ICFD, HP, and BBQ (or: my life as of late)

Is it terrible that Josh and I have had ice cream for dinner so many times in the past 2 weeks that we've resorted to proposing it to one another simply as ICFD? Even though I feel kinda queasy after ICFD without fail, nothing in this world sounds better than a small twist in a cup topped with a heaping spoonful of M&M's after a long day of clinic. What's worse is that we've shown up to Dairy Queen four times in the past 10 days in our U of M Dental scrubs. Do you want a dentist who has ice cream for dinner every night? Oy.

Anyhoo, posting was near impossible this past week or so because it would have required me tearing myself away from Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows which I finished last Wednesday. I won't give any spoilers except to say that I was literally blubbering with tears at some parts. I actually had to remove and wipe off my glasses lenses numerous times throughout the night in order to get through the last 10 or so chapters. I cannot believe how emotionally invested I've become in those characters over the past 8 years. A few of my fellow non-Muggle friends and I went to the midnight book release party at Borders that Friday just for the experience. It was basically pandemonium right up until midnight (at which time throngs of fans chanting "We want the books!" stormed the information desk) and a lot of the costumes were pretty good. I'll try to get a hold of the picture Katrina and I took with an incredibly convincing Voldemort. Sure, we had to pledge to become Death Eaters to get the photo but it was worth it.

Besides Harry and ice cream, I've also been trying to squeeze the last bit of barbecueing and pool time out of the remaining few warm summer days. For some reason, I get very uncomfortable every year after the fourth of July when I feel like summer is on its way out. In reality, we've got at least a month and a half left of great weather but I try to prepare myself way in advance. After Wednesday of this week, I'm technically on vacation until August 20th. I have, however, signed up to do an optional oral surgery rotation for the first two weeks of my precious vacation at school every day from 8 to 5. It's a long story so don't ask but let's just say I'm less than thrilled. It didn't help much to see the glorious weather forecast for this coming week which will see me in a surgery suite doing tooth extractions. Oh well, here's hoping I learn a lot.

Speaking of surgery at 8 am, I should probably hit the hay. In an attempt to enhance the quality of my sleep, I've been trying to do a half an hour of something calming before bed by turning off the TV and/or computer. I'm failing dismally right now seeing as how I'm simultaneously blogging and watching Shark Week on the Discovery Channel. What, a re-enactment of sharks attacking the survivors of the USS Indianapolis shipwreck isn't relaxing?

And now for some pictures:


Grant brought puppy Koda to our softball game. We tried to snap a picture of him in the mitt but he scurried on out. I want a puppy!


The female Molar Bears and Marty shouting out the lineup with gusto


We were up 6 runs so we decided to do a photo shoot


Finally, a HUGE congratulations goes out to my long-time bestest buddy Christin and her now fiance Bob on their engagement this past weekend! I literally screamed out loud and jumped in place when I got Christin's text message tonight ("Good news. We're getting hitched!") and called immediately for the details. I can't think of a better couple! :)

Congratulations Christin & Bob!

xoxox

Call me Ishmael.

1. Have you ever gone fishing?
Not recently but I used to back in the days when my Mom tried everything under the sun to keep us entertained during the summers. More recently, the friends I was with did some deep sea fishing during Spring Break one year at my friend Carrie's house in the Bahamas. They caught a baracuda and a mahi mahi (which I'm told by Josh made an excellent dinner and breakfast the following morning paired with a Kalik beer and eaten on a partially-submerged beach chair as the tide rolled in).

2. Do you have an aquarium?
No. Fish actually weird me out big time, especially larger ones. My friend Solomon, a.k.a. "The Fish Guy" however, has many. And some crazy, prehistoric, rare fish (fishes?) to boot.

3. Do you eat fish?
No. Some vegetarians do eat fish but I choose not to. It's a major blow to my Mom and extended family as the cuisine staple of our region in India is fish. However, I do madly crave a tuna casserole, tuna salad sandwich, or cold pasta and tuna salad weekly despite never having been a huge tuna fan before (see post from 2/04/07). Curious.

4. Have you ever seen Finding Nemo?
Cha, of course! And now the scene where the aquarium inhabitants give a play-by-play of that morning's root canal makes total sense to me! Do you know what a Gates-Glidden is?

5. What do you think of sushi?
Does the fact that I had cucumber avocado and asparagus rolls for lunch today answer the question?

xoxox

What's white, furry, and shaped like a tooth?

I think Josh and I finally found the solution to our internet woes as of late -- it's a wonderful little invention called Firefox, some of you may be familiar. Anyway, here's hoping I blog a little more consistently now that my connection won't peter out every 35 seconds. Yeah, riiiiiiiggghhht.

At any rate, I'm just getting re-adjusted after a glorious vacation last week which I spent mostly in Bland, er, Grand Rapids. My mom was scheduled to return from her stay in India and my newly Masters Degreed-sister is currently at the ol' nest job searching so I thought I'd get in some quality family time. My Dad was around the entire week too but much of his time was spent pursuing a very Caddy Shack-esque endeavor. Much to his chagrin, the squirrel family in my backyard has been capitalizing on our voluminous bird feeder for years. I personally believe that the lost bird seed is a small cost compared to helping a family survive the harsh winters. My Dad, on the other hand, has his own suspicions ("believe me, they're selling that birdseed back to Meijer for a profit, I know it"). The "slide" he constructed upon which he envisioned the poor squirrels losing their footing didn't quite go as planned. He might as well have built them an elevator; by the end of the week, the little buggers were so empowered that they had taken to sunning themselves on the deck rails just to spite him ("that one's eyeing me down, Sonya, look!"):


Dad vs. Squirrel


Dad: 0, Squirrel: 1

All in all, it was a nice week with my family. I got to catch up on a little sleep and spend a lot of time with Harry Potter on the deck (let the mania begin! Who wants to see the movie tomorrow night?) Thankfully, my Mom made it back from India okay even though her original flight was canceled due to torrential monsoon rains. I even got some homemade Indian food to boot!

Now I'm resting up after our summer softball season opener. We played a double header (against 2 of the other teams from our class). My team from last year grew so much that we had to split into 2 teams and I am now officially a member of The Molar Bears. Hopefully we're not heading for extinction after our double header next Wednesday night (yuk, yuk, yuk)!

That's all I got folks: corny extinction jokes and squirrel stories. Stick with me, it'll get better.

xoxox

p.s. ~ I saw this at Walgreens and had to buy it for my Dad. It's "The King Size" Reese's cups filled with Elvis' favorite: peanut butter and banana creme (PBBC's were his fave sandwich). Naturally, my Dad accepted my gift with a "Thank you, thankyouverymuch."