Category: personal

Goals Update

Just wanted to check in and let you know how I’m doing with my 101 goals. Although I’ve only fully completed one task, I am working in bits and pieces on others. So for the sake of accountability, here’s the update:

#1 – Shop at a farmer’s market: I found out that one meets near my house every Saturday, and I have plans to visit with a friend of mine a week from tomorrow.

#2 – Cook dinner once a week for a month: I’ve actually cooked twice this week! And one was a new recipe! This is a breakthrough for me.

#7 – Do a bike race: I am officially in training for a triathlon, which totally counts. More on this soon.

#8 – Run another 5k: See #7

#9 – Unlock all the exercises on Wii Fit: It’s a slow process, but I’m working on it.

#10 – Do a Wii Fit body test once a week for 12 weeks: 2 weeks down.

#16 – Find the perfect mascara: I tried a new one that is definitely NOT perfect.

#20 – Pay off my credit card bill: I’m chipping away at it each month. This will probably take a couple of years, unfortunately.

#31 – Take the charge nurse class: I’m scheduled for sometime in May.

#33 – Get promoted: My annual evaluation is at the end of May, and I’m working on fulfilling all the requirements that will make me a “clinical colleague” instead of a “clinical apprentice.”

#36 – Watch all of the movies that have won Best Picture: I added them all to my Netflix queue. Only two are unavailable at the moment.

#40 – Read all the books I own but haven’t read: I added them all to my Goodreads “to read” list, and am reading one now (see sidebar).

#55 – Change passport to married name: I mailed my application, it’s out of my hands now.

#60 – Get the house painted: Through a friend, we are getting a major discount on professional painting and they’re coming next Wednesday! They are only doing the two hard rooms though; there will still be painting for us to do ourselves after that.

#73 – Babysit my new nephew: Well, he was born! That’s the first step, right?

#83 – Start using reusable shopping bags: I bought 5 at HEB. Now to use them on a regular basis!

#97 – Buy another leash and walk the dogs simultaneously: Done!

May 1, 2009
aunt kapachino

When I heard that my sister-in-law Vanessa was in labor on Tuesday morning, I had a lot of emotions and thoughts. Excitement, fear, nervousness, more excitement. Excitement because hello! New baby in the family! But nervousness and fear because although I love babies and kids, I’m not around them very much so I’m not always sure how to handle them. And there is that unknown quantity of how the family dynamics will change after this. I’m sure it will be great, even better than before, but change is always a little scary.

After a night of contractions and a day of labor in the hospital, Lucas Sim Forbes was born on Tuesday evening. It was really nice of him to choose that particular time to come because it made it pretty convenient for the whole family to be there. Although we only got to see him through the nursery window, we were able to go back yesterday and hold him ourselves!

David offered Lucas his first coke, but he wasn’t interested. Maybe next year.

I promise he’s not crying, just yawning! Being a baby is tiring work.

Up close and personal. He looks pretty good for one day old!

When I think back to high school when I first became friends with my brother-in-law Scott, and I think about our lives now, I can hardly believe it. We never would have thought that I would end up married to his brother, and he would be the first one of the family to get married and have a child! But I couldn’t have asked for a better family situation, where my family and David’s can come together so seamlessly. I’m really excited for this new addition, not least because I want to practice being around someone else’s baby before I have one of my own! :)

April 30, 2009
why i wish i could have stayed home today

Getting out of bed this morning around 4:30 a.m. was beyond hard. It was dark and stormy outside, and both of our dogs, scared, were pushed up next to our legs. David was softly snoring next to me. Our bed has never felt more comfortable.

But I dragged myself out, and was even able to leave the house on time; I was so proud of myself! It was steadily raining, but as I exited the freeway to make the turn into the park and ride, I realized that this was no ordinary April shower. All the cars pulled over to the side of the road with their lights blinking was the first thing to clue me in. When I got to the intersection to turn left under the freeway, I saw a car that had attempted to pass the high water, and failed. It was halfway under. Because I am so smart, I decided to opt out of that route, and I did a U-turn at the next light instead.

I made it to the park and ride only ten minutes late, but then I spent 15 minutes waiting for the bus only to find out that NONE of them had showed up, not even the earliest. I was not about to wait around indefinitely (cancer doesn’t get flooded in, people, my patients need me!), so I got back in my truck. I had to take a veeeeery roundabout route to get back onto the freeway, because high water was all over the place. The rest of the journey wasn’t bad, just a little slow. I was late to report, which throws me off, but I got everything sorted out.

Soon enough, I got an email from David telling me that my sister-in-law is in labor! As if I needed another reason to wish I wasn’t at work. Between work and church the next two days, I don’t know how I’m going to make it to the hospital – but I must! Scott and Vanessa aren’t just our siblings (in-law), they are two of our best friends.

I just hope the medical center doesn’t flood, stranding me here!

April 28, 2009
Snapshots of the Weekend

Me: So tell me about the NFL draft, I need to know this now!

David: (Blah blah Texans blah blah Cushing blah blah defensive end etc. etc. etc.)

Me: Hmm. You’re lucky that I already have a working knowledge of football.

David: Okay, what’s a cornerback?

Me: They are the people that mark the receivers.

David: Um, first of all, there is no “marking” in football.

Me: But isn’t that what they do? They cover the receivers?

David: Yes, but it’s not called “marking.” I played and watched sports for 27 years and I never heard the word “mark” until I went to one of your indoor soccer games.

Me: Huh.

***

Barry (little bro): So there was chocolate fondue involved in one of your nursing classes?

Me: Yeah, I was at this pain management workshop and the presenter brought out all these different fruits, marshmallows, graham crackers, and chocolate. She compared it all to pain medication and then told us to self-medicate. She also said that it was PRN.

Barry: Stares blankly. Is that a nursing joke?

Me: Yeah.

Barry: Ahh, that’s good. I appreciate that.

April 26, 2009
#97. Buy Another Leash and Walk the Dogs Simultaneously

I’ve let my dog Cleo get fat. There’s no getting around it; she’s gained a lot of weight since I got her a year and a half ago. This is what she looked like then:

And this is what she looks like now:

She’s a good couple inches rounder, and look at all that back fat! It’s embarrassing. Back then she could run 5 miles with me no problem, and now when I try to take her on a run she can barely make it around the neighborhood. (Full disclosure: I can’t run 5 miles anymore either.) I chalk this change up to two things: 1) I live with David now, and one of his favorite things is giving dogs treats. He does it frequently. 2) Eddie lives with us now, and somewhere along the way one of the leashes broke, so we can’t walk them at the same time and it’s too hard to walk them separately, and I know that’s a lame excuse but that’s what happened, OK?

Honestly, it was the leash that was the main thing holding me back from walking them. So when I went to HEB the other day I picked one up, along with a couple of choke collars. Turns out I bought the wrong size collars, but I still walked them anyway!

Tired girls after their walk.

So this was an easy one to check off the list of goals, and now hopefully we can start taking lots more walks!

April 23, 2009