Guess what came in the mail today...

Squeeeeeee! The MSL December issue. It's extra thick and I can't wait to tear into it to see all the glorious holiday craft and food ideas they've come up with this year.

I'm not gonna lie. There are some days that I just want to be this woman. Okay, maybe I don't truly mean that, because I love my own life. I suppose I just hope to one day have the means and time to own an acreage filled with flower and vegetable gardens and an orchard and farm animals and dogs (absolutely no cats allowed, though!) and the most comfortable of comfortable houses with lots of room for crafts and creative projects and space to display antiques/collectibles AND we can't forget the fantastic kitchen to do all my baking and cooking in. Call me crazy, but it's a lifestyle my little heart desires.

Speaking of collectibles, I have a secret: I like to collect things. Okay, okay. Maybe it's not such a secret to those of you who have seen my dining room (and the bookshelves that contain all my cookbooks in said room). The cookbooks are really the only collection I have going at the moment...but reading Martha always reminds me of all the other possibilities that are out there. Dishes/serve-ware/stemware, etc; milk glass; knife rests; salt cellars; antique jewelry...the options are limitless. Now, I'm not saying I want all this stuff. These are just some of the categories that I consider when thinking of the possibility of starting a new collection at some point down the road.

It all started when one of my uncles passed down to me a rock collection around the age of seven or eight. I kept it in this bright blue hat box and would take all the rocks out and look at them and then I would organize them and tuck them back in their home. When my mom would take me to the library I would check out "rock" books and pick out rocks that I didn't have to keep in mind for future acquisition. When we'd go to gift shops that had the bins full of all different kinds of rocks, I would beg to pick out one or two to add to my box.

I think that is part of the reason I enjoy it so much. It's like a hunt. You see what's out there, decide which ones you want to add to your group and figure out how to get them. Surveillance, strategy, and going in for the kill. Some people might say it all boils down to materialism, but I disagree. I look at as a hobby. Does it not sound similar to what all those boys do when they go deer hunting or fishing?

Though it would be fun to start something new, for the time being I'm gonna stick with cookbooks 'cause my little house would feel a little to stuffed with much else.

Trying to relax

I've officially been on vacation for nine days now. I feel well rested and the house has been deep-cleaned (for the most part). I've done some cooking and baking and caught up on a lot of television. I say all this leading up to my main point: I just can't seem to chill out.

I've developed this...well, I guess I'd call it a bad habit...of constantly thinking, "Okay, what do I need to do next?" over the past year or so. I've noticed that I don't just focus on whatever I'm doing. I've always got one hand in one basket and one hand in the other lately.

Don't get me wrong...I'm all for some multi-tasking. Apparently, we're supposed to grow better at it as we age (we as in women...how's that for a stereotype?). I just don't like that I'm doing it all the time. I mean, I can't even watch TV at night with out also reading a magazine or looking at a cook book and planning the weekly shopping list, or doing my nails, or this, or that. I've tried to just sit there, but it usually ends up with me feeling this nervous tic-like sensastion and my brain screaming: "I'm not being stimulated enough!! Read something, plan something! Do it or I'll make you explode!" (Okay. Maybe I'm being a little over-dramatic here, but sometimes this is really what it feels like.)(Oh, and please don't tell me I have ADHD, 'cause I don't. Seriously.)

I think part of this issue is due to my brain not having yet transitioned out of the classroom mentality it has been working under for the past 3.5 years. I no longer have to worry about that weekly quiz in the class that I hate or the two back-to-back exams next week or the presentation on Friday. I mean I get some of this on my intern rotations, but it's different than being in class. Maybe once I graduate and land a job and settle into a routine that doesn't change every month my neurons will find a little more peace.

May 2010, baby! Let the countdown begin.

I love my siblings!

My sister, Katie, just sent me this for Halloween:

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I have tears of laughter streaming down my face. These things are fantastic...and so are my siblings. :)

853 miles, 4 tanks of gas, and 14 Sonic cherry limeades later...

I completed rotation #3 in the great little town of...

This turned out to be a great rotation! I never would have thought that I could enjoy working at a little independent retail pharmacy, but I ended up really liking it. Now don't get ahead of yourself and start thinking that I'm gonna go work retail now. I'm still leaning toward the hospital side of the profession, but I must say that if this pharmacy called me up and offered me a job I would give it fair consideration. They basically let me work as a pharmacist at my own little computer entering prescriptions and then sometimes filling them as well. Aside from all the great experience I gained over the month here are a few little observations etc. that I picked up in that little town just southwest of LR about halfway to Pine Bluff:

• Pharmacy customers in small towns seem to be a lot more pleasant. They tend not to act like a-holes because you usually know who they are.


• There is nothing decorative about having a fake well in your front yard, but they seem to be very popular in this town.
• Don't forget your lunch very often because your only options are Sonic, Subway, or Sonic.


• Dogs here are smart enough to look both ways before crossing the street. (I witnessed it several times!)


• Some people out there, people that you would never expect, have the biggest hearts in the world.

I'll wrap things up with the best phone call we recieved that month:

Gentleman caller (GC): Do ya'll sell formaldehyde?

Rx: No sir.

GC: Well, do ya'll know where I could get me some 'cause I taxidermied a turkey and I think I left some meat in the wing 'cause its starting to smell pretty bad.

Uhhhh, what? Only in small town AR.

Tra la la, My sister is getting married...

And I'm sooo excited!! She'll be the first one of us sibs to take the plunge. I'm a miniscule, teensy bit sad though, because it means she's moving to Virginia...like next week!! That's where Andy, her fiancee, just moved to for a job. She's there right now visiting so I haven't got to chat with her in depth to get all the delicious details, but I'm sure it was fantastic and I'm sure her ring is beautiful and I can't, can't, can't wait for the wedding. Hooray!

Congrats Katie and Andy!

Your call is important to us. Please remain on the line. A representative will be with you shortly.

I can't shake the feeling that my life is on hold. Interning is a little more involved than I originally expected. Maybe it stems from the fact that I didn't get summer off or that, because of my hosital job, I have to work 12 days in a row every two weeks. I don't know. I'm not all sad and stuff...just kind of annoyed and frustrated. I like having me time where I can relax and work on little projects or read or cook or clean or whatever. I need that kind of stuff to "re-charge." I've also been involved in this school game for almost the past five years. I certainly don't regret it and am excited for what I'm about to accomplish...I'm just ready for the next chapter of my little story is all.

Let's turn my frown upside down...with a list, of course!

A couple things I'm looking forward too next summer:

• Earning a salary again. It's been too many years living on a college budget, especially since those days of drawing a paycheck are still fresh on my mind.
• Being able to plan, pay for and enjoy traveling/vacations. (So, so, so looking forward to this!)
• Getting back some me time.
• Feeling like an "official" adult.
• Having the time/financial means to really give back...both physically and monetarily.
• Getting a new car (not because I don't love you little 15 year old Camry...(translation: please don't die over the next 10 months!))
• Taking pride in all the sweat and tears I've put into earning the "Dr." that will go in front of my little name. Heck yes. :)

A Notion to Blog

If you can believe it I've thought about blogging pretty much everyday for the last ~2 months. Why haven't I blogged, you ask? Well, I kept chalking it up to not having enough time or being too tired, etc., etc.....but not anymore! I'm back.

As most of you are aware, I'm in my fourth year of p-school and have been working as an intern for the past few months. It's month three right now. Aside from missing out on summer vaca., interning has been better than being in class...so far anyway. Here's a quick run down on what I've been up to:

Rotation #1: During the month of June I worked at the AR Drug Info center located on UAMS campus. This turned out to be a great rotation to start out with. It's basically a call in center and we got to be the ones to answer to phones (there were two other students there with me that month). We had to do a lot of busy work during down times when we weren't getting a lot of calls, but it helped me review some info. I'd since lost in the recesses of the brain. Overall: good.

Rotation #2: In July I did my "over-the-counter" focused rotation at P*rk West pharmacy in west LR. I did not enjoy myself very much at this site. The employees were all very nice and what not...it was just BORING. The owner/pharmacist in charge of me had me spend most of my time sitting at a desk waiting for customers to come in who needed help with OTCs. Its a tiny store and therefore there were very few customers needing that kind of assistance. I also had to do a lot of presentation type stuff to faculty at the end of the month. Overall: ehhh.

Right now I'm working at another retail pharmacy in East End. I don't wanna go into detail until my grade gets locked in at the end of the month, you know, just in case my preceptor likes to search the internets, but it is going well so far...much better than last month.

I meant to take a vacation....I swear!

So, where to begin? I'm finished with school (woohooooo!) and have been enjoying my 3 weeks of summer vaca before my interning starts next week. I entered into this little break with the hope of chillin' out and taking some time to relax and laze around....but turns out I've been running around like a bullet train for the past two and a half weeks. Luckily I have the next five days before my first rotation to squeeze in some down time and you better believe I'm gonna take full advantage. Here's a run down of what I've been up to lately since I haven't talked to you in so long...in list form, of course!

-School ended on Friday, May 8th. I worked at the pharmacy the next couple days in order to make some dough.

-I left for STL on Wed. with my mother (yes, we drove...yes, it was a long drive) to attend my little bro's graduation from WashU.

-Got back from STL Friday night. Went to my sis Katie's graduation from UAMS College of Nursing on Saturday and spent the rest of the weekend hanging with my other sis, Ashley, who was in town from CO.


-My mother hired me to re-wallpaper her master bath which I started on Monday. This involved taking down the old wallpaper (easier than I thought), re-painting the crown moulding, and putting up new paper (which turned out not to be the pre-pasted kind...arrgh!). I was expecting the job to take about 15 hours...ended up taking 25 (finished late Thur. night). If anyone asks you to re-wallpaper a bathroom...RUN...run very far away. (1st pic is post demo, 2nd pic is new stuff)




-Friday was Jill's highschool graduation from Little Rock Christian. Had family in town. Did lots of cooking. Had lots of family drama (but I'll save that for another time). Suffice it to say, she's more than ready to head to college (she's going to Quachita).

-It was back to work on Sat./Sun. I've been getting crap shifts lately because everyone is on vacation. Double Argghh!

-Monday morning I left with my brother to head back to STL to help him move home. We spent a couple days packing and cleaning and ate a final italian meal on The Hill. I headed back to LR yesterday in his car, and he presumably left last night in a U-haul. He stuck around to spend some time with his g-friend. He's happy to be leaving his apartment, but sad to leave her.

-Now I'm home and more than ready to savor these last few days before I have to start showing the world what I've learned over these last three years. Cheers to some Me time!

13 more days...only 13 more days

These last few weeks have been challenging, but the end is finally in sight.

Brain power-wise, this semester has been one of the easier ones, but there has been so much little crap that we've had to do, I'm about to cut my left foot off. We had to get 40 volunteer-type hours, which doesn't sound like too much but when you can only do it in 2 to 4 hour blocks it drags on and on. We had to attend 2 AA meetings (which I haven't done yet, oops...anyone wanna go to an AA meeting this Saturday?) for my addiction class..............
I won't bore you with the rest, but it has just been a lot of "on your own time" kind of requirements and I usually use "my own time" to study so it has become a big mish mash of frustration and fatigue trying to get through each week.

Things to look forward to:

-May 8th is the big day!!! No more classes, quizzes, lectures, labs, or exams (except the summative exam in december and the NAPLEX exam next summer but since they are so far away we're not going to count them right now)

-I get to take a mini-vaca to STL for my brother's graduation in May. Katie also graduates this weekend from nursing school and, at least for right now, is gonna work in LR.

-Baby Sis is graduating in May too. She'll be heading to college soon. Sad but also exciting.

-All my intern rotations are in LR or NLR. Woohoo!! No crazy traveling around the state. (I'll tell you more about these in there own post.)

-I-phone. June 23. Oh yes, you will be mine.

You don't mess with WonderWoman

This is Jill. She is my youngest sister. This is her current facebook profile and I love it! I think she was three in this photo. She always had the best halloween costumes when she was little. She is currently eighteen and about to go off to college and that makes me a little sad. Here's what she looks like now all grown up...and extra pretty!

Speaking of siblings, I just found out that my brother and one of my other sisters both have tattoos! What?!! I guess I'm showing my age with my surprise. My brother just got his a week ago, but my sister has had her's for forever. She even hid it from everyone while we were in Paris last summer (it's on her wrist). It's funny that Peter and Ashley are kind of alike and they both ended up with tattoos....and me and Katie are kind of alike and we both got our tongues pierced back in our early college days (and just found out that each other did it a few months ago). Wonder what Jill's gonna do? Peter hypothesized that she'll end up with 17 illegitimate children. Guess we'll have to wait and see! (disclaimer: She is currently a very well behave young lady...that's why this is so funny.)

I mowed the lawn yesterday for the first time this season, and it was fun. I will not be saying this about lawn mowing come June, July, and August, but for now I am enjoying it. I'll leave you with a shot of our grape hyacinths that have sprouted in the backyard. How can you not love Spring when it brings in stuff like this??

Just go ahead and put me in traction already.

My spinal flare is gone. Hooray! No more sciatica! It alleviated early last week, and I was thoroughly relieved...

This morning, though, I was sitting at the computer and stretched my arms out and then something made a crinkly popping sound and now my neck and shoulder hurt. Uggh! Enough with the skeleto-muscular pain. I can't stand it anymore. Plus I'm out of naproxen-must get more on the way home from school. It feels like the majority of the pain is coming from my left shoulder where the large tendons are, so at least its not my spine again. Hopefully this will not last very long.

Moving on...

I know I'll probably get some flack for this, but I must say that it fills me with joy that we will be getting some more cold weather toward the end of this week. Don't think that I don't love a beautiful spring day...it's just that the sorrow of losing my beloved wintry cold takes precedence. I will say, though, that the impending springy-ness is exciting in its own right. I'm already getting anxious to plant flowers and watch our gardens flourish and start going to the farmers' market again and getting some sunshine on my skin.

Now I must head to school and read my novel for a few hours....errr, I mean listening intently to my professors lecture on highly important topics...

A Run Down

Things that are bad:

-My yahoo e-mail has apparently been hacked. If you get any weird looking e-mails from "me" @yahoo.com don't open 'em.

-My "lower back injury from like five years ago never ending annoyance" has reared its ugly head again...and this time its something new. I usually just have a stiffness and muscle spasm flare every few months, but this time it decide to show up as nerve pain. Blah. Picture lightning bolt shooting from my lower back through one or both hips down one or both legs with. every. step. It's been bad for about a week now. Surely it'll let up soon, right?

-I start interning in June and I'm starting to feel like I don't know ANYthing. What happened to all the stuff I've crammed into my head over the last three years? I don't know. I can't find it.... I've heard this is normal at this point in my schooling though, so I'm gonna try not to worry too much about it.

Things that are good:

-I learned at the start of this semester that I can purchase and download books onto my PDA and then read during class instead of sitting there drooling in utter boredom. I like to think of it as my own little ghetto Kindle. It feels great to get back into reading seeing as I haven't read for pleasure for any good chunk of time in at least the last couple years. Speaking of, read any good books lately?? I'm about to start "In the Woods," but am always looking for the next to add to the list since I spend at least three hours in class a day (=reading)...I go through them pretty quick.

-LOST is FINALLY on TV tonight. My sisters are coming over to watch and we're going to eat popcorn and it will be fantastic.

-I think I'm gonna go get a new phone today! This excites me immensely. It will be the first phone I've ever shelled out some real dough for (singing in head: "I'm a big kid now!" from the pull-ups commercial).

To iphone or Not to iphone

So, I think I want an iphone. I've had the "get a new phone" itch for about a month now. In the past I've always been stingy when it comes to phone expenses. I always go for one of the free models and never get a new phone until it's time to upgrade. I guess I don't mind coughing up the 200 for the phone because I've played with my sister's and decided it is totally cool, but I'm hung up on the 30 dollar a month data plan fee. Will it really be worth it? What do all you iphoners out there say? Worth every penny? Other pros/cons you care to share??

This week stinks.

But this little gem has helped turn my frown upside-down:



(Disclaimer: I still hate cats, though.)

Anyone need a shot?

Unfortunately I don't mean the alcoholic kind.

Yesterday I got certified to immunize! It was a little nerve racking at first jabbing a needle into my partner's arm (and then her into mine!), but now that I've done it a couple of times it feels like no big deal. Oh, and we were just dosing each other with normal saline, no actual vaccines while we were learning (and using each other as test subjects). I've been begging Blue to let me practice on him to no avail. I guess I can't blame him. Oh well, I suppose I'll have to wait until the next flu season when I'm out interning.

Blah. It's Friday, but since I have to work this weekend it doesn't feel like Friday. It is also the beginning of the "slow" season at the hospital, which means long, slow, boring shifts. I guess I'm glad that I have a job at least. Though there has been talk of cutting back on people's hours...Yikes! When this recession stuff starts to hit the healthcare field you know we're in trouble!!

"Can I take your order?" "Yes, I'll have a KATV-channel 8 cooked extra lame with a side of tremendous idiocy, please."

Really, channel 8? Really?

I was pretty frustrated last week when instead of showing the LOST season premier you had a basketball game on, but then I sit down last night to watch the television program that I most look forward to each week and, guess what...

YOU ARE ONCE AGAIN SHOWING A BASKETBALL GAME INSTEAD OF LOST!!

I could cut you a little slack if these were playoff games or even if an Arkansas team was playing in either game, but since neither applies all I can say is that I am beyond infuriated. If this happens again next week....I don't even know yet, but it won't be good.

All Work and No Play

Sheesh!

Christmas break was a complete blur. Actually, I'm gonna extend that blur out to the past 2.5 months. Busy, busy, busy! It was still a decent break though. I made it through finals and passed all my classes (phew!). Then it was on to wedding cake and celebrating E&J's fabulous wedding. Great times!! A few days later I was on a jet plane to MN for the Dad's family Christmas. Then it was back to work for the entire last week of vaca. including new years eve AND new years day. (Grrr...not my intention...never again will I tell work they can schedule me as much as possible during a certain time period.) Now I'm back in school looking forward to the last semester of classes! Woohoo!

The new year this year has felt a little strange so far. Not sure why. I just feel kind of old I guess...not in an "OMG, wrinkles and gray!" hair kind of way...just like my life isn't where I pictured it being when I was younger...and I don't mean that in a bad way, just that it is different. I sense this underlying feeling of time running out. Yes, I know in the grand scheme of things I'm still quite young, so in all reality I have many, many years left to do all the things I wish to do with my life (knock on wood)...it's just interesting how your perspective can shift from one year to the next. That's all.

I've never been one for resolutions, but I am looking to get things organized around the house. After living somewhere for almost three years the clutter builds up in the nooks and crannies and it is now time to tackle it...Spring cleaning, if you will since the weather down here already feels like it's about to turn in that direction to me. I don't know how you people tolerate such a lack of frosty weather!! :)