The Selection - a review

On the back: For thirty-five girls, the Selection is the chance of a lifetime. The opportunity to escape the life laid out for them since birth. To be swept up in a world of glittering gowns and priceless jewels. To live in a palace and compete for the heart of gorgeous Prince Maxon.

But for America Singer, being Selected is a nightmare. It means turning her back on her secret love with Aspen, who is a caste below her. Leaving her home to enter a fierce competition for a crown she doesn't want. Living in a palace that is constantly threatened by violent rebel attacks.

Then America meets Prince Maxon. Gradually, she starts to question all the plans she's made for herself—and realizes that the life she's always dreamed of may not compare to a future she never imagined.

So hang with me, I've never written a book review before.

First off, I would recommend this book to anyone who enjoyed The Hunger Games, or Divergent. It contains many of the same elements of that makes dystopian teen fiction so addicting. The book revolves around America Singer, a strong female character with whom I had a love-hate relationship. On the one hand she's strong-willed, has a definite sense of right and wrong, and its fiercely devoted to her family. On the other hand, she suffers from the same short-comings that you could see with any teenager with such limited life experience. She makes rash decisions based on emotions and doesn't always consider the consequences for those around her. Cass did a great job making her believable and lovable. I often found myself so worked up over America's actions that I would sigh with contentment, and yell with frustration. My husband gave me some strange looks and was slightly amazed that I literally didn't hear him at all when here tried to ask me a question while I was reading this book.

The other main characters that you spend a lot of time with are Prince Maxon and Aspen. I really enjoyed Maxon as a character. Cass continued to develop him as a character throughout the book and I was definitely rooting for him to find someone who would love and respect him. I won't reveal how she made his character evolve, it might give away to much, but he was not the Prince that I was expecting.

Aspen is America's "first love" but I wasn't so in love with his character. He seemed pretty one-sided to me. You don't learn enough about his character in my opinion to make him endearing, he just seems kind of selfish.

Overall I would say this book is like a mash-up of The Bachelor and a teen dystopian fiction novel. I thoroughly enjoyed The Selection, and immediately read the next two books, The Elite and The One. I was sad when it was over and I am still searching for my next read. It was nice not to worry about any adult scenes or read a lot of vulgar language. Overall I would give the book an A-. Mostly I wish it was longer because a few parts felt rushed to me.

I hope you enjoyed my book review. :)

-Cas

update and an upcoming announcement

Hello friends and family.

Life has been pretty great since the start of 2015. We started off with a day for 21 days. No meats, no carbs, no sugars. Only water to drink, and fruits, veggies, and whole grains to eat. It was refreshing, and eye opening. I realized just how much I love coffee and that it's ok to be hungry and you truly don't need meat or carbs to survive. It also really helped me start off the new year with my heart and mind focused on God. I was very happy and proud when Duane and I completed it.

As soon as the fast was over I hopped on a plane and went to Texas to visit my sister, brother in law, and my nephews. I'm in love with their newest family member Ian. And my love for Isaac only grew as we spent time together. It was a much needed break from my everyday stuff, and I thoroughly enjoyed the baby snuggles, toddler playtime, lazy couch days, and helping my wonderful sister settle into a life with two kiddos.

I've also acquired some new hardware in my mouth. My wire permanent retainer was traded for a set of clear retainers to straighten my teeth. Basically it's like invisalign, just a different company. I'm really excited to undo the shifting of my teeth brought on from my wisdom teeth and being unable to wear previous retainers.

Anywho, if you happened to make it through my updates, you will get to hear about the upcoming blogs I've planned in my head. A week from now, we have a big announcement. It's been prayed over and talked over with close family and friends and decision day is in 6 days. So then we can announce it to the rest of our friends and extended family as well. I'm also planning a little book review. I just finished reading Kiera Cass', The Selection, The Elite, and The One. It was a quick and fun read and I wanted to share my thoughts and feelings, and hopefully i can move on with my life and stop dwelling on this story. I think I have post book syndrome.

-Cas

Thankfulness

I'm thankful for friends. We had such a wonderful visit with an amazing college friend of ours this past weekend. Emily came to visit us and it was a much needed catch up. Saturday we went hiking at Bledsoe State Park and I think Emily liked it as much as we do. We had some amazing conversations about God and scripture and I forgot how important it is to have close fellowship with people who love Jesus like we do.

Saturday night we went to the OpryLand Hotel to see their Christmas lights and Nativity scene. The lights were absolutely gorgeous and it took over 2 hours to see all the lights outside and within the hotel.

It was sooo beautiful and I had been wanting to go for a while. It was a day full of free fun!!

We also went to see Mockingjay part 1!! It was pretty awesome but I won't spoil any details. :p

So today on Thanksgiving, I am most thankful for family and the non related family members that we call friends!!!

A day in the life

So I promised a blog about my new job so here goes!

Interventional radiology (abbreviated IR or VIR for Vascular and Interventional Radiology, also referred to as Surgical Radiology) is a medical sub-specialty of radiology which utilizes minimally invasive image-guided procedures to diagnose and treat diseases in nearly every organ system.(http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Interventional_radiology) 

Minimally invasive image-guided procedures

The above link will lead any interested parties to discover what our department is capable of doing on a regular basis. 

So we have an awesome team. Each outpatient starts off in the Radiology Care Unit (ROCU) to be "worked up." The ROCU nurses obtain specimens for specific lab work that is needed, an IV, and review medical history and medications the patients are on. The MD's go over the procedure and obtain informed consent from each patient. My job comes in once the patient is ready in the ROCU. I personally review the patient's medical and sedation history and determine if the patient is a good candidate for moderate sedation (aka conscious sedation, aka twilight sleep). Moderate sedation is: A drug-induced depression of consciousness during which the patient responds purposefully to verbal command, either alone or accompanied by light tactile stimulation.  No interventions are necessary to maintain a patent airway.(http://www.sgna.org/issues/sedationfactsorg/sedationadministration/sedationlevels.aspx)

I then transport the patient around to the procedure room, get them on the cardiac monitor and start sedating the patient. The radiology technologist set up the table and get the patient surgically ready (i.e. patient scrubbed with antimicrobial cleansers and draped with sterile towels, etc.). Once everything is set up and *hopefully* the patient is sleeping quietly, the MD comes in to perform one of many minimally invasive procedures that we are able to do. They are typically assisted by another doctor like a fellow or the rad technologist. The minimal part stems from the fact that our procedures usually require only a very small incision (an inch or so) or just a arterial or venous puncture site. 

http://www.theduponthospital.com/interior.php?t=82

This is a good representation of some of the equipment in each procedure room. The C-shaped machine is the x-ray, which is able to swivel around the patient as they lie on the table. The monitors shown will display the live image taken by the x-ray. The Docs can see in real-time on the screen as them move the table back and forth under the x-ray. 

After the procedure is completed, patients return to the ROCU for recovery and stay anywhere from the time it takes to get changed up to being admitted for 23hr observation. It all depends on the procedure that was done. 

It is truly amazing what we can do at the hospital with technology now. It's so cool to be involved in fascinating procedures that spare patients a lot of extra pain and recovery time involved with more invasive procedures. Any questions? There will be a quiz Friday. .. JK

-Cas

Bledsoe Creek State Park

Saturday, Duane, Meah and I went on a lovely hike just outside of Gallatin. We are both very thankful to live in an area that has so many great outdoor spaces. Being a short 30-60 minutes away from many beautiful and unique places to hike  and enjoy the outdoors is truly an incredible blessing to us. The weather started out a little cool, being in the mid-high 50s with a cold breeze coming off the lake, but the work of Ridgetop trail warmed us up just fine. 

The stairs were our first challenge and definitely got me sweating! They were a fun climb though and the scenery was amazing. 

We saw some beautiful deer up close and personal, just 10-15 feet from us. I tried to respect them and go camera crazy though. It's always breathtaking to see wild animals that close. 

The Shoreline trail was also a part of the 3.1 mile loop that we took. It is literally a walk right along beautiful Radnor Lake shoreline  and it was pristine. Picture perfect for sure. I could've just hung up the hammock and stared for hours. 

We also saw "The Shire." Duane decided that the field to the left could'v been straight from The Hobbit or Lord or the Rings. 

Everything was perfect and Duane and I both agreed that we would love to go back to Bledsoe again soon! It had such a wide variety of landscapes and it was a nice relaxing hike with only a few challenging spots. I would definitely recommend it to anyone and Meah would too!

-Cas

Meal Planning

So I don't know if everyone is aware, but I recently took a new job with Vanderbilt's Interventional Radiology team. (sidebar - I'm planning another post to give the low-down on what interventional radiology is and does for those who aren't aware). With this new job, I sadly had to say goodbye to the oh-so-lovely nightshift differential so that meant less income for our household. In effort to help with our finances, I thought it might be good to start planning out our meals to curb our grocery spending. 

It's been about two months now of meal planning and I can say that we have saved money! I have not added coupons that weren't being used before or changed what we ate, we just plan to eat at home just about every night a week. I looked back at the credit card statements and did the math and on average, we save about $15 a month just by planning meals and being limited in our restaurant visits. 

So this is how things usually go... Sunday or Monday I make a list of what we are going to eat at each lunch and dinner throughout the week. Then I use that list to plan out the grocery list and go shopping. I usually plan at least one large meal that will give us leftovers during the week. I try to take into account which days I/Duane have things going on and plan accordingly to what can be cooked or  whether leftovers should be eaten. This is the actual plan from this last week. 

Monday

Lunch - Sandwiches

Dinner - Pizza

Tuesday

Lunch - Salad

Dinner - Chili & Corn bread

Wednesday

Lunch - Sandwiches

Dinner - Quesadillas

Thursday

Lunch - Chili leftovers

Dinner - Chicken and Broccoli pasta alfredo

Friday

Lunch - Salad

Dinner - Leftover chili

Saturday

Lunch - Sandwiches

Dinner - EAT OUT at GRAYS

Sunday

Lunch - Quesadillas

Dinner - Pizza

So that's kinda what a week looks like. Occasionally it gets old, but I try to work in a new recipe every couple of weeks to keep things fresh. We will also sporadically eat out if the mood strikes us and just eat our meal another day. I don't plan out breakfasts, thats just overkill for us because we usually have oatmeal or eggs, waffles on a special day. Of course, when I go grocery shopping I use coupons (which I did before we started this too) and I watch whats on sale. If something like peanut butter or black beans are on sale, I'll get a few to last. 

It's actually been wonderful. Making the lists gets tedious and it can be hard to come up with what we are going to eat for the week but Duane will usually give some input as well. It takes away so much stress not having the conversation "Well what do you want to eat?" "I dunno." It also makes it so we will definitely have what we need in the pantry for each meal throughout the week. For us it works. And it saves us money! Double perks! 

What meals are weekly repeats at your house?

Cas

Doterra, A review of sorts

So about a month ago I was getting a little desperate. I have been having problems with my feet since January of this year and frustration had started to set in. About 6 months into working nights I developed Plantar Fasciitis. I blame of combo of old stress/injury from so many years of softball, the incredible amount of walking needed as a nurse and the prolonged lack of sleep. I self diagnosed and was confirmed upon seeing my primary doc. Jump forward to August and months of advil, combos of heat/Ice, stretching, chiropractic care, ultrasound treatments, epson salt baths and even a switch over to dayshift and I'm still having this nagging pain. Strong enough that it keeps me awake at night, but light enough for me to go about my day with little to no bother. 

So in comes the voice of many claiming the wonders of essential oils. My interest was peaked and I was really ready to try anything to help and I heard about Deep Blue from Doterra. It's an oil blend made for sore muscles/aches and had received some pretty good reviews. Oils in general get mixed reviews for effectiveness, but like I said, I was desperate for some relief. I tried Deep Blue and was diligent for a month, every night at bedtime I would apply the oil. Much to my surprise, I actually saw some improvement. I had several weeks where I could fall asleep without having to take advil. This was monumental for me because I do not like nor do I want to have to take medicine all the time. There were some times, after particularly long days at work that I would have to take advil, but from daily to once or twice a week is a victory in my book. Deep Blue smells interesting. I don't think its a bad smell, but others may not like it as I liken it to a mix of grape cough syrup and bengay mixed together. Luckily, I was rubbing it on my feet so I didn't smell it for very long. I don't know if I will pay that much again (Dang Doterra, you're expensive), but it is definitely an option for me. 

I also tried and enjoyed a few other oils. I use the lemon oil mixed with water to clean my counters, stove and sink. It really cuts through grease/old dried food easily and leaves a lovely smell behind. I loved the lavender oil for sleeping. I fall asleep so much faster (even faster than when I was taking melatonin) and sleep better. It smells divine. I also have liked their digestzen blend, which I also have rubbed on my belly for heartburn and my feet for regularity. I won't go into details, but it smells like licorice and seemed to help me in more ways than one. 

So there you have it. That is/was my Doterra experience. I got nothing from them for this, I just thought I would share a few of my own experiences with essential oils. 

-Cas