Diet Drinks

An interesting article on diet drinks

83 + 40 = 123

That's how many hours I've worked this month on all things not-homework or class related.

This is my field experience.
My Masters Project.
The free clinic I volunteer at.
My TA assistantship.
And case studies I did for my clinical rotation this summer.

123 hours.

I just need to justify why I'm tired.

Thanks :)

Here's a video:

infant->child-> adolescent->young adult->adult

So I think Charlie and I learned something valuable about ourselves this morning.

We're no good with chaos.

I mean. No.Good.

Yes, we've been here for 1.5 years, but we still don't entirely understand the whole plowing the streets concept. It seems (to us) to happen at random and all of our neighbors understand it and have their cars moved to the right sides of the street... but we really have no clue what's going on.  Last night, Charlie saw everyone move their cars to "our" side of the street, so he left his there. This morning, right after the first plow went through... all the cars mysteriously ended up on the other side of the street. Huh. That's never happened before. It's normally a pretty long turn-around time for them to come back and plow the other side.

We were about to leave to go down to the Farm and take care of the chickens, so he didn't move it. Whoops. Then they plowed our side of the street... and we were in the way. So Charlie went to go start his car to get it warmed up for our trip. As we were all ready to go, Charlie suddenly said, "I locked both of my keys in my truck." So he then started TEARING through the house looking for another key. TEARING. Stomping. Yelling. Throwing stuff EVERYWHERE. Pulling boxes I didn't know about out of places I didn't know about.

I tried to calm him down. I said "this happens" and "it's not that big of a deal" and stuff nice, calm wives say to their husbands. I offered to stay home and take care of the keys and that he should just take my car to the farm until we realized his work keys were also in his truck. The truck that was running.  I finally called the locksmith, and WHILE I WAS ON THE PHONE WITH THEM and they quoted me $35+, Charlie screamed "I'm getting a ticket!" He actually used much more expressive language than that, but you get the idea. I screamed back, "GO TALK TO THE POLICE OFFICER" "WHAT AM I GOING TO SAY?" "TELL HIM YOUR KEYS ARE LOCKED AND YOU CAN'T MOVE YOUR CAR" "YOU GO TELL HIM" "OMG! JUST GO TALK TO HIM" etc.

Then there was much weeping and gnashing of teeth.

He missed the cop, but hunted him down up the street, to which the cop replied there was nothing he could do now that the ticket is in the system. And that in 20 minutes someone would be there to tow his truck.

The same 20 minute timeframe the locksmith gave us as to when he would come unlock the truck.

At this point we're both freaking out.

Locksmith comes. Before the tow truck (yay!) and does 3 minutes worth of work and says, "That will be $180." "Umm... excuse me?" "Yeah, the $35 is just the service call." Wow. Fortunately, Charlie's insurance supposedly covers everything, so we should get reimbursed. But I'm telling you, people. It was like 40 minutes of CHAOS.

We had a family snuggle when the locksmith left and decided we have a few things to work on before we have children and things get more chaotic more often.

At what point do you become a "real" adult?

Decision-Making

I think everyone, everywhere should have to take a class on decision making. Frankly, I think they should replace your high school requirement for keyboarding with a class on decision making. It's SO important to make good decisions. Not all parents teach it (or exemplify it). And if you have certain friends, they may honestly encourage POOR decision making which can set you on a really undesirable life trajectory.

Life comes down to the decisions you make. Your attitudes (hey mom, I was listening to you the 1,000.000 times you told me that :)). Your morals. Your marriage partner. Your job/education/careers. The types of people you surround yourself with. I could go on and on here. We all make tons of decisions every day, so you know what I mean.

Today on my bus ride home from school 4 men boarded the bus. They all headed straight to the back of the bus... each one saying the next would pay the boarding fee for all of them. Once the bus-driver realized what was happening, he parked the bus and tried to convince them for a full minute or two to come back and pay.  Not one of them moved. People started to grumble, saying they didn't have time to wait for them, so he said, "Fine. But I'm going to have to call the Metro Transit Police."

Let's think about this. A metro fare is what? Between $1-$2.50. The cost for not paying your fare is $180. To me, that is pretttttty obviously a poor decision to make. But let's take this even further. So, you get the fine and then your name goes onto your record with it. Let's say you don't pay the fine (I actually feel quite confident that none of these men will pay their fines). So 9 months from now, something else happens and the police looks up their record. All but one of them were not native English speakers. Maybe they would face deportation if they are not already citizens (I'm not trying to make a blanket statement that accents=illegal 'aliens'). But If they ARE citizens, I think it's possible that they could face jail time.

All of this could happen because they wouldn't pay $1 to get on the bus. You've got to weigh your pros and cons people.  You've got to think about the consequences of actions!!

I wish I would have gone over to the men and broken this down for them. I considered staying on the bus past my stop until the metro police handled the situation.. but I decided to just get off at my stop. I don't know what happened. But I have to think if they're making really stupid decisions like that, then they're making poor decisions elsewhere.

James 3:17  

But the wisdom from above is first pure, then peaceable, gentle, open to reason, full of mercy and good fruits, impartial and sincere.

Proverbs 3:13-18

Blessed is the one who finds wisdom, and the one who gets understanding, for the gain from her is better than gain from silver and her profit better than gold. She is more precious than jewels, and nothing you desire can compare with her. Long life is in her right hand; in her left hand are riches and honor. Her ways are ways of pleasantness, and all her paths are peace. ...

Proverbs 10:23

Doing wrong is like a joke to a fool, but wisdom is pleasure to a man of understanding.

Crick

I woke up with a crick in my neck. I hate cricks. Don't you?  It actually woke me up sometime in the middle of the night--I held onto my neck as I rolled around trying to get comfortable again.  I'm so dramatic.

I got a lot of work done today.  That was good.  I need to get a LOT of work done tomorrow.  Like writing the first draft of a 20+ page paper.  I think if I just write (according to the outline I've already written) and not worry about citations yet (looking up what I cited later). Then I can maybe actually possible do it.  Which would be a HUGE relief since I'm weeks behind the schedule I made for myself.  I even put stickers with due-dates I made up in my planner so I'd stick with it.  I wish that worked better.  I wish I had less to do!  Yeeeesh!

Today I bought a pair of boots on sale for $15. Yes, they were made in China. And yes, they probably won't last a long time. But $15? I HAD to!

What else? I saw a Target commercial the other day that made me throw something at the TV. It was all these people in cropped pants and short sleeves dancing around in the sun. At the end of the clip, it said "Spring is here" or something like that.  And then I lost it. SPRING ISN'T HERE, PEOPLE! This Tuesday we have a high of 9 and a low of -8. It could be worse, sure. But it's nearing the end of February!  I want Spring!  *end rant*

It's not so bad :)  34 degrees actually, honestly feels really nice to me.  It was 34 the other day and I started sweating while I was walking back to the bus, so I had to unzip my coat. True story.  I'M A MINNESOOOTAN!

UGH!

I am mad right now. Rightfully, legitimately mad. MAD. At God. Yes, I said it.  I am mad at You right now! It's not fair. It's not right. It stinks. Ridiculously stinks. I can't believe you let this happen. Why would you let this happen?

BUT.

I don't believe these difficulties are for naught. We have to believe these difficulties aren't for naught.  Job had seven times as much when he was finished as he had when he was young.

'



Vega, you are already missed. You were a beautiful girl. You were the best friend my sister could ever had. You kissed her when she needed kisses and hugged her when she needed hugs and were creepy when she needed a laugh. You were her protector. Her pillow. Her family.

Rest in Peace, Vega. We'll see you again in Heaven. You'll be waiting in Risa's mansion.

I DON'T WANT TO DO ANY MORE HOMEWORK

And let me tell ya.. I've barely begun for the semester. Bleeeeeeeeck.

Valentine's Day

Charlie took me out for Valentine's day a little early (actually on our 3.5 year anniversary :)) First to the science museum, and then the next morning to.. here! Silly videos... but it's fun to have things documented

I need to vent for just a second.

I like WIC (the Woman, Infant, Child government program).  It gives moms and babies good, healthy food. The choices are somewhat made for them, but there's still some room to pick the meals that work best for your family.  It has room for improvement (like providing more fresh (or frozen or canned or dried) fruits and vegetable options)... but overall it's a really cool program.

I've thought about how awesome this would be when applied to Food Stamps (now known as the SNAP program--Supplemental Nutrition Assistance Program).  I've thought plenty about how, if the government's purpose is to keep families fed and healthy during hard times, maybe they should be provided food that will do that for them. Food with the greatest nutrient density.

But I guess I figured out today that I have a real problem with people saying that "THEIR" money shouldn't go toward people buying whatever food they want. Or "those people" don't know how to make good choices.  Or "they" shouldn't be able to buy things. Or "they" don't want to get off of food stamps now that it works like a debit card and they don't have to be embarrassed about purchases.

THAT, I have a problem with.

We NEVER EVER know or can understand everything that's going on with a person. We never know what struggles they've been through. Most of us don't know what it's like to be hungry or food insecure. We don't know if "they" are employed.  We can't assume that "they" like being on government assistance. We can't blame "them" for being overweight---rich and poor people alike are overweight.

Life and issues and health are complex. It's all intertwined with.. everything else. Let's not judge. Let's open our hearts and try to really understand one another, and have grace for each other when we don't.

Love one another.

It's February?

It won't quit snowing here. Every time I look outside (or go outside) it's snowing. Snow everywhere. We've been slacking off with our snow-shoveling... so that means we have layers of ice on our stairs and sidewalk. Whoopsies. I just walk like a penguin and all is okay.

This semester is going to be busy. Veeeeery busy. Right now I'm in the denial stage, I think. I'll get my booty into gear one of these days. Probly.

I also need to clean.

Being messy is found somewhere between feeling liberated and trapped by your mess. haha How does that work?

And lastly, a little video from our date night:




Ps... I'm holding my head funny because it was -20 and I was cold and trying to keep my furry hood on.