9/28/10

I hope you all are having a great week so far!

The week of the 19th was a pretty eventful one here. Matt had two exams and is looking forward to a semester of good grades. He has another exam this Thursday, wrapping up "round 1."

Last Monday, I had a Progressive Care class at work. My floor has a 4-bed PCU (Progressive Care Unit) where patients are monitored more closely and are more acutely ill (it is the step-down from Intensive Care) so I took a series of classes about taking care of these type of patients. As I was pulling into the parking lot that morning, I took the turn a little too sharp and bumped my front right tire really hard on the curb--oops! A bulge developed in the tire and after consulting with both my dad and Matt's dad, it was determined that I would need a new tire. After class I took my care to Discount Tire Company and was thrilled to find out that it was only going to cost $19 to replace my tire since it was under warranty. Unfortunately my two back tires were nearly bald so I did end up getting those replaced as well.

On Thursday, Matt picked up his new glasses. He says he is still getting used to them, but I think they look really good! To add to the look, he got a hair cut on Friday. He looks like a brand new man!

On Friday evening I went to Purdue to visit some friends for a "Girls Night." A few of us went to see the animated movie "Legend of the Guardians: The Owls of Ga'Hoole." It is a movie about good owls fighting evil owls because the evil owls are enslaving baby owls (my expert synopsis). My friends were pretty excited to see it, but it wasn't a movie that I would have picked so my expectations weren't too high. I was surprised by how wonderful the graphics were. It was in 3D and there were some pretty cool scenes where the owls were swooping through rain and it looked very realistic. The movie ended being better than I had thought. After the movie, we went back to my old roommate Emily's apartment and joined up with some other girls to watch "Say Yes to the Dress," eat pizza and cake, and drink wine. It was an enjoyable night.

I stopped by my parents' house on the way home on Saturday. Dad, Grandpa Seitz, and Eric have worked tirelessly on the house next door and it was nice to see the very nearly finished result. The house is all painted, the basement is finished (new drywall, ceiling, and all!), and new carpet is installed. It looks great! Dad said that he hopes to put the house on the market by this Friday. Eric was home from Purdue for the weekend and he and Dad loaded my old bedroom dresser into my Vibe so that I could put it in our guest bedroom. Mom and I also went on a small shopping excursion to get a few new clothing items for both Matt and I.

I talked to Grandma and Grandpa Ward on the phone today and they seem to be doing well. They are getting the boat ready to be stored for the winter. They will also be going to Grandpa's Army reunion in Wisconsin in a couple of weeks.

Grandma and Grandpa Seitz flew (okay, drove) south for the winter on Sunday. They will be spending their time back on their property in Venice, Florida until sometime mid-May.

Cousin Allyson Roelofs took and passed her Registered Dietitian exam last week. As she said on her facebook page, by the power of the ADA she now can tell you all to eat fruits and vegetables!

That is all for now! Have a great week!

Stacey and Matt

Girl's night at Purdue!

Safety Dance

Since I posted the last blog on Thursday, I thought I would just share a couple videos. I am a big fan of the TV show "Glee" which starts its second season this Tuesday. The Butler University Dance Department did a little impromptu performance of "Safety Dance" (as re-recorded and choreographed for "Glee") on Monument Circle in Indy this past week. The first video is of the "flash mob" on Monument Circle and the second video is the performance from the TV show. Enjoy!

The Simpsons: Springfield Marathon

I don't watch the Simpsons very often, but I remember watching this particular episode during my days of NSYNC love and finding this scene pretty funny.  Enjoy!

Why hello, Blog. I almost forgot about you!

So here we are on the evening of THURSDAY of the week and I just now remembered to post a blog.  Remembering to write entries is proving harder than I thought!
Last Friday Matt had an eye doctor appointment.  He has had his current glasses for a couple of years and it was time for an upgrade (the old lenses are scratched and one of the little nose pad things broke in half!).  His prescription got tweaked a little bit, he picked out a snazzy new set of frames, and he got a trial pair of contacts to test out for a little while.  The glasses should arrive sometime next week.
I worked night shift on Saturday but right after I got home on Sunday morning we decided to try out a church.  Of course, we didn't really need to hurry as much as we did.  The service was at 9 am but we thought it was at 8:30.  Needless to say, we were quite early!  The service was nice and everyone was very welcoming.  The lady who sat next to me even started crying and gave me a hug afterwards.  We had been talking before service and she knew that we recently got married.  She talked about her husband of 62 years and it sounds like he passed away not too long ago.  She gave me a hug and wished that Matt and I will be as happy in our marriage as she and her husband were in theirs.  How sweet.
And this is the part where I skip over when the Colts lost to the Texans...
I have not had to work since Monday during the day (I had a class) so it has been nice catching up on some housework.
I had a Dr. appointment on Wednesday with my knee surgeon.  He released me from his care and told me that I have no restrictions on my activity any more as long as I continue with physical therapy and have enough discretion not to make my knee angry again.  I told him that I have learned my lesson and that I think I can do that, haha.
I signed up for a 5k (3.1 mile) fun run called the Lederhosenlauf on October 9.  It is run in conjunction with the Indianapolis German Fest.  The race starts and ends at the Rathskellar restaurant and I am planning on dressing up since I will only be walking it.  I was telling Alex that I am going to wear my Werder-Bremen soccer jersey (Alex's home soccer team) because that is the only German article of clothing I own and she informed me that she and her boyfriend Andi have the traditional German outfits.  Of course, I had to see pictures:

Andi wearing the traditional Lederhosen and Alex in the traditional Dirndl

 We hope you have a great week!
Stacey and Matt

Happy Labor Day!

Happy Labor Day, everyone!

This entry will be fairly short since I wrote the last one halfway through the week...oops!

Everything was pretty relaxed this past week.  Aside from school and work, we didn't really do anything out of the ordinary.

Thursday was my first day off of orientation so I was in charge of care for three patients on my own.  My floor can be pretty intense at times, but the charge nurses are good at trying not to overwhelm new RNs when they are first on their own so my assignment was pretty easy.  After doing everything for my own patients, I spent most of the night helping my co-workers with theirs!

While we were in Kentucky last weekend, Matt's parents gave us a wooden flagpole, a small garden flagpole, and a couple flags.  There was already a bracket for a flagpole installed on our front porch from the previous owners but it was missing one of the screws that holds the flag in place so we had to install a new bracket.  We now have an American flag flying out front in honor of Labor Day!  I also found Fall and Halloween-themed flags at JoAnn Fabrics for the next season change.  We also acquired a scarecrow and a fall-colored wreath for the front door.  I'm already anxious to put up my new decorations but since it is still 90 degrees outside, I'm going to wait a bit longer :)

Yesterday (Sunday) Matt and I went to Westfield for an early Labor Day meal with my parents, Eric, and grandparents.  First we made a stop at Grandma and Grandpa Seitz's in Carmel.  Since Grandma and Grandpa will be leaving for Florida at the end of September and they only have so much space down there for Christmas decorations, Grandma laid out a table full of them for us to go through and to pick the ones we wanted.  We ended up filling the trunk (or back hatch?  I guess I don't really have a "trunk" per say) with wreaths, Santas, snowmen, ceramic Christmas trees, candles, and various other decorations.  I think we are set for the Christmas season now!

We enjoyed dinner at my parents' house.  The steaks were delicious (Eric cooks them wonderfully every time!) and I made homemade cherry pies for dessert.

My dad and grandpa continue to work tirelessly on the house they have purchased and are renovating.  It is looking great and we are all hoping that they can easily resell it for a nice profit.  My dad says that he will be happy if they just make a dime off of it, so I went ahead and gave him a dime.  Now whatever they get for it should just be icing on the cake!  They are hoping to have it on the market in a month or so.  To see pictures of the progress, check out my dad's blog: http://seitzupdate.blogspot.com

After dinner, Eric, Matt, and I went to see the movie "Scott Pilgrim vs. the World."  It is based on a comic book that chronicles a young man's fight with the 7 ex-boyfriends of the girl he is falling in love with.  He must defeat them all in order to win the girl.  The movie was set up like a video game and each time he defeated an enemy they turned into a pile of coins.

I have been joking with my parents that we want to take the family dog Rambo to stay with Matt and I.  Last night, we did just that!  Rambo is on vacation at our house until tomorrow (Tuesday) afternoon.  So far he has been following us around the house, throwing his toy elephant around, and hiding Milkbones in various blankets and towels.  Right now he is contently asleep at my feet after having scarfed down his dinner.  We are going to take him for a walk on the trail in Plainfield (about 20 minutes away) this evening.

That is all for now!  We hope you have a great week!

Stacey, Matt, Chewy, Sonny, Jackson, and now RAMBO

P.S.
One of my co-workers just put this video up on Facebook.  There was a "Bed Race" at Methodist Hospital a month or so ago to raise money to add a critical care tower to the hospital.  The first group of people shown are my night shift co-workers on 4North/Trauma-Surgical Unit!
http://www.facebook.com/video/video.php?v=1179899234867&ref=mf

Defying Gravity

I apologize for the blog being a few days late this week!  We were out of town for the weekend and then we both got busy with school and work!

Well, we finally finished our guest room!  Matt's friend Oesten came over for an evening of video games last Tuesday and he was the first to sleep in the newly finished (and furnished!) room.  I was very happy to find a lamp the same color as the bed's comforter, a picture for the wall, and another lamp at our local Big Lots.  I hadn't been in a Big Lots for years and was very impressed by the deals!

 Matt still seems to be enjoying his classes this semester.  He says that right now it is all still review, which is a nice way to ease his way back into the swing of things.

Over the weekend, we went to visit Matt's family in Kentucky.  On Friday night we enjoyed catching up and meeting their new American Eskimo puppy, Tinkerbell.  On Saturday night we attended a Cincinnati Reds baseball game with Matt's parents and brother, Rob.  The Reds unfortunately lost to the Cubs 2-3, but we had a good time anyway!  After church on Sunday we went to Matt's grandparents' house for a nice lunch of hamburgers, baked beans, fruit, and potato salad.  We couldn't stay as long as we wanted, however, because Matt had an online quiz he had to take the next day.  It was nice to visit and catch up with everyone.

We ended up bringing Matt's aquarium stand back from Kentucky with us.  At some point, his parents will bring up the 75 gallon aquarium.  Matt will be starting up his saltwater tank pretty soon and he is really excited about it.

Matt's cousin Amanda and her husband Matt and expecting their first baby in April.  Congratulations!

My friend/German sister Alex and her boyfriend Andi just moved into a new apartment in Munich a couple weeks ago.  I saw pictures and it looks very nice and it ix very conveniently located near Alex's work at the Munich airport.  She is an air traffic controller.  Andi is in the Army and it is pretty close to where he works as well (right, Alex?).

I am so excited because Matt and I will be going to see the musical "Wicked" at Murat Theater in Indy in December, along with my parents, Matt's parents, and Eric.  The show has won a bunch of Tony awards and is about how the Wicked Witch of the West came to be who she was in "The Wizard of Oz."  I am reading the book right now and it is a little slow and hard to follow, but everyone raves about the musical and I am really looking forward to it!

Well, dinner is almost finished cooking so I will end this entry.  Tonight we are having BBQ ribs, mashed potatoes, and spinach salad...yum!

I will leave you with Idina Menzel and Kristen Chenoweth from the original "Wicked" cast performing the song "Defying Gravity" at the Tony Awards.

Have a great week!

Stacey and Matt (and Chewy the chinchilla, Sonny the gecko, and Jackson the frog)  :-)