To read list

Today I typed 19 pages of notes on Specialty Practice Management (single spaced). And I should be reading those. However, today my mom also brought home the Harry Potter series, books 1-7! how am I supposed to read about billing, registration, and scheduling when I have half of Tom Sawyer, Huck, and Harry all sitting on my nightstand?? What's a girl to do?

Snow day snow day

List of things to do on a very snowy Wednesday evening...exactly one month away from the wedding, a list that doesn't include anything weddingish or purple:

- watch your big brown dog run and run in the snow
- light your fire and make grilled cheese for dinner
- shovel once or twice for your workout, even though the snow is still falling at unreal amounts
- chase your big brown dog around some more and laugh when, like a kid, he refuses to come inside to warm up
- watch The Middle, Better With You, Modern Family, Cougartown, and Off the Map... And don't feel guilty about watching three hours of tv
- pop your own popcorn on a commercial break
- smile at your big brown dog, all curled up on his bed, exhausted from his snow day


I will now be hibernating for the rest of the day (and praying that this snow is no indication of the weather one month from now)

I'm getting married in ONE MONTH from tomorrow!

I think that I drive some people crazy. Probably most people aren’t like my mom and me and change subject mid-sentence, or can carry on a conversation that few would understand because it is actually ten conversations in one. But I guess I do this, and I guess it drives people crazy, and I guess if you have stuck with me this long, you would say I do the same thing with whatever I’m reading and supposed to be blogging about. In the past four days I have sat down to write about 400 times, and not only can I not sit still long enough to write an okay blog post, I can’t complete a thought on what I want to blog about before deciding that something else I’m reading incorporates so well that I can’t summarize one reading without going into the next, which makes it very hard for a person like me to blog about. But here it goes, and I’m sorry in advance.

Right now I am reading wedding magazine after wedding magazine until I can’t see or make sense of the difference in words like plum, amethyst, fuchsia, eggplant, lilac, or, plain old purple (and I know you do not want me to blog about this type of reading, it’s bad enough that you have to try to have a conversation with me at this point that doesn’t revolve around the shades of purple).

Would you rather here about the two day reading I did on the differences between EMRs/EHRs/PHRs? No? Too late, here’s an overview because I think you should know:

An EMR is health-related information created, gathered, managed, and consulted by licensed clinicians and staff from a single organization who are involved in the individual’s health and care. Whereas an EHR is the aggregate electronic record of health related information on an individual that is created and gathered cumulatively across more than one health care organization and managed and consulted by licensed clinicians and staff. An EHR is an EMR with interoperability. A PHR is a health-related cumulative record on an individual, drawn from multiple sources. It is created, gathered, and managed by the individual. Want to know what I do? No? Again, too late. I implement and facilitate adoption of PowerWorks, which is an EMR, but LACIE, the information exchange that owns me (and yes, lately especially, they own me) helps to make this EMR an EHR for a number of reasons I will not go into here.

Because I have a feeling I’ve already said too much, but just in case anyone is still reading, I will tell you the three other things I am actively reading. And although it’s hard to see it right now, these three really tie in together. I am still reading and still inspired by Tender, Loving Care and the book by my friend, Donna, Prevent Cancer God’s Way. And as I drift off to sleep thinking all of my thoughts about the wedding, my career, being healthy, and having a servant’s heart, I read The Adventures of Tom Sawyer.

And somewhere between exhausted awake-ness and peaceful sleep last night, Tom Sawyer told me that “work consists of whatever a body is obliged to do, and. play consists of whatever a body is not obliged to do." With peacefulness that I can’t put words to, I admitted to myself that somewhere in all this reading, the lines between work and play blurred for me. No one told me to read these things outside of work, but I do because I love it. Because I want to know how to get some clinic in rural Missouri the most meaningful use money they can get, because I know that if I serve those who serve the sick, there will be less sick people, and because those that are sick are people, Tom Sawyer like little boys that remind me of Seth and Eli, and I want them to be well.

So I want to prevent as much illness as I can and pass this information on to others (Prevent Cancer God’s Way), I want to compassionately teach healthcare providers how this EMR and EHR can help them do their job better (EMR/EHR/PHR research and Tender, Loving Care), and I want to never forget that those tiny patients are someone’s little boys that should be out running around doing silly little boy things (The Adventures of Tom Sawyer). The purple wedding details are just for fun.

RIP Christmas Tree

This weekend I did two things. Wedding Planned and De-Christmasized the North 32nd Street house.
Saturday I did wedding things with my mom all day and made a lot of progress. I worked hard to be a good bride and make decisions. Sunday I worked out harder than I've worked out in a long time by taking down Christmas decorations and cleaning the house. I put everything red and gold (this year's theme) where it should go in the garage, moved all furniture to dust, sweep, and mop, and arranged everything in a new, non-Christmaslike way. The only thing I could not do on my own was dispose of the tree. I did manage to remove all the ornaments and get it out the front door. However, that's the best I could do. And then it started snowing and hasn't stopped. So, instead of worrying about this, I am going to cuddle in my clean house and read a good book. And you are welcome to drive by and laugh at our new lawn decoration.

Three Little Words

One of my best friends and book guru, Jenna, recommended (a year ago – a detail I’m not proud of) I read an autobiographical novel by a young woman named Ashley. I finally, as one of my New Year’s resolutions, picked it up on January 4^th. Today is the 7^th and I finished it last night. Needless to say, it was good. And I promise not to spoil it by telling you the three little words that make up this book. I decided instead to come up with my own list.

I was sitting at Firestone getting the oil changed in my car when I decided to think about my list. (This is also after our first premarital counseling session where the pastor looked at me and said, “You like to make lists don’t you?”) As I was brainstorming I flipped through the December 2010 issue of Harper’s Bazaar. I read two very interesting articles.

The first was by Ashton Kutcher (there is no reason to start a list here of all the reasons he is my celebrity crush, but let’s just say the fact that he is an extraordinary writer tops the list). This was all about how we all text and email and write on Facebook walls to flirt with and swoon our significant others. It made my stomach do flips just reading about how much more exciting it is to receive that first phone call from someone you are interested in. Scary and exhilarating. I remember the first time David called, I couldn’t answer. I had to call him back after twenty minutes when I calmed down. And even then I had to have an excuse ready to let him go because I knew I would say something stupid. To which Ashton (yes, first name basis), says that “vulnerability is the essence of romance.” How true that is. I have never said more stupid things in front of a person than I have in front of David. And he loves me anyway, and maybe, even more. And so I came to my first three little words: Still Get Butterflies

The second article was about the part of Jacqueline Kennedy Onassis’s life when she was an editor. This article deserves its own List of things I love. Not only was it about Jackie, editing and publishing, and filled with great pictures and quotes, but it mentioned one of her final editing endeavors: a book about weddings. A job she accepted saying, “let’s do a book to let all those nice American girls off the hook and show them that they can do it their way.” Hello! I love her. Here’s a link so you can read it yourself, although I’m more tempted to tell you to go buy the issue so you can hold it and see the glossy pictures.

http://www.harpersbazaar.com/magazine/feature-articles/jackie-kennedy-onassis-story-0111

And so, my second set of three little words is: Give Yourself Permission. This takes a little more follow up and I have to give credit to my mom. My beautiful mother, after listening to me ramble on about something I am anxious about, often sighs and tells me, “Katy, I give you permission to be happy.” Why does either my mom or Jackie Kennedy have to remind me that I have permission to do what I want to do? Anyway, in case you are like me and need someone to say it, I give you permission to do what makes you happy. Right now. So go try it.

So to say goodbye to the first book of 2011, I have a few things to say:

Too many orphans

Try overcoming adversity

Anything is possible

Someone needs you

Do what’s right

Let’s do something

Truly be yourself

and

Thank you, Jenna

And now, tonight I start a book written by my friend, Donna Long called Prevent Cancer, God’s Way. Three little words I use to describe Donna are strong, faithful, and beautiful. I will let you know where to buy the book. Because, for 2011, shouldn’t three words for all of us be Fully Love Life.