Books

Not every day is a busy day at CVS and I've finally had the time to do some reading. I was never much of a reader growing up. I never found the books that we were reading in class to be all that interesting. In college, my reading list was made up of what was required for class. After finishing my required readings I had absolutely no desire to read for fun.

Now that I finally have some down time, I've read some really great books! I just wanted to share my list. The books that have hearts next to them have been my favorites. I am also asking for suggestions, you'll notice I've just been sticking to authors that I like. I need a little more variety. My only requirement is the book be a page turner, other wise I lose interest quickly. If you have a favorite please leave me a comment! Thanks!

• While My Sister Sleeps by Barbara Delinsky - current book (entertaining)
• Stern Men by Elizabeth Gilbert ♥ (slow start, wasn't sure I'd finish this one, amazing ending!)
• Family Tree by Barbara Delinsky (entertaining)
• Love the One You're With by Emily Giffin ♥ (page turner)
• The Last American Man by Elizabeth Gilbert (story of Eustace Conway)
• Eat Pray Love by Elizabeth Gilbert ♥ (probably my favorite book ever)

Winter Wonderland

Winter is officially here. Take a look.

I hope you enjoy this shot of the house, I had to brave the freezing cold weather to bring it to you...burr! I have not been outside all day. The house is nice and cozy...which makes it hard to leave!

...16 days left until Christmas!

Our plan is to be in Mesa Dec 22nd-25th (AM) and in Tucson Dec 25th (PM)-28th!

Turkey for me and turkey for you!

This year Thanksgiving was stuck in the middle of 4 twelve hour shifts at CVS...not fun. As a result, there was no way we were going to be able to get home for the holiday. This was the first Thanksgiving I have ever spent away from my family and I really really missed being home!

On a positive note, this gave me the chance to cook my first ever Thanksgiving meal. I decided to make an entire spread of food (even though it was just Greg and me). I'm so glad I got the chance to do this!!! I have always feared the day I would have to make Thanksgiving for a large group of people with no practice or experience under my belt. I knew if I botched this meal, it would be okay, Greg would not be upset. Worst case scenario we would end up at Boston Market. I was completely shocked beyond belief that all my dishes were eatable! Not only that, Greg looked like he actually enjoyed the meal!

Take a look at our spread. Needless to say we are still eating left overs, but I actually think Thanksgiving food tastes better a few days later in the form of sandwiches! Yum!

The day to day

Not much new here. My job at CVS is going well. I have one more week of orientation in the clinic before I'm on my own. I've seen hundreds of sick people over the past few weeks and given maybe a thousand flu shots! The Minute Clinic is a happening place. I can't say it has been difficult adjusting to my new 3 day work week. I actually have time to blog on a Wednesday morning :) The days that I do work are long....very very very long. I usually don't get home until 9pm. Still trying to adjust to the 12 hour shifts, I've never handled them well in the past but I'm hoping it will start to fell more normal soon.

Greg has been working like a crazy person. He has worked the last 13 days straight and isn't about to stop any time soon. He plans to work through this weekend and all of next week too so I won't be seeing much of him! I miss my hubby. I'm glad he has been given so much responsibility at work I know it is really a huge compliment in disguise. His company must really like him if they want to spend 10 hours a day 7 days a week with him ;)

I attempted to rake leaves over the weekend. It did not go well. I am such a wimpy girl and was barely able to clear 1/4 of our yard. Today it feels like I might have torn every muscle in my back (not really, but I'm super sore), I guess the yoga just isn't cutting it. After I finished bagging the massive piles of leaves my sweet neighbor informed me that "most people" use a blower and a tarp. You just blow the leaves onto the tarp and drag the tarp to the side of the road. Wow! That would be sooooo much simpler than what I did! Can you tell I'm from Arizona? Do orange trees even lose their leaves? I can't remember. Greg and I have learned a lot from our neighbors. They have become like a second set of parents. I know they just sit inside their house, looking out the window into our yard thinking...

...what the heck are those kids doing now.

Toro! Toro!

We had a beautiful Halloween in Naperville! The rain cleared up just in time for our trick or treaters. The 3 jumbo bags of candy that I bought we're gone in the 1st 30 minutes. Greg had to make a candy run in the middle of dinner, but overall it was a huge success!

This is fall!

Spooky Halloween sky

Our pumpkinsI got to spend the evening with a 9ft bull!
Baby and Johnny
Hope everyone had a Happy Halloween!

Pumpkins shouldn't come from Walmart

This past weekend was full of fall. It made think back to last October, when Greg and I were living in the middle of east Texas (aka: the middle of nowhere), and feel really grateful for how far we've come.

Last year we drove to Walmart and picked our pumpkins from a large cardboard bin. Last year I hung a flying witch from our from porch, I swear the neighbors thought we were some kind of crazy devil worshipers. I was the only house in our entire neighborhood with any Halloween decor. Last year I bought a giant bag of candy, but was hugely disappointed when we only got one lonely trick or treater.

This year we picked our pumpkins on a farm! Imagine that! We even took a hay ride and got lost in a corn maze while we were there! I decorated our house with my flying witch, a new sound activated ghost, cobwebs, and glowing spiders in the front window! I am probably one of the least decorated houses in my neighborhood. I am loving all this Halloween spirit. This is my kind of place! Can't wait to see what our trick or treater turn out will be :)

Announcement

Drum roll please........I have accepted the position at CVS! I will be starting October 26th.

I'm soooo excited to start my new job at Minute Clinic. In addition to great salary and benefits, I'm really hoping this new job will offer a little more peace. Goodbye office drama, hello 3 day work weeks :)

Ready for October

I haven't been on here in what seems like FOREVER. It is 7am Saturday morning and I finally have a little time to blog while Greg is sleeping in.

Last night we celebrated 5 years as a couple and I can't tell you all how lucky I feel to be married to my amazing hubby. Greg is such a good guy. I can honestly say he shares all our household responsibilities from mowing the lawn to doing the dishes (with the one exception of cooking...Greg is not a chef, but that's okay). The month of September was a crazy mess for me and Greg has been so supportive and fabulous through it all. He is my best friend and my life would not be complete with out him.

Okay, I promise I'm done with the mushy love stuff. Now to fill in all the gaps from this past month. My job has been a crazy roller coaster. I wish I could tell you it is my dream job and I'm busy every day seeing lots of patients, but that's just not the case. Our management/administration is a hot mess. I signed a written agreement when I was hired to define the terms of my position, my schedule, vacation, all that good stuff. Unfortunately, our "administration" has taken my written agreement and tossed it out the window. I have been TOLD (never asked) that my schedule has changed to a 6 day work week 50% of the time, my vacation has gone from 2 weeks to zero, and I sometimes go an entire day without seeing a single patient. I had been warned that this can sometimes happen in private practice but WOW I was not expecting this.

More news, I have another job offer with a very large corporation. The salary is higher, the benefits are better, and the vacation is longer. The other plus side of working for a large corporation is that they must stick to their agreements. They can not suddenly decide not to give me vacation because a physician has decided to take off to Europe for a month. My agreement would be upheld because it is corporate policy. There are also some negatives: 10 hour shifts, running my own clinic with no support staff (very isolating), and working a couple weekends every 6 weeks.

I've been bouncing back and forth on my decision for the last 2 weeks. It would be very difficult for me to leave my office because I had really high hopes that this would work out. I have to make up my mind by Monday so I'll keep you posted.

In addition to the stress of my work situation I had another bomb dropped on me last month. I found a little group of women online in similar situations that I'm chatting with (probably the reason my blog has been neglected...sorry) but I can tell you the support I'm getting is so helpful. I'd like to be able to open up and say more but I'm not quite there yet.

I am so ready to move on to October, YAY, my favorite month. Fall is definitely here is Chicago, the leaves are starting to change and the weather is ridiculously COLD! I promise lots of pictures when the leaves are in their prime.

Don't look down

Greg and I did a little sightseeing this weekend in downtown Chicago. My cousin and her husband came to visit so we decided to do some of the touristy things like shopping on Michigan avenue, taking a water taxi down the Chicago River, and braving the Ledge at the Sears tower. Greg and I don't go downtown very often so we we're not the best tour guides, but hopefully in time we'll get to know the city better.We had a really hard time finding the Sears tower. I was kind of embarrassed that I didn't know which building it was, but there are so many tall buildings in Chicago and they all look really similar. None of us (6 people) could find the tower. We found out that the Sears tower is not even called the "Sears" tower anymore, it's called the Willis Tower, that's not confusing at all!


We waited in line for over 2 hours to get up to the Skydeck of the tower. After all the lines, you finally get to an elevator that takes you up 103 stories in under 30 seconds. Did I mention I'm terrified of heights? The views from the Skydeck are amazing, you can see all of Chicago and into 4 different states up there! There is a new attraction on the Skydeck called "The Ledge", this is a glass box that you stand in and it feels like you are suspended in midair over the city of Chicago.

Can you say freaky????

Proof that we did it!

Adventures in Family Practice

So I have been an employee of the Joliet Doctors Clinic for exactly one week! Things are off to a slow but awesome start. I am building my own roster of patients which takes time. There are 5 other providers in this practice and some of them have offered to send a patient or two my way. But for the most part, everyone has their own patients and we don't really share, unless one of us is out of town/on vacation.

My office decided to advertise me this past weekend with a HUGE picture of my face in the Sunday paper. Hopefully, this will start bringing in the patients :)

My first day at the office I only saw ONE single patient. I had been waiting all morning constantly refreshing my computer screen hoping to see someone...anyone show up on my schedule. Finally, around two o'clock in the afternoon, a name popped up! I was thrilled, and then my joy was overcome with panic. Holy crap, I have to take care of this person all by myself! I quickly checked the "problem" column to see what they were here for and all it said was "sick". Okay, this could be a million different things. So I looked through the patient's chart to get a better picture of her history and then it was GO time.


The docs joked "...someone should take a picture, Amelia is seeing her first patient!" Ha! Thanks alot! I opened the door to find an agitated middle aged woman sitting on the exam table. I don't know why she was so irritated, she hadn't waited more than 30 seconds for me to enter the room. I introduced myself, took a nice little history, did my assessment, and poof....acute sinusitis (sinus infection). Easy peasy I thought! I'll just prescribe an antibiotic and that's it!

No...that was not it. This patient had not been into the office for quite a long while and she suddenly sprung a laundry list of problems on me! Back pain, weight gain, tingling in her fingers, swelling in her right leg....ahhh, the list went on and on!!! I wanted to say, listen lady, this is a 15 minute appointment, but clearly that would be rude.

Technically, in this sort of situation, you are supposed to tell that patient that they will need to schedule a routine visit in order to allow enough time to manage the other issues. I knew I didn't have any other patients so I decided, what the heck, I'll see what I can do. I went through all of her complaints one by one. It took a good 45 minutes. Finally, I finished, I presented the woman with all of her prescriptions. She gave me an evil look. What did I do wrong, why is she not happy?!?!? She said, you didn't give me a prescription for _________ medication. I said, yes, I know, it is over the counter, you don't need a prescription. The woman threw a fit! Well my other doctor always gives me a prescription, she said! I explained that she didn't need one, that anyone could go to the pharmacy and get what she was looking for. This did not make the situation any better.

The patient started yelling at me, saying that I didn't know what I was doing! Not wanting to get in a full on fist fight with this woman over something so ridiculous, I wrote the name of the medication on a prescription pad to make it "look" very official. She left without saying thank you.

I returned to my office to finish my note and my medical assistant came in to tell me that the patient I had just seen was giving her a hard time. The MA had offered to fax the prescriptions directly to the pharmacy and the patient accused her of thinking she was irresponsible or assuming that she would sell the prescriptions on the street!!!! Wow! The poor girl was just trying to be nice! Fifteen minutes later I got a call from the pharmacy saying there was a disgruntled woman here trying to "fill" an over the counter medication. The pharmacist explained to my patient that the medication was on the shelf, and easily accessible, there was nothing for him to "fill" (exactly like I had told her). Apparently, she didn't get it.

I felt really bad about not being able to please this patient. I'm guessing this lady will probably never come back and see me, but then again, I think I'm okay with that. So that was it, I survived my first day!

Excited and nervous all at once!

Tomorrow is my first day back at the office...not as an intern, but as a paid employee! Holy cow! I can't believe someone is going to pay me to do this job!

Wish me luck!

I can't wait to tell you all about it!

Entertaining

Last weekend I had house guests! My mother, her boyfriend, and my grandparents all came to stay at Casa de Polheber. I've never had to entertain guests before and I have to say I was a little nervous about having 4 extra people in our house. Turns out I had nothing to worry about! We all fit just fine.

We did a lot in just 3 short days. There is a dinner movie theater in Woodridge and we all went and saw Julie and Julia. I was pleasantly surprised by this movie, very entertaining and funny. My grandmother helped us do a little decorating and we got new curtains for our family room. Greg actually picked the fabric and I think it looks great!

Finally, on Sunday we went to the most amazing brunch at Meson Sabika. This is a tappas restaurant in Naperville, where they serve small plates of food so you get to taste a lot of different things. It is an awesome experience because you can take your time eating and then waiting for the next plate to come. I made reservations for brunch a week in advance because this restaurant is busy busy busy. The food is probably some of the best I've ever had. Brunch is my all time favorite meal. There is something about sleeping in, having a late meal, and drinking mimosas that puts a big smile on my face!

I'm so glad my family came to visit, we had a great time! Bring on the house guests :)

Frustrated

I'm not good at waiting. My new license number has still not arrived and I am starting to get a little frustrated. Each day at 1:00pm I check the mail hopeful that today will be the day. Seeing the mail truck pull up on our street is the highlight of my day. But my excitement quickly turns to disappointment when the mailbox is full of junk ads or mislabeled mail or sometimes no mail at all, that is the worst.

I'm starting to run out of projects. The house is mostly in order, I had house guests over the weekend so everything is already clean and neat. There really isn't much to do. I feel like I need to join a club or find a new hobby. I've never had this much down time ever before. I've never not been in school or working before!

Greg has been so supportive through all of this. He has been the sole provider and never complained about it once. I know he is ready to have me working so I can share some of our financial responsibilities, like the mortgage! Life will be less stressful once we are a two person income. I can't wait.

But, since I have no choice in the matter, I will continue to play the waiting game while stalking the mail man until my letter comes and the next chapter can begin.

Facelift

Before and After...Fireplace Facelift

....it speaks for itself

Change is good

Life is way better when you aren't studying 9 hours a day.

I could get use to this.

25

My wonderful hubby turns 25 today.

Happy Birthday Honey, I love you!



25 things I love about Greg

1. He is the most loyal person you will ever meet


2. He has dreamy blue eyes


3. He is freaking hilarious


4. He washes the dishes


5. He has big sexy lips :)


6. He is my best friend


7. He loves kids, this seems to be a more recent development and it is SO sexy


8. He is a crazy good athlete


9. He is incredibly hard working


10. He is super chill


11. He loves to stay in and watch movies


12. He likes my cooking


13. He is very clean


14. He is a dog lover


15. He is super handy and has done a ton of work on our house


16. He shares my passion for sushi


17. He is very thoughtful and sentimental


18. He is not a morning person


19. He cuts his own hair and it always looks perfect


20. He is a really good driver, unlike someone else


21. He is a family person


22. He doesn't mind taking pictures


23. He watches HGTV with me, most of the time


24. He loves stand up comedy


25. He is my rock

What a day!

Today I passed the Family Nurse Practitioner board exam. Yay! I always knew I wanted to be a nurse practitioner but getting to this point was a crazy long process!

It all started with Nursing School....Hate is a strong word, but I STRONGLY disliked nursing school. Nursing school was so terribly painful for me! If you really know me well, you'd know that I don't like hospitals.

From day one, I knew I wanted to work as a nurse practitioner in primary care (an office). Well, in nursing school, your future goals don't matter much. The bottom line is you are going to learn how to be a well rounded RN. That means spending time in MedSurg, L&D, ICU, Emergency, Psych/Mental Health...etc. That was great news for the 49 other people in my program, but it was torture for me. I even had a nursing professor tell me I should change my major, that I shouldn't be a nurse!

It's not that I wasn't meant to be a nurse, nurses can work in a ton of different settings. Hospitals just are not my cup of tea, they cause me serious anxiety, I like to avoid them at all costs! I guess it's no surprise that I LOVE primary care, the whole purpose is to keep people OUT of hospitals (coincidence? I don't think so!).

The other major challenge was studying on the road. During the course of my masters program we moved FIVE times. That means 5 different preceptors (I actually had way more than 5). Every time we moved I had to find a new preceptor (some one to mentor me for the clinical portion of my school requirements).

Oh the joy of opening the phone book and randomly calling doctors and nurse practitioners I'd never met and asking them if I could intern at their practice. I could almost hear their thoughts through the silent phone line, "who is this person and why is she calling me???" I can't tell you how many times I was hung up on....HUNDREDS.

I'd like to give a quick shout out to the people who did NOT hang up on me...Dr. Robertson, Dr. Ellman, Dr. Hamidi, Kelly Schauer, Ellen Gastauer, Dr. Borucki, Katheryn Green, Dr. Smith, Dr. Price and Dr. Noorani...Thank you all for being the most wonderful preceptors I could have every asked for! Without these amazingly kind and generous people I would not be here :)

In the end, 7 years of education was all worth it because I love this job:)

P.S. I saw that nursing professor that told me I shouldn't be a nurse at my FNP graduation, and I made it a point to give her a big HELLO! The look on her face was priceless....she definitely remembered me.

Road trip to Michigan

This past weekend Greg and I hopped in the car and drove 6 hours to visit family in Michigan. We got to meet our new niece Kylie Grace and do some awesome fishing!

Me and the babe, Kylie has some LONG toes, just like her uncle Greg!

Family Pic!

Thanks Michelle and Marty for a great weekend!

Fabulous Fourth

The 4th of July was a 4 day event this year. There is no denying that Chicago is an awesome city in the summer. Greg had Thursday and Friday off so went to the Tast of Chicago and RibFest. Basically our entire weekend revolved around food, and that was okay by me!

We did a little eating....

and a little playing....

and then we ate some more....

Happy 4th of July!

If a tree falls in your backyard....

....does it make a sound?

Apparently not. I was in the kitchen washing dishes, no more than 20 feet away, and I didn't hear a thing.
It wasn't actually the entire tree, but it was a 40 ft branch and it nearly fell on our house!

Unfortunately, this one central branch falling was enough to through off the "balance" of the tree. Meaning we are at great risk for other branches falling directly onto our house....not good. We talked to an arborist (aka tree doctor) and were informed that the ENTIRE tree will have to come down. I am actually very upset about the situation.
Our poor lopsided tree will be coming down shortly. But we will be planting TWO new trees to replace it :)