What's your method?

So Paul came home from work in a state of P.. A..N...I..C last Friday. The woman in charge of coordinating the residency programs at the hospital Paul is doing his internship at, pulled him aside at work and said, "P. I am so sorry you haven't heard, they are canceling the derm residency here for next year."
What the ???@!!@@$^#$%^
We have put everything for the past 2 years into getting this spot and everything was looking perfect up until ... this. The chances of us getting into a derm residency somewhere else are still there, but much Much slimmer. So.. he made some calls, confirmed that the bad news, sadly, was true, and, for the weekend; we waited.
Here is how Paul coped with he news:

He fired up the deep fryer. Hey, whatever works.. comfort food is comfort food, especially in times of great need for comfort.
At this point we are just praying and crossing our fingers that somehow the doctor that P. wants so badly to work with next year will find some way to get funding through another source besides the hospital. I am told that Medicaid cut 6 residency spots and the programs that directly benefited the hospital the least were cut.. ie dermatologists since they are in the hospital the least.
Pray with us please! We really want to stay here in Michigan for 2 more years and finish residency. Paul really wants to do dermatology. This may be the one and only shot we have. If he doesn't get in somewhere this year, he can take a year off to do research and reapply again next year to other programs , but that would be yet another year of no pay!

PS. Those were the best onion rings I have ever had. Sweet onions, bread crumb batter deep fried with ketchup and wing sauce... Yum! Good thing Paul doesn't get the fried food hankering more often.

Brother's in town

My brother came to Michigan for the first time this week. I love this kid. He's so handsome, nice, easy to get along with, and easy going. We tried to pack the week full of all kinds of fun. We took him to the Henry Ford Museum on free Labor day (Thanks to Target). We loved the airplane exhibit. We had a paper airplane battle that I won.. of course.
I always choke up a bit reading about the first aviators. Those men and women were so courageous and didn't let limitations hold them down.
We also loved looking at the bikes and motorcycles. Davy said he is going to build a bike out of wood. I'm waiting for that. :)

Dave rides a motorcycle so it was a lot of fun to see the evolution of those awesome machines.
We went to downtown Detroit to go to the GM building, sit in a bunch of cool cars, ride the people mover, check out the architecture, and enjoy the jazz festival. Great music and lots of fun booths to look at. We were the only white family I saw there. I'm sure there were others, but we kind of stuck out as the super whiteys. I loved the jewelry, but I would have looked ridiculous in any of those enormous earrings and bracelets, or the super bright colored clothes. Davy did buy some sunglasses that I thought were dorky, but he informed me that they were super hip and that I am old and don't know what's cool anymore. "Hmm Hmm, excuse me. Are you calling me... gulp ... middle aged??" After that I let him try to educate me about how to be cool. It started with me hemming some pants for him so that they are skinnier jeans. Yeah, I'm not going there yet. I guess I am stuck in my old lady "hip style".

We took Dave on a couple of bike rides. He got to ride our El Camino. See, we're kind of cool. I love bike rides. I also love taking pictures while riding a bike. It's a little risky, especially with a baby on back, but hey, I'm that kind of girl. (Paul took my camera away after I almost crashed. What an overprotective father.)

I taught Davy how to save loads of money coupon shopping. I've been having a lot of fun learning how to work all the sales. Why didn't I start this sooner? A lady in my ward (Diann) taught a class on couponing. It was amazing. Here is her deal finding blog.

Lake Erie is a fun place to go. We tossed the football around in this perfect humid weather for hours. I felt great but the boys were complaining and dripping buckets. I loved it, and they taught me how to throw a football farther than I ever have before.

Paul and I finished the play structure we have been working on. It has it's kinks that we are still working out (ask us before you build your own) but it is still super cool. We hung up hammocks (sheets) today and let the kids swing. This is a fantastic function of our invention.

To celebrate Dave's birthday and 6 years of Paul and I being married we decided to go to a Detroit Tiger's game. They didn't win, but we had a good time anyway! The Thai food before the game was great and the Friday Fireworks went way above and beyond our expectations.
Thanks to my man for 6 great years and many more to come.


Paul has started playing softball with a ward team. I love going to watch. He loves playing, and Dave said joining in this week was the highlight of his week. I hope he finds a team to play on back home. We went to the batting cages the next day and Davy loved telling me that he got this picture of me with the ball 1' above my bat. Yes, I was not pro, but I was not embarrassed either!



We got to lay out at the pool with the kids for the last time this season, share a ton of music, talk about photo editing, look at old photo albums, talk about career options, go out to pizza, play boggle and speed, thrift store shop .. twice.. and watch lots of 30Rock and movies.

This week was so packed with the last beautiful days of summer. The weather feels fleeting this week and we've been trying to pack in the fun before the dreaded winter takes over life. We loved having my brother here and miss him already! Thanks for coming and helping us get out and have tons of fun!

Well, it's 10:00, I have to go watch Antonio, the winner of Design Star on his first show. Yeah! I did love Dan, but Antonio will be fun to watch. I have to admit that I have been secretly fawning over the orange/ white chairs he used in his final room last Sunday. I looked for a picture, but no love. You can't see how cool they were on the review shots. I LOVE these chairs and want them.

Wow, I can't stop posting poitical views...

I support Campaign For Liberty. I believe the American people have the right to know where our tax money is being spent.

If you agree:

(Contact your representative and senators and urge them to cosponsor HR 1207/S 604 if they have not yet done so. If they have already signed on, tell them it is imperative that Audit the Fed receive a standalone, up or down vote on its own merits. Full transparency in our nation's monetary system is too important to be a minor footnote in yet another massive Washington bill.)

I also believe that the health care "reform" Obama is suggesting doesn't give enough incentive for anyone to become a doctor. It takes away so many freedoms a doctor has. Doctors are the only profession in the United States whose salaries have steadily declined for decades. Interest rates on medical student loans are rising and spots for training programs are decreasing as well as funding for the training. Taxes for higher income earners are 40% and rising. Those who earn a higher income will have to pay for health insurance for the lower class through taxes AND health insurance for themselves. If the government mandates exactly how a doctor can practice and how much money he/she can make, where is the incentive? This is NOT capitalism and not American in my opinion. I think if we want to change the high costs of health care we need to start with Tort reform and make people more responsible for their own health. Sorry if that sounds selfish. I want to help people. I want to take care of the sick and the needy, but I don't think making the doctors the main martyrs is going to increase the quality of health care. Isn't quality of health care all about the quality of the providers?

I get so worked up and passionate about this stuff, sometimes I need a breather... :)

Ahh. ...

Oh what do you do in the wintertime?

That's been on my mind a lot this summer. How am I going to keep these boys entertained this winter when I can't take them to the park everyday??
Solution:

Insist.. with just a little bit of prodding.. that my handy hunky husband make us an indoor play structure. He had his good reasons for resisting.. ie; we're hopefully moving to a house sometime soon, it's a tiny room, we don't have the right tools.. etc. But in the end, he is the king, and made it happen. Thanks to our friend Rick who provided all the awesome equipment, even if the kitchen did turn into the tool shop/ garage. We do what we have to do don't we.

The first night we had one ladder built, do you think we could keep the boys off of it? No WAy! It's too fun!
I can't wait to get it all installed and show you the final result. I'm hoping it will relieve a lot of the dreaded winter blues.
Thanks Paul. You Rock!