Sunday Scribblings: Hospital Memories

People associate hospitals with a lot of emotions -- helplessness, fear, hope (or hopelessness) -- or sensations -- pain, -- or senses -- bright lights, strong smells. But since I practically grew up in hospitals -- my dad is a doctor -- they actually bring back a lot of happy memories.

I don't remember my own birth, of course, but with twenty-plus cousins we were always at the delivery ward (5th floor) visiting an aunt and a new cousin. We loved running over to the nursery and looking at the cute little babies (although I remember feeling sad and squeamish as we past the little ones in incubators who obviously were starting out in life with a bit of a struggle). I do remember several visits to old relatives with serious illnesses (9th floor), but being so young I never really dwelt on what it really meant. As far as I was concerned, I was happy because I got to eat the pastries that other family members had brought in to offer to visitors.

We loved visiting my dad's office (2nd floor). His secretary always had a kind word and a pencil and paper for me to draw with, and if he was visiting a patient in the hospital we'd get to play in his office with his stethoscope and plastic models of kidneys and hearts. Sometimes -- o treat of treats -- he would give us some money and send us down to the cafeteria for some snacks (we'd always take the back stairs and feel like we were important "insiders" because we knew the back routes). But as we grew older, those office visits often grew long and boring, especially when they fell on weekend afternoons, on the way home from our grandmother's house. Hearing my dad say he had to "Go on Rounds" would always bring out groans from me and my siblings, because it meant we had to sit in the car or play in the parking lot for what seemed like hours.

My personal hospital experiences have involved some pain (or "minor discomfort" as hospital personnel like to say), of course, but all have had positive outcomes. My first hospital stay involved dental surgery, two impacted molars, in my late teens. I had outpatient surgery in my twenties to remove two large moles (I remember being fascinated with the sizzle and smell of my burning flesh as they cauterized my skin -- perhaps the pain meds got me all loopy). And I've been in the maternity ward twice. I suffered through an insanely long and painful labor with The Pea versus a short and painless labor with the twins, but both labors resulted in healthy vaginal births. And my post-labor hospital memories all involve little sleep and lots of love.

The most difficult times I've had at hospitals have been visiting loved ones and watching them suffer. Almost two decades ago, my father had triple bypass surgery; I can still remember watching him in agony after a simple cough strained his stitches and hammered the ribs they had to break in order to get to his heart. A week or so after my twins were born, they had to be readmitted to the hospital due to high bilirubin levels. Even though I knew the newborn jaundice would go away after a short stay under those incubator lights, I was an emotional wreck having to leave them there. And last year, I had to take 3Po to the emergency room after CleanBoy slammed a door on his pinkie finger and broke it. He was a very sleepy, sad and scared little boy and even though the injury wasn't serious, it was still difficult to watch him and not be able to do much to help him.

As far as hospital memories are concerned, I've been very lucky. And I hope it stays that way.

For more on hospitals, click here.

A New Challenge

Visit NaBloPoMo

Now that I've run a half-marathon, what's next? Why not try a "run" in the blogging world? I'm not up to NaNoWriMo marathon, so I'm going to attempt the half-marathon of blogging, namely NaBloPoMo. The starting gun goes off on November 1; hopefully I'll cross the finish line on November 30 without too many boring "Today I did this"-type posts.

The sweetest pink there is

I own several pink shirts, but this one is one that I'm extra-proud to be wearing. Money alone couldn't buy it -- I had to run 13.1 miles to get it.

And speaking of pink, the image below is quite possibly the most significant and important pink there is -- this symbol of courage, hope, life and love. I saw many runners wearing the pink ribbon in last week's race. My grandmother and aunt have fought -- and beat -- breast cancer, so it has a place in my heart, too. Now go and get that mammogram, ladies!


For more shades of pink, click here.

Macho Batman

3Po and CleanBoy are dressed up as Batman and Superman and playing in the hall closet. Presently, 3Po comes running up to his dad, wailing; CleanBoy has accidentally opened the door and hit 3Po's foot.

3Po: Daddy, CleanBoy opened the door on my toe and it huuuuuuurts!

CleanBoy (muttering, half-defiant, half-ashamed): Well, Batman doesn't cry.

Fridays Feast

This was last Friday's Feast at our house -- Halloween party snacks!

Appetizer
Name a great website you would recommend to others.
How about http://www.kidsurplus.com/ for some great deals on children's clothing and toys!

Soup
On a scale of 1-10 (with 10 as highest), how often do you dream at night?
Probably a 5; I don't remember my dreams, so I can't be sure.

Salad
Did you have a pet as a child? If so, what kind and what was its name?
A German Shepherd named Schultzie. He loved spaghetti and meatballs!

Main Course
If you had the chance to star in a commercial, what would you choose to advertise?

Victoria's Secret Lingerie.

Dessert
What is your favorite kind of hard candy?

I don't really like hard candy, but if I had to choose, I would say Fox's Glacier Mints.

For more feasts, click here.

13.1 reasons I enjoyed the Nike Half-Marathon

1 - Hey, it's the Nike Women's Marathon and Half-Marathon! Just getting in was an accomplishment -- it sold out so quickly, none of my other girlfriends managed to get a spot.

2 - I've never run at sunrise before.

3 - It was the perfect day for a run -- cool, sunny, not a trace of fog.

4 - It was most scenic run I've ever been on. I ran past the Bay Bridge, Fisherman's Wharf, the Golden Gate Bridge, Golden Gate Park, Cliff House, the Pacific Ocean. The clear sunny skies made sure we had spectacular views of everything.

5 - I survived all the killer hills. My original plan had always been to run the flats and downhills and walk the hills, but I felt so strong yesterday that I decided to run the hills. Okay, I did slow down to a shuffle-walk combo halfway up, but that's still better than I've ever done.

6 - I've fallen in love with my running shoes. They are soft and cushiony and oh-so-stable. My feet feel fine today, not a sore toenail or blister . I think these may be the most comfortable pair of running shoes I've ever had.

7 - I've never seen so many people running for a cause. Half the runners must have been affiliated with Team in Training. Many of them had names, ribbons or photos on their shirts, of people who inspired them, people they were running for. Maybe people fighting leukemia or people who died fighting it. I saw a shirt that read, "You think running 26.2 miles is hard, try chemotherapy". It was truly inspiring.

8 - I got to carbo-load the night before on pancakes and ice cream without too much guilt.

9 - I got to spend a lovely weekend with my family in San Francisco. We met up with some childhood friends of Alfie's who were on vacation from England, and took them around the city and Sausalito. The kids had a great time and enjoyed sleeping in a hotel on Saturday night.

10 - The perks and freebies were amazing. Free iPod engraving, free massages and manicures and pedicures and makeovers pre and post-race, an oxygen bar after the first Big Hill (I wanted to try all of these but decided not to because the lines were just too long). Energy stations along the way offered water, Gatorade, bananas, oranges and bagels and Luna Bars. After the race, there was more fruit and water, Bear Naked Granola, bagels and Jamba Juice smoothies. The race shirt we got was a cute pink Nike DriFit shirt, not an ordinary white screenprint tshirt that gets relegated to Alfie's nightshirt drawer. The much awaited Ghirardelli Chocolate Mile was something of a disappointment -- I expected a bit more fanfare, and all I saw was a table of chocolate squares -- but hey, chocolate is still chocolate, and I managed to stuff a bunch of dark chocolate squares into my rack pack, to be savored in the days to come.

11 - And then there's the finisher's medal, which is so special it deserves it's own little section. Instead of a clunky piece of metal on a ribbon, finishers receive a sterling silver Tiffany's necklace. Yup, with the blue Tiffany's box and all. Presented to us on a silver platter by a bunch of hunks dressed in tuxedoes. I've never owned anything from Tiffany's, and this is something that no millionaire can buy.

12 - I've run my first half-marathon. I was expecting to run between 4 and 6 miles and walk the rest of the way, but other than my slow shuffles up the hills and some minute-long powerwalks, I ran. Being able to say, "I ran it" is the best perk of all.

13 - My time -- 2:22:25 -- is icing on the cake. Given how much I've been running, I did not honestly expect to finish below 3 hours.

0.1 - Did I mention that Tiffany necklace?

For a mile-by-mile account of the race, check out my post on the Silicon Valley Moms Blog.

Pretty Practical

This dish scrubber and dish towel are pretty and practical at the same time. They allow me to do the dishes while celebrating the fun of Halloween. Gotta love Target -- where else can you get this at 99 cents?!

For more practical things, click here.

NOW I'm ready for Halloween!

It had to happen sooner or later. My house looks like the Halloween fairy threw up all over the place, but my blog was still the same ho-hum-homepage. For weeks I've been enviously checking out blogs that are all decked out for Halloween, such as Hootin Anni's and Bridget's and wishing I could do the same. I knew I wanted to include Halloween-themed photos with each post I put up in October, but Halloween-lover that I am, I wanted to do more. And now, I have!

I don't have the time, knowledge or inclination to mess with my blog template, but fortunately the lovely and talented Gattina has made it easy for me to spook up my homepage --thanks, Gattina, for the great header!

Fridays Feast #165

Appetizer : If you were a dog, what breed would you be, and why?
I don't know anything about dogs, so I don't know. I do know that I don't want to be one of those small lap dogs that yip and yap instead of bark, because then my husband wouldn't like me.

Soup : What does the color purple make you think of?
Right now, spiders, because I'm in the midst of getting the house all decorated for Halloween.

Our dining table centerpiece is all purple and black spiders....

(It looks a lot spookier when the lights are dimmed low)

Salad : Approximately how long does it take you to get ready each morning?
Five minutes -- I get dressed, brush my teeth and wash my face. Mornings are all about everybody else but me -- getting the kids up and dressed, giving them breakfast, making the kids' and Alfie's lunch, getting The Pea to school. My breakfast and shower have to wait till the rush dies down.

Main Course : How many cousins do you have, and are you close to them?
Let me see...... I have 26 first cousins (children of my parents' brothers and sisters), and I've already lost track of how many second cousins I have (children of my parents' first cousins). We have big families in the Philippines! With that many cousins, how can you be close to all of them?

Dessert : Take your initials (first, middle, last) and come up with something else those letters could stand for. (Example: SFO = Sweet Funny Otter)
ALP: A lovely person



For more feasts, click here.

Crafting Mama wins the Candy Corn Costume Challenge

Success!! I've completed Pea's dreaded Candy-Corn Fairy Costume Challenge, just in time for our Halloween party. I did not want to pay $80 for the brand-new ensemble; I bid on a used one off Ebay but it ended up selling for $45, still out of my league. So we put together our own version, copied from the original but with little changes here and there. I think the result looks pretty good, don't you? Fortunately, The Pea thinks so; in fact, she says it's better than the original!

Here's a summary of how I did it (note: summary does not convey the effort/angst/mistakes I went through to get it "just right"):

Wings: Bend wire into desired wing shape. Cover wings with a pair of white pantyhose (you'll need stitch or hot-glue the ends shut). Color wings with fabric paint, diluted with water to get that "sheer" color. Decorate with glitter glue and sew on elastic straps at the back.

Bag: Take a square bag and turn inside out. Stitch a diagonal line from each top corner to the bottom of the bag, right in the middle, so it makes a triangle shape. Turn inside out. Use yellow. orange and white fabric paint to color the bag like a piece of candy corn.

Headband: Wrap antenna pipecleaners around headband to anchor (I twisted 2 pipecleaners together so that the antennae would be stiffer). Make candy corn shapes out of foam and hot-glue to the pipecleaners.

Dress and bootcovers: Buy used costume from Craigslist or Ebay (my sewing and crafting skills do not stretch that far).

Total cost: $7 for dress & bootcovers plus $2 for pantyhose plus $5 for glitter glue; the rest were materials we already had at home. Again, I say, Not Bad!