kapachino

Category: holidays

  • Wishing

    Today is not a good day for blogging. So here, look at some things on my Christmas wish list!

    rosetta-stone-spanish-big
    Rosetta Stone Spanish

    Pricey, but I hear it’s effective. Learning conversational Spanish is on my list of goals, plus it will help me a lot at work.

    1
    A Million Miles In A Thousand Years

    Love me some Donald Miller.

    pettag
    New tags for my dogs

    Cleo lost her tag in the backyard somewhere. And these are just adorable.

    mug
    Coffee travel mug

    Gotta stop those spills.

    headphones
    Sports headphones

    My little earbuds aren’t working too well anymore. They’re always falling out when I run.

    cookbook
    The Pioneer Woman Cooks

    Gotta be honest, I don’t read her blog. But I’ve heard a lot about the cookbook, and I think I’d like it.

    pinkAndWhiteMiaMED
    Clarisonic Mia skin care system

    It’s like giving yourself a facial!

    anthropologie-apron
    A cute apron

    The one I use now is plain white. Or, plain white with some stains on it. Either way, not cute.

    See you tomorrow, folks. Maybe I’ll have something to say.

  • Ten On Tuesday

    rr10tuesdayMy friend Chelsea (I can totally call her my friend now because we had dinner together once!) has started a weekly feature called “Ten On Tuesday” where she comes up with ten random questions and answers them. I haven’t had the time to participate for the last two weeks, but today I made it a point to because the questions are always interesting.

    1. What are you going to be for Halloween?
    In all likelihood, I won’t dress up at all. I work that day, as well as the day before and after, so I don’t plan to be going anywhere. I think I may have only dressed up for Halloween twice in my entire life. Boring, I know.

    2. Have you ever been on television?
    Racking my brain, and no, I don’t believe I have. Not even on the local channel for high school sports.

    3. Do you have a toilet paper preference?
    Yes. I always buy Quilted Northern double rolls. I think it’s because that’s what my parents always bought. Also, the paper needs to go over the top of the roll, not down the back.

    4. When you’re pregnant, will you find out the sex of the baby? Why or why not?
    Yes, I think so. I’m a planner and I think I’ll need some time to adjust.

    5. What are three items that every kitchen must have?
    Other than large appliances, I’d say a saucepan, a baking dish, and some basic utensils. You could make a lot of meals with those three things, I think. (What I’d like to know: what are your favorite kitchen gadgets? Christmas is coming up and I NEED TO KNOW!)

    6. Do you enjoy Christmas shopping?
    Yes, I do. I love the holidays and when I’m in the mood I like going out into the bustling crowds. I like having specific things in mind to shop for, and I feel accomplished when I find them. Also, ever since 9th grade my dad and I have taken a whole day and shopped together, just the two of us. It’s become very special to us, and something I look forward to every year.

    7. What is your go-to recipe? (The thing you cook more than anything else because it’s easy and mindless.) Please share the recipe.
    I think this is one of, if not THE first thing I learned to cook, and was the first meal I cooked for David when we were dating. So good.

    Enchilada Casserole
    1 pound lean ground beef
    1 cup chopped onion
    2 cloves garlic, minced
    2 (10 oz) cans enchilada sauce
    2 cups shredded cheddar cheese
    10 (6 in) tortillas
    1 (16 oz) can refried beans

    1. Preheat oven to 375 degrees.
    2. Cook beef, onion, garlic until beef is browned; drain.
    3. Stir in beans and enchilada sauce. Bring to a boil. Reduce heat to low and cook 5-6 minutes.
    4. Layer tortillas, beef/bean mixture, and cheese in a 13×9 dish.
    5. Bake, covered, for 20 minutes.
    6. Remove cover; bake 5 minutes.

    8. Do you sleep on your back, belly, or side?
    Never ever on my belly. I usually lie on my back to decompress, turn to my side to fall asleep, and then I wake up on my back again.

    9. How do you feel about Tom Cruise?
    Well, I think he’s kind of crazy. Definitely lost and misguided. But I do like a lot of his movies.

    10. What books are in your “books to read” stack?
    I’m trying to read all of the books I own but haven’t read yet. You can see my list here (as well as other books I’ve read), or I’ll list them for you:

    • The Corner: A Year in the Life of an Inner-City Neighborhood by David Simon (Got this one as a gift from my best friend years ago, because she did voluntary service in a similar neighborhood for a year)
    • Outlander by Diana Gabaldon (Supposed to read with a friend, but don’t know if that’s going to happen)
    • Sense and Sensibility by Jane Austen (I have the complete works)
    • Emma by Jane Austen
    • Northanger Abbey by Jane Austen
    • Lady Susan by Jane Austen
    • The Professor by Charlotte Bronte (I also have the complete works of the Bronte sisters)
    • Villette by Charlotte Bronte
    • The Merlin Trilogy by Mary Stewart
    • The Host by Stephenie Meyer (actually on loan from Maggie, she says I will like it)
    • Inferno by Dante Alighieri
    • Magical Thinking: True Stories by Augusten Burroughs (bought really cheap because I heard it was the best of his books)
    • Oliver Twist by Charles Dickens
    • The Interpretation of Murder by Jed Rubenfeld
    • Moby Dick by Herman Melville (I’m big on reading classics if you can’t tell)
    • The Poe Shadow by Matthew Pearl (loved The Dante Club by the same author and this one seems similar)
    • Extremely Loud and Incredibly Close by Jonathan Safran Foer
    • The Jane Austen Book Club by Karen Joy Fowler

    Okay…that is a lot of books! I need to get on that, especially since I’m trying to finish them all (plus some others) for my 101 goals.

  • It’s Not Just For Looking Pretty

    Oh right, I have a blog, and it’s something I’m supposed to WRITE in. I guess I’ve given myself kind of a break, because of the whole my-husband-had-surgery-right-before-we-moved-into-our-new-house business. We are having a lot of fun being there, but it sure is a lot of work. We still have a lot of walls to paint, fixtures, furniture, and other necessities to buy, as well as unpacking and organizing to do. There are times when it’s overwhelming, because I simply don’t have the time or energy to get it all done anytime soon, which is what my personality dictates. David told me the other day, “You know how I can tell that you’ve been really tired lately? I can leave a mess in the living room and you don’t even say anything.”

    Anyway, my sister-in-law gave me a hard time about neglecting this thing yesterday, so please accept my apologies. I will try to do better. SO…here are some things that have happened:

    >My husband had surgery for a condition he has in his hips. It’s going to be a long, difficult process to fix, and please pray for him because he’s in a lot of pain all the time.

    >One of our dogs, Eddy, probably tore her ACL. The vet said it could just be sprained, but after two weeks of rest and a week of anti-inflammatories, she’s still not putting any pressure on it. Poor girl wants to be just like her dad.

    >I was the matron of honor in a wedding, and I gave my first toast. I was really nervous, but it went well. David danced with me on his crutches, and it was cute.

    >Christmas came and went. I worked on the 25th, and it was the busiest day I’d had in weeks. Only the sickest of the sick don’t get to go home for Christmas. No fun.

    >BUT, we celebrated the night before with David’s family, and the day after with my family. It was all very merry. I don’t have any pictures because my camera is dead, I lost the charger somewhere along the way of the 5 houses we stayed in, and the new one I ordered doesn’t work.

    >The book we’re reading now for book club, The Pillars of the Earth, is excellent.

    One more thing: If you are a friend of mine, and you are a female, and you live somewhere in my vicinity, and you are interested in being my bike riding buddy, please let me know! This year I am resolving to use the nice road bike I have, and enter a race at some point. But I won’t ride alone, so that makes it difficult.

    Alright, that’s what I’ve got for now. Happy Sunday!

  • Thankful

    I’m sitting here at a computer in the hallway of my unit, Methodist Main 8 Northwest, finishing up my shift. I’ve had a sore throat since Sunday, swollen and tender glands since Monday, and a hacking, persistent cough since yesterday. It gets worse throughout the day, and by 8 p.m. I’m passed out in bed. I’ve had to be very careful to stay sterile here at work, although I don’t think I’m infectious.

    Although I don’t feel very well, I want to say that I am thankful for my health, and the health of my family. Yesterday, a patient of mine died on my shift. This was a man who we all knew very well around here, because he has been with us for a few months. He loved the University of Texas. Just a few weeks ago, he was depressed not because of his condition but because UT lost to Texas Tech. He had a very supportive wife and grown children about my age. When he was assigned to me yesterday, I was scared because I knew he didn’t have much longer. He was gasping for breath all day long. Right at the end of the shift, they told me they thought he was gone. I went into the room, and although I knew it was true, I felt for a pulse anyway. His wife was looking at me expectantly. I whispered to her, “I don’t feel anything,” and she just nodded and put her head down. His lips were white. His hands were cold. There was no more struggle in him.

    As I watched their family console each other, how could my mind not jump to my own family? To my own new husband, who I love more than anything in the world? I immediately wrote him an email to tell him that I will love him forever, and the most important thing is that he always knows that. There is a friend of a friend whose blog I read who lost her husband in a boating accident two years ago tomorrow. Today, she reflects on their last moments together. It is a beautiful and sad story, and it makes me want to hold onto my husband forever, but mostly it fills me with love for him.

    My job is a calling and a ministry, but sometimes it is a very very sad place to be. But I am grateful that every day it gives me perspective, and I pray that I will never forget this first death, and how my heart broke and I cried, and how tightly David held me when I got home.

  • Thirteen Things

    1. My day in the ICU yesterday was kind of boring. Both of my patients had brain aneurysms. They were awake, alert, mobile, and for the most part independent. That means there wasn’t a whole lot for us to do for them.

    2. One of the patients was a woman from Baton Rouge, a really sweet lady, and I loved her Cajun accent. She hugged me when I said goodbye to her.

    3. The other was a nice man who would have talked to me all day long if I’d let him. Once he found out that I majored in Christian ministry for my first degree, he told me his whole life story. It was very interesting, but for the sake of time I will just say that he was the founder of this ministry.

    4. There was a job fair at my school today, where I talked to four different hospitals. I was then inspired and went ahead and applied for the graduate nursing program at all four places. The application for the one I really want, though, is a little more extensive than the others and thus I am not finished with it.

    5. Luckily I know a woman who worked at that hospital for most of her life who agreed to write me a letter of recommendation.

    6. I have decided that I am mostly interested in working in the areas of critical care and oncology.

    7. I am really proud of my indoor soccer team, because we had an awesome come-from-behind win tonight.

    8. However, I do not appreciate the fact that there were no female subs, meaning I had to play the whole game, and thus I am utterly exhausted. (It is a coed team and three girls are required to play at all times – six players on the field total.)

    9. Tomorrow I have a clinical for my community health class. I make home visits to senior citizens for the Meals on Wheels program. I don’t like it a whole lot, but it’s not too bad.

    10. My birthday is next week. I will be 26 years old. The celebration begins this Saturday and ends a week later.

    11. I am giving up sugar for Lent this year. Lent begins right in the middle of birthday week, so I am going to stuff myself with cookies, cake, ice cream, brownies, and every kind of chocolate I can get my hands on before then.

    12. I need to shower in a bad way. Sometimes showering is such a chore, like when I’m tired and just want to go to sleep. When I was younger I used to skip it if I didn’t feel like it, even if I had played a soccer game that night. I guess sleep has always been my priority.

    13. But I don’t do that anymore!