Vermont!

We got to go to Vermont for Thanksgiving, which was lots of fun. It was also the first year ever that I went without seeing my family and that I cooked a substantial amount of food. I brought two pies, sweet potatoes, and squash to Lelani and Jon's. Jake brought a cranberry salad. I also made green bean casserole and mashed potatoes while we were there. Lelani made lumpia (egg rolls) and potato salad. Jon made cheesecake. Lelani and Jon were awesome enough to go out and buy a free-range turkey from a local farm. We named him Stephen. He weighed 18 pounds. He took a long time to cook through. Here is his picture:



On Friday, we made our way up to Middlebury, VT. On the way, we stopped at the New England Maple Museum. While in Middlebury, we went to a bunch of little shops, saw Otter Creek Falls, and toured the Otter Creek brewery (which also produces Wolaver's Organic Beer).

On Friday evening, we helped out at the Boys and Girls' Club. A whole bunch of kids were there to see Santa. Jake and I had the job of giving each kid that sat on Santa's lap the choice of a cheap toy out of a basket. Most were OK (pencils, punching balloons, little plastic cameras with Xmas images inside, etc.), but there was one toy that I wished wasn't in there. Mini-sticky hands...oh my. We had the problem that one kid actually thought it was candy and started to eat it. His parents were like, "Is that food?", and Jake and I had to be like, "NO!"

On Saturday, we drove around to Woodstock and Quechee. We saw the Quechee Gorge, which is advertised as the "Grand Canyon of Vermont". Here's a picture:



Saturday night, Lelani and I got into a debate over whose eye Mallory Nelson shot acid into while we were in high school. Lelani though Andy Disterhaft, and I thought Andy Wesner. We wound up calling Bill and asking him. Bill thought Andy D., so I lost that bet.

Jake and I had to take off for home early on Thursday morning. Sadness...

Random Pictures

Our photography class ended this week. I didn't really shoot anything I'm totally in love with, but I thought I'd include some shots I took on here for fun. One day, when I take the time, I'll take some good pictures. I just need some good subject matter. A good vacation. A puppy. A baby. Yeah...

Vicodin Makes Me Tired

I went back to the doctor again this morning. He took off the big bandage on my hand, which I'm excited about because I can actually take a normal shower now and start using my hand a bit more. I'm typing with my finger right now, even though it hurts some. It's still really gross and has stitches in it. I'm getting the stitches taken out on Tuesday morning. I hope this heals up the right way this time. This morning, the doctor said, "I've never seen anything quite like all the fat that built up on your finger. It was really a mess under there," which is really not comforting coming from someone who has been practicing medicine for 40+ years.

I'm on pain medication, which has been making me kind of goofy and tired.

Oh! I got a job in Arlington! I'll be working as a research assistant and I start the Monday after Thanksgiving. I'm hoping that I won't have to deal with any more doctor's appointments for my finger at that point.

Surgery

The hand surgeon looked at my finger yesterday. He doesn't think my problem is an infection, but an inflammation. I'm going to the hospital this afternoon to have surgery. The more I think about it, the more I'm a little freaked out. They're putting me under. It hit me when I was on the phone with the surgical coordinator and she asked me if I have any religious objections to anything that they should know about. I thought, "Holy crap...I'm not going to have any idea of what's going on." All sorts of wild things could happen to me and I would have no idea...

Jake is going with me to take me back afterwards. I have to be in by noon and they are putting me under at 1:30.

Ugh...it's like a re-do of the whole thing. He's going to cut along the line where the glass cut me originally and re-stitch me up afterward.

I hope this is the end of all of this...

I've got some good news and some bad news

Here's the bad news first:

I have an infection in my pinkie finger. I'm seeing a hand surgeon tomorrow. It's a long story. I'll try to edit it down to a few bullet points though:

I got referred to the wrong doctor by the ER originally (she wasn't in my PPO).

After that doctor took out my stitches, I noticed that my finger was red and swollen, but I thought I'd wait to see if it went down.

The swelling didn't go down, so I called the same doctor back to make an appointment to come back in. The earliest time she had available was in two weeks.

During that time, I figured out that my insurance wouldn't cover going in to see her.

Then, I went to a drop-in clinic on Friday so I could see someone. I was sick of waiting.

They put me on antibiotics.

I had to go back in on Monday to have my finger re-evaluated. They told me I should see a hand surgeon because I've developed a fibroma, which is an abnormal growth of healing tissue.

I was referred to someone actually in my PPO and I'm seeing him tomorrow.

Here's the good news:

I interviewed for a research assistant position when Sarah was here visiting. I followed up with them on Monday and they told me that they want to offer the position to me. They're doing a budget analysis and should let me know if I can have a job with them by the end of the week. I'm glad that they want to give me a job, but the waiting and uncertainty is bothering me. In the meantime, I've subbed at the schools twice. My first time was as a paraprofessional in the kindergarten room and the second was as an LD teacher at the middle school. Both were pretty easy. I was surprised at the amount of people helping while at the middle school. I only had six kids in my first class. A para came in to help right away, and then two OT/PT women came in mid-class to help out. So, it was basically four staff to six students, and these students didn't even have severe disabilities. I thought myself, "Hell, there have been times when I have been left alone with four to six kids with severe problems. This is nothing..."

Last Thursday, I convinced Jake to go to E Street Theater with me to see the movie King Corn. I heard about it over the summer and have been wanting to see it, so in my opinion it's good news that I did see it. The movie basically just rehashed a lot of things I've learned previously by reading Michael Pollan, etc., but there was some good entertainment value in it. One of my favorite parts was watching the two guys who made the film trying to make high fructose corn syrup in their kitchen at home. There's also a gross part where they actually reach into a live cow's stomach and pull out corn parts to show how the cow actually can't digest it.

My final bit of good news is that we're only two short weeks away from Thanksgiving and I'm going to Vermont! So, soon I'll be able to say that I've seen another state that I haven't seen before (I need to see five new states before July 2009 so I can cross an item off my to-do list). And, I'll get to see Lelani and Jon! Yay!

Candy Corn!

I went as candy corn to the wedding reception in Milwaukee this weekend. Here are a couple of pictures: