Lunch With An Old Friend

I am sentimental and love to keep in touch with people, so today I was really excited to meet up with my cute friend Mary Ellen. We were in a singing group together at BYU-Idaho several years ago, and really haven't seen each other since. We had a fun little lunch date at Mimi's and got all caught up.

Apparently, I am unable to smile like a normal person....


Good thing seriousness is lost on her, too!


I'm not hurling, just really enjoying my orange...


Ahh, how I've missed Mary Ellen -- she is such a crack-up! I am really excited to have her nearby so we can play more often!

Tidbits

It seems as though I'm always thinking of things to blog about, but I can never find the time to just sit down and write. Then, of course, I miss the opportunity....who wants to read about something I cooked three weeks ago or sewed for my sister last March? I'm going to be better -- if only to document my life for posterity, and at the risk of upsetting those already acquainted with my long-windedness -- starting with some random thoughts from this week:

First, one of my biggest fears about becoming a dental hygienist is that I won't be able to talk to my patients. Sure, I can scrape stuff off your teeth -- I'm getting pretty fast, too! But I get so awkward when it comes to talking to people about important things (smoking cessation, nutrition counseling, even brushing and flossing technique have me tongue-tied on occasion). I had a good experience with a patient this week: a single mom of a low-income family, whose entire life revolves around her three small children. She works so hard to give them what they need, but neglects herself in the process. Though she has a seemingly decent attitude about her situation, I just wanted to hug her and cry. I even thought about copying her address from her patient chart so I could leave money on her doorstep, but figured that the HIPAA people would frown upon that. Maybe it was because of my feelings of personal empathy towards her, but with this patient (unlike any other patients) I was able to address my concerns about her health, explain what is happening to her, and teach her how to take better care of herself. I think she got it....I even think she'll do it. Suddenly, I became a hygienist.

Secondly, today was awesome. For the first time in what seems like months, Colby came to church with me! I sometimes worry that our neighbors think he's gone inactive, when really he's just sick in bed most of the time. Sundays always seem to be the worst. Needless to say, I was thrilled that he made it through 3/4 of sacrament meeting before he was too sick to sit any longer. I came home after the block to find him snuggled up in bed with his oxygen on; he must have been really ill this morning. I'm letting him sleep for a few more minutes, then we're going up to Kaysville for the holiday. Colby's little brother gets home from his mission tomorrow!

And finally, I got my taxes done -- woo-hoo! Happily, we are getting about twice the refund we got last year, though my income was roughly the same. Sadly, most of our refund will probably be applied directly to our credit card.

A Welcome Distraction

I think Colby likes it when I'm bored, and today I was. I seriously sat around all day, studying tobacco cessation and watching WAYYY too much TV. Finally, around 5 o'clock, I decided I couldn't just sit any longer. Inspired by the culinary wizardry of my Food Network friends, I whipped up something tasty for my sweetie. This was a bit of a challenge for me, as I'm on the tail-end of the low-carb torture stint from Hades and have been battling the flu, but I've really missed cooking and desperately needed to do something productive. Plus, I've felt this crazy need to "make up" for last week's tasty-but-ugly homemade lasagne....I made up my own recipe, and Colby really loved it; however, its glaring unattractiveness necessitated its omission from my blog.

For dinner, I made an Italian chicken pot pie, a slight adaptation on the Barefoot Contessa's recipe. I didn't have all the same vegetables, so I used potatoes, corn, and asparagus. I added about 1/2 cup of parmesan cheese and a packet of dry Italian dressing mix to the sauce, then sprinkled a shredded Parmesan/Asiago mixture on the crust before baking it. I think it looked pretty; Colby said the cheese made the crust a little crunchy. He really liked it, so I guess I will add that to my list of regulars. I may have to invest in some smaller oven-safe dishes, though; I really like Ina's suggestion of making individual-sized pies rather than one large one. I actually ended up with a lot of extra crust and am not sure what I'll do with it.



Dessert was a batch of Tyler Florence's Amaretto Chocolate Brownies. I substituted slivered almonds for the walnuts, and used 1 teaspoon of almond extract in place of the amaretto. I wish my picture looked prettier. When I watched Tyler make these on his show today, his were all huge and chunky....mine looked perfect when I pulled them out of the oven, but as they cooled, the middle caved in. Does anyone know how to prevent that? Either way, they smelled good and were ultra-tempting to me. Colby said they were delish, so I will have to attempt these again as soon as sugar and flour are legal again.



So, it was a fun diversion and only made a little bit of a mess. Hopefully it'll keep Colby from complaining that "we don't have any food" for at least a few more days. Unfortunately, I still feel like dirt. My throat is killing me and I sound like I swallowed a bag of nails. I have to go to classes in the morning, but I think I will skip out on my early-morning weight training class so I can get a little extra sleep before my DH4 test...

Sick Days

Right now I am curled up on the couch in a blanket, watching Nick Arrojo work his magic on a school teacher's froufy fro. I feel like poo. My head hurts, my body aches, my back is killing me. My throat hasn't been this sore since I had mono in the eighth grade. And, seeing as this is the position I've assumed since Friday morning, I am excruciatingly bored. I wish that I felt well enough to do something productive, but as it is, all I want to do is sleep. I keep forgetting that with my DV-R, I can fast-forward through commercials now. I think I've seen the Kaboom! commercial 3 times in the past 40 minutes...man, that guy bugs me!

I think it's gonna be a long day.

Entertain me?