Little pleasures

I always say retail therapy is not for me. I'm not really a shopping fan. But those little purchases here and there still bring a smile to my face! It started off last weekend, with buying a couple of new books, then a pair of ear rings from ebay, the cutest moo moo slippers and a green simple polo neck (which i love), a pair of jeans and now eyeing a few more things on ebay again. (Am I going to become an ebay freak?). Also my man, has purchased a new DELL lap top, and in our house new gadgets are always welcome! Must get back to work now, but definitely looking forward to more shopping and reading! And for once I'm looking forward to Christmas shopping!

The wonderful world of friends

It took 3 days in York to bring me back to my senses. We got there on Sunday afternoon and were greeted by a "it's Mark and Tatyana!" excited three year old voice, which is ever so welcoming! We walked round the city, played with the kids, spent evenings with a glass of wine, chatted, chatted, chatted, nodded off on the sofa in front of the telly, drove off to the yorkshire moors, got drenched in the rain, discovered new books, ate lovely food...and the list goes on and on...

Thanks Matt and Kate, Alex and Julian! Was lovely to catch up with you and see the happy smiles York has brought to your faces! Until next time...will be soon I'm sure :)

And the days roll on...

The busy spell has not come to an end yet. I am in serious need of a break. And it's coming up. I just need to hang on in there for another two sleepless nights. I keep wondering, if I ever knew how bad sleep deprivation feels, would I have ever done medicine? Then again, I do enjoy doing my job, a lot. So it's a hard one there.

In between work and trying to steal sleep, loads of things happened, including my 29th birthday which I did not really celebrate in style, but had a great evening with M, baby sitting Picci and Christina, one of our friends' dog and three year old adorable daughter. She is possibly the best behaved three year old girl I know! Will write more about my birthday in some other post sometime :)

Also, yesterday, finally managed to visit the Gingells', to get to know baby Nick, now 10 days old. He is a bundle of love, so cute and such a good baby! Elaine is looking great, really! She will definitely need to tell me her secret when my turn comes, one day in the (not near) future.

Well, here I am now sitting in my living room, papers scattered over the floor, trying to write a presentation for the next medical school conference. Grey, cold weather outside, and me huddled up inside working away. Not too bad really.

Also got treated to one of my favourite dishes yesterday - spaghetti con cozze, prepared with love by M. Was yummy! All this reminds me that I am so lucky, and should stop moaning and pitying myself. After all I am surrounded by so many beautiful things!

And on that note, I'll be going back to my presentation and off to the gym at some point...
Until next time....

No time

I am busy, too busy. Two weeks of non-stop work. Staying at work later than planned, no time to recover, courses in between, sleepless nights. No time for letting out steam. No exercise. Few emails that further piss me off. Untidy flat with people coming in to see it (it's up for rent since I'm moving out). I'm exhausted. My face is starting to show it. Loosing a bit of control.

Need a week off, catching up with paperwork, and catching up with the gym.
Need to work 48 hours in 4 days before I get a breath though...

Grumpy..

A new life

If I could write, I'd write a book about the people I work with. Such different characters!! I love hearing all their crazy stories, and have endless laughs everytime I step through the door of the ITU. One of the girls is currently expecting her first child. She is one of a kind. Her mind wanders off in some kind of different world, and she comes up with all these rather unusual questions that send everyone in fits. But mind you, she is one of the sweetest persons I've met over here.

To cut a long story short, she is very excited about her pregnancy, but equally anxious. A couple of weeks ago, she asked me to try to scan her tummy with the ultrasound machine that we use to located central veins for insertion of lines. Obviously this machine would not be as sophisticated as the ones used in obstetrics, and from minute one I was not convinced that it was going to work, but I couldn't say no. No need to say, all I could see was subcutaneous tissues and the depth of the ultrasound waves did not even hit the uterus, let alone get a picture of the foetus.

However she did not give up. She was convinced that if we use a different ultrasound probe, we would manage to see something. A couple of days ago, she asked me whether I would be happy to try again. Again, I was not convinced, but no one would come to harm, and the unit was quiet, so I said yes.

This time, as soon as I put the new probe on her tummy, I could see a round structure. And started getting excited myself. I wasn't sure whether it was just the structure of the uterus or the baby's head. I've never done such an ultrasound before. But playing around a bit, we managed to get a really good view of something amazing, that made her day and also made mine. A 17 week old foetus, moving around, bringing his arms up to his face, moving his legs, changing position. We had a 5 to10 minute movie of a new life. Something which will never cease to amaze me and a positive ITU experience that I will never forget. It's rare to get joyful moments in such a place, but this was definitely one of them.

Hearty pea and bacon soup

So here is my first recipe!! It is perfect for those cold wintry nights, and for anyone who wants to fill up on a healthy meal. The recipe has been passed on to me by my mum, and it has been tried and tested over and over in our household, never disappointing.

You need:
200g carrots, chopped
150g dried split peas
8 rashers bacon, derinded and chopped
200g leeks, chopped
20g butter
bay leaf
salt and pepper
500mls chicken stock

Soak the peas overnight.
Melt the butter and fry the leeks until soft.
Add the carrots and three fourths of the bacon, and fry for a couple of minutes.
Add the peas together with the draining water, and add the chicken stock.
Add the bay leaf, bring to the boil and cook until the vegetables are soft, which would be around 40 minutes.
Season and puree the soup (don't forget to remove the bay leaf before!).
Ladle into bowls, and serve with the rest of the bacon grilled and sprinkled on top.
Enjoy...

I am back to work tomorrow for a full 5 days, including the weekend...
Until next time..
Tati

Injuries and family filled week

It's been a whole two weeks since the half marathon now, and I have not once worn my running shoes and gone for a little jog. Not that I did not want to! But Wednesday morning I started with a niggle in my left ankle, and by Thursday morning I could hardly walk! I had to miss my planned little recovery runs and had to miss BMF. By the weekend, I was better, but walking along Loch Lommond on Sunday, the little niggle went back to a sharp pain, and Monday through till Friday morning I worked four killer shifts in ITU that left me standing for most of the 12 hours, and I had little time to recover.

Besides, having family over from Malta this week, meant more eating out, more goodies, and more calories piling up giving me my lovely shapely muffins on my flanks. So now that it's just me and M once again, the eating needs to stop and the running shoes must start working again. Need to test my ankle and start slowly again and hopefully will be running 10k again in 2 weeks or something like that. Well tomorrow, I forgot to mention, there is munro trekking in the plans. And seems like that is going to test my ankle in the first place. Fingers crossed. There is nothing worse than feeling unfit and being lazy.

So we had four extra Farrugias in the house this week. It was good fun, and pretty crowded here. At times we just bumped into each other and got annoyed, but most of the time we just enjoyed each other's company. It's nice having family around. I planned the shopping and the meals from weeks ahead. We made a nice spinach and chicken pasta, grilled rainbow trout and roast vegetables, stir fried ginger chicken with rice, and prawn curry. And ate out the other days. I love entertaining so didn't mind the cooking at all. Now that everyone left, and it's just M and I, I'm loving the silence, having our space back and being free. When family is away you wish they're here, and when they're here you long to be alone. Such is human nature, and I can't decide which one to choose if I had to!

Living away from home and with M, has brought us closer to each other. Although we have loads of friends and a good social life here, M is my only family and having no other commitments is also nice, so I'm learning to appreciate everything in life. That's what I try to remind myself in those rare, horrible moments of homesickness.

Looking forward to the next few days...no work, Carlisle, munros and Lord of the Rings. Diet needs to come in somewhere and I hope there will be some time for a jog.

Clan Farrugia landed!

Over the past few weeks, I have discovered the blog world. I wonder how long this world has existed without me even being aware. But it looks so much fun! I cannot help but admire people who can put pen to paper and come up with words, words and more words. I was never a writer, but I am hoping practice will make it easier.

I am at the moment, cup of tea in hand waiting for my better half to come home with half his family. And home is a 1 bedded flat in the west end of Glasgow. In other words it's going to be a fun filled, chaotic week. Can't wait!! Will have loads to write about for my first proper blog I'm sure!!

Until then,
good night! and take care :)
Tati