A few races and food, some theme parks and food, and a cruise...

[bumbershoot]

Oh I know you need it!

I don't know that we NEED it, but it's coming, and along with it a big long run. Yikes!

 

[kaoden39]

I think that everybody needs a break!

 

[bumbershoot]

Sometimes even I wonder what, exactly, I'm taking a break from?

Apart from my guys playing hours of Lego Marvel videogames and Infinity, that is.

Went to an actual party last night and it was lovely. It's possible I'm starting to slowly move towards getting beyond my near-crippling social anxiety. Here's hoping!

 

[kaoden39]

Trust me. You are a mom that homeschools her son and runs a household. You deserve your vacation.

 

[annmarieda]

I made almond milk today. The process would have been faster and easier if I had the right equipment. I was spurred to do it by a friend who had some interesting nutrition/dietary advice for me, and who made almond milk right there in her kitchen to show me how easy it is (though I'll mention that she did have the almonds soaking in water already). Sure, if you have a Vitamix and a proper cheesecloth type bag it's totally simple. Oster and a fine sieve, however...not AS easy.

Added some agave and vanilla, and yum! The friend sweetened hers with dates then put in organic cocoa powder and coconut oil. Wowza.

It's hard to figure out how to track the calories/points for this!

But it's tasty.

Sounds tasty! Sounds like some work though. I do like the kind at the store.... and I am much more lazy so I will probably just stick with that. It is intriguing thought that you made it at home.

My training is not going as well as it had been. Eek! It's just so darned cold! Just ordered a hydration backpack, though (the Nathan Intensity for women). Almost no time to try it out, but I gotta have it, gotta use it. No real choice, know what I mean? If I can hand-carry a 22oz bottle of water with me and not chuck it in a firey retention pond, I can deal with 2L of water on my back. Right? Right! It almost has to be less annoying than my waist pack which kept migrating in circles.

I forgot about the firey retention pond.

I have two boxes of magicbands on their way to me right now. Love that I'll get the variety of colors, but it's all so silly. Hope they can work it out soonish so we don't have to end up with 18 million MBs. Not everyone likes all colors; not everyone wants all colors. My aunt, for instance, simply wanted blue for the 3 stays she's on my reservations for.


Just noticed this on my magicband page.



Good to see it in writing. I wonder if this card is the same card that ISN'T being given at a few resorts all of a sudden. Considering that I'm staying at one or two of them on this trip, that notice is interesting.

I know! I really hope they get it cut down to not needing a new one. I know that with the disney visa rewards card... they use to issue new ones each time. Now they just say "our records show you have one, would you like to load to it?" Or something there about. Seems like the magic bands could have something similar happen.

Did 12.5 today. Did 3.1 first with Eamon, dropped him off at home, and went on back out. Started too late, was out too late. Won't do that again! But I did have my bright while hydration backpack on and blinky lights both front and back. And while I was wearing grey top and black shorts, I think my blinding white legs would be a clue that there was something on the sidewalk.

My toes hurt.

2 weeks from now...14 miles. I've GOT to find a route where I'm not climbing 600 feet in the last 2 miles.


Given how I felt, I'm going to have to cancel one of my dining things that afternoon/evening. I'm not going to have the energy or the belly for both, I think.

Kudos for the mileage. Personally, it has been a rough couple training months and I am very grateful for the tapering.

This is the oddest yuletime. First, we managed to miss doing our present-opening on Yule/solstice. So we're going with the 25th to be "normal" Americans.

We got out our artificial tree that we got for free last year when Goodwill wouldn't accept it from the guy next to us at the donation station. Alas, we didn't protect it well enough, and when DH moved it from our storage space in the garage, 8-legged critters came out of it. That's the whole reason we switched to artificial (the real trees we kept getting tended to hatch a few weeks into the season) so it went to the dump. And while DH was donating some clothes, he was able to find another interested person who didn't mind our issue with the tree.

So we have no tree. Might just have to decorate the easel again.

Amost treating today more like getting ready for New Year's, with lots of cleaning up! Hey, nothin' wrong with that!

We did manage to get a tree up... a fake one. Last year we decided the real ones tend to die and given our hectic lives...well, fake is better. now I just am ready to get it all put away and get on with new years clean up!

 

[bumbershoot]

Trust me. You are a mom that homeschools her son and runs a household. You deserve your vacation.

You are too sweet.



Ann, I'm a fake-tree convert! Now we just have to get a new one. Those puppies are expensive!

Even with the wrong equipment, my biggest issue with the almond milk is trying to figure out how to count it in my day's food allowance. If only we all had home-calorimeters, right? Oh, I'm the only one that wants that? Hmm.



Packing problems. I'm the type that likes to take ALL the "essentials" in my carryon. (totally the correct size, I'm not stuffing any huge bags up there) But...this shoulder thing is going to make stowing the carryon difficult. And E isn't quite tall enough to totally help with the situation.

I laughed and said that Robert could go out with us on Sat and then home on Sun, but when I not-so-jokingly checked out the costs...yeah, would be about $1300 for that fun little trip for him.

 

[kaoden39]

Molly,

I consider myself realistic.

 

[bumbershoot]

Too much to do. Too much to think about. Blindsided by a call from my father-person today; nothing terrible or anything, really, just his inability to followthrough with anything, even a proper bit of communication...

And now I'm feeling absolutely and totally overwhelmed by tomorrow's packing and then this HUGE trip we're taking. What on earth was I thinking? We should have just flown home after the races, taken 2 weeks off, then come back to start with the cruise.

Realized tonight that they changed planes on us, our seats don't actually exist on our flight now, and they can't change our seats online. AWESOME.

Trying to pare down the number of bags we're taking.

Got my two pretty dresses back from the alterations person. Yay! Note: if your seamstress charges per seam worked on (and if you know they have to adjust every seam to make it all perfect), just take out the lining of your dress!

Maybe some sleep will help. I've hit the doldrums! The dreaded "I don't wanna go" stage! Nooooooo......



Oh and I miss my half-siblings, but I doubt I will ever have a relationship with them. It's really really sad. But they were kids when I really knew them; one of us has WAY more remembered memories than the other 3.

 

[kaoden39]

Molly,

I am sorry you are feeling like this. I hope after a good nights sleep you'll feel better.

 

[nancy drew]

I am sorry you are dealing with anxiety/stress right now. I get that way before a trip too. I had doubts before coming down here, and major doubts before heading to WDW. Once you are here you will be fine. At least I usually am fine once we are there.

Plus I am so excited to meet you, and my kids are excited to meet E! Eyes on the prize!!

 

[annmarieda]

If it helps to hear... you aren't alone in the "final days before a trip" panic. I am so tired... but trying to get so much done... and I am shorting myself on sleep. I just want tuesday to come so I can move on...

 

[bumbershoot]

We are here, we met NancyDrew and her kids and had good times, and we made newbie food and water errors leading to an abrupt halt in the good times. Said goodbye in a hurry (E felt so sad).

Took an hour to get from the Rapunzel attraction (bathrooms) to first aid, where e got an ice pack for his head (nasty headache) and got to lie down on one of their beds in back. He fell asleep after awhile (after I was done practically spooning water into his mouth), was out for about 20 minutes, then sat up and felt 100%.

He didn't want food there and wanted to go to the resort, so it was still over an hour before he had dinner.

Which meant he went all day on an omelette and one bottle of water. Augh. You would think I'd be better at this by now.

E is 100% now. So glad it was "only" a drastic fail on my part in terms of food and water.

Because of the weather changes happening I changed today's plan. We were slated for an early morning at AK. But that was assuming that tomorrow would be spent at the pool at the Boardwalk. The weather tells me that is NOT happening so I changed our FPs to later afternoon and e is swimming now. Since its not overly warm that means more than one on one lifeguard to swimmer attention.

And I'm in jeans and a warm shirt and drinking warm coffee.

Scheduled a shoulder massage for Friday morning. A bit late in the game but its better than no massage whatsoever! Which is my status now, since we got to the airport later than wanted and then the massage place wasn't open! My nails are shiny purple, though.

Wishing I had realized that E hadn't had enough food. Feel stupid. The jetlag and time change messed me up, then we were caught up in the fun of new friends, etc and I lost my mind! Still learning how to do this stuff.


Ann I never checked back to see if you wanted the Nuun stuff I won, and I forgot to bring it. If you wanted it I'm sorry.

Pack warmly for the first day or so, according to the weather info!

Family/stress crisis averted because of course the family member worked out a last minute visit that coincided with us being gone. Par for the course. Still miss my half-sibs though.

Brr. Coming up on time to leave the pool area!

 

[annmarieda]

Sorry to hear that E was ill. Glad he is back to feeling 100% though.

The temps will warm up soon enough... or so it is forecast.

No worries on the nuun! Have a good time!!!

Good luck on Saturday! If I see you, don't be alarmed if I shout out to you

 

[nancy drew]

It was so good to finally meet you after all these years! I am happy to hear that E's downturn was short-lived. It can be so easy to get caught up in the fun of WDW and socializing and forget to eat.

The kids really enjoyed meeting E! I think he and S seemed to hit it off. I have no idea what they were talking about but they didn't stop (they must get that from their mothers!).

N got worse, unfortunately. And after a trip to the dr today I feel like the worst mom ever for not realizing how bad it was and for making him walk all over WDW. Poor kid. But at least we seem to have a diagnosis (not chicken pox, and nothing contagious, though it is triggered by a weakened immune system and can resurface, so maybe now he will listen to me when I ask him to stop touching everything). And now I am questioning the cruise, because one thing I read said it often comes back a few months after it first happens, so what if it happens again when we go?

Ugh, these kids, I tell you!

Anyway, I will be reading along for further updates. When we (finally!!!) get home I have a photo or two to share from our ride on the Magic Carpets.

 

[bumbershoot]

Hi Ann and Nancy.

Oh so much changed....

By the 7th when we checked into BW I was run down. By the next day checking into SSR the cm asked if I needed the shuttle to centracare. I was coughing and noseblowing terribly and I felt horrid. I'd have to look at receipts and pictures to figure out if and what we might have done. I bought knockout drugs for myself. In retrospect it was a mistake but that's typical for when I get super sick.

The expo was miserable. Got the basics done and only burst into tears three times. By this time I had lost all appetite and tastebuds. I remember dinner that night. E had caprese flatbread and I had most of a pint of chocolate Haagen dasz. Lots of calories to make up for the previous 24 hours and it wasn't offensive to my tongue.

On the 9th for e's sake I did the 5k. Awful awful time.

Next day was another move day. We nearly missed his Mile because of packing. Used the luggage transfer service but still took groceries etc ourselves. Left the car at SSR and took bus to race. After the ten miles of imperfectly signed pathway we got there. I the meantime the weather was so hot. Even e was suffering. He did finish strong but his health tanked as the day went on. By evening I *was* feeling better and he was miserable. My aunt and cousin came in that day. I had and still have almost no voice.

The half was...13.1 miles. I did it. With the worst attitude ever seen on a Disney course. E had fevered all night long and I had such guilt for leaving him. But it's my mom's sister and she wanted to be there for us. She was perfect with him. Whew.

Race Retreat was useful for keeping me warmer and for feeding me ASAP. Took the bus back, found my baby, cleaned up. Aunt and cousin took off for some sightseeing while e and I slept. Maybe not the thing people say to do post-run but it was perfect. I'm not sore or achey etc. Well except for in sick ways. Because The Sick came back.

Aunt and cousin left today as planned, but earlier. We are here celebrating ourselves on our own, instead of at the celebration at DTD.

Tomorrow we head to Daytona where I hope we can keep healing up. Today I took the sage advice of the whole foods employee in the wellness aisle. Got some stuff that will help me more than the dimetapp did. Ha ha...turns out dizziness is a "if this occurs stop taking immediately" symptom! Didn't know that when I couldn't read it because eyes were so messed up from the sickness and sneezing!

My appetite is pretending it is coming back. My stomach has started to hint that it still exists. I've seen more Disney shows than ever before. I now see I should have done everything to have a DVC resort for this time so that movie could be rented and watched.

Right now at this moment E and I don't want to be at WDW ever again. It's just almost all bad memories right now. Since Nancy and I had already discussed Disneyland that works too. we are just SO disappointed and sad.

 

[nancy drew]

Ugh, Molly. Once again I COMPLETELY understand everything you have said. N ended up in the hospital 45 minutes away from my mom's house (with me staying with him) for 2 nights, we didn't get home until Friday (instead of Monday) and I don't care if I never go to Florida ever again in my life. WDW was the highlight of the trip, and even that was a mess because of Nathan's condition.

I am amazed that you still pulled off a half marathon!! You are amazing!!! Seriously, amazing!

I hope you guys are able to rally and enjoy some of your time there once you are feeling better. Maybe going to Daytona will help reset things?

 

[kaoden39]

Molly, I am so sorry to hear this. I hope you are feeling better. I hope that Daytona is good to you and for you.

 

[bumbershoot]

Nancy I'm so sorry N ended up in the hospital. I hope your mom was able to watch DD?

Thanks for the words about the half. I can't believe I wasn't sore!



Daytona....cold. So cold. And family got this creeping crud. Except for the very pregnant cousin and her husband thank goodness. Saw my aunt today, we drove around a bit. We were supposed to be sightseeing this whole week but that doesn't work when ill. We will have dinner with them tomorrow and then we leave on sat. Robert gets in that day. Crazy. A whole stay in a beach town ruined by illness.

I did learn about the "cannonball" or "cabbagehead" jellyfish though. Without having to be stung by it lol. So the trip isn't all bad.

That said...winter trips: who needs 'em?



Michele! I just came out of my self absorbed haze enough to remember your trip. Since I'm on my phone with no signatures, talk to me! Please tell me you had a better time than we did at wdw? Please?

 

[kaoden39]

Hi Molly!


Disneyland was great! The day after we got home not so much. My mom got me up at about 5:30 am because she couldn't breathe. We called 911 and they took her to the local hospital. When they transferred her from one gurney to the other she stopped breathing. They had to perform CPR. She was out for 8 minutes before they could revive her. They were treating her for congestive heart failure there. I got her transferred to Kaiser. Kaiser did more tests and discovered that she her aortic valve needs to be replaced. So she will be having her surgery on Tuesday in San Francisco. I bet you wish you hadn't asked now.

 

[bumbershoot]

Oh Michele. Of course I'm glad I asked. I wish your mom all the best during her surgery and beyond! Major hugs to all of you.


*********************

Trying to enjoy a SLOW time here at Universal. Trying to relax.

Wondering why I can't drink a frozen Butterbeer without having a brain freeze with almost every sip. It's rotten. I don't think I can drink it anymore because of the misery of the brain freezes. And I don't like non-frozen.

Did Dragon Challenge with the kidlet today, thought I was going to pass out at the end. Gah.