a little something festive

Over the last few weeks, everyone at work has been so kind to me...but the other providers and the girls that work with Dr. D and I have been especially sweet. So, I wanted to make a little something to thank them for all of their kindness. I decided that since today was our work Halloween lunch that I would make something fall inspired. I decided to make them each a little loaf of pumpkin bread. I went to Walmart and got little loaf pans and then, once baked, I placed them into their own little bags and closed them with a pretty piece of paper and a ribbon to make them look extra festive! I think that everyone liked them...now lets cross our fingers that the bread turned out tasting good...I have not ever made mini loaves of bread before, and I was worried that they might not have cooked through...even though I checked them with tooth picks repeatedly...

Thursday night dinner

This week has been no different from the last couple as far as me finding it difficult to find the time/energy to make dinner in the evenings. I just get home and feel like sitting down for a little while and relaxing...making dinner just isn't that high on the priority list unfortunately. This past Thursday, I actually got home close to on time. So, I decided to make dinner for Zack and I. I have had this recipe sitting in the wings just dying to be tried...and I just haven't gotten around to it. So, last night it had it's time to shine. I made onion Dijon pork chops, cabbage (which Zack WILL NOT eat, but that I sometimes crave because it reminds me of my childhood), and baked potatoes. The pork was really good. It had a good balance between sweet and savory and both Zack and I enjoyed it...although these days it is hard to know if we "really" like the recipe or if it is just such a welcome change from cereal, sandwiches, or frozen/fast food meals.

Pumpkin Carving Competitions

Tonight was the great pumpkin carving competition in our small group. We started the evening by spreading a tarp out in our living room to serve as a carving area...thanks to the cold and rain, it was not optimal to be outside carving. Then we selected a theme for our pumpkin carving by listing a bunch of different topics like, scary faces and favorite movie, Then we drew a topic out of a box. Our topic ended up being "small group". I was amazed at the creativity that our small group members have. I thought that everyone did a good job. There were a couple of couples that were at a little bit of a disadvantage because they haven't been coming to our small group for very long, but their pumpkins were really neat too.

coming up with themes

the drawing.

Let the carving begin!

Christy and Hector carved out designs that represented all of the couple in our group...it was SO creative, I loved it!


Cliff and Pam's pumpkin was a perfect representation of how our small group usually goes. We end up getting WAY off topic and then Zack will say, "so...question # 4" in an attempt to draw us back to what we are trying to discuss.


Kevin and Jaclyn did a pumpkin inspired by Jaclyn's most terrifying experience in small group...the high ropes course.


Brandon and Gina have not been going to our small group very long, but they did such a good job carving their pumpkin!


Zack and Gretchen had a HUGE pumpkin to carve...Zack of course found someway to tie it all in with our small group...I just cannot remember exactly what he said...something about Hector I think.


Scott and Breanna were really at a loss, because they just started coming to our small group 2 weeks ago, but I thought that their pumpkin turned out really cute...and Scott made some joke about it being Hector when his guitar has not been tuned! :)


Zack and I carved a cabin into our pumpkin in honor of our small group fall retreat last year....it was such a great time of bonding and fun memories for our group. We are hoping to repeat it again this fall.


I think that everyone involved had a really good time and I think that it was a good time of fellowship for our small group. Zack and I haven't carved a pumpkin in several years. So, it was fun to get the chance to do it...and especially with friends!

Sunday dinner

Poor Zack got a little spoiled with me being home all of the time. I have been WOEFULLY failing at my duties as a wife over the last few weeks. I have not really "felt" like cooking. I get home and I am just...well, tired! So, I was feeling bad about neglecting my husband and making him eat leftovers or fast food for all of his meals. So, I MADE myself make dinner Sunday night. I made Lemony spinach chicken, chipolte sweet potatoes, and corn. The sweet potatoes were spicy, but I kinda liked them. The chicken was a little blander than I had anticipated, but I think that Zack liked them both....probably because it was his first home cooked meal in a while! :) I am hoping that as time goes on that I will find a good routine for Zack and I and getting household things done...like cooking and cleaning. ...hopefully, for Zack's sake, I will get it figured out sometime soon!!

A fall Festival

There was a fall craft festival this weekend at a park near our house. I got to go to this one other year, and really enjoyed it. So, when it rolled around this year and I was going to be stuck home because Zack was working in ATL all day, I decided that I would go to it. My friend Christy wanted to go and she called and asked if I wanted to go with her. So, we headed out to the craft fair at about 1:00 on Saturday. It was a little colder than I had anticipated, or I would have worn a coat...but the cooler weather gave me an excuse to get to hold little C! We ended up meeting Pam and little Tappen while we were there and we had a great time strolling through the booths and seeing all of the neat things that people were selling....maybe one day I will be brave enough to set up a booth...maybe...

Go Dawgs!

Our SIL Rachel's brother is getting married, and Rachel was throwing a Georgia Bull Dogs themed bridal shower for them. Zack ended up working all day and so we were not able to make the trip down to the shower, which was about 3 hours from where we live. We were not sure until late that we wouldn't be able to go, so I made them a gift, but hadn't mailed it because I thought that we might be able to give it to them at the shower...and, to be honest, I was still putting the finishing touches on it on Thursday. I don't have as much time to craft/sew since starting back to work...which kinda makes me sad, but I know that there is always a trade off...and so far I am enjoying my job...although, I do at times wish that the hours were not quite so long...but I guess that things will start slowing down in a few months when the sick season is over. Anyway, I made a Bull Dog themed apron for Jennifer. I hope that she likes it. I thought that it turned out pretty cute!

Now I just need to get it in the mail!

The Great Date Experiment: Date 1

Our small group has started doing The Great Date Experiment. This is a series of 6 dates based on what the authors believe are the 6 essential qualities of a marriage. The date series was done by a church in Atlanta and I stumbled across it while reading a friend of a friend's blog.

We are always looking for fun ways to incorporate marriage enrichment into our small group time. We really feel that part of the purpose of our small group is to grow our marriage and support those with in the group in growing their marriages as well! So, Zack and I thought that it would be fun for our small group to periodically do one of these dates.

We were supposed to go on our first date sometime over the last two weeks, and of course in natural puddle style, Zack and I waited until the last minute to go on our date. We went on our date Thursday after I got home from work.

this is a horrible picture, but I had to at least get one of the two of us during our date!!

The date itself was centered around the idea of enhancing romance with in your marriage. You were supposed to follow a series of steps, making sure to do the steps in order and not look ahead. It was a fun date and it allowed Zack and I to have some quality time together.

The date was a progressive dinner of sorts. You have an entire meal, but all at different restaurants, and you would ask/answer a series of questions along the way.

Zack and I headed to one of our favorite local restaurants for an appetizer. This little restaurant has THE BEST potato skins that I have ever found!

For our entree, we headed to little Mexican restaurant down town and we shared an order of fajitas.


...and for dessert we headed to a little bakery down town and Zack had a key lime tart while I ate a Halloween cupcake.

headed to the bakery and asking each other questions along the way.

Yes, my teeth are black...thank you black icing.
Zack thought that it was funny so he took a picture...thanks Babe!

yes, that is a picture of a CVS...and this part of the date was a lot harder than we had anticipated. If we had it to do over, we probably would have gone to a different store, but when you start your date later in the evening you cannot be too picky! (you'll have to go on the date to figure out what that was all about!)

Zack and I really enjoyed ourselves and I would definitely recommend it as a fun date to anyone that's married. It is a fun date that basically tells you what to do and gives you questions to think about...but it allows you to take time to invest in your marriage.

We should be doing date number 2 in a month or so...so, we will see how that goes.

A little bit of Fogg

Zack and I were pleasantly surprised this week by a visit for our dear friend's Fogg and his wife, Karen. We hardly ever get to see Fogg and Karen because they are in the military and are stationed in Las Vegas. Zack got a call from Fogg on Monday night saying that they would be in town Tuesday if we wanted to get together...which, of course we did! So, I raced home after work Tuesday looking forward to seeing Fogg and Karen. We met up with them and headed out for dinner with friends. We met up with the Deatons, Karmen, Jay, and Skye...a mini Rage reunion! It was SOOOOO nice to have time to spend with our friends and share memories and catch up on things going on in each other's lives.

We managed to convince Fogg and Karen to spend the night and we had SO much fun talking, laughing, and playing games with them. We probably stayed up WAY to late, but it was such an unexpected blessing and we wanted to spend as much time with Fogg and Karen as we could. (maybe one day we will be able to lure them back home!! :) I'm working on it!!)

Wednesday morning we were able to go to breakfast together, since it is my day off!!! Yay! Isn't God awesome! He orchestrates all things!

After breakfast we said our goodbyes and told Fogg to thank his parents for sharing them with us!!!

Hopefully we will get to see them again sometime soon!! Maybe Zack and I will be able to take a trip to Vegas sometime soon to visit them! :)

Dahlonega Gold Rush

This weekend Dahlonega celebrated the Gold Rush Festival. Skye had been asking me to go all week. She called me up today to ask one more time. I had told her no several times already on the premise that my BIL was in town for a visit. However, Zack and Matt had planned to go play some ultimate Frisbee with some of the guys Zack plays with on the club team and so I would have been home alone...so, I folded and told Skye that I would go. I met Skye and her compatriots at the local christian school where most of them work. We piled into Vicky's car. Armed with freshly made chocolate chip pumpkin bread and hand written directions, we headed out lulled by the call of the gold rush! We of course managed to get lost...making our travel time about 3 hours. We finally made it to the festival and met we up with our friends Embo and Patrick.


I had never been to the Gold Rush before, but it was similar to the Yellow Daisey festival that Mama Sandy, Rachel, and I had gone to a few months ago. It was a lot of fun and our 2-3 hours that we were able to spend there was just enough time. We looked at all of the fun craft booths and most of the girls bought something.

Skye and I got separated from the other girls and we spent our time until we all met back up posing for silly pictures.


The drive back was a little shorter since we made it back without any wrong turns. We had some good conversation and got to know each other a little better. It was definitely a fun day.

Peach cobbler - a little slice of heaven

In honor of Matt being in town, we invited Jay and Karmen over for Wii games and Pizza Saturday night. I decided to make a new dessert recipe just for the occasion. I made a peach cobbler with cinnamon rolls. It was a little more time consuming than anticipated since you had to make the cinnamon rolls from scratch, but everyone liked it. So, I guess that the time that it took to make the cinnamon rolls was worth it. Zack said that it was one of his favorite desserts that I had ever made.

Brothers

This weekend, Zack's little brother Matt came for a visit. We always enjoy getting to spend time with family. So, we were really excited about Matt coming for a visit. I unfortunately, due to my back problems from earlier in the week couldn't go out and do much of the physical activity, but I enjoyed getting to play games with Zack and Matt and watching Zack get to spend time with his brother.

Matt got to our house at about 5:30 Friday night. He and Zack went for about an hour mountian bike ride while I stayed home and prepped for dinner. We had peppered pork chops backed potatoes, corn, and salad. All foods (well except for the salad) that I knew that Matt would willingly eat. After dinner, we played a game of settlers which Matt won. Then we went to bed.

Saturday, Zack and Matt went and played frisbee golf, and then went for a long mountian bike ride. They got home in time for Pizza with Karmen and Jay at our house. We had fun catching up with them and playing Wii games. After dinner and a few Wii games, Jay and Karmen went home and We popped Gladiator in the DVD player since Matt had never seen it. Zack and I were going in and out of consciousness throughout the movie, but I think that I managed to see most of it.

Sunday we went to Church and then Zack and Matt went to play ultimate frisbee while I headed to the Gold Rush Festival with Skye. It was a fun weekend and when I got home Zack said. I really enjoyed Matt being here this weekend...hope that Matt had a good time too...I know that all of the time that Zack gets to spend with his family is very meaningful to him...Hope that we find many occasions to spend time with them in the future.

a painful lesson to learn.

While at work on Thursday, I was in a room seeing a patient. I was in the midst of interrogating/ playfully bantering with my patient when I decided to lean out over the sink to get the tools of my trade, an ear speculum and a tongue depressor. Of course it would not make sense for these items to be easily accessible. No, they must be placed in the farthest corner of the room in the most inopportune of places. So, as I extended out over the sink, placing myself in an awkward position, I must have turned ever so slightly...and what happened next was a painful lesson indeed. Something...shifted...in my back and it made it's presence known with a sharp searing pain. I was in the middle of a sentence and I heard my voice catch. I tried to be strong and continue interviewing my patient, but we were discussing the contents of their vomit. As I sat there next to my patient trying to look in thier ears and classify their vomit, I began to feel very...hot...and light headed... and sick to my stomach. So, I promptly excused myself from the room and briskly walked to the employee bathroom where I laid myself on the floor (yes, I said the floor!) and sent up many prayers that I would not pass out or throw up....while laying there pondering what I was going to do about the patient's that I had left to see I decided that maybe I would feel a little less like passing out if I ate something...I mean I had missed breakfast...it only made sense. So, I slowly and carefully stood to my feet and then made my way from the employee bathroom back to the provider office where my desk and my granola bar are. I made it just in time to flop into my desk chair trying to clear my very fuzzy head. I felt VERY sick to my stomach and made my way into the bathroom in my office and again found myself needing to lay on the floor (something I would normally never do!!). Once the nausea and light headedness passed for a second time, I made myself sloooowly walk back to the nurses station and I asked one of the nurses for some Tylenol. She had her back to me but turned to tell me where it was. When she saw me she exclaimed, "Paula!! You are white as a sheet!!" This brought the attention of all of the nurses at the nurses station and in the lab and at the nurses station next to ours...before I knew what was happening, I was in a chair having my blood pressure taken, Gatorade, crackers, and tylenol placed into my hands and many concerned looks thrown in my direction. You could never say that the nurses at work don't care about other people. After sitting there for a minute, I felt like my color had returned and I decided that I was fit to go back into my patient room and finish my morning appointments....wrong! Just as I was raising my hand to knock on the patient door, Dr. D made it out of the room that she had been in and my nurse friends that had been so diligently taking care of me betrayed me..."Dr. D, look at how pale Paula is!" "Oh no", I inwardly groaned..."this is not how I want to start out my first few weeks of employment!!!" Dr. D looked at me and quickly told me to go sit down in the lab. I tried to tell her that I was fine and that I was capable of finishing my job. She would not hear of it and so, I slowly walked into the lab and sat down. A few seconds later, the nurses were back buzzing around me taking my temperature checking my blood sugar....and all I could do was sit there and shake my head wondering if I was going to be able to finish my day. Dr. D came and talked to me briefly as I tried to convince her that I was in fact o.k. to return to work. Finally, I had convinced her that I would not soon pass out and I finished seeing my last two patient's of the morning. By that time, the Tylenol had had plenty of time to kick in. I was extra careful with my movements for the rest of the day, and I went home took some ibuprofen and soaked in a hot bath to try to relieve the pain...It was a day that I hope I never repeat. I think that I will have a little more mercy now when talking to people who struggle with back pain!

Steak Night at the Puddle

I have not had the chance to do much cooking for a while...between my new job and Zack starting to play ultimate Frisbee on a club team, things have gotten a little bit busy. I had planed out and shopped for groceries for meals for last week that never got cooked and I had this top sirloin in the fridge waiting to be made...so, with a little extra time to cook today, since today's my off day, I made myself make dinner.

I tried 2 new recipes: garlic butter steak and roasted potatoes with thyme and gorgonzola. I paired these recipes with fresh green beans and salad. Zack LOVED this meal. The meat had really good flavor and was simple to prepare. And the potatoes were really tender and the seasoning and gorgonzola cheese went really well with them. Zack even thought that he might like them better than our normal Italian roasted potatoes. I was kinda surprised by that, because I really wasn't sure how he would feel about the Gorgonzola cheese...he's kinda finicky about that kind of stuff, but he liked the combination...YAY!!! Another dinner success at the puddle!! It felt really nice to have a meal prepared for Zack after about a week of feeling like I had neglected that wifely duty!!

rubbing elbows with the big wigs.

Last night Zack and I attended a dinner in honor of the new doctors that were joining or retiring from the medical group that I work for. Dr. D and her husband were going as well as one or two other people from the office. SO, Zack and I thought that it would be a good opportunity to meet some of the other people that work for the health care group that I am now a part of, and that it would be a good opportunity to get to spend a little time with Dr. D and her husband outside of the office.

I will say that it was a little overwhelming and intimidating to find myself amidst SO many people that I did not know...yes, it was a little awkward...and I felt uncomfortable...a recurring theme for me over the last month or so...guess that God is not done stretching me yet...

The dinner was supposed to be held outside, but with our weather being what it is, they moved it into a ballroom downtown. I really appreciated the decorations...and I silently wished that I had brought a camera. They had taken big coffee tins and placed an assortment of flowers in fall colors in them and a small apple or pear. They were really pretty. They also had a live band, which was nice, but which made talking nearly impossible.

Zack and I were introduced to a couple of doctors, but we unable to really converse beyond the normal hellos because of how loud it was. I was also disappointed because it was one of the few times we have met Dr. D's husband and I would have loved the chance to get to talk to the two of them, but as it was we were shouting at each other over the din of the band and others in the room trying equally hard to yell above the noise around them.

It was a good free dinner and Zack and I were pleasantly full by the end of the night..and even though we were unable to really converse, it was a shared experience between some of my coworkers and I. So, I guess that the whole night was not a loss! :)

It's my birthday and I'll cry if I want to!

Today was my birthday! Birthdays are usually a big deal to me....I look forward to them every year. Not that I look forward to being another year older, but I look forward to that one day a year that is officially mine...a day that makes me feel especially cherished and special. This year, I was on "mommy" call at work all weekend and had to work Saturday clinic. So, it really kinda put a damper on the whole birthday celebration thing...I think that I have returned about 42 calls this weekend....thank you H1N1 media frenzy!

We did manage to squeak a little celebration in in between calls about fevers and rashes and congestion and medication questions. Zack and I went to dinner Friday night for my birthday. We went to a little "hole in the wall" restaurant not far from where we live. The restaurant is only open Thursday, Friday and Saturday, and you usually have to have a reservation to get in. It has been featured in Southern Living and is a little hidden jewel. Zack and I had never been there before, but had heard about how good the food was, so he had called and gotten us reservations. Zack blind folded me and off we went. The restaurant looks like a shack and if you didn't know that it was there, you would never notice it. The food was REALLY good, but unfortunately it didn't like me as much as I liked it and it found it's way back out in a hurry...telling me "happy birthday" over and over as I got up and down out of bed all night....thanks...but no thanks!! I'm not sure if that was because of my nerves about being on call for the first time or if it was a little food poisoning.


So, between an upset stomach, "mommy calls" and my fear of missing a mommy call, I got VERY little sleep Friday night. Saturday, I had to go into work to work a Saturday clinic. So, when I got to work at 8 there were already patient's there waiting...Dr. D had hospital call all week and so she was coming into the clinic a little later and I was there to face the throngs of sick patient's on my own for a couple hours. I was trying to work as quickly as I could writing noted between patients..trying to keep up and get people in and out in a timely fashion...unfortunately some people are just a LITTLE bit impatient. There was a "walk in" who had to wait about 45 minutes to be seen....come on people, there is only one of me, I'm new, and I'm going as fast as I can here!!!....the parent was furious and went stomping out of the office huffing gruffly about their wait and how they would just have to find a new pediatrician...I was a little speechless...I mean how do you respond to that!?! ...I did feel a little vindicated when his spouse called him and made him come back and be seen....but how unpleasant!

Saturday night, Zack and I went to our friend's Caren and Forrest's house for dinner and games. We didn't end up playing games, but we spent time...in between the musical buzzing of my pager...catching up on all of the things going on in each others lives. Caren baked me a birthday cake and then they and their children sang me the most beautiful rendition of "Happy Birthday to you!" The cake was delicious and it was so fun to hang out with them...despite the seemingly constant interruptions.

I have been blessed, and I DEFINITELY cannot complain, because I was lucky enough to not get any middle of the night phone calls this weekend. Patient's were thoughtful enough to not call after about 1 and not before about 6. But today has been BUSY. By 1 o'clock, I had already fielded about 11 calls...several pulling me out of the church service...I had to call Dr. D about a patient around 2 and she asked me if Iwas doing anything special for my birthday today, to which I replied, I'm going to try to take a nap. She said ok, I will call the paging service and cover for a couple hours!!! I was SOOOO thankful! I got a good nap in and was talking to one of my family members who had called to wish me happy birthday when I got a text from Dr. D saying, "Happy Birthday, I'm going to take all calls tonight!" Those might have been the most beautiful words that I have ever read!! What a great birthday gift!! Thank you SOOOO much Dr. D! You are a BLESSING!! :)

A night at the fair.

Every year the fair comes to town, and every year I miss it. So, I was delighted when Jody called to let me know that it was in town and that they were planning to go this week. So, after work, Zack and I headed out to the fair grounds to meet the Deatons. Zack was appropriately doped up on Dramamine to allow for optimum ride enjoyment.

The fair was much bigger than I had anticipated, and it took a little while to find them, but we met up with the Deaton's and Jacquelyn and her two children for a night of fun. Jacquelyn's little boy, B was SOOO cute and he was SOOOO excited about riding all of the rides.

Zack and I did end up riding a couple rides, but I think that the best part was just getting the opportunity to spend some time with friends! It sure feels like we haven't really gotten to do that in a while! I was impressed with Zack, we rode a ride called the wave runner and he did great! Although, I will admit that I was a little worried about getting to see the contents of the stomach of the little boy sitting across from us, but he managed to keep his dinner down...thank goodness! Since Zack had had such success with wave runner, we decided to try a ride called pirate. We figured that if he could handle a ride that spun around in multiple directions all at once that he should be able to handle a ride that merely went back and forth....wrong! He was REALLY ready for the ride to come to an end and was even a little concerned that driving home was going to be an issue (guess that the Dramamine had worn off!!).


We ate at the fair... I LOVE fair food...con dogs, funnel cakes, fried oreos...yum!! By the time we ate, I was starving....So, I had 2 corn dogs, a small fry, a coke, and a bite or two of pound cake before I thought that I was going to be sick! Foolishly, we ate right before riding any of the rides, but thankfully, we were able to keep dinner in dinner's place!

I was so hungry I forgot to take a picture of my food! :) lol! Sorry Jody!

Zack and I had such a great time getting to catch up with the Deatons and Jacquelyn. And we spent the evening walking around as a group. Zack and I did part ways with them near the end of the evening to go see the craft booths and flower show...right before we left to go home for the night. I don't know what I was expecting, but I wasn't expecting prize winning fruits and veggies! :)

It was a fun night, and I can now see why Jody loves the fair so much! I think that we would definitely like to go back again next year!