....Caution there is Blood in this Tale

Well we have been at this for about a month now (writing a blog that is) and we are getting into a fun groove of life.  Sadly a part of that groove means that I am out studying till late on campus, but it's something we are coping with.

For the new recipe of the week, Michelle chose to go with a Chicken Alfredo sauce.  It was very good and I'm not one who likes Alfredo sauce either.  It smelled good from the get go.  She had to put in 2 or 3 cloves of garlic and used a 3 oz. serving of cream cheese.  It was great.  I am really enjoying this idea.  Now I don't want you to get the idea that we are eating like kings, 'cause we are not.  We are eating like Emperors who rule with an iron fist.  Truth be told, we still have the occasional PB&J, or a hot dog or two, or even leftovers from 3 days ago.  It is nice to start the week off with a good home-cooked meal.

Well Michelle and I are enjoying life together and I tell people this all the time but marriage for me just keeps getting better and better.  I think it is fun to learn about some "odd" quirks that you have or your spouse has. Just the other night Michelle and I were sharing a spoon eating ice cream and she commented on the odd way I was eating it off my spoon.  Later I learned that she was annoyed that I had the spoon too long and wanted it back so she could eat some :-). I was glad to know she didn't think it was weird how I ate the ice cream.

A funny thing happened to me on my road to med school.  In my Physiology Lab, I volunteered to have my finger pricked in order to see some blood under a microscope in different solutions.  So I figured that I could handle seeing other people bleed and I was used to seeing myself bleed so I thought it would be the cool and manly thing to prick my finger for the cause.  Well it took some words of encouragement from my inner self to prick my darn finger, but I got it done.  And I was able to squeeze out enough blood to run our experiment.  The problem came as I was squeezing the blood out of my finger.  I started to get light headed, dizzy, and a bit sweaty.  So I did the manly thing and took care of myself and sat down with my head in between my legs, hoping that no one would pay any attention.  Well when I looked up to see how my group was doing, their eyes got big and said "You look so white! Are you ok?" "Your lips are blue! I've never seen someone's lips get that blue before!"  Fortunately  a member of my group worked at a plasma center and helped me out a lot and was fanning me as he told me his stories of almost passing out and how he got over this problem, there was also a kind soul who offered her chips for me to eat as I drank some water.  Gratefully I never passed out or threw up, though both were considered.  

I was only concerned for my future in medicine, during the very long 5 minutes that I was pale and blue at the lips.  I guess it runs in the family cause my mom had the same problem when she took the class, back when the dinosaurs roamed the earth, but she actually fainted.  I just now know that it isn't best for me to cause myself to bleed, even though I have done it before.

One quick movie review, then it is time for bed.  Michelle and I got to watch Moneyball this week, starring Brad Pitt.  Great movie about baseball...well it wasn't so much about baseball as it was about a guy who took a different view of the game and it almost paid off for manager Billy Beane in the end.  It was a fun dramatic movie in the end.  A little bit of swearing, no big action scenes, but a  very enjoyable movie. I think the best quote is at the end of the movie when Jonah Hill and Brad Pitt are talking and Brad says, "How could you not be romantic about baseball?".  I think that sums up my experience about being at a ballpark watching a game, at any skill level.  I have tried to explain to Michelle about why I love being at a baseball game but I think that is why.  Previously I told her that being at the game is a spiritual experience but it is more of a romantic existential feeling that I get.  So " How could you not be romantic about baseball?"

Saturday is the only day that we can do any shopping or at least get away from BYU campus together, so on this trip we went to Bed Bath & Beyond.  The reason, to get a mixer,  but not just any mixer but a KitchenAid.  The problem was Michelle has been thinking about a KitchenAid vs. a Bosch and now it's between those two and a Cuisinart.  So when we finally had time to go to B B& B, I had thought that she had he mind made up already....I was wrong.  I said "let's go; we have 40 minutes," Michelle responds with "Do you think we will have enough time to decide what we want?" I thought, "you really haven't decided yet?" My facial expression matched my thoughts. It was even more clear when we got to the store and she spent the entire 40 minutes trying to analyze the differences, advantages and disadvantages of the KitchenAid and Cuisinart. Needless to say, we ended up leaving the store without a mixing appliance with her saying, "I think we'd better do some more research on the two before we decide." Oh well. Maybe next Saturday we'll get one. (Editor aka Michelle's note: Jason just wants a mixer so I will make cookies more often. In my defense, it is a big decision! You've gotta do your research. And hey, we did get a mirror there, so we didn't leave empty-handed at least.) So let us know which mixer you would go with.  But keep in mind there were a lot of generous people that gave us money to B B &B from our wedding. So it will make some sense to get either the Kitchenaid or the Cuisinart from there.

Thanks for following our "Adventures", we hope to have real ones some day, but each day for us is a different adventure that brings on new challenges, new opportunities and new ways to have fun.  Like today walking to church, Michelle and I mimicked the people on crossing signs.  Someone who saw us do this for fun sake actually said we looked like them -----------------------> 

One last spiritual note, then bed time "Be thankful that sometimes God lets you struggle for a long time before that answer comes. That causes your faith to increase and your character to grow."-Richard G. Scott 

• OCTOBER 2010 SESSION
• THE TRANSFORMING POWER OF FAITH AND CHARACTER