25

I have been tagged several times on Facebook to do this. Since I spent so much time on it, I figured it would make a good blog post as well. I'd love to learn more about you, so if you feel like being tagged, please do so. (Rules: Once you've been tagged, you are supposed to write a note with 25 random things, facts, habits, or goals about you. At the end, choose 25 people to be tagged. You have to tag the person who tagged you. If I tagged you, it's because I want to know more about you.) 1. I have been known to burst into song at any time, including during Surgery. I pretty much have a song for every situation. I might have a disorder. 2. I'm a grammar freak. Before I post anything on my blog or send an e-mail, I will go back through it to make sure I haven't made any errors. I'm seriously embarrassed if I make a spelling mistake! 3. I have a weird ability to memorize song lyrics. Just because I know all of the lyrics to a song doesn't mean I like it! 4. I LOVE U2. Yeah, it's pretty pathetic, but they just make fabulous music. I'd say I have at least 75% of their songs memorized. "No Line On The Horizon" comes out March 3rd, baby! 5. I don't hate former President Bush. Sure, he's not the smartest man, and I actually wrote a paper for school back in '99, telling why he wasn't qualified to be president. I truly think he had to make some incredibly difficult and unpopular decisions, and I'm pretty sure we'll never actually understand how he has protected this country for the past seven years. 6. I don't particularly like President Obama. I think he is the good person with good intentions, but I'm just not feeling the hope and inspiration and giddiness that so many people are associating with his presidency. I'm also pretty pessimistic about the future of this country's economy. I hope this doesn't make me unpatriotic. 7. I have long monkey arms. They say your 'wingspan' is supposed to be equal to your height. I'm 5'9" and my wingspan is 6'. Nearly every long-sleeved shirt I own hits me an inch or two above the wrist. It's not as fun as it sounds. 8. I have long legs too--if I could find more pants with a 35" inseam, I'd be ecstatic. 9. I'm a fan of the PBS. We haven't had cable for over a year now, so our channel choices are pretty limited, but they really have some good stuff. Have you ever seen "Word Girl"? It's freakin' awesome! 10. I drive a 1993 Corolla named Gigi. She's a pink/orange color, and I have never seen its' equal. 11. I have lived in Utah for most of my life (except for the mission), and I have never been skiing. 12. I'm so clumsy, I honestly think I would break a limb if I were to try skiing or snowboarding or anything where my feet aren't planted on the ground. 13. I love Family Guy. Stewie cracks me up. 14. I love dark chocolate. About 70% is ideal, but most of the time--the darker, the better! 15. I'd like to live on a farm someday. I'd love to live in a small town like Mantua--in a canyon, on a lake . . . so nice! 16. I'd like to be more creative with recipes, but I mostly stick to a few tried-and-true faves--brownies, banana bread, breadsticks, etc. 17. Je suis une Francophile. 18. I enjoy making jewelry (mostly just beading), but I rarely wear it. I got out of the habit when I started working in the O.R. 19. I'm a sucker for romantic comedies and all things Jane Austen. 20. I would love a Digital SLR camera, but I can't decide if I want a Nikon D90 or Canon Rebel XSi. It's not like I could afford either one, but a girl can dream! 21. When we win the Utah Lottery, Allen is going to buy me a beach house in Malibu. 22. I have a Bachelor's degree in Biology, and I can't keep a plant alive. It's pretty pathetic. 23. All I have ever seen of New York is JFK; all I have seen of Chicago is O'Hare, and all I have seen of Great Britain is Heathrow. Yes, that's a more than a lot of people, but I wish I could travel more! I want to be Rick Steves! 24. I once used the word "Quixotic" playing Scrabble with the fam. Yes, it's a real word (see the definiton here: http://dictionary.reference.com/dic?q=quixotic&search=search). 25. I have a bad habit of staying up until 3 a.m. I really need to break it!

They Say It's Your Birthday

I can't believe I'm 30. It's so weird. I got a lot of birthday wishes on Facebook, and my family threw a very nice party for me. Sarah went all out with the decor. The balloons were a big hit. Mia was having a rough time, but hey--there's always time for helping out your sisters! Seeing all of the candles was pretty depressing. Mom made two yummy pineapple upside-down cakes, but she usually gets the number candles. Nope--I got 30. Sad. At least some people got a kick out of it. Me, not so much. I love the way this one turned out. And here are a few pictures of the boy. He's so cute. I can't believe I'm 30, but I really can't believe that he'll be one in a couple of weeks!

 

 

 

He's so funny. He has been making such funny faces. I love it.

 

More later. I need to sleep now--old age has definitely caught up with me.

I Can Be Brown, I Can Be Blue

Yes, I have been through a few different blog backgrounds in the past few days. I like this one, so I think I'll keep this one for a while. I purchased two sets of drawers from the D.I. today. They are ugly, but they match. They were 10 bucks each, but I spent a bit more at Lowe's buying paint and paint brushes, spare keys, curtain rods, baby-proofing stuff, etc., etc. It's a nice dark brown. I hope they come out nice! I'll do some before and after shots eventually. Here are a couple of pictures, just to keep you all up-to-date. Benji is crawling everywhere now--he's quite the little cruiser (so we're baby-proofing pretty darn quickly!). He's also pulling himself up on EVERYTHING, even on things that don't exactly hold up much weight. He's pretty excited to have a room that he can crawl around in.

 

We had to lower the crib mattress so he can't pull himself out. Unfortunately, that puts the crib rail right at mouth height, so he has become a bit of a beaver. Not only does he pull himself up on everything, but he puts EVERYTHING in his mouth. You know, there is something to Freud's whole "oral stage" theory.

 

Our new ward starts at 1:00 p.m. I'm not particularly fond of 9:00 a.m. church, but 1:00 p.m. isn't the greatest either. Church falls during naptime (not just the boy's, but mine too!), and he rarely falls asleep when there's stuff to look at (i.e., anywhere but his bed). So he was pretty grumpy when we got home on Sunday. Even so, I got a fairly decent picture of us. Benji truly has the most beautiful eyes I have ever seen. Yeah, I'm a bit biased, but come on--they're gorgeous! And his eyelashes are getting really long. I love it.

 

I actually did my hair and it didn't look too repulsive, so I decided I needed to take a picture of it. It's getting really long, and I'd love to get it done, but it can be pretty hard to find time and to put forth the effort to do it. I really should get more than one haircut per year.

 

That's the update for now. I have to work 12-hour shifts tomorrow and Friday, so I really should sleep. I really will try to be done organizing this weekend . . . we shall see.

The Closer I Am To Fine

I haven't posted for a long time because we haven't had interwebs. We decided to go with Qwest so we could put the computer in the bedroom. It has been a big pain getting it hooked up, but it's finally working. Yay. I'd like to put up some pictures of our new place on ye olde blog, but it's still pretty messy. I keep thinking we are close to being done, but there is always more. The second bathroom is mostly done, and Allen's computer is partially hooked up. Unfortunately, I'll have to rearrange the bedroom again, and we need another bookcase, a clock for the kitchen, a block of wood to replace the broken leg from the loveseat, some fabric to cover up the stereo (I'd like a real entertainment center, but that's not going to happen!) and DVD/CD tower. We still need to put together the drawers for Benji's room and find places for a few things. I also need to hang curtains and figure out what pictures to put up where--I have way too many to choose from. Plus, I have our family canvas picture I'd like to put up, but it needs to be mounted first. I took some pictures of Benji in the bathtub to send out with the 'We've Moved' cards (ah, memories of Christmas cards), but the ones I took tonight didn't turn out. I wasn't too happy about that. But here are a few of the little man, studying his rubber duck: I need to go to bed. I'm not feeling really well, and I'm supposed to work for 12 hours tomorrow. *sigh*

It's Only A Day Away

We'll have internet at home tomorrow, so I can do a proper post. Things are crazy, but the house is almost put together--more than we ever were in Bountiful. I'm at work today, and apparently I'm the ortho girl now. I enjoy ortho, but I haven't had much proper training on it. Thank heaven for the sales reps (especially the Stryker boys)--they make my life much easier! Crap. I have to go. Stay tuned.

A Change Would Do You Good

We are all moved in, and the furniture is situated. Of course, there's a lot of stuff that still needs to find a home, but it's mostly there. I'll post some pictures when we get the internet hooked up (and when I remember to put the memory card back in my camera . . . if I can find my camera). I really like our new apartment. It was like a huge burden was lifted off my shoulders when we finished moving in. I don't think it's quite as big as our last place, and it has 2 bedrooms instead of 3, but it is much better organized. It was built on purpose (not, "There should probably be a shelf here"), with decent storage and rooms that are a good size. There are a few things we still need, like a washer that works and somewhere to store Benji's clean clothes, but all in all, it's really nice. I REALLY liked not having to scrape the snow off my car this morning, leaving my apartment at 10:30 and clocking in to work before 11. It made me smile. Alas--I must go find out my assignment for 3:00. Life goes on.

This Is Where We Used To Live

Here's what happened today. 0615: Allen's work called, trying to get him to come in (he had called in sick). I'm very glad he didn't. 0800: Got up. Ate cold pizza for breakfast, drove to Bountiful to finish cleaning, etc. 0900: Got a text from Mrs. X, asking if we can watch her kid. I texted her back, telling her no. Start cleaning. 0930: Allen walks in with Mrs. X's kid trailing behind. Apparently she accosted him outside the house and he said yes. Situate the kid in an empty bedroom and tell her to stay put. At least she did. 1000: Go to Dick's, spend $20 on cleaning supplies. Return, continue cleaning. 1045: Mrs. X comes back. Allen drives the truck to the dump, and I follow in my car. 1130: Unload garbage from truck, including a mangled sattelite dish and a christmas tree. Get covered in mud. 1145: Allen drives off from the dump with my purse, keys and phone in the truck. I use the phone at the dump to get him to come back. 1210: Drive back to the old apartment. Get pulled over for expired registration. He could have cited me for a) brake light not working, b) no proof of current insurance (my card had been expired for a year), c) driver's license not current, and d) expired registration. It is now four months expired, so he could have had my car towed and left me stranded. Instead, I just have to buy tires, get an alignment, get my brake light fixed, get it registered, and show up to traffic court in two weeks. Yes, I cried, but I can't say I didn't deserve what I got. 1245: Unload the rest of our stuff at the new apartment. Allen and I drive to Costco and fill up the vehicles. 1330: Return truck to rental place. Shell out $185 for the two days (at least they didn't charge me a late fee). 1400: Drive back to Bountiful, finish cleaning. Unload fridge, finish cleaning windows, vaccuum. 1600: Allen leaves for Logan, I drive back to new apartment. Call work to see if I can have more time off before I go in. 1645: Unload my car, put deposit money in the bank, drive to Rachael's house, pack up stuff there, re-load car. 1730: Drive to Ikea, buy shower curtains, bathroom rugs, dustpan, chocolate. 1830: Drive to work. 1900: Finish up a debridement of a toe with Butterfield, clean OR 19. 1930: Finish up a DIEP flap with Ferguson, clean OR 2. 2130: Blog about my day. I'm so tired; I have felt like crap all week, and I haven't seen my baby in two days. I miss him so much! I guess he's pulling himself up now, and he's got a cold too. He's such a sweet boy, and this week has been hard on him too. Poor little guy. So I think I'm going to rank this as my worst week ever, although it might come in second to the first week in October 2002. I'm exhausted in every way, and I'm stuck at work for the next nine hours. I hope your New Year has been better than mine.