M2- WEEK TWENTY

I sure packed a lot into this last week of break. I knew that I needed to make every second count. The majority of my time was spent finishing things up around the house. I was so sick of looking at this site as we sat on the couch:

Those scraps of drywall have been leaning on that wall since this summer when we tackled the basement. After completing one room of the basement, we quickly realized that we should have extended one of the walls another 6 feet or so. Trust me, anyone who wasn't tunnel visioned into the project would have noticed the obvious oversight. So we hung on to the drywall for another time.. when we had the energy to - cut, drill, hang, tape, mud, sand, prime, paint - all over again. 

This break, I ran out of excuses, and I completed the tedious job. SO much work for such a little change.. but it was necessary. Dontcha think?

AFTER: 

Another project that we've had laying around for months was new door handles upstairs. I snatched new handles for $0.99 each during one of probably a hundred Menards trips this summer. But instead of taking 5 minutes to install them, they have been sitting in linen closet upstairs. We had some very interesting handles throughout our home, so it refreshing to have them all match.

Cleaning was also at the top of my list this week. I scrubbed nooks and crannies of this home that have never been touched before. Such a good feeling! Heading back to school with a put-together home is an absolute must for this gal.

So are you convinced this whole week was chores? Because I promise we had a lot of fun too! We ate some awesome meals, watched a lot of sports together, fit in a few workouts, played some new games (this & this), spent New Years Eve with some fabulous friends, and watched the Husker game with family. Life is so good!

And for you chronic-Sunday-blog-checkers, you may be pleasantly surprised to see that I will probably be posting much earlier in the day than last year. Each year, the time of our church fluctuates. Now, we will start at 1 in the afternoon, so I will probably blog in the mornings. How do we feel about the switch? I think it is going to be amazing during these next few winter months-- last year we slept in zero days. Now we can lounge around and eat a serious brunch together! However, last year we snuck over to the cabin in the afternoon when the weather was nice... so we will have less of that. So, like everything in life.. it's what you make of it!

Have a fabulous week!

This Week In Review

+ More home changes! I've been tweaking the bathroom decor and painting railings this week.

+ My brother and I went to Step Up Revolution this week. so good. 

+ T made some homemade dill pickles

+ T's mom's bathroom now has baseboards that match the rest of the house. Next up- wall paint!

+ Our office is a now a rad shade of blue. I love love love it. It took a lot of patience to paint since it has so much pigment.. every mistake was super obvious. But I think it was totally worth it.

+ We celebrated my brother E's graduation surrounded by the best people on this planet- our family. (He's the one with the sweet fro)

What about things without pictures?

+ I got to spend time with one of my best friend's new baby. He is so precious!
+ My college roomie and her awesome boyfriend came over for dessert. We had these.
+ I found out I have to get a cavity filled and my front teeth reinforced. not cool.
+ T and I helped his aunt and uncle move into a beautiful new home in Lincoln, NE.
+ I got part of my schedule for work in two weeks. I get to work with the transplant team :)
+ Today I got to play with the little ones during church (18 mo-3 yrs). It was a total blast.
+ We are loving the Olympics. Have you been watching? I yell and clap no matter what the sport. 

Week 42

ANNIVERSARY
We went to Blue  for dinner and purposefully went early so we could get the happy hour prices. We ate edamame, mango crab rangoon, pork gyoza, and the grilled chicken lettuce wraps. so good. and so cheap!

Then we went home, exchanged gifts, and ate some of the top tier of our wedding cake.

 

T loves his black cherry & cream soda

Flowers from T

Cake: before

Cake: after      

BASEMENT

Here is our basement as of about four minutes ago:

Why do we have a dangly switch plate? Well.. maybe you can tell from this picture (or maybe not lol) but our dimmer switch is too tall for the box. Whoops. So we need to figure out that little detail. 

I spent quite a few hours this week working on the trim along the stairs... cutting, gluing, caulking... you know the drill. Sadly, I have those pictures on a different computer so I will have to post those another time. Boy these little projects take time! I've listened to many hours of Property Brothers while I've been working. It is my new favorite show.

**UPDATE**

Here are a few before & afters of the trim in the basement:

   

  

 

LIFE

Other than that, I am still adjusting to all this time off. I keep thinking I just have a week or so off, like during Spring Break, so I am constantly working in a panic. I don't know what I am going to do with the rest of the summer! I'm sure I will find things to keep busy :) Hopefully I can find things that are less labor-intensive (and less expensive!)

We've also been spending time at the pool working on our tans so we can make it through this next winter without dangerously reflecting light off our pale skin:

Summer Break (officially)

MONDAY
Well, we started the week with a big eats (just like we said we would. We don't joke when we talk about food around here). We had two fabulous potlucks with some basement work in between. I used an idea from Pinterest (imagine that!) and cooked a dozen eggs and made them into breakfast sandwiches. They worked really well because people could just grab and go. They were gone before I even got to the buffet. I'll post the recipe for you soon. (I am thinking about a week of recipes on the blog so I can force myself to post them..  stay tuned!)

Hello morning hair & face!

TUESDAY & WEDNESDAY
I finished my rotation in Syracuse, NE this week (I got to do more stitches!). I could not have asked for a more fabulous experience! The people there were incredibly kind. I learned so much about what it really means to be a physician. I now better understand how silly our medical system can be at times and I have been inspired about how much good you can do if you are willing to work hard. My eyes were opened to how family practice would be an awesome job in a smaller town. (BUT, I can't say I am convinced I would enjoy it in a place like Omaha where your scope of practice would be limited. I still think pediatrics would be a better fit for me in a bigger city.) It felt really nice to be home for good on Wednesday, unpack my bags, and sleep in my own (not covered in plastic) bed. Spending my nights with my incredible husband is a big plus too.. even if it means being covered in drywall dust/paint/sweat awesomeness.

THURSDAY
Take a guess at what room I spent a chunk of the day painting.. perhaps the room I can't stop talking about? Yup. I was on basement duty for the day! But I met with some fantastic girls for homemade ice cream Thursday night to reward myself. I was almost convinced to buy myself an ice cream maker.. until I got lazy and realized I can buy ice cream pre-made for less than the price of the ingredients. However, if you ever need a taste tester I won't decline!

Paint: stage one

Picture me.. standing on that chair.. on my tiptoes.. leaning into the doorway to paint. YIKES

FRIDAY
AM: we took a girls trip to Bellevue Berry Farm and picked some fabulous strawberries. It felt a little criminal to leave with only a $1.18 worth. I wouldn't be surprised if we venture back there in the near future- especially when there are more raspberries ready!

PM: a group of (pause to count on fingers) 21 of us went camping at a place that was so neat I almost don't want to tell you about it so I can keep it all to myself. It wasn't far from our house but the landscaping was so different it felt like another part of the country. Plus, we got there late so our trip consisted mostly of eating & chatting.. two of my favorite things! Maybe I can round up some pictures from friends and give you a real recap.

SATURDAY
I helped throw my dear friend a baby shower. She has been such gem to me this year- I can't wait to meet her little boy in a few months! He is a lucky one!

Then we.. can you guess it.. worked on the basement! I came home one night this week and saw this:

I suppose it's an upgrade from the floor.. but we've sinced pulled up the plastic..

Vanna White- your job is so not threatened by me! lol

.. installed and caulked baseboards..

before 

after

.. and moved in the furniture!

Gone are the days of double/triple showers due to drywall dust! The to-do list is still long.. but at least we can plop on the couch while we write! It feels good to be at this point! Just a few more details and we're done! (and broke, lol)

Ya'll were right...

Drywall dust gets everywhere...

I never doubted you.. I just didn't understand.. 

but now...

 i get it

The good news?

We threw away the plastic and vacuumed up the first layer of dust last night! 

I have a feeling we have many, many more hours of dusting & vacuuming before we declare our house clean.

Memorial Day Weekend 2012

SYRACUSE

I had an awesome week on my rotation this week. I continued to watch the physicians manage many chronic conditions & medications but they also performed quite a few procedures. This week was dense in removals (toenails, cysts, skin cancer, etc). It is fun to see the different things that family docs are able to do. I really enjoy the variety in their work day. What did I do this week? Well, I mostly observed, but I did get to put in the closing stitches after the cyst removal! (Imagine a ping pong sized ball of junk under the skin on a man's shoulder that we essentially popped, drained, and sewed back up- yeah, it's not pleasant.. don't YouTube it.) 

BASEMENT

The basement is coming along well. We are currently doing the crazy-messy sanding/mudding dance. I tried to take pictures with us all covered in dust but they didn't show up well. Imagine T and I with all of our body hair bright white.. nose hair included. It was a preview what we will look like when we are old and gray :)

Next on the list is priming the walls, painting the ceiling, then painting the walls. The gallons are all lined up ready to go! Ya'll know that I took my time considering every shade of tan until I found the (hopefully) perfect one to tie together the carpet, furniture, and trim! We are both ready to clean the house and get it back together. We spent Saturday night camped out on the plastic to watch the season finale of one of our favorite shows. Tearing apart your basement sure makes you grateful for your furniture!

LIFE

We spent the beautiful weather tonight at the cabin playing with T's favorite toy, the ATV. (Don't worry, we had s'mores and a fire too). Susannah caught on super quick-- I still prefer to hitch a ride behind T.. especially through the trails. The trails are all super green and pretty right now and we found another one hidden in the tall grass! Tomorrow for Memorial Day we have potlucks planned for both breakfast and dinner! Wish us luck on our big eating day!

Rural Care Block- Week 1

SYRACUSE
I started my rotation in Syracuse, Nebraska this week. I could not be more happy with my site. The doctors are great, the mid-levels are great, the nurses are great, the patients are great.. you get the idea. The city isn't anything thrilling, but that is totally fine since everyone is so nice and polite. I've been learning a lot.. and really enjoying family practice! We bounce around between the clinic, ER, hospital, and nursing home. I've enjoyed the variety and pace of the day. I even got to do a knee injection! Most nights I stay in the on call room:

But some nights there is physicians assistant who uses the room, so then I get a hospital bed:

The hospital isn't very busy, so at least it is quiet.. and I had a lot of fun adjusting the head of the bed to the perfect level while I watched TV! However, the plastic pillows and scratchy sheets are less than awesome. Next week I am going to remember to pack my tennis shoes so I can use the gym at night after work. 

BASEMENT

We are still chugging away on the basement. Hopefully the drywall will be totally hung, like, today. 

Here is the portion of the stairs we still need to finish:

CRUISING
We are getting closer to our 1 year anniversary and our cruise to celebrate! We have been researching things to do in Cozumel, Mexico and Jamaica. Any suggestions? We are pretty sure we want to snorkel in Cozumel but that still leaves a million options.  Seriously, if you loved or hated anything in either of those places we would love to know.

LIFE
Friday we celebrated my mom's birthday but dinner at ingredient (I recommend the crispy asian salad) then we went to a Stormchaser's game. It was a beautiful night to be outside. We really like that stadium-- it is super family friendly. Dad even got Mom's birthday announced to the stadium! I think they had a firework issue after the game because everything was going great until a few of them burst really low and then the show just abruptly stopped. Whoops! Made me grateful that everything is electronic now and you can stop a show when something goes wrong! 

Saturday we were able to spend some time with T's family for a belated Mother's Day of sorts. We also got to see his Aunt & Uncle's new house (the bones of it) and it is going to be super nice! Saturday night I went to Blue (the lettuce wraps are fantastic!) for a good friend's bachelorette party. It is really nice living so close to downtown.

Other than that, we've tried a few new recipes recently, some we liked, and some we didn't. For example, we discovered neither T nor I really like "fluffy eggs" aka souffle. We've been eating those leftovers as breakfast burritos instead. We've made a couple versions of fajitas and a good cookie recipe I will share sometime. We may try a new chicken marinade tonight if I finish this post in time to get it going before we head to our friend's house for dessert.

Mother's Day 2012

This is a busy day for T and I. My youngest brother is graduating from high school, it's Mother's Day, and tomorrow I leave for three weeks to work in a rural medical clinic. Tonight will be a little wild at our house because I still have to pack and I want to cook a couple things so T is set up before I leave. But we have things to celebrate with the family first! Did you know T will start his MBA while I am gone?  It is a fun time at our house.

We have been working hard on the basement. Yesterday, T and his friend built the frame for the half wall we are adding by the stairs. Next is the ceiling drop down. Then finally the mud, paint, and trim. I am pretty sad that T will probably finish most of the project whole I am gone. Oh well, I guess I will have to find another project!



Finally, I want to wrap up this post with a public Happy Mother's Day to all the wonderful women who have taught me (or outers) so much over my life  (that means you mom, vicki, grandma, grandma, grandma, grandma, sue, dave, and all the other fabulous women that my thumb is getting tired of typing since I am blogging on my phone at the graduation). I don't even want to imagine the energy, time, and love it takes to raise such a busy girl like myself. I have been blessed with so many amazing role models and mentors that have helped me get where I am today. Life is good.

My Sweet Ride

So my car may be 18 years old...
And have >150,000 miles on it...
And rust...

But, when the challenge arises, she still pulls through. If I told you that today I brought home 7- 8 foot boards in my Honda Civic, I bet you picture one of two scenarios:
(1) boards hanging out the trunk with a flag attached to the end
(2) boards hanging out the passenger window over the mirror

Nope.

My car fits 8' boards with room to spare!

(I'll try to remember to post some updated basement pictures tomorrow!)

What I did this afternoon...

Just thought I would give ya'll a sneak peak at the basement project! I successfully ruined all afternoon naps in our neighborhood when I got ahold of the power tools this afternoon :)

All of the boards to frame the basement are cut and pre-drilled... now I am just waiting for muscles to get home to finish the job! (I am not even going to pretend that I have the strength to drill into concrete) So watch out folks! This girl is on a mission!