I'M BACK!

Jul. 18th, 2009 10:24 am
hillarygayle: (Hottie Eyeshadow)
I returned yesterday from the trip to Memphis. Oh goodness I am SO GLAD to be home, where my stuff is and my boys are. I'm comfortable for the first time in the week.

Yesterday after I got home, Bryan & Ganon & I went into town. We wanted to hang out, so we went to Barnes & Noble and parked at the train table. Ganon played happily, we ate pretzels, we drank lemonade. After a while we decided to take him to see Nana & Papa so we could go see Harry Potter: HBP, but the strangest thing happened. Ganon started to cry pitifully, saying he didn't want to go see Nana & Papa...he wanted to stay with Mama & Daddy. OMG. That has never freaking happened. We were stoked; so much that we decided not to go. Instead we went to the mall playground where Ganon ran & climbed & jumped with the other kids. But we had Nana's phone, and she had to come get it from us, meaning that Ganon actually SAW her...and then there was a meltdown when she had to leave.

Bryan & I decided that HBP was in the cards after all, and met up with my parents to give them an obviously sleepy Ganon. (This turned out in retrospect to be an awesome idea, because he had a very big potty success later!) Then we hit the theater for the 4:30 showing of HBP, which we both really loved.

Rambling observations about the HBP movie )

After HBP, we went to Hiro. Hiro is a new Japanese restaurant in Jonesboro. Bryan & I had been praying and begging for it to be one of 2 things: 1) A sushi bar with "our type" of sushi, meaning unusual mixing of ingredients & spicy sauces, or 2) a place that had rice bowls (i.e. steamed rice with stir-fried beef or chicken or whatever on top). Anything but a tepanyaki grill, because we have 2 of those in town already. We were happy to find that while it does serve some tepanyaki stuff, they don't cook at your table, and the main focus is as a sit-down restaurant. They also have a decent sushi bar seating area, and they definitely had crazy sushi rolls. We had the Razorback and the Hiro. We liked the Razorback better, but it had one main issue: the fried oyster inside was very large and too crunchy--almost hard. It was a big roll, and that one hard spot on the inside, while providing a perfect contrast to the soft fish on top and the avocado inside, made the whole thing very hard to chew! It was literally difficult to eat the roll. Bryan & I started poking the oyster out & eating them separately. The Hiro was another very good roll, but it had avocado (both inside & on top) and cream cheese (inside). There was too much creaminess for the amount of heat provided by the honey sauce (a creamy sauce with a lot of wasabi) and the hiro sauce (a spicy mayo), both of which were creamy themselves.

Next time I certainly want to try the Harry Potter roll. It's soft-shell crab, asparagus, & cream cheese inside with seared tuna on top. If they could put some eel sauce on that for me, I think we'd be in serious business. Our waiter seemed to be heavily involved in running the restaurant, and he pegged us as sushi fans right away. He stood and talked to us a while about the types of things that we liked, and places where we'd eaten rolls like that. We told him that before, if we'd wanted sushi like this we'd have had to go to Memphis for Sekisui at least, and that we'd recently been enamored of Sake Toro in Frisco. I gave him a tip we learned at Sekisui: Sriracha hot sauce on certain rolls. We told him about the Fire Roll at Sekisui, and how each bit of shrimp tempura was topped with the slightest bit of Sriracha (rooster) sauce. He seemed quite interested, and I told him that if he made one with Sriracha on top he'd have to call it the Hillary roll, or maybe the Creecher. ^o^

We got Sonic drinks on the way home. For the record, their Mango Cool Breeze can be made into a cream slush and it's AWESOME.


Today the weather is DIVINE. Look at our highs for the next several days. It feels almost like autumn out here. I could just bask in it, but most likely what will happen is that we'll throw open all the windows & clean up this house. This entire year our house has suffered from my lack of time and motivation to really clean things up. Mostly I just clean things that have to be done, like laundry & the kitchen & bathrooms. Even the bathrooms suffer; I scrub the tub and the toilet because we use them often, but our bathroom cabinets are seriously icky. Anytime we've had people over I've vacuumed the carpet, and I think I might've dusted like 4 times in the last 12 months. Today I'd like to get some things done that haven't been done for a long time. I think I'm going to start with the bathrooms & the kitchen, and then move on to actually dusting & vacuuming the whole house.


Graduation is August 6. I can see the light at the end of the tunnel.
hillarygayle: (Galadriel)
Is the LSAT pure evil? - www.AceTheLSAT.com - Yup. And it wants to make you cry. Learn how to foil its evil plan.

(This was an actual advertisement on my Gmail this afternoon.)

One nursing shift is 12 hours of the most physically demanding, emotionally challenging, intellectually satisfying, spiritually fulfilling work possible.

Also it makes you tired enough to fall asleep while actually PLAYING MarioKart with your son.
hillarygayle: (Hottie Camera)

Mama's sunglasses
Originally uploaded by Hillary Gayle

hillarygayle: (PP Molly kicks ass)
Frisco

My inlaws live in a very neat town. There are things I already knew I liked about it: the Sprouts market, the mall, the proximity to an Apple Store, the presence of many stores I love. However, I found some more things I love about Frisco during our last trip down there.

Frisco is a big city, even if it is a "bedroom community" for the Dallas metro. However, just 10 years ago it was a town of 13,000--smaller than Jonesboro. The city seems to remember that & want to keep it the best aspects of it. To that end, Frisco is really big on promoting its community stuff. Each Friday night during the summer, Frisco is showing a movie on the lawn at the courthouse, free to anyone who wants to bring a blanket & watch. They have a farmer's market on Saturday and while it was kinda full of flea-market type stuff this time, it really looked all local. They really push their downtown area, and I can't even BEGIN to tell you how much I'd love to live in those adorable apartments in that adorable downtown. There's a sushi restaurant downtown that ranks as mine & Bryan's new favorite, pushing even Sekisui Cordova out of the #1 spot. It's called Sake Toro, and like Sekisui Cordova it uses traditional Japanese sushi as a jumping-off point for a thousand incredible variations. Crazy sauces, spicy toppings, crunchies, different fish used in unusual ways. It's so awesome. The whole downtown area is just a great little place; almost like Sesame Street. It's within biking distance of Market Street, one of the best gourmet grocery stores I've ever had the pleasure of meeting. I happen to know there are lots of knitters in Frisco, and a nice local coffee shop to meet at. If there's not already a group, by george someone needs to remedy that. ^_^

I don't know where all this is supposed to go. Just to point out that I kind of like Frisco. I'm pretty excited about the prospect of perhaps moving there someday.


Links

This is a remarkably sweet story: an unexpected path to parenthood.

I maintain that Twitter is pretty awesome. Arnold Schwarzenegger tweets about emergency landing. Get it from people who are there, whoever they are, you know? In fact, some of the CNN stories about Iran have been comprised entirely of tweeted quotes. I follow this person in Iran currently: Change For Iran.


For the first time, I know for certain that a patient I cared for has passed away. It's a very unique, indescribable feeling. This patient had been heavily sedated when I cared for them, so I can't say I knew them. I just don't want it to end that way for anyone: descending into sedation with no hope of coming back out, dead before you die. Empathy makes me a good nurse, but empathy is a double edged sword for sure.


Ganked from [personal profile] lady_ganesh:

If there is one person or more on your friends list who makes your world a better place just because they exist, and who you would not have met (in real life or not) without the Internet, then post this same sentence in your journal.

Oh HECK yes. Absolutely. [personal profile] cryfreedom and [personal profile] jorajo, I'm looking at you two first. It's strange to me, how startlingly STRONG my feelings for you two are, not so long after meeting you. I want to hug you and squeeze you and go to a DMB concert with you & [personal profile] quiara and sing & scream until we go hoarse. [personal profile] axelrod, you're another person who's made my world a better place by helping me to make it better for other people. In such a short time, you have broadened my horizons exponentially. Thank you.


Hillary Likes Clothing

I've been in a clothing mood lately. I managed to FINALLY get 2 maxi dresses at Old Navy not long ago. Normally Old Navy DOES NOT fit me unless we're talking plus sizes. Their regular sized clothes are cut for a straighter physique than mine (I am all plump curves; not a single straight line anywhere on me), and I often find that by the time they fit me in one place, they are huge in a different place, or way too small in another. These maxi dresses were very generously cut though, and empire waist, which is very flattering on me. I do have a belly, so I'm not sure why they don't make me look pregnant, but whatever! This one was so flattering I got 2 of them: one in cerulean blue and another in navy blue. They're the most comfortable things in the universe. There was one major problem with them (of course), and that's that the neckline goes ALL THE WAY to the empire waist. When I wear these things without a Lane Bryant cami underneath, it's like "HOLY CRAP here's Hillary's bosom!" It borders on indecent. However, I have about half a million Lane Bryant camisoles, so that is no problem.

I also bought a brown maxi dress for Ty's (one of my double cousins) wedding. I tweeted a photo of it the day I bought it. Anyway, only one thing was bugging me about the dress itself, and that's that my belly pooch was messing up the very elegant drape in the front. There's a ruched bust with a set of almost-pleats hanging down from it. The center one is the longest, and then the ones on either side get shorter & shorter. It's a neat effect if you do not have a pooch in the front that messes up the long line. Now I'm not someone who thinks there's something wrong with my body instead of the outfit, but this one tiny thing was NOT keeping me from buying this dress, so I brainstormed how to fix it. I remembered I'd bought a pair of Spanx Higher Power panties to wear with a pair of pants the Christmas after Ganon was born. Yesterday I decided to give those a test run to see how hot they'd be during this insane summer. I put them on under one of my Old Navy dresses & wore them to Ty & Jenny's outdoor engagement BBQ (this was way more fun than expected!). It was hot as hell, but not hotter than it would've been without them, really. When I tried the brown dress on with the Spanx underneath, behold! The drape falls perfectly. I'm stoked. I'm planning to wear the dress with a bright white, tunic-length button front shirt I got at Lane Bryant, and I'll be buying some bulky beaded jewelry from Earthbound Trading to wear with it all. Sounds very summery & casual dressy. I think I'm going to like it a lot.

Speaking of Lane Bryant, BRA SALE! I only buy bras when they're on sale, and I've been needing some for a while now. Cut for an in-depth discussion of having breasts )


Today Bryan & I are ostensibly organizing & cleaning in the house, but we're going very sporadically. We sit down to piddle with something, and then we get up and clean a bit more. Then we get distracted by something shiny, and then get up & organize something else. We're so happy & content when we're together, and both so laid back. We sap each other's motivation. ^_^


Self-Image

Sometime after it became clear that Weight Watchers was causing me to have seriously disordered eating, I "discovered" body acceptance on my own. It was tenuous & rooted in the fact that Bryan found me attractive no matter that I was larger than the "ideal woman", but it was there. Then I found people online who felt the same, and it got stronger through solidarity with other people. None of us saw why we should further hurt ourselves with starvation diets when it was clear our bodies had reached a stasis. Unless I starved myself, my body was not going anywhere below 210 lbs, and when you're hungry it means you NEED TO EAT. Hungry people don't function well, and that is a simple medical fact. So I can't see a diet that keeps me hungry as anything other than self-abuse. Anyway, that's where I've been for a long time, until a strange moment last night.

At Ty & Jenny's engagement party, we were playing silly games & doing silly things, and as per usual, I was running about with a camera, snapping photos of everyone when they least expect it. I tend not to be in the middle of my own family gatherings. Though I'm a social butterfly with my friends and online, in my family I prefer to stay on the periphery. I don't know why this is, but it's always been that way. Possibly because I'm VERY different from most folks in my family. Anyway, at some point they began to play tug of war. I laughingly took pictures as they played the first 2 games (in which each family in turn let go to make sure that either Ty or Jenny got dunked in the swimming pool between them). During the 3rd game, however, they played to actually see who would win. I noticed that there were more people on Jenny's side of the rope, and I don't know what possessed me...but I put the camera down and went to our side of the rope. Though there were more people on the other side, my family doesn't grow frail people. The thinnest person in my family is my sister, and that's because she's constantly on a diet and works out like CRAZY 5 times a week. The rest of us are not very tall, but...you remember how Pa always called Laura "stout as a little French pony" in the Little House on the Prairie books? That's us. We are a team of stout little ponies. Fewer people perhaps, but there was quite a bit "more" of us. ^o^

I grabbed the rope, planted my feet, and we started to pull. It was HARD, but I noticed something. A couple of times I grit my teeth, kinda half-yelled so I wouldn't do a Valsalva manuever (that's when you hold your breath & bear down; you can make yourself pass out like that--don't do it!), and pulled with every muscle in my body. Every single time I did that, the rope moved heavily in our favor. We won in a big way; 3 or 4 of Jenny's family members had to let go so they wouldn't fall in the pool. That moment I realized that physically, I am a seriously strong woman.

I think I had a revelation of sorts. I am not thin & frail like the ideal of beauty and that's more than okay with me. Thinness has it's own merits (many of the fastest people are quite thin, like my classmate Zak for example), but I have mine, too. I am 5'4", which is fairly short, and I weigh 205-210-ish lbs. I am stout, solid, and strong. There is no doubt that Zak could outrun me, but there's also no doubt I could pick him up and carry him. If, heaven forbid, I was ever forced into a physical altercation (I'm thinking truly combative or abusive patient here), I would be able to more than hold my own with most people. My classmates often come and get me when they need help turning or moving a patient. I have no problem moving even very large medical equipment. My body does exactly what I want it to when I'm working in the hospital. When I thought of myself as strong previously, I always thought of it in personality terms, or the strength of my character. I really like this new image of myself as physically strong. My mom used to say she was "fat as a water buffalo" but last night I began thinking of myself as "strong as an elephant", and found I rather like the comparison. An elephant isn't a swan, but it has it's own kind of grace, it's own brand of elegance born from strength. My thick thighs, my solid hips, my big arms--these things all contribute to that strength. For extra bonus points, I am very soft and huggable, and children who need a hug will cling to me like no tomorrow. Ganon uses me as a pillow--heck, sometimes Bryan uses me as a pillow. My plump self is strong when I need to be strong, and soft when I need to be soft. I'm not just at peace with that. I LOVE that. Instead of just being "okay" with being heavy-set, I actually find that I LIKE me this way.

Even more extra bonus points: Molly Weasley is a plump, strong redhead. Enough said.

Paradox!

Jun. 19th, 2009 09:39 am
hillarygayle: (PP Molly kicks ass)
The busier my life is, the more I have to blog about, but I blog less because I'm so busy DOING the things I have to blog about.

12 hour shifts are hard, but having 4 days in a row off is pretty stellar. We were in the ICU this week, and it was good & bad. The first 2 days I had boring patients who didn't require much support, the 3rd day I had to go to the ER because there weren't enough patients in the ICU, and the last 2 days were good because I had exciting patients. One gentleman was quite sassy, once I got him talking. I just loved him. ER was way interesting--I had a VERY old patient at one point. VERY. Like when the call came in from the ambulance bringing this person, we all looked at each other and said "WHOA." I've never even met someone that old, much less had to perform procedures on them.


1. If you could go back in time to change one choice in your life, what would it be?
The choices I've made have led to my life being the way it is now. I love my life, so changing decisions is a dangerous concept. Maybe this one: There was a cute guy in my stats class who tried to impress me with his Sailormoon videos that he'd ordered off the internet. I was unintentionally dismissive, so he thought I thought he was a dork. I ended up marrying him anyway (hee hee) but we could've been dating 4 months earlier.

2. What would you like your dying words to be?
BOOM DE YADA!

3. If you HAD to change bodies with someone you knew for 1 year, who would it be?
Bryan. I'd want to pick someone with a very different body from mine so I could see what it felt like. I thought at first I'd choose a very thin woman, but then I realized if I was going to do "very" different, I'd have to go male! Plus, it would be kind of awesome to see the other side of certain things. :) I wouldn't particularly want to put him through having a period every month, complete with cramps & crankiness & bloating. BLEH.

4. Choose your favorite license plate combination. What does it read?
I don't really care anything about license plates. Weird question.

5. What fantasy world would you live in (i.e., movie, tv show, book)?
HOGWARTS! Yes indeed, I'd pick the Potterverse and hopefully I'd be a witch. Q & I are always talking about attending Salem Witches' Academy for our graduate degrees. ^_^


Ganon & I are waiting on Bryan to get home from teaching the ACT cram session so we can go into town. We're going to sell back some of my nursing books and just generally hang out. Probably play in the mall playground. I think I want IHOP. I also think I want to have friends over to swim tomorrow.
hillarygayle: (Ganon Loud)
Privilege. Bold the ones that apply to you.

Cut for some length )
So in all, I am more privileged than TONS of people, and less privileged than some. I get to take many things for granted, but instead I try to remember those. I'm grateful for the things I've "had good" in my life, but not where they came at expense to someone else, and I maintain an awareness of the inherent unfairness of that. Interestingly enough, when you think of this as it originated--a classroom exercise where you take a step for each statement that applies to you--Bryan is a great deal further from the starting point than I am. Bryan was from an entirely different segment of middle class than me; we were both middle class but he was decidedly upper, and I was decidedly lower. In fact, financially it's possible I grew up in poverty, but it was not the "generational poverty" that some did.


Ganon woke up & we immediately set him on his potty this morning, determined to win the battle of wills that potty training has become. He's stubborn, but I am a nurse & Bryan's a teacher & we fancy we know something about dealing with strong-willed humans.

cut because some people don't care about the gritty details )

I can't figure how he could manage to hold it so long after waking up. First thing I have to do in the morning is go to the freaking bathroom!

Edit: And 30 minutes later I check his diaper. Still dry, so I put him on the potty again. He went in less than a minute. *head-effing-desk*
hillarygayle: (Firedancer DMB)
More Photobooth fun! )


In real life news, Bryan's in Hot Springs. It's driving him bananas, since he'd much rather be home. I was texting him stuff that Ganon was doing, and he texted back "You're killing me! I want out of here so bad!" He'll be home this afternoon.

At some point I gotta go into town. Bath & Body Works is having their huge, semi-annual sale. That's the only time my favorite scents come back, because most of them are "retired". Specifically, I'm hoping for some Cool Citrus Basil, White Tea & Ginger, and Lemongrass Sage. If I came across some Cinnamon Pumpkin I might stock it away for autumn.

As evidenced in a photo above, Big Whiskey & the Groogrux King came in yesterday! I'm listening to it [and the LiveTrax from Alpine that came with it. This Seek Up from Alpine is pretty choice.] Anyway, off BWGGK, I think my favorite song has to be Shake Me Like a Monkey. It's so heavy on the horns: Rashawn & Jeff really get to show off in that one. Baby Blue is sadder than sad. It makes me cry; it's so melancholy. It's that strange sad: the sad where you've accepted something and aren't fighting it anymore, but you're still shattered that now this is how it has to be. Resigned sadness, tinged with the beginnings of something else, something brighter. The ability to be happy when you think about the memories of the lost one. It's heartbreaking. So hard to listen to. Everyone else loves Alligator Pie, and I love that he wrote his daughter Stella into the song, but it isn't my favorite. Squirm really gives Shake Me Like a Monkey a run for its money. When I'm in a dark mood, Squirm will be my favorite. When I'm in a bright, happy mood, it'll be SMLAM.

Also, Dave has a thing for monkeys. This only makes him cooler in my eyes.

So now I'm making myself a naan pizza for lunch & doing housework that's been neglected while I played nurse for 3 days. ^o^
hillarygayle: (Ganon Loud)
Possibly my greatest moment of parenting thus far: sitting down with Ganon in the living room floor and having a serious conversation about how motorcycles are for boys (like Ganon) & girls (like Mama), but not for doggies (like Pete).


Went to Little Rock today. First we went to Newport so Bryan could get a few things done at school, but then we headed to LR and ate lunch at the Rivermarket. It's one of Bryan's favorite places; he loves the atmosphere and of course you KNOW I do. <3 The place is just awesome. After that, we went to the Museum of Discovery, down on Clinton Ave right next door to the Rivermarket itself. That was pretty cool, even if Ganon's a bit old for most of it. His favorite part was the room with--count 'em--FIVE train tables. I'm pretty sure that's Ganon heaven, right there. Whole Foods afterward, to get honey & some other stuff. We got Ganon some organic mini-waffles; Bryan's going to be responsible for breakfast, lunch & dinner on the days I have clinicals, and whatever makes that easier is good. Ganon can pick up a mini-waffle & eat it without much fuss. Even easier than cereal.

Tonight we're home, and I'm so tired. Exhaustion hits me heaviest behind the eyes, oddly. My eyes feel heavy, like the eyeballs themselves are made of stone--hard and dense.

Well, Mr. Overlord himself just came and laid across my lap. "HEEEEEEEEEEEEEY, Mamaaaaaaaaaa". I think someone needs some attention, so off I go.
hillarygayle: (BPAL Fire Pig)
So you remember all that stuff from the last entry? All those things I was going to accomplish? What ACTUALLY happened is that Courtney & Jagger (my sister & her son) came out to the pool deck and hung out. Therefore Ganon had a heart attack to go out and "see Jagger." Therefore we went out to the pool & spent a bit more than an hour swimming and getting nicely toasted by the sun. Then I got in and my BPAL had arrived, so now I'm wearing Velvet Tiki. Just finished co-signing a loan application for a classmate who was not going to be able to continue the nursing program if he didn't get a US citizen to co-sign his loan. I did it, because I'm in a position to do it, and I couldn't handle the guilt if he dropped out. Not knowing that I could've done something to prevent it. Sure, people ask me if I'm not afraid for my credit. I guess it's a little nervous, but life is made of risks. I choose to take risks on other humans. Now I'm hanging out, reading my DW reading list and thinking about having a nap in the sunlight on our couch.

Not a bad way to procrastinate, really. Looking out the window I can't comprehend that it's 5pm; it's still so sunny & breezy & nice.

Boom de yada.

More Ganon

May. 26th, 2009 03:56 pm
hillarygayle: (Hottie Camera)
Ganon took some more pictures for his Texas Grandminions, so I picked the best ones to share here.

 

a few more )
hillarygayle: (Hottie Red Earring)
I got a haircut! Yay. I know I'm growing it out, but a haircut like the one I had, when it grows out, can grow into a very scary thing. In fact, since some portions of everyone's hair grow faster than others, mine was turning into A MULLET. You couldn't tell this from the way it looked when I fixed it properly, but to wear a hat, I was flipping the bottom layer out so it would stick out from underneath a hat...and it looked VERY mullet without the hat on. Not cool. The stylist agreed with me. It was a simple trim; she took 2 full inches off the bottom layer and then evened the layers up so they were more cohesive and not just a bunch of weird wispy things all running in different directions. Probably photos for you tomorrow.


Just back in from planting more flowers (which is why you get no photos NOW). I have a basket on my porch, hanging from one of the rails. It's a metal frame, so it has to have a coconut fiber basket in it, and last year's was totally eaten by birds. Momma brought me a new one, as well as some of her old hanging baskets from last year, and a flat of begonias (half of them with the GORGEOUS bronze foliage I love so much). So my total is this:

2 hanging baskets with 4 begonias each (1 on each end of the clothesline)
1 impatien (variegated coral & white!) in a gnome planter on the porch
5 begonias in the porch rail planter
3 impatiens in a porch bowl
4 impatiens in each of 2 large planters at the front door
1 large round planter & 1 long narrow planter of Red Sails & Black-seeded Simpson lettuce on back porch
Impatiens, begonias, and asiatic lilies in flowerbed below back porch

And on the swimming pool deck, the only place I have full sun:
1 Cherokee purple tomato
1 sweet basil
2 black opal basil

YAAAAAAAY! If I had my way, I'd line the walls of the swimming pool deck with planters and put all the full-sun flowers I want up there. I may run the idea by Momma; she's as fond of plants as I am. I'd really like the deck to look like the hanging gardens of Babylon, honestly. ^o^


Tonight we're going over to Momma's house to eat steaks & french fries (I think I'm gonna bring over some broccoli too because I feel like eating some) and watch "Rise of the Lycans". Fun times.


Did you know that Hershey's brought back the Reese's Darks? OMG so much yum. They don't say anything about being limited edition, and it's a DARK CHOCOLATE PEANUT BUTTER CUP.

You see this? It is my day being made. O yes it is. Now Ganon & I will BOTH be on a constant quest for "cupcups." Yes, we still call them "cupcups", and no, we do not baby talk him. Cupcups was just too cute not to keep, and we're allowed ONE silly, adorable word he made up. It won't ruin him for kindergarten. ^o^

OMG HE'S GOING TO BE 3 IN JULY I'M SO FREAKED. What happened to mah bebbeh, and where did I get this little boy? This little boy who, when Mama is not looking, climbs into the barstool where I keep my laptop to play with it. How do I know this? Because I did not help him take these photos. To the contrary, I did NOT KNOW he was taking these pictures until I sat down earlier and looked at Photobooth. This had to be days ago; that's the last time he wore this shirt.

Ganon is good at PhotoBooth )

Me: Wow. Little man is a camera hog!
Bryan: Yeah. I don't know anyone else who's like that. *pointed look*
Me: ...shut up.
hillarygayle: (Agent Smith Not So Bad)
Brussels sprouts are one of those things I never know how to cook, even though when I eat them other places I always end up liking them. Well, this recipe for golden-crusted brussels sprouts sounds INCREDIBLE! Thanks for the link, [profile] beautyofgrey!


Today I planted! Momma had brought home way too many impatiens, and I took the flat she didn't use. I now have oodles of them in my backyard flowerbed. When they grow & fill out, they'll be super-thick and the colors will be really random. Since they're mixed in with the periwinkles & these really neat little flowers (of which I cannot recall the name! I need to take a pic so we can identify them!) that I planted 2 years ago and have lived through BOTH winters including the ice storm, and my asiatic lilies, it's going to have this neat, wildflower effect. It doesn't have any kind of intentional arrangement or anything, which is not my usual way about things. Momma got me this hilarious tiny planter for my porch as well: it's a gnome! He's standing by a bucket holding a shovel. I planted a variegated coral impatien in his bucket. He looks very happy.

My porch containers: one large bucket, one hanging basket, and one long, narrow, window-box type container are all filled with lettuce, as I was inspired last summer by [personal profile] velvetpage. She grew her own lettuce & got great mileage out of it, so I'm going to try it this summer. After reading up a bit, I found a few varieties that people have success in growing in my area in the shade. I have super-tiny little lettuce plants. SO CUTE.

On the pool deck, which is the only place I have full-sun, I planted a Cherokee purple tomato, a sweet basil, and a dark opal basil, which is a glorious purple color. I have such a thing for black/purple veggies. I may go & find one of those black beauty pepper plants again; I had great success with it last year. Unlike the tomatoes, squirrels showed no interest in the peppers. YAY ANTHOCYANINS!

Also I baked brownies. They do not contain anthocyanins but they are Ghirardelli dark chocolate. I ate them for supper and that was a bad idea, because now I'm on sugar overload. Bleh.


Bryan should be back tomorrow from Hot Springs. He went on Sunday for a workshop. It's so funny to talk to him on the phone & online. You know that list of reasons to date geeks? I think "Geek Guys Are Worth It"? I am reminded of those things every time I talk to him. He pings me online during the workshop; they have wireless & he busted out the laptop. He started to send me links & talk about how this one website was too distracting for him to look at during the workshop. It was full of stupid criminals, and Bryan loves stupid criminal stories. He actually took his Xbox 360 with him, because he'd been thinking about it when Nathan, the other math teacher who went, called & asked if he was planning on it. That made Bryan's decision. Now there are 2 geeky high school math teachers playing Xbox 360 in a hotel room in Hot Springs. I wish their students knew what their teachers did in the evenings & on weekends...and that these teachers could lay waste to any of them on any number of video games. :)


Ganon was exhausted by 4:30. He'd spent most of the day having fun outside; he helped me turn over the soil in the flowerbed. He drove his tiny lawn tractor around. That thing is actually useful; he drove my impatiens to the house from Momma's, he moved a bag of potting soil for me, and he drove my pool deck plants over all at once, saving me some trips. He's a VERY good driver, too. He steers wonderfully, and can actually use the reverse properly; he turns one way to get himself out of a bind, and then puts it back in drive and turns the wheel to go the other way. He ran all over the place, played on the swingset, and climbed everything. He was completely tuckered out & wanting to be held, so Momma sent him inside with me...which he did not like. There was the epic Battle of the Afternoon Nap. I won, but not without losing quite a few hit points. By the time he laid down, he was so spent that he fell asleep in about a minute. At that point, exhausted myself, I just flopped down on his trundle and went to sleep.

...We didn't wake up until 8pm. CRAP. I had the hardest time waking him up, but I knew I had to or we'd be up at 4am. So he's awake now, and after insisting on 2 rounds of MarioKart, he decided watching Thomas would be fine. A slice of peanut butter bread, a glass of juice, and Thomas the Tank Engine. This is the price I paid for writing this entry without a toddler on my lap, demanding to take his own picture with Photobooth.


I'm working on yet another Aibhlinn. I know; you'd think I was in love with that pattern or something. ^_~ I got 2 skeins of Noro Taiyo at YarnMart in Little Rock on Saturday, and for those of you who are knitters or crocheters and like cotton--this is my favorite cotton/silk blend ever! It's so soft, has such a wonderful drape, and of course the colors are so NORO. This is possibly my favorite yarn ever; it's certainly up there with Silk Garden.
hillarygayle: (Hottie Eyeshadow)
Here, have an icon of me in yellow & blue eyeshadow. ^_^

So today begins my "break". I am carrying 6 hours of online classes, yes, but to me? Holy crap is that a serious break. The alternative has been, for the last 9 months, sitting on my butt for 6 hours 4 days a week in lecture and running my feet off for 8 hours one day a week in clinicals. It's like ALL of my time has been spoken for for 9 months. This feels like HEAVEN; it takes me 1-2 hours a day to finish up my online classwork, and then I am free. Free to do what?

To clean my house.
To play with my son without thinking I should be accomplishing something else.
To hang out with my husband; I think I might like to play Resident Evil 5 with him. ^_^
To hang out with Q in the evenings when she gets the chance, and not be slacking on homework to do it.
To watch Jagger when Courtney wants to go on a walk. <3 Nephew!
To go into town to the mall & just walk around because I can.
To enjoy the spring.
To make french press coffee because I like the taste, not to keep me awake.
To take naps.
To sit on my porch.
To dink about on the internet, talking to friends whom I miss very much.
To write three letters by hand in response to three I recieved recently that simply made my day (I'm looking at you, [personal profile] wayfarersgirl, [personal profile] cryfreedom, and [personal profile] jorajo!)
To take Ganon to Frisco to go visit my mom-in-law, who is going to need it!
To make delicious, healthy lunches for me & Ganon without a thought to the time it takes (today we're having turkey pastrami, romaine, & hot spicy mustard on Greek flatbread!)
To drive to Mammoth Spring with Ganon to visit my Grandma W, and maybe eat at the Greek place in Cherokee Village.
To wake up early because I want to take advantage of all my free time, not because I have to get to class on time.

Oh that's nice.

I woke up this morning in a terrible mood, ironically. This is because I dreamed of alarm clocks all night. I was irritated & confused at first, but now I think it might've been my brain's completely eff'd up response to not having to do anything major. I had a whole pot of coffee & a sour cream cake donut for breakfast. Then I fired up some Butt Naked incense (smells like apples; great spring/summer incense) and began to clean up my kitchen, and now I'm feeling motivated. Oh yes.

I gotta figure out how to get my DMB mood theme over on Dreamwidth.
hillarygayle: (BFFs are shiny)
I have a tradition over at Livejournal and I see no reason not to continue it here. ^_^ I live in Weiner, AR, and the nearest town of any size is Jonesboro, Arkansas. Jonesboro's newspaper is the Jonesboro Sun, and they get so few letters to the editor that they publish any & all they recieve. Normally when I post the text of one, it's one that makes me angry with its pigheaded ignorance of the point of view of ANYONE who isn't white, protestant, middle-class and living in Jonesboro, Arkansas. Like this one!

Christian Nation ) So, you see, if you don't have religion you're a terrible person who murders and commits incest. Because of course professed Christians NEVER, EVER do anything wrong, and all those athiests I know just run around kicking puppies. I'm a follower of Christ myself, but this unwillingness to see the world in anything other than "us" or "them" completely baffles me. It also baffles me that so many Christians honestly believe they are being persecuted because they can't rub their religion in the faces of every child in a school. It's like they're honestly not able to put themselves in someone else's shoes. How would they feel if their child was in a majority Muslim school, and was asked to get up 5 times a day & pray toward Mecca? Offended? Then why on earth do they want to enforce that very thing in the other direction? You can't make people Christians by legislating Christian behavior.



Sometimes, however, we get a piece of pure gold.

A Job for God ) I always want to hug the ones who write in something that I agree with.

My mom sent me a photo from her cell phone today.

Momma sent me this photo from her cell phone. <3 

Click through to see the larger size; it's worth it to see how clearly you can see the grass through the water. Like you're looking through a bit of glass. That, by the way, is my son Ganon. He's currently our only child, though we do expect to go for another one after I graduate nursing school in August. He's a sweet little guy, and just as cautious as this picture suggests. Look at how gingerly he's putting his feet down. Somehow my extroverted, "eat life with chopsticks" self managed to get an adorably cautious, curious little introvert ([personal profile] quiara tells me if there is an extrovert in the world is qualified to raise an introvert, it's me!). I love him.
hillarygayle: (Hottie Red Queen)
We had that cardiology exam today. Guess who made a 91 on it? OH YES THAT'S RIGHT ME.

*dances*

I interpreted every. single. rhythm. strip. correctly. I'm so excited I could pop. This means even though I don't particularly like cardiology, I might not suck at it which is a definite plus for someone who wants to go into trauma. Let's face it, there's a little bit of everything in trauma.

After that, we had the final "party" for the Healthy Ager program, which means I am finished with that. We no longer have the enormous paperwork pre-plan that goes along with Friday clinicals. I have a formal care plan to do for tomorrow's patient, then we have hemodynamics next week along with an exam and a concept map (which we will probably do for Jennifer's formal care plan patient). Then a final, and honestly THAT'S IT. That is all in High Acuity and then it becomes hella clinicals all summer after May's online classes. I can see the light at the end of the tunnel! And it isn't a train! And if it IS a train, I WILL KICK ITS ASS, SHOVE IT OUT OF MY WAY, AND GET OUT OF THE DAMN TUNNEL.

So tonight I brought home Mexican food for supper and then we just hung out. Ganon played on his new swingset in the front yard, then played in the back yard while we just sat & watched. Relaxing. Now I'm going to finish this up and get some sleep.

Wow. This is a pretty incredible version of Crush. I would absolutely make out with Jeff Coffin for the way that man plays the saxophone.

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