My Kitchen is TINY!!

It's not even big enough for me and my roommate to be in there at the same time. Seriously, it's that small:

The apartment itself isn't so bad. It's a pretty decent size:

Isn't my couch awesome??? I love it :).

Elko is.... different. Honestly, it's not as small as I had previously thought, even after having lived here last summer. It is small, don't get me wrong, but it could be much worse. I was in the DMV last week and every person that walked in after I got there knew someone already there. I felt very out of the loop. Hopefully I will attain local status soon enough and know people wherever I go.

The job is great. I really love it. It's interesting and I'm learning so much. I spend quite a bit of time at my desk right now, but this is because I'm learning the computer programs and systems. Once that's over, hopefully I'll be out in the field more. The only thing I don't like is getting up at 4:30 every day. It is HARD! I know I've already said this, but it is!! I've never seen so many sunrises in my life, haha. This one was particularly pretty:

I've been home a lot. Twice in the month I've been out here. It's been hard for me to adjust so I go back to the people I know. Like these ones:

My roommate and I also went back one weekend because she wanted to do some shopping. Yes, she wanted to go to a big city to shop, cause small towns just don't cut it. Speaking of my roommate, I love her. I will be so sad when she leaves at the end of the summer :(

Also, look what I made this week:

Blueberry and strawberry pavlova. Yummm!!!!

Thoughts

I know that my blogging has fallen by the wayside lately. Let me explain:

Every morning between Monday and Thursday, I get up at 4:30 so that I can leave the house at 5:15 to catch the van that takes me out to the mine site. I work 4 ten-hour days. These 10 hours are sandwiched in between a commute of an hour each way so I’m away from home for at least 12 hours every day and more like 12 and a half. By the time I get home each day, I really want to do absolutely nothing. Unfortunately, having an apartment comes with responsibilities such as kitchens that need to be cleaned and dishes that have to be done. Also, I have to feed myself. So everything else just kind of fades away, especially something that I do purely for pleasure, such as blogging.

I’ve had an experience lately that really moved me and started me thinking. To sum up a very long story, I very recently ended a friendship that I felt was turning into an emotionally abusive relationship. The part of this that really got me thinking was the helplessness that I felt when thinking about ending the friendship. I knew exactly how this guy would respond to everything I tried to tell him and I felt like there was no way to end it. It was terrifying to feel this way and also to feel so completely out of control. Luckily, I wasn’t even in a relationship with this guy yet. I did some research on abusive relationships and they all agree that the feelings of helplessness and being out of control only escalate as the relationship gets more serious. These feelings get so bad that the woman feels as though she cannot leave the relationship. The thing is, there is nothing tangible about this abuse so there is very little that others, especially those with authority such as the police, can do about it.

So I guess the whole point is just to get you thinking. I had this experience and it really opened my eyes. How can you reach out and empower the women around you?

I LOVE This Song!

I love the piano, the violins, the lyrics, just everything!!!

Trips and Adventures :)

I had about a month between the time that I graduated and the time when I started work (which is Monday, by the way) so I went on a couple of trips and had quite a few adventures to go along with them.

The first trip was to Vancouver, BC, Canada to visit my good friend Ella. My other friend, Lizzie, and I flew up together. Ella, Lizzie and I were inseparable in high school (except that we all went to different schools) and then when college came, we all went our separate ways; Lizzie to Wash. U in St. Louis, Ella to Simon Fraser University in BC and me to BYU. Over the years we've come together occasionally but we had never all been together in Canada. We had such a good time.... except that I, of course, forgot my camera (I mean, really, did you expect anything less of me?). So no pictures :(. Yet, anyway; we took a few on cell phones but I haven't seen hide nor tail of them since.

The second trip was to Phoenix, AZ to visit my sister, Piper. Nile smashed her face up the day before:

We all got our hair cut by Piper, including Peyton.

We went swimming one day because it was almost 100 degrees outside. The pool was beautiful!!

Eli put on these goggles and we told him to push them against his face to create suction so the water wouldn't get in. A few minutes later, he pushed them against his face and said "Look! I made function!"

This was like the only time I actually got Peyton to look at my camera. I think I tricked her into it, too.

The next day we went to the zoo. Nile was especially excited because the Arizona zoo has zebras and the Utah zoo doesn't.

We all got to pet stingrays, which was totally awesome!

Whatever you think a stingray feels like, it's probably wrong.

We also got to ride the merry-go-round, which I haven't done in years!

The monkey exhibit at the zoo is actually this house kind of thing where you walk in and the monkeys are like RIGHT-THERE as you can kind of see from this picture (the monkey is sitting in the plant)

Eli is trying not to touch the rope because the zoo-keepers told him that the monkeys pee on EVERYTHING.

Aren't my niece and nephew like, the cutest ever??

By the way, I ended up getting Peyton to look at the camera by asking if she wanted to see a picture of herself. Vanity is such a powerful tool :)

When we left Phoenix, the adventures really started to happen. My car started overheating as we were driving through the Arizona desert; what an opportune time, let me tell you. So we ended up in Flagstaff looking for a garage that was open on Sunday. My dad had called us and told us how to get to one, but we got hopelessly lost. We pulled over to the side of the road and asked a guy if he knew where the garage was. He said that he did, but he didn't want to tell me where it was because he worked at a competing garage. He took us to the shop and diagnosed the problem: new head gaskets needed; time: 1-2 days; cost: 1500-1800. Oh joy.

It turned out that meeting this guy was a huge blessing because they were the ones that could get it done the fastest. Everyone else told me it would take them at least 3 and probably 4 days. Thanks, Lifetime Automotive :D

While waiting for the car, and to get into our hotel we decided what better way to pass the time then getting our nails done? We walked into this little shop with two Asian guys who's whole mission in life seemed to be to make us happy.

We also ran into this little guy in Flagstaff; isn't he cute?

"What did you eat?" you may ask. Frozen meals and fruit from Walmart:

And Sonic!

"What did you do?" We waited... and waited...

I'm not as mad as I look in this picture. I had just barely looked up from my book :)

After about 2 and a half days of waiting (they didn't start on the car on Sunday) we finally got back on the road. We were so happy to be out of there. Flagstaff is officially my least favorite city in the US.

Cheers!

I Haven't Blogged Since April

Sad.

I like May. I remember when March started and I thought "Ok, I'm ready for spring." We made it all the way through March and April and now we're into May... and it's still raining.

Sad.

I'm moving to Elko, NV in a few weeks and I still don't have an apartment.

Sad.

I get to go to AZ on Wednesday and spend copious amounts of time with my sisters, niece and nephew, all of which I love dearly.

Happy :)

Scoliosis Chronicles: Part 2

Things have been a bit tough around here, and when that happens I don't much feel like writing. I'm back now, though, with the promised second installment :)

Alright, so I ended up going to the orthopedic surgeon where they did these really awesome, full torso x-rays. Have you ever seen an x-ray of your whole torso? Because I have, several times in fact. I wish I had one to post on here, but, alas, it is not to be :). Using the x-rays they could see my curve and gauge how severe it was. Not only was my curve a double (one at the top and one at the bottom so my spine somewhat resembled an "S") which was uncommon, but my curve started to the left (really, like an "S"). Something like 95% of all scoliosis curves start to the right which is pretty bizarre, if you think about it. How can an anomaly have such a pronounced trend? Anyway, apparently this was some cause for concern; sometimes left curves are caused by some other abnormality such as a cyst. So I had an MRI. Yes, I had my first MRI when I was twelve years old. Well, much to my dismay, there was no cyst; I really just defied "normal" in every way.

There are different types of treatment for scoliosis depending on the severity of the curve. Some people have slight curves and never have to do anything for them except a little posture correction. Moderate curves are corrected using a back brace and severe curves are corrected using Harrington rods. The rods are placed on the sides of the spine through surgery, and are the most effective correction, but may limit movement and activities. A brace is almost always tried before surgery. My curve was moderate and increasing so it was decided that a back brace was necessary. Again, I don't have a picture of MY brace, but here's a generic one so you can get the idea. This one is pretty similar to the one I wore.

Yeah, it's awesome... not.

According to howstuffworks.com:

The brace works by exerting pressure on the back and ribs to push the spine in a straighter position. The brace usually fits snugly around the torso and can come in many styles. In a child who is still growing, bracing is usually recommended to help slow the progression of the curve. The brace is usually worn full-time until the growth of the bones has stopped.

I was to wear it 18-20 hours a day, every day, until my "growth plates closed" whatever that means.

TWO YEARS!!!! Two years is what it meant. Two years of wearing this beast. It was the bane of my existence. As if middle school isn't traumatic enough, what with identity crises, trying to fit in, etc. I had to add a stupid back brace on top of it all. Luckily, I'm pretty resilient and didn't care so much about what people thought of me. In fact, most of the time, people didn't even know I was wearing a brace; it was only the girls that I had gym with, who saw me change, that knew. Well, and my friends, of course. I look back on it and think "oh, it wasn't so bad." But you could never ever get me to do it again.

I had two braces. The first was small, because I was small, and had a print of elephants, giraffes and hippos on it. It was cute. The second was bigger and clear. A new type of plastic had been developed and it was, supposedly, softer, but couldn't have anything printed on it. Not cute.

I think the most interesting part of the experience was the making of the brace. They laid me down on this table that was made of plastic with a bunch of holes drilled in it. Each hole was about 1/2 inch in diameter; the purpose of the holes, as I was quick to learn, was for rods that would hold my spine in a straighter position while they made a cast of my body. I put on a tube-sock-esque thing that covered me from arm-pits to mid-thighs. They, almost literally, paper mache'd me, though I'm pretty sure the goop was not flour and water, and the strips were cloth, not news paper. This happened on the front and the back using, in total, two tube-socks and about 2 hours. I remember it being fun, though we all know memories can be a bit skewed :).

Anyway, that's the brace. Now you know a bunch of, probably, useless things about treatment of scoliosis through a back brace.

Next: Part 3: After the brace (I really don't know what else to call it, hahaha)

Promises

I shouldn't make promises like "I'll give you... this... tomorrow." Because they never come to fruition. I'm sorry readers for making empty promises. I will try to post Scoliosis Chronicles: Part 2 either tomorrow or the next day. Love you all :)

Scoliosis Chronicles: Part 1

So I know this story pretty well, but I’d thought I’d share it for those who don’t know. Or for those who do, it’s fun to see things from a different perspective.

In sixth grade my whole class was screened for scoliosis. Scoliosis is curvature of the spine, may or may not be inherited, and can range in severity. We had been screened for other things in the past, like bad eyesight; I’m not sure if the school just thought our parents weren’t responsible or what, but they had decided to take it upon themselves to determine the various maladies of elementary school students. I had heard of scoliosis because one of the kids in my class had it. Also, the teachers had explained it to us so that we wouldn’t think they were crazy for looking at our backs. Anyway, we were all rounded up and herded into the auditorium.

My teacher told us that this was just to make sure that everyone in the school was ok and that, most likely, nothing would be wrong with us. I’m sure this was said because of the fairly low occurrence of scoliosis in the United States, about 4%. It didn’t even occur to me to think that I could possibly have a curved spine. I would feel that, right?

The screeners were just doing cursory checks on most people: make sure shoulders and hips were even and check for visible curves. If there was a question about a certain child, they would go see the Head Screener, a fairly intimidating woman who, I guess, had the final say.

Finally, it was my turn. Like I said, it hadn’t even crossed my mind that I would have anything less than a straight spine. The screener did his initial scan, checking my shoulders and hips, etc. It didn’t seem like my screening was any different than anyone else’s, but it slowly dawned on me that he was taking a long time. He had already checked my shoulders twice! And now he was doing it again! I started to get worried. I don’t remember what he said to me, but I was taken over to the Head Screener.

Words were exchanged between the two screeners and the woman made me bend over so she could check my spine. She said “Oh yeah, there’s a definite curve.” She ended up making a lesson out of me for the other screener, showing him how it was easy to tell that I had a curved spine from this and this and this. And while I’m sure he appreciated it, I certainly did not. My world had just been turned upside down! I had scoliosis?? How could this be? They were being so insensitive to my little 12 year old self.

I ended up going to see a pediatric orthopedic surgeon, because I guess they deal with this kind of stuff. But not before my mom had had a friend look at my back at my sister’s indoor soccer game, how embarrassing J.

Well, that’s the diagnosis. Tomorrow I’ll share what came after: the brace!!

How long do you have to be reading someone's blog before you can call them your "friend?"

Seriously, is it ok to refer to "my friend's blog" if I've never met them?

I do that sometimes. Because it sounds kinda weird when I want to talk about a blog of someone that I don't know....

I dunno, does anyone else feel this way? Or am I the only one?

Blog stalking is one of my favorite past times. I think I might like it better than facebook stalking...

(I know I just did this)

Yet again, another excellent song. I don't know what it is about music, but it always says what I can't put into words :)