This post is for my CIS class : ) I do indeed have a functioning blog of my own, but due to my now ridiculously intense nursing curriculum, I rarely update it.

Enjoy !

-Chelsea (Butts) Adams

I got my hair cut once again. The end.

The weather was slowly getting warmer and pleasant and now I sit here to see specs of snow falling to the ground. It makes me want to cry... its f#$%@$%$@! april. APRIL APRIL APRIL APRIL I want to bury myself in the covers and sleep through this miserable climate.
I'm on the verge of insanity and that is no exaggeration.

Somewhere else someone is complaining that it's too hot... probably an oversized tourist in florida who is embarrassed of their foopah sweat leaking on to their flourescent fanny pack.

ENFP

I often think about who I am and why I do the things I do. This fall I got really interested my results of the Meyers-Jungg personality test I had to take for Abnormal Psychology. I was rated as an ENFP. (Extravert Intuitive Feeling Perceiving) I took various forms of the test and literally all of them characterized me as this dreaded ENFP. Upon looking at the traits of someone who is an ENFP, I was literally taken aback at how accurate they were. I'm not talking accurate in the sense of "oh that applies to me." More like accurate in the sense of "all of these apply to me." The most striking thing was that ENFPs tend to get along with members of the opposite sex easily. You might think this to be something that applies to many people, however, ENFPs feel comfort in the company of those of the opposite sex. Growing up, and even to this day, my male friends most certainly outnumber my female friends. The female friends I do have are not within the spectrum of overly effeminate females.

Anywho, as I'm sitting and thinking I realize that my M.O. is often feeling based. If I have a bad feeling about something, I'm less inclined to participate in it. Practicality is boring. I know that sounds ridiculous, but it's something that I feel quite often. People who dress practically, live practically, talk practically. It's not that I am drowning in excess, but muted floral wearing women and egg shell off white painting house wives depress me. I see men in corporate attire dancing around their words but not expressing anything to get anywhere... It literally bothers me. I realize all these things now. I've sat in stark white classrooms with flickering flourescent lights and I am overcome with a sort of depression that I cannot describe. Aside from economic responsibility, this is why I hate shopping at wal mart. The store is filled with practicality. I will mention that practicality is not a euphemism for "poor." I've encountered plenty of people without a dime that are more enriching and colorful than those with copious amounts of money.

Basically everything I do is influenced by my environment. I sat at the bank with off white walls and people obsessed with practical things and it drove my crazy. Cutting coupons, gossiping about celebrities, chatting about good carpet cleaners...They were what society wanted them to be, I refuse.

Faux Spring

I had my first iced coffee of 2008, thus signifying the start of spring. (granted it was 10 degrees outside) I've rid myself of all that is winter. My first step is refusing to wear a coat. This may seem impractical to most, but I've decided that mother nature will hasten her progression towards spring if she sees that one of her "flower children" lacks outerwear.
Paul and I headed to Fargo last weekend and had quite a wonderful time. We spent the day shopping at culinary specialty stores and he picked up a sweet pair of "vintage" nikes. (those sweat shop workers sure produce some fancy kicks) While were in Fargo, we met up with a friend we know off of the internets. It's quite odd to meet someone in person when you are used to staring at an avatar. We were a bit apprehensive at first because you never quite know what sort of weirdo hides behind an internet persona. Fortunately, Jamie turned out to be a pretty normal guy living a pretty normal life. We sat in Barnes and Noble and chatted over coffee for a few hours. After B & N we headed to the thai restaurant where we went last year for our anniversary. In addition to our entrees, we ordered some food to go so we could have thai for lunch the next day. Overall, the trip was so much fun, we listened to "America" the John Stuart mock academic textbook on the history of the United States. When discussing the Boston tea party, they had a commentator (in a period accurate british accent) exclaim "Those tea drinking motherfuckers!" (picture the queen of england uttering such a phrase.)
Also, after wrestling with my apple wireless keyboard for god knows how long, I finally purchased the new brushed aluminum wired keyboard. I have to say that as I am typing now, my fingers are having what I will describe as "digit-orgasms." So if you were considering purchasing the new keyboard, but were taken aback by its thin and minimalist design, trust me, its quite ergonomic and worth the 50 bucks.

Also, paul and I bought matching aprons... if there were a culinary counterpart of "Best in Show" ....


Happy Spring to everyone , ND will encounter spring in about oh 2 months.

Loss

As most of you know, I'm a little bit of a Discovery Health Channel addict. Our DVR is literally 80% full of medical mini documentaries and reality shows. There was a recent episode of "Trauma , Life in the E.R" that really got me thinking. Let me paint the scenario for you:

A woman is rushed to the E.R. because she is in pre-mature labor and experiencing loss of blood. You see the E.R filled with a NICU team and OB team as well as surgeons etc... The woman is also diabetic,hypertensive, and quite literally hysterical which isn't helping the situation. To make matters worse, she is hispanic and although some of the trauma team is bilingual, she is so disoriented they cannot understand her. You see this beautiful disaster unfold as anesthesia runs in and they prepare to do an emergency c-section. After an intense few moments a screaming bloody baby is extracted from the mother and the NICU teams gets to work helping the premie to breathe. You then see this lovely little clip a few days later with the mother in recovery holding her newborn with a myriad of tubes attached to the infant. The viewer (me) feels a sense of relief. You think, "wow this baby has overcome so much!"

The episode also included gun shots wounds and run of the mill trauma. At the end of each episode they give updates on most of the patients. As I'm reading the text the following sentence scrolls across the screen:

"Baby Armando was discovered to have a rare heart condition and passed away 5 days after his birth."

Immediately the next show cuts in "John and Kate Plus 8" with this cheery little elevator music intro, and I'm left with my jaw on the floor.

What's my point? I guess I or "we" have gotten so used to having these musical motifs to clue us in that something bad is going to occur, similar to a sitcom. We hear these 9 second audio clips of violins suddenly changing to a minor or diminished key pre a tragedy. It occurred to me that if I'm in an ICU fighting to save someone's life and they take a turn for the worse, and pass away ,there will not be a soundtrack of tragic music to lull the pain of death or loss... there will simply be the cold stark reality that the individual no longer exists. I guess I should get used to it really. It reminded me that these shows are real people, these physicians and nurses take on these burdens daily.

Now to brighten the mood a bit, I present to you, "cats in hats " (against their will):








I got my hurrr did

wikipedia

I've become obsessed with wikipediasurfing. Recently I've read pointless factoids about Clarissa Explains It All which then lead me to Hey Dude and so on and so forth. I also wasted an hour of my life playing one of my all time favorite games Lemmings via a free DHTML version on the internets.

Just as chicken soup might be good for the soul, so is a dose of early 90's nostalgia.

SYKE!

I'm going to temporarily buy into the hype about macbook air.

It's a real possibility with tax return season upon us. I got a computer last year and Paul is due for an upgrade of sorts. I am quite pleased that he is slowly but surely becoming a mac convert.

In other news, I'm down another 2lbs which is pretty gratifying. I'm also really enjoying my semester. I think I've learned the balancing act that is work/school/marriage. Basically taking yourself too seriously does nothing when trying to multi task.

Nutrition is NOT perception unfortunately

I'm watching what I eat, but really, what woman isn't. On occasion I will pick food up from downtown if I'm already in the vicinity. I always felt that grabbing a naked (without tortilla) burrito at Qdoba was a much better alternative to the usual fast food joints. Unfortunately, perception does not magically shave off calories. I got the idea to just look up the nutrition information of what I usually get. I have been doing this recently with things I regularly order. WITHOUT cheese and sour cream, a naked poblano pesto burrito with chicken, pico de gallo, and corn salsa is 650 calories. Granted, the portion size is HUGE and I cannot normally eat all of it. I did some tweaking with their nutrition calculator and if you love cheese and sour cream plopped on your burrito you are talking a 900 calorie meal. If you opt for a tortilla instead of having your burrito naked it adds up to around 1200. Essentially, this is no better eating than a super sized meal from McDonalds. (aside from the added fiber and lack of trans / saturated fats)
I suppose this shouldn't shock me. I cannot tell you how many "all natural" or "healthy" labeled products are filled with excess sugar and sodium.


I dare you to see the truth about your favorite burrito... I'm also assuming these calculations would apply to similar burrito chains:


http://qdoba.com/Calculate.aspx

Things have been absolutely insane between my professional and personal life. (thus my lack of postings) A ridiculous amount of drama occurred at work thus reinforcing my mantra of non emotional relationships with your superiors. I have been told I have an "attitude" as well as a non bubbly unicorns and fairies and hearts pouring out of my mouth personality according to my boss. This because I refuse to accept her as a friend or enable her self loathing. I have always sprung to the aid of those in need. But never those who feed off of others to perpetuate their negative cycles. I was also informed that she is irritated by my "strong personality." I'm sorry that the majority if your employees are satisfied reading marie claire and chatting about the weather. My goals are not to be a military wife nor are they to work at the bank for the rest of my life. If someone has goals and dreams and it makes you feel uncomfortable to hear about them, than you need to re-examine yourself. The problem lies not with my words, but with your internal struggle.

-end of rant

In other news, I got home from class extremely late one evening. I threw down my books and did the usual meet and greet with the animals. Through the commotion of an excited great dane prancing about, I heard a faint meow. I looked down but our cat was not meowing, he was just weaving in and out of my legs. The meowing got a bit more desperate and it sounded as though it was coming from our front door. I opened the door to see a little black cat shivering and meowing in the cold. I immediately picked her up and gave her a warm blanket with some food and water in our guest bathroom. Since that evening she has integrated well within the adams family. She take pleasure in outsmarting the dog and is fearless. We have caught her giving our other cat baths. I have placed found posters as well as reported a found animal to the humane society and military police with no response. As of recent, she has taken to sleeping in odd positions between us on the bed and playing in the sink at 3am. We've temporarily named her noodle.



A long overdue photo post:




Our handy dandy new kitchen organizer! :



Noodle the cat, in all her noodleness:





Bleu and his 3ft bone courtesy of uncle Kenny :





Paul being all paternal with titters the cat:

sigh

I've been up since 4 am. I'm not going to lie, this will not be on making the list of "best christmas ever." I am still a bit bitter that because Paul and I don't have insane personal problems or don't pop out babies by the thousands that we are left to hold down the fort in this arctic wasteland whilst people with Dr. Phil worthy complexes are at home enjoying friends and family. I could get all after school special about this and note that our current circumstance helps us to appreciate the importance of family. However, I'm not nearing that stage of rationale quite yet. So here I sit on Christmas morning with a cup of tea reading archives of cynical_nurse, holding back a few tears, and entertaining the cat with the pull strings of my PJs. I'm quite sure that I'm being melodramatic currently, which could be attributed to one of many factors.
In a few hours we will head over to a friends house to exchange gifts and watch their kids open some presents. I am hoping my mood will lighten between now and then.


Just for the record, Paul and I are planning a faux high risk pregnancy with quadruplets. I , of course, will have an emergency C-section dated for december 24th 2008. I will also seek the advice of a prestigious faux high risk OB that happens to practice in southeastern virginia. (thus our fool proof plan for ensuring that we will be home for Christmas next year) I am quite positive that with my acting skills/powers of persuasion and Paul's innocent demeanor, we can pull this off. I think my current svelte appearance could pull off a first trimester pregnancy... after that I'd have to resort to oversized sweatshirts, pillows, and an occasional watermelon. You the reader could also be an accomplice: Be sure and send congratulatory cards, flowers, and cigars to Paul @ work.

Yup, I've got it all planned out ...

(and we're seriously just kidding)

Merry Christmas


Chelsea and Pauly

Bleu and Beaker too

party like its -20 degrees outside

yeah

My semester is coming to an end and quite frankly I'll be glad to rid myself of a few of those classes. I thought for sure that the end of my pharmacology course would have me screaming joyously in the streets. I'm starting to realize that I'm going to miss my ridiculously long tests and the oh so nefarious "none of the above" option that has literally brought me to tears on several occasions. But, thanks to my professor, I wouldnt know Mupirocin from Succinylcholine. And with that, I leave you with some mixed media to my liking.



Thank you Perry Bible Fellowship for feeding my sick twisted humor:















My favorite little excerpt from Waking Life:

tea for two

I've always been a fan of tea for the most part, but the limits of my palette included varieties of bagged celestial seasonings or tazo teas. When I moved to this unforgiving climate, I took a huge liking to broadening my horizons when it came to heated beverages. Basically, without the extra warmth of tea, coffee, or cocoa your body will cease to function properly in the winter. That being said, I'm constantly on the lookout for a good cup of tea. A few months ago, I stumbled upon Teavana. I think that for the quality of tea that you get, the price is most certainly reasonable. Here is my review of 3 tea selections:





The first tea I tried was Teavana's " Earl Grey Creme." Upon opening the tea for the first time, the aroma that exuded from the packaging was a bit overwhelming. I recognized the familiar earthy tinge common to earl grey tea but the combination of the bergamot oils in addition to the blue mallow flower made for a most interesting scent. Per the instructions on the packaging I brewed my tea for 3 minutes in my handy dandy Bodum Tea Press. I will admit that the smell of the tea itself made me a bit aprehensive. However, I was pleasantly surprised upon my first sip, it was though the curious juxtaposition of the essences suddenly made sense. The flavor was classic earl grey but with a nice subtle twist. I'm going to give it 4 Britney C-Section Scars out of 5.








The second tea I tried was Teavana's "Ginger Peach Apricot." (flavored black tea) Unlike the earl grey, this tea smelled absolutely heavenly upon opening. The bits of ginger and dried fruit really helped to create a nice visual aesthetic. I found that brewing this tea for a bit longer than 3 minutes actually helped develop more flavor. The taste of the tea was just as it sounds, bright peach flavorings coupled with citrus like ginger undertones. I was really pleased with the flavor of this tea and feel it would translate well into an iced tea. I also found that through up to 3 consecutive steeps, the flavor remained fairly constant. I'm going to give this tea 5 Britney C-Section Scars out of 5.









The third tea I tried was Teavana's "Rooibos Thai Tea Blend." For those of you not familiar with rooibos "tea" its actually not "tea" per say. Rooibos or red tea actually comes from a bush in the legume family which is native to africa. Now that we're back from that tangent... Rooibos tea is brewed a bit longer than most teas because of the external "shell" on the bits of plant. (similar to cooking white vs. wild rice) I opted to brew the tea for about 8min or so. I absolutely loved the flavor of this tea. I did take the time to make an iced version with condensed milk as often seen in thai restaurants. The tea was delightfully mellow with hints of almost caramel (most likely stemming from the almond essence.) I'm going to give this 5 Britney C-Section Scars out of 5.











MMM MMMMM












I hope you enjoyed my ramblings.

snow day

I had the good fortune to catch a cold this weekend. Luckily, I had the power to ignore my most miserable symptoms to get some cooking done. We spent most of the morning shoveling snow. Well, when I say "we" I mean Paul shoveled snow and I stood on the sidelines sneezing and offering moral support. I did, however, make him a carafe of dunkin donuts coffee... I'm sure that counts for something. We spent a good portion of our afternoon preparing "Tortiera di Finnochi e Patate", which, in layman's terms means fennel layered potatoes. We then promptly got started on our roasted pork loin with a maple mustard crust. Overall, everything turned out amazing. Our Calphalon roasting pan was clearly worth the investment. I'm planning on spending the rest of the evening wandering around in my pajamas and sipping on tea.

busy busy

Today Paul and I awoke to snowfall. We braved sister winter in order to benefit our culinary pursuits. I think driving in white out conditions and sliding on ice is well worth it when you are in need of fennel and shitake mushrooms.
When we arrived home, I threw on some Bing Crosby and pieced together our hand me down faux christmas tree. I think it all turned out well considering I had a great dane stealing ornaments and a sneaky cat running away with my ribbon. Sans tree decorating, we enjoyed some tasty asian lettuce wraps courtesy of Paul. Speaking of christmas, we spotted some CLASSY and TASTEFUL christmas decorations exhibited by our neighbors. (p.s. they are from texas)

!!!

I've decided that my livejournal days have come to and end. As much as this saddens me, I feel as though I have to make a change. I cannot say livejournal did not serve me well, I have 5 years of my life chronicled. RIP livejournal.com/users/southeastbends.