Tuesday, June 15, 2010

Things I'm Loving Right Now

Since I've mostly been staying at home and studying the last few weeks in preparation for STEP 2, I've been taking mental notes of all the little things I'm loving in and around the house right now.



1. Saving money. How, you ask? I've been cooking a lot more. It's a much needed distraction and it's easy on the wallet. We get our next loan disbursement on July 6th but knowing our institution, it will most likely be a week late. I ran out of money sometime around the end of May. Thanks to my lovely husband and a credit card with a high limit I'll be fine, but it's still nice to feel like I'm saving some pennies by cooking more.



2. ULTA Smoothies. Most of you know I indulge in a daily bubble bath. That can get a little expensive if you're not careful. I had been buying the cheap-o Wal-Mart bubble bath but due to it's dilute nature it ran out rather quickly. The scent selection is also a little limited. Enter a coupon at ULTA and their smoothies being on a buy 2, get 2 free sale. I think I ended up paying about $20 for 4 bottles of the stuff. It's really a good deal because they are uber-concentrated. 2-3 pumps and the bath is full of bubbles. I currently have Pineapple Passion, Creamy Cocolada (coconut), Key Lime, and Candied Caramel Pecan. Pineapple Passion is by far my favorite. It's fun to mix them up though. 1 pump of pineapple, 1 pump of coconut. You get the drill.



3. My new treadmill! Most of you know the saga of my last treadmill. It was a craigslist find. I paid $225 for it. That's approximately $100 for each week that it worked. Sadness. After scouring the internet/Academy sports/Sears for the best deals I came across the one I wanted. It was $377 at Wal-Mart - an amazing deal for a brand new treadmill. Enter the problem. We don't own a truck. Solution - Wal-Mart will ship stuff to your house for $0.97. Yep - 97 cents. Bonus - it arrived 2 days early. I have enjoyed studying on it because Lord knows you get sick of sitting on your butt all day long and studying. Kris and I were able to assemble it in about 2 hours. It was relatively easy, but definitely a 2 person project. I've been very pleased with it so far.


4. Splenda with fiber. Because Splenda is good. And Splenda with fiber is better. Because I do not eat a bowl of shredded wheat with strawberries on top of it every morning, or barley with lentils for lunch. Sometimes I just drink coffee til noon - or until 2:30 if I wake up at noon.



5. The fact that my best friend's wedding is in just 4 days. It's going to be so much fun! Just gotta work on my speech for the toast the night before. I'm not so good with words... or public speaking... or public speaking with words...



6. Wingback headboards. I'm thinking about trying to make one of these once Step is over (June 28th for me). I've read a lot of how-to guides online and I think I can make it happen. Besides, one time I took an aptitude test in junior high and it told me I should either be a carpenter, race car driver, or doctor. I feel like I'm the last 2 on most days, so why not try to embrace the 1st one more?

As for the step studying, it's coming along slowly but surely. I feel a lot more prepared than I was for Step I, but that's not very hard to do considering I only completed half of the USMLE World question bank. True story. Right now I have about 500 questions left. I'm planning on being finished by Friday afternoon so I can party it up at the aforementioned wedding all weekend and then review the next week. I do confess that I wish I was a faster studier and could just cram all this info in in a 2 weeks or so, but I know now that's not how I learn. I need lots of time to digest the information, then review it again. I am getting very, very tired of studying though. Less than 2 weeks as of today :)

5 comments:

Laura said...

4. Ha. 5. If you need ideas from the peanut gallery, ask away. Or look back at pictures and any paraphernalia you have from the umpteen years y'all have been friends.

chasingzebras said...

Thanks LJ :) I hadn't even thought of just looking back through pictures. That might stimulate something in the old noggin'.

frylime said...

just remember that all your prep for the toast will be all for naught, if you do what i did, which was stand up, prepared with funny stories and a wee bit of sentiment, and then just start crying. and then nobody else would give a toast because i made them cry too. ha!

chasingzebras said...

frylime - I just thought of that last night. I was pondering stuff to say as I was falling asleep and then just started thinking, "Crap. What if I cry?" Let's hope I can hold it together.

Ewok said...

haha, no worries. I usually ignore your calls (hope that doesn't hurt your feelings!) and wait for a voicemail or text to follow if you called me on purpose.

Good luck on your step, I know you'll dominate!