cub scouts update

we barely made it up the hill in time, then we slowed down [just a little] to pick up Z at grammie's house & pick up some fast food, then home...you know to get a bike. we told him to run in the house, pee & get his helmet, then we were out the door again. i ate my hamburger in 2 minutes while Z ran around.

i had been worried from the point we were told a bike ride was scheduled; Z hadn't really ridden his new bike much so no training wheels was still a bit scary. for practice i took him over a few blocks to a dead end street so he could ride in a quiet area, he practiced in the street & on the sidewalk. when he got his courage up we came over to our street, much busier & with a small incline. he kinda got the idea about keeping his eyes & ears alert for vehicles, but still had a long way to go.

then one day heading down the hill he lost control fell over the bike & landed his cheekbone hitting the end of the handlebars. it was just a bruise, but he wouldn't ride down the hill anymore. so practice was only riding up the hill, then he walked the bike down the hill, fun!

the day of the ride, we were the last ones to show up at the meet up point but we made it. B & Z had bikes & helmets & i walked the route, partially bc i wasn't sure how Z was going to do & if he [or someone else] lagged behind i would be there.

we'd been going on hikes around the local hills, but i was not up for this one. i didn't realize it was 2 1/2 miles, not mention i was a little hungover, dehydrated & short on sleep. i walked & ran, then walked & ran some more until we got to where i could see the park, then i was done. i walked & FB from that point.

Z did fabulous on the ride, had a really good time & didn't have any major problems. his pedal even came off at one point & he was able to catch himself before falling out of control. at the park they did cones & a few other exercises & all the boys had a great time.

i however didn't fair as well....i had lost my voice the night before & it didn't last long during the run walk ride whatever. i also got a headache somewhere along the way. thankfully i was able to hitch a ride back with one of the other parents, so i was warm & didn't have to run or walk, which was great bc i was done.

hs get together

once we figured out B's school schedule would allow him to come with the next thing was Z. my mom actually had the weekend off so she could [& offered even!] to watch him, but we know his allergies go crazy there & he already had a cough. we considered for a few to bring him with & ask cousin C to watch him, but he wanted to stay with Grammie, so that's where he went.

we headed down to the valley late saturday, it's kinda nice to not be in a rush for the trip. when we got into town we picked up some food & headed over to C's lil apt. it's a really cute 2bed apt, just perfect for her & not-so-baby C. considering it's her first place & she's only been there a couple of months, she's got it pretty together too.

we headed over to the party about 8ish; it was surprisingly warm for dec in the desert, windy though. it was great to see the gang, we hung out the backyard, old school style. we are getting old though, after a couple of hours it was time to eat & about an hour after that it was time to go in & sit, we can't drink or stand they way we used to!

i think we left about 2:30, cousin C went out too, so i had her house key. i texted her & let her know we were in, so she could call me when she got home. i know i woke up at least once, worried that she'd called & i didn't hear it & she was sleeping outside her own apt! yeah, we would so not be invited over again! hahaha! about an hour later she did call, i remember my voice was gone & i could hardly speak, i don't even know what i said or if she even heard me, but i got the door open to let her in.

the wind was crazy bad & woke me up throughout the night i mean morning. sun Z had a cub scout bike ride so we had to leave early to get there on time. my voice hardly came back, but i surprisingly felt alright considering the alcohol & lack of sleep, at least for the drive.

Thanksgiving 2010

wow, i'm getting good at this, a few years ago i listed our "standard" menu & that makes things so much easier! i decided to not make any cookies this year so i could focus on pie crust.

i actually made the crust about 6 weeks before bc i was dying for some pumpkin pie. then i realized i didn't have any evaporated milk, so it stayed in the freezer. when i got the milk, B told me he really, really, really was going to try to watch his weight, so the in the freezer it stayed.

that is until i couldn't take it anymore & i didn't care about the man watching his weight, i would eat the whole pie myself if i had to.....
so i made the practice pumpkin pie, it came out pretty good. i took some to nana & she said it was too sweet. i didn't put as much pumpkin spice it, oh well, now i know better! next time around i'm tempted at putting some cream cheese in there.

bc nana was coming over we knew we had to get things going early in the morning & have more of a lunch instead of our regular 4 or 5 dinner. so the day before thanksgiving i made the real pumpkin pie, a chocolate pudding pie with homemade graham cracker crust, the spinach dip (bc it's always better the 2nd day), cooked the acorn squash & prepared the cranberry sauce. then in the middle of the night B woke me up with "did we get a pan for the turkey?"

ugh, no we had not. i had asked him about getting a disposable one while at the store & we did decided to look for a real pan & uh, forgot about it i guess.

so we got up early, actually B did, i was dragging *ss....
he started prepping things, like life-giving coffee so i could get out of bed & when i finally did, he was already dressed & headed out to buy the pan. i started chopping stuffing ingredients [& FB-ing (shhh)], but we still ended up about an hour or so behind schedule.

about noon we went & got nana, she was ready to go. we were starving & dug into some appetizers, but nana didn't want to ruin her appetite, even though i told her it would be a couple of hours before it would be ready & her normal lunch time is 12:30, she would not eat a bite of anything. my mom showed up shortly thereafter, she wanted to make sure she got a lesson in from nana on gravy making.

only nana said she didn't remember how she made it. i make the world's worst gravy, so that meant my mom had to & as soon as she started, nana told her she was doing it wrong.
HAHAHHAHAHAHAHAHAHHHAAH!
oh, sorry mom!
ahem................

dinner, er lunch, whatever, the thanksgiving meal, was ready about 2:30 & by then nana was starving. she only got a little mashed potatoes & henry VIII style, had the turkey leg, seriously. & she put a hurt on it too. the rest of us had full plates & enjoyed our thankgiving very much.

shortly after the meal my cousin ME showed up with her teenage daughter, it was nice to have more family over. i don't even remember what we talked about anymore. we did dessert next. i don't know how many times nana asked about the pumpkin pie (my mom brought cherry & coconut cream, so i guess beings nana didn't see the pumpkin, she didn't believe we had one even though we told her repeatedly).

nana didn't have any dessert though, she was stuffed with turkey. about 4:30ish she was ready for her nap, so it was time to take her back & that seemed to be the cue for everyone to head out.

my mom skipped out too & didn't take any leftovers & honestly, there was a part of me that wondered if something was up. we talked a day or 2 later & she told me she left here to go to a friend's, so that was good.

the trial run

so the deal with changing nana's facility was 2 part, one that i can go see her more often but also so we could bring her to our house for outings. cousin ME took nana to her house once from the other facility & she warned me it was a lot of work for just a couple hours & it wasn't easy getting nana in & out of the car. so i knew i needed B to help me & his school schedule has been crazy, not to mention all the ghetto house fun.

as the month dwindled down & we got the renters situated, we planned on bringing nana over on saturday. unfortunately when we went to pick her up around noon she was still in her gown bc she'd had a rough night. she was having problems swallowing & chewing & when she woke in the morning her right side & the bed was wet either from vomit or drool bc she couldn't swallow. we stayed & visited with her for a bit & told her we'd be back the next day to try it again.

we showed up about noon again & this time she was dressed & in her wheelchair waiting with bells on; it was cute. it was kinda cold & rainy out, but she didn't mind. B & I got her in the house & then we had lunch. i had prepared abondigas the day before & homemade tortillas, the first thing nana said was "they aren't round". hahah, i had to tell her it's a lot harder than she thinks it is to make them round, she did say they tasted good though.

it was amazing how many things she remembered about the house although it's been about 9 years since she'd been here last. she remembered the fish tank & how we planned on putting a patio cover on in back. we attempted to go sit in the backyard but even though the rain had stopped some time ago it was too cold.

we ended up in the living room watching an old marilyn monroe movie. once it was over nana realized it was starting to get dark so she was ready to go back. it was a nice visit & a good trial run for thanksgiving.

Z & school stuffs

i'm convinced Z's teacher does not like me one bit, but i'm not going to get into that.

i just realized i didn't write about the peepee story, oops...
one morning Z tells me he feels weak & dizzy & it hurt when he peed. i kept him home to see how he did & it didn't get better, so i took him to the dr. they took a sample & said he had blood in his urine, probably from an injury. when asked the only thing he could remember was a classmate had kneed [is that right? i keep thinking dough not knee when i see that] him in the groin in the bathroom.

i asked him about it, should i tell the principal? [i mean he gets in so much trouble, maybe he's not always the instigator.] he said yes, although he wouldn't tell me the whole story, so i asked her to talk with him. she found out he & another kid were horsing around & that was pretty much it. i felt like a fool for making a deal about it.

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i've told Z's teacher several times i'm open to helping out & she finally accepted my offer. on the 17th Z's class had a field trip to a state park & she put me in charge of 10 kids [cue panic attack] now i knew why she accepted my offer, she needed the help.

first they had a little talk about the native american indians that lived in the area long ago. then we had a park docent show us around, we were on the move constantly. she lead us around, i corralled kids, told them to be quiet, listen & catch up during the walk. even so we had to run back to the bus & we were the last group. one more reason for Z's teacher to not like me, oh well.....

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18th was P/T conference day, academically he's catching up, i mean, he's still behind the class but his teacher said she never would have guessed he started last year not being able to read & that explained the problems he continues to have with comprehension, sentence structure, etc.

he's doing well in math although he got a U bc he refuses to show his work. a lot of what they're doing is stuff from last year so he doesn't get why he's doing it again, he already knows it. on the math placement test he got 100%, so he does know it, they know he knows it, he's just got to put forth the effort on regular day to day work.

his behavior, um, yeah....we all know that's a big fat U, but she did say he's been better lately, no oranges or reds & that we're aware of, he has stopped flipping his card to better instead of worse.

ghetto house update

oh, yeah, i see i didn't write a thing about ghetto house in october....it was SO much fun i did my best to block it all out.

holy crap i hate being a landlord! oh my you have no idea how many phone calls i had to go through with people & yah, i'm not good with the phone, even with people i like a whole lot, even love, i'm just weird & awkward like that. it's not you, it's me, really.

we finally got someone to fill out the rental app somewhat complete, but then i couldn't verify any of his info; lived with inlaws & wife had no recent work history & i wasn't able to get through to his employer, so no dice.

then a gazillion more phone calls. yeah!

one more rental app came in, complete. all looked good, we did a credit check & although it took a few weeks to check all their stuff out we signed them up.

when i sent them the lease i wrote again to verify they knew the house did not include fridge [remember the story that didn't happen? ah, still makes me laugh & gag all at the same time...], but if they needed one we could talk about it. the discussion happened 2 days before move in & it went like this "you'll have a refrigerator for us right?".

dang, thanks for all that notice, it's not like we're right there or have a spare one sitting around. [ok, we actually do have a fridge in the garage, it's our old, old one, before the dead one. the non-freezer part freezes everything so it only holds drinks, so it's not like someone could use it for food.] so i spent a day going all over town looking for a decent fridge that wasn't too expensive.

i found one, B delivered & got a signed lease & i think a week later we got a call that it had some sort of alarm that went off. they could turn it off, but it would go off again. damn! so i went back to the place where i got the fridge & we got another one & a week later we swapped out fridges. fun huh?

we finally got to met the husband & wife, so that was good. they're from LA, but he's working on base now & they have a brand new baby, so she's going to be a stay at home mom. she doesn't seem to pleased with town, not that i can blame her, but i told her i was actually envious of her chance to stay home with her newborn.

a few days later we get a phone call that fridge #2 was leaking internally & they weren't sure if it's water or where it's going, so we told them to keep an eye on it & turn off the water line.

GAH!

color me this

now that nana is so close to me, i try to go see her about every other day or so. i take food or snacks in for her so she has something different to eat. sometimes i bring in nail polish & do her nails for her & sometimes we just sit there & don't talk much, but i know just being there is a change of pace for her.

i bring Z with me probably about once a week, but we don't stay too long. it's a toss up, she likes seeing him, a lot of the other residents light up when they see a kid, but also he's just a ball of energy. we usually try to go out to the garden so he can run around, then some of the residents yell at him for chasing the cats. goodness people, he's a kid & a little run is not hurting those cats, but i guess that's what [some] old people do.

the other day i decided [& more importantly figured out how] to go in & color nana's hair. she's always been concerned about her hair greying [yes, even at 90 greys are not acceptable], but i'd been putting off paying the facility salon bc it's $40 plus tip, which is rather pricey when you consider a box of color is about $10.

i discovered the trick is to let the staff know the day prior to shower day that i'm going to do the color, so they schedule her shower for later & they rinse out the color. so i scheduled it, got the box of color & went in & did it. i hadn't ever colored someone else's hair before & nana had a good 6 months of growth, so although she's 90 & her hair is thin in some spots i used the entire bottle.

i did my best, but after the shower i brushed her hair out & found 2 little spots in the back near the scalp that i missed. oops! oh well, you really have to search to find them. nana said she's gotten lots of compliments on her hair, so i guess no one has seen the spots!

not really working

in an attempt to get back into the work routine & soliciting myself to a few friends, i got a response. [i'm still not sure if i really wanted one, but whatev's....] i figured if nothing else, i could get used to doing something along the lines of my normal work instead of yard work, cooking & sewing [i got a few lessons for martha stewart these days].

so i'm helping an old friend from the dirt company. the co. shut it's doors about a year ago or so, everyone scattered & many made their own joint ventures trying to survive it all. this friend asked me to help him with reports & basically getting his office organized.

funny thing is he was one of the main reasons i stayed [& later left] that job. he was a good friend, but in the end i felt like he was taking advantage of me, his demands were more than i could handle at the time. i had wanted to leave that job so many times in the past but either he, or later it was B, would talk me out of it. in their defense i liked the work, the pay was good & i had flexible hours so i could go to school.

however i always remember from my interview day the vieja said "we're like a family here" which was true, it was extremely dysfunctional & everyone was ok with that.

when i finally did leave B was in Japan [& we didn't know when he was coming home], Z was 9 months old [i'd been a single parent for 8 months], i was exhausted from a hellacious commute [an hour+ each way, with a baby who tended to puke a lot] & i had been at a job for over 10 years which i'd hated for um, probably the entire time.

i didn't expect all that to unfold, but there it is...

so i've got more on my plate, but i'm not working, not really anyways. all the red tape & circumstances make it so it's best i don't get paid for my efforts. sigh....

the microwave story...

[the really sad thing about this story is that i have to go over to fb to figure out what really happened in the month of november bc it's all a blur to me]

anywho....

so yeah, Z's been on lockdown for awhile [remember?]. his first taste of freedom was when M & S came to town; we went to a craft fair then met up with an old hs buddy for talk & dinner. it didn't go well. wait, no, i take that back, it went well, Z however did not. spankings were had in the restaurant's bathroom, he laughed, we went outside & talked & i think we spanked out there some more for good measure, then he still was a little shit. see fun!

at home one day i noticed the [new, about a year old] microwave door seemed a lil loose. i know Z is just able to reach it, so i told him he needed to be really careful with the door & it would be best for him to climb up on the counter when he was opening the door so he could pull it out straight & not down.

2 days later, if i'm not mistaken, in the morning he cries out from the kitchen while i'm getting dressed. i run out & find the door completely unhinged, off, not even hanging by a thread, it is it's own entity now. Z said "it fell" - yeah right! the bottom metal hinge was completely bent, he yanked it down, apparently pretty hard.

geez, does this child not realize i have a list of needs wants like new flooring for the bathrooms? & the kitchen? how about a stove where all 4 burners work? or new kitchen countertops & cabinets [that i've wanted since before we went to the desert]?

so he wrecked a new micro & don't get me started on how much i hate living without one!
ugh, i had to re-heat my coffee on the stove top, all camper/cowboy style, i'm sure i was growling in doing so. then later that night i wanted a cup of tea, so i had to heat the water the same way. outrageous i tell you!

B's the man though, he done fixed it; the door is back on & Z's not allowed to touch it....probably until he's like 30.