Birthday Girl

Today my coworkers surprised me with a lively rendition of "Happy Birthday" and yummy cupcakes. (It was even more of a surprise because its not actually my birthday--I'm taking the day off of work from my birthday, so we celebrated early).  I was even more surprised by how young everyone thought I was. Most people guessed 22, which I was pleased with.  (Not that I feel like being 24 is old, but I feel like sometimes people think I am older because I am tall. Not that height corresponds with age as much as it does during childhood, but I think some people still think this way; and it was nice to have people guess that I was younger than my age).

While I was being tortured, er...sung to, my boss came out of his office.  After the song was finished, he asked if I was now old enough to vote. It was unexpected from him, which made it even funnier.

Usually I hate celebrating my birthday when its not actually my birthday---but today was really fun and its been a great day!

Physical...Physical...I want to get a Physical Examination

It is apparently a tall order to get a physical examination from a qualified medical professional. I've needed to get a physical examination for about a month now...and its been quite the journey.  I don't have a doctor in  Salt Lake; I'm young and healthy and haven't needed to see one.  Upon learning that I needed to have a physical, I sought out a list of healthcare providers that accepted my insurance. I became highly discouraged after calling one doctor's office and finding out that while they are accepting new patients, as listed on their website, they were only accepting new patients who were referred by other patients.  This discouraged me on my hunt for a doctor, and I gave up. After several weeks had passed and I being reminded of why I needed a physical, I resumed my search.

I decided that the weird "only accepting referred patients" rule was probably in an effort to combat drug abuse and patients who are doctor shopping in order to get multiple prescriptions.  So, to prove to the world that I am not a drug abuser, I decided to get a referral. I asked a few people for the names of their doctors.  Even though I had been referred (to a different doctor's office this time), I was informed that to become a patient I had to fill out a health history form, submit it, and then the earliest appointment time for a new patient would be in eight weeks. Eight weeks!  Thank goodness I don't have the flu, or the plague, or my ever recurring sinus infections; or I'd be really out of luck and miserable. I thought that was ridiculous. I am very grateful that I didn't need to see a doctor for a pressing, but non-emergency issue. So much for preventative medicine! I especially loved that I couldn't set up the appointment then and there, but would have to wait to fill out the form--possibly extending my first visit even later.

I was growing beyond frustrated with every attempt to see a doctor. I finally decided that  eight weeks was too long to wait.  Then I did what I should have done in the first place: I called and set up an appointment with the  doctor that I have gone to all throughout my childhood.  He's amazing AND he's not making me wait two months to see him, so even though I no longer live in the same area where he practices, its worth the drive!

This has been such a frustrating experience to even get in to see a doctor, that I can't help but be (more) scared by the shift towards socialized medicine. Waiting times are already absurd (2 months!!!), but those waiting times would jump dramatically if the system were to be bogged down by every hypochondriac or freeloader wanting every wart or scratch or bruise checked on the government's dime.

Happy Valentine's/ St. Patrick's Day!

This was originally supposed to be a Valentine's Day post, but time has been flying past and blogging has not been a priority. Recently I've been crafting more and trying to actually finish all of these projects so that I can blog/ brag about them has proven harder than I anticipated. I am great at starting projects, but about halfway through I lose all motivation. Making holiday-related crafts has helped, because it gives me a nice deadline to finish projects by (the St. Patrick's day craft shown below was finished a little about 11:30 pm last night, otherwise it would have been at least another year before I thought about completing it).

Look what I made:

Valentine's Day Banner:

Valentine's Day Wreath:

Idea found here.

I love argyle!  And I ended up liking this wreath so much I decided to make a shamrock one for St. Patrick's Day:

The wreaths are a little misshapen because I used some foam tubing instead of a wreath form  and it didn't work as well as I had hoped. I got the idea from Pinterest; and it worked well enough, plus was certainly a lot cheaper than a wreath form.

Have a Happy St. Patrick's Day (and I hope your Valentine's Day was great too!)