Tuesday, April 28, 2015

Mystery solved

I recently listened to a fashion podcast when it dawned on me: the people who are really into style and fashion are the ones that are very interested in it.  It's something they really enjoy.

It cleared up an old mystery for me; which is, why I have never had any fashion sense.  I'm just not interested. Sure, I like to "look cute" . . . but when it comes right down to it, I just don't have it in me.  Ditto on the make-up and hair.  I'm not willing to commit the time and effort when I could be doing something else. So that's why. Whew! I thought there was something wrong with me.

I used to assume it was a deficiency not be imbued with any sense in this area, but now I have the maturity and experience to realize that it takes all kinds.  We all have our own specialties. What a gift.

Mind blown. Again.

Wednesday, April 22, 2015

Barf festival

My goodness.  Getting at blogging is harder and harder for me these days. Shucks, I just sent out our 2014 Christmas letter just last week.  Pretty much anything other than daily survival is hard to get to at this point in life.

I feel like a college student, talking about how busy I am all the time.  Blah blah blah.  But seriously.  I am enmeshed.  Hopefully it doesn't sound like all I do is complain about how I can't keep up with life.  Eegads.

We were at my parents for three weeks this March/April.  It started off with a bang, with five hours at the airport resulting in a cancelled flight, subsequently rescheduled for two days later, and a 4 year old who woke up throwing up the morning we were supposed to leave.  We bit the bullet and decided to go for it, but realized a day later, that, oh dear, we had probably spread the stomach flu all along the way. Crap.

All five of us slept on the bathroom floor the second night we were at my parents' house, sometimes crowding around the bathroom two-and-three at a time to puke our guts out, until there was nothing left but black bile.  Truen had it the worst, then Eliah, then Diego and me, then Jamie.  If Jamie had had it like Truen or Eliah, we would have never have decided to travel.

But travel we did.

The entire first week was spent recovering from the Norovirus (we all barely ate for days and everyone was weak and thin), broiled in hyper-vigilance over cleanliness and sanitation so as to not spread the virus to my parents, sister, brother, sister-in-law and their new baby.  I wiped everyone's butts wearing disposable gloves, used a spray bottle with bleach solution like a vigilante, and didn't allow anyone touch that sweet little babe until the second-to-last day of their week-long visit.  Eegads again.

It was hard not to be able to cuddle that plump little lass, but the very thought of a 3 month old with the stomach flu prevented any temptation whatsoever.

Also: for the record. I can remember my midwife saying at one point that "activated charcoal does wonders for the stomach flu".  We had given Jamie charcoal the morning we left, but didn't have the experience or insight to administer it to anyone else as a preventative measure.

However, as I was laying on the bathroom floor the morning after a night of puking my guts out, I realized that that is what she was talking about.  Taking it after the puking starts doesn't make sense, because you won't be able to hold anything down. But taking it after exposure to inhibit or damper the side effects, that makes sense.

I immediately told my mom, who started taking it along with everyone else in the household.  My mom did get sick (usually a 1-2 day incubation period, spread by fecal or vomit contamination), but she never actually threw up.  She had the body aches and a tender stomach, but barfing was not in the picture.

So the actual experience and recovery time will be much, much better with activated charcoal.

FYI for future reference.