Family Day at the Lake

Joe and I had the afternoon  off together, so I decided it was time to get out and see the sights.  I bought two kites from the Alco (the only store in the area) and we went out to fly them.  

There is a place called Merrit Dam and it is about 30 miles out of Valentine. We loaded up Jordy and were off on an adventure.  The drive was very pretty, well I enjoyed it. For some reason Joe gets claustrophobic with all that wide open space....he's weird. 

After we drove for a while, we realized we were really hungry and forgot to bring any snacks. As we were eyeing Jordy's bottle of milk we spyed a bait shop and stopped and got some waters. I really wanted ice cream, but I am still on Operation Stork Attack, so I stayed with the water.

We drove around to the water and looked around.  Jordy had just woke up from a nap and was pretty crabby.  He started to warm up when we assembled the kites and started to fly them.

I put together Joe's Transformers kite first.  Under his expert tutilage I was able to fly it right into a tree within 4 minutes flat.  

We abandoned that kite.  The peanuts kite was our last resort. This time I refused to fly it near the shore. We flew it in the parking lot.   This was much better since there were no trees to catch it, but when the kite would whirl around Jordy would get scared.   Joe took over the reins of the kite to show me his "skills" which amounted to dive bombing the kite into the pavement repeatedly.  We grew weary of kite flying and decided to move on to other things.

We walked around near the dock. Jordy was pretty interested in the water.  Joe was terrififed we would drop him in.  I did manage to get some good pics of Joe and Jordy on the dock, but I still look like a beached whale in  my pics with the cutie pie!

After playing around at the dock, Joe found a tick on my shoulder. I was pretty grossed out and Joe was disgusted.  We got the hell out of there...there are really bugs out there!!  I tried to act like it was no big deal b/c Joe goes to pieces over bugs, but I was really freaked out.  

We drove back to town and went to Pizza Hut.  Jordy did good throughout the meal, smiling and flirting with all the ladies in the restaurant.

After dinner we came home, took a nap, and then went to the gym- with a Jordy.  He was pretty good most of the time. I did cardio first, while Joe did weights. Then we switched. Things were looking pretty good until I let Jordy crawl around on the gym floor. His legs slid much faster than his arms could keep up and he nose dived into the floor. He screamed so loud- thank god we were the only people at the gym.  I comforted Jordy, while insisting that Joe finish his workout...  we survived the trip to the gym!  I was so proud we did it, since I much would have preferred staying home.

Stork Attacked Mommy

This week Jordan is 9 months old...9 months, I can't beleive it!

He has grown from a small fleshy blob that couldn't even coordinate his hands to his mouth to a muscle bound little man who is everywhere and into everything...It makes me so happy to see him grow...

but what makes me ever so sad is my growing as well... I kept thinking that after being pregnant the weight would just come right off...well it didn't. It didn't come pouring off like it does for celebrities. I don't have the benefit of a dietician, a personal trainer, a legion of assistants to wake up at all hours of the night and attend to Jordy... So I wasn't too disappointed when four months after having Jordy I still wasn't back to my pre-prego weight.

I kept telling myself, it took 9months for your body to get this way, it will take several months for it to get back to normal...

Well now it has been 9 months, and I am not back to normal. I am still 10 pounds over my pre-prego weight. And things just don't look like they used to. It is all so much more jiggly...

So, sick of being a jiggly woman, I decided to take action. I stripped down to some shorts and a sports bra, and had Joe take pictures of me from all angles. The results were shocking. I will not display them here as I am likely to cause many of you nausea so severe you may need to call 911. I am amazed at how I thought things looked compared to reality. Joe dubbed the pictures- The stork attacked mommy! Don't misunderstand though, he is very supportive and compliments me daily. He has always volunteered to watch Jordy or help out in anyway possible so I can have alone time- the only problem is that I have been using this alone time to eat fudge stripes cookies...

With this shock into reality, I am motivated. I am motivated to eat better, exercise more, and stop making excuses.

Today I went to the gym during lunch. I started buying nonfat milk. I turned down cake at lunch time, and subbed mandarin oranges for french fries at Wendy's...the winds of change have arrived.

My goals:
- look sexy in Hawaii in December!
- Weight 140lbs by December
- be less jiggly
- fit into my skinny clothes
- post a gorgeous pictures of myself in a bikini on the beach in Hawaii in December.

Crazy Day at Work

Last Tuesday I was on call. This means that we cover the ER. The last couple times I was on call, it was pretty dead. This time was different...

The day started out with me seeing clinic. I had a few normal visits, and then got called to the ER for a swollen knee. It was a lady who had been out kayaking and woke up the next day with a red swollen knee, so bad that she could not bear weight on it. We stuck a needle in there and got back some bloody fluid. She is on blood thinners and was way over the normal levels for anti-coagulation. She was bleeding into her knee.

The next guy was walking and had some visual field changes. He had a stroke.

Next guy had a kidney stone.

Next a guy with urinary retention.

While this was all going on, I had patients piling up in clinic...one of which needed to be admitted with a red swollen knee...he had a septic joint.

Oh there was also a lady who drove her car into a ditch at around 3am. She was seen by someone who called 911. She was brought into the ER saying that she was escaping her husband who had held her captive for 4 days, forcing her to drink alchol and beating her. During the escape her husband was allegedly ramming her car with his trying to chase her down. The story sounds so dramatic but she had not one mark on her, the car was completely undamaged. She complained of abdominal pain, but had none to palpation...overall the lady was just drunk. I think she made up the story to avoid going to jail.

It was a crazy day of call- I saw some good stuff...but would have rather seen my pillow at home, sleeping.

The Branding!!

Being the huge city folks that we are, I was so excited to go and see a branding!  One of the nurses I met at work, Carolyn,  was nice enough to invite Joe and I over to witness the blessed event.

Carolyn and her husband have a ranch about 40 miles out of town.  They have about 160 "head of cattle".  I learned you don't say-160 cows.  Also a ranch is where they have animals, a farm is where the grow crops. More educational material to follow.

We managed to find the place easily. We arrived to a very nice house on a big chunk of land. Carolyn came out to greet us. We met several neighbors who were over to help with the days activities!  Carolyn watched Jordy, Joe and I headed out to see the action.

First they gather all the calfs into a small containment area. Then these guys pushed them through this gated area to this thing that looked like a toaster (I can't remember what it was called).

When the calf gets to the toaster, he/she tries to run through it to the other side to his waiting mother.  But just as his head starts to emerge from the toaster, his neck is scissored between the gates, he is stuck.  His entire body is wedged in- just like a piece of bread in a toaster.

Then several things happen very quickly- This guy brands them.  They heat up a brand and hold it to their left shoulder.  This is necessary so people don't steal the calfs, which can sell for 600-700 a piece!  Each ranch has their own brand, and they put it in different places. To sell a calf they undergo a brand check to make sure you in fact are the owner.

The brand is so hot, it causes the hair to burst into flames when it touches the calf!

The next thing that happens while the calf is in the toaster is he gets immunizations. The immunizations are in a gun type thing and happen very quickly. He gets shot in the neck area. At this same time the calf also gets a tag on his ear that prevents flys from bothering him.

While all this is going on the very worst thing happens to the poor little boy cows...they get castrated.  This was the most upsetting part of the whole thing for Joe!

While being branded, immunized, and tagged, the boy calfs hind leg is pulled back and his scrotum is cut open. Then they grab their testicles and pull and cut them out.  The balls go into the ball bucket (pictured below). The cow gets a spray of antiseptic to the area.  Sometimes the testicles are cooked and eaten- they are deep fried and known as Rocky Mountain Oysters. They allegedly tasted like chicken nuggets.  

Schizophrenic....

This is the apartment building we are staying in. 

So I have been trying out lots of themes for my blog...not sure if I really like any of them.  I guess I will just continue to change it until I find one that fits...

Last night I was on call. Nothing too exciting, although I did admit a lady with boils all over her body. Not really sure why she is getting them. They are nasty though- I am waiting on the surgeon to drain them. They are too big to do bedside Incision and drainage.

This weekend we are going to a "branding".  Apparently this is when a ton of people get together and brand their little cows, excuse me, I meant calfs.  And I have also learned that you don't ask people how many cows they have, you instead inquire as to the number of head of cattle the have.  

People here think it is quite comical how clueless I am about ranching.  People saw they "ranch" like everyone knows what that means...  I have never been on a ranch so it is quite new to me!

Joe is doing good....well as good as he can be. He is pretty bored during the day. Jordy is doing great.  He is always busy and into things.  He is growing up so fast I can't beleive it.

Oldies but Goodies

For a friend of mine going through a break up, I wrote these years ago:

Break up Trap #20 Doing Anything 'One Last time...'After a breakup the parties involved usually display a 'fear of letting go'. From this stems the desire to do everything 'one last time'. For example: John calls Barbara and says, can we go out to dinner 0NE LAST TIME. or Barbara calls John, can we talk together ONE LAST TIME... until finally can we sleep together ONE LAST TIME. This is a huge trap that recently single people can fall into. The best way to avoid this is to call it quits, and keep it that way. When you decided that the breakup was the best decision, you decided the last times have already occurred and there is no reason now to dredge up the past. In an attempt to appease your fear of letting go, what really happens is you remember the good times, and forget about all those irritating habits your former mate had. Here is a simple way to avoid the 'One Last time Trap': The next time you want to call your former mate and say "Hey why don't we go out to dinner ONE LAST TIME" Why don't you say to yourself instead, "Hey why don't you sit around the house like the lazy ass your are, while I work my butt off all day ONE LAST TIME." or perhaps "Lets fight about all your irritating habits ONE LAST TIME" or even "Hey honey, why don't I catch you in bed with a 15 year old ONE LAST TIME" By saying these things instead you have avoided focusing on the postive and accentuating the negative.

Break Up Trap #7 Hanging on to clothes, jewelry, etc...Over the course of a relationship one can acquire a great deal of material posessions that have a direct connection to their mate. However once a break up does occur, the newly single person now faces the dilemma of what do to with all this stuff. 'Do I give it back? Do I throw it away? Do I stash it in my closet so that just incase I never find someone else I can have something to show the other spinsters in the old age home that yes I did get laid once? This is a difficult situation that must be handled delicately so that any breakup may run smoothly. In order to be succesful in you break up, it is imperative that you follow these steps:

Step Number One- Do not give anything back. This falls under Break up Trap number 20, "One Last time" because giving your former mate's things back requires seeing them. If there are belongings that MUST be given back, such as family heirlooms or expensive jewelry that for some reason can not be pawned, mail them back.

Step Number Two- Do not keep anything. You may be thinking that you want to have memories of your relationship and you want to have pictures and knick knacks to commemorate the occasion, this is a major DON'T!!! You broke up with this person because you don't like them anymore, why do you want to voluntary keep something of theirs in your house? It is liking taking a poster size picture of your worst enemy and hanging it above your bed!

Step Number Three- Burn, Throw Away, or Give AwayThe best way to avoid pining away over your former mate, is to get rid of everything that reminds you of him/her. This includes clothes, jewelry, pictures, picture frames, gifts, lingerie, CD's, tapes of love songs, furniture, etc. Do not give these items to your friends, you want them far, far away. The best way to handle the situation is to stand up in your house, get a big box and start filling it. Once you have gone through your whole house and the box is filled, take it to Goodwill or a dumpster or a bonfire, the choice is yours. Out of sight out of mind, which is where you want your ex to be, out of your mind!

Caught In the ACT!!

Oh, my little Jordy.... This is just the beginning!!

Last weekend we spent back in Omaha at our house. It was really nice to be home. I think that Jordy enjoyed it as well. He had a good time knocking over all of daddy's video games. If anyone else had done this Joe would have had a heart attack. He saw Jordy do it and said, "I'll put them back later..." He must really love this kid!!

Back in Valentine....alone

Yesterday was Mother's Day. Joe woke me up at 6am to get on the road to drive back to Valentine. No, we weren't that excited to go back! Joe just wanted to make sure that he made it back in time to see the Lakers get clobbered by the Utah Jazz. Then he was upset for the rest of the evening!

After getting up so early I took a nap once we got there. I got woken up by one of the Charge Nurses calling to let me know that one of the doctors who works in the hospital was having surgery, and the other was out of town on a family emergency. Since there are only two doctors that are staff here- that leaves me! She started asking if I was comfortable doing C-sections alone. I told her no.

It is a bit scary being all alone. I am praying for the safety of everyone in this town!

I heard that the other doctor should be back this evening or early tomorrow- so I only have to hold down the fort for a few more hours.

Another C-Section!

This morning I did another C-section with the attending. I got to close on this one!! The attending was very nice and patient, and let me work at my own pace instead of rushing me along.

It was a beautiful baby girl- with six fingers on each hand!! No joke! Her father and grandfather also had similar fingers- but had them removed when they were babies. It is quite interesting looking. I wish I had brought my camera!

Today we are driving back to Omaha, I am not looking forward to the drive. Joe has some work he has to do back at home, and I need a few things. I hate to have to drive that far with the gas prices! It is ridiculous! We are also going to try to put our cars up for sale this weekend.

Buffalo!

In an attempt to beat the boredom, Joe and I (Jordy too) went to a wildlife refuge. We saw huge bison there. I was scared to death of them. Joe thought it was very amusing.

When we were ready to leave, the bison were blocking the exit. Joe urged me to drive forward and drive through the herd. I started to, but then the big one started to turn towards us. I threw the car in reverse and got the hell out of there!! I drove all the way back to the beginning of the nature drive- Joe laughing hysterically the whole way!!

Jordy slept in the back seat, oblivious to the peril we had faced.

The Valentine Saga Continues

The clinic schedule has been pretty light. Yesterday morning I only saw two patients. The afternoon was better, I saw 6.

Today I have two scheduled for the morning.

I feel like they keep trying to get me to take more call. The call here is home call, covering the ER. Sometimes it is completely dead, sometimes it is really busy. It makes me pretty nervous to cover the ER since I have never done this before. Also in this dinky hospital there isn't a lot of services available, so it is not like I can call Ortho and they come rushing in to save the day. I would have to call a helicopter and get the patient on it and fly them two hours away to get to Ortho!!

The first time I am on call is next week. I hope it goes well. I am pretty nervous about it already.

Joe is looking into getting internet at the apartment. I am really lost without it. Joe is pretty bored. I can tell because every night when I get home from work he wants to go for a walk. He never wants to go for walks in Omaha! When I talked to one of the people at work about Joe's boredom, his solution was "you know Valentine has a lot of really nice walking places." I find it amusing that the big form of entertainment is walking.

Here is some random man walking.

Valentine Nebraska

So as part of my residency requirements for graduation we have to do two months of rural medicine. Mine is scheduled for May & June in a small town called Valentine. It is in northwestern Nebraska. A town of 3,000 people. The nearest Walmart is 3 hours away!

Our neighbors Geoffrey & Erin went to this place before us so told us the scoop. They made it sound just awful. A town out in the middle of nowhere with nothing around....they were right.

The trip started out poorly with Joe getting a speeding ticket in a small town called Basset just to the south of Valentine. Turns out 2 other residents got tickets in that same town. The town is so small that the speeding incident is reported in their local paper!

When we got to Valentine we were shocked. We knew it was a small town, but we didn't know it was a SMALL TOWN!! There is one grocery store, a gas station, a McDonalds, a tiny hospital, and lots of hunting and fishing places. The only place we found that was open on Sunday was a Dollar Store.

The place we are staying at is an older apartment. It is nice, but very dusty. My allergies went into hyperdrive as soon as I entered the door.

Poor Joe is bored to death. He brought his Playstation 3 up, but can't connect it to the old tv in the apartment b/c it is set to work on a High Def TV. We plan to drive home this weekend and get more stuff since there are many things they don't have here.

Only two more months to go....

Anniversary Party- AKA UmbrellaGate

We just got back from California for Joe's mom and stepdad's 25th anniversary party. It was quite a trip...

The Good:

The actual renewal of the vows was really quite beautiful. It is amazing in this day and age that two people can actually stick it out through thick and thin and still seem to actually love each other. Aida and Reese still seem very happy to be with each other.

I really had a nice time visiting with the girls; Maarqui, Charis, and my Erita! Erita and I got to hang out a lot and she is such a funny girl. She is so much fun to talk to you and has a great sense of humor. I just laugh the entire time I am with her. Shopping with Maarqui was a lot of fun. We were able to find dresses under one hour! Maarqui is doing great with her kids, hubby, and business. I don't know how she manages to do it all. If I get out the door with matching clothes on I am doing great, and I only have one baby and a stay at home hubby! Charis is doing good too. I like her a lot, I love her eeyore attitude.

Jordy had fun seeing other little people. Out here in Nebraska he is only around adults. It was neat to see him playing with other kids. Izzy and Esther were very interesting to him. I am glad that Jordy got to see everyone before we leave for Korea.

The BAD!!

In preparation for the big event I spent two days looking for a dress. At first I was looking for a silver dress, as that was the color we were all supposed to wear. Unfortunately spring is not the time to find a silver dress, so that shopping trip was a bust. Then Joe talked with Aida and she said to get a black dress instead. So I spent an entire Saturday looking for a dress. Finally I found one that looked good. When I got to CA I found that Aunt Romey had the exact same dress. I had to go find another one.

At the renewal ceremony it was really windy. So windy that when the pastor said, "We are all gathered here today..." there was a big gust of wind that lifted all of the umbrellas literally 30-40 feet off the ground! Then they turned and turned into torpedos gunning

straight for the alter. Charis ended up getting hit, I headed for the hills with Jordy. There was mass chaos for a few minutes while everyone tackled renegade umbrellas. I was so shook up I started crying. It really scared me. Poor Aida kept looking around like, "I can't believe this is happening on my perfect day." We sat eating our lunch afterwards in stunned silence. It was so unreal!

The California traffic is awful. We spent nearly 5 hours in the car on Sunday to see Ruth and Joe's daddy. We ended up seeing them for only 20 minutes because we needed to get Charis her car back. Joe was furious, the boy was crying and miserable from being in the car for so long. It was a really awful time. We almost left for the airport then. We were so exhausted and sick of California. I felt really bad that Ruth and Joe's Daddy thought we were mad at them, but really we weren't.

I think Joe and I have agreed that we are not going back to California for vacations anymore. It is never a vacation. We end up running around trying to see everyone. It is hard to get around with Jordy, and he spends so much time in the car that he is really cranky the entire time. Then all of friends and family give us guilt trips for not making time to see them, when in reality we just don't have time to see everyone every time we are there.

When we get back from "vacation" we are exhausted and feeling bad that people are upset with us. No more!!

Another Day at Work...But Better

Today I am at the med center once again. This time for happier business- I am inducing one of my favorite pregos. It is already 4pm and she was 3cm one hour ago. Hopefully this will be done and over with in a few hours...I can't wait to see the little baby!

I was here all day from 7am till now. I worked on getting my stuff in order for Korea. The Korean Consulate said that Joe and Jordy need to have visas to stay there. Before I can get the visas, I need to have my orders done. Before I can get orders done, I need to jump through all sorts of hoops from the military. I still have two remaining anthrax shots (the last one still hurts!), dental screening, 9mm training, and countless other things to do. It seems like they would make this process a little easier since tons of people in the military do this all the time. I wish they would just give me a list in logical order of what to do. So far for this process I get random tidbits from the other guys that are going.

Thankfully we still have a little time to get all this done.

We are off to California this Thursday. This will be a short trip, just the 24th-28th. We are going for Joe's mom & stepdad's anniversary party. They have been married for 25 years, and apparently still like eachother enough to celebrate this milestone. In this day and age it is quite remarkable to stay married to someone that long and still tolerate eachother! I hope that Joe and I fare as well.

Jordy is as cute as ever. It is hard to be away from him for so long while I am at work. Two days ago he pulled himself up to standing while I was sitting on the couch. I then picked him up and sat him next to me on the couch, which then prompted him to roll off the couch- I barely caught him before his head hit the deck. Joe also did a dive across the room to get him. Jordy thought it was hilarious with a full on laughing fit! He is so much fun!

The Count Down Begins...

We are really moving! I requested my flight stuff today to go to Korea. We will be leaving the first part of September. I am starting to get rid of stuff. This is really happening. Wow!!

Bored @ Work

So I am on this nice easy rotation, Allergy, and I am planning on having every weekend off...but then I realized that the Chief Residents decided to trash one weekend by making me be on call.

Now it is Sunday and I have been sitting in the residents lounge for two hours bored to death. I guess it is easier than being busy though. To make things worse, I forgot my ID badge and can't get in or out of the lounge without someone to let me back in. So that means no wandering to the cafeteria until the Intern I am on with gets through rounding on patients.

Yesterday I went shopping with my friend Shannon. We went to the mall in search of a dress for Joe's parent's anniversary party coming up at the end of this month. I bought three dresses, two of which Joe immediately vetoed. The third luckily worked out. The whole experience made me realize I really need to start hitting the gym, or at least stop hitting the cafeteria- maybe forgetting my ID badge was a good thing. It was rather depressing to see my jiggly-self in those dressing room mirrors, which are not at all forgiving! It is almost like they put super enlarging mirrors with bad fluorescent lighting in there to make you feel awful about yourself as you leave. They might as well sign people up for weight watchers on their way out! I seriously felt like a bohemuth!

It seemed like winter was over here...but alas it snowed again yesterday! Joe was about to explode he was so mad! We are really sick of the snow.

Our friends Brad & Carrie sold their house, getting ready to go to Georgia. Other people in my class are getting ready to move too. I am glad we have another two months go get things figured out. Moving to Korea is no small feat I am discovering. We have so much to do. I am trying to sort through things and sell them or get rid of them. It is quite an overwhelming process- which is interupted mosf of the time by having to go to work!

Tomorrow I am taking tons of books to Half Price Books to see how much they will give me. I am hoping for a pretty penny!

Anthrax?

So apparently Anthrax is a huge health threat in Korea....not really. I don't know why then I am required to get the Anthrax vaccine before I leave.

If it were one shot that would be fine...but it is six! I got the first one this week and boy did it hurt. The injection itself went okay, but then about 30 seconds later it started burning for the next 10 minutes! I kept rubbing and rubbing my arm, no help. Now it is two days later and it still feels like someone gave me a dead arm!

I am due for the next shot in two weeks.

Vista SUCKS

I HATE VISTA!

In late October we got a new computer, with the only available OS being Vista. We forged forth with the new purchase, since we needed the computer. We had no idea we would hate it so much.

Not only is Vista difficult to use, asking us constantly if we are sure we want to do anything....it is destroying everything!

To the right you will see a fine example of it's picture editing quality! I have hundreds of pictures ruined beyond all repair. I have no idea why it does this! But I have figured out that the more I open the pictures, the more they are destroyed.

Poor Joe has spent countless hours on the phone with the HP people explaining the problem. They can not possibly entertain the notion that something must be faulty with their product, they are sure it must be the camera. When I explain that three different cameras have been used...it must be the photo card...when we explain that it downloads to other computers without difficulty they are sure it must be us. We must be retarded.

In addition to the picture fiasco- which to those that know me, this is a HUGE deal!! WE also had to buy a new printer since Vista is not compatable with ours.

Finally we got a Mac. So far all is good. No destroyed pictures. Maybe we will have a few pictures of Jordan that won't get destroyed after all.

Home Again

After one hellish week in San Antonio doing some military training....I am home at last. My little Jordy was happy to see me! He was asleep when Joe picked me up, and when he woke up he got a huge smile on his little face!

The C4 (Combat Casualty Care Course) Course wasn't too bad, but I am glad it is done! I feel bad for the guys that are doing it later in the year, since it will be roasting hot. We had to sleep in tents with about 10 strangers with no air conditioning on these nasty little cots. In addition to the lovely accomodations (including toilets with no walls around them) we had to do a lot of manual labor and hiking around the mountains while carrying heavy packs. And when that became old, they had us wear our gas masks as well. Every muscle in my body was aching by the time we were done. I was so glad to come home.

Just the Beginning

Today was my second day at home alone! It is so weird being here alone. Usually Joe and Jordy are always here.

I just got back from California. Joe stayed since I will be leaving to Texas for the next week. In Texas I am doing this survival training. I am really dreading it.

Joe said that Jordy and him are doing well in CA.

I miss them so much. The house is so lonesome.

One bright spot about Texas is I might get to see Julie and Craig, and meet their gorgeous little girl Carrie! I hope that it all works out!