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Wednesday, September 24, 2008

So much has happened since my last update!

Alright, I am going to try and make this quick because I really have to study!
Since my last blog we have 1. adopted a puppy named Luna 2. taken Luna to the emergency room and brought her home a healthier dog 3. celebrated my 25th birthday and 4. had the first test of my second year of vet school (and rocked it, by the way).

Upcoming: a test tomorrow (cripes!), a test on Monday (that I have not yet even thought about), and then another test that two Fridays from now. And the testing schedule doesn't slow down. I am pretty sure that (except for the weeks we have diagnostic challenge when everything in life gets put on hold) we have at least one test every week until finals. ...and then one every day of finals week.
Can we say panic attacks? I, who have never suffered from heart burn, have been popping rolaids. Wish me luck!

...and I promise, I will expand on the puppy info and birthday synopsis when I am less stressed out.

And now, some eye candy:

Saturday, August 16, 2008

Farmer's Market Produce Conlcusion


The gorgeous bounty

Chopped up and lovely

Artwork cooking

Yumm!

I just had an incredible dinner! We took the veggies from the market and made a symphony! This is, by the way, after going to the polar opposite of the farmer's market: Costco. We got some plastic baggies and 4 lbs of brown sugar and a giant thing of parmesean (my new favorite cheese) and a 4 pack of my bagel cheese. Yumm!

Anyway, back to dinner! I cut up half the onion for sauteeing and half for the chicken (it was potent, but once I was done cutting I stopped crying), along with about 5 cloves of garlic to hit the oil with the onions. Andrew dipped thawed chicken breasts in "Cherryaki" marinade and then rolled them in crunched up apple orchard chips. I arranged the onions on the breasts and popped them into the oven. Then I cut up the adorable mutant summer squash, a large carrot, and Andrew had to help me cut up 3 potatoes (purple viking which is white on the inside, the blue one, and one that was red on the outside and pink on the inside). Those went into the frying pan with the onions and garlic. I cooked those while the chicken finished, adding salt, pepper, brown sugar, cinnamon, and garam marsala. It was FABULOUS! So tasty! AND I actually ENJOYED squash. This is a first. I am not a big fan of those little yellow or green things...but this time I gingerly popped one in my mouth and went "yummm." I still have a handfull of taters left (2 big and some little fingerlings), a bunch of carrots, and the zucchini destined for yummy bread. With dinner we had some lovely apple wine. All in all, extremely delicious!!

Produce Love

So I have fallen in love. I recently read a book by Barbara Kingsolver called "Animal, Vegetable, Miracle" about her family living for a year entirely off of local food (plus fair trade coffee and spices) and it inspired me. I want to grow a veggie garden filled with heirloom plants. Part of me wants to raise chickens for eggs but I think that may be taking it a little far for a novice...But the most immediate effect has been a desire to visit the farmer's market in Moscow ID. We went this morning and it was fabulous! There were tons of stalls and tons of locally grown, organic produce. It was packed. We had to park illegally at a restaurant :). I was gaga as we wandered amongst the stalls, ogling onions the size of our heads, mountains of peppers, baskets of herbs, flats of tomatoes. With no real plan in mind (except the plan to make a plan), I purchased: a pound of tiny heirloom potatoes in fabulous colors, blue, purple, red and pink, for $2; two zucchinis and a yellow and green squash with a mutant siamese twin; a bundle of carrots (some of which with mutant fingers) for $2; and a big red onion for $1.50. If you were keeping track, you can tell that I spent $7 and some change for all of that! I am so excited to figure out what to make, and of course to taste this local produce. I am hoping local squash is less disgusting than normal squash from Safeway...but that's why I only got one small one. Just to try it. The zucchini is for zucchini bread. Yummm! And Leslie got us a big braid of garlic as a housewarming gift. It fit nicely on a hook above the stove and looks gorgeous there! I took pictures...and Leslie apparently got a shot of me buying the potatoes. I totally plan to scrap book the market! Next time I am bringing a big basket to carry things in (I saw a bunch of people holding them and I was mad jealous) and wear a hat. It is hot out!!

Sunday, August 3, 2008

We're moved!

Well, it took us 24 solid hours of work (literally: the first day was from 9am-9pm and the second day we worked from 6am-7pm). But we are in the new house! Out of the apartment and nicely in the new house! Still unpacking, but I wager that will be happening for a while. Especially since Andrew has to go back to Poulsbo for work this week. Sad times. Jen and Justin came out for the weekend and helped us get the unpacking started. We now have almost a full kitchen, and two almost offices! Now time to do some litterboxes and switch over laundry. Hoorayyyy...

Monday, July 28, 2008

Just a couple of blurbs

*Hi mom! I am glad you find me amusing! Also, Andrew was wondering if you could shove Jonah on a bus and send him out here. And then I pointed out that he would be at camp having fun. If you want to shove DAD on a bus though...
*Saw Dark Knight last night: AWESOME.
*Just went on a nice bike ride with my lovely husband. 6 miles with no wind- very nice! The only downside was the little bugs who seemed determined to ram themselves up my nose. Failing that they settled for my eyes, my ears, or my arms where they would take their failure to reach nostril heaven out on my arms by biting me! I feel like I still have some in my sinuses. I hope they don't lay eggs. I have enough sinus problems without larvae adding to the issues!
*I CAN'T FREAKING WAIT to move!! Day after tomorrow *quiver* 'twill be awesome!

Sunday, July 27, 2008

Moving

Well, I am happy to report that we are surrounded by boxes. We aren't completely done yet, but we are LIGHT YEARS beyond where we were last time. Plus no one is throwing up at this time. We just have to avoid food poisoning in the next couple days. Wednesday we get the truck and load it all in and drive allll the way across town and drag them into the new place! Oh my God...it is almost here. I am so excited! All the dishes are now clean. We will be eating off of paper (possible just take out at this point since most of the pots and pans are packed) for the remainder of our time in this apartment.
In other news I have a dead taste bud or SOMETHING on the side of my tongue. Life is misery right now! Eating is pain. I sound like an emo. :(

Monday, July 21, 2008

A Eulogy...

...to Laundromats!
We have done our time and have finished with laundromats. Hopefully forever. We very carefully sorted laundry and picked out enough clothes to last us through the move. Barely. So the first order of business upon entering the new house will be starting a load of laundry but that is not the point. Soon we will be doing loads as needed instead of saving them up for weeks and buying socks and underwear as needed. Soon we will be sorting loads by color instead of we-desperately-need-these-washed piles. Soon we can use bleach or fabric softener at the needs of the given loads. Soon we can tailor washer and dryer settings to the needs of the loads rather than blasting them dry as fast as possible in a giant 40# dryer. Clearly, I am pretty excited!

I am also excited by the paycheck heading my way this Thursday. I am also excited by the fact that we are moving out of the apartment very soon! My head fills with organization plans and paint chips...

Wednesday, July 16, 2008

Ouch

So this new job is beating the hell out of me. Although I will add that I am enjoying it and am grateful for it! But the first day was pretty rough due to my poor shoe choice- fashion tennies rather than running shoes. By the end of the day I was hurting everywhere and my feet were threatening to kill me. I had scratches and bruises up and down my arms from hauling boxes around. I took a bath when I got home and went to bed early. Yesterday was much better due to my use of actual tennis shoes combined with Dr. Scholls inserts. Hooray for those! My feet didn't start hurting till the end of the day! And in general life was less painful yesterday. I DID go to bed around 8:30 though. Went to sleep about an hour later methinks. Today wouldn't have been too bad but the first thing I did involved loading up two big rolling cloth bins (like you imagine convicts hiding amongst laundry to escape from jail in) with boxes and then rolling them back to the new building. And on the way up the hill I managed to get a KILLER flat tire from the cart...and it felt like it took half my heel with it. I painfully pulled my shoe back on without even crying and limped the rest of the way up the ramp. During break I pulled off my shoe to make sure I wasn't bleeding heavily or anything. All I saw was swollen, red heel. But it hurt so much to pull my shoe on and off that I decided to leave it alone till I got home. And when Andrew helped me get my shoe off we discovered my heel and Achilles tendon is one big bruise. Andrew immediately ran and got me a bag of ice and a Popsicle and ordered me to lay on the couch with my foot on the ice. What a nice husband I have!

I would like to emphasize that, in spite of the beating I have been receiving, I am really enjoying my job. I like setting up the shelves- one of the few things in my life I am really OCD about is my shelves. And I like making them look nice and neat! And I think they appreciate that!

Tuesday, July 15, 2008

I have to be quick...

...but just a quick update on cats and job.
Cats: Talen is doing better. His eye is still pretty squinty and red at times, but he is getting his eye meds twice a day and they seem to be helping. He is also no longer gagging or throwing up. Yay!!
Job: My feet hurt. In fact, all of me hurts.

Saturday, July 12, 2008

cats and moving boxes

Update on the kitties: Jasper is now 3 whole pounds. Big boy! And Talen has a bit of an eye infection in his left eye. No scratches or foreign bodies, but he has some conjunctivitis going on. Today his eye looks very angry and squinty and goobery. Poor kid. But we have an antibiotic ointment that goes in his eye twice a day. And right before we left for the vet yesterday, Talen made this impressive gagging wretching motion. But he didn't throw up and wasn't painful on palpation, so they told me to monitor him. As of right now he is unenthusiastic about his meals, although he will eat. Last night as soon as he finished dinner he gagged up some of his food and he gagged after breakfast this morning as well, although he didn't actually bring anything out this time. Right now he is curled up and sleeping by the door. I am definitely concerned about him. Hopefully he will be ok and this is just some sort of weird bug he managed to pick up on top of the eye thing.

Our living room is starting to look weird. There are boxes everywhere and the book shelves are empty. Really all we have packed thus far are three boxes of DVDs, a box of pictures, and 12 boxes of books. We need to do some laundry and bag up the dirties and clean what we will need for the next 3 weeks. I need to do the litter boxes today (although not right this second because I hear Jasper in there). And some serious cleaning needs to go down!

Friday, July 11, 2008

I hate making titles

So my update for all ye who read my blog, is that I am now working at the Bookie! (official campus book store) It is a full time, temporary job helping to move the Bookie from its old location to its new location (and the new place looks awesome by the way!). I am super excited! I had my paper work and tour session today and will be starting actual work on Monday at 8:30! *glee* Parking is tight so I am going to try walking there. It is a not unimpressive distance up several hills so I will have to trek out early. Let's see, it takes me 25 minutes to walk comfortably to school (less, really, but 25 so I am not panicking and sweating and panting by the time I arrive and the Bookie is 2 miles from our apartment according to google maps...so I should give myself a good hour to walk it just to be on the safe side for the first time through. So Monday I shall get myself up at 6:30, eat breakfast, pack a lunch, shower, and march out there. Scratch that, I will pack my lunch the night before. And maybe I can do a dry run on the weekend to time it out better and explore alternate routes.
In kitty news it is amazing how quickly Jasper is growing up. And how much of his behavior mirrors Talen's. I got up with them to pee at 3 am the other morning (they both had full little bladders and were acting like jerks so I escorted them to the litter boxes). And we got out to the kitchen and they both went over towards Talen's bowl, looked back at me, and with the exact same expression and tone howled at me to feed them. Little turds. But Jasper has his second appointment today to get his FVRCP vaccine and Talen will be joining us. His eye was all goobed up and squinting last night and hasn't improved today. I am worried that during their wrestling matches Jasper may have kicked Talen in the eye and scratched him. So it will be an exciting vet visit all around!
And in fashion news, I have found two shirts at Old Navy that look great on me and I love them and they inspire my business casual clothing plans for my future life as a professional.

Tuesday, July 8, 2008

The kitty, at long last, has a name!

Hooray! The kitty, who has been unnamed since we got him on June 16th, is now named! After much deliberation, and getting a different name every day from my mom when we were home (Sparrow, Pontouf, Duck, Shatner...), he is now Jasper Chaos BomBrauergaars! Both of those names are actually names from The Enchanted Forest Chronicles where a witch named Morwen has 9 cats, none of whom are the proper, whitchy, black. Also, he is now, all of a sudden, looking leggy! He no longer looks like a baby kitty but more of a little kid kitty. We just saw it yesterday. He was screwing himself up for a leap from the coffee table to the couch and I realized that he is, well, there is no other way to put this, looking leggy! It is weird how fast he is growing up. Still kind of unsure about eye color at this point. Yellow or green depends on the angle you look at him.

In other news, I am definitely allergic to something in Pullman. I was having allergies before the last trip home, was fine the entire time in Kingston, and now that we are back in P-town...I am constantly blowing my nose and sneezing. I object!

Saturday, June 21, 2008

 
 
 
 

These are my most recent scrapbooking efforts (as always, all my completed pages can be seen here http://picasaweb.google.com/andrea.bomgaars/ScrapbookPages). For your viewing pleasure I present the vagina monologues (with a close up of a clay yoni I made), COLE, and the White coat ceremony. And with my attempt to cut down on buying scrapbook supplies, I am proud to announce that all of this was done with the supplies I had on hand. Yay! ...like I was going to find a sticker of a vagina anyway...
Posted by Picasa

Friday, June 20, 2008

Cat Drama

Poor Talen has a blood draw at noon today. Which means he doesn't get breakfast. Which means the kitten will have two meals today during which Talen will not be eating. He doesn't understand and is pretty upset. Whining abounds. Although currently he is sitting next to me purring in a mournful way while the kitten plays with my pants.
And sadly, the wee one is still unnamed. We put a poll up on the hiker's forum asking for input on our current short list of names, and thus far it is a three way tie between "Pippin," "Fitzpatrick," and "Your names suck butt and I have a brilliant suggestion of my own." I'm leaning towards Pip at this point and, while Andrew likes the name, he is not sure if the kitten is Pippin. We shall see...
And speaking of the wee one, he has diarrhea. Yesterday we went on an emergency grocery store run to pick up some baby wipes- he had diarrhea and then cleverly stepped in it. I am adding a weeee sprinkle of Metamucil to his food which will hopefully help and also hopefully his GI tract will adjust to the new food very soon. I am pretty sure that the food they gave me is not the same food he was eating at the pet store. Oh, and I don't know if this also has to do with GI stress d/t food, but this kitten TOOTS. I have never had a farting cat before...but this guy has DOG farts. It is pretty impressive/disgusting. *shakes head*
Also, there is further evidence that he was weaned too young. Yesterday I set the sleeping kitten on the sleeping Talen, and Talen immediately pinned him down and started giving him a thorough bath. Whereupon the kitten started making suckling motions towards Talen (searching for a nipple, that deep kneading into the stomach to help stimulate milk...)...whereupon Talen kicked him in the head and kept on cleaning him.

Wednesday, June 18, 2008

Naming kittens is hard to do

How do you choose a name that works on a creature who weighs about 2 oz but will also not be retarded on a full grown cat? I keep calling him embarrassing things like "Junebug," "Jellybean," or "Monkey."

Monday, June 16, 2008

Further Updates

*On the job front, the news is bad. I didn't get the job, but the gal said that she had loved me and would like to call on me again if another position opens. Sad times...I was really hoping I would get that job. Now I have decided that I will have to restrict myself from buying any scrapbooking supplies until I DO get a job.

*On the kitten front, the news is good. We have a weeee tiny kitten running through our living room. And Talen has proven himself to be the BEST cat in the world by not only sniffing at this tiny intruder, but PLAYING with him. These two have been chasing eachother all over the living room and kitchen. There is some potential tension...in that the kitten has shoved Talen out of the way to eat his food. Yes, you read that right...

Friday, June 13, 2008

Two bits of updates...

* The interview went well, I think. I feel like I represented myself well. So on Tuesday or Wednesday I will be hearing from the Bookie- and they are hiring for three positions: two cafe workers and a cashier. I think I would really enjoy the cafe and could continue during school as well. So here's hoping! *knocks on wood and crosses fingers*

* We were in a quandary about the kitten. This is also because we are both weak. But even though the whole job thing is up in the air, we decided to go for him. His semi-formed personality seems good, Talen can help with the rest, we have been wanting a two cat household for some time, and he seems like what we are wanting. Andrew wanted to get him tonight. So did I. But then again...we would almost immediately shove him in the car for 6 hours. Not an ideal introduction to the family. But we were worried that he would be gone by the time we got back. And although we know there are approximately 493595486345 kittens out there wanting homes...this wee master had wrapped his little needle claws around our heart. So I called the store to let them know that we were very interested in him but couldn't get him until Monday or Tuesday. And the very helpful man said, "We may be able to reserve him for you! Let me check..." and so the young kitten is only awaiting my signature to come home with us- everything else is taken care of! Huzzah! We have a kitten! Just not as a physical presence yet...

Kitten?

So Andrew and I went to Pets Are People Too in Moscow to get some air filters for Talen's litterbox. We always ogle the kitties and puppies and wee rats when we are there but we don't like the sources that pet stores generally go to for their pets (aka puppy/kitten mills). But this time we had collected our filters and wandered over to the pet section and saw several groups of wee kittens...including a little black male who is available for adoption. We also saw the signs that said "all mixed kittens and puppies are from local adoption sources who need help finding homes." aka not a mill. Hmmm...we dragged ourselves away from the kittens and looked at fish...but then wandered back. Annnd accidentally asked an employee to see the wee kitten. And he was sooo tiny! And he mewed! And then he got his little motor going and clung to my chest...and his eyes are going to end up either green or amber (could go either way...they are still pretty blue right now, just starting to shift in a yellower direction)...and apparently he is the playful one of his litter....
We melted a little bit. And handed him back to the employee who put him back with his sisters (a tabby and a calico).
And as we drove home we started to seriously consider getting him. His adoption fee is $100 (includes first shots, free vet visit, first deworming, neuter, and a 4lb bag of AvoDerm kitten food- one of the best parts because that is a damn good food and one I would consider switching him to if they gave us crap food or something). SO. This is the deal we made with ourselves. If I get the job...and the wee black boy is there after this weekend's trip to Kitsap...we shall bring Talen a wee black baby brother. ...we are weak, what can I say? And we have been wanting a black kitten for a while to be Talen's friend and play mate...
Andrew wants me to go get him today if I get offered the job. *sigh* a difficult quandary. I would love to...but then he would immediately get shoved in the carrier with Talen for 6 hours while we drive to Kingston. Not ideal. But tempting.......*sigh*

Thursday, June 12, 2008

SUCCESS

After over a month of being out of school...after 10+ applications throughout Pullman and Moscow...after, in desperation, looking into a paper route and online surveys....I have just been called about a job interview! The Bookie (on-campus Barnes and Noble and all around student bookstore) has called me! Huzzah! They were one of my first choices as far as summer jobs go! *dancedancedance*

Wednesday, June 11, 2008

the Mormons cometh

Well I just received a visitation! Two elders of the LDS church just knocked upon my door and I spent 20 minutes chatting with them. I don't like to turn people away, I figure if you have found a faith that fires you and fills you with passion and helps improve your life, that is fabulous and I don't want to make you feel like a social pariah because of that. We even joked about their nametags and little outfits and I recommended they lose the name tags at least if they want to try and move undercover at all. Then they admired Talen who was trying to make a break for it. Then they offered to come by and talk to me about the book of mormon etc etc and I declined that saying I like to explore on my own, told them my background as a Methodist and how my mom still works at the church etc etc. They asked for an example of my self study and so I got to throw in a book plug for "A Year of Living Biblically" which is a fabulous book and if we had kept going in that vein I would have broken out Lamb for them. I figure I can do my own plugs if they can! So they gave my a book of mormon for my own self study and we chatted a little more about animals and vet school. They didn't know that cat bites were super bad so I was like "Well, they lick their butt..." and told them that if they ever got a cat bite, especially on the hand, to get themselves to the doctor asap. So it was a sucessful conversation for everyone- they feel like they may have pushed me towards saving my soul a bit and I feel like I may have exposed them to a good book and perhaps, someday, save them the use of their hand after a cat attack! Possibly my contribution was more practical....

Tuesday, June 10, 2008

Holy crap...the iceman DID cometh...


It is June 10th, in Pullman. A place known for its miserably hot summer...

Saturday, June 7, 2008

The iceman cometh...

Holy crap...it is 2 days from our one year anniversary...and I still have 70 thank you cards to send out. I told myself I would finish them...but then it turns out I am a terrible person Free smiley Face Courtesy of www.Freesmileys.org Possible my family will disown me...

Wednesday, May 28, 2008

A minor mystery solved

So the past couple of mornings in the fairly early but still getting light time of day (i.e. still very asleep) we have been experiencing a strange phenomenon. Namely: we are hearing these horrendous squawking bird noises, wing flappings, and then large bird fluttering up and hitting our window (what I imagine said bird is doing is what I have seen starlings and magpies doing- holding onto the top of the window and fluttering to keep in place while doing something to something above the window. Nest building? I dunno.) We assumed this was an extremely large and annoying magpie. But this morning we were able to see it was not.
It was a pheasant. A large, male pheasant. After the hitting-the-window thing I finally got out of bed today, marched to the window and was astonished to see this guy sitting calmly in the tree outside. Huge! And vibrantly colored to boot! So our early morning visitor, while still annoying, is now much cooler. And here is an example picture (we have not yet captured this guy on film):

Monday, May 19, 2008

 
 
 

As promised, here are some pictures of scrapbook pages. Actually, just one. The blog lets me post only so many in one go. So here is the page and some details from the football game I attended here at WSU. Go cougs!
...I almost can't believe I just wrote that...

Wednesday, May 14, 2008

Quick update

I am just popping online to proudly report that as my one year anniversary approaches I am back on the thank you card train. In the past two days I have sent one note and written 4 more. Glee!

Also I plan on starting to post my scrapbooking efforts on this blog in hopes of getting feedback on them from the many people who read it (hi mom!).

And here is a link to the trip report of the last hiking trip we had: http://www.nwhikers.net/forums/viewtopic.php?t=7966677

Friday, May 2, 2008

Finals update

DONE!!! After a marathon bout of finals, I am done with the first year! And also reasonably sure that I passed all my classes and will therefore move on to second year! Huzzah!

Now time for a retrospective...
I learned a lot about myself this past year of vet school. I am intimately familiar with my own procrastination tendancies as never before. I managed to figure out some studying techniques- usually (and unhelpfully) the day or two before a test is when I hit on the perfect strategy. So I anticipate next year will be better for me on those fronts. For instance, the key to good studying is to get myself out of the house. But in any case, enough perspective. Time to clean our hideously messy apartment...

Tuesday, April 29, 2008

Finals update:

Three finals down, three to go!
One final returned- I passed the class! w00t! No more anatomy EVAR.

Sunday, April 27, 2008

The final countdown....isn't that Queen?

Well folks, I am nearly done with my first year in Pullman.  I FEEL done because I finished Anatomy...although I still have 5 more finals to study for.  It is hard to feel motivated when the smelly monkey that is anatomy is no longer breathing down my neck...Plus I must say that I am SO GLAD to no longer smell like the anatomy lab.  But in any case, here is my schedule for the next week:
  • Monday: Nutrition
  • Tuesday: Immunology
  • Wednesday: Pathology
  • Thursday: Neuroscience
  • Friday: Physiology
Today I am working primarily on Nutrition with a hint of Immunology for spice.

In other news, I am trying to figure out my life beyond vet school.  Just as far as hobbies go.  (No worries about Andrew- married life is glorious) I think it is important for me to cultivate interests beyond vet school.  Sadly, I am so unorganized and generally messy that it is difficult.  But what I would like to do is this: continue to work out (I have kind of fallen behind on that of late, and I should get back on the proverbial wagon), get out on hikes more (this primarily applies to summer time as it is hard with school schedules to justify a trip like that), garden (specifically, herbs), and cooking.  I find I am liking cooking more and more.  I like playing with spices (hence, the herb obsession), I love cookbooks, I enjoy making things from scratch.  I think the brownies exemplify this.  I have a recipe for low fat brownies that involves chopping up squares of semi-sweet chocolate and I feel like a real cook when I am doing that.  Very strange, but true.  The unfortunate thing about that, is I hate doing dishes and I have a small kitchen.  None of that is conducive to stretching my legs as a cook.  But at the end of summer we will be in a great new place with much more counter space and (hopefully) a wee portable dishwasher to make our lives easier.  Also, I will get to paint. :D

Wednesday, April 16, 2008

Birthday!!

First of all, to any family members who have been directed to this blog by my family's easter letter, I bid you welcome.  If I owe you a thank you note, I bid you apologies and a promise that they will be in your hot little hand before the official year deadline.  I hope.

Now...on to Andrew's birthday!  So Andrew was gone for the week before his birthday, and I decided to use the opportunity to plan something special.  He gets so bored here in Pullman and so wants social things, so this was almost a birthday gift in itself.  The plan came together on Wednesday (birthday being on Friday, birthday boy coming home on Thursday night).  I decided on a murder mystery party and got permission on the down low to host the party in the vet school's anatomy museum.  I will not divulge my sources here, but suffice it to say that I will be forever grateful...
    Anyway, all at the last minute, the guest list was formed, the murder mystery purchased, the props and decorations bought or made, and several far fetched plans for getting Andrew to the anatomy museum all-unknowing were hatched.  In the end, this is how it went down:
    I told Andrew that I had to go into lab for just a little while in the evening on his birthday because someone was going to take us on a cow cadaver tour and this was the only time it could happen.  Andrew was understandably upset by this seeming abandonment on his birthday and became quite pouty.  I threw him a bone by letting slip that I had planned a bowling party for Saturday and we were having some folks over for pizza before I had to go into study on Friday.  He remained pouty but was excited by bowling.  Leah, Sonny, Lisa and Leslie all came over for pizza and watched 101 Dalmations on Friday (aka b-day).  They were all FABULOUS actors/actresses...casually mentioning the necessity of studying in the lab and the plan for bowling.  Then at precisely 7:00 Leah and Sonny left to "go home" (aka go home and grab the veggie tray for the party) and Lisa and I left for the "lab" (aka go to the museum and set it up to look vaguely Egyptian).  At 7:50 all the guests arrived and I called Andrew to set the rest of the plan in motion.  I told him that although Lisa and I were all done at the lab ("See honey?  I told you we would be really quick!") but that there was a small hitch in coming home because Lisa's car wasn't starting.  I told him it was just making a clicking sound.  "Sounds like it may be the starter," he said, "I'll be right down."  I asked him to call when he pulled in cause we were going back into the building to wait.  When he called I directed him via mysterious and cryptic text messages towards the anatomy museum.  He seriously suspected nothing until he found the pile of costume clothing on the stairs with a sticky note saying "PUT ME ON."  
    The night was awesome!  All of the players were incredible- Leah, Sonny, Lisa, Robyn, Ashley, and Chris.  Everyone had tons of fun...and I was the murderer!  BUAH-HA-HAAAA....

Tuesday, April 1, 2008

Softball and venipuncture

First of all: softball!  As part of our continuing efforts to get Andrew activities outside of the house, I organized a co-ed softball team for intramural sports.  We are called the fighting first years and the first game was a lot of fun!  I had to play in order for us to have enough boobs on the field.  And the field was incredibly muddy and the atmosphere was incredibly freezing.  And we lost.  But it was still a lot of fun!  And Andrew was extremely happy with life.  

Second of all: venipuncture!  Talen had his first blood donation today.  This was rushed because they ran out of blood over the weekend and desperately needed some more kitty blood.  He did fine and everyone at the clinic loves him.  But he looks like a total mess right now.  The entire ventral half of his neck is shaved and he has a nice mark from a needle over his jugular vein.  They lubed his eyes when he was anesthetized so he looks sort of owlish with spikey fur around his eyes.  I think they did some IV fluids in his medial saphenous vein because that is shaved too, bruised, and still bloody (they missed a spot when they were cleaning him up).  His eyes are all dilated from the drugs and he is very skittish but wanting to be all lovey too.  I am glad the blood draws are only every 3 months because he looks pretty rough.  I bet his hair will grow back just in time to get it all shaved off again!  Poor little mister....

Sunday, March 30, 2008

Goals

So if I haven't mentioned this before, Andrew and I are moving to a different apartment this August.  Currently we live in a small 2 bedroom apartment and it isn't too bad.  The new place is the upstairs apartment of a duplex, a bit larger and with tons of personality.  More storage and counter space in the kitchen, tons of windows that have views that do not include the neighbor's windows (including an incredible view of the campus and some of downtown pullman), huuuge closets, a teensy little "reading room" with a built in book case that will become my office, a front yard and a backyard (which includes dog runs), storage in the basement, and on-site laundry that is not coin operated.  
So my goals for this new apartment are thusly:
  1. Start a potted herb garden (including mint, rosemary, thyme, parsley, lavendar, sage, basil, and others)
  2. Clean up the dog runs
  3. Get a dog and train it extensively in both obedience and in preperation for back packing trips
  4. Paint!  I am thinking a red or green for the kitchen, green for the living room, blue or purple or green for the bedroom, maybe a yellow or orange for Andrew's office, yellow with blue accents for the bathroom....yeah.  I am excited about painting.
  5. Andrew wants a barbeque
  6. Get a portable dishwasher and convince the owners to split the cost with us in order to "improve the apartment" after our departure
  7. Organize our closets from the get-go.  Clothes in the bedroom, hiking crap in the office, misc in the living room...
  8. Possible curtains, especially on the wall of windows in the bedroom.
  9. Andrew wants to make a new entertainment center to be less ugly and more portable than our current entertainment center and less flimsy than the cheap ones we can buy.
  10. Figure out bus routes/bike routes to school.
  11. Continue my quest to become a decent cook (taking advantage of the extra counter space)
  12. Buy a set of nice, matching canisters for grains and pasta and flour and sugar etc (currently have flour, white sugar, and brown sugar in tupperware containers, and powdered sugar and half a bag of cornmeal in glas canisters, several bags including wheat germ and the rest of the cornmeal just clipped shut, and several glass containers holding leftover uncooked pasta.  I just want something more cohesive.)
  13. Maybe become friends with our downstairs neighbors and have bbqs and game nights.
  14. Explore the nearby park with our dog (see goal #3)
  15. Get/make an awesome cat tower for Talen.
  16. Do laundry in loads as needed (as opposed to our current stratedy of filling up the jumbo washers and dryers with unsorted clothes at a laundromat in Moscow...that's right.  We do our laundry in another state.)

Friday, March 28, 2008

Anatomy Test III

Well, all I really need to say about this test is that it sucked with the force of a thousand black holes.
And then I need to add this: at least one girl was seen running out of the test crying, and at least one other girl was seen crying.  We don't normally cry during tests.  I think this says something about this particular test.
Also, I was walking out of the test with a classmate I don't normally talk to (there are 103 of us...I honestly still don't know everyone's name.  Yes, I am terrible) and I was like "Well, that was ugly."  There was a pause and then she said "It was, wasn't it??  I mean...it wasn't just me?"

Down with anatomy.

In other news, I am continuing my work out routine and it is going well.  Talen is donating blood this next Thursday.  And I have another test later today.

Thursday, March 20, 2008

Mission: stop being fat

So after watching the numbers on my scale creep slowly up and realizing that I have gone up a cup size, I decided it was time to stop this whole "getting fat" trend before it reeally gets moving and becomes even harder to stop (like a freight train- fat has a lot of momentum). The rec center has personal trainers available so I decided to take advantage of one (sadly, although I have a mandatory fee with tuition that pays for access to the rec center, the personal trainers and classes all cost extra. I think that is lame, but whatever. I went for it anyway). So I had my first training appointment last night. Now...I hurt. The goal is to get me in shape and start working off the pounds while at the same time toning the few muscles I have. So my routine is to do 20 minutes on one of the elliptical (apparently when I was doing this on my own I wasn't doing it right cause I was a LOT more tired after those 20 minutes than I usually am after 35). Then I did 10 sets of lunges while holding a medicine ball, then 10 sets of heel raises on a weight machine (so I was raising more than just my own body weight), then repeated each of those. Then I did two different machines to work my back muscles, 10 reps x2 yet again (this is a magic number I see). Then I did bicep curls and triceps...also curls? I don't know- it is all behind my head. Then I did "twists" where I sat on the mat with my knees up and my feet off the floor holding a medicine ball and twisting back and forth, interspersed with squats while holding some weights. Then I did a whole big sit up routine.
So now I am sore. Not HUGELY sore...I mean, I don't cry when I walk up or down stairs or anything...but I am definitely considering taking advantage of another service the rec center supplies: massage.

Saturday, March 15, 2008

Spring Break

So there has been sooo much going on this spring break.  Andrew and I decided to stay home over break for the purpose of laziness.  I must say that it has been enjoyable.  For instance, I am swiftly working my way through Gilmore Girls...although this has been difficult due to the fact that Andrew has been insisting that I wait for him to watch the show.  He is now off gallivanting in the woods by himself which means I get to sit in the apartment and watch Gilmore Girls allll day long.  
In other news:
  • I got a public library card and an armful of books in my mother's fond tradition.  
  • Talen is well on his way to becoming a full blown blood donor.  I am VERY excited.
  • I planned on being a very good girl over break and writing all my thank you notes.
  • I have studied some immunology but not all the test material yet and nothing beyond immunology.
  • I have written ZERO thank you notes.  
  • I have also done only one set of dishes and took out one bag of garbage and done NO laundry.
  • I ventured into the world of pie making.  Talen ate part of the crust, so two planned pies became one pie alone.  Although I still have a stick and half of crisco left so the chocolate cream pie may not be just a dream...but the apple pie turned out incredibly ugly but delicious.  I only broke down into violent swearing and dough pounding once and managed to not huck the jar of cinnamon at the wall.  And I only cried when Andrew came home and beheld the extremely ugly pie (don't worry, the man who calmly tucked the hideous and freakishly misshapen scarf I made him for Christmas around his neck certainly did not say anything inconsiderate about the pie.  ...I cried about the scarf too).  And the amount of pie crust dough (read: flour + crisco) I ate combined with the banana schnapps taken after the pie became very ugly made for an unpleasant night.  BUT: the pie tasted wonderful and I have been told that anyone who can make pie crust like I did can do anything.  
  • Holy crap!  Rory just agreed to sit for an oil painting at her rich grandmother's house!  This will be high drama!  Must stop blog writing and get back to Gilmore Girls!

Monday, March 3, 2008

The dance of love...

No, don't be frightened by the title.  This is PG.  Okay, maybe PG-13.  
    So, to follow up on last night's drama, not too long after I posted Andrew and I decided to let Talen out of his carrier and let him use his (freshly changed) litter box and eat dinner and drink some water.  He acted like an abused kitten, shying away from us.  But he spent the night in our bed and the couch remains pristine, so...for now he is tentatively back in our good graces.
    Now, tonight, Andrew and I started something new.  Something a little out of our comfort zone.  We stepped out on a limb and signed up for beginner's Argentine Tango.  It is through the Rec center so it is fairly inexpensive and I think it will be fun!  Tonight we learned that Andrew has big feet and I apparently can't walk backwards.  This should be a thrilling learning experience all around!  In all seriousness, we learned the basic walking pattern of Tango.  As well as the practice embrace, the open embrace, and the close embrace.  That one was particularly awkward given the size of our boobs/feet (you can figure out which one applies to each of us).  But methinks this will be fun!

Sunday, March 2, 2008

Considering Felicide

So I am a terrible cat owner in that I only do the litter box about once a week.  But this does not give Talen the right to be an asshole.  Especially since I did the littler box 2-3 days ago.  And I realized at that time that I needed to change the litter box completely and mentally put kitty litter on the grocery list.  Well Andrew and I went grocery shopping today and forgot the litter.  Apparently Talen was a bit put out by this because we were putting the groceries away and he went and pissed on our brand new futon.   Andrew caught him in the act so we were able to get our super-brand new futon cover off and the cover on the memory foam pad off.  So the cat pee got a bit on the memory foam and (thank God) not at all on the futon mattress.  Andrew Resolved the bejeezus out of the memory foam pad and we put off our dinner plans and dashed off to the laundromat with the covers (can anyone say "McDonalds?"  We can).  Needless to say, Talen also got a pretty firm spanking followed by an unceremonious shoving into his carrier.  He will be spending the night there, in the office, without the privilege of dinner.  Talen is definitely in the cat-house right now.

Saturday, February 16, 2008

Winter

Alright. This is it. I am over winter. I want it to be done. Getting pretty tired of the whole "winter" thing. The past couple days the weather was just a titch warmer (aka above freezing) and the snow was melting and walking was much less dangerous (excepting of course the apartment's built-in ice skating rink) and driving was considerably more pleasant. But now the temperature is dropping and it was definitely snowing last night. Ugh. I want it to stop. I want Western Washington weather where it is wet and grey but not hazardous to life. And not freaking freezing.

Yeah, like I said. Pretty darn over winter right now...

Monday, February 11, 2008

Oh the humanity...

So this morning I left our building to walk to the bus as I normally do.  This morning however, I took one step onto the parkinglot and slipped and fell really hard on my butt.  Serious hurt.  I couldn't even move for a minute.  Then I stood myself up and staggered forward to some snow for traction, then as I stood there the world went dark and I couldn't feel my legs and I (somehow) remained standing but momentarily blacked out.  That and the blood on my hands convinced me to go back inside.  Thank goodness my first class is lab and I can be late (although I don't like to be and generally am early rather than late).  So I went upstairs, washed my hands, noticed my face looked waxy yellow-white in the mirror, and sat down on the couch for a while (a few minutes with my head on Andrew's knee).  Then I put on my yak-tracks and made my traction-y way to the bus stop to catch the next bus.  
So all day my sacrum has hurt like a mo-fo, especially if I bend or twist my torso.  Very unfortunate.  Thank goodness for Leah and her ever-ready supply of pharmecuticals.  I had myself several ibuprofin during class.
In conclusion: I firmly believe that parking lots should not double as ice rinks.

Wii

LAAAME.  My post just got deleted!  Fine.  *sigh*
SO.  I played Wii for the first time last night.  It was crazy watching Kelsey and Lisa box- especially Lisa.  She'll come at you like a spider monkey.  And then Leslie and I tied and were too pooped to go on.  Turns out, wii boxing is tiring.  My right arm still hurts from punching Leslie in the face too many times.  Then we all got to make Miis (except Lisa who has two personal Miis and a whole cast of characters for when she wants variety).  Mine turned out pretty well- it even has my glasses sliding down my nose.
In other news, I dragged my lazy ass out of bed early this morning.  In time to make myself oatmeal from scratch.  With brown sugar and punkin pie spice and vanilla extract and peanut butter and raisens and dried apricots....and maple syrup.  Super tasty.  I offered some to Andrew but he is a grouchy bear this morning.
Now I should go pack a lunch and run to the bus.  And possibly drag my cat off of the cupboards.

Saturday, February 9, 2008

Old European

We discovered a new eating place in Pullman.  The Old European Restaurant.  Oh man.  I had fabulous eggs benedict (can't resist) and Andrew had three stuffed swedish crepes.  So delicious.  We shall definitely have to eat there again- so many tempting items on the menu.  Including a dish called "Dutch Babies."  I have less than a vague concept of what they actually are, and yet I feel that I must eat some.  Europeans make good breakfast...

Friday, February 8, 2008

Happy times!

My husband is home!  After a week away on business he has come back to jolly old Pullman.  And thank goodness he was able to land in Pullman...otherwise I would have had to figure out how to get him from Lewiston when I-195 is closed from Pullman to the Idaho border...

No more orange juice

This is just a quicky as I need to leave soon to go to pathology and watch Dr. Leathers cut up a dead dog and/or pass around bizarre tissue samples.  I love this class...
Anywho, I was sitting on the couch eating my bagel and drinking some orange juice and Talen (cat) was sitting on the arm of the couch licking his paw.  Then I saw out of the corner of my eye that he was dipping said paw into my orange juice and licking the juice off.  *cringe* Not sure how long he had been doing that, but I am reasonably certain that I had not consumed any juice since it had begun (got distracted by bagel).  Needless to say, juice went down the sink.

Thursday, February 7, 2008

First Post!

Greetings all!
This is an experiment in blogging.  Who knows if I shall keep it up?  But my new years resolution for 2008 is "effort."  In all things: effort.  For instance, I just came back from the gym- second time this week and 5th time this semester!  Huzzah!  Soon the pounds will start melthing away...
So keep checking back here to see what my life is like in the land of the National Lentil Festival and rabid Cougar fans.  That's right!  I'm in Pullman baby!