Hopes and Dreams and Food Challenge Update

I'm excited about this summer. I'm planning on attending University of Memphis(Go Tigers!) majoring in Chemistry with a concentration in BioChem and maybe a minor in Biology. This is all for my pre-med work. With luck, in 3-4 years I'll apply and be accepted into UT Memphis (Go Vols!) and be on my way to being a doctor. Then, if the fates smile upon me graciously, I'll get a residency in Memphis or near here. Or what the heck by then all the kids will be out of h.s. and maybe a change of pace will be due. Anyway hopefully, if all goes accordingly to plan(and Mice will tell you about the best laid plans of Men,right) I'll be Dr. Jackie in about 10-11 years.

I tell this to people I work with and they are like "Why? Just become a nurse and start working and earn money." Well I'm not in it for the money. I'm in it 'cause I love it. I love the bloody, messy, confusing, frantic, mundane, frustrating aspects of medicine. For years I've told people I wanted to be a nurse. But, the only reason I've wanted to be a nurse is 'cause I was scared of the time it took to be a doctor. Now, it doesn't really seem that long. So I'll be 41-42 when I start to practice. That's nothing when your used to seeing people ages ranging from 70-103. We also have a doctor who comes and sees pts at the nursing home who just turned 82. 82! That would be 40 years of practice if I started at 42. Most likely I'm looking at around 30 years of practice...that is a long time. A 30 year old car is an antique. I will be 47 when I reach my 30th wedding anniversary. 30 years is a good long time.

I'm not worried about the time or cost of school. Nothing I can do about either. It's more important to go into a career that I'm confident I'll love(at least 80% of the time) and not tire of(much). Nursing is a great career, but I never wanted to just be a RN I wanted to be a FNP(family nurse practitioner). That's 8 years of school...so whats as couple more years. I'm not old and as long as I have a will to continue learning I'll never be old.

Okay enough of that. Here's my Food Challenge update: Thrown away; leftover chicken wings, one slice of pizza, small baggie of cabbage. Not too bad. Not zero, but we've done worse and I'm glad I'm doing this challenge and making myself aware of what we waste.

Food Challenge Check-in

I've been doing the Food Waste Reduction Challenge from the Crunchy Chicken blog. So far so good...the only wasted thing was about a quarter gallon of milk(maybe not even that much) that has gone past its expiration date. Everything else has either been used the next day for my lunch at work or remade into a different meal a day or two later. For example, chili was turned into chili dogs then used later in a baked nachos dish that went over well. Meatloaf and mashed potatoes and gravy was partially used as my lunch and a cabbage roll casserole type dish(again that went over real well too). All in all I'm pleased with the results and hope to continue to do well in this challenge.