The End is Near

The end is near. The end of Nick's semester is May 9th and mine ends May 12. The end of my employment is May 9th. (I hear angel's singing in the background.) That means I have five more shifts before we head back to Utah for my vacation/Nick's intensive study period. That's right folks, I've quit my job and now happily head into a brief period of unemployment. I'll be able to say, "I worked as a nurse once."
Also, with the end of the semester comes lots of studying and tests. We're both working pretty hard at our schooling. Actually, Nick is working really hard and I'm doing enough to get by. I took an O-chem test today that I felt I understood. Unfortunately that may mean I totally bombed it. We'll have to see.
Once again, Saint Louis has a huge advantage over Utah when it comes to beverages. It's called the "Hugo" at McDonald's. It's a 44 oz soft drink for 89 cents, AND they serve Diet Dr. Pepper. It's one of actually many things I'll miss in Saint Louis when we're in Utah for the summer.
Sarah Page and I went to the Botanical Gardens. The weather and the gardens were both absolutely beautiful. If only everyday could be like this.

And, welcome to the world, Baby Rose! You're going to love it. Your parent's are awesome! Your aunt Sara is so much fun. We're going to have a great time.

Happy Birthday Janette

One of my favorite people, Janette Douglas, is celebrating her birthday on Sunday. This picture is from our lunch outing, in honor of her birthday, on Friday. Miss A was beautifully behaved for almost the entire lunch. Brigham behaved himself too. Nick and I always have a great time with this couple.

Houseplants!

Once again, I am honored to be wasting your time. Tonight I bring you photos of the houseplants described in my previous blog entry. I know you were really curious. The top photo is the now replanted root-bound out-of-control greenery that was a gift from the hospital. We hardly ever pay attention to it, but it doesn't seem to mind. It now lives in a pot from the dollar store.
This plant is somehow related to Calla Lillies. When we bought it at the farmer's market, it was just a couple of little stalks. It resides in an IKEA pot.

African Violet

This is our African Violet. It was a gift for my birthday from a couple in our ward. It was our first houseplant as a married couple. It just celebrated its first year of life and its sixth month anniversary with us. We recently figured out we were over-sunning it, so it will start looking greener and healthier soon. One thing that's really cool about this plant is wick watering. It doesn't like being watered from above. Instead, it likes being moistened by a nylon wick that goes into the pool underneath and then through to the top of the pot. We re-potted it today, into its special self-watering container. You can set a similar system up with plastic cups, but this is so much cuter. It's called a Dandy Pot.
Soon after our first houseplant joined our little family, we bought a plant at the farmer's market for $1.50. But now that cheap plant is in a $4 pot from IKEA, so it's a more significant investment. It's tripled in size and looks pretty good.
The third plant in our little menagerie is a green one the nurses at work gave me when Grandpa died. It's in a place where we (meaning Nick) don't remember to water it all the time. That seems to suit it as it has been thriving, almost out of control. I re-potted it today and saw that I had waited much too long. It was almost entirely roots. I hope it likes its new home.
I also have an herb planter that I planted seeds in a few weeks ago. At this rate, we'll have enough herbs for a meal some time after Christmas.
Our dilemma now is what to do with our lovely plants when we go to Utah for our extended trip. Euthanasia may be an option for one of them, but I like our African Violet way too much to let it go. I even put a cutting in soil, trying to make a second plant.
Why are you still reading this? You have realized it's all about house plants, right? Do you have homework you should be doing? Do we need to take away the computer? I'm sure you have something more productive you could be doing.

Nick's Before and After

Nick's unruly hair at a softball game last week.

His much tamer hair after his Saturday haircut.

This Hairdo is Fierce!

The back of Kara's head before the haircut.

The After

The large pile of hair on the floor.
I didn't know my hair was so pretty from the back.

Earthquake and Various Updates

I'm sitting in my physics class while I blog this. We've just taken a test. I'm finished, but a few are still working on it, and there is a computer conveniently right in front of me.
I've had a few inquiries about the Midwest earthquake on Friday. Yes, it woke both Nick and me up. For the first moment, I was so startled I didn't know what had awakened me, that I was pretty frightened. That feeling quickly passed and I was superficially back to sleep in no time, but I hadn't been sleeping much or deeply anyway. Last night was the first half-way decent night of sleep I've had in almost a week. This stupid cold has become bronchitis and I've had a hard time sleeping with all of the coughing/not being able to breath. But with time and my inhaler, I'm almost feeling human again.

I even called in sick to work, which I hate to do because people hate it when you do it. And they even hate it worse when you call in sick on the weekend. That applied here also. I'm hoping I don't get too many tongue-lashings on my return.

Nick has finished the refurbishing of his mountain bike. I hardly recognized it. I think he rode it to school today because the Taurus was in front of the house when I left.

Be sure to check out Dallas's pictures of his vacation, particularly the ones of Mr. O and Lighting McQueen. O's smile is delightful. You can't see him and not smile.

Stephanie- not only are you happy that people are reading and acting on your blog, I'm happy that you're reading MY blog. I'm honored to be wasting your time.

Exciting news everyone! Nick got a haircut. It's not short, but it is respectable. We'll get a picture up soon.

Ten Pet Peeves

I think limiting it to just 10 pet peeves is the real challenge here. The hospital alone could inspire a list of a hundred. So in response to Stephanie's tag, here are 10 pet peeves, but not necessarily my top 10. More things that annoy me will certainly occur to me throughout the day.

1. Everything doctors don't do that they're supposed to.
2. Everything doctors do that they're not supposed to.
3. Smokers- St. Louis has made me hate smokers, in restaurants, outside school- everywhere.
4. The litter of smokers. Why does buying a pack give you a permit to leave the butts where ever you happen to be? Unless you're in your car, in which case you throw it outside where I can drive on top of it and fill my car with the stench of your cigarette.
5. NyQuil failing to deliver on its promise of letting you sleep. Having spent three consecutive, rather sleepless nights coughing, I'm not becoming a big fan.
6. People cracking their knuckles. It makes the most horrible sound and can't be good for the joints.
7. Visible/audible gum chewing.
8. People listening to their iPod when I'm trying to talk to them. Yes, Nick, that one's about you, but you're better about it now.
9. Engaged couples in general. They're often pretty annoying, as if they are the first people to ever be in love.
10. The barking dog in my neighborhood. I don't know where it is, but I can here it in the middle of the night. And during these recent sleepless nights, I've heard it all night. I would like that to stop.

Actual Dr/Patient Conversation

This is an actual patient/physician conversation that someone I may know had recently:
Dr: What happened to your pants?
Patient: I can't take the pressure!

Apparently the only three answers this patient can give is, "I can't take the pressure!" "All of them." and "Twenty years ago." Needless to say, the interview with the patient did not yield a lot of useful information.

Nick has been under the weather for a few days with malaise, sore throat and cold symptoms. I have now caught what he had, presumably from him. I should have known to keep away. I've had literally two gallons of water today and still feel dry and thirsty. I felt sick all day today, and was getting even worse this evening so I called in sick to work. Tomorrow, I want to be taken care of as a sick person, not take care of sick people for 12 hours.

Excitement with Jam

I've mentioned my much-anticipated "Artisan Bread in 5 Minutes a Day" book. Today I baked with Sarah Page (it is Wednesday after all.) By baked, I mean I took the high-moisture pre-risen bread dough out of her fridge, shaped it into a ball, then a little later, put it into the oven. My "slashing" of the bread was a little overkill as it came out of the oven looking like it had sprouted tumors. I also made jam, and by making jam, I mean that I gently warmed the jam Sarah had previously made, just to dissolve the sugar.

I have kicked myself twice today for not having a camera. Katie- I've got to get a bigger purse to carry my camera, because there are just too many opportunities to take pictures of weird things here.
The first missed photo opportunity was the homeless guy sleeping in the science building, using his shoe as a pillow. It was also very sad, but had an element of the ridiculous with the snake and turtle skeletons in the background.
The second photo op was a car at the gas station. I came out from the station to find a car so decrepit, I swear it must have been towed to that parking spot directly out of the junkyard. It was an Oldsmobile Omega (which I had never heard of before) whose color can be described as rust with primer details. The interior of the car was absolutely full, floor to ceiling, with boxes and bags. On top of all the junk and garbage on the passenger seat, was a fresh gourmet salad in a to-go container. I think it may have belonged to the napping hobo in the science building.

Saturday Night

It's been a long but good week. Nick has been studying while also attempting to become the first bicycle repairman/surgeon. He and Brigham Douglas have been hard at work both in reproductive endocrinology and bicycle restoration. Nick has had some hard times in St. Louis when it comes to bicycles. The first week we moved here, the first one got stolen. People who know St. Louis would totally blame Nick for that one. Who leaves a bike outside? Regardless of the lock. But that's not the whole story. First the front wheel got stolen. Nick, without my knowledge, "borrowed" the front wheel of my bicycle. Apparently the criminals then remembered to bring a pair of bolt cutters with them the next time and the whole thing was missing and I was left with a unicycle.
Bike #2, purchased at a garage sale, had a mishap in the garage. I say you shouldn't park it that close to a car.
Bike #3 was run over by the UPS truck, may it rest in peace. Actually, it's resting in pieces. Nick has the salvageable parts in a gallon zip lock bag. (See February blog entries.)
Bike #4 is the mountain bike Nick has had for a long time but is hard at work getting it in good riding condition again.

I just finished my third day in a row at work. I work tomorrow too, then I finally have a day off. Work has been harder for the nurses lately. The hospital is absolutely full, the patients are very sick, and and no one has enough nurses. Lucy- that is why you become an accountant instead. You'll love being a CPA.

Happy April

I can't come up with any great April Fool's pranks. But I am excited about starting a new month. There haven't been many frivolous blog posts with very all the very serious things going on, but I think I'm ready to start wasting your time with ramblings and musings of St. Louis again.
I think Nick and I have watched a total of 15 movies at home together while we've been married. We've watched far more television, but we almost never sit down and say, "Let's put in a movie." Last night we watched "Across the Universe" which is really a music video, or rather a series of music videos. Dallas really likes the music from it and I liked much of it. Over the weekend with friends, we watched "Dan in Real Like" on Shannon's recommendation, and everyone liked it. I've watched more movies in the last 3 days than I have in the last 9 months.

Anyone have any great recommendations?