3rd Year Home Call

Last night was Sam's first night on call of his third year of his orthopedics residency.  We had a relatively quiet beginning to our evening, but around 9:30- in the middle of Pitch Perfect- he was called in for a dislocated elbow and a pediatric wrist.

Cue me worrying about whether he is coming home or not all year again.  Who knows, maybe I will get used to it this year.  Or maybe it just won't be that bad... I mean Sam was home by 11:15 last night and he said he stuck around longer than he probably really needed to.

And he told me this morning that he was paged every 2 hours and had to go in at 4:00 AM.  Talk about an ah-ha moment, I got up to go to the bathroom at 5 because Hunter wanted up on the bed and was whining.  I saw a light coming from under the bedroom door and went out into the living room to find the light on in our kitchen.  At the time, I was half asleep and it was puzzling but I shrugged it off and went back to bed.

Apparently Sam had just gotten home and forgotten to turn of the lights when he came back to bed.  He said Hunter was on the floor passed out in our comforters which we kick off the bed now that summer weather has returned to Southern California.  As Sam came into the room Hunter woke up and wanted back up on the bed, which was what woke me up.  Not the shrill sound of a pager, not the sound of Sam getting up and getting dressed in the middle of the night, not even the sound of the door opening and our alarm dinging (twice- once when he left and once when he came back).  Boy, I'm apparently a much deeper sleeper than I thought or I was just really exhausted last night.

Anyway, while Sam was at work the first time, I was left at home to finish Pitch Perfect with Hunter.  Good thing I have my little companion!  Pitch Perfect was a pretty good movie- I mean yes it was really campy but OMG it was also incredibly entertaining and the talent was absolutely amazing.

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!

Wine

Last week felt like it would never end.  I had two work events, and the culmination of a couple of big projects I had been working on since the start of the year.  Needless to say, I was so thankful when the weekend arrived.

This week has been completely different.  It's like I have jetlag from all the energy I had to exert last week.  I have no motivation and all I want to do is lose myself in mindless forms of entertainment- TV, internet, reading other people's blogs, drinking wine every night with dinner (one glass), and playing Roller Coaster Tycoon (please don't judge me too harshly).  

I have not wanted to blog myself at all.  Why not?  Because I am trying to ESCAPE my life of course!

It's all I can do to handle myself and Hunter (let alone Sam, who thankfully has been on call a lot) let alone relive the stress and drama.  Part of my problem is that little Hunter hasn't been sleeping through the night very well over the last two weeks- probably my fault because our walks have not been as regular or long as they should have been.

I did find time to make the ortho department cupcakes on Sunday.  I drove up to the hospital and met with Sam for dinner, leaving the cupcakes with his very sweet nurses.  For our on-call date night, Sam took me to the fish place in the mall across from the hospital and it was fabulous.  It was also expensive, but seriously it was scrumptious.  I had butterflied panko crusted shrimp and cajun halibut.  Mmmmm.

I am also a little overwhelmed by the travel coming up- Jackie's got her bridal shower, her bachelorette and her wedding two weeks apart for the next six weeks.  OMG.  I am so excited but simultaneously so exhausted.  I may end up having to take a day off after the wedding is over to relax and recuperate.  Plus, Sam will be off the week after the wedding so it would be good for us to relax and spend some time without so much distraction.

In between the wedding and the bachelorette party (which I get to throw- OMG I am so excited!) we get to see Sam's family for his Great-Aunt's 80th Birthday Party.  We have lots of family coming into town, and Sam's folks generously offered to get us a hotel up in Palos Verdes to hang out with the family.  I wasn't in love with the idea of staying up there on the weekend before the wedding, but I was looking forward to getting to see Sue and Rich and all the cousins (who I hope are coming down.)

Anyway, Sam's parents are going to stay in Irvine now, which is super thoughtful of them and I'm even more excited about seeing them now that I don't have to stress about the dog and getting my shit together before the wedding.  I am so excited about wedding season though, Jackie kicks it off and then we have Monique's and Dan and Tina's.

I'm also really excited about our 10-year class reunion, which I am co-chairing, in June.  And Papa's big 80th birthday party in July.  So many wonderful things happening in the next couple of months!!!

What They Didn't Tell Me

So here I am, it's 9:09 PM on Tuesday night and I am flying to Vegas tomorrow for my first-ever Sin City business trip.  What am I doing up?  Packing?  Preparing for our big awards dinner tomorrow night?  No.  I am up washing Sam's White Coat.

Why am I up doing laundry at this hour?  Doesn't Sam have two White Coats?

Well yes, he does in fact have two White Coats; however, the hospital laundry service got some kind of pink stain on one of his coats and I just can't quite get it entirely out.  Ergo, Sam refuses to wear that particular coat.  Ergo, we have to do laundry after work when Sam spills his freakin' coffee down the front of his coat.  Goddamn it.

Because Sam is post-call tonight, he was pretty comatose by 8 when Hunter and I got home from his makeup training session with Kate.  So he got up off the couch, rinsed off his dishes and put them in the dishwasher (huge victory post-call, let me tell you!) and then realized he had forgotten to toss his coat in the washing machine.

So now, I am awake, watching The Adjustment Bureau while Hunter naps on my lap.  It was a great afternoon for us- the first afternoon walk of our year.  And I even jogged a little bit!  I need to get back in shape, and these little jaunts are just one part.  I am going to shoot for the morning spin class tomorrow at 9:15 before our plane leaves.  And then there's another spin class Thursday evening.  Back in the saddle for me!

March 4 starts the big Making the Cut program with Amanda, my former personal trainer.  She is hosting a variation of the Jillian Michaels diet + workout plan.  I'm kind of nervous but also really, really excited!

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.  :-)

Veteran's Day

Today, Sam's schedule was really light at the hospital so he asked me to come up and go to lunch with him.  We took a short drive to Downtown Orange and split the shrimp tacos at Gabbi's.  So yummy!  Then we walked around and enjoyed the brisk fall weather.  We ended up in an antique shop looking at beautifully carved china cabinets, wardrobes, and liquor cabinets.  It was all so beautiful.

Then we went back to the hospital and Sam took me up to the Ortho department where I got to meet his day-shift nurses, who were all really sweet, and see his workroom (where we often FaceTime when he's on call).  Finally, we went up to the 7th floor and looked out on the landscape.  It was actually really neat, and a little surreal that I saw where Sam works.  The nurses totally call him Dr. Galle (which is so funny to me because they are so serious about it) and they told me that he's always very nice and does whatever he can to make their jobs easier.  I told them that if he gets out of line they just need to let me know.  :-)  Hopefully they will get to share the pumpkin muffins I brought along and left in the work room. 

 Then, in honor of Veteran's Day, I watched the HBO Documentaries "Alive Day Memories" about the day that 10 soldiers got a second chance at life when they should have died, and "Section 60" about the area in Arlington National Cemetery where they bury the soldiers who died in Iraq and Afghanistan.  Both were incredibly touching and make me so proud of our troops.  Whether I believe in the wars the US has fought or not, I have the highest respect for the men and women who fight for our freedoms so that I can live in the 'land of the free & the home of the brave.'

Here are some quotes I found that resonated with me today:

"Courage is almost a contradiction in terms. It means a strong desire to live taking the form of readiness to die." -G.K. Chesterton

"As we express our gratitude, we must never forget that the highest appreciation is not to utter words, but to live by them." -John Fitzgerald Kennedy

"Valor is stability, not of legs and arms, but of courage and the soul." -Michel de Montaigne

"In war, there are no unwounded soldiers." -Jose Narosky

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.