Lots to say this time around!

So, I've been lame about blogging lately, but I seriously have a good excuse. I'm working extra shifts to make our dreams happen asap, which, on my days off, makes me less motivated to do the things I've done in the past. Like clean, do laundry, blog, etc. (no worries, I still get around to cleaning and the laundry, but blogging, obviously, keeps falling off.)

Say goodbye to my American Express credit card!!! Well, not completely goodbye, but goodbye to the bill! It is officially paid off! We still have one credit card balance, 2 student loans, and a car loan, but that was the big one. It had the biggest balance, the worst interest rate, and they're the biggest jerk offs. I can go into detail, but I doubt any one cares. I will give my shout out to my Bank of America credit card, that, throughout all the rough times we've given it (paying only minimum payment when we weren't making much money) and with the economy being craptacular, my interest rate is still only 9% (heck ya for a credit card!) and they've increased my credit limit. Not that I want to charge more...but the more balance to limit ratio you have, the better your credit looks. So, screw off American Express. I'm only keeping your account open because it looks good to have that credit limit and no balance. If that weren't the case, I'd tell you to take that card and shove it where the sun doesn't shine.

What does paying off that card mean? It means that I can start paying down more aggressively my last credit card balance...and save up money that goes to a house only! I'm so excited about this. We are actually 2 to 3 months ahead of schedule on our plans. Plus I should get a bonus at the beginning of the year ($500 before taxes) since I have my CCRN now, and any tax refunds we get (I'm told we should get something since we have the most taken out of our paychecks) should really set us up with a decent amount of money to add to buying a house. Plus, all we're asking for for Christmas is money or gift cards (to Best Buy) so we can apply that to the house and things we'll have to buy for the house (washer, dryer, couch, stuff like that). I am seriously giddy about the big improvements in our finances. Are we in a perfect position? Heck no. But we're in a much more comfortable position than before.

Brandon gets to go to long gun school now. He's wanted to do that probably since he got hired, but, because we went ahead and got him his rifle, he can do it now. He's very excited about this and even texted me tonight how his Sergeant got his shift some Christmas presents. They did a white elephant with them and he managed to score some extra rifle magazines. We went to shoot the rifle and holy crap was it loud! I was so very scared to shoot and I actually did a terrible job doing so. I hit the paper...but barely lol. He did really well for his first time. I was very proud of him. I was told in the pictures below I don't completely look like myself...but I bet its because 1) I have eye protection and ear protection on, 2) he caught me talking I think, and 3) I was so freaking nervous. I think that picture was either when I was getting ready to shoot for the first time, or right after a shot or two. What I learned about shooting a rifle? It's harder to aim that far away and, just because it's louder, the rifle only kicks just about as much as a good handgun. I was afraid it'll bruise me...but thats a shotgun.



The gun is an M4, Rockriver 5.56. It has a 16" barrell, Eotech optic, "entry tactical" with Dominator 2 mount. Brandon says it just needs a light now. The other picture is the one he sent me of his new Christmas gift.



Next, I won a contest!! It was on TheNest and it involved posting your favorite recipe found on TheNest (Mexican Corn and Shrimp Chowder), who you'd have dinner with if you could have dinner with anyone (JJ and he could speak English for only that dinner time), and what would you talk about (everything as I'm sure he has plenty to tell me.) It was a promotional thing with Rainn Wilson and I got his book Soul Pancake, which, honestly, I haven't hardly looked at, yet. (In my defense, I have a few other books I'm currently reading, both boring and interesting, and I think I would do ANY book unfair justice to attempt reading it now.) I also won the Le Creuset 5-Piece Essential set! I got it in Cherry, as that is the color of the other Le Creuset piece we have. Incidentally, we also received a utensil set I didn't know was coming to us! I LOVED getting this because we didn't get ANY (at least any I remember right now) when we got married (not that we expected all kinds of gifts and the ones we received we LOVE so very much!). And, I don't know about you, but I'm a spatula slut. I love to use them all the time.



These are the utensils. It seems we were sent a large spatula, a medium spatula, a small spatula, basting brush,a spatula spoon, and a a jar scraper. The red parts are detachable from the wood so they can be put in the dishwasher and the wood doesn't have to be ruined in the dishwasher! If you look them up on the Le Creuset website, I think they're the Revolution version, as they don't look like the non-Revolution version.



This past week I really had wonderful patients at work. One patient was in for something that I'm sure was quite scary for her, but the neurosurgeons handled her benign brain tumor with finesse. As usual (but I'm sure not everyone knows this is my hospital's usual), very little of her hair was clipped for the surgery (we do NOT shave heads, we do not remove much hair, only what is necessary to make the incision, usually, we do NOT wrap your head in a stupid bandage like they always seem to do on Grey's Anatomy, and we do MUCH more complicated procedures than Derek does on that show.) Of course she had pain and nausea, everyone does, but we fought it like champs together. She did PERFECT all night long and the next day she bailed out of the ICU and got to go to the floor. With a teeny bit of hairstyling I'm sure you'd never know she had a brain surgery. And she came down the next night after she moved out of the ICU and gave me a gift! It was so sweet! She was so nice and wonderful!



It's a very cute little pink bag that seems to be patent leather from Neiman Marcus. I don't give a crap if she re-gifted it or if it was free, because she gave it to ME! (disclaimer here: I NEVER EVER have EVER expected or wished for my patients to give me gifts nor have I ever had one do it before. I do not ever mention anything about receiving anything back for the care I give my patients and I don't treat one patient better than another. I always care about the same things with each of them, and it doesn't matter if they're grumpy or considered annoying or what. You never know what they're going through or how they feel about what you're doing for or to them, so I try to maintain the exact same attitude towards everyone. This gift was given to me AFTER I had taken care of her and she'd been out of the ICU more than 24 hours so there was no benefit whatsoever she would have received by giving me a gift.) I tried to get Brandon to let me take our ammo to the gun range in it Saturday when we went to shoot, but he was very NOT found of that idea. Maybe my friend and I can go shooting soon and we'll take our ammo in it! (or anyone else who wants to join and isn't scared of the cutest most special pink bag!)

Let's wrap this up now. Coming up, I really want to see the movies Black Swan and True Grit. I'm most likely working all Christmas. It sucks, but thats ok. It's good money and I could use it for the big things we want to accomplish. My brother will be in town again, but, unfortunately, I think I'll be working most of the nights he's here. Cataclysm in World of Warcraft is super awesome and I'm still leveling my characters. I'm hoping Brandon and I can maybe soon move into the Raider position again. I kinda miss it. Hopefully, I'll manage my time better and get back to more frequent blogging.

Here is some pictures of what we call "Closet Dog." Bella likes to find anywhere cozy to make into HER spot. This is one of her "nests." The first picture I call the "Where's Waldo?" shot.