Day Trip.

This past weekend we decided to escape the 100 degree heat (minus the awesome thunderstorms becuase our monsoon season was cut disapointingly short) and head up to Flagstaff to visit my parents. It was a very nice 80 degrees up there, so it was really like our fall. Sad, right? By the way, the first picture of those wildflowers is in their back yard. They have a really amazing property, and in the summer it's absolutely gorgeous. Anyway, they have a ski resort up in Flag, and in the summer they offer rides to the top via ski lift. It ended up being a 30 minute climb to 11,500 feet and a 30 minute descent. I had no idea it would take so long but it was a really beautiful, peaceful ride. I can't even tell you how nice it was to get out of the desert and lay eyes on some beautiful GREEN vegetation! So gorgeous.

When we got back to my parents' my mom made us all pick veggies from her garden for dinner that night which was actually really cool. She's a garden prodigy, which runs in the family. Sadly it skipped me becuase I end up killing every plant I've owned. Anyway, the corn she grew was seriously FANTASTIC. I almost wanted to plant my own garden and try for beautiful ears of golden corn, but sadly, I know better.

Looking at these pictures I'm realizing our tans are fading. Darn.

Well, it's that time of year again.

They're starting their 4th week of school this week, so maybe I had better post about school. I've been neglecting my blog because our camera decided to stop working. It's reeeeallly hard to come up with posts without anything to show, and it's especially tough to find the inspiration to blog about anything positive when you're down in the dumps about not finding a job. Sigh. It's been almost 4 MONTHS people. I'm getting really sick of reading "must have at least 3-5 years work experience in xyz". I have submitted dozens of applications, and NOTHING. Seriously. When should I throw my hands up in the air and admit defeat already?

Let's get down to the REAL meat of this blog post, shall we?

Back to school!! Jared started 3rd grade and was very reluctant to do so. He really wanted me to home school him (no way in hell), and he says he really hates doing classwork. He's really awesome in academics, and I know he gets bored easily so maybe that's starting to pose a problem. School comes so easy for that kid that he really doesn't even have to try, like - at all. So then of course he slacks which becomes a really big problem. We'll see how the next few months go. I'd like to talk to his teacher about testing him for SAGE.

Jade has started 1st grade this year and she's LOVING it. Her teacher has already told me Jade is quite the helpful one to the Kindergarteners (she's in a Montessori so her class is a K/1). She has already made lots of new friends along with one sweet little boy who is absoultely in LOVE with Jade and chases her around trying to kiss her. I think this is ADORABLE, but Jade is appalled becuase of all things, this little boy is a "bad student". I mean - what could possibly be worse?

Jade and me.

Jade loves taking pictures of herself (like me), so every once and a while we have fun together with the camera. She practices new poses, and honestly, once she sees a camera pointed at her she strikes one instinctively. She's a ham like that. This is a good one of both of us. Too bad the light is so dreadful. I tried to get Jared in there but, alas, he doesn't share Jade's love for modeling.

Summer is here.

So the days are in the triple digits, the air is running 24 hours, and our bbq is getting its money's worth. We are all turning caramel-colored to boot. As much as people around the country can't wait for summer, Arizonans don't really share the enthusiasm. That's because there is literally NOTHING to do except stay inside in the AC or go swimming. It's like walking into an oven every time you open your front door. Every once and a while I see a few crazies out walking to the store at 3pm, but they're just not in their right minds. To keep our sanity, we go to our little water park and pool down the street from us. It's really one of the best things about Anthem. I don't know what we'd do without it. I think it really does save my sanity over the awful summer months. So we go almost every day, the kids get TONS of energy out, they learn a life skill (swimming), and I end up with a nice bronze tan by September. I guess if you look at it that way it isn't too terrible.

Time for a change.

These past two weeks have been very freeing for me. I've gotten rid of a bit of baggage that I've been holding on to for the past year, graduated from my online school that's taken me 2 and a half years to complete, and the kids are out of school. I felt a physical change was needed, so what do I do? Chop off my hair of course! I didn't mean to go as short as i did, and now that it IS this short, it's taking a little while to get used to. But that's okay, change isn't supposed to be accepted right away is it? The really awesome news is my hair salon has partnered with other salons across the country to send their cut hair to the gulf to help plug the leak. Apparently, the hair will be put in nylons to form more of a blockade. Sounds weird to me, but if it's helping then hey, I feel like I did my part!

I did it.

After 2 and a half years of spelling words like duodenojejunostomy and bilateral salpingo-oophorectomy in my sleep and editing the local newspaper instead of actually reading it, I can proudly say I graduated, and I am officially a medical transcriptionist!!! I know that may not sound monumental, but to me it's one of the greatest accomplishments of my life.

This course was HARD. It's true I slacked a bit...but I mean, it's an online self-paced school and I'm a stay at home mom. It's bound to happen, but for the most part I really put a lot of myself into this. I've learned so much, worked so hard, and I feel so good about myself. Truthfully, at one point the in the course, I was unsure if I could ever pick it up. Doctors just ran their words together, one medication would sound exactly like another to me, and the speed-talkers made my brain turn to mush. There were countless days of frustration, of wanting to pull my hair out or reach through the screen and slap some of those doctors for being so damn inconsiderate. I wanted to cry. I wanted to throw my headphones across the room and give up.
I went through months of this frustration thinking I was wasting my time - I'd never learn this crap, never.

One day, in advanced transcription, it all just clicked. It was like my ears opened up and a light switch was flipped. Everything (mostly) became crystal clear. I decided to go back to my beginning reports to get through the rough ones that were so hard months ago. I laughed. What was so hard? Suddenly I could understand EVERYTHING the docs were saying. My biggest hurdle was simply keeping up.

Now, here I am. I know I'm still just beginning, but I'm hoping to land a job where someone will take a chance on a newbie (graduated, yay!!) transcriptionist.

So the dermatologist....

After all the embarrassment of the see-through undies, something good came out of it. The mole that was biopsied was, indeed, atypical. It's precancerous with abnormal cell growth. So, back to the dermatologist I go for excision of the root and surrounding tissue. That's going to suck. But I will definitely remember to wear my plain ol' white cottons, and maybe do a few leg raises and squats the day before. (You can never be too cautious, especially since the young intern will likely not enjoy untanned cellulite)