Snowy day

 

I really like snow and we haven't had any in quite awhile! The past few winters have been mild so I got all excited yesterday when they started forecasting it. I worked at home and was quite busy. I work at Student Health for Duke and can telecommute; therefore, the clinic manager told all of the providers to call me to give me their status about making it in to clinic today. Well my phone rang off the hook between 7:30 and 10 and I called a bunch of patients to cancel their appointments.

I watched the inauguration too! I think it is the only one I watched from start to finish and it was impressive. I am not necessarily an Obama fan and didn't vote for him, but I am supporting him and realizing that he can be the change that we need in these tumultuous times. His family is adorable!

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

     I took a break at about 2:30-4 and went for a walk with Jim and then we shoveled the driveway. I took a lot of pictures all day, some with rulers stuck in the snow to document the amount. Then I took pictures of the house.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Everybody does that, right? I think it was a very pretty snow! Enjoy the pictures.

 

 

 

 

 

 

Since a hard freeze is expected tonight, I wonder if I'll get to work tomorrow? It's already down to 25! I don't drive on ice and I can get so much more done at home..........hhhhmmmmmmmmmm?

Friday Night at the Carolina Brewery

Jim and I go to the Carolina Brewery almost weekly and here of lately, it seems we go on Friday nights. After my endoscopy, I wasn't able to eat a lot of foods other than soft stuff but throughout the day on Friday, I had begun to venture out with more solid foods. I im'ed Jim to see if he had any ideas about dinner and he asked if I felt like I could handle the Carolina Brewery. I replied "I thought you'd never ask!" So we went and it was good. I was hungry! I had an artichoke appetizer and a beer. That was the first good meal I had eaten in about 2 days. Things are getting back to normal.

my Friday Gratitude list:

1) Sucha's biopsy was benign!
2) a good beer
3) my hubby did all my laundry while I was at work!

That Thing in my Esophagus!

I had to have an endoscopy because they think GERD (acid reflux) is aggravating my asthma. So while they were in there, they inserted a Bravo pH meter which is attached to my esophagus. It communicates the pH to a receiver worn on my belt for 48 hours. Then it sloughs off and goes out the back door! Look ma, no wires!



I am grateful for:

1) humor in the medical setting
2) my hubby for transporting me and taking care of me
3) good drugs! I don't remember a thing!

Data

As many of you know, I am the information manager for Duke Student Health and one of my many jobs is to produce data. Anytime, any of my bosses needs data, I write a query and give it to them. When we got an upgrade on our system in late summer, a new feature was a really neat query writer. So now I have been bust converting all of my Microsoft Access queries to the new report generator. I've done all of the quarterly QI reports and the monthly visit volumes. The more I do, the more I find that I can do. So I just sit and analyze data all day. I am creating all kinds of tables and graphs of different visit types and who they saw and why!

Things I am grateful for:
1) my new report generator
2) my health care reimbursement card
3) health insurance

Tuesday Night OUT!

My best friend from work, Pat, and I often talk about going out for drinks after work.............but we never do! We talked about it yesterday and sort of planned to do it this evening but didn't talk about it during the day today. Jean and I had gonr for a brisk 2 mile walk sort of late this afternoon, about 4:15 and when I returned to my office, I saw a missed call from Pat. She didn't leave a message and I figured it was about going out so I popped over to the lab to discuss it. She thought I had forgotten and wasn't going to mention it unless I did. But we made plans and invited Jean. We all met at the Carolina Ale House at 6 pm at the old Southsquare Mall area. We had wine and nachos and a lot of good laughs and good conversation.

So now that we have finally done it, we have vowed to do something like this at least once a month and invite some other close friends to join us. We plan to take turns planning an event. I am suggesting that we shoot for the second Tuesday of each month. maybe we should call ourselves "The Second Tuesday Club?"

Things I am grateful for:
1) great girlfriends that I have known for twenty years!
2) Sam's club..........paper plates at a cheap price
3) vests....helps keep me warm at work

Another New Recipe

I feel like I hardly cook anymore! It's mostly just the two of us and if Alex is here, he doesn't join us often. Therefore, we can try new and interesting things that kids usually don't like. Jim has found us another recipe to try and so after I ran a bunch of errands I called him to find out what we needed. It was a longer list than I could remember and I was driving and its a good idea to keep at least one hand on the wheel so he emailed it to me and I got it on my Blackberry. That's a convenient grocery list!

German Pork Chops:
8 pork chops
salt and pepper
Lawry's Seasoning Salt
3 medium apples
cinnamon sugar
32 oz Sauerkraut
3/4 cup raisins

Layer pork chops in a baking dish, season to taste with salt, pepper and seasoning salt. (I didn't use any salt, just the Lawry's)
Slice apples and layer over the meat. Sprinkle with cinnamon sugar. Drain the Sauerkraut and reserve the juice for later. Spread the kraut over the apples. Add the raisins. The pour the kraut juice over it all. Bake at 350 for 1 hour.



My gratitude list for Sunday:
1) new towels.......on sale at LNT
2) black running pants........comfy to go anywhere
3) Jenni moving to Apex...............closer to me so I can pop over there quickly to see her paint job in her living room!

Gratitude list for Monday:
1) my Nike Plus to track my walk/runs
2) crisp salads............great for lunch
3) beautiful sunsets...........over Jordan lake

No More Teenagers!

Whew, I can't believe it; my baby will be 20 years old on Monday and that means that I don't have any teens. All of my children are in their twenties. Jenni is 27, Zack is 25 and Alex will be twenty. Guess I am getting old too huh?

We had a little family celebration. Zack and Amanda and Jenni and Ben came out to the house. Jim cooked hot dogs and hamburgers on the grill. Jenni made her lasagna; a special request from Alex. Of course we had wine and cake and ice cream.



Happy Birthday Alex!


Friday's gratitude list:
1) a beautiful day for me to go for a 2 mile walk/run
2) the sound of leaves falling in the woods
3) candles that make a home feel so cozy

Saturday's gratitude list:
1) a clean kitchen
2) family.....we were all together and had fun
3) my bike.........after I went for a walk with Jim, my bike "called" me to take it for a spin!