Today I…

  • cleaned out the game closet
  • practiced whip shading (um, I need more practice ;) )
  • went food shpping (Sams & Publix, spent almost double what I planned but got lots of goodness)
  • had sammies for dinner (turkey, roast beest, ham, swiss, provolone, muenster, yum!)
  • picked up an ipod/iphone dock for the dining room – we’ve been listening to lots of music there and my tiny travel speakers were dying
  • got a new bin for the compostables in the kitchen. it will live in the second sink, as we never use it (the garbage disposal isn’t hooked up to that sink, and no one ever remembers so it’s just off limits)
  • swept the dining room
  • cleaned the table off
  • did some work

And now Michael is playing D&D with Dor, Mal & Michael and I am watching Harry Potter (#1) with Eshiva. We went to see Night at the Museum last night, and it rocked. It’s definitely on the “to get” list. I think we’ll do some sand art tomorrow before Michael goes to work. I can’t believe it’s almost Tuesday already. Time flies.

I have some actual drawing to do for work – I want to get down to Pearls and replace my pencil though… I wonder if MIchael’s has one. It’s much closer. I wont spend as much too – Pearl’s is like an artists porn store lol Thank god we don’t have a brick & mortar Blicks near by!

Updatey Goodness

Hi!

Where to start…  we went to Orlando this past weekend. Sorry local gals – we went up in one car and I knew I wouldn’t be able to get away so I didn’t even bother posting about it. I will be uploading pictures at some point, so expect a photo spam post.

We hit Animal Kingdom (something we almost never do), MGM (excuse me, Disney’s Hollywood Studios) & Magic Kingdom. We were up early enough to see them *open* on both Sunday & Monday. Not. In. Years. It was a real treat for the kids. We left around 2 PM on Monday and were home around 6PM (hit those rain storms headed up and back).

We’ll be back up in Sept or Oct, the boys want to stay at Wilderness Lodge – we’ll see. That will depend on if the work I am expecting comes through and a few other things as well. It’s their birthday trip, so I usually try to keep them in on the plans and such.

Tuesday morning we had M’s IEP. All is well. Again, we won’t know until the year starts if he gets his aid in the classroom for next year, but I hope so. Some goals were met, some are the same and we added some new ones. His speech went from being a profound delay at last years IEP to a mild, age appropriate delay. Whoo Fucking Hoo Mal! Our private speech gal is going to have her work cut out for her to keep him as a client, but I love her and she’s really awesome and I attribute most of his success to her. She said his /r/ sound really, really needs work ;)   I hope she can find a legitimate reason to keep him. He performs well in the speech room, but not as well outside. I think that alone means he should keep it up.

Tuesday night he was supposed to read a story he wrote at Barnes & Noble. I have video. It didn’t go well. He was all ready to read, went up there, and froze. Poor kid. I sat with him, and tried to convince him to read. No go.

Wednesday I got my hair done. My girl went in at 8AM for me! She is a peach. I was done by 10 and we went to Target (aka that vast time suck) and bought a box storage thing for outside for my new seat cushions, a couple of fans and some misc. other things we probably didn’t need at all. Wed afternoon is therapy with all the kids, where they act like animals and irritate the fuck out of me. Then we had dinner with my moms twin brother, his wife and their daughter. We almost never see them (they live in Reno) and my dad is still livid he didn’t bother to come out when mom was dying (and by the time he was going to come out he told him not to bother, there was no time and we’ll see you at the funeral in a few days. Fucker.). I told my Gram not to expect me to rearrange my entire day for family who doesn’t really want to see us again as I had to break a promise to Dorian to make dinner at a reasonable time.

Today I have been working, just dropped Fish off at work, and I am uploading pictures from, well, all of May. I’ll be making a few photo posts later on. It’s going to take all day to upload.

Our fence is complete! They will come out tomorrow or Monday to inspect it. It’s pouring now, so I can’t go enjoy it lol We’re having a party on Sunday, so just in time! I hope it doesn’t rain :( I think I “scheduled” it in between rain storms lol

Dor has his first sleepover weekend after next, so that’s exciting. We need to go get him some PJs and a gift to take with him.

And I think that’s everything!

Please to be remembering

When taking the autistic child to the movies, don’t forget these essential items:

1. A blanket. Not just any blanket. One big enough for him to curl up under and one heavy enough to give him tactile input.
2. A bribe, so he sits through the entire movie. Item #1 might negate the need for item #2.
3. A blanket. Yes, this is important enough to bear mentioning twice. Perhaps more than twice. Also, make sure it can be easily washed. Movie theatres are notoriously dirty.
4. Snacks, preferable a variety.

On the other hand, the eldest did very well. Covered his eyes during the Terminator previews (he is petrified that a terminator is coming to get him) but otherwise no incidents. He wanted to see a different movie, but we think he liked Star Trek – he just don’t admit it. Left Eshiva home with my dad where she got the special treat of watching Harry Potter (#2 – the one with the Phoenix, as she said lol) and taking a bath in Zaide’s giant bath tub. Special girl!

I had to fix the tub before we left, and clean it out. No one has used it in like, four years. I had to reset the faucet and tighten the screw. That’s it. Who knew? I also wrapped some PTFE tape around just to be safe (just below the o-ring, not over it). Good as new!

Yah, some people say don’t leave home without a towel. I say don’t leave home without a blanket. Preferably a weighted one… I may have to look into buying/making one specifically for things like this.

Nutter

I’ve edited the crap out of my friends list over at FaceBook today. I am trying to figure out how to delete my MySpace all together. I signed up for Twitter, but only to find something else that I never did manage to find (I thought maybe it was friends only?).

Whoot, I found out how to delete my MySpace. The deed is done.

Michael gave me an idea for a new tattoo earlier today. I need to think on it. I am in literary lust with Heinlein and his characters. I have a couple of small pieces planned, a TANSTAAFL and a GROK on the insides of my wrists. He mentioned today I could stand to do them more justice and do a big thigh piece revolving around my favourite Heinlein stories/characters. I agree, but I am still getting the smaller ones inside of my wrists. They just belong there. the TANSTAAFL is going to be an a stylized kind of Russian writing and the GROK is the GROK off of Stranger in a Strange Land. The piece would have to include Stranger in a Strange Land, Time Enough for Love, Cat Who Walks Through Walls, Moon is a Hard Mistress, Job: A Comedy of Justice, To Sail Beyond the Sunset, Methuselah’s Children… Oh, this list goes on. I may have to go with a main “cast” of characters. I’ve been thinking on it all afternoon though. Not a bad idea you had there, Fish, not a bad idea at all.

Malachai has his IEP meeting at the end of the month. He has been recommended for second grade. We’ll see what kind of services he’ll get next year.

My half birthday was yesterday. My dreads are about five months old. If December first rolls around and I want to cut them off… off they go! I’ll give them a year :-) I have one in the back, twice as long as the others. The roots are dreaded, and the tip is dreaded, but I could brush everything in between. The rest are all in good shape. I need to get in to see Chrissy to be dyed again, and I need to go see Strawberry for some maintenance. I don’t really want to do either, mainly because I am dandruffy and the dreads just trap it. I’m not so much embarrassed as… ew.

Mothers Day is coming up. I think we should thank the people that mean the most to us everyday (actually, I think we should be happy and pleasant and say please and thank you to everyone every day, and I try to) so I’m not so much looking for breakfast in bed or lavish gifts or anything. I have a picnic in the park planned for the afternoon with (I hope) some other families we like, and then I am going to see if Sara and/or Michael will keep the kids so we can go into the shop for a little bit.

We set up the sewing machine. It may have a permanent home. Maybe we’ll use it more. What a novel idea.

I have a rotting melon in the fridge. Michael brought home/in the tattoo equipment. I just suck. That melon has been in the fridge a month at least. I wonder if I am avoiding it because I feel like I suck, or if I just don’t care as much as I thought I did. Interesting question to ask myself, no? I wanted it so bad… I’d hate to find out I suck. Not that every beginner sucks kind of suck, but really and truly suck at something I love so much. Something that is so important to my life and my well being and the well being of my family. Think I am being overly dramatic? I don’t. Tattoos feed and clothe us. I’d hate to find out that I stink at giving them. There is a total connection in my head.

We bought a new composter at BJs yesterday. As soon as the fence is up we’re going to dump the old compost into the new bin. I think we’ll just use the old compost bin as a trashcan. Speaking of the fence! The permits were denied because we need to add onto the paperwork that if the fence is black we don’t have to landscape (I want to anyway, but at least we wont be on a deadline) and we need to fax the approval from the HOA because we’re fencing in the easement. We’ll take care of that tomorrow.

I am so tired

My mother in law and her sister (aunt in law?) are in town. I think they are leaving tonight, but I’m not positive. They got in on Saturday, but we didn’t see Pam till 10PM b/c they crashed at the hotel (they drove down, we weren’t expecting them till past 10 anyway). We cleaned from 8AM – 3PM Saturday – big clean, not superficial it’s good enough for us clean.

Sunday we got up early as fuck, Michael got bagels, we ate with the boys before they went to Hebrew school, ate with Pam & Susie, picked up the boys from school, ate lunch, came home, decided not to go to the beach (it was very hot out), hit Target (whoohoo Target! totally warranted, my menfolk needed shoes), ordered pizza and came home to eat. We all hung out outback in between lunch & Target.

Today we went to the post, Michaels, then Festival. Picked up the boys, Michael is at the shop with the two of them so they can get some tattoos and I need to make dinner. Then we need to go *back* to Target so Pam can return something and so she can get something for the boys. We didn’t find anything for her to get them this morning. I say the don’t need more crap, but she gets them stuff and sees them so rarely… at least it’s stuff I don’t have to buy them lol Dor wants those Wolverine claws and Malachai wants a movie. Eshiva got jelly shoes last night (they’re still jellies, right?)

I just want to go to sleep. It takes a lot out of me to be in “company” mode, especially day after day. I crashed in the carpool lane at school and I’d like to go back to sleep.

Ok, my sexy beast of a man decided to get, well, beastly last night, so that didn’t help me in the sleep department (but it was much appreciated) but I still say company mode just drains me.