Half Nekkid Thursday

It's a little early tonight but I can barely keep my eyes open. I was at work from 6:30 this morning until 5:15 this evening and went straight from there to volleyball. Played three straight and won all three. GO HALF FAST! We made it to Buffalo Wild Wings for dinner and I got home and was seriously ready to crash. Called Os to chat for a bit, took the below bath, only read about 15 pages of the book you see (White Oleander) and I'm calling it a night. Not even 10 PM! I'm getting old. Anyway, here is the long awaited bathtub picture Os has been begging for. Would you believe he is trying to bribe me for pictures for the return that he will come to the Bon Jovi concert? Speaking of which, anyone seriously considering being able to join me? Tickets go on sale this Saturday. Happy HNT!

Blogger get together?

Okay, so the little update on the Bon Jovi concert has sparked some interest in making it a blogger event. Os won't come all the way out here just to see me. BUT if several blogger friends decided to join the fray, he might come out. Don't know what tickets for the concert would cost yet, who knows what airline tickets will cost if you had to fly here, and who knows what gas will be up to by then. But, anyway....

Would anyone be interested in joining Os and I at the Bon Jovi concert on November 11 (a friday) in Minneapolis?

Bon Jovi in concert!

I just caught wind that Jon Bon Jovi is going to be starting a tour in November! They are going to be in Chicago around mid-November. That's only a five-six hour drive from here. Unfortunately my concert buddy is 1200 miles away. I caught Bon Jovi on Oprah this week and boy, was it a trip down memory lane. One of the very first tapes (yes, tapes...you know those cassette shaped reels of flimsy film) I owned was Slippery When Wet. I can still sing every song on that album front to back. I admit, I am a much bigger fan of him in his short hair than his long classic metalhead hair. Either way though, he is one sexy man.

Anyone want to go to Bon Jovi with me? Doesn't necessarily have to be the Chicago concert? Can't find the full list of his shows just yet but I will. Wonder if he will hit Minneapolis. That would be so easy. Uhmmm? Something to think about.

UPDATE: November 11th, Target Center, Minneapolis!! OH BOY!

Thunderstorms galore!

Wow...last night we had house shaking thunderstorms all night long. It rained off and on most of yesterday but once the sun went down the sky lit up. the walls in the house were literally shaking! I laid awake for a long time just listening to the rumble and the rain pelting the window. now the air smells like thick heavy rain, damp dirt, and moist leaves. Another beautiful fall day!

Fall Friday

What a perfect day! It is just over 60 degrees, a tad on the breezy side and I got out of work early. I came home, took a 40 minute nap and then went for an one hour and twenty minute bike ride. Made it just under 17 miles, in a head wind the last half of the trip. I haven't been on my bike much since I went to SD in August to see my mom. Since then the accumulation of stress led to little to no motivation to do exercise. Over the last couple of weeks I have been trying to rectify that situation. (Doesn't that just sound horribly painful!)

Anyway. The boyfriend has been gone all week, I have had meetings every night since Sunday except last night and I was able to work out. Monday night Paul and I did a 12 mile ride, tuesday and thursday I did my ab work-out at home. Today, the 17 mile bike ride. I could not have asked for a more beautiful ride. Normally I go with the boyfriend or Paul. Today, I went alone. The trail was covered in fall leaves, the before mentioned wind was kicking up the smells of fresh chopped corn, damp leaves. There were milk cows and beef cows, horses, big fat hairy red and black catepillars, grasshoppers. It was beautiful! I LOVE FALL!

Now, I'm showered, eating and wrapped in a long sleeve shell with a sweater to head off to the high school football game. My other favorite thing about fall. I cover a local high school team as the team "doc". It will be chilly tonight so I'm packing my fleece too. I'm going to inhale my supper and head off in a few minutes.

The best part of this fall friday? The boyfriend should be landing at the airport any time now and I'll get to see him after the game!! Yippee! hopefully the rest of the weekend stays this gorgeous and we can get out and enjoy the crisp, fall air!

Half Nekkid...won't be up long!

Only because it's super late, I'm tired and my brain isn't functioning in it's normal well-behaved self. Jason took the plunge, Rachel did a long time ago so I thought it was about time to post a bootie shot. Man, it's hard to get the right angle. Too muchwork to take alone. But here it is, after about 25 shots, a little photo shop tinkering. My half nekkid picture...good night!

Interesing questions

Since Rachel mentioned that she got this from me I figured I better post my answers. Gave me something mindless to do between being on call, meeting for my Habitat for Humanity planning group, and outlining a Eucharist centered retreat. I need more hours in the day!

1. Legal First name? Nicolle

2. Were you named after anyone? Not sure

3. Do you wish on stars? yes

4. When did you last cry? A few times this weekend over this stupid house buying business

5. What is your favorite lunch meat? Palmento loaf

6. What is your birth date? October 7th

7. What is your most embarrassing CD? Marky Mark and the Funky Bunch

8. If you were another person, would you be friends with you? yes

9. Do you use sarcasm a lot? Yup

10. What are your nicknames? Moose, Pumpkin, Nic

11. Would you bungee jump? Nope

12. Do you untie your shoes when you take them off?
Yes

13. Do you think that you are strong? Yeah, but wish I wasn't most of the time

14. What is your favorite ice cream flavor? Blue Bunny Vanilla

15. Shoe Size? 8

16. Red or pink? Red

17. What is your least favorite thing about yourself?
When I get really pissed off and angry, I cry when I'm trying to fix the situation

18. Who do you miss most? Grandpa

19. Do you want everyone you send this to, to send it back? it doesnt matter

20. What color pants and shoes are you wearing? Brown capris with a pink stripe down the side and I'm barefoot

21. What are you listening to right now? My fingers on the keyboard

22. What did you eat for breakfast? Eggs and two sausage links

23. If you were a crayon, what color would you be?
orange

24. What is the weather like right now? HOT

25. Last person you talked to on the phone? Osbasso

26.The first things you notice about the opposite sex?
Their hands

27. Do you like the person who sent this to you? Definitely

28. Favorite Drink? water

29. Hair Color? Dr C says it is eggplant but it is very dark dark red with black low lights right now

30. Do you wear contacts? 24/7

31. Favorite Food? Italian

32. Last Movie You Watched? Brothers Grimm

33. Favorite Day Of The Year? Halloween

34. Scary Movies Or Happy Endings? Scary

35. Summer Or Winter? winter

36. Hugs OR Kisses? hugs

37. What Is Your Favorite Dessert? The cherry graham cracker cheesecake stuff that cindy at my desk makes

38. Who Is Most Likely To Respond? not sure

39. Who Is Least Likely To Respond? not sure

40. Living Arrangements? A rented townhome...attempting to purchase a townhome but my banker is driving me nuts

41. What Books Are You Reading? Holy Blood, Holy Grail

42. What's On Your Mouse Pad? Don't have one

43.What Did You Watch Last night on TV? Yesterday's oprah, several weeks worth of SVU

44. Favorite Smells? clean, crisp air of fall, rain, the boyfriend

45. Favorite junk food? Chocolate

46. Rolling Stones or Beatles? Stones

47. What's the farthest you've been from home?
Scotland

Project Linus

Over the last week the Women's Ministry team at my church has been working on fleece blankets to send down south. Domestic Psychology gave me the idea, I emailed her and she sent me a local Southern address for a Project Linus group. Project Linus is a national organization that normally provides blankets to needy kids. Well, we backed up a box of about 25 blankets tonight and are shipping it off. As I sat working on a few other church meeting tasks, the 10 o'clock news caught my eye. Another local parish in town is sending a semi load of blankets! A semi-load. Makes our 25 seem so small.

So, I'm opening this up as a challenge. If you have a small group of people that meet on a regular basis...to discuss a book, to plan an event, to drink wine and be silly....at your next gathering, consider doing all of this while tying fleece blankets or other easy to make blankets. See how many you can send. Link above and search for local chapters in various Southern communities. Imagine what it would be like as a child to not be in your home, or even your own state, to not have anything familiar and to not even have that soft blanket to cuddle up with. A "security" blanket might be just that little something that makes this all a bit more bearable from someone.

Salad Success

I attempted another one of my mom's recipes for the first time this weekend. We had our work picnic today so yesterday I whipped up my mom's macaroni salad. I have loved it for as long as i can remember and between my dad and i the two of us could devour an entire bowl, eating it for breakfast, lunch and dinner. The basic ingredients are shell macaroni, peas, green apple, cheddar cheese, cucumber, onion, celery, olives and shrimp. That part is easy. Chop everything up, throw in large bowl. Now, when I was home in August i asked mom for the "recipe". I use the word recipe loosely because I don't think she actually has a recipe for anything. She starts by just telling to to mix mayo, evaporated milk, sugar and some vinegar. Maybe mustard. i cut her off and tell her I at least need a rough estimate of what ratio of what.

This morning I was pleased to call her and let her know that the salad turned out and it tasted almost just like her's. Mine wasn't quite as creamy but I think the solution would to just increase the amount of all the dressing ingredients. People at the picnic seemed to like it and at 10:30 tonight I had a huge bowl of it for supper. Just macaroni salad, nothing else. Just like old times. YUMMY!

Now off to bed and hopefully to sleep. I have three church related meetings this week and can't seem to keep the what's, where's, and when's for each straight. With that and the house stuff my brain is going a hundred and ten miles an hour. The boyfriend is gone all this week on business. I'm going to make serious attempts at getting my office straightened up (it's a maze of piles right now), get my ass back into the gym, and figure out all these meetings and calendars for said meetings.

Have a great week everyone!

My banker's on crack

Okay, so I sent out the mass email after talking to my banker on Friday around 3 pm. I posted a blog about it. She had told me everything was good. Three hours later she sends me an email because she didn't keep track of all of our previous conversations and needed to know if she could direct withdrawal the loan application fee from my savings (yes, I told her that a week ago), who was I using for insurance (per two weeks ago...State Farm), and then the real kicker is she tells me my debt to income ratio is 1% below what they would like it to do my particular type of loan. Just over a month ago she told me until closing to make the minimal payment only on various things so that I would have extra cash around for all the things associated with buying a house. So that is what I had done! Now, in this email at 6 pm on Friday she wants me to attempt to pay a few things completely off. UGH!! I think she is bipolar! What I don't know and have been fretting about and not sleeping about all weekend is does this mean that the "everything is set to go" that she told me at 3 pm is not true and there is a glitch. She told me to "be careful" between now and closing not to increase my debt. Well, duh! BUT...is my mortgage set to go?!?!??! I'm sick of banker double talk/legal speak. Just yes or no, am I buying this house on October 28th! I'm going to find me a nice refrigerator box and call it home!

Debt reduction in progress

Whew! For the last 6 months I have been working with my credit union to get a head on my debt. I have two friends that loaned me a good chunk of money at the time of my divorce and I still owe them money. They were kind enough to do it without a second thought, I didn't even ask them for it, it has been interest free. Unfortunately, with rent, the debt from the divorce, student loans coming due, I haven't even started to pay either of them off. Six months ago the credit union helped me consolidate a large amount of my debt in preparation to be able to buy a house. With being able to buy a house, my goal was to get something equal to or less than my current rent payment so that in the next year to come I can start paying off my friends. My thought was with the money I would save on rent payment, plus what I will get back on my taxes because of it that over the next year I should be able to start paying them back.

Well, I just got off the phone with my banker and my mortgage is set to go. I have a closing date on a three story 1938 duplex that is a part of a townhome association set for October 28th! I will make my last rent payment on November 1st and then start on HOUSE PAYMENTS! Wow! I'm sort of in shock, I'm completely excited, and mostly scared. I'm finally getting my shit together and maybe after 2 years of not being able to repay my friends that so kindly helped me I should be able to start making a dent! Friends and God work in mysterious ways and they were angels for me. Both just offered when it seemed like I didn't have a straw left to hold on to, neither has said boo about paying it back to them, and now after 6 months of planning and pinching after 2 years of barely getting by, I think I will finally be able to start returning their kindness to them.

Anyone want to come help me clean the apartment I have to move out of and paint the house I'm moving into???

Half Nekkid Thursday...I'm a redhead again:)

If you remember a few months ago I "fired" my stylist. She was butchering my hair and costing me an arm and a leg. I finally found Patrick John and I love him. I spent the last two hours with him, have a great new do, and he made me smile and laugh. Great hair and a therapist, what more can you ask for. See the results below. Happy HNT!

Deep breath...

UUUUUUUUUUGGGGGGGGGGGGGGGHHHHHHHHHH!!!!!!!!

Okay, now I feel a little better!

Seven's

7 Things I plan to do before I die:
1.) Backpack in New Zealand.
2.) Have a baby (2-3 babies, not at the same time)
3.) learn to ice climb
4.) Retire in Montana
5.) Learn to cook from a little old lady in Italy
6.) Ski in Siberia
7.) be a grandma
-
7 Things I Can Do:
1.) Play the organ
2.) Play the tenor saxophone
3.) Waltz
4.) Tie vertical mattress sutures
5.) Snap my iliotibial band across my greater trochanter to make it look like I'm dislocating my hip
6.) French braid...my own hair or someone elses
7.) Make a mean chili
-
7 Things I Cannot Do:
1.) Cure cancer
2.) Whistle (at least not very well)
3.) Tie a cherry stem in a knot
4.) Speak a foreign language
5.) Wink with my right eye
6.) Wiggle my ears (grandpa could...why can't I?)
7.) Stand to be in closed spaces
-
7 Things That Attract Me to Guys:
1.) Hands
2.) Eyes
3.) Their laugh
4.) A respectful attitude
5.) An energy for life
6.) Guys that are great with kids
7.) Athletic

7 Things I Say Most Often:
1.) Whatever!
2.) Awesome
3.) he's jacked up
4.) What were they thinking?
5.) No way!
6.) Thanks bunches
7.) hang tight

7 Celebrity Crushes:
1.) Matthew McConnehey (spelled that one way wrong)
2.) Sean Connery
3.) John Elway
4.) Christopher Meloni (Elliott on SVU)
5.) Johnny Depp
6.) Keith Anderson
7.) VinDiesel

7 People I Want to Do This:
the first seven to read it

Shuffled off to Buffalo

Well...that is what I literally did. I shuffled to Buffalo, NY last night for a surgical instrumentation conference. I left Rochester, MN to connect on a flight in Minneapolis. I had 40 minutes to get from Gate C to Gate F. Remember, I'm hobbling! I resorted to a handicap golf cart. Would have completely missed my flight if I hadn't. I made it here in one piece, got unpacked and settled in my hotel room around 11 and dinked around looking at HNT pics and checking email until about midnight.

The conference was fun today. Long though, I'm not use to sitting all day. After lunch I was seriously dozing. We played with fake bones all day and put on live fracture implants. Hung out poolside afterwards for a reception, then to my room for a while. Had dinner and hit the hot tub with some ladies from the east coast. now I'm arranging my return shuttle to the airport, have my flight plans figured out for tomorrow (with the Northwest Airlines strikes half of my flight got changed). It's all good now.

I haven't made it to Niagara Falls. Decided it was too expensive to get there and then have to pay the state park fee and then pay to get back. I've seen them from the Canadian side once, I bet they still look the same :) Hope you all are having a great weekend.

I swear I'm going to cut it off!

My left foot makes yet another appearance in Half Nekkid Thursday. This is a progression of my foot since Sunday. For those of you that don't know, I slammed my left pinky toe into the couch on Sunday in a bit of moping and subsequently broke it. the first picture was taken within the first 10 minutes and it was already swelling. The first several are within the first hour of injury...notice how much swelling. The rest were taken yesterday, 48 hours after injury and show off the purple both in the front and around the side of my toe. I gave up walking in a regular shoe and am wearing a velcro stiff soled post-operative shoe. Looks dorky but man, it feels a lot better. I fly to Buffalo, NY tomorrow evening and yes, I'm wearing the dorky shoe. maybe I'll take a picture of my foot at niagara falls for next week :)

Approximately 5-10 minutes,notice the immediate size difference between left and right 5th toe!
This is the brusing drifting down into my foot within about 20 minutes of the injury! Skin got all tight and shiny too!
It's getting bigger!

48 hours later and it is vividly purple. I took my own x-rays and the fx is right at the base of my little toe correlating directly with the most intense color. What you cant' see is all the bruising spreading toward my ankle.
Side view to show off the shiny swollenness and posterior bruising.

I spent 6 hours on my feet in the operating room today. I just dare that first patient to ask for an extension of THEIR work excuse as I hobble into the room with my broken foot! Just try me ;)

Oh, the memories...truly DORKY

When Os suggested this, I knew it would be hard to find just one picture. I have been a geek/nerd/dork since way back when. My classmates named me "Brainy" in high school and I hated it. Growing up in a small town America was not the coolest place to be nerd. The first picture is where it all began...I'm in the second row, third on in from the right. Long sausage curls, ruffled plaid shirt. That was me. Crooked bangs too. The era...about 1983-1984.

This I think has to be one of my favorite geeky pictures. First, there is the pleather belt on the abstract jump suit. then you can't miss the Sally Jessi Raphel glasses that take up my whole face. Blow that picture up and you can read the little plaque I'm holding. that is a 3rd place team spirit award for the South Dakota Governor's Camp for the Gifted. Yup...I went to gifted camp! Even better than band camp (I did that too but can't find the pictures). Somewhere around 1991-1992
This one time....at gifted camp....The guy on the far right was my first kiss. That's dorky enough. But check out the shorts version of the one piece jumper, with tights, and black and blue Converse tennis shoes. I thought I was HOT! So did he :) 1993-ish

And last but not least...sophisticated dork! Grandma's kitchen, sometime mid-highschool. Silk shirt, thread covered beads, tightass jeans and hair that could hold up the New Orlean's levee. What did we ever use to make it stick that high up?

Doctor, I think it is broke

Ever have a day (or a long weekend) where you feel like you should have just stayed in bed? I'm having one of those weekends.

Today has been just peachy. I spent the morning arguing with the boyfriend because I don't like being "scheduled" or "excluded" from various activities or events. I decided to spend the day pouting and situated myself on the couch with my phone, my computer and the TV remote. I could clean house but I don't feel like it.

About an hour ago i get up to get a coke from the fridge. My cell phone rings so I turn around to head toward the couch to answer it. In the process i jam my left pinkie toe into the post of the couch and heard a very audible crack! Fuckin' a! My pop goes everywhere, including onto my poor kitty cat. I'm hopping around like a chicken and the cell phone stops ringing and the house phone rings instead. My best friend is trying me on both numbers. I finally get sat down and call her back as I attempt to take deep breaths.

Another hour later, I'm off the phone. The toe is big, swelling and turning purple. Hurts like hell! Down the entire side of my foot. I'm seriously going to have Dr Turner cut the left foot off and then I won't have to deal with it. I can feel it continuing to swell. For the record...there isn't a lot of room in one's pinky toe for swelling. And no, I'm NOT going to the ER because I don't want my colleagues to laugh at me! Then they would just agree with me that I need a stiff soled shoe and I should buddy tape the toe. At least it isn't pointing the wrong way, then I would have to go in. I'll deal with it! But damn it all anyway, I'm going to stay grumpy and if the boyfriend can find time to pencil me in he can rub my fuckin' foot instead of go for the bike ride I wanted to plan tomorrow.

At least I can oggle for the next hour at Karch Kiraly and Mike Lambert on the AVP volleyball tournament that is on TV. Nothing like chiseled tan volleyball players covered in sweat and sand! I'll wipe the drool from my mouth now :)

With these hands

i'm watching the end of NBC's coverage of Hurricane Katrina. they closed with pictures of the damage. the people. the leftovers. the help. They were playing a song that asked us to pray "with these hands". I have had coverage of it on since i got home tonight at 6:30. I've been on the verge of tears all week and watching that brought it all to a head. I had a similar reaction after Oklahoma City. I want to be there. I "fix" people with my hands every day and today all i can do for them is pray with my hands.

with all the stress I have had this week on my own plate, i hadn't really taken time to watch much of what has been going on down south other than to file it in the back of my head as something that was happening. tonight i "caught up". how does one even begin to comprehend what is happening? frustration that all the help that needs to be isn't their yet, hope from those that have gotten help, encouragement from people that don't have to help but have offered to do amazing things.

for now, i'll pray with these hands. for those of you among us that can, pray too. if you can, help with your hands in any way you can.

All three of us...Half Nekkid

there you have it...me and my boys half nekkid. Reggie is the light orange one on the coffee table and Romeo is curled up below the coffee table. That is my extremely painful foot in the foreground. It looks completely normal. No bruises, no cuts, no blood. Hurts like a mother! I stepped on a carpet knife blade at christmas time and about a month after the cut healed I developed medial arch pain. Stabbing, burning pain that is there all the time. Worse in the morning when I try to walk those first few steps out of bed, worse if I don't move for a while, and sand volleyball killed it. I've loaded up on ibuprofen, celebrex, did the ice cups, you name it, I work in ortho, I should be able to make it better.

I finally broke down this week and saw my fellow ortho colleague, the foot surgeon. We aren't operating...yet! he poked on it, made it hurt worse. We x-rayed it and there is no knife blade left in there. Sent me to Sports Medicine and I am trying some orthotics. wore them today and the above foot at the exact time of that picture felt like it had at HOT POKER sticking right into my arch! Next step is to try custom orthotics. So there you have it...my perfectly normally looking foot that is currently throbbing.