I just received my first year clinical assignment and I'm having a bit of a panic attack. Not in a totally bad way. More like, "Oh my God, it's finally happening" way. I know that I have been planning for this next phase for some time now, but I'm still a little in denial about what is to come. A little denial is good I suppose for sanity sake.
Anyway, my first assignment is PECE-Pact. It's a program designed and run by one of WSU's faculty members. After some cursory research, my understanding of the program is that it focuses on reducing the prevalance of conduct disorder (a precursor to antisocial personalities - scary stuff - think Charles Manson, one of my cousins, and probably any dirtbag you know) by working on empathy, anger management, etc. I am thrilled about the assignment as it will be very interesting.
Now I have to get malpractice insurance. Oy Vey!
Saturday, July 28, 2007
Friday, July 27, 2007
Time Flies
First and foremost, some announcements:
Happy birthday to my brother-in-law Sean. That's Uncle Big Sean, not Uncle Little Sean for those who are curious. He turns 36 tomorrow.
Good luck to my brillant niece Clare who will be competing in the beginners division of the Irish Dance competition next weekend at the Dublin Irish Festival. She will be dancing the jig and the reel. Honestly, I have no idea what those are (besides dances) but I will be at Dublin High School Saturday morning with all the Micks, Half-Micks, and Mick-Wannabes cheering on my favorite 6-year-old. Join us if you are up for good beer, bland food and fun times. Erin Go Braugh!
Now onto the blog:
I just looked at the calendar and realized that it's the end of July. Good grief. Where did the summer go? Where did the year go? I remember talking with Jen when I left Davey last summer about all the stuff I wanted to do in that year and how I was unsure of how I would deal with all the time off. You were right Jen. Time did fly by so fast and no, I didn't get as much finished as I wanted (though the grad school process and moving are pretty big accomplishments). TIme did fly. Especially the last two weeks. Caring for my mom and Maddie I suppose did make it go by faster.
My mom is healing well. Lindsey just came to pick her up from my place where she has been staying for the last week. She still isn't able to walk around for very long. But she's getting there.
So, on the the next tasks - finding after school care for Moops, final touches on the house, setting up the kick-ass media room. - Oh, and celebrating my 31st birthday on August 1 (hint, hint). :)
Happy birthday to my brother-in-law Sean. That's Uncle Big Sean, not Uncle Little Sean for those who are curious. He turns 36 tomorrow.
Good luck to my brillant niece Clare who will be competing in the beginners division of the Irish Dance competition next weekend at the Dublin Irish Festival. She will be dancing the jig and the reel. Honestly, I have no idea what those are (besides dances) but I will be at Dublin High School Saturday morning with all the Micks, Half-Micks, and Mick-Wannabes cheering on my favorite 6-year-old. Join us if you are up for good beer, bland food and fun times. Erin Go Braugh!
Now onto the blog:
I just looked at the calendar and realized that it's the end of July. Good grief. Where did the summer go? Where did the year go? I remember talking with Jen when I left Davey last summer about all the stuff I wanted to do in that year and how I was unsure of how I would deal with all the time off. You were right Jen. Time did fly by so fast and no, I didn't get as much finished as I wanted (though the grad school process and moving are pretty big accomplishments). TIme did fly. Especially the last two weeks. Caring for my mom and Maddie I suppose did make it go by faster.
My mom is healing well. Lindsey just came to pick her up from my place where she has been staying for the last week. She still isn't able to walk around for very long. But she's getting there.
So, on the the next tasks - finding after school care for Moops, final touches on the house, setting up the kick-ass media room. - Oh, and celebrating my 31st birthday on August 1 (hint, hint). :)
Tuesday, July 17, 2007
A shorty
Just took a break from all the chaos to write. My mom is having surgery tomorrow so we'll be commuting back and forth for the next couple weeks to see that she heals properly. Given that the doctors have estimated a 6-week recovery period and she seems to think she'll be up again in one, it should be interesting. Anyway, please keep her (and the rest of us) in your thoughts.
Also, welcome back to the good old U.S.A., Lennox family! Enjoy your brief respite from the tropical paradise that is the Marshall Islands. Enjoy the splendor of ice cream and Walmart. :)
Also, welcome back to the good old U.S.A., Lennox family! Enjoy your brief respite from the tropical paradise that is the Marshall Islands. Enjoy the splendor of ice cream and Walmart. :)
Saturday, July 7, 2007
I think I will get married again soon ...
... or "Ewwwwww, Gross."
Okay, as many of you know, in the course of my relationship with Kevin, I handled most of the grown-up stuff - finances, planning, legal stuff, slaughtering the Jurassic Park sized spiders that gave him the creeps. Kev handled a lot of the fun stuff, with one exception. He took care of the gross stuff. Not the, "Oops, the baby stinks," stuff (though he did do his share of that. I'm talking about the really disgusting stuff, like mice in the garage. No, this is not about mice. You know this, because if it were, I would have called each and every one of you to come deal with it before wasting any time on this blog. I have a deathly fear of rodents. It's a problem, I know. I'm working on it. I'm going to grad school just to figure out why. ;)
No, this is about a bird (a rat with wings, so not much different than a mouse). To be more accurate, it's actually about pieces of a bird. It would seem that my monster of a deck (it is quite large) is so big that it interrupts the flight pattern of the birds of Beavercreek. Erin, if you had your bird guide, you could help me identify the pieces. Yes, the pieces.
I went to let the dog out and she was distracted by something so I followed to investigate. First, I saw the feathers. And then more feathers. And still even more feathers. Then streaks of blood across the handrail of the deck. The other pieces were scattered in the backyard.
Yes, I shrieked like a little girl, gagged and ran in the house. No, I haven't cleaned it up. I'm still trying to suppress the queasiness to tackle it.
So, I'm thinking of getting married again just to have some other grown up here to clean up the gross stuff. Wait a minute - I have a kid. Maddie has a new chore. :)
Okay, as many of you know, in the course of my relationship with Kevin, I handled most of the grown-up stuff - finances, planning, legal stuff, slaughtering the Jurassic Park sized spiders that gave him the creeps. Kev handled a lot of the fun stuff, with one exception. He took care of the gross stuff. Not the, "Oops, the baby stinks," stuff (though he did do his share of that. I'm talking about the really disgusting stuff, like mice in the garage. No, this is not about mice. You know this, because if it were, I would have called each and every one of you to come deal with it before wasting any time on this blog. I have a deathly fear of rodents. It's a problem, I know. I'm working on it. I'm going to grad school just to figure out why. ;)
No, this is about a bird (a rat with wings, so not much different than a mouse). To be more accurate, it's actually about pieces of a bird. It would seem that my monster of a deck (it is quite large) is so big that it interrupts the flight pattern of the birds of Beavercreek. Erin, if you had your bird guide, you could help me identify the pieces. Yes, the pieces.
I went to let the dog out and she was distracted by something so I followed to investigate. First, I saw the feathers. And then more feathers. And still even more feathers. Then streaks of blood across the handrail of the deck. The other pieces were scattered in the backyard.
Yes, I shrieked like a little girl, gagged and ran in the house. No, I haven't cleaned it up. I'm still trying to suppress the queasiness to tackle it.
So, I'm thinking of getting married again just to have some other grown up here to clean up the gross stuff. Wait a minute - I have a kid. Maddie has a new chore. :)
Knee High By 4th of July ...
... or "Make New Friends and Keep the Old ..."
*** WARNING: This is a long one. And pics will follow later ***
Life for the Pfirrman girls has been busy - I know, I'm sounding like a broken record. But it's true nonetheless. The holiday weekend brought with it quite a bit of activity. Not exactly the holiday itself, mind you. We spent most of the fourth locked in the house. I am taking a neuropsychology class this summer as a prereq for the grad program. And since I had three tests this week, I was hurriedly trying to memorize the parts of a neuron and the operation of the sodium-potassium pump that facilitates neural activity. WAKE UP!! I know you all dozed off for a minute. Except you, Jen Brann. :)
After knocking out chapter after chapter of exciting material, Miss M and I went to the Beavercreek July 4 parade. It pails in comparison to the Loveland parade that we have been going to for the last few years, in part because they were not allowed to throw candy and there was no music. My favorite part of the parade was the Beavercreek Citizens on Patrol car. I kept waiting for Hightower and that guy who does the beat boxing to step out (vague Police Academy reference for you non-movie buffs). We also went to the Beavercreek festival, which amounted to two food booths run by the Boy Scouts and a band.
After all that fun, we joined some of my new neighbors to watch the fireworks. That's right, you can sit on their deck (and mine too) and see a fantastic fireworks show. Not just the city's fireworks, but all the neighbors' as well. And since most of the families in the neighborhood are part of the military, the fireworks take on a whole new tone. Let's just say, at one point dynamite was used and I got to watch the fireworks with night vision googles.
It was great to meet some new people. To make it an even better night, no one asked the question that generally stops all normal conversation around me - "So where's your husband?" I think the old owners filled them in.
Friday we went down to Loveland stay with Erin and Pat for two reasons (well, three if you count the fact that we love the Hoopers). First, Erin planned a going away dinner for us. Some of my favorite women (Molly, Ali, Aunt Judy, Julia, Kelly, Erin, Maddie and Peyton) took us to the Iron Chef. As always, I was very pleased to be in the company of such fabulous chicks.
Friday also brought with it the best part of the holiday. The Clymers came to town. Actually, they came to Erin's too. For those who don't know - the Clymers include one of my best friends in the entire world - Kelly - and her husband Jamie and their daughter Peyton. It was so much fun spending time with them. And although the genetically enginered super corn is taller than knee high, Miss Peyton, who celebrated her first birthday in April fits the saying well. (Pictures to come later).
A little back story (if you know this already, or if I lost you at the talk of neurons, feel free to skip ahead): In addition to my sister, Erin and Kelly are two women who I feel are essential to my life. I met Kelly during orientation week at Kent after she saw me running at the track and stalked me. :) Kelly was a jumper on the Kent track team. As for Erin, Kent State finally got something right when they assigned us to the same room. We were all kind of inseparable after that.
These are the two women who knew me when. One of us can say, "'Member when?" and the other two will know exactly what she is talking about. They loved me when I drank Pepsi and ate toast for breakfast and still do when I run on about why we should all be eating organic foods now. I know that they love to shop, particularly for bargains, so I go to Gabes with them. They know that my tolerance for it is low and they don't mind too much when I start to whine and beg for lunch. They are ones can make any situation feel like home for me. After Kevin died, they were among the first five calls that I made and they didn't hestitate to jump on planes to be by my side.
And while I adore the almost 14-year history that I have with them, I think I love observing the women we are becoming even more. Watching Kelly coo over Peyton makes me smile as much as watching Erin take charge now does. And even though we live far apart and don't see one another as often as we would all like, when we do get together it's as comforting and fun as it has always been.
Happy 4th everyone.
Jami
*** WARNING: This is a long one. And pics will follow later ***
Life for the Pfirrman girls has been busy - I know, I'm sounding like a broken record. But it's true nonetheless. The holiday weekend brought with it quite a bit of activity. Not exactly the holiday itself, mind you. We spent most of the fourth locked in the house. I am taking a neuropsychology class this summer as a prereq for the grad program. And since I had three tests this week, I was hurriedly trying to memorize the parts of a neuron and the operation of the sodium-potassium pump that facilitates neural activity. WAKE UP!! I know you all dozed off for a minute. Except you, Jen Brann. :)
After knocking out chapter after chapter of exciting material, Miss M and I went to the Beavercreek July 4 parade. It pails in comparison to the Loveland parade that we have been going to for the last few years, in part because they were not allowed to throw candy and there was no music. My favorite part of the parade was the Beavercreek Citizens on Patrol car. I kept waiting for Hightower and that guy who does the beat boxing to step out (vague Police Academy reference for you non-movie buffs). We also went to the Beavercreek festival, which amounted to two food booths run by the Boy Scouts and a band.
After all that fun, we joined some of my new neighbors to watch the fireworks. That's right, you can sit on their deck (and mine too) and see a fantastic fireworks show. Not just the city's fireworks, but all the neighbors' as well. And since most of the families in the neighborhood are part of the military, the fireworks take on a whole new tone. Let's just say, at one point dynamite was used and I got to watch the fireworks with night vision googles.
It was great to meet some new people. To make it an even better night, no one asked the question that generally stops all normal conversation around me - "So where's your husband?" I think the old owners filled them in.
Friday we went down to Loveland stay with Erin and Pat for two reasons (well, three if you count the fact that we love the Hoopers). First, Erin planned a going away dinner for us. Some of my favorite women (Molly, Ali, Aunt Judy, Julia, Kelly, Erin, Maddie and Peyton) took us to the Iron Chef. As always, I was very pleased to be in the company of such fabulous chicks.
Friday also brought with it the best part of the holiday. The Clymers came to town. Actually, they came to Erin's too. For those who don't know - the Clymers include one of my best friends in the entire world - Kelly - and her husband Jamie and their daughter Peyton. It was so much fun spending time with them. And although the genetically enginered super corn is taller than knee high, Miss Peyton, who celebrated her first birthday in April fits the saying well. (Pictures to come later).
A little back story (if you know this already, or if I lost you at the talk of neurons, feel free to skip ahead): In addition to my sister, Erin and Kelly are two women who I feel are essential to my life. I met Kelly during orientation week at Kent after she saw me running at the track and stalked me. :) Kelly was a jumper on the Kent track team. As for Erin, Kent State finally got something right when they assigned us to the same room. We were all kind of inseparable after that.
These are the two women who knew me when. One of us can say, "'Member when?" and the other two will know exactly what she is talking about. They loved me when I drank Pepsi and ate toast for breakfast and still do when I run on about why we should all be eating organic foods now. I know that they love to shop, particularly for bargains, so I go to Gabes with them. They know that my tolerance for it is low and they don't mind too much when I start to whine and beg for lunch. They are ones can make any situation feel like home for me. After Kevin died, they were among the first five calls that I made and they didn't hestitate to jump on planes to be by my side.
And while I adore the almost 14-year history that I have with them, I think I love observing the women we are becoming even more. Watching Kelly coo over Peyton makes me smile as much as watching Erin take charge now does. And even though we live far apart and don't see one another as often as we would all like, when we do get together it's as comforting and fun as it has always been.
Happy 4th everyone.
Jami
Monday, July 2, 2007
Good News and Big Thanks
First, I want to thank my family for their help with the move. In particular, Lindsey, Sean, Clare and Joe were fabulous (yes, even Clare and Joe helped move stuff - even if they did so reluctantly). I don't know what we would do without you all. Sean, big thanks for helping assemble the grill and cracking the whip. Lindsey, as always, baby sister, you make every moment fun.
Also, good news to share:
Karen and Jim Hodge are the proud grandparents of a new little boy - Owen Phillip. After all the love and care you've given to Maddie and me, I know you will be fantastic grandparents.
The Swineharts added the first girl to their ever-growing clan. Congrats gang on the birth of Avary Joy.
Also, good news to share:
Karen and Jim Hodge are the proud grandparents of a new little boy - Owen Phillip. After all the love and care you've given to Maddie and me, I know you will be fantastic grandparents.
The Swineharts added the first girl to their ever-growing clan. Congrats gang on the birth of Avary Joy.
Goodbye Beargrass
Well, we've done it. We're in the new place. It is a beautiful house. Or at least it will be once the boxes are unpacked. Right now, we are living in Box City. Despite what seemed like a long prep period, the move happened quite quickly. Within a 10-day period, I was worried that the Beargrass house wouldn't sell, having a showing, getting an offer, negoitating the sale, closing, packing up and moving.
In the days that followed, things have been moving at warp speed. The new place is smaller in some areas - bedrooms, closets, baths. I am squeezing us in, which means installing lots of storage and organization things. For those of you who have ever seen my handwork, you know what kind of week I've been having. Did I mention that the majority of the walls are white - WHITE! I need color. I've already painted one bathroom and have plans for most of the other wall space.
Now that I have a minute, I am reflecting on our old home.
Here are the things that I am happy to leave behind:
1. The HOA from Hell - I will not miss the Neighborhood Nazis and their crazy rules. For those left behind in the Village, keep fighting the good fight. Sean, isn't it time to hang the 4th of July lights?
2. My crabby neighbor - what kind of person turns the sprinkler on small children?
3. My great neighbors who, in their concern for me, know all my business. They knew who came and went and what they were there for - anyone blushing yet? ;)
4. The busted pavement of Stephens Road.
5. The constant construction of strip malls - Target AND Walmart are building in the area now.
6. Mowing the bowl shaped yard.
7. The wild "house" cats that my neighbors let run the street.
Here are the things that I will miss:
1. The memories of Kevin's last days in our home.
2. The gaggle of neighborhood girls who ran from house to house to house.
3. The look on Maddie's face as she came down the stairs on Christmas.
4. Laying in the hammock chatting with my best girl on a lazy day.
5. My fabulous backyard.
6. Stargazing on the front lawn with Maddie.
7. Painted walls.
8. Being close to friends and family.
9. Hearing the doorball and seeing little Will's face. I will always remember the first time he rode his bike over to our place all alone and how excited he was.
10. Playing ball in the front yard.
My heart is heavy as we start our life in the new place. I will miss our first home.
In the days that followed, things have been moving at warp speed. The new place is smaller in some areas - bedrooms, closets, baths. I am squeezing us in, which means installing lots of storage and organization things. For those of you who have ever seen my handwork, you know what kind of week I've been having. Did I mention that the majority of the walls are white - WHITE! I need color. I've already painted one bathroom and have plans for most of the other wall space.
Now that I have a minute, I am reflecting on our old home.
Here are the things that I am happy to leave behind:
1. The HOA from Hell - I will not miss the Neighborhood Nazis and their crazy rules. For those left behind in the Village, keep fighting the good fight. Sean, isn't it time to hang the 4th of July lights?
2. My crabby neighbor - what kind of person turns the sprinkler on small children?
3. My great neighbors who, in their concern for me, know all my business. They knew who came and went and what they were there for - anyone blushing yet? ;)
4. The busted pavement of Stephens Road.
5. The constant construction of strip malls - Target AND Walmart are building in the area now.
6. Mowing the bowl shaped yard.
7. The wild "house" cats that my neighbors let run the street.
Here are the things that I will miss:
1. The memories of Kevin's last days in our home.
2. The gaggle of neighborhood girls who ran from house to house to house.
3. The look on Maddie's face as she came down the stairs on Christmas.
4. Laying in the hammock chatting with my best girl on a lazy day.
5. My fabulous backyard.
6. Stargazing on the front lawn with Maddie.
7. Painted walls.
8. Being close to friends and family.
9. Hearing the doorball and seeing little Will's face. I will always remember the first time he rode his bike over to our place all alone and how excited he was.
10. Playing ball in the front yard.
My heart is heavy as we start our life in the new place. I will miss our first home.
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