My Girly Girl

Olivia would seem like the ideal child to be a girly girl. She is small, petite, and curvy (already...sigh!) She has beautiful long brown hair and huge brown eyes. However this is not to be. She has adamantly stated that she wants NO DRESSES for summer. She is revolted by the beautiful Easter dresses we have shown her. She just says that she wants shirts and pants only. Her newest imaginary friend is Mr. Beacon, a great big, black, furry wolf.

God did see fit to give me a girly girl though. She has blond hair, blue eyes, and dimples. She is the chubbiest, juiciest baby you could ever imagine. She has been name Polar Bear by her sister. However, this girl likes all things girly. She sleeps with a newborn Cabbage Patch Kid. She loves soft, fluffy animals. AND she adores the beautiful Easter dresses and gets upset that we don't give them to her to hug all the way through the store.

Last night we pulled out a couple of boxes of spring and summer clothes that we had put away last year. We pulled out a beautiful pale yellow dress with lavender flowers on it. Olivia was disgusted. Sofia was enamored. It was size 18 months, which doesn't generally fit Sofia and we were pretty sure it wouldn't fit at all. However, she was determined that we were going to take off her jammies and put her in this beautiful dress. So we did, and it fit for now. It won't fit for long though. She was so excited when we picked her up and allowed her to see her reflection in the mirror, that was the biggest smile ever.

My Girls

Olivia decided we needed to go to the playground today. She wanted to go, and as it was about 75 degrees and sunny today, who could blame her?

So we got everyone in play clothes, piled in the car, went through the McDonald's drive-thru and got lunch which we ate at the picnic tables at the playground. After lunch the girls got to play for about an hour before we went to Dairy Queen for an ice cream cone, which they LOVED.

The girls had so much fun going down the slides, there are five at this playground and Olivia went down them all. Sofia is seen above being caught by a friend she made at the playground. The little girl kept trying to play with Olivia, but Olivia was very much on her own today. Well, on her own with her current imaginary friend, Gimli. Now for those who don't know, Gimli is a dwarf from The Lord of The Rings. Hard to picture a dwarf in full body armor playin at the playground, but Olivia insisted. (She even took our Gimli action figure to bed with her tonight...strange girl, I know.) **See Gimli below as play by John Rhys Davis in the movie version of LOTR.**


The girls had a blast and Olivia is already talking about our next trek to the playground. Unfortunately, Mama has required classes to take for work most of next week, so it may be the week after :o(

Seriously Offended...

Okay, so someone with too much time on their hands (or whatever,) decided to come onto my blog and criticize me for being offended about things regarding Harry Potter. There are many things that offend me, number one being stupid people who wish to criticize me for being offended about Harry Potter.

This is MY blog, if you want to criticize people get your own blog and do it there. If you want to read about serious things, skip over the fluff posts and read about the Iraq War, babies requiring CPR, etc. I post enough serious topics on this blog, that there should be no reason to criticize me about my Harry Potter post.

Any further comments such as the one I received last night will be deleted. There is enough crap that I have to deal with, I don't need it on here! Especially from someone who won't even cop to who they are and leave the post anonymously.

Severus Snape

I must admit my confusion. I am a HUGE Harry Potter fan, I love the books, I enjoy the movies, and I am impatiently awaiting July 21. However, I must admit that I thought that JK Rowling wrote the Harry Potter books, not the Severus Snape books. I do recall Harry Potter and the Philosopher's/Sorcerer's Stone, Harry Potter and the Chamber of Secrets, Harry Potter and the Prisoner of Azkaban, Harry Potter and the Goblet of Fire, Harry Potter and the Order of the Phoenix, Harry Potter and the Half-Blood Prince, and soon Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows.

The only book title that relates to him at all (so far) is the Half-Blood Prince. Seven books and only one title that mentions Snape. Seven books titles mention Harry Potter, and not in riddle, they straight forward mention him.

Now, there are other characters in the books. Some I love, some I like, some I dislike, some I loathe, and some I am apathetic about. On the love/like side are the Weasley's, Dumbledore, Hermione, the members of the Order, Seamus, Dean, the Creevy bros, etc. On the dislike/loathe side, there are the Malfoy's, Crabbe, Goyle, Voldemort and his Death Eaters, most of the Slytherins, and Dolores Umbridge. The apathetic feelings are with some of the other characters.

Now, granted, JK Rowling has created a wealth of characters and there are many I would enjoy knowing more about, however these books are the Harry Potter books. AND ALL OF THE CHARACTERS ARE CREATED BY HER AND LIVE IN THE WORLD SHE CREATED!!!

I take serious offense at people who claim not to "trust the character of Snape in JKR's hands." I take offense to people who claim they don't want to read the last book because they are worried Snape may die. I seriously take offense at people who gripe about the movies because Snape didn't have a big enough role. I thought the books (and the movies) were about Harry Potter and his world. I thought the other characters were there to move the story ABOUT HARRY POTTER along, both good and bad. I never realized that the whole series was secretly about Severus Snape. I never realized that ANYONE thought that JK Rowling must write her characters and her world and her books in such a way as to not piss off the Severus Snape fans.

My first, and only, foray into the discussion boards on one of the Harry Potter fanfic sites brought about only disgust. Yes, I have my favorite characters. Yes, I can tell you who my favorite character (aside from Harry) is. Yes, I can tell you what it feels like to see that character get murdered. I can tell you what it feels like to have that character murdered by the "adored" Severus Snape. I would rather see Snape dead any day than to have Dumbledore dead, but JK Rowling didn't ask me, nor did I expect her to. I think people need to get over the idea that they own these characters and this world. The characters, and world, belong to JK Rowling and we can play in it with some fanfic, but the canon belongs to her and we must respect that.

I do more than respect it, I adore it and I am furious at the people who would claim not to read the books because Severus Snape may die. Dumbledore died, the only way it could get worse would be to see Harry die, and that is a real possibility and I am prepared to deal with that if that is what JK Rowling throws at us. Her world, her characters, her stories; thank you JK Rowling for all you have created for us. I, for one, am forever grateful.

Mad As Hell!

Eve Of Destruction
Lyrics by P.F. Sloan

The eastern world, it is exploding
Violence flarin’, bullets loadin’
You’re old enough to kill, but not for votin’
You don’t believe in war, but what’s that gun you’re totin’
And even the Jordan River has bodies floatin’

But you tell me
Over and over and over again, my friend
Ah, you don’t believe
We’re on the eve
of destruction.

Don’t you understand what I’m tryin’ to say
Can’t you feel the fears I’m feelin’ today?
If the button is pushed, there’s no runnin’ away
There’ll be no one to save, with the world in a grave
[Take a look around ya boy, it's bound to scare ya boy]

And you tell me
Over and over and over again, my friend
Ah, you don’t believe
We’re on the eve
of destruction.

Yeah, my blood’s so mad feels like coagulatin’
I’m sitting here just contemplatin’
I can’t twist the truth, it knows no regulation.
Handful of senators don’t pass legislation
And marches alone can’t bring integration
When human respect is disintegratin’
This whole crazy world is just too frustratin’

And you tell me
Over and over and over again, my friend
Ah, you don’t believe
We’re on the eve
of destruction.

Think of all the hate there is in Red China
Then take a look around to Selma, Alabama
You may leave here for 4 days in space
But when you return, it’s the same old place
The poundin’ of the drums, the pride and disgrace
You can bury your dead, but don’t leave a trace
Hate your next-door neighbor, but don’t forget to say grace
And… tell me over and over and over and over again, my friend
You don’t believe
We’re on the eve
Of destruction
Mm, no no, you don’t believe
We’re on the eve
of destruction.

This song was written, recorded, and released in 1965. It was performed by Barry McGuire who did an amazing job in my opinion. I heard it for the first time as a teenager and thought it was a great song that captured the essence of the Vietnam/Civil Rights era very well. A great Vietnam War protest song.

Listening to that song tonight, I realize that 42 years later we are in the same damn position. Our boys (and girls) now can vote, but are still sent to kill and be killed over some old men's disagreements. I guess our president forgot history, so we are now repeating it.

Maybe we should look toward Selma or New York or Washington, DC, or any other city in America and clean up our own problems and take care of our own people before we take on wealthy oil dictators. What about the evil dictators in this world that AREN'T sitting on a pile of oil? Why aren't we ousting them and helping the people they are terrorizing? Oh, right, oil, never mind!

All I have to say is January 20, 2009, can't get here fast enough.

Something To Think About

Okay, I have been a nurse for almost eight years, and in this time I have been a part of multiple code situations (more than I can count, probably more than I can remember.) However, in all of this time, I have NEVER done chest compressions on anyone. I have bagged, I have run for supplies, I have started IVs, and I have done the charting. Yet, I had never done chest compressions, at least not until two weeks ago.

I had two patients that night, one of whom was extremely busy and extremely sick. Thankfully the other was doing very well and was just waiting for a bed to come available so he could get transferred out of the PICU. My sick baby, four weeks old, had "misbehaved" when I was at lunch and once when I went to the bathroom. Of course, I had left another nurse in charge of him, so he was okay when I got back to the room. The other nurses teased me that he didn't want me to leave him.

Well, last thing before I leave, his heart rate starts to drop and I end up doing chest compressions on him. It is very strange to do chest compressions on someone who weighs all of six pounds. Very strange and definitely life altering. I have to admit that I struggled over the next few days with all the psychological implications of having to do these chest compressions. I am very grateful I was there, the respiratory therapists at the bedside gave me the positive reinforcement I needed after he was stabilized. Thankfully this was never a full blown code situation and his heart rate was back up, on its own, within 30 seconds. However, the affect on me has been profound! That little guys life was literally in my hands, that is a very scary place to be, thankfully I didn't have time to think about that until AFTER the fact!