The week of Thanksgiving

Due to the nature of the week, I thought I would post a few things that I am grateful for this year. The obvious things go without saying (good friends, great family, great husband etc), this list is for the often overlooked things.

• Two lovely kitties with very distinct personalities. If Clete hears a loud noise, he will charge toward it and seems to take it as a personal affront that someone is daring to rouse him from his comfort. Boigie will take the first train down to the basement. Boigie showers you with affection and sometimes to a fault, sometimes I can't get away from him. Clete's affection must be earned, but you will be handsomely rewarded by his loud grumbling purrs and headbutts when you do!
• The bannisters and railings on our front porch. I have never been able to decorate for Christmas because I haven't had a front porch to decorate or it's been shared with someone else and had no outlets. This year I can do so with aplomb! After Thanksgiving, it's open season!
• Knitting. Who knew that a simple lunch time seminar courtesy of my friend S would turn into such a great passtime and fulfilling hobby!
• LL Bean Wool socks. I live in these socks this time of year, perfect for a chilly day at home (but they are way too chunky to fit in any kind of shoe you might have, this hefty sock is indoor only).
• Hood Gingerbread Eggnog. As if eggnog isn't decadent enough, the subtle spiciness of gingerbread makes it, dare I say, luxurious.
• Anticipation. I love the general anticipation I have at this time of year for everything from knitting someone a gift to deciding what cookies to bake this year to travelling home for the holidays. Oh and don't forget, impending bad weather, always a favorite!
• Christmas music. I no longer have to skip past it when it comes on during Shuffle!

3 Weeks Left...

This is the mantra I keep repeating to myself while trying to muster up the energy to get through this last push at the end of the semester.

Tuesday's schedule is incredibly grueling and gut-wrenchingly long. I leave my house at 645am and don't return till 1030pm. I have my clinical rotation that day, followed directly by a 3 hour class. To make matters worse, they are doing night construction on the highway I use to get home, which further prolongs my day by usually 15-20 minutes.

But alas, it will only go on for another 3 weeks and then sweet sweet Winter Break is here. Of course, because of my clincial fiasco where my preceptor abruptly took a leave of absence, I am behind on my hours and will have to continute the clinical rotation past the end of the semester while my cohorts are enjoying a worry free Christmas but what can I do.

I will be starting my new placement this Friday with a family physician kind of sort of close-ish to my house, closer than the other place and closer to place I go on Tuesdays ( that takes my 90 minutes to get there, if you can believe it).

So far, left on the docket is to present my case study on giardia which has been postponed 3 times now for various reasons. Then I also have to create a presentation which is basically an abstract of my project proposal. That shouldn't be too bad to put together, I have researched this material all semester and it's a spin off of my job so I'm comfortable with the material. It's just a matter of doing another presentation. Then I have to critique a note written by another colleague, making sure they have an accurate and inclusive H&P, differential, ordered proper tests and cited research for their plan. I've started working on that, I'll finish that up this weekend.

For the other class, I just have to keep on the readings, attend an online session, and take two more tests.

As T-Day Encroaches...

I've got nothing...no plan, no menu ideas. Luckily, it's just M and I. We are going to VT to have a late Thanksgiving with the in-laws on Saturday. We're thinking we need to have something very un-Thanksgiving like considering MIL will be making the usual expected Thanksgiving Day Dinner.

I'm thinking maybe lasagna...I'm in the mood for something cheesy and non poultry containing. M has already put in a request for a cherry pie which I haven't had in years I think. I will, of course, make the crust from scratch.

The other nice part about lasagna is that, short of a salad/vegetable and some sort of breadalicious goodness, you don't need to do much. You can't have too starches, that would be pigish. You've got your meat right there a top your starch, you've got your dairy nestled in there...this is sounding better and better the more I type about it.

Off to epicurious...

Leaves, Leaves, and More Leaves!

We got behind in leaf removal in the last two weeks or so....and boy did that come back to bite us in the keister.

We decided yesterday would be the day, I told M it would only be an hour or so and we could carry on with our day. Well, it was nearly a full day job, which my dear husband completed mostly solo.

I participated for an hour or so and got overwhelmed when he said we were going to do the front AND the back. The front is one thing, but the back is littered with pine needles, pine cones and acorns. The other thing to note here is that M is a perfectionist. I was instructed that I needed to also do leaf removal from the shrubs and the flower bed areas. I tried to use the excuse that the rake would pull the mulch up and we had to be careful of our tiny rose bush! No go, he said it had to be done.

I stuck with it for a few minutes longer and then thoughts of lunch started clouding my brain. My legitimate excuse was finishing my presentation for class on Tuesday, which I thought that just needed a light buffing but I ended up working on it for the rest of the time that M was working on the yard.

We also met the neighbors across the street. They are probably in their 50's, they mentioned having kids in their 30's and they are grandparents now. They seemed very nice and told us that if we needed anything to let them know. Nice neighbors!