Some Day I'll Blog Again

Whoo! Here are several things that I've been meaning to blog about these days:

(1) The New Jorb (JORB!)

Gah! It's hard to be a working mom. Out of the past seven days, I've worked six of them. I'm so tired all the time!! And Weston seems to be both getting used to the babysitting deal, and ironically experiencing more and more separation anxiety. I'm only supposed to be working Saturdays and Sundays, but it turns out that I'm basically at the forefront of a wave of new hires at the hospital, which means I've been filling in many of the holes in the schedule.

And as much as I would LOVE to share stories about this new gig, it turns out that HIPAA regulations are extremely stringent and so I basically can't say anything about anything. (Questions? Try asking this guy.) But, I can tell you that even though it gets incredibly busy at times, I love this job. It taps into two of my strengths (or so I like to think): clerical work and compassion. I'm eager to get into my regular weekend schedule one of these days (I miss Weston), but in the meantime, I really like working in a mostly busy and an always interesting admissions department. And I guess I can also acknowledge that no one has tried to physically attack me yet, which is a good thing. You'd be amazed at how well the Snack Basket pacifies people.

(And, it may be interesting to note that whenever I offer someone the Snack Basket, I apparently resort to my new, inconsistent southern accent. "Can I get you a snack? How about some water?" I don't know why, but taking care of people in the admissions department makes my southern accent kick in. I guess I feel more folksy and personable when I talk southern. Hahahaha!!)

(2) Weather

In a nutshell, I love Oklahoma weather. Especially the silent, warm-weather lightning storms. Here are some more clouds for ya:

(3) Root canal

Oh, the root canal drama. OH!!! Oh my heck. So, I was supposed to have my root canal this morning. Once I was seated, the dentist came in and informed me (thanks to my pleas about maybe just skipping the whole root canal) that not only do I DEFINITELY need a root canal, but I may end up needing an extraction all together. (That means they yank my tooth. My whole, glorious, tender, beloved, been-with-me-for-years tooth.)

For you dental aficionados, I have a condition called "ideopathic internal resorption" in one of my upper molars. In other words, the inside of my tooth is so inflamed (for no apparent reason) that it's eating the tooth away. So, either I get a root canal, or (if it's bad enough) I get the tooth extracted, or (if I do nothing) the tooth cracks and falls apart on its own. Yay!!!

So, in the middle of my little root canal experiment this morning, the dentist all of a sudden puts in a temporary filling (again), closes up shop, and then tells me once I'm lucid enough that it's indeed worse than he thought, and he's going to refer me to an endodontist. So I'm like, what the heck, Tooth. I thought we were cool! Anyway, the dentist said, "If we're going to save this tooth, we need a specialist." Awesome.

So now my mouth is aching, I STILL haven't had a real root canal, and I MAY need to have the tooth pulled anyway. Argh.

Well, at least the dentist didn't charge me for the visit (I love him... he's the one who wanted to pray for me), and at least I got to have nitrous oxide during the aborted procedure. That stuff is a hoot! It made me feel so dizzy and tingly and tired and floaty that I started having really strange thoughts. Like, I was convinced I was lying completely crooked on the chair, and I kept trying to straighten myself out, even though I was already perfectly straight. Then, I started imagining two little Jeans in my head -- one that was lucid (since nitrous oxide only fogs your mind; it doesn't completely knock you out or block out the world), and one who was completely loopy. Lucid Jean was standing and holding a clipboard, looking very focused, while Loopy Jean was wiggly and jiggly and about to fall over. Their conversations went like this:

Loopy Jean: "What's happening? Where am I again?"

Lucid Jean: (exasperated sigh) "You're at the dentist. He's doing a root canal."

Loopy Jean: "Why do I feel so funny...?"

Lucid Jean: "You're on nitrous oxide, you dummy!! Now stay focused!!"

Loopy Jean: "I can't keep my eyes open..."

Etc. Their little conversations continued for most of the hour.

Anyway, when I got home, the only thing that cheered me up about the whole stupid tooth situation was smiling at myself in the mirror. I liked it so much (and I like you so much) that I took a picture. And the ONLY reason I'm posting this is because: (A) I'm already married; (B) there are enough embarassing pictures of me out there already that this one is just white noise at this point; and (C) I seem to be getting less and less vain as I get older. (I can only imagine the pictures that I'll be posting on here when I'm 70 and LOVIN' the dementia!!!)

My big post-procedure smile:

Hahaha! If only the anesthetic hadn't worn off later in the afternoon... OW.

(4) WESTON!

To appease poor Grandma, I'm also posting a few Weston photos. Can I just say how much I LOVE living in a new apartment with a nice, clean bathtub? No matter how hard we scrubbed our old bathtub, it was disgusting and I could never take bathtime pictures. So, hooray!! The camera is BACK in the bathroom, baby!! (Haha... that sounds really weird.)

But seriously, how cute is this little fella:

P.S. Tim just did a new blog post, too! Check it out! Huzzah!!

My Bucket List

Something that I can now check off my Bucket List:

#121: Be literally strapped down in a cement-walled isolation room of a psychiatric hospital.

(Okay, okay, it was for training purposes, but still. Eight other people strapped me down with a net, and no matter how hard I struggled, the only thing that I could do was lift my head up from the bed a little, and wiggle my hands and feet. I kind of felt like I was in a Lifetime original movie or something.)

I Call This, "Venting with David"

I have something to get off my chest, and I realize that it borders on TMI. Sorry! Reader beware!! Haha! While this blog is great for writing about our family's little adventures, it's also nice for sharing thoughts and, yes, feelings sometimes, too. I'm sure many of you probably can't relate to this situation, but maybe some of you can. Anyway, I figured the best way to address this is by talking it out with my best friend and mentor, David Hasselhoff. So, here follows my recent conversation with Mr. Hasselhoff:

The Hoff: So, Jean, how’s life?

Jean: Pretty good, aside from one major stressor.

The Hoff: Oh yeah? What’s that?

Jean: Well, in a nutshell… STUDENT LOANS.

The Hoff: Go ahead. Tell The Hoff all about it.

Jean: Well, Tim had a fantastic and rewarding experience at Art Center. However, Art Center is really, really expensive, so of course we had to borrow money each year to help pay for tuition and living expenses.

The Hoff: Mm-hm.

Jean: We were fine with this; we knew how much we were borrowing, and we knew what the interest rate would be. We knew we’d have to repay the loans, and we knew when.

The Hoff: So WTF? (meaning, why the face?)

Jean: Well, for some reason, we didn’t realize until about a month ago that the amount of our student loan repayments is going to be GARGANTUAN. We always thought that we had the option of selecting an income-based repayment plan, meaning that our student loan repayments would be no more than 15% of our income (soon to be 10% for everyone, thanks to recent legislation). Unfortunately, it turns out that that ONLY works for federal loans, not private loans from commercial banks (which, for us, is the majority of our loans). Private lenders do not offer this repayment option – click HERE to read more about it. Therefore, it turns out that in our case, our student loans are going to end up comprising a significant percentage of our income.

The Hoff: Hmm. That must have been a harsh realization.

Jean: It was, David. It was. The Despair-O-Meter skyrocketed. For several days, I thought about this student loan situation constantly. I thought about it when I went to bed, and I thought about it when I woke up. It was like the combination of a 50-pound weight on my shoulders, a twisting ache in my stomach, and a storm cloud over my head… ALL the time. I saw my dreams of buying a house disappear. It was a sad time. I’ve learned that there are few greater joy-sucking burdens in life than debt.

The Hoff: Jean, I just want you to know that The Hoff feels your pain. And I have just the thing to make you feel better:

Jean: Thanks, David. I don’t know what to say.

The Hoff: I know… I know. I create feelings in others that they themselves don’t understand.

Jean: Anyway, the bottom line is, I need to work.

The Hoff: You mean at your old job? That real estate thing?

Jean: No. Unfortunately, “that real estate thing” has been really slow since the downturn in the second-home market a few years ago. My boss only rarely has work for me, but he contacts me when he can.

The Hoff: Gotcha. So, do you have another job, then?

Jean: Yes! I got hired as an Admissions Clerk at a local psychiatric hospital. I’ll just be working on Saturday and Sunday evenings, which is great because (at least for those shifts) Tim will be home to watch Weston, AND I can still attend church on Sunday mornings. And honestly, I’m pretty excited about it.

The Hoff: Tell me more.

Jean: It’s pretty similar to my former job as Office Manager at the clinical counseling center at BYU, which is probably how I landed the gig. However, this will be to a whole… nother… level. Basically, it was described to me as the “psychiatric ER,” where a wide variety of people show up. Some are friendly, some are violent. Some are there voluntarily, some are dragged by law enforcement. Some are completely high, or going through withdrawal. It will be interesting, to say the least.

The Hoff: Indeed. So, when do you start?

Jean: Really soon. I’ve already gone through lots of trainings, but I’m most looking forward to a two-day training later this week called MAB, or “Managing Aggressive Behavior.” Supposedly it involves lots of yelling and role-playing. Hehehe!

The Hoff: Well, that’s all good and great. Any lessons learned about this whole situation?

Jean: Yes, one in particular. I will never, EVER allow my children to take out private student loans for their education. I don't want them to have to start their lives with a burden like this. Fortunately, as long as President Obama’s student loan reform holds up, that’s now a moo point. In the legislation, the policy of allowing private lenders to make federally-subsidized student loans was discontinued. From now on, only the federal government will make student loans, which means that all loans henceforth will be subject to the federal government’s income-based repayment plans. (Hurrah!!) You can read that HERE. FYI, this was just instituted earlier this year, so fortunately, Tim and I got in JUST in the nick of time! (Haha... sob…)

The Hoff: Interesting. What about silver linings? Are there any of these here, Jean?

Jean: Of course! There are always silver linings! FIRST: it’s important for me to remember that we’re going through the worst of the situation RIGHT NOW. This is the time in our lives when Tim’s income is at its lowest point in his career, and our student loan payments are at their highest. Eventually, we’ll knock out some of the loans; eventually, Tim will earn more money; and maybe eventually, the real estate market will recover enough to give me some regular at-home work for “that real estate thing” job, which is a lot easier to do as a mom. SECOND: it’s always good to be reminded about the importance of budgeting, so I guess that’s a blessing in disguise. And THIRD: I’m really happy about my new job. It’s freaking hard to find a good job that works around a SAHM-type schedule, and for a while, it seemed like being a night cashier at Walmart was my only option. I was so, so happy when I got a call for an interview for this admissions job, and even hap-hap-happier when they offered me the position. I love psychology (I know nothing about it, but I love it), and I’m really excited that I’ll have such an interesting and challenging job.

The Hoff: Well, that’s all great. Want to see that picture of me again?

Jean: That’s okay. Thanks anyway.

The Hoff: Alright… but here’s the link to an awesome music video, just in case you want to check it out, too.

Jean: Thanks, David. I think I actually have to go now.

The Hoff: Really? Okay, well, it was a nice chat. Good luck with everything! And remember the music video!!

Coooooookies

Tim says that I complain a lot on this blog. Hahaha! Do I complain a lot? If I do, it's always with a smile and a healthy dose of sarcasm, so don't take me too seriously.

But just in case it's been a little dark lately, I thought I'd take the opportunity to lighten the mood and write about something that's 100% fun, wonderful, and all-around scrumtrillescent:

COOOOOOOOKIES!!!!!!

I have a fantastically tasty and convenient recipe that I've been meaning to share for a while, which originally came to me from Bridget, a friend from the ol' Utah days. It only has five ingredients, and the main ingredient is cake mix, which is great since it's usually available for $1 or less at the store (yay!). I LOVE THIS RECIPE. The day that Bridget passed this recipe along to me, my quality of life increased 3 whole percentage points. It was a great day. :-)

So, here it is for all you fine folks! FYI, you can use pretty much any combination of cake mix and chips that you like. My favorite is Devil's Food cake mix + semisweet chocolate chips, but you can try German Chocolate or Spice cake mix, plus white chips, peanut butter chips, butterscotch chips (like I did below), etc.

BRIDGET'S SUPER YUMMY CAKE MIX COOKIES

1 box chocolate cake mix
1/2 cup oatmeal
1/2 cup butter (melted)
2 eggs
1/2 bag chocolate chips (1 cup)

Directions:

1. Mix all ingredients together.
2. Drop by spoonfuls onto cookie sheet.
3. Bake 7-9 minutes at 350 degrees. Do not overbake! Even if they look mushy, they will harden.

And then behold the deliciousness that you have single-handedly created:

Last step: DEVOUR.

P.S. Y'know what I like about that picture? How you can see the camera's reflection in the microwave. Yep, now you know my secret. My personal photographer goes by the name of My Left Hand. Haha! (He's planning on starting a business soon. Just an FYI.)

P.P.S. In completely unrelated news, I chopped my hair last week, as you can see. I love short cuts in the summer!

P.P.P.S. In more unrelated news, I have a growing toothache in my root canal tooth now, which is kind of making me actually look forward to this root canal. Nothing like a little change in perspective, huh? :-)

Anyway, happy cookie baking!!!

Make Note

A WORD TO THE WISE:

When people (or sheets of paper) ask you if there's something for which they can pray, say "YES." Do it. And then think of something. Anything. Just take advantage of the opportunity to get a prayer out there.

Why? Because in retrospect, instead of leaving my "prayer" line blank, I could've written something like: "That I don't need a root canal." Because, as luck would have it, I found out at my dentist appointment that I DO need a root canal. Missed opportunity, right there. :-)

(And, perhaps related, I also recently had the pleasure of learning that our dental insurance, which I was so excited about, actually sucks. It's more of the persuasion of, "We'll cover you as long as everything is fine, but if there's ever an actual problem, heh heh... you're on your own, kid." And do you know how expensive a root canal + crown is? YIKES. There goes the imaginary Caribbean cruise that, theoretically, we COULD have taken instead of getting a root canal.)

Anyway, one last note: Weston's Woody jammies = DISNEY STORE!!! They were 2 for $20 when I went (and hopefully that's nationwide), so we also scored some new Buzz Lightyear jams, too. Check it out!

A Few Random Nuggets

(Editor's Note: Follow this blog! ...over there ------->

If you do, I'll send you a hug with my mind grapes.)

(1) PJs

Weston likes his new Sheriff Woody pajamas, but I think that Tim and I LOVE THEM:

I just can't get enough of the cuteness.
What he says: "You my favorite destiny!" (Hahaha! It's supposed to be "deputy"...)
(2) Kaleidoscope

I've learned something from living here for the past month and a half: I cannot compare Tulsa to Los Angeles. (Or Philadelphia or D.C., for that matter, bless Tulsa's sweet little heart.) The aquarium is neat, but it's no Aquarium of the Pacific (or Monterey Bay Aquarium, heh heh). The zoo looks decent, but it's no San Diego Zoo. The cupcakes are tasty, but they're no Sprinkles/Dots. The nothing-Disney-here is no Disneyland. :-)

And recently I learned that the Kaleidoscope Children's Museum is no Pretend City. (You can pretty much tell just by comparing the websites.)

Okay, okay, I'm trying really hard not to sound bitter and condescending. I know, I get that way sometimes (haha!). :-) But when I learned that there was a children's museum here in Tulsa that had a mini kid's town with a little grocery store and cafe and other things, I became really, really excited, because of course it reminded me of Pretend City in Irvine, which is pretty much the most extraordinary children's play museum that I've ever seen. (I haven't been to Please Touch in Philly yet, but it also sounds fantastic.) Oh, and TIP: if you're in SoCal and you want to go to Pretend City, make sure that you lunch at Cafe Rio because it's like five minutes away.

Anyway, Kaleidoscope is... well, kind of a slapdash effort at a Pretend City-type concept. I had high hopes for it, and Weston still had a great time. After all, $6.00 per person (including free pizza) isn't a bad deal. However, it just made me learn that I kind of need to lower my expectations sometimes, especially after coming from a city that is home to some of the best attractions and museums in the world.

As you can see, it looks a teensy bit ghetto from the outside:
It has bright fluorescent lights everywhere, like in this big room with a slightly busted play structure that is adorned with a big plastic lion head:
There was indeed a mini town, but it was very limited (and the grocery store included a bunch of old food containers that were just taped back together):

There was an arts-and-crafts room, but no one to run it:

There was a performance stage, and I was happy to see a wide array of dress-up costumes, plus a REAL working microphone:

(Weston loved the microphone, by the way. Unfortunately, I eventually realized that he was putting his mouth directly on it, just like all the other children there. Hahaha! Flu, anyone?)

There was a crazy black-light room that gave me a headache:

Perhaps the best part was the mannequin heads at the "beauty salon":

Or maybe the best part was the Simpsons Movie poster randomly stuck on a wall:

Hahaha! Why...? So, it was not as nice, shiny, and thorough as Pretend City, but hey, at least there's a children's museum in Tulsa. I shouldn't complain, because beggars can't be choosers. And here's the moral of the story, like I mentioned before: Weston still had a super time. He loved the mini town area with all the play food, and for some reason, he loved the black-light room. And he loved gobbling up his free pizza. So, even though I poke fun, I think we'll be back. (How can I argue with that "smile"?)

(3) Balcony

It's nice having a balcony, even if it gets really hot here sometimes. I think it's never too hot to venture outside and just sit and stare on a balcony. Am I right? So, I took a few pictures of Tim and Weston doing just that:

This, by the way, is our apartment complex:

And here's our view (cool clouds, huh?):

(4) Medical Forms

Well, I saved the best nugget for last. We recently found a good dental practice here in Tulsa, and the new office mailed us medical forms to fill out in advance of our appointments. My appointment is tomorrow morning, so this very morning, I sat down and started filling out my form. The questions were typical -- what's your address, what's your insurance, what medical conditions have you had, do you have toothaches, etc.

Then, as I got down to the bottom of the sheet, I noticed something that I have never, EVER seen on a medical form before. It surprised me so much that I asked Tim to scan the form so that I could show it to all of you:

(Click on it)

Hahahaha! Oklahoma keeps surprising me. :-)