New doggie!

Hey all, just a quick post to let you know we got another dog! A originally wanted to wait until spring to find another dog, but last Thursday he got in the car and said "Want to go to the dog shelter?" and I wasn't about to argue. We found a cutie pie and the next morning, brought Anna the dog and Finn the cat to the shelter to meet him. Both were fairly indifferent, so we brought him home! We renamed him Dutch (after considering Foghorn Leghorn in memory of A's dad's fave cartoon character). So far he's been a great little dog -- he's mostly (knock on wood) house trained, he mostly ignores that cats, and he mostly comes when called. He irritates Anna a little, but once he gets neutered (Nov. 11), we are assuming he'll stop trying to hump her all the time! He loves people and is super friendly and cuddly. I brought him to work with me on Monday and he was a big hit. A has been working with him on commands, and he seems to have already mastered sit and is working on lay down. He's very excitable, but if you put down something soft, he will just curl up on it and go to sleep. Yay!!

In other news, fall has come....Rhody the Rhode Island Red chicken actually had frost on her feathers this morning, poor bird. In other chicken news, I saw our Bard Rock lay an egg yesterday! It was pretty cool. I noted upon picking it up that the egg was still warm, to which my sister said "duh, it just came out of that chicken's butt!". Hardy har har. Mom and Dad were also visiting for the day and seeing all the improvements we've made to the homestead.

That's it from here!! Back to work.

Hello all! I always say I should be a better writer, and I plan to, I really do, but it just doesn't ever work out. Now summer is almost over and the academic year is about to start, which means swarms of students hanging around Athens again. It's hard to resist that start-of-the-year excitement, even when you're not in school anymore, because of course I was one of those nerdly kids who enjoyed school. This time of year also makes me want to buy office supplies, even though I don't technically need any.


I just got back from 5 days in Maine, which was pretty fun. It was nice to be away and although things weren't perfect, we did get to go sea kayaking, which was pretty awesome and not as scary as I thought it was going to be. I wish I had brought my camera on the boat, but I'm sure it would have gotten wet and ruined, so it's probably better I didn't. I've posted some of the better photos of the trip here -- the thing about Maine is, you just have to point and shoot and whammo! A perfect postcard shot. (if you ignore the random people in the frame)

What else? Am also excited for an upcoming trip to NYC for the U.S. Open! I've never seen professional tennis live before, and I'm totally going to be a squeeing fangirl when I see my favorite players.

We're also getting ready to start our bathroom renovation so we might finally have (gasp!) a closet! It will be like the lap of luxury over at our place. A place to store one's clothes? I thought only rich people had that! We also now have a lovely storage bench/window seat and A's mom made sweeeeeeet cushions for it. So the house is coming along.

Animals are all OK, except for the chicken that got eaten while I was away. We're not sure what killed it, but then A ate it. He reports it was quite tasty! And I'm glad I wasn't home to witness the carnivorous carnage.

That's about it from here. If I ever had any exciting news, I would post it, but alas, not much to report! Hope everyone is doing well!

March: In like a lamb, out like a lamb?

Hi everyone! Sorry I have been remiss about writing, but things are busy, blah blah fishcakes. Truth is I'm somewhat lazy and I've been sick again too! I hate the stomach flu...let's just leave it at that.

Upcoming events include the fundraiser for work, and our 10th anniversary party! The party I think is going to be fun -- friends are coming in from out of town and hopefully lots of people will be there.

Other than that, we're waiting for Spring to arrive so we can do some home improvements. We got a new roof last week, which was super-exciting: now when it rains and/or the wind blows, it no longer sounds like the roof is going to come off. And - it's handsome! We got a kick-ass skylight in the porch area that's eventually going to become our bedroom and it is a great addition. Lets in more light than I even imagine. A is in love with the porch now.

In other news, isn't Wonder (left) disturbingly cute? He gave the other cats a rest from annoyance for a few days after he got his vaccinations, but now he's up to it again! Luckily, his 2 favorite activities are snuggling and going outside, so he's not really around to bug the other cats much.

Hope everyone is having a good Spring and staying healthy. Please send me some of those good vibrations....if I get sick one more time, I'm going to, well, be sick!

sicky

So I have some kind of cold this week. I'm feeling much better today, although still very tired. I think a half day of work, sitting at my desk, has done me in. And my coffee? Not enough milk! And none to be had in this building, as far as I can tell. Darnit.

Woke up Monday with a sore throat and killer headache, plus, when I finally found the thermometer, I had a fever of 100.3! Yowsa. Needless to say, I stayed home and slept basically all day (I think I was awake for a total of 8 hours). Once I got some cold medicine -- for which I had to stand in line with all the druggies picking up their oxycodone (thanks Rite Aid in The Plains!) -- I felt much better. Yesterday I just chilled, slept outside on the hammock since the weather is unseasonably warm. I think I slept too much because then last night I couldn't sleep. Oh well!

We had crazy storms last night, like pouring rain and very high winds. I had to pee about 2am and you guys know what that means -- I had to go outside! It sucked but it really couldn't wait. Note to self: get chamberpot. Or, do you think I could get away with peeing in the cat box?

There's not much else going on, really. We have been watching Big Love and enjoying it. Also? JB got me Once, which I loved and this CD. She's going a little overboard on the 12 Days of Christmas gift-giving method, but I'm not complaining!

Hope you guys are having a good week.

Hi Peeps!

Doesn't the cat on the right look like my old cat Hammie?

Could it be any colder? Wait, don't answer that.

It's been cold off and on so far, but last our pipes decided to freeze. Why God why? It's been colder at night before (it was a balmy 13 last night), so it's kind of confusing. The sad thing is we had this conversation right before we went to bed:

A: should I leave the taps running a little so the pipes don't freeze?

Me: nah, it won't be that cold tonight!

D'oh! What did I go and say that for?

It's been a weird week because of the holiday -- yesterday felt like Monday but was really Wednesday and I have no idea what day today feels like. It feels kind of like unbathed day, since we had no water this morning. I did brush my teeth at work but that's about the extent of my hygiene today. Sorry! Was that TMI?

Not too much going on. Christmas came and went, got a cute purse from my sis and I received a memo from JB that there are more presents on the way! Say it with me: WOO!

A's dad is doing fairly well considering. He has started to take some pain meds at night and has perked up some since then. He continues to amuse us with tales of his early-life debauchery. He so crazy!

Anna is loving being a basically inside dog. Wonder the Kitten won't stop attacking her, but she's been taking it very well. We would never leave them alone of course, but she mostly behaves herself, in that she doesn't try to eat him. It's kind of cute how persistent he is, but he doesn't seem to understand that she weighs 65 pounds and he weighs probably 6, so she could crush him with her left paw if she so desired.

I finished a kick-ass papier mache bowl for Jessie that I will have to post a photo of on here.

Hope you guys are having a good new year! Let's hear it for 2008!

Happy Holidays or whatever.

Hey there. Sorry for the lack of updating, but things have been busy (sucky?) lately. We found out about a month ago (on my birthday no less) that A's dad's cancer has spread to his liver and there is nothing more they can do for him. He's been in hospice about a month, and although he's deteriorating physically, he continues to be as smart, funny, sarcastic and generally awesome as ever. Thanks so much to everyone who has been so supportive through all this. I know I could pick up the phone at 3am and call lots of people who will talk to me whenever I need it. You guys rock. A has been handling it OK (how well do you handle the death of your father?), and we've been trying to look at the bright side -- we have had lots of time with him, many good talks and we've heard some truly wacky stories about his misspent youth. We haven't always been the closest with that branch of the family -- usually seeing them once yearly on Christmas -- but I feel like we've gotten to know each other better through this experience. Christmas was bittersweet; knowing it was his last and trying to keep it together, but at the same time being so grateful that we could spend it with him.

Also during these past few months we had to put Morty to sleep and we have a new niece! A's sister had her baby Ava on December 4. Luckily she and mom are fine and have been cleared for travel, so they're winging their way to see the family as we speak. We're so glad they're going to be able to come -- A's dad (a.k.a. Grandpa Dude) wants so much to see his new granddaughter. As for Morty, well he just became very ill suddenly and was basically in complete liver failure by the next morning when we rushed him to the vet. I hate livers. LT hates kidneys, I hate livers. Poor little guy. It sucked really hard, but he was really suffering there at the end and maybe it told us something about going peacefully. We had him cremated and he's currently sitting in a tin on the shelf until we decide what to do with him. Anna was lonely and confused the first few weeks (she kept looking in the car every time we came home, as if to say "OK you took Morty away in this thing, where is he?") but now she's truly embracing her role as Only Dog. She's really a wonderful dog and truth be told, while we loved Morty so much (well I did anyway!), it's so much easier only having 1 dog who we can trust to run free during the day and not pee in the house. Anna's totally eating up all the attention -- being let into the house for loong periods of time for the first time in her life.

What else? My massage office is working out really well -- business has been good mostly (I sold lots of gift certificates for the holidays), although I haven't been doing that much massage since we're up in Columbus all the time. But I love how it's turned out so far.

I'm not sure what else to say right now. I hope everyone's holidays are going well. Will try and update this blog as I can but if I'm not back before then, Happy 2008!

Yes I'm a nerd

So this weekend I went to The Office Convention in Scranton, PA. For those of you who haven't ever seen The Office, go and rent it now. No time to write the details but here is a picture, lest you don't believe me.

More details to come!

Yummiest dinner (and lunch leftovers) ever

I'm apparently a cooking genius and whipped up the tastiest dinner last night, which I just enjoyed for lunch as well. Get this: chilled tuna pasta salad with red potatoes and carrots with a creamy dill sauce I made from scratch! Do I rock or what? The potatoes were a little questionable in the leftovers but otherwise, muy delicioso!

Monday is going along. Have been laughing like an idiot looking at LOLCats. Warning: I busted a gut looking at these while trying not to be too loud at work. Seriously folks, I was crying. Other than that, I've been doing a little work, eating leftovers, etc. but can't believe it's 12:30! What the hell dude? I should run to my office to put down the rug I bought this weekend.

Also this weekend? Super productive times! We finally put up the lamp my granny made us for our wedding (that, you know, we meant to put up in July!) in the back cabin, and it has multiplied the coziness in there by tenfold. Can't wait to hang the curtains we got -- it will be so cozy we'll never want to leave! Which might be a bonus when it's 20 degrees outside. I also devised an ingenious way to keep the neighbor dogs off our porch (plywood gate) and cleaned up the yard. Yay me!

Other than that, Wonder continues to be uber-cute one second and than annoying as all get-out the next moment! I think being on his own from such a young age taught him to 1) eat everything (SunChips, tortillas, cereal, ice cream, but not as I found out yesterday, carrots) and 2) just help himself to it. So he crawls up on your lap while you're eating, tries to jump on the dinner table and in fact ate some Crumbs rolls while we were out one day. That little sucker.

Oh, and my mom is currently on alert to be evacuated because of wildfires in and around San Diego, so keep your fingers crossed their new house, into which they just moved a month ago, is spared. Wildfires......never had those in Ohio.

Next blog: How I am a total nerd and am going to an Office convention. As in, dedicted to the television program The Office. Don't judge!

One more thing

I went to a conference yesterday and although I asked for a veggie meal, they accidentally fed me chicken! I thought the raviolis tasted weird, but my table mate ate some filling and assured me it was fish. So I kept eating it, but dug most of the filling out because it didn't taste good. Then I ran across 1 cheese ravioli and began wondering what the other stuff was. My tablemates summoned the waiter and you guessed it! It was smoked chicken ravioli. They felt really bad and apologized profusely, as well as offered me things (piece of cake? potatoes? another salad? more bread?) which I declined. I mean, in the great scheme of things it's no big deal and they felt really bad, but I did feel kind yukky the rest of the day. Totally psychosomatic I'm sure.

I wasn't going to say anything to the conference presenters, but I was the only veggie so he made sure to ask me if my food was OK. I told him the story and he felt really bad too, but I assured him it was OK. Know what his boss said? "What happens now, do you go to hell?". I thought that was pretty funny.

So, poll: do you think I will go to vegetarian hell? :) Where, according to JB, you have to eat meat all day long.

Fall is here!

The weather is absolutely beautiful today, so what am I doing? That's right, sitting inside, computing! I just worked on my website (www.erinnash.com) after a year of procrastinating actually doing anything with it. Got some good advice on an FTP program to use, and so I downloaded it this morning and got to work! It's pretty barebones right now -- I uploaded only the stuff I already had, but I'm going to be working more on it in the weeks to come. I swear.

I just met a super-cute dog! She's a 5 month old German Shepherd Mix named Blue that belongs to a friend of mine. She's so cute! And so soft too. There's a work picnic later today and Blue might be there, so I'll try and convince A to go. It sounds really nice -- hiking, eating, hanging outside, and dogs!! I think Anna will like it there. Morty, not so much.

The dogs in our neighborhood have been running amok this week. For some reason Oz the Weimeraner (sp?) decided he wanted to live at our house on Thursday and refused to leave. He's so sweet it makes me feel bad to be mean to him and yell at him to go away, but he was making Anna and Morty crazy. The same goes for Angel, the pit bull. She's just unbelievably sweet and cute, but Morty kind of wants her dead and although she's really submissive, I don't want to see what happens in the pit bull v. beagle showdown. I'm afraid Morty wouldn't come out of that very well. Plus? Those damn dogs feel free to make themselves at home on our bed! On top of all my clothes. That even our dogs aren't allowed on. I had to actually walk Oz all the way home on Thursday, because he just refused to leave and every time I tried to turn around and ignore him hoping he would go back home, he just came back to follow me. See? How could I be mean to him?

The leaves are starting to change and it's really feeling like fall. Things are beautiful on our new property. I'm looking forward to tromping around in the thinned-out woods with A and the dogs sometime soon. Plus A's mom is coming back to Ohio! Yay! And will hopefully be coming down to visit.

I should run but here are some weird dreams I've been having lately: that I won a Survivor-type reality show called The Last Soprano ("I don't even like the Sopranos!" was my refrain on the show), that I owned a gelato shop in Athens, and another one where I won The Amazing Race by burning a song on a CD the fastest. Why do I keep dreaming I win reality shows? It is because I know I'm a winner?

Gotta go make a covered dish for the picnic later. Bye y'all!

Protein is for the birds

So....eating more protein. Is really hard if you're a vegetarian and picky like me. But you know what? I just heard on Wait Wait Don't Tell Me that pickiness is hereditary, so suck that! I blame mom and dad for the fact that I don't like nuts, melons, apples, raw carrots or any of the other millions of foods I don't like. The message here: IT ISN'T MY FAULT!

But anyway, I went to see my sister's acupuncturist for a variety of ailments, mainly this yukky eczema over my eye that has been plaguing (yes! plaguing!) me since last year. Her advice? among other things, eat more protein. And good, complete proteins like nuts (ew, see above), eggs and quinoa. I'm trying hard, but her suggestion to eat things with protein powder hasn't gone well. Because it tastes like ass. The whey vanilla kind is OK if you hide it in, say, pancakes, but I was a little concerned about the cholesterol in it, so I got some veggie protein instead. And it tastes even worse. Even A couldn't eat it, and he'll eat anything.

So the moral is, it's hard. (that's what she said). I'm trying new things, like eating Eggo Whole Wheat waffles with almond butter (complete protein, woo!). We tried smoothies, even bought a blender, but I'm also not a huge fan of plain yogurt either, and it's senseless to try and mask something you don't like (e.g. protein powder) with something else you don't really like (e.g. yogurt). But I'm trying. And, related or not, my eczema is MUCH MUCH better! Even the rash under my arms which randomly appeared has gotten better. So I will continue to press on.

Here's a pretty picture I took last week in our yard.

I'm mostly moved in to my new massage room - yay! I think it's very zen in there and enjoy being there, so that's awesome. Have only done 2 massages there yet, but this week I've got some more scheduled.

I've also been putting more hours in at Children Services helping out with home visits. It's not the funnest job ever -- lots of running around and hanging out in the houses of people who don't really want me there, because I work for Children Services, but the kids I'm working with are so super cute. And it's been eye opening to see what the caseworkers really do and how much they really care about these families. They kind of rock!

That's about it from here. 5 weeks till my birthday yo! I've got plenty of suggestions if you need a gift idea :) . I'm all about skipping gifts on Christmas, but my birthday is all about love, adoration and GIFTS! I have to hint very strongly to A to get him to pay attention ("I like this _______. Are you listening? My birthday is soon, are you listening?") but he usually gets it and comes through with something nice.

Later y'all!

Long time no see people!

Hello everyone! So it's been a really long time since I posted here, I admit it. The past year has been busy and strange and kind of difficult and lots of things happened, but here I am!

A and I moved again, which we swear was not in our gameplan, but this just came up and it was the perfect (?) opportunity. Those of you who know us know we moved to Athens because we wanted to build our own house using alternative construction. So we've been living here and there in the Athens area for the last 8 years, but hadn't gotten around to that house thing yet. Randomly in June, I was perusing the ads in The Athens News as I do every Monday and Thursday, and came across an ad for a straw bale house and 5 acres for sale. The price seemed insanely low, so without consulting A, I called the guy and made an appointment to see it that evening. Then when I got home I informed A we were going to look at it! I am normally not that type of wife, but in this case, I was overly bossy. Shut up! I am NOT bossy normally!

Anyway, long story short, we loved the place and made an offer the next day. It's an unusual place, with 2 very small cabins, 1 bathroom, an outhouse and lots and lots of trees. We moved in June (recommendation: hire students to move your stuff next time. They come cheap and although aren't always the sharpest about household-related stuff, they work hard) and have been enjoying the oddness of sleeping back in the woods, about 800 feet back from the main house. It sounds really luxurious to have a separate bedroom and it has been fun so far, but ask me again when it starts getting really cold! We need to do SO.MUCH.STUFF before winter, and haven't historically been good at doing stuff like that in a timely manner, but we're trying! The straw bale cabin roof is a must-do, as is getting some insulation in there. A, per usual, is all "I CAN DO THAT!", I'll just get a book! Here's hoping he doesn't injure himself because we have no health insurance!

In other news, I have a new massage office (will take some pictures soon) that I have just moved into. It's kind of scary to be out on my own, but the price is right and I looooove having my own space. Going tonight to do some more decorating but most everything is there already. Had the inaugural massage on Saturday! Thanks Sara for being my guinea pig.

Have just been busy at work and doing massage and house things and new kitten things (see left, ain't he cute?) but I'm going to try and keep this updated more than I have been for the last year.

To sum up, here's how the last year went:
* major move x 2
* planned my first fundraiser! And it made money!
* new massage office!
* some friends moved away from Athens
* met some cool people who just moved to Athens
* reoccurance of stupid depression and anxiety, necessitating going back on medication
* many declarations of my awesomeness from my boss and massage clients
* my memory is getting worse and worse and I no longer remember what else I did in the past year!

Next blog topic: trying to eat more protein sucks! See you all soon!

Nerf is a jerk

So here is Nerf. This is a common stance for her, the one I call "plaintive wailing". She is a stupid stupid cat, that Nerf. Pardon me for saying so (you know I love all cats) but that cat is missing a few million neurons in her tiny little brain. Anyway, so as most of you know, we moved this weekend (more on that later) and Nerf was very very confused by our new house. "Where have you taken me?" she seemed to be saying as she whined ALL.NIGHT.LONG. "Where are we? Where is my hidey-hole? Where am I supposed to flee in this little house?" she whined and whined and whined. At 2am, with both of us awake, we attemped to banish her outside of the bedroom. Of course all she did then was scratch at the door and make an even bigger nuisance of herself, so we gave up. Annoying cat!!

So yes, we moved. It was a minor disaster, what with me getting mad at a flowerpot for being in my way (terracotta conspiracy!) and kicking the thing, injuring my toe and thus rendering me virtually useless for moving large pieces of furniture. Several people swooped in and saved the day, including our neighbor (who seemed delighted to get out of the house and even brought us donuts!), and then my lovely sister and father and brother-in-law. They drove down from Columbus and everything. They RAWK! It was really freakin' hot and humid and disgusting, but you know what they say, the family that sweats buckets together.....er, I'm not sure where I was going with that. Anyhoo, most of our stuff is in the new house, save some kitchen crap and all that random stuff you end up with once you pack your belongings. My brother-in-law had a great shirt on that was perfect for moving (I wonder if he wore it purposely or just happened to have it on?). It said "I'm not a pack rat, I'm a collector". How appropos. I've gotten better, but I definitely keep things that I probably have no reason to.

That's about it from here. If we ever get the energy to unpack, ya'll should come over for a barbeque.

Erin Nash, LMT

So I've gone and done it, I've passed the boards! I now have 3 more initials to add to the end of my name, how cool is that? I was at the airport, on the way to Philly, when my sis called with the news. I was buying buckeyes at Cheryl's cookies, for a certain buckeye-loving friend of mine, and I started jumping up and down (and possibly shrieking, I'm not sure). The Cheryl's ladies thought I was a little nuts, but that's OK. Then I called everyone I know and then I got on a plane! It's quite exciting being licensed, although it doesn't really change all that much. I can use those 3 initials and charge more, plus I can advertise and I'll finally be able to get rid of those stupid cards that said "student of massage therapy".

It turns out I'm kinda smart and I got a 92 on both sections of the test! How awesome is that? [pats self on back].

Work is crazy and I really need to be going but I just wanted to share. From now on, please don't forget to address all correspondence to Erin Nash, LMT!!

Yeah I'm a slacker, so sue me

It's just so hard to blog when one has nothing new to report. I am STILL waiting on the results of the Medical Board exam, and really, not much else is happening. Summer is passing quickly and I can't believe it's August already. Last month I went to Chicago for Mar-Mar's baby shower, which was fun. I was a surprise guest, and the mom-to-be was definitely surprised. Fun was had by all, I got to stay with my friend Anmol, and we saw some Chicago sights. Struggled with an unfortunate bout of heat exhaustion on the day I left (oy vey, it was terrible), but all in all, had a good time. I am off to the city of brotherly love this weekend to visit with friends from Haverford. Adam just had a birthday, Finn made a daring escape attempt, and I accidentally Netflixed a movie I'd already seen. Sadly, that's about it. Haven't seen any new movies with Clive Owen!!

OK I just spilled water all over myself and must therefore flee. Bye all!

Edited to add: Just saw this tidbit from Toni Collette regarding her latest role and found it too hilarious not to repeat: "Miramax wanted me to shave my underarm hair, which I did not want to do. I was playing a junkie. I did end up keeping it. I felt that since I was creating the character, I should be in control of all bodily hair." BWAH! I'm totally in control of all my bodily hair, aren't you?

Edited to add #2: Most of you who know me know I am slightly obsessed with Pride & Prejudice, the newer version with Keira Knightley. Yes, I was reading another article about it, OK? But I found this hilarious tidbit about Judi Dench: But perhaps the most arresting memory that they take away from being on set with living legend Judi Dench is not her boundless fascination with acting but her penchant for subversive needlework. "She makes these like needlework embroideries on set in the tedium of filming", says MacFadyen, "but they are all: 'You Are a Cunt'. And she gives them as presents. And it's Dame Judi Dench. And she is doing this beautifully, intricate, ornate work. You kind of see the work materializing as the shoot goes on. Like: 'You Are a Fucking Shit.' Knightley remarks: "I love that! She gives this fantastic air. She just sits there and she embroiders and you think: 'Oh, that's so nice! It's Judi Dench. It's so quaint; she's embroidering a cushion,' and you go: 'What are you embroidering?' And (it says): 'Fuck!' Apparently she's got hundreds of them just covered in swear words or rude sayings."

Move along...nothing to see here

Hey folks! As it says above, there's really not much going on here. I've been watching an assload of movies, as I have all this free time, and seemed to have developed a full-blown love of Clive Owen in a very short period of time. The accent - so yummy! The voice! The bod! Y-U-M. My friend asked me if I had a Clive film festival this weekend, and while it seems like I did, I didn't plan it in advance. Saturday while A was at work, King Arthur was on TV, then we got a video on Sunday evening and I was all, hey you've wanted to see Sin City for a while, let's get it (see how I made it seem like it was all his idea?). Then JB told me that I really needed to see Beyond Borders, so I went on Tuesday and rented that. I tried to hide it from A because I knew he would make fun of me, but then he saw it! haha. And, you guessed it, made fun of me. I apologize for NOTHING! He's hot do you hear me? HOT!

That's really it, sadly. I rejoined Netflix and so far we've just gotten Entourage, which isn't as good as I had heard. And I just saw in People that they did a poll and something like 60% of people preferred Jeremy Piven to Adrien Grenier!? Wha? I mean, Piven is OK, but Grenier has that hair and is just so mussed and cute. People are weird man.

Laters!

Oh lordy

Just a quick note to say you must watch this. It's Henry Rollins' Love Letter to Ann Coulter (please note: teeny bit of rough language at the end, you might want to watch the volume if you're at work).

Consummatum est, motherfuckers!

Done! Finished! Finito! The Boards, they be OVER!

Yes, they're done. On Tuesday I went into the Ohio State Fairgrounds a girl and came out a woman. Not really, but it was a life-altering event. The test itself was OK -- I feel mostly confident in my performance -- but it was a very stressful 3 months since school ended waiting and worrying about them. There were a few disasters big and small:

* I forgot clean underwear and had to borrow some from my sister (gross schmoss, we're related!)
* I went the wrong way on the highway on the way there. Only a momentary delay, as I knew where I was and got us right back on the way
* I momentarily forgot my box of #2 pencils in the car and had to rush back to get them
* The power went out during the first test for about 10 minutes. I was near the end and could mostly see my test, but the poor folks in the middle just had to sit there in the dark

It was really nice to see all my classmates again....everyone seems to be doing well.

So now I have all this free time that I don't have to spend studying or worrying about the test or feeling guilty for not studying, and I'm not quite sure what to do with myself! Perhaps A and I will go rollerblading, as I found some safety gear for him at Target. Ahh, Target, you come through again.

Maybe I should start taking opinions as to what hobby people think I should take up.

Also went to a retirement party at my old office. Most people weren't there (rude much??) but of course Mr. Craftsman was. I completely ignored him and he ignored me, it was lovely!! Had some snacks and got to hang with the people I do like. Plus a very very old friend was there, all the way from DC. Wow!

That's it from here! Hope everyone is doing well. Oh, I saw The Lake House last weekend and it wasn't bad! I didn't expect it to be good and it really wasn't, but entertaining nonetheless. We also rented Match Point, which was great! Especially for a Woody Allen joint. Definite 2 thumbs up.

Me again

Who'd you expect? Just a quick update to say hey all and thanks for everyone's support for the boards on Tuesday. It's almost time!!! I got the greatest study care package EVER today (thanks JB!). All the sugar will, I'm sure, help me concentrate on studying. I have recruited A to help with a practice test, and I've got some super study sessions planned for Sunday and all day Monday. Then it will be zero hour and no time to study no mo'. It will be good to see all the folks from my class, as well as Mark (our intrepid instructor). All the instructors come and hang around asking "What did they ask?" as you come out. I believe some of them bring snacks too! Mark, I'm looking at you!

I've got my entrance materials in my car so I won't forget them, and I bought a dozen #2 pencils and sharpened them all in preparation. A made fun of me for it but I figure 1) it's best to be prepared and 2) there are likely to be others who need a pencil and 3) it was 99 friggin' cents for a box of them.

That's it from here! Back to the studying grindstone. Ooh, check this out. It's tres funny.

Missing notecard update

I found them! And am now fully-able to study muscles to my heart's content. They were actually in a bag full of notecards I had rejected as unimportant, so I'm going to blame A on this one (shh, don't tell him!).

It's basically the SSDD around here (you know, same shit, different day). Studying, studying and feeling like I should be studying. Had the last real review class on Sunday -- next Sunday's is optional (although, let's face it, they were all optional for slackers like me) and will involve kind of a free-for-all of question answering and whatnot. I'm undecided as to whether or not I will go -- I feel like I could get more productive studying done on my own, but the question is, will I? It just doesn't seem to warrant the 160 mile round-trip drive when I will be heading back up there to take the actual test Monday night. I did recover my Illustrated Atlas of Skeletal Muscles that I had accidentally left behind last weekend, so that's good. It has PURTY pictures that help my brain understand things.

Other than that, the weather has been nice and cool and I gave Morty a bath and Anna's butt a silly-looking haircut! I would have trimmed her all over but she was shaking and giving me the puppy dog eyes so I took pity on her and let her go. So she kind of looks normal (for her) from the front, but her butt is all trimmed and her tail is so pathetically small when you take away all that hair it makes me laugh. Poor girl! Morty was FILTHIER than anything I've ever seen and of course now is back to being just about as dirty. Silly doggie.

Had a KILLER headache yesterday and I was recovering at home this morning. It's still there, lingering, but it's about 98% better than yesterday, for which I am thankful. I was pretty darn miserable yesterday. BOO HOO!

Laters!