mom placation was ironing by which mens perrypops in a womansuit is the new child mystericating teats that can taint baconated digestive broads plastercasting gnostically from the great gospel wwjh

Sounds like you did what you had to do. And Ned is exactly right, as usual.

We're taking the kids Xmas shopping at Mall of America today. I will let you all know if it was creepily deserted or if MN is in crazed shopping mode.

oh weird. when my sister spent a summer in sioux falls, they went on a weekend trip to mpls and she bought me a shirt for that mall. i don't know why.

i am going to a knicks-pistons game shortly!

Because it's an absurdly large mall, and they sell t-shirts? (yeah, I don't know why, either).

Scariest thing I saw today: American Girls store. J. is crazy for it, but it's just crazy.

Hope you're enjoying your game, tza. I'm in need of a serious nap.

Pistons played possibly the worst I've seen them for the first 3 quarters so turning it on in the 4th was not enough to save them ;_;

I HAS CHRISTMAS TREE

i gotta say, the christmas tree/fireplace thing we got going on right now is making this whole house buying thing seem like a smart call

xp yikes. they needed your good luck earlier than that obv!

John, it was a brilliant call to buy that house, and I'm seriously envying your fireplace right now. The sewage disaster was shortlived, no?

A. is putting our tree up w/kids. I may help decorate later; I just avoid doing lights b.c. my parents bicker every year while doing that. (I'm supposed to be writing for school, both labor and delivery clinical prep and a paper on my patients from yesterday. I did take a nap, too. I would like more naps).

happy monday. my friend who i haven't seen in ages is staying here and between cleaning and catching up when he got here last night, i did not write my paper. tonight he is making me dinner when i get home from class, which means that i will also probably not write my paper. tuesday night paper marathon omg this is gonna suck!

Is it your last paper?

So trying to put on a huge big face and positive attitude for Monday. I am the *worst* when it comes to general happiness and positive outlook on life. But if there was anytime I really needed to pull it off. . .

Fortunately this is a four-day week for me. I'm taking Friday off for my birthday. whee!

lol it is like, the warm-up paper that precedes 2 more (each with accompanying presentations), a drafting project, and an exam.

oooh birthday yay! i wish i could take a day off this week for school work stuff, but i can't.

tza, I am feeling the same way - I just want to bake cookies and decorate the tree (and sleep...), but I have a huge paper to write - this time on BOTH mom and baby (my two patients from Sat.), AND I have to write up the clinical prep for my labor and delivery clinical this coming Saturday (basically write about labor AND everything that the book says could possibly go wrong).

We will get through this together! Even if yours is a one night marathon and mine is going to go on possibly forever...

i will have a tues night marathon this week followed by an all-weekend marathon. but if i don't die then i will be almost totally done with grad school (aside from that pesky thesis thing)!

Hey, and it's GRAD SCHOOL - a huge accomplishment! And you're so close to being done!!! (let's just not talk about the thesis thing right now, okay?)

Remember: I'm just getting a certificate for this - not even a degree!

Today's Word of the Day: episiorrhaphy. It is the repair of an episiotomy.

You're welcome.

wow, that name. . .

Kind of painful just to read it, really.

why hello

Well, at least I've improved John's day.

RRHAPHY! DINNER!

I see Dan's day was also brightened.

I continue to work on this endless clinical prep. Blah.

Okay, going to bed now, because if I don't I'm afraid I will not thaw out again, ever. I look forward to the 2 hours of daylight we'll have tomorrow...

the "transition team" askers-of-hard-questions are showing up at my office tomorrow morning. almost annoyed I won't be there. fingers x'd for a bloodbath.

Sorry you're missing it! I think...

goddamn . . .I hate coming back to work after therapy. I've got to start going at the end of the day. I just feel way too introspective. . bruised. Productivity is impossible.

I'm taking my students to lunch at noon and then am leading a huge meeting at two that I must get ready for. This sucks.

That sounds altogether too stressful, Susan. Especially the leading a "huge meeting" part.

I'm just trying to get clinical prep done. I meant to sleep more today but the two hour late start for the kid's school threw off the entire morning. Stupid cold will not go away.

Hey nurse-in-training, is it normal to crave salt when you're nauseated?

I usually do well when leading meetings but am always anxious beforehand. Today is the first meeting of a workgroup to evaluate other options for publishing our paper on the web. I have to present my ideas and a timeline to all the editors, advisers etc. In general I think the timeline is crap and will be amazed if we pull it off. Or if I can, rather. We'll see if I'm still here by then. . .

Hmmmmm - I don't know if it's "normal" to crave salt when nauseated unless you're maybe hyponatremic (have too much water, not enough electrolytes in your system). Does this happen to you often? Honestly, the only time I've craved anything while nauseated, I was pregnant, and then all bets are off for cravings and nausea. (So... ???? Any chance you could be expecting?) One other thought - some endocrine disorders cause major salt cravings - Addison's Disease is one.

I'm sure you'll be fine with your projects for the day. I totally understand your anxiety. I do NOT sleep before clinicals, even if the clinical is easy and fun (like this past weekend's was). Hang in there and keep doing what you're doing.

Anecdote about Addison's Disease to liven up your afternoons: one of my classmate's sisters was diagnosed with this when she was a kid. The girl craved salt so much that she would snack on bouillion cubes.

(yum?)

I often (like this morning) eat the little salt packets you get at fast-food places.

if I was pg then I would sue Mirena.

this is odd bc my friend and i were discussing last night how annoying it is when people oversalt foods. it drives me crazy to see someone salt their food before they taste it! also... have you looked at sodium content in soup?! ridic! that shit will kill you.

okay which thread was the infamous "ILE yells at nabisco for presalting" thread

it drives me crazy to see someone salt their food before they taste it!

It does me as well although I usually salt everything I eat anyway.

People Who Put More Salt On Their Food Before Even Tasting It

lolz

I'm saving that thread for when I get really annoyed with writing out this prep and paper nonsense.

btw, you should see the amount of salt and butter my FIL puts on foods. It's insane (not to mention inedible for anyone else; I do NOT let him butter anything for me anymore, omg). The crazy part is that he continues after angioplasty! (Also: half and half on breakfast cereal. I can't get over that one. UGH)

that is just crazy

It goes beyond crazy; it is actually kind of nauseating.

I'm not joking when I say that I buy skim milk when we visit and I get looked at is if I'm somewhat dim when I drink it.

(Then there is the fact that they buy whole milk for drinking, but they don't actually ever drink it, so whenever someone wants some they wind up with a glass full of chunky milk...)

steak is the only thing i ever put salt on

but i refuse to eat unsalted cashews

oh yeah, salted almonds >>>>> unsalted almonds

well, unless the almonds are dipped in dark chocolate, which is obv. the best way to eat them

salt AND chocolate. yum.

I was just eating dark chocolate covered pretzels a few moments ago. So - YES!

It's basically all salt and sugar and butter at my house right now because it's December and the Xmas goodies start to outpace how fast we can possibly consume them pretty fast. And yet I am still planning to bake more cookies next week. 'Tis the season to gain lipids...

salt and butter are my favorite foods.

i also used to snack on boullion cubes.

I CAN HAS TERRIBLE ENDOCRINE DISEASE?

Maybe it's not so bad, you know, if you are enjoying the boullion cubes.

(Is there any odd anecdote that won't lead to an even odder one coming from John? I'm just not sure. Also, I thought his favorite food was booze. So confused now.)