Ask Me Anything Answers

A few days ago I asked you all to ask me anything and I would answer it for you. I got a nice variety of questions! Here are my answers.
Heather: "What is your earliest memory?"
My very first memory is of my third birthday party. It was at my house and it was a Smurfette theme. I know you're jealous. I remember my Smurfette cake, with lots of blue icing and her blond hair in yellow icing. I remember grouping together with my friends for a picture, and for some reason I remember one of those small little trampolines. That's really weird because I vividly remember playing on it during the party, but we never had one of those. Strange...
Marilyn: "Describe your dream vacation."
Many people know, but some don't, that I DO NOT like hot weather. I am a jeans and sweater girl, and I like baking casseroles and breads, and hot weather is just not fun to bake in and I hate shorts. So, my dream vaca would NOT be to some hot beach or Mediterranean destination. I would choose to go to a lodge at a mountain and ski and play in the snow. Maybe a cozy little cabin, as long as it had electricity and no ferrets, which is another story for another time. I would also love to go to a beach house in the winter, the beach when it's cold is fun, too. I imagine a fire in the beach house and lots of blankets and watching movies and playing games.
Melissa: "If you could buy one lavish thing, what would it be?"
Well, to make this answer easy, I'll have to eliminate things. If I could, I'd buy a big, lavish house, but I think Melissa means something smaller. Or, I'd buy a Dutch Brothers, but I also think that's too big. If I had the money and was a little bit skinnier, I would buy a really nice pair of boots. And I don't mean of the rubber variety. I mean fancy,knee-high, fashionista boots in chocolate brown. Someday I will.
Carye: "Why did you decide to become a nurse?"
I ask myself that same thing sometimes when I'm dealing with a withdrawing meth-head or some crotchety old man who continuously presses the call light. Just kidding. I really do love my job, and I think it's more of a calling than anything else. I am so thankful my parents made me go to college. They said they would help me and that I had to go and pick a university and live there, even if I didn't know what I wanted to be. The life experiences I had shaped who I am today and I am truly thankful for that. I picked nursing because I knew that, more than anything, I wanted to be a stay at home mom and I needed something that would be flexible and allow me to stay home. I will encourage my daughters, if they want to be stay at home mom's, to pick a career like nursing, teaching, etc. I worked for a few years before I got married and had kids, and now I work one day a week. It's perfect! I am so thankful to be able to stay home with the girls. I work on a floor that does cardiac work. We take care of patient's with heart attacks that require an intervention and open heart surgeries. It's very rewarding. I've heard some people say they could never be a nurse and deal with blood and guts, but it's not too bad, and I think most people would be surprised. The example I always use is when your kid throws up, sure it grosses you out, but your primary concern is for them and how they're feeling, you only get grossed out after the fact. That's how it is with nursing. I do see blood, but I've only seen guts once. Literally. A guy had had abdominal surgery and had a HUGE incision and he sneezed, repeatedly, and couldn't stop and his wound burst open while I was standing there and his intestines came pouring out. Now that I've scared you all away from nursing, let me just tell you that he was fine and had a simple operation to put everything back and he actually found the whole experience highly amusing. I, however, did not find it amusing as I was frantically covering his wound with sterile cloths and trying not to let anymore guts spill out while yelling my head off for someone to come in and call the doctor. I did laugh about it later when I knew he was alright.
My last question is from Patti. She asked about how Chris and I met, how long we were engaged, etc. It is such a good story that I must save it for tomorrow, this post is too long already. Until tomorrow!