The way to my heart...

Over in the world of Tracy, she has been talking about her sweet tooth (and I'm right there with her!) Seriously, if you buy me junk food I know that you love me. But anyways, Tracy was asking for our favorites, and I couldn't resist... (even thinking about this now makes me want to stop by the grocery store and buy some cookie dough to eat). My favorites:

Candy Bars
100 Grand
3 Musketeers
Milky Way


Ice-Cream
Cookie Dough
Mint Chocolate Chip (especially if it's green!)
Vanilla


Pies
I don't lie pie. bleh.


Best Overall
Rice Krispy Treats
Jelly Beans
Raw Cookie Dough


Mmmm...tasty

Disjointed thoughts

-I went to the most incredible used book store today, not meaning to buy anything, and ending up spending way too much money, but it was so great! I bought some Harry Potter books and some Dvds, all in great condition, and I'm way excited.

-I can't decide if the anesthesia doctors at work are being sketchy or being friendly when they put their arm around my waist or rub my shoulders. I'm trying to believe it's friendly--but it's kind of sketchy! ick.

-I'm moving into my new apartment this upcoming week! Ironically, it also marks the one-year anniversary of my move to North Carolina! I think this move will be a little more fun...I cried for 3 days straight when I moved to Raleigh, but I'm feeling pretty good about this move. It's good not to be anxious about very many things!

-I love cheese ritz-bits.

-The first thing I ask patients at work when I'm checking them in for surgery is if they have their insurance cards and drivers lisence with them for me to make copies of. We need the license because we like to verify people's ID, but even I don't understand why we need to make a copy of it. But I just do what I'm told (as always). This week the CUTEST THING happened. I was checking in an old woman and her husband was there with her. She doesn't drive (I think because of age and also some medical issues), so she didn't have a drivers lisence. I said it was fine and went on to fill out some more paper work, and her husband says to me "When they called a few days ago reminding us of her appointment, they said to bring the insurance and a picture--do you need a picture of her?" And he pulled out of his shirt pocket a professionally done picture of his wife like the ones you can get done at Sears, or Olan Mills, or other picture places. It was just the most adorable thing...I told him we didn't need it, that we like to have a picture ID like a drivers lisence or something like that, but thanked him for bringing that picture. It was so, so cute....

-My mom's cancer is not back, and she's been cleared for another year, so that's good news. ow she can focus on dealing with her fibromyalgia. :)

-I think I would like to work at a recyling center or something like that.



And that, my friends, is what's currently running through my head.

Welp, it's an election year

Ever since the discovery of the musician Derek Webb my freshman year of college, he's been one of my favorites. His lyrics are great and not typical "cheesy Christian" (and he's pretty good-looking too) ;-) I couldn't resist posting this YouTube video to one of his songs.

A spot of sunshine

Some of you already know this but today I feel like sharing it with the rest of the cyberspace.


My absolutely favorite thing in all the world is when a flock of ducks and/or geese slowly waddle across the road. It's even better when cars have to stop for them. And it's EVEN better when it's a mom with her fluffy babies following after her. Truly my favorite thing in all the world.


That ends my thoughts for today.

Best news of the week (and probably month)

Starting October 1, I will have a new place to live! YAY!

Check out my new home at www.lincolngreen.com

And then plan a trip to come visit! :)

"If I were rich man" (10 points if you know what movie that song is from)

I checked in a woman at work today who was coming in for an operation on her eye. She was wearing a ring with a diamond as big as my eye (and I'm serious there is no exaggeration there), a bracelet studded with diamonds, and other jewelry that, if sold, could probably be enough money to live off of for 10 years. After they had left the nurse that was working with the woman asked me if I had seen her ring, and I said yes (how could anyone not see it??) So we were talking at how much money all that must have cost, and this nurse said, "My mama always told me it's just as easy to love a rich man as it is to love a poor man! I ended up marrying a poor man, and we're still poor, but money doesn't always make you happy." The nurse told me that this woman's husband was really grumpy and rude and complaining because he had to be there to take her home after her procedure. She might have gotten a lot of money off of him for fancy jewelry, but they didn't seem to be too happily married.

And the moral of the story is that you can't count on money to make you happy (or men!) ;-)

Am I old enough to retire yet?

The "newness" of work is wearing off and I am starting to not want to go there every morning. Oh well, I guess that's life! It is interesting what you notice after 5-6 weeks at a job. At the surgery center, for instance, I've realized that the patients all tell the same jokes. When I ask them when was the last time they had anything to eat or drink, they will say "Well I just came from having a Big Mac and fries at McDonalds!" or "Well I just ate steak and pototoes". Mildy funny at first, not funny at all the millionth time you've heard it. I guess I've gotten a little grump at work and have stopped laughing and joking back, and instead give a small smile and wait for their real answer. It is a rare person that sticks in my mind and isn't just another faceless person I check in to have a procedure done. But some people do make me smile and make my day a little brighter. Of course, any time there's a baby that comes in I have a lot of fun talking nonsense to it. And a few of the extremely old people are just adorable. One woman last week came in with her daughter and granddaughters, and they were treating her mean, telling her to hurry up, and pay attention, and quit complaining. But I got to check her in and she started telling me all about how she went to grammar school with Ava Gardner and they used to trade their lunches with each other, and how she worked as a medical coder during World War II and all kinds of interesting things--what a cute lady! There was another woman whose English was barely understandable, but she kept wanting to tell me how horrible it was when the communists took over Vietnam and so they left and have lived many places and she speak Vietnamese, Chinese, French, and English, and her husband died from the stress of everything. And then there was a fabulous old man who kept asking me what my last name was, and I kept telling him, but he couldn't picture it in his head so he had my print out my full name on a piece of paper and give it to him so he could know my name. Too cute! haha.

We have a new boss at work and no one likes her. She is giving us all a lot more work and doesn't realize that we don't even have time to finish all the normal work we have! My favorite co-workers are talking about quitting :( I hope they don't!

Things I'm not a fan of

I know it's okay to make lists of things that make you happy, or things you think are funny, or things you've been up to when you post on a blog, but I don't know the etiquette of posting about things you don't like! But as I was driving home from work today I came up with a short list in my head of thigs I don't like and decided to share...

1. When my windsheild wipers make squeaking noises on my windshield.
2. When people act like they are better than everyone else because they make more money.
3. The word "beef". It sounds so gross.
4. Chipped fingernail polish.
5. Men who let their nose hairs grow into their mustache


That's that for now. :) On the flip side, a thing that makes me very happy is the family of bunnies that live in Lisa's yard and greet me each day walking to and from my car.

Time for a change

Before (blurry) and After. Feels good.

Credit where Credit's due

There are plenty of times I don't get along with my mom, lots of times I don't agree with her, many times I make fun of her, and a few times when we didn't really talk to each other. But let's face it, my mom is a great person who has had a hard life, and I am so glad to talk and joke around with her. She is a really good mom to my two sisters and me! My mom has countless health issues, probably hasn't had a day in decades where she has felt 100%, and still manages to take good care of her family and think of others. Take a look at this list and you'll realize how awesome she is:

-She has had constant back pain since the birth of my little sister, 21 years now. She has a herniated disk and some other muscle problems back there and has tried countless solutions: chiropractors, surgeries, medication combinations, physical therapy, massages, acupunture-type stuff, and plenty more. And she is still in pain, still can't walk much more than a couple blocks unless she wants to be laid up the next day. There have been several times in my life where she's had to spend whole weeks at a time in bed, just from simple stuff like vacuuming too much.

-She is allergic to almost every medication there is. She has bad reactions to almost anything. Even cough syrup gives her gall stones (even though she's had her gallbladder removed!)

-She had constant headaches, almost every single day, with several migraines a month. And she just deals with it. I can't imagine having a headache every day of my life!

-Her body can't handle sugar...it gives her headaches, which turn into migraines. So she bakes special "honey cookies" and practices amazing self-control, especially during the holidays. Who doesn't want to eat Christmas cookies at Christmas?!?

-She stuggles off and on with depression and anxiety and has had her fair share of panic attacks.

-She had a really bad case of acid reflux, and cannot take a single one of the medicines the doctor prescribes because she has bad reactions to them. So she has had to eliminate even more foods from her diet!

-She had thyroid cancer my senior year of highschool and had to have her thyroid removed. The hospital gave her morphine, which it turned out she was allergic too, and she would just lay in the hospital bed crying out in pain. It takes awhile to figure of the correct dosage of thyroid hormone supplement a person needs to be on (it's different for everyone), so for weeks and months while they were trying to get it straight, my mom would lay curled up in a ball on the floor of our house just sobbing and have seizure-like attacks.

I would be a much grumpier person if I had to deal with even a couple of those things, yet my mom still manages to find moments of joy in life. She's going to the doctor tomorrow and tuesday to have some tests done because they just found evidence that the cancer might be back, so pray that she doesn't have side effects from the tests (she has side effects to everything), and that the results will come back clean. She is a good mom.