February was a busy month for us. We started off celebrating Ground Hog Day with Abe’s birthday. We tease that my husband is the “Abe of Cakes” (instead of Ace of Cakes like the TV show) so I was a bit intimidated to have to make his birthday cake. He requested a coconut cake with butter pecan frosting.

Did you notice my funny face? I am always making faces when I concentrate on physical tasks. This is why I am glad that dentists wear face masks, so no one has to know!

It was the best cake I have ever made. You can find the frosting on Abe’s blog. He’ll have to add the cake.

I got Abe a Kindle. If you’re wondering how he likes it, I can tell you I’ve been thoroughly enjoying it and the classic books you can download for free. He hasn’t had much time to use it because he has been busy working on this baby:

His 160 page thesis on gene therapy for deafness in mice. After 4.5 years in the lab he completed his dissertation after weeks of late nights and all-nighters. This is what he looks like after about 10 hours sleep in 72 hours. Pretty good compared to what I looked like just thinking about all his stress. We even spent a romantic Valentine’s Day in the computer lab working together on making edits to his draft. He will be defending his thesis next week and returning to medical school in a few weeks!

I have one more day in anesthesia before I go back to my regular schedule on the oral surgery team. My first day back (March 1) I am welcomed with a bang by taking my first night of call in 6 months on our busy trauma week. It will be fun going back to what I know and enjoy doing most but I have lost all of my finger/hand/forearm strength and calluses. I’m sure I’ll be a little rusty but we’ll see how I do!

Feel the burn

Just in time for spring, we are redoing our fireplace. We are adding a gas insert (I’m so excited for the convenience) and changing up the look.

I expect it to look somewhat similar to this, a simple and traditional white mantle with a tile/stone surround.

 

My only problem now is, we can’t seem to choose a surround!

We have narrowed it down to three choices.

Blue Pearl Granite

Black Galaxy granite, which unfortunately does not photograph well. Basically, a pretty black, shiny stone with bronzey-gold specks.

or Metallika Bronze tile, which is also prettier in real life. It is a tile without the shine but does have a metallic-shimmer and a rich velvety texture.

Any thoughts? Realizing they don’t photograph quite as well as they look in real life, of course.

black galaxy, metallika bronze, blue galaxy

Speak up please!

I became an aunt late last night for the first time. My identical twin sister had an emergency c-section after developing pre-eclampsia. She is still recovering from some liver and kidney damage but thankfully all went well with the delivery and hopefully she will be recovered soon without further complications.

The baby was 6 lb 2 oz and 18 in long, two weeks early. She is adorable. Everyone keeps saying she looks like Amber, so I guess that means I can hope for cute chidren in the future! Name is still pending.

Funny thought, yesterday about the time my sister was in the hospital I had a very distinct thought, "Feb 7, feels like it should be someone's birthday. Someone important."

Twin ESP?

Now if I can just get home to meet her. Maybe in April.

Happy Conversations

Thought this was worth a mid-day, lunch break post.

Surgeon to me today after missing a tricky IV:

"I hope you are better at drilling teeth than that."

He also asked if I wanted the "_____ surgeon" to do it for me, both apparent digs.
--Yes, actually, I did. I think he would have missed too.



Remember my second to last post?