I thought the guy was blowing me off and giving me a temporary fix, but after I got home and researched what he told me, it turns out that it's a real thing, with the exception, of course, of the Hokey Pokey. Who knew? This weekend, I will be locating the humidifier in the attic and putting it to use.
A couple of weeks ago, Phillip was scheduled to be in West Virginia for a couple of days. On the spur of the moment, I decided to go. Staying in a hotel is something of a vacation in and of itself. Cable television! Eating pizza while in bed! Watching cable television, while eating pizza, while in bed all at the same time!! The kids' vision of heaven on earth! Plus the swimming!
We were to leave on Monday night after Phillip got off from work. Wouldn't ya know it, Monday morning, Lawrence threw up all over the place upon waking up. Ick. Phillip was getting ready for work and already up so he cleaned up that little mess. I guess you could say I dodged that bullet--temporarily!
He seemed to be doing okay all the rest of the day, so we got everything ready and headed out. It was a total surprise to the kids, as I didn't tell them we were going. I packed all their clothing for two nights and car riding things and loaded it into the rental. They never put two and two together, until we all walked out to the rental car together. Archie got quite upset because he didn't pack any clothes or bring anything to do in the car. Ha! His ole Mama looks after him better than that!!!!
We arrived at the hotel in West Virginia a little after 11. The kids were keyed up because they were excited about all that the hotel entails, so we didn't get to sleep until very late. Then Lawrence was sick again. Except stuff was coming from the back end instead of the front. *sigh* He had diarrhea most of the night so there were a few hurried trips to the toilet. One pair of underpants done...enter second pair.
Since we were up so late the night before, I decided to forego the hotel's continental breakfast in favor of sleeping in and just eat a nice brunch at Cracker Barrel which was just across the parking lot. We all ordered and Lawrence could not get enough Apple Juice. I have never seen him drink so much apple juice in one sitting. Which I certainly understood, since he was probably getting dehydrated from the night before.
The food came. Being the only adult with three kids at a restaurant is no easy task. There's buttering each persons pancakes, cutting them into bite-sized pieces, making sure Baby has her drink (because she doesn't need to hold it herself while in a public place), and finally sitting down to my food. Lawrence and Lydia were almost finished with their pancakes when I sat down. I ate my eggs over medium when suddenly BLECH.
Lawrence threw everything, I mean EVERYTHING that he had consumed right back up. It wouldn't stop! It was horrible! Most of it landed right in his plate and I was quickly able to cover it with napkins so as to not gross out the remaining customers around us. When I got him up to run him to the restroom, it was then that I noticed that what didn't land on his plate landed all down his front, all over his shirt and pants. Thank goodness Archie was there and I had him to stay at the table with Baby. I don't know what I would have done if I didn't have him there! I got Lawrence cleaned up good enough to make a mad dash out of the restaurant. I explained to the waitress, got my food in a to-go box, paid with an extra amount on the tip because I felt terrible for the mess we were leaving and we got the hell outta there.
We made it back to the hotel room where I stripped Lawrence, put him in the tub and wondered what to do about his clothes. He even had puke in his socks and shoes! Underpants number two done. This is our first day there and I only packed three pair of underpants for him. He was on the last pair! We still had one more day to go! Or so I thought.
After his bath, Lawrence said words that one doesn't want to hear after cleaning up from puke and diarrhea for the past few days..."I'm hungry." Yikes. What am I going to do about that??? What in a hotel can I give someone with an upset, pukey, poopy tummy? I left everyone in the room and walked to Cracker Barrel. You know, because it's Cracker Barrel. If a business has the word 'cracker' in it's name, it should have lots of crackers. .
It might have been my imagination, but I think I saw the hostess wince when she saw me. FYI--Cracker Barrel DOES NOT have crackers. But she offered toast. Toast is good. I tried to pay for the toast, but they said to just take it. In a very nice way, of course, but the message was clear. Take it. PLEASE. You need to hurry back to your son. The toast didn't stay with him long. Back end.
The afternoon was a pretty laid back one. We couldn't swim because I didn't want to risk anything yucky coming out of either end of Lawrence and into the pool. So we laid around and watched tv all day. The kids never, ever have a day of unlimited tv, so I don't think it was a bad thing for them once they got over the disappointment of no swimming. We had a nice, much-needed nap time for about three hours that afternoon and everyone felt much better when they got up. Phillip came back and announced that we'd be spending an extra day in West Virginia. Holy Moley. That last pair of underpants better hold out!
Lawrence looked much better and seemed to have the spring back in his step so I thought the worst was over. Since he seemed to be feeling better, I thought we'd go swimming. Lawrence was a bit miffed that I made him wear a swim diaper under his swimming suit (like BABY!!) but I wanted to be sure everything was okay and nothing gross would happen. The kids had a lovely time swimming (I had forgotten my suit) and nothing gross was leaked into the pool.
Day two was much better. We didn't do anything other than swim, watch tv and take walks around the hotel, but it was a nice day. Nothing gross happened, everyone seemed to be feeling fine. That day, I decided to wash out the underpants and vomit clothes...I dunno...I just had this feeling. Like I might need them. The hotel cleaning staff was very helpful and gave me extra soaps and shampoos.
Here are some swimming pictures I took that evening. I think Lawrence enjoyed the hot tub the most.
We were to leave on Monday night after Phillip got off from work. Wouldn't ya know it, Monday morning, Lawrence threw up all over the place upon waking up. Ick. Phillip was getting ready for work and already up so he cleaned up that little mess. I guess you could say I dodged that bullet--temporarily!
He seemed to be doing okay all the rest of the day, so we got everything ready and headed out. It was a total surprise to the kids, as I didn't tell them we were going. I packed all their clothing for two nights and car riding things and loaded it into the rental. They never put two and two together, until we all walked out to the rental car together. Archie got quite upset because he didn't pack any clothes or bring anything to do in the car. Ha! His ole Mama looks after him better than that!!!!
We arrived at the hotel in West Virginia a little after 11. The kids were keyed up because they were excited about all that the hotel entails, so we didn't get to sleep until very late. Then Lawrence was sick again. Except stuff was coming from the back end instead of the front. *sigh* He had diarrhea most of the night so there were a few hurried trips to the toilet. One pair of underpants done...enter second pair.
Since we were up so late the night before, I decided to forego the hotel's continental breakfast in favor of sleeping in and just eat a nice brunch at Cracker Barrel which was just across the parking lot. We all ordered and Lawrence could not get enough Apple Juice. I have never seen him drink so much apple juice in one sitting. Which I certainly understood, since he was probably getting dehydrated from the night before.
The food came. Being the only adult with three kids at a restaurant is no easy task. There's buttering each persons pancakes, cutting them into bite-sized pieces, making sure Baby has her drink (because she doesn't need to hold it herself while in a public place), and finally sitting down to my food. Lawrence and Lydia were almost finished with their pancakes when I sat down. I ate my eggs over medium when suddenly BLECH.
Lawrence threw everything, I mean EVERYTHING that he had consumed right back up. It wouldn't stop! It was horrible! Most of it landed right in his plate and I was quickly able to cover it with napkins so as to not gross out the remaining customers around us. When I got him up to run him to the restroom, it was then that I noticed that what didn't land on his plate landed all down his front, all over his shirt and pants. Thank goodness Archie was there and I had him to stay at the table with Baby. I don't know what I would have done if I didn't have him there! I got Lawrence cleaned up good enough to make a mad dash out of the restaurant. I explained to the waitress, got my food in a to-go box, paid with an extra amount on the tip because I felt terrible for the mess we were leaving and we got the hell outta there.
We made it back to the hotel room where I stripped Lawrence, put him in the tub and wondered what to do about his clothes. He even had puke in his socks and shoes! Underpants number two done. This is our first day there and I only packed three pair of underpants for him. He was on the last pair! We still had one more day to go! Or so I thought.
After his bath, Lawrence said words that one doesn't want to hear after cleaning up from puke and diarrhea for the past few days..."I'm hungry." Yikes. What am I going to do about that??? What in a hotel can I give someone with an upset, pukey, poopy tummy? I left everyone in the room and walked to Cracker Barrel. You know, because it's Cracker Barrel. If a business has the word 'cracker' in it's name, it should have lots of crackers. .
It might have been my imagination, but I think I saw the hostess wince when she saw me. FYI--Cracker Barrel DOES NOT have crackers. But she offered toast. Toast is good. I tried to pay for the toast, but they said to just take it. In a very nice way, of course, but the message was clear. Take it. PLEASE. You need to hurry back to your son. The toast didn't stay with him long. Back end.
The afternoon was a pretty laid back one. We couldn't swim because I didn't want to risk anything yucky coming out of either end of Lawrence and into the pool. So we laid around and watched tv all day. The kids never, ever have a day of unlimited tv, so I don't think it was a bad thing for them once they got over the disappointment of no swimming. We had a nice, much-needed nap time for about three hours that afternoon and everyone felt much better when they got up. Phillip came back and announced that we'd be spending an extra day in West Virginia. Holy Moley. That last pair of underpants better hold out!
Lawrence looked much better and seemed to have the spring back in his step so I thought the worst was over. Since he seemed to be feeling better, I thought we'd go swimming. Lawrence was a bit miffed that I made him wear a swim diaper under his swimming suit (like BABY!!) but I wanted to be sure everything was okay and nothing gross would happen. The kids had a lovely time swimming (I had forgotten my suit) and nothing gross was leaked into the pool.
Day two was much better. We didn't do anything other than swim, watch tv and take walks around the hotel, but it was a nice day. Nothing gross happened, everyone seemed to be feeling fine. That day, I decided to wash out the underpants and vomit clothes...I dunno...I just had this feeling. Like I might need them. The hotel cleaning staff was very helpful and gave me extra soaps and shampoos.
Here are some swimming pictures I took that evening. I think Lawrence enjoyed the hot tub the most.
Day three started out well enough. This was the last day, so we had to check out of the hotel by noon. Phillip wasn't to get off work until 5, so we had to kill five hours. He left us the car so we could get out and enjoy Parkersburg.
It was cold and raining. Sometimes it was raining steady, and sometimes more of a misty rain, but it was downright unpleasant outside. I had already planned to visit the Oil and Gas Museum in Parkersburg. It was easy enough to find when we arrived at about 12:30.
We opened the door to find a very dark cavernous huge building type place. After a minute or so, a lady popped out and asked us if we needed help with anything. "Well, uh, I guess we're hear to see the museum."
She almost seemed surprised. We were the only people there. She lead us into a room which had folding chairs and computers in it from the early 1990s, where we watched a VHS video of the local oil boom from back in the day. The lady went to turn on all the lights in the museum. The kids were getting antsy. After that, she set us loose in the museum. The museum wasn't heated (especially not the upstairs where we could almost see our breath). This was unfortunate because I convinced the kids to leave their jackets in the car so I wouldn't have to tote them all around the museum.
Archie summarized the museum best when he said, "It's kind of like looking through someone's stuff in their really, really big attic!" Very succinct. Most of the stuff was just placed here and there, leaning on other stuff, sitting on the floor or whatever.
It wasn't just oil and gas related stuff In fact, I'd say that the vast majority was just miscellaneous old stuff. I love looking at old stuff! I thoroughly enjoyed it! Archie liked the baseball exhibit, where there was stuff from baseball's early days--gloves, uniforms, bats and balls. It was really neat to see how the equipment had changed over the years. Stuff from the early days of Boy Scouts, an old pharmacy counter and back panel with tons of various bottles and such, cash registers, old toys from yester-year, just tons and tons of...stuff! We even saw an old Ford something-or-other which captured Lydia's attention. She tried to climb in it!
Probably one of the more interesting things they had was an actual newspaper in which was an article about Lincoln being shot! Holy cow! And it was just sitting there on the floor in a frame, leaning against the wall.
They did have drill equipment, accounting books and sample oil bottles in the oil and gas section, but I was more interested in all the other stuff. Here I am pretending to cook on this stove:
This was in the Boy Scout section. There was a neat soap box car in which the kids were very interested.
This was an old hardware store display. Archie is pretending to climb the rolling ladder!
There was a blacksmith exhibit too...We thought the huge bellows was awesome! Archie was pretending to work the bellows. He's all about action shots!
The museum would have gotten a 'great' or 'excellent' rating from us had the lady working there been more forthcoming and knowledgeable about the stuff in there. We tried to ask a few questions about various things, but she knew very little. I mean, if she had to turn the lights on for us to come in after noon! Whatever does she do in there to keep herself busy? I even asked her what the building was before it was a museum (because it had to be from the early 1900's or before) but she didn't know that for sure either. I would have loved to spent all day in there, but we had used up all the good in the little kids. Time for a change of venue.
My original plan was to visit a park. However it was cold and raining. The only other thing to do was to go into some sort of indoor play place. McDonald's it is!
We ate a snack and the kids played for a while. I worked on my crochet project. We had three more hours to kill, so this was it. We were somewhere in the middle of hour two when I hear from the tippy-top of the play structure "I have to poop!!!" Yikes! And he wasn't coming down! So I went in after him. I got half way up and Lawrence got half way down. I noticed he smelled a bit rank. When we got out of the structure, he was walking rather wide-legged. *sigh* Not again.
We went to the bathroom and I noticed he had poop (diarrhea) dripping down his legs. Oh. My. There was nothing I could do in the bathroom that wouldn't be offensive to someone walking in, so I had to go to the car. It. Was. Horrible. The absolute worst mess I have ever had to deal with as a mother. Ever.
Thank goodness I listened to the little voice in my head that said to wash his icky throw-up clothes and underpants and not just place them in a plastic bag for the ride home. Cause Lordy, did we need them! Complete change of clothes. I probably should have warned the car rental place to be sure to shampoo the carpet because the poop was dripping everywhere! I was almost in tears, I was so frustrated! And what do you do with clothes with diarrhea all over them while you're on a trip and don't have any place to be until you get back home? I almost threw them away. Thankfully, I happened to have an extra plastic bag (listening to that little voice again while I was packing up) and I sealed up the ick, wipes and all. I was gagging by the end of that little adventure.
We loaded up to drive to DuPont and wait for Daddy. We had an hour to go, which turned into an hour and a half Since naptime had been skipped, the little kids slept through it which was quite a blessing. I don't think I could have taken much more. With the exception of the museum, it was the worst day evah.
The ride home was blissfully uneventful. I was so ready to get home that I didn't even want to stop to eat real food for dinner. Candy bar that day. And gas station crackers for those with tummy troubles. Lawrence's sickness took another week to completely clear up. And we went through lots of underpants.
1 comment:
Awwwwwww....cyber hugs to you. I can so empathize with your story because I HAVE BEEN THERE DONE THAT BEFORE!!! Our first trip back to Alabama was our puke vacation from hell experience. Puke is no fun at home much less when you are away from home.
I like to look at old stuff too. A friend of mine recently took me to a "thrift store" that was chock full of old stuff. Everything was jam packed in there but I enjoyed rummaging in what we called the "hoarders thrift store"
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