He's only mostly dead!

I would like you to meet LeRoy (left) and Big Blue Bacon (right). 

I have a story to tell you about them. 

On Tuesday I noticed that their tank was leaking. Water everywhere. The shelf they live on ruined. Water diminishing. Fish suffocating. A very scary moment for any good fish mom, which I am trying to be. So, that being said I put them in separate bowls to clean and fix the tank so it would leak anymore. I wanted to leave the water in the tank with no fish in it overnight to ensure that the leak was no longer leaking. When I woke up on Wednesday, much to my delight, the tank was still full! I didn't have time to put the fish back in though so I left them in their separate bowls. 

As I was driving away on my way to work I thought- "Oh, I probably should have put something over the bowls so they don't jump out." (That has been a problem in the past.) They didn't jump out all night though so I drove on hoping that they had learned from their past injuries and say put inside the comfort of their bowls. 

Being the concerned fish mom that I am I stewed about throughout the day and when I got home I am sad to say my fears were confirmed...... 

Yes, that is LeRoy in the garbage disposal. 

He had been lying there without moving for at least an hour that I know of so I thought for sure he was a goner.
I was so sad, but I couldn't touch him so I waited until Sean got home.  

When he did get home and he attempted to get LeRoy out he started flipping all over. AHHH!

 He was only MOSTLY dead! 

He must have jumped out of his bowl right before I got home and had enough moisture in the sink to sustain him until Sean could come to the rescue.
Now LeRoy and Big Blue Bacon are reunited and at least for now we don't have any dead fish!

I'm so happy Sean saved him!

xoxo 

Sean's South African Thoughts

From April 17th to May 14th Sean went to South Africa! He was doing a global roatation set up by his school. While he was there talking was sometimes difficult, mostley because he was 6 hours ahead of me but we were able to instant message on Skype. I saved all of our conversations so I want to share some of Sean's South African thoughts with you.


Upon arriving in South Africa:


“They have harsh accents for which I wish I had subtitles to understand”


On the flight from Johanasburg to the little town he was staying in:


“They even fed us lunch and it was only a half hour flight! A chicken sandwich and mango fruit juice made in So Africa.”


About his living conditions:


“I’m here at the dorm right now. It’s pretty ghetto. The conditions were better for the last Des Moines students here last week but they had party before they left and trashed the place and did not clean up! So the hosts were offended and now we are stuck with poor conditions. Dr Blessman tried to smooth things over but they were so offended that students are now banned from the guest house. So we are stuck in dorm rooms that are small and gross and have community bathrooms that are even more disgusting.”


About the cafeteria meals at the beginning of the trip:


“Food has been ok but we start the cafeteria food tomo and we've heard it isn’t ideal. We’ll see”


About the cafeteria meals at the end of the trip:


“I can’t take anymore cafeteria food. I can’t wait to have a home cooked meal”


In the Causality (ER):


“There are no computers to keep track of patients checking in, its all done the old fashioned way with paper forms and charts.”


“We walked in and the first doc we met basically said we could do and order whatever without signing off to him. Crazy. Then we found out quickly that supplies are not as plentiful. Next, you never know if you should be wearing a mask. So it was a bit crazy.”


“P.S. my favorite experience in the ER was sewing up a man s scalp after he got assaulted with a beer bottle”

Describing a rain storm:


“We are having those blessed African rains right now. The raindrops are bigger here and the thunder more fierce. I hear the pitter patter of the raindrops smacking the pavement and side of the house. The lightening is impressive”

Doing Laundry:


“So I washed my clothes this morning, but there is no dryer here and I didn't want to hang my clothes outside, so I hung everything up in my room.”


Safari:


“We saw hippo, crocs, impala, water buck, and heard lots of buffalo. We saw an elephant up close on the drive to the hike. After the hike we took our rental car and followed the river in search of animals on our own. We were quite successful. We saw elephants, zebra, baboons, impala, water buffalo, giraffe and several diff types of birds. It’s so crazy to be driving and then see one of these animals. They are not afraid of cars either, so it was cool to see them not run off.”


“We took a trip out to the Lion Ranch! It was really awesome! We went for a game drive in a 6 wheeler Mercedes that would make most car junkies Jealous! Our guide took us through two metal gates where they kept a pride of lions. I got to pet a full grown lion and take pictures with him! It was crazy yet fulfilling of every boy’s dream to pet a lion!”


Osteopathic Rotation:


“I put plaster (casts) on several children this morning with club feet! It’s the most fun I’ve had with medicine since being here! And something I would never be able to do alone back home.”


Coming Home:


“We are being picked up at 630 am for a 755 flight. In some ways I am sad to leave because I'm getting better at understanding their accents and starting to make some friends...but I couldn't be more thrilled about coming home and seeing you again!”


This was definitely a wonderful trip! It was hard being here with out him but I'm so happy he got to go. We both learned a lot. For pictures and more stories be sure to keep an eye out on Sean’s blog for his post.


xoxo

Happy Birthday…. To Me!

Thursday May 13 was the 22^nd annual celebration of my birth. I had an amazing birthday celebrator here with me named Hillary. She decorated my apartment, went on 3 shopping excursions, went to dinner, and stayed up late to watch a birthday movie with me.

We got to webcam with our family since they could not be here. I love webcams. They make me feel a little closer to home.

Sean and I love playing games but we don’t have a lot for just 2 so my family helped to stock us up!

Sorry from Emma. Thanks Em I love you!

Scrabble from Madi. Good choice!

Gossip Girls from Hill. Season One and Two!  This will be great for late nights when S is busy being a Study Bee.

Battle of the Sexes from Mom and Dad. This will be great for when we have company over! Thank you!

And birthday cards from my Grandparents and Aunt and Uncles. Great Celebration!

 Robin Hood came out this weekend and I wanted to see if for my birthday way bad.

 Since I didn’t have to go to work on Friday Hill and I went to the Midnight showing! Here is some Makenna Trivia for you: midnight and I don’t get along very well. In fact any time after 10pm and I don’t get along but I am so glad we decided to battle with the late hours. 

In the movie, besides the 3 girlfriends who were being good dobies by attending this movie, the theater was filled with mainly the male sort who were living vicariously through the masculinity of this movie. And then there was Hill and I. They only girls there voluntarily. So worth it! I will definitely be going to see this movie again. Thanks Hill you are wonderful and I love you!

S was out of town on my birthday (he has been in South Africa for month! I’m glad I finally got that out. I’ve been waiting until he got home to share. Pictures and stories to come soon ) so that meant that I got to have two birthday celebrations! On Friday when he got home we got some dinner at Arby’s. That was the American food he was craving : ) Then had more presents!

S’s parents gave me a cute bear with some Orange Honey lotion and chap stick. So yummy thanks!

Some nice South African jewelry.

A musical instrument, a black hat and great salad tossers with a bowl on the way!

We played the new birthday games and we made Tilapia for dinner on Sunday it was so yummy! Sean is trying to like fish and I am so grateful he is trying because I have a very good relationship with anything seafood.

22 has started great. This is going to be good year!

xoxo

When Hillary came to town....

 

Hillary came to visit this last week. After 4 and half months and a 5 hour flight delay Hill and I were finally preparing to see each other. To avoid the confusion of not recognizing each other and the embarrassment of hugging a stranger we wore red flowers on our lapels.

I happy to announce that it worked. The stress of the confusion was indeed avoided and we nearly took out another woman as we hugged.

Our week was filled lots of shopping which leads to lots of laughing and then funny pictures. A picture is worth a thousand words but I’ll let you come up with your own  for these.

  

Hill and I went Kings Island while she was here. It was windy and a bit chilly but we layered up and had a good time people watching and going on the roller coasters.

We even found a ride made just for Hill. (Her initials-backwards-, for those who don't get it)

The drive to Kinds Island is about 2 hours and on our mini road trip we caught up on some religious studies.

And we made sure to capture the signs that describe us.

  

We went to this little park while we were in down town Columbus and this picture brings me such joy.

Have you seen the movie Saturday's Warrior? You know the part when they sing and touch hands? Well we found a statue that has this part down to a T so I reenacted it with him.

Hillary was here to celebrate my birthday with me! (more to come) I'm so glad she was here. She is a wonderful birthday celebrator! 

We were so sad when the week came to an end.

 I know that sad does not exactly describe me in this picture, it's more like high with a side sleepiness but I really was so sad. I can't wait for her to come again!

xoxo

Happy Mothers Day!

To my Mom

To Sean's Mom

And to our beautiful Grandmother's.

We love you!

xoxo

Three Cheers

1^st Cheer: This past weekend Sean’s wonderful parents came to visit! They were going to be in Chicago for a conference so they decided to come to Columbus for a visit. It was so nice to have them! Hooray for conferences in Chicago!

Wednesday was pretty chill. Gina wasn’t feeling up to par so we came home, had little dinner and turned in early. On Thursday while I was work they went to visit Kirtland to enjoy the Church history sites there. We only live about 2 hours away so it was a little mini road trip for them. On Friday we enjoyed a delightful morning/afternoon together. We went to the hospitals that Sean has been working out of, took a tour of the Ohio Capital house, and had a yummy lunch at Zuppa’s Downtown before heading to the airport.

2^nd Cheer: At Sean’s request we got some beautiful purple tulips while we were out. They are my favorite and almost out of season. Hooray for tulips!

3^rd Cheer:

Let me start this by introducing to you our welcome mat.

It’s awful. (This is not the part where you need to cheer)

It has been here since S and I moved in. And for no reason other than I was afraid to touch it, it has stayed in front of our door for 4 months.

I pointed it out to Mark and Gina when they were here and they were so sweet and got us a new one! (Secretly I think they were afraid of it. I don’t blame them.)

Now we get to think of them every time we use the door. And we no longer have to worry about bringing old welcome mat pesticides into our home. Hooray for new mats (this would be the time to cheer). Thank you Mark and Gina!

xoxo