{busy bee}

wednesdays are CRAZY!  i get to work, go over the many consults that we have (currently everyone in the hospital is struggling with swallowing).  we triage all the consults and go visit the ones we think may really be having problems swallowing, and it's not due to teeth being pulled or mouth sores or something. then we go to  a briefing on some clients, then we come back, write up some notes on who we saw/schedule some modified barium swallow studies or schedule therapies. then there's therapy.  then we eat.  THEN on wednesdays, we get to go to the head and neck clinic for anyone in the hospital who either 1. thinks they may have a problem 2. we determined they have a problem and we're doing post op stuff or 3. they had surgery a while ago and we're doing follow up.

i really like this part.  i get to see tons of different types of problems in a period of 3 hours.  and it's constant work, which is actually sort of fun.  we either are taking case history and determining if we need to see them, or checking up with progress.  i get to talk to lots of people and practice my skillz, write some reports, and plaster my name all over reports.  who doesn't like to see their name on a medical note?  admit it... you would.

the only downside is i was so busy, i got a bit scattered.... i downloaded a fabulous app on my ipod that lets me look up medical abbreviations, because these notes are crazy full of them (some drs even just make them up themselves... talk about confusing!), and i got home and realized i don't have my ipod.  so it's either in the room we worked in which isn't the speech departments, or it's in my lab coat.  we're hoping for the latter.  or for the fact that the ppl in there were dr's and make enough money to not want to borrow my ipod.  luckily everyone there is super nice, so if it is there, chances are someone grabbed it to find it's poor, broke, college student owner.

phew!  busy days are crazy, but fun :)

{lord of the flies}

no, i don't have time to read, so this blog post can't be about that...

life is crazy busy.  i work a lot.  i love it very much.  blogging?  yeah... sorry.

just know that tonight, i have declared war on the flies in my house.  for whatever reason, our house attracts them.  i don't think we're stinky people or we have excess food for them, but they love our house.  and they think it is their own.  and my desire to kill them is currently at it's max.

call me cruel, call me unusual, i do not care.

i will win.

my house will be mine.

and the best part?

i have one of these

it zaps when i hit them.  SO SATISFYING.

i have one more... off to kill....

{water balloons!}

last night was the 4th 'world's largest water balloon fight'.

big congrats to the student leaders and staff of csf for another awesome fight!  175,141 water balloons and over 8,975 people.  the time, organization and man power to put this thing on is crazy, and i'm super proud of everyone.  especially the people who stayed after to clean up the 175,000 + little itty bitty shards of balloons.  i can say with confidence that csf people will have that field spotless.  way to go, guys!

i also got to see my 2 favorite kiddos who made their first appearance at the fight.  they both loved it.... caleb got wet from a stray water balloon and kept talking about it, and claire got to throw one.  goodness they are the most fun kids ever!  i miss seeing them so often... you can't help but crack up when you're with them.  and claire gets even funnier past her bedtime.

today has been deemed a relaxing day... ian's off getting a massage (jealous!) and i have to mow the grass, but then we are just sitting around and enjoying the fact we have nothing to do.

happy saturday!

{adventures in a hospital}

i am tired.  happy, well learned, but very, very tired.  and very happy tomorrow is friday!

i have learned quite a few new things while working at the va.  things i didn't think i would learn, as they don't actually pertain to speech.

#1.  if someone is on their iphone, get out of the way.  they seem to think they are in their own world, and do not actually watch where they're walking, they just walk.  just move and smile because they look so very silly.

#2. the hospital's #1 danger zone is not actually an er or a surgical suite, it is the many blind corners that medical professionals tend to fly around.  i have learned very quickly to not hug corners.  99.9% of the time i am the smaller, lighter individual, so guess who usually takes the brunt of the hit.  me.

#3. if you wear a lab coat, people automatically assume you know what's going on.  this, i like.  even in my lime green lab coat with my slightly annoying yellow student badge, i got asked by a med student today where he could find some doctor.  i had to tell him i was new to the hospital, BUT apparently i looked like i knew what i was doing (score for me!)


who knew the things i'd learn!?!?!?

{i'm a big girl now}

admit it, you just hummed the tune...

i've been at the va for 2 days!  life is officially insane.  my day has started at 6 am, i get ready, drive to uk, park, catch the shuttle, get to the va a little before 8, take a quick break for lunch around 12, get right back to work, get off at 4:30, then drive to ians because traffic getting down tates creek is terrible.  we then hang out for a few hours, and it's off to bed and i press the restart button.

working is really fun.  in 2 days, i've seen/learned/experienced so much and i have a feeling that it won't take long for me to get the hang of things and start to be able to make good therapy recommendations and implement actual techniques well!  that's really exciting to me :)

if you're ever walking around the va, look for me!  i'm the only 'professional' with a lime green lab coat ;)

{sick}

i hate being sick.  if i'm hurt, i usually brush it off.  if i'm upset, i cry and it's over.  when i'm sick, i turn into a whiny 3 year old.  and it lasts a long time.  and all i want is my mommy.

thursday i felt it come on.  isn't that the worst?  when you know you're getting sick and there is nothing you can do about it?  so when friday came around, i was a mess.  and all i wanted was soup.  i'm not the biggest fan of tomato soup, but my basil plant is going crazy, and i love basil, so i made tomato basil soup.  i had a can of stewed tomatos and got a can of crushed tomatos and whole tomatos.  i quickly sautéed some garlic in some olive oil, added the tomatos, a pinch of salt and a pinch of sugar and let it simmer for about 15 minutes.  after that i added a handful of chopped basil, 1/4 cup of whipping cream and it was amazing.  for real, it was just what i needed.  and i ate off of it for 4 days.

fast forward to today... i'm still not feeling amazing, but whatever.  i had orientation at eku today, and tomorrow is orientation at the va.  i'm nervous to say the least, and i'm glad that i'll have one of the girls from my class with me, so at least i'll know someone!

tomorrow's post should be interesting.... say a prayer it goes well!

{sitting, thinking}

it's that time of the year again.... the time where new freshmen are making their way onto campus.  i helped move girls in last weekend, and just talking with a friend, we reminisced about being in that place 6 years ago.  6 years ago, i was nervous, excited, shy freshman who knew 3 people on campus and didn't know what i was supposed to do, where i was supposed to go, or how i was supposed to do much of anything.

fast track 6 years... here i am.  i am a very different person than i was then, and it is a direct cause of so many wonderful people in my life.  i'm about to start leading a bible study with my best friend, and i'm realizing that i'm about to be in the place that some pivotal people were for me.

this is a thank you to so many wonderful people... thank you for taking time out for me.  you didn't have to.  you chose to.  thank you for inviting me into your house, your apartment, taking me to get coffee, calling me on the phone, inviting me over for sleepovers, allowing me to hang out with your kids, listening to me cry after a bad test grade and being totally sure my life was over, and most of all, teaching me a different side of Jesus.  i have been blessed beyond belief with positive, Jesus-loving people in my life.

thank you for teaching me about opening your home.  thank you for teaching me the importance of loving people.  thank you for teaching me to love like a child.  thank you for teaching me what is important in life- people, serving, loving, a smile, honesty, and that it's ok to not have it all together.

from taking me under your wing when i was a little baby freshmen, to providing a place for me to live, to being blessed with the most amazing roommates, to knowing i always had people i could count on, thank you.

do not ever underestimate the power Christ has given you to impact a life.  especially with new freshman coming in, and going to a new work place, today is a realization that God blesses any situation and the most simple acts of kindness.  thank you for showing that to me, i hope that God can multiply that, and that He can be glorified.

{pros and dominican}

yesterday started out great.  my friend lauren is staying with me while everyone from csf is on leadership retreat, and we started our day out with iced coffee and going to play with a friend's dog.  fast forward to a few hours later, playing with said dog again, and i came out and looked at my car and hellooooo flat tire!  i mean this thing was flatter than a pancake.

no fear, i thought, i'm handy and i've changed one of these before, no big deal.  i got in my car and got the wrench and the jack, then proceeded to jump on the stupid wrench with absolutely no movement.  it was on so tight that literally my body weight couldn't get it to move an ounce.  now i'm more mad at the fact i can't be handy than the fact my tire is flatter than how the europeans viewed the world.

luckily i call aaa, we hang out and play with huck (the dog) more, and the man comes and makes me feel better by having to use his magic tool to get the tire off.  he then shows me the massive screw hanging out in my poor tire.  off to tire discounters i go, where it's patched (fo free!) and i'm on my way.

due to my lousy day, i was even more excited to go to the uk pros vs dominican game!  oh how i have missed rupp arena and getting to see some of uk's most loved players!  it was so fun.  i love living in lexington and being a wildcat where it's totally normal to sell out an exhibition game in a matter of minutes.  this just doesn't happen anywhere else in the world.  they all came in to the song 'back where i belong' (perfect), demarcus took out his own teammate on the kings because he went to louisville (once a card, always a card... boooo), and coach cal put on a show with the dominican team.

demarcus and a little kid... adorable

uk greats!

action shot of demarcus throwing garcia to the ground.  awesome

{thrifty part 2}

ok.  so yesterday i decided to try my hand at homemade detergents, both dish and laundry.

both required the same ingredients, and we were about out of dish detergent, so why not try both?

recipe #1: dish detergent.
1 cup borax
1 cup washing soda
1/2 cup salt
4 packets of lemonade koolaid mix (it can't contain sugar and i used the off brand because it's even cheaper).

mix it all together in a container, add 1-2 teaspoons or so to the dishwasher and you're on your way.


recipe #2: laundry detergent
i grated 1/3 bar of fels naptha (a laundry detergent bar soap)
i then heated 6 cups of water with the grated soap til everything was dissolved (don't let it boil or i'm guessing you'll have a soapy mess on your hands) and added 1/2 cup of washing soda and 1/2 cup of borax until that was all dissolved.  i turned off the heat, poured 4 cups of hot water (our house's water gets super hot, if yours doesn't, you may want to heat it on the stove) into a bucket, added the borax/soap/soda mixture to the bucket and stirred.  then i added 1 gallon + 6 cups of hot water and stirred again.  it has to sit for 24 hours to gel, and it doesn't gel like normal detergent- more like half gel, have liquid.  i will probably shake it up before using each time just to make sure it's all still mixed

grating soap is better than grating cheese

finished product, ready to be poured

the spoils!  4 full containers of detergent!

the detergent filled 4 bottles (it makes almost 2 gallons of detergent), and i now have detergent for months and months (plus enough for all my roommates!)

i'm pretty pumped.  everything cost me about $10, and i got tons of dish and laundry detergent, plus there aren't any weird chemicals in it....

i decided to try my towels first, since they get makeup stains and stuff, and in my only somewhat biased opinion, my own detergent worked great!  makeup gone, they smell clean,  i even think my white stripes got whiter, but maybe that's the competitive 'i must do better than the leading brand of detergent' self talking...

let me know if you try it too!

{trying to be thrifty}

i like being thrifty.  it's a trait passed on to me by my parents, and one that i'm very happy to have learned/inherited (depending upon how you look at such things...)

it's something i've always liked- finding the best deal, and honestly, it's a game to me.

for instance.  it's a game to see how cheap i can get my textbooks for the semester.  i have one more book to buy this semester, i've spent $19 on 2 books.  i'm winning (against who?  the makers of those darn books!)

i also just made my own febreeze.  that crap is expensive, and i just made it.  fo free.  2 tbs baking soda, 1/8 cup of my amazing orchid/lavender fabric softener and fill the old bottle with hot water.  now i can smell my fabulous softener all the time.  i'm winning again.

my next endeavor is homemade laundry detergent, and maybe dishwashing detergent.  both use washing soda and borax, and the savings are pretty significant.  plus i feel like it has to be better for me without all the extra stuff in there.

is this my hippiness coming out?  it may be... who knows.  if i make it, i'll let you know how it works out.

***edit*** i made both.... update tomorrow on how it turned out!

{accomplished}

#1.  i changed the oil in my  lawn mower.  now, if you look up a youtube video of such a process, it's not actually that difficult.  it involves blocking off the gas tank so you don't spill gas all over the place and start a fire, and then tipping the mower over to allow the oil to drip out into a container.  STILL i managed all this #1 without a mess, and #2 without messing up the lawn mower. (i also cleaned the air filter, but that's even easier...).  is it lame that i feel accomplished?  because if it is, i don't even care.

#2. i got crafty.  i'm particular about my planners.  i don't like when they're the same each month, i like tabs, and i made the mistake of looking at vera bradley planners, and after that, none compare.  they're perfect.  so i found one that had 2 of the 3.  the only problem was the cover was uber boring (just blue), SO here's my new planner!

#3. i rearranged my room.  if you don't know much about my wonderful bf, one of his main qualities that i like is he's organized.  like he got excited about a new filing system (isn't he cute???).  after much gentle nudging, he suggested rearranging my room.  the boy's so smart.  i moved my bed, and although my bookshelf is still a mess, my room looks so much more open!  mom wouldn't call it 'clean', but the floor is vacuumed and open, most surfaces are dusted, and my bed's made.

tonight is orange leaf and wedding planning with katie!  a pretty good ending to a pretty accomplished few days!

{relaxing}

i won't lie, these last few days have been so nice.

i didn't realize how crazy and stressed out grad school made me.  i guess that's actually a good thing, that in the heat of the moment, i'm not so stressed out i'm realizing it, but since grad school's been out for a week, it's been nice.  it's nice to wake up and realize i can sit in my bed with a glass of iced coffee (recipe here because it's delish) and read something that i actually want to read.  i can do errands and be outside and mow the grass or clean whenever i want.

now, i like being busy, so in about 2 weeks, i honestly believe that i'll be ready for online classes and working full time at the va, BUT in the meantime, it's super nice to just sit here, relax, and enjoy 'kellie time'.

life is beautiful, it's nice to sit and enjoy it for a while

{fail}

i kind of thought that summer classes ending would = more time for me.  guess that's a joke!

i'll try a picture update because those are more fun to look at.

pinterest gave me the idea for newspaper nails. 

ian water skiing for the first time

 

we went to the wilds in south eastern ohio... i made friends with a giraffe! 

i also decided i wanted a cheetah

they had the best sign.  ever.

it was fun to go home for a while (hence the lack of blogging... family time was needed!).  the parents officially closed on our childhood home, so that was a little different, but they're moving to the lake, so it will be a blast to go home!  next time i head there, we'll have sweet pics of canoeing and kayaking.