I can't think of anything creative to call this blog post.

Har har har - pardon the curse word.

I have a few important things coming up in the forms of exams and projects, but when I get home from working all day in clinic (and even more so after the ER), I really don't feel like studying right away.

So why not take this time to write another blog post? Good idea!

Miss. Thing and I are currently in a fight due to her tendency towards insisting on waking me up at 4am to go outside. While I would normally forgive her for this because she may need to pee, I cannot understand how she believes it's OK to wake me at 4am to EAT GRASS.

Pretty much sums it up.

This may bring to mind an image of me, half asleep in my housecoat, with flip flops, out in the back yard with a tiny dim flashlight, praying no cougars/meese/deer/raccoons/bears/insert animal(s) are nearby to eat my dear Princess, cursing at Miss. Thing in a hushed angry voice, saying something along the lines of "Are you KIDDING me right now? Get inside!" between muffled grumbles and scoffs.

Well, much to your entertainment, that image would be pretty accurate. 

Furthermore, she has declared both of my pillows hers and decides right before we go to sleep is when she would like to bring every single one of her babies into the bedroom and have a crocodile-death-roll style battle on the bed. 

Isn't. she. cute. 

We're gonna have a talk about her attitude, her and I.

I forgot to update that I've also become a gardener in the past few weeks. Or at least, I have become someone who can grow things in pots. This is a revelation for me, considering my experience with growing things has most often resulted in pots of dead things lying around my house, with a grumbling Mr shaking his head and green thumb at me.

Let's face it, I only keep things alive that can actually make noise and remind me they exist. Hence, dogs. (And a Husband, I suppose). 

I digress.

(You're surprised?)

So I've been growing a butter lettuce, some rosemary and some parsley. And I suppose an orchid, but I can't keep those damn things alive no matter what I do (hardy, my ass).

Wow, that's a beautiful lettuce.

Rose and Ley.

I'm having no trouble picking little pieces off of both Rose and Ley in my cooking, and they make the meals sooo aromatic. 

The lettuce, dubbed Letty, however, is another story.

How do people raise pigs or chickens or cows and then EAT THEM? I have become so close with my Letty, the very thought of eating it brings me sadness. 

The Mr. assures me that it will be delicious, but all I can think of is the hours (OK, minutes) I've spent caring and loving (read: watering every third day) and the relationship we have, Letty and I. 

And when does one know that it is time to cut the lettuce and turn it into just one salad to be enjoyed at just one meal? It's utter madness, if you ask me.

Alright, I'm successfully on Oreo number three and the dogs are staring at me. I'm sure they're thinking, "Not another night on the computer. Boring." 

Which unfortunately, it might be. My nights are about as exciting as a load of laundry, and in fact, that's usually what I'm doing each night considering how much the Mr. accumulates over one week. Yeesh, I think he makes more laundry than I do.

I don't feel I've adequately discussed my recent time in the ER though, and so I thought I would share my increasingly cynical (and potentially offensive, haha) thoughts on the subject. 

Here's a few things the emergency room is NOT:

1. A "quicker" version of a walk-in clinic for your birth control refill or sore throat

2. A surgical-referral-providing service for your chronic hernia that has been "bothering" you by "coming out"

3. A place to ask for an MRI for your chronic back pain

4. A place to go when you're drunk and feel like being an idiot to the staff

This list could go on forever.

I have considered beginning each encounter with:

"Hi, I'm your emergency room student physician. What is your emergency today?"

But, I thought that maybe it might come off a bit harsh?

However, the oddity of presentations in the emergency room is quite entertaining at times, so I'll share a few of the choice examples from my experience:

- Man presenting with 30 years of chronic back pain who "cannot wait any more!"

- Presenting after a loud noise at work "really got to him"

- Three days after "a bug flew into my ear" and could we please look in the ear?

And probably the best so far, brought to you by your ever-sarcastic clinical clerk host:

- Three day history of diarrhea and vomiting after kissing 20 horses and one dog who also had diarrhea (yes, this happened) 

So keep in mind, fellow citizens, when you next choose to utilize your emergency room at your local hospital (to which you are totally entitled), do us all a favor and consider, "is this really an emergency?"

And for those of you thinking, "She's so cranky and bitter about the ER," it may sound that way. But in all reality, I do love working ER, and if it weren't for those somewhat silly presentations at 2am, I would only maybe get more sleep. No big deal really.


Haha, kidding. I do love it. Honest.

Alright, enough about that. Venting complete. 

On a lighter note, the photoshoot with the fam-damily went really really great on Saturday. The photographer was very sweet and funny, and the dogs felt right at home with her playing Jack Johnson on her iPhone during the shoot. They all smiled and sat nicely and I'm sure we're going to have great photos :)

The rest of this weekend was equally as nice, and twice as relaxing as the weekends in past have been. We had a nice afternoon on Saturday drinking and sunning on our balcony, had some friends over that evening for drinks and snacks, and settled into bed at a decent hour. Sunday we went on a nice bike ride, which was actually pretty hard work with all those hills, even my teeth were tired afterwards.  

I mean to keep mentioning that I've realized that clerkship does not equal crafting, sewing or doing any fun creative pursuits. This saddens me, and makes my inner creative monster sad. My sewing machine sits sadly in the office, all alone and waiting to be used. I keep telling myself I'll get to it, but between everything I'm doing and sleeping, it just hasn't made the cut so far.

Hence, there are no crafts discussed on the blog for the past few weeks. Hopefully, I'll get some time to do something creative soon, and then I'll return to our regularly scheduled programming of clerkship, canines AND crafts.  

However, I seriously suppose I should get something productive done this evening, and so away I go into the world of real responsibilities.

Until next time.

A latte love,

C