yeah.

You've got a freind.

If the sky above you

Should turn dark and full of clouds

And that old north wind should begin to blow

Keep your head together and call my name out loud

And soon I will be knocking upon your door.

You just call out my name

and you know where ever I amI'll come running to see you

Winter, Spring, summer or fall

All you got to do is callAnd I'll be there, yeah, yeah, yeah.

Hey, ain't it good to know that you've got a friend?

People can be so cold.

They'll hurt you and desert you.

Well they'll take your soul if you let them.

Oh yeah, but don't you let them.

You just call out my name and you know wherever I amI'll come running to see you again.

Oh babe, don't you know that,

Winter Spring summer or fall,

Hey now, all you've got to do is call.

Lord, I'll be there, yes I will.

You've got a friend.You've got a friend.

Ain't it good to know you've got a friend.

Ain't it good to know you've got a friend.

You've got a friend.

Mean Mom

Oh yeah baby, I am the meanest mom on earth. And proud of it.

I made the 20yo take HIS puppy with him when he went out tonight. That cute lil Pupples has been biting us all.

Jaws goes after feet. He wants to bite hands and arms. We are all trying to discipline by gently holding his mouth closed and saying NO sternly. Lil sucker keeps on biting.

I sicced him on his owner. Muahahahahahah.

20yo shot me evil look. Like I care? nuh uh, grow up son.

Yesterday was intriguing. Every psych resident has their own quirks and it is educational trying to figure out the best approaches.

Since the staff and residents wear street clothes, only the CNAs wear scrubs, I find it hard to tell who is staff and who is not. Some residents are obvious. Some, not so much.

Kinda sounds like society doesn't it?

The Pupples

Cute and saucy lil sucker, isn't he?

Not So Quiet

Ahhhhhhhhh, Psych peeps.

To be honest today was funny, interesting, heart-tugging, and very noisy when several residents made fire trucks sound like toys.

One female pt. would have been an amazing car alarm. Could have scared off any potential punk with her expression of anger mixed with distress.

I was with one of the meds nurses today. Funny, sarcastic, very fast, and quite good at his job and at explaining everything to me. I love nurses who love to teach!!

Amazing the devastation mental illness can cause in some one's life.

I could see the ravages on certain faces today. Made me glad that so far my biggest mental issue has been depression. Functional depression at that.

There are several cats that roam through. I could have mainlined some benadryl because my allergies were acting up. Just took my oral benedryl which helped enough.

It's a smidge claustrophobic at the facility. Built long ago and very short on space. No alone time whatsoever. Cool with me.

My biggest challenge was trying to figure out who was who. Nurses, patients, and administration wear street clothes and small name tags on staff. CNA's wore scrubs. I can id maybe 4 patients from today. By time I get everyone memorized we'll be off to another clinical site.

C'est la vie.

How was your day?

Psychotic Folks and One Biting Puppy

The weather cooled off about 7p.m. last night.

I am much happier with the temps in the 60's.

Yup. I am one crazy chica, why'd ya ask?

People.

I am a female in her forties, I am never too cold.

Never.

Might rain tomorrow.

See my grin?

No?

Trust me. The grin is present.

Spent 5 hours at new psych clinical place in "orientation".

HAH!

Orientation my rear.

That part lasted about an hour.

Two hours were devoted to our extra assignments for lab.

She made us read the nursing process and client evaluation paper out loud.

Guess we too dumb to handle that w/o her help. DOI.

There are 5 extra assignments on top of our caring for patients, physical assessments, charting, flow sheets, and other daily nurse type tasks.

I will spend seven whole clinical days at psych facility. In that time I have 1 major paper/presentation, 2 full diets plans written out/typed, and other miscellaneous crap.

3 days a week at clincal site is not enough for us to do.

yah, riiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiight.

Because nursing students have no lives. Totally true.

Pupples is worse than a toddler when he is tired. Jeez, he actually fights sleep by bring one obnoxious dog.

Bites.

Jumps at us.

Chews.

Whines.

Wanders aimlessly.

Bites.

Spouse gets annoyed and of course, Pupples knows that and does everything on purpose.

DUDE!

Get a clue.

It's a puppy not a teenager!!

Argh.

I was biting my own tongue in my attempt not to explain to him again that dogs sense emotions and he was only setting himself up for more of the same.

On the other hand, Pupples is as funny as hell.

Tonight he was doing flips trying to chew on a towel that was underneath a quilt.

I haven't laughed so much in weeks!

Good Puppy!

(big evil grin)

Hot, Hot, Hot!

Nothing like an 88 degree day in supremely sunny Seattle. Um, NOT! I want my rain back ! If not rain then cooler weather.

Puppy(aka Jester) is one feisty dog. He bites everyone in the family. He's gnawing more than biting. I believe that is how he used to play with his dog mommy. Janice, puppy psychologist extraordinaire. Snort.

My last 6 weeks of clinicals start Monday. 7 days at the psych place. Then a last 8days at the hospital. Hopefully on Mother/Baby. I took the 100 question NCLEX review for Obstetrics and received a 97%. Wahooooooooooo. Many of my classmates were in the 60's range. Love learning fast and organized.

Monday will be an orientation. Then the MTW clinicals start at 6:45a.m. Sigh, I hate getting up before 6a.m..

Why do people like huge noises like an M80? I do not comprehend why people like to blow things up. I detest the noise.

Is it just me or is Sarah Palin just dumb? I just saw her speech where she announces her resignation...it did not even make sense. (shaking my head)

Is it just me or have they've overdone speculation and coverage of Michael Jackson's death?

Is it just me or is North Korea run by a cracked wacko???

Happy Independence Day!!!

So You Think You Can Dance?

I watch this show with envy.

Co ordination and grace have never been my physical strong points.

My mom used to call me clod because I ran into walls and hot table edges as I went by. That was such an encouraging name...(dryly, she said)

I took dance my senior year of hs and in college bit frankly I sucked. I'd go left as everyone went right. I'd do a pirouette and get dizzy. Everyone would be facing from except that backward girl, me. (Kinda allows you into my inner personality).

Watching these kids from all over the country who can stick to the rhythm makes me wish I wasn't so white, ya know? White, awkward, and clumsy is no way to go through life. Wink.

Thank goodness I knew I was graceful and happily so in water.

I float like a cork.

My inverted backstroke was the best my college swim/water safety instructor teacher said. Not that most folks even know what the inverted back stroke is....(kinda like the breast stroke on your back, kinda).

I miss swimming alone down at La Jolla Shores beach after the tourists left in late September. I miss the pool we had in our backyard for several years(back in Irvine-decades ago). I miss Lake Erie and Lake Ontario. I miss the swim club my family belonged to when we lived in MI.

I miss the reclining deep bathtub I had in our second house. Amazing what a difference an excellent bathtub makes in your life. I spent many hours reading in that tub. Lost in other worlds not my own, escaping the monotony of being a stay at home mom.

Sigh. In summer I wish I was a fish. Never too hot and pretty darn quiet underwater! Grin. What do you wish??