5 Down, 3 to Go!

My manly man!

10/29/08

OK-- so technically Mark still has to write another paper and pass his end of rotation exam before we can check #5 off the list. He just completed his surgery rotation here in Albuquerque with Dr. Arredondo, a general surgeon. The Dr. mostly specializes in laproscopic procedures like gall bladder removals, hernia repairs, subcutaneous cyst removals and other boring things, but then of course there was the famous bilateral gynecomastia lumpectomy (man boob reduction--see post from 10/22). Mark was able to do more and see more exciting things assisting in big bloody OB/GYN surgeries, but I guess the patients are happy that laproscopic procedures are getting to be more common. Mark would LOVE to go into surgery as his career once he's out of school, but those jobs are hard to come by, so we'll just have to wait and see.

I talked him into taking the camera to work with him last week, and Dr. Arredondo said it was OK to have a nurse take some pics of him in the operating room. I was so excited!

A burly scrub tech and Mark

Dr. Arredondo (in glasses, holding scope) and Mark during a gall bladder removal

Yesterday (Tuesday) was his last day, and he was planning on working on his two papers, studying for his test, and revising his Master's thesis during the rest of the week. Well.....last night he was on the phone with his friend Jeremy from PA school, who said, "So did you turn in your thesis?" Mark said, "It's not due till Friday--what are you talking about?" Jeremy was like, "Dude, it was due yesterday." Turns out he was right. NOOOOO!!!!!!! He has had to turn in two drafts of it in previous months, but this was supposed to be his final draft, and of course he had put it off. He can't seem to write unless he's under pressure from an imminent deadline. Needless to say, he worked on his paper all night and this morning, and then I spent about 4 hours editing and proofreading it. If you think that's a long time, let me give you a taste of his paper, entitled "Physical and Psychological Implications of Growth Hormone Injections in Idiopathic Short Stature Adolescents":

Hindmarsh and Brook examined physical effects of growth hormone therapy by comparing 16 children that were two standard deviations below the median height for their same age cohorts.2 They were given growth hormone injections and compared to 10 children who did not receive injections over the course of 4-9 pubescent years. Both groups' overall growth results were measured at the end of the study. The 26 participants were followed until their growth level had reached a level of less than 0.5 cm per year and an x-ray showing effusion of the epiphysis plates of the hand and wrist.

...and it goes on like that for 20 pages. Actually kind of a short thesis, but plenty to sink your teeth into (I know there are others out there who think editing and proofreading are fun. You can admit it! I think it's rather enjoyable.) Anyway, I have written my fair share of technical research papers in my time for my biology minor, so Mark is always glad to have me finesse his. Now we're just hoping he doesn't get in trouble for having turned it in two days late....

His next rotation will be ER Medicine in a town called Española, which is 90 miles north of here. So on Sunday he'll be moving up there. Boo-hoo! It sounds like he'll be working some graveyard shifts. Española is known for its drug problems, so that should make things interesting. I am kind of-- well not kind of-- I AM stressed out because this means we'll be moving in about 7 weeks, which means I have to think about packing (EW) and actually cleaning/finishing up my life here in Albuquerque. It's the beginning of the end!

Zoo Boo

10/27/08

On Saturday, we and the ubiquitous Nadia, Beckham, Ravi, their dad Jeremy and 18,000 other people (that's like the entire population of my hometown) made our way over to the Rio Grande Zoo for" Zoo Boo". The kids all dressed up and there were fun activities and trick-or-treating. Madelyn eschewed her witch costume for her Snow White one, which she wore last Halloween but is still huge on her. Beckham was a foot ninja and Ravi was a knight/Super Why (unless you have toddlers, you probably won't get that one).

We decided to go on a train ride around the zoo, and here's who we were in line next to:

AREN'T THEY THE MOST ADORABLE THINGS EVER?!?!

Identical triplet girls dressed up as Belle, Sleeping Beauty and Cinderella! So then of course they wanted a picture with Snow White. It was so cute to watch them talking to each other. I imagine they were saying things like, "Oh, I love your dress! Do you live in a castle or a palace? Do you like parties? Do you have a pony because I do and her name is Lavender and I like to braid my hair what kind of shampoo do you use? Strawberry? Me too!" etc., etc. Anyway, they were very well-behaved little princesses (Trinity, Aspen and Payton) and are actually the same age as Madelyn, although they're a lot bigger. Madelyn even let them hold her Ariel mermaid doll, which is saying a lot.

Poofy dress or no, Madelyn still felt the need to scale every fence and climb every boulder she saw. Nadia said maybe she should have dressed up as Pocahontas instead. Or better yet, Mowgli. We could have just put a red loincloth on her and she probably would have loved it.

Ha, ha! I love this statue. There are all sorts of statues like this at the entrance of the zoo, and they're rather macabre even when it's not Halloween.

(I guess Ariel can't be safe without a seatbelt either...) If you fall asleep mid-Cheeto, you must have had a good day.

Case in Point!

10/25/08

So do you remember a while back when I was listing a few of my quirks, and one of the cardinal ones was that I have to clean the house if anybody is coming over? WELL........

This morning my Aunt Susan decided to come by unannounced (did your heart just skip a beat? I think Monica's just did.) to drop off a casserole dish that had formerly contained my green chile enchiladas. (I improved the recipe. Tell me if you want it.) Not only had I just rolled out of bed, but the house was (still is, actually) a Category 5 disaster area. Susan took one look at me in my jammies with disheveled hair, no makeup and stuff and dirty dishes everywhere and started laughing so hard she got a stitch in her side. I'm sure she went back to spread the word around that I am a fraud and only have the appearance of a neat person when given two hours notice. Which--giving me notice is probably in your best interest, because as soon as I have my Sarlacc pit installed, that's where any surprise visitors are going.

By the way, why am I the only one not going to Disneyland this year??? I just finished reading about the fourth blogging family I know to have gone in the past couple months. Geez. I guess Madelyn and I will have to continue going back to the Disney store at the mall to window-shop, since that's about as close as we're going to get.

Tagged Again!

Me and Nadia

10/22/08

I know you're all probably sick of hearing about me. Ha, ha! Too bad! My cousin Katie tagged me. Here goes:

8 TV shows I watch (when I do find the time to sit down)
1. Scrubs
2. Seinfeld
3. America's Next Top Model
4. Friends
5. The Simpson's
6. QVC & HSN (Home shopping networks. I never buy anything. I just tune in to people-watch and get jewelry ideas)
7. The Late Late Show with Craig Ferguson (I watched this a lot while Mark was in Silver City. It's stinking hilarious.)
8. Everything on PBS. We watch it constantly. I especially love the cooking shows and Nova Science Now

8 things that happened yesterday
1. Cleaned the house (sort of)
2. Made fresh guacamole
3. Had my friend Nadia and her two boys over all afternoon and we made 25 brown sugar and honey body polishes. If you're lucky, I'll be giving you one for Christmas. They're spa quality thanks to my excellent, vast (and not at all exaggerated) expertise.
4. Madelyn wore her witch costume for a good part of the day
5. Mark assisted in a surgery to reduce an 18-year-old kid's "man boobs" (not the technical term)
6. The pilot light in the hot water went out, discovered by Mark trying to take a shower. Bbbrrrrr!
7. Made an online order from Old Navy because Mark asked for long sleeve t-shirts to go under his scrubs. I'm always looking for an excuse to shop there, so it was awesome!! (You're supposed to sing the "awesome!!" part in your head.)
8. Madelyn fell asleep mid-bedtime snack with her face on the table in a puddle of noodle broth

8 things on my wish list
1. A new white bookshelf to go with...
2. A new bedroom set for Madelyn
3. A new armoire for our entertainment center
4. A house of my own
5. Mark to be DONE with school already
6. A real vacation
7. Madelyn to get potty trained
8. A baby

8 restaurants that I go to
1. Southwest Grill (burritos)
2. Pizza Hut (deep dish)
3. Golden Bowl Buffet (fried rice and egg drop soup)
4. Golden Corral (pot roast and rolls)
5. Olive Garden (capellini and fettuccine)
6. Taco Time (crispy burritos)
7. Pizza/Pasta Factory (bread sticks)
8. Pastry Pub (bagel sandwiches)

8 people I want to tag....Nichole, Kelly, Melanie (right back at ya~), Natalie, Liz, Nadia, Jen C. and Katie B. And now Kevin, because he needs to do a new post.

Taaarrrrrrggeeeetttttt

10/20/08

That's "Target", really long and drawn out. I spent three hours there today, and not on purpose. I accidentally locked my keys and my purse (which has my spare key) in my car and had to wait for Mark to finish work to come rescue me. Cool, huh. It's only been nine days since my last key mishap... I was in a hurry to get inside (urgent bathroom needs) and mistakenly grabbed the diaper bag instead of my purse. What I still can't fathom is how my keys got left behind, because I usually stick them straight into my pocket. I've just been so scatterbrained lately.

ANYWAYS...so Madelyn and I had to meander around there all afternoon, which, even though it's my favorite store, was a bit much. Especially since we were already tired and hungry to begin with. I did get some shopping done (had to wait to pay for it, but still) and I was just so thankful that Mark was still in town, because in two weeks he'll be living up in Española 90 miles away.

It was kind of ironic because right before all that happened, I saw some guy in the nearby Babies 'R Us parking lot getting bailed out by a locksmith and I had a little chuckle to myself. Then five minutes later, I made the same mistake! Oh, go on and say it:

HA, ha!

Moving on... Last weekend my brother Tyler and his wife Monica had a beautiful baby girl (see previous post) and I'm hoping she doesn't grow too big before I can see her in a couple of months.

Little Ava doesn't look the least bit squished for being only one day old. That's because Monica's labor/delivery took only 3 hours from beginning to end. Can I just say, L*U*C*K*Y !?

We also went and voted early (the lines are way shorter--I highly recommend it) and I entered Madelyn into the Gap casting call using some of the portraits I took of her. I did it just for kicks but it would be AWESOME if she got chosen to be one of their models. We'd get a free trip to San Francisco, she'd get a wardrobe to keep, and then her picture would be on the windows of Baby Gap stores. If you want to enter, too, go to www.gap.com. I think they're actually looking for models of all age groups. Here's Madelyn looking preppy:

Can you visualize it? Well, these weren't the pictures I entered, but you gotta admit she's pretty cute. I love those last ones with her hat and mittens. The hat accentuates her elf ears so well.

Oh, and here's a couple of bulletin boards I did this past week for nursery:

"Jesus said love everyone, treat them kindly too"

"I am like a star shining brightly"

Everyone who has talked to me for more than five minutes will probably hear me kvetch about my church calling, which is the ward nursery leader (circus ringleader is more like it). I love the kids, but it is a harrowing ordeal having all the children 18 mo-3 years in the ward thrust upon you every week for two hours. I've been in nursery for over two years. I didn't realize it until I wrote each kid's name on a star to go around the border for the second board, (some of which have already been pilfered by kids from the other ward's nursery) but I have 26 children enlisted!!! And most of them are aged two and under! Luckily, on any given Sunday there are "only" an average of 14 there, but that is still plenty. I looked at all those names on the board and thought, "No wonder I am so stressed out on Sundays"...

And now for one last random thing (I know, I know. I am incapable of doing short posts.) My brother Kevin, a Photoshop wiz, has doctored up this picture of Madelyn that we took at the Balloon Fiesta where she was pointing her light saber at the sky, and one of his daughter Hattie, who had a Yoda-like vibe going on.

"POOF! Well, that's one less TIE Fighter the Rebellion has to worry about."

He labeled this picture "Yattie". I have to say we Yoders have a soft spot for Yoda. (Can you guess why?) Mark and I are thinking that Kev needs to do a few more Star Wars kiddie candids and make a gallery.

I'm an Auntie again!!

10/18/08

Say hello to my new niece Ava Espyn Murset, who was born today!

She was 7 lbs, 14 oz and 21 inches long. She is so darling and I wish I could have been there for the happy event. Congratulations Tyler, Monica and big brother Nathan!