the INVASION has landed

I'm always a bit taken aback when everybody shows up for school in the fall. I used to wait with eager anticipation for it but now, I'm not so sure. Over the last week Collegedale traffic has gone up by about 200%, and not just at 8 AM and 3 PM. You are guaranteed to see at least 10 SAU students at Walmart at any given time of the day and at least one student in any store you walk into. There is NOWHERE to park or sit for that matter. And people are so RUDE at convocation, they will not be quiet so we can get started. Poor Mrs. Glass is playing the prelude into a sea of voices, what's the point? And church was already packed last weekend, what is going to happen with all these students here? I think I must have helped about 10 people find things today just walking from Wright Hall to Wood Hall. I've even been involved with the music dept long enough to answer questions about their classes.

Which leads me to another confession: I'm feeling a bit old, maybe more just a bit odd. Most of you graduated people have moved away and left me here with a sea of undergrads! Thankfully, Hollie is still around to give me a little sympathy about the postgrad life. It's just such a different stage in life, getting a house, a job, paying lots of bills, making a different set of decisions. Maybe I'll feel more normal after my classes start next week.

However, I will say the energy level has definitely kicked up over there. You can feel it as soon as you walk on campus. I'm enjoying being around Stephanie and Ryan and all their friends who will probably become my friends (since mine have all left me) and keeping some of that college spirit alive. But at the same time, it's going to be nice to have a house to come home to (and have people over too) where it's quiet and relaxed and I have my own couch and TV (YAHOO!), even if I can't always find the remote... I have to say, I have the best of every world possible. Life is good!

Sitting very still while I wait for the medicine to kick in

Carrie's here visiting for the weekend since her parents are coming down to help bring Grant back to Southern this weekend.







Amy and Jeremy came down for a surprise visit too!








For any of you that know Carrie, this is pretty much torture for her... but she did start it (with some help from Jeremy). I was quietly resting on the floor...



Apparently this is the weekend for injuries for me. I burnt my hand on Friday night cooking. Then when we went to Ocoee for the afternoon I slipped on a pointy rock in the first 5 minutes and fell directly on my hip and ribs. It's a very strange feeling to have the wind knocked out of you only on one side. This morning I have an evolving bruise on my hip and my rib cage feels like somebody is tightening it with a wrench. But luckily ibuprofen helps quite nicely. I can definitely tell when it's in my system. Last night I woke up every time I moved in bed though.

Surveying the damage... it's much more colorful this morning...

Stephanie, please do not knock me over because I don't think I could get back up...

Carrie and Randy catching crayfish. Carrie got a yellow jacket sting too. Mary Jane also took a fall right as we were leaving. Apparently Ocoee isn't a good place to go if you don't want to get hurt.

The selected self portrait of the weekend.

We played a variation of Rook called... well, apparently you can call it about 6 different things... I'm sure the others had about as much fun watching me try not to laugh at them while holding my side as they did laughing at the 500 funny things that happened while we played the game.

If the shirt fits...

In view of my last post... Carrie found this shirt...

If you only knew...

Sometimes I wonder what you all would think if you knew what I do all day at work... No offense but I bet I do things you wouldn't even imagine could be done to another human being, all in the name of medicine of course. My work is so different from what most of the world does. My self-esteem gets a boost when I put in a catheter somebody else couldn't get in a little old fat lady. How strange is that? (God did not intend for people to get enormously fat for a good reason...) I think nurses have to have each other to talk to because... well... you can't come home to just anybody who asks you the question "So, what'd you do today?" and answer "Well, I stuck a tube about the size of your index finger down somebody's nose and got back this gross brownish green stuff but it really made the guy feel better..." People in the medical profession build up a tolerance for what we do so we can talk about just about anything in a matter-of-fact way and laugh at horrific things like terminal cancer and death. We really aren't horrible callous people, it's just what we have to do to cope.

Sometimes the patients you come across have so much going on in their lives you just want to hug them and cry with them. Sometimes you wonder if your patients are even human, how God could make someone that mean and nasty, or someone who is quite literally that insane. Yesterday in the midst of my crazy day with patients with tubes in every possible place, a patient who needed some psychiatric medication, and some who were looking at death in the next year or so I decided that nursing has to be one of the strangest most varied professions. If you only knew the things I do all day at work...

A rainy Sabbath afternoon

A few of Stephanie's friends came over for haystacks.

After Ryan got done with RA potluck, he came to visit too. He's going to be gone most of the week on RA retreat so it was nice to spend some time together. Feels like we're seeing each other in spurts. Ryan took this picture, he's catching on to the self-portrait skills.

An attempt at gymnastics. Ryan wanted me to try a handstand, ha ha...


Ted was down for the weekend so I went over to Kari's to visit a bit. Here's Mama in the kitchen making supper.


The biggest family group gathered for awhile. Dave got a belly rub at the end of this but I'll be nice and not post that picture... Maybe Nick won't be so kind. ;-)

Birthday presents!

Mom and Dad helped me buy a new TV! Here is my $5 furniture purchase. Nick brought me this DVD player but we're not sure if it works yet. And you can see part of Lindsey's package laying on top: Pride and Prejudice. They also got me a 6 Qt pot to round out my Farberware set, a puzzle, and a really neat painted bowl.

Carrie sent me Crocs! I really like this style.

These came from Lindsey. She has to be one of the best people at finding things I would like without me asking for that thing specifically or showing it to me. She sent a really neat package and I really really like every single thing that was in the box! Here's the contents: Pride & Prejudice, these shakers, a bookmark, a notepad for my fridge, and B&BW vanilla smelly stuff.