Mmmmmmmm Shortbread :P

Being in the Christmas mood, and since Tim was busy with school work and couldn't help me put up the Christmas tree, I decided to experiment with a new recipe.

Usually I make whipped shortbread, which is lighter, but I wanted to try a more traditional, denser recipe. It turned out really well, I made some in a round pan and some in a press mom gave me last Christmas. Both worked out well, although if I do it again, if I used just the press, I would split the recipe in three.

Shortbread à la round pan

Shortbread à la press

Scotch Shortbread Recipe:

Preheat oven to 300 F

Combine:
1 cup butter
1/2 cup lightly packed brown sugar
Add:
1 egg yolk
1 tsp vanilla
- beat together until light and fluffy

Blend in:
2 cups flour (it calls for all purpose, I used unbleached and it worked fine)

At this point you can roll it out on a floured surface to cut out cookies, or you can split the recipe and press the dough into an ungreased pan (or a special Christmas press) - if it's in a pan, remember to prick it with fork several times. You can also use a butter knife to cut it into fingers/triangles etc in the pan.

Cook in oven for 30-35 minutes or until golden brown. Remove from oven, recut fingers/triangles, sprinkle with icing sugar/granulated sugar/coloured sugar sprinkles. Let cool.

It's a yummy recipe, makes rich shortbread that's not too sweet.

Enjoy! :)

(recipe courtesy of "purity cookbook")

Santa Claus Parade!

On Sunday I went to the Santa Claus Parade in Toronto with my friend Sherri. It was really fun. I had never been before and was very excited to go because I had watched it on TV as a kid and had always wanted to go myself.

So we started our adventure by heading out from Sherri's apartment building (where Tim had dropped me off on the way to church) bright and early. We left around 9:45ish so that we'd have lots of time to park, hop the subway and get some prime curb spot before the event.

We arrived at the Yorkdale mall and found out that half the city had the same idea as us - park there and take the subway into town. We waited in line for about 15 minutes before we got into the subway station, but then we were on our way.

We got off at Queen's park, and we couldn't believe how many people were there for the parade! There were kids of all ages! Some children were in the street (which had been blocked off for the parade) drawing messages and pictures for Santa with sidewalk chalk. It was really cute. And the feeling was so fun, everyone was excited to be there despite the cold.

The parade took a lot longer than we thought it would to actually get to where we were standing, and then it took a lot longer than we thought it would to get through it all.....it was a heck of a long parade! There were all sorts of floats and bands and walking clowns and costumes of all kinds - some more Christmas-y than others. :p But it was a fun experience and overall, despite the cold Sherri and I had a great time! :D One really cute thing though was at the very beginning Canada Post workers came along and collected letters to Santa. Nice eh?

After the parade we walked around for a while, got some pizza, went to the Eaton's centre for a little shopping and then headed back to the subway. We actually took the subway the wrong way because we had crossed town, but in the end we hopped off and switched trains and still ended up where we needed to be in the end. It was a really fun day and although we were tired, it was worth it. Enjoy the pictures! :D Sorry they're still a little wonky, still trying to figure out the picture program. :P

Santa!!

Santa's workshop

 

Horsey for Tara!


Random Cadbury elf


Another cute little kid


This one's for Sherri!

 

Cute little kid


Letters for Santa


Silly clown chasing the officer with Silly string!


They got me!

 

Santa Claus Parade Pictures 2

Me and all the parade goers


Messages to Santa


Puppy dressed up as Santa's little helper


Trying to keep cozy and warm

 

Santa Claus Parade Pictures

Sherri on the way in the car


My hat


Loooooooooooooooong line in the subway station


Sherri with all the parade goers

 

oops

Just so you know, I was trying a new picture posting program, and I didn't do it quite right......hope the disjointed-ness won't be too annoying. :P

Tim's brother Jeff

Megan and I

I'm so proud!

Being his charming self

Tim accepting the award

Tim and I at our table

The MBA formal

Last night was the MBA Christmas/Grad Formal. It was really fun, Tim and I had a great time. We were sitting with really nice people at our table (some good friends of Tim's) and the food was fabulous, the music was fun - I think the only down side was that our camera battery died soon after we got there. But here's a few pictures from the evening.

The highlight of the evening was definitely Tim not only being voted the most likely student to return as a prof in ten years by his classmates (LOL) but even more importantly, he won the Co-op award, which is presented to the graduating co-op student who has made substantial contributions to the school and peers, demonstrated initiative, leadership etc etc. It's a huge honour. I was so proud of him!! What a guy. :P Enjoy the pictures, sorry the pics of Tim accepting his award are so dark, it was all candlelit at that point and I was too far for the flash to work well. Enjoy the essence of the event at least. :P

The Nature of Pain

I've been thinking a lot lately about pain, and what it is and what it means to different people. This might seem like a bit of an odd topic, but I'm working at a health center where a large percentage of the patients (probably 80%) are experiencing some form of chronic pain.

I have to be honest, it has me completely baffled. Some of my patients have nothing clinically wrong with them - their CT scans, MRIs, Xrays all come back showing no substantial problems of any kind. And yet these patients are experiencing pain so excruciating, so severe that they can't work, some patients are unable to get more than 15 minutes of good sleep per night and others can dress themselves, toilet themselves, and that's about all they can do. It breaks my heart every time I meet another chronic pain patient, because I feel so powerless as to how I can help them. Their problems are so complex and multi-faceted, I don't know where to begin.

To me, pain is a manifestation of something wrong in the system - some mechanical factor of movement is out of whack, or some muscles are tight, or poor posture is an issue. But a patient who's been in constant pain for over 17 years, that is hard to get my head around. I don't understand it.....but it's real to them, and I want so desperately to help somehow. At times I feel so incompetent in my meager attempts to help relieve the pain for even a short time, but then at times there can be a glimmer of hope. Like one patient I saw recently had been experiencing chronic back pain almost constantly for 17 years. This patient was so afraid that she had some kind of infection that was slowly spreading through her body and causing all the pain. I was able to offer some relief to her by explaining what I did find and understand about her condition. The fact that nothing severe - no infection or cancer or anything else - was going on really seemed to take a weight off her shoulders. That was one small victory.

The most frustrating part is that the scientific community doesn't quite have their head around chronic pain either. There are theories, but no one really knows for certain. It can be influenced by past physical trauma, psychosocial trauma, sociological factors, psychological state, reprogramming of the pain system in the body - how does a poor physio student figure all that out? :P I guess when it all comes down to it, I want to be able to make my patients better, and right away. I guess I have to learn to be patient and understanding and approach these patients in a different way.

I think this placement is definitely going to make me grow. A LOT. :)

Remember

Yesterday morning after I dropped Tim off at school (yes, he was working on a weekend! YUCK! SO glad I'm on placement!) I decided to go to the gym for a run. So I parked my car on the road since parking isn't free on campus on Saturdays and walked over. Two very interesting and moving things happened to me after I left my car.....

The first was that on my way over, I came across a little bird sitting in the middle of the street. I didn't notice him until I was almost past him, and I think the only reason I actually noticed him was that he didn't fly away. He was this tiny little sweet sparrow, sitting on the ground, staring up at me. I walked a little closer, expecting him to fly away, but he didn't. So I got even closer, and nudged him with the toe of my shoe, just touching his tail feathers. But he just kept staring up at me. This little sparrow wasn't flying away, but his wings seemed just fine. I knew that if I didn't move the little guy, he'd get hit by a car because he was so small and was sitting right in the path of tire treads. So I stooped down with my t-shirt in hand and gently picked the little guy up. He hopped up on top of the shirt and looked up at me. I thought for sure at that point he would fly away, but he didn't. Carefully I brought him to the side of the road and after a little pep talk, I left him near the sidewalk and went on my way.

The second thing that happened that day occurred after my workout. I had just changed and was in the process of packing up my things when all of a sudden the eerie sound of a trumpet broke the silence. I looked at my watch - it was 11 o'clock and they were playing revelry over the loudspeakers. I walked out of the change room and stood in the hallway, and there were other people around - we were all frozen in place, listening to the sad sweet notes.
I couldn't help thinking of all those men and women who fought for and still fight for Canada...who protect us and help keep us free. I actually got teary eyed and choked up. We are truly a blessed nation.

It's really very humbling to think of men and women who came before us, who gave their lives so willingly to make a difference in my life...in your life....the fact that they didn't even know us. It is awesome.

I've been thinking about these two happenings all day....and they remind me of a verse in the Bible that says God sees when even the smallest sparrow falls and that He cares about us so much more than that. So much that Jesus came to earth and gave His life for me...for you....to make a difference in our lives.

Pretty funky coincidence eh? Maybe not....maybe it was a good reminder. :P

My new placement

Monday was the first day of my new placement. I am working at a community health center in town, and so far I really like it. We start work at 9 am, we finish at 5 pm, we get a one hour lunch break and everyone is super nice. My kind of place! :P

I had a bit of an adventure Monday morning, seeing as it was my first day I wanted to be a bit early. I think it's nice to be early on the first day just because it's nice not to be all rushed and flustered. But, seeing as it was my first day, Murphy's Law had to come around and kick me in the pants.

I checked Mapquest on the weekend to figure out how to get there and how long it would likely take me - Mapquest said it took 15 minutes but since I was heading downtown in morning traffic, I left the house at 8:30 am. The center is near the end of John St, and I got to John street around 8:45 so I was sure I had lots of time to spare. However, John St is quite slow, lots of stop signs and residential area, so by the time I got to the end of John St it was probably 8:55. However, I got to the end of John St and there was no center. I was freaking out at this point because I had 5 minutes to spare and couldn't find the center and John was a one way street, so I had to drive around to find another street that would take me back up. Needless to say, after several frantic phone calls home to get the phone number for the center (because of course the letter I printed off from my preceptor didn't have the phone number, the email did!) - and I say several frantic calls home because Tim was in the shower - some jockeying around side streets and a naval forces base with Tim on the phone, I found my way back to John St, only to realize that I had driven past the clinic the first time. I felt like such an idiot. But there's a good reason I drove by. Because I'm such a good girl and I wanted to be all prepared for my placement, I had actually read up a bit on the health center on the weekend and had seen a picture of it online. It was a white building. However, when I got there, the front of the center is actually red. The back side that's on another street is the white part, so I had driven right past it because it didn't stand out to me. That's what I get for rushing. :P

That was the adventure of the morning. My preceptor didn't mind that I was a little late, and he's super nice! I feel like I'm learning so much already and I'm really enjoying the people I'm working with and the coworkers as well. This place is really neat - it's a really cool model of care. They are a publicly funded health center that provides primary care and all of the allied health professions as well (PT, OT, social work, Kin, nutrition) for free to people in their geographic area as well as immigrant and refugee populations. It is so amazing! They have such a diverse clientèle and everyone is really friendly and grateful for the help they receive. And the programs! Besides access to health care professionals, they run all sorts of community programs - a fall tune up for elderly people, an albanian women's exercise class, parenthood programs for moms and dads - and the possibilities for creating other programs exist as well. It really is a motivating and inspiring place to work. I think I'm really going to like it. :)

It's fun not to have any homework or assignments hanging over your head. I've had such a stressful few weeks that these couple days before I start placement have been great. I haven't done anything exceedingly demanding....I did do a little Christmas shopping and a bit of tidying up around the house, but in general I've just been enjoying the time off. I think sometimes we take advantage of the fun that can be had grocery shopping with the one we love, or taking a mid-afternoon nap. It's nice. (Even though I've had to take the naps because I have an awful cold I can't seem to shake that's sucking all the energy out of me...)

Tomorrow I start a new placement at a community health centre in town and I'm really looking forward to it. From what I've heard, the people are wonderful to work with and the environment really encourages learning. I'm excited about the challenge, but also the opportunity to interact with people. I miss that - sitting on my bum studying for hours on end definitely isolates you. It will be nice to meet new people and start learning real stuff...stuff that matters, stuff that I will be using when I practice. I mean, everything I learn in class will be used in one way or another, but I've found that it's during our placements that I really learn the most. I look forward to it.

I can't believe Christmas is just around the corner!! I'm really excited, and I just looked up how many days there was until Christmas, and what did I come across? Tons and tons of websites that are actually a Countdown to Christmas!! Isn't that crazy? So according to this website, there's only 49 days, 11 hours, 20 minutes till the big day. Can you believe it? I better get at that shopping....my goal is to have it all done and wrapped before December starts. That way I can avoid the huge crowds. :P And if I want to go to the mall after that I can, but I don't have to worry about trying to push through throngs of people to get to that last item that we're all trying to get at.

So what do you want for Christmas? I still don't have some people's Christmas lists.....
As for me, well I'd kind've like to get something from Lulu lemon, it's this cool yoga clothing store and they have really nice clothes. So a gift card from there would be pretty cool. Or, there's also this cool gift card I found out about called a Shop!Card that you can use at all sorts of malls around Canada..pretty nifty eh? There's also lots of other things I'd like, such as running apparel and stuff for biking. But enough about me, what about you? What do you want Santa to bring you this year? I'm curious...... :)

Laura and Tim's excellent Thanksgiving Adventure # 2 & 3

Well it's been almost two weeks since I've added a post, and it seems kind've silly that I'm still talking about Thanksgiving, but I promised I'd post stories about our adventures, so I might as well get it over with. :P It has been a particularly busy couple of weeks for me, with the school term wrapping up. I now start placement on Monday! So nice to finally have a change of pace. :) And now on to the adventures...

Once Tim and I arrived home from the Stover's wedding, we discovered that my parents and siblings were coming over to our house for Thanksgiving dinner. They were bringing all the food, but I was all in a panic because our apartment was a disaster. And Tim had to go take pictures for someone for an hour, so I was in charge of getting the place in order. It was a frantic cleaning job, but it all got done, and when my parents and Alissa and Timmy arrived (Tara and Richard went to see Richard's parents for Thanksgiving), everything was in working order. I'd even had some time to go out and pick leaves off the ground for decoration. Mom and I ended up making a pretty centerpiece for the table from the leaves and some acorns we found on a walk we went on before dinner.

Like I said, we went for a walk to check out Tiffany Falls and then we enjoyed a stroll along the Rail trail while the Turkey was cooking. Now considering we had been up since 6 am that morning and had driven all the way home from Bloomsburg Pennsylvania, I have to say I was impressed at how much energy we had. We really had an enjoyable afternoon.

Dinner was wonderful although a bit of a challenge since Tim and I only have two kitchen chairs. So we improvised - we used our computer chairs and some lawn chairs from the porch as well. It worked. :) After dinner, we ladies relaxed and we made the boys do the dishes since us girls did most of the prep. :P We had a great time visiting and were a little sad to see everyone leave. Here are some pictures that I hope capture the adventure of the day....






Monday morning Tim and I woke up and had to head up to Newmarket for Jason Ahlberg's wedding (he was marrying a really sweet girl named Madelaine). The wedding was at this beautiful horse farm and estate, and Tim was helping out with taking pictures again (anyone else see a trend here??) :P It was a beautiful day, the weather was perfect, the bride was beautiful and we had tons of fun catching up with friends.
Unfortunately I don't have a good picture of the bride and groom, but I do have a fun picture of Tim and I from the day. So enjoy. :P