The Top 5

Once upon a time a long time ago, I compiled a list of reasons that I would someday like to be married. Here are The Top 5:

1. It would be nice to have someone to help me make big decisions (like the whole house buying/apartment leasing/condo buying dilemma that I am currently faced with). Having someone to help me make the decision is also handy from the aspect that if something goes wrong, he's there to help share the blame.
2. He could balance the checkbook. I'm no slacker when it comes to personal finances, but once something goes wrong with that crazy little checkbook I can never seem to find my way out. And my patience only lasts about 2 1/2 minutes. So he could take over this little chore with my hearty approval. I wouldn't even check up on him.
3. Vehicle maintenance. Since you understand that I am female, this one necessitates little explanation. I can take the car in for oil changes, tire rotations, and the like but I don't want to deal with anything else. Hence, I now have a personal rule that every vehicle I drive has to be under warranty. Being married could definitely save me money on this one.
4. A dual income. Right now I have a dual income due to the fact that I work two jobs. A dual income is a lot easier to come by when you have two people working. Amen? Amen.
5. Love. Yes, even I can be a little sappy. :-)

The Perfect Day

I'll have to make this apology just once - since I have no kids to talk about, I'll probably talk about my job too much. Oh well...at least I like my job!
Today I had pretty much The Perfect Day. I got there right on time (which is a feat in and of itself) and there were some doses for me to draw. Almost everything that we send out is injectible so we call it "drawing doses". I got that out of the way with just a minor mess. A minor mess is when I just have a couple of spots of contamination in my work area. Contamination is stray radioactivity. Basically it means that I blopped some droplets around (droplets so small that I didn't even see them fly). That took just a couple of minutes to clean up and then I headed into the office. The first thing I usually do is take a little coffee break and check out some of my friends' blogs. I got that done and since today was a billing day, I spent a couple of hours checking prices, checking return credits, printing the bills, and then getting them mailed, filed, etc. After that I took a delivery to an account that is about 65 miles away and when I got back to the pharmacy it was time to go home.
I love days like that! I'm busy all day and I get to do a little something in just about every area of our practice. I also love the driving part. Today was a little cold, but the sun was out (thank you, Lord!) so I got to wear my sunglasses and even crack the window a bit. I love that solar energy that heats the car even when it's below freezing outside.
This evening has been great, too. I met my sister, my niece, and my g-ma at church right after work because it's our week to clean. So we visited while we scrubbed, mopped, and vacuumed. I always enjoy the time I get to spend with them. Then I headed off for my run, had some dinner and I have the whole rest of the evening to blog, catch up on phone calls, or even just be totally lazy. This is the one evening all week that I get to laze now that I have the two jobs. Let's just say that I look forward to Tuesdays! I just might even go to bed early...
*Those of you who know me well know that the going to bed early thing is so not something that I ever do! :-)

Modified Eskimo Kissie

This is my niece, Whitney, giving me her version of an Eskimo Kissie. Instead of the usual nose rubbing she decided to just push our cheeks and noses together. This was a couple of weeks ago when I was at her house to celebrate her 4th birthday. I have to say that in this season of cold/flu/stomach viruses that I didn't mind the modification one little bit!

Here's a picture of the little princess with her castle cake. Good job, Valerie! The cakes get better every year.

New Medical Terms

I have now completed more than a week of my half-marathon training. So far it's been cake, one or two miles at a time. Pretty easy stuff, except that the weather has been a bit chilly. For our two miler on Saturday morning it was only 21 degrees. I used to have a rule that I would only go out for a run if it was above freezing. So much for that one! Anyway, these cold runs have prompted the creation of two new medical terms:
C.R.L. = Cold Run Lung. This is the phenomenon that occurs when you run in the cold and have a wheezy cough for the rest of the day. I am especially prone to this one.
F.S.S. = Frozen Snot Syndrome. This one was originally F.S.A. (Frozen Snot Asphyxiation). However, we (Autumn & I) determined that humans do not actually die from the cold air freezing their snot, so the 'asphyxiation' term was replaced by 'syndrome'.
All in all, the cold is a little uncomfortable to run in but it is so worth it. I can't wait for the race!

Singleness

This little comic comes compliments of Erin. Thanks for the giggle!

I have another single friend that recently shared this man-catching wisdom from her grandfather: Go out and buy a pair of pants the same size as the man you would like to marry. Bring them home and hang them on your bedpost. See what happens!

Evidently you're supposed to dream of the man you will marry or he will magically appear or some such thing.

Somebody try it and let me know what happens! My bed doesn't have posts so I'm out of luck!

Glutton For Punishment vs. Workaholic

Neither title sounds very complimentary, but I've decided that one or the other of them probably applies to me. I have a full time job that I really enjoy. It comes with a regular daytime, no weekends or evenings schedule, it's challenging and I have great guys to work with. But you know, there's always that drive to make a little more $$ and hopefully afford a house, a trip to Europe, and a trip to Hawaii this year. So, enter the Second Job. I am a pro at this lifestyle. For the space of about 5 years I was dually employed (yes, I'll admit that it's hard for me to sit still for any length of time). For part of those years I was still only working about 40 hours a week and the other part of that time I was working an insane 55-65 hours a week. This time around I decided that I would like to work in a retail pharmacy so that I could experience that side of the business. I also decided that I could only handle an additional 12 hours a week. So far the new boss has had a bit of a problem understanding the 12 hour limit, but I think we're finally talking the same language. And a nice thing about the whole deal is that I really like the job. I had missed working with the public (although I didn't realize it until I was behind a cash register again). So far a lot of what I do is count pills, unpack shipments, and a little customer service. I think the worst part is going to be learning all the in's and out's of insurance. Yuck.
We'll see how it goes!

It's Official!

Training for the Indy Mini has officially begun! I went to an informative (and totally scary) meeting last week. I got a training manual that is no less than 70 pages long and a huge case of the nerves. So I dutifully wrote my miles in my calendar and started yesterday. My friend Autumn is doing the program with me and she is not a runner at all. But I am proud to say that she made it through her first mile yesterday - in spite of the cold, rain, and drunk/maybe just nutso college guys hanging out at the track - she hung in there for 4 miserable laps! Kudos to you, Autumn!
Today I struck out alone. All I needed to do was one mile (they are definitely starting us out slow and easy). I dressed appropriately - or so I thought. I usually walk about 1/3 of a mile to a pleasant road here in town where I have my mileage all looped out. I completed my walk there without incident and began to run. That's when the problems started. Evidently this new pair of pants that I want to use for running are much more suited to lounging/pajama-ing. Let's just say that I could feel some major slippage on the Back 40 and ran the entire mile with one hand or the other clutching my waistband. Thank goodness this was just an on-my-own run and not one of the group training sessions. Yikes! Note to self - run in place for 5 minutes before leaving the house in new running attire!

You're Rich!

My little niece Madi has this new saying, "You're rich!". She gives you the little thumbs up sign and belts it out. I think she means, "You're cool!" or maybe even a different version of, "I love you!" but I'm not sure. All I know is that she's cute when she says it and it always makes me laugh. At first my reaction was, "Child if you only knew... I am so not rich!" Since she said it to me just this evening I've been mulling it over a little bit and I've come to a new conclusion. I am rich. Perhaps not financially, but what right have I got to complain? My Lord always supplies my needs. And He has been more than gracious with me. I am often surrounded by family and precious friends. I have the treasure of salvation and the hope of heaven. I have a warm home and a car to drive (car = independence; independence = joy!). I belong to a loving and caring church family and I have many opportunities to serve. Blessings and answered prayers abound.

I haven't really made any New Year's resolutions this year, but I have decided one thing - I'm going to keep concentrating on a particular lesson the Lord had been teaching me in 2006 (even before Madi said it), I'm rich! If I focus on the great amount of good and wonderful things that the Lord has done for me and provided for me, I don't have time for all the worry and care that tends to bend my shoulders. I have nothing to complain about and oh so much to be thankful for.

God is good all the time; all the time, God is good.