Coffee Talk: The Answers Part 3

A few more of your questions answered, as told through my rambling answers
and a few photos here and there...

6.  Who are your favorite musicians/bands?  What are your 
favorite books? ~ Deanna from Delirious Rhapsody

Music has always been such a big part of my life: from my early childhood, dancing with
my brother to my mother's amazing record collection, to singing in my brother's high
school rock band, "Dysfunctional Family Tree", to sitting on the decks of the ship
while serving in the Navy, listening to Shawn play the guitar and singing our favorite
love songs together.  Our house is always filled with music, either live or blasting
on the stereo.

I was fortunate enough to be a teenager during the 90's grunge era, rocking my Doc
Martens and flannel shirt and devoting my entire heart and soul to the notion that I
would someday be Mrs. Eddie Vedder.  The spirit of that time was ground breaking:
keep your bubble gum pop music and empty lyrics, we're pissed off and we're going to
scream about it!  Kurt Cobain gave us an anthem and Chris Cornell taught us how to use
it.  If you don't know who these people are, it's probably because you had the unfortunate
fate of having to idolize Britney Spears and The Backstreet Boys, so sad.

My favorite type of music is rock, but my taste spans a pretty large spectrum.  I love
indie and folk, grunge and punk, my Southern roots tie me hard to the blues.  I don't
like anything that involves an auto-tuner and overproduced drum machines.  Give
me a guitar, original lyrics, and something to pump my fist to.  Going to shows, seeing
our favorite bands live: it's our passion.  Festivals and rock shows, small clubs and open
mic nights.  We enjoy family jam sessions and sing-a-longs under the stars with
friends.  We've acquired quite an array of musical instruments over the years and
love gathering in a circle, allowing the inspiration and tribal funk to flow.  

Here's an example of what you might hear playing at our house,
a few favorites old and new...

  And reading, oh how I love to read!  My mother didn't allow us to watch very much
TV when we were little: instead encouraging us to play music, sending me to dance
class, weekly trips to the library where I devoured every book I could get my hands on.
She gave us the gift of imagination, showed us the magic that exists when you loose
yourself in a piece of literature, in a beautiful song.  It's something I hope to pass on
to my children as well.

I get obsessed with reading series.  It all started with Anne Rice back in junior high:
I read through her entire vampire series and LOVED it.  I love series that create a
whole other world, developing characters and places and pulling you in, making you
want to know more and more.  Some of my other favorites are the Sookie Stackhouse
series, Philipa Gregory's historical fiction novels about the Tudor dynasty, Harry Potter,
and The Twilight books. I also love biographies and a good love story every now and
then.  Basically, I just love to read and try to make time for a good book whenever
I can squeeze it in...

7.  As a current Med/Surg nurse looking for something new on the 
nursing frontier, I was curious as to how you like home health nursing! 
What made you decide to pursue that change in your career? 
~ Alyssa from The Lovely Things in Life 

Nursing truly is an amazing career: we have so many options of what we can do, places
we can go, different patient populations to work with.  The freedom and endless
possibilities are what drew me to nursing in the first place.  I love the fact that my career
can change with my lifestyle.  I was a Med-Surg nurse for several years and loved it.  I
loved the adrenaline rush of caring for critically ill patients, the fast pace, and the
interesting array of situations my job put me in.  But then, we had our second child and
my life got a little more full.  I suddenly started to dread going to work, the thought of
being away from home for 12 hours began to seem daunting.  I could feel me heart
breaking more and more each week.

I made the decision to find a new job that would provide hours more conducive to raising
my daughters and spending time with my husband.  After making a million lists of pros
and cons, networking my butt off, and praying for the right opportunity, I was offered
a job with a local, fast growing home health company.  So far, I LOVE it!  The hours
are amazing: I work from 8 am until 2-3 pm Monday-Friday, no nights, no holidays,
no weekends.  I am able to get Isabelle off to school and I am home when she gets off
the school bus everyday.  I only have to miss one feeding with my little Brees.  I have
dinner on the table every night and every weekend off.  My patients are adorable and
the nature of the job is bringing out different skills in my nursing repertoire that I
haven't honed in on thus far: being a home health nurse requires a lot of assessment skills
and putting the whole picture together.  It's incredibly rewarding to walk into a home,
assess the situation holistically, and then make critical thinking decisions to improve
the problems that have been contributing to a patient's illness.  I like the fact that I am
on my own, making my own schedule and responsible for my day and my patients.
The ability to be autonomous is amazing and it is forcing me to grow in my
knowledge base.

The only down side I see so far is using my car for work.  While I am reimbursed by
my company for mileage, the wear and tear on my vehicle will eventually catch up.
But really, what more could you want than cruising around in your own car all day,
listening to your favorite tunes, taking care of people in need?  No boss breathing down
your neck, no catty office politics?  My company views me as an educated individual
capable of performing my work to the highest standard, therefore there's no
micro-managing.  Just a nurse on the open highway!  Shawn and I thought long and
hard about what was best for our family, our sanity, and our finances.  God really
blessed us with this job because it truly has benefited all of those aspects.  For now, this
job is perfect for our lifestyle and where I am in my career.  And when our needs
change and this job no longer suits us, I'll set off in search of something else that
does.  Nursing equals job security and, in this day and age, that in itself
is a blessing!!

Good luck with your journey, Alyssa!!