A case of the strange Mondays

Today I had PLANNED to spend the entire day on the electron microscope in our lab collecting stereology pictures

Best laid plans.

I got to work around my usual time (10ish), all set to image all day.  

We had a brain.  But the donor was at the funeral home, and they hadn't removed the brain yet.  And they needed our autopsy saw to do so.  The autopsy saw was at the Alabama Organ Center, because they borrowed it from us at some point.

Joy and I walked to the organ center and got the saw.  While we were there we saw live donated kidneys in a pod, functioning, being kept alive--it was super cool.

Then we drove to the funeral home with the saw.  The body was all laid out, and they were in the process of taking all the donated tissue.  This is a gentle way to say that I witnessed a body dismemberment.  They finally got to the brain, removed it, and then didn't give us our saw back.  

We had to wait until the torso was flipped over and they had removed the spine.  I'd be lying if I didn't say this was all pretty cool to see.  You just have to remember it's tissue and not a person (anymore).  Which is hard because of the face and all.  But I handled it surprisingly well.  It was very interesting.  And what a job the morticians have, man, it requires some muscle.

So then Joy and I left with the brain, and Joy watched as Lesley and I dissected.  Then I went for lunch.  At this point I'm all set to get on the scope after lunch.  

But I just received an email letting me know my teaching specimens have arrived.  So I'm headed across campus with a cart to pick up some frogs, sheep hearts, sheep brains, and fetal pigs.

And that, my friends, has been my Monday as of 1:50 p.m.

UPDATE:  My order was totally FUBAR'ed by someone at UAB, so now instead of one pail of 10 sheep hearts, I have 10 pails of 10 sheep hearts.  And no frogs.  Awesome.

This old rocking chair

I love rocking chairs.  I just do.  Since I entered my "adult" life, I've always felt I would not be complete without two specific pieces of furniture.  A porch swing and a rocking chair.  Rob got me a porch swing for Christmas last year, so I considered myself 50% complete at that point. 

I assumed we would just purchase a chair at some point and that would be the end of it.  But I had forgotten something very important.  My grandparents' chair.  I remember when they got it-I fell in love, and thought my grandparents must be rich to afford such a neat piece of furniture.  I was kind of a silly kid, but I guess that's not the point of this story.

I sat in it as a child for endless hours in the summer.  It rocked waaaaay back, and had cool bendy wood on the sides. Watching TV under the AC window unit.  Shelling purple-hull peas and butter-beans. Drinking coffee, because my grandmother didn't think I was high strung enough, apparently. Doodling. Whatever.  My grandfather would tease me from his recliner, and eventually talk me into getting up so "we" could have some ice cream.  So went pretty much every summer from as early as I could remember until I was a teenager.  I was never too cool to visit Granny and Grandpa.  They had all the best treats, they let me stay up as late as I wanted, and adventures were endless in the country.  My grandfather passed away when I was 18, and I haven't stopped missing him yet.

Anyway, several times a summer, I would say, "when I grow up, can I have this chair?" They always said, "Of course, but why would you want it?"  "Because I just like it."  "Okay, then you can have it."

I went to college.  I went to grad school.  I moved a hundred times, and then a hundred more.  I got married. Somehow, I forgot about my chair; I never saw it in my grandmother's house.  But this past Thanksgiving, my grandmother asked if I wanted to take my chair home with me. It was in the shed behind her house, a little smaller than I remembered, covered in dust, and badly needing a new seat and back.  But Rob took it apart with my Dad, and we brought it back to Birmingham in the Sentra.

Amy helped me pick out new fabric at Hancock, along with quilt batting to make the new seat and back comfy. Rob got a jigsaw and cut out some new wood.  I took wood cleaner and peeled back years of dust and grime.  I recovered it, and it looks far from perfect since this was my first 'upholstery' project.  The age shows, and this is what I love about it.  Now I have what I think is the most special rocking chair in the world.

Best Day Ever.

Fast times at Strayhorn Elementary

Last weekend my friend Alaina and her boyfriend Perk came to visit:

You can tell that they are much taller than I, it looks like a 5-year old took this pic.

In fact, it was me.  Note the nice upward angle.

Alaina and I met when we were in first grade (age: 6) in Mrs. Murphy's class at Strayhorn Elementary School (grades 1-8, student population, less than 300).  We became fast friends and spent most of our childhood and adolescence together.  When I spent the night at her house, we rode horses and watched wrestling (rasslin') on TV.  At my house, we rode go-carts in the pasture.  Yes there were cows.  Yes, it was messy.  We had a great time. College came and went, she got married, had kids, got divorced, and I got married and went to grad school.  But she's a dear friend, and we always have fun together, like we were never apart.  So we had a fun time this weekend.  

We shopped on Saturday, then went to the bar for wings and football, then had some of our Birmingham friends over for burgers and drinks.  

Rob, Alex, and Perk. 

Alex is Russian, and longs to be a redneck.

Perk is a redneck.  

It was a match made in heaven.

 Lily and Addi play the piano.

There was a brief communication error between Steven (their dad) and I.

He made them stop.  There was wailing.

But then it was straightened out.

Edielicious and me keep it classy on the cooler.

I always think, in real life, that I'm the same size as everyone else.

This illustrates how incorrect I am.

Folks eat Bubba Burgers in our living room.

Then I wanted to play some games.  I don't think most people like games, judging by the disastrous "Taboo" incident and what happened when we broke out Jenga.

I have to admit, this one was pretty impressive...

Ben and Amy.  Alan plays "creeper" in the background.

Oh!

Also this weekend, I made my very first "real-deal" lasagna!  I know, I'm behind everyone else on this, it's like the easiest thing in the world, unless you make your own pasta (NO). But I finally did it, I even called my mom to tell my stepdad (yes, the bodybuilder) that I was a "real-deal" eye-talian now.  

I'm STILL eating lasagna.  But it's truly delish.

 In the oven, just finishing up.  

Turns out I didn't really need to make double.

Rob and I made a resolution some time ago to use our wedding china.  I really regret allowing myself to be talked into picking out china, it seems like a silly waste.  But we are enjoying using it once a week.  And we LOVE our fancy Noritake crystal with the platinum rims that Tommy and Donna gave us.  We have white wine, red wine, and water glasses, so we use as many as we can at a time.

In other news: It's been kind of cold here lately, so the animals have finally become chummy friends.  They agree to share lap space.

Have a wonderful weekend, everyone.  I plan to work on some lectures (vom), make birthday cards (yay!), and get a pedicure (ahhhh...).

HAIR!

Our Barack Obama Chia Pet (I call him "Sprout" for short) has hair!

A little male-pattern baldness going on, but I think 

the hairplugs will be grown in soon.

He clearly has "scientist hair" from this angle. 

Guess he wanted to be like us.

Update on my 3-day weekend soon!

Just HAD to report on "sprout"!

Happy Tuesday :)

"Alot" of exasperation.

Time for a grammar lesson.  This is mostly motivated by my students, but also sort of motivated by adults that I know.

"a lot":  two words, not one.

Incorrect: I like this alot more.

Correct:  I like this a lot more.

Click here for more (hilarious) explanation.

That is all.  Happy Wednesday.

christmas 1.0

well.  i have located the pictures from my mother-in-law's camera, so prepare for more christmas or stop reading.

we had a great time!  went to st. augustine for shopping and a boat ride, did christmas with rob's parents as well as grandparents, aunts, uncles, and cousins.  we don't see this crew nearly enough--it's been since or wedding or even before that since we have seen many of the cousins.

anyway, photos below!  then, i promise, christmas will be over.

me and the hubs by the st. augustine christmas tree.

 rob's parental units by their holiday botanical.

cooper gets kisses from bells.  thankfully she didn't eat poop that morning...

cooper gives uncle rob legos for christmas!

the middleburg mans family

jeff gave rob some winner pants and a winner hat.

rob's grandparents.  love them.

me and rob with the louisville mans cousins.

lori and jeff with grandpa mans- and his gator-walk brick.

(click here to see: 7 games you can play with a brick)

cousins!

missing thomas and christopher-they are on beautiful whidbey island!

aunt keri and cooper figure out that the way to go on christmas is...

pajamas!

In other news, STILL NO HAIR on our Barack Obama Chia Pet.

Christmas 2.0

This past weekend we went to visit my parents and godparents to have Christmas with them.  We had lots of fun, got lots of cool stuff (including a canon video camera, fancy wine glasses, and alcohol,!) and visited with much-missed family and friends. Tommy and Donna fed and watered us very well, and I ended up fat and happy and thankful my parents have a gym in their house.

We drank (some of us more than others), played with Tye, and watched the Saints lose to the Seahawks in the playoffs.  Shameful. 

Then we drove back to Birmingham in an ice storm, which made a 4 hour drive into a 6+ hour drive at 30 mph for about 4 hours of the trip.  Truly the most frightening thing about this is the other drivers in AL.  They are terrifying even on a sunny, 70-degree day. We counted 21 wrecks from the AL state line to Birmingham, a span of about 130 miles. Some people prefer to slide down bridges sideways, turns out.  Huh.  Interesting choice.

Bonus: We were off work for today.  And it truly is disgusting outside. You just might live in the south if you get off work for some icy pellets and two inches of snow.  Love it.

Tye smiles in photos now!

 Troublemakers.

Obligatory Christmas Tree poses:

1.  Rich and Eileen

2. Rob and Keri

3. Tommy and Donna

Tommy has two Saints jerseys, which he switches out depending on offense or defense.

This takes dedication, especially after a substantial amount of Crown.

We are proud for his many accomplishments :)

4.  Lee and Mom

T-Pa with Memere and Tye.  What a camera ham-runs in the family I suppose. 

Tye opens his gift from us.

Rikki and Colby gave Rob a gator stocking to offset  

all those MS State ornaments from last year. 

Tye helps Aunt Keri with her present from Rikki.  

Check out that shirt-this kid knows what's up.

Rob is wary/not surprised at my excitement over 

two bottles of wine from Rich and Eileen.

Next time I visit, I want ice cream, Tommy!

I wish I had edited these photos so Tye didn't look demonic.

*Cites laziness* 

Now Rikki and Colby have a microwave--and all the numbers work on this one.

Tye chills with Uncle Rob and "Melmo". 

Bells hangs with Lee on the sofa.  

Mostly Lee wanted to sit with the pink blanket.

We were greeted with this when entering Alabama.

Woo!  45 mph, our top speed for 130 miles.

Woke up to some nasty roads this morning. 

Lots of slush with slippery spots.

Good thing we put new 'boots' on Hoss recently.

Got us home--and in one piece!

i has big book.

Our lab just received a $1300 book. Actually it was $1225.  It's not a textbook like you use for class, but it does show pretty much all areas of the human cortex in case you need to know the cellular organization. Which we do.

No, it is not magical, and we have not yet determined if it will do our taxes.  

It's pretty big, as shown in the photos below.  The nerds, they are a-buzzin about this one.

Here is me holding the large book.  

I like that the title includes the word "cytoarchitectonics".

For further illustrative purposes, here is my hand on one page.

In other news, our Barack Obama chia pet still does not have hair.  Hopefully by Monday.

We are headed to Carriere, MS to see my parents, godparents, sister, bro-in-law, and nephew for the weekend!  Belated Christmas!

Happy Friday!