War of the Worlds

OK, so obviously I wasn't around in 1938 when Orson Wells broadcast the very famous reading of "War of the Worlds" live on air. Not everyone knew this was a reading from H.G. Well's novel. Some actually thought the nation was under martian attack! Can you imagine? Anyway, tomorrow night a website is broadcasting the full broadcast from 1938. Pretty cool!

War of the Worlds Tribute

Praying For...

• Peace of mind about residency
• Patience and trust in God's timing
  
• Baby Addison
• Military overseas
• Those close to us who are going through cancer treatments
  
• All pregnant friends and new moms
• My shoulder to heal...quickly

Acquaint now thyself with the Lord, and be at peace; thereby good shall come unto thee. Job 22:21

In peace I will both lie down and sleep, for You Lord, alone make me dwell in safety and confident trust. Psalm 4:8

The LORD bless thee, and keep thee; the LORD make his face shine upon thee, and be gracious unto thee; the LORD lift up His countenance upon thee, and give thee peace. Numbers 6:24-26

We are starting to get more apprehensive about residency. Are they going to tell us something early? (sometimes programs give you a heads up about what will happen on match day.) Will we have to wait until February? Every day Kody and I remind ourselves that we cannot make things happen on our own. God knows what we want, but He also knows what we need. We are doing our best to have faith in that and let Him take care of us. What is the worst that can happen? We have asked for what we want and what we feel like will be best for our family. Maybe he will say "Yes! This is what I want for you. Take this and be happy!" Or maybe He will say, "No. I am not going to give you that, but I am going to give you this. This is much better. This is MY plan for you." Of course we are making it very clear that Bailey would prefer to stay in Oklahoma rather than move to Michigan or Ohio!

What a blessing it is to have a husband who in times of uncertainty like this turns to prayer. I love visiting him on the weekends and seeing his bible on the bedside stand with pages marked. We know our hearts are in the right place.

I Love My Dog

There is only one week until Halloween. I'm kind of depressed. I haven't been able to take Bailey to the pumpkin patch yet.

Since we don't have kids and we all know Bailey is my dog child, Kody and I take her to the pumpkin patch every year. We get a kick out of it. She likes to smell the pumpkins and she loves seeing all the people. This October has just been too chaotic. The three of us haven't lived in the same house long enough to plan a fun family outing. Since we won't be going this year, here is a picture from Bailey's second pumpkin patch visit. It is followed by a bunch of random dog pictures that I love. Bailey is in Edmond this week so I am missing her.

Bailey and Kody at the Pumpkin Patch in 2007.



Midori and her super cute bandana.



Bailey at her puppy kindergarten class. Look, no long crazy hair yet!



Bailey's First Snow. I L.O.V.E. this picture!



She will never sleep like this with me anymore. So sad.

Interview Update!

The Mr. just completed his interview in OKC about an hour ago. It was an ALL DAY process. He sounded so upbeat and positive oh the phone. It made my heart so happy! I love hearing him like that. No matter what happens, we both know he worked his tail off and did everything he could do.

I told him how I was praying for him to be calm and confident. He said he felt that way the entire day. Surprisingly, I stayed much more calm than I thought I would too!

Now we wait...

Three interviews down and possibly a fourth to come.

What an amazing, crazy journey all this has been. What do I do with myself now? No more researching programs? No more scheduling hotels and flights out of state? No more interview question prep like, "Tell us why your wife rocks your world"? I don't know if I will even be able to recognize this lady in the mirror anymore. Kidding.

Thanks to all of our wonderful friends and family who have been so supportive and have kept both of us in your prayers. You. Are. The. Best.

My Life in the Last Twelve Hours.

A few highlight from the last twelve hours....

• My dear friend Brittany got engaged to her boyfriend Mike yesterday! WOOHOO! He is a great guy and I am insanely happy for her. I love seeing my friends happy.
  
• Kody is currently going through his interview in OKC. I have heard nothing yet...of course...I'm starring at my phone constantly...of course.
  
• I didn't fall asleep until about 1 AM because I was thinking about Kody's interview. What in the world is wrong with me?
• Bailey woke up at 12AM (while I was trying to sleep) and wanted to play outside for half an hour with her secret backyard boyfriend.
  
• Kody called me at 4:15 AM to tell me he was awake and that I didn't need to call him at 4:30AM to make sure he was up. Hmmmmm....thanks darling!
  
• My sister texted me around midnight to tell me she "Saw paranormal activity. U would crap ur pants". What? You saw ghosts? Moving objects? Huh?
  
• Bailey has a twin at doggy day care. Yes, an identical doggy twin. So cool!
  
• I just got another text from my sister about the paranormal activity. It reads, "DEMONS! U haven't heard about it??" Ummm no! What the heck are you talking about you crazy child in Arizona!
  
• Another text from Robin..."It's awesomely terrifying. Scariest movie I've ever seen". OK who is the idiot now? She was talking about a movie and I thought she was talking about actual paranormal activity. I'm going to consider today a wash.
  

The Roof Is On Fire...

OK, not really, but I am getting a new one.

Not because of fire.

Because of hail....which occurred on my birthday of all days.

Yes, we three Kings are getting a nice new roof over our heads on Monday courtesy of the fabulous crew at Roofscapes. Our dear friend Clayton aka Pip is working for them now in OKC. They have offices in Tulsa also. If you need a new roof and you use them, tell them I referred you! I get a kick back. :) They have been AWESOME! Thanks Clayton!

Anyway, our insurance is covering the whole gig, except for our deductible of course. We have fantastic insurance through USAA. They rock. They got me a check for the roof in less than a week after the inspection. Not kidding. Now for the annoying part. The check is made out to myself, Kody AND our mortgage company. Ugh. Now I have to send a copy of my adjusters report AND the check to our mortgage company to endorse. I'm overnighting it since the roofing project starts Monday. Do you know how much it costs to overnight one measly FedEx envelope with five very thin pieces of paper?

$24!

Seriously, maybe I am silly, but that kind of blew my mind. I don't ship things overnight....ever. I was thinking maybe $8, but not $24. OK sure, $24 isn't going to break us. It really isn't that big of a deal, but wow, I was not mentally prepared for that when I printed off my shipping label!

Oh well. At least I'm getting a nice, new, beautiful roof.

Just Be Awesome

Today is Wednesday. Today Kody had his last fracture conference before his interview on Friday. Today was his last day to be seriously awesome in front of all the residents. Today he was good. Last week he was good. I hope all the residents think he is good. No....I hope they think he is great. I know he is great.

Most ortho programs have some sort of fracture conference during the week. The residents throw up xrays of patients and ask younger residents and med students to read the fracture. They have to give the classification of the fracture and talk about a treatment plan. I think it would be very intimidating to be there as a student with ten plus residents staring at you, asking you questions and judging you the whole time. I guess that is one of many reasons I will never be an orthopedic surgeon.

Friday is interview day in OKC. He'll have an oral interview, a written test and a fracture conference. Yikes. No pressure. Just be awesome. Right? I'm ready for interviews to be over. Then we just wait. And wait. And wait....until February. Three and a half months.

In Non Kody/Rotation Related News....

• I took Bailey on a walk last night. We passed a couple kids. They asked me if she was a pooper. What? A pooper? "No." I said, "this is my dog. Her name is Bailey". Then they started yelling "Bailey pooper! Bailey pooper". Ok ridiculous children...quit calling my sweet baby girl a pooper. She didn't even do that on her walk! Although, if she did I had my bio degradable poop bags ready to clean it up. I hate it when people don't clean up after their dogs. So rude!
• My hip is feeling better, but my shoulder has been bothering me. I just need new body parts. I rode the stationary bike this morning, which I hate by the way, for 35 minutes. Oh how I miss my CrossFit.
• We are getting a new roof on Monday. YAY hail damage!
• GLEE is on tonight.
• I am possibly going to have to have two root canals.
  

The end.

A Beautiful Day

Kody and I saw U2 in Norman last night. Please excuse how beautiful we both look in this picture.



We were in a box. You are jealous, right?



It was awesome.



I will be the first to admit I am not a crazy U2 fan. I like their music, but I don't own any of their music. However, a few of their songs are some of my all time favorites. Sunday Bloody Sunday, With or Without You, Mysterious Ways and Walk On.

I did not get to hear With or Without you because we left right before the encore. It broke my heart to leave before it was played, but I knew it was going to be in the encore and we just couldn't stay any later. Kody had to be at the hospital super early(5:30 AM), I had to drive back to T Town super early this morning (6:45 AM) and we wanted to beat traffic. It was horrible on the way there. Stupid road construction.

The show was fantastic. The set up was amazing. We were in a box (fancy, right?) so we were warm and fed the entire show. It was a great evening. Other than the fact that we walked the ramp to the suites instead of taking the elevators, I have no complaints. We were idiots. It was my idea. We definitely got our workout in for the day. My feet can feet it today. We walked it faster than anyone else there though, so I was pretty proud of our performance.

I've seen a lot of great bands and performers in my short life so far. I'm really happy I can add U2 to the list!

Now I want an Irish accent.

Interview Number Two

The Mr. leaves bright and early tomorrow for his second residency interview. This one is in Michigan. He is really excited and yet very calm. Everyday I ask him if he is freaking out yet. He keeps saying no, but I think it is about to hit in a few hours. I can sense it. He'll be great. He is irritatingly charming when he needs to be. I say irritatingly because it comes so naturally to him when he needs to be "on". I'm praying for him to stay calm and for the right words to come out of his mouth. That boy can talk his way into or out of almost anything.

As long as he keeps the "ums", "ers" and "likes" to a minimum I think he'll be OK.

Eleven students are interviewing. There are two spots. He has an 18.18% chance of getting one of those two spots. Six of the students are from Michigan State. I hope they don't get a home field advantage.

The actual interview is Saturday morning from 8AM to 10AM. Friday night is a dinner with all the other interviewees (aka the competition) and residents. They are all playing Halo (XBox 360) after dinner. He is horrible at Halo. Hopefully that won't count against him.

If they played Mario Party or NBA Jam he would be a shoe in for a spot.

And The New Bachelor Is...

Jake is such a nice boy.

He looks much dreamier than I remember from last season. Score for the single ladies!

Dressing the Part

This is a really exciting week. Kody has interview number two in Michigan. He leaves Friday morning and returns Saturday evening. I tried to ask him some mock interview questions, but he doesn't think questions like, "Why is your wife the best ever?" are relevant to orthopedic residency positions. Whatever. If programs interviewed spouses, my interview would surely get him a spot.

In style preparation for interviews we went suit shopping this weekend. A big shout out to the folks at Men's Warehouse in OKC on Memorial. They are awesome. Ladies, if your man needs a suit take him there. Yes, it is not the cheapest, but they do it up right. We ended up getting two suits. If you bought one you got a second for only $100. In the suit world that is awesome. Two suits turned into two suits plus two shirts, two ties, two cedar hangers and new socks. My mom donated money for new socks. She was bound and determined Kody was going to have nice, new socks. Ha! They are quite fabulous. Thanks mom. He also got some snazzy new shoes. I picked those out. That was my only style contribution to the whole ensemble.

He got a black suit with some muted pen stripes and a gorgeous charcoal colored suit. Love it. I'm not kidding, he looked high class. Kody cleans up very nice. I'll have to get some pictures. They measured him and tailored the suit to fit him just right. Classic and professional. He is totally going to look the part of a future orthopedic surgeon.

A few other weekend highlights:

• I'm injured
• Florida won
• Midori ate one of my black dress shoes
• Bailey loves her "Karate Dog" Halloween costume (she is a black belt!)
• Adventureland is not really a comedy...we were tricked

Coke at the Fair and I Don't Mean Cola

I'm working at the fair tomorrow. The casino has a trade show booth and a couple of co-workers and myself will be there from 10AM to 2PM. It should be pretty exciting. Not because I think the fair is awesome, but because the people at the fair are amazing.

On Monday, another co-worker of mine worked at our booth. She came back and reported that she saw two women get arrested for snorting cocaine behind the Expo Center where the trade show area is. Seriously? Who goes to the fair to snort coke? Ok, who do that anyway...but really? The fair? Does it make the chocolate covered bacon taste better? Maybe the Zipper gets a new, exotic spin. I'm not sure. I just find the fair an odd place to be doing illegal drugs in public.

I wonder what the people of the Tulsa State Fair have in store for me tomorrow. I can't wait.

It Is Only Monday?

I'm seriously out of it today. I drove to Tulsa from Edmond this morning. Strike one. I got up early to get in twenty minutes on the elliptical before I left. Dumb. Strike two. I'm on a mission to add three short sessions of low impact cardio into my weekly CrossFit routine. To top the day off, I still have to go grocery shopping because I have no food. I don't do well without food. I have semi fallen asleep at my desk about three times today. No worries. My hair looks amazing and not in a good way. I'm also wearing a black button down shirt that is two sizes too large that has been in my closet at my parents home for the past six years without use. Strike three to infinity. No, I'm not kidding. I'm just going to consider today a wash. :)

Oh yeah, plane tickets to Michigan for an interview jumped $100 since Friday. Seriously? Ugh.

I'm looking forward to my evening at home with my precious baby dog. She'll probably just sleep all night and ignore me, but at least she will be there.

4th Year Expenses

The fourth (and last!) year of medical school is going by fast. It is already October. Graduation is only seven months and two weeks away. WOAH. Kody and I are currently experiencing our fifth month since May to not live together on a daily basis. It is strange, yet oddly normal at this point. We have adapted to the insanity quite easily. As I have said before, I now have a part time job as Kody's assistant. I check his email daily, send him daily updates on who he needs to call, fill out paper work, update his schedule, schedule tests, make plane arrangements and research programs. Don't worry, I do all of this because I want to. Some spouses aren't as sweet and fabulous as me. I remind him of that everyday. Kidding. Out of state rotations have made it nearly impossible for him to do these things on his own. Internet access is always limited and so is spare time when you are busy trying to show programs that you are awesome.

As much as I have educated myself about the process of rotations, interviews and match there is one area that I was a little unaware of during fourth year. Expenses. Oh. My. Goodness. I knew we would have extra expenses with boards and what not, but I wasn't prepared for what the last few months have been like. Here is a brief rundown for you future fourth year families on expenses you might have to incur:

• Step 2 Boards - $600
  
• Step 2 Board Practical - $1,096
  
• Travel and hotel to Step 2 Board Practical (in Pennsylvania) - $500
  
• Out of state rotations (gas, food, etc) - Whatever it costs to drive over 3,000 miles
  
• Hotel stays during out of state rotations if housing is not provided - $800
  
• Air fare to visit spouse during out of state rotations - $400
  
• Air fare for interviews at out of state programs - $400
• Registering for the match - $60
  
• Mongolian BBQ for student during out of state rotations - Priceless
  

OK, so the Mongolian BBQ is not a normal expense unless it is next door to your extended stay hotel and you visit it DAILY. Ugh. If you do the math, that is a lot of extra money to spend over a small length of time.

Things I am Thankful For:

• A good job that allows us to be able to handle the extra expenses without too much added stress
  
• Programs that interview students during rotations so they don't have to spend money to travel back later (thank you Ohio!)
  
• Kody being able to stay with my family during rotations in Oklahoma City
• Weekends off
  
• Hospitals that have unlimited free cafeteria access for students
  
• A car that can handle the wear and tear of lots of highway travel without problems

Needless to say, so far fourth year has been interesting. It is still going amazingly well. We are very blessed by how everything is working out and optimistic about the future. If any of you fellow OSU spouses have money questions or questions in general about rotations let me know.

I know too much now. I should write a book...