Jun 28, 2010 | Motherhood, Uncategorized
This weekend my eldest one had to do her SCUBA open water dives for her certification. The big event was to be held in Lake Ouachita, so we decided to make it a weekend.
Me, being a moron when it comes to Arkansas weather (I know, STILL! It’s only been like 18 yrs since I’ve lived here, right?) decided we should camp by the lake since “it will be cooler than it is in the city.” Ahem…
It was NOT. It was HOT! And the “neighbors” in the campsite across from us let their kids stay up SCREAMING in the bathrooms until about 3am, while they drank much liquor and talked very loud. (Needless to say the next morning we woke up to take E to catch the diveboat and proceeded to take down the tent and I started calling hotels.)
We rented a party barge for the day and took the boys out for some fun. Next visit I think we’ll take a boat and camp on the lake edge in the woods.
Leaving the Marina
Swimming with the Fishies
Jumping Off the Boat!
We hit the Mid America Museum and the Pirate Cove Mini-Golf (boys’ choices.)
Pirate Peg-Leg Just Hanging Out
Hole in One!
Eat at J’s Italian Villa if you are there! FANTASTIC! Hot Springs is a fun place. Lots to do for the entire family (museums, hiking, art galleries, hot spring baths, lake, race track…)
Jun 22, 2010 | Uncategorized
Do you blog in your head?
I have been thinking about wonderful posts I’ve written (while picking up kids, shopping for groceries, going to the dentist) that never have materialized into anything other than blips in my brain.
Some wonderfully famous things I’ve “written” (in my head):
- Letters to people who have wronged me or I have wronged (apologizing or forgiving)
- That lovely self-help book for new moms on things your mom never told you
- A gardening book (on what not to do)
- A collection of recipes from my family
- The next 3 or 4 Broadway musicals
- An entire album of folk/bluegrass songs
- Books on homeschooling fun
- Some of the most fantastic blog entries (although I can’t remember what even one of them was about.)
- An entire series of sci-fi novels for young adults
- A lovely picture book on growing up in the Canal Zone
- A beautiful operetta for children
- A ballet or two (entirely choreographed in my head)
The list is endless…
My good buddy over at GooseySpot mentions the problem in her blog today that the iPhone has gotten her into- how listening to music has staunched that urge to write a bit. I can’t blame that one, I don’t know where my headphones are. (Well, they are probably in my daughter’s room at the bottom of some pile.)
NPR had a guy on the other day discussing how one of the hardest parts of being a parent is getting “out of our heads” and into the moment. He discussed how God is in the HERE and NOW and how if we stop to smell the roses, per se, through what he called “active meditation” that we can find bliss. Also how our children will remember us being “present” and aware of them at this moment.
I guess I need to work on that one.
Jun 20, 2010 | Uncategorized
Made my honey this for lunch by the pool. Fresh tomatoes from the farmer’s market (only my cherry tomatoes are ripe thus far) with asiago cheese, balsamic vinegar dressing and lemon basil!
Promises of Caprese’s to come!
Jun 20, 2010 | Uncategorized
We celebrated Father’s Day by serving daddy-o breakfast in bed, then going to the Old Mill
, a park close to our house. (It was seen in the opening of Gone With the Wind
for you trivia buffs.) It was way too hot to stay long, so came back and everyone is swimming…
Jun 18, 2010 | Uncategorized
My eldest has had a mast cell flare up. This is probably the second worst of her life thus far- which means it wasn’t good. She missed the whole last two weeks of school because her joints were so swollen and painful, not to mention stomach pain and rash.
What caused it this time?
- She had strep throat and was on Amoxycillin. (Obviously we can put amoxycillin on our list of triggers now.)
- She ate an “illegal” (i.e. containing food coloring) lollipop at school
- She was playing outside and got bit by bazillion mosquitos
The day after the mosquito bites we noticed swelling. I just thought it was because of the sheer amount of bites and doused her with cortizone cream.
Nope.
Poor kid couldn’t get out of bed for almost a whole week and is still weak from it all. I did find something wonderful this time which I have made and will keep in my medicine cabinet- mastolotion!
I swear it is magic. We put it on and her spots were gone in about two hours or less!
What is mast cell disease/mastocytosis?
Well in layman’s terms it’s this… Your body has things (histamines, mast cells…) that fight “alien invaders” (AKA allergens etc.) Some people (myself, my kids) have too many of these mast cell soldiers. What this means is that they all rush to fight the invaders but instead end up blocking the tiny capillaries in different parts of your body. Sometimes this means a rash, spots, flushing in the skin. Other times it can manifest in your joints and cause horrible joint paint similar to arthritis. It can also attack your organs, stomach, cause anaphalaxis…
Learn more about it here.
Growing up they told me I had too many of these “fighter cells” but really didn’t know much about it I guess. I was always sick and they’d say I had one thing (arthritis, pluerisy, or hystoplasmosis) and then decide it wasn’t that. I think I knew everyone at the local hospital.
The scary part as a parent is not knowing what could trigger an “attack.”
The things I have to avoid with them now are food dyes, preservatives, perfumes, heat, cold, (now some antibiotics,) stress in general.
At the ER I had a flying fit because they sat us under a commercial air freshener (which BTW they have installed in every area of Children’s Hospital, just when you thought you were safe…)
Now you see why I homeschooled for five years (and probably should now…)
The only good thing about this last episode is we finally got some Epipens.
