So Long Anonymity

By my calculations Keith and I have been BB inhabitants for precisely 18 months. That has been sufficient time to get settled into the community and to make a few dear friends. It has also been enough time for a good proportion of Broken Bow-ites to have needed our services in the clinic or ER, and thus recognize us in the streets.

As the "homemaker" of our domicile I am generally the one out doing errands and jaunting about town. It is not uncommon on these escapades for me to be stopped by a patient, or a patient's family member when they have a question or comment about their medical condition. I always thought when I went into medicine that this would not bother me. I felt that I liked helping people, and if I had to sacrifice a few personal minutes out of my day to do that, so be it-- it would be enjoyable. What I didn't fully conceptualize was the types of things people would stop me about and the completely inconvenient times they would stop me.

For example, yesterday I had a 30 minute slot between patients when I planned to pop down to the hospital's annual rummage sale and hunt for treasures. I scarcely passed through the doors when a patient cut me off to ask me about her husband's recent blood work. "What were the numbers?" she demanded. I was torn between repeating a conversation with her which I had had on MANY occasions versus finding cool, cheap stuff. Of course I did my best to answer her questions.

When I finally elbowed my way past all the elderly thrifters and their shopping carts to the back of the rummage sale (where the books and LPs are) a woman identifying herself as a neighbor (I am learning that anyone in a 1/2mile radius is a neighbor) stopped me to talk about her husband whom I had pronounced dead in the hospital. I nodded sympathetically then awkwardly went back to sifting through the LPs.

The next day, equally as hurried, I planned a quick stop at the grocery store. As I was loading up on sale peppers a patient's mother veered out of her way to come talk to me about her son. I had seen him in the ER the night before, and he was still hurting. This was a 28 year old man who had twisted his ankle when he hopped out of his pick-up truck. He was just certain he had broken it even though all of his x-rays were normal. She wanted to let me know that the 800mg of ibuprofen wasn't touching the pain, and he wanted to be re-evaluated for a fracture (I'll have to make a separate post someday about the incredible wimpiness of 20-something year old males). When I started to offer suggestions the mother told me that she didn't necessarily want me to do anything, she just wanted to share. I simply looked at her, silently wondering why she felt this was an appropriate vegetable department conversation.

My anonymity is a thing of the past. My medical school ideals of being available to those who needed me at any given time still exist, but the problem is that a rummage sale or a grocery store are simply not practical places to diagnose and treat, and unfortunately too many people somehow feel it is okay to infringe on my personal time for relatively trivial problems.

If I could send a message to all Broken-Bowans it would be this: I cannot diagnose your daughter's knee injury when she is not even present. You are lucky if I can remember your name much less you husbands blood work. And I find it terribly awkward to discuss your continued rectal pain and bleeding in the supermarket. Please take note.

Another Birthday

I guess all my complaining last year about not being spoiled on my birthday did the trick (thank goodness Keith cares not about the effects of positive reinforcement on whiny behaviors). This year not only did I get a delicious homemade meal, but I also got homemade cupcakes! Look at the care and love he is putting into those little gems. They were superb!

Look What My Worms Made!/Vacation

I'm glad someone has been working hard around here, because lately it has not been me and Keith. While we were on our mountain getaway, the worms have been working hard for us. Beautiful compost to make Terry green with envy! My garden is going to be awesome this year.

Keith and I were in Crested Butte Colorado last week. We had a fantastic (and much needed) vacation. Although the 9 hour car ride with methane producing beasts was not enviable, the skiing, snowshoeing, scenery, food and friends were superb!
See Bryan, skiers and snowboarders can get along (Not sure what's wrong w/my face here)


Bryan and Christa


Where did this doggie come from? His tag said "Wiggle Butt" which I though was rather demeaning.


Marie, Thad and Espera




It was a dog heavy week. There are actually 4 dogs back there, but I think Lucy and Thena are crushing the others.

Home Design Update

Once, a long, long time ago, someone requested that I post more pictures of our house after we had a chance to decorate it. As it turns out, Keith and I enjoy watching the Daily Show and reading books far more than we like home decorating, so many a moon has passed w/o such a post. Recently I have decided to work in ernest on getting things done around here though (my goal is to get things just the way I want them just in time to have to move). Today I am happy to announce that things are sailing along. Exactly one and a half years after we took up residence here, our living room is finally starting to look finished, and our bedroom is looking good.

Here are a few of the lessons I have learned along the way:

1) I suck at home decorating. There is nary an item in this house that is actually residing in the place I planned for it. Invariably it does not look good were I envisioned it, and it has to be shuffled. Luckily our house is big, and I can usually find another suitable place for things. The only flaw in this strategy is that it cannot last forever once the last possible space is occupied.

2) Things you see online are never what they appear -- always get a swatch first, stupid. Along those same lines, just because you know what color "flax" is does not mean Restoration Hardware does.

3) Keith does not like anything I pick, so if I really want it, I shouldn't ask his opinion.

4) Home design consultants may actually be worth their exorbitant fees if they can keep you from blowing a thousand bucks on a wool rug at overstock that doesn't really go with anything in your house, and you can't figure out how to get said rug back in the packaging to return it.

Anyway, enjoy these pics. I must say, I do not really think the bedroom photo really does the space justice. In real life it's pretty awesome -- and finished!





By the way, anybody have a good idea as to what to put above the fireplace? I'm leaning toward a western theme: either a picture of bison in the snow I have seen at a local shop or maybe even a stuffed deer head mount (Keith is against the latter). Thoughts?

Look at my awesome new pants!

The sole purpose of the post is to show all who are interested (and who wouldn't be) how great Keith looks in his new pants/sweater combo. I am proud to say that for the first time in weeks he was actually too hot at work, and this allowed him to shed his sad, worn-out, and full of little lint balls hoodie. Yay, long skinny pants!

The worst thing about eczema

This winter has been incredibly cold (-30 w/wind chill the other day). What is perhaps worse though is how dry it has been. Over the years I have been annoyed on and off by a tiny patch of eczema on the lateral aspect of my middle finger. With this extra dry weather coupled with having to wash my hands umpteen times a day to rid them of germs and doggie stink, my eczema is spreading. Now the whole middle digit is red and cracked and stinging like crazy. I'm also getting textbook antecubital fossa involvement. So, to treat it I have taken to wearing a glove on my right hand at night in order to get the steroid cream and emollient to absorb better. This is the worst part of having eczema -- operating my laptop mouse with a glove doesn't work, so I am forced to navigate left handed. Difficult. Yes I realize that if this is my biggest concern, then I have a nice life indeed.

With the cold weather hitting this weekend and Keith being on call, I spent most of the weekend baking cookies. This crazy cookie lady motivated this madness, which will likely never be repeated in this house. Co-workers are getting a variety of delectable cookies though, and I too made biscotti, and it is awesome. It was so hard to wrap it up and not eat half of it in the process.

Tomorrow I will try to post pictures of Keith in his awesome new, long enough and not too baggy and super good deal cords and nice wool sweater which will hopefully keep him from complaining so much about the cold weather. These were his early Christmas gift. And kudos to Kat for helping me find the handful of places that actually sell Gautreaux sized slacks.

Born To Hand Jive

If you had a special talent would you show it off every day, seeking attention and praise? Well if you were smart you would save that special talent for a very special day in which you could shock your peers, stun your wife and win a $50 prize. What I am speaking of friends is Keith's dance, hand jive and gymnastics talents. Who knew he could cartwheel?

As you can see Keith and I dressed as Greasers for Halloween this year. As it turned out another couple tried to steal our idea and they too showed up as Sandra D and Danny. Big mistake for them. Their costumes were obviously unmotivated, cheap internet versions while ours were creative, homemade duds. For some reason though, the judges seemed torn between the two duos for the "best couple costume", and they decided to have a dance off to determine who would get the prize. Poor other vinyl T-bird jacket greasers. They simply did not stand a chance. You see, not  only did Keith and I just have our first country swing dance class (easy enough to embellish into a fifties style swing), but 6 foot 4 inch Keith has also got some mad cartwheelin' skills. Needless to say, we departed victorious with some fancy T-shirts (mine has a topless hula dancer on the front) and a $50 gift certificate. 

Hand Jive!

Here's a picture of some other best costume winners: our neighbors kids won "scariest" and "most original" for their zombie and Oscar the Grouch costumes. So cute!