A day well spent

We have hosted Thanksgiving every year since we moved into this house. Last night, we cooked two turkey breasts and the stuffing. Today all we had to do is reheat them, cook the veggies in the those new Ziplock steam bags, cook the rolls, and set up. My brother-in-law arrived just in time with the potatoes and to make the gravy. I was raised to use the juices only but David's side likes it thick and brown. Since I haven't a clue how to make that happen, Keith stepped in where my mother-in-law would normally be. We told everyone to be there at 1pm. We were only off schedule by a few minutes as we were waiting for one more person. The food was so good I had three helpings. I really love turkey. I really love brownies too. I had two. Thankfully, there were plenty of takers so I didn't end up eating more than that. Our youngest niece was absent as she had a bad case of the flu. Our sister-in-law stayed home with her. They were missed. Jason convinced several of us to play airhockey. He beat us all except one game with Danni. David's dad brought family papers for us to see that his father wrote tracing their family tree from the time they came over from England to America in 1629 to the mid-1800's. Very interstering stuff. There is more information that has been accumulated over the years that we have yet to see. The conversations varied as we moved from room to room. Watched part of the ND game rerun hoping to see us in the background. The camera always stopped before panning over to us, darn it. Everyone is gone now. We cleaned as we went so it didn't take long to get everything back to normal. I studied for a test for awhile but now we are watching the USC vs. Arizona game. I am rooting for USC. I like Pete.

A woman without a voice

I have been without my voice since Saturday. It was starting go before the ND vs. Duke game and was completely gone by the end. Today I had to present my NCLEX style question in front of the class and instead of sounding like a competent nursing student I was channelling Peter Brady going through the change. Very frustrating.
Given my voiceless existence, I am unable to attend clinicals tomorrow. Very very frustrating. I will however be able to make up the day. I am sorry to miss because I had just written up a new procedure and schedule for this week that I was anxious to try out. I am group leader so I really wanted to be there. I will spend the day working on my paper and studying for my next quiz to keep me out of trouble,not talking to myself at all.

On a side note, I am also very frustrated with the spell check on this site. It refuses to save my corrections!

Notre Dame pilgrimage revised

We began our long weekend mid morning Friday by loading the car for our trip to South Bend. We waited until then so we would miss traffic. We waved to Brady Quinn as we passed the Avon Lake exit. Jason asked if we could go to his house. We chuckled and told him that would not be appropriate. He insisted that Brady could go to Notre Dame with us. He even offered his seat and said, "I can sit in the middle mom." Although he never quite understood our reasoning, it wasn't long before he became reabsorbed in his Rudy movie on the dvd player. The roads were busy but not backed up at the beginning and shortly became effortless to navigate. I do not know of any car trip we have taken to date that was so easy. We made it there in about 5 1/2 hours. That includes a bathroom break and lunch. After much research, we decided to stay in Michigan City rather than South Bend. It is 40 minutes from the stadium. We learned that that although they are only 40 minutes from South Bend, they are an hour behind. The Holidome here is lovely. The suite is huge and has double doors dividing the living room area where the boys are. The activity area had a game room, hottub, pool, and video games. The pool was interesting. We went down there Friday night and found part of it goes outside. You have to swim under the glass wall to get there. The outdoor section is rather small. I cannot imagine how much it costs to keep the water warm because it was warm inside but not outside. The hot tub was okay. Too many chemicals for me. While we were playing sharks and minoes in the pool we could see them setting up for something. We feared they were going to kick us out for a conference but it turned out to be a welcome table for the entire Duke football team as well as coaches and assorted family. I was too embarrassed to get out of the pool until they were out of sight. David just looked at me like I was completely irrational and said,"They couldn't care less. All they care about is football right now",as he held the towel just out of reach and motioned for me to take it, "Just get out." And so I did.

We went back to the room to shower and then off to dinner. The hotel restaurant is a Damons where Jason could eat for free so that is where we went. We ended up next to several Duke players and coaches. We encountered them in the elevater, common areas, and again this morning at breakfast. They were very nice.

We headed out to South Bend around 10 am. A wonderful toll booth operator directed us to the best route when our mapquest directions proved insufficient. David has yet to fall in love with google maps as I have. The parking area was grassy and only a couple of rows had been filled. As soon as we got out of the car, Jason wanted to throw the football around like the tailgaters. David was anxious to get moving but I couldn't resist. We played for a good 10 minutes before the next row of cars got in our way. From there we gathered our coats and assorted cold weather gear and headed to the road where the shuttle bus was to take us to Notre Dame. Less than a minute wait and off we were. The bus let us off at the library. We followed the crowd to Touchdown Jesus. As we tried to get a good picture Jason stood there wide eyed and a little puzzled. He looked at the mural and said,"Did he play for Notre Dame?" David and I had a good laugh. If that were the case we wouldn't be 2 and 9 would we?! Anyway, David was able to get a nice picture of it. We didn't realize that while the campus is beautiful, it wasn't going to take us long to see everything. We hit the bathroom in the athletic building and the Varsity Shop. Came out of there with a Rudy jacket for J, face decals, a couple hats, postcards, and gameday beads. Devin sulked for awhile when he didn't get something only to be reminded he does not like ND. As a matter of fact, he has openly routed against them more than once this year. I gave him some game day beads and face decals which seemed to cheer him up. Maybe there is hope of converting him yet. I also brought his Ohio State scarf for him to wear. We wandered the campus aimlessly trying to kill time. There were vendors like at a fair selling poporn, candy apples, cotton candy, elephant ears, etc...There also were stands selling merchandise. We bought giant pretzels the size of my head and attempted to eat them without flinging salt everywhere. I was unsuccessful. I am still picking the salt chunks out of my hair. David observed that despite the crowd the campus was remarkable calm and relatively quiet. That is something you could not say about Ohio State I'm sure. The gates opened at 1pm. The stadium has banners and tributes to players everywhere. There also was an abundance of consession stands. Even better was the ladies room had many many stalls. Our seats were upper deck and apparently in the Duke section. We were not intimidated. The two of the men in front of us were from Ohio. The first half of the game was worrisome. It wasn't until the last couple minutes of the second quarter that the game became interesting. The sporatic snow pellets turned into a steady rain as we cheered the Irish to victory. So much so that I am currently without a voice. I've been sick for the last couple of days. That coupled with the rain and screaming made my condition what it is now. I always thought I didn't talk much. I know now that is not true. Even though my voice is more raspy than Kathleen Turner and is not much louder than a whisper, I keep talking. Anyway, the game was a blast. It was a little chilly and damp but bareable. Of course, had they not won I might feel differently. The end of the game was particularly interesting because Charlie put Tommy Z in as quarterback at the end of the fourth quarter. He also put in other seniors who were on the roster who never gotten a chance to go on the field. I love Rudy moments. Jason was commended by an older gentlemen for his talent for seeing penalties even before the ref did. He does have a eye for the game. David surprised us by actively rooting for the Irish. We only took a few pictures and one video clip because it was too difficult to do while trying to watch the game. Getting out of the stadium after the game was effortless which surprised me. It took more time for us to get out after our city fireworks(13,000 residents) than it did today with 80,000 fans. The trip home today seemed much longer than it was mostly because I am not feeling well. The Dayquil is working for all symptoms except my voice. Halls proved ineffective as well. The weather was kind, only a few drops and flakes here and there. David missed the toll road which we thought would set us back but instead got us home faster. Take that mapquest!

This has been a memorable weekend. We are looking forward to coming back next year.

Hail..hail..more hail

Hello winter weather. Technically we are still in Fall but this morning was cold and the hail pelted me and J as we waited at the bus stop for what seemed like an eternity.

Yesterday was no better weather wise. On the way to clinicals, the hail bounced off my windshield. It was my first day as group leader. We were not given much instruction other than what to set up and where. We were being tested, I think, on our ability to adapt and think critically on our own. I believe we did a good job. Our instructor agreed.

Monday was football equipment turn in. I asked them if it was okay to sew the practice pants that were ripped when we got them. They not only said it was okay, but gave me several more that needed mending. I learned to sew in 7th grade home ec. I hope to figure out the best way to keep the pants from ripping again in the same spot. I'm going to consult the gals at Joanne Fabrics to make sure I'm doing it right. While I'm there, I need to gather materials to make my teens and smoking prevention poster for school. I am going to ask Devin for help on this since he is a teen. I am painfully aware that I am not cool. I also know that I am not a kid anymore which means I have no idea how to get my point across to teens in a way that doesn't make them roll their eyes. The other presentation is a puppet show with a board that is already made. My group gets to write a song and read a book. This is my kind of project. I love working with kids almost as much as I love nursing.

A sigh of relief...

I have successfully completed mental health nursing. Monday I begin community nursing for five weeks. I like the length of the rotations. Even though it is a lot of information in a short time, it goes quick.

Halloween was surprisingly slow. The most excitement came from Jason's school. The high school band came down to lead the elementary school parade down the street, around the middle school, and through the library with a police escort. They were thrilled. Not many kids out that night. I was giving away fist fulls of candy and still lots of candy left. The cool thing is that our neighbors thought like we did and gave out mostly chocolate. Gone are the days of tootsie rolls or Bit-o-Honeys. However, there was one surprise in Devin's bag that I would never have guessed. One neighbor handed out hard boiled eggs with his last name on them. I have to wonder how many made their way back to his yard. Jason was the black suited Spiderman and Devin was Michael Myers. Ironically my very first real date was in the 9th grade and his name was Michael Myers. Like creepy. The skeleton lights and lite-brite jack-o-lanters were a big hit. Many a toddler and adult alike had to stop and look at them.
Good to know my impulse buying is starting to pay off.

This morning, I broke out the treadmill. I finally used the dvd player on my laptop to watch Roll Bounce while I was walking to make it more tolerable. Couldn't hear the movie to well, but it was better than listening to music. I felt a burst of energy afterward which motivated me to straightened out my bookshelf. Next time I'll work on my desk.

Early afternoon left me anxious. I decided to head out to Seasonal to buy sweatshirts and hats. I ended up with two baseball caps and one sweatshirt. I am still waiting for the smaller sizes to come in for J. Then I went to Arrowhead to buy an acoustic guitar Devin wants for Christmas. I ended up buying a nicer one than we orginally looked at because there was a special that included the case. He is going to love it. I gave both boys the talk about not expecting as many presents under the tree since the items they are asking for get more expense as they get older. They seemed to understand, but we will see how they do on Christmas day.

I have a nagging feeling I'm forgetting something today. Hopefully someone or something will remind me before it is too late.

Tomorrow night I'm off to my sister's for a jewelry party. I am looking forward to it.