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Fatuous Observations

  • Drug pusher, North Face hater

    Mr. McP's timing, interviewing me about my job for a DARE project, a few minutes after I got home from a frustrating day at work, could have been better. You are familiar with DARE, no? The bullshit, proven-ineffective-by-research-so-why-the-fuck-are-we-still-teaching-it-in-the-schools anti-drug education program?
    Here's how the interview went:

    Mr. McP: What [...]
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    Posted: December 08, 2009, 3:11pm EST

  • Donuts for sissies

    If you apply yourself, you can really get a lot of Christmas shopping done in one day. I guess my problem up to now is that I have never applied myself, so to speak, in the realm of Christmas shopping, so that even when I start my shopping early, I [...]
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    Posted: December 06, 2009, 4:28pm EST

  • Rant of the day

    As of yesterday, smoking is banned in all Virginia restaurants, a law that puts us into cultural alignment with much of the rest of the US. It always amused me to see the shocked reaction of my family, who visit from New York and Florida, to the sight of people [...]
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    Posted: December 02, 2009, 3:20pm EST

  • Et tu, Willams-Sonoma?

    I don't enjoy cooking, ordinarily, but when the holidays arrive I get all excited about the recipes that are presented in the foodie magazines and catalogs. Indeed, as I paused last Wednesday to allow a line of shiny Mercedes, groaning under their weight of groceries, lumber out of the Foods' [...]
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    Posted: November 30, 2009, 1:30pm EST

  • Laundry 101

    Congratulations on taking an interest in the fine art of clotheskeeping! Here is a brief summary of our three day course.
    Day 1: Laundry Basics
    Day 2: Sorting Colors
    Day 3: Review class and quiz



    Laundry basics.

    A washing machine is a wonderful thing, but it [...]
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    Posted: November 22, 2009, 6:12pm EST

  • You poor, base, rascally, cheating, lack-linen

    After this, I promise to shut up about the Arctic. I finally finished The Arctic Grail by Pierre Berton and I am bursting with knowledge. Did you know that the North Pole and the North Magnetic Pole are not the same thing? I have always assumed that Earth's magnetic poles [...]
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    Posted: November 15, 2009, 10:07pm EST

  • She was so preppy....how preppy was she?

    Of the many irrational things I have done, encouraging Mr. McP to take up the bass is the one that is currently plaguing. The bass! What was I thinking? He is only big enough for a 1/4 size bass, but even so it takes up fully half of the back [...]
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    Posted: November 13, 2009, 10:42pm EST

  • Scurvy knave

    Mr. McP was in a tizzy this morning because I was supposed to sign his report card. I assumed signing was unnecessary, since the signature acknowledges that I, the parent have received it, and in this case, his report card had been handed to me personally, by his teachers, and [...]
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    Posted: November 09, 2009, 2:17pm EST

  • Baggage

    I started blogging in 2005, and yesterday I went through my archives and deleted a ton of posts. It felt good to weed the mental baggage: the memes, the "today I did this," the "bitching about my co-workers" posts. There are, however, a some posts that I deemed worth saving: [...]
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    Posted: November 04, 2009, 4:22pm EST

  • House of plague


    Mr. McP has returned to school but now Miss G is glassy-eyed and feverish, and Drama Queen and Mad Scientist are complaining of sore throats and cough. I think we're lucky to get this thing over with early in the season, although I worry about' [...]
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    Posted: October 29, 2009, 2:58pm EDT

  • Corn phone, H1N1, and Nursing Students

    We got the phone situation cleared up. After being totally frustrated by the Sprint store, we went elsewhere. I am not a big fan of Best Buy, but this can be said of them: they will sell you a phone and not barricade themselves behind invisible fortresses and/or pretend that [...]
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    Posted: October 28, 2009, 11:10am EDT

  • Stoopid cell phones

    Cell phones themselves are nice to have, but everything connected to them is a pain in the ass of the highest order. Can you tell I've been having a frustrating day? I'm working night shift this week, and it isn't agreeing with me. Daytime sleep feels so unwholesome, like I've [...]
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    Posted: October 22, 2009, 4:13pm EDT

  • Politician's book club

    Election Day will be so anticlimactic, compared to last year. Be that as it may, we are preparing to vote in our local elections here in Charlottesville and people are fired up about various local issues. I like the intimacy of local elections, when the candidate himself (or herself) will [...]
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    Posted: October 21, 2009, 6:06pm EDT

  • For lack of anything else

    I am eating a meatloaf sandwich. The only excuse for meatloaf, really, is that its leftovers can be consumed in sandwiches, with lots of mayonnaise.

    Later, I will go running. I've been running the same route through downtown Charlottesville for the past ten years, only recently I've been running [...]
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    Posted: October 18, 2009, 1:58pm EDT

  • Update

    The Good:
    My new Frye boots came today.Retail therapy at Anthropologie this morning.First paycheck last FridayAm eager to get back to work and try again, despite new-nurse stressBiking to work is going great
    The Bad
    Not as much time for writingNew-nurse stressDrivers who don't want to share the road
    The' [...]
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    Posted: October 13, 2009, 2:38pm EDT

  • In which Bono uses the "C" word

    I haven't been to a U2 concert since the 1987 Joshua Tree tour, where I saw them in a muddy football field in Rochester, NY. It was not a good show--Bono had just broken his arm and can probably be forgiven for not really being into it. The highlight of' [...]
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    Posted: October 07, 2009, 1:52pm EDT

  • I am a camera

    TV shows will sometimes use the device of allowing the camera to be the eyes of a particular character. It seems this technique is commonly used on hospital shows, so it was fitting that today at work I had the feeling that I was a camera. My new colleagues bustled [...]
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    Posted: September 28, 2009, 11:17pm EDT

  • Working, and a book review

    I guess there really is such as thing as too much time on one's hands. With four kids in school and no job, I found myself jealously guarding my free time, falling into sloth mode, where accomplishing a few basic household tasks meant that it was time for a coffee' [...]
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    Posted: September 24, 2009, 6:14am EDT

  • RAW

    I was listening to "Science Friday" on NPR a couple of weeks ago and they were interviewing Richard Wrangham, author of Catching Fire: How Cooking Made us Human. The premise is that digesting raw foods requires more energy from the body, so the discovery of cooking led to greater caloric [...]
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    Posted: September 14, 2009, 2:27pm EDT

  • Free time

    Right now I have more free time than I ever have in my life, (except for summer vacations when I was a child) and yet I seem to have no time to write. Or perhaps just nothing to write about. I am no longer unemployed, but am not working either. [...]
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    Posted: September 11, 2009, 9:18am EDT

  • Cheese-free travel

    A few weekends ago, I did something I have never done in the history of my marriage, or even in the history of my life: I took a road trip by myself. Not only was it my first solitary road trip, it was the first time I'd ever traveled away' [...]
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    Posted: September 02, 2009, 3:30pm EDT

  • Book reviews

    I've been on a run of good books lately.

    In Pale Battalions by Paul Goddard. This novel, set mostly during World War I is chock full of dark secrets and skeletons in the family closet. One Amazon reviewer described it as "overwrought," a fair assessment. It could almost be' [...]
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    Posted: August 24, 2009, 10:21am EDT

  • In which this is a perfect time to panic

    The sister-in-law is coming! Today! A day earlier than I expected. So why am I sitting here writing? I have to prune the grape arbor, finish washing the couch cushion covers, bake a peach pie, plus many other tasks.

    This is the second time in three months that [...]
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    Posted: August 20, 2009, 11:43am EDT

  • Scenes from modern life

    in Gamestop with Mr. McP, where he trades in and acquires new games and the cashier said, "Have you switched to the Wii, or do you still have the gamecube, or...?" Yes, we "still" have a gamecube, something I barely tolerate, so don't think we'll be upgrading to anything soon, [...]
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    Posted: August 10, 2009, 2:22pm EDT

  • In which I blather about my house

    I know I write an awful lot about my house. It is a subject that is endlessly fascinating to me, although I realize, probably not as fascinating to others. But here I go anyway.

    When we got home from Rome, I announced that studying for NCLEX was my number [...]
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    Posted: August 07, 2009, 10:31am EDT

  • More "More to Love:" Let the dating begin

    Group date! The girls are divided into two groups, chosen by team captains. Kristian, a teacher, shows off her math skills by announcing breathlessly that fifteen is not an even number! The teams will not be equal! That's right, honey, because this week's plot twist is that the last girl [...]
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    Posted: August 04, 2009, 10:14pm EDT

  • In which Sancho has the worst day of his life

    De-fleaing the house was like a day trip to purgatory. We meant to do most of the work--picking everything up off the floor and vacuuming the whole house--the day before, but we frittered the day away, and I kept thinking we'd have a burst of efficiency in the evening, but' [...]
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    Posted: August 03, 2009, 10:02am EDT

  • Domestic chaos

    The current chaos of my domestic environment can not be exaggerated. The project to sister-in-law proof my house is well under way. That's a good thing, right? Yes, except I ordered a new bed for myself and Jon, with the plan to give my old bed to my daughters, and' [...]
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    Posted: July 29, 2009, 3:28pm EDT

  • Live blogging during "More to Love."

    Ordinarily, I shun reality TV and I'm proud to say I've never once seen an episode of The Bachelor but as I busied myself with useful household tasks, I heard More to Love in the background and the combination of fatuousness and pathos was irresistible.

    The show, apparently [...]
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    Posted: July 28, 2009, 10:19pm EDT

  • Get me a fire extinguisher for my hair

    Longtime readers know that I have a low threshold for the sorts of things that ordinary Americans do every day without a second thought like grocery shopping on Saturdays, impossible left turns, kiddie sporting events and seeing popular movies when they first come out. So when Harry Potter & the [...]
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    Posted: July 22, 2009, 2:19pm EDT

  • How to strip paint: a primer for the responsible homeowner

    Stripping paint is one of those experiences, like childbirth, that is so traumatic that once it's over, you develop amnesia. For that reason and my perpetual desire to be of assistance to my fellow humans, I am recording a step-by-step manual so that no one need ever begin this procedure' [...]
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    Posted: July 20, 2009, 9:18am EDT

  • The boring life

    A boring life is a lucky thing, or so I've been telling myself. If you could go back in time, wouldn't you rather be the person whose most exciting life event was the day the cow gave birth to twins? Or do you want to be the person who was [...]
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    Posted: July 13, 2009, 7:01pm EDT

  • The journey home

    June 27

    Why does travel always make me feel so dirty? Is it the public restrooms? The carefully selected "traveling outfit" that gets impossibly rumpled five minutes after I leave the house? All I know is, we hadn't even taken off from Fiumicino in Rome and I already felt' [...]
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    Posted: July 08, 2009, 5:07pm EDT

  • Travel journal VII

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    June 26, 2009

    Our last real day in Rome. It [...]

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    Posted: July 06, 2009, 1:34pm EDT

  • Travel journal VII

    June 25, 2009
    The flooding of the day before made it a bit depressing to wake up. We faced the prospect of telling our landlady, who speaks no English, and I was afraid she’d be angry with us. I took a cautious shower, turning the water on only to rinse, [...]
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    Posted: July 02, 2009, 8:45am EDT

  • Travel journal VI

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    June 24, 2009

    Our plan had been to spend a [...]

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    Posted: June 29, 2009, 3:29pm EDT

  • Travel journal VI

    June 23, 2009

    Today we saw St. Peter’s Basilica and climbed to the top of the dome. The Basilica, like the Vatican Museums, is overwhelming. There’s just too much to see, but I was able to get close the La Pieta, which is worth seeing with your own eyes. [...]
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    Posted: June 28, 2009, 10:38am EDT

  • Travel journal V

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    June 22, 2009

    Do you think less of [...]

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    Posted: June 26, 2009, 4:08am EDT

  • Travel journal IV

    June 21
    It’s funny how in a city like Rome, even when you’ve been here only a short time, you start to take the sights for granted. There’s nothing like doing something completely prosaic, like, say riding on a city bus, and passing the Colosseum. Or you’ll be standing at [...]
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    Posted: June 24, 2009, 12:35pm EDT

  • Travel journal III

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    June 20, 2009

    It’s a bit of a miracle that [...]

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    Posted: June 23, 2009, 12:34pm EDT

  • Travel journal II

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    June [...]

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    Posted: June 20, 2009, 12:39pm EDT

  • Travel journal

    June 16, 2009
    Rome. The special tiny European washing machine never materialized, so today I attempted the Laundromat (lavenderia). Is everything I write going to be about our domestic trials in Rome? I don’t know, but it seems to me they are more interesting than: “Today we saw the Roman [...]
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    Posted: June 16, 2009, 12:35pm EDT

  • Rome, day 1 June 13

    To say it was a long day, getting here, is a ridiculous understatement. I think the worst part of the whole trip was the drive from Charlottesville to Philadelphia. Why Philadelphia? Don’t ask. It seemed like a good idea back in February when I bought our tickets. We’d hardly left [...]
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    Posted: June 15, 2009, 5:24am EDT

  • Book review plus last minute travel stuff

    Do you ever feel like the book you are reading is having an effect on your mood? I just finished Herman Wouk's massive series about World War II: Winds of War and War and Remembrance. I learned my lesson. Don't judge the book by the cheesetastic miniseries it was made [...]
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    Posted: June 10, 2009, 8:28am EDT

  • Captain Tom performs a miracle

    I think I've turned a corner because suddenly I feel less anxious about our trip, but there's still my pesky fear of flying to deal with. What is the most natural thing to do when you are confronted with a problem? You consult the internet.

    This is what [...]
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    Posted: June 06, 2009, 3:18pm EDT

  • Looking for trouble

    With the amount of planning I am doing for this Rome trip, I feel like I am embarking on a military campaign, not a vacation. The combined forces of my anxiety and inherited Teutonic nature have made me plan for every contingency. I am the mastermind of this whole trip [...]
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    Posted: June 01, 2009, 1:14pm EDT

  • Unhand me sir! And take down those road signs!

    Nothing makes me feel more aged than taking my teenage son shopping for clothes. It doesn't matter how fabulous and youthful you usually look; if you are hanging around the dressing room of an Old Navy and a sulky, 6'1" boy emerges you to show you his pants, no males" [...]
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    Posted: May 29, 2009, 9:51am EDT

  • 21st century education

    Last night I attended a community forum about the future structure of the Charlottesville public schools. Many things were discussed, but here's what struck me: the assistant superintendent's speech about providing our students with a "21st century learning environment" and with connecting classroom content to the "real world."

    [...]
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    Posted: May 27, 2009, 8:55am EDT

  • General peevishness

    We're in a cycle in which everything in our house is breaking. It's ever so much fun when you lose home phone service on the Friday afternoon of a holiday weekend! And the refrigerator is periodically expelling puddles of water from underneath itself. I have been thinking of it as [...]
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    Posted: May 25, 2009, 9:15am EDT

  • The new nurse and the high school dropout

    I am a nurse. An unemployed nurse, to be sure, but a job will come along. All signs point to July, the beginning of a new fiscal year, as the magical time in which nursing jobs for new grads will suddenly become as plentiful as gyspy moths in June.
    [...]
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    Posted: May 20, 2009, 6:52pm EDT

  • Fun with English

    I just finished reading The Word Museum by Jeffrey Kacirk, a little dictionary of archaic English words and expressions. I was struck by the many words--at least one per page--related to beer or ale: either particular types of ale, or cups for drinking it, or particular times when it is [...]
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    Posted: May 11, 2009, 3:37pm EDT

  • Fashion

    Big news: I found my go-to shoe for Rome. This was a big job, as I had to find a shoe that is at least semi-stylish and yet comfortable for walking.

    I discussed the whole Rome wardrobe problem with my fashionista sister and she said I should just wear [...]
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    Posted: May 05, 2009, 6:17pm EDT

  • Preparedness, parades, and the sacred axe.

    My brother suggested that the axe that chopped my head may turn out to be extraordinary. His email to me:

    It has all the trappings of a sacred object. It belonged to a deceased and legendary figure. It traveled a great distance. It had a period of obscurity (blanket [...]
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    Posted: April 28, 2009, 4:57pm EDT

  • Axe wound to the head, or, The two-martini Sunday

    It was the wasp's fault. I was driving, about one mile from my house when I noticed a wasp in my car. This was not one of those blundering, garden-friendly wasps that generally mind their own business. This was a scary hornet-type wasp; large, with aggressive yellow stripes. It was' [...]
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    Posted: April 21, 2009, 9:32am EDT

  • Shattered

    I didn't get the job--the nursing job I interviewed for back in January. I don't want to describe how disappointed devastated I am. I got the letter when I arrived home from my last clinical day--brilliant timing, I must say. The letter says I should get a year's experience at' [...]
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    Posted: April 18, 2009, 2:13pm EDT

  • In which I try not to whine about nursing school.

    It's hard not to. On Easter, when a friendly young man showed up on my doorstep to share with me something out of the Bible, I actually said, "I'm in nursing school," as an excuse for why I didn't want to engage in conversation with him at that moment. My' [...]
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    Posted: April 14, 2009, 8:31pm EDT

  • fashion

    I spent a desultory hour poking around in some boutiques, ostensibly looking for a graduation dress (a graduation dress!) but not finding much that I liked. The perfect dress eludes me. My requirements are strict. The perfect dress must:

    1. Cover my knees, or stop no more than [...]
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    Posted: April 04, 2009, 8:10pm EDT

  • Almost done

    Today, when I loaded the 34-pound bag of dog food into my cart, I realized that the next time I need dog food, clinicals will be over.

    The next time I pay my mortgage, clinicals will be over.

    Two more grocery shopping days until clinicals are over.

    [...]
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    Posted: March 31, 2009, 12:30pm EDT

  • Sadness at the library

    I almost bought a tee shirt that said "It's always happy hour at the library" because I am always happy at the library, except for last Tuesday. I got a notice in the mail stating that I was being billed for a lost book, only this was a book I' [...]
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    Posted: March 28, 2009, 6:14pm EDT

  • Bunny cheeks

    Spring break is over. Place-holding my blog with this:


    Bunnies usually look annoyed, hence the "Disapproving rabbits" website, but we think George is trying to smile here. [...]
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    Posted: March 17, 2009, 9:59am EDT

  • Sketches

    Life in a small town: The bus stop meeting. Hurrah! We saved our bus stop. But was it ever really in any danger? The meeting took place in the cafeteria of the neighborhood grammar school. We all sat with our knees up to our ears, waiting for the city manager [...]
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    Posted: March 12, 2009, 8:10pm EDT

  • In which football is stupid

    The most awesome thing about living in Charlottesville is that there is no NFL football team. I grew up in Buffalo, the city of the Buffalo Bills, and so endured all the inconveniences of sharing one's environment with rabid football fans. Such as? Such as the super-irritating "The Bills make'" [...]
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    Posted: March 11, 2009, 3:51pm EDT

  • Spring break

    It is Spring Break and I am trying to make it productive, yet also restful. I ought to get dressed every day, at least. No, I have a list:
    File our taxesComplete research project for OB clinicalComplete research project for my Nursing Dimensions classComplete reading assignment for OBStudy for pediatrics [...]
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    Posted: March 09, 2009, 4:46pm EDT

  • Saved by snow

    I want to thank everyone for their kind comments to my last entry. It has been tough lately, but, as you all said, something will turn up. Then we had one of those magical snowstorms, the kind that creates a holiday for everybody. The snowstorm didn't get me a nursing' [...]
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    Posted: March 05, 2009, 9:41pm EST

  • Dark Days

    Life is not so good right now. School seems harder than ever. I am exhausted. When I look in the mirror I see a haggard woman that I hardly recognize. The problem is that all of a sudden, nursing jobs for new grads have dried up. I am hearing about [...]
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    Posted: March 01, 2009, 5:28pm EST

  • Update

    So much excitement in the last few weeks, including, but not limited to all four kids and Jon coming down with the flu. The highlight of this episode was Drama Queen throwing up over the edge of the top bunk of her bed, soaking with vomit the AP History application [...]
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    Posted: February 24, 2009, 7:26am EST

  • Taking a break

    I think I am going to take a brief sabbatical from the internets. School is insanely busy and there's all kinds of craziness at home now too. For example, now is the time for applications for AP classes and Drama Queen is freaking out and needs my help with her' [...]
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    Posted: February 07, 2009, 3:42pm EST

  • Flight

    Today I spent more on a single purchase than I ever have before in my entire life. Except for the day we closed on our house. I bought our tickets to Rome. Six tickets to Rome, to be exact.

    Our trip to Rome is going ahead. I've already rented' [...]
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    Posted: February 01, 2009, 6:26pm EST

  • Science Friday

    I'm listening to Science Friday on NPR. They were talking about a planet they're studying where they've figured out that the temperature can fluctuate as much as 700 degrees in a few hours. I thought about how my oven can go from to 350 in ten minutes and decided not' [...]
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    Posted: January 30, 2009, 3:12pm EST

  • Inkheart movie review

    Mr. McP and I have been reading Inkheart together and we have been very excited to see the film version. Sunday, I took him and Drama Queen and Miss G to see it, even though we haven't yet finished the book.

    Quick plot overview: Mo and twelve-year-old Meggie, father' [...]
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    Posted: January 27, 2009, 7:57am EST

  • shiny teakettle

    I decided that a shiny teakettle would be comforting. More comforting than the 85% cleaner walls my magic eraser gave me. I made the accidental discovery that when the kettle is very hot, i.e. when you've just used it to boil water, the congealed grease comes off without too much' [...]
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    Posted: January 22, 2009, 6:21pm EST

  • Slattern

    I magic erasered my walls today, in anticipation of school starting. What kept going through my head as I worked was an old Bayer aspirin commercial: "If your headache is too strong for Bayer, see your doctor," only instead, I kept thinking, "If your stains are too much for Magic" [...]
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    Posted: January 21, 2009, 4:41pm EST

  • Bits and pieces

    There is not a whole lot going on here. I am trying to savor my last days of the winter break, but the first day of the spring semester is fast approaching. Did you ever see the movie Lady Jane? It's a superb historical drama, made in the 1980s, starring' [...]
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    Posted: January 15, 2009, 8:58pm EST

  • Magic controversy

    We almost got kicked out of a restaurant over a magic trick. My nephew is in town, interviewing for med school, and on Saturday we took him and the kids to a nice restaurant. It's not the sort of place that you take kids to, but my youngest is almost' [...]
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    Posted: January 12, 2009, 2:49pm EST

  • More books

    Last night, someone asked me how I'm spending my days while on break and I said, "Well, I read," and then I couldn't think of anything else so I finished, lamely, with "and I clean." That's not all I do. I play with my new phone and I check my' [...]
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    Posted: January 09, 2009, 11:26am EST

  • Affluence

    It started with the weedwhacker. It was 1998, and Jon unpacked it on the living room floor while I moaned about affluence. It started with a weedwhacker, but where would it end? A leaf blower? A crepe pan? A shiny new minivan with a bow on the hood, parked in [...]
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    Posted: January 05, 2009, 10:08am EST

  • Craving atmosphere in 2008

    In the nick of time, I fulfilled my last 2008 New Year's Resolution. I made three resolutions last year, based on my craving for a certain atmosphere rather than a desire to improve myself:

    1.) Eat at The Flat, the tiny Creperie on Water St. that has fascinated me' [...]
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    Posted: January 01, 2009, 3:44pm EST

  • Books books books

    I am reading as much as I can during the semester break. It seems like such a luxury not to have to study or complete writing assignments for school. Here's a quick run-down of what I've read lately.

    The Edge of Time by Loula Grace Erdman. I had a [...]
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    Posted: December 30, 2008, 8:10am EST

  • Boxing Day

    Enclosure: [download]
    Happy Boxing Day. We had a great Christmas, but I am relieved that it is over. It's an enormous job for one woman to create Christmas for a family. And it was Jon's turn to work Christmas, which sucked. Now he is off for three days, so it feels like [...]
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    Posted: December 26, 2008, 10:12am EST

  • Rental in Rome

    My last exam was today, but enough of that, I am already moving on to new things, namely finding a flat for us in Rome. If one can believe the internet, Rome is teeming with unoccupied, furnished flats for the use of travelers. Indeed, the choice is so wide, I [...]
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    Posted: December 15, 2008, 1:16pm EST

  • George-the-bunny

    It's high time I did a George post. Because isn't the entire world panting to know the doings of George-the-bunny?

    We gave him a birthday party back in July, when he turned two. Drama Queen baked him unsweetened carrot and banana cupcakes.



    [...]
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    Posted: December 12, 2008, 6:39am EST

  • My children created their very own WW ...

    My children created their very own WW III right in my house, and instead of being a responsible parent and giving each child a heart-to-heart talk, after which we all held hands and sang Kumbaya, enjoyed celery sticks filled with natural peanut butter and raisins, and handcrafted an Advent wreathe [...]
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    Posted: December 07, 2008, 7:32pm EST

  • Movies/hotties/procrastination

    We watched In Bruges the other night. It's a good movie, but the description on the DVD case is highly misleading. It promotes this film as a hilarious comedy--a laugh a minute from oafish criminals who fall bassackwards into adventure while resting in Bruges after completing a job. So I' [...]
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    Posted: December 04, 2008, 8:32am EST

  • Fluff

    I meant to spend Thanksgiving weekend touching up my resume and applying for nursing jobs. Because now is the time to do this, if you are graduating in May. So I brought up the resume I created last fall, with intent to dust it off and add in my clinical [...]
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    Posted: November 30, 2008, 7:35pm EST

  • Protect us from science fair

    It's that time of year again: Science Fair time. I remember my consternation when I discovered, when Mad Scientist was in 7th grade and had to do his first science fair project, that science fair is a yearly event, starting in 7th grade and lasting through 12th, and that all' [...]
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    Posted: November 25, 2008, 2:16pm EST

  • paper mache as a weapon of mass destruction

    Who knew paper mache could be a weapon of mass-destruction? Or at least, the weapon that mass-destructed my dining room. I was writing my nursing care plan, as I do every Thursday, and suddenly there were gobs of rock-hard flour and water paste on the dining room table and one [...]
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    Posted: November 20, 2008, 10:05pm EST

  • Times have changed

    I stole this picture from my high school alumnae group at facebook. (We were taught to say "alumnae" because it's a girls' school.) Anyway, this picture is from the mother-daughter senior breakfast. I think this was the class of '85's breakfast, which was not my class, but close enough.

    [...]
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    Posted: November 17, 2008, 1:04pm EST

  • Times have changed

    I stole this picture from my high school alumnae group at facebook. (We were taught to say "alumnae" because it's a girls' school.) Anyway, this picture is from the mother-daughter senior breakfast. I think this was the class of '85's breakfast, which was not my class, but close enough.

    [...]
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    Posted: November 17, 2008, 9:25am EST

  • Times have changed

    I stole this picture from my high school alumnae group at facebook. (We were taught to say "alumnae" because it's a girls' school.) Anyway, this picture is from the mother-daughter senior breakfast. I think this was the class of '85's breakfast, which was not my class, but close enough.

    [...]
     | Rate | Archive
    Posted: November 17, 2008, 8:06am EST

  • Psych nursing

    Yesterday was my penultimate psych clinical day at Western State Hospital. It was really the last "real" clinical day because next week, we will leave the hospital at noon and go out to lunch with our instructor, which is the tradition for the final clinical day in every class.

    [...]
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    Posted: November 13, 2008, 1:40pm EST

  • Psych nursing

    Yesterday was my penultimate psych clinical day at Western State Hospital. It was really the last "real" clinical day because next week, we will leave the hospital at noon and go out to lunch with our instructor, which is the tradition for the final clinical day in every class.

    [...]
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    Posted: November 13, 2008, 9:23am EST

  • Seen in Charlottesville

    Isn't it a beautiful day in C'ville today? I saw two things of interest while running errands after class this afternoon. First of all, the city posted a sign at the intersection of Market St. & 9th, reminding drivers that they must yield to pedestrians in the crosswalk. I think [...]
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    Posted: November 10, 2008, 4:03pm EST

  • Seen around Charlottesville

    Isn't it a beautiful day in C'ville today? I saw two things of interest while running errands after class this afternoon. First of all, the city posted a sign at the intersection of Market St. & 9th, reminding drivers that they must yield to pedestrians in the crosswalk. I think [...]
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    Posted: November 10, 2008, 1:31pm EST

  • Weekends

    The whole notion of "weekend" is somewhat angst-ified. At least, it is if you read certain periodicals, such as I do, that tell you that on the weekend you must pursue fun and relaxation with the same industry with which you pursue your paycheck during the week. If, by the [...]
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    Posted: November 09, 2008, 6:39pm EST

  • Fleas, dammit

    The only completely foolproof flea abatement system.

    [...]
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    Posted: November 06, 2008, 10:18am EST

  • Election Day jitters

    The last Obama worker to stop at my house cautioned me to expect a two-hour wait in line to vote. Seriously? In my neighborhood precinct in a city of barely 40,000 people? Since I pass close to my polling place on my morning run, my plan is to run a [...]
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    Posted: November 03, 2008, 9:18am EST

  • Hair before and after

    So people want before/after pics. I'm kind of shy about posting pictures of myself here.

    Hair before.



    Hair after, although this picture doesn't do justice to it. The stylist must have removed five pounds of hair.


    [...]
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    Posted: November 02, 2008, 8:55am EST

  • Frittering

    I should be studying, but instead I am frittering. I like to live dangerously, as far as exams are concerned.

    Yesterday I called a hair salon that is new to me but that I wanted to try and by some miracle they were able to give me an appointment [...]
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    Posted: October 30, 2008, 12:19pm EDT

  • Nuisance calls from campaign workers


    I'm all down with Obama, was routing for him over Hilary Clinton in the primaries, will vote for him on Election Day, etc like a good Charlottesvillian. Would it be mean-spirited of me to complain about how utterly disorganized the Charlottesville HQ of the Obama [...]
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    Posted: October 28, 2008, 9:18am EDT

  • House

    Imagine how you'd feel if you had a dog that most people thought was ugly and did not refrain from telling you so, but that you loved and knew was your all-time perfect soul mate of a pet. That is how I feel about my house. I seriously believe that [...]
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    Posted: October 27, 2008, 3:20pm EDT
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