Amazing

My sister is amazing. My mom is an amazing cake decorator and always made sure we had the COOLEST birthday cakes when we were growing up (could that be a hint for the contest?). Now my sister is at it. She can, so it is said, outdecorate even my mom. Check out her most recent cake.

Recognize anything?

When Wes's aunt and uncle were here with their grandkids, I showed them some pictures and funny video clips on the computer. One of their moms said something to effect that she didn't realize how much of her life she was missing by not photographing it. And it's true -- we do photograph ridiculous things, but sometimes it's because it's a digital camera, so why not, and sometimes it's because I want to put it on the blog. Consequently, I'm hosting my first official Name That Photo Contest. Most, though not all, of these photos have been featured on the blog, so a little research will serve you well. You must provide the person/place/thing in the picture, plus a little detail about why the photo was taken. The person who can correctly identify the greatest number of photos by Aug. 1 will win public fame and honor by way of the site. For sake of consistency, we will number the photos 1-9, working left to right, top to bottom (for example, the stars would be #2). You must submit all your answers at once. Husbands of the site facilitator are not eligible. Good luck!

Cleaning the canines

Lucy has a little plaque on her canine teeth (HAH!), so Wes and I decided to start brushing them. I don't know if it's really necessary, but she's always had really clean teeth before, and I don't want (and don't want her) to end up paying for something we could have prevented. I got doggie toothpaste from the local dog store (as I understand it's not safe to use human toothpaste) and a cheap, soft-bristled toothbrush from Walgreens. Wes and I waited to do it until we were both home, knowing how important it would be to document this moment. All in all, she took it okay. She shook and quivered before we even touched her -- her normal reaction to anything that makes her nervous (like BATHS). But she didn't pull back or try to chew on Wes to make him stop. We got a lot of the plaque off on one of her top canines, but there's still quite a bit on the other side. We're going to start doing it every week or so to try to clean it up. And best of all, her breath is fresh!
 

Lucy's chair

When I adopted Lucy some 3 1/2 years ago, my rule was "no dogs on the furniture." My friend and then roommate, PennPal, had her own interpretation of that rule, which said the dog could sit on her lap while she sat on the furniture or lie on her belly while she slept in her bed. Strangely, Lucy didn't quite follow this line of reasoning and came to believe that she could be on the furniture -- especially when we couldn't see her (or were sound asleep in bed). Over the years, she learned that she wasn't supposed to be on the furniture -- but her interpretation was that she only couldn't be on it if we were there or if we could see her or if, well, she got caught. After Wes and I got married, we taught her to stay out of the bedroom (took a few nights of her crying outside the door; guess I should have use the No Cry Sleep Solution :), but it took a baby gate to keep her off the couch.

Since moving to Chicago, we continued to keep her out of the bedroom (save for one stretch during which Wes and I both caved). But we did give in on one piece of furniture. See, when they were living in Virginia, Wes's parents had a chair that Lucy loved to get up in, and evidently it was a chair favored for years by various pets at that home: Cookie, Addie, and any number of cats. We figured "when in Rome" and let her in it as long as no human wanted to sit there. The chair was close the size, shape, and even color of a chair we inherited from my old principal for our new apartment. Our chair was sitting in a teacher's workroom. I loved the color, how low it was (hey, I'm short), and it's non-plushness (we have a 600 sq. ft. apartment!). We tried to keep Lucy out of it for a while, but she liked it because she could see out the windows when she climbed up in it. Finally, we consented, but since she is a dog, we try to keep a pad of some kind in it to keep the chair from taking on her smell and remove it when we're having guests.

As you can see, Lucy has made herself comfortable in this chair. When the windows are open, she'll put her paws on the armrest and stretch towards the nearest window to sniff and inhale the scents from the various restaurants. She likes to sleep in it at night, alternating between that and her bed. I sometimes have to remind her not to lick the chair fabric (what's with that anyway?), but otherwise she's fairly well behaved. She even sits with her paws crossed, just like a lady. 

Off Track Betting

So I have an MRI of my liver scheduled for Sunday (the hepatologist didn't say there's anything likely wrong; s/he just said it's hard to tell from a CT scan of the kidney and that it might be worth looking into. My own GIM doctor actually gave me the choice of a triphasic liver scan or an MRI; Wes thought it was wierd that she left the choice up to me). Anybody want to give an over under the bill for that?

Cha-ching!

Received in the mail yesterday:

"Dear Elizabeth Self:

Thank you for choosing Northwestern Memorial Hospital for your health care services. This statement provides the current status of your account and detailed information concerning your outpatient services rendered on 07-11-2006. The reverse side of this form provides a detail of charges and information payment activity.

We have billed your insurance carries, BLUE CROSS, for these services. If this information is incorrect or incomplete, please call us immediately. Your primary insurance carrier is contracted with Northwestern Memorial Hospital to pay benefits on your behalf. Their payment will be based on the contracted rates, which may be different from your total charges of $6,584.00. If you have any questions about your insurance benefits, please contact your carrier directly.

This statement represents only the hospital bill. Your physician, surgeon(s), pathologist, radiologist, anesthesiologists and other specialists bill separately for their services. You should contact them directly with any questions related to their billing.

Sincerely,

Patient Financial Services"

How did it break down?
Pharmacy $433.00
Radiology $3,472.00
Laboratory $512.00
Emergency Room $1,885.00
Therapy Svs -- Observation $282.00

From that above list, I anticipate receiving bills from the physician and the radiologist (the latter of whom read my CT the next day).

Total Benefits Approved by BlueCross Blue Shielf of Illinois based on "negotiated discounts with this provider": $3,410.57
Amount Wes and I pay, aside from our monthly insurance premium: $0.00

Having health insurance in this country: Priceless

It's a small world after all

Wes and I were having breakfast Monday morning at The Original Pancake House just a few blocks from here in honor of our wedding anniversary (it's become a tradition, granted only by virtue of doing it again this year). We were sitting in the outdoor patio, which has about 5-7 tables in it, looking over the menu and chatting about his Sunday shift at the Evanston ED. Out of the blue, a guy walked over to our table and said hi, and I suddenly realized it was the 12th grade Humanities teacher at the school were I'm starting in the fall -- and the person with whom I was to meet a few hours later! Mind you, I'd met this guy once, and this was our first meeting at the school. It was so random. He lives miles south of this place and just happened to be meeting a friend from out of town who was visiting another friend in Wrigleyville, and TOPH was a good in-between point. Granted, we both live in Chicago, but this is not a small town. And again, we've probably never intersected like this before -- just on the day we were supposed to meet.

This isn't the first time something like this has happened, mind you. My sister visited last summer from Tallahassee, FL, -- her first time in the city -- and ran into someone she knew on Michigan Avenue, probably the busiest street in Chicago, especially in the summer on a weekend. This is when I didn't even know anyone in the city, and here she was bumping into an old friend (though perhaps that says more about the sheer number of people she has befriended and less about the point I'm trying to make). While working for a test prep company this past year, I taught two people that live in my relatively small building. One of them was my next door neighbor.

The one that tops the cake, though, is a chance meeting that occured in Venice, Italy, while Wes and I were abroad right after college graduation. We boarded a water taxi headed for Murano or Burano. Wes turned around and saw his chem lab partner from Davidson. You've got to be kidding me here.

I guess Disney had it right.

Mr. and Mrs. Wesley and Elizabeth Self

My brother concluded:

"But from the beginning of the creation God made them male and female. For this cause shall a man leave his father and mother, and cleave to his wife; And they twain shall be one flesh: so then they are no more twain, but one flesh. What therefore God hath joined together, let not man put asunder.

Liz and Wes, by the power vested in me, I now pronounce you husband and wife. You may kiss your bride.

It is my honor to introduce for the first time Mr. and Mrs. Wesley and Elizabeth Self!"

The rings

My brother said:

"These are your solemn vows. Liz and Wes, you have chosen today to exchange rings as symbols of your love for each other and your intent to live together in the covenant of marriage. These rings hold special meaning. May they be a reminder to you of that love, of that covenant, and of the vows you have just recited to each other.

Liz, place the ring on Wes's finger and declare its meaning to him."

"I found him whom my soul loveth...I am my beloved's, and my beloved is mine."

"Wes, place the ring on Liz's finger and declare its meaning to her."

"Go little ring to that same sweet
That hath my heart in her domain..."

Vows

My mother ended by saying:

"Lastly, but certainly not least, are your words for each other, expressions of your love and your reasons for marrying."

And then I spoke to Wes:

"Wes, One of my favorite things in life, as you well know, is a good story, one that I can't put down and that goes on forever. Today is the best day of my life, because I have found a story that will never end, and one that I certainly can't put down. Some describe romance as a fairy tale, but I don't want a fairy tale, Wes; I want something real. You are not the prince charming I imagined; you are so much more. And ours is not a story of love at first sight. Ours is a story of love at fifth and thirty-fifth and ninety-fifth sight. Somebody once said that one of the nice things about marrying the right person is that you keep falling in love all over again at the most unexpected times. I don't really know when I fell in love with you, Wes, but I do know that since then I have fallen in love with you over and over again, and certainly at the most unexpected times. May it always be so. May ours be the never-ending story."

And Wes spoke to me, saying:

"Liz, you bring me so much joy.
You sprinkle each day with a pinch of magic,
bringing a smile to my face and a fullness to my heart.
May I do the same for you.

I vow to be your companion, your admirer, your truelove as long as I shall live.

Liz, I want to dream together;
all our dreams will not be met, this I understand;
but may our dreams beget more dreams and more dreams,
so that our love is never-ending.

I vow to think with you, to feel with you, to be with you as long as I shall live.

Liz, I feel the love that binds us together;
it is what I think about without having to think;
it is what I hope for without having to hope;
it is why I live.

I vow to hold you, to cherish you, to love you as long as I shall live."

My brother followed:

"Liz and Wes, today you have heard and shared with all of us your own words and those of others that describe your understanding of love and your desire for marraige. But as you know, love is much more than a word, and it is something that cannot be accomplished in word alone. I John 3:18 says, 'Let us not love in word or speech; but in deed and in truth.' As you take your vows, remember that this is your promise to each other, and that it is only fulfilled in the doing of it."

Then we spoke to each other again, saying:

"Intreat me not to leave thee,
Or to return from following after thee:
For wither though goest, I will go,
And where thou lodgest, I will lodge.
Thy people shall be my people,
And thy God my God.
Where thou diest, will I die,
And there will I be buried.
The Lord do so to me, and more also,
If ought but death part thee and me."

The little things are the big things

My parents then read a poem:

"Wilfred Arlan Peterson writes,

The little things are the big things.
It is never being too old to hold hands.
It is remembering to say 'I love you' at least once a day.
It is never going to sleep angry.
It is never taking the other for granted; the courtship should not end with the honeymoon,
it should continue through all the years.
It is having a mutual sense of values and common objectives.
It is standing together facing the world.
It is forming a circle of love that gathers in the whole family.
It is doing things for each other, not in the attitude of duty or sacrifice, but in the spirit of joy.
It is speaking words of appreciation and demonstrating in thoughtful ways.
It is not expecting your husband to wear a halo or the wife to have wings of an angel.
It is not looking for perfection in each other.
It is cultivating flexibility, patience, understanding and a sense of humor.
It is having the capacity to forgive and forget.
It is giving each other an atmosphere in which each can grow.
It is finding room for the things of the spirit.
It is a common search for the good and the beautiful.
It is establishing a relationship in which the independence is equal, dependence is mutual and the obligation is recipprocal.
It is not only marrying the right partner,
it is being the right partner.

In your marriage, may you remember that the little things are the big things...and that by being the right partner, you will have found the right partner."

The essence of a good marriage

Wes's father was our next reader:

"Bertrand Russell writes,

The essence of a good marriage is respect for each other's personality combined with that deep intimacy, physical and mental, and spiritual, which makes a serious love between man and woman the most fructifying of all human experiences. Such love, like everything that is great and precious, demands its own morality, and frequently entails a sacrifice of the less to the great; but sacrifice must be voluntary, for, where it is not, it will destroy the very basis of the love for the sake of which it is made.

In your marriage, may you sacrifice the less to the great for the sake of love."

An elephant's faithful one hundred percent!

Our friends from college read this. They even showed the pictures!

"Dr. Suess writes,

So horton kept sitting there, day after day.
And soon it was Autumn. The leaves blow away.
And then came the Winter...the snow and the sleet!
And icicles hung
From his trunk and his feet.

But Horton kept sitting, and said with a sneeze,
'I'll stay on this egg and I won't let it freeze.
I meant what I said
And I said what I meant...
An elephant's faithful
One hundred percent!'

May you mean what you say, and say what you mean,
Be always faithful, and keep the house clean!"

The marriage of true minds

My friend from Charlottesville came next:

"William Shakespeare writes,

Let us not to the marriage of true minds
Admit impediments. Love is not love
Which alters when it alteration finds,
Or bends with the remover to remove:
O no! It is an ever-fixed mark
That looks on tempests and is never shaken;
It is the star to every wandering bark,
Whose worth's unknown, although his height be taken.
Love's not Time's fool, though rose lips and cheeks
Within his bending sickle's compass come:
Love alters not with his brief hours and weeks,
But it bears out even to the edge of doom.
If this be error and upon me proved,
I never write, nor no man ever loved.

May your love be an ever-fixed mark.

Loved in spite of ourselves

Wes's college roommate then read:

"Victor Hugo writes,

You can give without loving, but you can never love without giving. The great acts of love are done by those who are habitually performing small acts of kindness. We pardon to the extent that we love. Love is knowing that even when you are alone, you will never be lonely again. And the great happiness of life is the conviction that we are loved. Love for ourselves. And even loved in spite of ourselves.

May you find the greatest happiness of life in knowing that you are loved."

Love is

My sister read:

"I Corinthians 13:4-8 says,

Love is patient and kind; love is not jealous or boastful; it is not arrogant or rude. Love does not insist on its own way; it is not irritable or resentful; it does not rejoice in wrong, but rejoices in the right. Love bears all things, believes all things, hopes all things, endures all things. Love never ends.

May your love bear all things and be then never-ending."

Hug o' war

My best friend followed:

"Shel Silverstein writes,

I will not play at tug o' war
I'd rather play at hug o' war
Where everyone hugs
Instead of tugs,
Where everyone giggles
And rolls on the rug,
Where everyone kisses,
And everyone grins,
And everyone cuddles,
And everyone wins.

I would say, may you have no tugs, but being a bit more realistic, may your tugs be followed by plenty of hugs."