L'aventure américaine

I'm afraid to say it, but my life currently revolves around bowel movements. You might think that this is common to all nurses, but I believe that the time that I spend cleaning up/helping enhance/facilitating bowel movements is much more than most. In the past week, I have spent around 13 hours repeatedly cleaning up bowel movements (that I caused, of course, with an enema). I have emptied several white buckets of more bowel movements. I have flushed away my own.* And lastly, I have recently switched Odie's dog food because of some unfortunate bowel movements (especially unfortunate when they greeted me after a 14 hour day of work) and thus I have been closely watching his bowel movements to make sure that his food agrees with him. It has come in all different shapes and sizes. Gross, you say? Nah... It's just poo. *I have started saving the water from my shower that is used while waiting for the water to get hot, it goes in a bucket, which I use to flush the toile...

I have worried that I'm old before my time quite often, but an incident yesterday solidified it. You see, it's true that I go to bed at 9pm. I sometimes drink warm milk and honey before I go to sleep. I regularly do crossword puzzles and thoroughly enjoy puzzles. My closest companion is my dog who often climbs onto my lap. I only buy shoes that are comfortable and bras that offer good support. However, yesterday, I found myself going 55mph in a 65mph zone for no reason. I was going under the speed limit for no reason . I committed one of my pet peeves and now I'm very afraid that my senior citizen neighbors are wearing off on me. Well, it's 6pm: a good hour past my dinner time. Must go eat some prunes and pudding.

Well, I'm thirteen days into 2010 and I've already burst out laughing, burst into tears and eaten so much that I thought I would burst multiple times. My good friend, Kristi, came to visit me here in Phoenix last week and it was a marvelous time. We had grand intentions about exploring great restaurants and buying good shoes and tasting wines (or something like that). Instead, we purchased four different kinds of cheese, drank several bottles of wine, and spent most of our time hiking around Phoenix and lazing in the hot tub (my first time). It was wonderful to giggle and share stories and be so comfortable with a friend from home. It was hard to say goodbye. However, her visit made me realize what a fun place I'm in. Whether it was sitting on my balcony in 70 degree whether or only spending $5.58 for 6 grapefruits, 2 tangelos and a heaping bag of greens, I came to appreciate some of the perks of sunny Arizona. On another note, I've been trying to brace myself for...

A new year has begun and this one will be rockin'. I celebrated in style last night in a totally different fashion than my last new year's party. This one was much trendier in downtown Phoenix with martinis and absinthe and bathrooms that were so hip that I couldn't figure out where they were. However, the people were fun, the food was good, and the drinks were plentiful. It was a good night and an excellent way to ring in the new year. And today, I sluggishly cleaned my apartment and put the Christmas decorations away. And here are the photos of this clean apartment with all of its sparse furnishings. 2010 commence!

I have been reflecting about the last ten of years of my life. They certainly have been eventful. 10 years ago, I was starting the final semester of high school in Muncie. Since then, I have lived in Ohio, Montpellier, Ohio again, Lyon, Colorado, Bloomington, Indianapolis and now Phoenix. That's a fair amount of boxes that I have packed and unpacked. 10 years ago, I was sure that I wanted to be a physician and knew that I would never be a nurse. If I had followed that career, I would only be in my second year of residency and wouldn't have been allowed to be a bum nearly as much as I have been. I would have oodles more student loans than the oodles that I already have. I am glad that I am not a physician. 5 years ago, I planned on living in France after college for several years. I couldn't exactly visualize what I would be doing, but I knew that it would be fantastic, fun and lucrative and I would be very chic. While that fantasy still appeals to me, I now know th...

It was a different Christmas this year, obviously. It was my third Christmas away from home, but the first in which I did not have a solid family or friend base to rely upon. I had thought it was going to be a sad one, but while there were moments of homesickness, the majority of my Christmas day was a wonderful. I woke up with anticipation on Christmas morning and found sunshine streaming into my apartment. Santa had visited both Odie and I and we opened our stockings first thing. After a walk and some coffee, I opened my presents and then made myself a special Christmas omelette. It was a great morning. I later went to a Christmas party. A new nurse that I met in orientation invited me to her house for their Christmas; like me, most of their family was far away (in her case, New York), but her sister and brother were still in Phoenix along with some of their coworkers, friends and partners. It was an eclectic group, but a fun one, and I passed a very enjoyable evening with the...

My sewing practice has taken a vacation due to, um, a move to Phoenix and a new job. But, after receiving a beginner sewing book from my brother, I decided to pick up my art again. So, last night I played on the sewing machine. I started by reintroducing myself and trying not to break anything. And being a sewing prodigy, today I started (and finished) my first project. I was on a deadline because Santa comes on Thursday night and I want to make sure that my pretty little Odie gets something because he's been a very good boy this year. However, there were no patterns in my book for pet stocking and I was too lazy to look it up on the internet, so I designed my own. And here it is... in all of its 6 inch long glory. At a later date, I may embroider Odie's name on the stocking, but this'll do for now. I think that Santa will know whose is whose (if only because I have bigger feet).