Totally Wiped

This is Cindy the Cat playing with fire AND standing on the table, which is a huge no-no and makes me wonder why Richie took the picture instead of shooing her away. Because it's a cute picture and he knew it would be, that's why.
I am presently totally wiped. I've been studying microbiology all day. This is a bear of a subject that our curriculum touches on, but doesn't go wild about. So now I'm learning about all sorts of disease processes and trying to do it quickly enough that there's still time for organ systems! I just took a practice test of 46 questions that took 3 hours to complete and then review, making notes in the all-important First Aid book that has become an object of extreme importance (owing to the notes therein). Oh, and I studied for the entire day, taking breaks to do essential things. This has been a long day, after several other long days. My friend recommends tearing pages out of First Aid when you get *really* frustrated. So far, I hadn't torn any out. But tonight, midway through micro, those "extra" pages in the back are looking pretty loose. Nonetheless, I do like knowing things I didn't know before.

Ha Ha; Minor Victory!

Honestly, I don't know why I bother blogging about this minutiae, but I am REALLY, even overly excited that I just finished a Qbank problem set with an average of three minutes spent per question (with review) and I am totally excited!

Windy

Tonight is windy and co-old. It's flurrying, but the snow isn't drifting down the way Georgia flurries ordinarily do. It's driving sideways and hurts when you go out. Nonetheless, it cheers me, as does the sound of people moving around the house and doing things. My mom will remember, I always preferred to go to sleep to the sound of things happening so that I felt I wasn't missing out. This is the same. If 8% of my brain is occupied by normal home noises, I can both take comfort in the nearness and normalness of it all, and still use the other 92% of my brain for USMLE-approved learning purposes.

Tonight Richie and the girls watched "It's a Wonderful Life." Richie came upstairs afterwards with damp eyes. I asked Mazie and Vivian how they liked it, and Mazie said "I really liked It's a Wonderful Life...except it ISN'T a wonderful life." I guess bittersweetness is lost on a seven-year old, as it hopefully should be. Both girls sang, "Buffalo Gals, won't you come out tonight?" at lights-out.

Handsome

Gastrointestinal today

So, for those of you who are wondering, I have had halting success sticking to my study schedule. I wish I were robotic, just for these 8 weeks. Our family's bouts of frequent illness haven't helped, but aside from that, sticking to the schedule is about
1) Staying in the chair. (I wiggle like a pre-K'er)
2) Having my brain on task. (Look! a tube of chapstick!!!)
Both have challenged me so far (usually, there's class to break up the sitting), but I've gotten better at it over the course of this week. My biggest problem right now, schedule-wise: having budgeted about 2 hours per 46-question block for both answering Question Bank questions and then reviewing them in detail, when in actuality, they take me about 4 hours to go through (so far). I'll have to massage that one a bit to make it fit. Or take away from some other area...

Finally, guilt. Plain and simple: guilt at not being with my family in more quality ways. I am mommy-in-the-tower. It's better than being deployed, or a refugee, or working this hard at something I didn't truly want to do...but it's hard at Christmastime! I usually craft and cook, but this year I have thrown up lights on our neighbors' 4-foot fake tree that they let us borrow. It's short but festive. And we put it on top of a cardboard box, so it's less short now, too.

But Richie has Vivian making cornbread and Mazie is reading. I think everyone is okay without the scent of pine needles this year.

Working on renal today...

Today is blustery and sunny. Well, it was sunny while the sun was still out. It's dark now and I can hear the wind all around our apartment and feel it whooshing through the windows. The pictures I put up are, in mysterious order (I can never tell based on the code) are: Nephron art of which I am particularly proud. Richie listening to Vivian read. Mazie reading. Vivian with her Playmobil setup - the gift that keeps on giving :). I hope everyone on the Eastern Seaboard and parts northward is staying warm. Brrrrr!!!! BTW, Goljan = my BFF.