Alabama Life

Yesterday Dave asks, "Are you doing laundry this weekend?"

I respond, "Yes, honey, I do laundry every weekend. Otherwise we would not have clean clothes during the week..."

He replies, "Oooh yes, that's why our water bill has tripled since you moved down. I only did laundry once a month." ----Lets pray that was a joke-----

He continues to make me laugh. Okay, side note, as I'm writing this, Oscar is barking obnoxiously outside....I need a shock collar. So I don't have to move, I can just push a button and, wham...disipline. That would truly be lovely. Does anyone have one that I can borrow?!?

Both of our works are going well. We're both busy....clinic has a been nightmare-ishly busy lately. Just crazy busy! And Dave's at the county hospital, and that's....well.....always interesting. Entertaining, rather.

He's working on a poster that he's going to present and some conference at the beach, which is great..I love being within hours of the beach. It's great for weekend get aways.

Today I went out to watch a friend of mine's 3 week old baby. Her, her husband, 2 year old, and family went out to Talladega and her husband got to drive a Nascar car. That sounds really red-neck, but they're really not. What guy wouldn't want to drive a car at 170 mph around a track? I thought that it sounded like fun, until I learned that the car is not air conditioned and there's not radio. Totally not down with that. How do those people drive for 2 hours in those races? I'd be board out of my flippin mind! Back to the baby though, she's suuuuch a doll. And I held her from 9-2. I gave her to Dave when I took "bathroom breaks"...just love those little darling babies!

It's been a little warm down here, today it was 95 and the humidity makes it hazy. You go outside and feel sticky. I've been wearing dresses. A year ago I would have never imagined running around in a dress, but it's really the coolest thing you can wear. Now it's pretty much the only thing I'll buy.

Well, I need to get going, Dave's brewing beer, the house reeks, and Oscar is trying to help. My job now is to keep Oscar away so he doesn't "contaminate" it, is what Dave tells me. We'll see how this goes...

The happenings with the in-laws...

I thought I'd let y'all know what we did while Dave's parents and his sister were in town:

They came in on Friday evening and we went out for some good ol' BBQ at Jim 'n Nicks. Denise (Dave's mom) was in love. We are too...they have great cornbread/cheddar biscuits and brisket. Yummy!

Saturday morning we went to the local farmer's market which was wonderful! Oscar got to go too...and he was the best behaved dog...I mean, seriously, he was fantastic. I'd never seen him like that before, and I wish he'd do it more often. I really think he was just overwhelmed with the people. People would stop to look at him and pet him, and at any given moment he'd have 5 kids around him petting. He just sat there like a good boy and didn't even flinch. He enjoyed being the center of attention. He was the cutest dog there and stole the show. (Okay, I may be bragging a little...)

Dave and his dad and sister went and played golf that afternoon while Denise and I napped. We took several naps over the weekend. It was wonderful, and relaxing! Saturday night we did take them to a crawfish boil. It was a ton of fun! It was a benefit for one of my patients and all the proceeds went to our hospital for our Phase I (1) study research. We do Phase I studies on patients that really haven't responded to anything and this is just therapies they're "investigating". Anyway, it was a good time, people from work were there, there was live music, it was a beautiful evening, just all-in-all fun.

We also did some hiking....and got lost. We wandered around the forest going in circles for 2 1/2 hours. Fortunately it was only in the low 80's and it's obviously all shaded, so it wasn't terrible. Oscar however was pooped. We took several water breaks for him in the stream. We did some shopping, more eating, and Dave, Rich and Lindsay played some more golf. Rich, Denise and Lindsay tried a new BBQ spot for almost every lunch. Denise said that she didn't fit in her pants once they left, but I gave her my solution: wear pants with drawstrings. :)

They left Thursday, but it was so great to see them!! It's very quiet around here now, and Oscar doesn't know what to do. He has no stimulation now. Well, that's all for now! Hope things are getting warmer up in Nebraska! We had great weather down here for them (since they're not used to humidity being from North Platte, NE), I was nervous because it had been pushing 90, but the whole time they were here it was low to mid 80's with hardly any humidity. Praise Jesus!

xox

Happy Momma's Day!

Well I write this sitting here Sunday evening, after walking and driving through our neighborhood this afternoon and seeing all the families together for lunch and dinner. It really makes me yearn to be back home. I really did take for granted how easy it was to just drive home for the day, or make it home for random get togethers. Dave and I were talking about this earlier, I have a feeling that when we do move back to Omaha we'll be making very frequent visits to North Platte and Pawnee City. Or, what I'm really looking forward to is having our families over for Sunday lunch.

Anyway, hope everyone had a happy mother's day! I sent cards to our mom's, but neither of them have received them yet. They'll probably get them tomorrow....or Tuesday. I'm still trying to get used to the number of days it takes for snail mail. I guess that Wednesday was too late. :(

My sister sent me this text this morning, "Oscar told me to tell you, 'Happy mother's day. Thanks for being the greatest dog mommy ever. Please let me chase the squirrels.'" I smiled. If only he knew it was mother's day, my mother's day wish would be that he would nap all day and stay out of my way watering flowers. Oscar did get a mother's day surprise though....well, and so did we. We ran to the pet store to pick him up some more dog food and we were looking at kennels. The kennel he currently has is getting pretty tight. He can barley stand in it, so we've been looking to get a new one. However, new large kennels were running about $150 to $200 (and that was on Craigslist.) It was just a little to pricey at the moment. So anyway, I could tell this lady was kind of watching Dave and I contemplate these kennels, and she came up and said, I have a large kennel like this, and I'm really wanting to just get rid of it....I'll just give it to you. I was floored, we of course told her that we'd have to pay her something, so we got it for $50. She lived near our neighborhood and it had only been used for 1 hour, it was for a rescue dog she had fostered, but then had been placed within a few hours of being at her house. I was just soooo excited!! We now call it his mansion, no longer 'the kennel.'

On to another subject. I believe that I have become more...hmmmm....what's the word for it. Well I know the word, because I think it rhymes with witch, but we'll just call me assertive. :) No, actually, I think I've just developed an attitude. I've really always had it, just recently it's been coming out more and more often. I think it's due to the south and how a lot of ladies here act. They're sweet and charming, but you don't cross them. I think all the ladies I work with have rubbed off on me a little bit. Well, maybe a lot. Dave said last week, "Geez, you can be so pleasant and then you just snap into one of your 'moods'." ----I'm really trying to work on that.

Well, Dave's parent's and sister are coming on Friday and we're just sooo excited! So is Oscar, he's going to the bath house and spa on Thursday to get ready to meet them for the first time. It's funny that you can choose between and facial, massage of extra teeth cleaning. He'll be getting the extra teeth cleaning. Yikes, how do you give a dog a facial?? They don't have skin! Or at least his is covered with hair.

Okay, well I better get going, Sweet Home Alabama is on. It makes my heart smile. It's crazy to think that I was obsessed with that movie when it first came out. And here I am, in the heart of Alabama. Well, I guess I should specify that I live in the city. People who come into the clinic.....I can tell who lives in the city and well.......who doesn't. It's very obvious. Hope y'all are doing well! Have a good night!

May. :)

Oh what a month April has been! Dave and I both had trips to Vegas within 2 weeks of each other....yes, we went separately....and I'm thankful we did. :) Dave went out for a friend's birthday, and had a great time. They gamble and do that side of Vegas. And my group of friends....well, we don't. I did gamble 3 dollars. I lost.

I went for a bachelorette party for my friend Kelli. There were 13 of us total, 11 of us girls from my sorority and then Kelli's mom and aunt. Who were sooo wonderful! Let's just say it was a wild and crazy time. We had a panoramic suite at Planet Hollywood and overlooked the fountains at the Bellagio. (Not sure the spelling.) Anyway, it was amazing. Our large whirlpool tub was transformed into a cooler for our drinks. We went out on the strip that night, just walked and stopped at several bars, we spent most of our time at Caesar's Palace. We were bought drinks after drinks...this led to our demise. Six of us headed back at around 3:30, and the other 5 went to another club. At around 4:30 I heard a racket and one of the girls comes to where I was sleeping looking for the cot that I was on. This was her quote exactly, "Get up! Get up! Taryn's in a wheelchair and we need the cot to lay her on!" I popped up, obviously in very sober fashion and go out to the living room to find our good pal Taryn in fact in a wheelchair, with a paramedic or security...something...trying to arouse her. I'm laughing typing this because after the initial scared feeling, she started to come around and was going to be fine. The next morning was rough.

Saturday night was the actual bachelorette. We went to Thunder Down Under. It's these gorgeous guys that do these little skits and strip...kind of. They go down to Speed-o's. It was hilarious. We also had a limo and went to this club at the Wynn called Tryst. It had an amazing waterfall...just unreal. Vegas truly is another world....I was in bed Saturday night at 4am, and up at 5:30 to catch a cab for my 8am flight. I made it....however, I don't remember the plane taking off. Not because I had been drinking, I was just sooo exhausted. I bought on of those nerdy neck pillows at the airport and used it. The whole. way. home. I slept the entire 4 hour non-stop flight into Birmingham. Oh, wait, I did get up once to have a drink of Sprite to take some Ibuprofen. Pretty sure the two guys beside me were praying the whole way that I wasn't going to suddenly vomit, because I know I looked awful. It was a great time. I'm sure it will be fun to go with Dave....but only with my girlfriends can I have that much fun!

On to other things in our lives.....hmmm. I'm trying to think what else! Dave's parent's and sister are coming down in 2 weeks. We're so excited! His mom has never been down before so I'm excited that he'll be able to show her his first house. :)

Oscar is doing okay. He weighs 51 lbs and does still believe he's a lap dog. He's also learned how to jump onto the bed. So if he's sleeping in our room, he'll jump up, like my face, then go back down to the floor. He doesn't like to stay up there because he can't stretch out. And he likes the wood floors, I'm guessing it's a lot cooler. Oh, there was one cute thing. He has this blankie that he's had since we bought him the first night. It really is his security blanket. He'll drag it out of his kennel and lay with it around the house. This particular night it was already in the hall and he was on the bed. He sees the blanket, jumps down and grabs it, then jumps back up and lays in my spot....with his blankie...like he's down for the night. It's slightly obnoxious.

Dave's been in the medical ICU this month. He's been doing TONS of lines, taps, codes, etc. He'll put a needle in anything: spines, tummies, lungs, necks, whatever is needed. It is kind of morbid when I call and he doesn't answer I just figure he's coding someone. It's usually at 7 am of 7 pm....for all of my nursing/medical people you'd understand. Shift change: when all codes happen. Starting Monday he's back at the "Coop" It's the Cooper-Green Hospital, the county hospital where anything and everything goes. They let the resident's run the show. Very scary, but the place has one of the highest patient satisfaction scores in the country! Kind of impressive.

Well, that is all for now. Hope everyone is doing great and enjoying the lovely spring weather. It was so humid here today it was hard to breathe. Oscar was struggling on our walk this morning. He was panting like crazy and plopped down on the cool tile and under the fan as soon as we got home. Talk to y'all soon!!