Happy April

I started to title this post 'Appy April, but then I thought folks might think I had an appendectomy... thus the boring title above.

Things are still moving at a breakneck pace around here, although yesterday was refreshingly laid-back. We actually had NO outside commitments. Didn't do a whole lot of anything, which was a nice change from the usual way things go. Joel stayed outside for a good part of the day and wound up with a sunburned neck (thankfully he was wearing long sleeves). 

Brian and Noah are leaving for Denver in the morning. Brian has a quick trip there to brief a General about something, and we had an airline voucher that was due to expire soon... so he took the opportunity to treat Noah to a father/son trip. They should have a lot of free time tomorrow to do some stuff together. They'll be back Tuesday night.

Spring break starts Wednesday afternoon for Emily. She doesn't go back to school until the 20th. There is a chance she will have play rehearsals during break... unless too many people will be out of town. This year's musical is "Grease," and she is playing the "Teen Angel" role (rewritten for the movie... Frankie Avalon's part). The really fun part of this is (and I am being totally tongue-in-cheek here) is that the dates for her play coincide with Halle's piano recital and a Christian music festival at which we are supposed to be helping man a CR booth.  It is going to be wicked crazy here that weekend in May, let me tell you!

Speaking of Emily and school... she is not going back next year. There have been a lot of changes in the last 3 years she has been there and most of them aren't ones we are too happy with. So she is going to finish up and complete her senior year here at home, probably with UN-L (University of Nebraska-Lincoln) and their online high school. She doesn't have too many credits left, since she had 8 classes a day the last 2 years.  And it will be loads cheaper than the $8K we were spending on this school for a year. Hopefully she will be able to get a part-time job as well to save up some $$ for college and stuff. The other cool thing about UN-L's program is that it's self-paced, so she can finish up as quickly as she wants... knock out the easier subjects (like English) and take as much time as she needs with others (like chemistry, if she decides to take it).

Anyhoo, the rest of April will be challenging as well. Just as spring break is ending, Brian will leave for another TDY and be gone another 9-10 days. Then he'll have one full week at home before we take the RV down to Malibu for the Pepperdine Lectures. Should be fun.... will get to see folks we haven't seen in a long time!

Heading to bed in a few minutes, after the dryer is done. Had to wash jeans for Noah to take to Denver with him and they are still going. 

March musings

I should be showering, but I was feeling guilty I hadn't written a post in a while, so thought I should update before I head upstairs for the night. Ordinarily, I would shower in the morning, but some brainiac at the local power company (PG&E, of Erin Brockovich fame) decided to schedule a power outage for the entire base tomorrow morning from 7am to noon. Since I don't really want to shower at 6am tomorrow for 9am church, I need to get that done tonight, so I can dry and straighten my hair.  Maybe I should sleep sitting up to avoid messing my hair up too much....

Here we are in the middle of March; Brian's birthday is Monday. For the next 3 months, we get to be the same age, and then I get to be older than him again. We'll do our usual birthday dinner out. He just has to decide where we're going.

Emily is doing well. After a follow-up visit with a family practice doc, he seemed to think that she had correctly self-diagnosed her problem last month, although there is no way for us to be sure now. Em thought her symptoms were very suggestive of TSS (toxic shock syndrome), and while the docs all said that was on their list of things to consider while she was in the hospital, for some reason it was never really explored. So for now at least, she'll go for the less convenient feminine product to avoid a repeat of last month's adventure. As she so succinctly put it when the doctor apologized for suggesting the inconvenient way, "It's more convenient than spending the weekend in the hospital."

Found out a few days ago that the housing office on base is planning on moving the field grade officers (that's Brian) into larger and newer housing in the fall. I am more than a little excited over that. I am not certain of the size of the quarters we could get; I have heard anywhere from 2000-2400 sq. ft. That would be almost 700-1000 sq. ft. more than we have now, so I am really excited about the prospect. We will still have 4 bedrooms, so the boys will still have to share, but at least the girls' rooms should be bigger than the 9.5 ft square rooms they have now.

OK, better get cracking or I'll be up too late getting my hair dried and straightened.

Don't want to leave you hangin'

Sorry I haven't posted another update. Things get a little hectic around here and I don't get much time to sit down and write.

Emily came home on Tuesday. The doctors could never say for certain what caused the high fever and sepsis, nor could they say it won't happen again. The infectious disease doc thought it was a wicked kidney infection; the urologist didn't seem to think so; and the other docs admitted they were stumped. That was refreshing. I would much rather hear someone say they weren't sure than to say, "The only thing I can come up with is..." which is kinda how the ID doc sounded. Anyhow, she's taking a few more days' worth of oral antibiotics and going back in in a couple of weeks to have labs repeated and get checked out again.

She did go to school yesterday and was getting tired by the time it was over. She also said that she got winded climbing the stairs, which is unusual for her. I guess even though she mostly feels recovered, it will take a while before her body catches up with her mind.

Now, to keep an eye on things in case it recurs...

Updates

Sitting here in Emily's room while she is off having an ultrasound of her kidneys. Her vitals are much improved; unfortunately we still don't have any real answers as to what started this whole mess. She is feeling 100% better and itching to go home. That's not happening today, but she does get to move to a regular room and finally get the shower she's been asking for.

I have been overwhelmed by all the emails, texts, and Facebook posts offering prayers and support. Technology is amazing. Thank you to all who've been praying.

I hope to have more news later today or at least by tomorrow.

Waiting for answers

Emily (17) was admitted to the hospital last night... a few posts ago, I mentioned a kidney infection she had just before Christmas. On our way to school yesterday, she said she thought she was getting another one; she was having pretty similar symptoms. I told her we'd probably get her seen after school then. Neither of us realized just how bad it was until she called me to get her from school (she went in late and only lasted a couple of hours before she called and told me she was practically passing out). We had already decided we'd take her to the ER (no dr. appointments available), so her dad met us there and I left her in his capable hands.

It took a while to get seen, but once they took her back to the exam rooms, they realized how sick she was. She was dehydrated, had a high fever, low blood pressure, and high heart rate. She spent last night on a regular floor, but today they moved her to the ICU so they could monitor her more closely. Her BP has improved, but her fever comes and goes, her heart rate is still fast and her lab values on her bloodwork are all out of whack. The docs are very puzzled and still trying to figure out the cause. Their preliminary diagnosis was a kidney infection with mild sepsis, but the lab values have them looking for an additional condition.

Brian spent most of the day there (and is there now); he left a little after 9pm because she was falling asleep and really needed to sleep.... didn't get much last night and none today. She called him 30-40 minutes later and asked if he was going to come back up. She was having trouble sleeping. He may be staying the night there.

So now we wait. And pray. Hopefully they will find an answer tomorrow and can get her fixed up and home soon.

Rainy days and Tuesdays

It  took a while for the rainy season to really kick in around here, but it seems to have arrived with a vengeance. If I had some rope to cordon off the backyard, I'm sure I could start a mud-wrasslin' tournament back there. Might be a good way to earn a little extra spending money.  Any entrants? ( I have to make jokes, otherwise I would let the mud and mess really depress the heck out of me.)

I've been busy catching up with laundry and stuff after our Palm Springs visit. The trip home was interesting. For some reason, the GPS sent us home by a different route and we wound up on some 2-lane backroads, going through some mountains and with snow blustering all around us. So weird! But we actually made it home in less time than the trip down, probably because we really only stopped once instead of 2 or 3 times. Don't think we'll do a trip of that length in one day again, though. It is very tiring on the driver!  Our next planned trip is to Malibu in May for the Pepperdine Lectureships. I am really looking forward to it for many reasons.... beautiful scenery and weather, seeing old and new friends, and a chance to dine at Tra di Noi again (you knew there had to be a food reason somewhere in there!).

Rory took a trip to the vet last Friday for "that" operation. I felt a little bad doing it to her for Valentine's Day, but she seems to have forgiven me. I picked her up on Saturday morning and she was quite happy to see me. She has  about a 4- or 5- inch incision on her tummy, all sewn up with stainless steel sutures. Have to take her back in another week or so to have those removed. I am quite relieved to no longer have to worry about supersize doggie diapers every 6 months or so now. She hasn't let sore stomach muscles keep her from climbing up on our bed, though. She still wants to cuddle with me there. 

Guess that's really all the news worth telling for now. Felt bad that I hadn't updated since we got back from our trip. Hopefully I can get back to posting with a little more frequency.

A day in Palm Springs

As planned, we took a ride on the Palm Springs Aerial Tramway yesterday. The temperature at the top (31 degrees) was more than 20 degrees cooler than the bottom.... there were snow flurries and about 3 inches of snow on the ground. The boys went outside and had a snowball fight. The girls had more sense than that!!  

Once we finished up  at the tramway, we headed into Palm Springs proper to hunt up a place for lunch. Tried a little spot called "Grill-A-Burger" with pretty decent food, then browsed the shops on the way back to the car. Before heading back this way, we drove past Elvis Presley's Palm Springs home.... Brian had seen the address on the back of a postcard, so we plugged it into the GPS. It was less than 5 minutes from downtown. Not terribly exciting, but we can say we've seen it.  

Made a grocery run for a few things on the way back to the RV for the evening. Brian's meeting began last night at 7. The kids and I hung out here watching TV and reading books, getting showered up, etc. 

Woke up this morning to the sound of RAIN falling on the roof. Thankfully it slowed to a near stop by the time I needed to take Brian to the hotel for his conference at 6:30. The kids and I will be heading out soon to check out the children's museum. Brian is scheduled to be done with his conference at 1:30 today; we'll pick him up for lunch then.  Hopefully the weather will hold so that we can grill dinner tonight.

Let the sun shine

Greetings from sunny Indio, CA! Not sure how long the sun will last today; the weather forecast calls for rain today (and tomorrow, and the next). The RV resort we are staying at is very posh; I think we have the cheapest motorhome here. Many of the other guests have custom golf-carts (I've seen mini-Hummers, ones that look like convertible roadsters, and just really fawncy ones), and we even saw one site with a full-size Bentley parked at it.  There are sites that have extras at them, like outdoor kitchens, hot tubs, casitas, fountains.... I said on my FaceBook page yesterday that I felt a little like the Clampetts pulling in here!  We are in a bare-bones spot, but it still outdoes many places we've stayed.... the pad is concrete and very wide, we have lots of grassy space to play with the kids, we face a waterway and have our own dock (too bad no little boat to tie up to it!). Right next door, they are working on one of those "fawncy" spots.... one with an outdoor kitchen, eating area, etc.

We had a nice trip down. Pulled out of our driveway a little after 4 am.  After a couple of hours, Brian pulled over for a 30-minute power nap. We stopped a while later to gas up near Los Banos, then didn't stop again for 5 hours, when we pulled into a shopping center parking lot in San Dimas to make lunch (man, I can't say "San Dimas" without wanting to make a "Bill and Ted's" reference). No more stops until we arrived here around 3 pm.

Brian's conference doesn't start until tonight, so hopefully the weather will hold during the day so we can do some sightseeing. We'd like to ride the Palm Springs Tramway before we leave. There is also a children's museum in Rancho Mirage that I will probably take the kids to tomorrow, since Brian will be in meetings all day. 

Time to get busy. My earlybird (Joel) is up and looking for breakfast. I realized before I got out of bed this morning that I forgot to bring the milk with us, so he will have to go without his AlphaBits for now... oatmeal it is.

On the road again....

The family and I hit the road again tomorrow morning for the Palm Springs area.  Brian has a CRNA conference down there this weekend and decided he wanted to bring us along this time. We're taking the RV and staying at what looks like a very nice RV "resort."  Right now, it looks like the weather will be only slightly better than the weather here and will include 2 days of rain. I guess I shouldn't complain, what with so many of my family and friends dealing with snow and ice and power outages back in the midwest. Hopefully we will get to see lots of new and interesting things. 

When we get home, we will have plenty of things to keep us busy, the least of which isn't a long overdue trip to the vet for Rory. She is getting spayed for Valentine's Day. (Well, actually the day before... but I will pick her up from the vet the morning of the 14th.) I'm sure if we women got gifts like that for Valentine's Day, we'd think twice about complaining about getting the traditional flowers or chocolates!

I hope to have time to write while we are there, and that we'll have some interesting and fun stuff to share!

Meme time

I can't resist a meme, and it's an easy way to fulfill my posting responsibilities.... So here goes with this one I've had starred in my feed reader for quite some time now. I found this at Carrie's.

1) How do you like your grilled cheese?
On white bread, 2 slices of Kraft Deluxe American, light golden brown with cheese nice and gooey

2) Where did you go on your last vacation?
Took a 3-week RV trip back to MO and AL to visit family.

3) Who are your godparents?
Don't have any; that isn't a tradition in my church.

4) Where do you see yourself in 5 years?
Far away from California, in a house we helped plan with lots of room for everyone.

5) Where are you at noon everyday?
Most days at home.

6) How many speeding tickets have you gotten?
ZERO

15) When was the last time you swam?
Back in June.... at our last RV stop on the way home in Chowchilla, CA.

16) What do you order at Subway?
I rarely go there. I prefer Charley's or Quizno's.

17) Do you keep your closets organized?
I try.

18) How do you make headaches go away?
Ibuprofen.

19) Have you owned a beta before?
Nope.

20) If you moved out of state where would you go?
Alabama or Nebraska.

22) Did you attend pre-school?
Nope.

23) What do your shower curtains look like?
Don't have any. The bathtubs in this house have the sliding door shower enclosures. UGH

24) Did you have an imaginary friend as a child?
I don’t think so.

25) How do you make eggs?
Fried, sunny-side up.

26) Where do you wash your clothes?

Laundry room.

28) Who are the neighbors who live to the right of you?

Ed and Ling and their 3 children

29) What are your thoughts on Tom Cruise?

I try not to think about him.

30) What is the next vehicle you wish to buy?

Either another Honda Odyssey or a Pilot

31) Do you pay bills online or by mail?

Both.

32) What would be the best gift someone could get you right now?

Early retirement at hubby's current rank (right now, he has to stay in until 2011 to retire at his rank).

33) What is something stressful you will deal with next week?

Emily is staying home while the rest of us go to So. Cal with my husband for a conference. Pick your stressor: teenager home alone with dogs (with neighbors close by to monitor), RV trip, Mom and 3 kids trying to keep selves entertained while Dad is in meeting...

34) What is something in your home that you collect?

Americana items, Noah's ark stuff, books

35) What did you do last night?

Rearranged furniture in the living room

36) Who did you last see?

My husband just walked in from the BX.

37) How do you take your coffee?

On the rare occasion that I drink it, black. No sugar, no nuttin'.

38) What is the oldest thing in your fridge?

Don’t know and not going to find out. Although I know there's nothing expired in there; Halle just cleaned out all that stuff a couple of days ago.

39) On your keyboard what key is wearing out from pressing it so much?

None... I have a skin on top of my keyboard to protect it.

40) Where do you put your keys when you come home?

On the key rack usually.

41) Where do you go for Thanksgiving?

Usually stay home; occasionally get invited to someone's home.

42) How old will you you be in 2010?

46

43) What actor or actress would play you in a movie?

Camryn Manheim

44) How much cash is in your wallet?

$1 and some change

45) Would you have a one night stand with your favorite movie star?

Only if it involved board games and nothing else. 

46) What color is your phone?

Cell phone is black; house phone is grey.

47) If you were starving to death would you eat a pet?

Not knowingly... I don't think. Perish the thought!

48) Ever been to Alabama?

Oh yeah!

49) What kind of accent do you have?

Slightly southern, decidedly so if I get around anyone else with one.

50) What kind of alcoholic drinks are in your fridge right now?

Not a one.