Thursday

I love Thursdays! The first half of my weeks tend to be so busy and Wednesday is usually the most busy of all. So when Thursday gets here, I am more than ready!

This is David's 10th birthday photo. I had it taken Tuesday. He picked it out, as far as which shot to buy. Kirsti (my sister in law) commented that he has finally lost all his little-boy look. I hadn't noticed until she said that, but she's right. I guess he's officially a "tween" anyway, now!

Well, what's new here? I got a new laundry sorter Monday. I am just thrilled to pieces over this thing, which probably is a sad commentary on my life. I have had my eye on this sorter since I saw it in a magazine months and months ago. I wasn't able to squeeze the $70 out of our budget for it until this last paycheck, though. It's just perfect for what I need. Laundry is a problem at our house because of lack of space and the sheer amount of it. When we moved in they had the washer and dryer in the front of the backroom. We moved it to the back corner and I stuck my china cabinet in front so it wouldn't be all that visible. But laundry baskets and unfolded clothes are always out and in the way in the backroom. Our plan is to build a new bathroom and an interconnecting laundry room with it, which will be accessible from the kitchen. That's going to solve the laundry issue. But in the meantime, this sorter will help. This thing is great! It's about 6 feet high and has a metal wire shelf on top, a laundry bar underneath and then 3 deep canvas laundry bags that are stretched nice and tight over a metal rack. It also has wheels - also helpful! So I'm able to sort the clothes in the bags and then I can hang drying clothes from the bar, which will be most helpful in the winter. I haven't really had any room for my drying rack in this house but there are clothes I don't want to dryer dry, either. I can also hang up my ironing as soon as I'm done with it, rather than awkwardly draping it over the back of my scrapbooking chair, hoping that I'll get it carried into bedrooms and hung up before they have to be re-ironed. So, I'm thrilled!

Paul has had a slow work week. This summer has just been cold! Fortunately, yesterday he ended up meeting with our realtor who had mentioned a couple of weeks ago that his AC was not working. So, Paul worked on that and then he ended up getting a tip on a local church that needs some AC work and there's the possibility that he may be able to start doing some work on some rentals that our realtor owns - all good!

Paul got one of my new cupboards hung this week. It looks so nice! I finally have room for all our cups! I love that he is getting all these jobs done around here, but it also makes me sad. The last time he worked this hard on a house was when we were anticipating selling it and that's what is going on now. I want a nice house without having to say good-bye to it! We do all this work and then somebody else gets to enjoy it!

I am close to having about half of my valences sewn and hung for the backroom. Now I remember why I do not like to sew. It's too tedious! Plus, I thought I had to be fancy and I'm piecing together two different fabrics in order to create an English Country look (gingham and floral). It does look nice, though - exactly what I had in mind.

I saw the neurologist yesterday. He was less than pleased when he found out about my two nasty TIAs last month. I called when I had the first one but figured it was pointless when I had the second, so I never did anything. He isn't sure what is going on but says it isn't right. Well, I knew that! So, next Wed. I am having another MRI and also, an EEG done. He wants to see if my brain is having seizures. He says he doesn't think so, since the area of my brain that stroked is not an area that typically seizes. But he wants to rule it out. Depending on what the tests reveal, I may be headed back to Iowa City. Sigh...my folks want me to go up to the Mayo Clinic in Minnesota, so I did mention that to the dr. He said that is always an option, but he doesn't know that they could offer any more than Iowa City. Plus, my insurance would probably refuse to pay for repeat tests that they would want to run. In that case, it would be cheaper to just bury me! So, I had to completely rearrange my schedule for next Wed. in order to have these tests done. Ben was supposed to see his psychiatrist that day. Now he'll do it the 28th instead.

Next Tuesday will also be a busy day for me. Ben is meeting with a nutritional consultant that morning at Methodist. This is something his OT wants him to do because he is so skinny and he tires out very easily. It's logical and very understandable since he burns more calories than he consumes. But she wants to see if there is anything that can be done. We've been trying things for him his whole life, but if they want to give it a shot - more power to them! Then that afternoon I have to head back up to downtown Des Moines for Ben's social skills class. I hate to miss any of those because in a few weeks we're going to have to stop them until November because of Will's football practices. Then, I'm getting his allergy shots done after that since we'll be unable to do them Wed. due to my tests. Then I will head home, drop Ben off, and head to church. RAGBRAI (the Register's Annual Great Bike Ride Across Iowa for you non-Iowan readers - this is a huge deal here in Iowa where crazy people ride their bikes from one side of the state to the other in the hottest part of the summer, stopping only to sleep in tents and get drunk) is passing through Indianola where our church is. So, we are feeding them a meal, handing out water and tracts, and letting some camp on our church property. I signed up to help with the meal. I think it will be a lot of fun. I had planned to be there earlier but now with this change in schedule I won't be able to make it until 6 at the earliest. I wonder how late I will be there? I guess I could stay quite late - maybe I could sleep during my MRI the next morning!

Will is at junior high camp this week. He came home from his missions trip last Sat. I noticed immediately that his voice had dropped about an octave. It had been cracking pretty badly in recent weeks, so I wasn't totally surprised. But it's still a bit startling to see real evidence that he is growing up! In fact, since there were so many more guys than girls that went on the trip, they had originally assigned Will to operate one of the female puppets since his voice was still higher. But by the time the trip rolled around last week they had to have the youth pastor's wife do the voice while Will operated the puppet because of his change! I thought that was kind of funny!

Yesterday while we were on the way home from therapy, Ben burst out, "I love this life!" I thought that was kind of neat and poignant. What more is there, really, than to be happy and content, loving our life, no matter what's going on in it? If any kid had a reason to dislike his life, it's Ben. But he's happy! And then last night before he went to bed he threw his arms around me and exclaimed, "I so love you, Mom!" I thought autistic kids were supposed to be emotionless robots - obviously, not always! I so love you, too, Ben!

And that's my week. Tomorrow I go to the chiropractor's. My shoulder is flaring up again and I suspect he's going to want to see me more often than the once every 4 or 5 weeks I have been going. Like I have time for that! Then, I have to run a few errands and I might make it back home before lunchtime. I hope so. I'm considering going to the downtown Des Moines farmer's market Sat. We went last week but it was near the end. I'd like to go when it first opens up. But maybe I'll wait a few more weeks. Do you suppose it will still be sweet corn season in a few weeks? Maybe not. I probably should go this Sat. Paul planted a bunch of it in our backyard this summer but it was all laying flat after Tuesday night's storm, so we don't know if we're going to get any this year or not.

Gotta scoot. I smell something stinky emanating from Sam's direction, so duty calls...again and again...