Happy Halloween!!

In honor of Halloween, I present to you a long lost favorite of mine. Garfield's Halloween Adventure. This used to be on TV when I was little, and has since apparently fallen out the the TV graces. Anyway, thanks to YouTube, I now have access to it, albeit in three parts, for my, and now yours, viewing pleasure.

Part 1:



Part 2:



Part 3:



Enjoy!

Addiction

I have an addictive personality. I have addictive traits. This is not a new discovery to me, nor should it be to people who know me. In fact, all during my childhood I would get an idea or plan in my head and bug my mom about it and I heard her say more than once to me, "Gosh, Karen! You get one wild hair up your butt and it's all you can think about!" Although sometimes I'm sure it was more graphic that that, depending on how much I bugged her. Let's take a look at some past addictions. Most recently was Minesweeper. I think we all remember that. Sometimes I fall into a relapse when I'm watching TV and don't want to do homework. Good thing there's not a support group I have to answer to! There was my knitting phase. However, I still would knit all the time if I could, but I just don't have time. Still, I even dedicated an entire blog to knitting. And I have huge tubs of yarn that have never been used. I'm suppressing a Diet Coke with Lime addiction. When I was working full time I'd have one every day for lunch. Now I drink water--and my skin is thanking me for that. I won't even go into detail about my internet addiction. There are more I could mention but we'll just skip ahead to the present addiction. It came out of nowhere, really. And I didn't think it was a problem until the other night, when at about 11:30 pm I indulged in it. For the third time that day. What is it, you ask? Cinnamon Toast Crunch. I cannot get enough of this stuff. Tuesday I had it for breakfast. I came home after school around 3 and had a bowl. And then topped it off to use the remaining milk. Then later that night after I was studying I had another bowl. I will have singlehandedly finished an entire 1 lb 10 oz box--that the BIGGEST BOX on the shelf at the store--completely by myself this week. 7 days. 1 box. Me. Don't be surprised if you ever see me walking into a methadone clinic one day to get my daily dose. Because I am an all around addict. (But let's hope it never gets that bad!

Well, I should get going. I have much to do today and the rest of the weekend. Tonite I am having a sleepover with 12-13 year old girls from church. 6 of them. Should be interesting. And I have a truckload of homework to do on top of study for a test on Monday. And my house is a wreck. And I'm running out of Cinnamon Toast Crunch...

A totally tiger weekend.

The game was awesome. Super fun. Our seats were great. The game was boring, but we sat next to a couple guys who were hilarious so it was fun. It wasn't too cold, and it didn't rain. Awesome, awesome, awesome.

On the way out we stopped in Battle Creek, which is the HQ for Kellogg's and went to Cereal City, USA. I thought it was really cool, slighly cheesy, but fun. Here are pictures from that. Who doesn't love Tony the Tiger??





Comerica Park is really cool. It's right in the middle of downtown, and there is even a ferris wheel and merry-go-round right inside the park. It's crazy.









The Tigers lost, which was a bummer. We're watching game 2 right now and it's raining and freezing and I'm soooo glad we didn'g go to that one. I'd be absolutely miserable!!!

I spent most of the car ride studying for my Pharm test that I have on Tuesday. I should be studying now, but I'm not. This semester is driving my crazy. Too many tests. Who knows if I'll get a chance to blog anything this week, but if not, have a great week everyone!!

Buy me some peanuts and cracker jacks!

One more week down, 8 more to go. Sigh.

I got a 102% on my Patho test. What's up. We've now moved on to stressing about the Pharm test on Tuesday, and then the Pediatrics test on Wednesday. It never ends, does it??

A couple months ago I noticed that one of the corners of the diamond on my engagement ring was chipped. CHIPPED!! I couldn't believe it! Luckily, I have a lifetime warranty on my diamond, so they ordered more with the same specs as my current one until we found one that we liked. Well, the new one turned out to be a better color. So I dropped off my ring for them to replace it. It was really sad for me!! I mean, that was the diamond I was proposed to with! The diamond I've worn everyday for almost 4 years now. I'm not ashamed to say I cried a little when we left the store. Anway, I picked it up today and it is beautiful. You can't really tell that it's a different diamond just looking at it, but I can tell. I'm glad I like it, or else I would have regretted it.

The other night I made some fabu butternut squash soup courtesty of a Good Eats recipe. (Well, Derrick didn't think it was so hot---there's no meat in it!!) While it was simmering and I was stirring it, it started to bubble and pop and one crazy blob jumped out and attacked my chin!! I should have looked at it right away but I just wiped it off. Well, when I finally checked it out I noticed it had burned off the entire top layer of my skin. Owwwww. So now I have this lovely eraser-sized burn/scab mark on my chin. Maybe I should be a witch for Halloween...

Guess where we're going tomorrow? Detroit! Guess why? Game one of the World Series!! I'm so excited!! Cardinals vs Tigers. I will be rooting for the Tigers. When I was little I had a Detroit Tigers ballcap. I don't know why I had it. Maybe when we lived in Michigan I inherited it from someone...Still, I always liked that hat and deeeeeep down inside I've like them. It should be fun. A really quick trip I think, but I'm super pumped. We may not even stay the night there, but just drive back after the game. Who knows. We live life on the wild side, what can I say? :)

Hope everyone has a great weekend!! I know I will!

Devastating news of the day

TJ Knight, aka Dr. George O'Malley on Grey's Anatomy, is gay. That is tragic. He is one of my favorite parts of the show! So adorable!!



It's almost too much to bear.

I spent the entire day in my pj's today. I went outside a total of two times. Once to get the mail, and once to get cough syrup from Wal-Greens. But both times I went commando. ha.

I spent most of the day studying, which was not a ton of fun. So every couple hours or so I rewarded myself with some Tivo. Grey's Anatomy was sooooo good!!! I love McSteamy, but I really hope Callie doesn't hit that. George needs to get his head out of his butt!!

Yesterday I learned how to do IVs. I really should have brought my camera b/c it was quite a sight. We learn on arm stumps with tubes that run through to simulate veins. You can actually insert the IV and get a "blood" return. It's just red water, and squirts all over you when you finally get it in, which is not quite so lifelike, but oh well. It's funny to see a room with tables and just arms laying on them. I'll try and get a pic next week. Anyway, I hit vein everytime I tried, so I'm feeling pretty good about it. Our next skills test is over just IVs, so at least I'll know what to expect. Sorta.

I think my family might be coming out for Thanksgiving. I think it would be fun--I've always wanted to cook a Thanksgiving dinner but never got the chance b/c we always go somewhere else. I already have a turkey recipe picked out, courtesty of my lover, Alton Brown. I can't wait!

Have I mentioned makeupalley to you yet? I can't remember. It has reviews for tons of beauty items. Anything you could imagine. I always check it before I try anything new.

It's late and I'm pretty sleepy, but I'm waiting for Derrick fall asleep before I go to bed. He's been in there for almost 2 hours and still coughing and tossing, and I know if I go in there now I'll get no sleep. We have no plans at all for tomorrow which is good--I need to study hard core.

This was boring. I'm sorry. I wish I were funnier. I'll try and work on that.

I survived!

Well, I survived yet another week. Yes, my week ends on Thursday. I know you're jealous. I passed both of my skills tests. B- on my adult test. That sucked, but the test was really lame, and only 4 people got A-'s. No one even got an A. How about that. The next class we were discussing it and the "no one's allowed to ask any questions during the test" rule, which I was very upset about, and so voiced my opinion about it as such. There was quite the debate going between the teacher and myself and everyone was agreeing with me. The one guy (who is old and quite frankly, a big creep) said how he agrees with the teacher and blah blah I'm kissing your butt blah blah to which I said flat out told him he was in the minority and to zip it. I got some applause for that one. Well, we are supposed to get a break at the hour, but decided to skip the break and get our early instead. Well, our teacher didn't give us a break nor did she let us out early and we were all pretty pissed. Right after class was over, I said outloud, "Uh, what happened to our break??" and everyone looked and me and said "We were waiting for you to say something to her about that!!" Somehow I have become the class advocate! Which is fine with me. I'll say the things other people are too wimpy to say. You don't get anywhere if you don't make your opinions known. I thought it was kinda funny, and honestly had no idea people were expecting me to speak up for them. But I digress and have spent too much time talking about this teacher whom I absolutely DESPISE. She is soooo annoying. She talks with her hands so much that you can't focus on what she's saying. It's ridonkadonk.

ANYWAY. The skill I had to pass off was wound irrigation, which was cake. And I got a 91% on my computer test, which is the highest I've heard about. So go me.

School is totally getting in the way of my TV life. I've had barely any time to watch any TV this week. In fact, I don't think I've watched any!! And I'm in serious withdrawal. For instance, this is what is waiting for me on TiVo:

Saturday Night Live
2 episodes of Laguna Beach
The Amazing Race
Desperate Housewives (This show is terrible now, but I can't stop watching it. Lame.)
The Bachelor: Rome
America's Next Top Model
Project Runway
Survivor: Cook Islands
Grey's Anatomy
ER

That would be a whopping 9 hours of televion I need to watch this weekend. On top of study my arse off for a patho test on Tuesday. Of course, with the magic of TV 9 hours will turn into about 6, which doesn't sound quite as bad.

I ran two miles tonite and now I have this crazy huge blister on the tip of my 2nd toe. And it hurts like a mutha'.

AND IT SNOWED TODAY, and that got me reeeeeaaaaaal angry. It's October freaking 12th. There is absolutely NO need for snow yet. None whatsoever. Hell, there is no need for snow EVER. But don't get me started on that.

Derrick is still sick. I feel like I haven't seen him in a week. He comes home, eats, then falls asleep on the sofa, and proceeds to constantly moan in his sleep. It's quite annoying. Why he doesn't just go straight to bed is beyond me.

Tomorrow is Friday the 13th. Creepy!!!

Mondays pretty much suck the life out of me.

A haiku:

Today is Monday.
Tomorrow will be Tuesday.
Is it Friday yet?

I am so ready for this week to be over, and it's only Monday! Yikes! We had a test in our Adult class, which was brutal. I'm pretty sure I passed, but who knows if I got an A. I'm thinking I didn't. Tomorrow I have a skills performance test, where I have to pick a scenario and then do it for the person testing me. It could be to give an injection, clean out a bed sore, give a g-tube feeding. Who knows. I HOPE I get an injection. Easy peasy. Then after that I have this skills computer test to take. 55 questions in 30 minutes. Better read fast!! I've heard it's pretty hard. I just hope I can get an A on that thing. You can even use your book if you want to!!

If you're like me, and you like freebies, you should click here. It's Walmart.com, and the samples always change. They are mildly lame right now, but check back later, they are bound to have something better! I've gotten shampoo, deoderant, food, all sorts of fun things to get in the mail besides bills.

Apparently we paid too much tuition and the College of Nursing didn't have anything left to buy so we are all getting Palm Pilots. Sweet! My old one was just ancient, and it kept dying on me, and really, it was more of a hassle than a help, so this is just awesome news for me. We weren't supposed to get them until next Monday, but they are just sitting behind the desk, so I put in my two cents about that and what do you know. We get them tomorrow!! Hooray for me and my big mouth! Check it out, it's the Tungsten E2:



Sweeeeet.

Our friends Jake and Sarah just had a baby on Friday, but she was induced a month early for high blood pressure so the little guy Jackson is in NICU for the next 3 weeks. He's 3 lb 7 oz. He's healthy, but little. Congrats to them, and even though I'm sure things are fine, keep 'em in your prayers.

Derrick is coming down with something I think. He's asleep on the couch and he's constantly moaning in his sleep. Should be a fun night. Especially since he's been completely HOGGING the comforter the past few nights. Like, I barely have an inch. Freezing in a little huddled ball. I think he is sick of too much football. Saturday: Football on TV aaaaal day. Sunday: We went to the Packers/Rams game in Green Bay. We got tickets from friends who didn't want to go on Sunday, and instead we now look like the tools that went to a football game on Sunday. Oh well, once in a lifetime chance. Whatcha gonna do? After the game, he came home and watched more football. Tonite? You guessed it. Football. Luckily my fantasy team won this week so I'm not as perturbed as I could be. Plus, I was studying. Still, it's the prniciple behind the whole thing. I know if I were watching 18 straight hours of oh, say, America's Next Top Model, I would be dead. Somehow because it's football it makes it ok. Why is this??? Some sort of man law? Because you have a weiner you get to watch football anytime it is on? Which, these days, is almost every day of th week. Games are on Thursday through Monday. Which only leaves Tuesday and Wednesday. TWO DAYS!!! To make matters worse, MLB playoffs are starting so during football commercials we get to flip to baseball. UGH.

Wow, I didn't mean for that to be a rant, but whatever. I need to study. But I'm pooped.

Slack-a-roni

The pasta class was a bust.

I tried to hide my look of disgust but I'm pretty sure I looked like a turbo-snot the whole time. I couldn't help it. Let's just say if her workspace was a restaurant, Channel 4 would have been there in an instant in an undercover story about an unclean kitchen and closed us down right then and there. Now, I never really considered myself a germophobe, but I think the more I go to school and work in health care settings the more I am becoming one. The teacher (who I recognized as the crazy ebay-store lady from my watercolor class last year) would pull out wet bowls from the sink and give them to us to beat the eggs in. I grabbed a paper towel to dry it out and she said "Oh, it doesn't matter if it's wet, the eggs are going to get it wet anyway." No crap! It's the black specks of who-knows-what that are in the slimy wet stuff that I'm concerned about!!

We attempted to make pasta, and we would have done fine until our teacher put her grubby hands in our flour and egg and it went all over the table, losing our egg, and our moisture. So we ended up with dry, tough dough. We cut it and cooked it and it was pretty gross. I'm surprised I even ate it, but I didn't want to be "that girl". Actually, I seriously contemplated leaving after 10 minutes. But I stayed.

We made a pumpkin ravioli with pumpkin cheese filling, which didn't turn out that bad. Every time someone had a question I knew the answer to it. I was giving people tips. Bottom line: I could have taught this class. Better, cleaner, yummier. And I owe it all to Alton Brown!!! Seriously. I'm an expert in theory at a lot of things, just not in practice. I read/watch so much about it that I know a ton. I just haven't done it. The only upside to this class was that I sorta got to try making pasta and didn't have to mess up my own kitchen or use my own ingredients. So that was that.

I ran two miles again last night on the treadmill. It was a lot easier than running outside. I could have kept going, but I didn't. I want to work up to a faster pace and then start increasing distance.

Well, Fridays are my studying days, so I guess I should get to studying. Another busy week next week, and I need to feel more prepared than I was 2 weeks ago!

Happy Friday!!

Who you callin' semolina?

My legs still hurt. And I'm supposed to run again today. No pain, no gain, I suppose. I emailed my friend Whitni, who ran the Boston Marathon, and she is going to write up a plan for me. Awesome! And my other friend says biking is good training too. I'll have to switch it up so I don't get bored. At least I'll always have Ike to keep my company. My goal is to run 3 times a week. I know most things say 4 times, but 3 is good for me. At least right now. I don't want to kill myself. Plus, 4 seems a little extreme. Really, I just want to fit into my khaki cords again. Maybe by Christmas....

I'm thinking of starting a running blog, so those who could care less about my half-marathon don't have to endure all the chatter about. Because I'm sure by now word of mouth has spread like wildfire about The Wet Donkey.

Class was over at 1:30 today, which means I have 4 hours to fill until my pasta making class at 6:30. I would go home, but that's kinda pointless since the class is like a half mile from school. So, I will waste some time on the internets, then go practice in the skills lab, since I have testing on Tuesday and I really haven't mastered the art of changing someone's ostomy bag yet. Yummy.

I'm kinda bummed I'm taking this class by myself, but oh well. If I waited for other people to initiate stuff I'd be waiting forever. Buncha bums. Hopefully I learn some good tips and recipes, I think it's be pretty sweet to make homemade pastas. Except then I'd want the Kitchen-Aid pasta adapter. I'm sure Derrick would be thrilled with that expense. Especially since a box of pasta is $.39 cents at Wal-Mart.

What do you call an Italian hooker?
A Pasta-tute!

Conversation on Tuesday night between Derrick and myself.

Derrick: What's the date tomorrow?
Me: 10-4, little buddy!

I'm so funny!! So witty! So quick!! But seriously, I cracked myself up. And today in class I thought of it and cracked up again. When's the next casting call for Last Comic Standing again????

Somebody call the men in the white coats....

because I'm training for a half-marathon! Yes, it's true. Yes, I must be crazy.

I'm shooting for the Mad City Marthon in Madison May 27th, 2007. That should be puh-lenty of time to train, right?? Why am I doing this?

Because:
1) I want to get into better shape. I've gotten...well, I guess soft is a good word to put it. Not really fat, per se, but definitely not fit. Chubby, if you will.
2) I've always wanted to do something like this. I have no idea why. Maybe I just want the medal or trophy they give you when you're done. Gosh, does it sound like I need positive reinforcement much???
3) I don't think I can do it. Why don't I think I can do it?

Because:
1) I hate running.
2) I hate running.
3) I hate running.

You'd think with those 3 reasons running a half-marathon would be the LAST thing I would ever do.

I decided this last night, and told Derrick about it, and he said he'd do it with me. And then I told the girls at school today and Rebecca is going to do it with me. She's super excited about it, and so was I. Until I ran this afternoon.

It's been about, oh, MONTHS since I last ran. All the training plans I've seen online start with the fact that you're already running 6 miles a day. So I decided to see how far I could go. I drove a loop around our complex that measured almost exactly 2 miles. Perfect, I thought. A nice, even number. And then I began to run. It wasn't that bad. Mile one was pretty easy. Granted, I probably could have walked faster than I was running, but that's not the point. It was the end of mile two that my gas started running out. I barely made it. It doesn't help that my "running shoes" are terrible. And I use the term "running shoes" very loosely. I would have been better off taping empty tissue boxes to my feet. Now my task is to convince Derrick that I need new running shoes.

So I sit here, smelly, loaded up with Advil in anticipation of the pain that is sure to come. I would take a shower, but honestly, I don't trust my legs to hold me up in the tub.

At this point, I need severe convincing to continue training for this. Because I think I can be easily pursuaded to stop!!

Things I need

I got this idea from Lindsey, where you type in "Karen needs" into google and find out what you need. Apparently this is what I need:

Karen needs to grow up.
Karen needs a lobotomy.
Karen needs a therapist.
Karen needs a new job.
Karen needs to push herself, to give us the goods, the guts, the gore.
Karen needs a man.
Karen needs to ride a mucklewain.
Karen needs to learn how to cue.

Interesting...