Memorial Day

What a great weekend! I want to start off by saying "Thank You" to all of those men and women who have served or who are currently serving in the military. We owe so much to you.

Reid and I went back to Des Moines this weekend to spend some quality time with our families. We had the privilege of catching up with Reid's cousin Randy and his wife who are missionaries from Brazil. They are amazing people, and it was great to see them!

Reid has been pretty stressed out and busy studying for his board exam (he takes the big test on June 11th). Tonight we grilled out brats, but tomorrow we're having salmon. Here's a website I came across with some great recipes: http://www.trout-salmon-fishing.com/salmon-recipes.htm

Blog away hunger

Look what I found!

This is amazing!

http://brokeassgourmet.com/

Lisa's Lasagna

This recipe is for Reid's favorite lasagna...a special treat one of our friends from Central College used to make! Our friend sort of fell off the face of the Earth (long story), but this recipe surfaced when I was looking for a book today:

1 container ricotta cheese
2 eggs
1/4 cup Parmesan cheese
1 tbsp parsley

Mix above ingredients together

12 lasagna noodles
1 lb italian sausage
6 cups mozzarella cheese
5 cups spaghetti sauce (Prego)

Cook sausage. Make cheese mixture. Cook lasagna noodles until al dente. Spread 1 cup of sauce in the bottom of a 9x11 inch glass pan. Put noodles over sauce. Spread 1/2 ricotta cheese mix over noodles. Put 1/2 meat over cheese mix. Sprinkle 1-1.5 cups mozzarella cheese over sausage. Put 1 cup sauce evenly over cheese. Repeat once. Put down 1 layer noodles and then 1 cup sauce. Repeat. Top with rest of mozzarella & some Parmesan. Bake @ 350 for 1 hour.

As I'm reading this, I'm not sure it makes sense: sauce, noodles, mix, meat, mozz, sauce, noodles, mix, meat, mozz, noodles, sauce, noodles, sauce, mozz. Hmm!? Haha! Well, I just copied it straight from the paper :)

Bachelorette Time!

I had a great time this weekend with my favorite pharmacists in Des Moines. We stayed at Drury Inn & Suites, went to Blue Moon for dinner and music, then to West Cab and the new Wellman's. Two weeks until the wedding!

Update

Feeling much better: hives are gone, but still getting by with one contact in my eye. Reid has also been sick since last Friday. I feel bad because I don't really want to be around him since I'm on prednisone... We're just both kind of a mess right now! I blame it on stress... I think stress does weird things to our bodies. Hopefully this won't last much longer!

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My arm at 3 am this morning! Yikes!

Stump the M.D.

I woke up in the middle of the night last night with WORSE hives than before! I give up. I went to Student Health, and they seemed pretty confused. I guess the "eye problem" and the "hive problem" must be completely independent of one another even though they both started at the same time. I also had a fever, which threw them for a loop. The doc treated my hives, but sent me to my optometrist to see about my eye. He said it just looks inflamed, probably a virus. Mmkay. Well, I'm at home now trying to read Endo without my contacts in - basically my book is the only thing in the entire room that I can clearly see (when I hold it 5 inches from my face). I'm thinking Lasik wouldn't be a bad idea...

Funny: the nurse at student health freaked out when I said I didn't have glasses that I could wear, and I couldn' t just NOT wear my contacts (hellooo? I didn't get prescription lenses in my loupes, hun!) The MD said I should use eye drops also that she recommended, and that I should try to get glasses made ASAP. When I went to the optometrist he said 1) I shouldn't put any eye drops in, and 2) If I could get by with wearing just one contact in my "good" eye, then that would be good but not to worry if I have to wear them. I also asked him if I should rush order some glasses, and he thought that was a pretty ridiculous idea.

Back to Endo....

Pretty in Pink

It's the last night of my 4 day weekend. I managed to survive the last few finals of spring semester, and now we are on to summer session! We started Endo last week, and it was surprisingly fun.

I stopped by Marshalltown to see Judy, Sue and Grandma before heading to Des Moines. Mom and I enjoyed some much needed quality time together. This morning, though, I woke up with a crusty swollen shut eye. Great. Thinking it was probably allergies, I jumped out of bed to take some Claritin. It was on my way back to bed when I saw that I was covered in hives. I'm going to blame it on the scallops I ate last night.

I then took some Benadryl, and headed downstairs to nap in front of the TV. As of now, the hives are pretty much gone, but my left eye is still itchy and gross. I really hope it's not pink-eye. I took out my contacts, which is why I'm sitting approximately 2 feet from my TV watching Platinum Weddings.

Almost there!

Two finals down, one to go. Then a 4 day weekend!!! I miss the days when "finals" meant summer break was just around the corner. Ok, I'll try to be more positive.

I went to a Yoga class Sunday afternoon to relieve some of my pre-test anxiety. Every single muscle fiber in my entire body is sore. It requires so much energy to move!!! How am I going to assist tomorrow?? Haha. Definitely should have thought about this beforehand! The class was fun and refreshing...but reminded me of how out of "yoga" shape I am :)

I had some trouble with this pose! Ha! I tried, though!

Chairs

Found the chairs they used! This website also has really good prices on a lot of things.

A Place to Sit

I've been thinking a lot about how to arrange and decorate my new apartment. I posted the other day about a design that involved lots of shelving and a long multi-purpose table. After looking through a bunch of sets online, I found some tables that I liked. However, I wasn't too crazy about the chairs. Plus, I want 6 chairs...and that gets expensive! Problem solved: DIY folding chairs. Just happened to stumble upon this gem on (what else) ApartmentTherapy.com.

Rush

Good point, Mr. Limbaugh (see YouTube video -- someone posted this video on Facebook).

Also: Congrats, Reid, on being elected President of the Iowa Medical Society Student Section!

Margaritas tonight when I should be studying Pharmacology? Don't mind if I do. Check out this recipe for Margarita Cupcakes from RecipeGirl.com:

Decorating ideas for my new place

I thoroughly enjoy this workspace I stumbled upon @ apartmenttherapy.com. Originally, I was thinking of trying to divide my new space into an office in one corner, a "living space" in the center, and a "dining room" at the other end. This makes so much more sense: take over one wall with shelving which can hold all of my books + laptop and invest in a long-ish table (dinner parties!) which can serve double duty as my desk.

I probably wouldn't go with cardboard boxes, but I do like these shelves from Home Depot. Now I just need to find the perfect table!

Turkey Burgers and Good News

I found out yesterday that I will receive $5,000 in research funding for this summer! I couldn't be happier :) My project this year will involve testing the Midwest Caries I.D. caries detection device.

Here is the delicious turkey burger "recipe" that I used Monday night:
1 lb ground turkey
2 cloves of garlic put through the garlic press
1 egg
Seasoned bread crumbs (I think the idea is to balance the liquid and solid ingredients so you get the right texture)
Salt & pepper
Steak seasoning (a teaspoon or so)
Worcestershire Sauce (more than a few drops, maybe like 5 good shakes)
A few squirts of BBQ sauce

I cooked the patties on my cast iron grill skillet until they seemed firm in the center. Don't over cook them because they will dry up. I served them on hamburger buns with pepper-jack cheese and BBQ sauce. Yum!!

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This is what I want to be doing right now!! Haha!

Breakfast casserole

This is my favorite breakfast casserole recipe:

2 lbs. pork sausage (1 hot, 1 mild)
3 c. milk
1 tsp. salt
1 1/2 c. shredded cheddar cheese
9 eggs, beaten
1 1/2 tsp. dry mustard
1 sm. bag Ore Ida hash browns

Cook sausage over medium heat until done, stirring to crumble. Drain well on paper towels, set aside. In same skillet, brown hash browns, over medium heat. Combine sausage, hash browns and remaining ingredients, mixing well. Pour into a well greased 13 x 9 x 2 inch baking pan. Refrigerate covered, overnight. Bake at 350 degrees for 1 hour.

Ten days!

Ten more days until our four day break! And only five more until NO MORE pharmacology :) We have a final in Sedation on Wednesday, then the last Pharmacology test on Friday. The following week, we just have the Removable Partial Dentures final on Tuesday and Radiology final on Wednesday. We start two new classes this week: Esthetic Dentistry and Endodontics. Also, I should find out this week if I get summer research funding!

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Tommy Toothache and Molly Molar!

Kitty!

I've been considering adopting a cat when I move into my new pet-friendly apartment this summer. The big move is still 3 months away, but I can't stop browsing Petfinder.com! It's getting so bad that I'm actually thinking about going to the shelter, adopting, and just asking them to hang onto my new furry friend until I change digs. Mmmmm....they're sooo cute!


This is Rhett....adorable: http://www.petfinder.com/petdetail/16294301

Leo....I'm in love: http://www.petfinder.com/petdetail/15141901

Bella...what a sweetie: http://www.petfinder.com/petdetail/16116010