My Hatred of the Cast Room (and other news)

February started with a storm.  Well, more like a few rain sprinkles, which around here is considered Very Serious Weather.  Northern California is in a drought, so everyone is extremely pleased with any precipitation.  I still find the head-to-toe rain gear, flooded out streets (really, 0.25" is all it takes to cause flooding), and hysteria over damp playground equipment terribly amusing.  Josie can't remember the Maryland rainstorms that clearly anymore, so she was one of the elated who insisted on using her brand new umbrella and wearing rain boots.

Before the tour (and the sugar rush) started.

The Very Bad Weather didn't start until February 2nd.  This was a good thing, since Isabel and I had booked a cupcake tour in San Francisco on the 1st.  It turned out to be a really beautiful day.  We met up with the tour outside a bakery, and proceeded to walk to six different dessert shops.  Most of them sold cupcakes.  By the third bakery, we were super-saturated with sugar.  The tour guide tried to make the tour interesting by offering a "history" of cupcakes and the different bakers, but really... We could have gleaned all that from reading a snippet on a menu at these places.  So, tour guide for tasting cupcakes:  unnecessary.  We did agree on which cupcake place we liked the most, and we brought home some samples for the rest of the family (except for Kate, who was still in Haiti).  So, it was fun to hang out with Izzy in the city, but definitely not recommended to eat six different desserts within 90 minutes...

The next day was SuperBowl Sunday.  It was also the day of Isabel's best friend's birthday party.  (The birthday girl happens to also be Steven's girlfriend.  Aren't twins fun!)  I dropped Steven and Izzy off to the roller rink, and then I broke my cardinal rule: I went to Costco. On a Sunday. In the rain!

Wow.  Intense weather.  

The urgency to go to Costco came from dear Josie's insistence that she make dinner...  She bought a "Princess Cookbook" using some Amazon money from Uncle Ted (thanks much), and found just the recipe: "Gus's Mac and Cheeseburger."

Superbowl Sunday Dinner by Josie

The recipe called for ground beef, which I did not have, so I decided the logical thing to do would be to buy six pounds of it at Costco.  Why buy half a pound, which the recipe calls for, when you can buy six?

Making the cheese sauce, after she cooked the ground beef...  She's a "cooker girl." 

The finishing touches...  And then into the oven to bake.

Anyway, I took care of the shopping and helped Josie cook while Mac went to pick up the kids from the skating rink. Apparently they both fell a lot.  Roller skating is a little bit too precarious for them.  They can handle ice skating, but perhaps that's because they are on ice, which is frozen water, and they are so used to water from the swimming that it's all ok. Slippery is good, solid is bad.

Izzy fell but avoided injury.  Steven wasn't so lucky.  Three hours later, the Seahawks were beating the Denver Broncos by about 200, and Steven had a nice splint with a mixed-up-diagnosis of a buckle fracture of the ulna and a Salter Harris fracture of the radius.  Say what?  Mac and I believe that somehow the pediatrician in urgent care pulled up the scan from the wrong patient, because I saw the x-ray and Steven's ulna was very clearly perfect, but there was a tiny buckle on the radius... And Mac said that he saw the buckle very briefly on the scan in the x-ray room, but it wasn't the same one in the exam room.  Anyway, we were there for the referral to ortho, which we got, so mission accomplished.

The next day I took Steven in, and the ortho promptly identified the buckle fracture of the distal radius.  That diagnosis actually makes sense.  Coincidentally, that's the SAME injury Luke had just a few months ago!  And the SAME injury Josie had just over a year ago!  And the SAME ortho doc treated Steven as Josie!  But he didn't recognize us.  Oh well.  Maybe buckle fractures in kids are common.

Ortho Traction Torture Device.

So, it was off to the cast room AGAIN for us.  I have to say that ever since my Really Truly Awful Wrist Break in 2004, I have hated the cast room.  Any cast room.  It doesn't matter where it is, or how efficient the staff is, or how many different colors of cast material are offered, I just can't stand it.  If I had to guess why, just taking a wild guess, it may be because when I was in the cast room in 2004 for my really bad break, I was diagnosed with a compound fracture that really shoulda had surgery to set it.  Since I was pregnant with Luke, I was not a candidate for surgery.  Apparently I wasn't a candidate for pain meds, either, so they simply reset my bone using a torture device that pulled my arm away from my fingers using an actual crank until my fracture was "reduced".  I thought I would pass out, but after 15 minutes of intense pain, I could no longer feel my fingers and so I simply wondered when I'd start to see my fingers just detach from my arm.  It was *awesome*.  I have never been fond of the cast room since then.  Even after the many times the kids have broken bones and I've been in the cast room not being physically tortured, I still never ever liked it.  Ever.

Steven had a lovely purple cast put on with a strange plastic-like liner that repels water.  He went to swim practice with this contraption, and the cast just never really dried out.  Perhaps it's not really designed for nearly 2 hours of heavily chlorinated water a day...  But neither is human skin, so you just do what you can.  His hand was so freezing after swimming, and the cast just kept the cold water trapped in there.  It seemed like an unsatisfactory situation...

Since we didn't think the purple cast of frozen fingers was working, Mac and I decided to pursue an alternative. We had a Hot Tip for a waterproof, removable arm brace that can be used on fractures like his.  So it was back to the cast room to get fitted with the EXOS short arm brace.  Unfortunately, he was only offered the black one.  Boring!  Steven tried it out at swim practice, and reported that after practice it was still wet, and so we carefully removed it to let his arm dry while we tried to blow dry the brace.  I can already tell that this is going to be a time-consuming endeavor, but at least the brace seemed more comfortable than the purple cast was.  We will see how it goes...

The knob on top of the brace allows us to loosen and tighten it, so that he can remove the brace.  Pretty cool.

In the midst of this excitement, Katie came back from Haiti.  She was exhausted, but said she had an amazing experience. She left a lot of clothes in Haiti which is great, but the clothes she brought back all "smelled like Haiti" and were dumped in the laundry room, bag and all, for the faithful laundry elf to deal with.  Our laundry elf sure doesn't get paid enough, but I digress.  It only took Kate about 2 days to adapt to life back home: loads of homework, electricity, and drinkable tap water...

In other news, Luke has kept busy with the Legend of Zelda.  He apparently has conquered 4 of the 6 dungeons or something like that.  He and Mac are also making a book.  Luke has drawn all the pictures, and he is using a painting program on the computer to add color.  It's a very big project.

Josie is keeping busy with crafts and looking forward to Valentine's Day.  A big project she put together this week really surprised me.  She made herself a "color chart" for her home behavior.  I hate color charts and am totally opposed to their use in the school system as a way to control the kids.  Kids are publicly shamed by the color chart for such crimes as not sitting criss-cross-apple-sauce, taking too long putting away supplies, not lining up quietly, holding someone's hand, talking out of turn...  Anyway, I have a hate-hate relationship with the color chart, but it is pervasive in the lower grades of school.  And now, Josie decided to bring it into our home.  I didn't exactly tell her that I don't like the color chart at school, but I don't emphasize it either.  As long as she's above "green", which means no big problems during the day, it's all good.  Yellow, Orange, or the much-dreaded Red, and we will have to talk about our problems.  But Green, Blue, and the much-coveted Purple: Yay.  Anyway, she made her color chart, and colors herself up and down throughout the day (by moving the clothespin to different color levels).  In her classroom, there are 26 clothespins for the teacher to move up and down throughout the day...  Exhausting.


She is also working hard on swimming, and is really close to earning her next ribbon.  She just needs to swim across the pool with a combination of back float/kick, then flipping onto her stomach for some forward kicking.  Believe it or not, she can do it.  But she hasn't quite made it all the way across quite because she isn't convinced she can make it.  Maybe this week...

So, just a week into February and that's what has been happening.  We have swim meets to look forward to. (Well, Izzy does.  Steven is not going to be able to compete until the bone is all better.)  Mac will take call for my birthday (I wonder what the kids are going to do since Mac won't be home?).  The kids and Mac will head to Yakima for a few days over the President's Day weekend, and I will stay home with the dogs, Kate, and her friend Greer who is visiting from Maryland.  The last week of February Steven can take off the brace for good, so hopefully the fracture will be A-OK.

January, a very Shasta month

Shasta the Puppy

January blew through here.  The kids were out of school for the first third of the month.  Katie turned 18, Grandma and Grandpa came to visit, and we picked up the newest member of our family:  Shasta.

Katie held Shasta for the three-hour drive home

Shasta is a puppy.  We bought her to keep Pekoe entertained...  Well, not really, but I think this might be the end result!  We wanted to have two dogs, but were waiting to know where Mac would be stationed in the summer.  Since it looks possible (probable?) that we will be sent to Hawaii, our plans for dog #2 were pushed up.  Hawaii has strict regulations for what animals they allow in, and dogs need to undergo a series of rabies vaccinations and blood testing that requires a lot of time and a lot of organization.  Also, puppies of the breed we really wanted (Australian Labradoodle) are not common on Hawaii.  Most people there seem to import dogs from New Zealand it seems like...  Anyway, if we were getting a puppy, it seemed like now was the time.

We were lucky to be able to get Shasta-- she came from a litter that was reserved, but the buyers who had first dibs decided they wanted to wait for a pup with a different coat color.  So, we scooped up our little puppy!  Otherwise we would've needed to wait at least another month, making our Hawaii-dog-preparation even trickier...  There really are a LOT of regulations...

Shasta has a lovely black coat, which is difficult to photograph, but definitely hides the dirt which I count as a major plus.  This little girl likes to dig, and play rough with Pekoe.  Pekoe is a very tolerant dog.  He's still about two-thirds puppy himself (at 18 months old), but even he has his limits as to how many times he can just sit there while a 10-pound fur ball launches herself full force onto his head as he is trying to take a nap...  So far he just gets up and walks away, occasionally sending me a reproachful look...  ("Why did you do this to me?  Don't you LOVE me?  Wasn't I enough!?")  When Shasta does something particularly annoying, Pekoe will look at me again in indignation... ("Did you SEE that?  Did you SEE what she just did?  Aren't you going to DO anything?").  Pekoe is quite the expressive dog, believe me...

I decided on the name Shasta.  The kids aren't big fans, but they can call her whatever they like.  I call her Shasta, or Shasta Lady.  I named her after Mount Shasta to remember our time here in northern California.  Izzy likes to call her Shazzy, which is fine.  "Puppy" works, as does calling her any old name of any kid who lives in this house.  She seems to respond to everything, which is helpful because often by the end of the day I can't remember anybody's name.  It's nice to just be able to say "Luke, I mean Josie, umm Steven, I mean Izzy, ugh Katie" and someone will hear me and respond.  True, Shasta can't help me unload groceries from the car and she won't set the table, but at least she comes bounding towards my voice...  The kids generally ignore me or claim they can't hear due to headphones or some other such nonsense.  Hmmmph.

Part of what made us choose an Australian Labradoodle was that they are considered good dogs for allergic people (which we are, but apparently not very allergic to dogs).  Shasta doesn't shed at all so far.  The other great thing about Australian Labradoodles is that they were developed to be used as therapy dogs.  With Steven and his diabetes, and Luke and his Tourette's, it's possible one of them might need a therapy dog someday.

In the meantime, we were hoping to have a dog that would help to diffuse some of the conflicts that happen in a large family from time to time...  When we originally started Project Dog almost two years ago, we thought any old dog would naturally help resolve conflicts between the kids.  Because that is what dogs do, right?  Dogs help soothe and calm people...  But Pekoe, bless him, just seems to want to be comfortable.  He's kinda in it for himself...  If there is a conflict in the house, Pekoe runs to the door.  ("Let me outta here!!")

On the other hand, during a conflict Shasta will mosey over and try to investigate the excitement.  And with 5 active kids, there is usually some excitement.   ("Why are you breathing so loudly!!!  Why are you humming the soundtrack from the Legend of Zelda?"  "He hit me!"  "She looked like she wanted to make a face at me!")  Numerous opportunities for a Conflict Resolution Dog to help out around this house...

Of course Shasta is just a puppy, but so far so good.

Pekoe tries to lay down the law

Shasta tries to wrestle with him.  Too bad Pekoe has about 70 pounds on her!

Tug just isn't fair at all.

"Ok...  When is she going home?  I think I've had enough..."

Playing together outside.  Shasta is trying to take a rawhide directly from Pekoe's mouth.  

This bone is big enough for both of them.

Taking a break

Eventually Pekoe got used to her enough to be able to relax and snooze...  Progress!

Chocolate Cupcakes and Tres Leches Cake.  And 18 candles!

Before we got Shasta and our life became All About the Puppy, we enjoyed a few days with Grandma and Grandpa.  They brought many Christmas presents from the Yakima contingency, and were sent home with some from us...  Grandma and Grandpa were here in time to celebrate Katie's 18th birthday.  Katie chose to go to a Japanese restaurant for her birthday dinner.  She's all about sushi.  While they were here to visit, we also had Thai, Italian, and more Japanese.  The kids get to eat so much restaurant food when the grandparents visit!  And strangely they all try new food that I don't think I could get them to try otherwise...

A family of clowns and cameras.

It takes mad surgical skills to light all those candles.

Mom and Dad standing under the door
to nowhere...

Mom and Dad also took me to visit The Winchester House one day while the kids were in school and Mac was at work.  The Winchester House is a very strange house in San Jose which was built by the Winchester widow from the Winchester rifle fortune.  She never stopped building due to some superstitious beliefs, and it is a very disjointed, meandering, and confusing house.  You wouldn't quite call it beautiful, because it is just too odd...  But it was an interesting, albeit disturbing, outing.  Worth checking out, although I'm still a little bit confused by it all!

As is typical, there was a swim meet the weekend of their visit.  Since Steven had a meet the following weekend, Izzy was the only one to swim at this meet. The meet didn't go as well as Izzy hoped, but she did have some good swims.  She is so close to getting her Junior Olympic qualifying times in the freestyle and fly, so any meet where she doesn't quite get these coveted personal bests, she is bummed out...   She has a couple more chances.  She is so very very close!

After Grandma and Grandpa went home, we all returned to regular life.  Sort of.  January was a month for traveling.  Steven had a swim meet in Oregon over the Martin Luther King Jr weekend.  He had a great time, and swam well.  He qualified for the Far Western meet in April in three events, so that was pretty exciting.  Unlike for Izzy, swimming indoors seems to favor Steven.  She usually does better outdoors now, which I suppose is lucky for her since all the meets from this point forward will be outdoor meets!

As soon as Steven returned, Katie started preparing for the medical mission trip to Haiti.  She met up with Grandma and Grandpa and the rest of the team in Miami, and then they flew together to Haiti. Katie was really excited for the trip.  She was told that it would be hot, humid, sticky, and buggy.  Also she was warned to watch out for wild dogs, to not drink the water, to not eat food prepared using the water, and to never leave anything out in the open as the locals will think she just doesn't want the item any longer.  It was a great experience for her, and she is wanting to return to the village again.  She learned the art of 15 second showers, and the perils of sleeping on air mattresses that deflate overnight.  Grandma and Grandpa said that the village people, especially the teens and the kids, really loved her, even though they didn't speak the same language!

Sliding Side Kick to break the board

Another event in January was belt testing for Taekwondo.  Luke tested for the green senior belt, well on his way to a black belt.  He broke the board easily, and spent a long time studying the questions for the test.  He was one of the few who actually knew the answers to the verbal part of the exam.  He was also awarded the Best Sparring patch.  He started free sparring just before he broke his arm last November.  He's starting to get the hang of it apparently!

January was a pretty busy month for us, with a lot of changes and new experiences.  Pekoe and Shasta have come to an understanding, and Pekoe is starting to relax around her a bit.  He even wags his tail when he sees her, sometimes.  She has been an easy dog to integrate into our family.  She doesn't bite much, and she's quite happy and well-adjusted.  She is easy to train, and is working on "sit", "down", "stand", "leave it", and "off".  She's pretty close to perfect, but not quite...

Shasta is not great in the housebreaking department, which is frustrating because Pekoe was stellar in this area.  In order to help her along, we started giving her a treat every time she goes potty outside.  She definitely caught on quickly, which is not to say that she controls her bladder better indoors.  Unfortunately, this is not the case.  However, every time she goes outside, she sniffs out her spot, and then purposefully stares at us to make sure we notice.  Immediately after finishing her business, she sprints across the yard to us for her treat.  She sometimes repeats this routine three or more times within a 15 minute period...  I think perhaps we are being manipulated.

She likes being outside in the dirt!

Nine weeks old, and off to the vet.

On the ride home from the vet.  She loves riding in the car.

See how she grew in one week!  Here she is 10 weeks old.  

Tiny little sleeping space to help with housebreaking...