Scatological Lesson

From our family to yours:

You should not toot while walking up the stairs.  Because if you realize at the top that you left something at the bottom, you will essentially end up tooting in your own face.

You are welcome.

Ack! Phht! Phht! Ack!!

Well, that's a descriptive title. But it pretty much sums up my feelings in the aftermath of a (new) doctor's visit today.

The twins were supposed to have their 4 year old well visit today, but I essentially waited to schedule it until they were healthy , and the only opening was 4 years and 2 months.  UNFORTUNATELY, the appointment was at 9 and I thought it was at 3.  Whoops.  So they missed their well visit.  No big whoop-dee-do. We can reschedule.

Except Christopher had that 103 fever 10 days ago?  Which developed into nothing?  And then developed into a cold?  And then he woke up with his "asthma cough" as we call it, yesterday morning and today.

OK.  Still no problem.  His oxygen sats are fine.  It's the Squirrel that concerns us.  We've got his treatment regimen down pat.  But so far, the path seems to be: when he gets asthma symptoms, she goes to the hospital.

So we wanted to see our doctor just to get on her radar that our journey down the path? It has started.

Well, our doctor is very popular and was fully booked when we showed up at the wrong appointment time.  So, instead we saw Doogie Howser, the new doc in the clinic.  Remember how I wish I had that "I Know Stuff" button when I go to the doctor's office?  It's even more the case when the doc is new and not familiar with one's family or the particulars of one squirrelly Squirrel.

So what did we learn today? Since I am always LOOKING FOR THE FREAKIN' BRIGHT SIDE, this is what we learned:

*Do not use the term "atypical asthma."  Use "atypical reactive airway disease."  It's the same dadgum thing, but medical professionals get stuck on the asthma part and forget to focus on the more important atypical qualifier.
*Throw in "albuterol insensitive" as soon as they start talking about treatments.
*She presents "like cystic fibrosis" gets more attention than she presents with atelectasis.

And Dave made this suggestion:  Doctor's are told that if they hear hoofbeats, look for horses, not zebras.  I appreciate that.  However, we are dealing with elands here and helping them understand that sooner rather than later reduces my need for an extra anti-anxiety medication.

Bleargh.

I Think We've Got this Timeshare Thing Down

So this is a quick post while it's still on my mind about taking advantage of timeshares that show up on travel sites for a good price.  This is the second time Dave and I have stayed at one and the third time we've taken advantage of the sales pitch for good prices on Tourist events.

So we've stayed twice now at a suite in a tourist area.  We didn't know it was a timeshare until we got there, but the hints were that they were more like apartments or condos than hotel rooms--i.e., both places had full kitchens. In fact, we ended up eating in the room--cooking nice meals--instead of going out.  Some tourist areas have nice restaurants and others don't.  We're cheap and I'd rather save my money for a good restaurant, so we cooked in.  (Hint #1:  Bring your own knives and a big pot/pan if you have a large family)

Both also had nice pools and structured activities that appealed to the kids.  This was truly one of the best parts of both places: kid activities, family activities, adult activities, playgrounds, family friendly pools.  In fact, where we just came from had such great pool areas that we spent about half of our vacation hanging out there!  (Hint #2:  if you stay at a resort like area, the days off from touristy stuff can be fun just hanging at the hotel)

So here is the most important thing we want to share: Don't buy your tickets to parks, locations, etc, before you arrive.  Instead, we suggest Hint #3:  Go to the timeshare sales pitch and just say no.  (If you really like it, of course, say yes. But for us, we're cheap.  Also, just to point out the yearly HOA fee for this particular timeshare was two times more expensive than the one week cost for us to stay using an online travel service.  But again: Cheap.  Like camping. YMMV.)

HOWEVER, after you attend the sales pitch, you can get MASSIVE discounts on the attractions---like up to 50% off of tickets. Feel free to search for discounts for some of these parks, attractions, etc.  We've seen even the best online discounts are anywhere from $2 to $10, which ends up being at most 10% off.  50% off is much more appealing to us.

So anyhoo, pictures from this trip to follow.  But I wanted to get this out there for folks before we get too far back in the swing of every day life.  Renting at timeshares:  Good options for bargain hunters.