Resting

Six days off in a row is so nice.  We haven't done much of anything.  Just taking it easy and resting.  I kind of wanted to go to the beach since my Friday trip was postponed.  But it just didn't come together and good thing because Audrie started another session of swimming lessons.  Connor also went to his swim test to see if he was ready.  He was not.  He was not going to get in the pool.  Best I can figure is because it means getting in the pool, not walking into water.  This is the boy with no fear of the river, lake or ocean.  Runs right in.  So we will try again next year for him.  He is going to need to know how to swim with that no fear thing going on.

Family Up North

I posed a question about what happened to Dad's cousin who used to come visit us on facebook.  Paula and Brenda are putting together a family reunion next year in MN and invited those that live out here.  The ones up north are responding. Well after I posed my question I got a private message from another of Dad's cousins.  Seems Don died a few years ago of lung cancer.  Another one of his cousins died from brain cancer.  Got to wonder about that.  What are the odds that two cousins would die from a somewhat rare form of cancer? Anyway I finagled an invite to the family reunion that they have annually up there.  And I finagled an invite to come up and meet them again (I went to a family reunion as a kid) and look at pictures and visit some cemeteries.  Sounds like great fun.
Funny how getting older makes you want to make those connections with family.  And Marcia said it is only another hour and a half past Seattle.  Way up north next to the border.

Seriously???

Took the littles and the neighbor kids over to the playground in Battle Ground Village.  Came back when the neighbor kids needed to be back. As we crossed Rasmussen a woman and her dog were crossing Grace.  The dog looked all excited to see kids and of course my kids are excited to see a dog.  The woman was smiling as I said "look it's kids" and then Audrie asks to meet the dog as she is bending down and the dog freaking (not the word I would really use) bites her on the arm.  I'm so thankful he didn't get her face.  After the dog bit her the woman grabs up the dog and says "oh he's not friendly" and hightails it out of there.  Didn't ask if Audrie was all right and obviously she wasn't.  Just gone.  Seriously??? Anyway it doesn't look like the dog bite broke skin.  Audrie learned a valuable lesson that even with asking to meet the dogs that sometimes you can still get bit.

Harvest Fun Day

We went to the Harvest Festival at the Heritage Farm today.  What an exciting time.  The littles made bird feeders, got face painting on their arms, petted animals, took a wagon ride, drew on pumpkins and made ice cream in a bag.  They said the best part was petting the animals.  I liked the wagon ride myself.  It was fun and they really liked it.  Now they are looking forward to the festival at Brenda's church in a few weeks.

Dave

Well he has ulcers that had been bleeding.  So he will go home with a restrictive diet.  Whatever is up with his gall bladder they think is the cause of the fluid.  Guess he is monitoring that for now. He probably gets to come home tomorrow after they get some of his numbers up.  Seems funny that he will have to watch his salt intake and yet they are giving him sodium in the hospital.  Just much relieved that he will be okay for now.

Slacking

Fall rush.  Long days at work.  Audrie was sick.  Dave ended up in the hospital.  Makes for a quick week with no blogging.  I actually fell asleep for about ten minutes on the couch Monday afternoon after work.  Just that tired.  Baby Jayden from next door woke me up.  He was in and mine were out.
Audrie is better.  We still don't know what is wrong with Dave, but it's not good whatever it is.  One more day to work and then I have a long long weekend. I am ready even if my beach plans all change.

Tests

Dave has his tests today.  I didn't know there were two separate ones.  I only knew about the one scheduled for the end of Oct until it got bumped up.  Then he told me about the second one.  One for his throat and one for his stomach.  Seems he thinks he has two different issues and it may be.  But my instinct tells me he has one issue and they are both related.  Guess we will find out.

Happy Birthday Grayson

That Grayson sure knows how to throw a birthday party.  There was a game of find the cars in the sand.  There was food.  Small hotdogs in roll ups for the kids and hamburgers for the big people along with fruit and veggies and chips.  And then there was cake.  Two cakes at that.  One lemon and one strawberry.  The boy got lots of lovely gifts including the ninja turtles jammies we gave him. He received lots of cars and a cool cool cool jacket.  All the kids were pretty well behaved although Grayson and Connor did find some water to get into.  It was a fine party and the littles had a really good time.

Car Wash

Now I know why I take my car through the car wash.  The littles love going through the car wash, watching the brushes and listening to the blow dryer.  They just love it.
But today I thought I would save the $8 and wash the car myself at Papa's house.  It only takes about 20 minutes and I had already vacuumed it out and washed the windows.  So I moved the car into the shade, got the hose all set up and the wash bucket.  And then they, being the littles, decided they would help me.  Now they did an awesome job.  Audrie is a better washer than her daddy and Connor does a great rinse.  They washed themselves.  He rinsed me several times.  And I hate getting wet.  Reminded me of the time I helped my dad wash his truck.  Yup I sprayed him.  Got in much more trouble than Connor did.
I spent an hour yelling "hurry up, don't let the soap dry" "don't spray me" "don't forget the bottom".
So I saved the $8.  I got drenched.  They got washed except for their hair.  And my car is clean.  Only took an hour to do a 20 minute job.  Got to love it though....they had a great time.

Tired

All the extra hours and all the work seem to be catching up with me.  I'm really tired.  One more week of craziness and then it settles down for a bit.  Looking forward to it. And I'm so thankful that Brenda is all right and Belinda will be back.
Connor and I went out for dinner with Pat tonight.  We had pizza at The Rock.  Connor was good and then boredom set in.  Uncle Pat isn't very patient with little kids and was getting annoyed.  About that time another waitress realized Connor needed a distraction so she brought him some animal crackers.  Those lasted him until his dinner came and he was fine.  It was good pizza.  And Pat admitted at the end of the evening that Connor wasn't that bad.

That's Right

We rock.  We are completely caught up at work and ready to hit Rush week next Monday.  Brenda was back today and said she feels fine other than her tetanus injection sight.  Financial aid was disbursed so the store was busy already.  As I explained to one of the cashiers.  Busy shifts from us to them now.  Tomorrow we set up for bag checking and then hit it early Monday morning.

It's a Kick

I knew yesterday that I would get to practice my new forklift skills today.  That silly Conway driver delivered a pallet to central and I saw it on my way to test for the forklift.
By the time I got to work and got down to central today there were two pallets waiting for me.  And Liz stacked up a load of pallets for me to take back to central.  I was proud of myself.  I remembered to go down the hill backwards with my load of pallets.  Has to do with load distribution and hills.  Anyway I got lots of practice. I was glad there was very little traffic or pedestrians.
And then before it was time to leave I got to go pick up another pallet.  I decided I really like it.  It is fun.  Totally getting the hang of that back wheel turning thing.  It's all a kick.  Liz was surprised that I liked it and I bet that means I get to do it a lot now.  :p  Got to earn my raise in pay somehow.

What a Day Again

I got my DSHS stuff taken care of again.  Seems someone on their end didn't click the completed button.  So our case was closed again.  When I called, the first guy just laughed and laughed and told me it was my fault.  He was kidding.  He switched me to a person who could fix it.  Just happy that it all worked out and is like it is suppose to be.
Made it to Fred Meyers to get Connor some new clothes.  He is outgrowing everything he has.  And the stuff the neighbor gave us won't fit him for a couple more years yet.  FM had a good sale.
At work Brenda passed out and gave us all a few moments of excitement.  911 was called and she was taken to the hospital.  She said she is all fine but did get two staples in her head from when she fell.  Kind of scary but people knew what to do.  I was in charge of telling her mom.
Then I had forklift training.  Had an hour of instruction and then had to take a test.  Missed four out of 41.  But she gave me two back when I explained my thinking.  That left one important miss and a stupid miss.  Then I got to drive the forklift.  That is going to take some getting used to.  Feels like fishtailing on ice in a car.  Anyway I was able to stack and move some pallets so it should all come with time. And I will get to try it out tomorrow because I noticed that we have a pallet sitting at central.

Papa's Dinner

Dave has been having problems eating and keeping it down. Since I wanted beans and rice and cottage cheese I offered to make it at his house.  Seemed like something he could swallow and keep down.  So the littles and I went over after work/care house.  Made dinner and it worked.  He was able to keep it down even if it added to his bloatness.  Left him the leftovers so maybe he could have it again tomorrow night.
While we wait to see what is wrong all we can do is feed him.

Damn

So Liz and I talked about this life curve today.  And she pointed out how Dave is my support system on lots of levels.  Who else would have come right out to the beach to rescue us.  And even though it annoyed me at the time he still did it.
He has his appt. for his scope but not until the end of Oct.  He will be called if there are any cancellations.
I'm hoping for something simple, but my gut is saying it is very very very serious because I've known about it for a good long while now.

I think I'm Angry

Don't feel it.  But I think I am.  If Dave has a terminal cancer and dies I am left completely holding the bag.  And I remind myself that I chose this.  But I will have no help and no help.  By that I mean....he is the only one left who I can get a break from on occasion.  All the people from the beginning are basically gone.  Tanya flaked, Nita moved, Mom progressed and Jodi is working way too much.
Then I live at a poverty level and it is fine.  All our needs are met.  But in the future I see a little boy playing sports.  That isn't cheap.  I see a little girl dancing and that isn't cheap.  I see swimmers and drivers and active kids.  And I always counted on Dave's help.  He is paying for swimming lessons right now. Well once he is gone that resource dries up for their extras.
That said....I know they will inherit.  But that will be tied up in trusts as it should be.  I know when Dave planned that he didn't plan on getting sick when they were this little.  And that is one of the reasons why I didn't change my will.  In my case it all would have went back to him because I knew he would be taking care of the littles and might need it.
Life could be throwing us a massive curve ball and I'm not happy about it.  This would be a major major loss for the littles in a life that already has a lot of loss for them.  Oy.

BBQing

Pat wanted to bbq at Mom's house.  We decided we would do chicken breasts.  She told us we needed ones with the skin on if we were bbqing.  Who knew that would be a hard task.  Two stores and neither one had breasts with the skin on them.  I know it is healthier, but come on....bbqing would dry out the skinless ones.  So we had hamburgers.  Rolling with it.

Oy Yup

Well I had an appointment all scheduled to go to the Quarry and talk about their place and their services.  Aunt Cris lives there so we already have a good idea of what it is like.  And then Mom had a meltdown.  Changed her mind. Decided not to push it at this point in time.  It isn't a necessity yet.  So we remain on with the status quo.
So after I called and cancelled our appt. we went grocery shopping.  She has been meaning to go for over a week.  So I figured it was time and just took her.

Peace

So all the neighbors are over their tiffs.  Thank goodness.  I figured it would all blow over, until the next time.  Should make the last couple of months here quiet.  I hope.  Not holding my breath though because there are still volatile feelings in some and addict behavior in others.
I've had a little time to process all the changes coming our way.  Not happy.  Wish Mom didn't have to move.  Wish this dementia had never come about.  But we will deal with it one day at a time.  And it is time to start looking into the Quarry.  Find out if they have an opening...or a waiting list...or what.  At least moving us isn't going to be that big of a deal.  I mostly moved us here by myself.  I haven't accumulated that much more since being here.
Dave had his first dr. appt.  Now he has an appt. coming up for a scope to go down his throat.  Wait and see.  The story of our lives sometimes.

What a Day

Busy busy at work.  Five pallets arrived today.  And lots of boxes from UPS.  We did what we could and will tackle more tomorrow.

Then Mom decided she needed a family meeting.  So Pat and I went and had dinner with her.  She has decided it is time to move to an assisted living apartment.  Ok. That is just too easy.  I expected a big struggle when the day came when she didn't have a choice.  She decided to make the choice while she still could.

That means that the littles and I are moving.  We will be moving into her house once she has moved.  That will be a change. And it will be nice to not be in the middle of apartment complex drama.  We will be keeping Phoebe with us and I'm sure the littles will do much better with her when they are around her all the time. 

Dave told me he has a dr. appt. tomorrow.  Seems he has a growth in his throat.  Yup.  Probably not good.  I gave him a hug.  It will be what it will be.  Now we will see who steps up.  Besides me.  We had already had this conversation about his expecting that I would help take care of him if he became sick.  

And then finally the littles had a bath so I have sweet smelling children. Makes everything just a little bit better.  

A Walk

Every time I ask the kids if they want to take a walk they turn me down.  Now last year they loved it. This year they have other things they would love to do.  Well I want the walk.  So I walked to care house and picked them up.  They had no choice but to walk home with me.  Took me fifteen minutes to walk there.  Took us 35 minutes to walk back.  Connor needed a break.  Then I remembered last year he was still in the stroller.  So he did good with his mile walk.  One little break two blocks from home and he walked the whole way.  After we got started neither one complained.  They pointed things out along the way.  It was a good walk.

RIP FC Kuechmann

Ohhh.  I met Frank in the 90's.  We belonged to a local bulletin board, pre-internet with a dial up access.  Wow that is so long ago.  The bb was called Idea Tree and most of its members were very conservative.  I have no idea how I ended up there.  Maybe for balance.  Anyway Frank got sick and the owner of the bulletin board let us know and said we were invited to see him at the rehab center.
And so I did.  My friend Frank had had a tumor in his younger days at the base of his skull and it caused him to live the rest of his life in a wheel chair.  He could not use his hands.  When he typed on a computer he used a pencil.  He did what he had to do to do what he loved.  After his stint in rehab he lived in adult foster care houses.  I visited him in a couple.  And once he invited me to a bash at his sister's house.  He was always interesting and full of mischief that you could see in his eyes.  He was the smartest, most well educated man I have ever met.  I lost touch as life has a way of doing.  But I thought of him often and tried to find him on the internet.  And then I did.  It was his obituary last week.
RIP my friend.  I will miss you forever.
Cheers.  Until we meet again.

Finally a Playground

Every time I have suggested going to a playground they have shot me down.  They just want to go home and play with the other neighbor kids in the parking lot.  Well today was my turn.  Picked them up from care house and then picked up Mom.   We went to the Fairgrounds Community Park.  I have been wanting to check it out ever since I read about it.  I wanted to see that rope climb thing.
And they loved it.  Connor had no fear and climbed right to the top. We played for two hours. And it was good play.  Good to be outside when it wasn't so hot.  It was a beautiful day and lovely in the shade.  It was kind of funny when Grammy wanted to ride on the whirly thing and then she slid off onto the ground.  You have to hang on good.
After the park we went out for dinner with Grammy.  They were the best behaved they have been in a restaurant in a long time.  I think they were wore out.  And they were hungry. All their dinner got ate.  Mom wanted to pop into Albertsons for a few things.  And about that time the food hit their systems and they weren't so well behaved at the store.  But we made it out in one piece and didn't lose anyone.
All in all a good outing and the littles apologized without encouragement for making me mad in the store.

Out of the Chaos

So Bianca apologized yesterday.  I accepted.  I understand.  And with that there is stillness for the moment.  She still has a thing going with the other neighbors, but it doesn't include me one way or the other.
I got the new position that I applied for.  My background check came back clean.  Not that that was a surprise.  Just a hoop that had to be jumped through.  Tomorrow I have something to sign and then its all a go.  Forklift training is already scheduled for next Tuesday.  Get to do that with Rebecca who is a trip.
Audrie is over her need to make up for lost time of picking on her brother.  This morning she told him she loved him and she let him open the door at care house.  Wonders never cease.  He is her best friend.

Fight or Flight

That thing that pops up when you get in uncomfortable situations.  Lately it seems like looney tunes at my apartment complex.  And getting loonier.  Truly making me feel like fleeing.  Apparently I have some neighbors with anger issues.  I really really really don't like hearing about cutting people.  If someone comes at you and you need to defend yourself...great.  But when no one is attacking you and you are talking about defending yourself in this way...are you looking for a reason to get violent.  That is how it comes across to me.  And hey...alcohol makes it all better and all okay to do and say. BS.
I have enough of all that crap to deal with with my own alcoholics and addicts in my family.  It's why I moved.  And yet, here it is again.
I'm past that initial reaction of "I'm moving".  So now I am being more rational and think if I find a place by the end of my lease I may move and if I don't find a place we will stay put.  I like it here other than the looney tunes and I suspect they will be moving on maybe even sooner than they planned.  And we are going to stay on our end of the complex away from all the craziness.

My World

Audrie is back and all is right with my world.  Even if it means that for the next couple of days she is making up time for all the days she missed picking on her brother.  Just good to have her home.  She had a great time with Nana Nita and I'm so glad.
The littles just had their baths and are ready to get back to routine.  Care house tomorrow.

Egg Shells....NAH

There was a little disturbance at the complex.  I have no idea what happened or where it came from.  Heard loud voices when I was coming back from the dumpster.  Saw Michael checking it out and I went and checked it out.   Seems Bianca was having words with some people we didn't know.  So we went back to Michael's quad as it wasn't our circus or our monkeys.  Didn't need us there.
The yellers all left.  Cool.  Quietness.  We talked about work and kids.  Then Greg and Kristie came out so we moved to their quad...more places to sit.  Talked about work and kids and music.  Just hanging out.
Then Bianca and John came back a couple hours later.  She was still in rare (ha) form.  I asked her niece if she was carrying a dog (she was in a pillow) and Bianca told me to mind my own business.  Excuse me.  Yup.  Wow.  And with that I said good night.  I'm not walking on egg shells nor am I going to get in an argument over a dog in a pillow.  I was the ONLY sober adult and knew when it was time to leave.
This little incident changed my perspective a bit.  It had already been changing, but this gave it a quicker push.  Apartment living is transient.  I'm not making great lifelong friends here. But I do live here for now and it is my and the littles' community.  Trying to at least get along with my neighbors.  Shoot even Josh and I have an understanding.  But that doesn't mean that I have to accept rudeness that was uncalled for.  I don't care who Bianca was angry with.  I thought we had a nice apartment friendship going on, but I learned different.  I don't care who you are angry with....I get to choose my own apartment friends. Want to be mad at me for talking to people you are upset with.....oh well.  Not playing games.  Staying out of all the drama (except the bike thing and I have to fix that).

Success

We went back over to Marla's tonight a little earlier than yesterday so we wouldn't miss the bats dropping out of the barn siding.  So tonight they dropped later than last night.  Go figure.  Anyway we discovered they have a new roosting spot.  A couple nearly took a little of Marla's hair with them when they took off.  Hope she can find where they roost.  She also had a bat skeleton that we got to check out.  Their bones are hollow like hummingbirds.  Very cool.  Connor thought so also.
After we watched the bats we went in the barn and he got to feed each of the horses a treat.  He liked that.  And then it was dark and time to come home.
Thanks Marla for a great evening of entertainment.

Bats, Horses and Jane

We went to see the bats drop out of the barn.  Thought we were way early.  Turns out we were late and missed it.  We did get to see them flying around the pasture.  While we were watching, the horses heard us and came running.  Connor was immediately in love. Not scared a bit.  He got to pet both Sammy and Nasty.  I think he would have been content to just do that. We worked our way out of the pasture.
That was when the dog, Jane, found a corn cob and wanted to play.  Connor was happy to play fetch with her.  Jane isn't big on fetch, but really likes keep away.  I think Connor had a good time.
We go back tomorrow a little earlier and try to watch the bats dropping out of the barn.  It is pretty cool to watch.

Frogs

The little man and I decided to go find some frogs.  Last year there was hundreds down in the water containment area next to Mallard's Landing.  So we went there.  Oy.  There were no frogs and someone had weedeated the whole thing.  Very disappointing.  So we went home a different way.  We didn't find any frogs but we could hear them.  I think they were the ones we hear when we are going to sleep and all quiets down around here.  It was a nice little walk anyway.  Just the man and me.

My Four Moods

I'm too old for this shit.
I'm too tired for this shit.
I'm too sober for this shit.
I'm too busy for this shit.

Saw it on facebook and it sure hit what I am feeling about all the drama at the apartment complex.

Oy

So the neighbors aren't moving.  I just had a feeling, but it was nice fantasizing about it.  So now I get to listen to her telling me how mean the other neighbors are to my kids.  How I shouldn't let them be over there and how she just wants to go off on them.  Yeah...whatever.  I asked the kids if anyone was being mean or yelling. Connor said yes someone was being mean......the cat who scratched Sissy.  Too funny.
I'm glad that Audrie is in Tacoma this week so when the neighbor has her days off Audrie won't be used as a pawn in this stupid game.  I'm tired of it.

Audrie Went to Nana Nita's

We got up and moving this morning.  Drove up to Milton for a visit with Nana Nita, Chad and Ky.  The kids played with Ky and visited Traci's dogs.  After a nice visit and lunch the little man and I headed back south.  Audrie did not want to stay.  She came up with so many excuses.  She finally resigned herself that it was happening and dealt with it.
After we got home we texted Nana Nita.  Audrie was fine.  Got her bangs trimmed and new outfit and was all smiles.  She will have a blast and we will see her on Saturday.
This Nana gets to get some sleep with no one kicking her.  Sigh.