Bear Feet and Hands

When I was a kid, I never wore slippers (even now I never wear them). But there was one pair of slippers that I wore until the soles wore out. They were my bear feet slippers. I loved them ever so much!

Recently, not only did I find them again, but I also found them in grown-up sizes!! Of course I ordered a pair, and they finally came today! Here they are...you can see Seamus checking them out...

They even have paw prints on the bottom!

I also ordered a pair of bear mittens...

Sooo soft!!



GO BEARS!!

Tool Snobs Anonymous

Today, I received a package in the mail. I was so excited! What could it be?




It was from my broker…random, but it turned out to be a “Thank you for investing with us” gift. So I opened the bubble wrap and packing and found a very odd shaped flashlight.

Wha????

It’s some sort of flashlight socket set thingy.

What the hell I’m supposed to do with this???

First of all, it’s really random. Second of all, I have a much better quality socket set, as well as a flashlight that is much less awkward. What self respecting person would drag this thing out if they wanted to fix something?? I mean, if I actually put this in my workshop, the other tools would laugh at it!!

Ok, ok…I admit it. I’m a tool snob. I blame this on Jack. But I have way better tools already! For my 16th birthday, I got my “small” tool box that lives in the boot of the car! The rest of my tools (power tools included) are not even hand me downs!! This is something that my mom would have given me as a toy to play with when I was five. The only thing useful is the four pack of AA batteries (it’s always good to have an extra set of batteries lying around). I think I’ll have more fun with the bubble wrap than the actual socket set.

Does any one know of some meeting I can attend?

Hello. My name is Bethie, and I’m a tool snob…

Dr. Bethie, Chief Resident

As many of you know, Barb has been staying at the best Bed and Breakfast in Chicago…my house. She’s been using my place as a “home base” for many of her residency interviews. In many cases, it has been much cheaper to fly out of O’Hare than Milwaukee airport. So, for many of her 17 interviews, she’s been staying with me!

This week, she’s interviewing at Loyola Medical Center (nine miles from my house). Last night was the social event, a get together to meet fellow interviewees and the current staff. Last night, I got to be Barb’s guest!

I admit I was a little worried. After all, I’m an elementary art teacher who feels nauseous even thinking about an IV! What am I going to be able to converse about with someone who is up to their elbows in guts most of the day? And most importantly, this is part of the interview process; I didn’t want to make Barb look bad!!

We make it to Loyola… I came right from work…putting on make-up and brushing my teeth in the car. No worries, I spit out the car door at a red light! And using amazing internal G.P.S. abilities, I quickly found building nine on the map.

When Barb and I got to the dinner, there were many people already there, so we just joined a table. It tried to sit quietly and drink my beer, but we were sitting with the most fun doctors! The conversation went from cars, to the Bears, to planning a roast for some of the attendings. The conversation was quite entertaining, due to the fact that the format to the roast seemed to be based on “Celebrity Death-Match”. We then began to discuss (based on our discussion of the CW’s “Beauty and the Geek”), if we’d rather be ugly and smart or pretty and dumb. The consensus seemed to be that the majority of people would rather be pretty and dumb than ugly and smart. Soon, one of the residents gave me a name tag for Soman S., who was the Chief Resident and it seemed that many of the interviewees were introducing themselves to me (it was even more fun, when I forget that I was “Soman” and would introduce myself as Beth). It got to the point where due to my acting skills and stellar ability to make up bs on the spot, it was thought that I should be in on the interview process! It was hilarious!! Eventually the residents brought me more beer, because “it’s not like you are here to impress anybody—have another!” I even saw Jocelyn who was a year a head of Barb and me at Augustana. I also had a nice conversation about why I'd never want to be a doctor with one of the research residents, Alrick (that may not be spelled correctly). Anywho, the “rowdy table” was a great time! Nice that I went for an interview and ended up being made Chief Resident…that doesn’t happen to a lowly art teacher everyday!!

Good Luck on the rest of your interview, Barb…hopefully today was as fun as last night!

Stuff that made me smile today...

--Tortellini Soup and French Fries and Ranch Dressing for breakfast at Sally's on Harlem and Higgins.

--The Dodge Caravan Minivan painted like the Mystery Machine (thanks, Barb for snapping the pic!).

--Guinness on sale at Jewel.

--The sticker on my bananas.

--Barb continually quoting Spaceballs ("Keep firing, Assholes!!).

--FOOTBALL!

--Getting drunk dialed at 12:30 in the morning by Nick, Jack and Lisa.

--Beer brats, mashed potatoes and home made Guinness gravy--my personal take on "Bangers and Mash" :)

I hope at least one of these things make you smile too!! Have a lovely weekend! :)

Valuable Information

Most of you know, that Barb has been using my place as "home base" for her residency interviews. This morning I picked her up at O'Hare at 5 am after taking the red-eye from LAX. I told her just to call me when she got in to wake me up, and I'd come pick her up.

Unfortunately for her, I thought my phone ringing was the alarm. So I hit "snooze" and as a result, I hung up on her the first time.

She called back and this time I answered. Clearly I was not processing that I had to pick her up. (I can hold entire conversations in my sleep with out remembering them when I wake up.) Barb was smart enough to realize this and suddenly asked me "Beth! What's 8 x 8?" I responded with "8 x 8??? Wha?? 8 x --Don't make me do math at 5 in the fucking morning or you can get your own damn ride from the airport!!"

I was up. I hate doing math when I'm fully awake...let alone being woken up for it! Definitely the best thing she could have done to ensure that I was really coherent and on my way!

Now, my friends, you know--don't abuse it! :)

Champion with Mickey Mouse Ears

Here's my congrats to Barb who has run her third marathon (yeah, I think she's crazy too). She completed the Disney Marathon on Sunday!! Check out her hardware--



She's trying to convince me to run it with her next year... (I think she's trying to kill me!!) We'll see how I feel about it after I do the Hustle-up the Handcock!

Way to go Barb!!

Auld Lang Syne

My plans for New Years involved watching the Bears/Packers game (in hindsight, it's a good thing I missed it!). Definitely my kind of party...but when Barb called upset that someone had bailed on their plans I headed to Milwaukee to cheer her up and for some New Years fun!

The evening started with sparkling pomegranate martinis, pizza and Coupling. Then we headed to the River Center for the Cake concert. There was all sorts of fun! Wandering carnies (although we didn't really see any), fun hats, jugglers, psychics and caricature artists.

We immediately got tiaras...




I enjoyed the faux-hawk celebrating the New Year.






We met two Johns while waiting in a VERY long line for our tarot cards to be read.

Fortunately for us, we were the last to get readings for the night. The psychic told me some very insightful things (Happy New Year to ME!).

I found a "cape" and Barb found our seats. (I AM BATMAN!!)





I tried to get a picture of the fire juggler, but security stopped me from taking a picture. I did get a covert shot of the stage with my phone when Cake was on stage.






We ended the evening with my cape flapping in the lake breeze...and me giving it to some girl who's feet hurt and was being carried back to the car by her boyfriend. She was freezing, and needed it more than I did.






Cheers to the New Year!