NURSES CALL THE SHOTS!!!!

I am loving it!! As a nurse, we use to just have nurses day in our honor. Now we get a whole week!! That's because we are such a integral part of life. What would we do without nurses!! We have come a long way since the days of Flo!! There were the days of flight nurses!! Can you just imagine that you could take a flight and and get your insulin monitored or make sure you took your lipitor or VIAGRA!!??


I was so thrilled when I graduated from nursing and got $5 per hour(no benefits). Even though I was basically a hand maid to the MD. Carried HIS (male dominated society) charts on rounds, held the suture string, brought coffee, always cleaned up the mess, etc. Don't miss those days. Now I work at all woman clinic and only make coffee for myself. And I did get a raise and have benefits!

But it has been a long and windy road!! It never seemed fair to me that the male dominated trades made way more money and had wonderful retirement. They would have never put up with all the crap (literally) that nurses took. Over the years, nurses finally have a voice. Fortunately, for the nurses that are turning out now, they will have better benefits, retirement, job satisfaction, improved safety and quality of patient care. Whoops, I am up on my soap box.

I was thrilled to hear this "thrive" ad on the radio for Kaiser celebrating nurses.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Dg8mH9D-PVQ
"Nurses are nurses because their capacity to care is colossal.
May our 45,000 nurses all live long and thrive."

So on your birthday today, Florence, I want to celebrate the legacy you left and the vision you had for modern nursing over 166+ years ago.

Live your life while you have it. Life is a splendid gift.
There is nothing small about it.

As a Kaiser RN it is only fitting that I will part with:
"MAY YOU LIVE LONG AND THRIVE!"

"MOTHERS ARE A NATURAL FORCE. . .

. . . AND MAYBE AN ALTERNATIVE SOURCE OF FUEL"

It is only appropriate that at this time of the year, I do a tribute to

MoTHeRS

After all, if it weren't for our mothers, we wouldn't be around!?!? There are so many wonderful qualities my mother had, but it seems a perfect time to talk about the traits of our moms’ we swore we’d never adopt but have — in spite of our best efforts. I remember when the words- “Because I said so, that's why” slipped out. I could not believe those words escaped my lips! I swore I would NEVER say things like that. Wasn't long into motherhood that I was eating lots of crow.

Here are just a few of those expressions. I am sure you can add a few of your own in the comments:

How many times do I have to tell you?
If I've told you once ... I've told you a thousand times.

"Tough cookies"

A little "birdy" told me!

Always wear clean underwear in case you get in an accident!
(Now I just keep a pair in the glovebox just in case!!??)

Someday your face will freeze like that!

Cleanliness is next to Godliness.

Are you going out dressed like that?

If you can't say something nice, don't say anything at all.

Think of those poor starving children in . . .

"I love you!"

Mother's Day Card 1995

Mother's Day CARD 2011

"The hand that rocks the cradle usually is attached to someone who isn't getting enough sleep."