Who'd you invite?

I don't talk religion on my site much but occasionally I throw it in. This weekend at our Women's Lenten Retreat the presenter led us through a cool visual reflection. When we were all done we met in small groups to talk about what we had visualized. The topic for the day was The Basin and The Towel in it's relationship to our call to serve and to be served as Jesus did at the Last Supper.

Our task was to arrange our own Last Supper. Jesus would be there in our own homes and we had to plan the meal and guest list. Would we use special dishes? Any particular table setting? Who would you invite? Etc...it was very intriguing.

I instantly decided on my Chicken Alfredo Lasagna. It's easy and tasts amazing. Goes great with a Caeser salad. A couple bottles of white wine. Something with raspberries for dessert. All easy enough. Then I started my guest list. Then I started wondering where I would sit every one. Then I started worrying if I forgot someone. Did I have all the ingredients? It's got to be just right...

Then, an "aha" moment! Forget the guest list, keep the menu, just invite Jesus. If you are familiar with the Bible stories of Mary and Martha you know Martha was a fussy sort. Everything had to be perfect, it was always her busy prepping and serving which made an event successful while her sister Mary would sit at the feet of Jesus and talk. Once Jesus scolded Martha for her flightiness and instructed her to sit and enjoy. So, I'm a "martha". I have to have it all planned out, I have to make sure every guest is happy.

So...for my Last Supper in my own home I would invite Jesus, we would eat in the living room on my usual periwinkle Fiestaware with several bottles of average white wine and afterwards curl up in blankets and watch a movie together. Boring but at least I know I was giving Jesus my attention and he vice versa.

Now, the challenge...Who would you invite? What would you make? Why that way? Just something to ponder.

Post-Patty's Day Prattle

The weekend is finally nearly over and I'm looking to get a few hours of it back! It was a great weekend and I wouldn't mind extending just a few hours of it. Maybe a few Irish prayers and the sun upon my back finally helped me out...

Yesterday morning started with our Lenten Retreat at church. We had a guest speaker so all i had to do was get the morning organized and physically set things up. The best part of the morning was a reflection she had us do on the Last Supper. She had us think about who we would invite to join us in our own home along with Jesus if we were to hose a dinner with him. Who to invite, who would sit where, what would you serve, etc? It was a neat experience.

Last night we joined a group of my friends and acquaintances from work for a surprise 50th birthday party. We had great food, good music, good friends. I even discovered a new drink. Ever try Yukon Jack and Mountain Dew in a Yu-Dew? Very yummy! We went out to a little Irish pub after dinner. It was a crowded smokey mix of drunkness and only an okay band. Their song selection was a bit questionable and their quality was just okay. We stayed until about 10:30 and headed home to watch a movie. This morning we took advantage of sleeping in, made breakfast, and hung out. It was very very nice.

i have smokey clothes to wash now and need to find something for supper but I'm happy for the first time in a few weekends. It was nice for a change. The luck of the Irish was with me and for that I'm grateful. Top o' the week to ya all!

Irish I am...

This is why i carry my own irish shot glass around my neck :)

You're 70% Irish

You're very Irish, and most likely from Ireland. (And if you're not, you should be!)

How Irish Are You?

I'm ready, are you...HNT

Last year I had fun with HNT on St Patty's Day so I thought I better keep the tradition up. I have my mug and am ready for my green beer! Happy HNT from your Irish lass.

Counting flowers on the wall...

I'm suppose to say that doesn't "bother me at all". I'm not convinced.

I said mutliple repeated rosaries last night, I read 10-20 pages of The Devil in The White City. I petted my snoring cats, I rolled onto my left, my back, and my right side. There are no flowers on my wall but there are 8 pictures of Montana landscapes of my own taking on the walls. I saw the clock turn about every 20-40 minutes and counted down until the alarm went off at a quarter to 6.

When i was asleep my dreams were of the past and of pain. Or just plain flat out didn't make logical sense. Finally got up on the second attempt at the snooze button this morning. Showered and got myself all pretty for a full clinic day.

It's now Tuesday night and I've worked 19 hours this week already and last night slept only about 3 total. I got home today around 4 ish and crashed hardcore for a two hour nap. Oops, I didn't make it to the gym. I slept so hard and was curled tight under the blankets. The cats were curled on top of that. I could have slept till tomorrow. But the dreams were scattered and unrealistic messes of jumbled thoughts.

I've had a meeting, I had dinner, now I'm watching a ballistics show and wrapped in a blanket on the couch. Maybe I'll sleep tonight, otherwise I need to paint some flowers on the walls.

look what i made..

It was my attempt at romantic and a perk for myself to have fresh flowers in the house. I don't think it turned out half bad!

My Visual DNA

Found this on Leesa's site and found it intriguing. I have better things I should be doing but instead I have my feet up and am watching In Her Shoes while laundry is going I'm not being completely nonproductive!

Read my VisualDNA™ Get your own VisualDNA™

Comic relief

Yes, I'm almost 30.

Yes, it's 4 in the afternoon and I'm NOT at work.

Yes, I've accomplished a few things this afternoon.

No, I haven't taken a nap.

Yes, I need a smile.

So...YES, I'm sitting with a blanket in my jammies watching Curious George, the movie!

Yes, I'll make it to my 6 pm volleyball game in time.

they are holding...

The bandages seem to be holding. They are getting a little stretched but so far so good. I wish I could go into a lot of detail but's too hard and too personal. The long story short is that I've hit some bumps in a long term relationship and the future is up in the air. It's scary, I think we can get past it, it's just hard.

Hopefully the bandages hold...it hurts like hell and I don't know what else to do.

So much for fun times...

i've moved out to the farm. so far so good but it's been nuts. The surgical rep covering for the house owners at his "real" job isn't helping. I have had to make two emergency runs to the hospital (yesterday at 6:15 in the morning and this morning at 8:30 when the hospital called woke me up) because the rep hasn't come in or had the right instruments. Yesterday morning since I was up so darn early I figured I might as well get chores done. That was fun actually.

I got the first two horses let to their pasture without a problem. The "girls" were another story. They wanted OUT and I wasn't moving fast enough. So Cindy and Joys both got to run and frolic around the yard independently for a while before I was able to get their leads on and back into the pasture. Silly girls. I went rounds with a nasty rooster and am proud to say I won :) I got him out of the barn and back into the yard. I went a second round tonight with him and the other gal that is normally doing chores and we beat him again :) Silly rooster!

The electricity went out in the barn too. When I got home from the hospital this morning the gal doing chores had left me a note asking if the lights were working elsewhere. The house stuff was fine. I called the owner and he walked me through all the buildings and they were fine too. He directed me on the phone to two outdoor switchboxes and those were fine. He called a neighbor and he came over. There was one box the owner didn't tell me to look at because he thought it would be fine. Well, with the cold weather and everything plugged in the breaker had switched and that was the problem. We got that fixed too.

Now if everything else was going okay. I'm in tears now, have been most of the weekend and don't know what my future is going to hold for me. The love of my life "isn't sure". Lots to talk about I guess. He wants to talk though so that's good right? I'm scared. I don't want to mess up another relationship that I thought was forever. We are more than friends by a long ways but are we marriage material? If we are close should we work on it? What if we aren't close? I'm just trying to hold myself together and hopefully the rest will fall into place. Great, uh?

Fun times ahead...

We are expected to get an additional 8-10 inches of snow in the next 24 hours. That's in addition to the 20 inches we got this past weekend and the three and a half we already got today. In between the boughts of snow fall today we have had sleet and rain. To say it's "interesting" out would be an understatement. I mentioned the result of the first storm was increased work for us. Today it resulted in a decrease in business. Monday was a call day. Today was a clinic day. We had quite a few brave souls who came in spite of the weather but many rescheduled. I have no problem with those who reschedule. I have a problem with those who do not call and simpley don't show up.

In between clinic patient's today I got to spend $400 on a new ignition/lock system for my car. Something wrong with the tumbler and electric communication between it and the shifter and brake. Yesterday it resulted in me being stuck in the parking ramp with a key stuck in the ignition and the inability to remove the key or turn the car on. I drove my way slowly home, parked in my garage and once again canceled all my plans for the night

I'm feeling a bit lonely now. My boyfriend has a severely busy week at work and I haven't gotten to see him very much. Sunday night he pulled an all-nighter working on his projects. Monday I was at work late so we canceled our plans to finish installing my new dishwasher. Tuesday night he was still working on deadline related projects. Last night was a great night of volleyball in spite of the weather. Our games were still on and we ended up winning all three after staying within a point or two of each other for all three games. Afterwards my boyfriend and I were able to have dinner together and then he came over to finish installing my new dishwasher. Unfortunately, the weather has interferred with my plans to go to his house tonight and hang out.

Fun times are ahead starting tomorrow so who knows how much we will get to see each other. I begin a house sitting job on a farm just outside of town. There are four horses, two pygmie goats, some chickens and an Australian shepard who lives in doors. Another individual is going to help with the chores but I will be staying at the house because Yoda, the dog, is mostly a house dog. I'm worried about the snow, loss of power, and horses in this blizzard. Could get interesting I was excited about housesitting until this blizzard rolled in, now I'm feeling very anxious. I don't like feeling anxious.

To top it all off, not having a lot of time to spend with my boyfriend over the last couple weeks is bugging me. I'm trying not to be the anxious, worried girl I am but lately it's been creeping in. I know he's busy. There is a lot going on at work this time of year for him. He is willing to make time for me. I just get lonely. I get use to seeing him nearly every day. I find comfort in knowing I can talk about my day with him, plan my weekend with him, just have him around. I don't share well and now I'm sharing him with work. It's awful to be jealous of an employer isn't it? Maybe once the final snow count is in we can hit the slopes on Sunday. I didn't get to go skiing last week with the rest of the gang because of my own work schedule. I felt left out then too.

Time for a glass of wine. I need a hug too...

Monday Mayhem

Today was the first day the world around me had to go back to work and routine after a weekend of storms leaving behind ice and feet of snow.

Today was the first day this week at work my team was on call.

Today was mayhem. Today was a "good" day at work.

In trauma surgery a "good" day is a busy day. Those of us who work in trauma don't like idle times. We get a little antsy. Today, we had no time to be antsy or bored

Unfortunately, a busy day for us usually means inconvenience, pain, and confusion for others. This is a typical "winter" flow of patients for us...snow mobile accidents, ice related falls, car accidents. We saw it all today. This is what we have been waiting for all winter. Hopefully all will go well the rest of this week.

Maybe today is the start of my funk going away.

saturday night funk

Thunder snow? Hail in February? 6 inches of now before the rain? February??? They said it was coming. I was annoyed by it all. To hell with canceling events before the storm even gets here. Make plans, if you have to change them change them. It's February in Minnesota, what do you expect. Get over it, we were spoiled with 40-50 degree temps in December and January.

Well, it came. "They" were right. Last night driving to the bar at 10:30 in blinding snow and watching thunder and lightening in the sky was just too strange. There was July-like thunder clouds with severe lightening and it was snowing. This morning at 5 am I was awakened to ice pelting against the window two feet from my head. It wasn't ice falling, but it turned to ice as soon as it hit the window. Don't know which kept me awake more...the rain pounding or my supposed yelling in my sleep (boyfriend says I was yelling in my sleep...considering what I do remember of my dreams, the few I did have, I believe him). It was a long night.

I chopped through the 1/2 to 1 inch thick layer of ice on top of the 6 inches of snow to shovel the sidewalk this morning. That was weird. The roads were surprisingly driveable. Slushy but reasonably okay. Wish the rest of the day had been reasonably okay. I would have taken reasonably okay.

Instead, this is how I'm spending my Saturday night in an attempt to cope...

I have snowflake covered flannel pajama pants on with socks, I just inhaled a bag of microwave popcorn and I'm on my third or fourth glass of Merlot. We started installing the new dishwasher this afternoon and it's not done and I have shed a gazillion tears. What is my "Problem"?

All I wanted at Menard's was a 90 degree elbow with a 3/8th inch threaded end. Well, the idiot plumbing counter salesperson was clueless. Not only clueless, he didn't listen to what I needed. I left with three separate pieces of copper coupling to "make-do" with becaues he didn't have what I needed and implied no such thing existed. This took an absorbant amount of time. I eventually made it out with these three pieces, a piece of connecting hose, plumber's tape, and salt for my water softner. I got in line at Culver's to get our lunch. Did I mention this was taking a crazy amount of time? If not, it was to the point of the boy calling me to make sure everything was okay. By the way, I thought that was cute considering the shitty weather and all.

Well, I pounded my way into the house (a layer of ice made it impossible to ring the doorbell and my hands were too full to open the knob). The first words out of the boy's mouth as I was trying to explain were "these aren't going to work". It sent me into tears. Tears! Flaming, burning tears. He got mad, put his coat on and started to leave. Like that helped the tears! I just wanted to frickin' finish the dishwasher installation, I was pissed as hell at the salesperson for not knowing his shit, and now I was trying to explain myself to my boyfriend for bringing home the parts I brought home. What I really wanted to do...curl up in the fetal position with my cats and cry like there was no tomorrow.

Why the hell do I feel like that?

We managed to eat lunch. He picked up the "right" piece that "doesn't exist" at Home Depot and we will finish the installation tomorrow. I got a nap and had jacked up dark dreams. I have completed several cards and one photo book cover. I have my flannel sheets in the dryer. I have devoured my bag of popcorn, I'm still working on the bottle of wine, and I'm watching The Devil Wears Prada alone on a Saturday night thanks to the damn storm that made it not the wisest decision to go out for pizza and a movie with a group of friends, even though I really wanted to and now instead we all played it safe and stayed home, the boyfriend is at home slaving over work on the weekend because he has presentations and deadlines all before Wednesday and all I want to do is cry myself to sleep on his shoulder for no identifiable reason and instead am downing a nice bottle of Merlot in Eddie Bauer flannel with the Devil Wears Prada and Orville Redenbacher all alone on a Saturday night.

What the heck is my funk about?



Maybe the brunch with a friend and her daughter tomorrow morning will help all this. Maybe a long night's sleep in freshly cleaned flannel sheets with a good book will make me feel better. But I want to know where the hell is it coming from?

Stolen Meme

The rules are simple. Answer each question in three words. No more, no less.

1. Where is your cell phone? Next to me
2. Boyfriend/girlfriend?a handsome boyfriend
3. Hair? curly red mess
4. Your mother? strong-willed woman
5. Your father? school bus driver
6. Your favorite item(s)? flannel sheets, PJ's
7. Your dream last night? frustrating, screaming, awake
8. Your favorite drink? room temp water
9. Your dream guy/girl? have no clue
10. The room you are in? warm, bright, safe
11. Your fear? Being old alone
12. What do you want to be in 10 years? Satified, comfortable, safe
13. Who did you hang out with last night? pals from work
14. What are you not? A great singer
15. Are you in love? Very much so
16. One of your wish list items? Montana mountain home
17. What time is it? serious nap time
18. The last thing you did? fetched my mail
19. What are you wearing? jeans and turtleneck
20. Your favorite book? Alienist by Carr
21. The last thing you ate? Culver's Bacon Burger
22. Your life? seize the day
23. Your mood? pretty darn grumpy
24. Your friends? eccletic, fun, true
25. What are you thinking about right now? Bad day, anyone?
26. Your car? Coated in ice
27. What are you doing at this moment? thinking of napping
28. Your summer? Should be busy
29. Your relationship status? He's at home
30. What is on your TV screen? Law & Order
31. When is the last time you laughed? one hour ago
32. Last time you cried? 90 minutes ago
33. School? too much time

It's all relative...

Isn't it funny how our life sitatuion, physical location, mind set can make what seems to be very different things similar. Or cause you to react the same to different stimuli?

Last week I was hanging out in San Diego and the highs got up to the low 80's. I was singing the praises of the sun and fresh air and was excited about not having to wear a coat. Last night after volleyball I was in shorts and my Columbia winter coat amazed at how warm 34 degrees felt! Some of the warmth from Southern Cali must have come home with me. We had one day of 40 plus degree temps this week. The snow is melting and it's a slushy mess but it feels wonderful out. I briefly opened the windows in southern Minnesota in February because it was 36 degrees out and it felt so good to get a breeze through the house. Guess it's all relative to what you expect!

it arrived...

it made it today, everything was in one piece, now i have to unpack

Bag anyone?

I made it home from beautiful San Diego about 40 minutes late and then the only checked bag which arrived was my bag full of dirty laundry. All the essentials are stuck in Chicago. How do I know they are in Chicago? The guy from London, the guy from Miami and myself all flew through Chicago. Also...as we waited 20 minutes in the plane at the jet way in Chicago the pilot let us know we were waiting for bags to be loaded because of short ground staff. This was the first flying trip in which I have had to rebook a flight because of completing canceled flights and go to a different airline AND then they also lose my luggage. They say it will be delivered in the morning. Wish me luck...

Sunny San Diego

I'm hanging out in sunny San Diego through Sunday for the American Academy of Orthopedic Surgeons annual meeting. What a perfect location considering it's still freezing in Minnesota. This is a great city! And I have seafood to eat every single day...so I'm off to begin my day!

Senseless

I've been super busy this weekend but something is weighing on my chest and I need to get it off before I go to bed and start the new week. On top of getting a new dishwasher, demo'ing at a very successful Stampin' Up at-home workshop, covering the hockey game, dinner with the boy, a migraine, church and open volleyball, I got news of a very bad accident in my hometown on Friday night/Saturday morning.

When I say I grew up in a small town, I mean really small. The population when I graduated high school was around 300. I graduated with 11 people. The class behind me had 18 or so. My sister's class four years later had 8. You get the picture.

Friday night two classmates from the class behind me were killed in a car accident. A third member of that class is in critical condition. One of those killed married a classmate of mine right out of high school so they have been married for 9 years and have three kids under the age of 5. The other one killed is married to a gal from the class behind their's and they have two kids under the age of 5.

I cried on Saturday morning when my sister called me. Two hours later I was angry and I'm still angry. The cause of the accident was a group of adults acting like teenagers. Even my widowed classmate has said that already in her grief. They were racing another group of friends in another car and had been drinking. One of the vehicles lost control coming into town around the big curve right next to the now widowed classmate's mom and dad's house. Could it all get any worse.

Isabel is a dying town to start with. Since I graduated in 1996 the population has continued to drop and is now around 250. These young people chose to stay in Isabel. They are part of the community. Now the community is getting ready to bury two of it's own. I cried tonight at Mass for my classmate. I was always jealous of her marrying her high school sweetheart and having three beautiful kids. Now I can't imagine the grief and sadness.

Please pray for my hometown, they could use it right now.

Pearl Ex HNT

Dad's birthday was Monday and I spent three days trying to call him before I was finally able to reach him today and sing a very bad rendition of Happy Birthday to him. Thankfully, I'm more crafty than I am vocally capable :) I made a lot of cards today and tried my hand at a technique I haven't used. Pearl Ex is a heat free embossing powder from Stampin' Up that gave the candles on my Dad's birthday cake a little glimmer. I took a few shots of all the cards I made and now I'm off to bed. Happy HNT!

Feeling homey...

The last week I have felt homey; almost nesting like. I know for sure I'm not pregnant so no cause and effect there. I think it's the cold weather. Fall and winter are my favorite time of the year and we have had a very delayed winter this season. In December we had 50 and 60 degree days. We have now had a snowfall which hasn't melted and has actually acccumulated along with subzero temperatures for the last 10 days.

In the last 10 days I have felt very comfortable in my home. I have owned my house for just over a year but it really feels like mine now. A stranger could walk through the house now and learn many things about me. It's a "home" instead of a "house". I have had the desire to spend hours in my softest flannel pajamas, thick warm socks, and my hair in a pony tail curled up in between my flannel sheets with my heating pad and a good book. The other night I even took a cup of hot chocolate to bed with me. When not curled up reading, I have been on the couch working on the computer or watching TV with a warm blanket and a hot cup of tea.

I have also made a point to pick up after myself a bit more. The coffee table is free of the last week's worth of mail, last night I cleared the top of my desk, and each day after stamping in my personally painted and decorated craft room, I have picked my things up so when I have returned the next time the area was clean and ready to begin the next project.

I have wanted to wear my form fitting flowing dress pants with my sharp pair of boots and thick, soft, warm sweaters. I have foregone make-up more than a few days in the last few weeks. I'm enjoying using the various rooms in my house. I have felt very safe in my home.

I'm not sure where the feeling is coming from but a homey, comfy feeling has led to more productivity as well. I've read four books this year already. Finished several magazines which are a few months old. I have also gotten many stampin' projects done and two workshops under my belt in the last week. I'm hoping this feeling sticks around. I like this feeling. It makes me feel calm. Homey. Safe. Comfortable. I like comfortable.

Winter has sprung

Didn't think it would take until February to finally say that! But we are experiencing the coldest, snowiest weather we have had all winter. The highs this weekened have hovered any where from 5 to 15 degrees BELOW zero. The sun is shining making sunglasses a necessity with everything still covered in white from the first persistant snow fall of the year too. We had lots of wet heavy one or two days of snow earlier but it never stuck around long. The ground has now been white for a good two weeks. I like it.

Of course, I pick the coldest weekend of the year to have a full slate of activities. My car made a serious protest yesterday morning to get to my 9:30 meeting. Even the hot chocolate at the hockey game couldn't keep me warm as I covered the last regular season game for the team I was assigned through Sports Med. I didn't take all my layers off rom that until 9 pm last night. I just couldn't get warm. So I kept the layers on and moved up to my third floor where it's the warmest to finish up all the preparation for this afternoon's children's Valentine's Day Stampin' Up workshop.

The floors are swept, the dining room full of Stampin' supplies, snacks laid out, a candle lit and food bought for our Super Bowl party, which I have to get to as soon as I'm done here at home. Since my Broncos were out of it all, I forgot Super Bowl Sunday when I planned my workshop. oh well...the boy has the handle on touching up his house and everyone is to bring their own snacks and we will order pizza. I should just have to show up.

Good thing the boss is going to be gone this week, I should have some time to relax and play catch up on everything else. Like finding the top of my desk and finishing a book or two :)

Have a great week!

Moose behind

This particular moose is behind this week. I'm paying the price for a three day relaxing weekend and it is now just seems like a memory. Oh well! It's Friday tomorrow and I have a weekend of meetings, hockey games, errands, workshops, and parties to participate in. The high for Saturday's temp is to be around 3 below air temp with wind chills much lower than that. Going to be fun picking up my new dishwasher and bringing it home.

These are the only two pictures we took this weekend. The last morning of our escape involved a trip to the outlet shopping center near our resort. As we were getting ready to make the drive home we spotted an odd vehicle in the parking lot. Of course we had to check it out...and this is what we found. The Moosejaw Pizza and Brewing Companies delivery truck.

Isn't he adorable?

Back on track

As I said before I left for the long weekend, I'm alive but I took a bit of a detour last week. Not sure what prompted it but I was busy and planning a party with a weekend get-a-way so the blog got a fair bit neglected.

The weekend away was a much needed relief. After hosting our Faux New Year's Eve Party until 4 AM on Friday night we took our time enjoying our weekend. Lots of food, lots to drink, lots of Wii smack talk and great friends to start it all for us. We slept till almost noon on Saturday and got to our resort that evening. The food, the spa, the time alone together was wonderful. We had some heated competitions in the arcade and a nice relaxing weekend all around.

Unfortunately, the rat race is on again. I have two separate Stampin' Up workshops coming up, two hockey games this week to cover and the usual other stuff to do. My four day week is going to fly away from me. Hope your week is going well.

I'm alive...

I'm here, just a busy week and now I'm off for a two night, three day couples spa get-a-way! See you guys on Tuesdsay :)

The best kind of day...

I normally don't like surprises. I like to plan things out. I like to lay things out in front of me. in grad school, I outlined things so that i didn't have to read solid pages of text. There are a few surprises I like though. Today is one of the surprises...

I got to sleep in unexpectantly first off. Last night when we went to bed, the plan was for both of us to get up at 6:00 am to get ready to hit various stores that were rumored to be getting in the Nintendo Wii. When the alarm went off i wanted to do anything but get up. The boy tucked me in tighter, gave me a little kiss and let me stay in bed! It was wonderful.

I finally got out of bed around 10:00 this morning and woke up to a fresh new coating of snow that is only getting thicker! The unexpected snow fall has been upgraded from a snow advisory to a heavy snow advisory. The snow from last weekend was starting to get a little dingy looking, now it's all fresh, white and fluffy again. I like those sorts of morning surprises.

I'm sipping my coffee now, watching the snow fall, and planning my day so I can get to the boy's house to play with the new Wii! Surprises galore!

There's snow here still...

THE GHOSTS OF 2006 PAST
1. What did you do in 2006 that you'd never done before?
Traveled to a few new places...San Francisco, Chicago, Eagle River WI
2. Did anyone close to you give birth?
Many people...and i've been enjoying the updates and photos all year long
3. Did anyone close to you die?
Not this year but my mom came close a few times
4. What countries did you visit?
Just the good ole USA
5. What would you like to have in 2007 that you lacked in 2006?
More time to relax and take care of myself
6. What dates from 2006 will remain etched upon your memory, and why?
My birthday in October...my boyfriend took me home to meet his parents. July because of how sick my mom was and seeing the fall risk sign outside her hospital door.

7. Did you suffer illness or injury?
I caught the stomach flu on steriods on Christmas Eve, spent last February home from work for the first time ever with some weird upper respiratory/lung infection.
8. Whose behavior merited celebration?
taking charge of my financial situation
9. Whose behavior made you appalled and depressed?
My inpatience with others as well as my inability at times to let go of the past
10. Where did most of your money go?
This year?? Loan consolidation!
11. What did you get really, really excited about?
Meeting the parents, camping in Glacier Park
12. Compared to this time last year, are you: a) happier or sadder? b) thinner or fatter? c) richer or poorer?
Happier, thinner, richer
13. What was your favorite TV program?
Bones and CSI
14. What was the best book you read?
Memoirs of a Geisha

15. Is there someone or something you missed this past year?
I missed celebrating Thanksgiving with my family.
16. What did you do on your birthday, and how old were you?
I turned 29 and we drove to Waupaca, WI for a wedding and meeting his parents
17. What kept you sane?
My friends!
18. What is one new thing you'd like to accomplish this coming Year?
Continue to lower my debt, make some improvements in my house, advance my Stampin' Up business
19. If you could do ONE thing this New Year and NOT get chastised by, or for it, what would you do? Tell some of my patients what I really think of them and their noncompliance.

20. If you could really, and actually, meet one blogger in 2007, who would you want to meet?I would like to meet Lime. She is such a down to earth, energized, generous person. I would like to see her corner of the world with her as my guide.

I got tagged with this because I had snow or ice outside my window according to My Uptopia. If you have sunshine when you read this...you're tagged.

InspiRED...HNT

I'm feeling inspiRED lately. The GAP now has a long sleeve version of the charity raising tee and I had to pick one up. I love it. It's soft, it clings just right and it's a damn good message. Now that I'm inspired I'm going to spend the afternoon getting a few things done :)

Haev a great rest of the week. Happy HNT

We're busy again..

What follows snow and ice?

Snowmobile accidents, car accidents, broken hips, broken wrists...and a happy Orthopedic Trauma Department :)

IT"S SNOWING!!!!!

4 inches and counting!!!!

A good weekend...

The boyfriend made it home safe, his internal clock is messed up but he's home!

Romeo and Regg are "cool" again and Romeo's eye is getting better.

Hockey game ended 7-2 with only one minor injury that will need a few sutures.

I get to go to a movie with my boyfriend tonight. We had a great lunch together today.

Only downfall...it's bitter cold and not a snowflake in sight.

oh my...

2 hours sleep. One #2 mess cleaned from the floor AND his backside. Two #1 messes, one on my grandmother's goose down pillow. An angry, crying brother that wailed most of the night. A cat that growled like he was a dog when his brother got close to check on him.

That's how I spent my night.

It's 9 pm the day after and it's not much better. I at least got him out of the attic, then off the foundation under the floorboards in the basement. I may need to update my tetanus from all that I scraped my arms on. He's curled up at my feet now after I moved a bit to write this post after previously being at my side as seen above. he's not completely hip about his brother hanging out next to him yet. But damn it...this momma stayed up all night with her kids and made it to work the next day.

I'm going to shower and get the dead spiders, 80 year old dust, and cat hair and pee smell off of me before I try to get a full night's sleep...because do you know what tomorrow is?????

MY BOYFRIEND FINALLY COMES HOME!!!!!!

Gotta love them...

It's all about THEM this week, I guess!

This one got a trip to the vet today and has a $109 case of pink eye. I had a pretty good idea it was pink eye...I spent the first six months of PA school gazing into the eyes of classmates, a spouse, various kids, and pets to understand an eye exam. The only thing I was missing this week was my ophthalmoscope and stain for his cornea...but his conjunctiva was bright pink and his eye was goopy. So the poor guy had to endure getting in his carrier. The little guy wets himself and then cries the entire time he is in it, soundly eerily like a small trapped child. It's scary. But he got his meds, I paid the bill, and now he's hiding and I'm suppose to find him to put the ointment in his eye four times a day. Wait until I have kids!?

GUYS!?!?!?!

Now aren't they just the cutest thing you ever did see? All fuzzy, adorable, sleeping soundly...WHATEVER!

My comforter and the first blanket underneath of it are both in the dryer now at 9:30 pm still drying because one of these cute little kids chucked up a hairball and cat food pieces all over the unoccupied side of my bed around 5:30 this morning! I didn't have time to throw them in the wash before I left for work (the blankets, not the cats). So I balled them up so it didn't keep soaking through and am taking care of it now.

At least there is a second half of what looks to be a great routing by UF over OSU!

The end of Christmas

It's a gray, dark weekend. The boyfriend is still stuck in England. There isn't a flake of snow to be seen. And..it's the end of Christmas this weekend. See why I slept until 12:30 pm today?

Epiphany marks the end of the Christmas season in the Catholic church. Advent led us up to it. My family has always put their tree up early and left it up until Epiphany. So today, I'm taking the decorations down. Putting up the tree is always a sense of accomplishment, an anticipation of when all the lights are first turned on, an "ahhhh" when it is all done. Taking the tree down is a downer. It's a mess that has to be cleaned up. It's an emptiness in the living room. I just don't like doing it.

The issue isn't just taking down the decorations. I'm flat out lonely this weekend. I'm not use to having my weekends to myself unplanned. Usually when my boyfriend has to travel I have known about it ahead of time, anticipated both his departure and his return, been able to spend time with him before hand. This trip was so unexpected and rushed it sent me tumbling from the beginning. I understand it's his job and I'm not upset at him for going. God, knows I have had to change plans or be late for things because I have been stuck in the OR past expected. It's just been a long week is all. I need to sit down in his arms and talk a few things through. I can't do that until next weekend.

Instead I have read two books in one week and started the third last night. Joined a friend for breakfast yesterday and then my previously mentioned jean's expedition. Last night I went to bed at 11 pm, my boyfriend called from the front of Buckingham Palace at 8 am and we chatted for a while but I wasn't very awake (I do feel bad about that, I would have liked to talk to him a little longer), and then I went back to sleep for several more hours. Doesn't help I have a cold this week. My goal is to do little this weekend, sleep lots and feel better tomorrow morning. And I am looking forward to having him home by Friday!

Mission Impossible...

I stopped at the mall this morning to take advantage of post-holiday, pre-spring, season clearance sales. I wasn't after much, but I did want a pair of jeans. Last year I found a pair of jeans at Ann Taylor Loft that I loved. I still have them and my goal was to walk into the store, buy another pair and leave. 2.5 hours later, I left with two pairs of jeans and NOT from Ann Taylor Loft.

It figures...they have changed their styles. I went to Coldwater Creek, The Buckle, The Gap, Aeropostle, American Eagle, J. Jill, Abercrombie & Fitch. I tried on sizes 8's and 10's in each store. Coldwater Creek pants come over an inch ABOVE my belly button but I could get into an 8. At the Buckle and Aeropostle I couldn't tell which were girl jeans and which were boy jeans and they ALL looked too small, torn, worn, or ragged. At Abercrombie I tried a size 10 and got it "mostly" over my hips and ran out of jean...talk about low rise.

I finally found a pair at J. Jill and bought 2 pair! Now, hopefully, I still like them in a week when I put them on again and it wasn't just my jean frustration that got me to buy two pair.

HNT...remember how?

This week our country laid to rest a President. I'm not old enough to remember President Ford but I do remember my Grandfather who was a World War II Navy vet and my Dad who is a Vietnam War vet. I remember learning the Pledge of Alligence in first grade and being presented with a little flag of my own when I could successfully recite all its lines. I remember playing my tenor sax every Memorial Day at the community service even though school had been out for three weeks . I remember feeling special when I was picked from the school kids to put a flag on a cross in the cemetry afterwards for all those locals killed in various wars fought by our country. I remember crying the first time I saw "The Wall".

So this week, I pose the question. Do you remember how to cover your heart with your right hand to say the Pledge or sing along with the National Anthem? Even if you don't know the words, do you remember that we are to show respect for our flag during the Pledge or the National Anthem?

Where's the rant coming from? I continue to cover high school sports locally for the Sports Medicine Department. I enjoy high school sports and it gets me into the games for free. But last night when it was time for the National Anthem I happened to notice how many people just stand looking around with their hands at their sides, talking, wandering to the concession stand, etc all while our National Anthem was playing and we have thousands of men and women representing those stars and stripes across the globe...Next time, stand out in the crowd...cover your heart and show some respect for the past, the present, and the future of our country!

Happy HNT

Work?

Do I really have to go back to work already tomorrow? At least it works out to be a post-call day so it will be short. To top off the not so fantastic holiday I have had, I now have a stuffy head. Ugh!

A New Year

This is my view of the first couple hours of the New Year. The guests have left, the bottle of champagne (and a couple bottles of wine) are empty, the sink is full of dishes. I have the lights off, the tree still twinkling, and the candles glowing. I like it. Inspite of it being an hour and a half into the new year, I'm not tired. I called my boyfriend at midnight London time and he called me back just a bit before midnight here. At least we got to talk a bit. It wasn't what I had planned but I was able to ring in the New Year with a group of friends around my table, a wet snow fall outside, and a place to call home. For those things, I'm thankful.

Happy New Year everyone!

Foiled...

I'm frantically cleaning my house in preparation for a last minute New Year's Eve dinner gathering at my house!

I arrived home from Christmas vacation in mostly one piece, which is saying a lot because I caught the stomach flu on steroids that is invading the country. I puked half way through Christmas Eve mass and continued to do so every 15 minutes from then on until 3:30 am. I didn't know the human body could do what it did that night for hours on end. But I survived. Didn't get Christmas dinner until the day after Christmas but oh well. It still tasted very yummy.

I drove home from South Dakota on Wednesday and was exhausted by the time I arrived around 7 that night. I called my boyfriend and we talked for a while but agreed I should just go to bed and we would see each other on Thursday night. Plus we had an amazing romantic weekend planned in Minneapolis so one night wouldn't kill us. Romance package for two nights at a French suite, play tickets for Triple Espresso front row, center seats on Saturday night, reservations at an exclusive restraurant downtown New Year's Eve, and a party at a friend's house to follow. Three days together to celebrate a great year together and the start of another. We don't do Christmas presents, we do the New Year's Eve escape instead.

As I went to bed on Wednesday night he IM'd me that a company south of London was having software issues. "Don't worry," he said, we'll get it fixed, "worse case scenario, I have to go to England." I went to work Thursday morning and at 10 am my secretary paged me and had him on the line. "Uhm...babe, I'm flying to London at 4:50 today". I didn't cry. I kept it together. My team let me leave a bit early so I could see him before he left. I got him to the airport on time, called my best friend who didn't answer and at that burst into tears.

I cried my way through Thursday night and on Friday I started planning. I found a co-worker to go to the play on Saturday with me and put the wheels in motion to have a few friends over for dinner at my house. The boy's company is fully aware of all the plans which were canceled and he will be comped the vacation days so we will plan something different. The friend and I made it to the play last night and laughed until we cried. Went to a nice dinner afterwards and chatted for a couple hours. It was great.

So even though my plans were completely and totally foiled by a nasty software glitch in England, I have recovered and have a house to make festive! Now to the grocery store to put together a feast :)

Happy New Year's to all of you!

HNT...Favorite of 2006

This was my favorite HNT of the year. I like it because it was both my most revealing and yet my most secretive HNT picture. It told you many many things about me and also kept a lot hidden. When i posted it I was angry, scared, frustrated, and lost. Not all of those things have gone away, some things are more certain now than they were before but this was a truly honest picture and post earlier in 2006.

This is me at my most vulnerable...

For a few reasons. First because I think it is the most revealing picture I have ever shared with HNT but also because of what it means. I have mentioned a rant is on the way. I'm not sure if it will get published and those closest to me have already heard it. Instead of a rant, I think I'm going to rename it a "release" and this might be enough.

My mom is dying of cancer.

She has been for five years so one becomes numb a bit to the reality of it when death has been hovering for so long. Well, this past Friday her main oncologist called me at work to ask me if I could talk to her about why comfort care/hospice might be the best option at this point. I have medical training, I have a "good" understanding of the science behind treating or not treating an illness. But, my God, he just asked me to explain to my mom they why you should "give up".

I use the phrase "give up" because if my mom decides to NOT have any further chemo that is what she sees it as. Giving up, giving in, letting it win. However, you look at it. It no longer allows her to be involved in her care. So, how do you tell a strong, faith filled woman with a Midwestern grit that all the medical treatment in the world won't treat her cancer anymore?

So...I feel vulnerable. I have cried more in the last five days than I have in a long time. Remember, I don't cry a lot anymore. I have had "the" conversations with my mom and dad about life. I don't want to be the responsible, strong, educated, level headed one in this situation but it's falling on my shoulders somewhat. Someone has to do it right?

Well, over the last few days with people very close to me I have allowed myself to not be that person and to completely breakdown. Completely exposed my true emotions about the choices to be made. Tonight...I did that in front of a complete room of acquiantances...in the middle of bible study tonight I completely and totally fell apart talking about something unrelated to my mom's health and healthcare choices. Then as we were closing after I had finally composed myself, our group leader asked the group to pray for me and while they were praying I was blubbering, snorting and bawling my eyes out. I don't "DO" vulnerable well...

When I'm most vulnerable and feeling the most pain, I curl up with a stuffed animal and attempt to disappear within. I can outline a different stuffed animal for each of the most stressful or emotional low points in my life. This poor little guy has been stuck with a big task....the little panda bear just joined my collection after the boyfriend went to the San Diego Zoo. Poor little guy didn't know he was going to have to curl up in the arms of a scared, vulnerable woman.

I don't know what my mom's treatment choice will be. That's for her to make. I'll tell her what I think. I'll tell her why. But I can see both sides of her personal choice too. Cancer sucks! In her eyes, I will try to pull it all together. But this is what I'm really doing....

Three Christmas Wishes

Robyn has had a rough year. This young lady not only lost her mother, but she pretty much single handedly walked through her mom's last months with her. Not just as her mother's daughter but as her companion through her last days. She handled with the grace and composure of someone twice her age. Now, as the holidays get busy and hectic for most, there are many that are remembering. To help Robyn remember, I would like to give her the Mirror of Erised, from Hogwart's School of Witchcraft and Wizardy. With this mirror on days when she misses her mom the most, she can gaze into it and see her mom, happy and safe.




Lime just got dismissed from Physical Therapy. Most of the last months have been spent getting Juanita to work again. Juanita was horribly mangled earlier this year in a zip line accident in her own backyard. Now that both Lime and Juanita have been give a clean bill of health I want to grant her the ability to safely go back to living life as she does so well...with an energy and an enthusiasim that is infectious. BUT...I wanted to first give her a new Zip Line Safety Harness.


Sandi is taking a big step. She just completed her college placement exams and is heading back to school. The decision wasn't an easy one for her, she thought long and hard about it as she isn't the typical 18 year old who can just pick up and start school. Sandi is a wife, a mother, and holds a job too. But, she made the decision to do something for herself and I'm very proud of her. If I could, I would give her a full ride scholarship to get her through the tough times ahead. I know her determination and heart will get her through the "study", the "funding" will be tight. If I could, I would help you all the way.

For these three and all my blogger friends I wish the very best of whatever it is you wish for or don't even know you need just now. Peace, love, hope, and joy...whatever it is you seek. Merry Christmas!

One more to go...

Everything is wrapped, stacked, and ready to be put in the car except one gift. Tonight I am going to make my Grandma a stack of every day/all occasion cards to use throughout the year. She moved to a nursing home this past year so Christmas will be a bit different. No Christmas Eve at Grandma's house after church. Plus she doesn't have a lot of room in her room now. She likes to send cards and such so I figured this would be something useful. My aunt and I were going to do a bouquet a month for her but it was just too expensive. This will help her out and put a smile on other people's faces, figured it works.

Last night was the hard push to really get things done. Why do we do this to ourselves? And I say ourselves, because no matter how much any one of us says we love or hate the holidays, we all have a list of tasks we sat ourselves too...whether to avoid the holidays or striving to make them "perfect". Whatever the case for me; we end up busy, stressed out, and frantic the week before Christmas. When I figure out a system to do otherwise I'll let you know. Funny thing is, it usually all works out in the end.

Have fun doing all you need/want/or have to do this week...

Elf'd out...

I've been shoppping, wrapping, stamping, tying, running since Thursday morning and I'm elf'd out. So I'm taking a bit of a break before I try to get one more project started tonight and then off to bed.

I've made a few changes on my blog recently. Make sure to feed Griz every once in a while, he'll wobble for you too. I also updated to the new "google" whatever and I'm not sure I like it. I can comment on some people's easily, and on other's I have to jump through a bunch of hoops. I haven't upgraded to their template so I'm still using haloscan for you to comment on mine. Problems I need to know about?

I also added "Moose Musings". I devour books and lately more so than usual. I just finished Eat, Pray and Love by Elizabeth Gilber. Where was this book three years ago when my own divorce was terrorizing my life? It's a little be "Under the Tuscan Sun", a little bit "what was I thinking", a lot of prayer including a few "why me's?", and a whole lot of insight. This woman doesn't have all the answers yet, she's still looking but she was willing to share what she went through and I found some peace in that. Lately, I've had a hard time finding that and at other times in the last month or so been very, very peaceful with things in my life.

I'm weeding my way through Eragon now, sort of like trying to read Lord of the Rings without knowing the terminology. Might have to break my rule and see the movie before I finish this one. Picked up Thomas Harris' new one; Hannibal Rising too. Might have to skip to that one :) Maybe a good mind disturbing book will but me back on track. Ha!

I was feeling extremely "merry" on Wednesday night when I looked ahead at the near four day weekend I had (I worked an hour or two on both Thursday and Friday) and was all excited for Christmas. Now, I have actually taken stock of all I have to do, what's left, and how much time I have to do it. YIKES! I'm not feeling so peaceful.

Went to church tonight and sure enough, the readings are regarding the search for peace, finding peace, etc. I tried very hard to focus and "be quiet". The little rat in my head wouldn't get off his damn wheel though...but as I take this little break to ramble, I do recognize I got a lot done tonight. Gifts for Mom, Dad, and my sister are wrapped, gifts for my secretaries are wrapped, a list of the gifts to be made is done, doing my aunt's gift during MNF tomorrow, Grandma's tomorrow night. Christmas cards...well, a Catholic Christmas goes to Epiphany the first weekend in January so I'm okay till then.

Folks, have a great week before Christmas. Try not to get wrapped up in it literally. Take some time for you, your family, and a little quiet. All needed!

I'm a big kid

I've had a long day at work and now I'm curled up with some crackers, a blanket and my feet up to do what...Watch the Grinch!

I need...

It isn't much...just a hot shower, a massage and another glass of wine.

It's been a long day. Too much has gone wrong today to blog about, but it started at 6:30 am and it's 6:30 pm; oh, yeah, I went to bed at 1:30 last night before all fo this started too. My calendar from this moment until Sunday at 5 pm is booked and today was not the day I needed to get ready for it.

I'm going to get my "things" in order for the next two days adn then hit that shower.

Have a great weekend!

HNT...BRRRRrrrrr

I'm getting ready to head over to the boyfriend's house but it's cold out. There is also that dry, flurry snow blowing all over too. Nothing stickin' on the ground but definitely cold out. A few weeks ago when I went to an art show I picked up this new hat and scarf! both a little different, both unique, a lot like me! I have gotten more comments and compliments on the hat. The top is the same green as the scarf but in an oatmeal solid. There's a big button on the side too that holds it beret like either on the side or in the back. I love it just because it comes over my years and the back of my neck....for all of you in the North, stay warm this week! Happy HNT

PS: Don't forget my Toys for Tots Challenge below :)

A Christmas Challenge

now that I'm in the mood, I want to try to get the rest of you there as well. Christmas can be a hard time for a lot of people. I was lucky, even when things were really tough I was able to both give and receive Christmas gifts. That isn't the case for everyone. There are a lot of parents that worry about not being able to turn the heat on in December let alone get their children something from Santa. There are kids out there who know things are tough and have just given up believing in Christmas.

I challenge each of you, no matter how rough your own situation is, to help someone else. I have given to Toys for Tots since my freshman year of college when a group of us got together in Knickerbocker's garage to make little wooden cars. there were a few years where all I could buy as a $10 toy and donate but there have been other years where I have been able to give a bag of balls and games for all ages.

I challenge you to do the same. The US Marine Corp coordinates with all sorts of other businesses so it should be easy to find a drop off point in your neighborhood. Here in Rochester it's the local country music station at a different business every morning and evening this entire week. Spend $5 on a childern's book instead of your latte this week, or spend $100 on a whole Santa bag of toys. Whatever you have, share it somehow. You might be surprised what it does for you!

Happy Moosemas!

Happy Moosemas! I warned you I was in the mood. I spent yesterday running shopping errands...Target for Toys for Tots, a few ornaments, the nursery for some Christmas wreaths and pine boughs, vet for my kitty's shots. Then I started decorating. It's not complete but I made a very good dent into it yesterday with my boyfriend's help.

Every year I buy one new moose ornament and through the years have gotten several really neat one's from friends and family as well. The above moose was last year's addition and I found him at Cabella's. The guy with the Benjamin Moosemore paint was a gift from family last year after I bought my new house.

The little guy hiding under his flannel I found in a shop up in Duluth three years ago. He's a bit on the shy side though.

The last several years I have stuck to bright blue and primary green decroations with silver accents. This year I decided I needed to change it up a bit. I kept the blue and green but changed the blue to more of a turqoise hue and added purple. I think it turned out nice.

Not sure where he showed up from but he's swinging on a string of beads, looks a little frosted though...wonder if he's cold?

I couldn't have a Christmas tree without some musical decorations. Os was devastated when I moved to Minnesota three years ago so he bought me these two ornaments (A bit fuzzy...sorry, I'll try again when the lights aren't on twinkle) but I have a tenor sax and a trombone so Os and I will always be together for the holidays.

I made the decision cleaning up fallen ornaments was easier than cleaning sap out of cat hair so instead of a real tree I bought long, soft pine boughs and decorated the mantle. I strung some purple and silver ribbon through it and have a wrought iron candle holder in the center. Once I have the candles I'll put a picture of those up too.

There is no good way to take a picture of a Christmas tree. So above you have with a flash to get the overall feel and below without a flash but the colors of the lights showup better. The cats haven't made it completely up the center yet but they usually wait until I'm at work so who knows whwat I will come home to tomorrow :)

In the mood...

It's been a busy morning...

As I had mentioned, I hit a bit of my holiday panic the other day but I am starting to feel a bit better about the whole thing. This morning I added some new decorations to my collection. For the last three years I have used blue and green only. I wanted to use purple and gold this year but as Os pointed out to me, in this part of the country those are Viking's colors, not Carroll's colors. Instead of strictly purple and gold (which would have meant buying all new decorations) I simply added purple to my green and blue. I picked up a couple limey green pieces and a string of turquoise beads for something a bit different.

I talked my boyfriend into helping with the actual decorating by agreeing to put the tree up myself. I had never had an artificial tree really until I moved to Minnesota. Growing up, we usually always got a real one. However, in my first rental here, I wasn't allowed to have a real tree. I was very bummed by the idea of no fresh pine tree. But, I found a very lovely tree which is easy to put together, full, and looks nice. I never had house cats before either. I have found they like to climb up inside the tree and it is much easier to replace a branch then pick sap out of kitty fur :)

This morning I have the tree up and "settling". To make up for the lack of a fresh pine tree I bought a bundle of boughs and arranged them on my mantle (my fireplace is bricked in so no fire risk with fresh pine dangling over the edgy) and swirled lavendar and silver wired ribbon through it with a three tiered candelabera in the center. I'll post some pics when I get the candles going.

The ornaments are laid out, the tree is up, the mantle finished, the floor swept, a bag for Toys for Tots in the car, and now I'm off to the office to make some cards for the troops in Iraq. A local high school is sponsoring Hometown Gratitude with a mass shoebox mailing planned for next week. Figured I could add the cards to the pile so they have some greetings to send too. Tonight, my boyfriend and I will get the tree sparkling and maybe snap a few pictures.

Happy Holidays!