12.29.09- Day 222

Yoga this morning (my first actual class ever). The class wasn't too hard, but I still felt like I got a good stretching and postural stability workout. I also didn't fall over, so that was good. I think that my training in physical therapy helps me with yoga because I already know the correct alignment and postures during poses, so I naturally try to keep my back straight or posteriorly tilt my pelvis, etc. It was a good way to start my day (after being up til 2 from watching Avatar last night- reliving our college days). It gave me energy for a few hours.

This is the yoga mat my sister is buying me for Christmas! (it's on backorder right now)

Ran some errands, hung out with Alan, went to small group. All good. I feel these days like I can't catch up though. I can't get bags unpacked before I have to pack them up again. I am always playing catch up on cleaning our house. I wanted to get all this organizing and mental preparedness done before starting back to work and that is not happening either. I feel like I need a solid week with nothing planned (but we all know that is not reality). I'm not sure how to find peace and calm and productiveness in the midst of hurriedness and numerous social events (which are good, but take time). I just need to get my mind straight and focused. Any tips?!

12.28.09- Day 221

Breakfast with Kayleen. Yum! (plus good conversation). Nap. Watched season 1 of the Office. Picked Sarah up from the airport. Misread time of Avatar and arrived at the movie theater at the wrong time. Went home. Decided to go see it in IMAX 3D in Highlands Ranch at 10:05. Left a little early to eat a late dinner at the new Chickfila by our house. Arrived just in time. Alan and I both really enjoyed the movie. There were a couple of scenes they took a little too far, but it had the best special effects I have ever seen. Plus, it definitely appealed to our sciency-biology side. I loved that a deep sea diver produced the movie. It was so evident from the types of plant and animal life on the planet. It was a beautiful movie, scenery and ideals. I highly recommend it. Plus, you get to wear really cool glasses.

12.27.09- Day 220

Church, lunch at Palaminos, watched Bronco's game (sad day), said bye to Bethany, went to the annual Bucklen white elephant gift party.

Here are our wonderful gifts:

Alan's gift My gift

Lovely day.

12.26.09- Day 219

I drove Alan up to Greeley in the snow this morning. Highway traffic was going about 30 mph. I'm definitely becoming used to driving in the snow (although I prefer not to). Alan went to sleep immediately and I just relaxed in the morning and chatted with Kayleen. We ate lunch, then opened presents when Jamie and Matt came over. This pic is of my new nativity scene from Dave and Kayleen. I love it! After opening presents, we headed into town to watch Alan and Matt play in the Dayspring school alumni basketball game. My studly husband's team won both of their matches, making them the champions of the alumi. I think they were all a little sore afterwards though :). We went over to the Shelton's house and hung out with Paul, Bethany, Amanda, and her friend from high school. We played the most intense game of pictionary I have ever played. Crazy! We had a lot of laughs.

12.25.09- Day 218

Merry Christmas!

I started Christmas day by opening presents with Alan. I got a snuggie, warm wool socks, fastbreaks, a coupon for a massage, and a coupon for workout clothes from him. It was wonderful to take a few minutes and remember the real reason for celebration as well. After Alan went to bed, I headed up to Greeley to spend the day with Dave and Kayleen. We visited. Kayleen and I made tasty treats. We watched HGTV. The Browns and Tuttles (Kayleen's side of the family) came for Christmas dinner. We just enjoyed chatting, laughing, and each other's company.

After dinner was over and everyone left, I drove home so that I could pick Alan up in the morning and bring him back to Greeley for our Hunt family celebration the next day. It was snowing pretty heavily in Denver, so I got to witness a snowy Christmas evening on top of all the beautiful white snow on the ground.

12.24.09- Day 217

Merry Christmas Eve!

Look who got a little too comfortable with our couches while we were in AR! Lots of snow
We got about 7 inches over the past 2 days.

My homemade chicken noodle soup (The big white-ish-yellow things are homemade noodles. They're not super pretty, but really yummy)

Well, I was somewhat productive this Christmas Eve... I got a haircut, went to workout, went to the grocery store, made chicken noodle soup, talked with my family, made goodies for Alan's ICU buddies, watched It's a Wonderful Life, spoke some to the Savior that entered the world as a child, and drank some candy cane peppermint tea. I'm off to the ICU in a few minutes to deliver the goodies.

Wonderful words, the Good News...

To Us a Child Is Born

"Nevertheless, there will be no more gloom for those who were in distress. In the past he humbled the land of Zebulun and the land of Naphtali, but in the future he will honor Galilee of the Gentiles, by the way of the sea, along the Jordan- The people walking in darkness have seen a great light; on those living in the land of the shadow of death a light has dawned. You have enlarged the nation and increased their joy; they rejoice at the harvest, as men rejoice when dividing the plunder. For as in the day of Midian's defeat, you have shattered the yoke that burdens them, the bar across their shoulders, the rod of the their oppressor. Every warrior's boot used in battle and every garment rolled in blood will be destined for burning, will be fuel for the fire. For to us a child is born, to us a son is given, and the government will be on his shoulders. And he will be called Wonderful Counselor, Mighty God, Everlasting Father, Prince of Peace. Of the increase of his government and peace there will be no end. He will reign on David's throne and over his kingdom, establishing and upholding it with justice and righteousness from that time on and forever. The zeal of the Lord Almighty will accomplish this."

Isaiah 9:1-7

12.23.09- Day 216

Happy Christmas Eve, Eve!
Today was such a lazy day. We had beautiful snow all day with huge, wet flakes. I just watched it from inside until Alan and I ventured out in the afternoon to do some final Christmas shopping done. I've had a blanket wrapped around me all day because we turned the heat down after an absurdly high electric/gas bill this month! Good grief! I can't wait til spring!

On another note... I've been inspired to experience a new area of cooking by my friend Lindsey. Click here to see her tutorials on making chicken stock and homemade chicken noodle soup. Tonight I made White Chicken Chili and used a rotisserie chicken for the meat. See the picture of leftovers. I then followed Lindsey's steps to make chicken stock out of my leftover rotisserie chicken. Picture below is the final product. I will let it sit in the fridge all night long and make homemade chicken noodle soup on Christmas Eve or Christmas Day. I may even venture to make homemade bread to eat with it! I love having time to do things like this.

Side note: I hate shopping at the Walmart near our house. Today, I felt like a criminal because all of the electronics are locked up. I'm not even talking just I Pod's and Wii's. I'm talking car chargers, blackberry skins, earphones, etc. After about 20 minutes, I finally got someone's attention to free the item that I needed, only to find that I couldn't even take it with me anywhere in the store, but that they would hand it directly to the cashier and I had to buy it right there! I didn't know that and still had a few things I needed to buy, so I got to wait in line twice. Next thing I know, I bet the lettuce will be in a cage and socks will have sensors! I may think twice about going back to shop there for such items and head to another store where I can freely browse and examine the items I want to buy.

12.22.09- Day 215

We spent a nice morning and lunch with the family, then it was time to head home. Mom took us back to the airport and we had an uneventful flight. When Josh picked us up, it was already starting to snow, but not yet sticking to the roads. By the time we got home, it was sticking everywhere. Maybe we'll have a white Christmas!

When we walked in the door to our house, we were greeted by a very happy dog and by a really cute gift from my friend Becca, who watched Nigel for us when we were away. I thought I would share the gift with you, in case you need ideas for next year.

Although I miss my family and would have liked to spend more time with them, it is nice to be home (maybe we'll just have to work on getting the Galbo family homes closer together). Before bed, Alan and I watched a foreign film on netflix called He Loves Me, He Loves Me Not. It was a surprising romantic thriller (if you can call something that). It was an interesting movie and perhaps one of the only romantic foreign films my husband likes, so check it out if you are in the mood for a foreign mystery movie.

12.21.09- Day 214

Interestingly, we had quite the invasion of mice on Monday. My mom disturbed a nest of mice living in a bag of bird seed in the garage and apparently they decided to go to war with our family over night. When we opened presents on Monday morning (because Stacy needed to have wisdom tooth surgery in the afternoon), she was about to open a present and noticed that the entire corner of the chocolate bar had been nibbled off by our little friends. Needless to say, after that we heard 13 traps snap during the day. I think that may be a record! Aside from the horrible mouse invasion, we had breakfast together. My mom made chai and served it in her grandmother's beautiful tea set from Japan. Then we opened presents. I got a gorgeous copy of Jane Eyre and a soon to be sent very-cute yoga mat from Stacy. I also got a workout shirt and jacket from my Aunt Karen. Alan got a cool alarm clock radio/IPOD player from my Dad and an interesting emergencies procedure book from my Aunt. I also got an early birthday present from Stephanie and Charlie. It is a beautiful piece of wood with hooks screwed into it. I'll have to post a picture when I hang it up.

Alana came over for a while in the afternoon and helped us plan a little for our Europe trip. Woo hoo!

12.20.09- Day 213

Lazy afternoon at the Galbo house.

"Christmas dinner" We had our traditional christmas dinner tonight, since we are going to open presents tomorrow morning. It is a pasta made with bow-tie pasta, fresh salsa, shrimp, asparagus, and feta cheese. It's really one of the best ever.
Also notice in the above picture that Stephanie and Stacy are both holding dogs that our drinking out of their glasses. My parents' house was basically run by the dogs this weekend (there were 4!) I can't imagine what would have happened if we would have added Nigel to the mix! Maybe next year?

12.19.09- Day 212

My mom gets the "kids" a new ornament every year. This year she got us this beautiful globe ornament to celebrate our world travels. I love it!
And, I'm really sad, but I didn't get a picture of our little Russellville friends reunion this afternoon. Lauren, Warren, Ryan, Laura, Alan, and I went to La Huerta's for lunch and then to Lauren's house to hang out and visit (Meggie we missed you!). I so enjoyed catching up on what everyone is doing. It was also really fun to reminisce about elementary school through high school with them. Although we are all in different places in life right now, we have the connection of a shared childhood and adolescence. No one quite knows you the same without this connection.

Soon after we got back from the friends reunion, Charlie (Stephanie's husband) made it into town. We proceeded to go to Madame Wu's for dinner (which so happens to be one of the Galbo Christmas traditions). It was delicious as usual. You just can't have a Christmas without egg drop soup, Triple Delight, Cashew Chicken, Mandarin Shrimp, and a fortune cookie.

12.18.09- Day 211

Alright... this was a crazy day, but we made it!

• Went to work and got all paperwork done before noon.
• Alan went to the bank and post office.
• Participated in work Christmas party.
• Alan packed his bags after sleeping for ~ 3 hours.
• Eric took us to the airport and we had about 45 minutes til boarding.
• Made it through security and to our gate in record time, giving us about 15 minutes of down time before boarding.
• Wonderful direct flight to Tulsa and wonderful family to come and pick us up!
• 3 hour drive back to Russellville.
• Visited with the fambrilie (that is Galbo talk for family- hehe) before heading to bed.
• Ah to be near loved ones.

12.17.09- Day 210

Two of the more yummy parts to my busy day.

Dessert for our work potluck tomorrow...

Well, I wasn't sure if I could, but I did it! I have gotten everything done that I needed to (minus final packing- to be done immediately following blog post). I may have eaten lunch at 2:30 at McDonald's between schools and raced from here to there, but it is all accomplished. I am up late, but I can sleep tomorrow night. I'm excited for the down time and a chance to focus on Advent again. This season has very real and deep meaning. Sometimes I feel like I float right past it. I forget sometimes that it's not even about giving and family- it's about Jesus. It's about that wonderful night that he was born- God on Earth- with the most important purpose of all time. Emmanuel.

12.16.09- Day 209

I call this post: Crunch time. This is supposed to be me wiping the sweat from my brow from doing so much paperwork. It kind of looks like I'm either saluting or fainting (not sure which). :)

All I can say is that I'm in the "finals" of the working world. Cruch time for paperwork, meetings, treatments of all kinds. Not to mention getting ready to leave to see family for Christmas. My poor house and laundry have been neglected for so long. I have a to do list for tomorrow that details basically every minute of my day. Without some luck and divine intervention I'm going to be up really late. Alas, just like finals, it will all get done. At least I'm getting a paycheck and not a grade. :)

PS-Today I had someone tell me that my eyes looked like I had 3 different colored contacts in place. It just reminded me how much I like them. You know... everyone has a few features that they are fond of. My eyes are one of those features for me. Starting with the pupil they go: black, brown, green, blue, violet. Thanks mom for giving me your hazely eyes!

12.15.09- Day 208

Oh today...
It was a very productive day. I only treated 1 kid though!!!! I had my employee evaluation in the morning, right smack dab in the middle of when I normally see kids at one of my elementary schools. However, when I ran back to the school after my evaluation was over, all the kiddos were absent! So, I ran a home exercise program over to a middle school student, then headed back to the office. I called the help desk and got my printers reinstalled on my laptop (this will save my life when I have to print out all of my Medicaid billing information on Friday!) My printers got erased when they fixed my computer from the virus. Then... our PT team cleaned out our entire warehouse full of equipment from 12 to 4:30. I WISH I had a before and after picture. The warehouse was so stuffed full of random, broken, old, and actually some good equipment that you could hardly get to what you wanted. I think I discovered half of the stuff in there today! It will be SO more useful now and we have room for our new equipment that is coming on FRIDAY!!!! Yay for stimulus money!

After work, I came home and told Alan I was stressed because I hadn't gotten my paperwork done for the day that I needed to do, but I still wanted to make Christmas goodies for our small group friends tonight. So, my sweet husband went to Wal-mart and King Soopers for me and picked up the supplies to make goodies while I worked on paperwork. Then, we frantically made chocolate covered pretzels and oreos and reindeer cookies. Yum! See picture below. We raced over to Bob and Kyla's (we actually ended up being the first ones there!). Then we had fun catching up on Bob and Kyla's baby and adoption stories. Plus, we got to gaga over baby Ezra. He's such a beautiful baby. Now, I have written one more evaluation report for a meeting tomorrow morning and successfully blogged. Soon, I will be waking my husband up from a quick night nap, so he can attempt to stay up all night (he works tomorrow). I don't know how he does it. Speaking of... I'm headed towards bed as well. I need a good rest if I'm going to meet my productivity needs tomorrow! Christmastime is a busy time!

12.14.09- Day 207

Today: Kenton Elementary all day. Spent lots of time treating kids, managing equipment, meeting home PT's, going to meetings, etc. It was a good productive day though. After work, Alan and I went to Chili's on a date and ate the 2 for $20 special! Yum! We got cheesesticks for our appetizer (I haven't had those in ages!), we each ate half of the mini tacos and cajun chicken pasta entrees, and split chocolate lava cake for dessert! I LOVE chocolate lava cake. It's basically my favorite dessert of all time (maybe except for cheesecake or chocolate mess or anything basically anything chocolate...) We went to Barnes and Noble and did some Christmas shopping, then came home and looked at some of our Christmas presents for a while. (hope the recipient doesn't mind a little bend in the spine of their present -hehe) After deciding that I need to wait one more day before working out, we relaxed for the rest of the evening. Now, I'm blogging and my husband is about to go show me up by working out at night. I'm going to have to go to the gym every day in January to make up for all the time I missed while I was sick!

12.13.09- Day 206

Christmas lights! Finally. I think we'll add a couple more strands, but it's festive now! Finally... feeling better. Hopefully with some good sleep tonight, I'll be a new person tomorrow! I got to go to church today! And, as an added bonus, Bob and Kyla were back home with baby Ezra! He's so cute. I can't wait to cuddle him at small group on Tuesday! Watch the Broncos... and the Chargers (negative results in both games- boo.) Took Nigel on a walk, since the weather is finally seasonal again. Alan and I (mostly Alan) put up our Christmas lights. Ate taco salad and watched Extreme Makeover Home Edition. Now to do some desperate paperwork to get ready for this last week before Christmas break!

12.12.09- Day 205

Results of The Anderson's Christmas Party... cute, huh? (it was my first gingerbread house since grade school!)

I didn't know it was a dress up party!

Today... Shopping with Kayleen and Jamie. Really fun for the most part, then I started feeling bad again. I just pushed it a little too hard I think. I did get to pick out a couple cute things for Christmas! I always enjoy hanging out with my Hunt women. We have to stick together in a family of MEN! I tried taking a nap after shopping to no avail. Thank goodness for Alan, who rescued me from my despair with some NyQuil and cough drops. I calmed down a little and rested before heading over to The Anderson's Christmas party. We made some fun gingerbread houses, ate a gingerbread man pizza, and watched the old-school Rudolph the Red Nosed Reindeer. It was a good time.

12.11.09- Day 204

So... this is possibly the least attractive picture of Sarah and I - ever. But, we did laugh a lot. We may or may not have bought these in China as an impulse buy from a man peddling them in a park. How can you resist a little Chinese man walking around with glasses and mustaches that turn into party blowers? Not really possible. Also, they make a ridiculous, high-pitched noise that only intensifies the humor of it all. These also may or may not be included in the presents that we got for some of our JBU guy friends. Today... working like crazy trying to get all my kids seen and keep feeling better. I have a lot of paperwork to do this weekend. Went to ARC after work to scope out some therapy equipment (aka toys, games, and books). I'm going to stop back by tomorrow when things are 50% off. Spent some time with Alan and then ate at Chipotle with him for dinner. Went to Walmart to do some Christmas shopping and pick up some essentials. Came home and did a little of this and a little of that. Sarah came over after Parent's Night Out at her school and we "wrapped" our friends presents that we bought in China and talked. I like her. A. l.o.t. I'm hoping the coughing fits will decrease overnight so I can get rested up for shopping extravaganza with Kayleen and Jamie tomorrow!

12.10.09- Day 203

Busy day... lots of meetings, running around and seeing kids. But, I am feeling better! I'm still really congested and had a few coughing fits, but my body is not aching and I have energy again! Yay- all in time for the weekend! Tonight I was going to make cranberry, feta, apple, walnut salad (yum!), but in my absence of cooking- the lettuce went bad. As a result, I threw together gnocchi pasta with green beans on the side. It so happens to be the quickest meal ever! Gnocchi only takes 3-4 minutes to cook once the water is boiling. I mixed in Ragu spaghetti sauce with sundried tomato Alfredo sauce, added a little Feta, some spices, and Tada! It was pretty good.

In other news... it reached above 20 degrees today, so some of the snow melted off the streets. And, it's going to be 38 tomorrow- watch out Denver, heat wave coming through! haha. Really, it's finally getting back to seasonal temperatures. It will be near 50 on Saturday and Sunday. I really need to take Nigel on a walk. He's been cooped up in the house since the weather got cold and I got sick. Poor guy. Anyway, time for bed- only 1 day and 1 week until Christmas Break!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

12.9.09- Day 202

One thing to say... Where is the road?! Okay, okay, I could easily tell where it was while I was driving, but in this picture it really blends in with everything else! Another thing to say... Low: -17 degrees, High: 18 degrees. C.O.L.D.

Finally... I'm bored. Being sick is no fun and because of it I missed out on 5 days that my husband had off work. :( We were planning on spending lots of quality time together. Instead, I spent lots of time keeping him awake coughing and asking him for favors. I know I'm being pouty, but I'm allowed to right? Okay, maybe not, but I guess I am anyways. All that to say: I will be so glad to feel better so I can:
1) Go work out again at 24 hour fitness
2) Go to church
3) Have energy with kiddos
4) Be able to cook a meal for my husband
5) Clean the house
6) Hang the Christmas lights
7) Do some Christmas shopping (and clothes shopping)
8) Not be emotional
9) Slow down on the neti-pot usage
and finally...
10) Feel like the good ol' Susan again.

12.8.09- Day 201

Sick again... but not sick enough not to work. Also, sick that we didn't get a snow day! Good grief. What does it take to get a snow day around here? Apparently below 0 temperatures and 8" of snow is not enough. I saw this interesting site in the field behind one of the schools that I work at. About 300 Canadian geese were all hunkered down in the snow trying to keep warm just like the rest of Denver. I skipped small group tonight because I was still feeling bad. Conveniently, the Biggest Loser finale was on. It was fabulous! I really like the show. (have I mentioned that?!) Transformation is something that is incredible to me. I like that this show demonstrates changes inside and out in each of the contestants. I think that I like it because it reminds me that transformation is my destiny as well.

12.7.09- Day 200

Oh Monday. We got a little more snow, but not enough for a snow day, alas. I made it through the day, but am still feeling under the weather (getting out in the 6 degree weather can't help). Alan captured Nigel and I in our position for basically the whole evening (in the office watching TV on the futon). I would like to give a shout out to my dear husband who has been taking VERY good care of me the past few days. He even got me Indian food at the grocery store for dinner tonight. Thanks, babe! In other news... My computer got fixed today!!!! (I think I may have neglected to mention it had a nasty virus). One of the special ed secretaries fixed it for me. Yay! Well, I'm off to bed to try and sleep off this bug. I'm crossing my fingers for a snow day tomorrow (I'm a fool, I know).

12.6.09- Day 199

Today=SICK. I didn't really sleep last night. It was so weird. I felt fine all day and evening until right before bed. Then, I developed a fever and had a really sore throat. Alan woke up early too and got me some Tylenol. I finally got a bit of sleep in the morning. I've just been relaxing all day. I don't think I've gotten up more than three or four times. I feel a little better when the Tylenol is in full action. Overall, I'm just tired, achy, and stuffed up. Sinus infection? Maybe netti-pot will help. In other news, they announced at church today that instead of buying the old Linens and Things building, we are buying the old Stapleton hanger. It's such a cool building and its only two blocks down from where we currently meet for church. I'm really excited about this because it will keep the community/neighborhood feeling that makes the church what it is. Below is a pic of the hanger, but it has been renovated and now there are houses and businesses close by. (I think this pic is from before they started developing Stapleton.) In other news... it has been snowing all day. I'm really hoping for a snow day tomorrow so that I don't have to make the decision about whether to try and attempt work or not. We'll see what happens. Send up a prayer for me!

12.5.09- Day 198

Lazy Saturday...
Slept in, went to workout, cleaned the house, got ready for the Parade of Lights. The Parade of Lights is the Christmas Parade in Denver. The windchill was below 0! Unfortunately Sarah and Nicole took most of the pics on their cameras, so this is the only one I have from the night. Sarah and Carissa look cute though! I'll try to post the rest when they put up the pictures. After the parade, we went to Panera for dinner and to warm up. Then we went back to our house to hang out. Unfortunately, I think the cold got to me because as soon as everyone left, I started feeling really bad! At least I had a little fun before getting sick. Hopefully I can recover before Monday.

12.4.09- Day 197

After working hard all day... preschoolers and an observation, I went to Sarah H's birthday party. It was fun to celebrate and catch up with friends. After everyone left, Sarah, Nicole, Carissa, and I reminisced our old JBU days. Sarah has a ton of scrapbooks that she made while we were in college. It was such a fun time of life. It's also crazy that all of us have been friends now for 8 years! This pic is from sophomore year when we went to KC to see Reliant K in concert. It rained the whole time, but we toughed it out! Good memories.

12.3.09- Day 196

Several things to post about...

First of all:
HAPPY BIRTHDAY DAD!!!!!!
I love you very much and miss you! You have been such an example in my life of how learning and faith are so closely tied together. You have taught me about hard work, following God's calling on your life in every stage, critical thinking, and I have learned a corny joke or two from you :). I was always a daddy's girl and in many ways we're so similar. I hope I can be like you "when I grow up."


Second:
I finally went to 24 hour Fitness! I was just too busy earlier this week to make it, but I went tonight after Alan left for work. I ran for a half hour, then lifted weights for a half hour. I can't currently lift my arms above my head, but other than that- I feel great! I did finish off the evening with a bowl of fudge brownie icecream (good thing my goal at working out is not to lose weight- hehe). I saw my pro-fitness competitor co-worker at the gym. I bet I will see her there a lot as she was still working out when I left and I think had been since she got done with work (it was around 8 when I left). Crazy! She is quite beastie though :).

My new designated gym bag (from the Panerathon last year)

Third:

Gotta love Denver.... this picture explains it all. I'm sleeping with the space heater on tonight!

Fourth:
Alan and I are celebrating Advent this year by doing daily readings each night and lighting the advent candles. We are using World Vision's advent calendar. We just have it on our computer as a pdf file. If you want me to email it to you, just comment with your email address. It does promote some of world vision's projects, but it is nice because it has a global focus. See my little advent display below.
It has been really good so far to focus our minds on what this season is about and be intentional about waiting for Emmanuel to speak to us. Tonight there was a quote that really stuck out to both of us:

"Active waiting means to be present fully to the moment, in the conviction that something is happening where you are and that you want to be present to it."

So often I get in a hurry to plan my future and take action. I forget that God has a plan for my life and that plan is not 20 years later, that plan is NOW. The moment that I am living in is part of God's plan for me. He is using this moment to shape me, to be with me, to create new life in me.

12.2.09- Day 195

Despite my best attempts to take a picture at book club tonight, I totally forgot! We talked about the book, Things Fall Apart, by Chinua Achebe. Although the book is a little bit hard to get into, I found it interesting and engaging in many ways. Achebe writes about the culture and traditions of his Nigerian tribe and the changes that occur when missionaries and magistrates from England come to colonize their land. The insight into tribal customs and their purpose was so engaging. I also appreciate that no judgment is made by the author about when Ibo or English customs and actions are good or bad, he just describes individual's responses to the changes that take place in the village. While Okonkwo, the main character does not like the changes, his son, Nwoye, embraces the Christians and follows them. The book sparked an evening of conversation about western thinking, cultural sensitivity, how to provide aid, and personal struggles with how to best assist those of other cultures. Quote of the day: "I just want to take you home with me!" -- said by a kindergartner to me after our session was finished. Times like this make me in love with my profession. Later in the day there was a miscommunication between my boss and I and she went to the wrong school to observe me. It's times like that that I dislike working and being accountable to others and feeling incompetent. Didn't make it to the gym again today, but I did get to see my husband for a while before and after book club! (he was at youth group and working out while I was at book club) I also got to hang out with Sarah and catch up for a while before book club started.

Next month we are reading: The Raw Shark Texts by Steven Hall- it's suppose to be crazy and good and mind boggling all at the same time. I'll let you know how it is!

12.1.09- Day 194

Today is World AIDS day. In the midst of all the talk about AIDS, I spent part of my day with a child that is affected by a disease that is completely preventable now: polio.

I spent the morning at Children's Hospital trying to create continuity of care for this Somali child, born in Kenya, living in America. She contracted polio when she was one and has had left arm and leg weakness. This affects her life. It affects her value as a person in her culture. She is assisted with every task whether it is buckling her seat belt, putting on her shoes, or answering questions (she's in middle school). I believe it has also affected how she views herself. I want to be one of those people that can show her and her family that ability is what defines a person, not disability.

This disease used to be rampant and common throughout the world. My own grandfather-in-law had the disease. But... it is now gone! (mostly) I hope that even as the campaign to end AIDS plows forward, the fight to completely eradicate polio is fought until there are 0 world wide cases.

That's not to say I don't care about the AIDS pandemic. I definitely care about those affected by the disease. I hope the vaccinations that the researchers of the world are working on become more effective quickly. I hope that one day I am treating one of the last children that contracted AIDS. I hope that I can say that I don't really know how to treat patients with AIDS because it is so uncommon.

Today...

I loved being able to work with this family on getting them access to the proper healthcare.

I loved being the "glue" of continuity of care as the physician put it.

I loved taking the family back to their house and learning that mom could actually speak quite a bit of English, but was too scared during the appointment to try it out.

I loved that my job enabled me to do this.

I love the diversity of my area of Denver that brings people from all nationalities into the same neighborhoods.

Blog roll

My dear sister asked me if I would tell her how to get blogger to keep track of which of the blogs I follow have been recently updated. Here are the steps:

1) Go to dashboard
2) On the bottom half of the page there is a tab called "Blogs I Follow"
3) You have to follow all of the blogs you want updated (or you have to enter them all in by html address on the Blog List gadget)
4) You can either follow them publicly or blindly- it doesn't matter for the blog roll
5) Go to Layout
6) Click "Add a Gadget" on the right side
7) Find the gadget called "Blog List"
8) Title the blog list whatever you want and pick the items you want to display on the sidebar of your blog
9) Click Add to List, then click "Blogs I'm Following"
10) Enjoy instant updates of when new posts come up on your favorite blogs!

*I mainly did this because I was wasting time going to every blog site that I was interested in to see if they had reposted or not. Since most people don't post that often, this is a great way to keep current without draining time!

11.30.09- Day 193

So today at lunch, I decided to make myself a quesadilla. Good idea right? Not when your cheese is bad! The cheese was a little old, I have to admit. But, there was no mold! It did smell a little weird when I pulled it from the package. But, all cheese smells weird right? I knew something was wrong when it my quesadilla tasted bad, but I was in too much of a hurry so I just scarfed it down. Boy did I pay. Later that evening my stomach was killing me. I had Alan smell the cheese and he said it was definitely bad. A couple peptos and a movie later I was feeling a little bit better. Alan and I watched Ghosts of Girlfriends Past last night after I got home from my lovely teacher induction class. Needless to say- just because it doesn't have mold does NOT mean it is still good to eat! Oh, PS- we joined 24 hour fitness today. I am officially accountable for using our money wisely, as well as keeping myself healthy. I plan to work out there about 3 days each week. If I'm not posting that I worked out (it's probably because I didn't) so scold me! I give you full scolding rights! I excited to have cardio equipment, strength training equipment, and classes of all kinds at my fingertips!

11.29.09- Day 192

We left KC this morning to head for Denver. After a relatively uneventful trip, a jack flew out of someone's pick up and I ran over it, dragging it under Matt/Jamie's car for several feet until I could pull over. It was kind of scary. As far as we know, everything is fine- thank goodness!

After listening to Christmas music on the way home, I decided that today would be a good day to put up decorations. Yay Christmas! Here are pics of us putting up the tree and then the living room with its final decorations.