Princess and the Wild, Wild West

I'm in the process of cleaning out the attic and I found this. Something bought for Sierra, originally.

Mireya was on the computer, but I set this out in case she might find it interesting. Then I went back in the attic for further rummaging.



When I came out I found this:


And let's not forget the sharpshooters on the ridge...





And the fight over in the ravine...


Given our heritage, I'm glad it's not clear who is the good guys and who is the bad guys. Cuz we're a mixed bag over here.


You know, I don't think Disney has a wild west princess. Well, there's Pocahontas, but when you read the history and realize she was 13 and her name means "spoiled child" and she was held captive by the boys in Jamestown, it gets a little pedophilia.

So we'll have to start with Annie Oakley. I wonder if she wore pink...

Mom 101 favorite post

I have little to say (actually I'm working on my novel, so will be blogging less) but I love this post over at mom 101


she's so awesome.

With some drool, puppyness...

We have a new puppy.

I was reminded why it’s vital that young ones are really cute:

They aren’t house broken.

They don’t come when they are supposed to.

They think the entire world exists for them.

They cry.

After a few days you realize if they weren’t cute, you’d wrap them right back up and send them back to where ever they came from, grateful that you’d be getting a full night’s sleep again.

I’ve had many puppies in my lifetime, and every one is as different from one another as my daughters are from each other.

This rescue puppy seems completely oblivious to the fact that she’s the size of a house slipper.

She bounds over the other dogs as if she could take them out with a few well placed nips. She hogs the tiny ball we bought her, refusing to let the bigger dogs play with it after a few tosses.

She dives through every barrier as if she was a Great Dane, not a fluffy white thing with springs for legs.

The puppy is Sierra’s dog, technically, and Mireya, who at age six is still not crazy about things that jump on her, has gradually warmed up to the puppy.

“She is not cuter than me,” she told me as we watched the puppy slide into the door after a poorly executed run.

“Nope. And she isn’t as coordinated as you either.”

“I know. And I’m still cuter.”

I wasn’t sure when the “cute crown” started to seem like it was in jeopardy, but it dawned on me that it was time to be reassuring.

“Oh, you’re way cuter. Plus you hardly ever bite.”

“And Mireya knows how to use the potty,” noted Sierra helpfully.

“Thank god,” mumbled Dad.

I wasn’t sure what he was complaining about. Part of the deal of getting a new dog was that he was exempt from indoor clean up. He’s always had a weak stomach for bodily functions.

With the cuteness hierarchy firmly re-established, and some ground rules set, the puppy became a more welcome addition, insofar as Mireya was concerned. Especially when she figured out she can dress this dog in doll clothes.

That dog has no idea what she’s in for.

This I Believe

This is my essay which ran on our local NPR station's This I Believe series... If I can find the link to it, I'll post it...


This I Believe.

I believe what my grandmother taught me "no hay mal que por bien no venga" – nothing bad happens without something good coming of it.

For years I completely misunderstood this phrase. As an eternal optimist I thought of it as a kind of "when one door closes another opens" kind of thing. Only recently, after a long string of harsh, pounding times-- mucho mal--do I understand the true meaning of my grandmother's dicho.

The first difficult wave came when our first child, our daughter, was born with a heart defect that required open-heart surgery when she was seven months old. Then another procedure was needed when she was two. Given the emotional drain of those years, it wasn't surprising that our business went through rocky times, just when we were struggling with a flood of medical bills. Then my husband started having debilitating back pain that left him practically immobile for months. Eventually the pressures were too much, bankrupting our family, leaving us to start over, bruised and battered.

We've spent a few years rising from the rubble of our dreams and hopes, as through it all I've slowly begun to understand what this saying, this fairly common Mexican dicho, had to teach me. It wasn't about opportunity at all. It wasn't about doors opening. For me this dicho is about what comes into being beyond the wreckage at our feet.

It's not a great sweeping change in my nature, nor is it something that's readily apparent – even to me. Instead, it’s the building of small things, like bits of layered coral, coming alive on the remains of our best-laid plans. Today I face each day with three new abilities, humility, simplicity and gratitude, interwoven into my character. This is the good that has come from the pounding surf of the last few years.

Lo bien que venga, the good that comes, is our ability to grow and adapt. In the shattered remains left by adversity, I've learned new skills to deal with my rebuilt world. As I grow, like the reef that teems with life, which thrives on what has been broken, I learn that there is good that will come. Over time I am better able to withstand the pounding of the waves, and even learn to sway in the beauty of the surf.

I'd be lying if I didn't say I hope we've been strengthened enough, if I don't long for gentle, quiet tides. But my grandmother's voice steadies my heart, I know that through it all, my abilities will grow in the aftermath – y lo bien vendrá. The good will come.

Hold on

Found this poem on another blog...

Hold On

Hold on to what is good,
Even if it's a handful of earth.

Hold on to what you believe,
Even if it's a tree that stands by itself.

Hold on to what you must do,
Even if it's a long way from here.

Hold on to your life,
Even if it's easier to let go.

Hold on to my hand,
Even if someday I'll be gone away from you.


A Pueblo Indian Prayer

Boxing Mireya

(this is from the crib notes archives)

"Mommy! I'm a box person!"

Mireya had taken the box from the recently unpacked printer, and of course, put it on her head.

"Ask me to do something," she said.

I was having trouble coming up with something that required a box person. So we spent 30 minutes rearranging items upstairs, delivering things that should have been put away. Just think, all this time all I needed to do to get some help around here was to put a box on her head.

This is the child who claims to have a complete physical breakdown when asked to put her shoes away. She turns into a total invalid when the 50 plastic ponies have to be put back in their little boxes. She collapses in a heap when called for dishwasher unloading duty.

Eventually we force the issue, but everyone is so worn out, it's like we not only put away the shoes, ponies and dishes, but also scrubbed the floors by hand with toothbrushes. Twice.

Lately, though, she's been adjusting her tactics. She turns on the charm. Those big dark eyes go onto full adorable setting and she bounds over with big smiles and lovey words and before you know it you've put away her shoes and ENJOYED it.

Here's the most frightening thing – most people don't even see it happening. After a few weeks of being Velcro mommy (you know, when you pick up everything), I suddenly realized what was going on and stepped away from the little ponies.

This ability worries me since she's only four. What will we be unleashing on the world?

I pity her future supervisor, customer, or head of state. If she doesn't mow him down with incredible stalling tactics, he'll be charmed into doing not only her work, but also the work of anyone she deems worthy.

Before you know it there will be a tiny productivity vacuum in America and my daughter will be at the center, convincing everyone around her to do all the work.

As her mother, it's up to me to try my best to help her become a generous and compassionate human being. Believe me, I'm working on it.

But just between you and me, I'm keeping a box on hand. Just in case.

Welcome to swine flu Quarantine - Day 8 DONE

Boy, was I glad to go into the office today. It's a lovely place where everyone gets their own lunch and no one EVER says they are bored.

Kids were home with Grammy, I have no idea what they did. And I'm perfectly fine with that.

School is on tomorrow and ironically my car has acted up so I'm going to have to STAY HOME.

God has a tremendous sense of humor. Over active, if you ask me.

So, it's back to our regular life. Here's crib notes from a week before this all started (I write for the local paper, and I eventually post things here - as well as items not appropriate for a family newspaper - like "dead mommies don't talk", for example).


The Princess and the Lexington

Before Swine Flu swept through the world with a squealing panic, Mireya and I went on a Daisy Scout trip to the USS Lexington. I was a bit concerned that, given the dearth of pink on board the ship, there would be little to hold her interest.

Still she was pumped about the trip and, like her cold, her excitement was infectious.

Not only would we be visiting this floating town, we'd spend the night! In bunks! We'd be woken up by Revelrie in the morning! We'd have grub in the mess hall!

We'd literally live aboard the "blue ghost!"

It took me a few hours into the drive to realize we'd be sleeping in bunk beds, be woken up by a bugle and eat in a mess hall.

Um, I won't even eat at a regular cafeteria (it's a long story).

As my dread descended like a blue ghost, Mireya seemed oblivious to the reality of the situation. There were no princesses on battle ships. Not to mention mommies of princesses.

And as we arrived, half of this remained true. Gone was my princess and in her place was an honest to goodness WWII sailor. She couldn't wait to get aboard, focused completely on following the rules of the ship, and was thrilled by her bunk.

But most surprising – she was completely taken by the anti-aircraft guns. We spent a good 20 minutes running to her station so she could shoot down enemy aircraft.

This is the same kid that will run screaming from a spider the size of an M&M. But give her a combat scenario and she is ALL OVER IT.

I was somewhat conflicted about this development. I have always been a great admirer of the men and women of the armed forces although my cafeteria aversion kept me from considering it as a career choice. But I have grown accustomed to being with my princess/fashion designer, resigned to a lifetime of having her adjust my wardrobe to live up to her sense of style.

Where was THAT kid?

We talked about the first woman pilot to land aboard an aircraft carrier having done it on the Lexington. We toured the sick bay and the chapel. We wandered around the bridge, she slept like a rock, and loved be woken up with "music."

I'm not sure if the Navy is ready for Mireya. But I know one thing. I sure hope she doesn't decide to take up the bugle.

Welcome to swine flu Quarantine - Day 7

The end has come. I just got this email:

Based on the latest guidance today from the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, the Comal ISD has decided to reopen all schools and offices earlier than scheduled. Everything will reopen on Thursday, May 7th at the regular time.

That means all students and staff are expected to report to work and school on Thursday this week. If you are sick or become sick with the flu you must stay home for at least 7 days from the onset of the flu.

If you still want a packet of school work you still can pick one up from 10 am to 3 pm on Wednesday from Central Office, the Bulverde/Spring Branch Library, or the CRRC in Sattler. (yeah, right. we'll be right over - NOT)

We will see you in school on Thursday.

So that's it. Done. Finito. Now the big ol' javelina is just Piglet with the sniffles.

We are conflicted, of course, because we had our eye on next Monday as the end, and the kids feel positively ROBBED. I don't feel relieved, because basically this was the end of my shift and the start of Daddy's.

(Need I mention that it ALWAYS happens this way? Enough to make a woman paranoid...)

So, wrapping up our quarantine report...

My favorite quote of the day :

Me: "Okay, we can only stay at the pool for an hour, because I forgot the sun screen and Daddy will kill me. And how terrible would that be."

Mireya, after a beat: "Well, dead mommies don't talk..."

Hmmm. Too much cable?


Accomplishments today:
Today was swimming (the pool is always closed on Mondays), Grammy time, and phase two of closet cleaning (did you know you can fill a trash can with hangers?). Two phases remain with the closet, but we are down to the tool building layer of the dig.


Next:
Planning the return to civilization. Time for some serious laundry...

Welcome to swine flu Quarantine - Day 6

Okay, it's official.

We're getting bored. (We are taking pictures of tired dogs, for gods sake)

The pool is closed today, I had to work from home, kids were happy doing a few worksheets - that's how desperate they got. Math was fun. For 15 minutes.

The first case of swine flu was confirmed in Austin today. So now that the piggy is out of the bottle (how do they get them in there?)... well, I just don't get what we're supposed to do. Can something like this be contained?

Apparently not.

Any who, we went and worked with our new horse for a while, Sierra worked with her puppy, Mireya hung out at Grammy's.

It's getting rough out here, people. But at the same time I'm not too crazy about the idea of the kids going back to school. I'm not sure that keeping them out is good for my sanity, but they aren't going to catch this thing here, that's for sure.

Okay, we might kill each other by Thursday, but no one will develop a fever.

Sigh. Maybe I just need some sleep. Dyno has the right idea...

I wrote my column on all of this, which I'll post tomorrow along with the update. . .

Welcome to swine flu Quarantine - Day 5

We stayed up way too late last night.

Well, some of us did.


I feel like we're in some weird summer preview - without the playdates.

We did some hiking (remember the doctor's note - out door spaces are probably ok), I worked with our horses (we got a new one and she needs plenty of work) and hit the pool.

Our neighbor who works at our local doc office was there, so I pumped her for info. She said they have 6 cases they are pretty sure are swine flu, but it takes 4 days to get results. It's a type A flu, so everyone who had a flu shot should be in decent shape (my grandma should be good). People are ending up in the hospital because it turns into viral pnuemonia, for which there is no cure.

You just have to survive.

She also said they expect it to get worse in the next two weeks, which makes it seem odd that kids would go back to school then. I'm not sure if I will want them to go back. Maybe we'll just homeschool it for the last 3 weeks.

But they can't stay in a box all month... They need their own kind, so to speak.

As our neighbor pointed out, there is no real quarantine. And, she said, it looks like if you are exposed to it, you are getting it.

Today the kids played with one child at the pool. Hopefully the chlorine did it's job and killed any lingering flu ness. It looked like this little girl (our neighbors daughter, so we figured she was safe) was having a birthday party. There were balloons at a nearby table and streamers, but no other kids were there. The family tried to make it festive. They were only slightly successful.

A forgotten casualty of H1N1 - the May birthday.

Here's some local news:

As a result, and to further discourage public gatherings, the city of New Braunfels closed Landa Park for what historians have said was the first time since the park was sold to the city in 1936.

Governor Rick Perry issued a statewide disaster declaration. (43 swiners in Texas, apparently)

But after the number of possible cases had risen in Comal County for three straight days, there was no jump in the number of cases on Friday. After filling up the emergency rooms all week, flu-related traffic began to slow at Christus Santa Rosa Hospital — New Braunfels.

On the bright side, I was inspired to clean up. Today we cleaned out the top shelf of a closet in the kids room and put away some Winter clothes. I need about two more weeks of this and I might make real progress around here! We might actually find order in our chaos.

Hmmm. Not sure I can handle that. The shock to my system would be too great.

Welcome to swine flu Quarantine - Day 4

After yesterday's alarming email, I decided it was time to buy some of this:


Which was the only brand left - there was NONE on the shelves, and this was a store 40 minutes away from our area, where schools are still open.

I really don't like anti-bacterial soap because it's basically a form of pesticide, which seems terrible to use on your skin. But I decided to cave in to a bit of hysteria.

Mireya and I braved the dangers of the grocery store to pick up this and a special cereal she likes that is her very favorite.


Then, after a late breakfast, it was off to the pool which has opened early in our neighborhood.

It was a quiet place.



Very quiet. But we made up for the lack of people with our own family volume machine. Dad.



Church is closed tomorrow.

The libraries have been closed.

Generally you see adults out, but in smaller numbers and practically no kids.

The other day I saw two tweenage girls shouting from their cars to each other, obviously given instructions to not leave the cars to visit.

We have another week to go of this strange time. The newspaper reports that things seem to be tapering off - but two students, one at a high school and one at an elementary school have been confirmed. Here's a little from the paper:

The number of possible Comal County swine flu cases seems to have leveled off before the weekend, with no new reports of the virus on Friday.

County health officials received confirmation of the first two local swine flu cases Thursday from the national Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, and also sent another two highly probable samples to the CDC for swine-flu testing.

But after the number of possible cases has risen sharply to 107 local residents (YIKES) since Tuesday, Kari Hutchison, a spokeswoman for the county’s swine-flu response efforts, said that number had stayed the same on Friday. (Something tells me Kari is wearing a face mask this week)

She added that it would likely not change for the next two days, as the county waits to get its residents’ lab results back from the Region 8 office of the Texas Department of Health and Human Services in San Antonio.

We wonder if there will be school on the 11th. If there is, there will only be three weeks left of school. So far the district website is sticking to the 11th. We'll be checking the websites of the girls teachers for some "home" work to do. Home schooling at last!

My 94 year old grandmother who lives two blocks away was laughing about the whole thing when I came over for a visit. "No church tomorrow," I said. We usually go together.

"We all need masks," she said, with her hands over her face, her eyes sparkling with humor. "We're just staying here. And no one is sick!"

Amen.

Welcome to swine flu Quarantine - Day 3

Today was the day of quarantine when you start to think, "hey, people are freaking out over nothing." All the talking heads are like "those people are over reacting. It's the flu. Yesh."

Then you get an email like this:

Subject: Flu Update from Dr. Gitterle (doctor in New Braunfels, a town close to here)


After I returned from a public health meeting yesterday with community leaders
and school officials in Comal County, Heather suggested I send an update to
everyone, because what we are hearing privately from the CDC and Health
Department is so different from what you are hearing in the media. Some
of you know some or maybe all of this, but I will just list what facts I know.


- The virus is infectious for about 2 days prior to symptom onset
- Virus sheds more than 7 days after symptom onset (possibly as long as 9 days) (this is unusual)
- Since it is such a novel (new) virus, there is no "herd immunity," so the "attack rate" is very high. This is the percentage of people who come down with a virus if exposed. Almost everyone who is exposed to this virus will become infected, though not all will be symptomatc. That is much higher than seasonal flu, which averages 10-15%. The "clinical attack rate" may be around 40-50%. This is the number of people who show symptoms.. This is a huge number. It is hard to convey the seriousness of this.
- The virulence (deadliness) of this virus is as bad here as in Mexico, and there are folks on ventilators here in the US, right now. This has not been in the media, but a 23 month old near here is fighting for his life, and a pregnant woman just south of San Antonio is fighting for her life. In Mexico, these folks might have died already, but here in the US, folks are getting Tamiflu or Relenza quickly, and we have ready access to ventilators.
What this means is that within a couple of weeks, regional hospitals will likely become overwhelmed.
- Some of the kids with positive cases in Comal County had more than 70 contacts before diagnosis.
- There are 10-25 times more actual cases (not "possible" cases -- actual), than what is being reported in the media. The way they fudge on reporting this is that it takes 3 days to get the confirmatory nod from the CDC on a given viral culture, but based on epidemiological grounds, we know that there are more than 10 cases for each "confirmed" case right now.
- During the night, we crossed the threshold for the definition of a WHO, Phase 6 global pandemic. This has not happened in any of our lifetimes so far. We are in uncharted territory.
- I expect President Obama will declare an emergency sometime in the next 72-96 hours. This may not happen, but if it doesn't, I will be surprised. When this happens, all public gathering will be cancelled for 10 days.
- I suggest all of us avoid public gatherings. Outdoor activities are not as likely to lead to infection. It is contained areas and close contact that are the biggest risk.
- Tamiflu is running out. There is a national stockpile, but it will have to be carefully managed, as it is not enough to treat the likely number of infections when this is full-blown. I don't think there is a big supply of Relenza, but I do not know those numbers. If I had to choose, I would take Relenza, as I think it gets more drug to the affected tissue than Tamiflu.
- You should avoid going to the ER if you think you have been exposed or are symptomatic. ER's south of here are becoming overwhelmed -- and I mean that -- already. It is coming in waves, but the waves are getting bigger.
- It appears that this flu produces a distinctive "hoarseness" in many victims. The symptoms, in general, match other flu's; namely, sore throat, body aches, headache, cough, and fever. Some have all these symptoms, while others may have only one or two.

Okie dokie. And here I was just planning a trip tomorrow to Target and Petsmart. Contemplating life as if it were just an over reaction and it was time to have fun. See what TV does to you?!

Needless to say, we're not going shopping. Suddenly the great outdoors sounds greater than ever. That and cable.

Today there was swings:






Swimming in the spa, and snacks.


I also finished a video for work, let me know if you find it compelling. It's supposed to be compelling but it's tough to get opinions here in the isolation ward.