3rd Year Begins

Today is Sam's first day as a 3rd Year Orthopedic Surgery Resident at UCI.  2nd year is over, and that means we have officially survived the most challenging year of residency!

That's not to say we didn't have our ups and downs over the last 12 months, because we certainly did.  But it wasn't as bad (nor did it seem as long) as I was preparing for it to be.  Hopefully this next year will bring with it more hours of sleep for Sam and less crankiness.  I feel badly for how exhausted he was this year and I appreciate how much he tried to not let his schedule interfere with our life outside of work.  Who knows, maybe I'll be relinquishing my "Ortho Widow" title!

To celebrate Sam's huge accomplishment, I decided to give him a little something he had mentioned that he wanted, along with two things we've needed that I have been meaning to get:

The first thing, was a muddler.  Sam is really into drinking Old Fashioneds but he doesn't have anything to muddle the bitters and sugar with.  I also love me a refreshing mojito during the summer months so it will serve all of our bar tending endeavors well.  And I purchased my favorite brand- OXO!  I bought myself their shaker and Sam can't get over how nice it is.  Having well-made cooking stuff really makes a huge difference!

The second thing is a lemon juicer.  We have a lime juicer and it's awesome!  The downside is that it doesn't handle lemons very well.  So for Sam's amazing lemonade and his latest creation, coconut citrus margaritas, we have to quarter the lemons before we juice them.  This is going to make the whole process so much faster!  And it will be great for seasoning fish and making my Green Energy Smoothie in the mornings.


Finally, Sam has mentioned that he wants a cast-iron skillet.  So I decided to take advantage of a Sur la Table sale and pick one up to surprise him.  Well, killing two birds with one stone, I selected a Le Creuset skillet.  I have been wanting to dive into the world of Le Creuset for a while but everything is SO expensive!  That said, as I wrote two paragraphs earlier, using well-made cooking stuff REALLY makes a HUGE difference.  So I jumped in.  I bought Sam the skillet and me the two-in-one pan and pot that can be used separately or together as a lidded pot.  I went with the Fennel color.

I wrapped everything up under Hunter's watchful eye in the last bits of our UCI wrapping paper.  This was pretty funny because it made Sam think I bought him stuff at the UCI student store... which I most certainly did NOT!

3rd Year Approaches

Wow.  So this is Sam's last weekend of call for his second year of residency.  Starting June 1 he will be a third year orthopedic surgery resident and will be working at Kaiser during his first rotation.  

What does that mean?

Regular work hours.  9-5.  

No Saturday call.  Amazing!

It's going to be amazing.  I am so thankful for all that we've overcome as far as the crazy work hours and the stress of his second year of residency goes.  I am so glad to have all of this stress behind us.  

Not that I don't think this is going to be a cakewalk, but I am constantly hearing that the worst will be behind us once he's past this year.  I am sure we'll still have challenges, but I am so looking forward to the next chapter.

I am really, just so excited!  No more ortho widow days and nights for me!  We can be a little family on the weekends like we were during Memorial Day Weekend!

10 Years Together

Today Sam and I celebrated our 10-year anniversary.

I guessed that Sam would be exhausted since he was on call over-night on Friday and Sunday.  I was prepared to make us dinner and relax on the couch together, but Sam completely surprised me!

He texted me that we should go out to dinner rather than me cook.  Then he walked in the door with flowers from my favorite florist- 30 minutes out of his way home!  Wow.  Aren't they beautiful!?!


We decided to go to 'our place' The Cannery.  We had drinks, we ate dinner and we enjoyed ourselves thoroughly.  It was like old times, before second year of residency, back when Sam had energy and spark!

He drove me to dinner and told the whole while how great he thinks I am and how much he appreciates that he gives 110% at work (where he gets so little appreciation) and then can only give 20% at home and yet I am so supportive and understanding.  I cannot even tell you how nice it was to hear him appreciate me!  And to his credit, his 20% estimation is probably a little too harsh.  I so appreciate being appreciated!  Sam is such a sweetheart and nights like this one make being a ortho widow so worth it!

What a great way to start off our vacation to Tahoe- although it doesn't technically start until next week and Sam is fighting off a cold!  What the heck, at least we have each other, a cold and a long rest of the week until our trip are nothing compared to that.  :-)

Hunter the Hoover

Yesterday I left Hunter at home when I went to get my hair done and then celebrate Jen's 29th birthday.  As I was sitting in the chair, I totally had a moment where I wondered if I had locked him in his crate or not.  At that point, though, I wasn't going to do anything about it.

Around 6:30 Sam and I left Jen and Ryan's house and headed home.  You can imagine our surprise when Hunter greeted us, tail wagging & yelping for joy, in the entryway.

I was terrified that I would find he'd had accidents all over the house, or that he would have chewed up our furniture & destroyed the leather couches.  Thankfully, I was wrong.  The only thing he had done was go into the hamper and steal a pair of my underwear and eat half of it.  Wonderful, Hunter. 

I would have liked to have asked Sam's opinion but he was already in bed and asleep getting ready for his Sunday on-call.  So I turned to the internet and read online that pureed pumpkin can help dogs avoid and pass bowel obstructions when they've eaten things they shouldn't have.  Therefore, last night Hunter ate pumpkin puree for dinner.  Luckily, he slept just fine and by midday he had begun passing some of the fabric. 

Hopefully this will continue and he won't have any obstructions!  I am a little anxious and nervous about missing the signs of a bowel obstruction because they are potentially fatal and I don't want anything to happen to Hunter!

Luckily tomorrow is a holiday for UCIMC so Sam should be home by noonish and he can take Hunter out and re-assess the situation before I get home from work. 

Howl-o-ween

Hunter is both fortunate and unfortunate to have become a member of our family.

One the one hand, he is incredibly spoiled: lots of toys, plenty of food and water, always the center of attention, sleeps in bed, gets to cuddle whenever he wants, etc.

On the other hand, I love accessorizing him for the holidays.

Spoiler alert: I totally want to find him a mini Santa costume for Christmas!

Anyway, I certainly wasn't going to be dressing up to hand out candy tonight because my only G-rated costume is a pirate number that's several years old and has seen better days.  And Sam's working tonight, so I knew he wouldn't be around to dress up either.

Anyway, Hunter lucked out because I didn't see many masculine costumes and decided to buy him this discounted t-shirt to use as his Halloween costume.  Pretty much the week after I did that, PetSmart moved their costumes and there were some really cute ones (the frog and the ladybug were to die for!) but I couldn't justify spending more money.

Next year though, I might have to try to find that ladybug costume because I totally try to keep with the red theme for this little Ruby Cavalier!

So Happy Howl-o-ween Goblins & Ghouls!

NLCS Game 7

Hunter and I are deeply focused on NLCS Game 7 tonight and as I start this post, we are in the bottom of the 6th with San Francisco leading Arizona 7-0.  In history, the greatest comeback in game 7 is 4 runs, which has only happened twice in history.  Odds are in our favor.  Also, only once has a Game 6 winner failed to win Game 7 at home, the Mets lost game 7 to the Cardinals.

We are also baking... yes, I am sharing some pumpkin muffins with Hunter as I wait for Sam to get home to make our Chicken Taco Salad.

Last night when we got home from San Diego (post to follow with a weekend recap) Sam really wanted me to make him a batch of Nonna's pumpkin bread, which I have turned into a helluva lot of pumpkin muffins and a loaf or two.  The recipe calls for +5 cups flour, and +4 cups sugar... it makes a helluva lot of pumpkin yumminess.  The weather has finally cooled off and I think Sam is starting to feel the holiday spirit creeping into the air.  Granted, I did decorate for Fall just before October, but it was 100 degrees last week!

I will say this, I had intended to start Harry Potter Book 4 tonight (I am rereading the series since I bought myself all the books for my birthday) and this game has me completely enthralled.  GO GIANTS.

My Dad is actually at this game tonight at AT&T Park.  Boy, does that make me miss living in the Bay Area.  My sports teams are all up there, no football or baseball love happens down in Orange County.

It's nice to have Mom on the phone though, we've been calling back and forth throughout this amazing game!  Who could believe the amazing bottom of the 4th inning where the Giants scored and scored and scored?

Baseball isn't my sport, don't get me wrong.  There are too many games to follow and the season seems never-ending.  But, that said, I do love the Giants and I really love #OrangeOctober because baseball playoffs are a thing of beauty.  For all the Torture Baseball Fans out there: Don't stop believing!

Walking Dead

No, this is not a reference to me being overly exhausted.  Quite the opposite, I have been feeling much more energized since I started taking the hypothyroidism medication.    The title of this post refers to the AMC Zombie series based on the comic books.

I am not much for watching TV shows the night they air because I am generally trying to spend quality time with Sam or Hunter if I'm not working in the evening.

Tonight, however, I decided I was going to give it a rest because I worked two hours extra last night expanding on some web page additions that a co-worker had started.  Sam is working late, so I have no obligation to entertain him.  Thus, with this time to myself, I am catching up on The Walking Dead season 3 premier and playing fetch with Hunter.  Good Lord, this puppy loves to play fetch.

And don't think it's all play for me tonight, I am also in the process of washing our sheets and drafting our holiday letter.  Last year we didn't send our letter out everyone, but complaints were lodged and this year the situation will be remedied.

So now, enough blogging and back to holiday letter drafting and laundry!

Football Season

It's no secret that my family is Forty-Niner Faithful-  we bleed Red & Gold.  It has been a long wait this off-season, but the day is finally here: today, the 9ers faced the Packers at Lambeau Field.  And boy did we deliver.

We looked great- cohesive, together, practiced.  It was such a great way to get things rolling. We have a lot of people talking about how we're Super Bowl bound in 2013, but I think it's too early to make those predictions.  We have a much tougher schedule than we did last season, and the league stats show that it's unlikely that a team comes out of a slump with back-to-back conference championship performances.  We may have to wait until 2014.

I flew back from a wedding and arrived home at 3pm today.  Unfortunately, Sam had to work today so Hunter was the only one waiting for me at home.  We cuddled on the couch, talking to Mom during the last quarter of the game, as we all watched Alex Smith stave off Aaron Rogers to get the victory.

I think it might be time to make good on my threats and order Hunter a 49er jersey to wear on game day...

Hunter & Me

Hunter & I started his Therapy Dog/Advanced 2 training class at Petsmart this morning.  There is another Cavalier in his class, Toby, who is a 3 year old Tri-Color with predominantly  black and white coloring.  I realize I am biased, but he's not nearly as cute as Hunter!

After class, we came home and were lounging on the couch and trying to keep cool despite soaring temperatures.  Here's Hunter's new favorite place to cuddle with me when I'm using the couch for a backrest and the ottoman for a desk. 

Around noon, Sam called and invited us to bring him lunch and hang out at the hospital for a little bit.  He was on call today and last Friday, so we were really excited to spend a little extra time together.  It was cool to get a mini (outdoor only) tour of the hospital and see where the Ortho Clinic is and where Sam does the majority of his work.  After we hung out for a while, Hunter and I headed back home.  

After dropping Hunter off, I ran to Target to pick up a few things- I was completely out of deodorant for one thing- and I found a coverlet for our bed.  Sam and I have trouble sleeping when it's really hot out because we both like to snuggle under the covers but get too overheated.  He had us switch out my down duvet for his cotton comforter but I haven't really noticed that I've been cooler.  My Social Media Strategist said she and her hubby had the same problem until they got one of these thick blanket coverlets from Target.  I am really excited to try it out tonight- I put the duvet back on and per Raleigh's suggestion will probably toss that to the bottom of the bed to sleep.  

I spent the afternoon prepping for the Final Project in my Marketing Class.  I did the majority of the spreadsheets and left only a few equations for my partner to tackle this week.  I will have to focus on writing up some concluding paragraphs later this week, but that shouldn't be too difficult.  Tomorrow I am going to conquer the only other thing standing between me and earning the marketing certificate: the Final Exam.  I am so anxious for this to be over so that I can focus more of my attention on my fitness/health and Hunter/our family when I'm not working.  With as little time as Sam has off, it kills me to have to work on homework while he's home.  And Hunter's training has fallen by the wayside so much these last 6 weeks because I am so focused on schoolwork that I haven't been working on reinforcing his skills.  I am really looking forward to having free weekends and nothing hanging over my head- I'll have a lot more time to get back into reading the King of Thrones series on my nook too!  

Last thought before bed: I watched Married to Jonas tonight and really enjoyed it.  Sure, they are definitely not the sharpest tools in the shed, but they actually seem pretty authentic and sincere and they may quickly usurp the #1 Hollywood Couple spot on my list.  Good luck to them, and may their relationship end better than most of famous couples who do reality TV.  

Ortho Widow

Monday- Sam is on call overnight in the hospital and doesn't come home

Tuesday- Sam gets home around 5pm, walks Hunter, and is passed out in our easy chair the entire night except for a 20 minute stretch between 8:45 & 9:05

Wednesday- Sam misses out on Ryan's last evening staying with us and the dinner and ice cream Ryan treats me to as a thank you, instead Sam arrives home at 10:45

Thursday- Sam gets home at 9:10, we finally get to catch up a bit before he goes to bed

Friday- Sam is on call overnight in the hospital and doesn't come home

It's doubtful that I am the first to coin the phrase, but I certainly feel like an "Ortho Widow" these days.  I am very thankful I have my little furry companion to keep me company during Sam's crazy long days... and for the 50% discount on cable that Cox offered me.  It's getting turned on tomorrow afternoon & a week from tonight I will be watching the opening ceremonies with a LARGE beverage celebrating the completion of my first big event at work.

Sigh... if only life had a Fast Forward button.