It's over . . . .

The crazy week at work is over. We had our Spring Program last night and it went swimmingly. My kids totally shocked me. McCartney didn't perform hardly at all and Harrison who told me that he was in no way going to sing on stage did great! I must say in her defense that there were probably about 600 people in the audience and it was probably disconcerting.

We had special activities each night at work and I went from being a cashier at a book fair to being covered in sugar, spinning about 300 cones of cotton candy to making 250 bags of popcorn and then dressed-to-impress last night. What a week. I'm glad it is over.

This weekend the backyard needs some attention and then Monday morning will bring a tonsillectomy for McCartney. . .

A few random thoughts from some regular reads . . . .

Well, I've been so busy that I don't have a life so I thought I'd comment on some of yours. . .

Congrats to AWB on the beautiful granddaughter. I pray for health and happiness. I also pray that she is a stanch democrat and drives her grandpa crazy! LOL

Thanks to Joe over at Every Life has A Soundtrack I has the song Santa Monica by Everclear stuck in my head. He was talking about Fetcho taking a businees trip there. Ever since I can't get that beginning guitar rip out of my head. I think I have listened to it about 15 times this morning alone.

This whole Kelty sign thing stinks of Fries and his illegal sign over Clinton back last fall. The city ordinance says: in 154.131 I-2 (2) In any other zoning district, such signs shall not exceed 32 square feet in area and 6 feet in height. Such signs shall be permitted in addition to other permitted signage. The signs may be located in a required yard. It is an illegal sign and there is nothing more to say about it. I do however like the fact that the republicans are fighting like a bunch of catty girls over the 2 candidates, I can't wait to see who wins the primary and see who files behind them in the standard party line. Oh, and by the way . . . It does look like a toothpaste ad.

The Virginia Tech shooting . . . horrific! Covered nicely by my hubby.

Patty told us all about her race on Saturday. I got lost in the story. It makes me think I could run with her at my side . . .Yeah right! LOL Talk about a pep-talker and a motivator. I'm so glad I found your blog! You inspire me daily.

Laura had quite a week with some revelations and some soul searching. She continues to amaze me with her perserverance and attitude.

If you have yet to jump on over to Mimi Smartypants' page, you suck! She is my favorite read. Is it sad if I only check it about every 3 days because I get too dejected when it isn't updated? Yes, yes it is. Who could not adore the loving description of her other half . . . LT normally is pretty handy, but plumbing is not one of his things. Drinking whiskey, looking at girls, and .NET are his main things. Plumbing is not even in the top ten. Read her, NOW!

Once again, Kari has hit the nail on the head about discipline. She talks so well about how she is proactive with her kids instead of reactive. Reactive dioesn't make a darm bit of difference with kids who have frontal lobe damage due to prenatal alcohol exposure and it is equivalent to banging her head against a wall. It could do us all some good to deal with all our children in this manner. Kari continues to inspire me.

All the rest of my favorites have to wait . . . work is calling . . .

What a week . . .

I have had a rough week. I have been struggling to come to terms with Dustin's modified schedule and all that means for our household schedule. Due to this, Robert has less time for keeping up with the housework since most of his time is spent watching every move that Dustin makes. It does however allow us to have a chore chart for Dustin, but that requires even more supervision. So, it has been a restructuring of our routine.

It is also my busiest time of year as I work diligently on our special celebration week coming up in the next 10 days, and working on the big move in August, (with committee meetings and measuring and organizing and ordering and all that) as well as firming up the summer schedule of field trips and activities. I have new staff to train, orientations for families to do and First Aid classes this week and a HUGE slideshow presentation to put together. AGH!

Back to Dustin, is behavior has gone downhill at home probably due to the routine change. He is so out of sorts that I have had to return to restraining him (holds not shackles LOL) and deep pressure to calm him. It sucks and makes me feel like a horrible parent. Hopefully it is simply because of this schedule change or the absolutely CRAZY weather and we will even out soon.

I am off to a day of shopping with my mom . . .WITHOUT kids. That should turn my mood around!

Religion, a bunny, and Cadbury eggs . . . .

I purposefully neglected to post an Easter post the other day. Everyone has a take . . .truthfully I didn't want to get into it. For me it is personal. To be honest I feel guilty for the lack of "Churchinesss" we have displayed lately. I love my church. For goodness sake I work there. I have grown up in the building. I have had my issues, who hasn't, but I believe it is a place where God is present and I devote myself to my faith. I think I struggle with Easter being non-religious more than I struggle with Christmas. Not only does the birth of Jesus have nothing to do with a fat man in a red suit, but the supreme sacrifice of Jesus has nothing to do with an egg decorating rabbitt. Wow. I sound quite fanatical. I am not a nut who doesn't allow my children to believe in Santa, and they actually get Easter baskets, I'm not sure how that last sentence sounded so crazed . . .

So what's the problem Sheri? Well, you see when you have a child like Dustin, a place like church is not always a possiblity. Dustin cannot sit in service, kid's church is far too stimulating and now he is too old anyhow. Maybe I am simply too worried about him throwing fits and other's seeing that, but I cannot imagine having Dustin in church with us. We do attend Wednesday nights every now and then and we do hit and miss. Everyone I talk to at church would say, "Aw, bring him it's okay" But the looks would convey a very different meesage when he throws a fit in the middle of our 2 hour service. So I have avoided. Right or wrong that's how it is. Some may jusdge me for that, but so be it.

This was part of a sermon was given many years ago by S.M. Lockridge who was a contemporary of Martin Luther King Jr. It has long been a favorite of mine and it has come back into the limelight lately. I thought I would post it as my belated Easter post . . .

A Blessing . . .

Wow. Dustin had a SUPER day at school. I would like to say I am not surprised, but I am considering yesterday's post. I had hoped that being away from the other children would be beneficial and it was. I had also hoped that the aide that is with him developed a good bond with him and he respected her. Apparently that worked out as well. But, Sheri, it's only the first day you say. I know, Dustin however, does not have a "honeymoon" period like most children. Hopefully today will be positive as well.

I looked at PDF that was posted over at Kari's blog the other day. It scared the stink out of me. It said that out of 10,500 births daily in our country . . . 40 babies would later be daignosed as Autism Spectrum Disorder and 100 babies would be born with Fetal Alcohol Spectrum Disorder. YIKES!

Que the horror movie music . . .

Today is the day.

Today, Dustin returns to school after being off nearly 3 weeks. He returns to a modified day of only 2 hours. He returns to not being the room with other students and having a 1 or 1 para-professional (aide) all to himself. I would love to think this will work. Three months ago I would've sworn it would. Now, I am not so sure. He has had so many foul days at school and has been in such a downward spiral there that I'm not certain it will be a positive experience. I hope and pray that it is.

I'm not sure what our near future holds for Dustin. Home this weekend was pretty ugly. He was nasty and disrespectful and could not keep his hands off the other 2 kids or the animals for any length of time. The cat got the brunt of it which ended last night with a jump rope tied around his collar like a leash. He got a few scratches on his face and thigh from that stunt. He ran from me on Friday evening after pulling on the dogs tail and ran directly into the table in the kitchen. It left a wicked bruise on his upper arm. We went to my mom's on Saturday evening for an Easter dinner and we had several melt-downs and I had to apply deep-pressure a couple of times just to calm him down. I'm not certain if we are going through a medication issue or simply anticipating returning to school has thrown him for a loop.

Anyhow, I think I will be on pins and needles all day until I find out how this first day went. I know it is only the first day, but they are so close to labeling Dustin a danger that one day could get him expulsion and home-bound schooling.

Spring Surprises . . .

This week has been nice. Since we returned from our family vacation the weather has been pretty nice. That is, however, all supposed to end today as it should get quite cold tomorrow and may snow by the weekend. Ugh! However, spring has sprung in my heart . . .

As corny as that may sound, I have come to a nice realization. People can be kind and helpful. You see, I am surrounded by kindness at home. Maybe it is simply that I have been refreshed by a week in Florida, but I am content and happy with my life right now. All is well at work, Dustin has been off school, so we don't have that stressor, we have a new therapist who truly seems to understand our families plight, and I have wonderful nieghbors.

Our new renters are the kindest, nicest people you could want living next to you. I thought we had a pretty good relationship with our previous neighbors, but these guys are one in a million. The mom and I have been walking in the evenings. She is a giving, kind and strong woman. She struggles with a pretty seriuos illness, yet she doesn't complain. She is a fighter. She is willing to give you anything you need. She sees someone in need and shares what she has. Her children also struggle with illness, but she is positive and supportive. She gets them out in the fresh air and keeps them active. They are respectful kids and my children love them! I am impressed with her spirit.

We have another neighbor who doesn't have much She has grown pretty close to this woman. I have always liked her and have helped her as I could. I like her, I enjoy her company. Her kids are beautiful. She does the best she can with the life she has been given. It is nice to see that my nieghbor also she's her gentle sprirt and kind ways. I think we are going to have a fantastic summer. . .

It's all over. . .

The remainder of our Florida vacation was awesome. Thekids settled into the routine of laziness and the beach and we had a swell time. My mom and step-dad did not have a relaxing time I'm afraid. We ran them ragged, but I think they enjoyed their time with us. Robert has made a video from the short clips we made on our camera. I have also posted the video of Harrison swimming across the pool.

The Magic Kingdom . . .

Okay, maybe not. We don't care for Disney. Our family's Orlando park of choice is Universal Studios. It's clean, entertaining and I don't have to hear "It's a Small World" 6,500 times. I know, I know, there are tons of Disney fans out there, but I'm not one of them.

Dustin has been to Universal before, but the "littles" had not, neither had my mom or step-dad. We spent 2 days there and had a super time. The first day was a little rocky as Dustin became acclimated to the environment. All in all he was pretty well behaved. He hurt his foot the day before on the beach and the first day at Universal did him in. When we went back today, we rented a wheel chair for him and it was FABULOUS. He kept his hands of the other 2 kids and we didn't have to chase him down or listen to him whine about how tired he was. A bonus was that people looked at him differently when he threw fits. I have remarked about how his disability is "hidden" before many times. He was looked at by others with patience today and irritation yesterday just because he "looked" handicapped in the wheelchair today. We also rented a double kid-buggy today for the littles . . . insert no-whining sentence here as well. Those choices also helped us move faster since we didn't have to rely on slow, little legs.

The best thing we spent our money on today was the "Express Pass". This wonderful little card allowed us to bypass the lines and speed right to the front. I knew they had them, but didn't want to spend the money on them before. HOLY CRAP. These little gems are well worth the money when you have pre-schoolers and a FAS child who cannot be patient for anything! I would've gladly given my left arm for this privilege after the long lines yesterday, thankfully a large sum of money was all they required.

A few funny moments . . .

My mother referred to the "Woody Woodpecker Kid Zone" as "Pecker Land" and I nearly pee'd my pants each and every time she said it. My son used to call the woodpecker that lives near her house a "pecker" when he was little. We used to get a kick out of him saying "Shhh, Nanny I hear a pecker"

As Dustin as I were ascending the "mountain" for the Dueling Dragon's ride he asked if it was coaster. I said yes to which he remarked, "Ha-Ha, you have to sit in a fat seat!" You see each coaster that has a pull-down bar had what they call "Modified Seating for guests with certain upper-body dimensions" I called them big-mama seats. Dustin cut to the chase and simply called them "fat seats". The funny part is, that when we got up to the ride, Dustin jumped in a seat and pulled the bar down and his scrawny little butt was in the "fat seat" since it was already locked, I had to squish into a regular one. Ha Ha.

Run on over to our family website to see some more pictures of our darling kids!

Sunny days . . .

What a couple days! We set off Monday afternoon for the airport. I was a little apprehensive since all three of my children have never flown. I wasn't sure how they would handle the take-off and the flight itself. I myself don't handle the final approach. They did great. I will post a video of Dustin just prior to the initial taxiing. I was quite worried about his behavior after he was this wired at the start, but he was great on the plane. Harrison and McCartney were blissfully unaware that we could plummet to our death at any moment and they were super.

This picture of McCartney shows her in the first of 5 seats she occupied during the flight. That is, if you don't count the 3 trips to 2 separate bathrooms during the hour and 57 minute flight. Harrison looks so little in the seat and I stuck Dustin near the window. God was with us and not only did we not spiral toward earth, but no one sat in the seats in front of us or behind us. Dustin was unable to annoy all our fellow passengers as we were on the wing so the noise pretty much drowned him out.

Harrison stepped off the plane to see my mother and step dad waiting for us. The first thing he says is "Nanny, where is the beach?" He had this impression that Florida is one HUGE beach. He was disappointed that by this time it was after 10 pm and the beach had to wait until the morning. They were so over-tired by the time I got the car and got to the hotel hat bedtime was awful!

This morning we headed over to "Nanny's Condor". as Dustin calls it. Harrison remarked that all the houses "stuck" to Nanny's were all the same color. My mom owns a condo in between the gulf and the inter-coastal. We had Nanny's famous waffles for breakfast and set off across the street for the beach. McCartney stepped of the ramp and onto Madeira Beach in awe. My mom asked her if she liked the beach and she said, "Yep, it looks like pepper" I love the way kids see things! I was pleasantly surprised that Harrison and McCartney were very brave and hit the water's edge like true champs. They didn't have much fear. Dustin was much better than expected since the last time we were in Florida before he "littles" were born, he was terrified of sharks getting him in the water We practically had to drag him to the shoreline. Today he had to be called in constantly because he was scaring Robert with how fearless he was. THey played for hours in the very cold water with little to no problems and "dug" the sand . . . no pun intended. What a nice day!

Tonight we headed to the inter-coastal waterway to see the boats and over to the Condo's pier. Robert had a close encounter with a pelican who thought he might have some dinner. The park across the street is awesome and the kids had a blast way past dark.

Tomorrow? Universal Studios.

Kinda good . . . Kinda crappy . . .

Case Conference was interesting. We did accept a modified schedule which means Dustin will only attend school for 2 hours daily and he will be receiving his very own 1:1 assistant. They will provide transportation and the modification has to be revisited in 20 days to see how effective it has been. We did get all of our concerns on the table and I think we were heard. They may not have agreed, but they listened. I did have some issue with the ways that Dustin's "aggression" was characterized. Dustin does bite, kick and hit. These are not anger based, they are simply a lashing out due to his low frustration tolerance. I also see them as being a product of the environment at school and that they "work" for him there. They achieve his goal which is always attention and 1:1 working environment.

I was dead-set against modifying his day before walking into the conference, but I listened to the reasons and the stories of success that they have seen due to modifying a student's day. We decided to give it a chance. Something has to stop this down-ward spiral that he is in. We have to break the cycle of "crappy" days and give him some success. I have seen his self-esteem plummet in the last month and it upsets me.

We also agreed to keep him out of school for the next 3 weeks. One One and half weeks will be due to our family vacation and the following full week is Spring Break. We thought that 3 days in the middle would be completely non-productive.

I think the school system saw our desire to work with them to create a suitable environment for learning for Dustin. I think the administration saw that we are behind them 100% and respect the chances they have given Dustin. I hope that they saw our love for Dustin and our determination that he become a functional member of society along with positive assistance at school and home. And I did see the Special Education department's drive to provide a positive and successful placement for Dustin. The resource administrator from the department is determined that Dustin will have this one more chance to succeed in this program. She is even going to come and give the new assistant guidance and training on how this needs to be done to make it work for Dustin. I can't ask for much more than that.

Gigantic Stress . . .

We have a case conference Thursday. The phrase that strikes fear in the hearts of parents of any FASD child. The school is not happy with Dustin's behavior. We cannot change his behavior while he is there. I have went to school and Robert has went to school to shadow Dustin and when we are there his is fine. We are his external brain . . . we are his control mechanism. He lacks one for himself. The school hasn't developed that skill yet. They are overworked and under staffed. He needs his own 1:1 aide. I don't feel as though that will happen easily if at all. I am not up for a fight. It sucks to have to fight for my child's education.

I am one who always looks for and waits for the worst in every situation. Thursday may be fine, but it may be ugly. I look for the ugly. I pray for the fine. The problem is the aggression that he is showing at school. It isn';t truly aggression, it's poor impulse control and it's poor judgement. He attempts to hurt someone because he thinks it will intimidate them. Last week for instance he took a teacher's hand and squeezed it. The teacher has a wrist injury and as a brace on that arm. He looked at her as though he will twist her arm, he did not. He wanted to see if that would "scare" her away from disciplining him. This was relayed to me by the teacher. By the time the office got the information, he had "twisted the teachers arm and tried to hurt her"

I have no more answers for them. I am all out of suggestions. The law says that the school district must provide my child with a free and appropriate educational placement. If this one isn't working, find one that does. If one doesn't exist you have to make one. I don't know, I am scared. I think they will try to remove him from school. That is a bad thing.

I am reminded of my favorite line from Lloyd Dobler in the movie Say Anything. "I don't know, but I know that I don't know".

What an eye opener . . .

It was definitely an eye-opening day! I got a call at 8:15 this morning from Dustin's school. His behavior was out of control and they wanted t know if I would talk to him and try to settle him down. He had hit a student in the chest in the breakfast room and in the process had spilled his yogurt all over his pants. He then went to class and began running and hiding from the teacher. When she told him she was calling me he ran out of the room and locked himself in the staff bathroom.

I was appalled at his behavior and said, "Give me 10 minutes, I'll be right there." I have had enough of this kind of behavior at school. I am so tired of hearing bad reports just as much as they are tired of giving them. This child is able to function better than he does on a daily basis at school. I have mentioned in several different conferences that I would like to come and sit with him for a day at school. He doesn't think that I have an authority there because I have been in the classroom with him. This is how his brain functions. He thinks if I can;t see him do it, it never happened.

For instance . . . Dustin will sneak and steal a chocolate pudding. He will go through all the trouble to hide it in his pants and take it upstairs, but he will not dispose of it. He will stick the pudding top to the handrail of the stairs and leave the empty pudding cup on the floor and the spoon on the step and think I will never know he did it. Why? Because I didn't see him eat that. I will inevitably see it and say, "Dustin you stole pudding!" You know what he says? "How did you know?" He is totally shocked that I could figure out that he stole pudding.

Today I decided that I was going to push the issue and stay in school with him until lunch and make him understand that I do know what goes on in school and it is not acceptable. My secondary reason was that I wanted the school to see that he can be a wonderful and obedient child with the right guidance and direction. It worked! The teachers were completely shocked with the amount of work he was able to complete and with the behaviors that were totally in control. Why? Because I WAS his control. FASD kids have no control mechanism. They have total impulsivity. They rely on others to provide external control because they can't. They all kept commenting on how this was a totally different child. I left at noon, the remainder of today was positive and he came home happy and cheerful. At least we had some success.

Will it follow through and work for tomorrow? Who knows. Probably not. Tomorrow I am meeting the bus at school and I am going to sit in on breakfast. He will not act this way at school. I am determined. It was interesting to see the vast array of disabilities that were present in Dustin's Moderately Mentally Handicapped (MoMH) class. There were so many different disabilities and so many functional levels. Each child was different. Interestingly enough the first thing that struck me was that Dustin is the only child who does not outwardly LOOK disabled. I have said this so many times about FASD kids . . . they may not appear disabled, but they are just as disabled as any other MoMH child. They have an inward disability which causes people to expect more because they *look* "normal". That is the most frustrating thing!

McCartney's lipstick

McCartney found my new makeup and said she was putting on lipstick. Funny, I didn't buy any new lipstick. What she did find was my brand new mascara. Thank goodness it wasn't the nail polish she got into. . .

Our little miracles. . .

I'm not sure that I have ever shared this story . . .

Back in 1999 my husband needed to get new glasses. He was wearing bifocals and his eyes kept getting progressively worse. We had some pretty crappy vision insurance so we went to Eyeglass World to get his eyes screened. The optometrist did his examine and had some concerns. She said he had some anomalies and thought he should see an neuorologist. Neuorolgist? I thought she was crazy. Why in the world would this optometrist be sugesting that. We ignored it. He got his glasses and we went along with our lives. About a year later his eyes had gotten much worse. It was quite distressing that they had continued to go downhill and he almost didn't pass his vision test at the BMV. He had no peripheral vision. If the line of letters read K O L U M N P he would simply see LUM. I thought it was time to go see my Opthalmolgist. I sent him to see Dr. Kempler and I went with him. Dr. Kempler did some tests and was quite concerned with the findings. We had to go back for a test a couple of days later and we sat in that little eye doctors room and he told us most probably Robert had a tumor in his brain.

TUMOR. The word struck me like a baseball bat to he head. My father had passed away from an agressive cancer hat ate away at his brain. I couldn't deal with this trauma. All I could think about was losing my husband and I freaked out. He sent us to a . . . you guessed it . . . neurologist. I felt so much guilt for not listening to the woman at the other place. We had one hope, the doctor had told us that pituatary tumors were most generally not cancerous. This was little comfort to a woman who lost her father to brain cancer and who is a tremendous worrier.

We had to see a neurologist in Kokomo becasue of our insurance. I was irritated that we livei n the 2nd largest city in Indiana and I had to drive to a po-dunk town to see a doctor. I fought with the insurance company and they wouldn't budge. It turned out being a great thing . . .

He did an MRI and confirmed that Robert had a tumor growing on his pituatary gland that was the size of 2 large walnuts. He sent us to a Neuro-surgeon in Indianapolis since they would not cover one in Fort Wayne. That was the best thing that ever happened to us because this man, "Julius Goodman" pioneered the non-invasive surgery to remove just this kind of tumor. And what do you know? Robert was one of his last patinents before he retired. We also had the privledge of having his prodigy be in the operation, this man was taking over his practice. All the insurance hassles were a blessing in disguise. . . we got the best doctor in the country for this surgery!

Robert endured a 4 hour surgery where they broke nose and drilled a hole in the bone behind his nasal pasage. They went in and "sucked" the tumor out of his brain. They had to pack the remaining hole with fat from his stomach since we learned that you cannot have void in your head. They did not cut any other protion of his skull. He has a nose packed full of gunk for days and a very big head-ache. He went home in 2 days. The tumor was not cancerous. And the "crappy insurance" paid off. We ended up paying $150 of a $30,000 surgery. A miracle all around.

We received 2 other miracles from this operation. You see, we had being trying to have a baby. Robert had never had children and wanted them so badly. I can still remember sitting in the doctor's room in Indianapolis after the tumor was confirmed and the doctor asking if we had children. We had said no, but that we were trying. He said that the pituatary tumor had been there for probably 20+ years and it had affected Robert's ability to produce viable sperm since it was limiting his testerone. He said, "If this is the only reason you haven't gotten pregnant, you will be pregnant by Christmas". I will never forget that sentence. It was hope summed up in one phrase.

And by the way . . . I was pregnant by August.

Nice night . . .

What a nice night. We in the throws of a "blizzard warning" and I am cozy and warm inside. Cuddled on the couch with my kids. Dustin is safely and soundly tucked into bed and I have a bowl of m&m's to keep me company.

I love to shovel snow. Weird huh? It's kind of like mowing the lawn. I love to mow the lawn because you get this feeling of accomplishment when you are done. You can look back at the yard and see how much better it looks. Same thing with shoveling. You can stand back and see the progress you have made.

The only bad thing about shoveling is that it bothers the heck out of my asthma. I come in all wheezy and gaspy. Gaspy? Is that a word? It should be, I like it. Anyhoo, the streets are quiet, the snow is falling again and the wind has settled for now. The snow hasn't had a chance to get all slushy and brown so it is still in that pretty surreal state. . . and I am content under my blanket . . .

God is Good . .

Let it snow . . .

Today we have a blizzard warning in our fair city. We do not close down our school unless there is a level 2 citywide emergency issued. Our county called a level 2 but it did not include the incorporated parts of Fort Wayne. What is funny is that everyone thinks they have information. We have had so many parents call and tell us that it is a level 2. We have been in constant contact with the Fort Wayne Police Department to check the status. . . and it is not alevel 2.

What strikes me as amusing is that when you give information and you are incorrect and adamant about it you sound foolish. It is like playing operator when you were a kid and once it gets down the line you are saying something totally wrong. We even had a parent that works for the street department give us faulty information. I guess all I am saying is that if you haven't gotten the information from the source, don't think it's correct until you verify it . . . if not you just lose any credibility you had.

Today, Indiana Newscenter was reporting that we had a level 2 snow emergency. This information was incorrect and was confusing our parents who were calling. We called the newsroom and a really crabby lady asked "Why do you care anyway? Why is it your business?" Well, I'll tell you why it's my business, because you should be reporting the actual news . . . although I never rely on them for news anyway. . . apparently for a reason. And this is why people are confused . . .

You can see the actual county emergency information here . . .

Ugh!

Busy as a Bee . . .

Man am I tired! I have spent the past 5 days getting my duplex ready to re-rent. It is always a chore to get everything in order that needs to be done. . . painting, carpets, windows, etc. I feel as though I have been painting for my entire life. But there is nothing better than freshly painted walls to make a place truly fresh and clean. It does look great. I have cleaned and scrubbed, replaced carpet, replaced faucets, replaced light fixtures, and painted every room . . . all 1500 square foot of space. The renter picked out some really nice colors and the place looks fantastic! I have a little more cleaning to do and a short list that is finally under a full page, then I am DONE. Dustin was quite helpful and Robert was great.

On another note, I have a new front door and it looks fabulous. The only bad thing is that I cannot paint it until it is at least 45 degrees. . . it will kill me to wait! I want to paint it something bold and vibrant. All the pieces that my life broke into last week seem to be falling back into place. That's always a nice thing. . .

Dustin had a difficult weekend since his schedule was messed up with all the painting and today at school he bit a teacher. Yes, you read that right, BIT a teacher. I was in a meeting and since we only have one car, an administrator actually brought him home for his suspension. They must have really wanted him out of there LOL. It was, however, nice that they did that. He has a doctor appointment tomorrow, but we are expecting a big snow and then it will be canceled, so we shall see what tomorrow holds. . .

The kids are all in bed, and the dogs are huddled up on the couches. For now I am trying to catch up on all of our DVR-ed television shows . . .

Not fun . . .

Fair warning . . . I'm gonna whine.

Sunday morning I woke to a frozen toilet feeder line in my back bathroom. I put a heater on it in the basement crawl space and it broke free in about 2 hours and there was no damage. Lucky . . . or so I thought.

I spent the whole day patiently waiting for the BIG game and watching all the pre-pre-pre game fluff. I was enjoying myself . . . until I sat down on the toilet and the seat cracked (no fat jokes) pinching my thigh. Not very fun. I decided to run to Lowe's and get a new seat before the game. I headed out the front door and I heard this horrific crack. The door jam inside the wall snapped and I could not shut my door in sub-zero weather. After about 20 minutes of messing with it I got it closed and I have someone coming out to measure this week so I can get a new one installed. Not fun!

I sit down with pizza and a warm snuggly house to watch the game. About an hour into the game I decide I should run next door and check the apartment and make sure everything is still dripping since it so miserably cold and I don't want anything else to freeze. As soon as I walk in the back door I hear rushing water. I had a pipe break in the basement and it was spewing water. I had to turn water off to the whole house. I spent the remainder of the superbowl trying to get a plumber out to no avail. We went without water until the next day.

The plumber came out and put new shut-offs on those lines and turned the rest of the house back on. He cannot fix the lines in the half bath on the other side until it gets warmer. that's okay because my new renters aren't moving in until later in the month. The kicker is . . . they had us turn on the faucets to drain the lines, so when the water went back on Robert forgot the renter's side was on. The upstairs sink was on and it is a slow drainer so it was raining in the dining room. The water was on for about 1 hour before he realized it. Now I have a wonderful mess in the dining room to work on.

Lastly, my renters moved out this weekend, so I have repairs to make as well as painting and hauling away all their old junk. They left crazy amounts of crap and trash and junk, old tvs, old microwaves, nasty curtains and various stuff. The basement is a disaster and every wall in the house has crayons or marker drawings, along with about 500 nail holes. (ok maybe an exxageration). They didn't even vaccuum, I dumped my vaccuum 3 times before I was finished sweeping the mess. You should've seen the laundry room and the mess they left from behind the washer and dryer. I about puked. And by the way, don't think that you're gonna get all your deposit if I have to clean your nastiness out of the fridge. In my whole life I have never left an apartment that was not clean and neat. I have scrubbed the fridge, the toilet and the tub. I want my deposit, and I was raised to respect other people's things. Makes me irritated and crazy angry!

Have a great day!

Blue Friday . . .

That's me and my mom desecrating a co-wrker's desk who is a Bear's Fan!

Here's McCartney with Hunny-Bunny her favorite Build-a-Bear!