Greetings from Iowa!

Hello there! It's been a busy summer and that has resulted in me being absent from the forum for far too long, unfortunately. My husband can attest to how how longingly (and often!) I spoke of fly-tying and the this forum.


My job - as a nurse on a busy obstetric (labor and delivery) unit - has been further complicated by the resignation of several nurses. So we all have to make up their hours and we are going on almost a year of mandatory overtime for everyone.


This summer Chris and I have been able to get to know our neighbors much better, which is something we had been praying for. The neighbor that shares our garden (Mr. Jackson, an elderly black man) had heart surgery about a month ago; I used to work in the ICU in which he was a patient.... so I was able to go and visit him and answer his questions and he told us it meant a lot to him that we came to visit and support him. He has a picture of him and Chuck Norris haging in his man-cave (I haven't figured out the story behind that yet.) Now we are working on replacing his gutters before it rains too much...


Our drug-dealing neighbor (we call him Mr. Spinner because of his "spinning" wheels on his car) had a vicious pitbull attack his three pitbulls, and kill one of them... and since I am a nurse he asked for my help; I got to meet him and a few members of his family and get to know them a little bit. I was able to help a little as well but I couldn't save their dog's life.. They asked me to help them in a few weeks when their female pitbull (named Queenie) whelps her pups.


Chris and I are still working hard toward paying off our student loans. We have paid off over $35,000 in two years - with not making much more than that combined... but we want to pay them off before we have kids. And we want to have children, soon, Lord willing. So I will be posting on here soon some things for sale; mainly because we are desperate to be free of our debt.


Also, I am studying for the GRE because I hope to get into grad school next fall to be a nurse practitioner. (yes, more debt, but a better paycheck too... as a nurse I only make about $21 an hour, before taxes.... So I plan to take the GRE in December or January, and apply for grad school shortly thereafter.


So, that's basically everything new in my life - I really look forward to catching up and seeing everyone's flies! :-)

Love you all!

Karli-Rae

P.S. Christopher and I just celebrated our 2-year anniversary this month, September 3rd! We went back to Kirskville, our college town, to visit old friends. :-) And go fishing!

Karli-Rae,

You are a determined young woman who goes after what you want. Best wishes for you on the GRE and grad school. I have no doubt you'll succeed with flying colors.

Not to lecture you, but do be carefully associating with a drug dealer.

Karli-Rae,It is so good to hear of young people pursuing their dreams.Hang in there

As Ray said it is good to hear from you and learn about your very busy life. If the good ole USA had more youngsters like you, more of us "Old Guys" would feel a lot better about the future of the country. Hopefully you are the voice of the silent majority we don't hear much about because you are busy making good things happen.

I have a young cousin in MS who recently past her board on becoming a nurse practitioner, that seems to be the future of much of medicine. I believe the last "doctor" I saw was a nurse practitioner at CVS, who cured my gout. Try to slip a little enjoyment into all the work and have some fun. I think about you everytime I dig into the beads you sent me on the little swap we did several years ago.

Good to hear from you.

Rick