Today's Chuck Norris FACT:
Rather than being birthed like a normal child, Chuck Norris instead decided to punch his way out of his mother's womb. Shortly thereafter he grew a beard and slept with 3 nurses.

just something I came across on my day off.

house broken

Wow. After six months, I finally am getting around to putting up some updates in my life. Since March, I have traveled across the country in nearly every direction before ultimately settling in Peoria, Illinois. Spending April and May in Hawaii was such a great way to end medical school. It capped four years of hard work and I was able to celebrate the milestone with my roommates and closest friends. After graduation, it was a mad dash to find a house in Peoria and rapidly pack and move everything Eastward. I was fortunate to find a nice house that has more space than I know what to do with.

I moved in a couple weeks before orientation for residency and was able to settle in a little bit. When I was looking to buy this house, there were only a few things that I knew I would need to fix up. The most significant of them was to update the walls as nearly all of them are covered in a stucco material. Every resource I consulted suggested that I first try to sand off the texture. Much to my dismay, I discovered quickly that even my newly purchased orbital sander would not make this job go any faster. So, I consigned myself to troweling layer after layer of joint compound over the walls until there was a smooth, even finish. After almost 200lbs of joint compound, the guest bedroom and office are finally finished.
After finishing the office, the rooms remained fairly barren until I spent one weekend staring at the numerous paint swatches that covered my floor. At some point, I just grew tired and possibly dizzy from all the choices. In some amount of serendipity, I landed on a color palette when I went to buy furniture. The set of living room furniture only came in one color - a light forest green. With this as a starting point, I quickly narrowed down the field of choices. The guest bedroom is shaded by a tree in the backyard and gets a bit of warm morning light so I chose a lighter, cooler color. The office gets a lot of bright, afternoon light, so I decided on a richer color. So, the before and afters are above and below. I still have to finish the walls with some pictures and shelves, but I am pretty happy with the results so far.As stated above, the living room was probably the first room to take shape. I think this was mostly out of necessity as I initially nested here as I could gently fall asleep to the warm glow of the TV. When I ran down to St. Louis to reclaim my belongings, I reassembled my bed in the living room as the other two rooms were under construction. As nice as that was, I thought it would be rather awkward to have guests over and chat on or around my bed. So, the bed was relocated after I bought some tables and things online and through craigslist. Among other new tools and appliances, I bought a brand new (delicious) Dyson vacuum to take care of all the carpet in my house. I wasn't until I finally forced myself to purchase a lawn mower that I truly began feeling domestic.

And, in the ultimate journey into making this place a permanent home, I have one last addition to my repertoire of domestications. I am very happy to announce that I have started a family! Well, thank goodness there will be no college plans for my new addition, but there will certainly be another mouth to feed, medical expenses, and perhaps a few months worth of obedience classes. I have been on the hunt for a dog for several weeks now and I finally matched with the perfect dog! It was like residency applications all over again. A surprisingly involved process, I adopted my new beagle, Marty, and went to sign the paperwork yesterday. He is a shy, but very charming 1.5 year old beagle mix and tips the scales at 50lbs. It seems like he is adjusting well, but I am bracing myself for the unfortunate reality that one day I may smell the fragrant odor of excrement and urine emanating from his kennel.