Do you want to link?

Not much to write today, still having palpitations over this Google ranking thing. I wonder why it has to be so involved....If anyone reading my blog has a website and you'd like to trade links (I can put you on my blog and my NurseNoggins Scrub Caps by "d" site) please email me at NURSENOGGINS@AOL.COM . Send me your information so I can check out your site to make sure it's not X-Rated. Thanks and have a great day!

(Image courtesy of UMaine.edu)

It's Amazing How Far Scrub Caps Reach

I met a young man yesterday at my friend's house. Her only computer is in her son's room so we sort of interrupted a visit he was having with some friends. Anyhow, I was showing her some stuff on my NurseNoggins website when this young man asked what we were looking at. We told him "scrub caps" and he replied that he had worn one recently when he assisted a doctor doing a vasectomy. (If it wasn't for my scrub hat wesite we probably wouldn't have even started this conversation.) Turns out this guy is 20 years old and in the US military.(I'm very ashamed to say I can't remeber his name, but I DO remember his face.) He said he's going to Iraq soon. I asked him if he's scared and he looked a little sheepish and said, "Yes, I am." I wonder why we quickly forget that these young soldiers are mere boys, youngsters who should be skiing and four-wheeling and seeing the latest Mission Impossible flick. What sheer terror his mom must feel sending him off to war. I applaud all our servicemen and women for their courage and dedication to our country. I thank you all for making my life better and safer and easier. I wish you all a safe return.

Scrub Caps and the American Dream

As we head into this holiday weekend I just had to share this picture I took last year just outside my NurseNoggins window. For me it symbolizes what I'm about. I am very proud to be a part of this great nation. Living here in the west (I moved from the southeast) truly gives one an appreciation for the vast and varied expanse that is this country. Here in Denver we can go from the desert to the tundra in a mere two hours. If you haven't been to Rocky Mountain National Park, you are missing snow in June, bighorn sheep, herds of elk and endless views. South of Denver is the Great Sand Dunes National Park, a miraculous Sahara Desert against the backdrop of the mountains. Then there's the Royal Gorge, the hot Springs at Pagosa, and miles and miles and miles of the Rocky Mountains. The storms can be fierce, the sunsets are breathtaking and 300 days of intense sunshine is the norm.

So here I am, smack dab in the middle of it all, trying to carve out the American Dream. I'm an OR nurse working hard to build my small business so that I can be independent of corporate America, hire a few like-minded women, and have the resources to continue to do what I love for a living. Money isn't everything...living a good life is.

(Now, if there was just a little pot of gold at the end of that rainbow!)

Barbaro

With all the media surrounding Barbaro this week, I just had to put in my 2 cents worth. Although I'm not sure it's valid to assign human emotions to a horse's psyche, I must admire the drive this animal has to keep going. I cheered as he broke through the gate toward his final run...Let's go...Let's do it..."Let's roll!" And as he was pulled to an abrupt stop by his rider, it's as if he was saying, "No, no, it's ok, I'm ok, I can do this! Don't make me stop!" As with other tragedies that showcase the American spirit, this horse's injury has bonded many of us somehow and has mobilized our unified encouragement to make him an ultimate survivor. Be triumphant, Barbaro!
(photo courtesy of SportsIllustrated.cnn.com)

Scrub Caps Aren't for Sissies!

I just read a great blog called The Underwear Drawer. It's written by a doctor who did a great piece on scrub caps! I wonder why everyone doesn't wear a "funky" cap. Those horrible paper blue ones the hospital issues are not only ugly, they smell like kerosene. All pediatric nurses should be required to wear a juvenile print just to help eliminate the stark clinical impression a kid gets when he visits the hospital. In my career as an OR nurse I've had so many patients comment about my caps...the conversation isn't about their illness or their anxiety, it's about "That's the cutest hat I've ever seen! Where did you get it?" (Yes, women think about shopping even on the way to surgery!)

Nursing School and the Internet

Nursing school was really tough. It was a long time ago, but the memory is so clear. I attended a Catholic college (I'm not Catholic) and boy, those nuns were ruthless! I'm not so sure that's the optimal way to learn, but nonetheless it was effective. Nursing Boards were a killer, but I passed. I can only hope the Internet experience is the same. I wonder why getting a website recognized by Google is so tough. It's been painful! For over a year I've researched and experimented and it seems like the more you learn, the more you find out there's a lot more to learn. I thought you just had to produce a morally decent website with a product that sells and POOF! your website was presented to millions of viewers. Not so! My NurseNoggins site appears on Yahoo when you type scrub caps in the search bar (they know a good thing when they see it) but only appears in Google as a sponsored (definition= paid for) site or when you type in the exact name. So I'm armed with friends who give me hints, endless net searches and The Complete Idiot's Guide to Growing Your Business with Google. If you have a pertinent site, let's link!!! Best offer you've had all day!!!

Nurses, Dr. Kildare, ER and House

I wonder why I watch medical tv shows. You would think a nurse would get tired of going from the drama in the hospital to the drama in the living room. When I was a young teenager it was because Richard Chamberlain (AKA Dr. Kildare) was such a "hunk". It didn't matter what the story line was. When I first became a nurse it was so exciting to actually understand the vocabulary in ER AND get to see George Clooney and Noah Wiley at the same time. And now I watch House because it's on right after American Idol and I'm usually too busy sewing scrub caps to change the channel! Actually, it's a really interesting show. The old thrill is gone that I can understand the lingo and Hugh Laurie is no George Clooney, but the show gets a few brain cells functioning.

If you didn't have bad luck.....

A relative of mine is living the "If you didn't have bad luck you'd have no luck at all" life. I wonder why these things happen to good people. Here's what's happened. His wife is 6 months pregnant with their first child. (That's the only good news here.) His grandfather died and he had to pay $500 for a plane ticket to go to the funeral. His computer got a virus the day after he ran his virus-check and it's totally dead, a fact that took $129 to find out. His step-father was visiting from the coast and suffered severe altitude sickness when they went camping in the mountains, so when my friend was trying to get him home he got a traffic ticket. He lost his job, which amounts to no paycheck and no insurance. April 15th rolled around and, you guessed it...he had to pay Uncle Sam and the state of Colorado $2000. Then his wife had to go to the hospital twice because of pregnancy related problems. Etc, etc, etc. So now this college-educated, hard-working young man is going to start a job doing construction because there just isn't anything else and he's not one of those bums who sits around waiting for a handout. He and his wife (who is working also) are plowing through their savings because every employer on earth wants 3-5 years of experience and he hasn't even been out of college that long! Just doesn't seem right does it?

What's the Deal with Stamps?

I wonder why postage stamps are in such odd amounts. I mean, here they go raising the price of stamps again...the new price will be 42 cents. Why not 45 cents? Why are there always pennies involved? It's not like the American public is going to picket the post office if they raise postage by 6 cents instead of 3 cents...c'mon! (Haven't seen any riots over increasing gas prices, have you?) That's still 2 letters you can mail for less than the price of a candy bar! OK, let's look on the bright side...if they only raise the price by 3 cents you can feed your piggy bank with the change you'll get back. And if your eyesight is good enough you can stand outside the post office and collect all the spare pennies on the ground. (My daughter once flew from Chattanooga, TN to Greenville, NC round trip with money she found in parking lots and in the community pool.) OR....you could save up the spare extra change and buy a really neat scrub cap from NurseNoggins.com. (By the way, the picture at the top is from my porch. Colorado is such a great place to live!)

What's this blog all about?

Ok, so you want to know what this title is all about? Well, I own and operate a scrub cap business. Just scrub caps, nothing else. It's a passion, a sort of productive prozac. The sewing is therapeutic. And I've found that as I spend hours at the sewing machine making scrub caps for NurseNoggins.com I do a lot of thinking. Things like...I wonder why the females on Grey's Anatomy don't have printed fabric scrub caps like the men do? And why didn't the network write back when I wrote to them and offered to send them some? I mean, I didn't dwell on it, I just wanted the gals to look like the tons of "real nurses" (RNs?) across the U.S. who wear my funky prints.

surgical scrub caps
scrub caps