I have to start herding the girls towards bed in approximately 6 minutes, so I may not get this all done tonight. But, seeing how it's the last thing on my to-do list for today, I'd sure like to try to get it done.
I went to three graduation open houses today. The last was for one of Ben's Sp. Olympics teammates. That was a sweet one. She gave Ben a big hug when we walked into the driveway. They had all kinds of desserts - cake, ice-cream and toppings, brownies, and -- a chocolate fountain with strawberries, pretzels, and marshmallows for dipping. The kids were duly impressed, let me tell you! They also fed a full pork meal, too. I loved looking at her pictures. Babies with Downs Syndrome are the cutest babies ever, I think!
At one of the other open houses, the graduate wore a shirt that proclaimed, "I'm sexy and I know it." Classy. I asked Will if he knew this kid's post-graduation plans and he replied, "partying, smoking, and getting tattooed." Gotcha...
At the first party, they served us chicken cordon bleu! It makes my planned hot dogs seem mighty cheap by comparison...
David is turning 14 next week. That just kind of dawned on me a few days ago - not his birthday, but his age. That's driving age! So I've been letting him back the car out when the Littles need the driveway for bike riding. When Will was 14, he was more than ready to get his permit. He waltzed in there and aced the test on his first try. Of course, he's the same boy who was giving me driving instructions from the back seat when he was six. I don't think David is ready for a permit yet. He's a nervous driver, which makes me nervous. Just backing the van out around the house - a distance of maybe 6 feet, takes a good 10 min. and lots of stops and starts. He's still not even sure which one is the brake pedal yet. I may let Paul take over the driving instruction!
He and Ben have an egress window in their basement bedroom. They have a window well now that's about 6' deep. A man from church designed and built the entire thing for us, including the ladder that's down in there in case of fire. It's really nice. Well, a frog has taken up residence in the well and David is completely freaked out. He hates frogs. I mean, he hates frogs - always has. He and Sam spent the majority of last Friday devising a trap made out of a box, a stick, and string that was designed to entrap the hapless reptile. It didn't work, and the frog is still croaking outside David's window. It's so bad the poor kid is having nightmares about frogs now! I'm trying really hard not to laugh...
My mouth is doing lots better now. I haven't had to take a pain pill since Monday. I got my stitches out Tues. and the dentist said things are looking like they're supposed to. I hope that's the last dental work I have to have for a long time! I ended up catching Ellie's cold at the end of last week. Only, it was a very odd cold. Her's was a typical runny nose type cold. But mine just gave me this nasty congestion that I had to blow out for about a week, but I never felt achy or sick and my nose didn't run. I wonder if that has anything to do with the sinus surgery I had. But last Friday I woke up with complete laryngitis. I have never lost my voice in my life (just ask my kids!) - it was so inconvenient! I had to take Bella in for her surgery that day and had to whisper to the receptionist. I received an important call from Ben's teacher and had to whisper on the phone to her - even more inconvenient!
Will is completely done with school now. That means he's a little bit more available for help around the house, which is nice. Wed. he had to have all his teachers sign off on his work. His psych teacher who had him for 2 or 3 semesters sincerely told Will that the school is not the same since Will started. He said that Will has changed the school for the better. Wow! Now, maybe he says that to all his students, I don't know, but it's still a nice thing to say!
This was our week for Craig's List finds. We found 4 bar stools for the kitchen that match our cupboards perfectly for only $60. And then I found a brand new love seat for $100. Will wants to take my old, saggy one for his dorm room at Faith.
Sam's MRI was Wed. It went well. They completely knocked him out and I was able to work on editing Will's final research paper while they did that. Portable computers are a wonderful thing! I got the results back the next day and his brain is perfectly fine. So, we just wait on the Bell's Palsy to go away, I guess. I've had several people comment, including Paul, that they think it has subsided a bit. I don't know. I don't really see it, myself, but he's with me all the time, so it's hard to say.
When we picked up Bella a week ago they told us to not use kitty litter for her for two weeks because we had just had her declawed and it would be too rough on her healing paws. So, we dutifully ripped up newspaper and filled her litter box with that. I thought it was strange that the newspaper seemed to be staying awfully dry this week but was too busy and scatterbrained to think much about it. Well, I got caught up on the laundry this week and discovered that she had been using my laundry pile as her litter box all week long! Disgusting doesn't even begin to cover it! I had to smell every single thing in that pile, pick up poop, re-wash the clothes in baking soda and vinegar. She urinated on the carpet, which made the entire basement stink. Ugh, ugh, ugh - THIS is why animals belong outside! It was just odd, too, because she was so easy to litter train and has always been really good about using her box. So I went out and bought the $10 box of scented litter, a scent thingy for her box, too, a pet odor removal disk for the basement, shampooed the carpet, and bought some Arm and Hammer pet odor vacuum stuff. It's actually smelling pretty blissful now down there, so I think I got it taken care of. Cat urine is just a nasty, nasty smell.
Well, it's nasty when it's places it's not supposed to be. It actually brings back fond memories because I think of when we would take our cat to her yearly visit. Dr. Spay's office (yes, that was really his name!) always had this particular smell. Of course, as a kid, I didn't realize that it was cat urine I was smelling. I just thought that was a smell unique to veterinarians' offices! This place I took Bella too didn't smell like that at all. But they were burning a candle that they also were advertising for sale that is supposed to eliminate pet odor. Apparently, it works.
This next week is going to be busy. Monday, a couple of the boys have dental appts. I have my mom's group that evening. Tuesday I have to go the chiropractor and Lizzie's therapist and then the boys have a softball game that night. Wednesday I am going to spend in town all day, getting everything needed for the party. Thursday, Ben has a physical in the morning for his application to Genesis and then that afternoon we are going up to Ames for his bocce ball tournament. Friday I will spend getting ready for my 2 week shopping on Sat. In between all this I have to be getting the house ready for the party. I'd like to fit a hair appt. in there somewhere, too. I really, really need to get up to City Hall and get some work done, too, but I think I am going to have to push that off until after the party. I am not planning ANY outside appts. for the following week, but we'll see what happens. I did have a lady at church volunteer to take the Littles for a day or two that week before the party and I definitely plan to take her up on that!
Oh, I think I have time for a rant before I close: it's now warm out (hard to believe that two weeks ago at this time we had snow!). People are turning on the air and pulling out their summer clothes. In fact, this week I actually packed away everybody's winter stuff. Tuesday night I attended Ben's spring concert and it was the same old, same old. The girls are told to wear dresses but what they show up in - the vast majority, not all - is appalling. They've got breasts hanging out, jiggling all over, skirts riding up to just under their buttocks, and all these chubby girls are wearing clothes that do not do anything to enhance their looks (not that skinny girls should be wearing stuff like that either!). I don't blame the girls. They're buying what's in the stores, what they see on tv, what their friends are wearing. But I do blame their parents, who ought to know better. One thing I have slowly deduced about the Pleasantville community is that it has a definite "trashy" element to it. Obviously, that's not everybody, but the more I observe, the more I am concluding that it's probably the majority of people that fall into that category. Of course, this is where pride can creep in, I suppose (thank Heavens I'm not like THEM!) and I have to guard against that. And then Thurs. night I had to go to Walmart. I went to the south side store, which, admittedly, is not a bastion of class. But I just found myself getting crankier and crankier as I was forced, the entire time I was in there, to look at women wearing super-tight tank tops (often plastered to their rolls of fat), cut off booty-shorts, and tattooed breasts jiggling out of their tops. Eww - please, people. If not for yourself, cover up for me! I suppose I should climb off my self-righteous soap box about now. But I just find it irritating, this year, more than ever before, for some reason.
Ok, I need to go cut Paul's hair. I may be up a bit late waiting for that because he's outside working on the house and I definitely don't want to get in the way of progress!
Oh, Will is being promoted at his job, to cashier. Moving on up!
That's all for now. Well, I'm sure there's more, but that's all that made it onto my list. Maybe I'll blog again before Will's party, but don't hold your breath.
No comments:
Post a Comment