and when that morning comes ill make coffee and you'll read the paper
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Thursday, January 8, 2009
12:18PM
I'm about to leave to meet with surgeons (a surgeon? I'm not really sure) about my foot. Today should be the day that we actually schedule the surgery. It's not like I'm excited to get cut open and all that, but I am so ready to have this be done with! I'm hoping that they can get me in either tomorrow or early next week... then back to work in a couple weeks!
On an unrelated note, I did finish my first of 4 papers for my english class today. It's only a rough draft but I think it is pretty good and we get peer reviews too. My goal is to have all the essays done before I have to go back to work so that I'm using this time off wisely. Hopefully I can do well in this class... I'm not sure if this professor will be a tough grader or not but at least I have the time to really devote myself to it.
This is my last class until nursing school!!
Wednesday, January 7, 2009
There is a cat sitting on my right leg and a dog half-climbing onto my computer from the left. It isn't that cold in here so I guess they just want some affection. I love pets!
On an unrelated note, Shari and I just found an amazing job opportunity... caretaker of Luscher Farm (out in the Stafford area between West Linn and Lake Oswego. It is gorgeous, comes with an amazing apartment. Sigh. I want it so bad! It's not that I want to move out of where we live now but OH MY GOD what an amazing opportunity. Living on a farm! Rent free(There's no pay so we'd have to keep our Starbucks jobs)!
Want Want Want.
Speaking of, I should go work on the letter of interest and tailoring my resume.
Cross your fingers...
Current mood:  hopeful
Sunday, January 4, 2009
It didn't really snow much in Colorado and Shari and I feel like we missed out a bit on all the winter weather.
Yeah yeah, it sucked and nobody could get anywhere.... but it's SNOW! Mother Nature's Prozac! I just love it. It feels good under your feet. It make everything look prettier. Dogs act crazy in it! (I took Tegan out about an hour ago to attack it/roll in it/eat it)
*sigh* I love that it snowed today!
Current mood:  giddy
Today I will make dog food.
For breakfast I made whole wheat waffles from scratch.
It's funny how it doesn't feel "domestic" if you do it every day, but other people think that it is so little-house-on-the-prarie to (for example) bake your own bread.
It's just the way we roll...
Off to freeze at the dog park!
Friday, January 2, 2009
I went to the doctor today to refer me to an orthopedic surgeon for my food.
<I haven't written anything about this foot injury here despite the copious amounts of time home that I've had. I broke it the day after Thanksgiving, had it put in a hard cast until last Monday, and discovered then that it isn't healing and needs surgery.>
I had to see a general practitioner because my dad's insurance changed on the 1st to Kaiser. I don't really care what it is as long as it is free for me but in this instance the change means that I have to start back from square one. The doctor I saw today was very nice and gave me a flu shot as a bonus. She also did exactly as I requested and "rediagnosed" the broken foot (yeah, they actually made her rediagnose me...) Then she gave me lots o' pain meds and sent me on my merry way.
I think part of the reason I liked her so much was that she was Indian (Name: Dr. Raj) and we watched a very cute and funny movie recently which was set in India. It gave the whole thing a positive spin. The movie, by the way, is called Outsourced and I recommend it to everyone.
From Dr. Raj I also got a referral to the Kaiser fracture clinic (I picture it like a really swanky club where you have to know important people like Dr. Raj just to get in.) They were only going to see me "sometime in the next two weeks" but after several calls I got them to schedule me for Monday morning. Yes! The worst part about this whole thing is the waiting and waiting and waiting. I'm crossing my fingers that scheduling surgery will be equally painless but I'm not entirely optimistic.
From the Kaiser offices my mom and I (she's my taxi of late when Shari is working or otherwise unavailable) went down to the local Multnomah county DHS to look into getting food stamps for me since my income is so reduced. Of course the office I found online was the wrong office to go to but it wasn't all bad because the desk person there was very nice and found me the right place to go and called ahead so they would expect me and no make me wait on my gimpy foot all afternoon.
This is where the day takes a turn for the worst...
When I finally arrived at the correct DHS office and tell the lady at the counter who I am, that I called ahead, etc. she acts like I am being so presumptuous and says that I have to take a number just like the rest of the people here and there is no way to "jump the line." So I sat and waited. And waited. And waited. And an hour and a half later they called the number a few before mine and I started to pay attention. So when they called some numbers (including mine) in quick succession, I got up and made my slow, gimpy way to the front. By the time I got there they had passed my number. I gave the lady my ticket and explained but she said it was too late and I was responsible for getting to the front when my name was called like anyone else. I didn't know what to do and she told me to take another ticket and wait again. At this point I was almost in tears from the frustration of it all and my foot hurting and her being SO RUDE and I knew I wouldn't get called before the cut-off time so I just left. I'll have to try again on Monday.
Now I'm home and off my foot and no longer upset about the whole thing. But I still think that she could have been slightly more understanding!
Current mood:  cold
Sunday, December 14, 2008
I didn't post about it here, but Shari and I were going to drive to Colorado to visit her sister, my friend, and her family for Christmas. We found a sitter for the cats, made curry (for the cat sitter), cooked bagels and instant foods and all sorts of good things to eat on the drive. Because I am gimpy, Shari did ALL of the packing, crammed everything into the car, made playlists to listen to, and generally got us all ready.
Cut to this morning. I got up early, checked the weather, and gave the all clear. We put all the last-minute stuff into the car and we set off. By the time we hit Troutdale the wind hit. By Multnomah Falls the snow began. At Cascade Locks the snow was covering the road and it was clear that we would not be able to make it another 700 miles today. So we are sitting in the living room priceline-ing flights and looking for a last-minute dog sitter and wondering how the fuck we are going to get Shari to her sister's birthday on the 17th. She's never missed one and I'm not ready for her to start now.
So today has been a very eventful day, and it is only just noon.
Sunday, November 23, 2008
At work today I was just about to leave (I was closing so it was the end of the night) and I have to push these rolling shelves of mugs and merchandise into a locked room since my store is basically a counter with no offices or backroom nearby (I have to go down the hall to fetch milk/ice/cups/lids/everything that we run out of at starbucks). So, as I wheeled the cart into the room for the night it hit a crooked tile (the floor tiles are all wonky like that, which sucks). Every cup on the shelf wobbled and then two or three clear glass mugs fell... and shattered. Then after I swept them up the dustpan became detached from the handle and it all fell out again right by the garbage. So I got to sweep up the mess twice and break stuff twice. Sucky...
Wednesday, November 5, 2008
I watched the elections last night with my grandma. It was a really interesting thing to experience with someone who came to this country as a young adult because she chose it. When they announced that Obama had won and we watched first McCain's concession speech (which was really gracious) and Obama's acceptance speech, she got tears in her eyes. She said that this is why she came to this country, that it isn't a perfect nation but that people are constantly working for and making change. She felt very proud to be a US citizen and she said that she wished my aunt could been there to see it.
Really cool.
Tuesday, November 4, 2008
I've been watching CNN with my grandma basically all day. I cleaned her house, so it's not like I've been parked in front of the TV but still, its been on. I'm pretty excited for this election, though I'm not really sure why. I know Obama is amazing and going to change our government and is probably the reincarnation of Jesus and all, but I'm just not as excited and "bought in" to his campaign as I was for Hillary and even Kerry in the past. Don't get me wrong, I didn't vote for McCain (almost voted for Nader since we live in a blue state anyway, but I didn't in the end) and I don't support him. I just feel like Obama is such a good speaker but is he a good leader? We'll see (hopefully). I do feel better about the Obama ticket with the addition of Biden, who has lots of experience as a senator.
I think the reason I'm watching TV is a little tickle of dread in the back of my mind that McCain may win. If he does who's in for a one-way trip to Canada?
Current mood:  stressed
Sunday, November 2, 2008
I know Montana is "Big Sky Country" but Colorado must come in at close second. We took a drive today and the clouds and the sky were so beautiful. It was really breathtaking. We drove to the cemetery where my aunt Linda is buried. She had a really rare form of cancer and died in July a couple years ago. It was strange to go there. It was a really beautiful place and there were some rocks that Mary Rose had put on her stone and some fake flowers in a jar. You could tell her daughters had been there. My grandma got all choked up and told me a story about her being honored posthumously at the Colorado Equestrian Association conference. She has little stories that wouldn't mean much except for they are about Linda. I was glad that I got to see her grave though because when she actually died I was working at camp and decided not to go to the funeral.
I'd never been to a cemetery before... very strange.
Tomorrow the cousins are back!
Current mood:  contemplative
Saturday, November 1, 2008
Today my grandma decided that I needed to see Silverton before my visit was over. So off we went. There is a train you can take up to Silverton but she thought it was done running for the winter so we drove (about 45 miles) instead. When we got there it was obvious that the train was running but the drive was beautiful anyways. I wasn't actually that impressed with the town.... it is really touristy place full of shops with crap made in China. We did drive about 5 miles north of town looking for a goldmine tour which turned out to be closed. We went for about 4.5 of the 5 miles on a gravel road... took me back to Camp Arrowhead! I saw a bear up on the mountain (which was scary, I am terrified of bears) and a bunch of rock slides and avalanches (also kinda scary.) All in all it was a pretty good day.
( Silverton rocks my socks off )
I'm not sure if the altitude has anything to do with it or the sketchy sandwiches we bought in Silverton but now I feel like I want to puke...
Current mood:  sick
Yesterday was Friday. It was also Halloween. In the spirit of that most sacred of holidays (at least to my young cousins) we made and decorated cookies. It was about the time that the dough had chilled and been rolled out that we realized that there were no cookie cutters in our house. So we got out some butter knives and revved up the old imaginations and made our own shapes for the cookies. I was pretty impressed by how mine turned out *brag* and Mary Rose made some very interesting artistic choices (a dog that looked suspiciously like a star, a tree that looked suspiciously like a star...). Margaret made a couple then go bored and cut circles with a cup. She would rather read all day than do something interactive.
These are "my" cookies
Yesterday was also fish Friday, so we got some salmon. Yum! Mary Rose licked a fish head. Yuck! My grandma made cold beet salad to go with it which was surprisingly good. She cooked beets then chilled them and added some vinegar and caraway seeds. They were sweet and tasted like crazy carrots. We also had to buy more bread and margarine. Grandma loves margarine almost as much as she loves bread. We have gone through almost two full containers of it since I've been here. I tried to get her to buy some that was saturated fat free but she likes the kind that she usually gets too much. I guess some habits die hard!!!
I'm also going to post now some pictures we took at a town near here on Thursday. Around 1940 their train tracks became to fragile to support the weight of a full locomotive and instead of replacing them they adapted some buses to run on the train tracks. They called it them the Galloping Geese.
( Pictures )
Current mood:  busy
Thursday, October 30, 2008
Margaret, Mary, Grandma, and I made Pilmeni today. It is a russian dumpling stuffed with ground turkey, onion, and spices. You make a bunch and boil them and eat with ketchup or sour cream. We made so many that we invited Paul (my uncle, their dad) and his girlfriend Kate (who I haven't met yet) to come over for dinner. Tomorrow I'm taking the girls to Coldstone since they've never been before. They just opened one in Durango. Today we played Scrabble and I let the girls play Sims2 on my computer. They used to have the first version on their computer but they don't anymore so they were very excited to play it. I had to limit them each to an hour because they were ready to kill each other for the right to play.
I heart Pimeni. I'm trying to decide what would be good as a vegetarian filling for it... maybe cabbage and onion and broccoli? I guess really you can put anything inside. I even found a recipe for rutabaga pilmeni when I searched for it online.
I am now 2 weeks ahead on my nutrition quizzes and one week ahead on homework (which takes a really long time to do). My goal is to get it all done while I'm here but if I can even do most of it thta'd be good.
Current mood:  blank
Monday, October 27, 2008
My grandma just showed me a bunch of pictures from Nova Scotia where Gordon was born. He was such a funny looking baby! Nothing like family photos...
The bread store that my grandma likes to go to is about 20 min each way from her house. (She goes there no matter how much bread I make for her... did I mention she loves bread?) Today on the way there she told me about how her family came to America. I decided that it is interesting enough to post here for your enjoyment.
Grandma was born in Estonia to parents who are ethnically German but who themselves were born and raised in Russia. The fell under the dissatisfaction of a Tsar and so left Russia for Estonia before she was born. Her father was a doctor and her mother had a masters (well, the equivalent) in slavic languages. She worked as an interpreter and a teacher. So Olga (my grandma) and her sister Nina (who I've always known as "Tanta Nina") were born and raised in relative wealth in southern Estonia. When Russia and the communists took over Estonia in 1939-1940, they fled to Germany. Apparently they were very lucky to get out of Estonia because Germany was only allowing people of German heritage to enter the country (y'know, cuz the Nazi's were trying to build the motherland and that didn't really allow for much immigration.) Her father had all of his parents birth certificates so they moved to SW Germany, where they lived for about 10 years.
I asked my grandma if she saw much Nazi activity. She said that everyone who wanted to participate in activities like hiking and camping belonged to the Nazi Youth, but that they didn't have to do anything but swear an oath to Hitler when they first joined. She knew one girl who was shamed by not being allowed to participate because she was "promiscuous" and not fit for the party. She was also required by the government (as were all able-bodied young people) to work on a farm in the summers. She would stay on the farm during the week and help with chores in exchange for some butter or milk to take home to her family on the weekends. They were to increase yields as much as possible in order to serve the war efforts. Her family felt lucky to be in a small town where no bombs were dropped.
Grandma's high school education was stopped and started several times because Germany was occupied by the French after WWII ended. She was able to graduate and go to first interpreter school (for slavic languages) and then medical school. She only completed two years of medical school before leaving to come to America. Her father wanted just the daughters to go because he had a pension coming to him but they refused to leave without him. They left because there didn't seem to be much future in Germany; the economy was very bad and the French were still occupying the area where they lived.
They emigrated to America on a boat which landed in New Orleans. Then they traveled by train to LA and then Santa Barbara, where they had some friends from Estonia. Her mother was the only one who got a job at first, working as a translator for the military. Her father worked as a doctor eventually and said life in the US was better than he'd dreamed for himself in Germany; he was glad he'd come. Grandma finished medical school at what is now part of UC Santa Barbara and then went on to do her residency in internal medicine at Harvard Medical School (where she met grandpa.) Something I didn't know: my grandpa was a pediatrician untiil he got to the air force and didn't want to be up at all hours. Then he changed to a "tamer" specialty, dermatology.
I hope that didn't bore you. I just wanted to write that down while I remember the details and because I thought some of you (if anyone really reads this) might find it interesting. If you have any questions for her, comment and I will ask her!
Current mood: good
Sunday, October 26, 2008
My grandparents belong to a dinner club, which basically means that once a month they eat out with a group of retired people. You have to be over 55 or a guest of a club member to attend. We went to a restaurant called Red Snapper and the food was really great. I had drunken hawaiian chicken with death-by-chocolate for dessert. I also had a $20 glass of wine, which is absolutely the most expensive beverage I've ever had! I wouldn't have chosen it on my own, but I just ordered what she did (seemed safe...) Anyways she didn't mind and was so happy that I went and had a good time thta it really didn't matter what we spent. Ahh, hanging with the grandparents!
We sat next to these two old ladies. One was too deaf to talk to much; the other was sort of interesting. Lady number 2 was complaining constantly about the food (too slow, too expensive) but she would take, for example, a tiny plate of salad from the salad bar and then eat 2 bites and leave the rest. I guess that is just all some people have to talk about.
It was really funny that all week people have been telling me about how great the salad bar at Red Snapper is and then when we got there everyone told me not to miss it (like it's hard to miss it!) It was an ok salad bar, with lettuce and vegetables and stuff. I wasn't exactly overwhelmed by it as I'd been led to believe I would be.
Tomorrow we're off to see grandma's physical therepist again. This lady is pretty cool, she doesn't "do" insurance. She just asks that her clients pay her what they feel she deserves (she suggests $20-40).
Current mood:  sore
Saturday, October 25, 2008
I just got back from Mesa Verde. It was amazing! So beautiful and mindblowing! We took a little trail to see one cliff dwelling and bought tickets for a tour to see Cliff Palace. Most things were closed because it wasn't summer, but I still saw plenty. For the tour, we went down these stone steps which were carved by archaeologists around 1910 or 1920. Then we walked all around the houses, even looking up inside the tower to see old decorations and drawings done when it was built. To get back up when the tour was done we had to climb up more stone steps to a series of wooden ladders. It was 100 feet up on ladders and let me tell you my ass has been kicked. Especially when you factor in the altitude. The most amazing part about that is the Pueblan ancestors who lived in the cliff dwellings farmed up above and lived in the cliff houses; they climbed up and down EVERY DAY. So here's to you, early cliff dwellers! Way to be extremely hardcore and amazing at building AND desert farming. Word.
( Pictures from Mesa Verde )
Current mood:  exhausted
Friday, October 24, 2008
This is random, sorry.
I'm so tired of women who have the whole world on their shoulders and instead of helping themselves or demanding the help of the people around them (husbands, etc) they just gripe and gripe. It isn't anyone in particular, I just saw someone on a TV show complaining that she did literally everything around the house (and she did!) and her husband did nothing. She was saying essentially that she loves her job and so she must shoulder all the responsibility.
ARE YOU FUCKING KIDDING?
What century do we live in? Are husbands/partners/family members supposed to contribute nothing? Isn't it supposed to be life sharing, not one person doing everything so the other can live completely worry free? And I don't really care whose job is more stressful/demanding/lucrative. If you are part of a family, contribute more than money to the equation. Houses don't clean themselves, babies don't care for themselves, and kids don't raise themselves. If you don't want to clean or care for or raise anything, don't. But you can't have it both ways!
I think people misunderstand feminism to mean that women can be equal to men in the workplace, but that they are still responsible for all the "women's work" as well. Ugh!
If someone finds themself in a situation which is not good for them (ie, stuck doing everything, feeling overwhelmed) they should STAND UP FOR THEMSELF. It is not being a bitch or demanding to say "hey, this is too much for me. As my husband/wife/partner/whatever, I need your help to make this family work." If the husband/wife/partner/whatever finds this to be unacceptable, I find them to be unacceptable!
Ok, now I'm done =)
Current mood:  pissed off
Thursday, October 23, 2008
9:54PM - W
I went into this movie with only the slightest inkling of what it was about. Yes, the name is rather self-explanatory, but the movie wasn't what I expected. It didn't totally wow me but it was very well done, well acted, and brought up things about his life that I hadn't previously known. It would be interesting to find out what exactly was fact and what was fiction. It could all be true but some had to have been made up to make an interesting story. Plus the personal encounters with the cabinet and his family are surely speculation.
I left the film feeling sorry for G. W. He appears to be a person struggling with alcohol and drug addiction, in search of faith that makes sense in day-to-day life, who lives in the shadow of a sucessful father and golden-boy brother. In addition, it appears that he is misled by his staff (specifically about those pesky WMDs) and want, in the end, to just lead this nation to greatness. I felt like I could identify with the character because of his flaws (I see similar issues in myself and people close to me) and I have always sincerely hoped that Bush's misdeeds in office were the result of his own inability to govern (and the inability of his staff to help him) and not true malevolence.
So I'm torn, I suppose, but it gave me things to think about.
YOU go see it and tell me what you thought!
Current mood: contemplative
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