HAPPY NEW YEAR!

I actually stayed up past midnight for this New Year's! I was so proud. I usually fall asleep waaaay before the ball drops. This year we watched the fireworks at Jax Landing and really enjoyed it.

Have you made your New Year's Resolution? I think I have. My resolution is to take at least 30 minutes out of each day to do something that requires no thought--something quiet and still. Is that a selfish resolution? Probably so.

But, I think it will be a good one for me. 2008 brought a lot of stress between studying, going to clinicals, waiting on William to get home and then waiting some more, forgetting to eat dinner, waking up at 4am to get ready to head to the hospital, spending hours in my vehicle driving to school and the health facilities, and the worst thing of all....giving up my coffee! I just thought of another resolution....add coffee back into my life. :-)

I hope 2009 is a good one for all of you! If you made a resolution, leave me a comment, I'd love to hear it. We can challenge each other to stick to them.

ROLE REVERSAL--NURSE TO PATIENT

Sunday, I found myself in the fetal position on my bedroom floor with severe abdominal pain. I made the death crawl to the bathroom where I assumed the sitting on the toilet while holding the trashcan position. After gallons of pretty stuff being added to the trash can, and even prettier added to the toilet, I crawled back to my bed.

Repeats of the scenario continued to play out and at 3am when I woke up in severe pain, I decided it was ER time.

For me to go the ER, I must feel like I am literally dying. I do not like doctors. I do not like to take medicine. I do not like green eggs and ham.

Long story short—a hospital gown with a broken tie in the back, morphine, phenergan, an argument with the nurse that no she would NOT be putting a foley catheter in me no matter how much she thought I needed one, 2 large cups of contrast, and a CT scan later, I was diagnosed with colitis.

I was given 5 different medicatons. I had to see my regular doctor today where it was determined that I was allergic to one of the meds since my face looked like an Oompa Loompa. A 6th medicine was added to fight the allergic reaction and then a 7th one to replace the one that I am allergic to. I have enough medications in my system to kill a horse.

But, let me tell y'all the whole reason I wrote this blog! Remember paragraph one where I was referring to the trash can? Well, that particular trash can was filled with a couple of gallons of….stomach contents. Will, the official throw up cleaner upper, emptied it into a bag and then added it to the big trash can in the garage.

Today he took all of our trash to the dump. He tossed all of it in the big dumpster and got back in the Jeep. He went to buckle his seatbelt and noticed something strange…his entire shirt was covered in throw up!!!! Apparently, the bag that held those special contents leaked on his shirt when he went to throw the bag. Of course, I found that hilarious and really haven't stopped laughing about it since!

In the spirit of Christmas, I just thought I would share this very beautiful story. I hope you enjoyed it.

OH WELL

Poor Bailey...he's wearing an orange jersey. It's just such a shame that my camera is broken and I can't post a picture of him wearing it...a true shame. No, seriously, I will post a picture soon. My digital camera is broken so I am going to have to get some hard copies developed old school style. Will was thrilled to be able to put it on him and I have to admit he looks pretty cute in it, but I know that he would prefer to be wearing garnet and black. Maybe next year...

THIS YEAR'S BET

Only 45 minutes to gametime...as most of you know, Will and I have a bet every year for the Carolina /Clemson game. This year's bet...Bailey will wear the jersey of the winning team when he is cold, which is every day. Will picked the bet this year. I wanted to do something a little riskier such as the spare tire cover or even a revision of last year's bet to have the patio flag changed to this year's winning team. But, he didn't want to do that. If you ask me, I think he's scared. :-) Go Gamecocks!

TIME SURE DOES FLY!

I'm not sure if y'all will be able to recognize these two skinny people who look like little kids getting married, but as of Thursday (11/27) they will have been married for FIFTEEN years!

BAILEY'S BROTHER

We purchased Bailey a couple of years ago. Shortly after we brought him home, we were shopping in PetSmart when we passed a lady who was carrying a small dog that looked just like Bailey. I went up to her and told her that I had a clone of her dog at home. After asking each other a few questions, we quickly realized that the dogs had been purchased from the same litter!

We bought Bailey at an art fair (strange place to buy a dog, I know). She happened to be at that same art fair where she bought Bailey's brother whose name is Trevor. Believe it or not, Trevor was actually the name we almost chose for Bailey!

I just find it so amazing that we do not live close to each other, bought dogs from the same litter, and then ran into each other in another town and determined that they were brothers!

We have exchanged pictures of the dogs every few months since our chance meeting. Their similarities are so unreal. In the pictures above, Trevor is in the top picture and Bailey is in the bottom one. I think Trevor's owner, Amy, would agree with me on this---not only do they look just alike, they are also both very spoiled!

VOTE, VOTE, VOTE!

Please go make an informed vote tomorrow…no excuses! I think every American knows how important this election is. And, I think we all know that we owe it to those who died for our freedom and right to vote.

I hope that people who are basing their decision on some celebrity who abused their influence on television will just stay home. But, I hope that those of us who have done our research will show up in record numbers.

It is my hope that people will look beyond the empty speeches that were nothing more than motivational rallies to get crowds pumped up and focus on the speeches that contained specifics regarding a plan for our country.

Bottom line--please make an informed VOTE tomorrow!