Boys and girls...

let's get ready to rumble! Whew...the C league co-ed champions have moved up to the B league. We won one. That one was because the team we were playing was short a player when it was time to start so they had to forfeit the first game. the second game was 17-25and the third was something-to 25, both them :( We moved up because we wanted the challenge. It got a bit ugly at the end, tempers flared a bit, things didn't roll off our backs quite like they did before. We know what's ahead of us, it will all work out. It will be good for us.

In other news, I had an "interesting" day at work today. we saw 40 patients by 1 pm. 2 no shows and one that we didn't have on our outpatient calendar but knew we needed to go see up on the floor. I called to check on all three and of the three 2 were deceased. I felt like the grim reaper. I would page my chief resident after each call and let him know, "uh...so and so won't be coming back for follow-up...uh...they passed away." So when we headed up the intensive care unit to check on a young lady that was given a very high mortality likelihood because of her infection and found her not there, I was a tad on the worried side. Instead, we found that she had been moved to a regular patient floor, was awake and alert. It was the first time I had ever seen her conscious in the three weeks that she has been with us. It was amazing. That is what makes my job worth it.

Now it is a down hill slide to Saturday morning. We are putting on a retreat at church and I'm a bit behind on my portion of it. I have it outlined on my computer, know in my head what I want to do. Just don't have all the supplies I need yet. Tomorrow night we are meeting to do our decorations/gifts. Friday night need to decorate tables. Saturday morning need to be their at 7 am. I have my massage scheduled for 2 pm afterwards!

Good night ya all! happy HNT...I'll eventually get my act in gear and get another picture posted someday!

Pictures from home

Okay, I found the camera and the cord in the stuff I sent home and I'm calling it quits for the night anyway, so I thought I would post my pictures from the trip to South Dakota before going to bed. The boyfriend came over for dinner and we cracked the bottle of champagne my realtor gave me as I cooked our first sit down dinner in the new house. Chicken Enchilda Ring, corn, and homemade pumpkin pie from scratch. We ate so much of the first two and finished off the complete bottle of champagne that we didn't get to the pumpkin pie. Will have to have that tomorrow.

So, for those of you that don't know where i grew up, here ya go . You have to click on the "Isabel, SD" to get the actual map for some reason but you can get there. Or Google Map Isabel, SD on yoru own. Either way...it's the middle of no where. That funny looking gray area, yup, that's Indian Reservation. And for the record, you DO NOT have to be Native American to live there. Just happen to be where my grandfather settled when he moved up from Nebraska in 1960. We live about five miles outside of the actual town of Isabel. The trees that are there are there because grandpa planted them as part of the county conservation plan way back when. If you didn't plant trees, you didn't have trees because there aren't really any in that part of South Dakota. What there is, is lots of wildlife.

First, the pheasants. Western South Dakota isn't really known for it's pheasants like Eastern South Dakota is (the missouri river divides the state). These young guys were walking across the road on Friday morning.

And now for the main show...I got up at about 8:30 on Thanksgiving morning. These pictures were taken as the birds retreated. If I had been faster with the front door I could have knocked one in the head and had him for dinner a few hours later. These are wild turkeys. Better known as pests. They can't fly worth shit so when they "roost" they fly as high as they can get and then just crash through the tree until they land on a branch that will hold them. The poop on everything. They have pecked the dials off the grill and hurt the shingles a time or too as well. no, we don't eat them. For the record, wild turkeys are all dark meat. They get dry when you try to cook them. They do taste pretty good sealed in foil and left on the grill for a long time though with a can of beer up their butt.

These aren't turkeys! This is my family. That is the back of Grandma's head to the camera. She hates the camera. Dad's the one reaching for the spoon for something. Mom's in the blue and the kid with the wine glass is my little sister. She's legal so no worries. We pigged out twice. Grandma can't make it up the stairs at the farmhouse anymore so Mom cooked at our house and we brought it in for her. Turkey, mashed taters, gravy, stuffing, homemade bread, and cranberry jello dessert. Afterwards, we cleaned up, hauled our stuff back home, watched the first half of the Denver vs Dallas game (my sister is a Cowboys fan, I'm a die hard Broncos fan...no blood was shed), and then we went back into town for a second round of thanksgiving dinner at a friends house complete with turkey, ham, regular potatoes, sweet potatoes, green bean casserole, raspberry jello dessert, orange jello dessert, pumpkin pies, cream puff dessert....thank God for elastic pants.

This is my mommy being cool. As I was packing up she asked what my little white gumpack size gadget was. It was my iPod shuffle. I strapped the arm band on her, rigged up my headphones and hit the play button. She told me my music sounded like a funeral dirge! Must have been the "massage" music the boyfriend downloaded onto it for me. She didn't listen for very long. I was just impressed she let me put it on here.

While my Reggie and Romeo were home with the cat sitter I was cuddling with the farm kitties. These two are the newest additions since I was home in August. Aren't they cute? Little black fuzz balls. But they were so playful. And yes...I have that big coat on and gloves because it was cold!
One of those two big cats is mommy to the two fuzz balls. The scrawny one on the right is Bear. Refer to August blog entries for my last run in with Bear...let's just say I didn't pick her up this time. The one on the left has a name but I can't remember it. She and Bear are sisters.

So that was my trip home. I slept in every day! It was awesome. Finished White Oleander and started Predator by Patricia Cornwell. Got home a day early but I got a few things done here that I am happy for. The boyfriend and I went to Harry Potter for the second time. We had a freaky full fledged thunderstorm in the middle of the night complete with rain, lightening and crashing thunder. Odd for almost December! Today I made the above mentioned dinner, attempted to start painting the entry way. FYI...painting over glossy paint sucks! Primer sticks in some places, runs in others, and doesn't do shit in most. It's mostly dry now though, I'll sand the runs tomorrow and try a second coat. At least the nasty red/pink color is mostly covered. Now off to bed!

Made it home

i hope you have all had a wonderful thanksgiving weekend. I made it home a day early. I woke up yesterday and mom told me I should probably plan on heading home yesterday instead of waiting until today. Well, mommy knows best. I left around 12:30 and had great roads the whole way. Today it is wet and foggy. Would not have been fun driving at all.

Nothing exciting to tell. I have some pictures I want to post but that will have to wait until later. Wishing you all a great sunday afternoon!

Making a Path

Here are a few more pictures of the house. Slowly but surely I'm making a dent into all the boxes and such that seemed at first to be overtaking my new house. Yes, I know the mirror is really dirty but it's up and attached to the wall. I can clean it at any time. Yes, none of the kitchen appliances are plugged in but they are near an outlet and can be plugged in. yes, the walls in the green dining room look very very bare but their are pictures and such to be hung up and I can actually get to them now. The TV, stereo, cd's, and dvd's are in their final place for now. Don't really like the looks of my makeshift TV stand but for now it will have to do. Yes, all those boxes need to be taken to the curb tomorrow night before I head to SD for Thanksgiving. At least the driveway isn't icy this week!

I'm driving to my mom and dad's in South Dakota for Turkey Day. It is a 601 mile drive so I plan to split it up a bit on the way out and then will have to do the whole shot in one day on Sunday. At least it sounds like the weather is suppose to be mostly agreeable. Hope the roads stay okay. Happy Thanksgiving everyone!

Taking a break

Okay...can you tell I have to take a break every once in a while from the packing? This time I decided to wander through more HNT pictures and found another interesting quiz. i like the anwser of this one better then the wedding dress image from earlier. think it fits me.

You are White Chocolate

You have a strong feminine side with a good bit of innocence thrown in. Whether your girlish ways are an act or not, men like to take care of you. You are an understated beauty, and your power is often underestimated!

What Kind of Chocolate Are You?

I found it!!! Pictures everyone!

I finally found my USB camera cord and can upload all the pictures from the last couple weeks.

I know there is still a lot of scattered boxes and such in the room but at least the walls are painted and I have the bigger stuff in the right part of the room. Remember what color it use to be...The dark sponged brown? This color is called Lady Violet and it really opens the room up. Now the trim and such needs lots of work but that is just going to have to wait.

Just a few "in progress" pictures. Not quite certain what I'm going to do with my fireplace space but am leaning toward a silver screen backlit with lots and lots of white candles that I will accent with one or two seasonally appropriate candles as the year goes by. The screen will prevent the cats from melting their whiskers and if I get a mirror to go behind the candles, they will add a big of light.

This is my Aunt Brenda. Her face is blurred because she was a cleaning machine. She brought her Animal Care Dyson Vacuum and cleaned my old apartment top to bottom. That machine is a beast! I think I will be saving up to get one, can't believe how much cat hair it picked up and I thought I had been vacuuming on a pretty regular basis with my little Hoover! Thanks Aunt Brenda! I got my whole deposit check in the mail on Friday.

FOREWARNED: GRAPHIC PICTURES TO FOLLOW

Unfortunately, during the move, there was a fatality. i haven't spoken of it yet because it has been quite difficult for me to talk about.

This is the outline of the body on the old deck. You can clearly see the head but the rest of it looks as though the body laid in a mangled mess for quite some time. Upon further investigation this is what I found.

Looks like last year's scarecrow wasn't ready for the move. Poor guy took a header off the second story deck and landed in the driveway. At least he missed Brenda's SUV. Upon physical exam, Mr Scarecrow sustained injuries that were not compatible with life and therefore, all life support was pulled. His stuffing was damaged beyond recognition and was simply thrown away. No chance for stuffing donation. He was a good scarecrow, always smiling. RIP.

And last but not least, my traumatized big boys. To the left is Reggie running from his hiding spot behind the hot water heater as I tried to get them ready to go into their carries. To the right is Romeo. if you look closely you can see his shiny eyes past the washer hose. He wedged himself behind the dryer and under the vent hose. Poor guy froze there like a statue. I had to use the broom to scoot him across the floor to get him out. I felt so bad and they cried and cried the whole way to the house. They are back to normal though. This morning they woke me up at 6 when they were playing with the cords under the bed and clicking them on the hard wood floor. Good thing I went to bed at 8 last night!

So there are the most updated photos of the house. I will try to take a few more tonight after I have a things a bit more organized.

The Cats Won???!!!?!?!

No way! how did that happen? Os...explain.

At least Carroll pulled off the victory over Dickenson State. GO FIGHTING SAINTS!

This dress? Really?

So i saw this on someone else's site while I was scrolling through HNT pictures. Just found it interesting...don't jump to conclusions, no wedding bells anytime soon.

Figure Forming. You love those looks you
receive from lusting ongoers, so you choose a
dress that hides almost nothing. The
dress you choose will be one that flaunts the
curvatures of your sexy figure. You feel
confident in yourself, and this is the dress
that shows that.

Which Wedding Dress Suits Your Personality? {Pictures!}
brought to you by

he's back

This morning Jill and I went to breakfast before going to see Harry Potter and the Goblet of Fire. The Goblet of Fire was my favorite of all the Harry books that have come out thus far. I was super excited to see this movie and to make a long story very short the movie did not disappoint at all. I laughed, I cheered, I cried. It was great.

All the snow is gone. I survived the first icey-ness of the season with my new driveway without hurting myself or sliding onto the street in front of my house with my car. I'm a bit bummed that all the snow is gone but at the same time, hoping it stays like this to allow me to have a safe drive to mom and dad's next week.

I'm currently cooking my first meal in my house. I have been either eating out or not eating for the last couple weeks. Tonight I'm making tortellini and pesto sauce! It's mostly out of a box but it is cooking in my own house. Yippee! Then maybe a movie at home and to bed early. Tomorrow I will organize the now completely painted living room. Still no camera cord so still no updated pictures :(

Let it Snow! Let It Snow! Let It Snow!

Winter has sprung! We didn't get the 2-4 inches they were predicting last night but it was drizzling rain this morning, turned to pouring rain by midday and my this evening it is big fat wet snow flakes that are starting to stick and accumulate now that the sun has gone down. All the big trees on the hill behind my house look pretty cool. Come morning though I am going to be putting the slope on my driveway and my downhill icy driving skills to use. I can see myself sliding into the four lane traffic in front of my house instead of stopping and turning into traffic. Wish me luck!

Now back to work. Hope everyone's week is going well.

Feeling better

After a weekend with A LOT of sleep and little work done on the house I feel much much better. Friday night I was asleep a bit before 11, Saturday night I fell asleep on the couch at 7:30 and woke up about an hour later, read a friend's blog for a half hour and went straight to bed and was asleep before 9;30. I had slept in to 8:30 on Saturday morning, 8:45 on Sunday morning. I fell asleep in the chair at the boyfriend's house last night around 9:30 and at 10:00 I moved to the bed and slept until almost 7.

Other than getting a few clothes out of boxes and folded into the closet I didn't do much at the house. The boyfriend helped hook up the dryer vent but when we went to plug it in I needed a different plug-in to fit the wall piece. All that sleep felt so good instead.

Tonight I accomplished a lot simply because I was rested. i got a new cord for the dryer and with my friend Brian's help as well as the color code courtesy of the appliance store guy I have a working dryer. The wash machine had been moved around a lot and after doing the first load of clothes I discovered the back hose was loose (soapy water all over the floor was my first clue). I fixed that. the boyfriend came with the truck that had my two new dressers in it. One brand new from IKEA, one out of the scratch n' dent that barely has a scratch. moved the old dresser into the guest room and got the new one's into the room. I will have to assemble the new one but I can do that later.

I also have two loads of laundry done and the third one going in the wash machine! Laundry! I never thought I would be so happy to have laundry available. Now I just have to figure out what the heck my pretty orange and white kitty got into to turn all his white fur dishwater gray! He's a mess. I'm going to brush him one more time to clean him up and I'm going to bed now that I'm finally feeling human again!

We are the champions...

My friends...we did it! Going into tonight we were ranked 2 in our league, tied with the first place team but they had beat us 2-1 so they went into tonight in the top slot. 1 played 4, 2 played 3. We won against #3 in two games. Took about a 15 minute break and had to play the #1 team that just had an hour to rest.

We won the first game, but had to work for it. Lost the second game, but it was still close. Belive both of those ended up being 25-21 or something like that. Third game started and we fell apart. Within the first 10 minutes we found ourselves down 11-1! Seriously...11-1! Called a time out, iced the server, and started pecking away.

We won! We Won! We Won! man it felt so good. i was a basket of nerves all afternoon, just jumpin' to play. This helped get rid of a lot of the stress for the week. Now I have two big surgical cases on my calendar for tomorrow and then no where to be. I'm looking forward to a night in my new house for the whole night.

Now off to ice the aches and call it a night.

I found it!

Yippeeeee! I finally have accomplished something in the house. I vowed to myself this morning that I was not going to go to bed until it had happened. It was starting to concern me and it was definitely starting to get scary for those most close to me. I have searched for the last two days to no avail. Tonight...the search is over! I have found my razor! My aunt stuffed it into a random make-up bag that got stuffed into one of my random 2nd floor closets. It is found, it's in the shower, and I can't wait to use it tomorrow. It isn't cold enough yet for the furry look.

I actually got more done than just that tonight. I have all my dress pants, jeans, khakis, mostly of my sweaters, and all the hanging cloths that were transported on hangers put into the closet. I have my master bedroom vanity a bit more uncluttered and all my extra lotions and such are in the bathroom closet. Laundry baskets are emptied of packed things and now full of dirty laundry. It's coming together.

My tummy feels a lot better tonight than it has in the last three days. My edginess is fading. Now I'm going to head to bed. Before midnight!

Tomorrow night is it...volleyball playoffs. I'm ready to go...bump, set, KILL!!!

Moved in

I am officially checked out of my rented townhouse and moved into the new owned townhouse. Now there are boxes and piles of stuff literally everywhere but it's all here. There isn't anything left in the old place. I even took my three cinder blocks that were on the deck and used as flower pots.

Thank you all for the cheers and support through this. It was way more stressful than I had anticipated and a lot of people around me have had to bear the brunt of my stressful manifestations...short fuse, extreme fatigue, panic attacks, trust issues, self esteem lacking, you name it. When I'm stress my body and brain both have a tendency to go into the least amount of functioning that they can get by with.

The good news is the cats have come out of hiding. They are both wandering around at my feet as I type and last night after a couple hours they actually found the bed and curled up on top like normal. I was worried after the last two days with them. They sort of shut down too...no eating, drinking or moving of any sort.

I was back to work today after three days absence. Lots happen while I was gone...9 admissions on our call day so we have lots of surgical cases to do. Our team's junior resident is on vacation so that means more OR time for me but also more dirty work on the floor and such too. I'll get through. It's fun, makes me feel useful as a PA again.

The big anticipation left this week is Wednesday night's volleyball playoffs. We are 24-3, tied with one other team. They beat us 2-1 so they win the tie breaker. We will play the 3rd place team, which is the team we beat this past Wednesday. they were tough but with two subs and a little bit of a slow start we pulled all three wins out anyway. Hopefully the same will happen this week and then we will face the other 24-3 team in the championship game. I'm pumped. Now I just need to get some sleep so I am up for it.

So with that, I'm off to bed with a good book, my heating pad and the cats. Lots to unpack but that can wait. I need to recoup for a bit.

Thanks again for all your support...I'll slowly catch up on the happenings in everyone else's lives.

And I thought...

Boy, I thought I was burned out yesterday. tonight brings a whole new meaning to the term burned out. Let's just do a quick blow by of the day (i'm stilling the format from os because I'm too tired to come up with something original) because I need to go to bed or something really bad is going to happen...

• Five guys showed up to help this morning...perfect. I lifted as much as they did so basically 6 movers.
• 2.5 hours to load 16' moving van
• 1.5 hours to unload moving van
• 45 minutes to dismantle 1970's couches and door in order to get it upstairs
• Lunch at perkins for the guys
• back to the old house to find my aunt with everything that didn't go in the truck
• 1.5 hours to load that into her SUV and my car
• Twist LEFT ANKLE for bad SPRAIN on second load...save box from demolition
• Finish SUV loading, attempt to move my car into place....get 5 feet from house....
• RAN OUT OF GAS
• 15 minutes for Tim to bring me a couple gallons
• FALL DOWN STAIRS carrying 13 boxes of shoes, Tim helps me up
• Get cars loaded, feed friends cat, get to new house
• 1 hour to unload car and SUV
• Move my car into garage on far left so when we get back I can park SUV in too
• 25 minute shower, really hot, muscles hurt everywhere
• Put make-up on and fix hair for first time in 2 days
• Go to dinner at Outback, eat lots!
• Get home, it's raining, we are tired and crabby
• Park SUV, close garage door with remote
• LOCK GARAGE SIDE DOOR...both remotes are IN THE CARS!
• Key to house does not work for garage door or side door! FUCK IT ALL ANYWAY!
• It's 11 pm, I'm tired, can't get into either car, no key from previous owner for either lock
• Aunt Brenda is out cold already
• Call 411 on cell, no working phone in house yet. Get three lock smiths digits
• CALL LOCK SMITH...normally works Saturday nights but not tonight! FUCK it all again!
• Arrange for 7:00 AM arrival of Lock Smith...nice guy
• Set alarm
• Write blog entry
• Crawl into my bed in my new house!

Cats are still in the old place seriously pissed off. Romeo ran behind the wash machine as soon as the first box went out the door. Reggie attempted to avoid capture but ended up in the kitty bathroom by himself because romeo was literally crying in the laundry room. Let them out when the boys and I left with the truck. They are still at the old place because I didn't feel like trying to wrestle Romeo from behind the laundry machines and Reggie needed to calm down. They will come tomorrow morning after the Lock Smith gets me back into the garage!

Now to bed...thanks all for your support.

Oh yeah...ian, I had a glass of Yellow Tail Shiraz with dinner. Auzzies make great wine!

Burned out

The majority of my stuff isn't even moved into my new house and I am burned out. last night I really cracked...thank god Os was back from Just.A.Girl's because I spent two hours on the phone with him mostly in tears and panic. Barely slept last night due to panic attacks and paranoia. I'm doing a bit better this morning and am up and loading a truck load of stuff on my own. The cable company hasn't disconnected by stuff yet so I thought I would make a quick post between trips. I'm trying to get all my office and craft stuff into the house so the guys don't have to climb down two flights of stairs with it all and then climb up two flights of stairs with it. I trying. My aunt called and is on the road, thank God I could use her more for her moral support than the cleaning help at this point. GOD HELP ME! I will survive this right?

Seriously??

I just got home from Target and need to jot down a few observations....

1. Today is November 3rd...Target has their full blown christmas display out. Christmas display??? Hello, Thanksgiving???....that forgotten holiday with Turkey, stuffing, family and happiness over the things that we have been blessed with.

2. Their is customer service and then there is customer service.

Example 2A: I went in my winter white two piece business suit that has dual toned brown pin stripes. It looks pretty sharp. A very creepy cart guy got way too close to "welcome" me into the store as I walked in. Just the way he said "how are you doing?" gave me the chills.

Example 2B: I pull up to the check out and the clerk is beyond happy. She is talking up the poor little 5 year old in front of me, whose mom had just bought him new clothes. He looked terrified. I get up to pay for my stuff and she literally commented on EVERY item in my cart. Lightbulbs, flat iron for my hair, swifter sweeper with wet and dry refills, a bottle of lysol with bleach toilet bowl cleaner, a quart of milk, a pair of flannel jammie pants. Then she left my lysol sitting out and left the milk in a bag by itself. I asked her to just throw them in the bag together and she argued with me in her happy, how may I help you voice. I just looked down at her and said, they are both in sealed bottles and put them in together myself. She also commented about how "soft" my new flannel pants were...they really weren't, sort of starchy stiff, need to be washed. And then something about my swiffer sweeper. My question...what would she have commented about if I had condoms, tampons, and cold medicine. My point is, say hi, tell me thank you, have a nice day...but PLEASE do NOT comment on every item in my cart, especially when other people are in line, don't argue with me about what I want bagged together. Ugh!

So, I'm hauling my office books to the main floor, replacing burned out light bulbs, washing sheets, and packing up things. I have taken ALL DAY tomorrow off. Now I can get a lot done!

Note to self..

Don't decide to move into a new house when you are a single woman in Minnesota the first weekend of deer hunting season...need men to move, any recruits?