perfunctory year in review

Well, I guess that’s not true. I just want to briefly review what happened this year.

SCHOOL: I survived all my nursing courses and made good grades. I found a nursing mentor, Kathy, who was my clinical instructor. She is recommending me to the dean, so I will be first on the list for a scholarship to a new program in specialization in geriatrics. After she saw the work I did with the residents at tacoma lutheran, she really wanted to help me. I love school but the drive is killing me. Next semester will be better though, because I only have to be on campus 3 days a week versus the 5 days last semester.

HOME: Matt finished the roof, painted the whole living room, landscaped the backyard beautifully, and made other repairs to our 1940s home. We’ve lived here 5 years now, and I love my house more than ever!

PETS: We lost 3 pets last year due to old age: William, our rex rabbit, who I had to put to sleep because of a severe bacterial infection in his face. After getting an operation to remove the offending bacteria and infected tissue, the infection came back even stronger, and I just couldn’t stand to see him suffer.Then, we lost Diggens, who was Matt’s cat for almost 14 years. She was diabetic in the end and died while I was home doing homework. That cat hated me with a passion, but I took care of her in her last days like devoted mother. 1 month later, Matt’s 15 year old cat, Junior, also died. Unfortunately, nobody was home when he passed away, and I found him on the easy chair, dead, when I returned from grocery shopping. All 3 are buried in the backyard, and William has a plant on his grave. In the middle of the year, we adopted 2 miniature pinschers, which are glorified rat terriers. We drove all the way to Spokane, WA. to adopt them.We also acquired a new cat to keep our other cat, Henry, company. His name is Mr. Taco, and he’s a badass. We now have 2 bunnies that live outside in a hutch that Matt built. I guess you could say that we have a little farm around here. In 2009, I want to get some chickens so we can have fresh eggs.

FAMILY: My biological family drama was something I could have done without. My dad and I are still not speaking, and my mother is trying to re-establish a relationship with me through letters. I did call my mom this year and had a pleasant conversation with her, so that’s good. Matt and I’s relationship continues to flourish, and we have now been together for 12 (!) years. Theo turns 15 and we have a very close relationship despite him being a typical teenager that wants to spend every waking moment lamenting how life is unfair. He’s a great guy and I feel privileged to be his mom.

TRAVEL: I did a lot of that this year. In June, I traveled to Thailand with a couple friends and stayed two weeks. We traveled between cities via plane and train, toured a Thai nursing school and leprosy treatment center, and experienced things that I’ve only read about. Thailand is a wonderful place and I cannot wait to go back there someday. In late summer, Matt and I traveled to Denmark to visit friends and made a side trip for a week to Amsterdam. We had a fabulous time. My only complaint is that Holland and Denmark were hard on my wallet, and the rich food was a bit much for me. On the home front, we didn’t get to go camping ONCE, which was disappointing and odd. I think I just had too much homework and the weather didn’t quite cooperate. In 2009, I hope that Matt and I can go camping together, as well as make a couple trips to the woods alone. I bought a one person tent that I haven’t gotten to use yet, and I know that Matt is itching to get out to woods alone sooner than later.

HEALTH: Only a couple of complaints there. I was severely anemic for more than half the year and almost needed a blood transfusion. The body is generally slow to absorb iron, so it’s been a long, long wait to feel better despite taking supplements every day. I got a referral for minor surgery on my uterus to have endometrial ablation done sometime early in 2009, which should solve the anemia and blood loss problems. My lower back is better; I started stabilization exercises in 2008 and I only had one episode of being incapacitated, which lasted a week. I don’t see the spondylolithesis getting better; however, I don’t think I’ll need surgery as long as it stays at a Stage 2. I had some  MAJOR dental work done this year, too: I had 3 root canals and 2 crowns put in, which ended years of suffering. It took us years to save up for this very expensive work, which cost us about $3,000. I wish I had nice strong teeth like others do.

Well, I guess that about covers it. I hope that 2009 was as great as 2008 was!

 

Orange County, Los Angeles!

It’s time I updated this thing about my trip to California. I have been back in jet city for about a week, recovering from an extremely *stupid* thing I did: I let a very important medication run out when I was in CA., was unable to get it filled because they don’t have that particular drug store there, and wasn’t able to take it for almost 6 days. Not good. Since it is an SSRI medication, my body started to go into withdrawl. The withdrawl turned into a hell for me pretty quick, complete with extreme fatigue (matt could hardly rouse me, and one day I slept for almost 22 hours), disorientation, problems walking, and other assorted stupidity. All is well now; I have been back on the meds for 4 whole days and Iam back to my *normal* (haha) self.

So, my trip to California. It was lovely. I spent 2 days in Orange County and 4 days in Hollywood. The OC is always annoying, mostly due to having to see plastic people that dress like prostitutes. No, I’m not exaggerating. I should have gotten some photos of what I am talking about but was too lazy. Los Angeles is always fun. Love the old buildings, the dirt, the streets, the neon, the lore,everything. My hotel was right on Sunset strip, and my room had a great view on said street. I liked sitting there at night, watching the activity out the screen less window and listening to the sirens go by for what seemed like every 15 minutes. I went out to dinner with my friend Steve and his girl Esther (lovely, by the way. We had Thai food and margaritas made with Sake.); Had dinner with Monica, her fiancee, and her extended family (had Afghan food-yum!); saw my friend Amy, who I hadn’t seen since grade school (ummm…I am old. That was in 1982) and had a wonderful time catching up; back in OC I spent some time with ex Christopher, his wife, and their kids. That was also lovely-I held a baby for the first time since Theo was a baby. I think Matt was worried that I was having baby urges. I reassured him that I enjoy other peoples babies and just to leave it at that. Especially if they are as cute as Hannah was.

It was still snowing in Seattle when I got on the plane in OC but managed to get home just fine. I also got to enjoy the snow here for a couple more days after my return, much to the chagrin of the rest of the city. Seattle has had enough of the snow, apparently. I am glad that it isn’t 20 degrees here anymore, though.

So. How about some photos of the trip?

That is the famous Bradbury building, on Broadway in downtown LA. I say famous because the movie Bladerunner was filned here.The interior is amazing…and eerily quiet.

 Decrepit green building I fell in love with, located in the historic Theatre district of LA.Dinner with Monica.Me and Amy at Mel’s .Me and the extremely cute Joan. (love that name)