One down

It's just over a year ago that we backed up our 26 foot Penske truck into this driveway, not knowing what we were in for in this new stage of life. That seems like just yesterday and yet living back in SLC seems like so long ago. But it's been a year. 1 down. 5 to go. Dave is finishing up his "intern" year and will be getting a HUGE raise to pay off all of student loans. (NOT!) Our life here is pretty settled and it's been fun and having so much change. Although change is sometimes uncomfortable and hard. But it's good. And I'm learning a lot.

I've been meaning to write a post about our life here really since we got here. Just the boring stuff. What's it like? What's different? etc. I actually started this post last August I think. So it's about right that I'm posting it now. I'm always late. If you've ever invited me somewhere, you already know that. I have time denial issues. I always think there's more of it than there really is.


So here's just a little randomness about our new life here. What it's been like, my impressions of our city, etc. In case I haven't filled you in on the boring details yet. This will be totally random and I'm in a weird mood, so we'll see what pops up...

• Just to clarify, we live in the South. Yes, it's the south, even though we're in North Carolina. I'm surprised how many people are surprised by this. And something that I've learned since I've been here, Alabama, Mississippi, etc. are the deep south. And Florida isn't really considered "southern" at all. (culturally, not geographically of course.)
• Southern Hospitality is real. Everyone's nice here. People drive by and wave at you. I love it! They don't know you, but you're both on the street so you might as well wave. People are friendlier and polite. And I think it's quite charming.
• The roads don't make sense. Instead of North/South, East/West streets, most of the streets here are diagonal, but then they turn and wind and really you have to drive in a horseshoe to get somewhere that should just be a straight shot. But that's just me, coming from Brigham Young's grid system. Where numbers actually meant something. No disrespect to the Moravians, but seriously, when it comes to street planning, leave it to the mormons. Actually I bet it really has something to do with old farm roads and all of the dense woods and hills here. Maybe. I have no idea what I'm talking about really. All I know is that it takes longer to get 10 miles here than it does in SLC.
  
• There are no sno-shacks! yes, really! I don't understand this because it gets really hot here in the summer. It seems like an obvious solution to hot summer day, but I haven't seen one. Okay, one. At the fair. But it's the old chunky ice kind. Doesn't count. And last summer, I really missed my pina colada with cream sno cone. Maybe I'll start my own shack this summer. The overhead is cheap, right? I have found some divine custard though. Nielsons has nothin on this place!


• There are WAY too many bugs here. I'm not one of those girls that shrieks at the sight of a bug. I'm usually the one that had to kill all of the bugs. (Except in Hawaii when Sara was the bug master. She killed a centipede and many a cockroaches for us) But there are just so many here. And weird ones that I've never seen before. And my neighbor told me that last year he found a black widow in his yard. And so he caught it and released it in our greenway. What?! If you catch a black widow, why on earth don't you kill it? Sure, I love Charlotte as much as anyone, but until I see "terrific" in a web, that spider is going down the toilet. But the real reason I don't like bugs is because they LOVE me. If I go outside for 5 minutes, I've got 5 new bites. And I really hate bug repellent, but I must use it if I want to be a fun outside mom for Anna. I guess this just means that my blood has a really good flavor. Which is good news, in case I ever meet Edward.
• The plus side of this is that we have Fireflies! I'm looking out my window at some right now. Love those cute little lightening bugs!


• Get ready for this one...they don't have cinnamon bears here! Not even lips, or Santas, or any holiday shape gummy. I know. It's a travesty. I don't understand why. Although I did see some in Myrtle Beach at a "Dylan's Candy" copycat store. But this was before I knew they were a rarity out here. This is a problem for me because for some reason I crave these on occasion. There were a few times at work where I would try and hunt some down, but it wasn't something people kept in their desk drawer. Weird, huh? Well, maybe my teeth will be thankful for this.


• Hot Chocolate selection is dismal, but they have a huge variety of tea, sweet tea, and grits. Sweet tea seems to be much more popular than Starbucks.
• I miss sidewalks. Only the really nice neighborhoods have them here.


• Garbage pick up - silly! Instead of the truck picking up each trash can. A guy goes around and collects everyone's bags into one trash can. Then the tuck picks that one up to dump. I don't get it.
• Did I mention it's really green here? If you've been East you know, but just to reiterate, it's pure green lusciousness. I really have no idea how big our city is because I can't see it all.
• The falls and springs here are REAL! It's so beautiful. I'll try and post some pics one day. Beauty, beauty all around. Trees and flowers blossom in the spring. And the trees glow in the fall.
• I really like the fact that I only had to wear my winter coat 5 times or less last winter. That's my favorite kind of winter. Although in some ways this is too bad, because I do love cute coats.
• Instead of putting Christmas lights up, people put candle lights in their windows at Christmas time. Which I love because it's cute and colonial. But I missed all the adorned rooftops too.
• I LOVE the fact that we're a few hours from the beach. It's rare for Dave to have a whole weekend off, but we try to take advantage of this as much as possible! The beaches here are beautiful and peaceful and warm. And I don't miss all the seaweed from the Cali beaches. We haven't made it up to the Outerbanks yet, but I'm excited to see what that's all about too.
• We've explored so many new places here. Little nearby towns and the big cities. I love going new places and learning new things about people and history. We have much more ground to cover, so hopefully Dave's schedule and our funds will allow us too.
• Having a two car attached garage and a car with keyless entry has changed my life. Really. I am grateful every day.
• Purses are pocketbooks. Shopping carts are buggies. A BBQ party is a cook out. Just a few of the new terms that I've learned here. I also really like it when the ladies at the store tell Anna how "smart" she looks. Although I think she's smart, I think they mean she's cute.
• I think I kind of like Christian Rock.
• Most people love God here and it's okay to talk about it. I really appreciate that.
• I can't do as much on my own as I thought. But I just try my best. Sometimes I don't. I think I used to be "together" and now I'm just, well, not. And I'm working on balance in my life, right now there isn't any! I admire any mother that has found it.
• I have aged 5 years in one year. Really. I've recently noticed that I look old now. My face has wrinkles. I look at pictures and think how different and "younger" I look - and it was just last year! I wonder what did it to me. The moving, the residency, or the 2 year old? hmmmm. Maybe I'll have to have Dave sample Botox on me some day.
• Dave's schedule hasn't been as bad as I expected. Sure, he's gone a lot, more than most husbands, but I really expected it to be worse. I think I did that on purpose so I would be happy instead of disappointed. He's had some rough rotations, but he'll get a good one some months where he only has to work 40-60 hours per week instead of 80-100. And those months are the best. He's doing a great job and has enjoyed most of his intern year. Next year should be better, so we're looking forward to that. I must give him credit that part of the reason it has been a good year is because of him. Even though he is worked to death, he doesn't complain much and has a good attitude. When he has time off he wants to go and do stuff with us. Which I am very grateful for. If I worked that much, I might be curled up in my bed crying on all my days off! Sorry to call you out, but thank you for being so great Dave!

How's that for random facts? I know there's more to say, but I'm done for tonight. Maybe I'll continue to add to this list for fun.

It's been a good year. Lots of adjusting, but a good year. Dave and I have said all year that I really don't think there's a better place for us to be right now. It suits us great. Even without cinnamon bears. We've met some really great people that have made our year much more enjoyable too. Especially for me. I'm so grateful for my friends here! They will probably laugh at my random list. I'm such a rookie.

Here's to hoping the next 5 are as good or better than the first!

Lately

Lately Anna has been busy. Always busy.

Always wanting to have fun.

Always upset when mom tries to spoil the fun.

Lately Anna is always polite.

"Anna do want some apple juice?"

"No thanks!"

"Anna, it's time to change your diaper."

"No thanks mom."

When she bumps into me she says, "Oh Scuzi Mommy! Sawtee!"

And she always says "Scuzi" when she's trying to push her chair up to the counter to try and sneak something while dinner is cooking.

She even says "Bwess You Mommy" when I sneeze or cough.

Lately Anna wants to have a baby. Here's a little scene from yesterday:

Anna: "I want baby in my tummy mommy"

Me: "Yeah, me too. Just waiting for daddy..."

Anna: "I hab baby in my tummy and I push it out."

Then Anna gives me the biggest push and flexes her face so hard to "push" the baby out.

Then suddenly she says, "Hmm. Maybe next week."

And walks away.

Lately Anna is so good at playing pretend. I love overhearing her play with her animals and dolls. "Want go to gym?" "K?" "I wabe at you" "K?" "Want go to church?" "OK!" "Wanna go my swingset?" "I push you?" She loves having them "talk" to each other.

Lately Anna is "Ohhh Maaan!" and "Ta Da!" Having a 2 year old around makes me notice the things I say a lot. "Oh man" is one of them. When Anna drops something or is not going her way, she says, "Ohhh Maaan!" And when she finds something she's looking for, she jumps up and shouts "Ta Da!"

Lately Anna loves playing with friends. And the older they are, the cooler. She especially loves our neighbors, Emily and Stephanie. She's only actually played with them a couple of times, but she talks about them almost every day. She can't wait to go to school one day, just like "Emee and Stephee".

Lately Anna loves singing. My favorite is when she sings "Supercalifragilisticexpialidocious" But her other favorites are Jingle Bells, Twinkle Star, Popcorn popping on the apricot tree, and I can sing a Rainbow. She sings all the time these days. And unfortunately for her, she inherited both my and Dave's talent for singing, but to me, it's the most beautiful singing in the world.

Lately Anna has decided she's too big for naps. I am in mourning over this. I really am having a hard time getting through my days without a break, but at least she's not too cranky even without the naps, so I guess it's her time. Sigh! She's getting so big.

Lately Anna loves to play outside. But it's been rainy the past few days and she's got a stomach bug, so we've been trapped indoors. I'm SO ready to go outside again!

Lately Anna surprises me every day with the things she says and does. She makes me laugh and I am in trouble because I can't help but spoil her with my attention. Not much else has been getting accomplished around here. The girl rules the roost right now, but I just love her and I can't help it.

Lately Dave has been on 2 awesome rotations (Anesthesia and Derm) and I love it! It's so great to have him home for dinner and on the weekends. I feel so spoiled and it will be hard to get back to "normal" intern life.

Lately there has been much to blog about, but just can't seem to get to it. (see reasons above: no naps, want to hang out with my husband while he's home!) Although, I'm getting anxious because I won't let it go. I WILL get to it soon. I'm talkin alltheway back to October. Yup. It's ambitious, but this is the only way it will get documented that we've been living.

So that's what we've been up to lately. And sometime soon I'll get to blog about our life before "lately."

The Doctor is In...and Out...and In...and Out

I think I blogged awhile ago about how I was getting ready for this roller coaster of a ride of life that we had coming up. Well, we're living the craziness right now and I am truly just trying to hold on. I hope this post doesn't sound like a long complaint, because I truly am supportive, and this is for Dave's future career and our family's future, but it's just the straight facts. Plus it doesn't help that I've had a crappy day and am just in a bad mood, so negativity seems to be oozing out of me at the moment. This is our life though and as with all of my posts, I want to journal about it.

Let's take a ride on the ins and outs of (the future) Dr. Kelly. So if you recall, Dave left in mid-October for NC. Between then and December 22nd (our anniversary, Happy 7th Baby!) he was home for a total of 9 days. Yes, at least we were together for a week over Thanksgiving on our trip. But still 9 days during the busiest (and fun) time of year. Here's where his adventures took him: 1 month in North Carolina, 1 day after we got home from Paris, he headed to LA to take part of the Step 2 medical boards, from LA he went to Richmond, Virginia to interview at VCU, and then he got home the night before Anna's birthday party. Just in time! Then he interviewed here at Utah (for the General Surgery program), Seattle, Cincinnati, Washington University (St. Louis), Northwestern (Chicago), and UC Davis. Most of these interviews are 2 days because they have a social the night before. And then at last he was home! We got to enjoy him (minus a few study days) for a whole week of Christmas fun! (Christmas post will come soon, Dave has the laptop with all of our pictures on it) And it all started up again on January 2nd when he left for Columbia, Missouri, then it was straight to Wisconsin. He got home in time to attend my lesson in Sunday School (only the 2nd one he's been able to come to!) and then he left on Tuesday to Rhode Island to interview at Brown. He's still there, but he leaves tomorrow to go to Ohio to interview at Case Western, and straight from there he goes to NYC for Mt. Siani. Then he's home for 2 days before he goes to WakeForest (NC), then straight to USC (LA) and back here to interview at Utah. Are you tired yet? He's home for a few days and then he goes to the OC to interview at UC Irvine and then he'll head to Vegas for an interview there too. It finally starts to slow down and he's deciding whether to cancel the 2 he has the following weekend in NYC at Columbia/Cornell and NYU. His last one is mid-February at Michigan State. Whew! That is a lot of interviews don't you think? (Yes, we have him enrolled in a frequent flier program, and yes, we have to pay for all of this travel!) We do feel lucky to have so many opportunities to interview. The more places he interviews, the better chance he has at matching somewhere. He actually had to turn down 8 programs because they like to interview on the same days as others, so they make you choose. Yes, so I recognize that this is a good problem to have, but whew! I'm tired and Dave's tired. I will be glad when this interviewing frenzy is over and I can go at least a month without driving to the airport. If you've seen me lately and you think I'm acting kind of crazy it's because I am. I seriously am. I am going to lose it soon I think. Anna is at hard stage for me right now. And I know all you veteran mothers will say, just wait for what's coming and wait until you have more kids, etc. I know, I know. But I am just feeling very challenged with her right now probably because she usually is pretty good. And I think I need to set up some sort of playgroup or Little Gym because she's so happy being with other kids and I think she gets sick of being stuck at home with me while I'm trying to work. Oh, and work. Yes, did I mention that I hate it? Thursday is technically supposed to be my day off, but instead, I have my daughter in front of Barney so that I can be on a conference call where my client is yelling, "Where the F- is my animated graphic!? Without this graphic everything else is SH-!" and so on. And for some reason my boss tells her that we're delivering it tomorrow which is nice of him since he hasn't done anything on this project and is cluesless and I have it scheduled with our vendor in LA to deliver on Tuesday. Nice. So you might be thinking this must be a really important cool graphic that is needed so desperately. Well, yes, it's very exciting. You see, it's an animated graphic that tries to explain the Extended Enterprise. It is being presented at a sales conference on Wednesday and then used by the Verizon Business sales force to try to convince people that they need to use Verizon Business to secure their enterprise. Wow. That is pretty darn exciting and important. I'm so glad that I got cussed out over that. This could save millions of lives after all, or maybe even cure cancer. Sorry, I told you I was in a bad mood. And I don't know how I even got on this tangent. Oh yes, I am going crazy. You see? now you have proof!

OK, now back to the subject of this post. Dave is interviewing all over the place for Residency next year and we sure hope he matches somewhere after all of this! I think he will, but he always cautions me that it's possible not to match, so I'll just be cautiously optimistic that he will match. But where? That is the question. I think that is also an underlying stress of mine because it's a weird feeling not knowing where you will be spending the next 5-7 years of your life. So, I have a poll in my side bar and you should vote on where you think we will go. The winner of the poll will receive the satisfaction of being right and all participants are invited to visit wherever we end up.

Sorry for the bad attitude. I'll try and be in a better mood tomorrow when I post my resolutions. And Dave if you're reading this on the road, I love you and good luck with your interviews! Sorry that you have a mental wife.

embrace the benefits

I've been purposing avoiding all blogs lately because I seem to get sucked in to the many blogs out there and then the time that I complain about never having is gone. I'll try to do better now that things are starting to settle down a little more. I must admit that I've had numerous blog posts about silly ramblings composed in my head, but I never got around to actually posting any of them. Well there is one that I just can't get out of my head. It actually goes back to a relief society (our women's group) lesson in church 2 weeks ago. The lesson was on gratitude. Our teacher talked about not only having gratitude for the kind deeds and blessings in our lives, but also for the trials. Being grateful for a trial is a little harder than writing a thank you note to a neighbor for a delicious dinner. Our teacher shared her secret "slogan" for her life that applies to this idea...


Embrace the benefits!


Maybe its because the teacher is so sweet and cute or maybe its because I can identify with her so much (her husband just finished orthopedic surgery residency), but I just really loved her outlook on this. (For example, Her bed ridden mother-in-law who was suffering from cancer told her that she was lucky that she gets to take a nap every day) She's had a tough time in some areas of her life and she just made me realize and reminded me that life is more about how we look at things and what we learn from what happens to us instead of what actually happens to us. (does that make sense?) Anyway, I really am going to try to "embrace the benefits" of my life more often. With everything that's happened this summer, I think I need to do a benefit audit to get myself in the right frame of mind. (Sorry if this is boring to read. It's for me, not you, so go ahead and skip to the next blog if you want.) For instance, the flood: our house is ALMOST back to normal! we got new a new paint job in our downstairs and changed the color of our study while we were at it, we have newly shined hardwood floors upstairs, while everything was out of our basement we re-organized some things so we'll be more ready when we move next year, I had a good excuse not to cook for almost 2 months! I've learned how to deal with contractors and lazy workers, and I am even more grateful for our home now. And my little soiree in the ER made me realize how grateful I am for my health. And I did get to miss work the next day to sleep all day. That was nice! Not sure what the benefit is from my speeding ticket last week...(might need some help on this one)maybe my $82 will go towards help building nicer roads? I'll be more a more cautious driver? (even though I got tricked. I hate it when they catch you at the bottom of a hill. Come on! 9th south? I have to go easy on my breaks - our car is old!) The benefits of the reunion madness was that we got to see some fun old friends and we got a few free bagels from Einsteins! The time and effort for Dave's residency applications will hopefully bring us a benefit of a good match next spring. Although it was time consuming, it was kinda fun to review all of his accomplishments as we wrote his personal statement and application. I am always amazed how hard he works and the things he is able to do. I hope everything works out and that he matches to a good program. He deserves it! Okay, now I am digressing. I truly have so many "benefits" in my life. I love our little family. I hope to embrace the many benefits of life that are in our future because I know there will be many more to come!