Abby's Blog

I was right...

2008-01-19T09:48:00.000-08:00

Well I don't know if it's mothers' intuition or just a coincidence, but I was right, we found out Wednesday we are having a girl. Now all we can do is wait. 28 days until my due date!

Vacation

2007-12-13T17:12:00.000-08:00

Derek and I took a much needed vacation to Lexington, KY, Gatlingburg, TN, and Asheville, NC. The trip ended with a 3 day evangelism conference at the Billy Graham Training Center. I highly recommend this! A great training and they treat you like royalty :)

My brother's new bunny, Henry Winkler

2007-12-13T17:05:00.001-08:00

Belated OSU Pics

2007-12-13T16:55:00.000-08:00

Here is a belated pic from tailgating at OSU vs Illinois.

The Can Can

2007-11-15T16:49:00.001-08:00

Star in Your Own JibJab! It's Free!Thought you guys might get a kick out of this. I recommend going to jibjab.com and putting your two favorite men into the Hula. It's much funnier!

A Public Apology to all OSU fans...

2007-11-11T17:19:00.000-08:00

In 1998, Derek took me to my first OSU game in Columbus. OSU was ranked #1 in the nation and undefeated. They played unranked Michigan State. Before the game, Derek apologized, saying "I know this will be a boring game, Michigan State has no chance of winning." Well, Michigan State won and for the last 9 years I have not been allowed back in the stadium....until Saturday. Before I left at the end of the game, I took a nice long look at the stadium because Derek said I will never in my lifetime be allowed to set foot there again. So I appologize to any OSU fans, I will never go to another game again :)
* A side note for those of you who do not watch OSU. They were once again undefeated, #1 in the nation and playing unranked Illinois. Illinois beat us Saturday. To prove my bad luck, the Bucks scored their 3rd touchdown to put them within 7 points while I was in the bathroom, when I returned, the quarterback threw an interception...

Boy or Girl?

2007-09-28T15:08:00.000-07:00

Ok, everyone is asking, is it a boy or a girl???? And it's such a long story so I will tell you all at once and get it over with! Just a back story for those of you who do not remember. I had a Dr I really liked. I went for my 3rd appointment at about 16 weeks and he told me " I have bad news, I'm closing my practice and moving to Florida in 3 weeks"!?!?!! So, I went to Dr. #2 for my 20 week appointment, expecting to find out if it's a boy or a girl!!! That was yesterday.....So we get there, see the nurse, and she says we're gonna do an ultrasound, so I ask, are we gonna be able to find out if it's a boy or girl?!?! And she replies "No, we do not tell the sex of the baby." ?!?!?!?!?!? So of course I'm hormonal, and it's just not fair to shock a hormonal woman like that, so I start to cry. She asks if that's ok and I realized my only option was to go to Dr. #3 and I am quickly running out of options. Not to mention it may take another month to get into a new doctor and then who knows if they may or may not be able to tell anyways! So she left the room and let Derek and I talk about it. By the time she came back in, I still didn't know what I wanted to do. So she suggested we talk to the Dr and then decide. So we talked to him in his office for a long time and he explained. He said of course telling the gender is just a guess, and he did for many years. However, so many people complained and threw a fit if he was wrong. Then the final straw was a couple that came in. He told them what they were having and it was not what they wanted, so they terminated the pregnancy, sometime between 20-24 weeks. Since then he has refused to tell the sex. So after hearing his reasoning, we decided to stay with him. So I have no idea if we're having a boy or a girl, but he's a great doctor, he did an ultrasound and he or she is perfect....he showed us the genital area and told us we could draw our own conclusions. Either I am completely oblivious or it's a girl, because I didn't see a darn thing! However, I am not confident enough in my ultrasound interpretation skills to go out and buy pink. So that's the long story of why I haven't told anyone if it's a boy or a girl....I have NO idea. But the baby is perfect and that's all that matters!

2007-09-15T10:01:00.000-07:00

Columbus, Peoria, Coaching, and Doctors

2007-09-01T14:40:00.001-07:00

Last week I was gone almost all week. I started in Columbus for two days at a conference all about breastfeeding. It was a great conference and I met a lot of really nice people there. We spent the whole time laughing and having a great time. Also, talking about babies and breastfeeding makes me so anxious for February! Another exciting thing about the conference was that we stayed in the same hotel as the OSU football team. Apparently they stay there until the dorms open and feed them breakfast and lunch in their restaurant as well. So we saw them all over the hotel and in the restaurant at meals. I kept my eyes open for Tressel, but didn't see him, but another lady there did.

Then the day after I got back from Columbus we went to Peoria for the weekend to visit our friends. It was funny because we did all these tourist things we never did while we lived there. We had such a great time and I miss it sooooo much! It was hard to come back....

Another thing going on is Derek coaching the HS soccer team. Last year they only won 1 game and this year they haven't won any yet (they've only had 2), but I think they're improving. I absolutely hate going to the games because all I hear are people complaining about Derek's coaching. I just try to reassure myself that even if they were winning every game they'd still be complaining. Laura, didn't Bob coach too? Did you have this problem?

So yesterday I went to my OB. I was so excited because next time I go I get to find out if it's a boy or girl! So anyways, he informs me that he's closing his practice in 3 weeks!?!?! So now I'm moving on to doctor #2 that he recommends. Of course I'm an emotional basketcase but I was able to keep it together. I can't say the same about watching CMT today. I heard a new song by Kenny Chesney, "Don't Blink." If you haven't heard it, give it a listen...my guess is Laura will be the only one hormonal enough to breakdown, but who knows!

Courtney's Wedding

2007-08-06T17:29:00.001-07:00

Saturday was my sister-in-law's wedding. It was an OSU theme as you can see from the pics. It was a long day, but was a blast! I saw a lot of family and old friends. And we danced and danced and danced. It was a great night!

2007-08-06T15:57:00.000-07:00

2007-07-17T15:45:00.000-07:00

Well, I had a really busy weekend, but it was also a really enjoyable one. First off, I got Friday off work! That always marks the start of a good weekend! I took it off to go to Dayton to see my brother graduate from OIP&T. I'm so proud! He got a degree and he also wore a tie, I don't think I've seen him in a tie since maybe his 3rd grade Christmas concert or some other time my mom forced him to wear one, he looked so nice, although you can't see from the pics due to the gown. It was a very interesting graduation. There were a lot of people very excited about the graduates. For example, one family had cowbells and when an age 60+ woman graduated her children in the audience were very excited! The son (about 35-40 years old) was in the 2nd row, dancing in the aisle, screaming "That's my MOMMMMMMA! That's my MOMMMMMMMA!" He then pumped his fist in the air and made barking noises like at a football game. Meanwhile the woman next to him (his wife or sister, I don't know) waved her arms in the air, swinging them wildly, and appeared as if she may faint. Then later, when his mother got a special award they both ran on stage with her....It was interesting in the least. Needless to say, Troy was not disappointed that his cheering section was mild, I forgot my cowbell at home...

We also got to go to a reception for the photography students and see all of their pictures. It made me very disappointed that my brother got all of the creativity in our gene pool while all I got was math and science. I also got ripped off with a fat rear end and thighs while my brother has neither of either. I still think one of us is adopted, but my parents deny it.

Then Saturday, we had my grandparents 50th wedding anniversary party at my parents lake cottage. It was a lot of fun. My grandma and grandpa are really excited to become great-grandparents. Did I mention I'm pregnant?

Quote of the Day:

2007-07-03T14:45:00.001-07:00

From a 4 year old at WIC today:
"If you were my mom, I'd drive you crazy. I drive my mom crazy."

A Weekend at the Lake

2007-07-02T16:09:00.000-07:00

I spent the weekend at the lake with two of my friends from my internship and their spouses. My family was also up there. Our neighbors had a big Jimmy Buffet party. It was a great weekend, I thought you might enjoy the pics.

Big News...

2007-06-21T14:32:00.000-07:00

Ok so as many of you know, I've been working 2 part time jobs, one at WIC and one consulting at nursing homes and hospitals. Both are very good jobs, but drastically different as you can imagine. At WIC I counsel and educate pregnant women, breastfeeding women, and see infants and children up to age 5. With consulting it's mainly elderly with swallowing problems, tube feeds, pressure ulcers and other very unique problems. So it's hard to go from one job to the next from day to day. Plus, I can't get health insurance since neither are full time and I also accumulate paid time off very slowly. So I have been hoping and praying for one job to become full time. A few times it looked as if consulting would become full time, but it still hadn't worked out.

But then I found out our WIC director is leaving and the job was offered to me, full time with benefits! So of course I'd be an idiot to turn down. Especially since with consulting I drive at least an hour each day to and from work and have inconsistent hours. WIC also pays better, so this is an amazing answered prayer! I start, as director, August 1st!

P.S. In other news, Amy S. (Remember her from Bluffton) had a baby boy last week for those who are interested.

2007-05-23T18:58:00.000-07:00

2007-05-23T18:56:00.000-07:00

Kitties!

2007-05-20T17:58:00.001-07:00

My kittens are getting bigger and starting to walk so I thought I'd add more pics. A few other things going on 1) I'm getting fat (too many cookouts) 2) Derek and I bought a new car (2006 Pontiac Grand Prix) 3. I got more hours consulting so I am now working 5 days a week between 2 different jobs 4. I miss Peoria, but living near family is good. 5. I went to the lake for my birthday, got some sun, but now it's all gone, I'm glow-in-the-dark-white again. 6. Lost Season Finale Wednesday (Don't die, Charlie!?!?!) 7. Downloaded The Office, Season 1 on my IPod. I never realized until recently how absolutely hilarious this show is. Now I want Season 2 and 3.

Ok, the pictures won't upload...maybe later!

Kittens!

2007-05-03T17:24:00.000-07:00

I bet you all wish I had children so you could see pictures of them instead of my animals...but too bad! Look at my kittens!

2007-04-20T11:15:00.000-07:00

2007-04-06T09:26:00.000-07:00

I thought I'd post a few pics to brighten up my blog a bit.

You can't see in this picture, but this is my very pregnant cat.

You can see from this picture how much work our house needs. Here is Derek removing some hideous orange carpet.

Here is Teddy lying on a pile of that hideous orange carpet.

A Buckeye Again

2007-04-05T15:53:00.000-07:00

Ok, so as Maria pointed out, I (as well as some of you) am long overdue for a post. A lot has happened since I last posted, but I'll try not to write a novel, because I want you guys to actually read it :) So, here are some points from the last few months:
1. I am a buckeye again, the move went well, we're finally settled.
2. Derek's new job is going well!
3. I have been spending a very stressful month balancing job offers and deciding if I'm going to work 1 full time job or multiple part time jobs, what benefits I will have, etc. So far, I am currently working 2 days a week at WIC. I absolutely love it and it's only a 10 minute drive. I'll talk a lot more about that later, but we'll leave it at that for now. If you're not familiar with WIC, you should be, it's a great program.
4. I am an aunt now. Derek's brother's baby was born, he's adorable and his name is Riley.
5. Teddy loves the country, he loves running around. We even had him chase us about 1/4 mile back to the woods and back on the 4-wheeler, it wore him out and made him much more mellow for the night.
6. We got a kitten for outside. We've had it about 3 weeks. We realized today it is definately pregnant. So we will soon have much more than 1 cat, anyone want a kitten?
7. Broken Yoke came to our church last weekend, Friday night for a concert and Sunday to lead worship. It was incredible. I forgot how much I love Broken Yoke. Reba, I wish you could have been there with me!
8. It is snowing again. What is up with that?!?!?!
9. My sister-in-law is getting married so I get to be on the bridesmaid end of a wedding now. Can you believe I've never been a bridesmaid before now?
10. There are suprisingly a lot of Bluffton grads that live in this area. I see them at Walmart (It's the only place in town, really)
11. I can't wait for summer, I didn't get to go to the lake nearly enough last summer (1 time). I can't wait to ride the jet-ski! Anyone up for a summer get together? I'll supply the s'mores.
12. I haven't posted for a long time, but I'm running out of points, is my life that boring?
13. Derek and I are broke from moving, but we need to buy a new car soon. Our "good" car has a leak in the power steering fluid cord (I don't know the real term, I'm no mechanic) so it constantly runs out and leaves us without the ability to steer (minor inconvenience!?!) However, every mechanic says "I looked, there's no leak!" Then, our "old" car has had the heating and AC fixed about 3 times in the past year, then yesterday when the temp dropped dramatically the heat stopped working again...so Derek and I are forced to decide "Should we use the car without a heater or the car without steering?" Needless to say, we've been driving around cold lately.
14. Easter is in 3 days and I haven't colored 1 Easter egg...maybe Derek and I could do that tomorrow night, we have nothing better to do on a Friday night! I guess that answers my question in #12, my life is that boring.

2007-02-13T19:41:00.000-08:00

Blizzard of 2007

2007-02-13T12:50:00.000-08:00

I learned something new today. I always thought of "Blizzard" as 5 feet of snow, covering houses and cars, etc. Today I found out that a winter storm is categorized by the speed of the wind, therefore, we are in the middle of the Blizzard of 2007. We got about 8-9 inches of snow and the winds are terrible. Once again, I was unable to make it to work, which was kind of nice since I have some extra PTO days to use before I leave at the end of next week anyways. So I slept in late, played games on my iPod and played in the snow with Teddy. I'm about to go to bed and will have to decide in the morning if I will go to work or get snow day #2. It's hard to tell. I think the snow may be about done, but the winds are terrible. I don't know what it's like outside of Illinois. I'm worried about my parents, they are supposed to fly to Arizona tomorrow. Pray they don't have any problems, if the flight isn't cancelled.

In other news, I have 8 days of work left at this job (if I go tomorrow) I've attached some pictures of my snow day.

Stress

2007-01-15T15:23:00.000-08:00

I just realized that I always look at my friends blogs and think, come on everyone, update your blogs! Then I realized that I haven't updated in a while despite a lot going on in my life. So I'll leave out all the whining and details, but here is what I've been up to. If there is anyone out there who has not heard (I doubt it) Derek and I will be moving back to Ohio. Derek has taken a new job in our hometown. So, that leaves me unemployed in approximately 6 weeks. So I have been searching with a vengence for a job, but so far have not found much. I do have one job interview at the end of the month, but I'm not sure they can offer me full time, so we'll see what happens with that. Besides looking for a job, we are also beginning to pack a little and get rid of a lot of stuff. I absolutely hate moving, especially since this will be the 3rd time since graduating from college. But I have found one good thing about moving, it gives me the perfect opportunity to "downsize." I have been going through things and making a lot of trips to the Goodwill. It's amazing how much junk one can accumulate! So besides that, there's also a lot of other details that I won't bore you with, for example changing banks, updating loaner information, getting the internet set up at our new home (it's kind of vital for Derek since he's still doing online classes) So the logistics of moving are wearing on me, but it will be nice once it's all worked out, pending I have a job! I do have the occasional depression moment though when I think about leaving all of my friends here, it will not be easy to leave.
On another note, John and Mary came to visit us last weekend since they'll be going to Australia for 6 months. It was a lot of fun to have friends around. We rarely get a lot of visitors. Hopefully that will change once we're closer to friends and family. You're all welcome to visit once we get setttled!

A few more pics...this is it, I promise

2006-12-30T19:19:00.000-08:00

My Family Pics

2006-12-30T19:15:00.000-08:00

Derek and I

Me, my grandma, and my mom

Troy and his new girlfriend, Courtney

Derek, obviously

My dad and his dad (my grandpa :)

Derek's Family Pics

2006-12-30T19:10:00.000-08:00

Derek and his cousin, Quinton

Derek's sister Morgan and her boyfriend, Brooks

Derek's other sister, Courtney and her fiance, Eric

Derek's parents and his brother, Chris and his fiance, Jackie (they're having a baby, he's due in January)

Christmas Pictures

2006-12-30T19:08:00.000-08:00

Here's a picture from our Bluffton reunion party at Laura's.

John & Mary

2006-12-17T14:28:00.000-08:00

We spent the weekend near Dayton because of John & Mary's wedding. Derek was the best man so we did the whole thing, rehearsal, rehearsal dinner, etc. It was a lot of fun and a crazy Bluffton reunion. To name a few people I saw: JP & Rita, Caspar & Erica, Ray, Andrew B, even Rick Pags and his wife (That's still odd to me...) plus a million of Mary's friends that I'm not sure the names of... Anyways, it was a lot of fun! I forgot how crazy Derek and his friends are when they get together. So here are a few pics from the wedding, I wish I had some more fun ones from the reception, but my camera batteries ran out before the wedding, so here are the pics...

Snow Day!

2006-12-01T09:38:00.000-08:00

Well, this morning I woke up to a lot of snow, in fact, so much that I could not go to work. So I got a snow day! And then, a little later, Derek went to use the snow blower and Teddy and I started playing in the snow. I haven't had so much fun playing in the snow in all my life... so let it snow, let it snow, let it snow. To those of you in Ohio, it's headed your way! Here are some pics from my fun snow day!

Weekend Getaway...

2006-11-20T18:03:00.000-08:00

Derek and I wanted to get away for a bit, so we went up to Wisconsin Thursday night and Friday and went to a place called the House on the Rock. It was a lot of fun, and oh so nice to get away from it all for even a brief time. Unfortunately, none of the pictures turned out too well, but here's a fun one to spruce up my blog.

Christmas is coming...

2006-11-09T17:36:00.000-08:00

Culture Shock

2006-11-09T17:27:00.000-08:00

Today at work I got consulted by a doctor to give diet education to a Pakistani man who was a newly diagnosed diabetic. So after I was assured he spoke English and I didn't need a translator, I started to think about the situation and became more nervous. How could I give education to a man who probably eats foods I've never heard of? Could I do it? Would he ask me about foods I was completely unfamiliar with? So despite all of this, I had to go, so I did. So I gave him all the information, educated him on carbohydrate counting and then came the questions... And who would have guessed question #1 would be "So can I still eat at McDonalds?" How ironic!

Go Bucks!

2006-11-04T19:07:00.000-08:00

Today we went to the OSU vs. Illinois game (at U of I) and had a really great time. It was cold, and Ohio State played terribly, but they did win, so it was well worth it. We went with my friend, Nikki, who went to Illinois (we all showed very good sportsmanship) and we met Zach and Heather and Zach's parents there. Most of you probably don't know Zach unless you remember him in my wedding. Jo, I'm sure you probably know Zach, right? All in all it was a really fun day! And the Bucks are still undefeated!

Some little things from me too...

2006-10-16T17:20:00.000-07:00

I thought Abby Mo's method of blogging seemed to fit my lifestyle recently, so here are a few little things from me too:

This weekend was fun, Friday I went out to dinner with Derek and then to see "Man of the Year" which was funny. Then Saturday, after the Buckeye game of course, I went out with two of my friends, and fellow dietitians, Nikki and Jenny and we went to Bar Louie and then to see "The Departed." Don't bother seeing it, I'll sum it up for you quickly: everyone gets shot in the head...

At work, I am turning into a mean and nasty preceptor. I have learned that I am very critical (I like to think of it as high standards) and have developed a reputation as a tough preceptor. But that's ok, I don't mind. I have also taken on a lot more responsiblities at work, I now have a lot to oversee, including a lot of intern projects and all of their outpatient counseling.

The weather is awful! When will winter be over?

I held a baby today again, it gives me baby fever...but still waiting, not yet.

I am going to be in my sister-in-laws wedding in August, and have seen the bridesmaids dresses, they are very cute, and it will be my first time to be a bridesmaid, hard to believe huh? So of course I'm doing all my bridesmaidly duties...

I'm trying to lose weight, it's been about 2 weeks and I'm about ready to quit, who cares if I'm clinically overweight? Just because I can help other people lose weight, doesn't mean I can do it myself. Does that make me a bad dietitian?

No more cheetos or glazed donuts??!?!?!

2006-09-27T18:00:00.000-07:00

So I don't do it very often, but I have to rant about work because it has just been getting more and more insane lately. For those of you who need a reminder, I work on the General Medical floors, which means I see anything and everything. For example, sickle cell anemia, suicide attempts, AIDS, pneumonia, drug overdoses, pancreatitis and anything in between. A lot of my patients are over the age of 75 who I enjoy working with, making my job rewarding, and usually don't give me much trouble. It's usually the younger ones that make me crazy. Unfortunately, a lot of my patients are what we call "frequent flyers" meaning they come and go to the floors a lot. One patient has actually had almost 70 admissions since January, so I get to know some of them very well, which isn't always a good thing. Sadly, a lot of my patients have a lot of social issues which often interfere with the care I try to give them. Some of them have a more secure life in the hospital than at home. Think about it, shelter, TV all day, someone to make your bed. Some of them do not have that at home. Most commonly the thing that is different from their home to the hospital is 3 hot meals a day, plus snacks if they want them. So first off, I must say I feel genuine sympathy for these patients, no one should have to live life wondering where their next meal will come from. That said, these patients make my job so difficult. One patient for example, likes to order ridiculous amounts of food, stock pile it (non-perishable and perishable foods) and send it home with her family. They even had to have someone come and spray for bugs at one point... So we have diet techs at work. Their job is basically to go around, collect menus, enter them into the computer, and get them their meals. So usually that takes all of the crappy details of meals off of the Dietitians. However, when complications arise, who do they want to solve all their problems? Me of course! So today I was getting ready to leave work and the diet tech from my floor comes in to tell me about a problem they've been having on my floor. This diet tech that approached me is great, I must say. She lays down the law with my patients and will not let them break their diet order, no exceptions!! Unfortunately, she doesn't work every day, so when someone else fills in on the floor, they are not always as strict. Today she was complaining to me that the tech who had filled in on her last day off was giving all of my "frequent flyer" patients cheetos with every meal and for 3 snacks a day. Now that may not seem too bad, except the cheetos are ONLY allowed for the children. In fact, I got in big trouble ONE TIME for ordering cheetos for ONE patient, ONE time only. So anyways, this diet tech ordered massive amounts of cheetos, and the kitchen actually ran out. So there are no cheetos for the kids. (I have absolutely no idea why the adults aren't allowed to have cheetos, but that's just the way it is) This also happend with glazed donuts, because the substitute diet tech was giving them all to the patients on my floors. So the point of this story is, the diet tech came to me to solve the problem. What in the world am I supposed to do about it?!?!? That is not my job! I should not have to worry about who's getting cheetos or glazed donuts. Also, I should not have to go explain to a patient why they can't have bacon while they're on a sodium restriction, even though the substitute diet tech gave it to them for the past 2 days. I have much more important things to do. For example, I have patients who actually have nutrition concerns besides running out of glazed donuts. I have patients literally starving or patients who will die of complications of diabetes if I don't educate them or elderly patients who can't swallow and need tube feedings. So I don't know what the point of all of this is, except some of my patients come to the hospital and think it's the Hyatt-complete with room service. Good thing there's no mini bar or they'd NEVER go home!

Wrigley

2006-09-16T09:21:00.000-07:00

Derek's birthday was a few weeks ago so I got him tickets to Wrigley Field to watch the Cubs play the Reds. The game was yesterday so I took off work and we took a day trip to Chicago. It was a lot of fun, except the driving to and from the game. We also couldn't find a place to park, were running late and saw no options but to pay a very shady looking character $25 to park in an alley right below the L. So we spent the whole game worrying whether our car would be where we left it or not. (and it was, thank God!) So the game was pretty boring, the Reds won 4-0, but it was so cool to be in Wrigley Field. Derek loved it so it was worth all the trouble of driving in crazy Chicago taffic and sitting in bumper to bumper traffic for hours. We also spent quite a bit of money to get good tickets, really close, which was great, except everyone around us was very wealthy and proved to be very annoying.

We sat by a bunch of couples who were friends. From the very beginning of the game, they began betting on every batter, mainly just a few dollars at a time...however, then they moved up to the big bucks. They basically stopped watching the baseball game and began playing a game of their own, a strange version of Bull Shit. It involved using $1 bills and betting on how many of a particular number you have in the serial number of your bill. I couldn't quite follow exactly how they were playing, but they had a "pot" in the middle full of money and everytime someone was caught Bull shitting the others they had to match the pot, so the pot started with a few dollars, but kept being doubled, and doubled and doubled, until about the 5th inning when the woman next to me started whipping out $100 bills!?!?! If they were so wealthy they had nothing better to do with their money than bet on if their friend truly had "7 6's" on her $1 bill, they could have given it to Derek and I. We were broke after spending $23 dollars on some sodas, hot dogs, and a pretzel! So anyways, I have learned what I already knew, there are people in the world with lots of money to blow, and instead of doing something wonderful with it, like building homes for the homeless or feeding the poor, they waste it. I also overheard their plans of what to do with the money they had left over after their gambling or the money they won, a shopping spree on Michigan avenue of course! If I'm ever rich and can't find something better to do with my money, feel free to whack me over the head with my Prada purse!

2006-09-06T19:04:00.000-07:00

Teddy has grown a little bit. The picture of me with Teddy is at the shelter when we got him (over a year ago already). The second picture I just took tonight. Although he's grown, he still thinks he's a lap dog!

2006-09-06T18:18:00.000-07:00

I wanted to add a picture of Derek and I since I haven't in a long time. So I found this picture. It was actually taken on the 4th of July when we were watching fireworks, but I couldn't find any more recent...

2006-09-06T17:56:00.000-07:00

Well, I've done so much since my last entry, I can't really decide where to start...
First off, my parents came a few weeks ago for the weekend and it was so great to see them! We didn't do a whole lot (because there's not a lot do to around here) but we still had a great time. One fun thing we did was go to a restaurant called Alexanders which is really famous in Peoria. It's a really cool steak house in some kind of old factory right on the river and you can grill your own steak/chicken/kabobs/etc and texas toast. I thought it was a lot of fun, my dad wasn't such a fan, feeling at a restaurant they should cook your food, but I liked it because it was different. So that was something new we tried.
Then over Labor Day weekend Derek and I did absolutely nothing, which was exactly what I wanted. It was nice to just take a break, walk the dog, read some books, etc. Unfortunately, I had to work on Labor Day. It really is too bad they can't shut down the hospital and send everyone home on Holidays! So while everyone was BBQing and hanging out, I was working, but oh well. I could have taken the day off, but I'm saving my vacation days to go home at Christmas and hopefully go on a vacation in the spring. (Jo, I'm still working on Derek...we'll see)
Speaking of work, it's going really well. I really do love my job (at least most days) One of my coworkers who works on the Pediatric ICU doesn't understand why I like working with the elderly so much but I think it's my niche. For some reason I really like it better than other areas. Of course, not all of my patients are elderly, but I would say the majority are.
I have found one downfall to being a dietitian however...all of my coworkers are women. I know that's a terrible thing to say, but our office is full of too much estrogen. Imagine 15 women working in one office, no men to lighten the mood...it can get quite tense, especially since there's always someone pregnant as well :) Speaking of pregnancy, one of my friends that is also a dietitian had a baby yesterday so today I went up and visited her and the baby! I got to hold him and he was just so beautiful...it made me want to have one of my own...then I was quickly brought back to my senses by helping Derek with the first youth group of the fall...working with Jr high kids can be good birth control LOL

2006-08-14T20:06:00.000-07:00

2006-08-10T08:50:00.000-07:00

Well, I've been meaning to post for days, but everytime I think about it, I cannot think of anything to write about... but I thought I would post so you all know I am alive and well :) I have basically been working, working, and well, working. Last week Derek's family did come and visit, so that added some excitement. We spent the weekend at various waterparks in the area, so I actually have a tiny, slight, pretty much non-existent tan, but better than pasty white, I guess. We also went to see a local theatre production of Grease which was really good and had many violent games of Spoons, complete with blood shed. (Derek is one of the least competitive in his family, if you can believe that) This past weekend I went to my parents lake cottage (by myself, Derek had to preach on Saturday) and then my mom and I went to one of my friends from my internships wedding in Michigan...so it was a hectic, fly by weekend, jam packed with lots of driving, a wedding, and sleeping, that was about it. But it was a beautiful wedding and I have missed Katrina so much so it was worth it. It also made me reminiscent about my wedding, I can't believe it's been over 2 years ago already! Time sure does fly by! So now it's Monday and I'm back at work and it doesn't even feel like I had a break this weekend. So it's going to be a looooong week! Hmmm, nothing else to say, sorry! Oh except, I saw my mom this weekend and she now wears the same size as me! Congrats mom!

Abby, R.D.

2006-07-28T11:04:00.000-07:00

Well, it's official, I am a Registered Dietitian. I passed my exam today!!! What a relief. I guess the past 5 years have finally paid off!

Update

2006-07-17T19:51:00.000-07:00

Well, it's been a while since I posted. But for once, it's because I've been really busy, not because I don't have anything to write about. I'm not sure where to start, but I'll try to update you on what I've been doing. Two weekends ago, John and Mary came to visit us, so that was a lot of fun. We went back to the Prarie Wildlife Preserve with all the wild animals, and lots of walking trails. It was really nice. We also went to a baseball game that was followed by an Avalon concert, which was great. Then this past weekend we took the youth group to Cedar Point. I am still recuperating! We left Friday after I got off work, got to the hotel about 1:00 am, and took off for Cedar Point about 8. We were then at Cedar Point from 10-10:30...it was a looooong day! The kids loved it, but Derek and I were just killing time, walking around, and trying not to get sick on the rides. I rode the Raptor and couldn't ride rides for about 2 more hours because I felt so awful... do you all remember when we went and rode almost every ride? I am now officially too old and get so sick when I try! So we did ride the antique cars, the ferris wheel, and the train twice...does that mean I am officially old? I would say so.

Besides Cedar Point I am trying to study for my RD exam. I am so unprepared, I am starting to get terrified. I have no motivation..isn't that awful? This is basically a culmination of the last 5 years of my life and I have absolutely no motivation...I am taking the test next Friday and I have got to kick my studying into overdrive or I seriously may fail. That would be awful!! Unfortunately, I'm so busy with work, the last thing I want to do when I get home is study, so I'm really struggling. Speaking of work, it's going really well. I really love my job. Being on General Medical is wonderful. Every day is different, I never know what to expect. I thought I had seen it all, until last week when I had a patient with intractible hiccups. They had a 1 year history of hiccups, isn't that insane? The doctors had found a med to get rid of them, but they keep coming back. This admission, the patient had the hiccups for 10 days straight before finally coming to the ER! So now I think I have seen it all, but I'm sure someone will come in and prove me wrong! I am also making a few friends with some of the other dietitians, which is nice. I really don't have any friends in Illinois, which is lonely, but I went out last weekend with some of the dietitians and had a great time.

A few other things going on:
I am learning to golf. I had resisted golfing with Derek for years and finally went to the driving range with him and found out I'm not too bad! I have yet to go to the golf course though, so we'll see.
I have been cheering on Derek playing church softball, it's actually a lot of fun...but they are awful, they've won 2 games all season!
We are dog sitting for a dog named Thumper. Teddy and Thumper alternate between playing, chasing eachother around and around and around the house, and biting and trying to kill eachother. It's only day 2, and we have 5 more to go...

I promised pictures...

2006-07-03T17:57:00.000-07:00

In the "Real" world...

2006-06-22T19:28:00.000-07:00

Well, I've worked almost one week at my new job and things are going great. I really like it and it was an easy transition. Normally orientation for new dietitians takes about 1 week, mine took about 1 hour, seeing as how I already know everyone, know my way around the hospital, know the computer system, etc. etc. etc. So although it's going really well, I'm already considering taking another position. Although it's at the same hospital and most of the other dietitians are trying to talk me into taking it, since the position usually takes a long time to fill. It's an outpatient position, no clinical work, presentations to the general public, and media work. Yup, going on tv 3-5 times each month and providing quotes for any tv or newspaper articles, etc. nutrition related. However, I am really not excited about the media stuff, especially going on tv. However, our internship director did all the media work while the position was empty last year and she likes it and said she would do the media work if they could find someone to do everything else, so I might do it without going on tv, or I may consider doing the media work myself too, I'm not sure. Or I may keep the job I have...we'll see. I do have a little while to decide, it's still filled by a dietitian who is having a baby in October (That is why she is leaving the position) So I already have options, how exciting!
Besides working, I'm trying to have fun too :) Today, Derek and I went putt-putt golfing. We had been to the place a lot, and noticed on one hole they had moved one of the obstacles, a big rock! So I was intruiged and trying to figure out how they move the obstacles and realized the rock just picks up and can be moved, nothing too exciting...until I got the bright idea to move the rock and put it over the hole...The closest people were about 5 holes behind us and we were almost done, so when we were finished, we sat in our car and watched them as they got to that hole. I felt like I was doing "candid camera." It was hilarious, they looked and looked, walked down to the end, walked back...and finally moved onto the next hole. LOL It was hilarious...I told my mom about it and she thought it was mean, but I thought it was all in good fun! What do you think?

The scariest moment of my life

2006-06-18T18:24:00.000-07:00

I just thought I would share with you how blessed Derek, me, and my mother are (And Teddy too). If you remember, my mother spent last week with me and then Thursday we headed to Ohio to spend the weekend at the lake. When we were on highway 69, just south of Ft. Wayne, we got into an accident. What happened was, we were in the left lane, a girl was in a car in the right lane and a semi was trying to merge onto the highway. The girl beside us started to get over to let the semi in, and apparently we were in her blind spot because she forced us off the road and into the median. Derek was driving (Thank God) and when we hit the gravel of the median, our car started to spin, in the middle of the highway. We did at least one 360, maybe more, none of us really remember because it happened so fast (and I was too busy screaming like a little girl to notice) Anyways, we spun in the middle of the highway and came to rest facing backwards with our tail end of the car hanging over the ditch on the right hand side of the road. Priase God no cars, trucks, or semis were close enough to hit us while we were spinning. There were cars all around us, and none of us know how we excaped being hit, but we are all so thankful. (We were going about 70-75 mph) The car that forced us off the road pulled over and once we got our composure and got out of the ditch, the lady in the passenger side got out and was bawling and hugged Derek. Apparently, the driver of the car was her teenage daughter who had just gotten her permit that day, or that week, or something like that. So, I hope that young driver learned a valuable lesson. A lot more has happened lately, but that's enough for now. Thank God, we're all ok.

I'm DONE!!!

2006-06-10T15:43:00.000-07:00

Well, it's official. I am done with my internship! I graduated yesterday. It was a bittersweet moment. Of course I'm thrilled to be done, but I will really miss 2 of the other interns, because they are my only 2 friends in the state of Illinois. So now I have to try to make new friends, which is difficult. Anyways, I am done and my family is all here for the weekend (My mom, dad, Troy, Grandma and Grandpa) My family will be leaving tomorrow, except my mom who will be spending all next week with me. We have all kinds of fun, girly, shopping type things to do...it will be great. Then we're heading home to the lake for Fathers day and I start my job the 19th. So I'm enjoying the time off. So far, we went to a wildlife preserve and saw bears, bison, coyotes, cougars, etc. It was so nice, it's this huge preserve that keeps them as close to their natural habitat as possible...(much nicer than a tiny cage in a zoo) I'll have pics coming soon! And from my graduation as well. Well, that's all, just wanted a quick update! I'm DONE!!!!

2006-05-19T19:20:00.000-07:00

You absolutely have to check out this website! You'll absolutely love it!!!
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=dMH0bHeiRNg

2006-05-19T18:19:00.000-07:00

I just had to show you all this picture. I just love it. My brother took it with a fish eye lense last time we were home. He took Teddy with him to town to get some Taco Bell. Doesn't Teddy look so sweet and innocent sitting so nice and still?!?!?

2006-05-19T18:06:00.000-07:00

Well, it's been a while since I've posted huh? I guess that's because everytime I think to do it, I can't think of anything to talk about. Oh well, I'll just ramble... Lately, I'm just struggling to finish up everything for my internship! I now officially have less than 3 weeks before I have to join the "real world." I can't wait! Because with the "real world" comes paychecks! And with paychecks, comes shopping! It's crazy being almost done. Golda, our internship director has already approached me about teaching classes for the new interns, how strange...going from intern to preceptor so quickly, but it'll be fun too! It has also been exciting because for the last 3 weeks, I've been able to work on "my" floor. I'll be doing it the next 2 weeks as well. Then I'll take the week before graduation off because we're having some field trips and other fun stuff, then I'm taking one week off between my internship graduation and my first day of work. I need to take advantage of it before I have to start racking up vacation days. Also, my mom is going to come and spend that week with me since Derek will have to work. We're going to do all kinds of fun, girly stuff that we could never do on vacations with my dad and Troy. So that will be a lot of fun, getting to spend a lot of time with my mom. There is one bad thing about being done with my internship, and that's taking my board exam. I just started studying, and my exam is in about 10 weeks. Hopefully I'll be ready by then! It's going to be a rough time... but hey, if I can pass this, it should be my last test forever...that is unless I go to get my masters..but I haven't thought that far ahead yet.

Ok, so besides working, I've been doing a lot too. Sunday was my birthday and we went out Friday night with some of the other interns and their significant others to Uno's. It was really good and a lot of fun. I don't know what I'm going to do when we graduate from our internship, because the other interns are the only friends I have in the state of Illinois and they'll all be moving back home to different states or countries from which they came...so that will be the end of any social life for Derek and I. Unfortunately, everyone in the church seems to be over the age of 70. Ok, not exactly, but there aren't any couples our age, so we've been forced to spend a lot of time together, just Derek and I...what a shame! LOL

This weekend Derek and I are very busy with high school graduation parties. Lots of good free food! Remember the days of going from graduation party to graduation party? Well, Derek and I will do that every year now, as long as he's a youth pastor!

One other exciting thing happened today. Derek and I came into the house, turned on our kitchen light, then walked into the living room. Suddenly we heard this strange, loud noise, and looked to the kitchen to see our light shooting sparks and flames. Exciting huh? We might want to get that looked at...

2006-05-03T20:14:00.000-07:00

Derek planned a trivia night for the church, just a fun time for teams to compete for prizes. As you can see, Derek was the "Host" and it was absolutely hilarious. Thought you might all like to see a picture from it. The other is just Derek and I at the entrance greeting people...

A Rough Couple of Weeks...

2006-04-22T13:59:00.000-07:00

Well, you all have not heard from me in a while and I appologize... but it's been a rough couple of weeks for me and Derek as well as our families. Where do I start? I'll start with the good news. About two weeks ago, my mom got a breast biopsy done. They were very worried about some things they had seen on an ultrasound and were concerned my mother had breast cancer. Praise God all of the tests came back negative. There is no cancer, and the growths that are there are not the type that can develop into cancer either... so that was a huge relief for my family after days of worrying and stress.

That news came a few days before Easter. Then onto Easter... Derek preached at our Sunrise Service and did a wonderful job, it was a great service run by the youth group. We also had a nice breakfast afterwards before the next two services. So after the breakfast and before the 8:15 service, I decided to go home. While I was home, Derek's cell phone kept ringing nonstop. I knew this was odd, since everyone should know it's Sunday and Easter morning, Derek would be at church of course. So I looked to see his mom had called multiple times, so I decided to call her because I knew she must have really wanted to talk to him. Well, when I called I found out one of Derek's aunts had passed away Easter morning unexpectedly. She had been perfectly healthy, never had any health problems. Apparently, she had just had some pain in her legs after a bus trip to New York a week or so before. Then Easter morning, she told her son (who happens to be a Freshman at Bluffton) to call 911 because her legs hurt really bad and she was having problems breathing. Well, as he went to call 911, she went to the bathroom, collapsed, and that was pretty much it. Apparently, she had a blood clot in her leg, and it went to hear heart. It was a terrible shock to the whole family, his aunt was only 45. So, Derek and I went home and spent the whole week at home, at viewings and the funeral. Normally, I would love to spend a week at home, but under the circumstances, it wasn't as enjoyable as normal. So please keep Derek's family in your prayers, his aunt left her husband and 3 children, a freshman in college, senior in high school, and sophomore in high school.

Well, that was a depressing blog entry... On a brighter note, Derek and I have been enjoying the beautiful weather. We have been taking walks every day and spending a lot of time outside. I am so excited that it's spring and the flowers are blooming, aren't they beautiful? Also, it's almost my birthday and then the end of my internship!! and then, most importantly...paychecks!!!

Let me tell you a story...

2006-04-02T18:59:00.000-07:00

This is a true story that took place in November of 2002 in Van Wert, Ohio. (Many of you have heard this story, but I have to repeat it for dramatic effect.) Anyways, an F-4 tornado hit Van Wert, one of which spots was a movie theatre. Luckily, the owner of the theatre was very smart and took everyone from the theatre into the middle to a safe spot and although the theatre was destroyed, no one was hurt. (That is, except one man who decided to leave and drive home-he was killed when flying debris hit his car.) So, everyone in the theatre was fine, but they left the theatre to see the seats they were sitting in now had cars and other debris in them. Luckily, I wasn't there, but I did know people who were...

Now fast forward to today,
Derek and I decided to enjoy our Sunday afternoon and go see a movie. It was a good movie too (Inside Man) and it was near the end and all of the sudden, the movie just stops! Everyone is looking around confused when a theatre employee walks in to tell us there's a tornado watch and we all have to go to Cinema 1. So we all crowd into this tiny hallway and wait... We could have gone home, but didn't want to chance it. So Derek and I waited, while trying not to freak out. Of course no one else seemed to care at all, but it was too creepy for Derek and I to not be freaking. Of all of the places for us to be when a tornado warning occurs, but at a movie theatre! What are the odds?!? So we just waited for about a half an hour, and fortunately, the tornado warning was lifted and the theatre was still standing. There is a slightly funny ending though. Of course when we were done waiting out the tornado, we had to decide whether or not we wanted to watch the end of our movie. On one hand, it was a really good movie and we wanted to see the ending, but we didn't want to come back some other time and watch the whole movie again just to see the ending. But on the other hand, there was still bad weather and the possiblity of a tornado... So Derek and I decided just to watch the end, we didn't think there was much time left anyways, so we went back into our cinema along with a lot of other people. So they start running the movie again from where it stopped, and 30-60 seconds later, it was over! LOL Everyone in the theatre was laughing, it was hilarious. I am so glad Derek and I didn't decide to come back and watch it some other time, it would have been frustrating to watch the entire movie again, up to the point the movie stopped, and then less than a minute more!

So anyways, it was a scary day, considering my hometown history of theatres and tornados, but it was a good day too, and a good movie, I highly recommend it!

Basketball, Bradley, and free condoms.

2006-03-19T19:20:00.000-08:00

So, do I have your attention now?

Things have been pretty exciting recently. There's a lot going on and time is flying! This week is my last week at the EDU so I am definately excited about that! It will be such a relief when it's over. It's interesting, but just not for me... So anyways, I'm almost done with that! I am also loving the weather! Today I broke out my flip flops for the first time so that was definately exciting! Besides that, I've been watching a lot of basketball. And sadly, I'm finding that I enjoy March Madness more than I like to admit. It has been a lot of fun to watch the games! One of the most exciting things has been watching Bradley play. Most of you have probably never heard of Bradley unless for some reason you've been watching basketball this year. But anyways, Bradley is a pretty small private college in Peoria. (Large compared to Bluffton, but small compared to other schools in March Madness-I think they have like 8,000 students...) So anyways, they barely made it into March Madness and they have since upset Kansas and then Pittsburgh. So this area has been crazy lately with all the excitement over that. Plus one of the players goes to our church so it's been fun to follow. So, now that you're all bored hearing about basketball, I'll move onto the free condoms...

So, Saturday morning I had a presentation at a small commuter college in Peoria. Jeff and I were presenting and Golda, our director went along to observe. It was basically a day long presentation for the employees on various topics, including ours about nutrition. So, we got there, and found we were the 2nd speaker...the first speaker was from Planned Parenthood and taught all the participants how to put condoms on...well, you're all old enough to know... (Oh, and did I mention the girl doing the demo goes to my church?) The woman in charge of planning all the speakers also goes to my church and was there to greet us...with free condoms. As we walked in, she was putting condoms in all our pockets...what a welcome! So, then we are being introduced. Jeff and I both had put on a small card info about ourselves like where we went to school, etc. Jeff had put on his card that he's getting married in June, so she announced that as well. At this point, Jeff pulls the condoms out of his pocket, holds them up and says, "These will come in handy!" Golda and I were mortified. But at least it gave me a good story for my blog! (I just hope the Sisters from the hospital don't read this, I'm not sure they would approve!)

My new job.

2006-03-13T17:25:00.000-08:00

Well, it seems there is some confusion over which job I have taken. I actually called today to accept a position at the medical center my internship is at as a clinical dietitian. This means I will be doing what I did during my clinical rotations, but getting paid for it. They currently have two openings and could not tell me exactly which floors I will be covering. The openings are on the two general medical floors and on neurology. They wanted to know my preference and I told them general medical because it is actually my favorite floor. That's because it has the most variety. It holds all the patients that don't fit into any of the other floor "categories" such as Cardiac, Oncology, Renal, Pediatrics, ICU, etc. So every day is different, and I shouldn't get bored seeing the same thing every day.

The other day at work I searching for a food related quote to put on my blog, but I found so many I couldn't decide, so now I'm going to list them all. I know you're probably not interested at all, but in honor of my new job and two weeks left at the Eating Disorder Program...here goes. (And I can't say too much about the ED Program, but I will say some of these remind me of my patients more than you can imagine!)

When I buy cookies I eat just four and throw the rest away. But first I spray them with Raid so I won't dig them out of the garbage later. Be careful, though, because that Raid really doesn't taste that bad. ~Janette Barber

My advice if you insist on slimming: Eat as much as you like - just don't swallow it. ~Harry Secombe

I have a great diet. You're allowed to eat anything you want, but you must eat it with naked fat people. ~Ed Bluestone

I'm not overweight. I'm just nine inches too short. ~Shelley Winters

A balanced diet is a cookie in each hand. ~Author Unknown

Stressed spelled backwards is desserts. Coincidence? I think not! ~Author Unknown

The biggest seller is cookbooks and the second is diet books - how not to eat what you've just learned how to cook. ~Andy Rooney

If nature had intended our skeletons to be visible it would have put them on the outside of our bodies. ~Elmer Rice

Avoid any diet that discourages the use of hot fudge. ~Don Kardong

I keep trying to lose weight... but it keeps finding me! ~Author Unknown

People are so worried about what they eat between Christmas and the New Year, but they really should be worried about what they eat between the New Year and Christmas. ~Author Unknown

I've decided that perhaps I'm bulimic and just keep forgetting to purge. ~Paula Poundstone

In the Middle Ages, they had guillotines, stretch racks, whips and cahins. Nowadays, we have a much more effective torture device called the bathroom scale. ~Stephen Phillips

More die in the United States of too much food than of too little. ~John Kenneth Galbraith, The Affluent Society

I bought a talking refrigerator that said "Oink" every time I opened the door. It made me hungry for pork chops. ~Marie Mott

It's over!!!!

2006-03-09T18:25:00.000-08:00

Well, my luncheon is over...what a relief! It was strange though, I never really got nervous, I think I was more nervous a month ago thinking about it than I actually got the day of. I think it was because I knew I was very well prepared and knew my info well. It ended up being a good length (I was scared it would be too short) and I got wonderful evaluations from the people there. One dietitian even told me it was the first luncheon she ever paid attention to and enjoyed, LOL, so I thought that was a great compliment. So anyways, it's over...now once I get past the last 2 weeks at the Eating Disorder Program I'm free sailing until graduation. (I'm a little stressed out right now at the EDP- when I was trained there was 1 patient in the Partial Hospitalization Program, now there's 7!!) So I'm looking forward to being done there (and have obviously decided to take the job at the hospital) Well, besides that, my parents are coming this weekend!!! It will be so much fun, I just wish my bro could come :(

P.S. Hopefully I'll have some pictures of me looking professional at my luncheon soon...

I'm alive!

2006-03-07T06:14:00.001-08:00

Ok, so now that I've officially been questioned about my blogging lapse, I will post. But unlike Abby Mo, I do have a few excuses, first of all our internet does not work, secondly, my Luncheon is tomorrow (my 1 hour presentation on maternal phenylketonuria) and thirdly I have had more stress in my life in the past month, than in the entire year before. So, anyways, I'll try to update you all on what's been going on, but it won't be easy.

First, with work, I'm still at the Eating Disorder Program. It's going alright, but it's a lot of stress, and a lot of pressure. (And on a side note, if you think you've heard it all, come to work with me for one day, you'll be shocked! But those are stories for another blog...) Also work related, about a week and a half ago, I got offered 2 jobs, even though I only applied for one. The first was the one I interviewed for, the 2nd is here at the Eating Disorder Program. I have not accepted either one yet, but they are giving me time to decide. (Also, we need time to consider the other thing I emailed you all about, but please don't mention that on here, who knows who might read it!!!) So, I'm faced with decisions, decisions...But right now I'm definately leaning towards the job at the hospital...

Now onto my luncheon, it is tomorrow! And although I should probably be stressed out, I'm not...although I'm sure I will be freaking out tomorrow! But I'm really prepared, I've practiced multiple times and I'm confident it will go well, but we'll see!!

Also, tonight we have Randy and 5 Shining Through guys staying at our house, which will make for an interesting night. Shining Through is singing at our church tonight and Abby Mo is coming!!!

2006-03-07T06:14:00.000-08:00

Chicago

2006-02-22T19:34:00.000-08:00

Well, I just got back from a trip to Chicago with my internship. We spent the night Monday and Tuesday was spent at a nutrition conference at Children's Memorial Hospital. We spent the whole day listening to interesting topics about Celiac Disease, the history of infant formulas, Type II Diabetes in children, and Short Bowel Syndrome. It was really interesting, but most importantly it was a day out of the office. Then we spent a few hours on Michigan Avenue shopping. I wasn't in the mood to shop, nor did I have money to shop at those expensive stores (or any for that matter) so I called Ruth and met up with her. Yes, I met the ellusive Ruth in Chicago! It was a lot of fun to see her. I really only got to spend about an hour and a half with her but we ate and talked and caught up. I wish you all could have been there!

Cooking Demo

2006-02-09T17:07:00.000-08:00

All us interns did a cardiac cooking demo Wednesday night and our theme was tropical as you can see from the pictures. There's not a lot to say about it, but I thought the pictures were cute so I'll post them since I don't take pictures of many things anymore. Then today was my first interview. It went ok. I have my next interview next Friday, I heard that one will be much more difficult...I'm already sick of interviews!

Eating Disorders

2006-02-04T14:13:00.000-08:00

Well, I haven't written in a while, but that's not because I haven't been doing anything. In reality, it's just too hard to put it into sentences, but I'll try. Basically, I spent the past week being trained at the Eating Disorder Clinic. The dietitian there resigned to stay at home to take care of her new baby. So Thursday is her last day and Friday is my first day covering for her. I've comitted to cover 6 weeks until they find someone, but there's also the possiblity that I could work there. So far I really like it a lot. It's different than anything I've ever done. The most important thing I have to remind myself of is that eating disorders have almost nothing to do with eating. I know it sounds strange, but they have this saying that "Eating disorders never travel alone." Basically, almost every person with an eating disorder has a psychological issue that must be tackled before the eating can be changed. That's why there are 4 psychotherapists and one dietitian at the Unit. But I do like it. (Plus, it probably pays more, has it's own office, and is a lot more laid back than the hospital) But I don't know what's going to happen if I get offered a job at the hospital...we'll just see.

Besides working there, I've been staying busy trying to keep up with all of our other internship stuff, including that huge presentation I have to do! I am officially terrified and it's still a month away. Oh and I almost forgot...Derek invited Shining Through to come to our church and sing and some of them will be staying at our house. And get this, they'll be staying the night before my luncheon! This may not seem like a big deal, but it is! I already threatened Derek they have to be quiet so I can sleep! He had originally planned on having all of the guys in the group stay at our house, but I told him he'd have to cut it back. I have to be well rested and I have to have complete devotion to the bathroom in the morning as well :)

The only other thing that's really been going on is health related. For years I've had dizzy spells and more recently blurred vision. Then over the last month or so, they became more and more frequent and more severe so I went to the doctor. I found out that I am hypoglycemic, which is basically the opposite of diabetic. With diabetes, the body doesn't produce enough insulin so blood sugars are always high, but my body makes too much insulin so my blood sugars get low. When they're low I'm in danger of passing out and even worse things that I don't want to think about. Some of you may remember Christina, the dietetics major from Bluffton that was a year ahead of us (I would say her last name, but that's probably not nice to do on a blog) Well, anyways, I think it was her senior year, she had a bad car accident. Anyone remember? Well, basically she didn't find out until afterwards but she was hypoglycemic and passed out and pulled out in front of an SUV. So that's what I'm trying to avoid. Unfortunately, there's no medicine, I just have to eat 6 small meals each day, so I feel like I'm eating all the time, and I have to be careful because I don't want to gain weight. But I also don't want to pass out and have blurred vision, so that's what I'm working with right now. So far, just eating 3 snacks each day has really helped!

Well, I guess this entry makes up for not writing in a while....

One step closer to the "real" world...

2006-01-27T18:35:00.000-08:00

Well, I have a job interview. February 10th. For a clinical position at OSF (where my internship is) So start praying for me now... I'm going to need it! The only good thing about this is I need to go shopping!!

Trespassers

2006-01-24T15:32:00.001-08:00

Sunday night Derek and I were sitting in the living room watching TV. It was late and it was very dark outside. So, all of the sudden someone starts POUNDING on our front door. Derek goes to the door and no one is there...So I'm a little freaked out and so is Derek. Then, about 5 minutes later, someone POUNDS on our back window. So this time I'm really freaked out because it means someone is in our backyard, inside our fence. So, I was freaked and Derek was ticked! So he decided just to call the police, ask them to drive by, see if anyone was screwing around in our yard or neighborhood. (Keep in mind, many people have told us to be careful, because we don't live in the best neighborhood)

So about 15 minutes later, the police officer calls and said, "We've found your suspect, his name is XXX, he says he knows you and he was just screwing around." LOL It was a kid from our youth group. I wasn't suprised, I had told Derek it might be one of the Jr. high boys screwing around or something. The funny thing was, it wasn't a Jr. high boy at all, it was the oldest kid in the group, he's actually out of high school and in college. How funny is that? He didn't get in trouble, but the cop did stop and talk to him and ask him to knock it off. So Derek's trying to decide does that mean he's comfortable with Derek or he doesn't like him?? Oh by the way, he called later and appologized...Derek just laughed.

Hmmm....

2006-01-08T14:01:00.000-08:00

Well, I haven't written in a while. That's because I didn't really know what to write about. I never told you about the New Year's Eve overnight for the youth. It was a lot of fun. We had about 30 kids come and most of them stayed up all night...including Derek. I did get 3 hours of sleep though, which was nice. There were a bunch of rooms with things going on, games, video games, etc. The room with all of the couches had the big screen tv in it and movies. And the light was off, so I went in there and slept through two movies. But besides that, it was a great night, we played euchre, apples to apples, mafia, winkum, and other fun games. I really enjoy hanging out with the jr. high and high school kids. I even felt like I was in high school again because I spent the whole night drinking soda and eating junk food. So I had that sick feeling all night that reminded me of high school.

Since then, I've just been working a lot! This week was so physically exhausting I can't even describe it. I did staff relief for the Cardiac dietitian while she was in London. (Is everyone else as jealous as I am?) Anyways, that's one of the busiest floors in the hospital and I had other meetings and committments to deal with this week too so I didn't have nearly enough time to do what I needed to do, but I did it anyways!! It was really rewarding though, I educated a lot of patients who were really motivated to make changes, so we really made a connection. (Most of the time I spend a long time telling them how to eat even though I know they won't make any changes whatsoever!) So anyways, I had a busy, busy, exhausting week.

Now I'm in the process of thinking about where to apply and when. There are some really great opportunities available right now in the area, including one as the sole dietitian at an inpatient and outpatient eating disorder unit. I'm terrified because I don't feel qualified or prepared for any of them, but I'm going to have to take a huge leap of faith! I know it will all work out, I just know it's not going to be easy!! Right now as an intern, I'm in my comfort zone. Unfortunately, that's not going to last much longer!

2006-01-01T14:32:00.000-08:00

So what is your New Year's resolution?

2005-12-31T17:15:00.000-08:00

Here are the pictures from the Christmas party at Abbys. It was so much fun! I just wish everyone could have been there :(

2005-12-31T16:34:00.000-08:00

I don't have any kids in my family, but here's some pictures of my family anyways. I think you all know who they are. The last one is the characature my mom had made for me, it's hilarious, if you can see it!

2005-12-19T19:11:00.000-08:00

Isn't he cute?

A "Blue" Christmas

2005-12-19T18:05:00.000-08:00

I just had to tell you about a church service I went to yesterday. It was the most amazing service I have ever been to. It was called a "Blue" Christmas service. Have any of you ever heard of it? I guess sometimes it is called the "Longest Night" service? If you have never heard of it, like I had not, I'll explain it. Although everyone is welcome, it's mainly for those who do not feel joyous and jolly at Christmas time, whether it be because of a death in the family, depression, divorce, or multiple other things. So although none of these were the case for me, I went because Derek was going to sing. There only ended up being about 15 people there, but it was incredible. About 99% of the service was just silent time or just really quiet piano music, mainly just time for reflection, meditation, and prayer. The pastor only talked for about 5 minutes and Derek sang Untitled Hymn by Chris Rice, but like I said the majority was just quiet. It was just incredible, I can't even describe how it felt, but I'm sure you can imagine. Sadly we never have time to just be quiet and pray and reflect like I did last night. I wish more services were like that one. If you ever have a chance to go to a service like this or somehow arrange time like this, I highly recommend this. It's good for the soul :)

On another note, for any Lion, the Witch, and the Wardrobe fans...I went to a Lebanese grocery store today and saw Turkish Delight so I bought some. And I have to say it is delicious!!! (Not good enough to become devoted to the witch Jadis, but delicious!)

Walgreens just lost a customer...

2005-12-15T14:34:00.000-08:00

Yesterday I went to work at 7:30 but I was so sick, I left by 9:30. So, I decided since I had already taken the day off, I may as well go to the doctor. So I went to the doctor, which took about 20 minutes. Then I headed off to Walgreens to pick up my prescription. Well, an hour and 15 minutes later, I had my prescription and a really bad attitude from waiting so long (and because I would have much rather been at home in bed!!) And just as a note, I have to say I didn't complain or say anything mean to anyone at the pharmacy even though I really wanted to!So, I get home and get my medicine, glad that I finally have some drugs that will make me feel better...but when I open them up, I realized they had given me someone else's medicine!!! So, as if I wasn't mad enough to begin with, by this time I am REALLY mad!! I had wasted so much time waiting, and I now knew I was going to have to go out again, in the crappy weather to get my prescription. So I called and talked to someone at the pharmacy who acted like it as no big deal and it happens all the time! She just said, "Oh, we're sorry, can you come back and we'll switch them?" Well, that poor lady...She got the brunt of all my frustrations...but I did go back and get MY prescription and I feel a lot better, so in the end it's ok, but I still think I should sue. Think of what could have happened if I would have taken the wrong medication! One of my friends from high school's dad actually had a heart attack because the pharmacy gave him her sister's prescription on accident. Sorry, but I was so mad about spending so much of my sick day at Walgreens instead of on the couch, so I wanted to tell you all about it! Aren't you glad you're my friends and you get to hear my complaints?

2005-12-13T19:05:00.000-08:00

Have you ever tried to make a gingerbread house with a perfectionist? Here are the pictures of what Derek and I created...but as Derek pointed out, it's not proportional. (Since when does a gingerbread house have to be proportional?) By the way, do you like the car? I made it!

Blessed

2005-12-13T15:18:00.000-08:00

Every once in a while, God sends me something to make me realize that I am incredibly blessed. This time it was Christmas caroling. Of course when I found out I had to spend my Sunday evening Christmas caroling I was not pleased. But I went and sadly I probably had a bad attitude. But that ended very quickly when we went to see the first woman on our list. She was an elderly woman living in an apartment facility for senior citizens. She used to go to our church but cannot get out any more. When we started singing, she started crying. She was so happy just for us to go and sing to her. (And trust me, we're were far from choir quality) Then when we were done, she asked us to go down the hall to sing to a friend of hers, who also cried because she was so happy. Almost everyone we sang to cried, or gave us cookies, or asked us to go down the hall or down the road to sing to someone else. It was such a blessing for me to go and sing to these people. They all appreciated it so much! I realized how much I have, because most of them have no family, cannot leave the house and do things, and many were also in poor health. One other great thing was my group. Whoever showed up to carol was split into groups randomly. In our group was a woman and her 8 year old daughter and 12 year old son. At first they talked about the 8 year old singing a solo, and I assumed they were joking...but I was wrong, she sang many solos. She wasn't the greatest singer, but she was good. But most importantly, at 8 years old she was willing to sing solos to these people, which even I wasn't willing to do. I had so much respect for this amazing 8 year old girl. And I know she was a blessing to all of the people we sang for. I think they all enjoyed her singing the best.

What a week...

2005-12-08T19:33:00.000-08:00

Well, I've had a pretty eventful week. Nothing too exciting, but I've been busy.

Tuesday-I tried to give blood again. After my iron first failed to be high enough, they used another testing method and my iron was just barely high enough. Then, my blood pressure was 100/46 (Ideal is 120/80). The bottom number has to be over 50 to donate, so they made me sit a while until it went up above 50. (My low blood pressure is why I always have problems with passing out. Doctors always think it's good because it's not high, but it doesn't seem healthy for it to be that low either-considering I get close to passing out because the blood isn't getting to my brain...) Anyways, they then asked all the questions about having sex for drugs, or sleeping with a man who slept with a man... They then got to the questions about traveling and I found out that where Derek and I went on our honeymoon has a high malaria rate, another red flag for me not to give blood. I should have just given up, but they said since it had been over a year ago I could give blood...finally, right? Well, then it went great, better than ever before, until right at the end andI became one of those silly people with their feet up and their head down, with an ice pack on my head! I was terribly faint, I thought I would pass out, but luckily I didn't. I always thought that was funny when people had to do that, and Tuesday that was me. But I got a full bag, didn't pass out, didn't have a bruise down my arm, and felt fine the next day, so I would say it was a success! (Last time after about an hour of poking and prodding a needle in my arm, I failed to fill the bag to their standards, so it got disposed of, and I wasted my time!)

Then I had 5 presentations over Wednesday and Thursday. I am so glad to be done!!! 5 in 2 days is excessive! But overall they went fine. And Wednesday night Derek and I took 24 of the youth group members to see the Power Team. Have any of you ever seen them? They do incredible feats of strength and then share their testimony. They broke concrete with their arm, ripped phone books in half, blew up hot water bottles until they burst, and exploded sodas with their bare hands. It's a strange combination with the testimony, but it really gets kids attention which was great.

Then today it started to snow...You may have read about snow in Illinois in my comment on Maria's blog, but it's worth repeating on mine because it's hilarious! So far we've gotten about 2-3 inches of snow today (based on my rough estimation, maybe more) Because of that 2-3 inches, most people are driving about 2 miles an hour and completely panicking! I even heard one dietitian talking about going to the grocery store to stock up because of "all the snow we are going to get." It's funny because although there is a good accumulation of snow, everyone here acts as if there's a blizzard. I don't know how they would survive in Ohio. It's also humorous working with two interns that are living their first winter up North. (One is from Mississippi, one from South Carolina) They are fascinated by snow and are constantly looking online to see what the temperature is! They also think 2-3 inches is a blizzard and 5 degrees is as cold as it gets. I keep telling them, "Just wait!"

This weekend my exciting plans are to see "Chronicles of Narnia" Is anyone else excited to see this??? I can't wait!

1/2 way

2005-12-05T19:03:00.000-08:00

Well, I am officially more than half way done with my internship. 26 weeks and one day down, 25 weeks and 4 days to go! We had a nice little party on Friday at Old Chicago pizza down on the river front and we had a really good time. I'm glad I'm half way done, but I'm sad I still have 26 weeks to go. However, I know I still have a looooot to learn! I have learned so much, but I am still not sure I'm prepared to take my board exam. Pretty soon I will need to start studying (and looking for a job!) I'll be sad to once again have to say goodbye to friends. The interns with me have really become good friends. (Not as good as all of you though, of course!) But since I will be staying in the area, and who knows, maybe at OSF, some people I still may see, but not any of the interns who all plan on moving back home to Michigan, Missouri, and Hong Kong. Isn't it sad how we go through life building relationships and so often ending them as well? I'm so glad you all blog and read my boring blog so we can all stay in touch.

In other news, I am busy getting ready for Christmas. Derek and I finished all of our Christmas shopping today. We are DONE! And we are so busy with Christmas activities with church and my job, but it's all so much fun. Today we also went and bought Christmas presents for a 18 month old girl we got from the "Angel Tree." It was so much fun to buy toys and clothes for a little girl, but also rewarding because we feel we can help make a family's Christmas brighter. It's hard especially considering Derek and I don't have a whole lot of money ourselves, but I know there are many people less fortunate than ourselves, including the family of this little girl. And after all, isn't that what Christmas is all about, giving? Our church also had a puppet Christmas program-put on by children and an absolutely beautiful Christmas contata with choir and orchestra. I am definately in the Christmas spirit now! But it's kind of bad because all I can think about is going home at Christmas, which is still 20 days away. It also makes me miserable at work, which isn't hard! I guess I need to make that Christmas spirit rub off at work. Why should my Christmas happiness and spirit of giving only be at home? Of course that's easier said than done, but I guess I should work on that, huh? Well, I'm just rambling now, so I'll wrap it up!

2005-11-28T19:24:00.000-08:00

Have you ever had an hour, or a day, or a week where you found your head swimming with so many thoughts you couldn't pinpoint any of them. So many things are going through your mind at once that you don't even know what you're thinking about? But no matter how hard you try to avoid it, you have a constant preoccupation with whatever it may be? That's how I've been lately. And it can be so frustrating until you finally have a sudden revelation. That's what happened today. I had been thinking about so many things; life, the future, the past, God, and a million things in between. Then suddenly today, I realized...I have finally come face to face with adulthood. I know it sounds silly, but it wasn't until today that I figured it out...I'm an adult. I've had adult responsibilities for years but they never really phased me. But now, for some reason, I can't avoid it any longer. Maybe it's living so far away from home, or having more freedom and responsiblities at my internship, or maybe it's because my friends are starting to have children. (Sorry Laura, but I have to blame this on someone!) I don't know what it is, but I do know that it's unavoidable now. There's no turning back. Unfortunately, I don't think I've matured any, but that may come...or maybe not. If I become too mature, Derek and I won't be able to carry on a conversation anymore :)

2005-11-20T16:33:00.000-08:00

These are pictures from last night at the Mexican restaurant. (Eva, Katrina, and I) And a picture of Eva and I and our tiramisu at Golda's brother's coffee shop. Yum!

The Youth Group

2005-11-20T16:14:00.000-08:00

Here's a picture of the youth group. They had just gotten their new shirts with their new youth group name. They changed the name from G.U.M.Y (Grace United Methodist Youth) to J.O.L.T. (Jesus Offers Love Today) Derek also painted the logo on the wall behind them!

35 days until Christmas!

2005-11-20T16:09:00.000-08:00

Ok, so I know it's a little premature, but Derek and I put up our Christmas decorations today. Don't they look so pretty?

Alzheimers

2005-11-19T13:06:00.000-08:00

Well I have been so busy lately. Therefore I should have a lot to blog about, but I seem to have the worst memory in the world. I will try to figure out what I've been so busy doing.

I spent the week with an outpatient dietitian. It was fun because she's 23 and her and I get along great. So I observed her doing outpatient counseling and I spent the week searching for healthy recipes and making them for taste tests. This was because she is on the news weekly doing cooking demonstrations, so I was trying to find recipes for her to do on tv. Then Friday morning I actually went to the television station to help her set up and do the morning news show. It was really fun to see what goes on off screen!! Between clips, the newscasters were crazy! They were dancing, singing, yelling at eachother and having a really good time. They were also trying to convince me to be on tv, but of course they failed. One of the women was curling her hair during a commercial break and then went on the air before she remembered to brush through it. So she was on the air with big separated curls on her hair. It was quite humorous.

Ok-so I'm going a little out of order right now. But I have to tell you what is going on in my house right now. Derek is going insane!!!! (There's 37 seconds left in the Ohio State vs. Michigan game) It looks like they're going to win, and I sure hope they do or Derek will be depressed for the next few weeks!

So anyways, that was early Friday morning. (I had to be there at 6:00 am) then the rest of the day I did busy work and then observed a counseling session for a Gastric Bypass patient. She just had gastric bypass in March and now she is 2 months pregnant. So, it was very interesting!

Then last night we had a bonfire for the youth group. It was a lot of fun. It was at someone else's house so that was nice because it required no work for me except showing up! We only sat outside for an hour because it got cold but we had smores and hot chocolate and hot apple cider, so it was a lot of fun! Then we went inside and played Apples to Apples, Euchre, and 1 game of Mafia. (And I was in the Mafia!!!) What more could you ask for? The only weird thing about the whole night was that I kind of felt like a parent at times. I don't like that. (Derek is now screaming at the top of his lungs because Ohio State won!) The funny point of the night was when a couple of the boys were playing music on the computer and a song by Eminem came on and Derek said he liked it and the kid said, "You know this song???" They obviously think we are old!!! But you know what, maybe we are!

Today I went to the Women's Bazaar at the church. They had asked me to help. So I went and stood by the door and greeted people and gave them a bag. It was a little strange because everyone was at least 40 years my senior. But of course they were all sweet so it was ok.

Tonight I'm going out to dinner for Mexican food with Golda and the other interns then to a coffee shop that Golda's brother owns. It should be fun but it upsets me that Derek can't go because of church. But of course that's the way it's going to be for a long time so I better get used to it!

So that's about it for now. I had some pictures to post but I've had some problems with our scanner. I'll work on it though.

P.S. I have run over 7 miles since Monday. Be careful, the world may end soon! (I've come a long way since high school track, Jo)

FYI

2005-11-16T17:59:00.000-08:00

I learned something new today. Something very interesting and I wanted to share it with all of you. Especially for those of you who are concerned about the environment. Now stick with me on this one...

I went to a clinical managers meeting today for dietetic managers from hospitals all around Illinois. Well, we got a little off topic and started talking about a hospital in Lincoln, Illinois that is in the process of starting a worm farm. It will be behind the hospital and be about 30 ft by 30 ft. Basically, it's a big trough that will be filled with worms ($10,000 worth to be exact) and then on top of the worms they will place pulped food scraps and shredded confidential patient information. So the worms then eat the food and paper and produce manuer that the hospital uses on their landscaping. The hospital actually got an award from the governor for being environmentally friendly. Isn't this interesting? The dietitian that was telling us even does this at her home. But she doesn't need $10,000 worth!

There is also a landfill about 1 1/2 miles from the hospital. So they have pipes underground from one to the other to pump the methane gas to run the hospital broilers. So the hospital doesn't have to pay to run them and it uses the methane gas. Interesting huh? Ok so maybe you don't think so, but at least now you can't say you didn't learn anything new today! And you never know when you'll be on Jeopardy and they'll ask you about worm farms!

No more excuses...

2005-11-14T18:34:00.000-08:00

Today Derek and I bought a treadmill. We've been saving our money for a while and finally had enough. We were originally going to get a gym membership, but they were about $450/year for a crappy gym. For just a little more, Derek and I bought a treadmill that will last for years (at least it better!!!) So now, I can't make anymore excuses for being fat and lazy, and believe me I am definately getting fat and lazy. But if working out isn't very convenient, I will never do it. Even if it is convenient, it's hard to get motivation. I did run tonight and I feel great! I always forget how good working out can actually make you feel (once you're done that is, when I was working out, I felt horrible) Maybe that's because I haven't run in months.

Isn't it also true that exercise releases endorphins that make you happy? I sure hope so because lately I have been soo moody. Poor Derek. He must think I'm a crazy woman. I'm not proud of the fact that my mood can change at the drop of a hat, but it's the sad truth. Does anyone else have this problem? Any advice?

My 15 minutes of fame

2005-11-11T17:57:00.000-08:00

Every day I want to blog, but then I try to think of something to write about and I can't think of anything so I put it off. Even now I don't have much to say, but oh well. At least since I don't have much to say, my entry won't be as long as Maria or Rebas. (But that's ok because they actually have interesting things to say) As for me, I've been working a lot and doing a lot of church stuff. Nothing too blogworthy, but I'll try to come up with something.

Last night Derek and I went to watch the Pekin High School production of "Beauty and the Beast." It was wonderful! It was also the first time I've been inside the high school which was kind of shocking. I only saw one wing of the high school, but I think it was bigger than Van Wert's entire school. I can't imagine going to such a large high school. For example, their budget for "Beauty and the Beast" I was told was $20,000! Do most big schools have a budget like that? (Maria, do you know, I don't think anyone else went to a very big high school?) Anyways, the musical was great, we really enjoyed it. The best character was Lumiere (the candlestick) He was hilarious, and he had that goofy fake French accent down perfectly. It was also fun to watch dancing plates, spoons, napkins, etc.

Tomorrow is going to be my 15 minutes of fame. It's the "Women's Lifestyle Expo" at the Peoria Civic Center and they're expecting over 5,000 women to come. Us Senior Interns will be doing cooking demos throughout the day. We have a stage and the fun microphones that go over the ear and everything. I would be nervous, but I'm actually not the "head chef" in my cooking demo, I'm just going to be the side kick, chopping up veggies, etc. But who knows how many people will be watching! It will be fun, but it will be a long day too. (Working 9-5 on a Satuday is not my idea of a fun weekend, but what can I do?)

Well, that's the only interesting thing I can think to talk about besides I am loving this weather. They are calling for a high of 70 tomorrow! Derek and I have been taking Teddy on lots of walks at the park which is fun!

Overeaters Anonymous

2005-11-04T19:54:00.000-08:00

This week has been an exciting week for me. Now that I'm in my Community Rotation, no two days are ever the same. For example, Wednesday I attended an Overeaters Anonymous meeting. It was really fun and really interesting. OA is just a support group, so they don't promote any diet in particular or anything like that, they just get together and talk about their struggles. (Most are overeaters, but there are also anorexics and bulemics) I think it was most interesting because they talk about the emotional triggers of eating and psychological issues related to food. And let me tell you, I heard some interesting stories. But I really enjoyed going. Everyone there was so nice and welcoming. I even got a lot of hugs when I left!

Then Thursday I spent the afternoon at the metabolic clinic for children born with errors in their metabolism. I know none of you care, but it was really interesting. There are few other diseases in which the only treatment is diet. There is one disease in which patients need to remove all protein sources from their diet entirely. If they don't, the result is mental retardation. Can you imagine living with a disease like that, knowing the possible consequences? I'm actually thinking about doing my 1 hour presentation on that disease, but focusing on mothers with the disease and the results of their pregnancy based on levels of control-it's called maternal phenylketonuria in case any of you are interested!! Ok, now I'm done boring you, but it was really an interesting part of my week.

Then today I got up at 4:45 and went to St. Louis again with our internship director and the other Senior Interns to once again represent our internship and try to get people to come. It was kind of a boring day, but it was nice to be out of the office. And I saw Rachel Noirot again. I seem to run into her everywhere...

And now it's the weekend! I am so excited, I really don't have much to do this weekend, which is unusual. Tomorrow I'm going with Derek and the youth to rake leaves at a home for women and children of domestic abuse. Then for the rest of the weekend...I don't know. We'll see! Tonight I've been playing Playstation2. Derek rented me a poker game and it's a lot of fun! I won over $4,000 too! Too bad it's not real money! (Actually that's probably good, because the first time I played, I lost all of my money!) Ok well, I think I get the record for most boring entry, sorry.

Tricks and...More Tricks!

2005-10-31T18:21:00.000-08:00

So almost a year ago, this vicious game of pay back started in my family. Actually, to begin with it started in my childhood. You see, my grandmother buys the worst Christmas gifts. We all smile and say thank you, but normally they're just junk. Well, last year, our Christmas celebration with my grandparents was before we celebrated with my parents and brother. So my mom and brother thought it would be funny to re-gift the gifts my grandma had gotten for them, and gave them to me. So since then they have been given back and forth amongst us. Most recently, I decided to send one gift (a decorative bird feeder) to my brother as a "house warming" gift when he moved into his new house. Well, that was about 3 weeks ago when I sent it and he never called to say anything about it. So this weekend when he came, I asked him if he had gotten it and he hadn't. He said they don't leave packages unless someone is there, because they live in a bad neighborhood. So I kept reminding him the entire weekend to make sure he went to the post office to get his "gift" I sent him. Man, I thought I was so sneaky and so funny... That is until today when I went on our front porch and found the bird feeder!!! He got me this time...any ideas for payback?

Visitors!

2005-10-30T18:57:00.000-08:00

My mom, dad, and Troy came to visit this weekend! It was so nice to see them. If they wouldn't have came, we wouldn't have seen each other until Thanksgiving, which would have been a few months since the last time we were home, so it was so nice of them to drive all this way to see Derek and I. Sadly, there wasn't much to do, but we went to some stores, went Goodwill Hunting, and ate a lot! All of which was really fun! We also got up really early this morning and went to breakfast. (My mom had some difficulties with the time change, LOL) Oh well, getting up early allowed some more time to spend with my mom and dad (Once they realized the mistake, Troy went back to bed!) I also made them get custard, which they enjoyed!

Then today after they left, Derek and I took Teddy on a walk in the park and I attempted to play piano again. (It's been about a year since I've played, I'm almost back to Happy Birthday!) Maria, Nancy would be so ashamed of me, she thought I had such potential!

In other news, Derek and I have become so lazy, we have trained Teddy to carry the remote control from him on one couch to me across the room on another couch! (Isn't this the type of behavior I'm supposed to discourage my patients from doing?)

2005-10-25T19:28:00.000-07:00

Well, in case any of you were worried, I am alive and well. I'm usually much better with blogging but I know it's been a while. That means this blog may take a while, so you might want to go get something to drink or some popcorn before you start... Ok now that I've warned you, here goes!

Last week was my last week of clinical rotations for a while! I was the only "dietitian" on the Pediatric ICU and the Intermediate Pediatric unit. And let me tell you, that is pressure! On most floors, nutrition can only help, but not really harm. But with critically ill infants who are often on ventilators, nutrition can be much more critical and of course most are on either tube feedings or IV feedings, or both. So last week was very challenging, but rewarding as well.

Then on Saturday I went to St. Louis to the American Dietetic Association convention until Tuesday. Saturday Katrina, Jeff, and I represented our internship at a "internship fair" for those who are about to graduate and apply to internships. We answered questions for about 2 hours and I got to see most of the Bluffton Seniors in the program and Deb and Kay as well. Also, I'm currently in the process of convincing Nicole Yoder to come to OSF. She's interested because Dan comes home in August and our internship can start in October, which gives them time to get married first. Anyways, after that fair we went to see the Key Note speaker which was Jane Seymore this year. She talked all about her life and it was very interesting. She has been through so much and overcome so much which is always encouraging. So often, we see celebrities on tv and think they have it all, and have it so easy, and have everything handed to them. To hear about her struggles and obstacles was really encouraging.

Then after that the Illinois Dietetic Association was having a "get together" at the Grand Bar at the Renaissance Hotel, which is a really fancy place. Because our internship director is the president elect of the IDA, she had asked us to go, so we went and hung out with her and her mom (who is very cool!) Then, they mentioned they were going to go and get dinner and Jeff who never knows what's appropriate, etc. basically just invited us out to eat with them. So they took us to a really fancy restaurant with a breathtaking view of St. Louis-the city, the arch, etc. She then ordered a bottle of wine and paid for all of our dinners. I felt just awful about it, especially since Jeff invited us and it cost over $150!

Then Sunday I went to a lot of really interesting sessions. I may have actually learned something! Then after the sessions, I took Katrina and Jeff with me to Abby's cookout, which was a lot of fun. (Cold, but fun!) Thanks again for inviting us Abby!!

Monday was more sessions and the expo. The expo is insane! It's just a huge convention center full of companies-mostly food and drug companies-that give away free stuff. I never made it through the entire place, but I left with bags full of free stuff-loaves of bread, drinks, books, vitamins, stress balls, and everything in between. Then Monday night I went to dinner with Deb, Kay, the Bluffton students, and other alumni. It was a lot of fun to talk to them and catch up!

Then on the way back to my hotel, I got kidnapped...this crazy woman pulled up along the side of the road, made me get in her car and took me to get "the best frozen custard in St. Louis." Thanks Abby, it was really good and it was good to see you again!

Then today (Tuesday) we slept in, skipped the convention, and went to the arch. It was my third time going up (and my 2nd in 4 months) but Katrina and Jeff had never been, so I went with them. Then we came home, and it is wonderful to be home. I enjoyed myself, but it is just nice to be home again! So tomorrow it's back to work for my community orientation and then this weekend my family is coming to visit! So it will be a great, short week!

P.S. I hope you all enjoy this super long blog, because I typed it twice. For some reason, after I was finished, I tried to do a spell check and the whole thing disappeared...so here it is, my 2nd draft, spelling errors and all-because I am not trying to spell check it again!

2005-10-17T18:56:00.000-07:00

Well, I know my pictures are identical to Maria's, but I want them on my blog too :) However, I will not recount our entire weekend, so if you'd like to read about that, you can go to Maria's website. Unfortunately, there wasn't much to do, but it was still so much fun to see everyone again! I'm so glad Maria, Abby, Laura, and Bob drove all the way to Illinois to visit Derek and I! Hopefully we can do it again sometime soon!

An update for Maria-Derek and another guy from our church met that guy at the bus station. Luckily, they were not hurt in any way, but we'll wait and see if he pays the church back their money. For those of you who don't know that story...right before Maria left, some strange man called Derek and claimed he was from Pheonix traveling to Chicago because a relative was dying and his car broke down. He said he spent all of his money to get his car towed and needed $20 for a bus ticket to Chicago. It may have been a load of crap or he may have really needed help, we'll probably never know. But luckily, Derek got another guy from the church to go with him, because who knows what kind of loony the guy could have been. Then to add to this craziness, after Derek left, the guy calls the house again and starts getting mad at me because I didn't know exactly when Derek had left or when he would get there. The guy kept telling me he was having an anxiety attack and scared the crap out of me on the phone. I then told him he had just left, but that wasn't enough for him, he called back about every minute, so I just stopped answering the phone. Well, anyways Derek and the guy from the church gave him the money so we'll just wait and see if the guy pays back the church...or may he just bought drugs with the money? Who knows!

Then last night was our church's "Harvest Festival" and pot luck. The Harvest Festival is just a time for the whole church to get together and all of the musical groups from the church from the kids singing and playing bells, to the worship band and the choir performed. During the show, the kids played the bells. Laura, do you remember when we helped the kids play the bells at Elm Street Church of the Brethren??? Anyways, to the rest of you, there are colored bells and someone holds up cards and changes them at certain counts in the songs and whenever the color of the bell shows up on the card, the kids play their bells. Well, the church thought it would be funny for members of the "audience" to participate, and of course Derek and I were picked. It was quite interesting and embarassing, but fun!

Well, this week is my last week of clinicals for a while. Then after going to St. Louis from Saturday to Tuesday I will begin Community Rotations which will be a nice change for a while.

Oh, I almost forgot! I called my mom today and I remembered to ask her about the fork in the refrigerator thing. My dad claims it causes botulism. Derek claims the refrigerator "activates" the metal and causes metal to contaminate your food. I searched for both on the internet and couldn't find anything. So it could be an urban legend, but I'm not chancing it! Does anyone else know if it's safe to put a fork (or other metal items) in the refrigerator? And if not, why?

Now we know why my name's not Martha...

2005-10-12T17:29:00.000-07:00

When we moved into our house there was a flower bed with nothing but weeds. So last week I pulled out everything, and I mean everthing! So then we had a flower bed full of dirt. So today I tried my hand at gardening. I had no idea how deep to plant them, how far apart, and I couldn't even tell you now what kind of flowers they were. The only thing I know about gardening is that this is probably not a good time of year to plant flowers! So now it will take nothing short of divine intervention to make something or anything grow next year.

Besides being domestic, I haven't done much lately. Derek is at youth right now and I am just sitting in anticipation for Lost tonight! I also am waiting on Brandt's cake recipe to bake. Tomorrow is Katrina's birthday so it was the perfect opportunity to make my favorite cake. Maybe I'm not such a domestic failure after all!

I also am now more than 1/2 way through my staff relief and besides that one incident, I think I'm doing alright. Wow, my life is boring, I can't think of anything else to say...except I can't wait to see Abby, Laura, and Maria this weekend!

Quality time at the ER

2005-10-08T17:30:00.000-07:00

Thursday night Derek and I went home to VW. We decided to go home this weekend so we could watch Morgan play volleyball once this year. (She is on VW's Freshman team) Unfortunately, Derek has to teach Sunday school every Sunday this month so I took a day off work and we left Thursday night and came back today. (Saturday) So Friday I spent all day with my family and Derek spent it with his. My mom and I went shopping, which is always fun! Then, when we got back my dad came in from working outside and told us he had a "health problem." He then proceeded to open his mouth and show us his tongue which was swollen, so much that it was about as thick as it was wide. He then explained (in a voice that sounded like he had just pierced his tongue) that he was drinking out of his McDonalds cup and something was stuck in his straw. So he sucked harder and whatever was lodged in his straw came up, landed on his tongue, and walked across it and stung him. It had been a bee! So my mom and I forced him to go to the ER because if it became much more swollen it could have blocked his airway. So I got to spend some good quality time with my dad at the ER. Luckily, it didn't get much worse and a shot of prednisone and some benadryl helped the swelling go down a little, but it was funny while it lasted! My mom had to ask the Dr. if he needed an interpreter because my dad was really hard to understand. Although my mom and I were both a little worried, we couldn't help but laugh! So that was my exciting afternoon. Then we went out to eat with my brother and one of his friends and just hung out that night at home.

I also received a drunken phone call from all of the interns that night. The new interns had come that day (I missed it) and they all went out with the internship director and then on to a club. So they called me to tell me how much they missed me and about how we're all going to take a trip to New York City to see Sarah Jessica Parker. It was quite humorous! I'm sad I missed it. Although I would have been sober laughing at them, not drunk with them. It's more fun to remain sober and remember the stupid things they did to hold it against them later.

Then today, we went to watch Morgan play volleyball in a tournament. Then we had to come home so we got back in time to watch the Ohio State game. My mom called me on the ride home to inform me she met Erin Miller. Apparently she works at 10 Thousand Villages in Goshen. And she was wearing a Bluffton University shirt so my mom struck up a conversation!

Well, tomorrow will be a busy day of church and napping. I can't wait! And I can't wait for this weekend either!!

2005-10-03T19:11:00.000-07:00

Well, girls. Since you weren't around and I had a bad day, Derek took me to get ice cream. (I got a really tasty mint chocolate chip milkshake) It was really good, but I still miss going out with you girls after a bad day!

Hardcore B*&%#

2005-10-03T18:26:00.000-07:00

Well, today was my first day on the floor by myself. It was crazy, I had about 3 times as many patients as the other interns and I busted my butt all day. Then at the end of the day the dietitian I was with called me and ripped me a new one. Granted, I had made a mistake, but I didn't think it was that big of a deal. Basically, I was just a little cautious with my treatment. Well, anyways to make a long story short, she took about 15 minutes to explain to me what I had done wrong, why it was wrong, why she was right, etc. etc. etc. She even said, "I don't mean to be a hardcore b*&%#, but...." By the end of her lecture I felt like I was barely qualified to make french fries at McDonalds. I ended up crying at work because I felt like I should just pack up my things and never come back. To make matters worse, I have a presentation tomorrow and needless to say I don't feel real qualified or knowledgable and I have to talk for a half an hour in front of the whole department tomorrow....If I hadn't paid 10s of thousands of dollars to go to school, I think I honestly would quit and become a chef or a clown or something.

Beware the Wild Wings!

2005-10-02T19:34:00.000-07:00

I had a very eventful weekend. Friday was graduation for the Senior Interns so it was a really fun day. We had their graduation, then they all left! Then we got to move into our new desks. After that we decided we were going to clean our office/classroom. We had no idea what we were getting ourselves into!!! It has shelves and shelves of old books, binders, folders, etc. So we decided we were going to get rid of the things we didn't need. There was also a closet that we didn't even get to clean, but we found all kinds of fun stuff, including funny Vietnamese/Chinese? hats, and a rainbow troll. Anyways, so Katrina and I decided to clean the shelves. As soon as we started we quickly knew that it hadn't been cleaned since probably the 70's. About 50% of what we found was definately pre-computer age. We found overhead transperancy presentations, slide shows, and sheets of clip art to cut out and put on presentations. (Before computers took over that exciting task!) We had a great time looking through all of the goofy things we found. We even found a wadded up, nasty, dusty, turtleneck. Who knows how long that had been on the top shelf! So I know that doesn't sound exciting, but it was actually really entertaining. I also ended up taking home about 10 years worth of "Cooking Light" magazine which are full of wonderful recipes. (Those of you who are coming to visit might get to taste test some of them)

Friday night Derek and I went to the movies. We saw The Greatest Game Ever Played. It was pretty good, but of course no golf movie is very exciting. Then Saturday morning Katrina's fiance Brent was visiting again and since they both went to Michigan State they invited us to Buffalo Wild Wings to watch the Michigan State vs. Michigan game. Since Ohio State wasn't playing Derek and I decided to go. (I can't take Derek anywhere when Ohio State is playing because I'm afraid he may hurt someone) So we went to Buffalo Wild Wings. Then we spent the rest of the afternoon sick. And I mean sick. Both of us, even though we both ate different meals. That was the first and last time I ever eat at Buffalo Wild Wings! The worst part was Derek had to preach at the Saturday night service. He was sick until about 5 minutes prior to the beginning of the service. Luckily, we both made it through the service!

Then after the service was our first new and exciting game night for the youth at our house. About 16 kids showed up and we watched movies, played euchre and Apples to Apples. I was glad quite a few kids showed up. At first it looked like there was just going to be 3 girls, which would have been extremely akward! But then a ton showed up and we had a good time. Hopefully the kids did too. The last kid left at 12:30 and then Derek and I had to greet at both service. (The first being at 8:15) Then after church was a lunch with all proceeds going to Hurricane Relief. So that was really fun and then we spent the rest of the day doing random things. I went Goodwill Hunting, which was fairly successful and we took Teddy for a walk. I know, my life is sooooo exciting!

Now, my clinical rotations are finished and tomorrow is my first day on Staff Relief! That means I have no supervision as before. I only have to contact the dietitian if I have a problem. Which I hope I don't. So as of tomorrow I will resume all roles of the dietitian. I have my own floor for the next 3 weeks. Let's hope I don't screw up too badly.

Our hairy little baby

2005-09-25T16:04:00.000-07:00

Well, we got our puppy yesterday and he is just so much fun! And so far he hasn't had any accidents in the house (knock on wood) So Derek and I have been having a lot playing with him. And by the way, Derek named him Teddy after Teddy Ginn, Jr. (Maria, do you know who that is...or Laura?) I'll give you a hint-Derek wanted to name him Brutus, but I objected. Besides playing with Teddy, we've been doing a lot of church stuff, which has been fun. Derek preached at the Saturday night service last night, which went really well. He was nervous since it was his first time preaching there, he felt a lot of pressure. But everyone said he did well, hopefully they weren't lying. Then today we went to a party for the church's softball team. It was at a house on a lake and they had lots of outside games to play and jetskis and tubes. So it was a lot of fun, but I still feel funny because I don't know too many people and even the ones I do know, I can barely remember the names of. So it's going to be a long time before I know everyone...actually I probably will never know everyone, but I'll try. Well, back to work tomorrow. I'm going to be on ICU which is all tube feedings and IV feedings, so that will be interesting. It's also the last week that the Sr. interns are there, so as of Friday (they graduate) and I'll become a Sr. intern and get a better desk! Not to mention that all of the Sr. interns hate us Jr. interns so there's a lot of tension in the office, so it will be better once they leave, hopefully. Unless we don't get along with the incoming class either, but if we don't, who cares, we'll be the Sr's then! (I have what my class calls a BA-bad attitude!)

2005-09-25T16:03:00.000-07:00

Teddy

Blogworthy...

2005-09-22T19:47:00.000-07:00

I was just thinking, since Laura's big news on her blog, nothing I do seems to be blogworthy. I guess I'll have to tell Derek we need to work on making some blogworthy news too....Just kidding!!

Miscellaneous

2005-09-19T16:05:00.000-07:00

I have been doing a lot of random things lately. But I've been having a lot of fun too! Friday night Derek and I went and got stuff for our puppy who will be coming home in a few days. Then we watched "Monster-in-Law." (Which isn't very good by the way) Then Saturday I relaxed!! It was wonderful. It's been so long since I've spent the majority of a day relaxing. Then we went to the Saturday night service at church then Jeff, Katrina, and her fiance Brent came over and we watched football. (I know, not real exciting, but it was fun)

Sunday was a long day but a lot of fun. Of course it started with going to church but then from 4-8ish the church had a Praise Festival. They actually barricaded off the street and put a huge stage right in the middle and had 6 bands play throughout the afternoon. Some of the bands were just your normal praise and worship bands from some of the local churches, one band had a harmonica and a fiddle, which was cool, then the last two was some really hardcore rock music. (A lot like Broken Yoke!) It was hilarious watching senior citizens listen to the hard rock, but a lot left once it got to that. It was fun to just sit in the street, watch the bands, and meet lots and lots of new people! Sadly, someone in the neighborhood actually called the cops on the church. Can you believe it? And it was over about 8:15, so it wasn't even that late. Luckily, since they closed off the street, the city already knew about it, plus Pekin doesn't have a noise ordinance so they weren't doing anything wrong anyways. But who calls the cops on a church?

Today I got to go to a food show at the Civic Center. It's for restaurants and other food service organizations to go and see what kind of products are on the maket. And basically it's just booth after booth of samples and food demonstrations. I ate so much! And almost none of it was healthy! But who cares! It was a lot of fun.

This week I'm on Oncology. Then all I have is the ICU floor and I'm done with my rotations. But first I'll have to do 3 weeks of staff relief. But I think I'll enjoy it...hopefully. Then I'm off to the Community Rotations. I cannot wait to be done and get a real job!!

2005-09-18T18:28:00.000-07:00

Who is this strange man holding a dead animal....oh wait, that's my brother after a hair cut! Doesn't he look so much older?

2005-09-17T11:47:00.001-07:00

Isn't he cute?