Getting in Shape

I just tried Denise Austin's new 3 week boot camp workout tonight and let me tell you, it was killer. Now, I haven't really been keeping up with my workouts like I should this past month due to illness/exhaustion/laziness, but still! It's a tough 20 minutes of alternating cardio and weight lifting and actually comes broken down into 2 workouts that are kettle bell inspired and can be combined to create one super-tough 40 minute "boot camp" workout. The idea is to do the easier 20 minutes 4x the first week, the harder 20 minutes 4x the second week, and then the whole thing 4x the third week. In light of the upcoming new year and the inevitable resolution to lose weight and tone up, I decided to start this year's resolution early. I had previously tried it on Saturday while very hungry and very tired and was not able to do it. In light of that, I am counting today as the first day of this workout adventure. So, for the record...I need to do it 3 more times this week! I'll be posting little notes here to let you know how it goes.

Back to Business

I've done a lot of soul searching in the last 24 hours and I'm sure there will plenty more in days to come, but I've decided (with Spencer's support) that BeautiConrol is more worthy of being a top priority than I've made it. I really want it to be a viable option for when we finally have children. Though I swore I'd never want to have children (I also swore I would never get married), I really can't imagine leaving them every day and going to work. I have grown to love the idea of being a stay at home mom and taking care of our house and family while Spencer does most of the bread winning. However, I also want to contribute to the income so that we can be better equipped to take care of our family. Plus, I really love spa-ing and pampering other women. The bottom line: I really enjoy the business (even though I'm insanely unorganized right now) and I want the option to quit my job and stay home when our yet-to-be-conceived child comes into existence. Until then, I will continue to work, finish up my master's degree, run the house, and work BeautiControl part time. The bright side is that I should be done with my masters by the end of July! Wohoo!

No Picture=No Fun

One of the reasons I started this side-blog (and didn't feel the need to tell anyone about it) is because I wanted to flex my creative writing muscles a little bit. I used to be a prolific reader and writer and college (and then work while doing graduate school, being a wife, and running a home business) killed it for me. So, I thought I could keep up with my writing skills if I at least took the time to occasionally jot down some notes on our medical student life or whatever. However, I have noticed that some people don't want to read anything someone writes and would rather complain about the boring lack of photos. I am not a picture taker and can't remember the last time I pulled out the camera to snap a few, let alone actually downloaded any. Despite this, I feel compelled to post a picture since this blog has become a veritable fortress of text. So, for your viewing pleasure:
you get nothing! That's right folk! The network is down so no photo! Better luck next time. :)

5 Day Weekends Are No Fun When You're Sick

Normally I somewhat enjoy my sick days because it's a chance to be home alone for a change, even if I am just stuck on the couch or in bed. This week though, I've lost 3 days to illness and I'm not enjoying it. I literally have been able to do nothing for almost a week now and it's not cool. I blame early mornings and late nights due to Spencer's weird OB rotations. At any rate, it would have been nice to use my sick time to get some laundry done, decorate for Christmas, work on BeautiControl or school, or anything. Instead....just sleeping or vegged out on the couch. Ba humbug and cough cough!

Crisis (somewhat) averted

It would seem that my concerns for Sunday's meeting were not needed. After getting permission to change the songs that I couldn't prep in time, I felt OK enough to not be too nervous to play. However, I had to pick Spencer up from St. Joe's that morning so I didn't make it to church until about half way through sacrament meeting. It's a long story, but I'll sum it up here. On weekends, call ends at 8am so I dutifully awoke early and prepared for church so that I could both be on time to get him and be on time to church. I even made him an egg white omelet with mozzarella cheese despite the fact that I couldn't eat because it was fast Sunday. I got to the hospital on time, only to find that he was no where to be found. I must have called him 6 times, had him paged twice, and even ventured into the hospital to look for him but I couldn't get far because I don't have a badge. At any rate, he was called into an emergency c-section and had left his pager with someone who chose to not respond to pages so he couldn't tell me what had happened. I was more worried than upset because I thought he had fallen asleep and I had no way to get back and wake him up, plus I knew I'd never make it to church on time to play at 8:45 when 8:30 rolled around and I still hadn't heard from him. Fortunately, my good friend Alicia was able to cover for me and everything worked out. So I guess I didn't really need to be worried about playing those songs, now did I? I guess I just have to worry about all the up coming weeks now...

Organ Woes (the musical kind)

Does anyone else ever get frustrated with their calling in church or is it just me? Ever since I learned to play the organ for my laurel project in high school I feel like I've had some sort of musical calling. There are a couple of distinctions that come to mind--family home evening group leader and family history consultant--but other than those brief blips, it's pretty much just been playing some keyboarded instrument (or no instrument because they didn't have one even though they had called me to play one). Currently, I'm playing the organ for sacrament meeting and have been since last January. It's not a bad calling. I know a lot of the hymns reasonably well and it's kind of fun to sit on the stand and keep up with my musical talents. However, my recent frustrations with it center on the fact that I do not get to pick the music and the person who picks the music chooses not to pick it until the absolute last second. We're talking day before picking here, not several days in advance--I can handle several days in advance. I have to cut her some slack because the bishopric is notorious for picking the topic and assigning speakers the week of the meeting and we typically want the music to match the theme. However, it was made clear on several occasions that the latest I could accept the song list would be by the Wednesday before that week. At any ate, I'm just not sure what to do at this point. I've tried reminding her to pick the songs earlier. I've tried praising her when she remembers to do so. I've even tried mentioning it to the powers at be. But what do I do when I get a list of songs at 4pm on a Saturday and can't play half of them very well? Especially in light of the fact that a member from the 70 will be present at tomorrow's meeting? Should I stumble through it, which will make me look like I'm not caring enough to fulfill my own calling, or should I refuse to play and just pick my own songs? Mind you, the program has most likely been printed at this point. I just don't know. If this was the first time it had happened, I might be a little more understanding. But this is the norm, not the exception and I'm sick of it. What would you do?

Circadian Rhythms

About 2 weeks ago, Spencer started his OB rotation. For some reason, they feel compelled to make him come in at 5 in the morning. At first I resisted. I stayed in bed for nearly 2 hours after he'd get up so I could get some extra sleep, even though I always woke up a little when he was getting ready to go. As someone who, aside from a 4 year stint of early morning seminary, typically can't drag myself out of bed to save my life before 7am, I convinced myself that I just couldn't do it. I justified it further by the fact that I have been dead tired since this rotation started and have had and almost constant sleep headache to boot. And then last Sunday Spencer had to go in early for 24 hour call and I had to take him because I needed to use the car to get to church. By the time I got back home from driving him, it was almost time for me to get up anyway, so I just stayed up and did things that I never seem to have time to do like read my scriptures and lounge around in the serene quiet of the morning. Monday I awoke early again so I could pick him up, but Tuesday I fell back on old habits. This morning though, I decided when I heard him getting ready that I would get up. It was so nice to see him off this morning and to have the extra 2 hours to get ready for work. I read my scriptures, wrote in my journal, took a leisurely shower, and surfed the web. I did most of it from bed, but hey, you have to start with baby steps. Eventuality I hope to work up to a point where I will be up and working out in that period as well. I guess only time will tell.

The ABCs of Gratefulness

I saw this on a friend's blog and I thought that it would be a fun experiment. She didn't do it by letter, but just for fun I thought I'd try it.

So...I'm grateful for...

A. Apples
B. Bicycles
C. Comics
D. Dancing (and my Dad)
E. Earrings
F. Family and Friendships
G. Grandparents
H. Hamsters
I. Ice Cream
J. my Job
K. Knitting
L. Libraries
M. My Mom
N. New Notebooks
O. Oranges
P. Pants
Q. Quilts
R. Radio: NPR to be exact
S. Spencer
T. Thanksgiving day food
U. Umbrellas
V. Video Chats
W. Walking to work
X. Xylophones
Y. Yarn
Z. Zoos

New Moon

I saw "New Moon" this weekend with my friend Jessica. It was pretty blah. No chemistry, too much dramatic talking, and weird camera pans around people's faces while they were talking. Also, melancholy Bella is not all that different from happy Bella. As I remember from the book, this was also kind of true, but seriously there should have been some notable difference. I liken it to my first experience with Harry Potter movies. The first was absolutely terrible in terms of acting ability (and a few other things, too--but I digress). Harry was just about as excited for his birthday cake as he was to die by the hand of Quirll/Voldermort. Same with Bella. She was just as excited to be loved by Edward as she was to be lost.

Side note: until now I've thought the whole Edward vs. Jacob thing pretty lame. If it were up to me, I'd have Bella leave them both, go to college, get her PhD in weird-ology and then fall in love, but since the author seemed bent on her picking one, I never really picked aside. The movie, however has changed my mind: Jacob all the way! Have you seen his abs? Arms? Etc? Holy cow! And then Edward takes of his shirt and you recoil in fear. Pasty white, untoned, hairy teenage vampires should not get the girl. Especially when you calculate the cold factor in. I am perpetually chilly and Jacob would be like dating an electric blanket. And then there's the whole controlling, abusive, I'll die without you aspect to the relationship. Seriously! Now what were the reasons for picking Edward again?

PS: If I ever have teenage daughters, they aren't seeing this movie/reading the books. I don't want them thinking that that's what real love looks like.

Rotations and Recent Happenings

Well, it's officially mid-November and we're well on our way through 3rd year. Year 3 brought the transition from book work to clinical rotations which was a welcome change for both Spencer and me. Spencer likes it better because it's more like being a real doctor, and I like it because he actually has to go in and is really busy now which makes me fee like less of slave. :) Already he has learned so much and he is getting good reports from his teachers. They think he's pretty awesome and I've got to admit, so do I. He's gone from anesthesia to family practice, then neurology to psych, and now he will finish the calendar year in ob/gyn. He will finish off 3rd year with peds, medicine, and surgery before embarking on the 4th and final year of medical school with a whole new round of rotations. Phew! I get tired just thinking about it. One thing about it that I don't like though, is the crazy hours he keeps. Right now he is going in around 5am and getting done close to 7pm. Grrr....

I am also on track to graduate from my master's program. After this semester, I will only have 9 credits left to take and I signed up to take 6 of them next semester. Right now I am taking "Justice and Health Care" which has been especially interesting considering the health care debate going on in Washington right now (though I do have to admit, I'm pretty sick of it).

BeautiControl also fills my life, though not as much as I would like it to. I seem to have over-committed myself to too many things and I often have a hard time making the time to fit it in. It's hard to be motivated when you work 8+ hours a day, then still have to do school work, make dinner, clean the house, take care of Spencer, try to work out, and then sit down and do business. However, I have noticed a marked improvement in my sales/marketing abilities over last year and I always do well when I actually do spas rather than open houses or vendor fairs. I also hear there is a new leadership program coming up next year which will make it even easier to succeed. I am super excited about it for myself and for all the people I can share it with.

In other news: I'm now 25 years old. It seems hard to believe that I've live 1/4 of a century, but I have and I'm happy to have done it. I hope to live at least 2 more, but I'm not sure if I really want to make it to 100. I think living into about my 80s much like Grandma did would be just fine with me. I had an awesome birthday. I woke up feeling kind of down because I thought that everyone forgot me, but then at work they gave me a card and lots of people went out of their way to tell me happy birthday. Spencer was especially loving and my mom flew in to hang out for the weekend. I took Friday off and we went to Sheboygan Falls, WI to one of my favorite places to eat: The Bread and Bean Eatery. We also stopped in Magpie's Cottage, a yarn store and got a plethora of yarn and books to keep me knitting like crazy. We rounded out the weekend with a trip to Costco, Holy Hill, the Milwaukee Art Museum, and Penzey's Spices. We also stopped at a harvest stand along the side of the road and got apples, apple cider, Carmel apples, and honey. Needless to say, my pantry, fridge, and chest freezer are now full. Thanks mom! It was great to have you and I wish you could have stayed longer. It would have been so nice if Melissa, Rachel, and Dad could have come as well. Maybe next time!

Next on the horizon: Thanksgiving in Wisconsin followed by Christmas with the Russells in Utah!

Glamor Shots of Hurley the Hamster

Hurley is my pet panda bear hamster. He's getting old and so he recently starred in his own photo shoot so that I could have at least some sort of record of his existence.

Eating his hamster dinner.

Checking out life outside of his cage.

Run away!

Can I make this jump?

As you can see, he's a pretty active little guy. Recently though, he's started to slow down. Hamsters only live for 2-3 years and he's nearing the end of that time period.

PS: Does anyone watch "Mercy?" I cracked up when the main character responded to her husband's request for children by offering to get a hamster because that's kind of what I've done for the time being.

All the Cousins Minus One

Though the occasion was sad, it was nice to have all of the Todd cousins (minus Melissa, who was greatly missed) all together in one place for Granny's funeral. 11 of 12 of us (plus a couple of spouses and great-grand kids) were able to make the pilgrimage back to the homeland in Virginia. It was a lot of fun getting to know everyone again and really made me miss living close to family. May our next meeting come under happier circumstances.

Weather

Those of you who've read our other blog know that I post a lot about the weather. Let me just make this brief....I love it right now!! Fall is my absolute favorite season of them all! There is nothing more amazing than the changing of all that green into glorious reds, yellows, and oranges. That's probably why I didn't like living in Utah as much. It was too brown.

On a side note, now is the time of year that has me nostalgic for being a student. Though I guess I'm technically still a student since I'm doing an online master's program, I'm not a student in the back-to-school/summers-off sense. I miss buying new books, paper, pencils, and back-to-school outfits. I miss that exhausted feeling you get when you switch from sleeping 'till noon to waking up at dawn to catch the bus. I've been working full time now for almost 2 years and this year I'm especially nostalgic this year for college and thus Utah. I miss crazy roommates (who'd have thought?), walking to campus, the mountains, weekly devotionals, dorm life, meal plans, football games, and the proximity of the temple. I miss the testing center (I worked there), Dr. Hatch's lab in the Widstoe Building, the Wilk, mountain biking, swing dancing, and my in-laws. I don't miss taking tests, but I do miss studying. Ah well. At least we are all still students of life.

RIP

My grandma passed away yesterday after a long and full life. She lived to the age of 89 and was surrounded by her family and friends. She passed quietly in her sleep. I miss her very much, but I'm not totally sure it's hit me yet. I hadn't seen her in a while. I am comforted, though, by the fact that I know that she is in heaven with Grandpa and that I will get to see and talk to her again some day.

I dunno.

I don't really know why I don't like doctors, but I can speculate. It's not as if I was born with this dislike. I don't remember particularly hating going when I was kid. They gave you cool stickers and I don't remember it being scary. My grandpa was a doctor. We didn't live to close to him growing up, but I remember my mom telling me lots of stories about her dad. She'd tell me how he had sewn her toe back on without anesthesia (!) when she had accidentally cut it off on a piece of lamp she broke and tried to hide. I now realize this must have been an exaggeration to get me not to hide my mistakes, but nonetheless the idea has stuck with me. The only thing I can think of stems back to several experiences that I had in high school.

The first was that I took 2 rounds of Acutane for really bad cystic acne and it still didn't clear everything up. I had horrible acne as a teenager, and still to this day have it (though thanks to BeautiControl and perhaps those Acutane treatments it is decidedly better). Taking Acutane required not only taking a different number of pills each day of the week, it also required monthly visits to get my blood drawn. It was there that I discovered that my blood is exceedingly difficult to draw. As a result, I always endured multiple pokes in each arm. This instilled my first ounce of fear.

The second was an experience with a rather unsympathetic female doctor who wouldn't believe a word I said, but refused to talk to my mother because I had just turned 18. It was a sort of catch 22. I was too young to be trustworthy and too old to have my mom step in as an advocate. This instilled the idea in me that doctors don't get a rat's hiney about how I'm really doing.

My third experience that comes to mind served only to expand my fear. I was deathly ill at the end of high school. I'm not sure how long I was sick or what exactly made me sick, but suffice it to say that it was nasty and laid me flat on my back for most of the summer and almost kept me home from my first year of college. It again, required crazy amounts of blood to draw, only this time I was sick and it was harder to get it. They'd poke me about 3 times in each arm, start eyeing the tops of my feet, than finally settle on the back of my hands where they'd again poke multiple times in each hand, and then dig around until finding a vein.

I can think of several other experience that could also make the list, but I don't want to bore you so I'll spare you the details for now. I guess you can say that my dislike of the doctor is justified. I hate taking pills and I hate getting blood drawn. Most of my medical problems are cured only by changes in diet and exercise. Thought I haven't lately, I do think that I generally do a pretty good job of regulating both. The other thing I hate is their boat sized egos, but I'll save that for another post.

The first time is always new...

On several occasions, my husband has made the observation that he has no idea why I married him because of my strong dislike/distrust of doctors. My mom has echoed these sentiments noting that I swore that I would never get married, let alone marry someone from Utah or someone who was a doctor. I typically counter with, "yes, but he told me he hated Utah," or, " yes, but he wasn't a doctor yet." Technically, he's still not a doctor so I guess we're in the clear for now, though I have no idea how I will enjoy being married to a full-fledged doctor. In just working for one, I've come to decide that I really hate the medical field and I can't imagine why in the world anyone would ever want to work in it.

In all seriousness though, I love my life. I may not enjoy what I have to do each day, but there are many things about my life that I do love. I have if not the best, one of the best, husbands in the world. He is kind, caring, a helps out around the house. He is supportive of my dreams and wants me to be happy. I also love my business, friends, and family. However, I am often struck by how strange and different with how my life is turning out versus what I had planned/imagined for myself. I had always thought I would be happily perusing a graduate degree in neuroscience right now, unmarried, perhaps living with cats... I never dreamed I would be married to a medical student, working for a surgeon, and trying to start my own business. This blog will be an attempt to chronicle the second two years of our medical school experience, residency, and then life as the wife of a doctor who doesn't like doctors.