WARNING! GRAPHIC MATERIAL!!!

I am having some sort of USB port problem or something. I can't seem to download pictures from my SD card... it's taken me about a week or two to download the following. I've bought three different readers and finally plugged my old one in, which I thought was broken. Finally, success!!! Obviously, this will be a smorgasbord of pictures and stories. I have to fit them all in, and I don't know when I'll be able to download more!

First off, my diet has been going pretty well. I need to exercise to lose more weight, but I haven't been gaining and that's good. I lost about six or seven pounds initially and have maintained that. Better than nothing. I've been eating out of a Weight Watchers cookbook. Some of the recipes are okay... some are pretty bland though. They really cut out the salt! Everything seems to be low sodium and stuff. I just throw a little sea salt in it, and I'm good to go! :) Here's a picture of the spinach chicken stuff that goes with pasta shells. It was actually pretty darn good and very low in fat.


I also made chili out of the cookbook, although I added many more spices and peppers. It was made with turkey breast burger, which does NOT fry up like regular burger by the way. It was pretty good though and very low in fat - I think about one gram of fat per serving.


School has been a little crazy. My schedule is INSANE this term, and I've been stretched to the max with work, the CNA class and my regular school load. In Spanish, we are learning about verbs and different tenses. I don't even know English tenses, much less Spanish!!! It's driving me crazy.


My Anatomy & Physiology teacher suggested a way to study by buying a dry erase board and "teaching" it aloud at home. I took his advice and I think it's really helping! Here is some of my "teaching" on the olfactory (smell) system.


Okay. This is where things start getting a little gross. Just warning you.
The other day, my face started hurting and I could feel a volcano under my skin. The next morning, sure enough, I had a hug zit. This picture does not let the viewer fully appreciate the size and pain, but it will have to do. I could see people's gazes drawn straight to it, dang it!


And a little more gross...
My cats have found the joy of catching mice, as I might have previously told you. A couple of weeks ago, I could tell they got one because they were downstairs (at night while I was trying to sleep), playing for hours. Sure enough, I got up in the morning and was greeted by this site:

Thanks Buddy and Grace. Learn to EAT THE MICE!!!! IT'S YOUR RIGHT!!!!

And now for the gross stuff. If you don't want to look any further, DON'T. I have pictures of a dissected sheep's eye. Seriously.

In my A&P class, we got to dissect a sheep's eye. At first, I felt a little sad for the sheep, but then I got too involved in the dissection process. In my group (of four girls), I am the surgeon. I have a steady hand (surprising, with all the coffee I drink), and I'm not grossed out by the... fluids and stuff. Also, I don't just start hacking - I'm delicate! Before cutting on the eye, the instructions said to cut away the adipose (fat) tissue. I asked the teacher if it was like skinning a deer (which I have helped family members do). The teacher and the three girls in my group stared at me. The teacher was at a loss for words - first time ever. Apparently, not everybody skins a deer. Hmph.
This is the cornea - the front of the eye.


After cutting it in half - front to back - this is the back, the choroid and the retina has been scraped together, leading to the optic nerve which exits through the back. Pretty, huh?


Here you can see the oval lens...


And from this view, you can see the lens (out of place now) and the pupil opening (the little slit). Cool, isn't it??


Well, that's all I have. I hope it hasn't grossed anybody out too much. I went through some crap to get these pictures - the group and the teacher thought I was a little nutty taking pictures of an eyeball. Oh well! It was worth it!

Pardon My Technical Problems

I can't upload any new pictures from my camera because of my card reader. I even got a new one, and it doesn't seem to be working either. There is a large chance that it may be operator error, but I can't seem to figure it out. So. I'm actually going to have to type words. Of course, I might put a few older pictures up that I hadn't gotten posted yet... or I may wait a little longer....

I have survived another Valentine's day! It wasn't as bad as I thought, although people kept wishing me a happy Valentine's Day. I would smile and thank them, but as soon as I turned away I became the ValenGrinch. The married ladies in my church decided to throw us single ladies an evening of pampering. The cooked us dinner, a nice cheesecake dessert, and then had "stations" for us to go to. We could get our hands dipped in parafin wax, get a manicure or pedicure (or both), a facial, make-up, a massage (about 10 minutes or so - done by one of the older ladies who used to be a nurse), or we could play games. There was a really nice devotional and some door prizes too. All in all, it was a really sweet thing that they did and I had fun!

I have put in applications to three schools so far, for the nursing program. I actually don't think that I'll get in this year, but I have to apply. If I don't, I will know for sure that I won't get in. At least I'll try! I'm not sure how long the process takes, but I hope it doesn't take too long. A lot depends on if I get into a program - I'll have to move.

Well, there's a nice 1980's movie on. I think I'll go watch that and relax before I get some studying done.

What month is this, anyway??...

Although it's been 17 years since I blogged last, I will go on as if it were yesterday. It's part of my new Denial Plan. The same plan that helped me take that stupid weight loss ticker off my freakin' blog.

I woke up one morning not too long ago... honestly, I can't remember how many days it's been - this month and last have been a blur. Anyway, I looked out of one of my windows to see a beautiful view:



After finding out I had an official "school day", I went outside to take a couple of pictures. It was absolutely beautiful! And the snow just kept falling...



I ended up making a snowman which did not, I repeat, did not help my Anatomy & Physiology exam grade. I reeeeally regretted that later. But it was fun making the snowman!



It was pretty cold though. Even the antenne pirate guy was cold:



I could have gone to work, but after thinking about it I decided to just stay home and enjoy instead of driving.



There was a stretch of time, about 16 hours, that I had no electricity. My wood stove came in very handy for cooking, but please take some advice: don't cook pasta unless you can get the water to boil. It took about 40 minutes for my pasta to cook, and it was pasty. Pasty pasta. Not. Good. Veggies were okay though.



Roger was well buried. I couldn't wait to take him out in the snow!



Poor Roger! I kept having to go out and brush the snow off the canvas roof because of the weight of the snow. I did get to drive him later. I actually had to drive him to school and work for several days, using the four-wheel drive to get up and over the mountain. It was awesome!



Well, I have posted a lot of pictures to make up for the lack... but I am in school full time, I'm taking an extra CNA class that meets three to four times a week (five hour class times each day), and I'm working part-time. So I hope you understand my lack of posting!
Until next time...