Almost Ready!

Saturday, 11 AM

I actually got to bed a little before 3 last night and then watched a 30 minute sitcom I had recorded.  Can't remember which one it was, though.  Guess I was a little tired.  I set my timer (I don't use an alarm clock...I use a kitchen timer) for 5 hours, but woke up about 15 minutes before the timer was to alert me.  I figured I would be wishing I had those 15 minutes later on, so I got up, showered and washed my hair.

Then I turned on the computer. I checked email and blogs before I dried my hair.  Then I went down for my nice sausage and scrambled egg breakfast.  I love a good breakfast..  I intended to eat the last 1/2 cup helping of the Breakfast Oatmeal Pudding recipe I got from Cousin J.  I was surprised (and disappointed) to find that I had eaten it yesterday.  I made it a couple of weeks ago and really like it.  It makes an 8 x 8 dish full, so after keeping it in the fridge until I had eaten about half of it, I put the rest in 1/2 cup servings in ziplocks and froze them.  Thawed, reheated and with a 1/2 container of H-E-B Pina Colada yogurt, it's almost a good as it was coming out of the oven.

Here's the recipe from Cousin J's Mommy Hungry blog: 

Breakfast Oatmeal Pudding

2 1/4 cup quick cooking oats or 2 3/4 old-fashioned oats, uncooked

3/4 cup firmly packed brown sugar

3/4 cup raisins or dried cranberries 

1 teaspoon ground cinnamon

1/2 teaspoon salt (optional)

3 1/2 cups skim milk

4 egg whites, lightly beaten, or 1/2 cup egg substitute (or 3 whole eggs)

1 tablespoon vegetable oil

1 tablespoon vanilla

3/4 cup sunflower seeds or nuts (walnuts, pecans, etc) optional

skim milk or nonfat yogurt and fruit (optional)

Heat oven to 350F. Spray 8" square pan with non-stick cooking spray. In a large bowl combine oats, brown sugar, raisins/cranberries, nuts, cinnamon, and salt. Mix well.

In a medium bowl, combine milk, egg whites, oil and vanilla; mix well. Add to dry ingredients and mix well. Pour into prepared baking dish. Bake in preheated 350F oven for 45-60 minutes or until center is set and firm to the touch.

Cool slightly. Serve with milk or yogurt and fruit, if desired. Store leftover pudding covered in fridge.

Note: To reheat, place single serving in microwave-safe bowl and cook on high for about 30 seconds. Great warmed and then with yogurt on top!

I used Craisins (dried cranberries and chopped pecans).

After breakfast I actually started packing.  That was about 9:30.  I'm about finished now.  

A little sidebar here.  For some reason, every once in a while while I'm typing, the cursor suddenly jumps to an entirely different spot in the text and inserts what I'm typing there.  I usually notice it right away and have to go to the new spot and delete the inappropriate letters and then put them where they were supposed to go.  It happened just a bit ago and I didn't see where the cursor went.  So, if you see an errant period somewhere above this, we'll just assume that was the one that was supposed to end the previous paragraph.  It's a very curious thing.  It never happened on my old computer.  Don't know what causes it. 

During my packing, I panicked that I was going to look like I came from the boonies when we were in Boston.  I figured I would fit right in the other states...c'mon...Maine?  So, I had to try on some things that I had in another closet.  One was a pant suit that has always been just a little big.  Oops!  It's a bit snug now, in the heinie.  Not a problem, the jacket is long and would cover that problem, but the chubby thighs have made the length just a bit shorter than I would like.  But, it would be wearable...except for the big, padded Joan Crawford shoulders.  Once I got a gander of that, it was back to the closet for that outfit.  

I ended up taking a pair of slacks that I may or may not wear.  Dee and I are stopping at Coldwater Creek so I can return something that I purchased to take but then decided I didn't like enough to pay that much for it.  Maybe I'll find something else while we're there.

We dashed into Cato Fashions for about 20 to 30 minutes a couple of days ago, where I found the "casual elegant" outfit that the tour literature suggests would be appropriate for dinner.  I also got a couple of those long scarves that are "in" right now, and a couple of necklaces.  Altogether, I think it was about the same amount as the one item I'm returning at Coldwater Creek.  

I need to get my makeup on and finish my hair and then pack those things so I can weigh my suitcase.  I think I'm going to weigh it on the Wii balance board.  I'll create a Mii for it and...well, really I need to close this down and finish up.  I'm sure my kids are thinking (if they are reading this) "Mom, you're such a dork!"

I'll try to post every once in a while from my iphone.  We'll see how that goes.

11:30:  Cheerio!

Slacker

Dee and I are heading to Houston tomorrow where we'll be spending the night at a hotel near the airport.  Then we fly out of Intercontinental on Sunday, arriving in Boston by late afternoon.  We'll meet up with Carole and Wanda either at Logan Airport or at the hotel.  And then we'll be doing a Fall Foliage tour until October 14.

We booked this trip early in March.  So, I should be ready...right?

Instead, here it is, 10 PM and I'm watching television, entering credit card receipts in Quicken, drinking decaf and eating malted milk balls.  My suitcase has nothing in it, although there are a few items nearby.  I have a way to go to be ready to zip up the luggage.  And I just remembered that I was going to do a load of laundry.  So, I guess I'd better go get it started.

11 PM:  Okay, got the laundry going and took the labels off some socks I bought at Walgreen's this morning.  Interesting how many things I had to take off socks that I'm pretty sure were not very costly.  So, I'm back in the recliner, watching The Mentalist.  I keep having to rewind it.  Whoops!  I just remembered I turned on the iron to press out some creases in some tops I'm taking.  Seems silly to iron them and then fold...or roll them up and put them in the suitcase, doesn't it?  Still nothing in the suitcase.

11:30:  Tops ironed.  Still don't know why I did it.  I guess so my roomie will think the wrinkles are from being packed, not because they're brand new and not laundered.  You never know what will happen in the wash and they look (and fit) really nice now.  More stuff near the suitcase...nothing in it yet.  I'm actually bringing a small container of mustard.  I figure with the excess walking I'll be doing...in new Skechers...yes!  I did buy some new stuff...I'm bound to get some leg cramps and mustard is a quick cure for that.  You swallow it...about a teaspoon.  If the cramp doesn't go away within 10 seconds, you might need another teaspoonful.  It works!

11:45:  I can probably go put the clothes in the dryer now.  Moving right along!

2:24 AM:  I'll just have to get up and pack in the morning.  We're not leaving until about 1:00.  No problemo!  Geez...I'm really a slacker.

The Rest of the Story

I told you in the previous post that Kate was on antibiotics before we left for our trip to Dallas.  She had some areas around her mouth and nose that looked like impetigo, although not anywhere close to being as hideous looking as some of the examples I pulled up on the web.  If it was impetigo, it was caught very early.

Brent got up very early on Saturday morning, the morning of the Dravet Syndrome Foundation Steps Toward A Cure walk in Frisco, and headed for the Care Plus (I think that was the name of the facility) near the hotel.  They didn't open until 8 AM, however, and we needed to be on our way to Frisco by then, so he had to put off the visit to the doctor.

Fortunately, we saw another Care Plus near the Frisco Commons and after he let the rest of us out, helped unload the car of kids, the stroller, and raffle items, he did what he could to help set up and then left to go to the doctor.  There were evidently a lot of people at the Care Plus, so he didn't get back to the walk until it was over and most of the participants were gone.  The diagnosis...strep throat.  He got a steroid shot and a prescription for an antibiotic.

While he was at Care Plus, he mentioned to the doctor that Jax had waked up that morning with some red splotches on his face.  It started with one nickel-sized splotch on his cheek and then the areas on either sides of his nose got reddish and blotchy.  Carolyn took a photo of Jax and texted it to Brent who showed it to the doctor.  The doctor suggested that Jax might have strep, also.  Apparently the rash could be a symptom.

After Brent had a chance to visit a bit with the family members who were still there, we packed up kids, the stroller, and the raffle prizes we won (yes, we were taking home a couple of the prizes we had carried from home) and headed to the hotel.  Once back there, I think we went to the water park to get lunch while Brent went to a Walgreen's nearby to get his prescription.  After lunch all of us girls changed into swimsuits for another session in the water park.  Jax went down for a nap...and probably Brent did, too.  When Jax got up from his nap, Brent took him to the nearby Care Plus, where, yes, he was diagnosed with strep, also.  So, they went back to the Walgreen's to pick up the antibiotic for Jax.

Meanwhile, the rest of us (the girls) were still in the water park.  Carolyn wanted to take Kate on a couple of the more advanced rides, and I was watching Carlee who was happily playing in the pool area for the smallest kids. 

The video below wasn't taken during that session in the water park...I think I took this on Friday afternoon, because at the end you can see that Jax and Brent are there, too.

Before Carolyn took Kate to the bigger rides, she went over there by herself to see how they were.  That's when she met the 6th graders.  During the time she was gone, Kate and Carlee started the climb up Fort MacKinzie to do that slide.  I waited at the bottom, but couldn't really see them as they climbed, although I kept watching up there, thinking I would see them eventually.  Suddenly, Kate was right in front of me, so I thought I had missed her finish.

Now, I was watching for Carlee, but Kate seemed to be telling me that Carlee fell, although it was hard to understand her as it's very noisy in there.  I thought Carlee was still going to be coming down the slide and didn't want to move from where I was.  Kate patiently came around the ropes to where I was, took my hand and led me to the area where you enter the ride.  There, I saw two lifeguards trying to talk to Carlee, probably asking her where her mommy was.  I explained that she was my granddaughter and asked what happened.  They told me that she had fallen and hit her head on the stairs.  So, I picked her up and she sat on my lap for 10 or 15 minutes while Kate stood nearby.  Eventually, I was able to coax her to go back into the water in the shallow pool and she and Kate began to play again.

Later, I was able to understand from Kate that Carlee had slipped while running (tsk, tsk) up the stairs and had hit her head.  I guess the lifeguard had taken both she and Kate down the stairs and when Kate had suddenly appeared in front of me, she had not actually slid down.

After the fall, while Carolyn and Kate were on the other end of the water park, Carlee spent almost all her time on the structure with the ropes to pull that dump water on the area below it.  She referred to it as her house.  I stood nearby and watched her go up the 6 or 7 steps, pull one of the ropes, pull the other rope, push the big button (I don't know what that did).  Then she would go down the steps (very carefully), take a few steps away, turn around and repeat the whole process.

After about the 10th time she did that, I'm thinking OCD...obsessive compulsive disorder.  But, just about the time that went through my mind, she varied the routine by adding imaginary people.  She'd go up the steps, pull the two ropes, push the button, squat down and tap the structure floor a couple of times with the sides of both hands, stand up holding her hands cupped as if she were carrying something in them, and then go down the steps.  She would take a couple of steps further, squat down again and tap the floor a couple of times.  Then turn around and repeat that process. 

About the second time of that process, I asked her what she was carrying and she told me they were friends or mommies, or something.  I suggested that she needed to hold onto the rail when she was going up or down the stairs, so maybe she could let the people ride on her shoulders.  She said, "Okay..." and from then on, once she had "them in her hands" she tapped her shoulders a couple of times and then had free hands to hold onto the rail.

After about the 10th trip of that series, she reversed the process.  Now she started taking them all back up the stairs, leaving them on the floor up there.  The whole time...in all of these different routines, she's talking to them.  I can see that she's talking to them, but I can't hear what she's saying.  The only time I could hear her, she was heading down the stairs and I saw her suddenly push her hand backwards, turn her head to that side and say, "Wait!" in the same exasperated tone of voice that an irritated mother would use.  One of the invisible people was evidently being a pain in the neck.

It was around that time that I moved past OCD and wondered if she had suffered a head injury when she fell on the other stairs.

Once she finished making the ten trips or so to take all the IP (imaginary people) back up the steps, she began to quickly pick them up, and throw them off the platform, with a "woosh" sound each time.  After they all got thrown off, she was done.  At that point she just got in the pool and played, totally happy in her own little world.  It was very interesting to watch and I wish I had taken my camera with me for that session.  However, that might have changed her behavior.  As it was, she barely paid any attention to me, intent only on her IPs and what she was doing with them.  Carlee has a very vivid imagination, to say the least.

In all, I would estimate she made about 40 trips up and down those 6 or 7 steps.  She tried to block the way when one little boy wanted to go in her house.  At a signal from me, though, she stood aside and grudgingly let him enter.  She watched him carefully, though, while he was in "her house."

Great Wolf Lodge

The Great Wolf Lodge was quite a nice resort.  Upon checking in, adult guests are given plastic wristbands which unlock the room.  Children get wristbands, also, but just to identify them as guests...I don't know if it links them to the room or not.  But, that would be nice in a waterpark, wouldn't it?

There are several types of rooms/suites.  You can click here to see them.  Since I was tagging along with the Bubelas, they got a suite which had two bedrooms and two bathrooms.  I got the bedroom with the king bed and the private bath (jacuzzi!) and they took the bedroom with two queen beds.  There was also a nice sized living area and a "kitchenette" with a sink, microwave and mini-fridge.  There were televisions in all three rooms.  It worked out great.  We set Jax's pack-and-play up in a corner of the living room.  Since we were all exhausted both nights, everyone was ready to go to bed when Jax got put down.  On both nights he was up much later than his usual 7 PM bedtime.  We made sure that everyone had what they needed and when Jax was put down, all the rest of us were in our rooms for the night.  I could have actually gone to sleep by 9:30...4 hours earlier than usual for me, but I stayed up until about 10:30, trying to read.

We slept well and got up by 6:30 or so to start our day...which I have already told you about in the previous post about the walk. 

What I didn't tell you in the previous post was that we had started out Friday morning with Brent not feeling well.  His throat was very sore.  Carolyn drove and we did okay until we got close to DFW airport and then we kind of got mixed up with our directions.  We had maps printed from Google, navigation in the car, navigation on our phones, but we still got thoroughly confused on the freaking Dallas freeway system when we were probably within 2 miles of our destination.  I'm not sure what we did...or how we did it, but we finally got to the highway where we were supposed to exit the freeway....but, from the opposite direction!  Yes, we had apparently passed it and then rambled around crazily enough that we approached it from the other side.  We never even knew we had missed it!  The signage stinks, if you ask me.  And we never saw any signs indicating that Great Wolf Lodge was anywhere near us.

Then, when we finally exited onto the highway we were looking for, we went the wrong way.  Again, we were following directions, but since we were unknowingly approaching from the opposite way, everything we were doing was exactly wrong.  Luckily, we finally figured out what had happened and made it to the hotel before Carolyn had to smack me and Brent upside the head.  When I say "luckily" I should probably explain that we were about to drive into the airport, which we knew was on the opposite side of the freeway from where we wanted to be.

 All those freeway shenanigans probably added about an hour to our trip.  The kids were pretty good, though.  Kate had started the "how much further" stuff within 30 minutes of leaving home, but Carolyn finally stopped that by telling her she couldn't ask about it again until the clock said "two, oh, oh."  We had one potty stop, or maybe two...and we picked up hamburgers and kiddie meals at McDonald's and ate them on the way.  All in all, until the last crazy hour, it was about what you would expect.  Brent slept through most of the first few hours, his throat getting worse all the time. 

After checking in, we changed into swimsuits and went to the waterpark.  I think the temperature is set at 84 degrees in there and the water is not cold, so it was very nice. Actually, with the heat and humidity in the air, we could have been in Wharton County except that the ambient temperature wasn't in the high 90's! Carolyn and the girls started sliding on Fort McKenzie and they stayed there for quite a while.  It's the structure shown in the first photo below this paragraph.  The giant bucket (1000 gallons) on top fills with water and then tips it all out, making quite a loud noise.  After climbing to the top, they slide down the blue tube that's visible to the left and shoot out, making a big wave, in the yellow area seen at the bottom left.

Brent took Jax to the area for smaller kids and he (Jax) played in the water there, enjoying the atmosphere and walking around a bit.  Brent was a good sport, since he was feeling really lousy.

You can see/read about other features of the water park...you can also select toddlers, tweens, teens, etc. to see what's available for them by clicking here. 

Clicking on a photo will open it in a bigger window.  And it will be bigger.  On my computer, I then have to hit the browser "back" arrow to get back to the blog.  Maybe yours is different. 

Above is a view of the front part of the waterpark from inside the lobby of the hotel.

That's Carlee sliding down one of the tamer slides.  She shot down like a rocket the first time.  And loved it!

Above is a view of the far side of the waterpark, where the "big kid" rides are.  The mustard yellow one goes outside the building into a giant funnel looking thing...and then back into the building.  Since she gets motion sick easily, Carolyn didn't care for it much.  She asked a couple of girls in line behind her what grade they were in. 

"Sixth," they replied.  "What grade are you in?"

 That's not Carolyn, just a photo of the Howling Tornado from the Great Wolf website; that's the ride Carolyn didn't care for very much.  The description says:

"Our most thrilling adventure. Grab up to 3 other members of your pack willing to drop into the 6-story funnel. You'll quickly learn how this ride earned its name. Repeatedly swish and swirl 30 feet up the sides of the funnel, before making a safe splash landing." 

Jax and Carolyn

Here are Jax and Brent in the very shallow end.  Jax enjoyed the little fountains.

Jax's favorite spot

Uh-oh...looks like a centerfold to me!

When you pull one the rope, water spills out onto whoever is standing or sitting in the area below this "life guard" looking structure.  It's not for life guards, just for fun.

Kate and Carlee stopped in the hallway leading to our suite so I could take a photo of the three dimensional mural...oh, and them.

We ate in the Camp Critter Bar & Grille where the kids got wolf ears and there was lots of howling going on in the restaurant.

Above is a view of the kitchenette.  No real cooking here, but you can heat things in the microwave and keep them cold in the mini-fridge. Carolyn is getting medicine ready for someone.  Kate was on an antibiotic before we left home.  Eventually, Brent and Jax were on antibiotics, too.  More about that in a different post.

Jax trying on (or taking off) his wolf ears.

Steps Toward A Cure

The Bubela family...Carolyn, Brent, Kate, Carlee & Jax picked me up Friday morning and we headed to the Great Wolf Resort in Grapevine.  More about this resort in a separate post.

Our reason for the trip was the Dravet Syndrome Foundation's "Steps Toward A Cure."  The walk, this one in Frisco, was one of nine, I think.  Brent's brother Bert and his wife Leslie, have two children.  Their daughter Paige is 3 years old and their son Will  is 15 months old.  Will was diagnosed with Dravet's Syndrome. You can read more about this devastating illness here.


Saturday morning we got up bright and early and after a quick breakfast in the room we loaded up in the car and drove to Frisco.  It was cool and drizzly, but that didn't stop any of us.  Many of Bert's family and friends from El Campo, Houston and Austin made the trip to lend their support.  Leslie's family and friends were also there.  There are two other children in the Frisco area with Dravet Syndrome, so their supporters were also there.  It was a good group.

There were door prizes, refreshments and Home Depot supplied small message center kits for children to nail and glue together.  After all the participants had completed registration, we gathered at the start point of the walk in Frisco Commons.  We walked through the park and the woodsy areas...thank goodness for the wide concrete path.  As I said, it was drizzly and never got too much worse than that.  And that was a blessing.  We were meant to make two circuits, about a mile each, but decided to omit the second one.  That was good news for me as I was pushing Jax in the stroller...in the rain, uphill all the way.

Once back at the covered pavillion, door prizes were given away.  Then raffle items, a number of which had been donated by friends and family here, were drawn.  And a number of the friends and family here were lucky winners.  In fact, we had to start refusing them...making them draw again, because our names kept getting drawn.

After all that, Bert was able to announce that the Frisco walk had taken in more than $40,000...the most of any of the walks.  The original goal for all the walks was $80,000.  I hope that the rest of the walks did well and that the final number is much higher.

You might also want to read "Will's Story" at the Dravet Syndrome Foundation website.   If you want to donate, click Bert Bubela's Fundraising Page or Brent Bubela's Fundraising Page.

My lap runneth over.

I finally got myself set up more comfortably with the laptop.  As I've said (more than once, probably), I like sitting in my recliner, able to work/play/whatever on the the computer while watching television at the same time.  Okay, if I'm in the recliner, chances are you can strike "work."  However, this 17" laptop is freaking heavy!  And hot!  I have a cooling tray that I sit it on, and that helps with the heat, but it's still heavy.  To make it a little softer, I had a travel pillow under it, but then decided a lap desk would distribute the weight better.  So, yesterday I bought one of them.  As you can imagine this is getting a little unstable...and I was getting worried that attempting to get out of the recliner while holding all this stuff was just an accident waiting to happen.  To be perfectly honest, it's hard enough to get out of the recliner without holding all that stuff.  I need an ejection button.

Anyway, last night I decided that what I needed was something to hold the laptop...other than my lap.  Then I remembered the hospital table/tray (the kind that goes up and down).  We have one that is being used for Wayne to pile yet more clothes on.  It was way too late to move it upstairs then, but I brought it up earlier today.  It turns out that the table is too high, even when lowered as far as it will go.  Well, to be more precise, it's too high if I want to type.  It's fine for surfing, card games and puzzles.

Then I remembered...Carolyn gave me her wireless keyboard to use.  I haven't needed it because I've gotten very comfortable on the laptop keyboard...a total surprise to me.  I almost didn't get a laptop because I've never liked the way the keyboard felt.  So, picture this...I'm in the recliner.  The hospital table/tray is in front of me, pulled as close as I can get it.  The laptop is on that.  The keyboard is in my lap, propped on a pillow I bought at the State Fair a couple of years ago.  The mouse is beside me, on one of those plastic things that holds papers for you while you type...except, it's not propped up.  It's flat, balanced on the arm of the recliner.

That's a lot of stuff!  It sort of defeats the purpose of a laptop.  Maybe laptops are more suited for younger people whose legs don't stiffen up when outstretched for long periods of time, or cramp up when you try to change positions.  Laptops are probably better for someone who can sit cross-legged on top of the bed or on the floor.  Not for someone who's back would ache within the first few minutes of doing that. 

I can see that I might as well forget about trying to post while watching NCIS.  I have rewound it so many times that I now just have it on pause while I finish this post.  This is ridiculous!

Another photo project in the works

I got an email from Walgreen's a day or so ago telling of a good deal on photo gifts.  I think I can create a calendar and get 66% off the $9.95 regular price.  Naturally, I will have to pay for shipping...unless I can have it sent to the local Walgreen's.  But, I kind of doubt I can do that.  They have to make their money back somehow.  At least I don't have to pay full price AND shipping.

I decided to make use of all the old photos I scanned into the computer recently.  So far the most recent photo I have included is one of Wayne and Gage taken about 6 years ago.  Isn't it sweet!

I'm going to enjoy looking at all those old pictures when I use this calendar next year.  I thought I had plenty of them uploaded, but on almost every page/month I realize I need a certain picture that I didn't upload.  So, it could go faster...but, I don't mind.

The photos I have scanned in go back about 100 years.  My grandfather (Dad's father) looks to be about 20 or so in that particular picture.  And I have a photo of my dad and my aunt taken when he looks to be about 3 or 4.  He was born in 1921 and my aunt was born in 1917. 

Aren't old photos cool!