Moving On

It would figure that the day we picked to go into the City would be the same weekend that the Prince of Wales and the Duchess of Cornwall chose to do the same. But nothing was going to stand in the way of me and my Amish pretzels, so we headed in around one o’clock. Before long, we were cruising down Market Street, which is where there would be lots of roadblocks if the royals were insight. Phew, annoying traffic avoided!

I love Philly!

We inserted our nickels and dimes into the parking meter, enough for an hour, and braved the cold for about 100 yards until we entered…you guessed it…READING TERMINAL MARKET! It’s my most favoritest spot in the entire city and I foresee making several trips back to Philly in my lifetime just to spend time at the Market. I love the hustle and bustle, I love the sights and smells, and I absolutely love Fisher’s Amish pretzels. It’s all the way towards the back on the left-hand side, right in front of a meat stand. D says I could find it blindfolded. Probably could, who would forget how those pretzels taste and smell? And I know I've finally been to the Market enough times because I don't stare at the Amish people anymore. I realized that about half way through our visit and was kind of proud of myself. Staring is rude, I'd always tell myself, but continued to do it. It took some convincing, but I got two pretzels on Saturday and I loved every minute of eating them. D said I could get two if I shared some of one with him. I knew that wasn’t going to happen and pulled out the excuse that this was the first time we’d been in the city in months and who knows when we’d have the time to come back. It worked. I got two to myself and D got one because, while he doesn’t share my unbridled enthusiasm, he likes them too. Speaking of David and liking things, he always gets coffee from the same vendor: Old City Coffee. Check out our fun:

On our way out of the city, thinking that we had totally avoided the royal visit altogether, we were stopped at a stoplight when at least ten police cars whizzed by at a very dangerous speed. I thought, Well Philly hasn’t changed at all, people are still getting into big trouble. Then another ten police cars sped on by followed by shiny, black cars with men in suits half hanging out the window yelling at everyone to stop (like that would have done any good!). Well I knew this wasn’t a crime in progress anymore, sorry to the people I assumed were getting into trouble. It was the royal entourage and they were making us sit at a stoplight next to this guy who had sprayed painted words on the side of his car, presumably to get a point across, but none of it made sense to me. Then another five police cars followed and signaled the end to our waiting. Altogether, we must have waited five minutes. It was a neat sight to experience for being at the right place at the right time (because, most of the time, the security details intrigue me more than the actual person/people they are securing). The end of Saturday brought with it the end of D’s weekend. He got up bright and early Sunday morning and I got to see him for the first time tonight when I got home from work, because I was very much asleep when he left.

I always enjoy the rest and relaxation that Sundays bring, which is why I only half enjoyed yesterday. After Sunday morning service, the girls from my Sunday school class stayed around to decorate for Sara’s baby shower. We had a whole two hours to play with, and we didn’t need that much time, so we ended up fooling around for most of it. But you would have never known by the looks of it. Our class always enjoys being together, we mesh really well, which is what I will really miss when we move. I’m sure there aren’t a lot of churches with good groups of young couples like this. But anyway, the shower was tons of fun and we kept it moving at a good pace. Two hours from beginning to end and Sara was opening gifts for about an hour and fifteen minutes of those two hours. Dana gave a short, but sweet devotional. Cake was passed out during present-opening time. Games were going on during the shower…and they were very clever games, might I add. When you came in, you were given a clothespin and the instruction that no one was allowed to say the word “baby.” If you did, someone was supposed to take your clothespin and whoever had the most by the end wins a prize! Another game had you estimating the number of M & Ms in a baby bottle and whoever came closest won the candy. And the best, most creative game of all…GIFTO! A form of BINGO. Everyone got a bingo-type card with the items listed on Sara’s registry written in the squares and as she opened each gift, you had to search to see if that item was on your card. I thought this was just the most clever idea because gift-opening it the majority of the shower and people tend to get bored with it. Everyone was all into watching her open the gifts because they wanted to win GIFTO. It was quite ingenious of Julie to look that up on the Internet. I totally am not a game person, so I loved these type of not-put-on-the-spot and take-forever-to-be-done ones. After the shower, I came home and wrote two papers, which about wrapped up my evening.

D, on the other hand, witnessed his first death at the hospital. They were working on her for a while, but she coded too often and they had to call it. He was and is totally bummed. Poor David. He came home and slept for a good two hours, even though he said he only had one trauma during the night. Week #5 started today and he's now rotating through orthopedics. Time continues to fly!

What started as an inquiry into how I might change my font style landed me with an entirely new blog template. That's all thanks to David. I don't mind it so much, though. This color has been my new favorite for the past year now. It'll take some getting used to, but for now...

...there's a new blog entry below!

Another week is on the books. I’m totally getting the hang of this Q5 call schedule of D’s (every fifth night). I even enjoy the time to myself when I get home from work…I don’t have to think about and instantly make dinner, which is basically the only thing that I do differently when he isn’t home. What I don’t always enjoy is weekend call because I don’t have eight hours of work and a few more hours of prep time to keep me busy. And for some reason I get more nervous at night when he hasn’t been there all day…could be 48 Hours Mystery and the other real-life crime shows that I watch before going to bed. I know what you’re going to say, but I like them! Anyway, D is on call this Sunday, which isn't so bad because of church. After services, our Sunday school class is hosting a baby shower for one of the girls in our class. Her husband and she don’t want to know the sex of the baby, which is unheard of nowadays. But the more I think about it, the more I like that idea. Like Mom said, it’s one of the last few mysteries in life. True, it’s difficult to buy baby clothes, but really that’s the only “hardship” I could think of. This could be a good thing though. I know people who have all these clothes for 0-3 or 3-6 months that they never get around to using because they have so many, what a waste! And I would want a gender-neutral nursery anyway so it can be used more than once without having to overhaul the whole thing. And if you have both baby names picked out, then you’re all set. My other friend said she’s going to buy a baby outfit to bring to the hospital once she knows if the baby is a boy or a girl, which is a great idea. So if and/or when we decide to start having children, we’ll probably leave his/her gender a mystery until it can’t be a mystery anymore. How’d I get off on that tangent?

Anyway, speaking of surprises, this week brought a few my way. I usually pride myself on not being surpriseable, which doesn’t make sense because I love the idea of surprises, but I have a little quirk thing where I “just want to know.” On Thursday afternoon, the kindergarteners and I were wrapping up a portion of our Sea Life unit by talking about all the interesting things we learned and writing them down on chart paper. When I looked up from writing the last sentence, there stood my man in his scrubs. It totally took me a second to place him because he never visits unless I know he’s coming and can be on the look-out for him. His presence sent the kids into fits of giggles because they always ask about him and there he was right before their eyes. What he was there for wasn’t so funny. All of the sudden his car engine started to sound like the diesel engine it wasn’t, which is never a good sign. He just wanted me to hear what it sounded like to see if I could offer any relevant insight as to what the problem might be. Maybe I couldn’t diagnose it, but I did offer a relevant insight: call my dad. Of course he was able to diagnose it over the phone (showoff) and we got it fixed that night in less than an hour for a pretty reasonable price. Phew, his car will last at least another year, which is all we ask!

The other surprise happened again at work. Today, we were in the middle of constructing our clownfish and sea anemones when my boss put a tall, narrow box on my table and said, “This was just delivered for you.” Again, I was caught completely off guard. The girls were saying, “Oooh, your husband bought you flowers for Valentine’s Day!” I knew that wasn’t likely, Valentine’s Day is still weeks away, which means it’s far, far from D’s mind. The boys were saying…oh, well, the boys weren’t saying anything because they didn’t even notice the mini rosebush until I had taken it out of the box, assembled it, and put it on the table for all to see. Then they said, “You have nice flowers!” The special delivery was from my parents. The attached note read, “Thank you for being such a wonderful daughter. You are a blessing to us. Love you, Mom & Dad.” Can you find sweeter parents than that? One would be hard pressed.

I wonder if the weekend has anymore surprises in store. I hope not, I think I’ve had just about all the surprises I can take for a good month.

We celebrated Dougie’s 2nd birthday in kindergarten today. Sorry Dougs. It all started way back in the beginning of the month when I mentioned how it was weird that three out of the five girls had birthdays in November and all the boys’ had birthdays in January, even Dougie! It was just an honest observation. The next question out of their mouths, “Oh, Dougie!! What day is his birthday?” Okay, I could answer that. “Umm…[looking at the calendar to pick a date far, far in the future] not til the 23rd.” Phew, they would never remember that. Oh, but they did. Yesterday, during our Morning Meeting when calendar is done, we put up the 22 under Monday. Then, one of them, and that’s all it took, shouted, “Tomorrow is Dougie’s birthday!!” The chorus of questions followed, “Are we going to have a party for Dougie? Everyone else gets a party!” and “How old will Dougie be?” and “I can’t wait to see Dougs tomorrow!”

So when four o’clock came, I found myself turning left towards the store instead of right towards home to get some party stuff for Douglas’ birthday party (He’s now two, by the way). A reoccurring question throughout my entire shopping experience was, How did I get myself into this??

I had to put Dougie’s transport box out and in front of the door when I got home from party stuff shopping so I wouldn’t, God forbid, forget the rodent. And I didn’t. Everyone happily greeted “the birthday boy” today after eyeing the table covered with a red tablecloth (because red is Doug’s favorite color…yeah, don’t ask…) filled with birthday goodies. The kids sang Happy Birthday as they opened up their “Happy Birthday” napkins so I could put cheese curls and candy sprinkles on them, while Dougs got a carrot and some apple slices. Dougie even bought them plastic leys to wear during the party What a nice, thoughtful guinea pig.

Anyway, Douglas was more than happy to return to the safety and serenity of his cage when we got home today. I know because he was making that purring noise he does when he’s happy. Poor, poor Dougie. I wonder if he understands, I’m sorry.

While he was at the hospital, I offered to take one of my students out to dinner and then hang out with her at the apartment so she could see Dougie. I think that’s the whole reason she really wanted to see “me,” but that’s okay…really. I work with her mother and she is always telling me how A asks about me, wants to come visit me, draws pictures for me, writes letters to me, and just basically doesn’t shut up about seeing me. Go figure, she was the one who pushed my buttons, and all the right ones, so much so I wasn’t soo sad to see her off to first grade. Now I feel bad. I worked with her a lot last year on social behaviors, which were acceptable and which weren’t. And we had many power struggles right up until the end. Funny thing was, she was the smartest one in the class and had enough self-confidence to last a lifetime. Anyway, I guess she eventually appreciated our time together because she was in seventh heaven last night. When I told her it was time to go because she had to go to bed, she must have thought that I was suggesting, not telling, because she said, “That’s okay, I want to stay here a little longer.” And her mother told me this morning that she, A, wanted to call me last night and arrange another get-together. Before I dropped her off, I mistakenly told her that I’d pick her up again sometime soon, to which she said, “Like tomorrow night?” I promised her in two weeks, when D’s on call again. So I told her mom I’d have to give her a date, so A doesn’t bug her incessantly. It’s neat to be able to touch a life like that, even one that I wouldn’t necessarily have picked to touch. It’s a proven fact that you remember the tough ones, and they remember you. Although I feel it necessary to point out that it’s also a proven fact that nobody’s child is perfect, they all have their little idiosyncrasies, no matter how deep parents are in denial, and it’s these types of parents make teachers want to enter another profession. It’s a good lesson for me to learn before becoming a parent, because I could see myself thinking my child could do no wrong. Saves me from looking completely stupid. But that’s another topic for another day.

Anyway, the weekend looks like it’ll be a continuation of the week: fun and relaxing. We’re having friends over tonight for a pasta dinner with some really yummy garlic bread that I saw made on this cooking show I like (here’s the recipe). I’m going to see if we can find a good movie in the theaters and go tomorrow. I have tons of work to do on my Portfolio, which I have to hand in at the end of my last Master’s course. I recently bought a 3” binder, if that helps to give you any indication of my work load. So that will inevitably work itself into my weekend, too, I’m sure. But for now, it’s off to make that pasta dinner!

For all my griping about cleaning it sure feels good once it's all done. Dougie, the poor fella, even felt the effects: he got a bath. He was none to pleased about that, but everyone enjoys his after-scent much more than his before-scent so I'm really helping his socialization abilities.

I've come to the conclusion that I get more done when David's not here. I can't really explain why but it's a proven fact. Yesterday I vacuumed, cleaned the bathroom, did the dishes, straightened up, unpacked (yaaay!), did my classwork, and many more things on my "Weekend To Do" list...and I still had time for some fun. Now is the hard part: maintaining. You would think that with just the two of us, and with the two of us working 8+ hours a day, our apartment would be quite a clean place. Not so...another unexplainable phenomenon.

Anyway, about that fun. D, when he was leaving at 7:45am, invited me to lunch at the hospital during my half-sleep state. I had to call and reconfirm if what I heard was true and sure enough, he was able to meet for lunch around 12:30pm. We went to The Atrium, which is a restaurant in an atrium in the hospital, and had a nice lunch courtesy of the surgery department at Crozer. We used his meal tickets :). I got to meet the intern he was working with during call, John, who was very nice. He said to take as long as we wanted and to enjoy lunch...which we did until D got paged to a trauma just as we were finishing up our lunches. It definitely could have been worse timing and I was half-expecting something like that to happen anyway (I mean isn't that what always happens on Grey's Anatomy??), so it was cool to see in real life. It probably wasn't so cool for the trauma patient, but it's all in the perspective. So Dave was off and I stayed for a few more minutes finishing up. On my way out I saw John and he apologized for cutting our lunch short. On the way out, I only needed to be redirect twice, which isn't bad because that was my first time there. The first redirection came at a fork, where I obviously chose the wrong tine because a security called out, "Ma'am!" I kept walking. "Umm, MA'AM!" I turned around and sure enough he was talking to me. "Yes?" "You want to go to the parking garage, right?" (He saw us walking in) "Yep," I replied, with what was probably a "duh" look on my face. "Well you want to go thataway." "Thanks!" I said, the "duh" look quickly erased. The second time was right after that at another fork, but I self-corrected that time and made it to the parking garage, my car, and out of there so fast that I didn't even need to use the parking vouchers D gave me. Parking 0-45 minutes is free, and I was there exactly 44.

From there I went to Walmart to get a few things, came back home, did a few more items on my Weekend To Do list, and then I headed out to the mall. I always park at the JCPenney entrance and there just so happened to be this GREAT sale there that I couldn't just walk by. An hour and forty-five minutes later I walked back out with a bag of clothes and a half-eaten, about to be all eaten, Auntie Anne's pretzel. I had to stop myself from getting two, even though I told myself I deserved two because Dave was on call (yeah, I'm not sure the path of logic I followed to arrive at that...), but I was bummed that I didn't get the second when I (too) quickly finished the one I had. Good thing I was half way home by then.

That about concluded my night. D came home a little before 8 this morning and we got ready for Sunday School. He had a few traumas during the night, one at around 11:30 (I know because I called to say goodnight) and one at around 2:15am. So he got a semi-decent night's rest, but came home and napped for a few hours today. He had some pretty interesting cases, but you can ask him about those.

D starts ophthalmology this week, for a week. He had told me one night this week, with a sort of sly smile, that he's really enjoying his surgery rotation. He said it with a sly smile because we already agreed that he wouldn't go into surgery so we could have a somewhat "normal" family life. I knew he would like surgery though because he's very meticulous and likes to fiddle a lot. Oh well, we shall see. He still has some time to decide. But not too, too long. Did I mention he graduates next year??

Nothing much happened this week. Even if something did happen, I don't know if I would have realized it because this week just flew by. I can't remember when last I was so surprised that it was Friday. It doesn't promise to be the most exciting weekend on record because D has Saturday call and I will be cleaning, cleaning, and, um, cleaning. I'm still trying to play catch up from being away for so long and then jumping right back into work and starting my Master's class. I'm only slightly embarassed that I have yet to unpack (but please don't bring it up to David...!). However I do have a fun trip or two planned (i.e., the mall), just to break up the monotony of cleaning (ugh!).

We rented The Illusionist tonight since we decided to stay in. My favorite genre of movies is Action and this was more a Drama-type production so I wasn't fully and completely engaged in it like David. However, the last ten minutes of the storyline changed that and my eyes were glued to the television. Which then, thinking back, made the entire movie just that good because it was all working up to this masterful ending. Even the Rotten Tomato critics (which D consults for all movies) gave it a 75% rating and that's saying something. The non-critics, on the same website, gave it a 91% and I will agree with them. Since Blockbuster has that handy (and confusing) "life after late fees" deal we still have a week to return it, so I just may watch it again.

I know I've been doing a few entries on David lately, but I'm just as fascinated with his surgery rotation as he is...well just about anyway. My friend at work just told me today that she has to get surgery on her knee in a few weeks and will be getting it done at the hospital D is working in. So he could potentially scrub in on it, which would be interesting! Anyway, want to know where our $40,000+ per year for medical school goes? Well, here's one example!

I was telling Dave's mom the other day how cute he looked in his scrubs and she said that she wanted to see a picture. And I'm sure my mom wouldn't mind seeing such a photo, especially when he is wearing one of the many scrubs she (uh, both her and Dad! phew...) bought him for Christmas. So here are a few snapshots of how I will be seeing David (on the days that I do get to see him) during the next three months. Although he does tell me that he's required to wear jade green colored scrubs in the operating room...and failure to do so will get him kicked out. So I guess you can just pretend these are really the jade green kind he will be finding himself in.

Before starting his surgery rotation D had a class meeting at Temple to discuss odds and ends. One odd and end was the Class of 2008's graduation date...Friday, May 23rd!!! There will be major celebrating going on that weekend. I know, I know...it's still over a year away, but the end is in sight and another phase of life will begin. I think I'll need the year and a half to prepare! (Above is the design that D entered into the t-shirt design contest his freshmen year. He didn't win, but I still wanted to make a t-shirt out of it because it's so creative. He didn't let me then and he won't let me now, but I still really like it!)

We arrived Thursday night, the 21st, around 10pm after a very smooth four-hour ride (which even included two stops!) and hit the ground running. Thursday was D's 27th birthday and we didn't do much celebrating, so everyone more than made up for it on Friday. My parents took us out to lunch at this authentic Italian restaurant that I'm sure we will be back to. It was soooooooo delicious and the atmosphere made it seem like we were somewhere in Italy. As if that wasn't enough, we headed over to D's house for dinner and a party with all his family. Here are Dave and his two birthday cakes:

Saturday: Today, Christmas Eve Eve, we went over Dave’s house to have Christmas with his sister Sara, her husband Tony, and their baby Ariana. This was the Christmas that kept on coming, considering we already had Christmas with D’s brother Steve back in November and we still hadn’t made it to Christmas Day. Anyway, it was a lot of fun. We (Sara, Mary-Dave’s other sister, and I) made a big dinner so his mom wouldn’t have to do it. I can’t remember exactly what we had, except that it was really good and everyone enjoyed it! This was also the day that Dad and I got up early to go shopping for Mom’s gifts. Mom always says that she’s glad she had a girl because this ensures at least a few decent gifts. Poor Dad, he really does try!


Sunday: Yaaay, Christmas Eve! Since it fell on a Sunday, we went to church in the morning. I like seeing the sea of red outfits that is always present during this season and I wasn’t disappointed, most people were decked out for Christmas. The afternoon went by quickly and then Keegan and my mom’s parents came over for dinner and presents. My parents’ newly extended and newly decorated dining room was filled almost to capacity and everything looked so festive and bright. After dinner we exchanged gifts with Keegs and my grandparents, who left shortly after. We had the remainder of the night to rest up for the next day.





Monday: It was a Merry Christmas, as it is every year. We always have the same routine at my house: we pile onto my parents’ bed, read the Christmas story, open stockings, go downstairs to open a few presents, break for breakfast, and resume gift-opening until it’s done. It’s so routine that we even sit in the same position on my parents’ bed every year. There was one slight change this year and that was in the reading of the Christmas story. I created a PowerPoint presentation, narrated and animated and all, from Luke’s (and some of Matthew’s) version. Dad helped narrate some of the slides, so it was a fun project put together at the last minute. Around one o’clock we all dispersed: us to D’s house, Ryan to his girlfriend’s house, Mom and Dad to get ready for guests, and Nick to…good question, I’m not sure what happened to him. Since everyone at D’s house already opened gifts, we were left to distribute ours to them and we opened ours from his parents. Both of our parents always go above and beyond what is necessary, throughout the year, and especially at Christmas. That’s the main reason we don’t exchange gifts with each other because we already get too much! We ended up back at my parents’ house for dessert. That’s when the house really got full with aunts, uncles, cousins, grandparents, friends, boyfriends, girlfriends, and of course Dougie (my guinea pig). He was a big hit because he got so chunky due to the simple fact that everyone kept feeding him and he doesn’t know how to say no. Anyway, good thing that Dad added onto the front room because that’s where the Wii was and that’s where everyone gathered. We had to watch/play in shifts because the room just wasn’t big enough to hold everyone. Peter, Dave’s brother, stayed after his parents left, so D and I brought him home later that night, which ended our third Christmas together (well fourth if you count dating!)

Tuesday, Wednesday, Thursday: These days are all clumped into one in my mind, so that’s how they will be written about! At some point, Mom and I braved the mall and some other stores for exchanges and maybe even an Auntie Anne’s pretzel. Ryan and Yana took us (Mom, Dad, Dave, and me) out to lunch at her uncle’s new restaurant called The Red Cabin in South Windsor. If you want great food and great service, try it! The guys and girls split up after that, we went to the Christmas Tree Shop and they went to CompUSA. Another time, D’s sister Mary and her husband Josh were leaving to go back home to Ohio so we made a quick stop at Coldstone Creamery with them before they left. D finally got to use his birthday coupon and I got raspberry sorbet with real raspberries mixed in, yum! I know it was definitely Thursday when D’s mom had surgery. We were able to visit her that night and the next day in the hospital. So many people were/are praying for her surgery and quick recovery. She was able to have the less invasive of the two recommended surgeries, so that was an answer to prayer. And she is recovering as well as can be expected, so the Lord is, of course, good. Oh yes, Mom and I also got our hair done, and I know that was on Wednesday. I got a gift certificate for Christmas for a highlight and a haircut. I just used the highlight, so I have the haircut to look forward to when I feel like doing something drastic. We also stopped by my mom’s friend’s house which is absolutely beautiful and huge and something I’d have to work really hard at keeping clean. I got the grand tour and this builder/designer just thought of everything. I’m trying to think if anything else happened on these days, but nothing sticks out so I will move on to the next cluster of days!

Friday, Saturday, Sunday: On some of these days we were in a movie-watching groove and watched The Devil Wears Prada (A+), X-Men 2 (A), X3: The Last Stand (A), Pirates of the Caribbean: Dead Man’s Chest (B-), and Chain Reaction (A-). I hadn’t watched a movie in forever, so it was a nice change of pace. I think I managed to stay up for the endings of all of them, which is a great accomplishment, just ask my husband. On Friday, Mom and I went into Hartford to have lunch with my aunt, her twin. We’ve been doing this the past few times I’ve been in CT and we always have a great time together. This time we went to a new restaurant called Joe Black’s (I think) which is in an old bank building with high ceilings and an elegant design. Delicious, delicious food – let me tell you. We tried each other’s entrees and were impressed all around. After that we tried to go to Cosi but soon found out that it was closed, so we ended up at Dunkin’ Donuts where we chatted for another hour. Saturday my aunt and cousin came over for a visit before we went to D’s house to check up on his mom, who was doing well her first day home. On New Year’s Eve, after church, we went out to lunch at Friendly’s with Sara and Tony while D’s parents watched Ari. I tried not to eat too much because we were going to a potluck dinner at church that evening and there is always soooo much food. That didn’t work out too well and I wasn’t hungry for dinner, but managed to pick at a few things. After the church service was dessert and I was very ready for that! All of us were back at my parents’ house in time to watch the ball drop. We all kissed our significant others into the new year (Mom/Dad, Dave/me, Ryan/Yana) and I promptly fell asleep. D said that he, Ryan, and Yana stayed up playing the Wii until 1:30am, crazy people. We left for PA on Monday afternoon. It was a successful vacation because we’re nice and rested and ready for D’s 12-week stint in surgery!

So now that I have written a small book about our 12-day vacation, I will finally end it by wishing everyone a very happy 2007!

I fully intended to post at least a few entries while on vacation. I even had one started. But obviously things didn't go as planned. We had lots to keep us busy and time flew by so fast. I was glad for vacation to begin and now I am glad to be returning from vacation, so it was a success! A brief overview, including pictures, of our time away will follow shortly. I begin my second-to-last Master's course tomorrow, so things will be picking up a bit. For now, though, Happy New Year and, since it's 2007, I can officially say that David will be graduating from med school NEXT YEAR! :)