Tag: Shelley Baker

My movie reviews

My Movie Review: Coherence

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I recently watched Coherence on Netflix. The movie was interesting kept my focus but was hard to follow. I had to pause the movie a few times because I was trying to make sense of what was going on. It was one of those movies that makes you stop and think because you’re trying to figure out what is actually happening.

I know this might sound funny or strange to some people, but I started thinking about my food choices and how they might affect the way my life turns out over the next few years.

One of the problems I deal with is my eating habits. I constantly crave things like fried chicken, greasy chili, and Coke. I enjoy the taste, and sometimes there is a comfort that comes with eating these foods. Other times, I’m physically hungry, and sometimes it’s just a craving.

While watching this movie, I started thinking about whether making different choices could change how I feel and what my life might look like in the future.

What if, instead of always choosing fried chicken, I chose grilled chicken? What if I made a healthier chili and chose flavored water instead of Coke more often?

I started thinking about how I want to feel on the inside and out. I want to have more energy, feel better, and fit into my clothes more comfortably.

As I was thinking about all of this, I decided I was going to make a healthier chili using lean ground beef, tomato paste, a seasoning packet, onions, low fat cottage cheese, northern beans, black beans and green and yellow peppers.

It’s funny that a movie that had me pausing to figure out what was happening ended up making me think about something as ordinary as what I was going to eat.

I believe you can change your own reality even if it’s just a random decision, each decision matters.

My movie reviews

My movie reviews: Flowers in the Attic

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What’s the weirdest movie you’ve ever watched?

The weirdest movie I ever watched, and had to turn off, was Flowers in the Attic.

I thought the story about the incest involving the children was going too far. She condemns and embarrasses them all for something that, in my opinion, was not their fault. I also believe that when adults know this kind of abuse is happening and do nothing to stop it, they are part of the abuse, too.

I think the more we are exposed to raw and disturbing actions like these, the more they can affect us mentally and emotionally. For some people, this kind of content may bring up past trauma or cause them to disconnect emotionally. There are just some things we don’t need to see.

I would not recommend this movie because I don’t think it’s good for the mind. It made me angry, and I wanted to take a few people out!

My movie reviews

My Movie Reviews: New in Town

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Have you ever watched a movie that left you thinking about your own life? That’s what New in Town did for me.

One of the messages I took away from this movie is that the life we think we want isn’t always the life we need. Sometimes we get so caught up in our plans and expectations that we don’t realize what we’re missing until life takes us in another direction.

I can relate to this in my own life. I thought I wanted to work in a big, fast-paced hospital, but someone told me about a little home in the same town that I had never heard of. I ended up spending 23 years of my life there. Looking back, I believe it was good for my soul, and I grew a lot spiritually.

Sometimes the unexpected turns in life can bring us things we never knew we needed. We may have our own ideas about how our lives should turn out, but that doesn’t mean those plans are always what’s best for us.

Maybe we don’t always need to have everything figured out. Maybe we just need to be open to the possibility that life has something different waiting for us.

I would recommend New in Town to anyone who enjoys a heartwarming movie with humor, new friendships, and a reminder that sometimes the direction we never planned to take can lead us to things we didn’t even know we needed.

Daily Post · writing

I Wasn’t Trying to Be a Writer

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How do you write what people actually want to read?

Honestly, I started journaling when I was younger. I wasn’t aware of what or how I was writing, but I knew writing out my feelings felt good to me. Barely a handful of people read what I wrote and encouraged me to keep writing.

I decided to go to college for nursing and had to take an English class. At the end of the class, my teacher said, “I know you’re going to school to be a nurse but when you have time, I want to encourage you to take a novel-writing class.”

She taught me to describe something in a way that would help the reader feel what I was feeling. For example, instead of just saying it was a dark night and there was a white phone, I might say, “The dark night felt like a spotlight on the white phone.”

In this class, we also read a book. I had maybe only read two or three books, including the one she had us read, which was called Dead End in Norvelt. It was probably meant for ages 11 to 18, if that. Those books were easy for me to read, so if I was going to start writing, I decided I would write about things I understood, like lessons I’ve learned from things I’ve done, and I would keep it easy to read.

I don’t always know what someone else wants to read. I just know what I want to say. I write about things I’ve experienced, things I’ve learned, feelings I’ve had, and sometimes just a thought that gets stuck in my head and won’t leave me alone.

I try to write in a way that is easy for me to understand, because I figure there might be someone else out there who understands it too.

Maybe that’s what my teacher saw in me all those years ago. I wasn’t trying to be a writer. I was just trying to put my feelings into words.

And maybe you don’t have to know exactly what people want to read. Maybe you just have to be willing to tell your story and hope that somewhere in your words, someone finds a little piece of themselves.

Daily Post · writing

Maybe There Are Just Rules to Life

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Do you believe in karma?

I’ve been thinking about this one and I’m not sure I believe in karma the way some people do. I don’t believe that people are necessarily punished for the things they do. I think there are rules to life, and sometimes you just have to follow them.

For example, if you are driving and you are texting, talking, reading, or even putting on makeup, you are taking your attention away from driving. If something happens, I don’t necessarily see that as being punished. There are just certain rules to driving, and one of those rules is that you need to pay attention to the road.

Another example is something as simple as dusting your furniture. If you don’t dust a piece of furniture, it is not going to become clean. It’s going to get dusty. That’s just how it works.

I think life can be like that too. Sometimes our choices have consequences, not because someone or something is punishing us, but because that is simply what happens when we make certain choices.

I also keep thinking about the movie Set It Off. Sometimes people can be really good at breaking the rules and getting away with it. They can start become arrogant because they think they have figured out how to get away with things.

But eventually, you can put your hands into too many cookie jars. You get so busy trying to keep up with everything you are doing that you mess up. You forget something, make a mistake, and get caught.

So maybe I don’t believe in karma as much as I believe that there are rules to life. You can choose to follow them or not, but you don’t always get to choose the consequences.

Sometimes it’s not karma.

Sometimes it’s just breaking the rules.

Family · friendship · Home

June 16, 2026: The Day Everything Changed: Part 2

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This is a follow-up to my last blog post about my pulmonary valve surgery on June 16, 2026. Since that post was about the surgery itself, I wanted to write this one to keep track of what happened afterward and what my doctors found during my follow-up.

They found a leak in my new pulmonary valve, so the cardiologist here at OSF did an echo, X-ray, and some blood tests. Three of their congenital cardiologists think the other doctors who looked at the images probably got a little confused. However, they did request the imaging that all the other doctors saw to see exactly what they were looking at or what they saw. Then they are going to review it themselves.

I have an artery above my pulmonary valve that is enlarged, and when the blood flows through it, it swirls around before going where it needs to go. Apparently, that can make it look like a larger leak than what it is. Another thing is that my blood pressure has been higher than normal. When that happens, it puts extra pressure on the heart, almost like it’s squeezing it, and it may have been pushing a little more blood out of the valve at that time as well. I also had fluid on my lungs, which added even more pressure.

I saw my Peptide (BNP) number, which is something I’ve been keeping track of myself. That number helps indicate fluid buildup. When I went into St. John’s the other night, it had gone up to a little over 1,700. Even before that, it was around 1,200. Today, I noticed it was 400 when they checked it, which is the lowest I’ve seen it, so I was really happy about that.

They also told me that while 1,700 is an increase for me, they’re used to seeing numbers of 10,000 or even 15,000, so they put it into perspective for me by telling me how high the peptide numbers they’ve seen can get.

The doctor also said my heart function is wonderful, which they told me at St. John’s too. He said they’ll keep an eye on this mild-to-moderate leak, and if they need to, they can repair it through a catheter instead of open-heart surgery. They would not be opening me up again, at least not for a very long time.

As far as the fluid goes, it’s really about finding the right amount of medication to keep it off, and that’s what they’re working on now. He doesn’t think the fluid will last much longer, but if it does, I can call them. They can either see me in the clinic or prescribe an extra water pill if needed. Of course, if I’m ever gasping for air, I should go straight to the ER.

Family · Home · memories

June 16, 2026: The Day Everything Changed

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My Open Heart Surgery was on June 16, 2026. I’m writing this a little while after the surgery, but I wanted to go back and share what those first days of my recovery were like.

My surgery went pretty well. It was nerve-wracking, but I got through it. Most of my family was in the waiting room, and I was awake just long enough for my immediate family to come in and say hello before they took me back.

They gave me a lot of fluids in the ICU, apparently to support the right side of my heart. I don’t remember all the details, so I’m not exactly sure why they were needed. The surgeon put in my new valve and said everything went well.

The next day, they took me off the ventilator and, as I remember it, sat me up in a chair. That felt wonderful. Over time, my lower body became very swollen, probably because of all the fluids I had received. They started me on Lasix, and the swelling slowly began to go down. I took a walk down the hall either later that day or the next morning. I can’t remember exactly when.

They placed me in the PICU because the surgeon who performed my operation is mainly a children’s heart surgeon, although he also operates on adults. I believe he prefers his patients to recover on the pediatric floor. The nurses there were incredibly attentive. You really couldn’t ask for better care.

Around the third or fourth day in the hospital, though, I started feeling guilty. Because I was taking Lasix, I had to use the bathroom constantly and needed the nurses’ help every time. I felt like I was taking time away from the children who needed them.

I was also healing from a sheath they had placed in my right groin. The doctor wanted to leave it in a little longer to give the area more time to heal. While I was taking Lasix, fluid was leaking from the opening where the sheath had been. For a couple of days, I was a hot mess and felt very needy. They eventually removed the sheath, and although a little fluid continued to leak afterward, it finally stopped. That was such a relief!

I’ve been home for a while now, but I’ve been lagging behind on my walking. I have been walking, just not as much as I should. At my follow-up appointment, they found some fluid around my left lung and a small infection where the sheath had been. Those bumps in the road have made me pretty nervous.

After my appointment, I walked around the block once. Yesterday, I walked around the block four times. My doctor also prescribed another antibiotic and more Lasix, hoping the fluid around my left lung will continue to improve.

Recovery hasn’t been a straight line, and there have been a few setbacks, but I’m thankful for how far I’ve come. I’m taking things one day at a time and trusting that, with patience, walking, rest, and the treatment my doctor recommends, I’ll continue getting stronger.

Daily Post · memories · writing

Are You Still Mine

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Describe a phase in life that was difficult to say goodbye to.

That night at a friend’s house,

I reached for your hand — you froze,

our fingers clutched

and you glanced up, smiled, and said, stay here awhile.

As the night went on, we were stuck like glue,

and those feelings of being inevitable were so brand new.

When we laid down, you kissed me goodnight

and asked me what about you did I like.

The way you looked out the front door

when the oven went ding,

for the cookies we made that New Year’s Eve.

The rest of the night we made out;

Unchained Melody played in the background

as you stole all my doubts.

When the night was over and we said goodbye,

you called for a week to say more than hi.

I came to see you for two whole days;

we slept on a mattress and floated into space.

The evening I left, the rain came down,

the leaves were all wet; we were a mess.

I heard from you a few more times,

and Unchained Melody plays in my mind.

Now, all these years have gone by,

and I’m still back there, without a goodbye.

Daily Post · Home · love

King Of The Jungle

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Write about your dream home.

My dream house is a ranch-style home on the outskirts of a small town. The porch wraps all the way around, and it’s concrete and flat to the ground. Soft, dim lighting lines the porch, giving it a warm glow in the evenings. There’s a big willow tree in the front yard, and the front yard is bigger than the back. I have a few wooden rockers, a glider for two, and a large wooden chair. There’s a small side table on the porch, perfect for early morning coffee or a refreshing drink on hot summer days.

The house is modern. The living room and kitchen are open, with a small amount of counter space separating the two, but you can see both areas clearly. My living room has just enough shelves built into the wall.

We have three, maybe four, bedrooms, but they are not huge — just big enough for guests to have a bed and sleep comfortably. The master bedroom has only about four stairs leading up to it. It’s a decent size, big enough for a king bed to sit in the middle of the room and still have space to move around.

The window in our room is on the right side of the bedroom. It’s rectangular and opens outward instead of sliding up. You can see most of the weeping willow when looking out. Every night before bed, my husband climbs up the tree in his boxers and swings down like Tarzan!