Wynne's Notes

In 2009, Wynnegruffyd resolves to...

Take evening classes in lost.
Find a better journey.
Go to the fairies every month.
Apply for a new sca.
Overcome my secret fear of movies.
Start a bdsm fund.

Get your own New Year's Resolutions:

Current Mood: aggravated

Somewhat brief update....

Saw New Moon last night and liked it. Thought that the CGI weres were a bit much and there was that damn sparkling vampire thing again but the storyline followed the book pretty much. All in all, worth going to the theater to see it. Was smart and bought our tickets thru Fandango so walked right in.

Recieved our membership tickets for 2010 DragonCon. Have our rooms already. Started working on Steampunk as costumes for next year. We have ideas for 2 costumes each. Hopefully we'll be ready.

Saw the grandbaby last weekend. She is precious as they come and such a happy baby.

Have relegated the dogs to the yard permanently. No more inside ones. Fred built an Alpine Hotel for them (i.e. old swingset as a base, wrapped in wood and covered with a tarp. Believe it or not, they have taken to it and used it last night.

Slowly getting the house straightened out. Got rid of some furniture. Need to downsize some more. Next on the agenda.....the craft room UGH!

I have a student who is demon spawn!

Current Location: living room
Current Mood: crappy

I've been attending DragonCon for 10 years now and this is the first time I've come down with ConCrud. Actually, I think I caught it from my daughter and from Fred. Its the sniffles, dripping nose, coughing, scratchy throat, general body aches, headache like a migraine, fatique, etc. This is not a fun end to a fantastic Labor Dat weekend.

For those who care to look, here are the best of my remembrances:

A plethora of awesome Steampunk costumes this year. Think I might try that next year.

Room at the Hyatt was wonderful and looked newly renovated. Being on 3rd floor was not fun though, given the elevators and the noise late night.

Leonard Nimoy panel where William Shatner appeared halfway through and brought the house down.

Awesome seats at every panel I attended.

Mango margueritas....nothing else to be said about that.

My first time in 10 years actually spending time at the Art Show and have concluded it will be one of my first stops next year.

Wonderful conversations with other congoers as we waited in line for panels.

Charlaine Harris is the funniest and nicest author I've had the pleasure of talking to. (For those who are unaware, she writes the Southern Vampire Stories (Sookie Stackhouse) that have been made into the TruBlood tv series on HBO.)

I have to officially say that I am in love with the Cruxshadows music. I've always discounted it as being gothic/punk and therefore not something I would be interested in but this year, I spent some time at their fan booth and actually listened. Wound up buying 2 CD's.

Patrick Stewart is one funny guy.

Had a very nice chat with Anthony Daniels who played C3P0 in Star Wars. Had the opportunity to talk with him at his booth because no one else was in line late on Sat. Has a dry sense of humor and is a very suave, intelligent, English gentleman. Could totally see C3P0 in him.

Found some wonderful handmade jewelry, bought some Christmas presents (yes I thought that far enough ahead), didn't spend as much money as I have in years past, managed to stay on the low-carb diet, didn't run anyone over with the scooter.

Drum circle on Sunday night. Some amazing belly dancers.

Was nice seeing Jeff again if only briefly and running into Achbar whom I see everywhere, LOL.

All in all, a wonderful 4 days, lots of eye candy, fantastic costumes, excitment and energy, artists galore, great music, not too much elevator hassles, panel lines were certainly long, and loved having Yasmeen with us again.

Already have room reservations for next year.

Current Location: living room
Current Mood: sick
Current Music: none

2 days and counting. Really looking forward to this DCon. Only drawback is that had to book a room at the Hyatt and the elevators are atrocious there, especially for someone using a scooter. I shall deal and still have a great time.

We had breakfast at school at 8. Yum livermush biscuit. I only ate one half of the biscuit itself and all the livermush. Still watching the carbs.
Meeting from 8:30 until 11:30. Its the same junk year after year, yet we still have to sit through the boring speeches.
Back to my classroom to get things started. Worked on my bookshelves and purged what I didn't need. Started to set up my desk drawers.
1pm broke for lunch. Subway cold cut trio with lots of veggies and no condiments. Ate 6" only half the roll but all the other goodies. Again doing good on the carbs.
Home at 4:30. Bottle of water. It was hot as hades in the school building even tho they said the air was on.
Will cook baked chicken later with brocolli.
Turn around and do it all again tomorrow.

Current Location: living room
Current Mood: tired
Current Music: NCIS theme song

17 days until I report back to school
21 days until last child goes off to college and I'm an empty nester
25 days until the kids come back to school
35 days until Dragoncon

Had so many plans for the summer and projects to accomplish. Yeah, right.

Daughter-in-law has to have her gallbladder out next Friday morning. They are going to do it outpatient and recoup time should be a couple weeks. This is going to be tough with a new baby who is all of 3 months old.

OMG! What a roller coaster this mini-series has been and there is still one more night. Its scary, dark, heart-wrenching, thought provoking and heart in throat throughout each episode. Anyone else watching this? If so, drop me a line and tell me what you think. I sooo hope they bring the series back next year with a full complement of episodes. This mini-series however has delivered way beyond my imagination.

Current Location: living room
Current Mood: drained

Since I was coerced into getting on Facebook, I find that I spend way too much time there. I've become addicted to Yoville which is much like Sims City. If I ever hope to accomplish anything this summer (organizing and cleaning out the house, scrapbooking, working on my visual journal, making power points for school, trips to the beach to see the grandbaby), I've got to turn off the laptop and put it away.

We are leaving tomorrow for the beach to see Laila and for me to hold her for the first time. I can't wait. The girls are going down with us as well and this will be the first time that Mariam has actually gotten to see her except in pictures.

I have a new grand-puppy. Mariam just got a Yorkie named Milo that is tiny. Cute little bugger and today we are doggie sitting. He will accompany us to the beach.

Met Mariam's new boyfriend for the first time yesterday. They came down and we went to lunch taking Yasmeen and her new bf as well. Cody is pretty quite but seems to be a nice guy, very well dressed and polite. He finally spoke more than 3 words but according to Mia, will take some time to fully open up. Hope that we didn't scare him off too much. She seems to be very happy.

Spent the evening of the fourth at the Roanwoulfe den. Its always great to be around the household and we do far too little of that lately. I don't know when it was that we played SCA but we will be going to Flight of the Falcon where I'll run newcomers point. I'm usually in the kitchen so this time going to do something different, afterall I am the Canton Chatelaine and its my duty to welcome new people into the SCA.

We've had Stacie for a little over a week now, but she will be going home today. She's been a big help while here. With Fred and my knee problems and other asundry ailments, the state of the house has been less than stellar. She has helped immensely.

Saw Transformers this past Friday and really enjoyed the movie. There are several other ones that I would love to go and see but jeez, the cost of the movies nowadays is ridiculous. Almost makes you want to wait until they come out on dvd. But, there are just some movies you HAVE to see on the big screen. Ah well, its just money, huh?

Need to turn this thing off and become productive to get ready for the beach. Need another cup of coffee. Toodles until next time.

Current Location: living room
Current Mood: awake
Current Music: none...sound of the washing machine

Reported on CNN today that Michael Jackson died of cardiac arrest. May he rest in peace. An icon of a generation has passed. No matter what your thoughts are of him and his faults, the man was a music genius which influenced many of the artists we currently listen to. Prayers go out to his children and family.

Current Location: living room
Current Mood: sad
Current Music: Tuesday Afternoon, by Moody Blues

Sanford of S.C......wtf was he thinking? No one would notice he was missing in action for a week? That he could get by with having his retinue try to cover for him by saying he was writing and possibly on the Appalachian Trail? That the wife had kicked him out of the mansion 2 weeks ago. What a dumbass.

Crazo dicatator leader of North Korea.....does he have a death wish? Thinks he can intimidate the U.S. when there are 28,000 US troops sitting on his border? That he has the wherewithal to "blow the US off the map"? I've always said, Iran/Iraq/Afghanistan shouldn't be our priority, its that nutcase in N. Korea. What a dumbass.

Bev Purdue....Simply put, what a dumbass. Education governor? Puhlease. And I'm a dumbass for having voted for her. I guess I should know better than to believe politicians.

Enough said.

Current Location: living room
Current Mood: annoyed
Current Music: Geiko commercial music

I can't seem to get awake today. Woke up around 11, rolled out of bed about 11:30, fell back asleep on the couch around 1 or so and now am still yawning and sluggish. What is up with that? Going to the Roanwoulfe gathering of the clan tonite. Gotta go and cook a dish or two and rustle up some garments that I borrowed for my Model UN kids. Two weeks into the summer and I've not accomplished jack. Ah well, let me try to pull myself together and get something done today.

Current Location: living room
Current Mood: sleepy
Current Music: none probably need to put on something loud

Laila Grace is now home. She is doing well and after the first day of settling in, she is behaving like a little angel. Parents are thrilled. I'm thrilled. Will hopefully post pictures within the next couple days. I'm going down to hold this little bundle of joy July 7-9. Can't wait. Thank you to all who said prayers and sent well wishes to her recovery. The power of positive thinking works miracles.

Current Location: dining room
Current Mood: happy
Current Music: none

First, Baby Update. Laila Grace is still improving, albeit very slowly. Dr. predicts she will be in the hospital at least another 2-3 weeks and when they send her home, she will be on oxygen for perhaps 3-4 months. They will remove the feeding tube and let her live on formula as long as she is taking at least 2 ozs. at a time several times a day. They took her off the morphin that they were using for sedation and now she is on methadone (sounds like a heroin addict, huh?) and she will be on that for a little while. We are happy she is improving however extremely frustrated that it is taking so long to get her home. I truly believe that this whole scenario could have been avoided had Jackie's obgyn done the C-section as soon as they realized there was miconium in the amniotic fluid when her water broke instead of waiting a couple hours to get her in for surgery. Where was this guy's head?

Yasmeen graduates Wed. My last one at home will be out within the next few months. It will be strange not to have any kids in the house. We are having the party on Wed. before the graduation so if you want to come, just drop me a line and I'll give you all the details.

Well looks like I won't be getting my knees replaced anytime soon. Doctor suggests that because I have such edema in my lower legs (in particular the left one), I need to go ahead with some type of weightloss program or surgery to see if that will help with the amount of fluid that accumulates in my lower extremeties as well as allow him to feel the bone structure of my knees better. I carry the majority of my weight in my legs, thighs and rear and all that excess flab for a better word certainly masks the bones. I see where he is coming from because I really don't want to go ahead with a surgery where I might get an infection that won't heal properly due to the edema which is a real concern. Ah well, must change directions and work on the weight first.

School ends for the students on Wed. and for me on Friday. It is not coming too soon. Seems each year the kids get more disrespectful and lazy. I don't know if I'll make it to retirement (as long as my health holds out not to mention my sanity). At least I don't have to change classrooms this year. One small miracle.

That's it for today. Keep Laila Grace in your thoughts and prayers. My son and Jackie are trying to keep upbeat and optimistic but I know its wearing on them driving back and forth so many times a day. She goes in the morning and sits with the baby, goes back to their home over an hour away for when my son gets home from work so she can have supper with him, then they both drive back to Florence so Sajid can be with the baby for a couple hours and then they go back home.

Hope to see some of you on Wednesday.

Current Location: dining room
Current Mood: sleepy

Been awhile since I updated but life is busy as we all know.

Laila is back at the Florence hospital NICU. She was in Charleston over a week and they were able to get her off the ventilator and all other gadgets and machines. Because she was able to only be on oxygen thru the nose and a feeding tube, they opted to send her back to Florence instead of keeping her in Charleston at the Children's Hospital. I can see that was a good choice as she wasn't in that dire straits any longer and they certainly could use that bed for a baby with more problems.

We are in Florence and the main problem has been getting her to coordinate sucking a bottle, swallowing and then returning to breathing normally. They have taken her off all sedation which in and of itself was a process because she was on a morphin drip. She is now pretty calm and extremely alert and doesn't get agitated when her parents pick her up and hold her which is a joy. They have not removed the feeding tube because she is still only taking an ounce or so of formula per feeding which is on the average 3 times a day from the bottle. They had her off all oxygen for 24 hours but had to put her back when she wasn't able to keep a steady breathing rhythm after taking the bottle. Its a very, very slow process and we are keeping our fingers crossed and hopes high that it won't be much longer before she is able to get the whole rhythm of life down pat and she can GO HOME.

My son has had to return to work and since Florence is about an hour away from their home, its quite tiring and hectic for them. Jackie goes during the day to FLorence to try and feed the baby and to sit with her. She then goes back home for when Sajid gets off work so she can have supper for him. Between 6 and 8 they don't allow anyone into the NIC unit as they are wrapping up one shift and changing so they then drive back to FLorence to arrive at 8 and stay a few hours so Sajid can hold her and see the baby. I certainly feel for them and wish that I was closer so I could help out more.

Oh and she is gaining weight. She is up from 8.7 at birth to a very healthy 9.4 ozs. So, other than these few things, Laila has come a long way since her birth on May 8th. Continue to keep her in your thoughts and prayers. She has certainly reaped the benefits so far from the many well wishes of friends and family.

Current Location: living room
Current Mood: happy
Current Music: lawnmowers outside

I've just returned from Charleston's Children Hospital which is part of the Medical University of South Carolina. Yasmeen and myself and my sister and her husband went down early Sat. morning and stayed until today. Much has happened over the past week.

We've had a few setbacks and a few progresses. But nothing like this weekend. They finally took her off the oxcillating ventilator last night and she is just on a regular oxygen machine. She is now breathing on her own and her respiration rate is staying consistent which is what they were hoping for. Lungs are still not completely cleared of the miconium but its getting there. They started feeding her formula through her feeding tube. They started out at mere cc's every 3 hours and when we left today, they were in the process of giving her 1 1/2 ounces. She has tolerated the formula well and is digesting all that is given to her. Because they have been able to get her to suck on a pacifier since the ventilator came out of her mouth, they may try to feed her from a bottle tomorrow. Doesn't mean they will remove the feeding tube but this should put her one more step towards going home.

They have also removed the catheter and she is urinating on her own. She's calmed down alot and today they discovered that she will fall asleep to a wind up music toy they put in her bed. No longer is she wearing the blind fold so she'll remain calm. The morphin meds have also been reduced and they are hoping to wean her off those pretty quickly.

We were slightly concerned when the doctor ordered Laila to have an ultra sound of her brain. They did this to see if she had any abnormalities or blood on the bring. As far as they can tell at this point, her brain appears to be normal.

So, all in all, things are starting to go good. We are still praying that she continues to improve and that she will be able to go home by this weekend. My son's materinity leave (yeah men get to take those as well)is over as of the 24th. After that, we aren't sure what he'll do if she is still in the hospital. He'll have to work. That will leave Jackie without him in Charleston. We need Laila to be well enough to go home prior to his having to go back to work. If you are reading this, please send up a good wish for full recovery. I certainly appreciate all of you who have shown their support no matter how small.



That picture is right after birth before we found out she was having problems. The next pic is of her before they removed the feeding tube. Those pics I haven't put on the computer yet.

Current Location: living room
Current Mood: happy

Well after yesterday's update, we had a turn for the worse this morning. The baby has now been transferred to Charleston's Children's Hospital in Charleston, SC another hour and half away. Apparently they had to put the baby on a different machine that makes her lungs breath at 420 breaths a minute which is supposed to keep the lung sacs open. Her Carbon dioxide levels went way up because she wasn't releasing the CO2. This machine regulated that and brought it down to acceptable levels, however, she is still agitated and trying to breath over the machine which is not helping her lungs to heal. All vitals are still good, her heart looked good on the ultrasound, bp is still normal, color is good, she is active and opens her eyes. Dr. decided to move her once they got her stabilized on to Charleston just in case there is another set back. The NICU at Florence McLeod Hospital has reached its limit on the type of technology they can use to treat this. THe option at Charleston is to put her on a lung by-pass so that the machine breathes for her and saturates her blood with oxygen and the lungs can rest. I hate to think of this because they put a tube in her jugular vein in the neck. She is on her way to Charleston. My son and wife will go up tomorrow because they have medical paper work that has to be done in the morning since the baby was born after business hours on Friday and they didn't get any papers done for the birth certificate and insurance to cover the costs of all these NICU's. As soon as he calls me with what is happening, I'll decide whether or not I'll need to go back again tomorrow or the next day. School can wait. Jackie's mom and stepdad and sister are thea re with her because they live in Myrtle. My son is without support other than them and I so want to be with him. He is trying so hard to be strong for Jackie but when he was with just me and the baby in intensive care, he would break down. It breaks my heart. I'm drained physically (I just arrived back in Shelby)and emotionally at the moment but feel I should be doing something.
Just got a call from my son and the baby has made it to the hospital in Charleston. They reported that she did very well on the ride there. They will call again once they have her settled in at the NIC unit. One more small step.
I went through this with my middle child. Mariam swallowed miconium in utero but she also had the cord wrapped around her neck and was blue when she arrived. We had a surgery, collapsed lung as well as the breathing issue and she is now 21 and about to graduate from college.
Well need to chill out for awhile and get my head back together.

Current Location: back home
Current Mood: anxious

Well, it has been a very trying and happy weekend. Jackie went into labor on Thurs. so Yasmeen and I jumped into the van after school and made our way down to Conway Hospital, between Conway, SC and Myrtle Beach where she was going to have the baby. We arrived around 11pm. My parents and my sister and her husband also came down. We stopped at 3 hotels before we found one that didn't have prostitutes in the parking lot or smelled like the underarms of a homeless person who had been sleeping in the sewer in 100 degree weather. We wound up at Comfort Suites which is a wonderful hotel but pricey....then again we ARE at the beach and its the start of the summer season.

Jackie finally had the baby on Friday afternoon via C-Section due to her failure to progress even after pitocin and the contractions coming a minute a part. Baby Laila Grace is a beautiful baby. She weighed 8lbs and 4.2 oz, 20 1/2 in. long, full head of black hair and she looks just like my son. That's where the good news stops. Because she was post mature, past the due date, she had a bowel movement in utero. Although not uncommon among post mature babies, the maconimum as they call the tar like substance that is excreted into the amniotic fluid gets breathed in by the baby and that essentially clogs up the lungs and doesn't allow good oxygen to get to the baby. This causes the baby's extremeties to turn purple and she needs pure oxygen and antibiotics to be able to breathe. This is potentially life threatening if severe. Since the hospital where the baby was born did not have a Neonatal Intensive Care unit, she was transferred by ambulance to a hospital over an hour away that does have a NICU unit. Jackie was not able to hold or even see the baby until right before they put the baby on the transport to transfer, 5 hours after delivery. She saw her in the incubator for all of 2 mins. and she was whisked away. Needless to say, Jackie was distraught.

My son, me and Yasmeen went up to FLorence Hospital NICU today and stayed 4 hours with the baby. She is looking good but on a ventilator. She has good color, is moving around, would open her eyes, didn't like her foot stroked on the bottom and according to the NIC nurse, they have lowered the amount of oxygen they are giving her because she is responding well to the treatments. They say she may be able to go home if she continues to progress in 10-14 days. I'm blown away at how tender my son is with this little bundle. I always knew he would make a good father but he's going to be such a good daddy that it brings tears to my eyes.

Jackie is being released from the hospital tomorrow morning. We are all going up to the Florence Hospital to spend some time with the baby and Yasmeen and I will have to come on back to Shelby because of school on Monday. We'll be back over Memorial Day weekend and hopefully by then Laila wil be home where she belongs.

Just got a call from my son. He spoke with the hospital in Florence and they said Laila was doing well. She isn't breathing as hard and all her other vitals are good. We are thankful for small blessings. As soon as I figure out how, I'll post some pics.

Current Location: hotel room
Current Mood: worried
Current Music: Star Trek on TV

Back from the mountains.
Had a FANTASTIC weekend with my model UN kids. Actually had lots of fun.

One of my girls got a Model Speaker award.
One of my groups, IRELAND, got Outstanding Country award because they had all their ducks in a row. Good booth, great costumes, wonderful flag, amazing placard, kids knew all the right answers about their country, had several who were prolific speakers when asked to give their opinions or thoughts on positions, even had one of the girl's position papers approved to go before the general assembly. I"m SOOOOOOOO proud of those kids.
My group MONGOLIA won Best Overall Booth. They rocked. Had student made stuff in the booth, they had done a power point that played continuously, plus all the info was spot on.

I suppose all the blood, sweat, and stress paid off after all. My younguns made me so PROUD.

Oh and even the ones who didn't get awards made me so happy. They looked wonderful in their costumes, stayed with their booths and explained everything to the judges, stepped up to the mics to give their opinions. HAPPY.

Its moments like these that make me so happy to be a teacher. Well, I'm always happy to be a teacher but this is just icing on the cake.

Current Location: Living Room
Current Mood: ecstatic