It's a rainy day in Georgia!

We are getting some much needed rain this week! I am so glad! One of my favorite things to do is curl up with a good book while it is pouring outside! I am also happy that the ground will be soft now, so I can finish weeding. We mainly have clay instead of dirt, and you can hurt yourself if you try to work it when it is dry!


I took this picture of some blossoms on our Japanese Cherry tree. We planted it in memory of Charlie's dad, and it took awhile to really grow well because of the relentless drought we have been experiencing. This year it has really done well! It is right outside the kitchen window, and right now when the blinds are open, it is so pretty! We have tons of birds that fly in and out of the branches. It's especially nice because our neighbors have decided to park two boats in the easement that is between our houses, and it is tall and full enough that I don't see them when I look out the window! We don't have a neighborhood association, and while I know there are a lot of problems that can come from those, sometimes it's not such a bad thing to have some rules! Oh well. On to more fun things. . . .



This card was made with a German stamp set! It has such cute images! I got it from a friend I met on Splitcoaststampers. She came to Atlanta for a conference, and I took her around town to Archivers, Michaels, and a LSS in Marietta. We had the best time!

It looks like the rain has stopped for a bit--just in time for car pool!

Try to do something nice...

You can't really tell in this picture, but this is a large serving bowl full of chips, minus about 10 chips. On tuesday, when I was in Michaels (had to use my 50% coupon!), they had a stack of flyers from a local school who was trying to raise money for their orchestra. If you ate at Chili's, they would donate 10% of the bill to the high school. Being the civic minded person that I am (not to mention how much I love their chicken enchilada soup), I decided to have lunch there. By myself. Their soup and salad lunch special included chips. They brought me enough to feed four people! My DH was happy that I brought the leftovers home, LOL.

My PSF Amy got me this cute stamp set for one of the friendship swaps, and I used it to make a birthday card. This hippo just makes me smile, and I love pink and green together.

I did get the first four books of the Cherry Ames series, and had a great time reading them. They are set in the 1940's, WWII era. My, how nursing has changed since then! Such as:

-Now there are few, if any, hospital based nursing programs.

-I know that when I was in nursing school ('75-'79), we were so excited to get our nurses caps (well, except for the 2 guys in our class, LOL)--we had a ceremony--it was a big deal! If I remember right, the caps were plain white until we graduated, then we added red and black ribbon. As proud as I was of that cap, it was a royal pain in the neck to wear at work. I was forever ripping it off my head by accidentally leaning against something. And can you imagine the germs that were on that thing? I wonder if nursing students these days still get caps? No one at the hospital where I work wears them!

-I don't know when it stopped, but we don't stand up anymore when a doctor is present! (thank goodness). I do respect their education and responsibilities, but I did also graduate from college, took state boards, and have great responsibility as a bedside nurse. We nurses are usually the ones that alert the drs. if there is a problem, since they are not right there with their patients all the time. I very much feel that I am an integral part of the team, and I will just stay seated, thankyouverymuch!

-Nowadays, parents are encouraged to stay with their children when they are hospitalized (and let me say here that for safety's sake, ANYONE who is hospitalized should have a family member or close friend stay with them). I cannot imagine, as a parent, having to leave my child in the hospital, yet that was the norm when these books were written.

-There were "wards" for patients back then--very few "rooms". Can you imagine being sick and being in a room with, say, 10 or 20 other patients? Icky. The sounds, the smells, blah! Give me a private room anytime!

Those were the main things that stood out for me. I have donated the books to my church library. I can't wait to see if any of the girls there read them--and if they do, what they think!

Invasion of the headless people..

Awhile back, my PSF Paulette sent me a package of goodies--actually she sent goodies to a BUNCH of us! It was so much fun to rip open that envelope and see what she had chosen for me! How did she know I didn't have any of the "headless people" stamps?

I had to ink it up and use it for her thank you card!

Humm--I need to work on my picture taking skills, tho. That background is way too dark!

And after gazing at all those kisses, I am craving chocolate!

Cherry Ames

Before I talk about Cherry Ames, I wanted to share this card I made for my Dad's birthday! (actually, I wanted the card image to be at the BOTTOM of this post, but I can't figure out yet how to make that happen!)
I love the House Mouse images, and this one just made me smile! I got to use my new top note die, and I sponged brown ink all over it. I used stickles on the frosting (popped it up), and accordian folded a VERY TINY piece of DSP to try to look like a cupcake paper. I thought it turned out cute! Anyhow---

I knew I would be a nurse from "way back when". In sixth grade, I went to boarding school in Accra, Ghana. The school had a little library, and I was enchanted! I loved to read--I practically devoured books--and in the bush village where I lived with my parents, the library came to us in the back of a truck, and it didn't come very often! Needless to say, I spent a lot of time plowing through the meager shelves of books in that school library. That is where I first heard about Cherry Ames, Student Nurse! I practically read the print right off the pages of those books as I dreamed about the day when finally, "I" would be a nurse, too. Funny how the books never mentioned working night shift, weekends, and holidays!

I decided to google Cherry Ames today, and I found out the the books have been reprinted! I am going to see if the library has them--I truly can't remember what any of the stories were about. I have so many books that I keep going back to re-read. I feel like it is revisiting an old friend, and I think it would be fun to see if I still love the books as much as I did over 40 (gulp!) years ago!


I hope this link works, if you want to check her out!





http://www.netwrx1.com/CherryAmes/

Ok, I really liked this one when I made it, but now that I am looking at the picture, I think I should've turned the striped paper on its side!

I am trying to use more of my DSP stash.

Humm--I guess if I want to post more than one picture I need to pick them all at once!

My PSF's made me do it!

Ok, I really have no idea exactly what I am doing here, but I kind of like the idea of having a place to share my thoughts! Bear with me as I look around my new "place".

I am a Third Culture Kid. I first heard that term while reading a book called "Letters Never Sent" by Ruth E. Van Reken. She was a Missionary Kid, like I was. I actually went to school with one of her sisters. She defined it in her book as "an individual who, having spent a significant part of the developmental years in a culture other than the parents' culture, develops a sense of relationship to all of the cultures while not having full ownership in any. Elements from each culture are incorporated into the life experience, but the sense of belonging is in relationship to to others of similar experience."

This kind of experience can either make or break a person. It bent me, but I'm so glad that it didn't break me. I think I am a stronger, more compassionate person because of it.

I have made some awesome friends in my life--currently some of my best friends are ladies that I have never met in real life! We love to stamp, shop, eat, drink, laugh and cry, share our hearts and do just about anything else friends do--all online! I am looking forward to meeting some of them next month at the "PSF Palooza".

Once I figure out how, I will share some cards and pictures!