I'm addicted to [learning about] drugs.

And no, I'm not talking about street drugs. I am talking about my Pharmacology class. My first final is coming tomorrow, and I've become obsessed with learning about pharmacological drugs. So if I call you up in the middle of the night and ask you about every prescription medication you're taking and why, please bear with me. It's all for a good cause.

I know what you're thinking -- "How can you possibly have a final when you literally just started school in the middle of September?" I am thinking that as well. However, I can say with confidence that I have spent as much time studying for this 5-week pharmacology class as I ever did for any 16-week semester course. In fact, I may have spent MORE time studying for this course than any other I've taken in my entire life.

I've spent so much time making and reviewing pharmacology flash cards that I now repeat the generic and trade names, clinical indications, actions, adverse effects, and nursing implications of drugs while I am asleep. So if I call you up in the middle of the night and ask you about every prescription medication you're taking and why, please bear with me. It's all for a good cause.

I am considering taking a lesson from my Uncle Rich and putting the book under my pillow to see if that helps as well. I'll let you know how that goes. Cross your fingers for me, because I have to get an 80% in the class to pass. :-)

Don't judge a recliner by its cover.

When your momma told you not to judge a person based on their outward appearance (or not to judge a book by its cover), she was giving you some sage advice. I try to live by that rule, but NOT when it comes in inanimate objects. Here comes the big point of this blog post: I was wrong, and I'm admitting it.

When Scott brought home this gem, I swore I'd never let it into our house. In fact, it spent a good stint in the garage upon arriving at our place. Teal is not a color that's easily incorporated into the decor of our house, and I've never been a big fan of recliners. But it was free, and Scott really REALLY wanted a recliner. Since he's so nice to me and is letting me live at his house during nursing school, I figured I really should let him keep whatever furniture he wanted in the "Man Cave," even if it is the color of a bad 1980's Naugahyde diner booth.

Here's the part of the post where I eat crow and say I was wrong.

I spent approximately 11 consecutive hours in this chair this weekend, reviewing flashcards and studying notes for school. And I have to admit that it's the perfect chair for long-range sitting, studying, and maybe even a nap or two. Plus, Brady fits on the foot rest when the chair is reclined, so she can continue her supportive role as "study buddy" and foot warmer.

So Scott, I was wrong. Your chair is lovely, Hubbell.

Three days...

A lot can happen in just three days. For example, you can go to class for 20 hours, spend 8 hours studying in a group with classmates, and still somehow manage to fit in 7 hours of work and 2 trips to the Verizon store to replace your busted cell phone. And somewhere in there, you can even find a few hours to sleep and watch an hour of TV while scarfing down dinner and having an abbreviate conversation with your significant other.

I have a strong feeling the next 10 months of my life are going to be run on caffeine and adrenaline (but at least now I'll understand which autonomic nervous system receptors are being stimulated by the adrenaline coursing through my veins).

To sum it up, week 1 was:
- Frightening
- Enlightening

and, finally,

- Encouraging

I'm terrified that I won't be able to absorb all this content to the level that I should, but I'm interested in all the things I'm learning and fascinated by the amazing things that happen within the human body naturally and with the aid of modern medical technology. I'm afraid my personal relationships will suffer due to my lack of time and/or energy to devote to those I love. I'm curious about my next class and my first interactions with patients. And most of all, I'm hoping that I've made the right choice in following this dream.

Super-secret surprise date

 

Wednesday night, after my crazy fill-the-freezer cooking spree, Scott sprung some good news on me: he had planned a secret date for us this weekend. If you read my belated birthday-post, you know that Scott is really great about doing nice things for me, and he's especially good at surprise dates. I was tired, I was stressed, and when he said he'd planned a date I thought I had died and gone to Heaven. I think we both needed a break from work/school/football, and this was it.

So, Super-Secret Surprise date day arrived (Saturday) and Scott told me to pack a bag just in case we didn't make it home until Sunday. I gladly packed up, and we hopped in the car and headed North. I was only slightly concerned when Scott got off the freeway on Plank Road, but as it turns out we were headed farther north to St. Francisville.

For those that haven't been here, the word to describe St. Francisville is most likely "quaint." There are antique shops and crafty stores, small restaurants, friendly people, and a lot of B&B's. The photo above is the St. Francisville Inn, where Scott had booked us a room for the night so we could explore the town and its shops without having to rush back to Baton Rouge that night. 



The inn was built in the late 1800's, and it was long on charm, complete with rocking chairs and porch swings, and a "secret" cutout in the fence that gave a glimpse of the awesome pool and courtyard in the back of the house. And, as you might imagine in South Louisiana, lots of oak trees with Spanish moss hanging down in bundles. It was beautiful.

Although I didn't think to pack a swimsuit, I did manage to get in a little time pool-side with a glass of wine (or two) and my feet dangling in the water.

Since they didn't have an alarm system, the inn keepers invested in a state-of-the-art guard dog, who shall now be known as "Jaws." I don't really know what his name is, but he was a very cute little Chi-Weenie puppy mix, and he kept all the guests entertained with his clumsy puppy-walking and nearly laughable bark. He was a great little companion during the awesome breakfast Sunday morning. (During which, I might add, I think I accidentally ate shrimp in the form of a stuffed crepe. I'm not sure, because I didn't taste any shrimp-i-ness, but Scott seems to believe that I ate shrimp. Funny that he didn't tell me I was eating shrimp until after I'd already done it and gone on and on about how good the crepes were, but perhaps he was more engrossed in his breakfast and not paying attention to what I was eating. Or maybe he really just wanted me to eat shrimp and realize that I like it. Which I don't. Blech!)

A few other highlights of our trip included our journey to the Magnolia Cafe for dinner Saturday night, and also to watch a little bit of the Saints game on Sunday. After Scott was so nice, planned a wonderful date, and even went to a million antique stores with me without a single complaint, I felt like he had more than earned some time to watch the game. 

By the time we got in the car to  head back to Baton Rouge, I felt like I had been on vacation for days, and things didn't seem nearly as overwhelming. What a wonderful way to spend a weekend, and a great reminder of the fact that I'm incredibly lucky to have Scott in my life.

How did Shel Silverstein know what's inside my head?

As I approach my first day of nursing school, I'm becoming increasingly anxious about the transition and what lies ahead of me. For those that know me well, you know I worry about everything. From fleas on Brady to how a random comment I've made affected someone else, I am constantly worrying about something. If you're reading this blog, chances are I've worried about something on your behalf once or twice as well (even if you weren't worried about it yourself).

Over the past few months, this childhood poem has popped into my head many times as I lay in bed at night, unable to sleep because of the things rolling around in my mind. (Last night was a particularly offensive case of the whatifs.) So, in honor of my last free weekend before school begins, I'll share this poem with you.

Whatif by Shel Silverstein

Last night, while I lay thinking here,
some Whatifs crawled inside my ear
and pranced and partied all night long
and sang their same old Whatif song:
Whatif I'm dumb in school?
Whatif they've closed the swimming pool?
Whatif I get beat up?
Whatif there's poison in my cup?
Whatif I start to cry?
Whatif I get sick and die?
Whatif I flunk that test?
Whatif green hair grows on my chest?
Whatif nobody likes me?
Whatif a bolt of lightning strikes me?
Whatif I don't grow taller?
Whatif my head starts getting smaller?
Whatif the fish won't bite?
Whatif the wind tears up my kite?
Whatif they start a war?
Whatif my parents get divorced?
Whatif the bus is late?
Whatif my teeth don't grow in straight?
Whatif I tear my pants?
Whatif I never learn to dance?
Everything seems well, and then
the nighttime Whatifs strike again!

Operation "Stock the Freezer" is Under Way

In order to prepare myself (and Scott) for the hard winter months, I've decided it's time to take a lesson from the squirrels and start stocking away some acorns. (For those who are wondering, yes, I realize that "winter" in Baton Rouge doesn't really signal the end of the growing season, or a challenge for finding food. BUT, I've begun to think of the next ten months of my life while I'm in nursing school as the hard winter months. There will be no fun in the sun, no time or energy for extra activities, and surely no patience to fight my way through the goat rodeo that is WalMart in order to stock our fridge and cook meals.)

Although I'm confident that Scott would gladly take over grocery shopping and cooking, I don't want to make his life harder than it has to be. Although this sounds like it's an unselfish act, it's really just me trying to compensate for the fact that he's going to have to listen to me whine about my intense school workload for ten months.

To that end, I've made a few dishes to pile away in the freezer. Today's cooking included:
2 lasagnas
Pot of chili
Pot of Grandma Marshall's spaghetti sauce

 

Tomorrow, we'll tackle the red beans and rice. But tonight, we'll let the beans soak because, let's face it, beans really are "the musical fruit."

RIDDLE: What has 8 fingers and can't type?

ANSWER: Me.

That's right, folks. I have become a hunt-and-peck typist due to a crockpot injury. Perhaps from this point forward I'll leave all my typos in this post and give a prize to the person that can translate my garbled writing. GO.

Here's thwe astory odf my finger snd the crockpot. I wsd washing diahes, snd the crockpot weas slippwery. I dropped it in the sink aqnd it broke, slcigin up my left ring finger and left pinky in the process. So now, I am relegated to typing with eight fingers and I am not great at it. (Although, interestingly enough, my eight-fingered typing is improving throughout this post. Odd... good food for thought in terms of how the human brain compensates. Maybe I can live as an octoped. Or whatever the word is for something that has only eight fingers.)

So for those of you wondering wht to get me for my next birgthdy, consider a small creockpot.

Lukie Pookie and Mrs. McTwitter

Last weekend, my sister needed someone to look after Luke while she and Ryan did some school-related activities. Bethany and I fought over the opportunity, and I won, thus beginning my Saturday morning adventure with Luke. By the end of the day, I had spent time in a fort, pretended to be a pirate, allowed Luke to completely evade naptime, and generally worn myself out by reliving my early childhood. But I must say it was the most fun I've had in years. Here's a glimpse of our mischief.


   



A little light reading

 



Checking out some TV (The Proposal)

 



Hittin' the sauce
(Applejuice, folks. I'm not that kind of babysitter...)





Learning to hunt gators
(Practicing for an audition on Swamp People)

Off to market with our toy basket....

C25K Week 1

Last week, I got a new iPod Touch. Yes, I know I should be saving money because I am a poor college student. BUT, I found out that I can get all my textbooks on the iPod Touch, and use it for email and internet while I'm in class. I don't know about you, but I'd rather carry a tiny iPod than 50 pounds of textbooks and a 10 pound laptop.

Along with the wonderful ability to access my books on the iPod, I can now download all the fun apps that all those snooty iPhone users have had for years. I haven't yet found an app that will train my dog not to bark or that will make my bed, but I am sure those are coming. In the meantime, I'm enjoying a few of the simpler apps available. One of those is C25K, an app to help couch potatoes train to run a 5K. For those that know me well, you know I'm infamous for my "plan of the week" and that my adult ADD prevents me from really sticking to things for more than 1 or 2 days (who am I kidding - 1 to 2 hours is a solid stretch for me). Well, I've used the C25K app for 3 days now, so this must be some kind of a record. Let's see if I can keep it up through next week. At this point, I'm running 60-second intervals, with 90-second breaks to walk in between. I know that sounds pretty wimpy, but given the fact that working out hasn't been on my list of favorite things to do for a few years, I'll take what I can get. As Dr. Leo Marvin said, "Baby steps..."

I love Scott W____

I know, I know. This is not the place for sappy stories about my BF. But I have to give him some credit. HE CAUGHT THE LIZARD! Billy the Exterminator better watch out, because Scott W. is bringing some competition and ridding the world of pests one by one. Thanks Scott!

No lizards allowed!

In my bedroom, that is.

We have a few lights around the house on timers, set to turn off at 10:15pm. (I'd like to say that this is a theft-deterrent measure, but really it's just because I don't like the idea of our poor little puppies being home in a dark house all evening on those nights when we're not home. And who am I kidding? The combined 156 pounds of fur and teeth guarding our house really negates the need for any other theft-deterrent systems. But on with my story.) I was all set to hop under the covers and read 1/2 page of a good book before falling asleep. Sadly, I was planning to go to bed before the light in my room is set to turn off, so I got up to manually change the timer so the light would go off. I'm not going to say what time this was, because I don't want you to make fun of how early I was going to bed.

I got the surprise of my life when a little, teeny-tiny lizard scampered out from behind the light timer and proceeded to skitter across the wall, Spiderman-style, behind the dresser and far out of my reach. Not that I would have touched it if I could reach it or move that fast, but I was completely caught off guard. I'm not prepared to deal with lizards outside the house, let alone living in my bedroom!

Although this little monster was too quick to catch, I found a picture of a similar beastly creature, so that my faithful blog reader (that's right, singular, because there's only one of you) can share in the horror and fright that accompanies lizards living inside your house. Enjoy!



If I wanted frozen yogurt,

I could have just frozen a container of mixed berry yogurt.

When Steven moved out in June, I spent some time cleaning out the cabinets at the house. I needed space to put all of my kitchen supplies, which had spent the last year cluttering up the garage in five large cardboard boxes. (Had to make room for Scott's kayak, riding mower, and bicycle -- the garage is "man space" and since I've taken over every closet in the house, it's only fair that I take my junk out of the garage.)

I digress. The point of my rambling is this: while cleaning out a cabinet in the kitchen, I found an ice cream maker. I was fascinated - remembering the times as a kid when we made ice cream using rock salt and coffee cans. I decided that August is a great time to make some homemade ice cream, since it's about 100 degrees every day. Plus, I get bored at the house sometimes.

The adventure started with a frozen yogurt recipe that included yogurt (big surprise), frozen mixed berries, sugar, corn syrup and vanilla extract. I mixed it all together, and came out with a concoction that looked (and tasted) surprisingly like a container of Dannon mixed berry yogurt. That should have been my first clue.



I poured it into the magical ice cream machine, thinking of what a wonderfully delicious and rich treat this would be - creamy and tasty and reminiscent of the gelato I had in Italy a few years ago. I turned on the switch and watched with what can only be described as child-like delight as the concoction mixed and began to freeze.



After the allotted 20 minutes, I scraped the "frozen yogurt" out of the ice cream maker and placed it in a container to head into the freezer so it could "firm up" a bit. But let's not kid ourselves - I took a taste before putting it in the freezer. That's when I realized that I had spent an afternoon making homemade frozen yogurt, when really I should have frozen a container of Dannon and spent my time doing something productive, like watching Keeping up with the Kardashians (I know, shocking that I'd watch such trash) or painting my toenails. **Sigh**

But at least it looks yummy. So if you're in the neighborhood and you have a taste for some low-fat homemade frozen yogurt, stop by. I'm sure this will still be in the freezer for you to enjoy.

Now it's your turn.

One of my favorite things about Scott is his witty blogging. Sadly, he took a break from blogging to focus his most recent efforts on the pursuits of summer. This included exercising, coaching football, fishing, kayaking, and other such things. Because I work from home, and Scott wasn't at school all day, this meant that we had a good amount of time to see each other, and I didn't really miss his blogging because I actually TALKED to him, instead of reading the blog to see what was rolling around in that noggin of his. Now, he's been back to school for more than two weeks and has yet to pick back up on the blogging. This post of mine is intended to be a shove in the right direction -- he needs to start blogging again! If anyone ever reads THIS blog, I encourage you to go see www.wolfpackof3.blogspot.com, and make it known that you'd like Scott to start back up with his entertaining musings.

If I could do it all again...

I know it's been forever and a day since I wrote a blog post. If I'm being honest, this will probably be the beginning of another long period of blogger silence. But this one is for Grandma Fuchs.

If I could do it all again:

I would ask you to tell me the story of how you met Grandpa Fuchs, in your own words.

I would stop by and visit you more often.

I would ask you to tell me about your childhood, and how you spent your summers.

I would remember to send you birthday, Halloween, Valentine's and all other cards on time.

I would learn your favorite song.

I would send you notes occasionally for no reason at all.

I would go on hikes with you, and watch the Browns with you.

I would NOT cross my eyes in your special photos of the entire family.



I hope one day I'll get the chance to do these things when we meet up again. Until then, I love you. You'll be missed.

Winter wonderland

Hunting for chippies

Exploring the great white wilderness

Back home and wrapped in a warm towel.

Birthday Bonanza

Better late than never... This blog post was written in January of this year, and I've just now gotten around to adding the pictures and posting it. BTW, I hate the "add a picture" feature and formatting tools on blogger. I'm giving up on making this look presentable. Hope you can read it all messed up!

I realize that I can't really call myself a "blogger" if I only write a blog once every six months. I am not going to pretend that I'm going to start writing blogs all the time, or even every few weeks. I am, however, going to write a blog about the amazing birthday weekend that just took place. I knew Scott could be charming, but he definitely outdid himself this weekend.

I was planning on spending my 29th birthday in Baton Rouge with a low-key weekend, having movie night with Scott, Bethany and Dave on Friday night, and dinner with the Empsons on Saturday night. When Tam called to reschedule dinner on Friday night, I thought Scott and I would just go out to dinner and a movie and call it a night. Boy, was I wrong.

When I woke up Saturday morning, Scott had put out a card for me that said Happy Birthday (in Spanish, so I still don't know what the printed card says) with a note that told me to pack a bag and be ready to leave the house by 11am. No word on where we were heading...
I packed my bag, as well as about 14 pairs of shoes since I didn't know where we were going, and we got on the road (15 minutes early, I might add). The weather was amazing -- sunny and 65 degrees, which makes it the best birthday weather I've ever had!

We arrived at our first destination -- Liuzza's, a neighborhood joint in NOLA. And when we walked in, I was surprised to see Scott's mom and step-dad already there with a cake, balloons and presents! We had a great time, and great food, and great conversation. And a cute little cake :-) YUM!

After lunch we headed to the WWII museum, and spent 3 hours there with Scott's parents. It was a great learning experience for me (since I forgot everything I learned in high school), and it made me really appreciate what our veterans did for the nation and the world.

After that, Scott and I got into the car, and drove around NOLA for a few minutes taking in the sights. We found a place to park at the Holiday Inn (which is where we ended up staying Saturday night) and got back out on foot. The weather was perfect, people were everywhere, and it was a great night to see NOLA. We stopped and window shopped the art galleries, and then headed toward the Mighty Muddy Mississippi River. When we got there, I was cofused and surprised to see Tamara and Ryan just "hanging out" by Jackson Square. Surprise # (Ok, I've lost count) -- Bethany and Dave agreed to babysit Luke so Tam and Ryan could come for a night out on Bourbon with us!

We had a great dinner, and then headed to Tropical Isle. Why Tropical Isle, you ask? The Hand Grenades, of course! Instead of trying to detail the shenanigans in writing, here's a little montage that'll give you the general idea....

On Sunday morning, Scott took me to a brunch buffet. It was just like the dining hall in college -- Sunday mornings were the BEST days at the dining hall. Sunday brunch buffets may be one of the best ideas ever!

After breakfast, we wandered around NOLA with Mr. Tom and Ms. Jeri, doing a little shopping and experiencing the French Market. I think my favorite stall at the market was for Bedford Falls Headware (you can see their headbands here http://www.bedfordfallsheadwear.bigcartel.com/). Totally impractical and something I could never pull off, but fun nonetheless.

For the big finale, it was off to play the ponies! Scott's final surprise was an afternoon with more friends and family. Although it was lots of fun, I can't say I won enough to retire from my day job. Here are a couple snaps of the fun:

On the phone with my bookie...