Just what was he thinking?

I used some oven mitts to transfer a hot pan to the table for dinner. After dinner Scott was playing with the oven mitts and came up with this and said:

"I'm thinking Arbys!!"

He just doesn't care . . .

. . . about allowance, that is.

I haven't paid Scott his allowance for four weeks and he hasn't said a word! He will still do chores but money just isn't a motivator. He even lost a tooth last week and didn't remember to put it under his pillow. The "tooth fairy" put it under his pillow as well as the money and the money is still sitting on the counter. He just didn't care about putting it in his bank. I was giving him his allowance even when he didn't say anything but he doesn't even want to spend it. What's the deal with that? He is just content with what he has. I suppose he won't be one of those people who rack up tons of credit card debt (like I did before I was married). I have started giving him a small toy when he does something really great and that seems to be a big motivator.

Also, if you want a great deal, catch John with money. Yesterday we went to the store and I used cash. The change was $5.51. John took the five and wouldn't give it up. I offered him a penny for the five and he took it without hesitation. The coins are easier to throw than the bills are!! What a great trade!!

Too much TV?

DON'T STAND SO CLOSE!!!

(They are actually watching something, not just staring at a black screen.)

Now wouldn't THAT be nice!

I've heard that girls potty train faster than boys but 18 months? She is wearing her diaper. I haven't had her actually try but maybe I should. Every time I tell John to go she runs in and sits down. Maybe this is one of those "blessings" everyone tells me about that goes along with having a special needs child.

Haircut nightmare

I can't believe it! Just when I thought it couldn't get any worse! As I was doing my hair this morning I realized it STILL ISN'T EVEN!! It is SO short I really don't want to go any shorter I just want the longer parts trimmed. I am NEVER going to Great Clips again! My cheapo haircut is turning into a very expensive cut. And did I mention the cowlicks? Pokey hair is the only style that will work. I should have learned my lesson the last time I went to GC!

I Look Like A Boy

I will admit it. I like to get my hair cut whenever it is convenient for me so I go to Fantastic Sam's, Great Clips or Smart Style. I've been told it's better to go to the same hairdresser because then they get to know your hair and your preferences but I don't care. I like the convenience of getting a hair cut at 8:30 in the evening if I want to. I have found the Fantastic Sam's to be the best salon in my area. I've gone to Smart Style quite a bit and they are good but kind of rude and seem to be put out when I ask for a color. Hello, that's what you are there for! That's your job. Anyway, I try to steer clear of Smart Style and Great Clips isn't great either. They are friendly enough but some of their hairdresser's skills are lacking. It's kind of hit and miss.

So, I got my hair cut on Saturday. Fantastic Sam's was closing and since Great Clips was the next closest I decided to press my luck and hope for the best. The lady that cut my hair seemed to do just fine but on Sunday I realized there was something wrong. I had her cut it pretty short, almost the shortest I've ever had my hair but when I did it, one side was longer than the other and my bangs had a nice slant from right to left. I went back on Monday and when I told the lady (a different lady) that I thought my hair wasn't even all she did was look at it and she agreed. So she started cutting and cutting and cutting. And then she texturized it and took more off using a razor. Let me tell you, my hair is SHORT!! Really, really short!! I have a very strong forward growth and tons of cowlicks. I could be mistaken for a boy (more likely a man because there is so much grey in my hair). It will grow but in the meantime, I don't know what to do with it. Like I said, I look like a boy, a boy with really pokey hair.

I love/hate it when . . .

I love it when your parents let you forgo your nap and you get to play and play and play all day . . .

I hate it when you are SO tired that you fall asleep at the dinner table . . .





I love it when you get a great picture of your child and he's actually smiling . . .

I hate it when it's the school photographer that catches that great smile and you just HAVE to purchase the pictures even though they are really expensive as far as pictures go (but it IS a great picture) . . .





I love it when you get a really cute shirt . . .

I hate it when the shirt makes you look pregnant and you definitely aren't (if you see me and I look pregnant - take a look at the shirt - it's probably really cute) . . .





I love it when you do your daughter's hair really cute (so you aren't one of THOSE moms) . . .

I hate it when by noon your daughter's hair looks worse than if you wouldn't have combed it at all . . .





I hate it when you have 10+ unfinished craft projects . . .

I love it when you finish 2 of them and they really are quite cute . . .

I hate it when one of them is for your mom and even though you got paint swatches, the finished product doesn't match her room . . .

You would think she wasn't my daughter

Yesterday at church I had to substitute in Kate's nursery class. This is only the third time she has been to nursery and she doesn't love it. Usually she cries and I stay with her anyway. I had The Dad carry Kate into the nursery class because I thought it might make things better. Boy, was I wrong. He handed her to me and left. You would have thought he left her with a complete stranger. She started screaming and cried for several minutes. She knew I was the one holding her but apparently I'm just not good enough. Her dad is definitely her favorite. The other nursery leaders just laughed and all I could say was: "You'd think she wasn't my daughter."

I'm so excited

Everyone that knows me knows I am a bit on the dramatic side and I can get really excited about things.

When we were on vacation and spending a ton of time in the activity center we played bowling on a Wii. It was a ton of fun and even John could play. The Dad wanted to get me one for my birthday but you heard about the fun gift that I got for my birthday! We looked online before my birthday and no one had one in stock unless you paid extra and bought it through a non-direct seller. I didn't want to do that. Yesterday I was looking on the Best Buy website and they had them in stock. So, of course, I bought one. If you're wondering, they were sold out online within a few hours. It's a miracle that I looked when I did.

Here is my dilemma: I don't want to just open it up without a special occasion. I asked Scott if he wanted one for his birthday next month but he doesn't. So, I need to wait until Christmas and have it be a Christmas gift but I am really too excited! I was talking to The Dad about my dilemma and the conversation went like this:

Me: I'm really excited about the Wii. I don't know how I'm going to not open it for 6 months!!

The Dad: I don't know how you'll not open it for 6 days!!

Oh, he knows me well!!!

Sunday photos

I wish they were all looking at the camera

Scott's hair is wet

I don't know what John was doing

Almost perfect

You just can't get a good one of everyone all at the same time

Well you get the idea

And The Wind Blows On

We live in an area that has become a new development metropolis in the last two years. When we first moved in there were 2 houses and miles of fields to the west and no houses and miles of fields to the south.

View looking south - May 2006

That has certainly changed! The thousands of acres of fields to south are being developed.

View looking south - May 2008

Oh, and we get tons of wind here. I thought the sagebrush that would fill our yard when the wind would blow was bad but that was nothing. A few nights ago we had a huge wind storm blow through. Because of the new development we get huge dust/dirt storms with the wind.

We get huge piles of dirt on our blinds and on the tile by our back door (maybe not huge, but a pile of dirt) and we can smell the dirt in our house. It's awful!

And just take a look at my back door and window:

I don't want to wash my windows because after the next storm in a few days, they will just look the same.

I will be so glad when the development is done in 10+ years. Maybe then I can wash my dirty windows.

The Birthday Update

So, the birthday seemed to be going along just fine yesterday. Nothing spectacular (they seem to be less exciting the older you get) but nothing out of the ordinary. That is until 5:30 when I walked downstairs to get wrapping paper for The Dad's gifts. Walking through the family room was fine but when I hit the hall something was terribly wrong.

It was like walking through a swamp!! There was so much water on the floor. I checked the mechanical room and I could hear water but I couldn't tell where it was coming from. I checked all the rooms and the flooding was contained to the mechanical room, the storage room (about 1 inch on the floor), the hall and the area under the stairs. Luckily no furniture was damaged and most of the boxes that got wet were plastic totes. There were 4 cardboard boxes that were wet but it's probably just miscellaneous CRAP in them anyway.

I finally figured out one of our water heaters was leaking quite a bit of water. In fact I think I caught it pretty quickly because I walked down that hall (which I rarely do) earlier in the day and there was no water. It had probably only been leaking for 2 to 4 hours. I'm so glad this didn't happen last week when we were on vacation because that would have been a major disaster. We called a disaster cleanup company because we didn't know how we could extract all that water. They said they extracted about 75 gallons! Luckily our home owners policy will cover it and all we have to pay is the deductible.

We also called a plumber because here at our house, hot water is pretty important to daily living and they have 24 hour plumbers so why not use them. The plumber got here about 8:00 and assessed the damage. Of course the water heater needed to be replaced and he said there was a lot of corrosion on the other one and it was probably on it's last leg too. If you are wondering, he said water heaters last about as long as their warranty. Our's was a six year warranty that ended in February. Nice! He said he was giving us "quite a deal" on 2 water heaters and he wasn't going to charge us an after hours fee because he had been pretty slow and needed the business. Of course I do realize he could have been feeding me a load of crap but whatever, we needed a water heater. He finished around 12:15.

Recap of the birthday: received a few nice gifts and one really expensive gift (usually I love expensive gifts) a water heater. Since The Dad's birthday is today and I don't want to be stingy, he will be receiving a few nice gifts and I will be letting him claim a really expensive gift, the other water heater. I know, I'm really nice that way.

This is not exactly what I wanted to be spending my economic stimulus check on, but it is what it is and at least we have hot water and a nine year warranty this time!

I love/hate it when . . .

I love it when it's your birthday . . .

I hate it when your basement floods so you have to invite a disaster cleanup person and a plumber to your birthday celebration (which turns into not so much of a celebration) . . .

I hate it even more when you have to pay a ton for a new water heater when the warranty expired only 3 months ago . . .

I hate it when that great government economic stimulus check gets eaten up by the disaster cleanup and water heater . . .

Yea, I really hate it when that happens!

I love it when it's The Dad's birthday tomorrow so maybe we can do a combo celebration . . .

Oh Shoot!!

I have been attending an Enrichment sewing class at the church for a little while and learning how to machine quilt. My first project is almost complete! It's always a bit difficult when I first get there because there is no nursery provided (I wouldn't expect it) and Kate is a bit clingy and cries a lot. Today was no exception. I spent the first 30 minutes trying to find something "fun" for an 18 month old to do. One of the ladies brought a chair of some sort to re-cover. Kate found this chair to be the toy she loved. She was climbing on it and getting down and standing on it. She was having a great time! Then she got off balance in the chair and it tipped over, with her. Of course she cried bloody murder and I react very quickly and said "Sh*&(t!" There were only 4 other ladies there but swearing at church just isn't on the top of my list of things to do!

Vacation Random-ness

So, we are back from vacation and sick as ever. I started getting sick on Monday but because The Dad worked EVERY DAY while we were on our VACATION, I did NOT get a break. In fact if he had to work at a particular time I had to drag the kids out of the room and go to the activity center to find something for them to do. Scott did several crafts and probably thought this was one of the funnest vacations ever, but for me, it was lousy. I didn't get to rest (remember I love to rest) and came home more stressed than when we left. (Don't worry, The Dad knows exactly how I feel. I told him he can work 24/7 for weeks up until our vacation, which he practically did, but when the vacation hits, that's where I draw the line. NO MORE WORK!) Yea, and I know I'm a whiner. Enough said!

We did go swimming everyday while we were gone and that was fun. I kept telling John to walk when he would go to the different pools but he wouldn't. Finally, on Wednesday I told him to walk SLOWLY. It was the funniest thing. He would do giant slow steps as he was walking from pool to pool. Kind of like the steps you would do in "Mother, May I?" At least he was walking and not running!

As I said before, Scott did tons of crafts. He made a design out of fuse beads, made a necklace, painted ceramic animals and made a dream catcher. He has bad dreams and thought the dream catcher might help. The night after he made it I had quite a dream and woke up standing beside the bed folding my pants. I don't quite know how I got there but I am scared!! I saw an Oprah Show where people were sleep eating. They would consume 2000 calories in their sleep. That would really shoot my weight loss goal.

All in all, the vacation wasn't that great for me, but hey, there will be other vacations trips get-aways, right?

Another random-ness not associated with the vacation. John is a nail biter which is a good thing because he freaks out when I try to cut his fingernails. Today he was playing on the computer and I glanced over to see what he was playing. He wasn't playing he was chewing on his TOENAIL. GROSS!!! Don't worry, I ran over and clipped them for him and he actually let me.

The Mother's Day Gift

Scott made a great gift at school for me for Mother's Day. They took blank bound books and wrote a story and colored the books. His book was titled, "Things in the sea and on the sea shore." It's a great little book. They put the books in a manila envelope and wrote a nice poem on the outside. His says:

Mother
Kind, loving
loves to rest.
Likes to sleep alot.
baking

Written by: Scott

Maybe I need to revert back to the 7-minute naps. What do you think?

Are you one of the THOSE moms?

I was 28 when I got married and 30 when I had Scott, so when I was younger, I, of course, had all the answers for all the moms and their issues with their kids. Maybe you were like me, maybe you weren't.

I had an issue with moms who would go out in public with their pokey-haired kids. I would think, "Can't you just comb their hair, what's the big deal?"

Now let's fast forward to my reality.

Scott hates having pokey hair (I must have pushed my issue on him at a young age) and he hates to go anywhere without it being combed. Although I do have to admit, if he doesn't say anything about his hair, sometimes I will let him go out with a very small poke or two.

John, on the other hand, has serious sensory issues. His head must be extremely sensitive!! He hates to have his hair washed let alone combed. I have been butching his hair because then it really doesn't have any outlandish pokes, but I hate that haircut. The last time he got a haircut I had them leave it a little bit longer. There are mornings when I am getting him ready for school and the last thing I want to do is go through the agony of combing his hair. Let me tell you he has some serious pokes in his hair.

Kate's hair does pretty good. Her hair has grown pretty fast and has lots of natural curl in the back. Most days I don't 'do' it and hope the curl makes it look 'done.' That does work for the most part, however, sometimes it does have an uncombed look.

So now, I have to admit, I AM one of THOSE moms. My thinking has changed, now I think, "I'm not going to comb their hair, what's the big deal?"

Elevator Mishap

We are on our little get-away this week and we have been doing our best to have a good time despite my sickness and the Dad's work. We are staying at our timeshare that has nine floors and two levels of parking. Yesterday we got into the elevator and headed to the level one parking garage. We all got out and I glanced toward the elevator just in time to see it closing with John still inside. He must have been spacing out or something because he just stood there. He started screaming and I started pushing the elevator buttons trying to get the doors to open again. I was pushing the up button and the other two elevators came but not the one John was in. I had no idea what John would do. Would he stay in the elevator? I didn't think he would. Would he get out when the elevator stopped? I thought so. Where the elevator would stop was the question. There were nine floors!!! How in the world would I find him? Luckily the 'level headed' Dad said that Scott had accidentally pushed the button for the level 0 parking garage (boy, am I glad he did). If I would have pushed the down button the elevator John was in would have opened. Anyway, his elevator finally opened and of course he wasn't in it. I rode it down one level and ran into the parking garage to find him. He was running to the exit of the garage. I yelled for him and luckily he heard and turned around. If he would have made it to the exit he could have gone anywhere, to the middle of the street or to another building. I was very scared. I always say to people "he doesn't understand" and this is a perfect example of his lack of understanding. If he would have stayed in the elevator he would have been fine. Don't worry, this was a great learning experience for me. I am now the last person out of the elevator and I hold the doors just to make sure.

I love/hate it when . . .

I love it when you go on a vacation/trip/get-away . . .

I hate it when you get sick while you are there . . .




I love it when you go on a vacation/trip/get-away . . .

I hate it when your husband has to work, alot, while you are there . . .

More about bugs

I know you weren't wondering but I am going to tell you anyway - Box elder bugs are very hearty. That bug lasted 5 whole days (I think?). Since the passing of Edward, we have had an aphid named Henry who only lasted 2 days and a potato bug that didn't even get a name because he only lasted overnight.

Scott is outside in his pj's desperately looking for a hearty bug, one that will last, one that he can name and one that he can take care of.

BTW, I am still in my pajamas and John has his pajama shirt on still. We love our pj's at our house and have worn them all day some days. In fact, since Scott has been off track I think there have been 2 days where he wore his pj's all day and we even went out to dinner one of those days. Pathetic, I know!!

The conversation

Today when John got off the bus he initiated a conversation with me. Usually I say to him, "Did you have fun and school today," and he says, "Yes." Everyday that is our conversation and everyday his answer is the same. He almost always answers yes to every question I ask him (except, of course, do you need to go potty).

Today was different. He got off the bus and grabbed the balloon sword from his backpack and said, "Look what I have!" I thought it was great! (The little things I am thankful for.) He rarely initiates a conversation and we talked about this balloon for at least 30 seconds. He just needs something 'fun' to talk about.

I have scarred him for life!!

Today we were out and about running errands. I hopped on the freeway and headed up the on-ramp. I was the first car in line and as I looked up the on-ramp I saw a bird in my lane. I thought it was a quail and it would fly away as I got closer. As I got closer, I realized it wasn't a quail it was in fact a duck and duckling. There were cars in the lane next to me so I couldn't change lanes. The emergency lane was very small on the on-ramp so I couldn't use it as a lane. I started freaking out. This is the conversation I had with myself - out loud:

"Oh no!!

What's that?

It's a duck and a duckling!

Oh no!!

What am I going to do?

Oh no!!"

I slow down.

"Maybe they will get to the side of the road.

Hurry!! Hurry!!

Oh no!!

What should I do?

They aren't going to make it!!"

I center the vehicle over the top of them hoping I won't hit them.

I hear: Thud, thud, thump!

"Oh shoot!! Oh no!! Shoot, crap, shoot!!" (Maybe one of those double o's in shoot was actually an i. I can't remember.)

I glanced in my rear view mirror and I saw the mother duck walking over to the side of the road with her wing in a funny position. The baby duckling was fine.

I felt so bad and I called my husband and told him I had a problem. I call him frequently with "problems" and he can tell by the sound of my voice the severity of the problem. I asked him what he thought the severity of the problem was. He thought it was serious! I started crying and told him my story in vivid detail. I told him I probably killed the duck and the duckling didn't have a mom now and I felt horrible. He told me it was better to hurt a duck than swerve and get in an accident and hurt myself and the kids. THE KIDS!!! He asked how the kids were. I glanced in the rear view mirror. Scott looked like he was going to cry. He is very sensitive and hearing my commentary leading up to the "incident" was bad enough but then seeing my tears and hearing the replay to my husband made things even worse (I can be a bit dramatic). The tone of the conversation to my husband changed to damage control!

"I'm sure the duck is fine. She probably just hurt her wing and she will be fine. No, I didn't run over her wing. I'm sure the duckling will be fine too."

We drove past the same spot about an hour later and the duck and duckling were gone. Maybe some good citizen took care of them, maybe the mother duck was ok and they found their way off the freeway. I will never know. I don't think I actually ran over the duck. I think as I drove over the duck it got scared and tried to fly and hurt it's wing. At least I hope that's what happened.

Scott and I have had several conversations about the duck today and I think Scott is ok for now but I'm sure I have scarred him for life!!!

Just when I'd almost given up

I mentioned that I wanted to be done with potty training even though John is not potty trained. Right? Right.

Yesterday when he got home from school I asked him if he needed to go to the bathroom. Of course he responded by yelling "NO, I NEED TO GO TO THE BATHROOM!" This means I'm NOT going to go so don't ask me again or I will yell louder and don't try to drag me to the bathroom because I will NOT go. Trust me, if I drag him to the bathroom kicking and screaming (he is getting too big for me to do that anyway), he won't go.

I went outside to do some crappy yard work, which I was pretty mad about doing and John comes out. He said he needed to take a bath (that usually means he has had an accident). I couldn't see any signs of an accident so I asked him if he needed to pee. He proceeded to take me into my bedroom and showed me a nice wet spot on the floor. I was mad!!! After I cleaned it and him up, I finished up the crappy yard work. (Did I mention I was really mad about having to do that?)

It was 6:30 and since I hadn't made any dinner I decided we would go pick up the Dad at work and go out. (Did I mention that the Dad has been working like CRAZY for the last 8 or so weeks and hasn't been home on Saturdays to do the yard work I had to do?) On the way to the restaurant fast food place (Did I mention how expensive it is to eat out as a family?), I told the Dad that I was done potty training. He hasn't helped me much with the whole process so he didn't care.

FAST FORWARD 30 minutes.

After we were done eating I took John to the bathroom to wash his hands and face. He had spaghetti (Did I mention how much he loves spaghetti?). He was dancing while washing his hands and I asked him if he needed to go to the bathroom. Of course, he said no. We left the bathroom but he was still dancing so we marched right back in and he went pee. I couldn't believe that a) he didn't just pee in his pull-up and b) that he actually peed in the toilet. I felt hope!!!

Just when I'd almost given up John dangles a carrot in my face.

This morning John took off his diaper and peed on the bathroom floor. At least tile is easier to clean than carpet. Right? I wrote a long note to his teacher asking for her advice and I told her if she didn't have any miraculous advice I was throwing in the towel! Potty training SUCKS! Potty training a 5 year old boy SUCKS even more!!!

I love/hate it when . . .

I love it when your 18 month old learns to empty the dishwasher . . .

I hate it when the dishes aren't clean . . .

Maybe I love it when the dishes are dirty since she puts them on the floor and stands on them . . .




I hate it when your autistic child's behavior seems to be getting worse . . .

I love it when you realize you messed up his routine and things should get better once the routine is back in place . . .

I hate it when he HAS to have a strict routine to maintain decent behavior . . .

Random Ramblings

I have so much on my mind that I am having a hard time focusing on one thing to say today. So, that being said, I am just saying it all.

Kate is still pooing in the bathtub when I give her a morning bath. At least she finished up with her diarrhea yesterday.

The neighborhood cats are using our swing set/gravel area as a litter box. That's where the kids play. Nice.

With the way our house faces, our upstairs reaches temperatures of 78 degrees while our basement stays a bit chilly at 65 or lower. I really can't justify turning on the A/C so we are a bit warm upstairs.

I have been learning how to machine quilt and I'm have started 4 projects. It is so stressful to me that I am ornery (or maybe it's PMS). I think it's a sign that I shouldn't do projects like that. What do you think?

We are going on vacation soon (wait, we're taking kids so it's just a trip). Well, we are staying in a condo 45 minutes away and we are bring John down for school two of the days and checking in at home those days as well. Maybe I should call it a get away. Anyhow, I am in vacation mode and have no desire to cook a meal. Which brings me to my next thought . . .

Going out to dinner with a family is SO expensive so I need to be cooking instead of eating out.

John has pink eye and is home from school today.

I am almost done potty training John. Not that he is even close to being potty trained, I'm just sick of doing it. He does great at school, no accidents but then comes home and has accidents all the time, number 1 AND 2. He's only had 4 bms in the toilet since we started in September. He is very defiant and says "NO" if I tell him it's time to go to the bathroom. So I'm ready to call it quits. He should learn by the time he's 10 right?

Enough for now, maybe I can collect my thoughts for tomorrow.

I'm off to fix dinner (but I really don't want to).

And The Truth Shall Set You Free

We have received a confession. Scott finally admitted that he wants John to get the Thomas the Train cars because 'he kind of likes them.' Scott decided to use his allowance to get one of the train cars today. This was after he realized that John cannot be coerced into doing chores easily and it just causes lots of frustration.

Sad News

We all knew it was inevitable. Edward has died. In Scott's words we need to 'return him to nature.' So that is what we will be doing, Edward will be decomposing with all the rest of the dead bugs out there.

Luckily Scott wasn't too emotionally attached (another good thing about bugs vs. pets). He is already planning his next catch and he wants a few rolly-poleys.

By the way, he completely blames Edward for his death. Scott told me he gave him the opportunity to escape but Edward wanted to stay.