Val

My baby sister is not a baby any more. She is going to be 19 this year and I still see her and talk to her like she is 7. Yes, I realize that she is technically an adult now, but I have a hard time remembering that she is no longer playing with Barbies. I love my little sister, and she has just started her blog. Go check it out!

Top 5

Ok, so I was one off. American Idol...of course is what I am talking about. I made a prediction back in the final 12 or so that the top 5 would be David A, David C, Jason, Carly, and Brooke. I certainly expected Carly would have gone on further than top 6, but there have been bigger surprises in the past! I never really thought she would win, but I am sad to see her go. On the other hand, I am quite happy that the majority of my prediction was correct. Too bad I couldn't bet on it! :) Just kidding, that would be silly (like some crazy reality tv show obsessed weirdo).

By the way, it is good to be back. I didn't actually go anywhere, but I just haven't really been in a blogging kind of mood. But I still come onto the blog to link onto all the other blogs I read regularly!

Can you do this?

My nephew is one smart little boy! On Easter we were all together and while we were driving Matt turned around and saw him with his entire hand in his mouth! We had to take a picture. The next time we saw my sister (his mom) we had him show her what he could do, and her reaction told me that she had no idea that her little boy was capable of doing such a thing. In fact, I think it kind of freaked her out! It was pretty funny. Maybe we should be telling him that if he does that, his hand might get stuck in there forever! (or it will come in handy for a high school talent show!)

National Board Day

Well, an update on my National Board exam...I'M DONE!!!! Yeeee-haw! I would do a cartwheel if I could. The first part of my exam wasn't too bad, I finished in 2 hours. The junior class provided lunch for us and we all did our very best NOT to talk about the exam. The second half was actually 150 questions, not 100. My brain started frying part way through. Time was standing still, and I think my eyes started playing tricks on me. But I took some time to stretch and relax, then got back to work. I finished the second half in 2 hours also.

It feels wonderful to have this done. I will never have to take this exam ever again (assuming I passed). I am so grateful to have the training and education that I was given. I felt prepared for the exam! One other small detail that makes me feel pretty good about my chances to pass are the way they "grade" the exam. It is compared to every other exam in the entire nation. So therefore, if 80% of the people get a question right, that is the most that they can make that question worth...or something like that. Which means that if there are areas that don't have the same education level as California, that puts us at an advantage! The only bad part is I have to wait 6 weeks to get my results :(

Now I can relax!!! I am thinking I will celebrate with some Mexican food for dinner "Ole!"

I may need a frontal labotomy...or I can just post

I have a lot of things going on right now, and it would take too many posts to describe them all, but it would be good for me to just put them out there and kind of empty my brain.

• This last week was SPRING BREAK!!! I have been needing a break from school like you wouldn't believe. The stress of it all was actually making me physically sick (not incapacitated, just uncomfortable). Thank goodness for having some time off. Granted, I have plenty of school work that I could have and should have been working on, but I just ended up working at my oral surgery office for the week.
• My poor dog Darla has an ear infection that just doesn't want to go away. This is her 2nd ear infection since September, and we are on our second round of ear drops. It is sad to see her try to scratch her ears, but then she can't because it hurts too much.
  
• Matt has been traveling for work a lot lately. Since November he has been to London, Boston, Atlanta, and just for today (literally) he is in Phoenix. He sure is accumulating frequent flier miles. Unfortunately though, today a rock hit the windshield of his rental car and put a crack in it :(
• Tomorrow is my National Board exam! I have been walking around feeling fairly confident (even though I know I am not really as confident as I have been acting), and today the nerves have really hit me! I have been going over multiple practice questions and grading myself. I actually need to stop (hence taking the time to write a post) so my brain can rest. The test is given in two parts: 1. (4 hours) 200 questions: multiple choice on anything and everything we have learned over the last two years. Everything from radiology, pathology, pharmacology, nutrition, anatomy, dental materials, microbiology, etc. and after we take a break for an hour lunch we have part 2. (4 hours) 100 questions: multiple choice based on case studies. We are given photographs, x-rays, health histories, etc. and we are given questions based on the case studies. It is a lot of information, and I hope I can sleep tonight
• My grandmother is sick. Several years ago when I was a kid she had a heart attack, and after a triple bypass and lots of exercise she was back to normal. Well, ever since my grandpa left this life over 5 years ago my grandma just hasn't been the same. The other day they took my grandma to the doctor and they found a blockage in her heart. With her age and her current life situations she would prefer to forgo any surgical procedures and let nature take it's course. Of course we don't really know yet what this means as far as her lifespan is concerned, but we will all be watching her closely.
• I have a cold...grr, not the best time to get sick.
• My house needs to be cleaned from top to bottom! I haven't had the time or the energy to do a real deep cleaning in a long time. I need to do dishes, fold clothes, vacuum, mop, scrub, and throw away all the clutter that is causing me to take big acrobatic steps next to my bed.
  
• I got to spend the weekend with my family (minus my mom and my youngest sister--since they live in Utah). My dad is an accountant, so as you can imagine he is quite busy right now, and yet we have 3 family birthdays (my dad, my sister Erika, and myself) within a 3 weeks span right now. So we used Easter as an excuse and we all got to get together for a Easter egg hunt for my nephew Tanner, then out to lunch at a Benihana-style restaurant to celebrate. It was really cool to spend time with (almost) all of my family.
  
• I killed our keyboard today. I just sat down to check my email and I bumped a cup of water that was sitting on the desk and it spilled onto the keyboard. I tried to dry it out and did keyboard CPR on it, but alas...it died. So I ran to Fry's to buy a new one. That is just something we can't live without! We do have a laptop, but Matt took it with him on his trip to Phoenix to keep himself occupied in the airport.
  

Well, I think that should do it. I was able to clear out some of my thoughts. Thank goodness for having a place to vent my brain. I need it especially today!

Worley Movie Review

To keep with my recent roll of entertainment-based posts lately, I should mention Matt's new blog. He will be keeping a movie review blog. Basically any movie he sees he plans on reviewing. Please take some time to check it out!!!

I can't take it anymore!

Thanks to having a DVD-recorder I usually don't have to watch commercials anymore. On occasion I do catch some commercials that annoy me so much! These commercials include, but are not limited to:
Head On: basically bengay for your forehead. What a scam...and it is sooooooooo annoying! They tried to make it better by changing it up by saying "Head On, applied directly to the forehead. Head On, app.... (then a man walks out and interrupts and says:) "head on, I can't stand your commercial, but your product is amazing" Wow, top notch.


Shoe Pavillion: I don't have a clip, but the woman's voice on this commercial drives me crazy. She has a high-pitched sqeeky voice, kind of like when a man imitates a woman's voice. Ugh

Sit and Sleep: "You're killing me Larry!!" and "your mattress is freeeeeeeeeeeee!" are the two phrases that physically make me change the station. I thought that eventually they would realize how much these commercials stink and they would stop making them, but no...they want to torture me. I actually want to boycott Sit and Sleep.