Happy New Year!  I can't believe the holiday season is over already but am grateful that mine was peaceful and happy and hope everyone else's was as well.  My pops turned 70 at the end of last year, so I got to fly home for a couple of days to see him.  My family rented a giant lodge that slept 30 people and we spent time sledding, eating, laughing and insulting each other.  I enjoyed myself immensely, especially since I didn't have to plan anything except showing up!  For some reason, I am getting worse at documenting my life rather than better, and because of this, I took very few pictures o ..read more

Christmas Eve is 3 days away and I can't believe another year has nearly flown by.  The kids are happy, I'm still grateful to be living in Rhode Island, and best of all, my mom agreed to come help me with this: That's the front bench in my entry way, complete with my giant soda mug.  It currently has 2 holes almost like outhouse seats on the top of it and underneath are the original pine floors.  It would make a great storage bin, or even better, a lovely little seat, if not for the outhouse holes.  I've almost lived in my house for 3 years and it's taken me that long to figure out what to ..read more

Last week, Jared and I had the chance to go to Savannah for a vagina conference for my work.  I know most people who went would have said they went to the Nurse Practitioners in Women's Health or NPWH conference.  I guess technically that is also accurate, but not nearly as interesting as saying you went to a vagina conference.  I learned all sorts of stuff while I was there.  Like what to consider when treating a menopausal woman, and information on high blood pressure in pregnancy, and even what I need to know to become an opioid use disorder provider, just to name a few.  It was an informat ..read more

I've been so busy these last two months since starting my second semester of my post masters, that I haven't had time to do much else besides study.  Unfortunately, this means I haven't had time for my home renovations either.  I promised Hannah last summer when I ripped her door off to refinish it, that I would definitely have it done in just a few weeks...  That was nearly 18 months ago.  The poor thing sits in my garage, so close to being done, yet so very far away.  Hannah stopped complaining about it so much once I hung a sheet over the gaping hole to her room, but I know for a fact she w ..read more

Midwifery week just ended, and I spent it like I spend every midwifery week: working as a midwife, taking care of my family, and trying to get some sleep in between.  One of my partners posted this to celebrate: It made me think of all the nurse midwives that have helped shape me through the years.  Whether it was a pearl of wisdom, a scolding, or just a word of encouragement when I felt down, each of them has helped transform me into what I am today.  While I was ruminating, I remembered another poem that hit a chord with me: One of my current partners had shared this at a birth bless ..read more

Another 2 months has passed me by and I have had a huge case of writer's block!  It's not that funny things haven't happened to me.  Heck, even a lot of boring things happened to me.  It's just that I can't seem to remember to take pictures to prove it and I can't seem to muster up the energy to get anything done about the blog.  It might be because I've started my second semester of my Post Master's and just feel overwhelmed trying to think about anything else.  It might also be the stress I feel because my home renovations aren't even close to being done.  Or it might be some mild depression ..read more

My parents, Kayley, and my sister Briana and her family left yesterday after visiting me for about 10 days.  It was marvelous to have them here because now that I live so far away in Rhode Island, I just don't see my family as often as I would like.  I used to eat Sunday dinner every week with my folks.  Briana, mom, and I would eat lunch together a lot, and nearly every holiday, I was together with as many of my family members as I could possibly convince to hang around with me.  I love my family and miss each of them for different reasons.  For anyone that doesn't know, I am the eldest of ni ..read more

Since I no longer had my niece Kate to entertain this week, Jared and I were able to get back to working on my dining room.  The wainscoting is now like 25% done and the tin ceiling has been totally sealed with silicone.  Here's the wainscoting: I'm getting so excited to have the room done that I sent some pics to my family to brag a little.  Some of my siblings had some nice things to say but my dad just asked why I sent him a picture of some buckets.  This insensitivity came despite the fact that I have been very engaged and supportive with all the pictures he has been sending me documenti ..read more

Yesterday was my 21st wedding anniversary.  Even after all the time Jared and I have been together, there's still a lot of magic and romance floating around.  If you're wondering what someone in such a long term commitment plans for their lover on such a special day, you're in luck, cause I'm about to blog about it!  The day started quite nicely: Don't get excited. It was just some innocent snuggles and some quick words of congratulation about our milestone.  Then we had to get Bub up and out of the door so that we could get our day trip started.  This year we decided to go to the Statue of ..read more

Well, a month has gone by and where have I been?  Busy!  That's where!  My dining room renovation has been coming along nicely albeit a bit slowly.  I'm about to measure the room for wainscoting, but at least the tin ceiling is finally up.  Before: Somewhere at the start:  Finished: Eventually she'll be painted to match my other original ceilings, but I was pretty impressed with how it turned out.  It was an expensive upgrade and I had to save my pennies for a year in order to afford it, but it was well worth the money to match up with what I already had! Any project Jared a ..read more