THE ASYLUM

[augolf1716 21,153]

1 hour ago, McLoofus said:

I can't imagine how much time has gone back into every day for you.

yep I can sit on my ass all I want.......except when the wife comes home from work

[I_M4_AU 7,837]

2 hours ago, augolf1716 said:

We downsized 11 years ago. Went from a 4000 sq.ft house with a full basement, Buford, Ga, to a 1200 sq ft condo Winter Park, Fl.

Takes me all of 15 minutes to put up christmas decor as long as Heidi leaves me alone

I’m a little behind you on downsizing.  We went from a 4000+ sq.ft home on a lake (with all the trappings) to a 2100 sq.ft cabin in the NC mountains just this last summer.

I really don’t know why I waited so long.

This will be our first Christmas full time up here so I don’t know what the wife has planned for decorating, but I will be involved.

 

[bigbird 60,527]

On 11/4/2021 at 11:45 AM, I_M4_AU said:

I’m a little behind you on downsizing.  We went from a 4000+ sq.ft home on a lake (with all the trappings) to a 2100 sq.ft cabin in the NC mountains just this last summer.

I really don’t know why I waited so long.

This will be our first Christmas full time up here so I don’t know what the wife has planned for decorating, but I will be involved.

 

Im going to need those directions when you get a chance

[bigbird 60,527]

Rough morning... again. After 8 days we thought we had the bleed under control. 

Unfortunately, the bleed has expanded to the top of his forearm. 

Here are a pic from this morning. It will show the new swelling.

 

[bigbird 60,527]

James asked me to crop out his face. You can see how we all feel in his eyes.

[I_M4_AU 7,837]

3 minutes ago, bigbird said:

Im going to need those directions when you get a chance

There is a lot of solitude up here in the mountains, it would be perfect for what you are going through right now.  You’re welcome anytime.

[I_M4_AU 7,837]

3 minutes ago, bigbird said:

James asked me to crop out his face. You can see how we all feel in his eyes.

You can definitely see it in his eyes.  I hope you see improvements in the coming hours.  Continuing to pray.

[bigbird 60,527]

47 minutes ago, I_M4_AU said:

There is a lot of solitude up here in the mountains, it would be perfect for what you are going through right now.  You’re welcome anytime.

Sounds absolutely wonderful. Appreciate the offer.

[McLoofus 35,182]

Jesus, that swelling.

 

[bigbird 60,527]

7 hours ago, McLoofus said:

Jesus, that swelling.

 

Yeah, I'm having to watch for compartment syndrome because it's so tight right now.  

[bigbird 60,527]

After  watching it today, I think he has developed a 2nd bleed on the same elbow. The unbruised, swollen top part of the forearm in the pics above

[McLoofus 35,182]

God, I hate the Nutcracker.

[augolf1716 21,153]

Why?? Its wonderfulllllllll

 

 

[McLoofus 35,182]

17 hours ago, augolf1716 said:

Why?? Its wonderfulllllllll

 

 

Had to sit through 2 performances, one Friday night and again yesterday. Both kids were in it... for a total, both kids and both performances, of about 90 seconds of stage time. Yesterday was a lot better, though. 4 grandparents, an aunt and an uncle all in town. That was really great for the kids. Also, funny how it makes a difference if you eat before settling into a 2 hour ballet. 

[McLoofus 35,182]

Hell of a weekend overall. Absolutely perfect weather. Lots of great family time. Lots of wine, bourbon and beer consumed.

The big part was the lantern parade. (If you've heard me talk about this before, feel free to stop reading.) We moved down here 4 years ago. 2 years ago was the first ever lantern parade, which was 100% my wife's idea and production. She worked her ass off on the first one. Got the local schools to do workshops so the kids could make their own lanterns, held workshops herself at various places in the community, brought in a lady who produces them all over the country, bands, security, all of it.

Thousands of people showed up. People from all walks. And where I live, that's a very big deal. It is very haves and have nots here, and most of the haves live in gated communities. And any big events are geared towards tourists or are very specific- the RBG Heritage (PGA tournament), the Councours (richy rich car show), the Latin festival (*very* Latino, barely any white folks attend), etc. There is very little general sense of community here. Suddenly, you've got people from all those various groups- working class, rich, young, old, brown, white, gay, straight, Democrat, Republican- together on the beach at night with art that they made themselves, participating in what amounts to a massive team project. You've got brass bands marching and playing... on the beach. Thousands more there to watch it go back. People on hotel balconies. All of it. 

All this probably just sounds like a normal thing that happens in most places, but that's the thing. It is. It's just that it's never happened here before, and I'm so incredibly proud that my wife is responsible for it. Her job was created to do this work, but nobody thought she'd do *this*. There's also this whole interesting element to it regarding the politics at town hall and a bunch of drama currently going on. Suffice it to say some folks there didn't realize who they were dealing with.

So anyway, what was supposed to be the 2nd annual parade last year got COVIDed into being a modified drive thru version (another massive success nonetheless). So this was our first chance to get back out and walk on the beach again, and it was another huge success. She estimates 5,000 people were out there. Might've been more. Big afterparty at the beach bar. Social media ablaze. Vacation home owners spreading the word back in New York and Michigan and Ohio. People planning vacations around it. Local restaurants doing big numbers. Other local businesses trying to figure out how to leverage it. This is now officially a signature event at a time on the calendar when there isn't much tourism money pumping into the island. 

But the main thing is to just be out there and see kids with smiling faces lit up by these lanterns and to hear "Oh my God" and "Can you believe this" and "I've never seen anything like this" over and over again, and to see the octogenarian mayor who showed up to the first one two years ago having no idea what was going on back out there with a big ol silly grin and carrying the lantern that somebody at town hall made for him... 

I shared a couple other videos in other threads, but this was from right before it started. 

 

[bigbird 60,527]

That's super cool. I'd love to experience that some time

[McLoofus 35,182]

14 minutes ago, bigbird said:

That's super cool. I'd love to experience that some time

Our guest room is very big. There are three great seafood places on the water less than 2 miles from our house. Just saying.

[augolf1716 21,153]

1 hour ago, McLoofus said:

There are three great seafood places on the water less than 2 miles

Names please

[McLoofus 35,182]

8 minutes ago, augolf1716 said:

Names please

Skull Creek Boathouse, Skull Creek Dockside, and Hudson's, all next door to each other. The first two are owned by the same restaurant group. They're a little shiny and very touristy in season but all decent places on the island are. Hudson's has been around forever and looks like it. None are fancy but all three will have some good specials and the standard fried/broiled/blackened stuff anytime you go. Go early, get on the list, grab a round of drinks and enjoy the view until your table is ready. SCB and SCD share a playground for the littles, and are good places to watch a game. 

[bigbird 60,527]

1 hour ago, McLoofus said:

Our guest room is very big. There are three great seafood places on the water less than 2 miles from our house. Just saying.

Definitely will keep that in mind!

[augolf1716 21,153]

1 hour ago, McLoofus said:

Skull Creek Boathouse, Skull Creek Dockside, and Hudson's, all next door to each other. The first two are owned by the same restaurant group. They're a little shiny and very touristy in season but all decent places on the island are. Hudson's has been around forever and looks like it. None are fancy but all three will have some good specials and the standard fried/broiled/blackened stuff anytime you go. Go early, get on the list, grab a round of drinks and enjoy the view until your table is ready. SCB and SCD share a playground for the littles, and are good places to watch a game. 

Been to Hudson's many times never ever had a bad meal not sure if the other two were there way back when I was last at HH. Wife found out one of our favorites for lunch closed some years back located I think at the Market Square had the best Greek Salad 

[bigbird 60,527]

The underside is resolving and much less swollen, but the top is still warm and swollen.  You can see where he bumped the top on something triangular. A simple bump turns into 2 weeks of missed school and severe pain.

[McLoofus 35,182]

Welp. Disney humbled us.

It was more or less the standard brand of exhausting, expensive, frustrating, amazing, fun, etc for the first few days. The youngest one caught a bug that made him grumpy but we managed. Then Friday night the ish hit the fan. Little dude started coughing so hard at (our very expensive, very much looked forward to character) dinner that he made himself throw up at the table. Then McWifey wakes up in the middle of the night with severe abdominal pain and drives herself to the ER. She spends the entire day and the next night in the hospital with a bladder issue. I solo dad both kids to two different parks, mostly in the rain, because it's our last day. Daughter catches son's bug. We finally bust McWifey out of the hospital on my son's birthday. Because of the delay we have to have his birthday dinner on the way home. We stop at some little Mexican place in the middle of nowhere. It's mostly empty and they're playing classic hard rock. But our server is an angel. We tell her it's his birthday and she gets all excited and starts to making special churros for him and cheesecake for my daughter and the staff is planning to come out and sing and everything. Welp, the boy cough pukes again and we have to take those desserts to go. 

We did make a lot of special memories and have some great pics to prove it. Our hotel room was really nice and we could watch the fireworks from the balcony. But damn, it was an expensive trip in several ways. 

Oh, McWifey is fine now. Just needed a break from me and the kids I guess. 

[augolf1716 21,153]

Damn that was a rough read.........hate to hear that guess you were lucky not to catch something.

[McLoofus 35,182]

8 minutes ago, augolf1716 said:

Damn that was a rough read.........hate to hear that guess you were lucky not to catch something.

Oh, it's hitting me now, too. I might be able to stay ahead of it and avoid the worst of it, but we'll see. Good news is we've got 4 days off after tomorrow. And we cancelled our trip to Atlanta for the holiday, which is actually great. We saw most of that side of the family a couple weekends ago and will see them all again before the year is over. Instead of that mayhem, we'll get to eat a Whole Foods prepared dinner at home. And McWifey has a friend in town who will come over for dinner Thursday, so we get to be his port in the storm since he won't be able to be home with his pregnant wife.