Grab your hammers kids

Cause it’s board time! Heh. Umm… yeah. Year 2 officially ended last Friday for the hubster and med headz. There was a last test in the morning and then the Follies in the evening. Pretty Hi-larious material this year! And maybe some (much needed) light hearted nudging at the first years to shape up. But now is not the time to hop down that dark and depressing bunny trail.

Now we are into hard core board study time. I think almost everyone has an hour-by-hour study schedule, and most are studying 14+ hours a day. A lot of med headz have also picked out a study spot. There was a flurry of people laying claim to study rooms in the library and I’ve also heard that several students have rented office space in the city. Whoa nelly. We are not that hard core (or wealthy) around here, so the hubby will be studying around the house and we’ll probably be venturing out to coffee shops/cafes a fair bit. Now accepting donations for bottomless coffee/ raspberry lemonades.

We eased into the study thing with a little camping this weekend. Hubby still studied a lot, but it was outside. Outside, with fresh air and  the chirping of birds. And rain. Boo! *sigh* At least we tried.

Onward!!

Weekend shenanigans

This last weekend the weather finally turned nice (In fact some might even call it hot!). So we took the opportunity to spend some time outside being active. This is the last week of school so everything is winding down. In fact the only productive thing I did at school on Friday was make waffles. Needless to say, studying has been slightly minimized for the last few days in favor of more fun activities. We took a hike Friday afternoon up a local hill. It’s one we’ve done several times before but it’s close and has a nice view. And a nice rock on which to take a nap.

A friend of ours got us a thank you gift pass to the local indoor climbing gym and we finally went there with him this weekend. It’s a ‘bouldering’ gym which means no gear or ropes. The walls are not terribly high and the floor is a giant mat. All the colored tape on the wall marks particular routes up so the challenge is to climb a route using only the marked hand and foot holds.

Hanna touching the top to show she has mastered the route!

While fun, especially in the morning since it was pretty much completely empty, it is very quickly tiring. We both agreed that climbing outside is actually easier since you are not limited so much by what you can use as holds.

Here we see ‘matching’ which is putting both hands or both feet on the same hold. Yeah, there’s a whole lingo that goes along with climbing apparently.

We also managed to get out of town a little ways to a park with a river. Being in the city drives me nuts so this view was quite relaxing.  I started out with some good intentions to study in the park on a warm Sunday afternoon and we see me here in a classic study pose. This was Hanna’s view. Perhaps less peaceful than the woods and river, but not by much.

So that was it for the weekend. Now to face down the last 4 days of school. Basically the last 4 days I will have to spend in the dungeon (aka the lecture hall: it is a dimly lit room made of concrete where we are tortured. sounds like a dungeon to me!). I think it won’t be too bad. And then next weekend will be even better.

And then the oven exploded

We broke-in our new patio last night with a BBQ! One of the things on the menu: berry pie. We freeze a lot of berries so pie is an option all the time! The pies came out beautiful, but as the oven was cooling we heard a big *POP* from the kitchen and then the whole house powered down. Once we got the main breaker flipped we inspected the kitchen appliances and found that the oven will no longer turn on. At least the pie was baked!

We interrupt this pointless story with nephew pictures!

Someone turned one and partied hard with some cake! (Drat for being a bit blurry!)

Turning the big 4!

Not a birthday boy, but still cute!

Yup, we traveled on up to see my bro and the boys for a little birthday fun.

Another recent trip was the wilderness training weekend for rural med. heads and sig. Os. There were fun scenarios, video making shenanigans,  good eats, and they even got in a little learning. The place were it was held had a glorious view of one of our mountains with orchard upon orchard in bloom around us.

Pretty, no?

Other than that there has been a fair bit of boards study around here. There was a bit of a snaffoo a few weeks ago where a batch of students had their tests cancelled and had to reschedule. (one of the testing centers closed) NOT a good thing to announce to a bunch of high strung students. Especially since at least of few of them had bought plane tickets for their itty bitty summer break. o_O Everyone is squared away now, though that bunch has to travel 4hrs. for their test. Yay for not being in that group!

Oh look, sunshine! If you’ll excuse me It think the patio could use some company.

Kiva

I know, posting has kinda sucked lately. Next one will be better (a.k.a. longer and actually contain what we are up to). BUT today’s post is about Kiva.

 

We are a non-profit organization with a mission to connect people through lending to alleviate poverty. Leveraging the internet and a worldwide network of microfinance institutions, Kiva lets individuals lend as little as $25 to help create opportunity around the world.

 

I like it because you get to pick who/what/where you want to sponsor. And they are giving free first time trails, so you can give a $25 loan at no cost to you! If you like what you see you can pay to loan more (98.93% Repayment rate)! Linky 

Medical Student Tumblr

Go forth and laugh. (Language warning)
http://whatshouldwecallmedschool.tumblr.com/

What does your garden grow?

Well, let me show ya!

Sprout!

Tulips (hubby bought me these while we wait for ours to bloom)

Almost there!

BASIL!!

Making some hanging baskets for the pergola.

I tried the plant your green onion bottoms trick, and it worked wonderfully!

What are these little beauties that have been transplanted outside?

Kale!

 

Title(optional)

It’s hard to believe that spring break was 2 weeks ago already. It seems like these last weeks have gone by in a blur. Which is bad. There is WAY too much that needs to be done for time to be moving this fast. We have a mere 5 weeks (5!!!!!) of actual class left. But there is a lot to wrap up in that time. And while class is winding down the impending hammer of step 1 is waiting to fall. There are also other random things like: getting security clearance from the federal government to work at the VA hospital, scholarship and loan applications, taxes, and sleep. 

The weather has been somewhat nicer as of late which makes this last slog through the final weeks more tolerable.  We have been doing some work in the back yard recently to spruce it up a little bit in order to have a nice outside space this summer. It isn’t quite finished yet but I’m guessing that Hanna will post pictures when it is.  The results have been pretty great so far and in fact just tonight we barbecued some kabobs. Now if only we had a fence and a dog. 

Year 3

We finally got schedules, here’s what it looks like!

Starting Jun 12

Transition to Clerkship

Pediatrics I

Surgery

Rural and Community Health

Family Medicine

Internal Medicine

Continuity Curriculum (2 weeks back in the classroom)

Psychiatry

Continuity Curriculum/CPX

Obstetrics/Gynecology

 

Ending Jun 13

3 of those will be in the same rural location, and the last one is also away. Actually hubby has OB/GYN with one of his favorites med. heads, and they will be the only students there. That = A LOT OF WORK, but also some fun since there will be a buddy hanging around the hospital with him. We have a friend in that city, so I’ll also have a pal to hang out with as well! YES!

As for breaks, there are a couple weeks off for Christmas, but I’m pretty sure we just enjoyed out last Spring Break. Ah well, it had to happen sometime. Even though there can only be 1 student per rural location the other guys are trying to pick “cities” kind of near each other, so hopefully there will be some weekend hiking/camping/climbing adventures! Glass half-full thoughts right there!

 

Beer bread recipe

Just a disclaimer: this is not our recipe, it was found on the intarwebs.  

Makes 1 loaf bread. Coating top of dough with butter before baking is optional, but really adds to the crust’s texture. 

You need:
3 cups all-purpose flour
1 Tablespoon baking powder
1 ½ teaspoons salt
4 Tablespoons sugar
One 12oz can or bottle of beer. (any beer)
3 tablespoons butter

Directions
Preheat oven to 375 degrees. Lightly grease a 9×5 inch loaf pan.
Put all the dry ingredients in a bowl, pour in beer, mix until the dry team has been incorporated. Don’t overmix or knead. Put in pan, pour melted butter on top and bake for 40 minutes. 

You’ll notice that it is a chemical leavening rather than yeast so there is no long wait for the dough to rise.  So fast and easy! We have made this bread with both light and dark beer. Porter gives it a sweeter flavor than say a standard pale ale. We have also done all kinds of variations on this recipe: 1) cut down on the sugar and add herbs and garlic to make a savory loaf.  2) Diced sun dried tomatoes and basil  3) brown sugar and cinnamon layered in with the dough as it goes into the baking pan.

Basically it’s a blank canvas so let those creative baking juices flow!! 

Creation Sunday

Beer bread! We've been loving this super easy-to-make bread! This loaf is tomato basil.

The finished product station.

The wrapping station + Owlery

Close up on the Owlery.

Pinecones!

New and improved raised-beds.

Starting some seeds.

New plant for the sun/study room