My So-Called Trip to Vegas

I'm dying to write about my weekend.  I went to a Digital Scrapbooking "Fest."  I've been telling my In Real Life, (IRL,) friends, that it's a 'digital graphics users group.'  It is, and if they had a Public Relations, (PR,) person, the organizers might know that.  I suspect it would've been much more costly though; good PR people are expensive after all.  ;-)  They want to call it a "Fest," if it's keeping prices down, I'm all for it.

So, I spent the weekend in "Vegas Baby!" (You have to say it like that you know.) And I didn't even put a nickle in a slot.  Ha! That would imply there were nickle slots.  I didn't put a quarter or dollar even, then!  Honestly, there was a time period, approximately 11 years ago, when the thought of going to Vegas would've made me cry.  I worked for a chip maker and had to go to Vegas about every two months for their tradeshow circuit.  I grew to loath the place.  I could have and should have written a travel book on the place, because my knowledge on what to do and not to do was vast, but like I said, it would be too soon if I'd never gone there again. When DaddySpeak, (DS) found out where I was going he was shocked.  I told him I didn't burst into tears at the thought, so there's that.  Guess I'm past my PTSD finally.  ;-)  I did have fun, but it was actually a bit stressful, not because of the conference.  I suppose, the stressful part of my trip put any issues I might have had related to the conference into perspective.  I traveled w/LittleSpeak's Godmom, H.  Her husband, A came as well.  He was going to gamble while we were in classes and they could go out at night.  About two hours after we arrived, we convinced him to go to a see a doctor at walk-in clinic.  He had a really bad cold & he looked and sounded awful.  He had planned to get a day pass at the spa we were going to, but instead agreed to go to a walk-in clinic which was right off the strip.  (My knowledge of this place, it still applies.)  So H & I went to the Spaaaaaaa.  It was the same spa I went to w/DS a year and a half ago.  I was afraid it wasn't going to be as good.  I was sure I'd built it up in my mind to be much better than it really was, but I was not disappointed.  It was amazing & relaxing.  Exactly what I needed.  Our plan was that when we got done, we were going to shower & head to the opening reception for our "Fest."  It didn't work out that way.  Well, it did for me.  Poor H, had 4 texts from A about all the places they were sending him from the walk-in clinic; the last one being that they were going to admit him to the hospital.  H didn't shower or anything, she threw her clothes on and headed to the hospital.  I was able to check-in for her at the reception and told them what was happening with her.  The reception seemed so weird to me.  My head was really more over at the hospital with them.  I was getting updates from H.  Apparently, Friday night at the ER closest to the Vegas Strip is a bit sketchy, who woulda thunk?  They did release A with strict instructions to take his antibiotics and get lots of rest.  They'd hydrated him and administered IV antibiotics.  Told him they'd caught the pneumonia  early, so he should bounce back pretty quick.  They got back to the hotel about 9:00 PM.   On Saturday, I woke to the sound of my cell phone buzzing.  It seems that around 3:30 AM, H realized that A wasn't getting any sleep and seemed to be not breathing very well at all.  They had headed back to the ER.  She was updating me with their happenings since that time.  At, 5:45 AM, when I woke up, the doctors had declared he needed to be admitted for 2-3 days.  His oxygen saturation was extremely low, so low, that when I discussed it w/DS he was sure I heard it wrong.  He couldn't believe that A was functioning at all w/a saturation so low.  I confirmed it w/H 3 times though, it really was that low.  A was actually stuck in ER for 14 HOURS on Saturday.  The hospital was so crazy busy that they couldn't get him to a room w/a bed.  When they finally did, he was so bad that they put him ICU.  H missed the Saturday classes and tour we had planned.  She got home late that night, once things had more or less stabilized with A.  On Sunday, things seemed a bit better.  She went over to see him in the morning and they had just managed to break his (very high,) fever w/an ice bath.  After an hour or so, things seemed to moving in the right direction and he had fallen asleep, so H came back to the hotel and we got lunch.  We went back to the conference room and started to cut papers on  a hybrid project we'd (myself & other attendees,) worked on that morning.  I figured she could get some of it done and I'd finish whatever didn't happen for her.  At least she'd walk away with something, right?  Only while we were doing that, she got a text from A implying they might discharge him that afternoon.  Some of his "bloodwork had come back very positive."  H was packing up to head back to the hospital and called him to find out what was going on.  (He'd been in no shape to leave when she'd left him that morning.  He was better, but the guy was still requiring oxygen to breathe.)  While she was talking to him on the phone, he was overcome w/the shakes.  No fever, just uncontrollable shakes.  Not long after H got the hospital, he finally spiked a fever around 103.7.  They'd given him meds to try and knock it down, but he couldn't keep them down.  They had to used ice packs and IV meds to try and get the fever under control.  They did get it back down, but there was no mistaking he wasn't going anywhere soon.  I forget what time H got back that night, but it wasn't early.   Monday, was the day we were all supposed to come home.  I attended the closing of the "Fest," while H updated me via text from the hospital.  A was still running a low-grade fever, he was still on oxygen and he obviously wasn't flying anywhere that day.  But, he seemed to be slightly better.  He even got out of bed and walked around the nurses desk w/H.  Then he fell asleep exhausted.  I was VERY torn about leaving H and A.  If something awful happened, H had no one there with her.  If my folks weren't traveling overseas, it would've been a no brainer, I would've stayed.  But, as it was, I had to ask my Sister-In-Law to pick up the girls from school.  I offered to stay, (it was via text,) but I don't know if H never got it, or just didn't reply.  All the medal in the hospital and casinos made it so that we didn't always get our text in a timely manner.  Luckily, things really were improving.  A was discharged last night and they flew home today, Wednesday.  I actually haven't talked to them since they've gotten here.  The last text I got was when they were boarding the plane.  I know they're both exhausted, so it can wait.  He's still very, very sick.  She's got to go back to work and they have four year old twins to deal with too.  I'm still reeling from this weekend and I'm not the one who spent all the time in the hospital worrying about my husband.  I can NOT imagine how overwhelmed they must be feeling.  So, if you would, please say a little prayer, or light a candle or send the good karmic vibes.  They could use it right about now.

Also, go give the people you love a hug.  It's so easy to forget how fragile life can be. 

In my next post, I might actually talk about what I did, beside text w/H all weekend. ;-)

Wordless Wednesday - Kansas Style

Girls got to go horseback riding at Papa's farm in Kansas. They were pretty pleased about the whole deal. In case the ear-to-ear grins didn't clue you in. ;-)

The One I Miss the Most is...

Turns out in Kansas you have to get a couple of hamsters to run on a wheel to get the interwebs going....kidding. But my internet access while visiting in Kansas last week was pretty limited, as was my posting. I have much good blog fodder, as you might imagine, after spending a week w/60+ cousins, aunts, uncles, grandparents, etc...It was a very crazy, but fun time. The girls has a blast & we had the first good weather we've ever had when visiting Kansas. Still, I'm really, really glad to be home.

Happy to be back in my own bed has taken on a new meaning for me. We slept in my husband's childhood room, which seems to have been frozen in time. What's up with that? My brother took over my room 2 minutes after I went to college (and I was coming back). And my mom couldn't get our crap out of the house fast enough, so she could paint & redecorate. My MIL (Mother In Law) on the other hand, seems to think DaddySpeak might suddenly decide to move back in & would want his room just as he left it TWENTY-something YEARS ago. Maybe DaddySpeak was a more likeable teenager than I, hmmm.....
I digress, (how surprising,) my husband's bed is part of this 20+ year set, and the mattress is HARD. Since we know I'm such a delicate flower, I didn't handle this sleeping arrangement so well. By day 2 I was taking muscle relaxers so I could actually move. During the night, I'd wake myself up every time I tried to move from the pain. My Fibro was rearing it's ugly head, it wasn't good. I bought my Outlaws a new pillow on day 2. I gave it to them after I used it for the week. ;-) That helped keep my neck in check for the rest of the time. My neck still hurt, but it wasn't unbearable anymore. My lower back was pretty unbearable by day 4.

I used to feel bad about the bed my Outlaws sleep in when they come to visit, but I don't anymore.

If the Moisturizer Gets Thru the Terrorists Win

Last weekend, I went to a "Mom's Crop Weekend". (A crop is slang for scrapbooking BTW.) I flew down to the LA area and met some friends from down there. We drove to a hotel near Channel Islands and had a very fun, relaxing, foggy weekend. I may write more about it, but it was pretty much what you would expect from a crop weekend. More sleeping than most I think, but mostly I think it was pretty boring, from a blogging perspective.

I did have a little "experience" w/security at the airport. I actually have been debating writing about this. I'm figuring I might end up on some "watch lists" over this (I hope not). On the way down to LA no problem. Extremely uneventful. On the way home, bit different situation. First, I was flying out of Burbank. They had one of those new, fancy scanners. They actually had two lines; one for the new scanner & one for people who didn't want to have the full body x-ray. While in line, a man (late 50s/early 60s I'd guess) apparently opted out on the new version. He didn't realize it meant he needed to go to the next line and the TSA agent ripped him a new one. That right there, gives you an idea of the tone of the area. Tense. I was the one waiting to put my bags on the conveyor belt next while all this was going on. The TSA agent sitting behind the machine admired my bag. Even wanted to know the brand (Vera Bradley) and such. So then I put my bag on the conveyor belt and go through the old style metal detector (they got so backed up while the agent was yelling at the guy, one of the other agents started sending the rest of us through the old style scanner. I get to the end and wait. And wait, and wait....my bag is obviously a problem. Grrreat. While I'm watching my tray w/laptop, shoes & liquids comes through. The agent sitting behind machine has now called in reinforcements. Uh oh. I go to pick up my shoes and a third agent has come over to my tray and tells me not to touch anything. Ummm...OoooK. So I'm standing there, barefoot, while she's going through my stuff, and my bag is going back and forth through on the conveyor. The agent realizes I'm not very comfortable standing barefoot and allows me my shoes (flip-flops). She continues scrutinizing my "liquids". I have skin cream medicine, moisturizer, tooth paste and saline solution. I had to buy hair gel in LA & leave it there b/c my brand doesn't come in a small bottle. Finally, she decides the moisturizer is an offending size, (4 oz, instead of 3, even though it obviously isn't full & was OK to bring to LA) and tosses it. My main bag is still having problems and there are like 5 agents looking at the monitor, pointing and discussing now. Finally, one of them brings the bag over to a table and starts to go through it. So all my unmentionables are on this table, which has sides to offer some privacy, but still. My bluetooth ear piece charger was apparently the problem. It was in a side pocket and it had an odd shape on the screen. "On the screen, it looked like it was wrapped in the middle. Like it was trying to be hidden." Once she saw it she said ok. So I after all that I was out a bottle of moisturizer and got to repack my bag. Here's my favorite part; while I was repacking my bag she had to ask what it was. Killed me, since she would've let me go, still not knowing what it was. I'm feeling very safe now.

I know the TSA agents were doing their job. I want that, I want my TSA people to be on the ball & paying attention. But yelling at people who don't really understand what's going on, and trashing people's hair product, etc...isn't going to stop the terrorists. A couple of questions would've made both situations shorter and less stressful. And I would have way more respect for what they're doing, if they would've asked me what it was before letting me go.
And I'm pretty sure none of those terrorists are using moisturizer anyway, have you seen their skin??

(Not so) Wordless Wednesday--vacation version

Yes, I know you're onto me. My wordless Wednesday is just a half-assed attempt at posting. I know you see right thru it.

But you keep coming back, don't you? ;-) Well, interwebs I'm to you too! I know you think my girls are beautiful & can't get enough of them. Oh wait, that's me. Well, whatever, it's getting me back into the swing of things and that is something.
Besides, in case you haven't noticed, I can't keep my mouth shut. So once again, it's my version of (Not so) Wordless Wednesday.

I'm pretty sure I haven't posted these yet. Once again, in trying to keep up w/our travels this summer, I missed posting while we were on vacation in Disneyland. 10 days & nights in the LA area, half of which where spent at the DL Hotel & parks. This is a special gift my parents give to us whenever a grandchild turns 3. This was our 4th trip in 12 years (every 3 years, we plan so well). They take my brother's family, our family & get a suite (3 bedrooms & living room) for us all, and they get our 5 day passes too. No, they are not taking applications for adoptions, and if you're past age 3 you're out of luck anyway. So this one was Little's big trip.

Because my folks treat us to all of that, we are able to do a lot of the extra's. This time the big extra was Bibbidi, Bobbiti Boutique, aka-"Pimp my Princess". The Girls LOVED it. They do make up, hair & nails. You can do much, much more (all w/Disney prices, of course). But we brought our own dresses, crowns, shoes, etc.... (FYI--they do boys too; not as princesses, although who knows, I didn't ask. The packages we saw were for "knights" & they gelled up their hair into faux-hawks and added color & confetti. Very cute). These are pix of the girls seeing their images for the first time (they have a "reveal" at the end, of course they do).

And this third pix is of them dressed in their full princess regalia. The "castmembers" at Disney address all girls as "princess" in the park, but they really pull out the stops when the girls get done up like this; opening doors w/a flourish, bowing to them, etc...The girls eat it up. (And obviously, so do their folks.) It wasn't cheap (it was Disney, that's a given, right?) But I did feel like I got my money's worth. My girls loved the attention & I got enough pix for a scrapbook just on this subject. --Not so wordless Wednesday

Wordless Wednesday

Not completely Wordless Wednesday....

So I dropped a bomb & disappeared for while. Your welcome. I am going to address the bomb I dropped BTW, just not today. And when I do, it'll be quick, so don't blink, you might miss it.

So, where have I been? Gonna use "wordless Wednesday" to show you:








Spent a week and a half in July at the beach!







Yes, they are only 6 & 3. And yes, they are Boogie Boarding already. I'm doomed.

This One at Band Camp....

Mir over at Woulda, Coulda, Shoulda, just wrote a post about her first of many car camping trips. It reminded me of a specific adventure when I was a kid. I figured w/summer looming a camping story was appropriate, so here's the Reader's Digest version:

One time when I was 14 or so, my girl scout troop went to Disneyland & stayed at the campsites there, Vacationland! (You can't make this stuff up.) The "campsite" consisted of a field of grass. Our immediate neighbors where of the "white trash" variety. I know this because "Dad" walked around half the night cussing (loudly, of course) in his cowboy hat, tighty whiteys and (wait for it...) yes, his cowboy boots. Quite an education for us 14YOs. Finally, some poor traveler from the UK couldn't take it anymore & told him to shut up (in a very important sounding English accent). When we laughed loudly from our tents and other camper cheered & applauded, I guess he figured he was outnumbered & drank quietly after that.

Now THAT's a camping w/the public story!

Surfer Grrrls!

The one day we did make it to the beach (and some SUN) on Saturday the girls did have a blast. And as you can see from the pix it didn't really matter to the girls. In fact BigSpeak's new wetsuit ($30!, yeah consignment!) is keeping her so comfortable that she doesn't want to take any breaks. DaddySpeak didn't have his wetsuit so he kept making her take breaks because he was cold and she was not impressed at all. In that vein DaddySpeak explained the "potty protocol" with wetsuits. Like I said, "no breaks". TMI? Sorry. ;-) Cool pix below, huh?

Beach Babes

We did make it to the beach (in spite of the dump truck I mentioned). I paid a high price for this little trip. Packing and unpacking the car and sitting in traffic was all I was able to pull off. My back has been in attack mode ever since. Luckily my mom & GodMum were here right away and helped to keep the girls entertained and give me a break. I spent the first two days mostly on my back. I'd go do something and then I'd come back and collapse on the couch.

DaddySpeak surprised the hell out of me by showing up late Wednesday night. He got his work done and brought a few things with him to work on, but managed to get here around 9:30 that night. I'm so glad, it means so much to all of us. I can tell the girls are so thrilled to have him back. And it means so much to me when he pulls though like this, I know we're important to him and I know he's got a lot of pressure at work. I get it, I really do, I just get frustrated sometimes. (The back situation doesn't make it easier for me to deal with these things.)

That all being said, we've been fogged in all week. The beach house is in an area known as the Fog Belt. We're the first to get the fog when it comes in and the last to have it burn off. It's typical and we know it, but we've had such incredible weather all this summer that I'd almost forgotten that this is the weather we're more inclined to in the summer months. Even at it's worst it still usually burns off by noon, but not this week. We haven't seen the sun since Wednesday, so today I finally demanded that we go find a beach with some sun. (The irony is that if you go two blocks from the beach it's totally sunny, but we're picky, we want our sun on the beach.) We had to drive to Santa Cruz, and found that the wharf area & Boardwalk were really the only beaches with sun. The fog was hanging right at the edge of the beach so it wasn't exactly "warm", and it's apparently pushing 100 at home so the place was crowded. The girls didn't mind and they had fun, so that was the point right.

Since it's been foggy we've actually been doing some stuff beside just hanging at the beach, but I'll have to post more later as back is telling me it's time for another vicodin!

Chomp, Chomp, Chomp!

Can we all just agree now, that the next time DaddySpeak goes on a sailing trip it does NOT coincide with Shark Week?

99% of the shows I let the girls watch on "on demand" so guess what's on the advertising loop this week?

Da, na, da, na....

You got it. Shark Week! So now I'm constantly being bombarded with questions from BigSpeak about where DaddySpeak is sailing and could the sharks jump onto his boat? I totally blame that one on the Air Shark ad. Don't get me wrong, I love the shark week too, I just don't want to love it with my 5 & 2 year olds.

Baby, It’s Cold Outside…

Ok, if you live anywhere in the US, but the West Coast you can pick yourself up off the floor now. I know it’s not cold here compared to where you live, but for me 67 being the high is not cutting it anymore. I got used the mid-80s thing pretty quickly and now this is an rude reminder that it is not summer yet.

Oh Yeah! Hi, yes, we’re back, we’ve been back since the weekend, but I’m still trying to get back into the swing of things. So, um, sorry I’ve been absent, no our plane didn’t crash or anything.

Our trip was super fun & I totally intend to write more on it, but I’m swamped at work (of course) so I need to get a couple things done & then I’ll write you a good post; all about warm, breezy days, whales waving at us, sleeping in and cabana boys bringing super-fresh sushi and swirled margaritas. YUM! If I close my eyes I can almost feel the warmth of the sun on my skin right now. Almost.

Salute!

Hola Chicas & Chicos!

Let's all give a cheer to Senior Greenberg's for not only providing internet access, but FREE access for paying customers (1 hr max, if I apruptly get cut off you'll know why). So we made it to Cabo in spite of the fact that we missed our plane (cab never showed up and yes, we did cut it too close). We ended up buying tickets to LA via Southwest and then from LA to Cabo via Alaska. And just to be clear, the folks at Alaska (especially Linda in SJ and some guy in LA who's name escapes me for now, but hopefully I will remember cause) they both went out of their way to try and "fix" our day for us. And let us also mention the nice lady working the bar at SJ airport who kept our glasses full while we wait to head out. When we did get here we were feeling a bit ragged (having been up since 4 AM!) so it was very nice to arrive at our hotel and see that it really is super posh. We have a view of the pool and the Pacific. I can not believe how large the waves are here ! There's no swimming at our beach, but it's not an issue. DaddySpeak is a really good swimmer and tends to disregard those warnings sometimes, but not this time. He couldn't get over the drop off on the beach. It's the result of the waves.

My first impression of the Los Cabos area was that it looks a lot like home during the summer. That's because we basically flew down the San Andreas fault. But the best thing was first thing in the AM DS goes out on our balcony & OMG we got to see a pod of whales go by. Same thing this AM, so we're foregoing the whale watching boats since we can watch them for free from our room.

Yesterday we walked around a lot, checked things out, went on our obligatory "hotel tour". Our host was really cool, he realized right off we were not interested, and cut us lose right off. In the afternoon I hung by the pool and drank swirled margaritas. I perdict they will be the new popular drink down here by the time I leave. Last night we went out. The wind here is COLD!!! So we ended up eating in a restuarant that was relatively empty to be inside; Captain Fish. We ordered oysters on the half shell & were kinda feeling a bit "taken" since it was $10 for a half doz when we pay $1 each at home. But then they brought them out. OMG! I've never seen oysters this large before. One of them was so large it could've eaten us! That alone could've been my diner, but we split dinner too. Then we went bar hopping. We started a CaboWabo which was fun. The crowd was our age so it was good. After a couple margaritas there I was feeling no pain, I had started the drink a rita, drink a bottle of water, but the ritas were ahead of me. So I stopped. We headed to Giggling Marlin, where we danced for a while & DS did a couple of jello shots. (Bad Idea.) Then we headed to Squid Row where we were some of the old folks there (it's Spring Break here!) Well, us and a half doz dirty old men. It was ok, but a lot of the kids there were sloppy drunk, so that part was lame. We danced for a while there, DS did a couple more jello shots and we headed home.

We were home before midnight. DS over did it.

I mentioned to him at the beginning of the evening to remember we need to pace ourselves, and by the time we were headed home, I was sobered up. I'm sure I wouldn't have passed a DUI check, but my buzz had more or less worn off. DS, on the other hand, had the spins. He got so sick, that we know now, that
1) housekeeping does not work 24 hrs at our resort and
2) the only bucket like item in our room is the ice bucket.

It was a long night, part of which he spent next to the toilet, but he was good as new today and has eaten & everything. I had a very expensive (but worth every penny) spa day today; mani, pedi, & facial at the same time AND a back & neck massage. It was lovely, and NOW I really feel like I'm on vacation. Tomorrow, DS is going fishing, I'll probably lay by the pool all day. On Wed, we're scheduled for a snorkleing booze cruise (not sure that's a great combo, but we'll see) and we're going to go sign up for the sunset cruise in a bit here.

We are having a blast, so I raise a swirled rita to you internet & hopefully you'll hear back from me again soon this week.

Hola! From What Better Be Sunny Cabo!

After some research DaddySpeak and I determined there does not seem to be a Starbucks in Cabo San Lucas, Gasp! I know, I was shocked too! I had no idea we were headed somewhere so remote! Anywho, the resort we're staying at will charge us like $20 a day for internet service, so we are going to take a true step back in time & travel without a laptop! Oh, sorry, guess I should've warned you to sit down first. Soooo, if we find that there is an internet cafe there then you will realize this little post is moot. But if you just came over here and this is what you got, (Yes, I flake on Fun Monday, sorry, but...) you know those Corona commercials? That's me right now! And let me tell you after the day I just had (it's almost 2 AM & I have a 6 AM flight what does that tell you?) I NEED this vacation.

I will however miss the girls desperately, so to deal with that I promise to drink an abundance of tequila. Cheers! Salute! Adios!

It's 84 and Sunny in Cabo today!

And tomorrow, and the next day, and as far as the forecast out. I will be in Cabo as of Saturday and I'm so antsy to get there I can hardly stand it!!! Warm sun, sand, cabana boys w/ umbrella drinks for me & DaddySpeak. (Ok, he can have Cabana Girls bringing him his drinks, but only if there's an umbrella in them and if the girls are at least as old as me. ;-)

I can. not. wait! I will miss my girls so very, very much though. But SUN! And UMBRELLA DRINKS! more later....

The post in which I float away…..

I live in CA, have you seen us on the national weather map? We are under the big green blob the West. The one indicating heavy rain. It has been raining since last weekend. In California. Usually we don’t get that much water for any length of time. I ordered wellies during the big storms we had a few weeks ago, cause they were cute & I was jealous of the kids with all their cute shoes. My husband & mother laughed at me, cause you know, we get so much rain here.

Suddenly I don’t feel so foolish, or wet.

We were supposed to go back up to Tahoe this weekend, but being the wussies that we are, we bailed. We were supposed to go with some friends this time & they were not impressed that we backed out, but they didn’t just sit in the car with toddlers during a storm. Dude, the thought of 8+ hours in the car w/DD2 who just lurves riding in her car seat and communicates that through screaming at the top of her lungs, (for HOURS) made us rethink the whole deal. As I sit here listening to it get worse and worse, I’m glad we did. So instead of sitting the car listening to the screams & whines of toddlers, I’m sitting here listening to Sesame Street the gurgling of the gutters as they’re overloaded with water.
It’s weird to have an unscheduled weekend for a change. Guess I should take advantage of it and start working on those resolutions related to the house.

Got an Hour? I've got a post for you!

Sorry for the delay in posting, I’ll explain in a minute and I think you’ll understand.

At this point Miami feels a bit like a long ago event to me. So sad that those vacation feelings fade so quickly, huh? Sigh.

Vacation was glorious. I got over my Fibro episode after about a day and half and it was all good. In fact, I wasn’t spectacular about my low carb diet the whole vacation; I had vodka strawberry daiquiris (diet coke & vanilla stolli got old quick) and even had some pita one night! Gasp! The humanity of it, I know.

I found it hard to be on vacation & not eat some of these evil carb containing foods. I consider a huge part of travel to be the food. And guess what, there’s a lot of food that is based on carbohydrates. So I just tried not to go to town; I didn’t waste the carbs I was having on things I didn’t care that much about, and actually did really well. I’m guess I’m still learning how much my body will and won’t tolerate. I still haven’t quite figured out what my balance is; meaning the range of carbs I can eat each day and maintain my weight. I still lost 2 lbs on vacation, so even eating the carbs I did eat, I lost some weight. That was a bit of an epiphany. I have now hit the weight I was at prior to having both kids. Crazy, huh? I’ve dieted, I’ve exercised, and I’ve managed to lose some weight and inches in the past, but nothing like this; this is almost like it’s melting off. I won’t think about it until I put on a pair jeans I haven’t worn all summer and find that they now sit on my hips instead of my waist. The little episode in Florida also served another purpose: it confirmed that I am controlling my Fibromyalgia with diet. A few years ago, I would never have thought it possible. I was grateful that I had found a drug regimen that was working for me (many people aren’t that lucky). But I have to admit I did have a nagging worry about the long term affects of being on those drugs. Ultimately I wasn’t treating the syndrome, I was treating the symptoms. But if relief of symptoms was the best I could get I’d take it. I may not being doing much different; but now I don’t think I’m suppressing symptoms by this diet. I believe I’m actually treating my syndrome. I imagine it’s a bit like an allergy to a food. In my case it’s a group of foods. If I eat them, I won’t go into shock, but I will get sick and I now seem to know what causes it. I hope they will soon be able to discover the why. The weight loss has been an added benefit and I have to admit I’m thrilled. I hope to lose another 5-10 lbs (down another dress size) and I’d be exceptionally happy with that. I still eat a ton, so that’s the best part, I don’t feel deprived and my overall health and looks have improved. OMG, sometimes I think I’m going to wake up & realize it’s all just been a dream. And I may have to bitch-slap myself over this last paragraph. Seriously, the weight loss has been easy.

So back to vacation; we had a couple glorious days of laying on the beach. I know, not very good for your skin in the long run. But the short term…Dude! I have such an awesome tan! Personally, there isn’t much more relaxing than sitting on the warm sand of the beach while a cabana boy brings you cocktails. Bliss.

I knew I needed a vacation, I just didn’t realize how badly. It was lovely, and it was nice to have so much time with DS, just the two of us. We did realize that we spent a lot of time watching families with kids the same age as ours. We both missed the girls very much. We didn’t pine over it, but we found that they were always on our mind. We stayed out late (and realized we’re kinda over that whole Spring Break scene—too much work) and slept in late. We ate dinner at 10 PM, and sat on the patio of bars watching the whole South Beach scene while sipping cocktails late in the early morning hours. (We love to be the peanut gallery.) It was fun, but we’re both very, very glad to be home. The girls were excellent at the G’parents and have actually been better behaved (knock on wood) since we’ve been back, so maybe we all needed this break.

On Monday, I got back onto work and reality hit. I was greeted by a not very nice email which pretty much stressed me out for the next 24 hours. The fact that it stressed me out added to my stress; honestly, I don’t want to care that much when it comes to this job & this place. While I’m not going to go into details the email was somewhat of personal attack & that’s a lot of why it stressed me out. I spent most of my Monday stressing about how I wanted to respond to it and crafting that response. Tuesday morning I was able to mostly put it out of my mind & focus on my girls and today I greeted by what might be somewhat of an apology. Go Figure. I’m glad I was able to more or less put it away when not here (although I did notice that my need for chocolate went up exponentially,) but it still irks me that it was able to get to me to the degree it did. It also irks me that this person effective dropped a bomb & walked away with no regard for the consequences of their statements. BAH!

I was going to write yesterday, but in an effort to put that email aside I mostly stayed away from the computer. I had a lovely day of coloring and playing outside with the girls. We had lunch w/my dad (he surprised DD#1 by showing up to watch her gymnastics class) and while DD#2 took her nap, DD#1 and I colored together which was really fun. It was nice to just hang out with her and not have her whining at me. When DD#2 got up we went for a walk (it was perfect here yesterday) and ended up hanging out for the afternoon at a neighbors house. My house isn’t any cleaner, but we were all relaxed & happy and isn’t that what really matters most?

We aren't in Kansas anymore, Toto!

So we’re in Miami.

Our trip was pretty non-eventful; we had a few issues w/DS’s itinerary; had the next days date on it and then upon clearing it up finding that we weren’t sitting together, but a bit of schmoozing and we had the bulkhead seats, so it actually worked out better for us. Compared to the last trip, it was heavenly.

We got here about 9 EST so by the time we got to the hotel & such everyone was ready to eat & drink. We all headed to the main hotel and had bar food for dinner. When that bar kicked us out (at like 12) we went to another real bar w/a couple bands & drank there for a while. Very fun. Very DINKs (Double Income No Kids, which was us before we hard our lovely babies) of us. Ummm, minor detail I forgot; on American (at least in coach) they don’t serve food, just drinks. You can buy food, ridiculously priced of course, but otherwise, not even a bag o’peanuts. We knew this, so in the airport I purchased a sandwich for DS & a salad for myself. Cool. Only when I went to eat my salad, no dressing. IIt was a bummer, but I had some low carb granola bars with me so I ate one of those. Of course, when we started drinking I kinda forgot to take into account that I really hadn’t eaten and started downing Morgan’s & cokes. And since after like 2 sips I was feeling no pain, I continued to drink them all night. I also forgot to order them as Morgan’s & Diet Cokes. Minor detail, which it turns out has major consequences.

Yeah, my body totally rebelled on me.

I woke up the next morning feeling dehydrated, not really hung over, but dehydrated. I started drinking lots of water & about 2 hours later got a headache. I still chalk that up to dehydration. About an hour after that, my stomach rebelled. I’ll leave it at that, you can use your imagination. By dinnertime I was fully nauseous. I ordered dinner took like two bites & declared myself done. The thought of food was making we queasy by now. So we came home by 9 & were in bed by 10. I woke up every hour because I so uncomfortable & I kept the ice bucket (lined w/a plastic bag) next to the bed because more then once I thought I was going to lose it (my lunch to be specific).

DS’s conference started today, so after he left I sort of passed out for about 2 hours, which made me feel slightly more human. Now, I have those “haven’t had any sleep” body cramps. Except that mine our mitigated by the fibro, which makes them more intense & longer lasting then the usual ones. I could nap & drink lots of water, but time & consistency (low, low carb) are what will help get rid of them. I hope.
So it’s 2 in the afternoon & I just finished getting dressed. (I move very slowly when I hurt this much). I’ve had half a bottle of water since I’ve been up & I’m about halfway through a low carb granola bar (only think I had to snack on in the room). I think I’m ready to go look for something more substantial like cheese or eggs. I’ve looked up bus routes & the hours of several things I want to go do, (most are closed today) so it hasn’t been a totally wasted day. And while I’m still queasy, my stomach has stopped doing flip flops at the thought of food. We haven’t seen much of the sun, or I’d probably be down by the pool now w/a book. If we had the kids with us, we’d there or the beach for sure, it’s in low 80s & pretty nice overall. Since I don’t have the kids, I’m going to walk to the closest ATM & then walk to the nearby (about 3 city blocks) Macy’s. (My purse is killing me, I forgot how much pressure it puts on my neck. I need a stroller ;) I don’t really have a “summer purse” since I’ve spent the last two summers schlepping a diaper bag. I’m hoping to find something that won’t hurt my neck so much, but is usable. So we’ll see. If all of that goes well, I’ll probably go read at a Starbucks for a while. If I decide I’m feeling really good I’ll go check out Coconut Grove (supposed to have good shopping). So we’ll see.
Next post I’ll hopefully have some pix of the “colorful” attire we’ve been seeing down in South Beach. It’s so exactly what you’d expect from South Beach. My inner 10-year-old boy is working overtime.

Head East Young Man...errr South East, errr Middle aged couple....Whatever, Get Going Before You Change Your Mind!

I just finished putting together a power of attorney document for my kids while we’re gone. We’re headed to Miami for a week on Saturday.

No kids.

I’m not sure how I feel about it now that it’s so close to happening.

When I was making reservations I was still breastfeeding, so the thought of being able to be away from the kids for that length of time was beyond exciting. Originally, I was planning on flying out on Wednesday, DS is going for a conference and will be attending functions Monday – Wednesday. Once I started researching flights I realized it was actually cheaper for me if I fly on the weekends, even though I’m staying longer. Go Figure. Since the hotel room is the same either way we decided to go for it. We haven’t had more then an overnight alone in 5 years! Since before DD1 was born. The thought of having that much free time was intoxicating.

OMG, I can lay by the pool and read a book! Not a short article in a
magazine, but an honest-to-goodness book. I can get a pedicure and not
have to schedule around naps and babysitting availability. We can go out
to dinner at EIGHT PM and no one will freak out.

Ok, DS might freak out, but if I get him a beer and some chips he’ll be fine.

The idea of that much freedom seemed like such a pipedream!

The plan is to hang in Miami until Thursday and then we’re going to drive down to Key West for a couple days. I’m sure we’ll take our time getting there. I’m excited because I’ve never even been to Florida before and I’ve always wanted to visit The Keys. I’m excited to get to spend some alone time with my husband, to be a couple for a little while again, instead of a “family” all the time, to travel without a hard plan, to relax without an end time to it, to be able to decide I want to go do something and just be able to get up and go do it. Oh, and to drive in the car without anyone saying anything, just enjoying the sound of each other's silence.

Don’t get me wrong I’m still nervous about this trip. For some reason, I tend to get very fatalistic about flying. I’m not really scared to fly and dude, I used to be a premier member for years on United so it’s not like I haven’t done more then my fair share of travel. But I do get nervous about the flying thing. I guess it would be more accurate to say I’m nervous about the not-flying thing. You know, crashing or something equally awful. Ok, I said it, so now it won’t happen right?

I’m also nervous about leaving the girls. I know I’m going to miss them like heck. As lovely as a pedicure on my own time and lounging by the pool with a book sounds, it ultimately pales in comparison to the giggles and hugs of my kids. I know they’ll be fine and the G’parents have some big plans for them, so they’re going to have lots of fun. But it still doesn’t make this easier. I am going to miss them soooo much. There’s a reason we haven’t had more then an overnight alone in 5 years and it’s not the babysitting issue. It’s that we really love being with our girls. In most situations, we’d rather have them with us than not. There have been opportunities to do things for a weekend here and there without them, and we’ve opted not do that. If possible, we take them with us. We don’t just love them, we like them too. Most of all we love being around them and I’m so very glad for that.

My mom acts put out that I’m going to leave them for 7 days instead of 4. Apparently 4 is ok in her book, but 7 is ridiculous. Personally, I think I’ll miss them equally 2 days or 2 weeks, that’s part of why I decided it was ok to go earlier. I know I can use a recharge, so ultimately it’ll be good for all of us. Doesn’t mean it’ll be easy, but it will be good.

In case things get so busy I can’t get back on here in the next couple days, pray for really good weather in So FL for me. I totally want to lie by the pool/on the beach and get a tan. When it rains I plan on shopping, spa treatments and sitting in coffee shops while reading. All those things I never get to do anymore because I have kids. I’m bringing my laptop, so assuming I can pick up some WiFi I’ll post when I can, which with no kids around may be more then I have things to write about. Of, course I can always bore you with the details of how much I miss them. And if you have any suggestions for things we need to do/see in the Miami/Keys area by all means please post it, I would love to hear your suggestions.

So here's my Sept. scrap book pages to hold you over in the meantime (names have been changed to protect the cute) :