Etc.

Here are miscellaneous things that didn't fit with my previous post from today:

I am a total domestic goddess.  Or at least I was towards the end of my maternity leave.  I made my own brown sugar.  Did you even know brown sugar could be made?  Just whisk some molasses in with granulated sugar.  Domino, you are effed!

I have been obsessed with pumkin lately, and highly recommend making muffins and/or syrup for your coffee/espresso.  The pumpkin bread recipe (for muffins, bake for 20 minutes) comes from Isa Chandra's blog.  Isa is a goddess in the vegan cooking/baking world (worlds?  they are so different, yet so much the same), and if Isa says something tastes good, you listen, no matter what you eat or don't eat.  So check out her blog.  I've been OBSESSED with it lately.

And the Charlie's soap is working out fabulously--our Fuzzi Bunz are now residue free, and Nina fits into them, and Elena is potty trained (daytime).  The cloth diapers leaked too much, and I never mastered the technique, so on to the FBs!!  We had size 2 diapers left over--I bought in major bulk with Elena to get free shipping--but Nina sped through them so quickly that I ended up bringing 3 cases (one pack shy of 3 cases) to the diaper bank yesterday.

Total switcheroo.

I went to visit one of my patients today.  She's in inpatient hospice, which sucks, since obviously it means she'll die soon.  I'm going to call her "J".  I don't think she'll mind.  J is a New Yorker, born and raised in Brooklyn, with an accent to show for it.  The first time she opened her mouth, I felt like I was home.  I get all nostalgic when I see east coast transplants in the clinic, and then get a little self conscious about my neutral accent which features ending "g"s and "r"s.  (I can't really master the whole "or" sound in words like orange and Florida... I just don't know if I'm doing it right.)

Anyway, J has always been one of what I consider to be my VIPs.  My VIPs are patients with whom I have great continuity because we both love seeing one another.  She is the type of elderly woman I hope I become in terms of attitude--she's grounded (realizes the futility in being "full code"), loves her family (talks about her grandson all the time), and is totally engaged in the outside world.  Nina and I went to see her today, and I think we tuckered her out.  Crazy how just having a 15 minute conversation can do that--the body is both resilient and frail.

I asked J if she believed in heaven, and when she answered yes, I asked if she was excited to see her husband again, who died 27 years ago.  "Yes," she answered, "And my mother."  I got all choked up as I looked down at little Nina Bean, all snuggled up onto my chest, so secure in the blanket of her mommy's love.

I hope there is a heaven, and that J is greeted by her mother and husband.  If she doesn't make it there by Sunday, I'll go visit again.