The Queen's Rambles

I ate way too much dinner tonight–Polynesian chicken wraps, my favorite–so now I am sitting here regretting the sweet, crunchy, ricey goodness.

Didn’t you want to know that?

I am irked at our HOA. They are re-sealing the road and repainting the parking stripes, so guess what? We aren’t allowed to have our cars out there from 7 am tomorrow until 5 pm on Saturday. And just where are we all supposed to put 200 cars? Obviously the road does need some maintenance and you can’t do that with the cars all there, but it is frustrating. I wish they would have made some parking arrangements. It’s summer. We are across the street from a high school. They could have called the high school and got permission for us to park there overnight for this thing. I am too scared to park there without permission because big signs say they will tow you.

I drove all over this afternoon and basically every place will tow your ass if you park there over night. I finally found some street parking up a big hill from us so at least my car is somewhere tonight (I am not getting up before 7 to move my car tomorrow), but we’ll have quite a little walk if we want to go anywhere tomorrow. I am pretty worried about the van and hope nothing bad happens to it while it is parked in a strange place.

Anyway, I still haven’t figured out my blog theme problem, though I did discover a lot of my old archives that I didn’t even realize I still had (HERE). I’ve been reading a bit of it tonight and have no idea what the hell I was talking about back then. I had a whole big entry about how I didn’t want to be the kind of person who went to the grocery store for chicken breasts. Not that I didn’t like chicken, but apparently I didn’t want to go to the store and buy necessities of life? I have no idea. I was really bothered by the idea of being a house wife, which I suppose makes sense since Mike and I weren’t married at that point and I was not used to not working. I haven’t worked in so long that I don’t even know what I would do with myself if I had to have a job and do all my household duties on top of that.

Maybe I need to deep six all those archives. They are more than a little embarrassing. Why am I posting the link? I have no idea.

Erik: Mommy, you’re too fat and daddy’s too skinny and I’m PERFECT!
Me, very sternly: You know we don’t talk like that. That was not a kind thing to say. We don’t tell people what is wrong with their bodies.
Erik thinks very hard: Oh, ok. So you’re too mean, daddy’s too good and I’m PERFECT!

He might want to re-think that perfect thing.

I had a really great post in mind, but my mind just went completely blank. It does that a lot lately. If I were to go wake up Erik, he could probably recite some ad about memory enhancing drugs to help me. He loves reciting ads. I am not a fan. He’ll sit there and just keep saying “Big beef burrito at Taco Bell!” twenty times in a row, until you want to take a big beef burrito and shove it in your ears (or down his throat, but he’s my bay-bay and I don’t like to write such threatening things about him when I’m in a good mood).

Did I ever tell you about the time I bought some humorous t-shirts for him, but then couldn’t stand to have him wear them. One said Patience Tester. I can’t remember what the other two said, but the moment I had one of them on him I felt so guilty that I had to give them away on freecycle immediately. Or maybe I returned them. Point being, I’m particular about how I portray him to the general population. It’s only my lovely blog readers that get to hear the real story.

Does anyone find it tacky or strange when people refer to their own children as brats? I will sometimes say mine are being bratty, but for some reason it sets my teeth on edge when people use “brats” as their standard noun for their own children. I know I’m crazy. I know lots of people do it. I just can’t bring myself to say it. I can call my children other names, but brat just implies something I’m not comfortable with.

Anyway, we had a really good day today. We had a MOMS Club meeting and I was a little nervous because I thought our agenda was fairly light, but it turned out that our one item was something people had strong opinions on and our meeting went on at great length while we discussed the heck out of the issue before our vote. I was happy to see a discussion happening.

We were supposed to go swimming at our friend’s pool, but it was rainy and cool, so we called that off and had an impromptu playdate at my house. My house was a total pit, but my friend didn’t seem to care. I really, really, really like this friend and we always have such a good time when we are together. I believe she really doesn’t care if my house is a pit or not, as long as there is not disgusting things happening in the kitchen or bathroom.

She has a four week old, so our boys went to the basement and gorged on video games while we sat and chatted with our baby girls. And we sat and sat and sat and suddenly we realized we had been chatting over four hours and we needed to start cooking dinner. I love friends like that.

My mom wants us to move closer to Oregon so bad, but I am settled in. We’ve been here six years. We have good friends. I don’t want to move unless Mike has some sort of super amazing opportunity that would improve our lives in a dramatic way. And honestly? That would take some serious doing. We have a pretty sweet life right now *knock on wood*. I mean, yes, of course I would love a bigger house and a smaller body. Of course I would love for Mike to be less stressed at work. And I would really, really like to get more sleep. But all in all we are in a good place right now.

To completely change the subject, I hate the theme on my wordpress blog. I have a beautiful theme on my old blog that quit working (HERE. It doesn’t work the last few days of the month) and I want that theme again. I decided I have enough technical know-how to make it work since I obviously made it work before, but no. I don’t. I can not figure it out at all. My old blog was queenoframbles.com/blog. My new one is blog2.queenoframbles.com. I knew exactly where to put things to make it work for the blog. I have no idea where to put things for blog2. I can’t find the directory when I look at the ftp. It is so irritating. I feel like my brains are slipping away and I’m just becoming a stupid old person. I need to take up crosswords so I don’t completely lose my mind. I asked Mike to please make sure he finds me a nice facility when he sends me to the home. I think I’m headed there soon.

Holy crap.

Did you know it is almost midnight? What am I doing up so late? To bed, to bed! I’m meeeeeelting!

I don’t know what I did to my dinner tonight, but it was not at all tasty and now my tummy hurts. I hope I am not in for a long night of pain.

Last night was long enough. I have middle of the night trouble sleeping, which is just stupid because I am always so tired. Last night I was having a tummy ache, and then I started thinking about my LJ friend who goes out sailing all summer. Is she out on the ocean? Does she go to different countries? What is she doing out there? How is she not completely terrified? I have ocean issues.

Then I started thinking about cruise ships and how big they are and how maybe, just maybe, I could manage a cruise one day. But then you read all those accounts of people disappearing from cruises. What gives? Is there a cruise serial killer? Is pushing your supposed loved one off the deck of a cruise ship the new untraceable murder? Are suicidal people wising up and wanting to have a last bit of fun before they jump into oblivion? What?

I’m not going on a cruise if someone is going to murder me. With my fear of fish, pushing me off a cruise ship and leaving me to drown would be especially cruel. I hope if Mike ever decides he needs to murder me he will A) reconsider and B) shoot me in the head while I’m sleeping.

I guess that wouldn’t be as handy, criminally speaking, as a mysterious cruise disappearance.

My mom was convinced he was an internet killer, but we first met in person 11 years ago this month and he hasn’t killed me yet. Either he is more patient than I know or I have nothing to worry about.

And yet, I can’t sleep.

Then Miss Menace woke up around 6, which is normal for a lot of babies, I guess, but she is more of a 9 am baby. I’m pretty sure she’s coming down with something.

Again.

I dropped Erik off at a thing at 9:30 and she fell asleep in the car. She didn’t wake up until 1:30, so I guess she was just as tired as me. I was planning on cleaning the house while Erik was gone, but instead I was trapped under a baby so I watched a ton of DVRed shows. Anyone watching “Rookie Blue?” I really enjoy it and need to get the first season on DVD since I started watching late last season. I can’t figure out what city they are supposed to be in, but I’m thinking they don’t even have a city. They are just generic police with Canadian accents. One of them, the most annoying one, has a particularly thick Canadian accent. I didn’t realize it until after our trip. I was continually surprised by everyone’s accent while we were up north. And the beer. Big beer glasses every where you looked.

But she’s also a biting terror. Today I made a pledge to her: the next time she bites my nipple is the last time she ever gets to nurse.

I expect we’ll be going cold turkey tomorrow. I won’t like it and she won’t like it, but I simply can not have her using my nipples as her personal . . . I don’t even know. It’s not like she’s doing a chew toy action. She bites down as hard as she can. She wouldn’t let go this afternoon and I thought I was going to have to slap her head.

I finally got her off and put her on the floor. Erik, ever the heroic big brother, came running to see why his sister was crying her eyes out. She somehow managed to crawl back on my lap and he started lifting up my shirt to try to help her. He kept telling me he was on her team and I had to nurse her because it was make her happy.

I’m proud of him for being such a kind, loving big brother. I was not so happy, though, and thought I was going to have to slap him in the head if he didn’t get away from me.

She also randomly comes up to me and bites my arms or whatever part of my shoulder she can reach. She understands no, but she doesn’t really care.

I’m just a weeeeeee bit frustrated. Biting is painful.

But she is awfully cute, even if she needs a hair intervention.

Of course, life isn’t all about Elsa. MisterE still takes up a lot of my time and attention, but we are in a really good phase right now. He is pleasant, entertaining and he mostly listens. He does still insist on being Right. On. Top. of whoever he is around, but he is also a lot more content to go off and do his own thing as well. He is maturing into quite the helpful boy.

On Mike’s last day of vacation we told Erik to put his shoes on. He had a hard time, though, because there was a big piece of paper in the shoe bin.

It turned out to be a magical mystery treasure map! Very exciting times in the Possum household!

Most of the pictures turned out terrible, unfortunately. We went on a little walk in the horrible heat and found a very pink treasure box filled with chocolate gold coins, a brand new Lego Star Wars watch and a Lego Luke Skywalker. Erik thinks a star came into the house in middle of the night to set it all up. I love the magic of childhood.

Ok, time for bed for me. I need to get back on a normal schedule. I thought I would hate Erik’s 9 am camp last month, but it turned out to be the best thing for our family. No lazing around! I was much more productive when I was up at a decent hour.

*So let me get this straight. The LJ servers are in Russia. The Russian government doesn’t like the Russian people using LJ because it gives them freedom of speech. The Russian government is coordinating these attacks that cause LJ to go down. Is that right? Or am I reading things totally wrong?

*I just had a crying meltdown in a quilting store. It was lovely, as you can imagine.

I hate that I cry when I get mad. It is such a stupid reaction because it doesn’t get me what I want and it’s embarassing.

I never go to the quilt store (Capital Quilts) because they are always rude and it’s expensive. I don’t need fabric. However, I had a punch card that only had $1 left. Once I spent that $1, the punch card would turn into a $26 gift certificate. I want some more fabrics for my Harry Potter Project of Doom quilt, so I thought this would be a fun way to get some fabric.

I picked out a bunch of fat quarters and had a few fabrics cut. I also picked out some scrap bags, which are pretty neat. They are scraps left over from sample projects and classes, which is perfect for a scrap quilter like me.

When I walked in, no one greeted me. They greeted every other person who walked in the door. When they saw I was carrying around a bunch of bolts of fabric no one offered to assist. They were running after other people to assist them when they had gathered up a few bolts of fabric. I have found this to be typical in this store. I don’t have enough gray in my hair, I guess.

I got up to the counter, presented my cards and asked how to best do it so I could use my credit.

“We stopped using that system in March.”

I just stood there, jaw dropped.

“So these are just worthless, then?” I asked, disbelieving.

“Yes, we don’t take those.”

I went back and forth a few minutes and the woman was completely unapologetic and rude about it. Now, I know they never OWED me the credit since it was their own promotion, however, she could at least have apologized for the misunderstanding or been nice or SOMETHING.

In the end I threw down all the fat quarters and told her I hated her store. Every time I’ve tried to use the card in the past they’ve told me I can’t use it because it was a sale weekend (do they ever NOT have a sale weekend?) I had to buy the cut fabric, so I did, but I was throwing things out of my wallet, throwing things into the bag, I told her I hated her store because it always has piss poor customer service and I stomped out of there with tears streaming down my face.

I know I shouldn’t have been so immature, but I had a big plan in my head and it was thwarted. Totally thwarted. If she would have been nice about it I would have bought all the fabric anyway (there were some awesome fat quarters in my pile!), but I am not going to give my money to people who are so damned rude all the time.

I want to support brick and mortar quilt stores, but I think I’m doomed to shop online. I will never go there again. The huge, fancy, wonderful G-Street Fabrics had to move to a new location and they have next to nothing. I have a bigger stash than they do. Patches Quilting in Mt. Airy pissed me off when the owner got mad at Erik for chasing her dog around the store. I will never go back there. I want to have a pleasant shopping experience, not constantly reprimand my toddler for chasing a dog in a STORE.

I guess I’m going to have to check out the two quilting stores up in Frederick.

*Another day of Summer Camp? Sure, why not.

Day 30 – What is/are the most memorable questions or reactions you’ve gotten in regards to being a blogger?

I never tell anyone I’m a blogger, so I’ve never had any one react to it. I did have a psycho bitch from my playgroup find my blog and start stalking me. She e-mailed the link to everyone and let them all read everything I wrote about them. Stupid, stupid, stupid on my part. I was kicked out of the club. My life has been better for it. They were not kindred spirits at all, but at the time it caused a lot of drama.

I suppose the biggest surprise was having a girl I went to college with find my blog and read it, unbeknownst to me. She loved it and we are Facebook friends even though we didn’t really socialize in school.

*Erik learned a tough lesson this week: neither a borrower nor lender be. It’s a motto I live by, but he is young and naive.

He had an old bike that was pretty rusty and was way, way too small for him. Before we left on our trip he said he was going to give it to the hooligans down the street. That was fine with me. I was happy to get rid of it.

I guess he decided they could only borrow it until he got back, though I didn’t hear that part of the deal or I would have made it clear that he could give it away or keep it, not lend it out.

Of course when he got back the kids no longer had the bike. Then they found the bike, but the training wheels and handle bar had been removed. Erik is in a tizzy about the whole thing, but I’ve told him that’s too bad. I hope he is getting the idea that we don’t lend things out.

I do not understand how these kids manage to destroy things within minutes of receiving them. Though rusty, the bike should have worked for the youngest for a long time. Erik rode it maybe three times in his life. Lots of people in the neighborhood give these kids old bikes, scooters and so forth. They can’t keep them decent for 12 hours. What do they do????? I don’t know. You’d think they would treat these items better since they are harder to come by, but I guess not. Those poor kids have a long, hard life ahead of them.

*Baby is awake, so I guess this entry is done.

I got the pictures off Mike’s cell phone! Mainly, I was just being really oblivious. I didn’t realize you could push the abc thing and make letters instead of numbers. I never use a cell phone. I used to laugh at old fogies who couldn’t figure out their e-mail or how to sign into a website. I fear I have become an old fogey. I must admit I really liked texting while we were on our trip. It was a super simple way to communicate. Maybe it’s a good thing my cell phone has died a watery death.

So anyway, the pictures suck as you can see, but at least they will jar my memory of my goofy kid being the star of a show. I’ve always said the kid has star quality (including the sullen pout when things don’t go exactly his way).

How about another bloggy summer camp day? Day 29 – If you could live anywhere for one month this summer, where would it be and why? Would you ever unplug from the internet for a month or longer to go on such a trip?

At the moment, I’d say Vancouver. I’m assuming I have a bottomless wallet on this trip. I’m also assuming I can invite a few friends along. I loved Vancouver. It was so beautiful and it was so nice to get away from the heat. I would want to do a trip down to Astoria for a few days in that month. I loved Astoria in the summer. It’s such a quirky little town, full of stories. It’s beautiful, too, when it’s not raining.

Would I unplug from the internet for a month? Hell no! I suppose I would if that was a condition of my bottomless wallet, but otherwise I see no need to do away with the internet. I most certainly will not be camping.

Erik and I used to go spend 3 weeks in Oregon in July, but that was not stress free. It was nice to get away from the heat and it was nice to see family, but three weeks is way too much. Also, I pretty much hate my hometown. It’s ugly, boring, and filled with alcohol fueled violence. Not a place I would visit if I didn’t have a good reason.

New topic:

Guess what I did today! I made Eggs Benedict!

I thought it would be really hard to poach eggs and make hollandaise sauce, but they were both super easy. I used the blender method on the sauce and it turned out great, except it was a little bland. I think I forgot the salt.

The poached eggs were super simple. SUPER simple. How did I not know about poached eggs before this trip?

Oh yes. I know. My mother is a terrible cook who only eats over-cooked everything.

She kept four spices in her cupboards: salt, pepper, cinnamon and meat tenderizer. I always thought I hated steak, but it turns out I love steak. I just prefer it to be marinaded in SOMETHING for awhile and cooked medium rare. She would just throw on some meat tenderizer, then cook it till it was burnt through.

Eggs were the same: very well done.

Apparently I like things mainly raw.

I’ll never forget the first time I ate normal spaghetti and realized what I’d been missing out on my whole childhood. My mom’s version of spaghetti: Boil noodles. Cook hamburger meat with salt and pepper. Add a jar of straight tomato sauce (not pasta sauce, just unflavored tomato sauce) to the meat. Stir in some sugar. Pour over noodles. Serve with grated cheddar cheese and lettuce.

Is it any wonder I had no freakin’ clue how to cook and was a very picky eater? I was never given any food worth eating.

So poached eggs. Yes. Gimmegimmegimme.

Thank goodness for the Naked Chef and his ubiquitous prescence on Swedish television during my years over there. He taught me about basil, garlic, oregeno, flavor.

The most difficult part of my breakfast? Figuring out how to make hashbrowns. I bought frozen ones and just wasn’t sure how to cook them. Doh! I am not much of a potato person.

New topic:

We are supposed to go swimming today at the big community pool. It is so neat there, but it is way too scary to take the two kids on my own. Erik has had swimming lessons but is not confident in the water. Elsa is a water baby through and through and scares the crap out of me. She enjoys sticking her whole head under water at any given opportunity so I can’t count on her to be cautious. She kept trying to jump into any water source she could find in Vancouver, which was not good given our proximity to the Pacific Ocean.

Today is Mike’s last vacation day before the weekend (no way will I go there on a weekend) so it’s really our last chance. If only everyone would cooperate, we could be on our way. However, Elsa is still down for a nap and I am still waiting for a craigslist buyer to come get some diapers. She said she would come over after an appointment at 11. It is now 2:22. Where the heck is she? I don’t want to miss her because I need these diapers gone and she was the only one who bit. I suppose I could re-list them, but I get so tired of selling stuff. Ugh. I have a whole other batch of diapers (Blueberries and a Happy Heiney) I need to prep for selling and have been putting it off. It is actually easy to sell them on craigslist, but I am just lazy I suppose. So far nothing bad has happened with any of my craigslist selling, but every time I think of it I get tired just from the potential of running into crazy people. I ran into plenty of crazy people when I was selling through online means and I think it has scarred me for life.

Wait wait wait. . . at least Elsa is asleep so I don’t have to be too irked with this diaper lady.

First, how about some more Summer Camp?

Day 28 – What size family do you come from, what size family do you want, and why?

Super easy question–not a single thing to ramble about here.

We had an absent father, a mother and two daughters in our immediate family. We also had a very involved grandmother and no other grandparents.

I am totally fine with my family of four. I suppose it’s because that’s what I’m used to. I have my boy and my girl and I am oooooold and hate pregnancy, so no more babies for me.

Now a well child report:

Elsa finally had her 15 month check-up yesterday after many delays. The good news is: she’s well! Her iron levels are almost up to normal, her lyme is under control, she doesn’t currently have any issues, she’s developing well. All good things. She weighed in at 27 pounds and measured 31.5 inches. She is no longer off the charts. She’s hovering around the 98th percentile. The doctor was very happy to see that her weight has basically flat lined.

She is such a darling little girl. My very favorite thing is seeing her peek around me or whatever is in her way to get a better look at something. The curiosity just shines from her eyes. She is showing quite a temper when things don’t go her way, but in general she is happy and easy to manage. I am totally ready to wean her because she’s talking the nursing acrobatics to all new heights. This afternoon she was nursing with her butt in my face and her feet thrown over my shoulder. My nipples are in serious need of lanolin but I have no idea where I put it.

She did take cow’s milk once, but has refused it since then. Bah.

I really need to take a lot more pictures of her (and her brother). Though this stage is exhausting, she’s just so adorable that I never want it to end. She is big on the copying big people thing, which melts me every time I see her try to shampoo her hair or sit up at the big table and use a fork.

Ok. Enough goopiness.

I need someone to tell me how to e-mail a picture from a Verizon phone. I can figure out how to send a picture message to another phone, but I have no idea how to actually get the picture to me in a usable form.

While we were in Vancouver most of our group watched an IMAX movie at Science World, but that didn’t thrill Erik. Instead, he wanted a snack. The snack bar was across from a stage where a show was going on, so we sat in a place we could see and Erik was immediately sucked in. The scientist was doing a version of the shell game, only with water in non-see through glasses. Have I ever told you about Erik’s love obsession with the shell game? He’s a born gambler, that boy.

Erik quickly forgot about his French fries and ended up in the front row of this show. As a new glass was produced and the water poured into it, Erik got more and more excited. He was easily the most excited person in the audience and was yelling out at every interactive opportunity.

The scientist clearly took notice of Erik because when it came time for volunteers from the audience, the guy carefully worked it so that Erik was number 5 out of 6. This became very important later.

There were six glasses. Glass number 6 was full of water. Each glass would be dumped over the top of a child’s head to prove it was empty.

Erik couldn’t contain himself and kept telling Girl 6 that she was going to get water on her head. He also taught her how to scooch out of the way so she’d stay dry.

Surprise! The scientist played a trick on Erik and had Girl 6 get glass 5, which left Erik with the glass full of water. Erik and the scientist then had a lengthy conversation about this last glass of water getting dumped over Erik’s head and what he should do about it. The scientist had a plan with a raincoat and rain hat, but Erik didn’t feel that was necessary since he would just scooch out of the way.

Erik had the whole audience in stitches, even though he wasn’t trying to be funny. He was quite serious about this whole thing.

And damned, if Mike didn’t have the camera. I just had the cell phone.

Of course, the glass was over-turned and no water came out. Erik’s disbelief was total and complete, causing more hilarity from the audience. I have never claimed my son was shy.

It turned out the glass had been filled with the stuff that disposable diapers are made of. I guess the whole production about going down the line and threatening to dump water over the heads was so the water would have time to get totally absorbed.

The whole thing was fantastic and I need my pictures!

I guess I better go to bed now. We are totally off schedule with bed times thanks to a few days on the west coast. Getting up at 9:30 is wonderful, but not very practical. I have things to do, places to go, people to see! I’m pouting because Mike is only home from vacation for 3 more days, then I’ll be on complete kid duty for four weeks straight. No camp. Send help, please!

We’ve been home about 48 hours, but this is the first chance I’ve had to sit down and write. We had an absolutely amazing time in Vancouver, though I don’t recommend traveling with a toddler. Actually, the travel wasn’t bad at all. It was the “enjoying time in the city with friends” that she wasn’t so keen on. Most meals were less than enjoyable, with one of us ferrying her in and out of the restaurant.

But Vancouver! Amazing! Beautiful! Scenic! Breezy and sunny and wonderful! And holy hell on a stick expensive! I thought we lived in a high priced market, but we have nothing on Vancouver.

We mostly did nature loving activities like Grouse Mountain, this ski resort place reached via SkyTram and Stanley Park, a big park in the city right on the water. We also walked around the city (and from one end of the island to the other. My feet hurt), rode boats, buses and skytrains, visited farmer’s markets and artisan stalls. We even went to a Caribbean festival and had the best Carne Asada I’ve ever tasted.

Erik was a very good boy for a five year old who was not the center of attention for several days in a row. Not to say he was perfect. He can annoy the heck out of anyone with his constant need to be Right. On. Top. Of. You. He found a friend in Rob, Julie’s teenage son. Erik decided that he was Short Round and Rob was Indiana Jones. The rest of us were bad guys. I think Rob mostly enjoyed having a side kick. I know I enjoyed Erik having a side kick.

At one point Erik was playing in the snow and basically making a nuisance of himself with snowballs so I decided to teach him a life lesson. I threw him in the snow pile and poured a handful of snow down his back.

He totally freaked out and was very sad and angry. I believe he threatened to knock my head off. I guess the snow was pretty sharp. Whoops.

What else did we do? We ate a lot. The best meal was an Indian meal recommended by a hotel employee. It was within walking distance, so bonus! I believe it was called India Bistro.

We had some excitement after dinner. We were getting some snacks at a drugstore for the trip home. We were all standing around in the parking lot when I noticed an older lady on her hands and knees. I thought maybe she lost a contact, so I asked her if she needed help. She nodded yes. I went over there and she started having a seizure.

Thankfully Ingrid is much better in emergencies than I am. She knew what questions to ask and how to help the woman, while I just flapped my arms around. A man came up and called 911 and we waited for the paramedics to arrive. It took them a good, long 5 minutes. I hope the lady was ok in the end. We left and didn’t find out. It was pretty crazy.

We were so shook up that we totally missed a spot I was dying to try–The Dessert Heaven. We had to backtrack and found it. It was Transylvanian desserts. Honestly, I was not at all impressed. The girl working the counter was quite dour (she must not have been a real Canadian. They were all so friendly!) and the dessert had an odd taste to it. But now I can say I’ve had Transylvanian cake.

Oh, and how can I forget Erik’s other favorite activity?

“

Plenty more pics at Flickr. I may write more later if I think of anything exciting to say. What else is there to say? We had fun!

We’re going on vacation tomorrow, so no more bloggy summer camp until I get back. I have had a hard time keeping up, obviously.

As a side note to yesterday’s entry about college, I have to mention chapel (mainly because Heather brought it up). We were required to attend chapel two times a week my first three years. They had this crazy attendance system with cards and people standing in doorways. My senior year they added another chapel day, but it was a small group chapel, so you had to go sit around with 10 people you didn’t know, plus a faculty member and bare your soul. It was just about as awful as it sounds. Sometimes we had required evening chapels as well.

Though the school was very conservative, there was one speaker who was even too much for our student body. I don’t remember what he was preaching about, but he was a very special speaker that the school had engaged for a whole week. The first day over half the student body walked out. Most of us used up all our abscences skipping his week, though in the end I think we were all excused because we complained about having to listen to him. I can’t remember what he was talking about, but it must have been pretty bad if he could crack through our thick shells.

We also had several required religion classes, of course.

I worked for the chemistry professor. He also taught Science for Religion Majors, so I spent a week re-typing his self-written text book. It was pretty interesting. He taught the day-age theory and divine guided evolution. He was also quick to say that the Bible was not meant to be a science text book.

Ok, I need to go finish packing. We`have to get up at 5:30 am.

Here’s a repost from FB about Elsa for those who didn’t see it there:

Elsa finished her round of antibiotics last Monday. By Friday she was feverish and in pain. There was no way to know if it was related to the Lyme or a whole new set of problems, so I went to the doctor to hope someone smart could tell me.

The doctor didn’t know either, but prescribed 10 more days of antibiotics. She also told me to be on the look out for meningitis, which freaked me out.

Over the weekend, it became obvious that Elsa just had a cold. Erik also had a fever for a few hours and complained of a sore throat. Elsa ended up with a cough. Her gag reflex is very well developed and when she would cough hard she would throw up. We had a great few nights, as you can imagine.

She was supposed to have a well child check on Monday, so we went in. They ended up not doing any of the well child things. Instead, they swabbed her throat for strep, took a urine sample, and debated doing a chest x-ray. She also had blood work done to confirm the Lyme at the request of the infectious disease specialist.

We met with a pediatric infectious disease specialist this afternoon. The results show that Elsa definitely had Lyme, but we caught it very early. A big thank you to my FB family for encouraging me to take her in!

The doctor really set our mind at ease. She believes Elsa just has a cold and not the lingering effects of Lyme. She says the treatment for Lyme is 100% effective and we don’t need to worry about meningitis or anything else. Good news! And we can stop this second round of antibiotics.

However. The doctor had one last thought before we left and wanted to confirm we had been given the right concentration of antibiotics.

It turns out our original amox prescription was for 250 mg/5 ml. This is too low for Lyme. She needed to have it at 400 mg/5 ml.

That means we have to start all over again. Fourteen more days of antibiotics. Which is fine and all since she is taking them well and we want to be sure. It just sucks because we thought we were not going to have to take them on our trip.

In good news, though, the doctor says this is strictly a precaution and she does not believe we have any reason to be worried about any progressive symptoms of Lyme so she wants us to be calm and happy and enjoy our vacation.

Maybe I just need to become a germ-o-phobe and start slathering Elsa with Purell every few minutes. The kid catches everything that comes our way. I’m sure if she would eat more and a better variety it would help.