What moving means to me

Pulling a large box out of a larger box and finding....

It happened just like this.

Plan A: Beg manly friend Dave to come over and kill spider

Plan B: Whimper.  Gingerly pick up box by corner and transport downstairs, watching the spider for any signs of wanting to leap out onto my face, and fling the whole thing into the yard while making high-pitched noises of bravery.  Run back upstairs and watch developments from the window.  Hope spider doesn't eat Steve, the neighbor's cat.

Conclusion: Thank God Dave answered his text messages and is a tolerant human being.  I didn't have to attempt Plan B, which is good because I wanted to die just thinking about it.

Sick sick sick

The past three weeks I have been sneezing.  No biggie.  Actually somewhat unusual for me.  I have lived my life with sinus issues (thanks mom and dad!) and they generally manifest themselves somewhat further back in my head.  Recently everything has been up front in my nose- hence the trigger to sneeze.  But I felt fine.

Friday night that suddenly changed.  It was a gorgeous day (50 degrees = tropical madness) and I got out of the hospital before 6:00p (miracle of miracles!!) and celebrated by taking Luna up to the park.  I came back, sat on the couch, and suddenly realized that everything that had been happening in my nose was now settling into its proper home: my sinuses.  Not.  Good.

Enter Saturday.  Saturday I am definitely feeling more and more sinusy.  I sort of just want to lie down because clearly my sinuses have been draining all night and now my ears and throat hurt.  But we were too busy on St. Patrick's Day to actually celebrate (we ordered pizza) and Andrew really wanted to have people over and make some corned beef on his one day off.  So we cleaned the house (well, Andrew cleaned and I picked some things up and then had to sit down for a while).  And I begged Andrew to make the Irish Soda Bread for fear that my sinuses would be contagious and I would enviral the delicious buttery goodness of the bread.

Chris and Dave came over (and later, Chance and Chance's twin brother and Laura joined us) and we partook of fattening traditional foods.  And it was good.  And we watched Iron Chef America and then started a marathon of Ghost Adventures (when Andrew discovered what I had turned the channel to, he actually almost fell over because he was rolling his eyes so hard).  And although I was still not at my full game, I was ok.

And then I suddenly realized that I was feeling much much worse.  Much worse.  And every single joint ached.  Including my hips.  And since I had to get up and go to the bathroom anyway (in Soviet Russia, fluids force you!) I went ahead and took my temperature just for kicks.

99.1

Not an impressive temperature per say.  Except that I haven't actually had a fever since Jr. High.  Whenever I feel like I might be feverish, the thermometer usually tells me I am actually in the 97 range.  Very frustrating in High School by the way.  So this is an honest to God fever in my world.  And enough to make me feel like death warmed over and then smeared with poo.  And then punched in the face.

So today I am going to recoup and hopefully not have to take a sick day tomorrow.  Wish me luck.

Procrastination...makes it happen?

This is a post with a very specific purpose.  That purpose is to delay the "productive" part of my day.  I am avoiding this list:

• Catch up on dishes
• Do a load of laundry
• Clean out on dishwasher-load worth of disgusting containers from the fridge
• Take out the trash
• Clean one out of three litter boxes (I don't want to push it)
• Go grocery shopping
• Make tomato soup
• Clean out the drawers in the bathroom
• Pack one bookshelf
• Clean out the freezer

I think that was the entire list.  Yesterday I was able to cross off "start a good will box" and "activate debit card."  Although to be fair, I also did a dishwasher load of dishes yesterday.  But since I specifically wrote "catch up on dishes," I can't actually check anything off yet.

So instead of getting cracking on that mondo list of doom, I will now give you a brief update on my life.

• I have had one job interview.  Conclusion: no.
• I have two more interviews to set up.  One I may have come across as too desperately eager by trying to arrange for this weekend.  The other is a 24 hour clinic where the expected hours are midnight to noon.  
• I have expanded my job search to include Montana, Idaho, and Oregon.  I am toying with expanding that list to "everywhere but the south."  And probably also excluding the midwest (sorry Grandma).
• I am still considering specializing in oncology.  I am also including clin path on my list of potential specialties based on how excited I was to stay late at school on a Friday to look at some lymph node aspirates.
• Andrew got a raise, a move to full time, and benefits at his job in Spokane (yay!!) and they are hoping that we will move to Spokane after graduation.  Unfortunately, I haven't found a vet clinic in Spokane which is hiring yet.
• I am now obsessed with Greek Yogurt.  Specifically: this kind.  Because it is too yummy to be believed.  Unfortunately it is also expensive.  Stupid Greek Yogurt....
• I am really really hankering to play D&D.  Unfortunately, I am about to start my Orthopedics rotation which is looking to be insanely busy and may eat my life.  Dang.

**UPDATE:  In spite of the impressive level of procrastination I have been engaging in, I have still managed to: 

• Empty a load of clean dishes out of the dishwasher
• Replace that emptiness with a disgusting load of dishes from fridge
• Take out the garbage
• Take out two more garbage bags filled with disgustingness from the fridge containers and disposable crap from the fridge
• Empty out a garbage bag worth of odds and ends from the bathroom drawers
• Do a load of laundry (currently drying)
• Empty a litter box
• Pack 3 boxes of books

Obligatory New Year's Post

New years.  That magical time of year where millions of people around the world vow to lose weight, work out more, work less, and make tons of money.

Last year, my goals were as follows:

• Don't be such a fatty-fat
• Be a better wife
• Continue to get through vet school without going crazy and running pedestrians down on campus.

I can safely say that I accomplished two of those goals.  Over the course of the past year I managed to lose almost 20 lbs (of course, thanks to the holidays and the orgy of over-eating I just engaged in, I am back to the "need to lose 5 lbs" point).  I also most certainly did NOT go crazy and run people over.  I have had some fairly spectacular breakdowns over the past year, but those happen.  Especially in the final year of vet school. Was I a better wife though?  I sort of think it is unlikely.  Sorry Andrew.  :(

Onto slightly less moody subjects, how about I think about some goals for THIS year?  This new year of 2011.  My year.  Here it goes...

Shiny new goals:

• Become a doctor (ZING!)
• Find a job in Kitsap County and have an income such that I can pay off my gargantuan student loans AND buy groceries with enough money left over to occasionally buy books without going into guilt seizures.
• Re-lose 5 lbs
• Never buy bread again.

Wiki-WHAT?  Never buy bread again???  That's right people.  I got a bread maker for Christmas.  Christmas afternoon while Andrew was cleaning the entire kitchen and house and talking loudly about how we needed to clean things, I nodded gravely and then proceeded to make a huge mess carefully measuring ingredients out for my first loaf of bread.  (Did I mention that I should try to be a better wife?)

I wish I could say that my first loaf was the pinnacle of human achievement in bready goodness, but it was actually pretty dumpy looking and quite dense.  I suspect that this was due to the fact that my yeast has been kicking around in the freezer for a year and may have finally given up the ghost (although up till this point it was doing fine in pizza and bao dough).  It may also be that I didn't use bread flour- just all purpose since that is what I had on hand.  

The bread tasted okay though.  I have had it as a grilled cheese sandwich as well as a pbj sandwich and they were both fine.  My next loaves will be better though.  Provided I remember to get some fresh yeast and bread flour!

**Edit: additional goal is to be more proactively involved with the household budget.  Also to agree with Andrew's goal: To not suck.

Alone and Pathetic

So tonight I am hanging out alone. I was supposed to watch some TV with friends but they all ended up being busy with patient care or not feeling well so I am reading blogs like an obsessed crazy person.

Upshot: my house is now much cleaner because people coming over sends Andrew and I into a fury of cleaning in order to avoid being seen for the disgusting cavemen that we actually are.

Extra upshot: I am sort of feeling like a recluse tonight so sitting on my butt on the couch alone is actually an excellent sounding evening.

Additional upshot: the kitchen never finished getting clean so now I don't have to feel like a dirty hobo when someone looks in my sink.

Here is an actual transcript of a texted conversation with my husband (at work at the movie theater- he does not get health insurance, but he DOES get free popcorn and we can watch movies for free. So it is pretty much awesome.):

Andrea: It is official. Dinner will be bagel bites and vodka while reading blogs and doing nothing worthwhile.

Andrew: Oh, come see a movie.

Andrea: But then I am alone and pathetic in PUBLIC instead of alone on my couch.

Andrew: Do it......

UPDATE: Further conversation:

Andrea: I haven't eaten yet.  Bagel Bites are calling to me from the freezer.  How many pounds would I gain if I ate all 20?

Andrew: At least a thousand.

(My conclusion: start with 10 bagel bites and go from there.  I am reasonable!)

Further adventures of the domestic goddess...

Update on the gnocchi: weird and sort of gross. I am not a huge fan. Making it was fun though! Now, most gnocchi is made using potatoes but I chose a ricotta gnocchi which is apparently a popular variation and I happen to love ricotta. So you make it using ricotta, eggs, and parmesean. This particular recipe was for a spinach infused variety and since I happen to have pureed spinach in my freezer I went for it. But just in case spinach-ricotta gnocchi was disgusting I divided the batch into three: the largest portion to be made with spinach puree, the middle portion plain, and the smallest portion to be made with beet puree (which is gross in pancakes but has a gorgeous color nonetheless). Then you add enough flour for the gooey crap to be workable as dough (but no more or the gnocchi will be dense and yucky) and shape the result into little football shapes that get boiled and sauced. Labor intensive but fun. And the result...well, Andrew liked the beet gnocchi best, surprisingly enough. And I am sort of on the fence. We both think they need some more textural interest. Like meat. Or SOMEthing. But I have a feeling the leftovers in our fridge will go bad before we can bring ourselves to pull them back out.

Now my more recent cooking adventures have been better. Last night, in spite of the heat, I made chicken braised with onion, carrots from our garden, a turnip, and (best of all) potatoes from our garden. Now, the potato patch is not yet ready to be fully harvested, but I snuck in like a thief, slid my fingers under the dirt, and pulled out some awesome potatoes. And I felt a lot more down there (*Squeal*). It was soooo good! Tonight I made chicken marinated in lime juice and then cooked with that same lime juice, lime zest, brown sugar, cayenne pepper, and mango chunks. Not as good honestly. It burned a little bit, was extremely limey (after several hours soaking in the juice of two limes, who wouldn't be?), and the mango got all smooshy but fibrous at the same time. Not appealing. Andrew liked it but I couldn't eat it all.

Speaking of the garden, we had our first tomato! Tada! It was a big Latah tomato and quite tasty. I had it on a sandwich after eating the first ceremonial slice (with salt). And more are on the way! Hopefully I will be ROLLING in tomatoes soon.

In other domestic news about the house, we have embarked upon a monstrous cleaning adventure. Over the weekend we cleaned our room AND the closet. I can proudly report that we have unearthed a lot of clothing we had forgotten about entirely, and now have a useable closet. We also have three boxes of clothing and a box of books for a garage sale some friends are having in a few weeks. Go us!