We made it through the holidays with nary a scratch. It was nice to see the kids open their gifts on Christmas morning and to have my in laws here. We got a playhouse of sorts for the kids to use outside. It's a little mini house, complete with fake fireplace and fake food. It has a real doorbell though. I could regale you with the tale of how my father in law and I put the playhouse together, but it would mostly come down to "AAARRRGGGHHHH!!!!" Luckily we had a drill that was mostly functional (when the battery was charged) which made it go smoother. I've put together enough toys to have a working knowledge of idiotic pictures which not only look nothing like the product you're trying to assemble, but seem to actively inhibit you putting it together. The directions had no words, only pictures, and it seemed they were drawn by the 3 year old the playhouse is for. So that was a little challenging. We did have to put it together outside since it was big enough that it wouldn't fit through the patio door once assembled and while it is L.A. (lower Alabama) it was a little nippy outside. It was an experience I'm sure will be repeated many times over the next 18 years.
With the holidays over, it was time to get back to normal with work for Jen and I and school for the kids. With my new job, I didn't get the 3 weeks off for winter break I used to when I was teaching, and I did kind of miss it. But not having all that time off did make it easier to go back to work. Work is going very well at the moment. I have a good pharmacy student and an excellent pharmacy resident on rotation with me this block. I hope they are enjoying learning about psych pharmacy as much as I enjoy teaching them. I also have some research I'm working on which I'm thoroughly enjoying. I have a couple papers and posters I am hoping to get accepted soon. I seem to enjoy the research and writing much more now that it's not required. I don't know if it's because I can work at my own pace and there's not something hanging over my head that says "if you don't do this, you may not have a job any more" or what. But I'm sure that's not it at all though.... I've had an M4 medical student do a couple weeks with me in the clinic after Christmas and it was a great experience for both of us, I think. I feel like I learned more about medical education and what med students are capable of at that level. Which is basically everything. I guess it could have been just that student though. I also had a pharmacy student shadow me in the clinic around that time and I know I can count on her to bring her A game to clinic since she wants to become a psych pharmacist. It was good to have both students with me at the same time, since they were able to complement each others' knowledge base. I actually had them do a mini-inservice to each other with the med student presenting on diagnostic criteria for psychotic disorders and the pharmacy student presenting on treatment. It turned out better than I thought it would.
Jen's had a stressful month in the pharmacy. It started out bad, but it did gradually get better. A couple of the problems: beginning of the year, so everyone seems to have new insurance and they don't know it. Or their deductible resets for the new year and don't remember this fact until they have already paid for their prescriptions. January 3rd was especially bad. First business day of the new year It was also the first business day of the month and the 3rd is when everyone gets their SSI checks. The entire situation was complicated by the fact that some of Jen's pharmacy techs didn't renew their licenses on time and they can't work without being licensed. So it made for a hectic week for her being short staffed. Things seem to be settling down for her now though so that's a good thing.
The kids are doing well. We got a great "report card" from Beka's preschool. She is excelling in almost every area and the teachers say she'll likely be reading at the end of the school year. How awesome is that? Apparently, she has the social skills of a 5 year old. At least that's what they tell us. Raymond is doing just as well. He finally decided that walking is a good thing and is toddling all over the place. He is doing fine after his tubes were placed and (fingers crossed) no ear infections, even though he had a cold this past week. I am hopeful that this will be the end, at least for a little while, of the constant ear infections. I really think they were affecting his balance and that's why he took so long to walk. Or not. I'm not an ENT so what do I know? Beka went to a friend's birthday party this past weekend at the local "paint your own" place and had a blast. She and another girl are basically inseparable and BFFs. It's actually kind of sweet.
And the other big event from this past weekend was the Evanescence concert Jen and I went to in Biloxi. We went early to eat dinner with a friend at the casino buffet (which was much more expensive than I thought) and we pigged out. We had to, if only to get our money's worth. After dinner, we went to the concert. The place was actually a fairly small venue for such a well known band with maybe a few thousand people present. We had seats in the 14th row, but we were able to see everything very well. We missed the opening band, but did see the second band before Evanescence went on (called Rival Sons) and I didn't really like them, not because they were bad performers or had bad songs. They just weren't my cup of tea. They sounded a little like Black Crowes, who I like, but not enough like them that I was enjoying their music. It seemed kind of an odd pairing anyway. That kind of music before Evanescence didn't gel with me. Then Ev came on. Amy Lee was amazing and the band was tight as well. They were spot on and they actually played my favorite song off the new album, "Sick", so I was rocking out to that one even more than the other songs. I tried to video record it with my phone, but it didn't get any of the music, only the video. Yeah, it kind of sucks. But otherwise Jen and I had a great time and I was really happy to get to see Ev play live. We didn't get home until almost 1 AM, but it was so worth the exhaustion the next day. Well, at least for me it was.
Hopefully, I'll have more updates soon. Have fun!
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