Student with a Scalpel...

My husband has spent the last month doing a general surgery rotation. I'm not sure what he does between the hours of 5AM and 8PM but I do know that no matter how tired he is when he walks through our door he is beaming. A few days ago he walked in almost bursting with excitement. The residents had had an early morning meeting which left the students alone with the attendings. Kai scrubbed in for a particularly long case, which he had seen the day before, and took the first assistant position across from the surgeon. The doctor walked in drew a line with a black marker handed the scalpel to Kai and told him to get started. Kai was amazed and shocked. Did he realize he had just handed a scalpel to a medical student? Kai didn't say anything. He had watched the surgery closely the day before and knew exactly what to do. He handled the surgery beautifully and the other medical student in the room was silently cheering to himself. After surgery the doctor approached Kai and asked him what year he was in school? When Kai replied he was only a 3rd year, the surgeon said, "You did very well for only a 3rd year." I thought Kai might burst by the time he got home to relay the story and I have to admit I was equally excited for him. This kind of opportunity rarely happens for a student, and for Kai it was a dream come true.

MAKING THE GRADE...

Transcription Test 2: 95%
Cumulative Average: 97%

Not quite what I was hoping for but I will definitely take it. To ensure a transcription job from home I need to have a cumulative average of 98%. I'm not worried yet though, I still have a lot to learn and a lot of tests to complete.

WHEN BUDGETS ARE FUN...

Because Kai is in medical school we get our living money in 6 month increments which means a lot of forethought. For the past 2 1/2 years I have overseen all of the accounts, juggled the finances, and somehow squeaked by every year, until now. Realizing my plight I went to my husband for a few ideas but he got a lot more involved then I had expected. By January he had a complete budget set up and told me to write a check to pay off some of our debt I had been sitting on. I was greatly concerned but he showed me the budget and I thought it did seem reasonable. However, I have found it a lot easier to stay within budget when I knew at the end of the month I was going to be held accountable to my husband (in February one little ice cream trip with my kids caused me a great deal of guilt).

On Friday I took Summer to Great Lakes Crossing an indoor outlet mall just 30 min. away with an awesome play area, stores for every budget, and some interesting things for the kids to see. I tried to stay away from the stores but when my eyes fell on a 2.99 and under sale at Children's Place my budget-oriented mind went crazy. I just had to go in. This is when I just love living within a budget. The thrill of buying my kids 2 gigantic bags of clothes for $40 including tax was almost more than I could handle. What was even more fun was the look on my darling husband's face when he walked in the door and saw the bags from a somewhat pricey store called Children's Place. When I started to show him the coat, 2 jackets, 4 pants, and umpteen shirts his face just kept falling. "You went over budget?" I thought he was going to cry. "No, no I didn't, there's even enough left over to make sure the Kid's Budget lasts the rest of the month!" I loved every minute of it.

IF YOU CAN'T BEAT IT JOIN IT...

I don't usually follow this advice but this Michigan winter has got me thinking otherwise. I know our family in Idaho is probably thinking about Easter, Spring Break, and planting gardens but at the Elliott Lair we've about decided Winter is permanent and as Nicholas likes to put it "Christmas must be coming again!" So Wednesday morning after I threw my little fit on the phone to my mother, I went out and shoveled our 4 feet of sidewalk with my dustpan for hopefully the last time this year and took the kids to Summer's house where they could play in the yard. It actually turned out to be a very sunny day, but not warm enough to melt away the snow.