Watch out - it snows in NC!

I spent most of this week in the beautiful state of North Carolina. The first part of the week was spent in Asheville and Winston-Salem and the last part in Lake Lure. My week started and ended with snow, which I was not expecting in mid-December.

Monday, I left Augusta for Asheville and it was a chilly but bright 40 degrees. I expected the temperature to drop as I drove into the mountains and when I entered Asheville it had gone to 25. It was also dark and I started seeing little specks of white in the air - SNOW! Wow, my first snow of the year. It was so tiny though, I never thought it would stick. About 10 minutes later I was proven wrong, and the novelty was over. I had to meet a group for dinner at 6 and I was running out of time and going the wrong way. I picked the wrong street in the Garmin and was driving up a scary road carved into the mountain. I called the B&B and they got me on track and I finally skidded into the driveway at 5:55.

The B&B is worth mentioning further. I don't have much experience with B&B's, I've really only stayed at hotels or privately owned condos or cabins, but I kind of think I'm a B&B person. I stayed at the Sweet Biscuit Inn and it was sooo cute. It was all around charming, from the couple that owns it, Robert and Angela, who personally greet you, help you in, and serve you homemade biscuits and muffins in the morning, to the simple eclectic decor and the old, probably original features in the house - I had a claw footed tub in my bathroom and my room was heated by a radiator (I had never even seen one of those before)! If you are in Asheville, I definitely recommend it. They have a website: www.sweetbiscuitinn.com

Then Friday, with Blake accompanying me this time, we headed to Lake Lure, NC for the a Christmas weekend with the Hoxsie's. This is the third year that we have gone to a cabin in the mountains to have Christmas together and it is always super fun. We find a cabin large enough to sleep all of us together (14), with a full kitchen, and some fun things to do (pool tables, hot tubs, games, etc.) - and then we just hole up for the weekend. We enjoy good home-cooked food, great views, and quality time together to make lots of memories. This year we stayed at the Dancing Falls cabin, named so because it was built in the resort/golf course where "Dirty Dancing" was filmed.


Another highlight that has become tradition is our Dirty Santa gift swap. Before I go further, I have to say that Aunt Lydia, who was in charge this year, did a great job! She found and booked the cabin, organized the meals (which were awesome), and put together some really great gifts! The gifts are a mixture of snacks, pranks, and truly desirable/functional items. Whatever you get, it is going to be good!


We had really great weather Saturday. It was warm enough to walk around outside without a coat, but we knew that Sunday was going to get ugly. I got up at 5:30 Sunday morning for a potty break and saw huge clumps of white falling outside. I was too distracted to go back to sleep, so I stayed up for an hour to watch it. The snow was so heavy you could hear it when it landed. It was beautiful in the morning! The only downside was that we have to leave pretty early. I have learned this week my car isn't the greatest in snow. But thank goodness, we stayed on the road and made it out.


I had been looking forward to this weekend for a long time, and now I'm kind of bummed that it's over - but there's always next year!

Tragedy at 4175

So today a very bad thing happened....I accidentally poured one of our goldfish down the drain! I was unable to save him. He had a premature funeral.

You probably didn't even know that we had fish. Well, we had 2 fancy goldfish for about a month. We got them for one of Blake's Young Life games. The kids thought they were going to be drinking water with goldfish, but obviously it was a trick because I have kept them as pets. When we bought them, I didn't really think of what to do with them after the game. They only cost $3 a piece but they are living creatures and so I couldn't just flush them....(seems like that what I ended up doing anyway). So I have been caring for them in a pitcher until this weekend when we picked up a fish tank that Blake's parents had.

Finally they had a real home! And then tragedy struck. I was trying to pour out the extra water from the pitcher to transfer them to their palace of a tank when one began to swim the wrong way and swam with the water being poured out! I saw him wriggle for a half a second in the sink before he was lost forever.

Well, I shed half a tear and then I put the remaining fish in the tank. I could tell he was lonely and broken hearted but I had to leave him to go to church. (As you can tell, to me, all fish are boys.) When I got back home 6 hrs later (church doesn't last that long, I had other things to do, including buy a new filter and more fishy friends), the goldfish was dead....Don't know what happened, maybe I shocked him in so much new water.

Well now we have 2 goldfish, but they are not the original 2. I always wanted fish, and I really hope these last. One has been hanging out on the bottom next to the glass and I'm afraid he's trying to kick it. I cheer for him "swim fishy, swim for your life!" Blake thinks I'm stupid. So far I have spent about 25 bucks on my fish project, which I think is pretty good. 4 fish, some food, and a filter - so if they end up dying it won't be the end of the world. I just can't believe I kept two fish alive for a month in a TEA PITCHER, and I can't keep them alive for one day in a tank.

These are the new fish in their shiny new tank, they are white with red heads
which would have looked really good with 2 totally orange goldfish...
SWIM fishy, Swim for your LIFE

November/December Update

So I totally missed the November blog....

November was spent doing my ER rotation in Aiken, beginning interviews, having a great turkey day, and watching some really great football. WAR EAGLE! SEC Champs and on the way to becoming national champs!

More on interviews: I am done with 5 out of 8 residency interviews. It is exciting and a little scary to imagine what life would be at each place. They have gone really well so far. You get to visit a new place and eat lots of food and fortunately they are fairly relaxed and not as intimidating as I had imagined. Monday I head to Asheville and then on to Wake Forrest. I'll be going to these by myself which isn't as fun, but in Wake Forrest I get to meet up with Kavitta, my roommate from first year. We will keep you posted in March as to where we match!

I am getting in the Christmas spirit! Last week I got my decorations up. This is my third married Christmas with Blake but it's our first year having a Christmas tree. In the past we were in the apartment and did more traveling over Christmas and it wasn't practical. This year I had to have one though. I have collected a few ornaments over the last few years and I was really excited to use them - I had to laugh when I hung the "Our First Christmas, 2008" ornaments for the first time. But I love our tree and I think it looks great!

YAY! Love our stockings!

Hope you are all having a wonderful December, see you soon!

October Happenings

So I've finished up my time in Columbus and now I'm back home! I've started my ER rotation in Aiken, SC. I've only had 1 shift so far, but I think it's going to be very exciting!

Two weeks ago, our good friends Daniel and Kelli got married! They have been together even longer than Blake and I and we are so excited for them to get to start their life together. They had their wedding beside West Point Lake in LaGrange and it was beautiful!

The Wedding Party

Cutting the Cake

Blake, Daniel, Jeff, and Jerrod

Another fun time was when I got to babysit my niece Josephine for an evening while Isa went to a dinner meeting. We had so much fun! She is starting to cruise around and has got a handful of our words she says and thousands of her own. She is interested in everything and was just another reminder of how big a responsibility children are; I wonder when we will ever be ready... Josephine turns one this Friday! The time has gone by so fast! She shares a birthday with my dad, so we wish them both a Happy Birthday!

Purple What?

My poor husband is color blind - all his brothers are...I usually forget about it because it doesn't limit him and it really doesn't come up unless we are taking about paint colors. The other night we were eating out and I was wearing a purple shirt and I got a complement. Blake asked me what color I was wearing. Purple is the only color he can't see. He doesn't see a lot of colors quite right but he absolutely can't see purple. He sees it somewhere on the red or blue spectrum. It is kind of sad that he misses out on an entire color scheme - no lavender, no egg plant, no nothing. When I am shopping for him I have to resist the urge to buy him purple, he wouldn't know the difference...until someone told him.

After we played the "What color is this?" game for a while (Blake's favorite), we started talking about teams that had purple in their colors. The only team that Blake already knew was purple was LSU, and maybe Clemson. We rattled off 5 or more teams and Blake was shocked. He assumed they were all blue. Then I realized we had forgotten one and I told him about the Lakers being yellow and purple. He thought I was lying. It was pretty funny. Now he will be second guessing all the sports teams color combos, hehe.

New Location and Good News!

Let's start with the good news.....drum roll.....I PASSED my boards! Yahoo! And to take a moment to brag, I not only passed, but I did pretty stinking good. I am still waiting on the score for the second part of the test and really don't know when to expect it.

So this month I am in Columbus, GA on a Family Therapy rotation. I am learning to "listen" and to analyze my interactions with patients.... I was a psychology major at Mercer and I am used to these ideas, but I have mixed feeling so far. I think I am learning valuable things, but I begin to get annoyed after we have picked apart a 5 minute interaction for 2 and a half hours - to me it's not that big a deal to just talk to someone.

While I am in Columbus, I get to stay with Jenna Wenna :) Jenna and I went to the same day care, pre-school, etc, to high school, and then went to college together and were roommates. We have had a lot of fun already this week and I am thankful to have company, friends, someone to have dinner with, and activities this month, unlike my last rotation.

More Good News: I have been thinking of something all week that my pastor at Quest shared last Sunday. It was a sermon full of lots of powerful points; this was probably one of the more minor points, but it's what stuck with me. He was talking about Genesis 2:7 when God made Adam and says "He breathed breath of life into the man's nostrils." John, my pastor, went on to say that every breath we take is from God. Then he asked us to think about the names of God; in the Old Testament, God is called Yahweh. John said with every breath we take we breathe God's name. Breathe in "yah", exhale "weh". Think about it...I have and it was super cool to me. Now every time I listen to someone's lungs, I am going to hear them cry out to God.

One liners

So I am still in Rome, it is my last week. Today Blake said, I don't know what you would do if you were single, you are always looking for something to do there. It's true, and I don't know either. Really the problem is not being single from Monday through Friday, it's not really knowing anyone around here or having my own space...

But really I have enjoyed it. It has worked out well because I have been able to see Blake every weekend. Last year when I had tests after my rotations, I couldn't spare the study time every weekend to drive 4 hours one way to get home. This year, I do not have a test to study for, and it is not worth the strain or boredom staying in town over the weekend.

I am spending a lot on gas continually driving across Georgia, but again, it's worth it. This weekend there were a couple of one-liners which stuck out and reminded me how much I love my relationship with Blake. From the previous sentence, you might assume I'm taking about lovey-dovey one-liners. Definitely not - that's not our style, we are pretty blunt with each other.

We were on the way home from eating out at a Mexican restaurant (where we also got to watch LaGrange High play on ESPN 2) and Blake threw out the phrase "fecal particles". He was speaking of gas, but I thought it was a hysterical phrase. How often do you think of fecal particles? In medicine, we talk about poop a LOT, but not in the form of fecal particles. Apparently this is a phrase they use a lot at work. I laughed so hard I could barely drive.

The next morning we woke up at 10:30 - glorious. In our lovey-dovey moments of waking up, Blake says, "I think you gave me pink eye, cause your breath smells like butt!" Hilarious! (Pink eye is spread by fecal particles.)

It seems like when I get to sleep in, my mind has time to wander, and I have weird dreams. This was one of those nights and I had to share the dream with Blake. In my dream, Jack Black was a midget who was chasing me, and I was scared of him and was planning to drop kick him but he tripped first. After hearing this Blake said, "I want some of whatever you're on."

For the rest of the weekend we relaxed, watched lots of football (including the Auburn victory), and went to the Arts in the Heart Festival. On Thursday Blake is coming to Rome to go to dinner and go on a tour as part of my interview. I can't wait to see him and create more one-liners.

September Happenings...

So I sighed the other day when I noticed another month has passed since my last blog; we've just been going through the motions and staying busy. Here are some things that have happened over the last month...

1) I finished my boards! There were two parts to it and they both took a full day - one practical, one on the computer. I feel like I did well and I am actually expecting to get my scores for one of them tomorrow, eeek!

2) College football is back! Blake and I got to go to the opening game for Auburn against Arkansas State. We went with my parents and Nathan and it was so much fun. We got to see the new basketball arena, go to the tiger walk, and watch Spirit fly from great seats. We were on the 8th row near the visitors in-zone. It was awesome until the visiting team scored first and then my blood pressure rose because we were right next to the visitors section. We scored soon after that and pulled out the win of course.

I love Auburn and going to the games. For us, it's a family tradition. To me there is nothing like a game at Jordan-Hare Stadium. There are plenty of others who agree with me. We heard a child ask his dad "Is that the stadium?" and the dad answered "No, that's God's country son." That's a little extreme for me and we had to laugh. I do love late games when you can watch the sun go down and the sky turn tons of shades of orange and blue. It is like God is smiling on the Tigers. I'll be cheering Auburn on this Saturday as they play at home against Clemson.

3) I started my rotation in Rome, GA. I have really had a good experience and am enjoying it. They have a great hospital and residency program. Even though the rotation is going well, away rotations are hard because they get boring and lonely. With this one, I am staying in the on-call rooms in the basement of the hospital. I am here all the time! I also get to eat here for free, so I literally never leave. I have to find things to do so that I can go outside and have a change of scenery. I'll go to the mall, find a trail to walk on, or go somewhere with free Wifi. I've got about a week and a half here and then it's on to Columbus.

4) I've submitted my residency application, which is a big relief. I applied to 10 Family Medicine programs and am starting to schedule interviews. Looks like I'll be traveling all over the South come December.

Well that's about it. See you in October!

August Happenings

So not much has been going on this month, which is why I've not updated the blog in a few weeks. I'm off this month studying for my second round of boards which are coming up August 24 and 27. It's not very interesting to write about studying. But a few things have happened this month...

We got a new bed, donated to us by my brother and sister-in-law, Ryan and Isa. It is a king size bed which is wonderful considering we've spent the first two years of our marriage sleeping on a full sized bed with mattresses literally from the 70's. I don't know how many times Blake said "scoot over" when I was already on the edge. Now it doesn't even feel like Blake and I are asleep in the same bed, there is sooo much room. We can go a whole night without bumping each other. We got to shop for new bedding which was really fun. We changed up our colors from green and beige to gray and blue.

We got to relax a few days at the lake with the in-laws. There happened to be a meteor shower the first night we were there so we went out on the dock from 10:30 to 11 with our eyes to the heavens. It was pretty neat! We saw about 8 or so meteors, which looked like shooting stars, streak through randomly. Then the next morning, I took Finn on a walk and I got to see a red fox scamper out from the woods. I was starting to feel like a nature woman with the star gazing and wild animals. We did not do any kind of water sports. Blake has stitches after having a mole removed and wasn't able to swim.

I got a new hair cut. I had kind of neglected my hair for several months and it was time for a change. I'm feeling stylish and I am actually having color put in on Tuesday! This was a nice suggestion from my stylist who informed me that it would help cover the gray that's starting to come through - thanks for pointing that out. I'm a little nervous. I haven't had any color in several years and always wonder if it will turn out good.

Lastly, I would like to share one of our favorite recipes that Blake and I recently enjoyed. Since coming to Augusta, Blake and I have had a chance to branch out on our cuisine. We've discovered that we really enjoy international food. Our favorites are Japanese, Indian, and Thai. We have good Japanese and Indian restaurants, but we are kind of lacking in Thai, so I went online to try to do it myself. We have found a couple of recipes that we've liked - nothing with shellfish though, not trying to kill Blake. We were eating this and saying "Mmm, this is so good" while our noses were running and we were sweating. Enjoy....

Thai Red Curry Chicken

1 lb chicken breast, cut into strips
1 cup zucchini
1 red bell pepper
1/2 cup carrots
1 onion
1 lime
2 cloves garlic, chopped
14 oz can of coconut milk
2 Tbl red curry paste - we end up using a lot more than this,probably 6+ Tbl, we like it spicy
1 Tbl cornstarch (I don't have this, so I just use flour, it turns out fine and makes me feel healthier)
Cilantro
Peanuts
EVOO

- Cut all of your vegetables into strips (cut zucchini in 2 inch strips and then quarter it, etc). You want to leave them kind of chunky so you can eat them separately, but have them small enough to cook well. Cut to your preference.
- Heat extra virgin olive oil in a skillet and cook chicken with curry paste and garlic. We also add the juice of half a lime and dried pepper flakes.
- Add your vegetables to the chicken and let them sautee and begin to soften.
- Next mix in the coconut milk and cornstarch
- Bring to boil and simmer until vegetables are soft
- Serve over rice and garnish with cilantro, lime, and peanuts. It also usually needs some salt.
**Like I said, we like ours spicy, but if you go lite on the curry and don't use the pepper flakes it is a savory, almost sweet dish; it is easy to adjust it to your taste.

Yardwork is for Landscapers

So as if there is not already enough chores to do, like endless laundry, vacuuming, cooking, washing dishes, etc, then you look outside and think, oh my goodness. We recently moved into our house last winter and, with the cold, we were able to ignore the back yard. Then spring and summer come and you realize you got used to ignoring the yard and its quickly becoming one of the worst looking yards in the hood.

A few weeks ago Blake and I set out to make our yard beautiful. We needed to cut the grass, weed eat some areas, trim the bushes, and kill and pull some weeds. No big deal right? Ha! Of course the moment you are ready to start a project, everything falls apart. We knew our weed eater had been causing problems and probably wasn't going to cut it (or anything really), so we borrowed one of those. We go outside ready to cut grass and when Blake cranks the lawn mower it starts pouring black smoke - something was wrong. Blake could tell you what exactly, I just knew that now the mower wasn't going to work either. So we called the Faunces to borrow their mower and got back on it.

I have never used a weed eater or a lawn mower, but I thought it would be safer for me to volunteer to cut grass while Blake was on the weed eater. I will never volunteer for that job again. It was miserable. Our yard has a very slight incline but it felt like I was pushing a 500 lb machine up a mountain. I was pouring sweat but couldn't wipe my face because my shirt was covered with the same dust I was eating.

When we were about half way done, the lawn mower just cuts off - Now what? It's out of gas. Do we have any gas....no, of course not. So Blake leaves to fill up our gas can. I had to laugh when he came back with not only gas, but a 6 pack and candy. I knew he was trying to get his spirits back up to finish, and the beer was sooo cold and good. He looks really happy, huh?


Then it was on to tackle the bushes that were literally twice the size they should be. We have a good sized yard and as I started to look around, I just got angry; there were so many of them! If you have a blank space in your yard, think of something better than a bush. However, I refused to be beaten and started cutting. There were a few limbs that got the better of me though. After about 5 or so cuts I would tell the limb, "Well done green one, you will live to jut out another day."



The back half of our yard is more "natural." It's covered with pine straw and ivy and is not supposed to look landscaped. But there is a difference between natural and unkempt. There were a few weeds that had grown to the size of small trees and so I named them weed trees. I decided that the weed trees weren't allowed to exist anymore. At this point I started to think of my friend who works for the pharmacy at MCG. She had told me just the day before of the numerous cases of rattlesnake bites they had seen come through the ER lately. Great! I didn't even know we had rattlesnakes in Georgia and now here I am tromping through the thick ivy and pine straw snake haven to chop down stupid weed trees.

We finally finished after creating a mountain of branches. We are still dividing the piles because our trash company will only pick up a trash can full at a time. The last time I was as dirty as I was that day, or have gotten that many bug bites, my age was probably a single digit! I am proud of our progress but I really hope that at some point in the future I can just hire someone to do this, at least in the summer months.

Reprint

So I take everything back I said in my last post about Finn becoming a better dog. It's like he knew I wrote it and said "I'll show you..." He's been on a rampage and is back to not being allowed out of my sight. About once a week I'm left wishing there was a poison control hot-line for animals. If this does exist, I'm unaware of it and please let me know. I know I could call the vet, but I kind of feel like a parent who has not been watching their child closely and may be turned in to DFACS.

Just this summer Finn has eaten swimming pool cleaner (straight sodium bicarbonate), a bottle of Prilosec, and today he got into a bottle of Hydroxycut with Hoodia (none of these chemicals belonged to me by the way). I counted the pills left in the bottle and determined that he couldn't have eaten very many of them. I thought, well, it was probably tested on animals before it was put on the market. So I shrugged my shoulders, made him eat and drink and he's been fine for the rest of the day.

Still wouldn't give him up for anything in the world, but come on Finn.

I do have one bragging point for him. This week on his days off, Blake went to LaGrange to help his parents with some "projects". I had to work and I stayed here. I think Finn sensed that I was alone, and more fragile than Blake, and he felt more of a responsibility to guard me. He was on high alert and every noise put him on edge. At once point my stomach grawled and he snarled. I appreciate his barking but it kind of freaked me out, especially at 10:30 at night when he was barking into darkness. I called Blake while he was visiting my family and told him Finn was scaring me. He tried to reassure me and said "you know where the guns are." I heard my whole family behind him start to laugh. It is laughable, I don't have much experience with guns and if there were an intruder, I would have no chance of getting out the gun, putting it together, loading it correctly, etc. There is a higher chance of me being hurt than the intruder. I opted to go to bed with a fire poker rather than a gun. I am glad that I didn't have to use the fire poker and even more glad to have Blake back home.

Youth Lock-In

This weekend we got to spend our Saturday, Sunday with our favorite high school students, the Quest Youth Group. For the past year and a half Blake and I have been acting as assistant youth leaders at our church. This is a title we gave ourselves. We really just jumped in and started helping. Blake is all about ministry, but I had to be coaxed along. I'm so glad he convinced me to join in because it has been such a blessing and a joy.

We started off the weekend by spending a few hours at the Golden Harvest Food Bank. Our job was to take mountains of raw egg noodles and sort them into 1.8 lb ziplock bags that could be easily distributed. We created two production lines (boys vs. girls) and I was so impressed by the teamwork, diligence, and lack of complaining as we worked 3 hours in a warehouse. We sped along and sorted through 1600 lbs of pasta! The girls out sorted the boys by about 200 lbs, what what! It's neat to think of all the families that will benefit from those bags.


When we finished everyone was hot and sweaty so we headed to the pool to go swimming. There wasn't much swimming done, just several high energy games of pool volleyball. Then we headed to the Evans house to eat and hang out. We ate, threw frisbee, played charades and other games. After the sun went down, our games turned to pranks played on several carefully chosen church members/friends. Below are two yards that got marked "Quest" "Youth" with forks. We finally were able to go to bed at about 2 am - this is WAY later than my usual bedtime.


Blake was worn slap out and spent his Sunday afternoon like this...



We always have fun when we get together with the youth, but by far the greatest thing is just being part of their lives. We have a great group of young adults but some of them have stories that will break your heart. Their life lessons have been far harder than any I have had to learn. It has made Blake and I even more aware of how blessed we were to have stable and loving families.

One youth shared that he wasn't able to live with his mom anymore because of an adverse relationship with his stepdad. He asked Blake, "What does the Bible say about stepdads?" You can't say, the Bible says nothing about stepdads because that is not God's design for a family. You can't tell him what you really think of his stepdad or his mom for allowing another man to mistreat her son. Instead you have to try to come up with a biblically sound answer and offer encouragement. It has been a challenge and has caused me to strengthen my faith and knowledge because you never know what they are going to ask.

At the end of this month we are taking them to the lakehouse. We did this last summer and everyone really enjoyed it. I'm looking forward to it and I pray I have a positive influence in their lives and am able to act as an ambassador for Christ.

Adventures with Finn

Finn is our year and a half old Brittany and this is his personality...I am at home today and all morning he has sat in the front two rooms frantically pressing his face to the windows, pawing, and dashing from room to room. What is causing this behavior? A squirrel playing in the front yard that is paying him no attention. He has access to an entire backyard where he can run and chase all the critters he likes, but he'd rather watch this one he can't get to. Finn is intense and not easily distracted.



If you have not met Finn, he is a high energy spaz - but so much fun. He has been very difficult to train and raise. All of our friends with dogs kept encouraging us to give him about a year and a half to grow up, get the puppy out, and he would be so much better. I never really believed it when they said this, but it is starting to be true.

Finn was the cutest holy terror you have ever seen as a puppy. He'd drive you crazy because he knew what he was supposed to do, he just didn't have the control to do it. He knew to use the bathroom outside and was perfectly capable, but for the first 6 months he would sometimes decide he's rather use the carpet. He was also impossible to wear out and craved attention - we could not get anything done. If his energy was not satisfied, he would destroy things; things like shoes, wallets, cell phones, cash, etc. I think if I tried to talley up the monetary value of the things we've lost or had to replace because of Finn, I would just cry.



He would drive us insane. I can't tell you how many times Blake threatened to get rid of him; but he knew I would never allow this. Finn loved to find something he wasn't supposed to have and take off in a sprint. His favorite were socks, underwear, and dryer sheets. My best strategy was to trap him in the bedroom and stand in the middle of the bed. Even with me in this position he would run circles around the room, jumping on and off the bed for sometimes 10 minutes before I could catch him. He loved this game.

He is getting better though. Yesterday Blake and I could not recall the last time he destroyed something just for the fun of it and he does not pester as much. He has recently earned more unmonitored access around the house, more than just one room and the backyard. And yesterday was the biggest test. We went to the grocery store and left the doggy door open for Finn instead of locking him outside. He kind of failed - he found something to snack on and ripped apart a package of pop tarts, but this shouldn't have been in his reach, and I know it could have been a lot worse.

We are enjoying our "maturing puppy" and would not give him up for anything in the world.

Sometimes I wonder....

I have had two incidences very recently that make me ask "What am I thinking!?" I'm not talking about things like, oh I forgot I put clothes in the washer 4 hours ago and they are ready to go in the dryer. Or being in the shower and wondering where's my razor, it's not on the side of the tub like usual, is it by the sink, no, oh it's still in the shower at the lake house. Now that I've been looking for my razor I forget did I already wash my hair? No that's everyday, normal, forgetfulness. What I'm talking about is more serious, scary, you need Abilify level.

Okay, #1. Friday just before we left to go to the lake a huge storm started brewing at our house. The moment we were ready to walk out the door there was torrential rain, thunder, lightning, the whole deal. I asked Blake if we could wait a while to let it pass. He said no, let's go, we'll be out of it in no time, if we stay it will just get worse; by the way your driving. The minute I pull out of the driveway I can't see anything. What's the first thing I do when I get out of our neighborhood? Run a red light. I ran it because 1) I was concentrating so hard on the road, I wasn't looking up 2) This is one of those lights that's ALWAYS green, I don't usually pay it much attention. Blake was paying attention. He started off calm, "Erin, you gonna stop?" But quickly turned more frantic "Erin STOP!" But I couldn't. Luckily the dump truck that had the green light had noticed my bad driving. Blake tried to scrunch into the fetal position, which I can now laugh about. And a little further down the road when it started hailing I lost my driving privileges. Blake walked around the car to come to the drivers side and he might as well have jumped into a pool, he was SOAKED. He also caught a piece of hail to the face. I also laughed about this, but first I cried out of frustration and because I thought my car was going to get dinged up and look like a golf ball. Of course there was no damage, just wasted tears.

#2. Yesterday I met some friends downtown for lunch. Someone was leaving right as I was getting there, and I quickly claimed their spot on the busiest street downtown. We took our time eating and were there about an hour. When I walked back to my car I was surprised to see that my car door was wide open, locked, but left open. WHAT? How do you do that? I have no explanation for this. I did a quick scan, yep my Ray Bans are still here, Garmin check, stethoscope check, nothing was moved. Then the fear of the battery being run down and the car not cranking set it. Thank goodness it fired right up and I went home. Whew I was lucky. I still haven't told Blake about this one. Maybe he won't read this blog....:) Hopefully that is the last of my What the Heck? moments for now.

Takin care of business

So I am officially a fourth year! As exciting as that is, it also kind of gives me a stomach ache because there are a lot of deadlines and things to be accomplished before graduation. I have to pass another round of boards, start my application process for residency, interview etc. while still being a student and going through rotations. Anyway, I'll take it one step at a time and enjoy my accomplishment of completing another year of med school.

Another exciting fact is that I live in Augusta again! I have had two away rotations in a row and have been gone for 3 months. I came back from doing Ob/Gyn in LaGrange. It's was a very good rotation and I got to see/help 19 little ones enter the world. I kind of felt like I left one home to come to another. I am glad to be back though and feel like a married person again, be in my house, see friends, go to my church, etc.

During my last week in LaGrange I was talking to Blake and he says, "We need to talk about something." Uh oh. He said I have too much stuff and when I get back I need to go through it all and throw out anything I haven't used in a year. He said he was especially talking about shoes and purses. My response: "Ha, No." He said no really, "you need to take care of business." I laughed really hard at this statement and informed him that throwing out my stuff is about last on my list of things I want to get done. The shoes really are not up for discussion, they aren't going anywhere, but I do admit I have a lot of purses. I think I still have about every purse I've ever been given. And maybe it's true that I haven't touched many of them in a long time.

It's weird because I don't like things to be cluttered, but I don't like to throw things away. I only have small purses because I keep very little in them - wallet, phone, keys, lip gloss, done. Same with my car - I like for it to be empty. But for some reason, I tend to keep things way after their use is up.

Don't get me wrong, if I thought it would benefit anyone else for me to give up some stuff I would, but how good would my tiny purses be to anyone else. I have to admit, I did realize something as I was unpacking my suitcases I've been living out of for three months. I was putting stuff back into drawers that were already over half full. There was that much stuff I hadn't even thought of in all that time. Dang it, Blake's right, I've got a lot of junk. I will make an effort to purge.

But first we are heading to Lake Oconee this weekend for Blake's family reunion. Usually family reunions are dreaded but this one is always sooo much fun. A weekend on the lake with good food and family - what could be better? I have been looking forward to it for some time and can't wait to get out of town at 5:30.

My 2 Favorite Questions

So I am 1 week from becoming a 4th year medical student! For the past year I have been doing my rotations. I'm finishing up my Ob/Gyn rotation at home in LaGrange. This past week I got to be present for the delivery of twins! I had been looking forward to the coming of these twins for weeks. I had seen the mom in the office several times and when I got to the hospital I introduced myself to the rest of the family.

I went through my typical spill, "Hi, I'm Erin, I'm a Medical student, I've been working with Dr. Bowie and I'm going to be here for the delivery." blah blah. Right after I say this the mom looks at me and says, "and you're 18." I feel a confused expression come over my face. "Huh." "You're 18 right?" More confusion. "Years old. No. I'm 25."

After this everyone starts to laugh and they look at the nurse who also has the gift of looking younger than she is and I can tell they've had this conversation already. Someone makes a joke about how there must be special water at the hospital or something. I wasn't so amused by the situation. I get this a lot, but not usually 18. I wouldn't mind looking 22, but at least a number in the same decade - come on.

Not 2 minutes later I get my other favorite question, which probably surpasses the age. A family member starts a conversation and asks, "Did you say you were going to be an LPN or and RN?" I smile and reply, "No no, I'm going to be an MD, a physician." Then I get a surprised look and "Ooooh."

I also get this question quite often and every time it happens I wait for the pissed off feeling to come over me....but it just doesn't come. I think it's because,
1) I totally respect nurses and don't mind being compared to them. I definitely couldn't do their job and I think they are awesome.
2) It just amuses me that the stereotype is still so strong. That because I am female I must be a nurse.
3) It shows that people are totally clueless. It's not their fault. They don't connect "medical school", white coat with your name and title printed on it, stetoscope, etc. to....not nurse. It really is hard to understand the system when you're on the outside.

Anyway, after I clarified these two burning questions, I was able to catch two healthy, beautiful twin boys and it was awesome!

Here Goes...

I finally bit the bullet, I'm a blogger. I have considered blogging for several months now. From time to time you have those "experiences" that you feel like you should share with others, or at least deserve documentation. I also enjoy reading my friend's blogs so maybe someone will enjoy reading mine. I don't know how diligent I will be, but here goes...