Surgery

So, last weekend, Nick started to notice some pain in his mouth.  It was pain he had felt before, and he knew that he would be dealing with an abscess soon. Abscessed teeth and gums are nasty (an abscess is basically a pocket of infection, so there's a lot of nasty infected fluids like pus). Since his abscess was causing him a lot of pain, I decided to take him to the dentist on Tuesday. I came home from work early (around 11 am), and started to call dentists' offices, looking for an open appointment.  I called 8 or 9 dentists, and no one had an open appointment. Poor Nick was lying in our bed, full of pain, so I started to look for more dentists. I called a dentist in downtown Provo, and they had an opening right away! So I rushed Nick to their office, and they took him back to the dentist almost immediately.  Everyone there was really nice, and we loved the atmosphere of the office and the quality of their service (yay for Jeppson Dental!).
Dr. Jeppson told Nick that his abscesses (he had had two other abscesses in the same spot over the past decade or so) were the result of a botched root canal several years earlier.  Dr. Jeppson could have tried to fix it, but he thought that it would be better for Nick to see a specialist, so he prescribed some Lortab (a really strong painkiller) and Penicillin and made an appointment for Nick to see an endodontist (an inner tooth and tissue specialist) the next day.
So, I filled his prescriptions and drugged him up for the rest of Tuesday. (Side note: Nick is pretty funny when he is on Lortab. After he took the pills, he was grinning ear to ear. When I asked why he was smiling, he said, "I'm happy. I'm so.......happy." and then he giggled. Haha. When I asked what made him so happy, he said, "My pills....want some?" and giggled some more. Teehee.) Anyway, for the rest of Tuesday, we relaxed and watched some TV shows and movies.
Wednesday morning, I took Nick to the endodontist, Dr. Jenson.  Dr. Jenson drained the rest of Nick's abscess (it had burst a little while he was sleeping Tuesday night), and then told him that he had two options for fixing his botched root canal.  One of the options was surgery, which we chose because it had a higher percent chance of success. Dr. Jenson's office recommended having surgery as soon as possible, so we made an appointment for the next day (today).
Today I took Nick to get surgery at 1:30. He was in there for two hours, and when he came out, he was in a lot of pain.  He kept saying that he hated his life, and sometimes he swore. I got him home as quickly as I could, and gave him Lortab. Then I went to Target to fill the rest of his prescriptions (Dr. Jenson prescribed three different medications) and stocked up on soup, smoothies, and ice cream.  Luckily for Nick, our Target carries a line of Panera soups! Now we just have to wait for Nick to heal. I'm glad that Nick got his surgery, because it will prevent future abscesses. It was costly and painful, but I think we will be glad in the long run.
While Nick has been sick, I've been working on my Capstone paper, which is due tomorrow. Here's a picture of almost all of the books I'm using to write my paper (it has to be about 20 pages, with an annotated bibliography and footnotes):

There are about 26 books in that stack. I'll be glad when Spring Term is over! But I am pretty excited about my topic: the lives of wealthy Southern women, which were actually a lot tougher than we think.

Progress

This week has been busy, but I feel like I'm making a lot of progress! It's pretty random progress though, so here's a list:

• First of all, we are combating pregnancy rumors. Haha. We aren't pregnant! Some of our friends pulled a little prank on facebook, saying that we were pregnant. And I've been pinning some cute baby ideas for Erin's baby Dominic, but people assumed it was for my own little bun in the oven (which is pretty understandable). So, we aren't pregnant. :)
• Second, I've started to make a list of sources I will need to complete my goal of becoming an Accredited Genealogist. I'm going to be expanding my library of genealogy books for English research by buying a comprehensive atlas, area-specific research guides, standards manuals,and other similar books. I'm also going to be compiling my own research binder with helpful websites I can go to and information and historical records about major records (church records, civil registration, poor law records, etc). I'm really excited about taking this step towards accreditation.
• Third, I've made some major progress on my homework lately. In the next two weeks, I'll be working on a 30-hour family history research project and my 20-page capstone paper. I'm spending two or three days at the Family History Library in Salt Lake to get ahead on my 30-hour project, and I've got at least 25 books to find good sources and information for my capstone. I'm right on track!
• Lastly, I've been eating healthier to lower my blood pressure, but I still like to indulge in some of my favorite foods every now and then. Today, we got to eat some cheesesteak sandwiches from Moochie's! Moochie's is our favorite restaurant in Salt Lake, and it is sooo delicious. Here's a picture of our yummy meal (not our actual meal, but someone else's sandwich from Moochie's): 

Goals!

So, I've set a new group of goals for myself.
First of all, my biggest goal for now is to graduate in December. So far, I'm on track. After this Spring term is over, I'll be basically done with all of my major and minor requirements. All I'll need is to complete my internships and earn more credits. I've registered for enough credits in the Fall, so as far as I can tell, I'll be totally finished in December. Which brings me to my next goal.
After graduation, I would like to become accredited. An Accredited Genealogist is basically someone who is a family history expert in a certain area of the world, and is considered a professional family historian. I want to become accredited in English family history research. To become accredited, I will need to meet the following requirements:

• Application
• About 1,000 hours of documented research in the area of accreditation
• A pedigree chart with at least four generations, with every event documented (linked to a reliable source)
• Written reports, with proper citations
• Compiled reference materials to help further research in the area
• A written test that is comprised of six sections
• An oral examination
• Defense of the pedigree submitted with the application

I already have about 100 hours of British research, meaning that I am almost 1/10 of the way there! I can do this. :)

If you want to know more about accreditation, you can visit icapgen.org. 

Our Home

So, we've had a little bit of car drama this week. We had another keys-locked-in-the-car incident, and some transportation issues this week, but that's all behind us. Since I didn't get to campus yesterday, I spent the day rearranging our living room, with some success. I felt like our living room was a little cramped, so I got rid of a bookshelf that was broken and moved a couple of things around, and I quite like it. I thought this would be a good opportunity to put up some pictures of our apartment. It's a little retro, but I love it-it's our home. I didn't take pictures of our bathroom or kitchen yet, but I will. They happen to be the most retro parts of our apartment. Our sinks are a 1970's green (olive-y?), and our counters are white with flecks of the same green. It's kind of cute! So, here are some pictures.

The first picture is of a really cute onesie that I bought at Meijer because it was $5 and Nick wants our kids to be athletic. Wouldn't it be so cute if we had a Super Bowl baby? dang cute.

The rest of the pictures are: our bedroom (notice the shoe rack that Nick made for me! And also that we have a lot of clothes...I have a lot of clothes), some puzzle pictures from Nana that are hanging in our second bedroom/home office, our desk and computer set-up in the second bedroom, and our bookshelves (also in the second bedroom), and lastly, our living room. The other pictures of our living room were too dark, so this is the only one you get. We've got some lovely pictures (courtesy of Jann), and some other pretty decorations and whatnot. What you can't see in the picture is our two comfy easy chairs, our tv, and our other wall with pretty pictures on it. Maybe when I take pictures of our kitchen and bathroom, I can take more of the living room.

 That's all for now, folks!

Fact or Faked?

First of all, we got to visit the Greens down in Santa Clara last weekend, and it was tons of fun! We had a great time seeing everyone, and it was nice to take a break from school and work (even though school just started).
Second, we've been watching a lot of Law & Order: Special Victims Unit (about rapes and other special cases), and Fact or Faked: the Paranormal Files (about aliens and ghosts and whatnot). Consequently, whenever there is a noise in our house that is unaccounted for, I immediately grab the pointiest object in my nearest vicinity, and conclude the worst: it's an alien rapist! Maybe we need to start watching a new show....haha.
Third, we've figured out our plans for the near future! We'll be moving up to Bountiful, where we've found an apartment in the Orchard Gardens apartment complex. It's a relief to finally know where we will be living in August.
Finally, we are getting back into the swing of school and work life after a few fun vacations. Yesterday I went up to Salt Lake with Nick, so that I could do some homework at the Family History Library (I'm taking a New England Family History Research class). We were stuck in traffic for almost 2 hours because of an accident at the Point of the Mountain. Apparently, a motorcyclist was trying to pass and moved into a slower lane. He ran into the SUV in front of him and was thrown from his bike. A woman swerved so that she wouldn't hit him, and she drove down a 40-foot ravine. The cyclist died, but the woman who swerved is okay. It's all very sad. When we finally got through the accident scene, we saw the cyclist's helmet on the side of the road. It definitely made me grateful that we were able to get home safely last night.