Simple Woman's Daybook 7/21

FOR TODAY the July 21, 2011

Outside my window... when I started this... the stars are moving slowly across an inky black sky, lit up by the shining moon... everything outlined in it's sliver glow.

I am thinking... I should blog some of my 1000 gifts again. I need to number them still. ;)

I am thankful... for a lovely visit with my sister and her little blessings! We live so close, yet see so little of each other. **sniff**

From the learning rooms... We are studying Egypt and the Exodus.. had fun making unleavened bread that we all called Matza and singing Seder songs :)

In the kitchen... I have some birthday celebration plans cooking (in my head) so I'll be deep frying some "Sioux Burgers" (or Indian tacos) and making a Hot Fudge cake that is Carob instead of chocolate.

I am wearing... Short jean capris, black nursing top, bare feet (does that count as wearing?)

I am creating... I made a gift for my mom. (I can write this here because she doesn't read blogs) It will be our 30th Anniversary, otherwise known as my birthday, but I've always wondered why Mother's don't get a thank you gift (or something) on the anniversary of a life changing day for them and the years of work! So I got her 30 sugar free chocolates and a nice card that I wrote a note to her in (I added a tissue too, just in case) It's nothing big, but I hope it's message comes through well!

I am going... to be a little more of a home-body for a bit (see post bringing you up to speed for details) as Hubby is still a bit concerned about my health.

I am wondering... if I should pursue the Neurologist route (for health issue) like before or just figure they don't know what happens or why, and not spend the time and money?

I am reading... Bible ~Always!~ Blogs ;) school reading with the kids.

I am hoping... our little garden will make it... we seem to have early blight, but being new to all this we don't know for certain and don't know what will come of our efforts to slow it.

I am looking forward to... The weekend with Hubby home :) (and maybe a nap soon?)

I am hearing... children playing wildly! The sound of the keyboard's programed songs and occasional concert by a child; the soft swishing of the cooler and the dryer.

Around the house... We've made some head way around places... I am hoping to spot treat the carpet soon, and was trying to come up with a ceremonial cleanse to do after a room, or piece of room, is finished being cleaned. :)

I am pondering... if the same people who don't understand having "so (too) many children" or think it would be overwhelming, would feel the same way with 6 (only because I currently have 6) of their best friends around them... would it be too many people then? would they still feel over whelmed?

One of my favorite things... gentle wind blowing on my skin.

A few plans for the rest of the week: Spot treating the carpet, possibly even steam cleaning it all... hmm. I have a few other house work projects, and school work (we do year round) I hope to get my oldest blessing out to shop for dresses tomorrow.

Here is picture for thought I am sharing...


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More pics from Camping

Just some scenery and flora to share :)

Our next stop is... the Twilight Zone...

(Makes me wanna go "do-do do-do, do-do do-do.")

The other day, as Hubby Dear replaced the swamp cooler pads and we both finished making some dinner, I suddenly started to smell something "medical." Like a first aid kit smell, or betadine like... only no one else smelled it.
This sent my mind whirling! Since I have some sort of dream like "happy place" my brain vacations while I am unconscious, it made me wonder if I was conscious or not... was I really "down for the count" and someone (paramedics? hospital staff?) was using medical smelling stuff on or near me?
As I try to talk myself back into reality, it becomes increasingly difficult to tell what reality is... the kids are all very happy... they're being overly sweet and complimenting everything... everyone is eating without complaint! This must be my "happy place!"
After all, one would want everyone happy, and complimenting them or their meal... I know that my conscious self would want a utopia happy place to vacation, perhaps my unconscious self does too?
I can't explain how it felt exactly, aside from Twilight Zone awkward.

Hours later Hubby finally said he too could smell it and I felt a little less odd. Yet it still strikes me as crazy to ever wonder if you are conscious or not! :-/

Camping! (picture heavy)

So we headed to one of our favorite spots in the White Mountains of the Eastern Sierra Nevadas; Rock Creek Lake!
On heading there we knew we may run into some thunder storms, but we didn't have a choice on when this vacation time had to be used, so we decided it was a chance worth taking!

On the drive there, we got a preview of the storm awaiting us...

To the West of us
(and in the direction of our camp area)

To the East of us

We got there well afternoon and, after scoping out the area a minute, started unloading. I was just getting set to put up the tent when it started to rain... then pour, and thunder and lightening! "Just do the next thing." The kids hid in the van while Hubby and I managed to set up the tent with minimal water inside. Then I went to work getting it wiped out and beds set up while he went back and forth hauling what could be brought out in the rain.
It was chilly! We were soaked!!!
Once we were set up enough we got everyone into the tent and into dry clothes.
I kept thinking how hard it can sometimes be to make lemonade with the lemons life gives you, but we kept trying.

We managed to get a tarp set up (mostly) over the table area and as the storm subsided also managed an easy, hot dinner. It was late, we were cold, damp and tired. Some of our clothing in our bags got damp, so we had to choose wisely what could be worn. Thankfully I always pack extra! We all went to bed early (for us)

Sometime in the night Pumpkin woke up feeling ill. She threw up a few times all over herself and Hubby and I were scrambling to get to her and help! After doing what we could to clean her and change her we all settled back in and hardly slept.
We generally wake earlier while camping, and this trip was no exception. Happy groggy people, we were up and 2 hours earlier than at home! The sun was Shining! :)

Sadly, this is where Brianna starts complaining about her tummy; thankfully, this is where she pukes *in* the bucket thing.

We set out a bunch of wet stuff to sun dry, made food, then improvised a way to wash Pumpkin's hair that got icky in the night time sickness mess.
Did I mention that some lemons are hard and dry? ;)

But it wasn't all rain storms and vomit!
We had visitors at our camp!

A couple of little birds that beg better than our dogs! came around and fairly close to us.

We set out some crumbs and waited a bit to see if they would come closer.


We went for a little walk around the campsites near the creek that feeds the lake.

Looking to one side of the bridge crossing.

and to the other side.

(Notice those trees *in* the water? they aren't normally in the lake!)

We got a little sprinkled on and the sky looked like:So we headed back to camp early.

Hubby and I had spent the morning tarping half the camp so we would have extra shelter over the tent and an area to sit in if the rain started back up again. Though we got to hear more thunder and get a little sprinkled on, we did not have another downpour. That almost seemed sad after all the preps we'd made to get ready for it! ;)


We did a nice camp fire and dinner that night. We always bring stuff for S'mores, but find this neat dessert more to our family's tastes.
It is Apple Pie filling (though we have used Peach too) and Pop-can Cinnamon Rolls. This year we made it Apple Cranberry by adding in 1/2 a can of Whole Cranberry Sauce to 1 can of Apple. (For the size of the rolls though it would've been better to do 2 Apple and 1 Cranberry! but we were trying to avoid leftovers... which also didn't work! lol) It bakes in our Dutch oven with coals on top and underneath. (even if you don't camp, it is an excellent dessert or brunch addition and very easy!)

Night 2 it was Neno's turn to be pukey (also thankful he made it with the bucket) and I did not feel so well, so once again we all went to bed early. We did sleep much better than the night before and when that earlier-than-normal morning came we all felt fine. Which was nice since it was our last day there!

We decided to pack up slowly through out the day and leave pretty late. It was nice and finally warm there, but we knew the minute we left the mountain we'd be back in the hot of the desert!
After lunch we went up to Mosquito Flat Trail Head for a small hike. Living up to it's name well, the mosquitoes were there en mass and some seemed starved!
The area we had been through when there a couple of years ago was all marshy now and the river in places was frightening to a mom with an overly confident 2 and 3/4 year old! More than once I caught my breath and grasped her hand again... that is when Mo or Neno weren't scaring me!

After getting some pictures in places that we have pictures of our kiddos from previous years, which is fun for "mile markers." :) we headed back to camp and packing up. The kids continued to play and help as they could. Everyone's favorite way to help was to play with Karissa in the tent so she could crawl around a bit. :) (and not eat too many icky things she'd find!)

We left late in the evening and I joked about getting to see the sunset twice that day since it would be up still outside of our mountain area. The first 2 hours were uneventful and easy traveling, but Karissa woke up and was not happy! We had to make it to the nearest town to pull over and check on her as there really isn't much off the side of the highway! Making it to a park 20 minutes later, she was fed and checked all over... just fine. So back in the seat she went and back on the road she was quite vocal about her disdain for that carseat! Finally we made it home, washed everyone and Hubby and I got in bed at 3am!
We were tired, but happy and very glad to have our own beds! :)

In the end, I think we did squeeze some lemonade out of those lemons! We persevered, had some good times and probably made memories for our kids to enjoy later in their lives. Talking with them after we got back, we've emphasized that life isn't always easy, but work with whatever you've got. Maybe instead of lemons, you got rocks... but maybe you need those rocks to beat your wheat into fine flour! :) Not the trip we expected, but certainly glad we got the opportunity and the lessons and memories to share!

Happy Trails!

Bringing you up to speed...

So I last posted in the Simple Woman's Daybook about the stitches being removed and camping... since then both have happened and neither went quite as planned.
I think I'll talk about camping in a separate post with some lovely shots Hubby got :)

That means for now I am back to not explaining what makes Monica so Medically Mysterious! :-/
In 2006 I posted "Really have something to say?" and oddly enough my stats page says people still find it a few times per week! Maybe I am not alone in my mystery???

On occasion, and for no apparent reason, I loose consciousness completely and seem to have a seizure. It has been 5 1/2 years since the last time I did so... until Friday the 1st after I had the stitches removed. It was a hot day, and we were rushed, so I didn't eat very well (bad idea for someone with blood sugar issues, I know) then we had to wait about 15 minutes in the heat of the day for the office to open back up after lunch break. The site of the cyst removal was painful still, but I found out it was infected and not healed at all when Dr removed the stitches. She cleaned it and poked at it (OUCH) asking if it hurt. It was sometime after that when I felt like I would faint. I said so, lay down on the table-bed thing and then woke up there confused. :-/ I did better this time coming back to consciousness than usual, and I guess it is a blessing to have a medical professional see it to describe it to the Neurologist she wants me to see. I was only out for about a minute, and took only about a half hour to 45 minutes to mostly recover.

They sent me for an MRI stat and I have not heard a thing about it, so I'm guessing it was normal like the last one I had 13 years ago. In case you have never had an MRI, they are loud and confined; they feel like they take a long time too! We had to have a dye injected to give contrast, and being last minute I had no plan for back up food for my nursing baby! Thankfully, the quick Google search reassured us that it was a minimal risk to her to ingest what little would go through the breast milk and we soldiered on.
I had to have valium with my other MRI as I have had issues with confined spaces, but they are not so bad any more and I did just fine with this one sans drugs. I had friends praying and I truly felt like I was being held by God as I lay there trying to hold still. As loud as it was there, even with ear plugs, it was (in a strange twist) a restful place, where I was still before my Abba and enjoyed (as best as one could) the solitude together.

So now I am supposed to make an appt for a Neurologist again, and see if we can once again say it isn't epilepsy. I don't really want to go, have tests and hear "I don't know" again. I think it is a waste of our time and our money! One the other hand, what if we do discover something that we didn't before? What if finding it would be helpful to one of my children later in their life? What if the 5+ years since my last few tests and the 7+ years since my last real Neuro visit have given Medical Science a chance to figure out a few of my oddities???
I had felt before like the enemy of our souls was trying to get at me with the appliance failures from November til now: Vacuum, Dishwasher, Dryer & Washer (old then the new) then a different new washer failure, the swamp cooler needing a few parts it shouldn't have, the oven temp gauge on the fritz, and it seemed endless! So now we seem to have bodies breaking down... over a month of pass-the-illness and mystery-illness-roulette; a couple/few infections for me and rounds of antibiotics (which I rarely/never take... but did this time) and then the return of this strange seizure like event that I thought I was finally through with. It made me wonder if the enemy is just changing tactics? Is this just some distraction from what is really important? Is this some sort of testing or "sifting" to further refine my view of God?
Is it all of those things? none of them?

I left out all of the explanations I have in the '06 post, but there are links to some good information on Hypoglycemia, Epilepsy, and Non-Epileptic Seizures. I guess I'll have to keep this posted with what we decide needs to be done or not done, and any "official" Specialist answers... or lack there of. ;)

Prayers appreciated!