1. A physical therapy patient came into the office today. He looked at me rather oddly while he was signing in, but he said nothing. I chalked it up to the fact that I am subbing at a satellite office rather than being at the main office, so I also said nothing. On the way out, he stopped by the front desk again.
"D'ya live in H'sk'll?"
"Pardon?"
"D'ya live in Haskell?"
"Oh! No, sure don't, sorry."
"Hrmph. *grunt of acknowledgement* Well, ya gotta twin there."
I now have twins in McAlester and Haskell as well as one that makes appearances at one of the local hospitals. I'm going to start telling people I'm a clone.
-----
2. Doodlebug came bounding down the stairs this evening.
"MOM! MOM! You've got to see this. It's SO CUTE!!!"
"What is??"
"Tom. He's in his hide, and he has his head and one leg sticking out, and it's adorable."
I reflected for a moment that it will only be a matter of time before he stops describing anything without boobs as 'cute' and decided to go see what the lizard was doing. Glad I went. The little bugger was, in fact, as cute as advertised. (Note to Self: Must start taking phone along for these things so I can share the with you all.)
-----
3. After dinner, Boo decided she wanted to mime instead of talk. I figured I'd relish the silence for ohhhh, 30 seconds or so. But no. She stuck it out for a good 20 minutes. The fact that her brother joined in did help, I'll admit, especially when they started miming me and Oz and making fun of us while attempting to stifle giggles because, you know, mimes don't make noise.
-----
4. I unpacked an Amazon box this evening. Well, OK, I unpacked some of it. One of the things I had bought was a new sieve/strainer for the kitchen since my old one is falling apart. As I unpacked it, Oz came into the kitchen to see what I had purchased. When he saw the strainer, his face puckered.
"Hmmmmm…"
"What?"
"Well… I bought you one of those for Christmas. But where did I put it?"
He found it, after searching various rooms and his car. His purchase is nicer than mine. Now to decide whether to return mine or just have two. I'll probably double up or give mine to someone. The debate continues…
-----
Happy End of 2014, y'all!
Showing posts with label Oz. Show all posts
Showing posts with label Oz. Show all posts
Tuesday, December 30, 2014
Sunday, December 28, 2014
Christmas 2014
Christmas this year was quieter than most. For one thing, we stayed at home so that Doodlebug could cook Christmas dinner for us. He was very excited about this, and he had planned his menu well in advance:
Roast Duck with Mushroom Gravy
Stuffing
Roasted Red Potatoes
Green Beans
Apple Danish
Everything (except the stuffing, which was good old-fashioned Stovetop) was homemade. I insisted that he get into the kitchen the day before Christmas to start the danish; really, if I'd been smart and read the recipe myself instead of relying on a 12-year-old to do it, I would have had him start on Tuesday, but I may have been a little TOO trusting of his abilities. Anyway, I had him start the danish on Christmas Eve day. Everything else he cooked on Christmas. I wish I had gotten some photos of him cooking, but I was supervising and stirring the gravy. He cooked everything himself. The only part I played, other than stirring gravy, was to help him figure out in what order things needed to be started and subsequently cooked. It was all delicious, and we still have a little bit of leftover food. I even took the duck bones (and a chicken carcass that I had previously frozen) and made a whole bunch of poultry stock yesterday evening. Waste not, want not, right?
Of course we opened gifts on Christmas morning before the boy got in the kitchen. I did take a few photos of that, but I used Oz's phone as my camera since I wasn't coherent enough to either grab my own phone or my camera before plopping on the couch. I think both kids were happy with their gifts, and I think Oz was happy with his, too. I got him a nice new watch since his old one had finally bitten the dust. Doodlebug got him a Himalayan salt block for grilling, and Boo gave him some jerky made with all kinds of meat - venison, ostrich, alligator, etc. I received a gray coat, some earrings (one nice pair of crystal and one pair that features Schroedinger's cat(s), a couple of computer games that Oz and I can play together, a candle from Boo, and new placemats, napkins and napkin rings from Doodlebug. I felt like I made out like a bandit.
We didn't get the kids huge gifts this year; Boo got a replacement iPod Touch, since the button on her old one had never worked well and the charger was fraying, but that was the most expensive purchase we made. We got them a bunch of little things instead, and I think they're just as happy. Boo has been happily making duct tape crafts, for instance, and Doodlebug asked me to teach him to play Risk today. Doodlebug is also starting to lobby hard for Xbox Live (mostly so he can play some games via that outlet with his friends), and I have told him that if he can continue to demonstrate positive behavior with regard to electronics, he'll have a good shot at getting that by his birthday. I may even consider buying him a new game console if he does particularly well.
We've been steadily working out times to visit family and see them for the holiday since Christmas. The kids are out of school for another week, and while I do have to work, my schedule is light and some days I should get out of the office around 3 or 3:30, so I'll have evenings free to do whatever.
I feel like I should be posting more… but that's another post. Look for changes over the next week or so. Thanks for reading.
Hope you all had a joyous holiday, no matter how you celebrated. :)
Roast Duck with Mushroom Gravy
Stuffing
Roasted Red Potatoes
Green Beans
Apple Danish
Everything (except the stuffing, which was good old-fashioned Stovetop) was homemade. I insisted that he get into the kitchen the day before Christmas to start the danish; really, if I'd been smart and read the recipe myself instead of relying on a 12-year-old to do it, I would have had him start on Tuesday, but I may have been a little TOO trusting of his abilities. Anyway, I had him start the danish on Christmas Eve day. Everything else he cooked on Christmas. I wish I had gotten some photos of him cooking, but I was supervising and stirring the gravy. He cooked everything himself. The only part I played, other than stirring gravy, was to help him figure out in what order things needed to be started and subsequently cooked. It was all delicious, and we still have a little bit of leftover food. I even took the duck bones (and a chicken carcass that I had previously frozen) and made a whole bunch of poultry stock yesterday evening. Waste not, want not, right?
Of course we opened gifts on Christmas morning before the boy got in the kitchen. I did take a few photos of that, but I used Oz's phone as my camera since I wasn't coherent enough to either grab my own phone or my camera before plopping on the couch. I think both kids were happy with their gifts, and I think Oz was happy with his, too. I got him a nice new watch since his old one had finally bitten the dust. Doodlebug got him a Himalayan salt block for grilling, and Boo gave him some jerky made with all kinds of meat - venison, ostrich, alligator, etc. I received a gray coat, some earrings (one nice pair of crystal and one pair that features Schroedinger's cat(s), a couple of computer games that Oz and I can play together, a candle from Boo, and new placemats, napkins and napkin rings from Doodlebug. I felt like I made out like a bandit.
We didn't get the kids huge gifts this year; Boo got a replacement iPod Touch, since the button on her old one had never worked well and the charger was fraying, but that was the most expensive purchase we made. We got them a bunch of little things instead, and I think they're just as happy. Boo has been happily making duct tape crafts, for instance, and Doodlebug asked me to teach him to play Risk today. Doodlebug is also starting to lobby hard for Xbox Live (mostly so he can play some games via that outlet with his friends), and I have told him that if he can continue to demonstrate positive behavior with regard to electronics, he'll have a good shot at getting that by his birthday. I may even consider buying him a new game console if he does particularly well.
We've been steadily working out times to visit family and see them for the holiday since Christmas. The kids are out of school for another week, and while I do have to work, my schedule is light and some days I should get out of the office around 3 or 3:30, so I'll have evenings free to do whatever.
I feel like I should be posting more… but that's another post. Look for changes over the next week or so. Thanks for reading.
Hope you all had a joyous holiday, no matter how you celebrated. :)
Friday, November 28, 2014
Thanksgiving and Giving Thanks
So yesterday was Thanksgiving. The kids were out of school all week, so I asked them to clean out their closets, which was, in a twisted sort of way, meant to make them grateful for what they have. And it worked, because they got rid of a few things, some of which had LONG overstayed their welcome, and told me that now all the stuff they have in their closets is stuff they love. This makes me happy, and it makes them happy, and now I feel like the things I'm getting them for Christmas will have places to live.
On Wednesday Oz brought them up to see Mama at work in the office, so I took them around a little bit and then they hung out in the waiting room until it was time to go home. (Work is good, still circus-ish, but next week we're training one more new person and then we should be actually fully staffed, and that is a wonderful feeling. I won't be in the main office on Monday because the girl at the satellite office had a family emergency and is dealing with that, so I'm covering for her, but it should be an easy day. I digress.) Then Oz and I changed clothes, took the kids over to my brothers-in-law's (how on EARTH does one make that plural possessive?? Because two of them live there, and they are my brothers-in-law, but should it be brothers-in-laws'??? My brain just exploded) apartment where the kids spent the night with both of the guys as well as my mother-in-law. It was a crowded place, but they had a great evening/night, and Oz and I went for dinner and then met up with a friend and her new hubby down at a bar where we drank beer and ate sweet potato fries and played darts until my contacts were about to either fall out or adhere themselves to my corneas from sheer fatigue.
We got home safely, took showers, and crashed, but then Oz and I both got up around 5:30 to start the meat for Thanksgiving. He took charge of the brisket on the grill - I had put on the dry rub on Tuesday evening, so it'd been soaking up the flavor for about 36 hours - and I handled the giant leg of pork that was going in the oven. I used this recipe, and OH MY WORD it was the bomb dot com. We threw the meat in their respective cooking places and went back to bed for another 45-50 minutes… and then we adjusted the heat and did it again. Around 7:30 or so we both actually decided it was time to get up for good, so Oz started the coffee and we began the process of cleaning the house for our guests while letting the parade play in the background. For the record, I never thought I'd prefer Matt Lauer and Al Roker as hosts, but they would've been preferable to the folks on CBS. That was painful.
By 10:30 the house was mostly ready, which was good because my mom showed up about that time and I know I wouldn't have been able to do much cleaning after that... besides anything else, my mom never arrives without looking like she's moving in, and this time was no exception. She had a box of fabric scraps for Boo, a box of needlework books and shirts for me to browse through, as well as a pie and the non-liquored-up version of something called Apple Pie Moonshine. We added the booze shortly after she got here, and it is just as delicious as the web site promises. Dangerous stuff.
My kids and in-laws arrived not too long after my mother, and from there on out, it was Party Time. There were people cooking, people talking and laughing, and just everything Thanksgiving should've been. One thing that was different for us this year was that I had sent out an open invitation via Facebook for anyone who needed/wanted a place to come and celebrate Thanksgiving with friends, and I had a couple of folks take me up on the offer. I was so glad they came, and I hope - I think - they had a good time. We all stuffed ourselves to the point of pure indigestion, I do know that!!
A few people left early, but most of the family and a few friends hung around into the early evening hours. My mom got to play with a baby, and my kids were good with the older ones, so there were no incidents that I'm aware of. My husband and his brothers wandered down to the fire pit for a while and had some bro time, and I just enjoyed talking with everyone and catching up. It doesn't happen often enough.
In addition to all that, I scored a beautiful ring. When my grandmother had moved into an assisted living facility a few years ago, she had handed me the ring that had belonged to her when she married my grandfather. The stone was amazingly beautiful, but the setting was dated and far too large for my finger. Oz and I had briefly discussed getting the stone re-set at some point in the future, but that date had never been determined. When he and I were struggling with our relationship issues earlier this year, I figured it would never happen. Then he and I had our come-to-Jesus, honest-to-goodness, heart-to-heart about everything, and we turned a corner. A month or so ago, I told him I would wear a ring again if he A) got the stone put into a ring that was MINE and mine alone and B) took me on a few successful dates and re-proposed to me.
Oz and I had discussed rings off and on since then - I'd sent him pictures I'd found on Pinterest or Etsy of custom rings that I liked, and he'd found a local jeweler who does custom work, and I'd even gone in and met the guy and had my ring size determined (5 1/4, in case you're curious, which is an odd size) - but I did NOT know that the ring design had been both finalized and finished, and I certainly did not know that Oz had picked it up.
So when he re-proposed to me in front of almost all his family and mine… well, what else could I do?
I said yes.
I'm thankful for my family (and friends!) each and every day. They make my world wonderful. Hope you all had a lovely Thanksgiving, if you're in the USA, and if you live elsewhere in the world, that you have a great weekend!
On Wednesday Oz brought them up to see Mama at work in the office, so I took them around a little bit and then they hung out in the waiting room until it was time to go home. (Work is good, still circus-ish, but next week we're training one more new person and then we should be actually fully staffed, and that is a wonderful feeling. I won't be in the main office on Monday because the girl at the satellite office had a family emergency and is dealing with that, so I'm covering for her, but it should be an easy day. I digress.) Then Oz and I changed clothes, took the kids over to my brothers-in-law's (how on EARTH does one make that plural possessive?? Because two of them live there, and they are my brothers-in-law, but should it be brothers-in-laws'??? My brain just exploded) apartment where the kids spent the night with both of the guys as well as my mother-in-law. It was a crowded place, but they had a great evening/night, and Oz and I went for dinner and then met up with a friend and her new hubby down at a bar where we drank beer and ate sweet potato fries and played darts until my contacts were about to either fall out or adhere themselves to my corneas from sheer fatigue.
We got home safely, took showers, and crashed, but then Oz and I both got up around 5:30 to start the meat for Thanksgiving. He took charge of the brisket on the grill - I had put on the dry rub on Tuesday evening, so it'd been soaking up the flavor for about 36 hours - and I handled the giant leg of pork that was going in the oven. I used this recipe, and OH MY WORD it was the bomb dot com. We threw the meat in their respective cooking places and went back to bed for another 45-50 minutes… and then we adjusted the heat and did it again. Around 7:30 or so we both actually decided it was time to get up for good, so Oz started the coffee and we began the process of cleaning the house for our guests while letting the parade play in the background. For the record, I never thought I'd prefer Matt Lauer and Al Roker as hosts, but they would've been preferable to the folks on CBS. That was painful.
By 10:30 the house was mostly ready, which was good because my mom showed up about that time and I know I wouldn't have been able to do much cleaning after that... besides anything else, my mom never arrives without looking like she's moving in, and this time was no exception. She had a box of fabric scraps for Boo, a box of needlework books and shirts for me to browse through, as well as a pie and the non-liquored-up version of something called Apple Pie Moonshine. We added the booze shortly after she got here, and it is just as delicious as the web site promises. Dangerous stuff.
My kids and in-laws arrived not too long after my mother, and from there on out, it was Party Time. There were people cooking, people talking and laughing, and just everything Thanksgiving should've been. One thing that was different for us this year was that I had sent out an open invitation via Facebook for anyone who needed/wanted a place to come and celebrate Thanksgiving with friends, and I had a couple of folks take me up on the offer. I was so glad they came, and I hope - I think - they had a good time. We all stuffed ourselves to the point of pure indigestion, I do know that!!
A few people left early, but most of the family and a few friends hung around into the early evening hours. My mom got to play with a baby, and my kids were good with the older ones, so there were no incidents that I'm aware of. My husband and his brothers wandered down to the fire pit for a while and had some bro time, and I just enjoyed talking with everyone and catching up. It doesn't happen often enough.
In addition to all that, I scored a beautiful ring. When my grandmother had moved into an assisted living facility a few years ago, she had handed me the ring that had belonged to her when she married my grandfather. The stone was amazingly beautiful, but the setting was dated and far too large for my finger. Oz and I had briefly discussed getting the stone re-set at some point in the future, but that date had never been determined. When he and I were struggling with our relationship issues earlier this year, I figured it would never happen. Then he and I had our come-to-Jesus, honest-to-goodness, heart-to-heart about everything, and we turned a corner. A month or so ago, I told him I would wear a ring again if he A) got the stone put into a ring that was MINE and mine alone and B) took me on a few successful dates and re-proposed to me.
Oz and I had discussed rings off and on since then - I'd sent him pictures I'd found on Pinterest or Etsy of custom rings that I liked, and he'd found a local jeweler who does custom work, and I'd even gone in and met the guy and had my ring size determined (5 1/4, in case you're curious, which is an odd size) - but I did NOT know that the ring design had been both finalized and finished, and I certainly did not know that Oz had picked it up.
So when he re-proposed to me in front of almost all his family and mine… well, what else could I do?
I said yes.
Wednesday, October 29, 2014
Children. Ugh.
There's no talking to my children these days. Seriously, we can't have any sort of conversation without someone turning into an entitled little turd monkey.
Por ejemplo:
Today.
Doodlebug was upstairs. Boo was practicing her violin in her room, and Doodlebug was *supposed* to be cleaning his. In theory, of course. Instead, I heard the shriek of an indignant (and also constantly attitude-laden) girl. I called Doodlebug down and told him to stop messing with his sister. He said ok and promptly went back upstairs… to mess with his sister. I called him down a second time and told him to knock it off and enumerated a consequence if the behavior continued, specifically that he would be told to eat dinner and go to bed early. Because if he couldn't manage to control himself around people, it was a sign to me that he needed to go to bed so he couldn't be around anyone. Made sense to me, anyway. He said ok and promptly went back upstairs… to mess with his sister.
Argh.
So I called him down a THIRD time and told him the consequence was being enacted and to get dinner. He walked over to the fridge and stood there with the door hanging open. I told him to get food and get out, and in response he slammed the fridge door because heaven forbid we close a door with any sort of decency around here. I let it slide and told him to feed the animals while he thought about what food he wanted to eat, at which point in time he flopped himself on the floor like a 2-year-old. I told him to get moving.
So he grabbed the food bowls and hauled them to the laundry room, where he flung open the closet door and yanked out the cat food bag. I heard food fly and reminded him that he would need to clean up that food.
"It's FOUR pieces," he shot back. "Apparently I need to clean FOUR pieces."
"Yes, you do!"
"Mutter mutter mutter..." *cracks cat food can open and flops the lid on the dryer, where I know for a fact it's dripping wet cat food juice on the top*
"You'll need to clean up that mess, too, you know."
"THERE'S NO MESS. THAT'S FROM YESTERDAY."
"Well, if it's there from yesterday, clean it up!"
"I *WILL,* but I didn't make a mess!"
"As long as you clean it up! Just CLEAN IT UP."
"O-KAAAAY."
Silence.
I look over to see what he's doing and he's got a cat in his arms and is positioning it precisely two inches over the food bowl and holding it there. Cat torture. Awesome.
"DUDE!"
*jumps*
"I'm just getting him down!"
"Son, I've been watching you. You want me to do that to you??"
"No." *puts cat down*
"Then what on earth…???"
"He was trying to steal food and I was getting him down!"
"OK. Get the animals fed, and you can forget about having a proper dinner. You can have a banana or yogurt, take your shower, and GO TO BED. Since you can't quit messing with anything, apparently."
"But I didn't DO anything!!!"
Etc.
Etc.
Etc.
And after all that (and then some), there was, in fact, a mess from today's cat food can lid. Oz went in and saw it (because Doodlebug did not, in fact, clean up any of the FOUR pieces of cat food or yesterday's mess, despite his assurances that he would do so) and we had to call the boy back downstairs and get him to clean it, and then he started fighting with us again because we're just so mean for making him do something he'd said he'd do and we're just overreacting to his little white lie that there wasn't a mess today.
This scenario plays out, in various versions, half a dozen times every day, and while this particular version is about Doodlbug, Boo is not innocent. This morning she had a snark episode about French toast sticks for breakfast. Seriously. French toast sticks.
(For the record, the serving size is two sticks. There are six in a box. And two sticks is simply not enough breakfast and therefore, or so sayeth Boo, nobody will EAT the sticks because it's just not enough. My answer of just eating more sticks was apparently completely unexpected and unacceptable, and clearly I should never ever buy them again.)
I am ill-equipped to deal with these sorts of scenarios. I loathe attitude and disrespect in any way, shape or form. Oz is equally done with all of it.
Pretty sure our children won't see the other side of their teen years. Heck, they'll be lucky to see trick-or-treating tomorrow night.
Ugh.
Por ejemplo:
Today.
Doodlebug was upstairs. Boo was practicing her violin in her room, and Doodlebug was *supposed* to be cleaning his. In theory, of course. Instead, I heard the shriek of an indignant (and also constantly attitude-laden) girl. I called Doodlebug down and told him to stop messing with his sister. He said ok and promptly went back upstairs… to mess with his sister. I called him down a second time and told him to knock it off and enumerated a consequence if the behavior continued, specifically that he would be told to eat dinner and go to bed early. Because if he couldn't manage to control himself around people, it was a sign to me that he needed to go to bed so he couldn't be around anyone. Made sense to me, anyway. He said ok and promptly went back upstairs… to mess with his sister.
Argh.
So I called him down a THIRD time and told him the consequence was being enacted and to get dinner. He walked over to the fridge and stood there with the door hanging open. I told him to get food and get out, and in response he slammed the fridge door because heaven forbid we close a door with any sort of decency around here. I let it slide and told him to feed the animals while he thought about what food he wanted to eat, at which point in time he flopped himself on the floor like a 2-year-old. I told him to get moving.
So he grabbed the food bowls and hauled them to the laundry room, where he flung open the closet door and yanked out the cat food bag. I heard food fly and reminded him that he would need to clean up that food.
"It's FOUR pieces," he shot back. "Apparently I need to clean FOUR pieces."
"Yes, you do!"
"Mutter mutter mutter..." *cracks cat food can open and flops the lid on the dryer, where I know for a fact it's dripping wet cat food juice on the top*
"You'll need to clean up that mess, too, you know."
"THERE'S NO MESS. THAT'S FROM YESTERDAY."
"Well, if it's there from yesterday, clean it up!"
"I *WILL,* but I didn't make a mess!"
"As long as you clean it up! Just CLEAN IT UP."
"O-KAAAAY."
Silence.
I look over to see what he's doing and he's got a cat in his arms and is positioning it precisely two inches over the food bowl and holding it there. Cat torture. Awesome.
"DUDE!"
*jumps*
"I'm just getting him down!"
"Son, I've been watching you. You want me to do that to you??"
"No." *puts cat down*
"Then what on earth…???"
"He was trying to steal food and I was getting him down!"
"OK. Get the animals fed, and you can forget about having a proper dinner. You can have a banana or yogurt, take your shower, and GO TO BED. Since you can't quit messing with anything, apparently."
"But I didn't DO anything!!!"
Etc.
Etc.
Etc.
And after all that (and then some), there was, in fact, a mess from today's cat food can lid. Oz went in and saw it (because Doodlebug did not, in fact, clean up any of the FOUR pieces of cat food or yesterday's mess, despite his assurances that he would do so) and we had to call the boy back downstairs and get him to clean it, and then he started fighting with us again because we're just so mean for making him do something he'd said he'd do and we're just overreacting to his little white lie that there wasn't a mess today.
This scenario plays out, in various versions, half a dozen times every day, and while this particular version is about Doodlbug, Boo is not innocent. This morning she had a snark episode about French toast sticks for breakfast. Seriously. French toast sticks.
(For the record, the serving size is two sticks. There are six in a box. And two sticks is simply not enough breakfast and therefore, or so sayeth Boo, nobody will EAT the sticks because it's just not enough. My answer of just eating more sticks was apparently completely unexpected and unacceptable, and clearly I should never ever buy them again.)
I am ill-equipped to deal with these sorts of scenarios. I loathe attitude and disrespect in any way, shape or form. Oz is equally done with all of it.
Pretty sure our children won't see the other side of their teen years. Heck, they'll be lucky to see trick-or-treating tomorrow night.
Ugh.
Saturday, October 11, 2014
All Signs Point to Happy
The past week or so has been filled with surprises - good ones!
Some of the best surprises have involved getting together with friends (a friend texted me on Wednesday to say that she, her sister, and another woman, all of whom I know and enjoy, were going out for margaritas and wanted to invite me to come along, and I went, and the four of us had a wonderful time) or coworkers (five out of six front desk staff members went out last night, and we all had a really good time then, too… no cattiness, just sharing information and stories and laughing), but one of the best surprises has been the following document that my husband typed up and texted to me one line at a time.
It was so sweet to read it, and I'm still so pleased with it that I'm putting it out here to brag. My husband - he is one of the best. :)
----
A is for AMAZING. You amaze me every day with what you accomplish.
B is for BOLD. You know what you want and you won't settle for less.
C is for CARING. You make me feel loved and cared for more than I can tell you.
D is for DELICIOUS. Your cooking is beyond delicious!
E is for ENERGY. You have an aura of energy and excitement around you all the time that is infectious.
F is for FOREVER. You're stuck with me for that long!
G is for GORGEOUS. You are amazingly beautiful and sexy.
H is for HARD-WORKING. Your efforts and work don't go unnoticed.
I is for I LOVE YOU, because I do!
J is for JEALOUS. You are worthy of being jealous over.
K is for KISSES. I can never get enough of them.
L is for LOVE. You make me feel completely and securely loved.
M is for MEANT TO BE. Even being born on opposite sides of the planet couldn't keep us apart.
N is for NEVER. I will never take you for granted again.
O is for ORDINARY. I love that it doesn't take fancy things to make you happy. Ordinary can be extraordinary.
P is for PERFECT, as in perfect for me.
Q is for QUEEN. You are the queen of my heart.
R is for RELAXED. I love that our relationship feels like a comfortable pair of jeans, but I will never forget that comfortable can turn into complacent.
S is for SASSY in just the right way.
T is for TOUCH. Your touch can take away all the worries in the world.
U is for US. Together there's nothing we can't accomplish or defeat.
V is for VALIDATION. I will make sure that I always validate your feelings and accomplishments, and I know you'll validate mine.
W is for WANT. I want you and need you.
X is for X-RATED. 'Nuff said.
Y is for YOU LOVE ME, because I know you do.
Z is for ZEALOUS. I will zealously live up to my obligations and your expectations.
----
You may vomit now. But it makes me smile that he took the time to think all this up, type it out, and send it. I'm a pretty lucky girl :)
Some of the best surprises have involved getting together with friends (a friend texted me on Wednesday to say that she, her sister, and another woman, all of whom I know and enjoy, were going out for margaritas and wanted to invite me to come along, and I went, and the four of us had a wonderful time) or coworkers (five out of six front desk staff members went out last night, and we all had a really good time then, too… no cattiness, just sharing information and stories and laughing), but one of the best surprises has been the following document that my husband typed up and texted to me one line at a time.
It was so sweet to read it, and I'm still so pleased with it that I'm putting it out here to brag. My husband - he is one of the best. :)
----
A is for AMAZING. You amaze me every day with what you accomplish.
B is for BOLD. You know what you want and you won't settle for less.
C is for CARING. You make me feel loved and cared for more than I can tell you.
D is for DELICIOUS. Your cooking is beyond delicious!
E is for ENERGY. You have an aura of energy and excitement around you all the time that is infectious.
F is for FOREVER. You're stuck with me for that long!
G is for GORGEOUS. You are amazingly beautiful and sexy.
H is for HARD-WORKING. Your efforts and work don't go unnoticed.
I is for I LOVE YOU, because I do!
J is for JEALOUS. You are worthy of being jealous over.
K is for KISSES. I can never get enough of them.
L is for LOVE. You make me feel completely and securely loved.
M is for MEANT TO BE. Even being born on opposite sides of the planet couldn't keep us apart.
N is for NEVER. I will never take you for granted again.
O is for ORDINARY. I love that it doesn't take fancy things to make you happy. Ordinary can be extraordinary.
P is for PERFECT, as in perfect for me.
Q is for QUEEN. You are the queen of my heart.
R is for RELAXED. I love that our relationship feels like a comfortable pair of jeans, but I will never forget that comfortable can turn into complacent.
S is for SASSY in just the right way.
T is for TOUCH. Your touch can take away all the worries in the world.
U is for US. Together there's nothing we can't accomplish or defeat.
V is for VALIDATION. I will make sure that I always validate your feelings and accomplishments, and I know you'll validate mine.
W is for WANT. I want you and need you.
X is for X-RATED. 'Nuff said.
Y is for YOU LOVE ME, because I know you do.
Z is for ZEALOUS. I will zealously live up to my obligations and your expectations.
----
You may vomit now. But it makes me smile that he took the time to think all this up, type it out, and send it. I'm a pretty lucky girl :)
Thursday, October 2, 2014
My Little OCD Heart Skipped a Beat Today
This week is, in fact, going much better than last. It did not start out that way - Doodlebug spent Monday and Tuesday driving us all to distraction, Oz primarily, because he felt the need to torment everyone, steal electronics at 3 a.m., not do the assignments that the school sent home for him to complete during his suspension, and otherwise generally being an ass.
He turns 12 in exactly one week. I can smell the adolescence.
No, really… if he forgets his deodorant, I can actually smell it.
In any case, he went back to school yesterday and has thus far managed to keep his nose clean. Next week he can start attending his Lego Club meetings, which will make us all happy.
Work has been good. I walked patients yesterday, which was actually a nice break (especially since all hell broke loose at the front desk around 2:45), but other than that I've been up front. I've made a couple of minor errors but nothing particularly glaring or horrid that I know of, and I think they would tell me if I had done something wrong. They seem pretty up front about these sorts of things, and one of the unspoken office rules is that you own up to things and fix them, which I like. Less drama in the end.
Today, though, I got trained on how to close out the daily accounts by doing some batch processing. I've never done anything like that before, and the guy who trained me was complaining the whole time about how much he hates doing it because of all the little details you have to catch - whether or not everything's been stamped and signed and dated and put in order and reconciled and re-reconciled and copied and printed… basically all of the stuff that makes me absolutely love doing it. Someone forgot to put an account number on a ticket? Write it in. Separate the receipts into various piles and put them in order? Start making stacks and get 'er done. I'm sure I'll forget a detail or two, but in the end it was a process I would, and WILL, happily do again. Because it made my little OCD heart giddy to watch for all the little details and put it all in order and in the right places.
I like the job. I like the people, and I like staying busy. I like that the kids like school (even Doodlebug, despite his issues, does like it), and I like that Oz is being amazing and doing all sorts of stuff around the house to make sure that things continue to go smoothly here. I don't care for the hours today and tomorrow, but that's temporary… and I have learned than an extra 30 minutes of sleep in the morning makes a huge difference by the middle of the day!
He turns 12 in exactly one week. I can smell the adolescence.
No, really… if he forgets his deodorant, I can actually smell it.
In any case, he went back to school yesterday and has thus far managed to keep his nose clean. Next week he can start attending his Lego Club meetings, which will make us all happy.
Work has been good. I walked patients yesterday, which was actually a nice break (especially since all hell broke loose at the front desk around 2:45), but other than that I've been up front. I've made a couple of minor errors but nothing particularly glaring or horrid that I know of, and I think they would tell me if I had done something wrong. They seem pretty up front about these sorts of things, and one of the unspoken office rules is that you own up to things and fix them, which I like. Less drama in the end.
Today, though, I got trained on how to close out the daily accounts by doing some batch processing. I've never done anything like that before, and the guy who trained me was complaining the whole time about how much he hates doing it because of all the little details you have to catch - whether or not everything's been stamped and signed and dated and put in order and reconciled and re-reconciled and copied and printed… basically all of the stuff that makes me absolutely love doing it. Someone forgot to put an account number on a ticket? Write it in. Separate the receipts into various piles and put them in order? Start making stacks and get 'er done. I'm sure I'll forget a detail or two, but in the end it was a process I would, and WILL, happily do again. Because it made my little OCD heart giddy to watch for all the little details and put it all in order and in the right places.
I like the job. I like the people, and I like staying busy. I like that the kids like school (even Doodlebug, despite his issues, does like it), and I like that Oz is being amazing and doing all sorts of stuff around the house to make sure that things continue to go smoothly here. I don't care for the hours today and tomorrow, but that's temporary… and I have learned than an extra 30 minutes of sleep in the morning makes a huge difference by the middle of the day!
Friday, September 26, 2014
Nope, Spoke Too Soon
Friday.
Today had a whole lotta NOPE in it.
It started out badly. Doodlebug (yet again) didn't want to get out of bed this morning, and even Boo was dragging. I made it to work on time and was excited to get to sit at the front desk for my first full day up there EVER… only to discover that I had forgotten to check one of the other schedules and hadn't done one of the weekly jobs I'm supposed to do and someone else was covering my hind end, which isn't their job and makes me feel bad.
Then Oz texted me and told me that Doodlebug had waited until about the time he was supposed to be heading out the door to the bus and said, "I forgot about an assignment! I need six pictures of momentous occasions in my life!!" Thank goodness Oz had a few minutes to spare to help print off the photos and help the boy finish the assignment, which, by the way, will be the first, last, and ONLY time we ever save his ass in this fashion. I've told him since the beginning of school that he needs to complete all assignments the day he gets them, if possible, but now I think he finally understands why we crazy adults say things like this.
And just when I thought the day was settling down and things might get a little bit better… the shit REALLY hit the fan.
First, Doodlebug shoved a friend in jest, and the friend didn't like it, so the friend hit him, and Doodlebug hit him back… and both boys wound up getting suspended for two days. *sigh*
And then I got thrown into a situation at work that wasn't good to begin with but which I probably shouldn't have been handling on my first full day up front, and things just absolutely snowballed. By the end of it, I wound up apologizing to everyone on the entire front desk team as well as a couple of nurses in the back, and at this point, while everything *seems* to be smoothed over, we'll find out on Monday whether the company president is going to lower the boom or not. And I hate inconveniencing others and getting them to try to cover for me. Not their job.
I am very, very glad today is over and I have a weekend in between now and Monday. I'll be back at the front desk on Monday, which I suppose is somewhat of a testament to the fact that folks at work must have at least some faith in me (the nurse I had to apologize to is also the one who writes the schedule for me each week), and Oz is going to meet with the vice principal regarding Doodlebug to see if we can't get his punishment either lessened or rescinded altogether.
Hope you all have had a better Friday than me!
Today had a whole lotta NOPE in it.
It started out badly. Doodlebug (yet again) didn't want to get out of bed this morning, and even Boo was dragging. I made it to work on time and was excited to get to sit at the front desk for my first full day up there EVER… only to discover that I had forgotten to check one of the other schedules and hadn't done one of the weekly jobs I'm supposed to do and someone else was covering my hind end, which isn't their job and makes me feel bad.
Then Oz texted me and told me that Doodlebug had waited until about the time he was supposed to be heading out the door to the bus and said, "I forgot about an assignment! I need six pictures of momentous occasions in my life!!" Thank goodness Oz had a few minutes to spare to help print off the photos and help the boy finish the assignment, which, by the way, will be the first, last, and ONLY time we ever save his ass in this fashion. I've told him since the beginning of school that he needs to complete all assignments the day he gets them, if possible, but now I think he finally understands why we crazy adults say things like this.
And just when I thought the day was settling down and things might get a little bit better… the shit REALLY hit the fan.
First, Doodlebug shoved a friend in jest, and the friend didn't like it, so the friend hit him, and Doodlebug hit him back… and both boys wound up getting suspended for two days. *sigh*
And then I got thrown into a situation at work that wasn't good to begin with but which I probably shouldn't have been handling on my first full day up front, and things just absolutely snowballed. By the end of it, I wound up apologizing to everyone on the entire front desk team as well as a couple of nurses in the back, and at this point, while everything *seems* to be smoothed over, we'll find out on Monday whether the company president is going to lower the boom or not. And I hate inconveniencing others and getting them to try to cover for me. Not their job.
I am very, very glad today is over and I have a weekend in between now and Monday. I'll be back at the front desk on Monday, which I suppose is somewhat of a testament to the fact that folks at work must have at least some faith in me (the nurse I had to apologize to is also the one who writes the schedule for me each week), and Oz is going to meet with the vice principal regarding Doodlebug to see if we can't get his punishment either lessened or rescinded altogether.
Hope you all have had a better Friday than me!
Tuesday, September 16, 2014
The Learning Curve
With every change in life comes a learning curve. Everyone in my house is experiencing one right now, including the animals (the poor guppy puppy has to stay in the garage all day, and when the kids and I get home each day the cats - and dog - swarm us like we've been gone for years).
Boo is having the easiest time of it, in terms of the human equation. She adores school and is making some good friends. One friend in particular she wants to invite to go roller skating one day soon. I'm pleased. I'm also home each day before she arrives.
Doodlebug is doing surprisingly well. His room is a pit (and believe me, this has been a problem since he was little, but at this point, Mama is about to completely lose it… I'm going to discuss this little entitlement issue we're having in another post soon), but in school he's supposedly doing okay. I'm hoping that he's not just blowing smoke up my hind end when he comes home each day and announces that he has very little to no homework. I guess we'll find out when the grades come out, but while I don't expect a ton of homework, I have expected more than he has. Fingers crossed. He does get bored each afternoon and attributes it to being home solo for a little while, which I suspect isn't quite the case as I think he would be bored regardless of whether or not an adult was present (sometimes Oz is home, and he's still bored), and he doesn't really like being up early early early each morning, but he's doing okay.
Oz is adjusting, too. He's been supportive and helpful, taking kids to appointments and giving me foot rubs on those first few days when walking 8-10 miles a day was particularly hard on my system (don't get me wrong… it still ain't easy, but I'm adjusting). He hasn't yet realized that me working also means he needs to actually clean something around the house since I'm not here all day to do it, but one step at a time. He is at least helping with dinner on occasion and will sometimes do a load of laundry if I need him to.
And then there's me. Going back to work has been good. The learning curve there has been far steeper than the adjustment period from a home standpoint. I've gotten quite good already (if I do say so myself) at doing the first job they had me learn, walking patients back to rooms. At this point the clinicians like and are familiar with me, and I'm starting to memorize the doctors' schedules. I certainly can tell you their locations in the clinic on any given day! I can schedule appointments with relative ease, and I'm starting to learn some of the basics. Now I just need to get up to the front desk for a full few days in a row and really tackle the system. It'll be tough, especially since I'll be dealing with patients who are either ready to stop standing or ready to be out of the office, but thankfully most patients are patient. Most. I'm sure there will always be a few who aren't. And I'll handle that, too. I'm definitely ready for something new and for the new to become familiar.
I think we all are.
Boo is having the easiest time of it, in terms of the human equation. She adores school and is making some good friends. One friend in particular she wants to invite to go roller skating one day soon. I'm pleased. I'm also home each day before she arrives.
Doodlebug is doing surprisingly well. His room is a pit (and believe me, this has been a problem since he was little, but at this point, Mama is about to completely lose it… I'm going to discuss this little entitlement issue we're having in another post soon), but in school he's supposedly doing okay. I'm hoping that he's not just blowing smoke up my hind end when he comes home each day and announces that he has very little to no homework. I guess we'll find out when the grades come out, but while I don't expect a ton of homework, I have expected more than he has. Fingers crossed. He does get bored each afternoon and attributes it to being home solo for a little while, which I suspect isn't quite the case as I think he would be bored regardless of whether or not an adult was present (sometimes Oz is home, and he's still bored), and he doesn't really like being up early early early each morning, but he's doing okay.
Oz is adjusting, too. He's been supportive and helpful, taking kids to appointments and giving me foot rubs on those first few days when walking 8-10 miles a day was particularly hard on my system (don't get me wrong… it still ain't easy, but I'm adjusting). He hasn't yet realized that me working also means he needs to actually clean something around the house since I'm not here all day to do it, but one step at a time. He is at least helping with dinner on occasion and will sometimes do a load of laundry if I need him to.
And then there's me. Going back to work has been good. The learning curve there has been far steeper than the adjustment period from a home standpoint. I've gotten quite good already (if I do say so myself) at doing the first job they had me learn, walking patients back to rooms. At this point the clinicians like and are familiar with me, and I'm starting to memorize the doctors' schedules. I certainly can tell you their locations in the clinic on any given day! I can schedule appointments with relative ease, and I'm starting to learn some of the basics. Now I just need to get up to the front desk for a full few days in a row and really tackle the system. It'll be tough, especially since I'll be dealing with patients who are either ready to stop standing or ready to be out of the office, but thankfully most patients are patient. Most. I'm sure there will always be a few who aren't. And I'll handle that, too. I'm definitely ready for something new and for the new to become familiar.
I think we all are.
Monday, August 4, 2014
Recovery and Stepping Forward
So Oz is recovering nicely. He had some residual fever on Saturday evening, but that seems to have subsided thanks to his massive horse-pill antibiotics. He's got some angry-looking laparoscopy wounds right now, but I think those, too, shall heal. He's doped up on the good meds and spends a lot of time relaxing on the couch, which is exactly what he needs right now.
This week is starting out nicely. It may be a Monday, but it sure doesn't feel like it. I'm not sure what day it feels like. It's that time of summer when I would have started school but… yeah, that's not happening this year. The kids are getting bored and antsy, and we're all kind of looking forward to the first day in a few weeks. I need to take them back-to-school shopping, but I'm delaying the inevitable. I suspect I'll do it one day next week.
In the meantime, I got a phone call today. I started putting in online applications for clerical and administrative assistant jobs about two weeks ago and hadn't heard anything. It wasn't surprising given that my resume has more holes than some kinds of cheese and I haven't worked since 2010, but it was still frustrating.
Today, however, I got a phone call from a local school system. Their building secretary had a family emergency that caused her to have to quit her job quite suddenly, and they need someone who can start quickly. So I have an interview tomorrow for that position… and if that goes well, I'll have training on Wednesday. So fingers crossed! I haven't worked outside the home since before Doodlebug was born… at least, not in any capacity where I couldn't take the kids. So this will be a change for everyone, but I'm excited about it. I'm ready to earn money again, and even if it isn't much, it's something and it indicates a current job history.
Sunnyview School may not exist any more, but there's still plenty of learning happening around here. I appreciate all you readers who have stuck around. :)
This week is starting out nicely. It may be a Monday, but it sure doesn't feel like it. I'm not sure what day it feels like. It's that time of summer when I would have started school but… yeah, that's not happening this year. The kids are getting bored and antsy, and we're all kind of looking forward to the first day in a few weeks. I need to take them back-to-school shopping, but I'm delaying the inevitable. I suspect I'll do it one day next week.
In the meantime, I got a phone call today. I started putting in online applications for clerical and administrative assistant jobs about two weeks ago and hadn't heard anything. It wasn't surprising given that my resume has more holes than some kinds of cheese and I haven't worked since 2010, but it was still frustrating.
Today, however, I got a phone call from a local school system. Their building secretary had a family emergency that caused her to have to quit her job quite suddenly, and they need someone who can start quickly. So I have an interview tomorrow for that position… and if that goes well, I'll have training on Wednesday. So fingers crossed! I haven't worked outside the home since before Doodlebug was born… at least, not in any capacity where I couldn't take the kids. So this will be a change for everyone, but I'm excited about it. I'm ready to earn money again, and even if it isn't much, it's something and it indicates a current job history.
Sunnyview School may not exist any more, but there's still plenty of learning happening around here. I appreciate all you readers who have stuck around. :)
Wednesday, July 30, 2014
There's No Place Like… the Hospital
I'm pretty sure I should have just stayed in bed yesterday. It didn't begin particularly well, and it ended… well, it hasn't ended yet. Technically, I suppose it has, but it certainly hasn't seemed like it.
I could get into all the ugly details of everything that happened before Tuesday evening, but I won't. Suffice it to say that while some parts of the day were good - visiting a friend in the hospital with ongoing issues and hanging with another friend at the pool while the kids played in the water - other bits were not so great, like losing the car in the massive hospital parking garage and causing the pool to be shut down because Doodlebug accidentally kicked Boo square in the nose and caused blood to gush everywhere.
Anyway, the real fun started after the kids went to bed. A few days ago - I remember it being Saturday - Oz mentioned that he was having fairly strong stomach cramps. Since his digestive system is temperamental at the best of times, he chalked it up to either something he'd eaten or some supplements that weren't agreeing with him. So he stopped taking the supplements and assumed it would go away.
It didn't.
By Sunday evening, he was taking painkillers for the issue, and then… then on Monday evening, the pain began to change. He didn't say anything to me, but the pain began to move and localize… in - where else? - the right lower quadrant of his abdomen.
On Tuesday evening, he admitted the movement and localization of the pain to me, and he didn't seem particularly well. His appetite had been affected for several days, and he'd lost 10 pounds, though since it had been a couple of weeks since he'd weighed himself and he had been going to the gym, we're not sure how quickly that had come off. Anyway, I insisted that he take his temperature, and while it was only 98.8, I know that to him that's at least a full degree of fever. I had him take it again throughout the evening, and it rose to just under 100 degrees and stayed there. The pain level rose with it, and by the time it was 11:30 and he went to brush his teeth and take a shower, nausea had appeared as well.
Shortly thereafter, he told me he wanted to go to the ER to get checked out. So at 11:48 p.m. I began calling people looking for childcare. Oz drove himself to the hospital, and once I was able to find someone whose phone rings after certain hours in the evening - mine doesn't, so I certainly understand - I woke the kids and piled them in the car and sped across town to drop them off with an incredibly wonderful family. (And yes, they went back to sleep once they got there and slept till sometime around 8, which is excellent!) Then I took off to the ER after Oz.
By the time I got to the hospital he'd been triaged and had blood work drawn, and shortly after my arrival he had a CT scan of his abdomen. And then we waited. And waited. And waited. And about the time that I was about to lose my mind because it was 4 a.m. and there were two televisions playing two different channels and small children crying and people talking and I just needed peace and quiet and Oz was about to send me home to sleep until something happened, he got a room. And 15 minutes after that, the PA on call came in, listened to him, and said (and I paraphrase), "Yup. It's your appendix. The doctor will be in shortly." And he was, and he'd seen the CT scan results and said (and I paraphrase), "Yup. It's your appendix. And it's ugly, so I'm getting the trauma surgeon on call to come and tell you what the plan will be, but likely surgery and likely first thing in the morning." And by the time the trauma surgeon came in and confirmed everything and gave us a tentative surgery time of 7:15, it was 5:15, and there was no point in going home, was there?
Things moved reasonably quickly after that. Oz had a chest x-ray and an EKG, and as the EKG was being done someone came to schlep us to an actual private room, and so about 5:50 a.m., approximately 22 hours after I had awakened, we finally arrived in a room. It was glorious. I'm not sure how we scored the giant room that we did, and I'm sure that will show up reflected on the hospital bill later, but I was not an am not arguing. I settled into the first comfortable chair of the night and answered questions about Oz's health (because all the gods love the man, he didn't even contemplate sleep apnea and his CPAP as being a health issue and couldn't remember his blood type and couldn't remember how high his temperature had risen throughout the evening) while half asleep. And the nurse tech brought in pillows and blankets, and when they came to get Oz for surgery at 6:40 a.m., I was tucked in.
Of course, that meant that at 6:45 a.m., just as I was drifting off to sleep, the texts began. I had been updating Facebook throughout the course of the night to let people know what had been happening, and some of my friends are early risers. They were all well meaning and wanting to help, but I couldn't help wanting to chunk the phone into the wall when it buzzed. I didn't, though, and responded to them all, grateful for such a wonderful group of friends who were willing to help. Most of them offered to take the kids or run errands or visit or just do absolutely anything that I needed. I could never say thank you to them all properly - I have so many favors to return as it is! I did doze, though, and shortly before 9 a.m., the doctor who performed the surgery came in to let me know what had happened with Oz.
Oz is fine. I'll say that first. But the surgery was, in the surgeon's words, "a tough case." Oz's appendix had indeed perforated and was releasing infection into his abdomen, and that all had to be suctioned out before anything else could be done. After that, the appendix itself had to be removed, and it was "stuck" inside some inflammation and the end of it was abscessed to begin with, so that took time. And then the whole abdominal area had to be flushed. At this point the plan is IV antibiotics today, another round tomorrow, and we'll see how his white blood cell count and fever stands after that. I suspect he'll be fine and ready to go home on Friday morning, but we shall see. I'm hopeful.
I spent the day organizing places for the kids to go; actually, that's not quite true. I have two amazing friends who conspired together and commandeered my children, so all I had to do was pack bags for them and they organized all the transportation themselves. I did talk to the kids and let them know that Daddy is okay, but I haven't seen them since midnight and it's starting to wear on me a little, mostly due to my own fatigue, I'm sure. Anyway, I got them sorted and packed a bag for Oz to have at the hospital and spent most of the afternoon there before coming back home.
It's now 8:24 p.m., and I'm just a tad tired, as you can imagine. I've run to the store, the animals are fed, I am fed, Oz is in good hands (and has had two bouquets delivered as well as several visitors throughout the evening), and the children are in good places. It won't be long now before I let the dog out for the night and tuck myself into an actual bed for a good, long night's sleep.
I'll pick the kids up and let them see Daddy tomorrow, and then… well, I suppose it'll depend on what the doctor says.
I'm glad I can be there for Oz. And I'm still so glad that I have such an amazing village of people willing to drop their own concerns and worries and rearrange schedules to help us out. I'm so lucky. And given the fact that Oz's issues could have been so much worse, I think he feels the same.
But I do believe I'm rather tired of hospitals for a while now…
I could get into all the ugly details of everything that happened before Tuesday evening, but I won't. Suffice it to say that while some parts of the day were good - visiting a friend in the hospital with ongoing issues and hanging with another friend at the pool while the kids played in the water - other bits were not so great, like losing the car in the massive hospital parking garage and causing the pool to be shut down because Doodlebug accidentally kicked Boo square in the nose and caused blood to gush everywhere.
Anyway, the real fun started after the kids went to bed. A few days ago - I remember it being Saturday - Oz mentioned that he was having fairly strong stomach cramps. Since his digestive system is temperamental at the best of times, he chalked it up to either something he'd eaten or some supplements that weren't agreeing with him. So he stopped taking the supplements and assumed it would go away.
It didn't.
By Sunday evening, he was taking painkillers for the issue, and then… then on Monday evening, the pain began to change. He didn't say anything to me, but the pain began to move and localize… in - where else? - the right lower quadrant of his abdomen.
On Tuesday evening, he admitted the movement and localization of the pain to me, and he didn't seem particularly well. His appetite had been affected for several days, and he'd lost 10 pounds, though since it had been a couple of weeks since he'd weighed himself and he had been going to the gym, we're not sure how quickly that had come off. Anyway, I insisted that he take his temperature, and while it was only 98.8, I know that to him that's at least a full degree of fever. I had him take it again throughout the evening, and it rose to just under 100 degrees and stayed there. The pain level rose with it, and by the time it was 11:30 and he went to brush his teeth and take a shower, nausea had appeared as well.
Shortly thereafter, he told me he wanted to go to the ER to get checked out. So at 11:48 p.m. I began calling people looking for childcare. Oz drove himself to the hospital, and once I was able to find someone whose phone rings after certain hours in the evening - mine doesn't, so I certainly understand - I woke the kids and piled them in the car and sped across town to drop them off with an incredibly wonderful family. (And yes, they went back to sleep once they got there and slept till sometime around 8, which is excellent!) Then I took off to the ER after Oz.
By the time I got to the hospital he'd been triaged and had blood work drawn, and shortly after my arrival he had a CT scan of his abdomen. And then we waited. And waited. And waited. And about the time that I was about to lose my mind because it was 4 a.m. and there were two televisions playing two different channels and small children crying and people talking and I just needed peace and quiet and Oz was about to send me home to sleep until something happened, he got a room. And 15 minutes after that, the PA on call came in, listened to him, and said (and I paraphrase), "Yup. It's your appendix. The doctor will be in shortly." And he was, and he'd seen the CT scan results and said (and I paraphrase), "Yup. It's your appendix. And it's ugly, so I'm getting the trauma surgeon on call to come and tell you what the plan will be, but likely surgery and likely first thing in the morning." And by the time the trauma surgeon came in and confirmed everything and gave us a tentative surgery time of 7:15, it was 5:15, and there was no point in going home, was there?
Things moved reasonably quickly after that. Oz had a chest x-ray and an EKG, and as the EKG was being done someone came to schlep us to an actual private room, and so about 5:50 a.m., approximately 22 hours after I had awakened, we finally arrived in a room. It was glorious. I'm not sure how we scored the giant room that we did, and I'm sure that will show up reflected on the hospital bill later, but I was not an am not arguing. I settled into the first comfortable chair of the night and answered questions about Oz's health (because all the gods love the man, he didn't even contemplate sleep apnea and his CPAP as being a health issue and couldn't remember his blood type and couldn't remember how high his temperature had risen throughout the evening) while half asleep. And the nurse tech brought in pillows and blankets, and when they came to get Oz for surgery at 6:40 a.m., I was tucked in.
Of course, that meant that at 6:45 a.m., just as I was drifting off to sleep, the texts began. I had been updating Facebook throughout the course of the night to let people know what had been happening, and some of my friends are early risers. They were all well meaning and wanting to help, but I couldn't help wanting to chunk the phone into the wall when it buzzed. I didn't, though, and responded to them all, grateful for such a wonderful group of friends who were willing to help. Most of them offered to take the kids or run errands or visit or just do absolutely anything that I needed. I could never say thank you to them all properly - I have so many favors to return as it is! I did doze, though, and shortly before 9 a.m., the doctor who performed the surgery came in to let me know what had happened with Oz.
Oz is fine. I'll say that first. But the surgery was, in the surgeon's words, "a tough case." Oz's appendix had indeed perforated and was releasing infection into his abdomen, and that all had to be suctioned out before anything else could be done. After that, the appendix itself had to be removed, and it was "stuck" inside some inflammation and the end of it was abscessed to begin with, so that took time. And then the whole abdominal area had to be flushed. At this point the plan is IV antibiotics today, another round tomorrow, and we'll see how his white blood cell count and fever stands after that. I suspect he'll be fine and ready to go home on Friday morning, but we shall see. I'm hopeful.
I spent the day organizing places for the kids to go; actually, that's not quite true. I have two amazing friends who conspired together and commandeered my children, so all I had to do was pack bags for them and they organized all the transportation themselves. I did talk to the kids and let them know that Daddy is okay, but I haven't seen them since midnight and it's starting to wear on me a little, mostly due to my own fatigue, I'm sure. Anyway, I got them sorted and packed a bag for Oz to have at the hospital and spent most of the afternoon there before coming back home.
It's now 8:24 p.m., and I'm just a tad tired, as you can imagine. I've run to the store, the animals are fed, I am fed, Oz is in good hands (and has had two bouquets delivered as well as several visitors throughout the evening), and the children are in good places. It won't be long now before I let the dog out for the night and tuck myself into an actual bed for a good, long night's sleep.
I'll pick the kids up and let them see Daddy tomorrow, and then… well, I suppose it'll depend on what the doctor says.
I'm glad I can be there for Oz. And I'm still so glad that I have such an amazing village of people willing to drop their own concerns and worries and rearrange schedules to help us out. I'm so lucky. And given the fact that Oz's issues could have been so much worse, I think he feels the same.
But I do believe I'm rather tired of hospitals for a while now…
Wednesday, April 9, 2014
Surprise Company
Oz and I have been married for nearly 14 years. In that time, I have talked to and/or met only one member of his dad's family - his dad. We've gotten a few Christmas cards from aunts/uncles and there are a few folks on Facebook who show up in my 'People You May Know' list because they're on Oz's friend list, but I hadn't met them.
Oz's dad is one of six kids. He's number... five, I think? That sounds right, because I think he and my dad are the same number (except my dad is #5 out of 12). Anyway, when we went to Australia, I met three of the other siblings. A fourth, one of the older siblings, passed away while we were there; I didn't meet him, though we did go to the hospital so Oz could visit his aunt and say goodbye... not that we were hoping it would be goodbye, but it was. And the last sibling lives in New Zealand and we just didn't have the time/money/ability to get over and visit him.
We also didn't get to visit any of Oz's cousins while we were there. But his cousins, like Oz and his brothers, aren't exactly static. Hardly anyone lives in or near the Sydney area. In fact, one of them lives in Japan right now and another is here in the United States. He's down in Florida, so it's not as if we're neighbors, but recently he got in touch with Oz and said if he was ever this way, he'd drop in. Well, of course, who really travels to Tulsa if they don't have to? So I never expected to meet him unless we went down his way.
Yesterday, however, Oz called me on the way home from work and said, "Oh, by the way, my cousin is driving to Dallas from Kansas City and may drop in."
Um... what? Long story short, we offered him a bed for the night, which he accepted. I'm sure sleeping in a bedroom with a lizard wasn't exactly what he'd had in mind for the night, but I also suspect it was better than driving till 2 or 3 a.m... though after meeting him, I have no doubt he'd have had the stamina to do just that.
So now I've met a cousin.
It seems like family grows not in small, planned increments, but in leaps and bounds. And it's nice to feel more in touch. As long as it remains drama-free, of course!
Oz's dad is one of six kids. He's number... five, I think? That sounds right, because I think he and my dad are the same number (except my dad is #5 out of 12). Anyway, when we went to Australia, I met three of the other siblings. A fourth, one of the older siblings, passed away while we were there; I didn't meet him, though we did go to the hospital so Oz could visit his aunt and say goodbye... not that we were hoping it would be goodbye, but it was. And the last sibling lives in New Zealand and we just didn't have the time/money/ability to get over and visit him.
We also didn't get to visit any of Oz's cousins while we were there. But his cousins, like Oz and his brothers, aren't exactly static. Hardly anyone lives in or near the Sydney area. In fact, one of them lives in Japan right now and another is here in the United States. He's down in Florida, so it's not as if we're neighbors, but recently he got in touch with Oz and said if he was ever this way, he'd drop in. Well, of course, who really travels to Tulsa if they don't have to? So I never expected to meet him unless we went down his way.
Yesterday, however, Oz called me on the way home from work and said, "Oh, by the way, my cousin is driving to Dallas from Kansas City and may drop in."
Um... what? Long story short, we offered him a bed for the night, which he accepted. I'm sure sleeping in a bedroom with a lizard wasn't exactly what he'd had in mind for the night, but I also suspect it was better than driving till 2 or 3 a.m... though after meeting him, I have no doubt he'd have had the stamina to do just that.
So now I've met a cousin.
It seems like family grows not in small, planned increments, but in leaps and bounds. And it's nice to feel more in touch. As long as it remains drama-free, of course!
Tuesday, March 25, 2014
Heartwarming Moments
That moment when…
… your 11-year-old son parks himself on the couch next to you and says, "Mom, I am going to snuggle you. You have 30 seconds to prepare for snuggling. 29… 28… 27… "
… your just-turned-9-year-old daughter gets to sit between two of her closest friends at lunch, and when the meal is over and you're walking out of the restaurant, she says to the friend next to her, "Let's walk out arm in arm like they do in books." And they do.
… your husband comes home from working all day, sees that you're still on the couch at 5:45 p.m. and decides to take care of dinner. Steak, baked potatoes, grilled zucchini, and a lovely bottle of Cabernet sauvignon.
… you're exhausted and want nothing more than to climb into bed right after dinner, but you're the mom - so the children hunt you down and climb up on the bed, and the cats wander in and hop up on the bed, too, and the husband sits on the nearby armchair, so you have your bed and your family, and what can really be better than that?
… you find this on Pinterest and can only sit there and think, "YES" to every single one (click and zoom to enlarge or visit my Pinterest page):
… your 11-year-old son parks himself on the couch next to you and says, "Mom, I am going to snuggle you. You have 30 seconds to prepare for snuggling. 29… 28… 27… "
… your just-turned-9-year-old daughter gets to sit between two of her closest friends at lunch, and when the meal is over and you're walking out of the restaurant, she says to the friend next to her, "Let's walk out arm in arm like they do in books." And they do.
… your husband comes home from working all day, sees that you're still on the couch at 5:45 p.m. and decides to take care of dinner. Steak, baked potatoes, grilled zucchini, and a lovely bottle of Cabernet sauvignon.
… you're exhausted and want nothing more than to climb into bed right after dinner, but you're the mom - so the children hunt you down and climb up on the bed, and the cats wander in and hop up on the bed, too, and the husband sits on the nearby armchair, so you have your bed and your family, and what can really be better than that?
… you find this on Pinterest and can only sit there and think, "YES" to every single one (click and zoom to enlarge or visit my Pinterest page):
… you come back from Spring Break after three weeks and everyone's done with school by 1:30, even the boy who was grouchy when he first woke up, but he snapped out of it and did what needed to be done like a mature human being.
… you strew your daughter's birthday gifts around the house throughout the day because you were too tired to wrap them the night before, and every time she finds something she shrieks with happiness and gives you a giant hug. Way better than one big anticlimactic, "Thanks, Mom & Dad!"
… your son comes home from an all-night gaming session (formerly known as a sleepover) and says he's played a geography game. "And, Mom, I see what you mean when you say that world geography isn't taught very well. We had to place flags on the countries or states. And we all knew the US states, but then it moved to Europe, and all they knew was Italy and France! They didn't even know England!" (And yes, I'm painfully aware that my kids know this at the expense of knowing American history… but I'm working on that. Really I am.)
… you call your sister and tell her that you're about to do something that is seriously going to piss off someone you both know, and she tells you that you're doing the right thing, anyway, and for the same exact reasons you had already said to yourself but didn't entirely believe.
So many good things each day. I just have to remember to write them down sometimes! What good thing happened to you lately?
Friday, February 14, 2014
Today
So today was Valentine's Day, yet another day in which I am reminded how completely inadequate I am when it comes to things like holidays and gifts. I am the one, after all, who has completely forgotten (both of) her anniversaries multiple times and tends to forget not only her own birthday but those of her loved ones as well. The kids are only exempt, I am sure, by virtue of their age. When they hit 21, I hope they can forgive me for my forgetfulness.
Anyway, Oz hit home runs today, as he always does. Usually we don't do big gifts for Valentine's - maybe a small box of chocolate or just cards or a bouquet of flowers. But for whatever reason, Oz decided to spoil me rotten this year. Yesterday he brought home a beautiful bouquet of red tulips and he and I shared half a dozen massive chocolate-covered strawberries. This morning he bounced me awake (it's a good thing it was Valentine's Day, or he'd probably have lost body parts doing that), made and poured me coffee, and presented me with a beautiful watch. I'm both really picky about and really hard on watches, so he'd asked me about it previously. I'd told him that I liked that one, but I assumed at the time that he was pre-shopping for my birthday and/or cruise gift ideas and/or Mother's Day, because I actually am that spoiled and he actually is that good at gifts and actually does plan that far ahead. Which makes my gift-giving incompetence all the more glaring. But we'll move on. He resized the watch this afternoon and, in addition, helped me with laundry, dusted the downstairs, and cleaned the kitchen and washed the dishes after dinner.
What did I do?
I got him two cards.
Oh, and he also bought cards and small boxes of chocolate for each of the kids and graciously let me take half-credit for them.
This is why I keep him.
-----
The kids and I had a good day today, too.
School was understandably shoved to the back burner today - we did some grammar, and each kid did a page of math, and they copied down the final drafts of their history papers (she wrote a little piece about the Ancient Indus Valley civilization and he wrote a short essay on the history of medicine in ancient cultures), and after that, we left.
First we went to an area assisted living center, where the kids put on a talent show for some of the residents. The group has performed this for three years now, though we missed the first year, and all the kids have really progressed in their performances. Feel free to read about the talent show on my friend's blog. Doodlebug came up with the idea for using skits as part of the talent show. He wanted to participate but didn't feel like reciting a poem like he did last year. We found some other kids to participate after selecting the skits we wanted to perform, and I thought they all did a fabulous job, especially since they had never rehearsed together! They spoke loudly and clearly, and in the end, there were some laughs for each skit.
After the talent show, a couple of us headed over to a local tea house for lunch with another friend, and she snapped a picture of me sitting on a ledge outside the tea house after we got done eating.
Then the talent show friend left, and the photo friend and I headed over to the local skating rink for an afternoon of trying not to break bones while zipping around a slick wooden floor on four-wheeled shoes of doom. Boo actually learned to skate without hanging onto a wall, and Doodlebug brought his own rollerblades along so he wouldn't have to use rentals. The boy has brains, I'll give him that.
By the time we left there, we were ALL ready to get home. Thankfully the skating rink is only a couple of miles from our house, so it didn't take long at all before we were crashed in various places (Doodlebug promptly soaked himself in a hot bath, and Boo wasn't far behind) wearing pajama/comfy pants and I was wondering what on earth I had been thinking when I'd decided on dinner plans.
Tomorrow we're staying home (Boo is under the impression that she wants to go roller skating again, but I think she'll be ready to change those plans in the morning). My mom is dropping by to give the kids their Valentines, and I have warned her that we all may be lounging in our pajamas when she arrives. Because THIS girl has no intention of moving before noon.
Hope you all had a great Valentine's Day/Friday. And may your weekend be as warm as mine is supposed to be!
Anyway, Oz hit home runs today, as he always does. Usually we don't do big gifts for Valentine's - maybe a small box of chocolate or just cards or a bouquet of flowers. But for whatever reason, Oz decided to spoil me rotten this year. Yesterday he brought home a beautiful bouquet of red tulips and he and I shared half a dozen massive chocolate-covered strawberries. This morning he bounced me awake (it's a good thing it was Valentine's Day, or he'd probably have lost body parts doing that), made and poured me coffee, and presented me with a beautiful watch. I'm both really picky about and really hard on watches, so he'd asked me about it previously. I'd told him that I liked that one, but I assumed at the time that he was pre-shopping for my birthday and/or cruise gift ideas and/or Mother's Day, because I actually am that spoiled and he actually is that good at gifts and actually does plan that far ahead. Which makes my gift-giving incompetence all the more glaring. But we'll move on. He resized the watch this afternoon and, in addition, helped me with laundry, dusted the downstairs, and cleaned the kitchen and washed the dishes after dinner.
What did I do?
I got him two cards.
Oh, and he also bought cards and small boxes of chocolate for each of the kids and graciously let me take half-credit for them.
This is why I keep him.
-----
The kids and I had a good day today, too.
School was understandably shoved to the back burner today - we did some grammar, and each kid did a page of math, and they copied down the final drafts of their history papers (she wrote a little piece about the Ancient Indus Valley civilization and he wrote a short essay on the history of medicine in ancient cultures), and after that, we left.
First we went to an area assisted living center, where the kids put on a talent show for some of the residents. The group has performed this for three years now, though we missed the first year, and all the kids have really progressed in their performances. Feel free to read about the talent show on my friend's blog. Doodlebug came up with the idea for using skits as part of the talent show. He wanted to participate but didn't feel like reciting a poem like he did last year. We found some other kids to participate after selecting the skits we wanted to perform, and I thought they all did a fabulous job, especially since they had never rehearsed together! They spoke loudly and clearly, and in the end, there were some laughs for each skit.
After the talent show, a couple of us headed over to a local tea house for lunch with another friend, and she snapped a picture of me sitting on a ledge outside the tea house after we got done eating.
 |
| This has been cropped to become my new profile picture, but look - a picture of me! |
By the time we left there, we were ALL ready to get home. Thankfully the skating rink is only a couple of miles from our house, so it didn't take long at all before we were crashed in various places (Doodlebug promptly soaked himself in a hot bath, and Boo wasn't far behind) wearing pajama/comfy pants and I was wondering what on earth I had been thinking when I'd decided on dinner plans.
Tomorrow we're staying home (Boo is under the impression that she wants to go roller skating again, but I think she'll be ready to change those plans in the morning). My mom is dropping by to give the kids their Valentines, and I have warned her that we all may be lounging in our pajamas when she arrives. Because THIS girl has no intention of moving before noon.
Hope you all had a great Valentine's Day/Friday. And may your weekend be as warm as mine is supposed to be!
Wednesday, December 25, 2013
Christmas 2013
Christmas at last! We've been slowly gearing up all month, working through our annual Christmas chain. The kids are big enough now, though, that sometimes they simply don't feel like doing what the chain says, and that's okay. I know it's a tradition that will slip as they get older, but as long as they have fond memories, that's what matters. One day, perhaps, they'll have a similar tradition with their own families.
Oz and I spent a little less than we usually do this year, but we actually got the kids more gifts. There were simply no large purchases - no electronics, mostly.
 |
| Santa landed… and the cats perform their traditional Stalking of the Gifts |
If you look at the boy closely (i.e. by clicking on the photo to enlarge it), you might think he was grouchy or displeased. I assure you he is not. This is one of his favorite gifts, a Minecraft Creeper hoodie that zips all the way up over his face. The face Doodlebug is giving us is what Oz and I call the SFG - shit-faced grin. You'll see it plenty of times during this post.
One of Boo's favorite gifts held these pillows. She had specifically asked for them so she can have a 'pretty bed.' She wants to create a 'garden room,' and the pillows were integral to her scheme.
The kids spent their own allowance money on each other (and on Oz and I) this year. Boo bought Doodlebug this telescoping campfire fork and a kit to make a catapult. Doodlebug bought Boo a lotion/body care kit with Boo's favorite scent.
The girl got a new Oklahoma charm for her bracelet, and she initially gave a skeptical look to the hair chalk, but she's now sporting green and gold hair for the holiday, so I think I was right that she would like the idea of using her hair as a platform for art.
Lots of happy...
and even MORE happy out of the boy when he realized that he got the Khet game that he'd circled in every catalog we'd received since October.
The man, of course, was not left out of the happy gift-giving process (neither was I, but Oz was dressed and camera-presentable and I was very much NOT). The kids bought their own gifts for him as well. The mug in the photo above was Boo's gift to him - it has Oz's name engraved on it - and Doodlebug got him some of his favorite wool socks.
The best gift, however, came at the very end of the whole process. The kids would kill me for posting this photo, but I don't care.
I'm just so glad they love each other.
Sunday, December 8, 2013
2014 - A Year of Change?
So I had plans for 2014. In my head, I had things figured out. Here's what I thought would happen:
1. Doodlebug would stop swim and start tae kwon do.
2. Boo would start sewing classes.
3. At least one child, probably Doodlebug, would remain at home in the fall.
4. We would visit Australia, most likely around this time of year in order to take advantage of warm beaches and swimming weather.
-----
The gods sensed my plans. And they laughed.
-----
Here's what's happening now:
1. This is still happening. The facility we've found actually offers a daytime class for homeschoolers, but Doodlebug has stated that he would rather go to the 'regular' class in the evenings. I'm okay with that. If he chose, later in the year, to return to swim team, that was an option, but I wanted him to try something else for at least a temporary change. I suspect that given #3, he won't return to swim, but we'll see.
2. This is, sadly, up in the air. I sent an email to the store asking if they were still planning them, but I haven't heard back, which is disappointing. Boo is desperate to sew, and I don't know what to do if they don't hold the classes. I'll have to figure something out. Maybe pay a friend to help teach her. I don't know.
3. BOTH kids are probably going to go to public school for the next school year.
Boo had been considering going to public school just like Doodlebug had, and she came to me a few days ago and said that she would like to go back in August. I wasn't surprised. She's been happy at home, but not thoroughly so. She's long lamented the fact that she doesn't have a large circle of friends, and I know she FaceTimes with one of her best friends as often as she thinks is decent and not obnoxious. She's not good about calling others, though… I need to remind her that picking up the phone is just as simple as using other technology.
Doodlebug was another matter. Oz expressed his opinions to me the other night when I asked, and he thinks that Doodlebug should at least give public school a shot. I tend to agree. Even if it doesn't work out, he thinks that Doodlebug at least needs to know what he's giving up/avoiding. The last time he was in school, he was in kindergarten. It was a nightmare, yes, but we've all come a long way since then, and I'm hopeful that with various groups and activities and therapy, he'll be able to manage socially. If not, he does have the option to return home.
The thought of having no kids at home just weirds me out, but the Type A planner in me is glad that I have many months in which to adjust and in which to check where the kids are, academically speaking. I suspect the only areas where I really need to focus will be in math, for Boo, since Math-U-See isn't exactly Common Core-aligned, and in social studies for both kids, since I've largely focused on history and haven't really touched on 'social studies' at all… unless you count the general U.S. history that Doodlebug learned a couple years back. I'm not sure how much of that he will have retained, and Boo probably hasn't heard any of it. Still, with several months left in the school year, it's easy to remedy. I've ordered some books and will let the kids read through them, and we'll do some simple projects. I'm sure they'll be caught up in time.
I'm also sure that they'll have to do some sort of testing at the school to find out exactly where they'll stand. I guess I'll cross that bridge when I come to it.
4. If the kids are in public school, going to Australia in November/early December probably isn't going to work. Oz pointed that one out to me this morning. So we're going earlier in the year. Ye Olde Tax Refund will probably go toward the trip. I guess since I won't be spending it on curriculum, it's not a huge deal, except for the fact that instead of having almost a year to put myself into a state of mind where I can handle a 24-hour plane ride (I'm a horrible, terrible, no good, very bad flight passenger) I only have a few months… and, oh yeah, Oz is the only one of us with a passport. Right-O. Gotta get crackin' on that, too.
-----
So yeah… 2014 is already changing, and it isn't even here yet. I'm not sure how I feel about it all yet; ask me in another month, and maybe I'll have an answer. In the meantime, I'm just going to pour myself a giant mug o' happy and be glad that my Christmas shopping is over. I ain't gonna let myself get stressed out. Time to take a few deep breaths and focus on the here and now.
Time to balance the qi.
1. Doodlebug would stop swim and start tae kwon do.
2. Boo would start sewing classes.
3. At least one child, probably Doodlebug, would remain at home in the fall.
4. We would visit Australia, most likely around this time of year in order to take advantage of warm beaches and swimming weather.
-----
The gods sensed my plans. And they laughed.
-----
Here's what's happening now:
1. This is still happening. The facility we've found actually offers a daytime class for homeschoolers, but Doodlebug has stated that he would rather go to the 'regular' class in the evenings. I'm okay with that. If he chose, later in the year, to return to swim team, that was an option, but I wanted him to try something else for at least a temporary change. I suspect that given #3, he won't return to swim, but we'll see.
2. This is, sadly, up in the air. I sent an email to the store asking if they were still planning them, but I haven't heard back, which is disappointing. Boo is desperate to sew, and I don't know what to do if they don't hold the classes. I'll have to figure something out. Maybe pay a friend to help teach her. I don't know.
3. BOTH kids are probably going to go to public school for the next school year.
Boo had been considering going to public school just like Doodlebug had, and she came to me a few days ago and said that she would like to go back in August. I wasn't surprised. She's been happy at home, but not thoroughly so. She's long lamented the fact that she doesn't have a large circle of friends, and I know she FaceTimes with one of her best friends as often as she thinks is decent and not obnoxious. She's not good about calling others, though… I need to remind her that picking up the phone is just as simple as using other technology.
Doodlebug was another matter. Oz expressed his opinions to me the other night when I asked, and he thinks that Doodlebug should at least give public school a shot. I tend to agree. Even if it doesn't work out, he thinks that Doodlebug at least needs to know what he's giving up/avoiding. The last time he was in school, he was in kindergarten. It was a nightmare, yes, but we've all come a long way since then, and I'm hopeful that with various groups and activities and therapy, he'll be able to manage socially. If not, he does have the option to return home.
The thought of having no kids at home just weirds me out, but the Type A planner in me is glad that I have many months in which to adjust and in which to check where the kids are, academically speaking. I suspect the only areas where I really need to focus will be in math, for Boo, since Math-U-See isn't exactly Common Core-aligned, and in social studies for both kids, since I've largely focused on history and haven't really touched on 'social studies' at all… unless you count the general U.S. history that Doodlebug learned a couple years back. I'm not sure how much of that he will have retained, and Boo probably hasn't heard any of it. Still, with several months left in the school year, it's easy to remedy. I've ordered some books and will let the kids read through them, and we'll do some simple projects. I'm sure they'll be caught up in time.
I'm also sure that they'll have to do some sort of testing at the school to find out exactly where they'll stand. I guess I'll cross that bridge when I come to it.
4. If the kids are in public school, going to Australia in November/early December probably isn't going to work. Oz pointed that one out to me this morning. So we're going earlier in the year. Ye Olde Tax Refund will probably go toward the trip. I guess since I won't be spending it on curriculum, it's not a huge deal, except for the fact that instead of having almost a year to put myself into a state of mind where I can handle a 24-hour plane ride (I'm a horrible, terrible, no good, very bad flight passenger) I only have a few months… and, oh yeah, Oz is the only one of us with a passport. Right-O. Gotta get crackin' on that, too.
-----
So yeah… 2014 is already changing, and it isn't even here yet. I'm not sure how I feel about it all yet; ask me in another month, and maybe I'll have an answer. In the meantime, I'm just going to pour myself a giant mug o' happy and be glad that my Christmas shopping is over. I ain't gonna let myself get stressed out. Time to take a few deep breaths and focus on the here and now.
Time to balance the qi.
Monday, October 7, 2013
Suddenly, Manual Labor!
Just when you find yourself wondering where on earth you can find manual labor for your child to do, The Awesome Husband will take that opportunity to dig, line, and otherwise build a fire pit, and there's plenty of manual labor for a child to do during that project! Hauling logs, backfilling holes and hauling away extra sand, fetching tools and putting them away - all are jobs that will get morose, electronics-driven boys moving if there's a promise of fire at the end.
As for me, I got to sit down by the fire after it was built and warm my bare tootsies.
I am one happy mama.
As for me, I got to sit down by the fire after it was built and warm my bare tootsies.
I am one happy mama.
Monday, September 30, 2013
Productivity and... Wait, It's Almost October?!?
I discovered today (quite by accident, I assure you) that tomorrow is the first day of October. I knew it was coming, because Oz and I spent the weekend watching helplessly as our hands and feet carried us around the house and yard putting up Halloween decorations, but I somehow still expected September to last another week or three.
Still, we got a lot done this weekend. In addition to all my decorating, Oz changed out the rocks in our front garden. I say 'garden' - that's not entirely an accurate description unless you consider a rock garden a garden, which I guess I don't. This unplantable space is good only when it rains, because it floods like the Flavian Amphitheatre during sea battles, which keeps the porch from flooding, and I like that, because a waterlogged porch isn't on my list of things that make me happy. Formerly it held a bunch of red-brown lava rock and several very large pieces of sandstone. Both Oz and I thought those didn't match the character of the house, and I can also tell you from experience that walking on lava rocks with your bare feet is a bad, bad idea. The new rocks are much nicer on the soles. Lava rocks also are not a very effective barrier for plants because they're lightweight and somehow maintain a lot of space in between the stones. I had to spray for weeds, which I hate doing, about every month or so, and even then the weeds were multiplying. Oz put down a new double layer of landscaping fabric under the new rocks, which makes me love him even more. We'll see how this holds up.
I also hauled myself into the kitchen and made cake doughnuts and triple-chocolate cookies. The doughnuts were for me, more or less, and I realized how dependent I've become on my cast iron pans for frying things when I decided, for some unknown reason, not to use cast iron to fry the doughnuts and the kids came down during the middle of a very frustrating fry session and hollered, "FISH STICKS!!!!" Suffice to say the doughnuts were getting a bit burnt. I couldn't get the oil temperature to stabilize to save my life. Stupid electric cooktops and non-cast-iron pans... I will say this, though. Toss burned doughnuts in cinnamon and sugar, and all is forgiven.
Not forgotten, though. Stupid pan.
The cookies were payment to Oz for all the effort he's put in around the house lately. He's been working overtime to keep me fat 'n' happy, and he's succeeding admirably. He's been dying for cookies for a long while, so I finally hunted down the recipe I'd saved on Pinterest and made him a gigantic batch (seriously... the recipe made 95 cookies. NINETY-FIVE. That number hasn't seemed so significant to me since I was in catechism class as a 6th grader and had to learn about Luther's Ninety-Five Theses in great detail). I prized a dozen out of his clutches and took them to a friend's house because she was driving us to dinner at a restaurant downtown where we met up with two other women and scored free lemon drops courtesy of the anonymous gentleman who left before the drinks were served so we couldn't even thank him and tell him that for some of us **hackhackMEhackhack** that was the first drink they'd ever had that was sent over and purchased by someone else. Delicious.
So, anyway, tomorrow is the first day of October. My son will turn 11 in a week and a half. I'm really not okay with this, but apparently it's not up to me and time will march on whether I like it or not, and if you try to tell the boy that he isn't allowed to turn 11, he will laugh at you. Don't ask how I know. He lost his sixth (seventh?) tooth of the year yesterday, and he's got yet another tooth that's actually being absorbed (GROSS) because there's nothing to push it out and he refuses to let me pull it even though it has no root. Soon his mouth will be full of adult teeth and adult thoughts emerging as adult words. With teenage attitude, of course, but the seeds are planted for eventual maturity... I hope.
I simply cannot believe how quickly this year is going by. I really do think it's time to hibernate now. Anyone wanna join me?
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| My mantel. Most of it, anyway. You can't see the black roses in this shot. |
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| I may have a serious Dept. 56 problem. |
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| I didn't even notice the candle had fallen until just now. Wow, I'm observant. |
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| Suck it, Pinterest. My son's closet offers better choices than your store-bought ones any day. |
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| New rocks. Way better. |
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| Please ignore the state of my sink. We're focusing our negative energy on the pan. |
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| Mmmmm taste the char. A food blogger I am not. |
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| Triple-chocolate cookies make the Oz Cookie Monster happy. |
I simply cannot believe how quickly this year is going by. I really do think it's time to hibernate now. Anyone wanna join me?
Sunday, May 26, 2013
Those Happy Weekend Days
This is going to be one of those posts where I simply word vomit the contents of my weekend, so if those sorts of posts hold no interest for you, I suggest you move on. No hard feelings. *smile*
Memorial Day weekend is one of those glorious weekends where there are no family obligations, no gifts involved, no greeting cards to send - you do what you and your family want and hang the consequences.
Friday evening kicked this weekend off with a bang. One of my good friends and I piled in her car and waited in interminable traffic to get to Rocklahoma, which, I might add, didn't seem anywhere as crowded as the traffic and parking issues would originally have led us to believe. We had a blast, and there's just something genuinely fun about driving home at midnight and stopping at a convenience store on the way home to grab Bugles and a Milky Way (me) and an energy drink (her). We're already hoping that the lineup next year is equally good; we'll work our schedules so that hopefully the traffic issues aren't as pronounced.
Yesterday was a quiet day (OK, I'm just comparing it to today... it wasn't quiet at all). Oz had to run down to Moore to do some work in that tornado-ravaged town, so the kids and I had the house to ourselves during the morning hours. After lunch, we ran to a neighbor's house. Their daughters recently turned 4 and 1 within a few weeks of one another, and as they're even newer to the neighborhood than we are, they invited several families they've met as part of a birthday get-together. M2 was playing with one of the other neighbor girls, whom she had met before - the birthday family moved into the home where some girls M2's age had lived - and I got to meet the dad and exchange phone numbers. The other girl is also in Girl Scouts, so when I call and introduce myself to the mom, I intend to discuss that as well, see if I can find out information for M2. M2 was beside herself. Oz got back during the party and walked up, and our whole family enjoyed cake and good conversation for a couple of hours before three of us headed home. M2 stayed and entertained the older birthday girl and some of her out-of-state friends for another couple of hours before I retrieved her for dinner... and camping! No, I did not actually sleep in a tent. The kids had been begging for a month to camp in the yard like they do every spring, but it had been too wet to set up the tent. It's finally dried out enough that I agreed it was time. The ground is still moist, but we can finally walk through it (well, most of it) without water squishing between our toes, so M1 helped Oz set up the tent, and the kids spent an evening parked in sleeping bags and on air mattresses before sacking out about 10:30. If I'd been smart, I would have gone to bed then, too, but I'm nothing if not a night owl, so at 10:30, Oz and I were in the middle of Saving Private Ryan, which neither of us had seen, and I had Ben & Jerry's Willie Nelson's Country Peach Cobbler ice cream, which is my favorite ice cream ever, and so I didn't find my pillow till about 1 a.m.
Again.
It was hard to get out of bed this morning, but at 8 a.m. I was jolted awake by a cat who decided it was time for me to get up, which means that she climbed on my arm (I sleep on my side, but that does not deter this cat), perched herself firmly, and purred in my ear till I was awake. She repeated this until I was too awake to go to sleep again. It's her modus operandi when she wants breakfast, because she knows if I get up, then the boy gets up, and the end result is that she gets fed. It's complicated feline logic. The boy was, in fact, awake in the tent, and he and his sister had been awake long enough to have packed up their sleeping bags and rolled up the air mattresses so they could haul everything inside and dump it next to the back door on the way to FOOD OMG FOOD I HAVEN'T EATEN SINCE LAST NIGHT FOOOOOOOOD.
After they consumed sustenance, I divided and conquered. M1 did a couple of chores in the house, and M2 came outside with me to mulch the herb garden. I hate doing things that early in the morning, but we had too much going on today to procrastinate... and anyway, I had coffee by that point and could (almost) function. It was still very nice to come in and crash on the couch and watch some Monaco Grand Prix for a bit before I had to move again.
For lunch, we piled in the car and met Oz's family at a park for lunch. We took the lazy route and picked up food on the way; everyone else brought coolers and meat to barbecue. It worked out well for us, though, because by the time we had to leave, they were just finishing their meals... and I'm pretty sure that my food-seeking children wouldn't have survived that long without a feeding. I'm not entirely convinced they'd have turned cannibalistic, but it's not out of the realm of possibility. Anyway, we had to leave earlier than everyone else because M2 had her first sewing lesson with my stepmother today, and we had to be home in time for her to get picked up. Oz corralled M1 and made him go run errands - lots of them - while I stayed home and exercised and made new binder labels for the next school year and ran to retrieve the girl. She was delighted with what she learned, and she's assigned herself a couple of 'homework' projects that will mean I have to actually walk into a fabric store. I may not survive; my fabric-store PTSD may kick in. If I stop blogging and disappear from the web, you'll know why.
By the time everyone came home, we were drop-dead tired. I fixed dinner and read the kids a chapter from the fourth Harry Potter book that we just started, and they were off to bed. M1 was out like a light; M2 took a bit longer, but I think she's out now, too.
I'd say that tomorrow will be a piece of cake since we don't have to go anywhere and Oz will be home, but I fear it won't be the case. My stepsister's sons are spending Monday, Tuesday, and Wednesday morning here, and it's been a long, long time since I've had a little boy... and I've never had two of them at once. It will be an interesting week.
Hope you all have a fun, safe Memorial Day (or Monday, depending on what country you live in), and I'll let you know how the child-minding goes. Send a few good thoughts my way.
Memorial Day weekend is one of those glorious weekends where there are no family obligations, no gifts involved, no greeting cards to send - you do what you and your family want and hang the consequences.
Friday evening kicked this weekend off with a bang. One of my good friends and I piled in her car and waited in interminable traffic to get to Rocklahoma, which, I might add, didn't seem anywhere as crowded as the traffic and parking issues would originally have led us to believe. We had a blast, and there's just something genuinely fun about driving home at midnight and stopping at a convenience store on the way home to grab Bugles and a Milky Way (me) and an energy drink (her). We're already hoping that the lineup next year is equally good; we'll work our schedules so that hopefully the traffic issues aren't as pronounced.
Yesterday was a quiet day (OK, I'm just comparing it to today... it wasn't quiet at all). Oz had to run down to Moore to do some work in that tornado-ravaged town, so the kids and I had the house to ourselves during the morning hours. After lunch, we ran to a neighbor's house. Their daughters recently turned 4 and 1 within a few weeks of one another, and as they're even newer to the neighborhood than we are, they invited several families they've met as part of a birthday get-together. M2 was playing with one of the other neighbor girls, whom she had met before - the birthday family moved into the home where some girls M2's age had lived - and I got to meet the dad and exchange phone numbers. The other girl is also in Girl Scouts, so when I call and introduce myself to the mom, I intend to discuss that as well, see if I can find out information for M2. M2 was beside herself. Oz got back during the party and walked up, and our whole family enjoyed cake and good conversation for a couple of hours before three of us headed home. M2 stayed and entertained the older birthday girl and some of her out-of-state friends for another couple of hours before I retrieved her for dinner... and camping! No, I did not actually sleep in a tent. The kids had been begging for a month to camp in the yard like they do every spring, but it had been too wet to set up the tent. It's finally dried out enough that I agreed it was time. The ground is still moist, but we can finally walk through it (well, most of it) without water squishing between our toes, so M1 helped Oz set up the tent, and the kids spent an evening parked in sleeping bags and on air mattresses before sacking out about 10:30. If I'd been smart, I would have gone to bed then, too, but I'm nothing if not a night owl, so at 10:30, Oz and I were in the middle of Saving Private Ryan, which neither of us had seen, and I had Ben & Jerry's Willie Nelson's Country Peach Cobbler ice cream, which is my favorite ice cream ever, and so I didn't find my pillow till about 1 a.m.
Again.
It was hard to get out of bed this morning, but at 8 a.m. I was jolted awake by a cat who decided it was time for me to get up, which means that she climbed on my arm (I sleep on my side, but that does not deter this cat), perched herself firmly, and purred in my ear till I was awake. She repeated this until I was too awake to go to sleep again. It's her modus operandi when she wants breakfast, because she knows if I get up, then the boy gets up, and the end result is that she gets fed. It's complicated feline logic. The boy was, in fact, awake in the tent, and he and his sister had been awake long enough to have packed up their sleeping bags and rolled up the air mattresses so they could haul everything inside and dump it next to the back door on the way to FOOD OMG FOOD I HAVEN'T EATEN SINCE LAST NIGHT FOOOOOOOOD.
After they consumed sustenance, I divided and conquered. M1 did a couple of chores in the house, and M2 came outside with me to mulch the herb garden. I hate doing things that early in the morning, but we had too much going on today to procrastinate... and anyway, I had coffee by that point and could (almost) function. It was still very nice to come in and crash on the couch and watch some Monaco Grand Prix for a bit before I had to move again.
For lunch, we piled in the car and met Oz's family at a park for lunch. We took the lazy route and picked up food on the way; everyone else brought coolers and meat to barbecue. It worked out well for us, though, because by the time we had to leave, they were just finishing their meals... and I'm pretty sure that my food-seeking children wouldn't have survived that long without a feeding. I'm not entirely convinced they'd have turned cannibalistic, but it's not out of the realm of possibility. Anyway, we had to leave earlier than everyone else because M2 had her first sewing lesson with my stepmother today, and we had to be home in time for her to get picked up. Oz corralled M1 and made him go run errands - lots of them - while I stayed home and exercised and made new binder labels for the next school year and ran to retrieve the girl. She was delighted with what she learned, and she's assigned herself a couple of 'homework' projects that will mean I have to actually walk into a fabric store. I may not survive; my fabric-store PTSD may kick in. If I stop blogging and disappear from the web, you'll know why.
By the time everyone came home, we were drop-dead tired. I fixed dinner and read the kids a chapter from the fourth Harry Potter book that we just started, and they were off to bed. M1 was out like a light; M2 took a bit longer, but I think she's out now, too.
I'd say that tomorrow will be a piece of cake since we don't have to go anywhere and Oz will be home, but I fear it won't be the case. My stepsister's sons are spending Monday, Tuesday, and Wednesday morning here, and it's been a long, long time since I've had a little boy... and I've never had two of them at once. It will be an interesting week.
Hope you all have a fun, safe Memorial Day (or Monday, depending on what country you live in), and I'll let you know how the child-minding goes. Send a few good thoughts my way.
Monday, March 4, 2013
Back to Basics
So. If you're a fairly regular follower of this blog (or if you go back and read the last few posts), you'll see that M1, Oz and I are in the midst of (yet another) rough patch. These happen periodically, but as he gets older, the battles seem to be raging more heavily and the trenches are getting dug in rather deeply. Those of you whose children are teens already can sympathize, I'm sure.
The problem boils down to precisely this: M1 wants to be treated like an adult. He is 10 and feels that he is old enough for certain 'rights.' However, he won't accept the responsibilities that come along with the rights, and he acts like a spoiled toddler when asked to toe the line. He hasn't yet worked out that to get the 'rights' that he wants, he also has to behave in a way that makes us - Oz and I - think that he's able to handle them responsibly.
Some of this revolves around the fact that he is a 10-year-old boy. Some of it also revolves around the fact that his psychological issues that cause him to firmly believe that he is a pearl and the world is the oyster. I'm doing my darnedest to snap him out of that way of thinking, but I read a book about a year ago that strongly suggests that there is no easy way to accomplish that goal because I could dig out of Alcatraz with a spoon more quickly than I'll be able to reach the depths of M1's brain. And flogging him with a wet noodle only makes him giggle.
Still, things couldn't continue the way they did last week... or even over the weekend for that matter. (On Sunday morning M1 woke me up at 2:14 a.m. trying to steal remotes out of my bedroom [again] and shortly before several of my girlfriends came over at 2 p.m., he and his sister were playing at the top of the stairs [which we've asked/told them repeatedly NOT to do] and she came tumbling down the stairs with a beanbag. Because he pushed her. Thankfully, she's fine. Beanbags are good like that. But it did mean that instead of having an outing with Oz like they normally get to do when I have friends over, they were sent to their rooms instead.) So we're going back to basics. Obviously there are many therapy methods out there. We visited a therapist and tried cognitive behavior therapy when M1 was small, and the results were laughable. His hyperactivity and impulsivity are such that there's no way he can think before doing anything, let alone plan actions before doing them. Plus, that's more or less what I've been attempting to get him to use for the last... ohhhhh, year or so... and clearly we've gotten nowhere.
Time to try a new tactic.
I have decided that since M1 is so bound and determined to act like a toddler every time we ask him to take responsibility for his actions, he needs to be treated like one. What motivates toddlers? Sticker charts and incentives. I'm calling it applied behavioral analysis, but really it's a sticker chart with incentives.
First I had M1 make a list of his top 12 privileges. This included everything from swim team to summer camp to electronics. I had him prioritize them. Then Oz printed off a chart that I hung on the wall. There are columns for each day of the week as well as a "Total" column and a space at the beginning where I've written all 12 of M1's desired privileges, one per week. Each day has space for three small stickers that M1 can earn - up to 21 a week, though for this first week we're shooting for 14 and the maximum I'm expecting is 19. Nobody's perfect, and I don't expect him to be.
To earn his three daily stickers, he has to do three things - one for each sticker:
1. Stay in his room at night. Obviously he's allowed to get up and use the toilet if he needs to - I'm not unreasonable - but there's no need for him to be downstairs (he has small paper cups in his vanity if he wants a drink) or in the game room in the middle of the night. Nothing good can come of that.
2. Respect other people. He's had real issues lately respecting other people's space lately, particularly his sister. This one also applies to lying. If he doesn't want me to lie to him, he shouldn't lie to me, right?? This one largely revolves around remembering the Golden Rule.
3. Respect property. Don't break things. Don't dismantle things. Don't walk along all the walls deliberately trying to break the doorstops with your foot. Things like that.
That's it. I may need to get more specific, but we'll see. I'm starting broad. I can always modify and specify as we go. Each week, if he reaches his goal, he'll get one of his privileges back. If he doesn't reach it, we stay at the current level and try again the next week. At best, this program will take 12 weeks to implement, which I'm hopeful will be long enough to make some of these things into habit. I do hate that this means we'll be skipping swim for at least two weeks (his #1-priority privilege was going to our homeschool group; #2 and #3 were swim team practice and stroke development class, respectively), but if that's what it takes...
Wish me luck. It's been a while since we've done this sort of intensive work around here, but I think it's long overdue. Fingers crossed that it works, because if it doesn't, I'm all out of ideas!
The problem boils down to precisely this: M1 wants to be treated like an adult. He is 10 and feels that he is old enough for certain 'rights.' However, he won't accept the responsibilities that come along with the rights, and he acts like a spoiled toddler when asked to toe the line. He hasn't yet worked out that to get the 'rights' that he wants, he also has to behave in a way that makes us - Oz and I - think that he's able to handle them responsibly.
Some of this revolves around the fact that he is a 10-year-old boy. Some of it also revolves around the fact that his psychological issues that cause him to firmly believe that he is a pearl and the world is the oyster. I'm doing my darnedest to snap him out of that way of thinking, but I read a book about a year ago that strongly suggests that there is no easy way to accomplish that goal because I could dig out of Alcatraz with a spoon more quickly than I'll be able to reach the depths of M1's brain. And flogging him with a wet noodle only makes him giggle.
Still, things couldn't continue the way they did last week... or even over the weekend for that matter. (On Sunday morning M1 woke me up at 2:14 a.m. trying to steal remotes out of my bedroom [again] and shortly before several of my girlfriends came over at 2 p.m., he and his sister were playing at the top of the stairs [which we've asked/told them repeatedly NOT to do] and she came tumbling down the stairs with a beanbag. Because he pushed her. Thankfully, she's fine. Beanbags are good like that. But it did mean that instead of having an outing with Oz like they normally get to do when I have friends over, they were sent to their rooms instead.) So we're going back to basics. Obviously there are many therapy methods out there. We visited a therapist and tried cognitive behavior therapy when M1 was small, and the results were laughable. His hyperactivity and impulsivity are such that there's no way he can think before doing anything, let alone plan actions before doing them. Plus, that's more or less what I've been attempting to get him to use for the last... ohhhhh, year or so... and clearly we've gotten nowhere.
Time to try a new tactic.
I have decided that since M1 is so bound and determined to act like a toddler every time we ask him to take responsibility for his actions, he needs to be treated like one. What motivates toddlers? Sticker charts and incentives. I'm calling it applied behavioral analysis, but really it's a sticker chart with incentives.
First I had M1 make a list of his top 12 privileges. This included everything from swim team to summer camp to electronics. I had him prioritize them. Then Oz printed off a chart that I hung on the wall. There are columns for each day of the week as well as a "Total" column and a space at the beginning where I've written all 12 of M1's desired privileges, one per week. Each day has space for three small stickers that M1 can earn - up to 21 a week, though for this first week we're shooting for 14 and the maximum I'm expecting is 19. Nobody's perfect, and I don't expect him to be.
To earn his three daily stickers, he has to do three things - one for each sticker:
1. Stay in his room at night. Obviously he's allowed to get up and use the toilet if he needs to - I'm not unreasonable - but there's no need for him to be downstairs (he has small paper cups in his vanity if he wants a drink) or in the game room in the middle of the night. Nothing good can come of that.
2. Respect other people. He's had real issues lately respecting other people's space lately, particularly his sister. This one also applies to lying. If he doesn't want me to lie to him, he shouldn't lie to me, right?? This one largely revolves around remembering the Golden Rule.
3. Respect property. Don't break things. Don't dismantle things. Don't walk along all the walls deliberately trying to break the doorstops with your foot. Things like that.
That's it. I may need to get more specific, but we'll see. I'm starting broad. I can always modify and specify as we go. Each week, if he reaches his goal, he'll get one of his privileges back. If he doesn't reach it, we stay at the current level and try again the next week. At best, this program will take 12 weeks to implement, which I'm hopeful will be long enough to make some of these things into habit. I do hate that this means we'll be skipping swim for at least two weeks (his #1-priority privilege was going to our homeschool group; #2 and #3 were swim team practice and stroke development class, respectively), but if that's what it takes...
Wish me luck. It's been a while since we've done this sort of intensive work around here, but I think it's long overdue. Fingers crossed that it works, because if it doesn't, I'm all out of ideas!
Wednesday, January 2, 2013
O, Christmas Tree
A few weeks ago, I was talking to Oz and mentioned that as the kids get older, they really need him more, not less. M2 needs him to be a strong male figure and to set an example of what she should expect to find in a good relationship and also to be a sounding board for the inevitable time when Mom's thoughts and opinions no longer count for anything. M1 needs him to set an example, too, and also to teach him things that I can't.
Like soldering. With M1's engineering bent, soldering is one of those things that he's going to want to know how to do sooner or later. He got to do a little bit of it when we visited Kansas City in October and loved it, but once does not proficiency make.
Oz, being a good husband, visited a store and came home with a small project for M1 to put together. M2 got curious and followed the boys out to the garage, and I grabbed the camera to tag along.
Oz was very patient as the kids tried to work out which pieces were what and how they all fit together.
Those symbols are very tiny, after all.
M1, however, was primarily the one doing the soldering. M2 got bored and left long before the project was finished, but M1 stuck to it and saw the whole thing through to the end.
It's almost out of season now, but this tiny Christmas tree is still sitting on the bar in our kitchen. Sometimes someone will walk by and shove the tree's contacts down onto the 9-volt battery, and the lights twinkle brightly. Mostly, though, it shines as an example of what can be done with a little patience, dedication, and a great dad.
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