Ho Ho HO

I want this for Christmas.

hello

So...maybe somebody hasn't updated in a while.  Whoops.

Well...what should I talk about?
-How huge and adorable and crazy my sweet little puppy has become?
-How awesome our house is?
-How the latest cake/baking project is going?
-How many lives I have touched while caring for patients?
-How many patients have touched my life?
-How much I dislike working nights and love love love clinic?
-How I'm sort of excited for Christmas but I'm sad I'll be working through it then taking Step 3 on my break?
-How about funny quotes from patients/nurses/residents?

I think that's a little too much.  Here are a few things of note:

Bailey is awesome.  She is super smart (too smart for her own good, really) so it's fun to teach her new tricks.  The basic ones (sit, stay, come) she's pretty good at, so now we're working on "Beer me" where she opens the fridge and gets us a beer and "Bang!" where she rolls to her side dead.  Our dog is going to be the coolest.

The house: also awesome.  Christmas lights are up.  Christmas tree is up, with wrapped presents under it! (Amazing what a month of averaging only 40 hours a week will do!)  Muddy pawprints are EVERYWHERE, but they're cute, right?

Prayers would be appreciated for my sweet mom, who fell last week and somehow exploded her humerus bone into her shoulder.  She had surgery earlier this week and they placed a metal rod in.  She got discharged home today, but still going to need a lot of prayers and a lot of patience for healing!

It's true, I'm working through Christmas then taking a 2-day (!!) exam...which isn't really my idea of a good "holiday break."  Thankfully, I will have a few extra days off after that, 2 weeks of clinic, then on vacation to PERU!  Super excited.

You know what else happens on Christmas?  My first payment of my student loans are due.  ON CHRISTMAS.

So in essence, I'm alive and well.  Alert and oriented times...uh...well times two at least.  Maybe you'll hear from me again before the next 5 months rolls around.  I'd like to put up more funny patient stories but the effort to make them completely anonymous seems a bit daunting, and I definitely don't want anyone to find me out!

Mission to Marzipan

I don't feel that I have the mental capacity to write a gushing narration about the amazing few weeks that I have had.  Instead, I'll shorten it to bullet points...maybe to elaborate later. :)

• I've been learning.  A lot.  You think you learn a lot when you're in medical school but it's an entirely different thing when YOU are the one making decisions.  Ordering tylenol for a patient becomes a big deal - "what if they have an allergy?"  "what's their liver function?"  "are they on other medicines that will react with it?"  "what dose is best for them?"  I've re-learned an insane amount of physiology too.  Awesome.
• With all the knowledge I've been gaining, I am feeling much more confident in myself.  When I get called about things I can handle - it's amazing.
• I miss my family.  Especially my puppy (who has grown so much I can hardly recognize her!) and Chris.  Chris has been unbelievably supportive, like always.  I'm so grateful for him!

• I might be making a wedding cake!  With my mom!  I don't have all the details yet, but making a wedding cake has always been something I wanted to do...so I'm very excited!
• Another thing that is going to be awesome - I'm entering a cake contest!  I just made a cake for Patrick's 21st birthday that I'm going to submit to Threadcakes.  Threadcakes is a cake competition run by a T-shirt website, threadless.com.  The idea is to make a cake that represents one of their shirts.    It's hard to describe, so I'll just put up pictures.  I know I won't win, but entering in itself is exciting.  :)  If I get another long weekend I may have to submit another! 

That's about all for now.  I suppose I should go read about "sick sinus syndrome" or how to treat people with congestive heart failure AND kidney failure.  Or maybe I can go hand-wash my dishes that have been sitting in the sink all week.  Maybe I'll just go eat some more ice cream that Chris bought me.  (Thanks, Christopher!)

Knowledge

Do you know how fast your brain can learn things? I don't know exactly, but after this past week it sure seems pretty fast. Nothing I learned in medical seemed quite so applicable until now. Now I wish I remembered more, and that I had understood the basics better before moving on to more advanced topics!

I started as "Dr. Twist" about 10 days ago, and man what a 10 days it's been! I can't even summarize how happy/sad/scared/proud I have felt because I feel like my emotions have been on a crazyride. I actually spent my first couple days writing about how I was feeling and, well, let's just say they aren't very happy posts! They may get posted here someday but it will be the "someday" they refer to when they say "someday you'll look back on this and laugh." Although things are going well now, I'm not quite there yet. :)

I've had plenty of lovely patients (and only a couple I would have preferred not to have) and I think Morehead's hospital is great. Everyone is SUPER nice (which is very much appreciated), and things are actually efficient. Here, if I want something done -- no matter how dumb or useless it may be -- I just write it in the chart and put it on the secretary's desk. No begging for consults, no calling the lab to do tests, no nothing! I just write it down and it magically happens. It's awesome! I never thought I would do hospitalist work and though I still don't love it I think I could do it in a place like this where everyone actually does their job (and does it pretty well, I might add!).

My patients have been good. The only really scary one was my first. I had no idea how anything worked - and my first patient had altered mental status (=completely out of it) and acute respiratory failure (=not really breathing). That isn't really a good combo, and especially for a brand new doctor like me. I walked into the room to check in and the respiratory therapist handed me some blood gases. "Here's his gases since we've had him on oxygen. Let me know if you want me to change any of his vent settings." Um, first of all, I thought the respiratory therapists were supposed to know how to do that!? Either way, his gases didn't look good and I had absolutely no clue what to do, who to ask for help, or where to go. I found some help eventually but let's just say it was a pretty traumatic experience!

Since then, things have been much, much better. My mom came up today and we went to Cave Run Lake and got some strawberry cake from a local bakery. I realized that (with the exception of the first day), I'm really, really happy. I'm actually helping patients get better. I like being in the hospital. My decisions matter for the first time. It's scary, but exhilarating.

I'm home for a few days now which is really nice. Chris is on a MD-PhD retreat, though, so I can't wait for him to come home tomorrow to have the family together again! :)

I'll try to update soon but...well...you know how it goes. I'm busy saving lives!

terrabul

You know what? I'm Terrible. (I always imagine charles barkley whenever I say terrible. An example here)

Terrible in the sense that I have somehow become too busy to write even though I still haven't started working! I might as well sign off forever once intern year starts...

Anyway, to recap, we finished all our "orientation" for school. It was overall pretty boring, occasionally helpful, and did not once remind me again how to work those acid-base problems and read EKGs. I suppose I should break out the dusty textbooks before I start.

I start on our one off-site rotation of the year, in Morehead, KY. It's about an hour away but I will not be commuting - they have housing available for us. I hear that I will get off more days than a usual rotation, which I hope is true...but we'll see. I don't have an official schedule yet but maybe it will come Monday! Let's hope! Chris and I are in a bit of a pickle as we are a one-car family right now (and that one car does not have air conditioning!) It's going to be tough to only have one car if I am not in the city.

I've started on too many "home improvement projects" - after we bought out Ikea, we also bought out Bed, Bath and Beyond and are working on Lowes. The house still looks a little bare but it's improving - we've got some blinds and curtains at least! I started the daunting task of taking off wallpaper from the bathrooms...gah. The guest bathroom was super easy so I thought that it would be similarly easy to do the bathroom downstairs. I was sadly, sadly mistaken.

Um...Oh yes! Also I had a cake decorating party! How awesome is that? A few girls (who are upcoming 4th year med students) asked me to teach them how to play with fondant and other cakey things, so we got together and made cakes! They all turned out SUPER cute, I can't wait to post pictures!

Bailey is getting huge! (probably 20 pounds, but that's over twice her weight when we got her 5 weeks ago!) She's into EVERYTHING and whenever I think my house is finally puppy-proof she finds something else that's not. She's a chewer, too. I don't mind that she chews on my stuff it's just annoying that she chews on me and my friends! It's a good thing she's adorable.

She is a smart pup, though, and under the right circumstances (meaning: few distractions and lots of dog cookies!) she can sit, stay, lay down, come, get in her kennel, and give me her paw to shake! Awww...sooo cute. She also fetches but not because I know hot to teach her to do that - just because she's a retriever and that's apparently what they do.

Well, I'd better try to get back to stripping wallpaper while the puppy is asleep. If you don't hear from me ever again, I ask for your prayers beginning July 1!

busy busy bee

There has been way too much going on for me to even start writing.

1) We got the house. It's so awesome. It's a lot of work, but awesome. I will upload before/after photos once we have some "after" to take photos of. We also went to Ikea. Oh.my.gosh. Awesome. We brought a U-haul to Ikea. Haha...yep. We also bought a giant television on super sale. We're living like I actually have a job! It's pretty fun!

2) Bailey is still chewing but is as cute as ever. Gah! Need more photos. :) I got a new phone (because my other one was going crazy for a couple months) and am currently trying to upload pictures to no avail. I hate technology sometimes!

3) Lots of lovely weddings. One more next week then done for a while. Photos and stories to come...someday!

4) Chris got into a car accident on Friday, thank goodness he is OK but his car isn't! :( I was out of town (and out of cell phone reception, actually) so I didn't even know - it was a traumatic experience but I suppose if anything good came of it it got us thinking about our own mortality and we're much more conscious of how much we care for each other. The house and puppy and everything else were getting in the way...now we're making plenty of time for each other! Unfortunately he's now out of town at a conference now...so it's just me and Bailey!

5) We start residency orientation on the 15th (I think?) It's coming up so fast and I am not ready!!! I want some more vacation! My house isn't done! My puppy isn't completely house trained! Oh man I need to fit in a lot in the next week.

Sorry so short. I need to focus on this dumb phone!

let sleeping dogs lie

My puppy is asleep.

Do I clean, exercise, or make cupcakes (that I will still NOT EAT)?

Or do I read about how to stop your puppy from chewing on EVERYTHING...even your face if it gets too close!

pups and pancakes

My time has been eaten up by one quite adorable puppy named Bailey.

Bailey Floski Twist Simmons, to be exact.

She's napping now, which means it's time for me to do something productive.

Maybe workout? Price lawnmower/washer/dryer for the new house? Play on facebook? Maybe make some more yummy BEAN PANCAKES. Seriously. They taste a little "healthy-ish" but they're full of fiber, protein, and I think with a little PB they're a pretty awesome snack.

1 can of white beans (Cannellini - rinsed)

3 eggs (medium)
2 Tbls of Splenda (to taste)
1 Tbl of Vanilla
1 tsp of Almond Extract
2-3 Tbls of Flax Seed*
1/4 cup of pecans/ walnuts*
1/4 cup fat free half-half
1 tsp of baking powder
1/2 tsp of baking soda
1 tsp of Cinnamon
1 tsp of Nutmeg

Place all ingredients into a food processor/ blender to combine. Can be made into pancakes or waffles with delicious results. :)
* optional

Edit: the first time I made these with navy beans (the small kind) that I had rinsed very well, added the flax seed and used a little milk instead of the half-half. I thought they were pretty good for a fiber/protein snack. The second time around, I used cannelini beans (bigger) and maybe didn't rinse them quite as well...and they tasted like beans (I also didn't use the flax, pecans, or nearly as much nutmeg). After the first icky pancake, I added pecan pieces and allspice to the mix. Quite a bit better. Of course, smothering it in PB doesn't hurt, either. :)

so I swore I would never be one of THOSE moms...

...but we haven't even had our puppy 24 hours and I've already called the vet...

...twice.

Here is a slideshow of her first day. Can you imagine what it will be like when we have human children?

Edit: We actually called the vet three times. And went over to the vet's office. Within 24 hours of having her! I think that might be a record.

For the record, though, I'm not THAT crazy - she had fleas and momma needed to get rid of those because I DO NOT LIKE BUGS. Crisis averted!

Diet

So....I started a diet.

I have never restricted what I eat before (except for giving up chocolate and things like that for Lent every year...which sometimes doesn't go too well!). I always feel like the food I eat is typically pretty healthy (except for my cupcake problem, you know...but I give most of them away!)

Anyway, I've noticed the past few months my clothes were getting a little tighter. I haven't gained a lot of weight but I figured that if I was going to tell my patients to diet and exercise for their health I should do it too.

The problem is, I am sort of enjoying it.

I really enjoy making food, and although I can't eat the cupcakes (I have about 50 cupcakes and a full size cake in my freezer right now that I've been making and can't eat ANY) I still get to make myself a nutritious and balanced breakfast, lunch, and dinner. I'm eating tons of fresh vegetables and I'm not starving! I actually even wanted a soda for lunch and passed it up for water...happily...what is wrong with me?!

Don't get me wrong, I was working on these cupcake toppers and made an entire bag of chocolate chips into modeling chocolate, I was molding this HUGE blob of chocolate last night - it smelled absolutely amazing and it was terrible not to eat any of it! But, I knew that I wasn't hungry and didn't need any of it. I don't even like the texture of modeling chocolate anyway, so I just reminded myself of that and had a healthy snack instead.

As an aside, Werthers makes sugar free hard candy (caramel flavor) that tastes just like FUNFETTI CUPCAKES. And you can eat 5 of them for 40 calories. It's not only my crazy brain that thinks that - Chris agreed with me. They're delicious!

You may hear more about how this is going...if not...I probably fell off the bandwagon just like my patients :)

Guess what else I'm doing today: Puppy-proofing my house because Bailey comes home tomorrow! I'm so excited! I'm also a dork and I keep googling "pet-safe household cleaners" "organic pet treat recipes" and other ridiculous things. I can't imagine how I will be when we actually have a baby on the way! :)

belated birthday (cake)

My dad's birthday was in April...and I took pictures of his cake! It was chocolate-raspberry (probably his favorite flavor combination). I tried really hard to make really fluffy pink icing layers inside but unfortunately most of them squished out with the weight of the dense cakes. So, I have no pictures of the inside - you'll just have to trust me that it was super yummy!

I made the frosting and the flowers out of something called "modeling chocolate" - it's actually really easy to make - just melt chocolate chips or candy melts and add corn syrup - it turns into a delicious Play Doh!

Happy Birthday, Dad!

cupcakes galore

My friend Kateri introduced me to a new website a couple weekends ago:

www.bettycrocker.com

I about fell over when I saw it (it wasn't the gin and tonic I was drinking, really). It has hundreds of recipes...for cupcakes! I'd been looking for a boozy cupcake to make, thinking about mojitos, mint juleps, margaritas, etc and the first two recipes that came up were for mojito cake and champagne cupcakes.

I needed to try these right away! The recipes use box cake mix - I usually like to make it myself because I like the "from scratch" flavors but I love any kind of cake so I wasn't about to stick my nose up at this. I made the pink champagne cupcakes (basically the only difference is using champagne instead of water, which I personally think is a good substitution!) and they got rave reviews from EVERYBODY - we had a party for Mother's day and a good family friend had a graduation party - and both groups enjoyed the cupcakes immensely!

They're cute on their own, but with these little bubbly sprinkles I got at the craft store how much cuter could they possibly get?! Yummmm...

Those were fun...and I just tried out a new recipe today (Ina Garten's chocolate cake) that I'm turning into graduation cupcakes for my cousin, Julia, who is graduating high school this weekend. One day I offered to make her a cake for her graduation - to my surprise, she accepted, and said that the cake needed to feed 60 people! Goodness...I have my work cut out for me! Once I decide how to make it I will most definitely be putting up pictures.

Edit: This is extra hard for me as I'm on a no-cupcake diet (not even tasting!) for the next few weeks...trying to shed the honeymoon/post-wedding/interview season/holiday/I-have-more-free-time-so-I-bake-a-lot extra pounds I've put on. Exercise just isn't going to cut it alone...but man oh man is it hard! Why did I agree to bake a cake when I can't eat any!??! why!?!

Dr. Katie

It's finally here!

I'm a doctor!

It's surreal...yesterday I woke up and was just regular old Katie, now I'm Dr. Katie. I don't feel any smarter, that's for sure. Actually, I still feel sort of dumb. Like I need to go get out some of my textbooks (before packing them away for good when we move) and learn something.

Am I really qualified for this?

Yes, I am. Even though I don't feel like

I don't know if I've ever mentioned this before, but a doc that I worked with once taught me this: She said nurse practitioners and PAs come in to her office to work and are confident in what they do, but medical students come in and are so unsure and nervous about making decisions. She then went on to tell me that, as medical students, we learn SO MUCH MORE than these other healthcare providers and have an extensive knowledge base. The difference, then, is that the NP/PA books are less detailed - almost excessively so. Their books simplify everything, but these providers KNOW everything in their book. They got a 100% on their exam. They are ultra confident they know everything there is to know.

Not us medical students. We have huge textbooks filled with every detail and we know that we have no idea what is in most of them. We realize we are limited in our knowledge, so we are hesitant to make firm decisions.

She's not discounting NP/PAs. They do a lot of work and there are plenty of them in her practice! She just wanted us to realize that we understand and know much more than we give ourselves credit for. This made me feel pretty awesome!

Sorry for all the rambling. I'm a doctor now! Hooray! We had a nice party at my mom's house and had a great day. I actually got everyone--and I mean EVERYONE--to come see my new house (we had the realtor open it up). It was fun to see everyone checking out our place - they all seemed to like it a lot. Which is good I suppose, because I like it a lot too!

What am I going to do with all my doctorness now? Well, today I'm making monkey bread to make up for the fact that I missed one of my best friend's bachelorette party last night (sorry Sab!) - I don't think this quite qualifies as hangover food but it's making my house smell amazing. This coming week, I'm making my first trip ever to Ikea and then...getting our puppy! The next week we'll close on our house and then I'll be moving. Lots of big changes coming up and I'm so excited to see what the future holds!

Workout DVDs part 2

I really like workout DVDs. You can wear your weird-looking but comfy shorts with only a sports bra, sweat until you think your face is about to fall off, and generally look as awkward as you need to in the privacy of your own home. Plus, there are some great workouts out there.

As I've had some time off recently I've been trying out lots of new workout DVDs. I still like Jillian Michaels 30 day shred because of the time:energy ratio - only about 25 minutes and you get a great workout. However, because I have all day to myself, I've been working out longer and harder (and I think I actually am starting to notice a result - amazing!) Here's my latest favorites:

The Firm: 500 Calorie Workout

The first time I did this workout I didn't like it because it was hard to follow - you probably need to try it at least twice, because I really like it now that I know what I'm doing. It's fast paced and there are a lot of combo moves. There are 5 strength and 5 cardio sets, each about 5 minutes long. Cardio includes step, kickboxing, and plyometrics. Strength is good all around but lots of lunges and squats - this one hurts my hamstrings if I'm not careful! This is about an hour total.

Amy Bento: Kickbox Xtreme

This seriously is extreme! The first time I did the workout I didn't realize that there were options (on the DVD menu) to change the length of the workout (about 5 options ranging from 30 minutes and up). This workout totals almost EIGHTY MINUTES LONG if you go all the way through. It's all cardio and uses no weights. The instructor is not the best at cueing (partly because everything is so fast paced) so you need to watch this one more than once to get the full benefit too. It's a great workout though and will definitely get your heart rate up.

Women's Health: Ultimate Fat Burn

2 cardio and 2 strength segments, the instructor is very encouraging (almost too much) and I do work up a sweat. This one is only around 30 minutes and intermediate intensity. There is a little "bonus" on the DVD that talks a bit about the background of all the instructors which was actually more interesting than I would have thought - after watching it I felt like I knew who I was exercising with!

Trainer's Edge: Killer abs and back

This one is good for an ab workout and the instructor wears an eye patch! My abs were a bit sore the next day so that was a good deal too. It's about 40 minutes, the first half is mostly cardio with a focus on abdominal movements and the second half is on the floor. He uses very light weights, a body bar, and a jump rope but I dont use any of these things and do just fine. :)

So, I've been exercising pretty good intensity since I stopped working two weeks ago. I hope to keep it up so once intern year rolls around it can all turn into flab. ;) Just kidding, sort of.

Also, on a non-exercise note: If you haven't ever seen "Dr. Horrible's Sing-a-Long," I recommend it (particularly after a drink or two). Quite funny.

Moving

I stole a few boxes from behind the liquor store this weekend.

I began packing today.

Holy Cow, we have a lot of stuff.

may is flying by!

I've been doing my best to keep myself as busy as possible lately, even without anything that I "have" to do. It's an awesome life, I've gotta admit! :)

• The house business is going quite smoothly. The inspector came and said the only major thing is it needs a new roof. Thankfully, living in Hailstorm City has blessed us with hail damage (which most insurance covers). The current owners are getting us a new roof very soon - awesome! We will (finally) close June 1...I can't wait! I just want to start packing and move all our stuff already! I need to find a BUNCH of big boxes, too.
• We've been obsessively watching HGTV to figure out how to decorate this "house." That sort of thing stresses me out, so we may just have a bunch of rooms with boxes for a while.
• I've been dying to make some food lately as I have been hanging out with my mama all week (she's off work too) and haven't cooked a darn thing. Usually I just read a bunch of recipes until I'm inspired to make something, but unfortunately I have not found anything to spark my interest. I did, however, make one delicious dish and one not-so-delicious dish today:

Delicious (and easy, and HEALTHY) guac!

2 avocados

1 can Ro-Tel Mexican Lime and Cilantro diced tomatoes

1 (or less) can navy beans

Blend the navy beans in a food processor with juice from tomatoes. Smash in both avocados. Add the tomatoes. Eat - on chips, pretzels, or a spoon.

The beans are an awesome addition because they add lots of fiber and protein, have no fat, and they're so mild you can hardly taste them. The Ro-tel is awesome because it has all your flavor in it and you don't have to do any work!

Just in case you wondered what they look like ;)

Not delicious quinoa dish

Leftover navy bean mash

regular tomatoes

quinoa

salt/pepper

lime juice

you know what, nevermind. I'm not even going to to tell you the rest...blech! Maybe adding navy beans to guacamole is a good idea, but not to quinoa. Have you ever used quinoa? (pronounced Keen-wa I think)...it's sort of a chewy nutty rice...I guess. I got a box to try recently since it's supposed to be one of the healthiest grains or something....Anyway, on to something else!

• So, I'm trying to think up something else delicious to make (preferably bake) since this weekend is Mother's day (a big family get-together at our place) and a family friend is graduating from...audiology or something. She's getting her doctorate which is pretty awesome! Here's a few ideas of what to make

Mint Julep Cupcakes

Mixed-Berry Chiffon Cake with Almond Cream Cheese Frosting (that's a mouthful!)

Magnolia Bakery Vanilla Cake

or maybe something else entirely. Or nothing at all!

• Gregory, my youngest brother, is graduating from high school this year and has decided to go away to college...in Oklahoma. We're all a little sad he wants to leave us but he wants to get a fresh start. He figured out how to get in-state tuition by pursuing a degree in aerospace engineering. My brother, the rocket scientist.

• Oh yes....and the most important of all.....

are you ready?!

We are getting a puppy!!!

HOORAY!

Isn't she adorable?! I met her yesterday, she is about 4 weeks old and we can get her the weekend of May 22. I'm so excited! She can just barely walk around :) I thought I was just going yesterday to look at the pups, but...well...you can see what happened. I fell in love.

We're deciding on names. I think right now our top ones are Lucy and Bailey. We have a list of maybe 10 names though, so maybe it will end up something else entirely! Awwww...

I probably should get to cleaning, packing, and getting ready for our new little addition! She won't be little for long :) I can't wait!

picture perfect

You're in for a photo treat today! I got Chris to upload TONS of photos for me, and I'm so excited that I'm going to share them all at once! Yay!

First, these are some gorgeous roses we got at Meijer a couple weeks ago. They were too pretty not to share!

Next is a set of photos of some cupcakes I made for my friend Sabrina's bridal shower. Sabrina was my roommate for...maybe four years? I can't remember exactly but it was a really long time! She's a super awesome friend and I'm so happy for her and John. John is definitely a lucky guy!
The cupcakes are a mixture of red velvet (of course with cream cheese frosting...yum!) and a special "princess funfetti" mix with only pink and purple sprinkles! :) I also made a couple "UK" cupcakes since Sabrina and John are super UK fans. I wish that I had gotten a close-up of the engagement ring cupcakes because I added "luster dust" on them - making them shiny and sparkly!
Me, in my cute little apron that Chris got me a couple Christmases ago!
I love how well the monograms turned out - it was so easy with my little food writing markers!
Mmm....velvety!

These pictures are WAY overdue - they were for my Grandpa's 90th birthday party. When I think of Grandpa, I think of bourbon, so this cake was perfect for him. I placed the bottle on top of a delicious chocolate chip cake, and we had both his families get together to celebrate 90 awesome years.
Oh and the brown "bourbon" color? Those are peanut butter candy melts. The only thing yummier than a rice crispy treat is a rice crispy treat covered in peanut butter candy!


Hooray for cake! :) Now the only photos I'm missing are those of my dad's chocolate-raspberry layer cake that I made for his birthday. He's got those pictures (not Chris this time!) so I've got to get those from him.

Now that school's out I'm working on a pretty sweet project that I will give you details on soon. A sweet project that actually does not include cleaning my house, painting my fingernails, or the rainy yucky weather. It does involve cake, though, and a bunch of other things. That's just a hint. I hope you are excited. :)

the family doc

My mom has had a chronic cough of and on for years. She typically seems to get a cold sometime throughout the winter and, although she gets over the acute illness, a dry cough lingers for months afterwards. She obviously hates it and my dad has made it clear that it drives him crazy.

Unfortunately, tax season always seems to ramp up right as the cough starts. My mom is a CPA and gets extremely busy this time of year. Things also always seem to fall apart in one way or another during this time every year. One year, my brother had appendicitis. Another year my grandma got sick. This year my grandpa Joe had a bad fall that led to his passing away in March. These months are always so busy for my mom and she doesn't have much time to get seen by a doctor.

But she went to the doctor anyway! She was so sick of coughing that she went to a few appointments. She was prescribed a couple different rounds of antibiotics, steroids, allergy medicine, and even an inhaler! Nothing seemed to help...

One day a couple weeks ago my mom asked me what specialist she should go to for her cough once April 15 passed by. She told me she was planning to make an appointment with an ENT, a pulmonologist, and an allergist. Holy cow - that seemed excessive but apparently she wanted to get to the root of the problem. This cough was driving her nuts! I felt sort of guilty that, here I was, almost an MD and I hadn't even thought about how much it was affecting her.

She had already been prescribed good antibiotics and due to the length of the problem it seemed unlikely she had an ongoing infection (unless it's fungal or something really weird, which is unlikely). My first guess after a URI was allergies/asthma. She does seem to have reactive airways that are worst in the wintertime. She has never been diagnosed with asthma but it runs in the family so it could be a cause. However, the steroids should have helped with that and the inhaler would have made a dramatic difference.

What else could cause a chronic, dry cough? The only thing I could think of was GERD. My mom has no history of heartburn, doesn't ever notice a sour taste in her mouth, and is completely healthy other than this cough. When I suggested this diagnosis to her, she was skeptical. I actually did an UptoDate search and found out that up to 30% of people with chronic cough because of GERD actually have no other symptoms!

Either way, she had no other options until she could get in to see a specialist, so that night my dad sent us off to the store to get some prilosec. I was really hoping that it would work, not only for my mom's cough to get better, but just to prove that my medical education was worth it - I actually learned something!

After about a week and a half of taking the prilosec, my mom told me that she was not coughing nearly as much - almost not at all! It's been well over two weeks now and she seems about back to normal.

I'm so glad my mom feels better. I'm also glad that I apparently learned something these past four years! Hooray for being a doctor!

M.D.

Well, it's all done. Four years of medical school are now behind me...it's kind of hard to recap it all!

Four years ago things were surprisingly different. I spent the summer working in a pharmacy in Colorado and raising chocolate lab puppies. I came back to KY just in time to drive down to Florida to watch my little brother's baseball tournament. I had a nice tan and crazy blonde hair (not just regular blonde hair, mind you).

I still have vivid memories of orientation week - everyone introducing themselves on the first day, lining up for hours for our IDs, for our TB tests, and filling out paperwork. I think we were all really, really excited. We had no clue what we were in for!

Then, anatomy started. It was awful. It was intimidating and stressful, and I think the worst part was we didn't know each other well enough to talk about what we were going through. Then biochem started, which was almost as overwhelming as anatomy. Blech. This became the beginning of Chris and my friendship, though, so things weren't all bad. :) I think Chris was one of the biggest reasons I passed that class! Springtime rolled around, and with it came neuroscience and physiology - and a nice breath of fresh air! We started spending afternoons playing frisbee and evenings watching House.

Second year came and went sort of as a blur - IID, path and pharm...then the boards. I just remember hours and hours sitting in those chairs at the library being MISERABLE but knowing that soon it would be over and we could move on with our lives. Step 1 came and went and I wasn't too happy with how I did. But I passed, and life went on. (I still made it into my top residency choice so apparently it didn't make too big a difference.) Second year I was overinvolved as well, taking way too many leadership positions at once made me a little crazy but I think better at time management in the end.

Then - Third year! Clinicals! Everything was new, frightening and exciting at the same time. Once I got the hang of them, I really liked almost every rotation - it was nice to know that after all this time putting in hours studying I actually liked what I was going to do with my life. I had made the right decision going to med school after all!

Fourth year was just plain awesome. Except for the stress involving the match, every rotation was what I wanted to do and when I wanted to do it. I even got a month off and married my best friend! I have become much more confident in what I know and, on occasion, I really feel like a doctor. How cool is that!? (I need to write the really awesome story of how I cured my own mom - I'll do that soon!)

Exciting times to come, too! May 15 is graduation (I'll admit - I've already paraded around the house in my cap and gown), June 1 is our closing date for the house, and July 1 starts residency! I'm excited (and very nervous) to start...it definitely will be another adventure.

School's out - forever!

TOMORROW is my LAST DAY OF SCHOOL.

EVER.

After TWENTY YEARS of school.

Holy cow.

Next time I see a patient, I'll be "Doctor ______"
(Dang, now I have to decide Twist/Simmons)

There are tons of thoughts and memories I want to share. I want to celebrate, I will miss a lot of my friends...I think a long post commemorating the past four years is in order, but may take a bit of thinking on my part so I probably should wait until I don't have to give a presentation at 8am to actually start writing. We'll see about that tomorrow then.


A side note: "Happy Birthday Dad!"


And finally, my funny patient of the day:

Chief complaint: "absurdly sweaty armpits, hands and feet."

And nerdy factoid of the day: Hyperhidrosis (or excessive sweating) is often treated with topical aluminum chloride (such as Drysol or Xerac), but can actually be treated with botox injections or even surgery to cut the symptathetic nerves going to your skin so you can't sweat. You can also take anticholinergics but they typically dry out your mouth, eyes, etc. in addition to your "absurd" amount of sweating. I learned all this during my dermatology rotation. I admit, I am a huge nerd and I really, really like derm. But it's OK, because I AM ALMOST A DOCTOR!

literally?

Straight out of the chart:

ALLERGIES: Allergy season is kicking my butt =)

Ah, and part 3

Student health is way more entertaining than I thought.

This is, word for word, what a patient put on his check-in sheet for what ended up being an acute case of epididymitis (read: infection of the testicle):

Location: inside inside.
Describe your pain: at first it was slightly throbbing but it just hurts inside it so bad worsening
How severe is it on a scale of 1-10: 8, for real it's my freaking nut, it hurts

I quite literally "LOL'd" when I read that in the chart. Oops. He frequently referred to "his freaking nut" throughout the history/exam. He also wore his sunglasses the entire time, told me his life sexual history (without me asking anything about it), and told me how violated he felt after we were done.

Sent him to the ER for a rule out torsion (which would mean emergency surgery and probably losing the "nut") but thankfully it was only a case of epididymitis.

I love student health, part 2

So this kid comes in for an STD check. (A frequent occurrence only weeks after spring break...) Anyway, part of the check involves a urine sample. He gets the schpeil about peeing in the cup then putting it in the little metal box in the wall. The box opens on the other side, which is the lab where they can run the tests.

Kid goes in the bathroom, kid comes out.

A few minutes later the doc comes over and asks the nurse "where's the urine sample? did you already send it off?" Nurse replies "what urine sample? I haven't done any urine in a couple hours"

Look in the box, no urine. Look all over the lab, no urine. Look in the bathroom, no urine. Look in the OTHER lab on the other side of the office, no urine. Nobody has seen this pee!

They go back and ask the kid, "did you pee?" and kid answers in the affirmative - he put it in the metal box on the wall.

Where did this kid's pee go?

Doc walks back into the bathroom and starts looking around. Next to the toilet is another type of metal box ON the wall. His pee is in the dirty tampon box!

Eeewww!

Healthful Foods

For some reason, I've been on a real "healthy foods" kick. I think it comes with the change in weather and my desire to eat more fruits and veggies (rather than scarf down the heavy meat 'n' potatoes of the winter months). I've actually tried a few things that were surprisingly delicious!

1) Baked Kale Chips
This sounds disgusting, doesn't it? For some reason, I always thought kale must be like arugula or other spicy greens. I could also never seem to find it in the grocery store when I was looking for it. Apparently I can't read because Chris found it first try... Anyway... Basically all you have to do for kale chips is pull off the stems, rub them with some olive oil and sprinkle with salt. You bake them in the oven and they are ADDICTIVELY CRUNCHY! Little curly little crisps, that somehow remind me of roasted pumpkin seeds. I made a half batch yesterday and used the rest in soup (see below), but I'm already craving more. Weird, huh? I need to experiment with this method using spinach, too!
Fun Fact: Kale is not only delicious but also high in calcium, vitamin A, C, and K!

2) Kale and White Bean Soup
Since I had kale to spare, I threw it into soup. Would it make a slippery, slimy mess? No! It was delicious! I also threw some leftover pork tenderloin in the soup to make it extra yummy. It was an unbelievably good lunch, and left me really full without hardly any fat!

3) Finally, one-ingredient banana ice cream
Yes! I've been wanting to make this for quite some time but somehow never got around to it. We had some bananas that were turning brown so I peeled them, froze them, then blended them in my fancy Cuisinart food processor. You have to be patient, but after a couple minutes of blending they turn into a light, fluffy, not-too-banana-y frozen custard! So good! I need to try this with a touch of peanut butter or honey...although it's pretty darn good plain or with a squirt of Chocolate Magic Shell on top.

I love student health

Actual exchange with a patient today:

Me: So what can we do for you today?

Student: I think a bug crawled up my nose.

Me: Why do you think that?

Student: Because I fell asleep outside yesterday and I noticed something moving around in there.

Me: Have you done anything to try to get it out?

Student: I ate spicy food, sniffed febreze, and used tweezers. None of it helped, but I think the febreze made it angry.


Despite our best efforts, we were unable to retrieve (or find evidence of) any pests up this poor girl's nose. Personally, I think our recommendations were just as amusing: black pepper (for sneezing) and a Neti Pot to flush the little bugger out!

(Disgusting) Update! - The patient emailed my doc last night...apparently she used the Neti Pot and out came......


are you ready for this?


A WORM!

Eeeeeeeeeeeeeewwwwwwwwwwwwwww! A little white worm. Now she's afraid it laid eggs in there.

homeowners!

Holy cow, we got the house! They didn't accept our first offer but they countered and we countered their counter...and you know how it goes...but it ended up and they accepted!

Of course, everything is pending inspection and the bank and all those other hoops to jump through, but, we are under contract (yes! $8000 tax credit!) and all looks to be going in the right direction.

It was quite funny because Chris and I had still really been debating house vs townhouse and we actually didn't think they would accept our second offer. We had convinced ourselves that we didn't want the house anymore, and we wanted to get the townhouse...then we got the call...UH OH! I'm glad we hadn't completely made up our minds! But, we're super excited and happy and maybe for once in my life I'll feel like a grown up ;)

Now we need to start getting stuff to fill the house up...I've never shopped at IKEA but I have heard pretty awesome things. May need to make a trip up there soon. It's going to be a lot of fun to set up our new home!

We still have quite a bit of time left, though, as we don't close until June 1. That way we don't have to double up on as many rent payments WITH a mortgage...but June 1 seems so far off- I can't wait!

Happy Easter!

Well, we put an offer on a house! For those of you keeping track, it was "option A" ... it's really exciting but still doesn't seem real. We're going to hear back from them by noon on Monday-I don't expect for them to just say "OK" to everything we wanted but you never know! We went back to look at it last week (with my super picky Dad) and the house just seemed right. The bathroom isn't that small, after all. The kitchen is beautiful...and there's a huge backyard (which I suppose is both good and bad!) We crunched the numbers and we can afford this house AND we can afford to put some furniture in it!

I've started my LAST rotation of medical school - which is also surreal. I'm working at the University Health Services Clinic. Basically it's all college students, and mostly acute problems. It's sort of slow, but I get decent practice using an EMR, good opportunities to learn about acute problems (like food poisoning, sinusitis, etc), and since it's two weeks after spring break, I'm becoming and STD expert!!

Friday night was my last performance in the Humanities Festival - a talent show for med students/faculty. I did not get the opportunity to play flute this year but I danced with the "Rhythm and Bones Dance Troupe" which was a lot of fun. We practiced SO MUCH this past week so I'll be glad to have my evenings back, but it ended up all coming together and being a lot of fun. There were supposedly videos made, so I will post up links when I get the chance.

As far as Easter goes, it doesn't feel like it's quite here yet! The beginning of Lent was very stressful with my Grandpa getting so sick and passing away, then with my long hours on surgery, I just don't think I had time to process it. Also, we practiced dancing so much this week I've missed a lot of the Holy Week services. We went to the Vigil Mass last night because a family friend was confirmed. It was a LONG service but, as always, it was nice. It's Chris' one year Catholic birthday, too!

Unfortunately, I forgot to take photos of the cake before it got devoured at our Easter gathering...it was very yummy though, so I'll give you the recipe just to tempt you! :) The recipe comes directly from here, and there is a delicious and tempting picture for you to drool over for a couple months before you finally break down and make it. Or does that only happen to me?

CHOCOLATE BOURBON CAKE

1 cup (2 sticks) unsalted butter, softened, more for greasing pan
2 cups all-purpose flour, more for dusting pan
5 ounces high quality, unsweetened dark chocolate
1/4 cup instant espresso (can use instant coffee)
2 tablespoons unsweetened cocoa powder
1 cup bourbon whiskey (can use 1/2 cup), more for sprinkling
1/2 teaspoon kosher salt
2 cups granulated sugar
3 large eggs
1 tablespoon vanilla extract
1 teaspoon baking soda
1/4 cup confectioners’ sugar (powdered sugar), for sprinkling


1 Preheat oven to 325°F. Grease and flour a large bundt pan (10 cup capacity), or two 8- or 9-inch loaf pans. Melt chocolate in a microwave oven or in a double boiler over simmering water. Let cool.

2 Put instant espresso and cocoa powder in a 2-cup (or larger) glass measuring cup. Add enough boiling water to come up to the 1 cup measuring line. Mix until powders dissolve. Stir in whiskey and salt; let cool.

3 Beat softened butter until fluffy (2-3 minutes on high). Add sugar and beat until well combined. Add the eggs one at a time, beating well between each addition. Beat in the vanilla extract, baking soda and melted chocolate, scraping down sides of bowl with a rubber spatula.

4 With the mixer on the lowest speed, beat in a third of the whiskey espresso cocoa mixture. When liquid is absorbed, beat in 1 cup flour. Repeat additions, ending with whiskey mixture. Scrape batter into prepared pan and smooth top. Bake until a cake tester inserted into center of cake comes out clean, about 1 hour 10 minutes for Bundt pan (loaf pans will take less time, start checking them after 55 minutes).

5 Transfer cake to a rack. Unmold after 15 minutes and sprinkle warm cake with more whiskey. Let cool. Sprinkle powdered sugar through a mesh sieve over the cake before serving.

New layout and more!

I may never go into the OR ever again - how awesomely awesome is that?

It's pretty awesome if you ask me. I'd be perfectly happy to never go in the OR again, never scrub with that icky iodine soap, never use the scratchy blue towels to clean off, never sweat under the lights, never worry about my glasses falling off (and into an open wound!). Although I have been told that I will someday inevitably need an additional foot surgery (which will apparently include being completely non-weight bearing for SIX WEEKS), I still like to hope that I will never even be a PATIENT in the OR, either.

Needless to say, I survived ENT. It wasn't all that bad - the residents LOVE to teach so I learned a lot and they gave us quite a few extra days off for match which was greatly appreciated.

There's plenty of other news to update about.

1) Chris and I are trying to buy a house. We have a bit of a dilemma, though, because we can't decide what we want! Here are our options:
Option 1: A really awesome house. It has a backyard with a little porch area, a garage, and lots of nice space for us. Our current favorite actually has 4 bedrooms (although 2 are pretty small) and is a pretty good deal. There are some things that aren't so perfect about it, though - it's on the main road for the entire subdivision so it's a little busy, the driveway is pretty steep, and the master bathroom is TINY.
Option 2: Our landlord mentioned to my dad that he would be willing to sell it. Hopefully we could get it cheap (maybe without a realtor fee too), we wouldn't have to move, we're SO close to campus, and it's close to Patrick and my parents and everything. The problems with it are: sparse parking (and not covered), it's kind of a undergrad area and we don't really like our neighbors, and it's a really crummy area to go for a run.
Option 3: We haven't explored this option too much, but we're interested in looking at other townhouses that would be a bit more expensive, but with better parking situations and more privacy.
Plus, we need to do it by April 30 or we won't get the tax credit. The only thing that makes this sticky is the fact that we may only be here for 3 years depending on where Chris matches when he gets to that point. We're either going to have to rent/sell our house, and for 3 years we won't even make a dent in the payments...Any insight would be appreciated :)

2) I'm dancing. and dancing and dancing and dancing! In the humanities festival next week - I even got Chris to do one of the dances with me! How adorable is that! It's a mixture of lyrical/ballet, stepping, waltz, hip hop, and swing! Chris and I are doing the swing - it's so much fun! The humanities festival is next Friday so I'd better get to practicing! :)

3) Oh yea - MATCH DAY!!! How did I even forget this one! I matched to my first choice - into the UK Primary Care Internal Medicine program. I tell people that internal medicine is like being a pediatrician for grown-ups, and the primary care track gives me more opportunities to work in an outpatient setting than an inpatient one (more clinic than hosptial). I'm so happy and excited (and of course, a little nervous). Match day was stressful and fun at the same time - you go up on stage and they play a song you pick out, you open up your envelope and announce where you're going to everybody! It's so nice to finally have the pressure off - the pressure that's been building ALL YEAR LONG! Now we finally have an answer and can make plans (like getting a place to live!)

That's about the extent of my excitement recently. As you can see, I changed the colors/layout...I think it's fun and girly and cute! Hopefully it will inspire me to write more. I'm starting University Health Services rotation (a clinic for student that's open from 9am-3pm during the week) so my 13+ hour days are going to shorten considerably!

PS- During the writing of this post, I ate half a bag of carrots. Holy cow! That's like 240% DV of Vitamin A!

two down, two to go

Another week has come and gone in the land of ENT. I got quite a bit lazier this week, finding plenty of excuses to go hide in the student lounge and watch TV, but somehow being slightly more useful on the team. I don't know how that works out. I think it's a quality-quantity thing.

Anyway, it's silly early in the morning for me to be up (well I guess it's around 7am now so not so silly), although this is my entire weekend off. I just happened to fall asleep around 8:30 last night and couldn't spend another minute in bed! Dang!

Today Chris and I are running in the Shamrock Shuffle 3k today! I'm pretty excited, especially that it's so short (>

The rest of the weekend is up for grabs. I've been dying to bake but I have no reasons to...I got to make a tiny batch of white chocolate-oatmeal-craisin cookies last weekend when Chris' parents came down but nothing else...I don't even cook dinner!

Well, I've got to go get ready for all this running I'm supposed to do. I guess I'm supposed to wear green?!

quick

I need to clean because Chris' parents are on their way BUT I needed to throw out a couple things.

1) I'm alive. Barely. Week 1 down, 3 to go of ENT AI. It's killing me much more than last year (when I actually cared). Also, there must be something wrong with my shoes because all the standing is EXCRUCIATING. Gah. May go shoe shopping tonight.

2) My poor grandpa Joe passed away last week, just a few days after his 90th birthday. His funeral was on Monday and was probably the most emotional day of my life. It was amazing and beautiful and just the way a funeral should be.

3) I just accidentally found the blog notstudying.blogspot.com and it looks just like mine! Except it hasn't been written in for 5 years and the girl is kind of the opposite of me, it looks like. Interesting.

4) I need to go clean the kitchen. Sorry. Maybe I will post more soon. I hope so, but I am either at work, eating, or sleeping. Literally, I have done NOTHING ELSE. How do surgeons do this? Who can live this way? I have no idea, but it stinks. A LOT. I think if I was a surgeon I would be grumpy, obese, and lonely (poor Chris can't handle much more of this!) Thankfully, only 3 more weeks. Ugh!

Love you all!

Prom photos

Chris thought I should put up these pictures getting ready for med school prom. I'm apparently practicing to be a movie star. :) Unfortunately for everyone, Chris forgot to use his camera the rest of the night, so these are the only pics I have - I don't even have one of Chris! Oh well, a good time was had by all - you really can't beat dessert and dancing. :)

As you may know, I read a lot of food blogs. I'm sure that ups my dorkiness factor, but really, who am I trying to impress? I kept reading about this tomato sauce that seemed waaay too easy to be good. I eventually tried it, and I have to say - they were right. Chris told me just the other day that it was the BEST tomato sauce he's ever had, and ranks high on the best meals he's ever eaten. Ever! Can you guess what the secret ingredient is? It's not basil, garlic, or any of those silly seasonings. There are actually only three ingredients...I'll let you decide for yourself. I highly recommend you try this. Tonight. It's crazy.

28 ounces (one big can) whole peeled tomatoes (San Marzano is apparently the best kind, if you can find them. I didn't use them the first time, but I found some later so I'll make it again and maybe let you know how it goes)
5 tablespoons unsalted butter
1 medium-sized yellow onion, peeled and halved
Salt to taste

Put the tomatoes, onion and butter in a heavy saucepan. Bring the sauce to a simmer then lower the heat to keep the sauce at a slow, steady simmer for about 45 minutes, or until droplets of fat float free of the tomatoes. Stir occasionally, crushing the tomatoes against the side of the pot with a wooden spoon. Remove from heat, discard the onion, add salt to taste.

That's all. You won't be sorry!

Valentines and Caduceus

My lovely husband fixed me these pancakes for Valentines day! We don't usually get too into V-day too much since everything is 1) fattening 2) expensive, and 3) crowded. But, sweet berry pancakes in bed is a pretty good option.

Caduceus, or "med school prom," was a couple weekends ago. Chris and I decided to have a few people over beforehand just for a little fun. And the best way to get people to come over, of course, is with cake. I decided to make this cake and these cupcakes from a nerdy science food blog that I frequent, called Not So Humble Pie. My treats were not nearly as pretty (not anywhere near, since the cake didn't cook evenly and ended up looking pretty crazy) but boy were they delicious! We ended up having quite a crowd come over and almost all of the cake got eaten (which is exactly how I wanted it) and I am pretty sure it was well liked by all. Yum!

Coconut cake with raspberry white chocolate ganache

Marshmallow cream-filled chocolate cupcakes!

These were just some leftover sugar cookies I had from a bake sale...They were obviously not as big a hit as the cakes. My mouth is watering for some more of that coconut cake just thinking about it!

As an aside, my grandpa passed away this morning. I may put up some posts about it later (I have already written some but not posted them), but not yet. Please keep my family (especially my grandma) in your prayers. :)

Rachel's Surprise Bridal Shower!

My friend Rachel is getting married in a few months! A few of my other friends decided to throw her a surprise shower a few days ago, and I volunteered to make the cake! I made a cute little cake and cupcakes - all in "orange dreamsicle" flavor (which happens to be one of the flavors of Rachel's wedding cake!!)

Rachel was hilarious - when they opened the door and we all yelled "Surprise!!" she turned and asked "what are we celebrating?" That just means it was a good surprise.

Rachel is one of the nicest people I know, and her fiance is one lucky guy! Apparently he doesn't really care for cake, though, so they're going to have some wedding pie to go along with their cake. :)

The party was fabulous and the cake was a big hit. I definitely had a great time and I'm pretty sure the bride-to-be did too.

Rainbow pancakes

Oh man. I've not written anything in a while, so now I don't know where to start. I think first we should start with some pancakes. It's always a good idea to start with pancakes. In fact, that's how I started my day - we made sweet potato pancakes! Yum! My husband is a great pancake flipper, and Patrick, my brother, is a great pancake eater. These rainbow pancakes were my favorite pancake recipe ever - super almond pancakes.

Patrick gives these a (really tall) thumbs up.

Katie, Chris, and Patrick's super almond pancakes

Adapted from Giada DeLaurentis

Whip up your favorite pancake recipe (if you want a special treat, use almond milk instead of regular!), then add 1tsp almond extract. Pour each pancake out on the pan, and drop little bits of almond paste into the pancake - it will melt a little and get nutty and gooey all in the pancake. It's like a sweet little surprise with each bite!

If you want rainbow pancakes, just separate the batter into cups and color each one with food coloring. I think you can figure that part out. You have to do a lot of dishes afterward, but I think it's worth the effort. :)

Many more posts to come!

Christopher gets a haircut

One day, Chris decided he needed a haircut.

He usually got his hair cut at SuperCuts or GreatClips, but he felt that paying $10 for a crummy haircut was a bad deal. Also, the last lady that cut his hair was a big fat jerk, so he didn't want to end up with her again. He also didn't want to go to the salon I use because it is about $30/haircut. Although the cut may look nicer, we are poor med students, so only one of us gets nice hair. (That's me!)

Chris got a bright idea! He was going to cut his own hair with his very own clippers! That would save tons of money!He enjoyed the last of his mullet hair and said goodbye.

He took off to the brown bathroom and started buzzing away. I have no idea who in their right mind decided to paint our guest bathroom brown. Poo brown. Probably the same person who decided neon-lavendar and puke-yellowbrown were good bedroom colors. Not quite finished (a little lumpy still) but looking much lighter! Isn't my husby a cutie?!
Our pirate duckie got in on the fun and rode the waves.
The end!