My Lips!

Ever noticed how a bad day is made worse when you don't have chapstick?

The Nurse I Am

When I was in nursing school I had a list of the type of nurse that I was going to be. I was not going to be the type of nurse that would wait until the last possible second to go to the bathroom, who would wait to eat until she was shaking with hypoglycemia, and most of all I was not going to be the type of nurse who took medications to sleep. Well I’ve done the first two and today I turned to 50 mg of Benadryl to help me sleep.

I worked last night and felt exhausted. I’ve been coming down with a cold and spent most of the two hours that I was home coughing and blowing my nose. By 10am I decided to go to the bathroom and get some sweet relief in the form of two gel tabs. I woke up at 4:30 in the afternoon feeling better.

I Take to the Sea

I wanted to see the ocean during the winter. Steve couldn’t understand why, but being a good boyfriend he suggested we drive up to Marblehead for the day and walk along the coast. I’m not sure what made me want to see the ocean in it’s off season. I thought it would be beautiful, like it is in the summer but with less people around. Turns out I was right.

I see the sea!

We walked to a park that over looked the sea and found a bench with this plaque under it.



We walked to an out cropping and had a chance for this photo opportunity.

Aren't we cute

We ended the day by discovering that every store in Marblehead closes at 4:30 so if you are hungry eat before then. Or just do as we did, and drive to Salem and get some food.

Minnesota Facing the Right Way

Before I left Minnesota my mom gave me a cutting board in the shape of Minnesota. It was sort of a gag gift. She said it was so Adrianne and I wouldn’t get home sick. People from home see it and laugh and think it’s “awesome” and people from other places are puzzled. “Is that New York?” Our landlord asked when she was over fixing the drain (to read more about our drain problem read here.)

The shape of Minnesota sits above our sink and gets used from time to time. After it’s used it gets washed and put back, but occasionally it doesn’t get put back right. I like the shape of Minnesota to be geographically correct. I like the east to face my right and west to face left. Today while I was in the kitchen I had to correct the geographical mistake and then all was well in the state of my kitchen.

Sweet Internet

For the last few months my laptop that I purchased from Winona State University has lived on the floor of Adrianne’s and my living room. When I moved into the house the internet had already been installed and Adrianne felt that we should encrypt our wireless signal so hackers couldn’t go through our personal files. Fair enough, but there was a problem.

Being that my computer was a PC and that it was obtained second hand there were a few problems with setting up the new access code. Neither Adrianne nor I had any idea where to do this, and when I called the PC people they said that because I got my computer from Winona State that they would be the only people who could help me with tech support. Winona State said that since I was no longer a student I could not receive tech support from them. The wireless people told me to call the PC people. After being on the phone for 2 hours I felt like shooting the computer then any tech support person I could find. That entire episode of calling help desks occurred during August and I have since just had my computer plugged into the internet router in the living room.

Then last week I clicked on a small icon that sat at the bottom of my computer. I had no idea what it meant but it always popped up when it turned on. A window appeared that prompted me to type a wireless address and an encryption code. I followed the steps and help my breath as I pulled out the internet cable that had been connected to my computer for the last four months. The internet continued to work and man’s eternal struggle against technology took another step foreword.

An Adult Birthday

Yesterday was my first birthday without having my parents around. It was weird. I had a good time, Steve and I slept in and then had more then a fair share of French toast at Kelly’s.
We went snowboarding and had a good time.
Steve made me a birthday cake.
I felt older, like something in me had changed and became a grown up.

During the cake Steve was talking about how his mom always shakes her hand at her students. “No one wants a hand job from my mom” he said. Adrianne, Michael and I all began to snicker. “What?” he looked around at all of us. I think the three of our faces answered his question. “You guys have your minds in the gutter” and I felt better.

A Hair Cut

When I was a sophomore in college I came home for a break and some how convinced my sister to let me cut her hair. She had long hair reaching down midway on her back. “Come on, it will be cheaper then letting someone else do it…” She never should have let me even attempt it. I ended cutting way more off then she wanted and couldn’t finish the job properly due to the fact that I was giggling so hard that I was unable to stand. “I was saving that for locks for love!” She yelled. It took another 6 months before she could cut her hair and has never let me near her with a pair of scissors.

Steve had been in Colorado for almost three weeks and didn’t seem to shave the entire time. He came home last week with a bushy face of hair. So bushy that I can’t stand to have any part of my body touch his face for more then three seconds before it becomes to itchy to bear. Yesterday we were lying on the couch enjoying a day off when I talked him into letting me trim his beard. “Come on, it’s too long, and you are going to do it any way.”


This is how much hair I cut off his face.

I repeated the giggling act and in the end Steve had a bare spot on his face where I cut too close.

The Dead Squirrel

The creepy park by my house is very desolate looking right now. There is no snow to cover up the dead grass or the dead squirrel that is next to the sidewalk. Everyday I look at the dead squirrel and see how much more it has decomposed. There is hardly any fur left and it barely looks like a squirrel anymore. The crazy thing is I can’t stop looking at it. Everyday I try not to look and then just as I’m about to pass it I glance at it and get grossed out again. I even have gone so far to point the grossness out to Adrianne.

“Ewwwww, that is sooooo gross” is all Adrianne could say when we walked passed it on Sunday.

I agree.

Not a Long Distance Girl

Steve has been gone for over two weeks now.


Awww

He had to go to Aspen to work at the X-games this year and he had to drive his company’s equipment there. It takes about 4 days to drive from Boston to Aspen (a fact that I just recently learned) plus a week of the actual games. Needless to say I really miss him. I’ve never had to be in a long distance relationship and I can tell you now that if this is what it’s like then I really don’t like it.

Only being able to talk to a voice on the phone for a few minutes every day is not fun. Not only that but I don’t feel like I have much to say. “Umm so I went to work today and came home and took a nap and now I’m talking to you,” doesn’t carry a conversation very far.

Lucky for me he is coming home today. I spent the last hour getting ready for him to come over. Cleaning, showering, primping and now I sit and wait.

The Demanding Poor

I made my way into the laundry mat buried beneath all of the dirty laundry that I had managed to accumulate over the last week and a half. After sorting and fitting everything into a washer I had five loads on my hands. Five loads equal $6.25. “No problem” I thought, “I just broke this twenty and have a ten dollar bill I can use.” I went to the change machine and made my first mistake.

As the quarters rolled out of the machine I made eye contact with a woman folding laundry. She said something that I couldn’t hear over the clang of the quarters coming out. “I can’t hear you” I said. She came over to me and asked if I could give her money for her to buy bread.

Crud, I thought, she knows I have money. “Yeah I can give you a dollar.” I thought that would be enough for her to leave me alone.

“I need five.” She said matter-of-factly. I looked at her. Was she demanding an amount from her begging?

“Well…I can only give you a dollar.” I tried to sound polite as I opened up my wallet to fish out a single dollar bill.

“You have a five in there I saw, you not giving me it is really rude.” I stared at her as she took the dollar bill out of my hand. She stared right back expecting me to give her money.

“Look, I can’t give you anymore money, I need this.” I couldn’t believe the words coming out of my mouth. I was justifying why I should keep my own money to some women. I wanted to scream at her “Do you know what I do earn this money?? I wipe old peoples butt’s. What do you do other then harass people on the street.” Instead I just walked away.

“Your rude” she said and turned on her heel and went back to folding her laundry.