Do you have your lists ready?  I sure do!  I love shopping for just the perfect gift for my friends and loved ones!

I am not much for gift cards, though it is much easier to ship them.  Which would you rather receive...a gift card or a present you knew someone took the time to actually shop for?

Do you actually send the gift yourself, or do you order online and have it shipped?

What is the favortie present you ever got anyone?

The favorite present I  ever bought for anyone was my Mom's Kodak 10.1 MP point and shoot camera.  She is fairly elderly, so the digital image stabilization was a real plus, and the fact that it is so simple to use was wonderful for her!  When we went to Alaska, she took nearly 500 photos, where normally on vacation she might take 10 or 20.  It is great to see what my Mom finds interesting!  Another favorite was also for my Mom but what a crack up!  I went to a "fun party" that was a fundraiser for the Breast Cancer 3 Day (I have walked in two).  I could barely look at anything, but who would have thought that they would have a very classy cookbook?!  Mom collects cookbooks, so imagine her surprise when she opened up "The Aphrodisiac Cookbook" a couple of years ago?!  It made the rounds among her friends, and we still laugh about it!  (By the way, it was beautifully photographed!).

So, there's mine!  What about yours?

TTYL,

laffengyrl

I am just curious...if there are any NICU nurses or respiratory therapists out there...

How many ventilator/oscillator patients do you usually manage in a shift?

Is there an incentive (pay) for working in NICU at your facility?

Are there ample staff for your unit?

What do you feel are safe patient/nurse/therapist ratios?

I'd like to hear how things go in areas I have not worked in.  I have worked in about 15-20 NICU's in my career, but you know how things change.1

Just 4 minutes till the start of the VP Debate, and I am interested to hear what the topics and the discussion will be.  There is a lot of hype on both sides of this election, and I am hoping that they will get past that and get to some real revelation of what the parties are planning and how things may go for the next 4 years.

I am very active, politically, but don't care to discuss "sides".  I just encourage you to listen all you can to the candidates and then to exercise your right and responsibility to vote.  though this following quote is a favorite of mine about world politics is just as applicable between political parties.   

I couldn't help but say to [Mr. Gorbachev], just think how easy his task and mine might be in these meetings that we held if suddenly there was a threat to this world from another planet.  [We'd] find out once and for all that we really are all human beings here on this earth together.  ~Ronald Reagan, 1985

TTYL,

laffengyrl

I was watching TV tonight and there was a show on TLC about kids and beauty pageants.  My daughter is pregnant, and it was a topic she wanted to discuss.  I don't see how anyone could be against what the pageant directors profess that it is for: to instill confidence in the children.  What I don't like is that it requires so many artificial means to do it!  On this show, kids were getting fake tans, using hair pieces, and even fake teeth!  My DD confessed that she is fascinated by the process but doesn't see how parents and children could survive all that goes into it.

My DD's Dad was kind of for her getting into pageants at about age 3.  I was not so into it, so we didn't go there.  I am glad we didn't but one of my Mom's friends had a daughter who did and Mom sewed pageant costumes for her.  The girl got some scholarship money out of it but she never went to college.  She does have a thriving spa business, though, and a child who is competing on pageants.  I guess it works for them.

I know there are parents and grandparents on this website...what do you think about beauty pageants for kids?

Do I love you because you're beautiful,
Or are you beautiful because I love you?
~Richard Rodgers and Oscar Hammerstein II, Cinderella

TTYL,

laffengyrl

I work night shift and have for most of my 30 (+) years in healthcare.  My nights are like other folks' days, and I don't treat them any differently.  Just like most people don't go right to sleep after getting off work at 5 or 7 or even 11pm, I am often up trying to wind down until 10 or 11 am.  Sometimes it is downright difficult to get tired enough to go to sleep.

I refuse to take prescription sleep aids, and being asthmatic, the whole diphenhydramine thing doesn't work for me.  So...I read.  but then I get so into the story that I don't want to put it down.  I do crossword puzzles and word search but I love words so much I lay in bed thinking of the words I missed.  What works?  Sometimes spider solitaire and sometimes my trusty old mahjong program!  What works for you?!

I want to be sure you know that I am NOT an insomniac!  I can sleep most anywhere and any time usually.  I am talking about nights with 2 or more codes or maybe preemie twins being put on high frequency and blood gases every 20 minutes or so on 10 or 15 other vent pts.  You know...adrenaline!

 The amount of sleep required by the average person is five minutes more.  ~Wilson Mizener

 I also have a crazy theory that shopping cures constipation, but I am sure that is too ridiculous to post here!  HAHAHAHA!  Goes right along with my theories that Dinty Moore canned beef stew, green onion potato chips and Hawaiian Punch are the perfect cure for a hangover and how chocolate covered pretzels are the perfect PMS food!  See, I have too much time on my hands!

Well, whatdya know?!  Blogging makes me sleepy!

Good night (day) to you all!

 laffengyrl