Dedication

I can honestly say that I've never read anyone else's dissertation.  I mean, come on, it's one or four hundred pages of regurgitation of a narrow area of research in someone's particular field of interest leading up to a research project that they will describe in mind-numbing detail and then justify as if it alone holds the key to salvation.  Get real.  If it's any good, it'll be condensed into a fraction of the size, peer reviewed, and published in a journal.  If I need to know about it, I'll read the abstract on PubMed.  I have no illusions that anyone will ever read mine either, despite the fact that I've paid good money that could be used to buy a new pair of boots to have it printed on cotton paper and bound in leather.  Heck, I couldn't even bring myself to read over it again when the printer sent me an approval copy of the file.  I'm sick of it. 

But there's one page in a dissertation that is a worthwhile read.  It's the acknowledgments or dedication page.

However, because I know that the people I mention in mine will never actually look inside my dissertation, I thought maybe I should publish it a little differently.

All kinds of craziness

It's been a kooky kind of week!  For starters, of course, Rebecca got sick last weekend.  Fortunately, it was very short-lived!  On Monday, the patient I evaluated was startlingly similar to my friend Brenda's fathat.  That threw me off a bit.  On Tuesday, I had to give a sweet family the news that the wife has Alzheimer's.  It made me so sad!  Fortunately, I think the lady is demented enough that she didn't grasp too much of it.  There is a blessing in that. 

On Wednesday, Rebecca and I got up to head out to dance class.  I knew it was the last week of summer classes and that we were going to be away when they had registration for fall.  Last week, I had checked to see if they had the schedule for fall available and they did not but told me it would be ready by this week.  When I asked about it, I found out that the studio was actually closing its doors- THAT DAY!  They were giving away all the tropies!  (Thankfully I was able to convince Rebecca that she needed a sparkly one that was only about 15 inches tall instead of one of the ginormous 3 foot tall ones.)  So now I have to get Rebecca into a new dance studio, and I can imagine the one nearby is going to be inundated with at least 100 new dancers!  Hopefully they will have a tap/ballet/jazz combo class, because Rebecca has LOVED being able to do all three. 

After dance class, we jetted east to Loma Linda to finalize all my remaining things.  For approximately a week, I had been going back and forth between the dissertation editor and the printers. (You have to get several copies of the dissertation printed on cotton paper and bound so that it is preserved for posterity).  The printer swore they had delivered the copies to the dissertation editor, who kept saying he didn't have it!  In 113 degree heat, Rebecca and I traipsed all over the campus to get it all straightened out and to get my Diploma Clearance Check Sheet signed off on by the dean's office and order transcripts to be sent to the Alabama Board of Psychology and all that.  It was HOT!  Rebecca announced to me that she was "most sneaty!" and indeed she was. Her cheeks were red, and she was dripping with sweat.  As it turns out, the printer mysteriously couldn't find the paperwork where the person who they delivered it to should have signed for it, and they promised to get it reprinted and delivered today.  Still, I knew that was possibly my last trip to Loma Linda for any official purpose.  It sure did look good in the rearview mirror!

Today, Rebecca went with me to get my LiveScan background check done (another one!) and run some more errands.  Then we did a little shopping.  When Ramy got home, he started feeling a little tingle in his throat.  Not two hours later, my throat was feeling sore.  Knowing that we're leaving for vacation and that we've been exposed to strep, we decided to go on to urgent care to get some antibiotics.  Then we came home and have been packing. 

There's also some great news today!  The first was that my copies of my dissertation did indeed make it to the dissertation editor this afternoon.  This means that I am completely, totally, absolutely finished with Loma Linda University.  I'm no longer enrolled, and they're sending me a diploma (in a few months).  Woo hoo! 

My good friend Shannon is having her c-section today!  Please say a prayer that she and the baby are safe and healthy.  Also, my friend Julie (and Rebecca's friend Addie) flew back to California today!  One of my fellow interns from County has a qualifying interview at his dream job today, so hopefully that will go well for him. 

All better!

Thankfully, the strep throat was a short-lived malady.  Rebecca slept most of the day on Saturday and still ran a bit of fever that night.  By Sunday morning, however, she was back to playing and jumping and dancing and laughing, although she still had a lot of congestion and a voice that sounded like she hit a fifth of Jack every day while she smoked a pack of Camels.  By Monday, even the voice and snotty nose were all cleared up.  She still has a couple of days of antibiotics left, but we're ready to pronounce her cured.

Rebecca takes comfort in knowing that other people are sad that she's sick.  She told me on Saturday night, "I bet Grammy will be soooo sad that I'm sick."  I asked her if she wanted to call Grammy, but she told me that she couldn't because she was sick.  She did want me to send Grammy a message.  I thought it sounded like we were going to send her a telegram!  The message was: "Sick.  Rebecca Nee Cisneros.  And Nov [love]."  She repeated it to me twice in that fashion.  Later that night when we were in bed, she looked up at the crucifix and said, "I bet Jesus is very sad that I'm sick."  I assured her that He was always sad when we were in pain but that He knew she was going to be fine.  She said, "Well, but right now I'm still sick and I bet he's sad about it."

Sick girl

Yesterday afternoon at the mall, Rebecca was giggling, teasing, running, jumping, dancing, laughing, and cavorting. Around 10:00 p.m., however, she mentioned her mouth hurt. She complained a bit more until we realized she had a sore throat. Through the night, she became more uncomfortable, and she awoke with glassy eyes, a very warm (but not feverish) body, and an expression that told she was sick even though she verbally denied it. Sneezing and a runny nose soon followed. So we decided to go to Urgent Care. On the way, she was talking so much that I briefly thought we might be silly for taking a child who just had a minor cold in to see a doctor on a Saturday. But I've never minded being foolish, so on we went. Glad we did, because it turns out that she has strep throat. The doctor was even nice enough to illuminate her tonsils so that I could see the white patches on them myself (so that I would feel more confident in his diagnostic capabilities?). Two doses of "special juice" (full strength fruit juice in a tiny cup along with her medicine) went down fairly easily. She slept the afternoon away, thanks to the cough medicine he prescribed in addition to the antibiotic. Around 7:30, she finally was able to be roused to eat some Panera bread chicken noodle soup (a favorite of hers) and she proclaimed in a very scratchy voice and with quite peaked eyes, "I think I'm all well now." Although she certainly isn't all well, hopefully she will be feeling better tomorrow since she'll have three doses of her antibiotic in her by then.

Today, Rebecca and I went to Loma Linda running around to complete my "Diploma Clearance Check Sheet", which entailed stops at no less than 5 places (and trips to the main Psychology office 3 times during that process).  All this so that my official diploma can be mailed to me in a few months when the registrars office gets around to posting my degree.  I have no idea why, but apparently it takes them several months to click the button. 

Nonetheless, I did not come away empty handed.  I was given my own personal copy of the DVD of the commencement, and a CD with all the pictures of all us graduates.  So above is my official picture.  You might be asking who the woman is shaking my hand.  The answer is that I have absolutely no idea.  That was the one and only time I have ever met the woman, but apparently she is someone important to have her photo taken with each and every one of us. 

Daddy's birthday recap

On Saturday, Ramy played golf and then we headed out to South Coast Plaza to shop for shoes for our European vacation (let's hope not like European Vacation).  Unfortunately, despite being in the largest mall in Southern California, neither of us found what we were searching for.  I thought I might have been ill to have been there and shopping for shoes and actually not buy a single pair in Nordies or any of the other great shoe stores.  We headed home in defeat.  That evening, while Ramy was out helping his boss celebrate his lavish retirement on Saturday night, Rebecca and I were at home baking his birthday cake. 

Rebecca helped tremendously:

The recipe for this Four Layer Coconut Cake came from the Southern Living Our Best Desserts cookbook and turned out really well.  Very good!

I'll post the recipe at the bottom of this post.  It was a somewhat laborious task because of despite the help from my wonderful sous baker. 

On Sunday, we met up with Ramy's mom, his sisters Myrna and Theresa, and our niece Jessica for a Chinese buffet.  Luckily for me, they were Americanized enough to have orange chicken on the buffet, so I did not pay for food that I wasn't about to eat, which is what often happens at authentic Chinese places!  I gave Rebecca some sweet and sour chicken (minus the sauce) and told her it was chicken nuggets.  After she ate one, she said, "These chicken nuggets are kinda weird!"  She had no trouble eating the doughnuts though.  There was no signing of the birthday song, so Ramy and Rebecca were thrilled.  (Where do they get this?)  Afterwards, we went to another mall in search of shoes.  This time, Ramy found the ones he wanted, although we decided to order them online to save money, and I also found some I liked.  Success!

That evening, we did the birthday cake and candles routine, and Rebecca presented her hand-made card to Ramy. 

What is Ramy doing? 

All in all, it was a low-key kind of birthday, which is exactly the Ramy likes it.  We'll be going out with some friends this weekend, but they aren't really supposed to know that it is his birthday. 

Four Layer Coconut Cake

Cake:

3 cups flour

2 2/3 cups sugar

1 1/2 cups butter, softened

1 cup milk

1 tsp. baking powder

1/2 tsp. salt

2 tsp. coconut extract

1 tsp. vanilla extract

5 large eggs

2 cups flaked coconut

1 1/2 cup coconut shavings (found in health food stores, dried fruit section, or in bulk section)

Preheat oven to 400° F. Beat first 6 ingredients at medium speed in a stand mixer until blended.  Add extracts, beating well,  Add eggs, 1 at a time, beating until just incorporated after each addition. Stir in flaked coconut. Pour batter into 4 greased and floured 9-inch round cake pans.  Bake at 400°F for 20 minutes or until a wooden pick inserted in center comes out clean.  Cool in pans on wire racks for 10 minutes. Remove from pans to wire racks, and let cool 1 hour or until completely cool.

Meanwhile, reduce oven temperature to 350°F. Arrange coconut shavings in a single layer in a shallow pan. Bake 8-10 minutes or until toasted, stirring occasionally.

Coconut Filling:

2 cups sugar

2 cups whole milk

4 large eggs, lightly beaten

1/4 cup flour

4 cups flaked coconut

2 tsp. vanilla extract

Cook first 4 ingredients in a large saucepan over medium heat, whisking constantly 12-15 minutes or until thickened and bubbly. Remove from heat and stir in coconut and vanilla.  Let cool 30 minutes or until completely cooled.  Spread between layers of cooled cake, leaving a 1/2 inch margin around edges.

Frosting:

2 cups heavy whipping cream

1/2 cup powdered sugar

1/4 tsp. coconut extract

Beat whipping cream and extract at high speed until foamy.  Gradually add powdered sugar, beating until soft peaks form. Spread on top and sides of cake.  Sprinkle toasted coconut on top and sides of cake, pressing gently to adhere. 

Today is my sweet husband's birthday.   We are celebrating by taking his mom and sisters Theresa and Myrna, plus Ed and Jessica to lunch at the Chino Buffet.  He should know that I really do love and adore him because the Chino Buffet is not exactly a place that would be high on my list of favorite dining establishments, but because he appreciates mass quantities of Chinese food, I actually suggested it for his birthday lunch. Next weekend, we'll be getting together with friends to celebrate again.  Rebecca made a card for Daddy for his birthday and hid it so that she could surprise him with it first thing this morning.  She and I made a coconut cake for him (his choosing).  Then, the birthday man took my car to get detailed.  Who does that kind of thing on their own birthday?  My Ramy, of course.  I often joke about how great he is by saying that he's a saint (which is fitting, since he was born on a Holy Day of the Church), but it really is true that he is amazingly wonderful.  I am so blessed that he belongs to me and Rebecca.  I hope it is a happy birthday for my sweetheart. 

Thoughts on a Thursday

Rebecca drew this picture for me last week.  It is a picture of me and her kissing.  The lines between the two characters are to represent us doing "nose kisses" (AKA Eskimo kisses).  I love it.  I didn't even get out my projective personality drawings book and try to analyze it. 

I don't think that I mentioned after my trip home that everything still looks positive for my eventual job in Huntsville.  The only bad thing is that we're waiting on Congress to pass the budget, and they will probably not do that until after the election.  That's okay though, I'm content to wait, because it really does look like the job is going to happen.  Even though politicians don't want to have recent records of approving spending, which is what prevents them from passing the budget, no one wants to go on record voting against healthcare for returning soldiers, and that's what my job would be.

To get a jump start on the hours I need to be called a neuropsychologist, I am working a very few hours a week at Casa Colina.  That's the rehabilitation hospital in Pomona (i.e., 10 minutes from home) where I worked for a year before I went on internship.  I loved it then, and I love it now.  I am going in for a few hours a couple of days a week, and I'll be doing the initial neuropsych evals of stroke patients who they are treating in a hyperbaric chamber, basically to see if there is efficacy for using hyperbaric to improve brain healing after strokes.  I'll also be doing some inpatient evaluations and some supervision of their current practicum students, so it is all the things I love about my work.  Best of all, I can gain some hours while still spending most of my time at home with Princess Rebecca Girl.  We have a busy schedule of dance class, cooking and baking, art, dancing, naps, lunching with daddy, shopping, and playdates.

Speaking of Princess Rebecca Girl, have I mentioned how funny she is?  She's frighteningly quick on her feet.  While she's a social gadfly when it comes to interacting with other kids, she is sometimes shy about interacting with adults with whom she isn't familiar.  Ramy had her with him at his office this afternoon for about half an hour (while I went up the street to get my TB test read at Casa Colina).  We praised her for how well she talked to and interacted with the people at his office.  In the car on the way back to our house, we were talking about the people she saw. She told me that the people at daddy's office said she looked beautiful in her dress.  She paused and then said, "But I wouldn't be [beautiful] if I had on shorts or pants."  I'm not sure what Rebecca is going to wear this fall.  Between the fact that she won't wear anything but dresses and the fact that Gymboree, Gap, and Crazy 8 are all putting out a bunch of crap I'm not interested in buying, Grammy may have to sew her fingers off.

Please remember Rebecca's friend Adelaide (and her mommy and daddy, our friends Julie and Derek) in your prayers tonight and tomorrow.  Addie is having surgery tomorrow.  It is likely something quite benign, but there's no such thing as minor surgery when it comes to a dearly loved little girl.  We are anxious to know that all is well with Adelaide and to have the Woltil Family back in CA so that we can resume some serious playdates! 

It's all about the princesses

On Saturday, I got out a shorts outfit for Rebecca to wear (she has so many that haven't been worn yet this summer, because she only wants to wear dresses!). Rebecca was playing in her room and ran over to me in her closet.  She looked at the outfit and stopped short. She said, very politely but in an obviously exasperated fashion, "How many times do I have to tell you that I only...wear....dresses....just dresses...no shorts?" Then she said, "But I won't feel like a princess if I don't wear a dress! Princesses don't wear shorts! Sneeping beauty don't wear shorts! Snow White don't wear shorts! Ariel don't wear shorts!"   Although she did wear the shorts outfit, she reiterated to both me and Ramy several times during the morning that she did not feel like a princess.   We went to church Saturday evening for mass, and I changed her into a pretty pink and blue embroidered batiste dress.  When I put in on her, she smiled and batted her eyelashes.  "Now I feel like a princess!" 

Last night, Rebecca and I went into Stater Brothers to buy groceries for the week.  As we were walking in, Rebecca told me that princesses always get special princess M&Ms when they go to the store with the queen. She didn't make a big deal out of it and was (as usual) very good while we were shopping.  On the way out, I bought her some M&Ms (she didn't see because she was occupied with her car cart).  After I buckled her into her carseat, I gave them to her. Very sweetly she said, "oh good, my favorite! I was hoping you would get the hint."

My girl likes to party all the time

On the Saturday before we went to Tennessee, we had the great pleasure of attending birthday parties for two of our favorite girls.  Adelaide Woltil turned 2, and Jessica Castillo turned 14. 

We trekked to Apple Valley on Saturday morning for Addie's party.  Rebecca was so excited to give Addie a Zhu Zhu pet that she told her what we'd gotten her three times before she opened her gift!  Zhu Zhus are definitely Rebecca's go-to gift for all gift-giving occasions, much as a Target gift card is Ramy's!  It was HOT in Apple Valley!  Luckily, it was a water party, so the kids really enjoyed playing in the pool and sprinkler. 

There were a lot of cute little ones there to help Addie celebrate her day! Unfortunately, it was difficult to get them all in one shot!

The birthday girl had no problem helping herself to some birthday cupcake! Baby Lucas wasn't sure what all the fuss was about, but he was happy to be part of the celebration.

We had to go before Addie was to open her gifts, but upon tears because Rebecca was sad she wouldn't get to see if Addie loved her Zhu Zhu hamster, Julie was nice enough to let Addie go ahead and open her gifts from us.

It seems as though the Woltils will be back in SoCal soon and that we'll be lucky enough to get back to a little more time to hang out and talk while the girls play, reminiscent of our lovely outings pre-internship.  I think these two will be almost as happy about that as Julie and I are!

So then we jetted down the mountain to pick up all the food for our niece's surprise party.  No thanks to the not-so-speedy folks at El Pollo Loco who certainly took their own sweet time gathering our chicken, despite having agreed to have it ready to go 25 minutes before I was finally able to depart with it, we got all the food inside Grandma's house before the birthday girl walked in.  i think she was surprised and maybe only a smidge mortified.

The birthday girl and her parents.

Jessica welcomed some candle-blowing-out help from Rebecca.

Rebecca declared that the cupcakes were good.  Later, she and her girlfriends also had popsicles.  Rebecca's cousin Hannah is allergic to milk, so she couldn't have regular ice cream.  The other girls decided they preferred the popsicles to ice cream also!

Lots of cousins!  They ranged in age from 3 to 17.

Uncle Ramy and his niece and nephew.

My beautiful girl

It all started with a dress for my graduation.  Not for me to wear, mind you, but for Rebecca.  After all, even though I was graduating, I was going to be covered in black polyester.  The real star of the family needed a beautiful dress for the day.  Back in January, on a trip to The Little Cottage at The Factory in Franklin (Tennessee), we found THE DRESS.  Beautiful with a crocheted sleeveless bodice with ribbon embroidery and a gold silk dupioni skirt, with a matching crocheted sweater with ribbon embroidery.  Gold shoes completed the ensemble.  We loved the dress, so it went into the closet to wait for graduation, which finally came.  Rebecca ADORED her "puffy grad-a-way-shun" dress.  Unfortunately, the day just wasn't long enough for us to enjoy seeing her in it enough.  And really, how many places does a three year old go where dupioni is appropriate?  So, logically, my mom and I decided that we needed to get professional pictures made of Rebecca in the dress.

Next began the search for the photographer.  I googled.  I asked friends for names of photographers.  I solicited recommendations on Facebook.  I spent hours looking at the portfolios of amazing photographers in a three-state radius.  Somehow I clicked from one site to another to another and landed at Erin Cobb Photography.  I wasted at least a full afternoon just going through her blog and admiring her beautiful work.  She loves color and capturing the personalities of the children and families she photographs.  I knew she had to takes pictures of Rebecca.  Of course, like most things I do, I was at the last minute in coming to this epiphany.  As in, two weeks before I wanted the pics taken.  I had little hope that she would have an opening during the two weeks we were going to be visiting my mom, but I emailed her anyway.  My mom emailed her.  Erin must have sensed our adoration and desperation, because she called and worked us in!  A thunderstorm halted our original day and time, but Erin was great to come up with an alternate morning for a photoshoot.  I primed Rebecca for the shoot with promises of lollipops and a princess toy at Toys R Us if she cooperated with Ms. Erin.  I could have saved that bribe for something else, because Rebecca was enchanted with Erin.  I knew after Erin snapped two pics that the photos were going to be beautiful.  Rebecca had a great time at the park with Ms. Erin.

As we were driving to the airport on Tuesday, I was hitting refresh on Erin's blog, because I knew she was going to be posting the sneak peeks.  Of course, her blog post went up just before I got on I-65, so we had to pull over at the Sands Motel in Frankewing so that we could view them.  Gorgeous! 

Check out these previews:

I can hardly wait to be able to see the rest of the photographs in a week or so when she gets done with them.  Now...how will we ever decide what to order?

Tennessee Nature

I've had a really wonderful time at my mom's taking lots of nature photographs.  My mom has a ton of gorgeous flowers, and the hummingbirds and butterflies come flocking.  She also has a robin nesting in the corner of her house and a woodpecker who frequents the oak tree in her front yard, not to mention dragonflies, squirrels, finches, and assorted other wildlife.  Thankfully, I had no run-ins with either possums or slugs.  I did, however, have an unfortunate interaction with a bird that required the scrubbing of my hair with Wet Ones and then a couple of shampoos.  Thankfully, I didn't need to cut off my hair. 

Fun with Old Friends

One of the best things about this trip is that I've had the opportunity to hand out with several old friends.  One such gathering included these three friends from elementary school.  If I'm not mistaken, I believe all four of us were in the same kindergarten class.  Now that was a while ago!  It's fun to get together and catch up with people with whom you learned your alphabet.  These girls knew me when I still wore my milk money in a little pouch clipped to my shirt every day!  It was a really fun night.  We've all mellowed as we've grown up, and we all shared funny (and self-depricating) stories and reminisced about old times. 

With Holly

With Holly and Lindsay

With Kim