denise

Daily Dose of Health – Scarlet Fever

1 Comment / Health and Wellness, Kid Talk /

Last week I was reading some message boards, (imagine that), and I ran across a really nice mommy asking questions about Scarlet Fever and I decided right then, I needed to post about this.

What is the first thing you think of when you hear the phrase “Scarlet Fever”? Do you think about all of those books set in the 1800’s where people died from Scarlet Fever? Do you think of Helen Keller? Do you think of that relative who often says “I had Scarlet Fever when I was a kid and almost died”? (My ex, the dirtbag, is notorious for spitting out this little tidbit). If you’re a mom and a doctor mentions Scarlet Fever while examining your young child who is obviously very sick – high fevers, horrid rashes and icky looking throat, then I bet you think of one of those things.

Being the mom you are today, you’d head for the leading source of reliable health information on the web – WebMD and you’d search for information about Scarlet Fever, wouldn’t you? And what would you find out? You’d find out it is strep throat with a rash. Huh? How can that be? Tons of people died from that! What about Helen Keller? What about Denise’s dirtbag ex? How can it just be strep throat with a rash? There must be something that WebMD (and my doctor) isn’t telling me, right?

Wrong. Scarlet Fever IS strep w/ a rash. It’s also something that really does need to be treated and not allowed to run its course or it could develop into a more serious issue. That’s what we all need to wrap our brains around. Scarlet Fever, treated, is not serious. Scarlet Fever untreated, is.

Doctors need to explain that part to mommies when they mention Scarlet Fever. WebMD should do a better job of acknowledging that we’ve read those books, we know Helen Keller’s history and we all have a relative like my dirtbag and address our fears up front so we don’t have to worry and fret that somebody is not telling us the whole story!

Now do you know what’s sort of funny here? I planned this blog piece more than a week ago. This morning, I mentioned on a message board that it was one of the things on my To Do List for the day. And guess what happened – Michelle was diagnosed at the ER in NJ today with Scarlet Fever. I’m not kidding you!

She called me yesterday from Great Adventure to ask me if I was sure she wasn’t allergic to something because she had a horrible rash and Benadryl was not helping. I said she wasn’t, that I knew of, and asked her all of the normal rash questions. (And I considered having her take a photo of her rash and email it to me; I will admit this though my co-workers will spit out their coffee when they read this). I suggested she stick with the Benadryl, grab some anti-itch lotion on the way home and watch it for another day. Apparently this morning she woke with a 104 temp and felt like death warmed over so her sister took her to the ER (no sign of her dirtbag father).

Yep, strep w/a rash. Life is funny. And luckily, I’ve already done the research so I’m not fretting and thinking about all of those folks who died back in the day, or Helen Keller or my dirtbag ex – well I am, but I know those are unreasonable fears that all moms have.

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Daily Dose of Jealousy – NO FAIR!

Daily Dose /

No folks, this is not a post about my sister, it’s better than that! It’s about Blogher. Or more to the point, it’s about how it’s just NOT FAIR that I am not there watching all of these women talk about blogs and actually blog!

Watching the Blogher flickr photo feed is not the same. Reading the blogs of women who are actually blogging during the conference is just not the same.

Hell I’m not even a “real” blogger like these chicks (and the non-chicks) but I know a really amazing event when I see one (or read about one). And if there is one thing about me that you certainly have to know, it’s that I really like being in on a good thing.

So here I am, blogging from my bedroom with one kid banging around over head while another stomps around his bedroom because I was tired of hearing him tell his sister that she’s a nightmare and the third child is at the hospital with her mother seeing about a roller skating injury. It is sooooo not fair! I want to be in California, I love California. I want to have my laptop and my coffee and be surrounded by blogging women and not grouchy kids and smelly dogs, watching the appearance of dark clouds outside of my window (which means we’ll probably have more tree limbs down this evening).

Look at this session titles! These are ME, aren’t they? They couldn’t be any more ME if I’d come up with them myself:

  • Feminist Hip Hop Bloggers
  • How to get naked
  • Flame, Blame and Shame
  • What can you get away with?
  • Teens & Blogging
  • Mommy BloggingARGHHHH! Blogher was created for me! It is just not fair!!! It is just not fair, not fair, not fair. There had better be a Blogher II because I intend to be there! Even if I have to avail myself of the babysitting services!

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    Daily Dose of Entitlement – I’m a thief!

    Daily Dose /

    No this is not another Patrick Scoble post about over-privileged children, it’s better than that. I was surfing through my feeds last night and started to laugh and couldn’t stop laughing. I then went in search of the phone, telling TW I had to call my mom to find out if she’d actually read my blog. Why did I need to call my mom at 8:30 at night to ask this question? Because, I’m about to confess, not that this is at all a secret or anything but I’m going to confess to everyone that I am one of these entitled brats – a 40 something year old entitled brat. (Upon reading the comments, it seems we are a rare breed and a breed to be despised. Whatever!)

    From the original article in the NY Times:
    A generation ago, adult children visiting their parents’ homes might have left with a Tupperware container of lasagna. Today, many of them stealthily make off with toiletries, groceries, sometimes clothing and even furniture. It is an apparently widespread practice, born of a sense of entitlement among young adults – and usually amusedly tolerated by parents – that gives new meaning to the phrase “home shopping.” Like most adults, the pilferers have set up their own households, but they seem not to have given up the expectation that their parents should provide for them in certain ways. They loot their parents’ houses to cut costs, or because they would rather not pay for incidentals. Or because they want things with sentimental value.

    I do not believe that I have ever left my mother’s house without a pair of her socks. (Well, I have, when I lived around the corner from her for a year sock theft was minimal but did still occur.) I tend to tell people I don’t like to wear socks and it’s true. I do not wear socks with sneakers, (all of you people going ewwww, just hush because my feet do not stink, thank you), I do however wear socks around the house ’cause I do not like my feet to be cold. And, I’m horrible about going outside in sock feet and then getting frustrated because the socks are cold which then makes my feet cold. The answer to that is “get another pair of socks”. So, I obviously under pack socks and my mom has all of these great, never worn socks in the top left dresser drawer in the rose room. (I wonder if they’ll still be there when she moves to her new house in Charlotte. They’d better be or I will have to sniff out their new hiding place)

    After years of doing this, one of the first things I do when I enter the rose room is to check and see what sort of new cool socks my mother has purchased to replace all of the other pairs I took home last time I was there. (It’s been a long time since I visited her; I bet her sock drawer is seriously overflowing!) TW has taken to buying me cool socks but it is just not the same as taking my mom’s. Don’t ask me why, I’m sure a therapist could assist me in figuring that out but I’m not troubled enough by it to actually make an appointment and find out!

    I have also pilfered books from her shelf, though generally in plain view and when she says “No you can’t take that one,” I usually leave it behind. I say usually because while I can’t remember a specific time, I’m sure I’ve accidentally slipped a book into my suitcase that wasn’t in the original pile. 😉

    I plundered her attic for old kid toys that may have belonged to me or to my children but more than likely belonged to my sister (ha take that mother of the heir to the throne!). When we lived in the same neighborhood for that one brief year, I did take a scoop of cat food because I forgot to buy it and didn’t feel like turning around and going back to the store. I also still have a small screwdriver that I thought I returned but didn’t and then just didn’t feel like taking back to her before I moved to Florida. If she needs it back, I can probably find it and return it when I take the piano sometime in the next two years. (No I’m not stealing the piano, I’ve been told to take it or else…)

    I have read all of those comments on Meta Filter and I just cannot believe more people don’t do this sort of thing! I also can’t believe how many people are troubled by it, lol. I don’t take the toys that belong to mom’s s/o (though he has some that I covet). I have not stolen the rocking chair or the old school desk, though I plan to take them when I take the piano, hahahaha! What’s wrong with lifting a couple of pairs of socks (or ummm 20 pairs of socks) and some dog food?

    Oh, and from the comments as well – I did take a blanket from my father and step-mother’s home without asking them. It was a Clemson throw blanket that belonged to my grandmother. I didn’t think they really wanted it, not like I wanted it, but I also thought that if I’d asked I might have been told no out of spite. TW says that’s dumb, that the evil step-mother wouldn’t have done that, but that’s how she makes me feel so I took it and have enjoyed it ever since.

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    Daily Dose of Kids – Those Left Behind

    Day to Day, Kid Talk /

    TW blogged about her nice workday with RJ and I’m glad the normally bouncy, talkative, busy RJ was quiet and sweet but I spent most of the day wondering why it was I had insisted it be RJ who went and the other two who should be left behind.

    It started innocently enough, the Starbucks and the Krispy Kreme but I should have known it wouldn’t last when the two staying with me started to cheer because RJ was going to have to do WORK at the office and they were going to have a wonderful, relaxing and FUN day at home with Denise. I hate that sort of thing so decided on the spot that we’d clean the garage – or at least play at cleaning the garage. That stopped the cheering and jeering at RJ’s expense but left me with a 15 minute drive home that I did not enjoy.

    E quickly warmed to the idea of cleaning the garage and talked nonstop about just what we would throw away (RJ’s stuff and Chris’s stuff) and what we were definitely keeping (her stuff). J did what J does best and tried to muddle the process by distracting me with some talk about video games that I did not understand. (J and I both need to listen to more Patrick Scoble podcasts because J would definitely be considered a lame 12 year old. We’re trying to make him into a real boy but it’s hard, he has some really weird parents…)

    By the time we got home, I was feeling about the way I did when I blogged my symptoms a few days ago and I was regretting the first wonderful Caramel Macchiato I’ve had in days. So, I did what all moms in my position would do – I turned on the TV.

    The quiet lasted for about an hour and then the typical, “Get out of my seat!” “Quit touching me!” “I am not stupid!” “I was watching that!” started. Then there was mayhem because J has lost his gameboy charger. It was plugged into the wall in the living room for the entire month he was in Vancouver. I saw it on Monday when J arrived and immediately picked up the gameboy. Where it went after that is anybody’s guess. I helped search the living room for a bit and offered ideas about how to go about cleaning the bedroom that he insists he just cleaned in order to find it but we had no luck.

    From there it just went downhill. E decided she needed to talk to me, nonstop, preferably while holding onto my mousing arm at the elbow. When I tired of this, she brought her pillow and neopets plushies down and crawled under my desk with the old, tired, smelly dog and talked to me from down there. J sat in Michelle’s computer chair, the one formerly known as mommy’s, and made his groaning noises for about an hour.

    Lunch was only a success because I served Krispy Kremes alongside what turned out not to be E’s favorite soup oh and somewhere along the way, the evil black dog drank J’s hot chocolate from Starbucks and J refused to clean up the cup paper that was all over the living room. Apparently the dog assumed responsibility for cleaning up the cup since he had it last? The Schwan’s guy showed up unexpectedly, (unexpectedly only because I forgot he told me last time he was switching to Thursdays), and saved me briefly with banana popsicles that E has been asking for all week. (The kid is weird, she hates bananas but loves these popsicles and the yellow smiely lollipops skeeter sent us from Hawaii ages ago.)

    We never did make it to the garage. We did, however, survive the day with only one 5 minute bout of crying from E when J put his feet in her hair and pulled for a really longgggggg time (according to E). We also never found the charger for the gameboy so his highness thinks that tomorrow we should just go buy another one. Ha! It wasn’t as crazy as Life Aboard the Ark but the next time a kid goes to work, it’s not going to be RJ!

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    Daily Dose of Pet Peeves – I hate “I Heart…”

    1 Comment / Love or Sex, Pet Peeves /

    Why do grown men and women, women in particular, insist in saying “I heart ______ ” in their blogs and in their emails and in their AIM messages and in their message board posts? They don’t even make a heart like my pal Karen did in her comments about Starbucks yesterday. I could live with that, it doesn’t bug me at all. But typing out “I heart Johnny Depp” or “I heart iTunes” or “I heart my cat” just makes no freaking sense.

    It’s worse than kids who use an odd mix of uPPer AnD lOwEr CaSe or use numbers instead of letters (my teen does this all of the darn time to me on AIM – CUL8R -). Kids, I can see doing this sort of thing but it’s the grown-ups who do it that drive me to want to say mean things in their blog comments, put them on my ignore list on message boards or ban them from the internet foreverrrrrrrrrrrrr. And while I can’t do any of those things, I can and I have unsubscribed from some blogs because of the frequent use of that phrase and there are some more blogs on my soon to be unsubscribed to list if they don’t quit it. Once, I can live with but once a week is pushing it and once a day is too much to handle!

    If it was the movie, “I Heart Huckabees” that caused this trend then they have some answering to do. If it wasn’t that, then what was it? I really want to know!

    Why, why, why do people do this? I H8 “I heart”!!!!!

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    Daily Dose of Health – or Lack Of Health?

    Health and Wellness /

    I’m sick. I’ve been sick for a few days now. I don’t like it. I’m done with it. Really, really done with it.

    It started with what I thought was a sinus headache. Moved to a migraine with that nasty symptom that sends you to the bathroom. Which of course means I stopped eating. From there I found myself with a fever and a very queasy stomach and exhaustion. I was sure the queasy stuff was from lack of food so I have been forcing myself to eat. Not a good idea. And TW got in the Denise hasn’t eaten mode and that means she fixed a pan of hash brown casserole. I love it but this was not the best of days for it. I’m also slightly dehydrated and have not had my normal Quad Venti Caramel Macchiato and have only had two cups of Gazebo in 24 hours.

    I really, really am done with this.

    Just for fun, click those underlined links to my symptoms and see if you can figure out what illness I have, courtesy of WebMD.

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    Daily Dose of Sex

    Health and Wellness, Love or Sex /

    Women’s Sex Satisfaction Linked to Submission, according to this article from WebMD. I believe that what the title should really say is “Women’s Sex Dissatisfaction Linked to Submission” based on the article and the study “results”. I’m not sure what led WebMD to title it this way but then again, I’m not sure what these people were thinking when they created the parameters for this study.

    There are so many problems here that I don’t even know where to begin – maybe I should just say, thank goodness it is a U of M study and not a UF study. I would hate to think that I’m living in a town of people who thought this was an accurate or even informative study.

    If you’re looking for some interesting articles and studies about women and sex, try these instead – at least they make sense!

  • Secrets of the Sexually Satisfied Woman
  • Women’s Sex Lives, Up Close and Very Personal
  • Becoming a Multi-Orgasmic Woman,

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    Daily Dose of Psychology?

    Personality /

    Does this story from WebMD, Why Some People Just Can’t Hold Their Tongues, explain TW’s tendency toward saying exactly the wrong thing at the wrong time? I somehow doubt it.

    I don’t think serving someone a chicken foot and watching their reaction is probably not the best indicator of inhibitory ability, is it? I think TW would probably be ok with an Asian woman serving her a chicken foot. I don’t think she’d be even remotely tempted to make a face or utter a potentially embarrassing comment.

    Who pays these people for these studies??? I want in on the action, I swear I do.

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    Daily Dose of Kids – Patrick Scoble (again)

    Kid Talk /

    Well it’s time to review the latest Patrick Scoble; featuring Microsoft Boy podcast. I was getting worried that the team of Scoble & Scoble were giving up on podcasting because it took so long for this installment to appear. A regular schedule would be nice, boys. You have loyal listeners, ya know. Do you think Dawn & Drew would be where they are today if they kept their fans waiting like this??

    So Patrick thinks his pal Drew is lame. Actually he really thinks his pal Drew is just a little kid and it is Drew’s parents that are lame. Makes sense to me, from the viewpoint of an 11 year old son of Microsoft Boy. Heck, it makes sense to me, from the viewpoint of a mom with 6 ½ kids. Honesty is a good thing Patrick; I just hope Drew and his family recognize that when folks start telling them that they were immortalized by your podcast. Or maybe I don’t. Maybe I hope that Drew and his family are a little miffed by your podcast and tell you about it. Because while I think it’s perfectly acceptable to tell your dad that those folks are lame, and even for dad to giggle (again a thing I could have lived my life without hearing) and agree, I don’t really think it was a really great idea for a podcast.

    Scoble took some hits on his blog for encouraging his son to label his friend and their parents lame and for encouraging Patrick to count off his games and his wonderful “toys” while comparing them to those of his friends. I am sure that Scoble did try to impart some wisdom to his son about folks actually earning their toys and that he did try to explain that not everyone can or should have the best, new gizmo (or all of the best new gizmos). We just didn’t hear it, I’m giving Scoble the benefit of the doubt; surely he tried.

    Unfortunately, I think that if he did try, he probably didn’t get anywhere. It’s difficult for parents like Scoble to impart such lessons to their children nowadays. Parents who live a relatively “privileged” life pass that along to their children and it’s virtually impossible for children to comprehend the differences between the classes. I know this from personal experience.

    As mentioned, I have 6 ½ children. 3 ½ of those those children would immediately realize that while Drew is lame (and so are his parents) he isn’t all that different from them. They actually have to wait for new toys and they understand that their moms aren’t made of money and Xbox games don’t grow on trees. The other 3 children are clueless. So clueless that one of them has decided her father and his family are “poor” because it cost so much money for them to take a trip to Japan over spring break. Those 3 have no concept of poor and it isn’t the age factor that is causing the confusion, it’s the class they spend half of their time living in.

    I wish Scoble luck in trying to impart some lessons regarding class structure in America, it won’t be easy and I do hope he’s starting now – maybe making Patrick earn a bit of money toward a 360 would be a good start…

    And Scoble, if you need help coming up with topics for your podcasts with Patrick, there are all sorts of interesting question libraries that will help. You did a better job of not asking about summer vacation but it did slip out when you ran out of topics. Or you could ask him what he thinks of Bush’s nominee for Supreme Court? Or maybe you could ask him about drug use in his school? You could even ask him more about the bass guitar? How about MTV, does he watch it? Have favorite shows? Vjays? The topics are endless –  try some of them!

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